will you join me with the Pledge of Allegiance iedge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening welcome to the Monday July 22nd uh 2024 meeting of the Westport Select board under Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20f this meeting is being recorded um I just have a couple of comments um we uh our next meeting is in three weeks we have a little bit of a gap um so the next meeting is going to be August 12th um so update your calendar if it's not already um we also have on our agenda today a review of the audit report the auditor was not available today so we are not going to be discussing the audit report tonight um the select word does want to acknowledge the past of an employee um Steven Suza was our Cemetery Foreman he worked the cemetery department for about 10 years he passed away unexpectedly on Friday July 12th he was the husband of Melanie Souza he was the foreman of the town of Westport Cemetery division he also took care of several properties in Westport he was a union carpenter for many years he was a jack of all trades Steven was a car Enthusiast who loved his 1973 Camaro which he rebuilt he enjoyed camping fishing playing horseshoes tournaments was also a coach for his son's uh team in the Westport little um besides his wife of 32 years he survived by his two children his granddaughter his sister and his mother-in-law so our condolences to the Souza family do anybody want to say anything about Stephen uh Madam shair I did know him only through work when I was a chair and he was a gentleman and very helpful it's very sad that he's passed along and we've heard a lot of really good things about the work he did at the cemetery Department okay anything else any other acknowledgements or recognitions before we move on um we do not have any public hearings tonight so we're um going to licenses and permits um the first one on the agenda is a request from a wish come true Inc for one day wine and malt license for their annual fundraiser to be held Saturday September 7 and Sunday September 8 from 12:00 to 7:00 at the Holy Ghost Club 171 Sodom Road we do have a favorable police report I'll move it with the recommendations second any discussion all in favor I I I that's unanimous we have a request from Buzzards Bay Brewing ink for a one-day wine malt license or Shell stock to be held on Saturday August 17 from 2:45 to 7:30 at the Westport Fairgrounds 200 pin Hill Road approval yep second as there a motion a second to approve any discussion we better approve they spent a lot of money money on bis all in favor I hey everybody go get your ticket to Shell stock it's a great time go on find it I for I don't even know how you get a ticket I got it online look at Google it um we have a request to approve the following Road use applications um the Nar Naran at Bay Wheelman I'm I'm going to read these if anybody has a hold on any of them just let me know Nance at Bay Wheelman September 8 um I'm sorry yeah yes you are do you want to hold that one yes please um the max performance September 15 Buzzards Bay Triathlon cystic fibrosis Fibrosis Foundation September 21 rain date September 22 Buzzards Bay Coalition October 6 these are uh this is a bicycle ride and AGS haax Services LLC October 5th motorcycle run to benefit the Westport food pantry all right so all except the nans at Bay men I'll entertain a motion uh we have police recommendations on them yeah Paul the um I just want to explain a little bit about this they're all in a clump because they've been in the pipeline for a while but with the condition of e spe Ro the police weren't able to approve them so I just got actually all of its approvals today on these they are all positive with the recommendations most of them are yearly events the Nar against to B wom it's a new event I don't think it's a new event I think it's they came to us for permission it seems like they used to ride through town anyway and then they found out they should come for permission so Sergeant Melo is still working on that one he's got a call out to them it's just that they are saying a lot of writers and right now they only have like 50 so he's not overly concerned with it but he just ask if you hold off on this one now till the next meeting okay so we'll hold on that one so the police have a time to review but the other ones um have approve it pending police recommendations I think this is the gentleman that keeps send email and concerns I think I might have forwarded it to you um some reason he didn't think he had to go through us so and we've had a lot of issues in the past that's why we asked them to get from the um your bik yeah I know he he he's very uh South Coast bike way I think it is he's pretty active but anyways we're not touching that one now anyways so I'll move the other subject to the recommendations of the police department so the four um subject police recommendation favor that's unanimous and then the Nar against B we're not declining it we're just going to talk about it more next meeting um but as long as we get a favorable police report he should feel fine that he's going to get it um D we have a request from Big Tree catering for a one-day wine and malt license for a wedding on Saturday September 28th at 524 River Road and this one also has favorable police recommendation um I'll move with recommendations is there any discussion all in favor I I that's shenan okay we have some more appointments and resignations some of these um are new the B bike and walking path and then some of them we did get um from the finance committee and the planning board chairs um they're recommended so those we held last time so I'm just going to read them all if you want to hold on any of them just say hold um bike and walking path committee Steve blette Keith McDonald bettyanne low and Gail rodri bet bet sorry betan L Gail rods um historic commission Ward Mooney and Katrina strosek tax incentive program Zack Leo is a thcom representative internet advisory committee Duncan law for finance committee infrastructure oversight committee Duncan law for finance committee Capital Improvement planning committee Al Le um from the finance committee infrastructure over committee Manny Sor for the planning board and Bob dor for the planning board and economic development task force Manny Sor for the planning board I'll move them all second is there any discussion they have all been run by the Committees now correct they they okay that was the concern of the past yeah okay no problem all right all in favor I I I that's jous we have a request to accept the resignation of dispatcher ra Raquel rodri and her request to to stay on as Community Service Officer part-time dispatcher so Jim you want to yeah this is recommended by the chief U Chief Dunn um she is resigning from the um dispatcher position and she she does want to stay involved with the police department through the chair uh can we find are you doing any kind of exit interview or can the chief update you if we're losing them because I know the last one because of money it's it's salary yeah I don't this one is specific to salary but brought that to my mentioned a few times yeah cuz I know all the dispatches at least one in the past was because of salary too just so the public knows what we're against when we're doing contracts any did we have a motion I'll I think if I didn't I'll move it now move it second we have a motion to Second any further discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous we have a request from John rendes Westport Community TV director to appoint David beion as um production assistant yes I would recommend approval this was uh the position was created at the last meeting of the select board I know John has interviewed um David and he's excited to have him be a part of the team over there and work I would recommend approval this would be a parttime position less than 19 hours per week any he also ran it by the cable committee I'll move them a second you have a motion and a second is there any discussion all in favor I I that's un Miss John got you back thank you um the uh so for Action items so we have uh ran also known as a ran extension to approve the order of taking to complete the acceptance of ran extension as a public way this was uh the completed subdivision off of White Oak Run um the authorization for acceptance was approved at town meeting anything to add here Jim the planning board has signed off on it um again it was approved at meeting the authorization the abuts have been notified of this meeting tonight I don't know if anybody's here from lead Lane Extension if they have any questions there you go um but it's a standard procedure this procedure we followed over the years once the subdivision is done the road is completed goes to town meeting and eventually gets accepted so I would recommend approval of the order does anyone on the board have any Jim has White Oak Run been accepted yet White Oak Run is not we do not have an official acceptance of it is there anybody working on getting that taken care of I can check with the highway department to see if does that create an issue when the main road isn't approved but the side road is well we did check with Town Council White Oak Run has been um used by the public it's been uh repaired by the public it was paid by the public I don't know if dmouth did it or Westport because it splits the line um Town Council said that you know when streets are used in that manner and maintained in that manner not officially accepted but they're considered uh ways that the public can use so um all right but planning board signed off on it they did okay did anybody move it yet I'll move it second did you have any comment no okay all right so we have a motion excit to um approve the order of taking for the rine as a public way all in favor I I any oppos that's janous and I'll follow up with highway to see if we can get that lay out done accepted um for B we have a request to approve the memorandum of agreement with the highway department ask me Council 93 local 1701 Jim sorry make sure we get this signed you do you have an order do you have a signed unsigned order over there in your packet or should I pass this one around I'll pass this one around so negotiations have been going on with the highway department um just for two months now two maybe three months um we've reached a tentative agreement U with the highway department uh they have signed off on it the memorandum agreement is in your package it's essentially a 3% uh cost of living raise each year for FY 25 26 27 uh there is a increase in two of the steps um and then some relatively minor adjustments uh cell phone for $30 to $45 there was a clothing allowance that went from 550 to 575 um we uh changed some wording on the they had one section where they could actually get a paper check for their longevity so we were able to change that in the contract so they will get a direct deposit which helps helps the treasur collector's office treasurer's office um and then we had on the Grievances that it would go through the Town Administrator first before goes to the select board those are the main highlights I don't know if you had anything else on that got it I do want to point out to the public we don't talk about these too much these are discussed pretty heavily in um executive session while the negotiations are in progress so that's why we probably probably saw for all right is there any discussion did we have a motion no yet you want to move it I'll move it move it a second so we have a motion a second to approve the Moa with the highway department all in favor I I that's unanimous review and approval of the East Beach Cobble policy um you want to give us an update here tell us what this is about so the policy Ina packet um has been reviewed by Town Council it's been forwarded to the East Beach Association um they are in favor of it this would be an interim policy until u beach nourishment study or plan could be done I planning office has sought out a grant to fund that study uh this would be interim until that is complete um we did have one comment from the uh conservation agent he'd like to see um the material that's Theos so this is uh related to after storms after storms on E speech the Cobble is pushed onto the roadways um the property owners are looking for us to push that Cobble back to the south side of the road so that they can replenish their Lots After the Storm um this policy is set up to do that the only comment the uh CC conservation agent had was he'd like to see it spread on both sides I think because this is an interim policy I you know for short term I think we can push it to the south side of the property anything that goes to the north is kind of extending on the North side anyway um we've been back and forth on this for probably 3 four months months now um I I would recommend approval I think the wording is um pretty good it identifies the concerns that the East Beach Association has it gives the highway department a little bit of flexibility if uh they need to use some of that material for um securing the road either the South um the east or the West End so it's a good policy I think for both the town and the and the residents Jim do we have an order of conditions on the beach property where they could fix that because I mean I just went I went down there this weekend and saw you know we got it paved and the it's the town property we really can't even access it right now so there's a general order of condition on the roads um that they have with the Conservation Commission I I'd have to check with them to get more detail on it but they have a order of conditions that allows them to work on town roads for general maintenance and repairs um the beaches I'm not sure but well I think it's actually in the layout of the road but it looks like you know be pretty simple highway to go in there and straighten it out and and the people with the beach stickers could this level the piles is that yeah like I can check with Chris and see if they can do that I don't know just looking at it the way it's stockpiled now the next storm we get it it's kind of like up we going to blow right back on the road again I think if they pushed it back out and maybe sloped it rolled it and where K could drive on it's less likely to get just get blown right back in the road I'll check with Highway and uh conservation agent see if they can do that I think the piping Clover season is just about over so oh it look like you know you get the piece fixed it looked good sure stopping a lot of calls yeah speeding now speeding speeding people slow down on every road and every exactly uh is there a date that that ends or is it just a it's no date when it ends open-ended inter room yes all right I'll move it second so we have a motion a second to approve the inter from um Beach East Beach Cobble policy um is there any discussion did you want to say anything we're we're about to approve the okay uh no okay all right all in favor I that's unanimous there you go you just walk in the room have to say anything make up for all those other times you spent hours here um 4 d request to approve the memorandum of agreement with Westport Police Association so this is um fairly similar to the highway department agreement um there's a 3% cost of living increase for um FY 25 26 and 27 and then there's a shift uh differential increase of 1% in the second and 30 years uh so that wouldn't impact the budget this year which is a plus for us um the shift differential is probably about 50% of uh a cola increase so um I think that that's good we had a limited Duty section that was added uh that was requested by the chief of police um the union agreed to that and we also had um residency requirement this was another request by the chief because he has been having trouble hiring offices locally there's just not a lot out there and sounds like there's some experienced offices from surrounding towns that would would like to work for the town of Westport so uh this would allow him to fill some of the positions that he does not have filled right now I think he has four four to six vacancies right now on the police police department um it also allows him to fill it with police officers that have already gone through the training if you bring somebody new here in town they go we're putting them through training and that's you know that could be a six-month process by the start to finish the only other couple of other minor things they had the vacation day for juneth and then uh for the police officers that have experience that come in from other towns after the first six months they would be granted 5 days vacation I think that's it yeah I think I was I was going to highlight the vacation one and the um The Residency one I just want to assure people the chief of police putting together the policy for take-home Vehicles the take-home Vehicles will not go home with officers or leaving Westport um the the vehicles will only be issued to people who are in Westport um that's largely what we talked about at the last executive session too that everything yeah I'll move it a second so we have a motion a second to um accept the memorandum of agreement with the Westport Police Association any further discussion all in favor I any oppose that's unanimous um 4E request to approve changes to special legislation authorizing the issuance of an all alcohol beverage liquor license not to be drunk on the premises package store to Gulf resources 63 for American Legion Highway Westport Mass want to explain this one Jim yes so this was authorized at town meeting in May uh the select board sent the request up to the um Senator's office as well as the representative office they have filed the bill as they were reviewing the wording they wanted to modify it slightly so if this this license could be transferred now but it would have to be transferred to the same property it could not be removed you couldn't transfer another property here in town um and that's pretty much it they just wanted the the board to reaffirm that wording um and they would get it through the process okay okay I'll move it a second Madam chair do we have any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous um as mentioned earlier um the auditor is not available tonight so we'll move the audit report to a different night anything you want to say that before we pass over that one dick uh no we uh the audit report uh is traditional that we do this the audit committee has already reviewed that with uh Anthony roselli of roselli and Associates the town auditor and he's going to probably give us a good report but it really is uh to give us the opportunity to ask any questions so it could there's no urgency to it and we're not under any pressure okay thank you um so 5B we have correspondents from the school committee regarding the use of the old high school and I'm going to invite um Evan gendro to come sit up here with us chair of the school committee um Jim you want to give us a little bit of background on this yes so the school department notified the town last week um that they will be officially we we've kind of discussed it over the last couple last month or so that they will be moving out of the building at the end of August this is the old high school uh for budgetary reasons and also to help them with some staffing um duplication and some of the other the other schools um they had I just put a quick little thing together here as far as where we are um I think the main concern is the insurance um once the insurance company determines that the building is not once the insurance company determines that the building is not occupied by more than 31% they consider it vacant and um I guess the insurance rates to sure that building can go up quite a bit we do not have a final figure right now we're paying about $86,000 this year year um with it being occupied with it being unoccupied uh he indicated it could go up as high as 200,000 but he did not um guarantee that number one way or the other but he seemed to think that it would be that would be at the higher end if he could ensure it um they've had some trouble in at least one other community on a um Community budding the water that they could not ensure the school that was vacant so we sent the information to them last week of of what the potential uses are I think that's in your packet you know we we suggested that you you're going to be used by four to 500 kids for basketball programs uh School Department's going to be using it for their maintenance uh they also have it there and some storage um they may have some some um enrichment type classes for the teachers that wasn't determined officially yet but that's a possibility we went over the use of the outside of the school with the fields that the fields will be used uh not only by the school department in the spring in the fall but also by uh some of the Town leagues um they still seem to think that it would not meet the requirements of being occupied and as we got into further discussions with this insurance company he questioned whether or not it would be considered occupied even as it is now so um I I I think we're in that that position as far as cost go that would that could be a potential you know roughly $100,000 difference and uh right now the school department picks up $50,000 of costs associated with utilities in the building mainly Heating and electrical um that they're looking to use that 50,000 for um other programs in the school so the the difference would be roughly you know 114 plus the 50 $164,000 um I'm hoping that would be at the high end um we did budget an additional $25,000 on the town side for their expenses um and we have two warrant articles from uh FY 23 and FY 24 FY 23 we have a balance of 135 and FY 24 we haven't tou touched yet so we have a balance of 100,000 so um if we had to this year we could probably get through um with those War articles as a backup next year will be a problem this this year is kind of a problem too but we do have some money that it was previously approved for expenses at the school well next year we could we could plan for it in the budget next year right or we'll be further along in the long-term building okay I don't know if I should have started with you but do you have anything you want to add or or include or thank you madam chair and Jim had a lot of the points that um I would mention um I think the original intent of the committee was you know going into that was to look at Cost savings for this would result in our budget roughly $90,000 and then allow us to support staff and our other buildings um I will note that I know the insurance has been a concern in the increase and the committee met uh in the middle of last week to discuss a potential alternative option if the if that cost comes in on the higher end where we could maintain a presence in the building um and you know our business office can work with us to find other places in our budget to cut um so the committee did meet uh on Wednesday to discuss another possibility if if you know we wanted to get a sense from the board because the committee trans or at town meeting the building was transferred over to the town um so I think you know the committee's intent from taking that vote was to to support staff and reduce that money in our budget but as I mentioned we are able to um develop the plan in the event that the insurance comes in higher and it would help to keep some staff there where we would keep our business office HR and our out of school time in the uh in the old high school building if that helps with the insurance so we don't I believe we don't have that number quite yet from the insurance company but um you know it gets tough with our timeline running up against the start of the school year to to made a move so I think you know just what the thoughts of the board are for the you know I think that would help inform the committee's decision for a final action on yeah I mean I think I mean I I'm only going to speak for myself but I think it's just the big unknown right if if it helps if we still have you there and saves the entire town money then we need to at least consider that um but if it doesn't matter anyway then it just that's the big unknown right right um I think we were all a little surprised it happened without time to properly plan the budget that way but I think I think that was a miscommunication between the boards I think you guys had been talking about it but it just didn't get bubbled up correctly so um does anybody have any thoughts or questions or Steve how about the feasibility of starting to move stuff from the annex if we need to to to save the insurance cost and we're not keep up with the anex stuff or people people the offices there I don't know all right kind I'm just wondering if there's an area that would be easily utilized to get offices in there that's all get people in right in guidance or whatever could probably be building and Etc I'm kind of waiting for the for the insurance company to they're supposed to come down and take a look at the building and what's being occupied now and what they consider 31% being occupied um it may not be enough even if we put town hall and the annex over there it may be I just don't know I'm hoping next week uh we can get some better answers from the insurance company so we don't have an we still use the bilding for elections too right yes that was noted in the letters you know the gymnasiums being used I mean I've been getting calls from from youth Athletics I believe I believe Little League's trying to get in front of us right now to resolve some some issues that that that they're coming across um you know again the public is saying that we need to keep this building and I and I think if the if the school committee you know like yeah the selectman having a control over it and that's kind of what's hurting your budget the selectman having control over the building but if if we could come up with something and say okay this is what your cost to keep your offices there is going to be so you wouldn't have to worry about running the whole facility if we're going to use it for other uses in town maybe we could we could keep you there as a tenant we just ran into the situation at at the annex with with a a pretty substantial planning board public meeting where we couldn't hold the meeting in fact you know not only not only the planning board staffs got to come in tomorrow all the residents that came down on the subdivision have to come in tomorrow I mean they were talking about putting it down in the in the in the gymnasium in the annex and then you know we we were told from that we can't live stream out of the gymnasium in the annex I don't even know if it's handicap accessible I don't you know does the AC work down there and I guess we've moved it to the to the library but how what's the capacity of the library does have anything to do with ites of the building I'm not talking about the use I'm asking a question to you does this have anything to do with the correspondence from the school committee about vacating the building we're not nobody's talking about because the correspondent vacating the building that's right we would like to keep them there if we could as a tenant we have a we have an Annex that we just had a meeting and we couldn't holde I totally understand that you'd like to keep him as a tenant that makes perfect sense I don't understand how other meetings is really maybe use the library there is that what you say no I'm I don't care the capacity of the library could I get that answer at the old high school no at the new high school I'm just worried about having another meeting tomorrow when all the volunteers on the planning board I totally get want to we have that that one closed down we got a facility that can that can I thought we're not discussing closing the building but I do appreciate the the part about the keep if we need to keep them men as a tenant because it's possible that it's financially better for us to even supplement their budget if if it's really like this maybe we do transfer 90 grand to them so they're even they still doesn't help them with their Staffing issue but it might come out better in the long run to do that like exactly what you're saying to keep them as a tenant that is absolutely well I think I had heard that they had costs on repairing heating systems and stuff that they can't absorb in their budget uh you know I mean is that that true there was some cost Associated would maintain in the building that how are you supposed to do that when your budget's yeah Jim contact me on that too actually Jim can you talk about what you've already um discussed on the utilities and the maintenance yeah so it's my understanding the school department is going to continue to oversee the building right so they would have their maintenance staff go through the building on a daily basis make sure the heating is working and you know pipes are flowing and that there's no issues um they're also going to use the fields for their athletic um events they were going to um anybody that was going to use the gym and so forth was going to go through the school department so they would kind of manage the building we would just end up picking up some of the additional costs so they C for that did you have more questions along that line Madam chair just if I could just to address uh the the uh use of facilities for athletics so that regardless of of whether the school department uh stays in the building or leaves um I spoke to our business office staff and and uh we plan on maintaining or continuing to maintain the the use of facilities for the gym for the basketball league and also the uh Fields both for Westport schools and for other leagues that that use those um and it would also be possible to hold elections in that building as well um so that would be that that wouldn't change under you know if the if the committee uh decided to go that way um but to the point that was raised on the 990,000 you know even if there was some flexibility on on the utility cost whatever it is you know the I know the Committees in a all well like all the town departments are in a difficult position with their budgets but if there was you know uh consideration for um any assistance with the utility cost I think that would that would uh be appreciated by the committee so to clarify one of the items that we looked at as an option was to mothball the building or S uh sell the building we have now taken both off the table for the time being which then following up on Manny Point what about redeploying some of the the the space that uh and the inadequacies of the space at the annex uh to put some of those departments and or functions at the uh the old high school I mean again I'm going to repeat what I said at the last meeting yanex is horrible in terms of customer service it's it's technically handicapped accessible but functionally practically it's not well we tasked the long-term building committee well we asked the when long-term building committees recommended that we um keep the building right yeah and so we need to charge the long-term building committee we need to specifically charge them with okay we told them we wanted directionally them to go to explore that moving into the building right and we wanted them to do that um and to tell us what they need to do that right do they need money for a consultant do they like what do they need in order to figure out how to how to do that work right so but tonight we're not talking about that so I don't know you're on the longterm building committee are you also on the L building so I don't know if you guys I think you lost your chair um because we did not reappoint Mr Thrasher and and we haven't met since that yeah so um I think I think we would need the long-term building committee to come back on on what to do that it'd be nice if we if we could get offices from from where the main office was down to guidance that seems to be an area that you would I haven't been there in a couple of years that that you would be easily transferable over and I thought you were going to relate to um you was in the library there for meetings which would make sense because we need to get air flowing in there I tried I tried saying that in in the in the meeting um at the annex and that's when they were pushing to go into the into the um basement in the gym but then they said they had to run that by Dana because she wasn't they weren't sure what was going on if it was being used and then I I guess you know cuz when we did have that walkth through in in the building um they said it was plug and go and and they could we could pretty much set up and run a meeting out of there um the board of Health's been using the cafeteria for clinics you get if you look at the nurses station it's perfect you get the building department you move the building department in there and Ralph can facilitate moving the rest of the rest of the offices in the annex over there and and I I mean just the money we've spent on the annex this year would cover maintenance costs that we had to high school I think the all these things were discussed in the long-term building committee meetings but it just doesn't seem to get here well the one the onetime use I don't have a problem with the onetime use things the occasional use the occasional meeting the occasional using the gym I still we still have a study that tells us if we move the town offices that we have to do significant renovation to the building and until somebody can show me something that says no actually we can just like move furniture and move them over there I I we are in receipt of a report that says we need to significantly renovate the building before we can just move the town hall over there so we need the plan for how to make happen Madam chair the plan to make that happen was to move the building inspector in there and the building inspector could facilitate all of that we we've never abandoned the building in the town and the offices from the from the school department are still there we just walked out of the building the the rest of the school stuff we we've had these meetings we've had these meetings that that Annex it's the exact way we moved into the annex except this building has I re we have a report that told us that it triggers a change of use and we have to comply with modern building codes now if somebody can come in and say no and this what you're saying the building inspector can come in and say can say that we don't have to we don't have to comply with Ada we don't have to comply with modern fire codes we don't have to uh have the accessibility if somebody says no we don't have to do any of that then sure let's put a plan together for what is it going to cost to move people over and let's put the plan together but the last I saw a professional evaluated the building and said it would trigger a change of use and so I really would like I would love it if somebody could deliver a report that says it's not a change of use and we can just move people that's so let's find out so I'm hoping that the long-term building committee can help us get the right person to give that report to tell us that Mr Thrasher joins the audience yes indeed so uh I just thought so I was listening on the way over here uh did want to make one point um Madam chair I am still the chair of the long-term building committee my term was actually a three-year term as an atlarge member not a not as a finance committee okay sorry my apologies yeah no worries um so the I guess the the the question that I would have for the select board is uh what is the charge going to be of the longterm building committee going forward and that was uh kind of the point of the presentation at the last meeting to determine what steps the select board would like the the committee to take at this point so I would ask that at some point in time in the near future that be put on as an action item yeah for for uh the bo walk through before we have a in I completely agree that we need to have that as an AC but tonight the discussion is about the the school committees uh intended use of the building and how we might be coordinating that but I absolutely as we said at the meeting we're here we we need to formally charge you with what exactly we want you to do so that you're able to go out and do that and I agree so so Madam chair can so can we table that for a few minutes since we don't have a lot on our agenda and under under the Liaisons for the Committees continue this discussion I understand that we're have for the school committee right now but could we continue this discussion I don't know what do you guys think you I I mean I don't know what we're going to talk about I think we should do exactly what I just said do a walk through and see what we think's feasible what what looks realistic the area I just talked about if you guys didn't go to West Bo you probably don't even know what I'm talking about when you go go in the offices down to guidance was an area where there was a lot of little offices yeah uh I think we should walk through see what looks feasible talk to Ralph see what maybe there's a number that triggers it uh that that we could go under to utilize it a couple officers like Manny says maybe the building inspector even planning or something there let's go look at the possibilities but first we need to go look at it Steve did you go you you I went to West no I know you oh sorry did you go to the walk through that you had no we weren't invited but your wife was there and she she she bring us through and I was really impressed and and I really think the rest of the board should go there I think Jimmy was there but the rest of the board should go there oh yeah times I I'm fine with reusing the building we need a plan I like I said we have a report that says it needs extensive renovation if we don't actually need that that's a very different story I disagree with the Rapport I I think it'd be better if we had a vision to walk through and say hey I'll give you my ideas as soon as we walk through hey we can do this there let's look at the library see if there's not mold of something growing by now because nobody's using it and it's rug and and books and wood so I agree that as well but would want to make sure our building inspector is with us so he's part of the discussion and and and and we don't just have to re re repeat what we discussed amongst ourselves with the building inspector so so Madam chicken we just have gym workout a they send us an email that we're all available posted 4: or 5:00 yeah see if see if uh what day Ralph can make it do you have any comments about that Mr threr uh I think it would be great to have another walkth through I will say that there there is indeed a report on file um I have had many conversations with individuals uh and Architects a couple architects who disagree with with that report so uh that's not to say you know that that's certainly not my area of expertise and I'll defer to to experts although I will say it probably would be worth getting more than one opinion on that um I do think it it was my it was certainly my my visual uh uh impression of the facility is is certainly the library would actually work very well for a setup uh with multiple offices or multiple uh you know a cubical style uh workspace uh and I feel like that might be possibly the first step in terms of moving offes is over quickly um so I know that the the discussion earlier we talking about the the change or the use percentage of the building as it is right now and the concern that even if there was no change in the school committee's or School Department's usage that the building would still not meet that standard that the insurance company has so um just kind of getting back if if to to what the the discussion with the uh with the school committee here I know Mr Jero chair uh definitely just mentioned that our timeline is running short here for the school committee and the school department so I I do have a question of the select board as to how quickly um either you know if we're just waiting on the insurance company or or you know trying to figure out you you had mentioned possibly uh finding $90,000 to help supplement the school committee's budget I'm just wondering what kind of timeline that any of that can be acted on because the uh the crunch is is real getting ready for the the school year at this point so well we couldn't supplement your budget but we could direct some of that town meeting warrant article money that we would spend for that we could do that right so it's not exactly giving the school committee money is like okay we' pay this bill for from that warrant article right right but um uh do you have an appointment with the insurance company yet I sent on the information the beginning of last week I'm waiting to hear back I was hoping to hear back Friday to hear back today so any day because really I think the question is does it make a difference in the cost of the insuring the building or the ability to ensure the building whether you stay there or not because I don't know if you heard the beginning you might not have enough of a presence there for it to matter anyway and then it it's move whether what you do one way or the other I think it only really comes into effect if they say oh if I don't know how many people you have over there but if the 20 people that you have over there stay then our insur it's 100,000 less then we would need to talk to you right but um I think I think we have to assume you're leaving as discussed and and you've negotiated the ability to use the fields and use the um courts right and or to help facilitate that um it sounds like that the only real thing is how much is it going to cost us and it sounds like we have a plan for that so and the schools are getting the funding now for the rentals right that going back to the general or the schools again yeah I think it was only like six or 7,000 it is still to them yeah but it you're probably covering custodial and and administration for that can expand on some of the after day school program I mean there's a there's a need out there for that stuff that can be expanded there right but from what I recall the lower level is is not handicapp exible at all the bathrooms have the still have the separate cold and hot from the 50s um I'm sure that wouldn't meet code but the first level off the top of my head I can't think of anything that would be an issue Ralph can point that out to us and see how feasible it is all right so how about let's do this so on the April April August the August 12 meeting let's put the long-term building committee on the agenda and that'll include charging them specifically with what we want to do and I'm pretty sure it's going to be super close to evaluate our options for moving the building and using them for Town purposes right I think that's going to be the charge but we'll have to discuss it we're going to walk through then also um preferably before the 12th of August um Jim is going to coordinate with I think you should coordinate with our board and the long-term building committee and we can invite the school committee if they want but um uh to tour the building and walk through it makes sense to me Madam chair yeah could could we also add to that that we we invite the building inspector and um during during our talks on the building committee we'd also reached out to um a couple of building inspectors in FL River who one of them actually lives in town um that would be willing to come in because they deal with this type of building more than more than Ralph does on mostly residential that would also possibly come to us during that meeting we could discuss these things as we walk through the building they saw I don't know how you guys feel about that it sounds like a good idea to me but yeah it's a good idea that's fine all right so you want to um let Jim know who you're talking about and we could invite are you okay with that I actually we can have Ralph Ralph knows him too so we can talk with Ralph see what he thinks Madam chair I want to come back to the insurance question the Jim any have questions uh Jim on this I just want to be clear we talk about the insurance company uh who are we talking about talking about Mi yes yes that's our insurance company at the moment they are captive insurance organization that handles municipalities but who is our broker do we have or do we have a broker or they do they double as a broker to go out into the market to get deal directly with them yeah I know but suppose we want to have alternative quotes for insurance do we have a broker who can do that for us and is it is do they did they handle such they will handle that so he's going to go out and get quotes from I guess independent insurance companies and get back back to us yeah because you know I was in this business for 43 years and it's it's funny the way these things often go but when you go out and get other quotes all of a sudden the Dynamics change and people say well let's reconsider well maybe it's we can find a way or maybe we can do it for a price or maybe have an increased deductible whatever but if we do that that that puts some pressure on our MIAA who is the provider at the moment and they're a little bit of a conflict though because if they're representing us then they they're going out and getting quotes that that's sort of like in their it's not their best interest necessarily I mean I don't I don't know how that really works because I haven't run into one of these before I I know what captive insurance companies are I know what insurance companies are and I know what agents and Brokers are this seems to be sort of a hybrid and I'm just wondering is is there anybody out there right now maybe you've answered it already that's see aggressively seeking alternative quotes for us now even if the price is unacceptable only through the Mia yeah could look elsewhere though I you know I didn't to be honest with I hadn't thought about that so that's something yeah because some of these Brokers the big ones uh the Martian mcclinon of the world and others I'm not lobbying for any of them they have enormous resources and they they have hundreds of companies they do business with standard companies non-standard companies Lloyds of London reinsurance companies I mean there are there are a lot of those people can bring a lot of uh Firepower to the table and but it could also open up opportunities for us so I wouldn't want to lose sight of that and if you want me to be part of that process I'd be glad that would be great I was just going to ask you if you could help it by his gy on y okay I'll we'll talk okay and thank you very much dick because that's that's how that industry works yeah know one of one of my other concerns would be like the buildings that we are the other buildings that we're insuring you're worrying about insuring that building when they look at the anex I mean people we we're going through this right now every everybody's a property owner here you know what's happening with your house insurance and they're calling up and like when you when you you know I'm I have some different real estate and if they they look at the roof and they'll say you know we can't enjo you we're going to drop you I mean if if anybody looked at the annex and you know we you got a non-compliant septic we just lost the well you got a daycare in the basement it backed up twice last year sewage into the basement you're talking about the the facilities at the at the old high school look at the facilities in that basement that we get over there I mean we if you're looking at that's a reason why we're not moving into the new high school we got we got bigger problems than what we're using right now all right so I think we have a plan for some next steps regarding the um so I think the school committee you just need to do your thing that you're plan on I don't think we've heard anything that we're going to get any news that we saying it changed whatever you already planned so um thank you for continuing to work with us on that thank you is there anything else on this topic we should cover before we well I'd like to just add one more thing on it the school committee's feeling is if if we could make it work You' you'd prefer to stay there wouldn't you not sure if it's a preference to stay there but we're we're certainly willing to if if our presence there uh is assisting with the increased costs then then the committee I think is open to that okay thank you thank you anything else go ahead I was just G to just to augment what what chairman jro said there I think that the committee has decided there are certain positions who are currently located in the old high school that are going to move to the middle high school and one to the one to the maer as well are just student facing uh so at least one of the M I believe right or any case basically student facing uh and academic oriented administrative positions are going to be moving uh to to better assist the staff at the uh the schools um but as far as the the business department and the it and whatnot that's still that's still on the table to perhaps leave thank you thank you okay thank you uh next item on the agenda is the town water billing update JY so just super quick background for those who've not been following this um we have an agreement with the city of ball River to purchase water water from them that we then resell to about 100 homes um in the north side of um town the uh number several years ago which I'm sure Jim can tell us exactly several years ago uh we were in dispute with the amount of the bill between the city and the town um at some point after that we installed different meters we were back on track but there's a period of time where there is a dispute between what Fall River is saying that we owe them for water and what we think we owe for water so all the current stuff is aligned but this is kind of trying to wrap up that La that that final part of the agreement so you want to tell us where we are yes so in general we've I've been meeting with uh Paul Fillin over at the Department of Community utilities over Fall River probably about a year and a half now um going back and forth with spreadsheets numbers reviewing the billing um we have not been able to come to reach an agreement as to what I think we owe and what he thinks we owe um so about 3 weeks ago ago we City administrator um became involved we sat with him on two different occasions um in general the original bill was up around $1.7 million I think they're down to about 650,000 at this point and I think the the town owes anywhere from zero up to maybe 150 200,000 so so what happens is just a brief explanation is the water comes from Fall River at the Town Line they have a meter and they read it on a monthly basis um we have three blowoff meters and then we have our customers so we blow off significant amount of water on a monthly basis and in the summer we blow off more to keep the contaminant levels in the water lines low because we just don't not have a lot of uses yet so there's an agreement with for river that we should not be getting build for the water that we blow off um and if if that's the case then like over the last three years as we've been monitoring it better um we have a difference of about anywhere from 3 to 6% roughly in um difference between what they meter in Fall River and what we charge our users which is actually very good um you know you could have a small leak you could have somebody whose meter isn't working properly so over the last 30 months we've been on it we've been reconcile on a monthly basis and and we're good um my position my feeling that we should be paying uh close to what the customers use because the only other place where that water could go unless we had a leak and we didn't have any reported leaks and this is a period from 2016 halfway into fiscal year 22 so you're looking at a a six seven year uh period of sixy year period of time um if you use those numbers uh for we're pretty close to uh we're pretty much paid up um for river is looking at it this way they're saying listen we have a meter in fall river right on the line we don't know where the water goes it wasn't regulated properly maybe your meters if the blow-offs were too small and not recording uh the blowoff properly um there was some reconciliation issues between both Westport and Fall River so so there's a number of a number of different things that could cause the discrepancy um but it's their position at this point right now that um based on the the readings from Fall River and the readings that Westport gave to Fall River on the blowoff meters over those six years um we would owe them roughly $650 some, $675,000 um so we we're still working with them I just wanted to update the board um they seem willing to work with us um we just haven't reached an agreement yet thank you I know you had a lot of questions so we do have the number of what we built to customers and what we got paid yes and that's in our favor right yep I mean I I think could we move forward with something like that say listen this is what we build the customers this is what we got paid this is this is what we used and whatever the difference you know see how quickly we can get them paid and put this behind us that it's kind of what I often if we go directly by that we really don't owe them anything I think we need to kind of move forward in that direction um try to get this done that's what I've been pushing I mean there's fault both right there's fault with Fall River there's some fault with Westport um stuff should have been reconciled years ago um I think full River was the you know it was easy for them to just say we'll just keep billing you you work it out they and they were doing interest all that other stuff so and I mean it's kind of like with us too if somebody doesn't pay their taxes we charge them interest and we want to get paid that so I mean that they're kind of if they're going to wave that I mean that's big if we can come to a number that's in agreement and just let's let's stop going back and forth and let's let's put this down I I then we just put out the the maal loop to bid right so we're looking to buy more water from them I mean they need customers too so you know maybe we we can get this in the negotiation have to talk about it next year it's not like Jim has been negotiating so do you have a recommendation for a different approach I've been involved in it since the beginning M okay when I know but you said you said come to agreement he tell on the planning board and we and we developed the infrastructure oversight committee I was involved in it then wasn't a selectman at time and I notified Mr wette about that at that point so we're talking four years we've been about this that's why I'm saying if we can get it let's get it done I just made that recommendation get it done is not a recommendation they're 300 the recommendation is okay this is what the number is make the offer putting and writing and let's say if they refuse it then we know where we're going it's not oh we're in we're we're we're in this meeting we're in that meeting I mean I was at the meeting before I mean nobody told me about this last meeting I mean I would like to been president of that meeting maybe I can help and give some insight in it long time coming have there been any written not a rumor we've not had any written u respon i I've sent correspondence based on what I think we owe and and um some documentation as to why um I have not received anything written yet from Fall River um so it sounds like Manny what you're suggesting is a more formal this is the the offer on the table is that what you're suggesting well when when I the meeting that I was at was pretty formal was it not Jim yeah we had quite a group there all right Steve you were at that we were all at yeah yes it was pretty formal I thought you and I thought the mayor had given us you know a couple of weeks to get this resolved and we're like months after this that's I'm just I'm just asking why it's not resolved that's all and if it's their fault or whatever but I mean I wasn't I wasn't president at this last meeting so I don't know I wasn't either Oh I thought that's what you were talking about oh yeah can we just find that out I mean and there there are other circumstances Jim like the fire department uses it and there was a construction company they caught using it without a me or something so there are some things on our end that weren't before you got here that that was uh some weird circumstances that we probably owe something for so yeah he's probably right let's let's put it something together cuz I think another thing too is we got blowoff meters that they blown them off in pits yeah but you know I've noticed Route Six being blown off that's not in a pit so we might have had usage that way too flushing yeah all right was it clear to you on your next step here so not quite sure um I think there's a few things that we need to do right or that we'd like to get from Fall River we'd like to get this resolved right um we'd like to get a new agreement with Fall River uh free town in tient are paying 15% Less on the rates than Westport is um so we'd like to get the same rates that they're doing now we'd also like to get uh they they put a limit on these other agreements so right now we get anywhere from we use 26,000 to about 29,000 cubic feet um per year um and then what they do after a certain amount instead of charging us 70% over the um water rates from for River they only charge 5% over the water rates after the certain amount so we'd like to get that in the agreement as well they've also questioned the waterline extension U whether or not they've have approved that um I think they're okay with that we're still under our current agreement we're allowed 100,000 gallons a day which is about 50 ,000 CCF a year we're only using 26 to 29 so I believe we're okay under the common agreement um I don't think they're looking to stop us they realize the benefits of it um so I think uh they're in favor of that but it would be nice to get that been trying for a long time to get that in writing so so it sounds like it sounds like Manny you thought you were on the negotiating team here um from before right and sounds like you would like to be involved in the negotiation with Jim it my I don't want to put words in your mouth but yes okay so can you include you can set up another meeting and include Mr sace okay anything else on that one no just so we he's right we should make amends because if we want to extend it they're not they're not going to sign until they already said that well I'm sure they would be happy to take $675,000 from us right now I mean I'm sure that would be they would have been happy to take the 1 million something with interest but you know like again like I said when people owe you money and you don't pay you're charging interest all right so it gives us a reason why we need to just not Kick the Can down the road all right so yeah just to be we've been pushing I know's been pushing right along yeah we've been really trying to get this result like you said before you got here he did mention it four years ago and and our previous administrator didn't move forward okay anything else on that the Town Administrator reports just a couple of updates East Beach Road we talked about earlier has been paved the highway department did a nice job with that they they did much of the work themselves and they subbed out the paving actually came out very nice we've had a couple of complaints about speeding now the chief put down um he had some patrols down there over the weekend monitoring the speeding and he'll do that on occasion when he can and when the staff is available um requests for proposals we sent uh three requests out last week one for inspectional services for the maber loop water line those are due it says August 5th here but that's changed to August 8th um 7 Cemetery management system we put out a request for proposals the website that we're currently using now was uh done by volunteers to and um I think it was paid aort uh at the time by CPC so they've been kind of updating that and monitoring it it's outdated software isn't being um updated anymore or being um supported so we need to go out for a new system I'm just on that too we have preliminary design plans of the next two sections um the some materal that have been completed so those should be final design should be completed in the next month or so um American Legion building uh this is Tony vie's been working on this project but we put the proposals out uh last week with uh bid openings due August 15th that's for siding new back deck they have a handicapped chairlift that was donated um they're going to do some decks and Highway Department was over there last week doing some regrading around the building um so there's quite a bit of work to be done or that will be done if this proposal goes through um Maca neighborhood sewer design I just wanted to update the board probably at about 50% design right now maybe a little bit more um I suggest that we we've gone this far we might as well finish it up to the 100% design I don't know if we have to go out for the for the bidding assistance um and project Administration cost so we might be able to reduce their contract a little bit if the board is okay with that we would still have the 100% design but um we still got some work before the sewer water gets up that area Jim on that well like you know that's a great idea we get the design and then maybe we can look for some grants we don't have to you know we can pursue the grants if Design's good what about the amendment to remove the bidding assistant and the project admin about that okay I mean you're going you're going to you still you're still going to have the project admin for the ma Loop for the water that's what what you just put out for an RFP so that's fine Route Six Pump Station easements um I had conversations with the two property owners in that first section uh 35 State Road and was a 287 State Road um there was a concern with 35 State Road that they're pretty much I want to say they're pretty much I believe they're in favor of the land takings but they did mention and we ran into this when we were looking at betterments early on there's only two ways you can do it according to the law the unit method and there's another method by using Frontage and it doesn't account for people that have already tied in um um so the question was because their business and hotel are already tied into the sewer if we put a pump station in and eventually put sewer in front of their property why would they have to pay an additional betterment if their property's not being bed at that at that time the only way around that would be to do special legislation which a number of communities do and you can kind of change the betterment formula to address um unique situations like this um so that when you mean special legislation this lman could work that out yes so yeah I you know I would I would say that was that's a plus I mean this is the this is the company that bring the sewer into town already and and they have capacity in the line that we're replacing that's for the whole North End so and they have they have existing capacity that could be used for the commercial right now but because we moved forward with designing for the residents out that way yeah I I mean I I would definitely push that the select board do any kind of leg EX solation for that company that already bring the sewer in and is going to give us an that could be put into their easement possibly so that they wouldn't have any cost to that I could definitely agree with that and I don't think we have to I don't have any problem with the concept I you know the concept is fine I I just want to the special legislation has to be a request from town meeting to the state right this is not select board it's a good question you know some of the suici it probably does um I the property owner was looking for was just a willingness from the select board to consider it and look into it um that I mean it makes a lot of sense to me but I I just think from from a practical way I think it would if it is special legislation I'm pretty sure it would have to be town meeting to authorize us to ask the legislature I don't think we can just draft it but I think weft for we would yeah can we ask Town Council for this this is kind of sign yeah okay yeah the other two easements uh the appraisals he was on site last week for the other two easement in the other section um they met with the prais met with one of the property owners who was not in favor I I received a call last week of hean being taking and she indicated that she was going to oppose it um so we may want to consider that once we get the appraisals in we can take a look and um go forward with that the commit the board had recommended that we at least go forward with the appraisals at this point and I don't think we made any other and and I I got calls from three of the four pump station locations um and I and I think that's what we need to do is once we have the appraisals get them involved in in what the process actually is so they can understand it uh Town Hall Annex well the 24-hour pump test was completed last weekend uh it went well that paperwork was submitted this week uh was submitted Friday um and um so far the test have come back tests have come back good the water quality is good I it has some iron and manganese uh somewhat the most Wells here in town but overall uh the pump test was good and the uh water quality has been coming in good so we hope to get approval from the state within the next month or two Westport Housing Authority I met with um Paul deel he's adabor Housing Authority they've taken over management of the Westport Housing Authority property Somerset was doing it for years some said is out at this point and adabo has taken that over um yeah we'll see what happens um old high school insurance we we've discussed that so that's that's it uh well just one more thing over the Hicks Bridge Landing um our exit runs over the abing property they were concerned about liability we're trying to work out a license agreement now that would cover the liability so that people can exit that way but we don't have a final agreement yet it would have to come before the board as well um so right now they've kind of closed that off until we can get that done I thought we had some we didn't we don't have anything on file with that maybe it was just a quote unquote Gentleman's Agreement because that came up years ago okay so we're not that we're not able to use that any longer they got it blocked off on us right now they have it blocked off because they're working on a new design and that we looking to utilize that area too right and and they've been in favor of the Town acquiring an an easement over that property but until that can be done we had looked at a possible license agreement so that we could kind of accept liability at least provide liability insurance through the town for for our use um but we haven't reached that agreement yet um I did see that that plan has been before um didn't come before us too right yeah I was going to say I thought it was in the works that's it that's all I have Jim um minutes for June 177 I reviewed them and they're fine moving them what you moving them oh yeah I move approval admin 17 any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous report on the bill warrant okay Madam chair uh there are no bill warrants in the uh package and there was a reason for that because we had to redo some of this there was an error made not in the individual items but in the totals and this & from the fact that there were two piles of warrants that needed to be reviewed this time it's year end so there was a sheet for yearend 24 fiscal year $800,000 that was fairly cut and dried but then we've got big bills in for the uh for July for the first month of fiscal year 25 and they total to $6 million um but the number simply didn't add up but the individual items we're all okay was just doing that and Joanne in the accounting office was to produce a new document and I actually had to come in back the next day to sign it but it didn't get to you pauler I guess but anyway everything was in order there were some interesting parts to it though because of the beginning of the fiscal year we had big items such as the Bristol County retirement fund contribution to that was 3.5 million it's a one once a year thing I guess and there was some other ones here's one that'll that'll get everybody's interest property insurance 519,000 um so we have to work on that there was debt retirement in there for the fire station school and the Westport Elementary School roof $476,000 employee benefits of a miscellaneous kind $489,000 in school payroll was 684 th000 so it was was a big month it was busy we got it done so I regret we don't have these few to look at but trust me there and now I are correct and done thank you next time I'm going to call you all right uh on reports we start with you um pretty pretty much we we covered most of the stuff I was on um other than the infrastructure oversight committee I mean Jim I I guess the water main Loop went out to bid and bids are due when middle of August I believe and then the other thing was just on on the select board I mean the select board did did vote to um move uh Bob dalor and myself to remain on the infrastructure oversight committee and then we did have that we did have that meeting where we were at capacity in the town hall and we had to postpone it till tomorrow if you did you move it to where did you move it to well it's moved to the to the um Library the library at the high school not which that's why I was asking what the capacity of that was we the library at the the new high school oh the new high school library not the not the Westport Public Library oh sure it's not the yeah the Westport Public Library Westport Public Library yes also it's the public is at the Town public library in the Mansion the mansion room at the Town Public Library what's the capacity on that I don't know it's when couple sections here yeah cuz they I had three different meetings there a couple weeks ago and they were each in a different room well well that was the problem there was we were at capacity in our room and we tried moving them in some people into where we could stream into another room and we couldn't get them to move that's happened here before we had to have them down the hall anything else okay uh no we had fun at the fair this week didn't we it was they got they must have made some nice money because the weather cooperated um we had a Sur meeting Jim uh whiten is uh like second in charge now so he ran that so westports uh kind of dominating serad which is a good thing for us we'll get more stuff done um I have had some calls even though it doesn't pertain to us it's more police department on fire work still lasting forever like they were going off to whatever 10:00 last night so if people would just have some consideration for their neighbors it's we're way past 4th of July I hate to mention it because they probably make it worse tonight they probably go to midnight but it is it is concerns for seniors that are in bed at 8:00 and getting shaking out of bed in the middle of the night especially in the north end up near us um wonder what the vend diagram is of the people who might be tuned into this meeting who are also setting up fireworks you just had somebody run here from home so so it's out there but yeah just people could have a little consideration for their neighbors there's really this there really seems to be a lot more big mortars this year and it's been really dry lately so people are seriously a little concerned with their uh their property and their roofs with this dryness um otherwise than that I know our uh Public Safety uh the calls are still out a lot we maybe we could have each meeting how many calls are going on because it's been crazy um and it doesn't seem to be calming down so um you know we appreciate they everything they do for the town between Highway and Public Safety we've been really jamming I had asked the um I talked to the chief um Chief Dunn not that long ago about um coming before the board occasionally like maybe twice a year CU I think they have some really good numbers to tell us and he seems a lot more willing than maybe the former the former Chief didn't really love coming to see us no just got to be Capital we'll get a swamp cuz every neighborhood right now wants people to slow down so everybody it's bad you know even even down the head where they got so many uh stuff already there they still want more so it's touchy it's it's dangerous out there thank you but they they get a lot of calls I think people don't really appreciate that no yeah we do have crime here unfortunately and they they're busy um there was a climate resilience committee meeting on Thursday I was not able to attend um there's working on the different um subcommittees reporting in um so uh to put together a a big proposal um the internet advisory committee didn't meet but um David Cole and Keith Novo were working working on um the Massachusetts Broadband Institute had a challenge out where they were looking for residents to um basically is are the cable companies providing the speeds that um the residents are actually receiving and um it was very difficult to comply with I know Keith and David tried really hard to comply with getting like samples of this inter speed be nuts too yeah it was it was the the kind of the Hoops you had to jump through cuz you couldn't just take a do an internet speed test and then take a screenshot it was more complex than that so we didn't get a lot of participation um in uh but David and Keith did work pretty hard on it Keith is finalizing a grant now right I think he's finalizing the paperwork for another Grant um so we'll see what comes of that but um that's all on my Madam chair so on that interet on the grants so what's the status of your tickle Road Project believe that's the grant that the uh contract just came in from the state to be signed not 100% sure I saw the paperwork today I didn't read through it so I mean that's moving forward to construction it hasn't started yet but I'll get it we'll we'll have a meeting and I'll get an update tickle 177 I don't know I just so then we match 50,000 Opa money for a grant yeah did building Broadband down tickle Road tickle Road for that Loop for that other loop the Western Loop are are there any residents tied into any of the loops in town now no they're not intended for end users they're intended to be Loops for future um that was all I had mam chair just nothing really here to report I have been attending the meetings of the landing commission we have a meeting tomorrow the audit committee we talked about the Council on Aging I attended their July meeting nothing that we need to know about at the present time and the Bristol County Commissioners they have their annual meeting to approve the budget in August so I'll be attending that it's usually a remote meeting so there's nothing really to report but uh I'm keeping busy that Aggie is looking good now with all those new buildings oh yeah I'm not too thrilled about paying for them but it looks good okay uh the affordable housing trust has met since the last meeting we uh have released an RFP for the cab program which is an sort of a a resid ual program that was created under a grant we got a number of years ago from the State Community Development block trft program and functions as somewhat of a loan program we're H to provide up to we've been doing this all along and we're going to be um the RFP I think is to be issued probably on the I think Wednesday Wednesday Thursday of this week the other RFP that we're going to be doing but we have not uh released yet is for um potential Parcels that could be developed for up to 30 units of affordable housing um we don't know of any sites because there are rumors about that but they are not true but we are looking for proposals from potential developers who might have Parcels or aware of parcels and be looking at a partner in terms of investment in that and we do have some set aside funds from Community uh partnership uh CPC funding um I do I also uh just want to bring up we have had a number of complaints um about some what people are describing as offensive signs that people have in their yards using language that your mom wouldn't want you using um but I just want to reiterate we've looked into this multiple times free speech is Free Speech people are allowed to put um banners and words and signs on their own private property we we do not have any authority to remove those signs uh we just don't and unless they're impeding traffic or causing a public safety hazard there we have no authority to remove those and I don't like them either and I know there's one in particular really hurting a local business and um I really feel for them business because it's not their fault but there's really nothing we can do yeah um so I know people don't like to hear that but that is where we are um we don't have anyone from the public here to make comment or a statement I do want to remind people um that if you've just been newly appointed to a committee you need to go get sworn in if you haven't done that already and then um if anybody's interested in a vacancy uh produce uh let us let us know if you interested in serving on the committing I do have a topic um that didn't make the agenda because I forgot PA so um with the passing of Steve Souza uh we lost our Cemetery Foreman um so I approved um Jim posting We are required it's in the union position so we're required to post internally first so I did approve um Jim posting the internal posting so I don't know are there any days left on that I think we have a couple of days left so we have a couple of days on the internal posting um so once that is uh if if we don't get any do we have any candidates that have we do have one that's interested yes maybe two actually from in house okay so we'll proceed with whatever we do um so if we have two internal candidates then we don't need we we won't be posting outside yet right we would we would disposition the two internal candidates first okay correct it's three weeks you don't think we need a motion till our next meeting a motion for what to allow him to post just because there's such a big gap until our next meeting so so right now um the existing one of the employees because of the Union contract can move up in as an interim no no I I I'm just asking if you you feel comfortable with it just because of the Gap if we need we should vote yeah are you saying are you suggesting do we need a motion to to allow Jim to post if necessary the position okay yeah we can do that within the guidelines of 48 hour all right I'll do that uh allow Jim to post if necessary the cemetery uh position Cemetery for second all right any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous so we you've got the internal posting we'll start that process and then um if necessary he can post externally um we do have an executive session we're going to come into open session just to adjourn um there won't be any uh further business I do want to remind people August 12th is our next meeting so it's 3 weeks from today um I will entertain a motion pursuant to the provisions of Mass general Law chapter 38 section 21A chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect to a discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining Westport permanent firefighters Association local 1802 and B approved minutes of June 17 2024 uh so St W let Richard Brewer second can I have a question before we close out yes Jim we won't we wouldn't be possible to vote on that um if I if I a thing tonight we're going to put it off that we'd have to put on the regular contract but we could have a special meeting if if need be okay if the if the chair is just cuz we closed out another couple of others that's all in again the Gap okay all right um I I I sh iish Brewer i c