##VIDEO ID:zwSA0zL_o4A## and I call the meeting to order will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I flag United States of America good evening welcome to the Monday September 23rd 2024 meeting of the Westport Select board under Mass General Law chapter 3 a section 20f this meeting is being recorded um we are sad that we have to acknowledge the passing of two Westport Legends this week um we uh would like to acknowledge the passing of Gary mock um Gary mock was 80 passed away on Sunday at St Elizabeth's Hospital he was the husband of Patricia mock um he he uh has resided in Westport since 1975 he was an electrical engineer he loved the town of Westport and gave his support to many organizations in town over the years he had a solar power generation business with projects in town throughout New England Gary passionately served the community of Westport as a member of the finance committee for nine years as a member of the select board for three years and numerous other meeting committees and planning groups people that met Gary knew where he stood on all things while reputed to be stubborn this is from his obituary I'm not making this up while reputed to be stubborn on some issues he was a loyal friend to many and could be counted on to help any friend in need his heart was as big as his personality to many he was simply Gary but to the family and to close friends he was big paw and we have a list of the Committees he served on for Westport he was on the select board from 7 27 2007 to 2010 the finance committee from 1994 to 2003 the energy committee um from 2009 to 2010 the fire station building committee from 2007 to 2009 storm water management program committee 20072 2008 joint Transportation Planning Group um 2007 to2 2008 Capital Improvement planning committee 2008 to 2009 so we' like to extend our condolences to the mock family anybody want to say anything about Gary Mo yeah oh I think we all knew Gary and the finance committee when I first went on the finance committee he took me aside and told me how to do a better job and his advice was well taken he was really very sincere just like it says in the the obituary and uh you will be missed all right so again our condolences to his family we'd also like to acknowledge the passing of Thomas Hancock Thomas Hancock passed away on September 18 after a prolonged illness he has survived by his wife of 68 years Beverly his daughter Debbie and son-in-law Dave his son Dwayne and daughter-in-law law Cheryl three grandsons and his sister uh Tom was born in December 18 1933 at Westport Point he was a 35-year employee of the raon company serving North dton and walam for many years Tom served the Westport little league as coach manager and umpire he was a member of the Westport HIgh School Hall of Fame for many years Tom and his family enjoyed going to Boston Red Sox spring training in Winter Haven Florida Florida um during Tom's retirement as chairman of the route 88 action committee he worked with a group of determined volunteers who were responsible for the installation of the Jersey barriers on Route 88 some people might not remember there were a lot of accidents before those Jersey barriers were included so um again our condolences to the to the Hancock family does anybody want to I believe he was a parcking volunteer wasn't he he also helped us with the parking down the beaches but no he was a great guy and he put a lot of effort into what he did it be missed else right so some sad times in Westport we loss of some some great West Porters um now I have a time for a public hearing I just want to point out if anybody is here for the public hearing um for partners Village Store that one's being continued so we is that right so the partners Village Store we are not going to hear tonight we're going to continue that to October 7 um I'm assuming you're here for the first one but I just want to in case anybody was just hanging out for that one um we're going to skip over that one um so we have a public hearing um and the relevant parties can come forward application from the packu in for an on premise section 12 all alcoholic beverage license for packu Inc doing business as the packu in located at 2056 Main Road in Westport um you want to who whoever is representing she doesn't have to she doesn't want to but if she's going to answer a question she needs to be at a mic and you do need to switch the mic to on when you're ready to thank you thank you thank you I'm sure you'll all be shocked to know we don't usually have this many people in attendance can you please introduce yourselves uh good evening my name is Chad Yates I'm the attorney for the in okay thank you and I'm Brenda figuro inkeeper yeah now we figured out that sometimes when they're both on there's a problem but did you hear me though we did you're R fig you maybe have one is that okay yeah just turn one of them off there we go okay one thank you so you want to tell us what we're what we're here for today yeah yeah good evening um we're asking that the select board tonight Grant a liquor license for a well established Inn I'm sure you're all familiar with it down at the West Point Point um really what with the letter and I just want to sort of just jump right into what's going on here tonight um there was a previous letter uh for a liquor license granted from this board on July 30th 2018 um and what happened there was a lapse during Co and it's really nobody's fault I mean Co was happening I know there's a lot of change in staff at the Town Hall um as well as the client submitting a check to the town and now we're just trying to correct that um so as you can see I mean nothing's changed as far as the in um we can address you know it's the history of it um in's been a commercial business for over a 100 years or more um it predates any zoning laws established here in 1957 and it's well established as a commercial um place for an inn a restaurant as well as a bar as long as anybody can remember here in Westport um it's well loved as a part of the community as you can see the turnout tonight with everybody here um as you can see by the people here tonight they'll all speak to that later I'm sure to address how it's a a great well- loved establishment in the Westport Community um in addition um just to address septic issues uh it does have a passing title if septic that hasn't changed from when you previously granted this liquor license back in 2018 um the water was it's on well it's been tested tested annually by the owner again nothing's changed as far as when you approved it prior um the liquor license has no violations um onor license it's a corporation in good standing the fire and safety um no no complaints there uh there's been annual inspections it's all been approved for a capacity of 44 and it's passed every time so there's been no violations as far as fire and safety is concerned um parking it's better than it was actually p back in 2018 um the parking lot's been paved it's also has clearly marked parking spots which even back in 2018 that wasn't the case now it is today um in addition um uh you know we were looking for a liquor license it was gr another chapter um 140 in the state chapter before um really what we're doing is just trying to figure out um how to move forward with this situation where it's lapsed we address that but as you can see back in July 30th 2018 we did it was approved by this board and we're just asking for the board to approve it again thank you I'm so I just have a couple questions um so we we were receed of a lot of material about this and we have a whole bunch of background information we have a bunch of letters I'll read the names of the people that sent letters one way or the other but um so my understanding is that um the according to the uh director of Public Health that the septic system was designed and approved for nine bedrooms and there's some concern about additional 79 seats for the the club being um needing more septic capacity so can you just talk about that 79 seats it says um the septic system is designed and approved for nine bedrooms the proposed additional 79 seats for a Club Lounge would require an upgrade of the septic can maybe you talk about the proposed occupancy of the build of the club well um right now we've been approved for 44 per the inspection um so I mean there could be some outdoors involved um there's also wedding events that might happen outside um they bring in their own vendors um also I mean you could speak to this Brenda probably your own port septic porta potties in those absolutely in those types of situations so you know as far as annually goes you might see 44 people there but again it's it's a small quaint in at the end it's always been there um I mean we back in 2018 there wasn't a septic problem there it's the same septic system um we're not looking to increase the occupancy in any way we're just to we're just looking to keep the well established place that's been a member of the community for a long time and can you talk a little bit about um I don't I think we were looking for hours can you do you have hours of operation um right now I'm running 5 to 8 uh 5 to 8 o' like all the all Monday or Sunday through Saturday or no right now it's two days a week we'll do more later but right now it's just those if it was approved what was your intent to hours about it has part of the license we have to say the hours okay then probably let's just say five days a week and the same hours no we we don't we're more like a I get it we have to have it we have to have this so are are you talking are you talking like Tuesday through Sunday or something let's say Tuesday through Sunday or Wednesday whatever Wednesday through Sunday okay Wednesday through Sunday Tuesday we like Tuesday because nobody is available okay only time of the week um and then uh the I'm sure you're aware there is some concern that um so our notice that we got from the building department so the building inspector the zoning um enforcement officer um he talks about the increase in seating would require approval from historical commission and zba um because the establishment is pre-existing non-conforming use so are you saying that you're not intending to increase the seating absolutely so we we're not we're not going to increase the seating we're just asking for the the established practice as as we've had it okay no increase those are the questions I had and just so everybody understands how we're going to go here we're going to address any kind of questions from the board um and the board discussion from the board I'm going to read a list of people who sent in letters of support or um a opposition and then we can have people talk but I would really recommend you keep it short um if you're going to talk because there's a lot of people but anyone on the board could you just clarify they said five days but they said Tuesday through Sunday that'd be six days Yeah Tuesday through so we going for six six days or 5 days five days so Wednesday through Sunday so Wednesday or you want Tuesday I thought Tuesday Thursdays Tuesday through Saturday sat okay Tuesday through Tuesday through Saturday 5 to 8 p.m. 5 to 8 p.m. so just just a well it's not going to turn to a nightclub till 2: a.m. well you don't have to you don't have to operate all of those hours I don't think but you can't operate outside of those hours okay good okay any yeah so um it's a pre-existing non-conforming use that only your license just lapsed and that's what you're coming to do so you're not what were your operating hours before um the lior license laed but the the operating license did not the hotel license was not lapsed it was just the liquor license and with the liquor license performing use has been continuous since 1987 and and the liquor license um so what was your oper how was our operation on the original license they were the same okay yeah because I would just say you wouldn't want to restrict you any more than what you had before because what I'm seeing is just an oversight right I mean it's and basically during co co gave gave you some room for I mean I think if it lapsed during Co you can we just clarify when the liquor license lapsed this is a good question um I didn't open during Co so around August of that year um I came I called the ab or doy called the abcc and we asked if we could reapply or whatever you know just reup it in August they said there wouldn't be a problem as long as I sent the paperwork in which I did and then I went to town hall with the check for the license uh the town part of the license and that was last I heard of it and so I just assumed that when I gave them the check I said to the secretary if there's a problem give me a call I never heard anything and so that was that so my understanding is that the license lapped in 2020 at the end of 2020 is that sounds correct that would be right I think that's right so any any operations after that fact were not license so it's been four years since you've had a valid license at the location so it did lapse and I understand there's you know covid and wherever there was a mixup but um it isn't like it just lapsed and we're extending it it lapsed quite some time ago yeah but so the co extend s have they expired I'm yeah I mean we're still following some Co rules I mean so they're all they're all expired there's no extensions on the co so her time is up the co extensions rela to liquor licenses just had to do with um having alcohol outside and some seaing well this is a liquid license in a bed and breakfast business so I I I mean I'm just trying to get the point somebody has um somebody has something playing all people can't hear in a b somebody has something playing if you could please check your devices anybody point to where it is okay um all right anything else from the board y u I'd like to ask a question of the council here the the lior license that expired was that the so-called Club license uh correct it was a club license and this is a request for an all alcohol beverage license no it's related to the hotel so it's it's been in a hotel and as long as anybody can remember it's it's related to that license here um there's a previous Club license but um the there wasn't any more licenses available um that was per the Town Administrator that provided for so we're just we're just asking for the hotel license because that's what she's been doing any I'm a little bit not clear on this because the Club license reflects a different mode of operation only to members whereas all alcohol would allow for the public in general now I don't know if this is material because I know the pack with ch in and probably be the same cast of characters yeah I mean and I think we're looking at a very limited use between 5 5 and 8:00 p.m. you know we're looking at a window of time of just 3 hours um in addition It's all under chapter 140 it's the same liquor um chapter at the state as well as uh ABC abcc section 12 so we're it all falls under the pouring license category yeah and the license itself on the application is on premises type Hotel category all alcoholic beverages so I think we might have posted it we didn't include the hotel part when we posted it um anything else from the board um so I'm going to um read the names of I'm not going to read all the letters we received we received quite a few um but I'm going to read the names of the people who submitted letters in support of the um granting of this license um Dalton Paris of Westport uh mateline Breer of Westport Deborah Baston of Westport constant ski of Westport georgana Thomas of Westport um Sher Burns Duncan of Westport Point Beverly sush of the who is a member of the historic commission Edward LaVine of Little Compton Rhode Island Jane Rosner of Westport Charlie Hall maybe Charles I don't know Little Compton Rhode Island Phyllis ibbitson of tiberon Rhode Island Tim Tolman of Westport Massachusetts Deborah choli and Chris pink Pilkington of Westport Richard and CC Armstrong of Westport and John Daly of Little Compton and we received a letter in opposition from Ken and Kristen fenny is there anything else from the board before we open up to the public right if anybody has any public comments or statements you can um go to the microphone I just ask you to keep to a couple minutes and no longer and make sure you say your name where's Paula we lose Paula oh she okay she'll check she'll check the recording good evening my name is Dorothy Paul I'm I'm an butter um I am also retired attorney uh was representing the P Chuck in in the original license um so I'd first just quickly like to speak to you know the community aspect of having uh the Packer Chuck being able to operate um it's Westport Point can be pretty isolated in the winter um in the summer it's a busy spot but gets awfully quiet and it's awfully it's quite nice to have a place where people can meet and uh in a quiet friendly atmosphere so as an abutter I have no um objection whatsoever in fact as I just said I'm really in favor of it noise has never been an issue from there and I'm only two doors away um the uh I don't know what else uh the board is concerned about at this time but uh I can say that the operation has been well-run um when it was operating and I hope you will be in favor thank you thank you anyone else so um hi my name is Beverly Shook and I live on the point and you know at the end of the day it's really not about whether Brenda can serve us a glass of wine or whiskey not that there's anything wrong with that but it's really more of a a larger issue and that's con conservation of the character of the point it's always been run as an in but I don't know if any of us even supporters of Brenda understand the effort that it takes to maintain it and preserve it in its original intention she has put in time effort Ingenuity imagination and tons of money to keep that place going some keep it afloat sometimes literally and so I think I think that if we if we in a position to help her to you know fill the coffers a little bit with this initiative I dog gone it why wouldn't we do it thank you my name's John Bullard uh I'd like to speak in favor I think it's a historic use I serve on the uh planning board with uh uh chairman whiten Michael burus after a couple of hours the planning board dealing with the good people of Westport be off nice to go down to the pocket Chuck have a glass of bourbon maybe two so I think it's a historic use well needed uh I'm supportive thank you thank you so um we were in uh rece because we had letter from the Board of Health concerned about the septic and um we had a bunch of zoning information that was sent to us about whether it was an appropriate use um Jim reached out and got advice from Council um about um our role in this and what we should be considering in the licensing and Jim can keep me honest here but um the gist of it was that our our approval of the license is not the same thing as the Board of Health approving the premises or the zoning board of appeals approving the premises and so it would be appropriate if the board so chose to Grant the license [Music] um but withhold it or not issue it until the relevant boards have weighed in that it's right you used a different word though what was the word you used I think that was the word so if the board approved it here would go to the abcc and if they approved it prior to issuing it uh there'd be sign offs from the various departments Board of Health uh building department right so so we could we could um approve it you could go through the alcoholic beverage commission and then it's not really this board's decision decision whether the building is meets the right um code or or zoned appropriately um but we wouldn't issue the license until that determination been made is that right that's correct okay all right anybody from the board have any questions about that anything so what is the desire of the board I got one more question yeah well I I don't understand if if those other things what they have to do with us issuing a license once it goes to the ABC I mean if I don't see a problem with zoning because it's pre-existing non-conforming and you just said you passed the title five so I don't see a problem with the board of health either well the Board of Health has some concerns about whether it's changed or not the number of seating and the zoning had some concern about whether they just said that it didn't everything's staying the same I believe them I believe them that they're staying the same but I I can't make a decision that's the board of Health's responsibility I I moved that we approve the license subject to uh obtaining all the necessary approvals from the uh zoning Board of appeals the Board of Health and the ABC second was there any discussion was that the way that they suggested to word it they said relevant boards and officials I suggest recommend approving the license and we withhold issuing it until the boards um approve it will you accept that as an amendment to your motion yeah I guess it's um I think the subject two is the same so just I'm not not yet I will in a minute I I'll accept it but and you accept the second your Amendment go ahead so when we make our application to the abcc unless we get a approval then we're just back to going back to all these boards so I think that's why we were going to approve it but but then we're so we can't go to the ABC then we have to go to all three of those boards and then go to the license if if it was approved the way I think it's going to be approved it would go to the abcc they would approve it we would hold the license until those boards approved this is this is It's valid for the select board to vote to approve an alcohol license but include in its vote that if approved by the abcc the license will be held until other relevant boards and officials have notified the board that the use is permitted that's that's what our legal told us to say does that make sense to you or do you want to you don't have to move that it does I mean I've read it I mean kind of what I don't understand is the use is the use didn't lapse just the lick and and and nothing changed and like so that that's the thing back in you know this is why this letter is so pertinent from July 30th 2018 is that nothing's changed since that time it's been used it's I mean it I mean as Dorothy Paul the former attorney it's the same application and nothing's changed um we'll keep the same hours we'll keep the same days uh we won't increase the size I mean nothing's changed and if it was approved back then I I believe it should be approved the same way tonight there's still inspections that come out every year the fire inspection comes out everybody comes I can just see the abcc just just saying we're not going to do anything until these boards approve these things because it's not a clear approval and then we're going to be coming back here you know three three months or six months from now and then meanwhile you know the planning board is going to be sad because there's going to be no bourbon after their meetings so we have a member of the planning board who can Who Rose to speak on this we like his input and we we'll come back this you know this is going to delay everything so I I I think the what chair Jim White and I'm chair of the planning board the zoning has not changed and if it was okay in 2018 it should still be okay if they're saying it's exactly the same and number two Title Five has not changed and they're not suggesting that they're going to increase the use which would trigger some something at the Board of Health but it's already been approved as a Title Five for this volume that's required for the nine bedrooms and the Inn I don't see why you can't just approve it myself okay thank you did you have more to say about [Applause] that the application as submitted then it's not valid because it's subed for 79 seats where's it's submitted for 79 let's take a look at the 30 some inside we we can modify it to 44 I mean that's there's outdoor seating so go ahead that's what the application says no but the the um there's a drawing that has outside seating but we've never had outside seating we don't really have but that's what's being submitted we can change wording them because it was it's never meant to be 70 we don't know we're more like 30 so you're asking for so the 44 more than enough yeah more than all right so and we could modify the application to reflect that that's so Mr Dutra do you want to vote on your motion or do you want to amend your Mo withdraw your motion or amend it yeah go ahead Jim just just a quick thing I there's a whole history of the zoning aspect of this property and I don't think we have to get into it tonight but um back in 2018 the building inspector recommended that it not be approved because they felt it didn't comply to zoning and I know there's been changes you going to back and forth of the zoning board but there may still be some zoning issues and with the septic system the septic system always explained to me was approved for nine bedrooms so any increase in flow to the nine bedrooms they may have to you might have to upgrade your system but but the the kind of the what's relevant to us is we're not saying whether it's appropriate Zone appropriately zoned or not that's not our job to determine whether it meets zoning or not um zoning board might say that it doesn't um just like it's not our job to say whether it meets the health standards or not it's the board of Health's job to do that so I think we could approve we could um approve the license the liquor license that doesn't necessarily mean you could operate um so so just to clarify that so I mean there was I mean the town you know I do have a new renewal certificate of inspection and it was done by you know I can provide copies later if needed this is also in your town records um the inspection was done by the fire fire fire department as well as the town to say that everything as far as the end goes is approved so and I don't want to we're comingling two different things here right we're saying well she her liquer license dep is dependent on these other boards but the town's already approved the in all we're asking for is the liquor license to go along with what she's already doing there so that and that and I don't want to if she's an in you can't come back and say well she's an in but she can't but but now she can't be an in because the septic is not right I mean or the or the the problem here is we're we're comingling these two things of in and liquor license and tonight what we have to focus on she's already been approved the fire department's already come by and approved these these seats for 44 we can do the application that way it's it's just if we have to go back to all these boards when we've already been approved here then we're just going to put it out probably for another year well I can I can appreciate that but just to be clear we're not I'm not comingling them I am saying that I don't know whether it means zoning or not and I don't know whether it means Health regulations or not and this board doesn't have a way of knowing that we do I do see you have a valid fire inspection for 44 people and so yeah and that's not what's in front of us the liquor license right exactly should vote on the liquor license I mean are you withdrawing your second yes all right so are you withdrawing your motion I I don't oh so the motion that you had was contingent upon approval of these other agencies yes it was that hasn't changed okay so is there a second to that motion I'll second all right so we have a motion in a second to so the motion on the floor is to approve the liquor license for the abcc but to I'm going to make sure I get this worded right to um hold the license until other relevant boards or officials have notified that the use is permitted we if you want to make it simpler so that this doesn't drag on forever we could we could notify the other boards we'd like to have their comments regarding the status of their license and approvals uh by our next meeting I mean they meet they have staff this is not something this is not rocket science all right so there there's the motion in a second go ahead just boid just for a minute I'm just questioning um has the select board ever done this before in the uh hearings for liquor licenses ever what ever made that kind of a contingency contingent approval because I think this is not appropriate for this board to be putting th those contingencies on the uh liquid license and I'm asking historic has this board ever done that before so I don't know if ever but I know that we typically have the zoning and the building um and the health inspection prior to issuing them right but you've got them because this was yeah what I have from the health official is that it is not sized appropriately and what I have from the building official is that it would require approval um but that was based on the increasing the the seating right which isn't wasn't so the part of the application be amended exactly thank and just going back to the letter from July 30th 2018 there's no conditions on it I mean this is you're seeing everything the same in front of you that they saw back in 2018 and they approved it because it was grandfathered in so we're not asking for anything different other than the fact that now you're going to make conditions which may hold up the abcc license and we'll be in this process for for a long time did you include a copy of the license and not packet I didn't notice it the abcc license do we have that the we have the license files it was we have like a zillion things in here the application no I didn't see the approved abcc license well they're they're asking us to approve it so they can go the one that basing um I didn't see that one um so I personally am going to vote no on this motion because I actually think it would be better to have a clean vote um to vote to approve the license by itself and then it's other boards can whether your operation or not is not it's not my it's not my decision whether those other things are true or not so I'm going to vote no but what is relevant here I think is the decision we made in I think it was 2018 when we licensed for wine and Malt Liquor the oyster establishment Westport sea Farms my recollection and people can take issue with me is we did not require what's in this motion for that we had a discussion back and forth and we decided rightly or wrongly that those other departments do have authority to weigh in at the appropriate time under their Authority but we went ahead and improved that license without those other stipulations so I think so I will be with you and vote against this motion because it requires something that we did not require of the neighboring business on the [Applause] pointk is there any more discussion on the we didn't acquire any approval I thought we had we had to wait for the seating on that maybe the fenales can clarify it but it was just a straight out license I thought we had to go through the seating we didn't have to I don't think so all right is there any further discussion so I we're voting we're going to vote against this a yes vote would mean that you want to put the stipulation that we have to have the other board's approval before we issue the license and and and what does a no vote do a no vote means nothing but I assume there would shortly follow another motion okay that's what I'm asking is there anything else all right all in favor oppos oppos Nay n nay okay so that was all all five n we tried following our legals attorney now we can move on can I have another motion please motion approve all stipulations you're moving to approve the license at with the amendment to 44 seats M yeah as is submitted with amendments y just a quick question those 44 just inside nothing outside that's right second second any further discussion on that all in favor I I that's unanimous good luck good luck with the abcc I do want to I just want to ask everybody we have really cool stuff on our agenda and you are all Westport residents so you are welcome to stay but please do not congregate in the hallway and talk because we can hear you if you're going to talk please go outside or downstairs thank you no point she doesn't have a license yet bringing your own guys are nervous for a moment [Music] in the hallway they're moving as they're talk who's thinking next oh I just want you to know all those Michael you going to rough them up they're congregating in the hallway they're moving though they're moving they're making an effort all right the next item on the agenda as I mentioned before the application from Lydia gner for an on premise seasonal wine and malt beverage license for partners Village Store at 865 Main Road Westport Mass they have a request to continue to October 7 2024 is that a hearing do we need to vote on it's a hearing so we need to vote so the date certain uh the time certain I'm sorry 605 605 on October 7th so moved second is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous we have a request from the Holy Ghost shut it all the way CHR you can't shut it all the way open meeting you can shame them into talking um we have a a request from the Holy Ghost Club to transfer the October 5 2024 one day liquor license to October 26 for a fundraiser from 12 to p.m. this is pretty typical request from Hol police approved right is police approve move it second any discussion all in favor I that she uh we have a so now we're on appointments and resignations uh we have a request from the cultural Council to appoint Carolyn Edwards is there anyone here who wants to talk about that I I move approval of Carolyn Edwards to the cultural Council second any discussion I'll favor I that's unanimous we have a request from Michael burus did you want to talk about this one okay we have a request from Michael burus the town planner to appoint Steve fors to the short-term rental Comm uh committee there anyone wants to talk about that okay I'll move them second any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous we have a request to accept the resignation of the assistant planner Amy Messier effective September 21 2024 move send a letter of regrets thank you for service do I have a second second all in favor I that's jous we do have a little bit lower in the uh a posting for that position but on the agenda we have a request from Beverly Bish the Council on Aging director to appoint Thomas wood as a part-time maintenance specialist did you want to talk about this you just want to see if we have questions no they're good okay they are here okay made it good evening come all the way to the chair go and the chair good think you brought him cuz he's going to be mistaken for Tom Auburn walking around I waited I waited for people to tell that so Beverly you want to this is Beverly Bish the council and aging director and I'm assuming you're Thomas wood yes okay welcome um you want to tell us what this is about bevering sure Tom um applied to us back in December for a driver's position and of course it takes many many months to get the driver's training done because the training some sometimes isn't until like it's in Northern Massachusetts or western Mass or whatever so we've been trying and trying and then I had a resignation for my maintenance person and I called them and I said are you interested is something you would do and he said absolutely that would be even better for me and I said okay come on and we already had all the references Corey like everything was already done um he's got a a good background with um mechanical and and um crafts and he was also a Department of Corrections uh um officer for many years and retired so he retired so um I think he can hold his own with all of our keep everyone in line so um so I I asked him and he said yes and I'd like to have him appointed by this board how's your back for shovel and snow all right all right well if you're ready for it we won't get it that's why I'm asking all right I'll move them second we have a motion in a second to approve is there any discussion anything you want to say no I'm retired and I I need you know something to do busy okay something to do all right all in favor hi that's unanimous thank you welcome aboard I don't remember did who who second di we're we're screwing her up because like different people are moving in seconding that hard on the notaker do you want is there anything you want to quickly mention that's going on in the Council on Aging oh there just a lot of stuff going on grants um dot uh they doing another Federal Grant and it's actually I just did a zoom meeting for training and it's a Federal grant that uh is going to give us operating money um I hate doing those federal grants though I honestly do they are awful with the paperwork and the stuff you have to do after the fact but I I'm still thinking Transportation with the the possibility of the budget being cut and everything um I've gotten two Transportation grants two $10,000 Transportation grants over the last couple years and I really would like to Beef It Up and see if we can't get more um so that way I can work with Jim in the town on on Poss cut in budget um grants grants grants recently and then um we also have a principal Clerk's position um because the principal clerk moved over to the library and John the maintenance person moved over to the library um for John it was a lot of medical because it was up and down the stairs it was a lot for him he was getting older and he had some medical issues so this works out perfectly all right great well thank you for what you're doing over sure you know I used to coach on that right baseball team the kids were like 11 I'm like all right well thank you congratulations thank you thanks thank you we have lurkers in suits out there yeah we have a request from police chief Christopher Dunn to appoint Javier Rosa as a full-time officer and um let him Lis Lis mentees say full uh actually we had it messed up on the agenda why don't you tell us who we're appoint sure so the first request was for uh Louis ventes for a contingent offer of employment for full-time police so as the board's aware we're budgeted for 31 we're at 2 25 police officers over the summer the town and the police Union came to an agreement in their contract where they can open up uh police officers not residing in our community up to 15 miles so because of that we submitted um we did some advertising and we were very happy with the amount of uh applicants we got got as well as the experience and the quality of applicants so I'm respectfully requesting ex offer of employment for uh Louis ventes he's been a police officer in the city of Fall River since 2014 his last assignment being a detective and Major Crimes unit for seven years detective attentes brings extensive experience in policing with a strong background investigation in a wide range of crimes furthermore detective atten holds a bachelor's degree from Human uh human L he's a combat veteran who served in the US Army during operating during Freedom he lives in Westport with his wife and they're expecting their second child so if approved um I'm expect requesting an effective date to be sat Sunday October 6th and is Mr bente yes or off what was the appropriate address for him he'll be officer as of October 6 okay you're not officer yet so um uh anything you want to say before we okay any other training needed or he's all set he's ready to rock he's all set uh we just have to do the background and the psychological which we'll do before October 6th and but but no Academy or anything fulltime Academy since 2014 nice okay very good nobody has anything I'll move them second we have a motion and second is there any discussion all in favor hi that's unanimous welcome aboard yes thank you for bringing them in too appreciate yeah we do and very excited to have him who else have you got yeah so uh it's for Contin offer employment for resered police officer for Javier Rosa in Clinton Silvio um since police reform we've lost several uh resered police officers due to the require Ms that they have to annually uphold um Mr Rosa and Mr sario have completed um Mr Rosa completed Academy through for River Mr AO uh completed Academy what's called The Bridge Academy through the Sheriff's Office to um the minister training Council so they're both full-time Academy qualified uh they want to come on as reserved police officers uh Mr Ros was a police officer for four years he served in the uniform division he resigned from the former police department to pursue a career in photography and cinematography he lives in for River U Mr sario was retired deputy sheriff with the Bristol County Sheriff's Office serving over 20 years his last assignment being a lead F instructor for his agency he resides in Dartmouth with his two sons and his wife um you know in our interview it was conveyed that you know it's not just going to be expected to work Road jobs construction jobs but you know we need a need we have a need during polling we have a need during town meeting we have a need during um Beach Patrol for the summer instead of hiring full-time police officers and they're both more than willing to step up and help us out with that so I'm sorry any of them here yes they're both here're Clinton sario and Javier you no issue with availability you know we're gonna we get problems with the Midstates and everything they got good availability yes they do have very good availability I'll move them thank you for coming in gentlemen appreciate that so we have a motion a second to approve the appointments um any further discussion I don't both appointments yes yes you like us to separate them we need to for the reserve I'm sorry the the date certain the date would be uh Sunday October 6 as well and this is a conent offer employment for Reserve police officer for both Mr Roser and Mr I didn't make a date certain on the first one do I need to clarify that yeah I guess it would all right all right so let's do these two okay so these two sub for for for October 6th October 6th Reserve police officer appointment is for these two correct all right all in favor I I that's unanimous and then uh just amend clarify the first off so detective uh officer Louis ventes o 6 of 2024 yep I'll move October 6th I I uh failed to put that in the motion I'll accept the all right all in favor I that's gous thank you all right anything else you want to share while you're here we just had a good summer I should say with not a lot of incidents which is great um I really appreciate what the officers and dispatchers have done this summer considering we're at 25 police officers um we're looking forward to the fall with some events um you know officer Fernandes with his comfort dog had a little setback but he's back on the mend so we hopefully get him out there as well um yep we should be there for touch truck um a few Community engagements we're going to be definitely doing coming up in the fall great all right thank you Chief could you just clarify what positions are still open if any you seeing dispatch across the board so we have one dispatch position that's open we have um five now we now have five open full-time police office positions however we have two that are in the academy um that are graduating attentively in end of January so technically we have three three open three openings thank you and I just um Reserve officers don't have vehicles but these are the first ones appointments we had that aren't Westport residents but I just want to Sure reassure the public that the vehicle policy will be looked at if we have a full-time officer absolutely yeah absolutely no in you know Mr fenes lives in town so that's not going to be an issue but if there's an officer that we might hire later on that does not reside in the community I'm not if they live very far outside of our community meaning they live in full River somerson swans I am not apt to give them yeah a take-home Cruiser I do not want anything to potentially happen or they observe while traveling yeah right anything else for chief all right thank you thank you for coming in and thank you gentlemen appreciate it make us proud gentlemen I hope you're very slow and bored most of the time we want the police department and the fire department to be bored um we have a request from Michael burus this time I think you probably do you need to come forward um the town planner to post the assistant planner position welcome so we have thank you Michael burs and then Jim whiten the chair of the planning board yes so Amy's last day was on Friday and we're looking to get this position posted as soon as possible so typically the planning board's agenda um is completely full in most of our meetings um and I'm sure you're familiar with what the uh what we had the assistant planner doing which was the development review subdivision I plan stuff like that so I want to talk a little bit about what I've been doing since I do more things on on the back end um that aren't that's not so readily apparent so I'm coming up on my two years um with Westport here in October um and in that two years I've coordinated or directly applied for 23 different um Grant applications 13 of which have been funded to the tuna 1.4 million um and three are outstanding um to the tune of $4.2 million if those receive funding um I've got a project on the tip also looking the transportation Improvement program also looking to um have a little bit of an ambitious roll out of our complete streets which I don't really have time to do um because I have at any given time 12 different projects that I'm I'm working on three of which are I'm helping Chris Capone out um four of which are more Public Works related projects um if we had a public works department it probably wouldn't be those probably probably wouldn't be in the planning office um I've also got a grand application that I've coordinated with Dartmouth and and Little Compton um that one's outstanding and I'm going to be facilitating the online permitting for every single Department I've made a commitment to every Department that they'd like me to sit down with them and help them through that process you know if they want me there I'll I'll be there for them um to work that out and so the the Project based work in Grants is probably like 80% of my workflow and then the other 20% would be um customer service administrative work um and helping the assistant planner out reviewing projects um so this is this easily you know 40 hours a week for me probably more if I really had um another person and so that's what I'm looking for um in posting this position it's not someone who can um only do development review but is also interested in in doing more Project based work to help out with some of this grant Administration um so just lots of lots of work to be done right thank you so I know um this position has um been a bit controversial and I support this just to be clear I support hiring the assistant planner but um Jim I wonder if you can maybe talk a little bit we have in the past not funded um this when we've had budget problems or I think we delayed um getting this position and because of budget problems I think it is likely that we will continue to have budget problems going into the next year so I'm just wonder if we kind of considered whether we want to or tell maybe why would we want to f the job and when we could potentially hold off so excuse me when Amy was here I think the planning board with naen Amy and Michael has been an extraordinary from my perspective I've been on the planning board for 18 years I don't know why but we're glad to have you but I have and uh during the last two years when Michael has been here we're we're running on all cylinders we're really doing a lot for the town and I don't want to go back I mean um it it took 16 years to get this contingent uh funded we've been through the 2008 financial thing where we had an assistant planner not a planner uh then we had Jim hartnet who was great but then you stole him and so we we have uh finally gotten a full contingent and it's amazing what they've been able to do for Westport and if we don't get it um we won't be able to do things like uh try to help the climate resilience committee go through all their stuff uh help uh Chris Gonzales do the ms4 stuff we just won't have time to do all that stuff so we really need to to repopulate this this position um with a really good candidate if we can find one and it's not going to be easy finding one so I don't think if we um post next week uh I can't see anybody starting before sometime in January because it takes a long time to to get this thing posted out in the in the world interviewed and then and whoever it is has got to deal with whatever they're doing now and and get here so that portion of Amy's salary will go back into the general fund we're not going to spend that um but we really need to Def fund this oh thank you any from the board yeah again and Mike's only touching the tip of the iceberg he's done a great job when he's been here we can't take away take away from the grants and stuff he's been writing um this this we need to put the person in this position we have no choice I mean the stuff with the the bottomless coits on drift Road and all that stuff you're working on we got to continue We Can't Stop anything else from the board Mr Bullard U Madam chair um John Bullard and I also serve uh on the planning board and and I just want to make a couple of remarks um in support of posting this position now and I Echo uh the Chairman's uh remarks that we're operating on all cylinders I Echo his his remarks because he's the chair and I always Echo his remarks it it's I think in the bylaws of the planning board that I do that um but I want to be um uh candid about some things uh and that is that right now um this is a very uh Dynamic situation that we're in for a number of reasons one is very good because the team we had assembled Michael and Amy naen on the staff is going gang busters and we have have an enviable department and so when you post a position uh you're posting a position in an Department that people are and this isn't the only posting there are a lot of openings around here so it's a competitive situation but people are going to look at Westport and say there's a lot going on in the town of Westport and so um so it's an attract Ive place to want to work right now um there is uh a lot of forces at work let me tick off a few we all know that there's a lot of growth here and uh the uh train hasn't uh started yet but it's about to so so the growth pressures that we handle every other Tuesday are only going to accelerate so the demands on the planning board are going to get more not less that's one amount uh the mayor of New Bedford said he has to find 7,000 housing units to deal with the housing cost and his point is why should the city of New Bedford have to to do that themselves this has to be a regional issue of addressing what is really a Statewide everyone knows it it's in the papers all the time the housing crisis we've got to create housing everywhere and there's resistance everywhere that's also in the news every day about how do we create housing in places where there's resistance that's a planning issue how do we do that maintaining the character of the town we love there was I don't know how many of you read New Bedford light but there was an excellent article by Adam Goldstein about Wastewater costs from weam Dartmouth New Bedford Westport the general gist of that article was these costs are Beyond any single Town's ability to pay and of course we know that personally from our inability to get the the taxpayers in Westport to to shoulder the the cost there's a uh here uh a session tomorrow sponsored by New Bedford light at Kilburn mill on these Regional costs of Wastewater Bob daylor is representing uh Westport on that panel um but there Representatives Mr Aly from Dartmouth at Etc um how do we get the money to do this grantsmanship uh and Michael burus has been superb at that and we have a tremendous asset in the Senate chair of ways and means uh and so the ability to figure out how do we work with an asset like Senator Rodricks is key now the point I want to make is uh we have the ability if we post this position right now to keep this really good team together but if we don't post it it's not necessarily just going from uh 3 to two there's a risk that you know we we go from 3 to one because you can burn people out and so that's a risk I think you have to really think about and um and the pressures on us are extraordinary but we've got a great team and we're up to it uh and we've got an attractive position to post because because uh of what this team is doing right now and I mentioned the three you know Michael naen and Amy but also when you look at the talent you've got in the chair Jim whiten in a guy like Bob dalor what do we pay Bob zero zero oh yeah one of the best engineers in the country you know we have a really good team thank you madam chair thank you is there any what's the pleasure of the board no I I just like to summarize Michael you're an excellent employee and we don't want to lose you um you know like uh like a lot of our other Town leaders we uh I think you're uh you're doing a great job and we need to give you the tools so I'll move posting it second is this a union position or no this is not a un not a union okay so we have a motion a second to approve the posting I just have a question what other important positions do we not have bodies in well we're missing Eng officers police officers fire Engineers um Highway Department who who wants to address that we're we have openings in a lot of spots but like equally important like did Jim need an assistant because I I understand there's a great Jim could probably use an assistant he doesn't currently have one yes so there's quite a few positions right we put an engineer in the budget this year I've been kind of holding off on that because we won't know for a month or two to where we are next fiscal year and I don't know if going to be able to maintain that position the following year we put in money for a um computer parttime I think that one I'd like to move forward with that one uh police department like he he said he's at 26 right now and he's funded for 31 I've actually talked to him and I said you know you may want to keep one or two those positions open so that we do not have to lay off next year and you know we haven't had to the last few years I'm hoping we can get in away with another year um fire department uh they had a uh request of back going back fire 10 years that they were going to fill an additional position uh get up four more I think we've gotten two of those so they're still down two positions um you know my office obviously we could use some additional help most towns have a procurement Personnel Department a financial HR HR I mean we're we're also have later on this agenda to an administrative assistant for the highway department too so if the board yes there's quite a few yeah works great maybe you might want to put that somewhere else that in a board or somewhere that's not working so great thank you all right so we have a motion a second to approve the posting is there uh all in favor I that's unanimous thank you do you have anything else on the agenda tonight no okay all right thank you gentlemen you going Wednesday give up to good work the that meeting that meeting that uh the previous speakers mentioned is not tomorrow it's on Wednesday um we have a sorry uh the me the the meeting you were talking about was Wednesday John he he only caught the end of it I think the meeting you said that was tomorrow is on Wednesday um act 4B request to approve the letter of agreement with the general Teamsters Local Union number 251 K yes we had talked about this in executive session um this would increase the salary slightly for the e911 dispatches uh which we've had a very difficult time holding on to because other communities are paying much more it would also increase the salary uh the hourly rate of the local building inspector which would be the assistant to the building inspector we put it out for a job posting about three months ago I don't think we received we received one application that was it um so we make those two changes and also um it would increase the raise for FY 26 from 2 and a half to 3% which is consistent with the other unions and this is just um for one year right this is just yes right one year FY 26 all right so we have discussed this in um executive session is there any comments or questions I'll move it second is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um we have a request to approve the Town Administrator contract so we circulated this after the meeting um I asked if anybody wanted to speak in executive session about it and I didn't hear any so here we are so what's the pleasure of the board on the Town Administrator contract I I'll move with the ended items ready to move it correct yeah yeah all right I'll move it oh so we have a motion a second to approve the Town Administrator contract that does have a really the only change there was a change to the reference of the board of Selectmen to select board and there was a small increase in salary that was really the only change all right any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous we have a request from Chris gon Sol's the highway surveyor to approve Administrative Assistant dispatcher position job description and then to post the position so Jim you want to talk about this yeah this last year we had actually discussed this with the select board um about updating or uh upgrading the existing position uh which would make it consistent with the other assistant clerks here within Town Hall so it would be the assistant town clerk Treasurer uh planning building uh Board of Health uh so it increases the salary by about a dollar an hour for the um position right now we have an employee in there that's on leave uh who's currently working part-time 10 to 20 hours a week from home we just need somebody in that office to cover um so we're looking to fill create this new position and and fill it as soon as we can um we're hoping we can get some cross training over the next couple of months um which would help out the highway survey significantly so I would recommend that we um approve of the new position um and post the position and I just want to mention so this position is mentioned in we're the next item after this is the asme contract so is this position a union position in that contract it is a union position it's a union position and it's included in the contract Provisions that we made for them and then there's no additional budget required for this fiscal year there is n okay and we're good with Personnel Board this this is Union so it doesn't have to touch okay I'll move it second um we have motion second to approve is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um we have a request to approve the asme council 93 local 1701 contract we have been discussing this in executive session it's final and ready to go right yeah the the board approved the memorandum of agreement u a couple of months ago and this is just the final wording of the contract nothing has changed except for that one position from the mo MOA that was approved by the board I'll move it second any discussion all I'm favor I I that's unanimous we have a request to approve the Westport Police Association contract this another one again this is another one the the board approved the memorandum agreement uh probably about a month and a half ago and this this mirrors what the memorandum agreement uh what was stated in the memorandum of agreement I'd recommend approval move it second so a motion to second is there any discussion all in favor that's unanimous um we have a request to create an offshore wind committee and to approve the proposed Charter of the committee um so we had a draft in your packet of um a a a possible committee Charter um we talked about the fact that we want to make sure that we are charging the the committee with doing something um and not just randomly having them work on stuff um so Craig I know you had a chance to review it and I know you had some um changes um but I don't know what they were do you do you want to speak to that I yeah I put them in writing but uh first of all um we had we make reference to Offshore wind developers and I'd want to add and operators because we are dealing with but we'll be dealing with both companies that want to do something with respect to developing offro win and we'll be we have we do have companies that may or may not uh having an impact on W that that currently operate offshore wi facilities I I want to add that second thing is I'd like to limit the membership of the committee to nine and if you begin to add up all the entities that we want to to point people to it as well as the um at large members um I I would suggest one way to start get to that is we're going to be limiting some of the at large but I would eliminate the finance committee because it's a board that does not require in its present vision and appropriation and um we really don't have the space for the fin committee as the other committees that are referenced in the description are have missions that are more pertinent to um interaction with the committee uh did you see that so yeah so right now we have proposed a select board planning board Conservation Commission Economic Development task force shellfish advisory climate resiliency Westport River Watershed Alliance and protect our Waters Westport and two atlarge so your um suggest we remove finance committee um he's not in the room now I actually think we could probably remove the climate resilience committee because I think these other groups kind of represent them pretty pretty well um but if you keep the Westport River Watershed Alliance and the protect our Waters Westport so that's one two three four five six seven so nine that would allow two at large members that was a purpose okay and then I was trying to find where you said that it talked about um offshore wind development but I'm trying to see oh wind developers here's that's where it is and operators yeah you want to add the and operators um so just want to talk about the purpose for those of you who don't have the meeting material in front of you um so the the purpose that's proposed is the offshore wind advisory committee's mission is to advise the select board on matters related to Offshore wind development specific to Industry impacts on the town of Westport both Nearshore and onshore and to represent the best interests of the Westport constituency to win developers and operators um committee meetings will serve as public forum to provide residents and Property Owners with information about offshore wind relevant to Westport project status and the means to offer input into official deliberations between the town and wind companies um so I just want to be clear the committee is going to advise the select board they're not going to be making decisions although I'm sure they will make decisions on what to advise us of um the scope would be understanding the scope of and specifics of any project that names Westport as a potential location and there's some kind of list of onshore high voltage cabling um electromagnetic field radiation modering cable trenching migratory species impacts there's kind of a list um looking at U the content parameters of other municipalities host Community agreements so we don't have any proposed host Community agreements but if one should arise that would be they would be evaluating the other ones I that was another I think we did little we should um delete Good Neighbor agreements and just stay with the there's a general understanding of what a host Community agreement is good neighbor is rather Squishy in my opinion um so we have evaluating local environmental economic or visual impacts determining appropriate project mitigation measures to offset perceived and assessed impacts um such as the establishment of a trust fund or bonding um negotiating for tangible community benefits or other Economic Development arrangements and making recommendations to the select board um we also had in here proposed um responsibilities for the chair and committee members there was a there was a thing in here about frequency so I don't know if we I think it's good that we have a frequency in the charter but I there there was I think it should be every other month is what I think it should be but or as needed if there's more because right now we don't really have a whole lot in front of us I don't think we've ever specified before so yeah I don't think we have either um I'll get you in a second um and then the Quorum would be would be if it was a nine member board then it would be five for a quorum um and then it just talks about decisions to bring majority vote of those president is provided there's a quorum um we have we also never really said that they would provide a written report I think a written report to the select board quarterly is a bit much personally um but um maybe yearly that's consistent with other committies and then um we don't we're not going to have a budget um so there would be no budget to support the um I'm assuming if some big project came around we would have to appropriate funding for you know project management or whatever the whole city yeah agreement would would probably provide money for some of that so those were the changes that I know that Craig and I had looked at more extensively did anybody else have any proposed changes after yeah I was just curious about this we have protect our Waters uh po as at large that's not going to be at large it's going to be a member from that group so there's two are at large positions or is is there one now group it is they're they're special group yeah and then two at large yeah so we'll have so right now we're at select planning conservation Economic Development shellfish Westport River Watershed Alliance um protect our Waters Westport and to out llarge now I think I mentioned this to Jim and I think I saw something in our packet but in selecting members of the committee we also have to be very careful that we're not creating inadvertently a committee that within its Constitution uh requires multiple uh boards hosting that meeting we have we have that with one Comm committee right now and I'd like to see that be the exception rather than the new rule I think um I think we can accomplish that by not appointing a but that we we could actually maybe potentially reject somebody saying we've already had two people from this committee but one's wearing another hat I think we should look at appointments more that way because you're right it kind of creates a logistical problem to have quorums of other bodies yeah all right anything else from the board Miss G I'd like to speak to the frequency of the meetings I'm hoping that uh the bo that this committee will meet monthly or instead of when you said B monthly you meant every two months is that correct I meant I meant every other month every other month that's what I meant but right I just think there's probably I I know that there is a lot of information I think it's going to take a while just for the committee to sort of get on the same page with uh sort of what's happening out there and what may or may not be proposed but what they're doing at this point and I think it would be a mistake to wait until um they were knocking at our door and saying we'd like to make a deal to then sort of go okay now what is it we're doing here I think it would probably benefit the committee to get together and discuss some matters and and be ready to move um should that happen I'm actually okay with monthly personally all right um so what do we think I think those those edits that we made are um obviously we need to reward them but I know you had talked about meeting about forming the committee later but I think these adits are pretty minor um so I'm going to move that we create the um committee as described second can you just clarify so where did you leave the meetings at are you leaving it in there you all right leave it monly I live it to monthly oh one more thing but just delete any named individuals in yeah in The Proposal yeah I deleted it in the one in the packet but um yeah so we we haven't yeah so no named individuals we'll appoint people at following meeting right so we have a motion a second to approve the committee as describ the committee and the charter as described any further discussion all in favor I that's unanimous all right thank you um we have a request from the beach committee we closed the door I can't tell if sea leech is lurking out there it's open a crack can anybody open the doors the doors it's not completely closed sea leech is frequently lurking out there when he comes all right so we have a request request from the beach committee to approve the purchase and sale agreement for a land located at zero West Beach Road the assessors map 91 Lots 29 and 30 do you want want to tell us what this is about Jim yeah this so this is a small parel on cherion web in the area where um Westport residents sit when they go to chav w beach um it's been in the family the bricks family for a number of years they're looking to sell it to the the town this went before town meeting in May of this past year and uh it was recommended for approval so we just got the purchase and sales agreement this has been funded from about I think roughly $10,000 purchase price be paid for through the um Jan web Beach Enterprise account so it wouldn't come out of the operating budget um the purchase and sales agreement has been signed by the owner and recommend approval it's consistent with what town meeting voted for pict is above I head I'll move it second is it about the the existing property the existing Town property I don't think so it it does at least on the north um there's a paper Street there and then on the other side is found property all right any discussion all in favor hi I that's unanimous now we have a discussion we have a request from Donna Amaral a Board of Health member to discuss the massachus opioid abatement terms and strategies when you get a minute oops fell off I also have somebody with me back up beautiful look at that oh modern technology perfect thank you for um having us I'm Donna Amal from the Board of Health I'm also a clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric nursing my name is Olive werki and I am the shared services coordinator for the South Coast Public Health collaborative with the lead Community being Westport um so we're here to highlight um the opid settlement funds and the use that the town has been tasked with to develop a plan um to distribute those funds it was clear to me in our uh town meeting that people on Town didn't even know about the so and we had to vote on moving and creating an individual fund so that has been done now the task is to develop a plan and use the funds to support people in the community um so we're here primarily to educate the community and uh the select board about the abatement agreement that um will direct and guide the decision making um and also looking at how we use the funds for prevention harm reduction recovery and and family support individual and family support um the other goal of being here this evening is to have the select board create an advisory committee um to begin the work to get the information that's needed to make decisions um so as we point out ol is going to point out some statistics first sure so um first of all I would like to say I'm going to mention some data here but all of these numbers are people and I think that that needs to be respected these are all loved ones that families here have lost so I'm sure we all know that the opioid epidemic is running rampant throughout Massachusetts and the country um opioid related overdose deaths in Massachusetts increased by 2.5% in 2022 compared to 2021 uh in Massachusetts there were 2,125 confirmed and estimated opioid related overdose deaths in 2023 that same data reported that there were 45 recorded overdose deaths between 2015 and 2023 in Westport so that might not sound like a huge number but again that's 45 families who have lost someone to overdoses These funds are really important because direct investments in evidence-based Community strategies iies are critical to effectively responding to saving lives and helping to improve this crisis okay so um the Commonwealth and its municipalities have shared commitment to using the abatement funds as I said before for recovery for prevention for production um and I wanted to be noted oh yeah turn that M on okay yeah there you go sorry um and so I I want it to be noted I think that you all received um I don't know if you had a chance to look at the abatement terms but note the first statement in the abatement terms it reflects the input of our communities of people who have personal experience with the opioid crisis of experts in treatment and prevention and of staff and organizations that are carrying out the abatement work to my knowledge that has not been done yet and part of the requirement um is that we include Community involvement and input um that IT addresses mental health concerns and conditions that directly impact substance use disorders and it encourage Innovation um filling gaps but not on replacing existing programs and I don't know existing programs in Westport um but but to uh to add to create um all those entities that will meet the needs of harm reduction risk reduction um and support ring recovery I would also like to add we don't want to duplicate efforts so that's why it's important that we have this committee making these decisions instead of decisions being made behind the scenes because we want to make these funds go as far as they possibly can so as you can see according to the public record as of September 1st Westport has received over $300,000 in opioid settlement funds we can go to the next slide and until from 2022 until 2038 we are approximately going to receive over $1 million but again this is only going to happen if we follow the terms of the abatement agreement and if we report correctly to the state on the activities that we're completing and there's legitimate concern that if the abate terms are not me met we will not continue to receive funds so that that is a a major concern of mine um that we're doing what we're supposed to do in order to continue to receive money to help people in the community so um there are some proposed areas of focus one of my favorites is school department um you know to support access to Mental Health Services for young people um including um any kind of programming in the school system that they could benefit from um in supporting families we want to include fire and um fire department and safe stations um we want to engage nonprofits so in order for all this work to get done you need to have people who are actually making those Wheels turn and making decisions about what would be the best use in practices right and so having professionals involved in this on a committee having people with lived experience on a committee um we did a presentation in May and there was a speaker who was a former teacher at the Westport school system who lost her son to an overdose so um the that's the kind of input we think is really important for us to best utilize the funds and there there's many more these a lot of these are pulled from the abatement agreement mhm and again we're not saying that these are going to be exactly what we're going to be doing because the committee will be deciding that hopefully we don't want to dictate that but these are some example projects that could take place you want to wait till the end on questions so do you want yeah they only have one more yeah we're almost done you're trying to be prompt no that's okay um so safe stations as an example so this is something that has been implemented in several cities and states um we have some in Fall River I believe and they're all throughout the state of Rhode Island this is where working with directly with the fire department um and this is when somebody who's in crisis or decides that they want to receive treatment for their substance use they can present at a fire station and somebody at the fire station will immediately connect them to the needed Services um project here for Youth and schools is an online toolkit that schools can register for and the all the components are provided at no cost um so this is a curriculum that has been proven to work and um has been made available to selected schools through a Grant application process and then sand boxes this is a simple one that's in a lot of other towns as well um these are boxes that can be placed in any Building inside outside that contain none information about the massach Massachusetts Good Samaritan law and um directions for how to administer theck Zone as we all know that's a safe uh drug that that reverses overdoses there's no side effects there's no danger to people who use it if they are not overdosing so we want none to be as accessible as possible okay so um as I said before that we're expected to report um what we're doing and how we're utilizing the funds and so um that is one of the areas that a an an advisory committee or the Board of Health being part of an advisory committee would be happy to support and help with the reporting um so I I we're not we're not asking to control the money we're asking to help in the decision-making process and how it would be used but we're willing to do some of the necessary paperwork and things that that have to be done in order for us to continue to receive funding um I want to make note as well that in the Herald news today um and I received actually the press release from um um from our Senator Rodricks um about the opioid settlement funds and how they're being used in Fall River um and they are providing money to the public schools um and they developed an advocacy fund which was money used to directly support people who have addictions or family members who may be grandparents taking care of their grandkids because their parent is addicted and and they no longer have custody that kind of thing so those are Fall River what they did though was they spent $100,000 on a company to come in and do what we're saying we will do for free okay thank you ladies um did you have a question yeah it kind of ties in with that first of all um mental health is a huge issue so hopefully we can address it do you know if we can get any money toward um a conso parttime at the schools I I I believe that that would be a great possibility they have a lot of language in the abatement that addresses schools and and our kids and they even talk about Mental Health Services that would lead might lead to addiction they don't have to be addicted but it may be issues that will um potentiate use of opioids or any substances so so they give if you if you have time to look at this they do a wonderful job describing how the funds can be used and I that's one of the first things I thought of because I have a relationship with the um adjustment counselors at the school so um and and I think that would be a wonderful uh First Step there's a lot of uh inspirational uh motivational speakers out there right now because the problem so bad the other question I was going to ask you is you just said we're going to do it all for free you're allowed to have some administrative help I would think right um yes and so I I believe part of it is there there can be money for administrative costs right I'm not anticipating that an advisory committee is going to really have costs um especially if say on the advisory committee one person from fire one person from school department one person from The Board of Health um and people in the community and we actually have a couple of people from the community that are here um that have expressed interest in in participating I don't know if they' be allowed to speak at this point but yeah well I I would just meant something like uh Michael burus does all the communities get together and it's a smaller that they just make sure your paperwork's right and we go forward so we're following that $35,000 rule etc etc because you know how the government can be with paperwork so right okay very good can I just ask a question though so um can you talk a little bit about um so the the select board like who I'm trying to understand the role of the Board of Health and the role of the select board and where this committee fits in right so um is this group are you suggesting a group that's reporting to the Board of Health are you talking about a a group that's reporting to the select board or like are you envisioning this we would report to the select board because you guys have the purse strings we don't have control or access to any of that money we have zero access so our role would be to I I envisioned doing some focus groups where I we open it up to people in the community and say what do you think would be the best way to utilize These funds to help and then have people give their input and then as a committee then say these how can we organize these to present it to the select board as best practices and how hearing from our community what they want you know I I think that that's important I I hearing that 45 people have died um since 2015 of overdoses in Westport that's reported there could be more and in the um collaborative which um that Olive is the not the director but the coordinator of um we are higher than any of the other communities the next one is Freetown at 22 people 22 deaths we have 45 deaths so you know it it it Bears some um thought but but my answer to that is we would report to the select board the select board may decide I think it would be wonderful to have someone on the select board as part of the committee but um that's you know again your your call on on how you want to do that but I think I think that it's important that Community have input and this is one way to do that you state the the makeup of the committee did you send us anything on the makeup I did not I did not um I I I did not but I did say in my letter to all of you that um that it would be certainly uh safety right um is the is anybody in safety so and in the school department I believe I said school department um I'm attending a an MMA work U Zoom type of uh workshop on uh settlement strategies an overview so I probably will have just gotten half of it but but um on Thursday so yes I am as well and I believe are you Jim I am yes yeah so and I think I think Tanya signed up for it too but um yeah so so you know I think no no we're trying to get organized and try to understand it and then try to utilize These funds in the collaborative are we with everybody else or are they ahead of us in their plans and their committees and so on so some of the communities are ahead of us um some of the communities were given full access to the funds immediately upon receipt and the Board of Health was able to do whatever they wanted with them so some of the towns in the collaborative have um use those to do Naran trainings for the public in their towns and to just give away as much Naran as possible they've installed those sand boxes that I was talking about earlier um another community in the collaborative has partnered with a harm reduction Center that's located in a church and they fund a lot of the harm reduction work that they do there so that's providing Narcan fentel test strips counseling connection to Services um even things like food and you know basic hygiene things for people who just you know are really struggling mhm so and I think one of the important things is uh many of the select boards have given the money to the Board of Health to manage it and that's not happening here I'm not sure why but but I respect that um there are decisions that need to be made then the select Board needs to make them but um the Board of Health hasn't been offered that opportunity so so that's why I'm here but do the other communities have advisory committees that advise their select board and matters um some of them do some of them just have their Board of Health managing that but um it's a recommended best practice to have the community Advisory Board um one of the things that we say in harm reduction work is nothing about us without us we want the community to be involved specifically people with lived experience people in recovery even people in active addiction people who have lost family members um they have seen what works and what doesn't work for them and those voice really need to be heard well these other I may communities they don't they're not interested in having an Advisory Board they don't think they need it they don't think it has value I mean what are the motives for the other this is the best practices to have an advisory taken they don't some don't I'm just curious as to why they don't I think some of them feel as though their Boards of Health are the advisory committee they feel like they have enough experts I don't necessarily agree with that but I also am not in charge of all of those towns I can't tell them what to do so but could that be just as effective as having an Advisory Board I don't think so no well and unless simply put no well unless you have someone like me on the board of health who has the experience and the background in mental health and Addiction Services um who um believes in community input so I I think that you know in in our Town's case I think that would work but and if you don't have the expertise I don't know how many boards um have someone who has the background that I do um so that makes it easier um well and for example Freetown um they're the one that's working with the harm reduction Center they have that one place that is very localized that provides most of the services in Freetown so they work directly with the faculty or you know the employees of the church and and the volunteers and they kind of act as the advisory committee in that way um so there are a lot of different ways to do it but I know that like Fall River New Bedford a lot of the surrounding larger towns have advisory committees um and that is definitely what I would recommend I think it's really important to have conversations then and um having a separate committee lets you extract that from the regular board meetings and um I mean you could still make it work but I I would be in favor of just like we had with this offshore wind Charter I think if we're going to create a new group to do something I think we really should have a charter um that similar to the one we had um that we just approved earlier so that it kind of outlines what's the purpose what's the scope um what's the membership entail I think that would be really important um to to creating it so my thought would be um to ask ask them to come back with a proposed Charter that we could then act on but um that's just I I am really excited about making sure that we're having people participate in the conversation and having really open I know there's a lot of people very interested in it Donna can you ask Carol for the veteran service too if she'd be interested yes be not yeah thanks yeah I mean we can certainly do some of that ground workor um that Grassroots work as well I we I've already got connections in the community we have some here um if it would be okay if they just if they could just come up and say a few things little little too short for this uh my name is Ally Paul um I am uh I was born and raised in Westport I now live in Fall River and work in Fall River I am an addiction treatment specialist um I've been working in addiction treatment for the past eight years um my mom is actually nany Paul former CEO of star in forer um so I'm of course quite passionate about making sure that Westport has the best care that it can possibly have um I myself don't work in Westport because we don't really have much for addiction treatment services in Westport and it's certainly an issue um again being born and raised here I've seen that we do have a drug problem in Westport that is totally unacknowledged untreated there's nothing there for it um so I really want to make sure that every single dollar that we have here that we've been granted is spent saving a life because that's what it can do every dollar can go to S to be spent saving a life and we should make sure that we're doing it with the utmost care thought and experience and opinions behind it um so thank you thank you thank you Alie anyone [Music] else hi I'm Valerie Basset uh live on Adamsville Road and um I uh I work for several several years on an opioid overdose prevention initiative a federally funded initiative in Brockton um and saw the effectiveness of a lot of the efforts to uh promote harm reduction and treatment and how that reduce the overdose death rate um Westport has a very high rate and um as all of said you know those numbers represent people but I also think that this money is kind of blood money because the money is here because of all the death the unnecessary deaths from overdo opioid overdoses and the mistreatment by companies um who could make a lot of money off of opioids so it there's a sort of extra responsibility to spend this money in a life saving and and high impact and and responsible way so I always think that it's it's not regular money in a way and the other thing I would just add is how important fentanyl awareness and Fentanyl uh prevention fentanyl tester are basically all the overdose deaths the opioid overdose deaths that happen now in Massachusetts are fentanyl based fentanyl can be in any drug there's cross-contamination kids thinking they're buying Aderall um it's really meth or it might be contaminated with fentanyl um I work now at Bridgewater State University at the wellness center in community health and prevention and we do drug and alcohol education among other things and one of our priorities is making sure that students know about fentanyl it could be in cocaine it could be in your finals pills for those who do that so we try to get test strips out there raise awareness as well as making the lock Zone as available as possible so I'm interested in supporting or being on the committee or doing whatever it takes uh because this is a passion and you know these desks can be prevented thanks thank hi my name is Nancy Paul I'm the retired CEO of Star right now I'm doing some Consulting work for the United Nations and uh for brandise on Healthcare quality uh around drug addiction and um looking at the financing of uh treatment drug addiction treatment in the United States in the world uh Westport has always had a problem and 45 overdoses in that amount of time is not correct those may be people that died in Westport but it's not the number of Westport residents that have died um I'm also very concerned about families and what we're going to do to help families uh recover with the person uh in recovery so I would love to see some money spent on families and also early uh education and it's not necessarily and I wanted to get this across it's not necessarily doing drug education it's doing um educating kids on how to be resilient and and that's what you do in the early grades um before you even talk about drugs so those are some of the things that I think are important I'm the proud mom of Ali Paul who does uh uh open access for anybody in any of the region that walks into her organization and wants to um be assessed for their mental health or drug addiction problem so thanks for letting me see you thank you thank you for being here anything else from the board anything else you guys so I'm suggesting that you come back to us with a proposed Charter um uh Paula can send you the one we Ed for the offshore wind if you want a sample that would be great right anything else I don't think so thank you for your thank you very much thank you for listening and hopefully the people that are watching in the community will have a better understanding um of what this money is about and for thank you thanks for coming um the next item on the agenda is the Town Administrator report that's fairly short report tonight um presidential election obviously is November the town clerk has a very good website if anybody needs any information on the election um I'd ask anybody that's not that hasn't maybe voted in a while is not sure where to vote what Precinct that they contact the town clerk's office prior to the election day so that they can get that information um early voting begins on Saturday October 19th the last day to register to vote is Saturday October 26th and obviously the election is Tuesday November 5th and again all this information is on the town website and the clerk's office and um she's got a very good website down there so I would check that um we had a department meeting last week um Carol frus and and Paula have been working on updating the town's website um Carol kind of gave a nice presentation all the department heads departments are working on updating their Pages we're hoping to get that online in the next couple of months Michael Baris um he mentioned earlier tonight he's working on the town's permiting software um they've recently I think worked with the assessor's office and that data has been converted and then the next step will be go to the building inspector's office and start getting that information entered that's kind of the main office uh the central point for all permitting so um again there's an awful lot of work that needs to be done to get that up and going but um we're behind most communities on this and we need to get we need to get moving um Town Hall Annex playground I know Dana Stewart and the Recreation Commission have been working quite a bit on getting that playground up and running if you look at it it looks great um they're still waiting for the fence to be installed I think the date for the young fence was pushed back a week so that's the end of September the recreation committee is supposed to meet this week or next week to come up with an opening day to Grand Opening so they expect that to happen sometime in October that's all I have thank you uh we have the minutes for September 9 2024 I read them I recommend approval second is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um the report on the bill warrant uh Madam chair the bill warrant was um quite tame this this week yeah this what every two weeks actually and $1.5 million um I didn't see anything there that was out of order by any means and I didn't see any huge items this month a lot of it was routine and that's that's a reasonable amount that we're looking at so all as well excellent thank you um next we have liaison committee reports or suggestions for future agenda items Craig uh we did meet last week for the affordable housing trust um we are releasing uh an RFP for um par of land uh that could be used to develop affordable housing um we're looking I ideally 30 partial but also looking at combinations of uh properties that could be bordering um wetlands and using that as a buffer uh for that and we we'll wait to see what we have before we can decide which way to go going forward thank you zck uh the only meeting I attended was a Council on Aging I was there as the leaz on from the select board we discussed that Personnel issue that was uh resolved earlier other than that it was a routine meeting so I have nothing else to report thank you Steve I've been stuck in jury duty so there was one meeting um bike and pedestrian that um I I couldn't make but otherwise and I hope to get back in the saddle still serving I got to well I did attend the meeting for the um signing the contract for for sewer and water I mean for water on rule six um Jim when's the start date on that supposed to start the middle of October um we're still waiting for the pyramid from Mass doot for the street opening permit okay what what exactly is the issue with that just getting it through the process with mass doot they had they had questioned so at the end of the the waterline we have these blowoff meters um or blow off we release water so that the water is not sitting in the pipe for an extended period of time um we got a call from them yesterday on Friday they have concerns about letting that water go into their catch their drainage system so we're trying to schedule a meeting with them uh we contacted them again today hopefully we can meet with them the next day or two to to work out that situation I think that's pretty much it they had a question on one of the hydrants that was resolved um and a couple of questions on the the patching when we sent the plans to it showed the sewer information as well so they wanted expanded patching for for the water connections to cover the sewer trenches that we weren't doing so we've reduced that down to just the sewer which is a considerable saving just the water yes which is considerable savings um we're also looking at Alternatives as to where we could also um discharge the blowoff water if we cannot tie into the state system and we I say the state system it goes into the state drainage system but then the state drainage system goes into our system so um ultimately it goes into the town system so it's it's a relatively small amount of water in comparison to storm water so if you get a rain event it's significant amount of water going into that catch Basin as opposed to the little bit of water that we're we're putting into that Basin on a daily basis yeah but Mass Highway doesn't allow you to put any water into that and that's what they said they they they would have to give an exception to the town and they were considering it um and they do have some drain some drainage updates at the end where that's going so I'm sure they're concerned with that but um so this utility access which would be the water utility access um What entity applied for this permit I mean imagine Roger's working on it right Roger he's going through Klein Felder engineering okay so who's going to sign off on the permit he probably be the town I'm assuming it' be the town that's what we had to do for the other one because it's our system for what other one uh Coastal healing okay but but you incorrectly Tim King not you s I'll correct myself incorrectly put a highway in front of that which the the utility and water should be the select board so we should be signing off on that permit I can certainly make that happen if you want no I mean that's the way it has to be I mean it's kind of we have the so the coastal healing permit uh I also attended that meeting with mass Highway um it's also hasn't been striped yet and it was needed to be striped right away so that that's another issue where where um because it was incorrectly applied for it felt through the cracks so are you suggesting this should be a future agenda I I feel like we're quizzing Jim on something that he might he's like a no I'm not suggesting are you suggesting it should be on an agenda that we need to talk about well well what I'm suggesting is I did try to get an infrastructure oversight committee meeting as soon as possible so we could discuss this cuz the other issue that's coming up people are looking to tie into the water and we have we we have no procedure for them um and not you are proposing that we have a agenda well again I I'm proposing I asked Steve if we could have an infrastructure oversight committee meeting and he told me that through Moray that we couldn't so I'm that's why I'm asking these questions because how are we going to deal with the permits I mean the water's coming in we're going to what I'm what I'm saying to you is that we're not prepared to discuss this but if you you would like to put it on a I'm discussing I'm discussing what we op what we can discuss and if if we applied for a permit which we applied for a permit in the past wrongly from the former Town Administrator I but what I'm saying to you is you've got a lot of content here that's very specific that there we need some preparation for so if you would like to talk about this at the I don't understand what the preparation is we're in the in this you're quizzing Jim on something that none of the rest of us know anything about right you are I'm so I'm not suggesting talk about it I'm this is what's going on and I'm just questioning cuz I don't you know the procedure is incorrect I mean this you're asking for it to be on a future agenda let's I have one question right now so so when we went out to bid for the sewer and water and we used the same design so I'm getting what I'm what I'm hearing is I'm I'm hearing that uh water permit the utility access was is not ready yet well it was ready when we went out to bid nothing's changed that section Jim when the what went out to bid was everything out of Route Six Mr sores you're you're ex I'm happy to put this on a future agenda item so that we can prepare to answer these questions but what we're doing right now is asking a question since we we couldn't get an infrastructure oversight I'm not in charge of the infrastructure oversight committee but I am in fact in charge of the agenda for this meeting and if you would like to request that this be on the agenda of this meeting then I'm so on the next meeting could we have an A an infrastructure meeting to discuss but we can discuss these questions related to the project that you have we're not having an infrastructure oversight meeting but if you give us the topics you want to discuss permitting for the for the water that's going in right now okay great so we'll have an update on the Water Project seems it seems like you want an update on the Water Project so that we can go look on the Water Project I understand it's it went out to bid we just we have an issue because our utility access permit in incomplete we have nobody working on that it belongs to this board so I want this board to take action on the utility access excellent let's put it on an agenda I'm asking you okay do that okay we are we're going to put an agenda to update on the Water Project and the permitting questions that he just talked about and um anything related to to the questions that he just had is that clear enough to get some materials together yeah and infrastructure did we figure out if we can do it the 30th October 30th Mory was looking at that I don't know yeah Jim and and mor both have alternating um vacations this month so we were looking probably at the end of we're going to have the second week we can put it on for October 7 or I think we have a meeting October 7 or October 28 right are our next meetings would you like it on October 7th I don't know he won't not going be on 7 you're not going to be here on the 7 that's why we didn't have INF instructed within the next two weeks all right so you're not going to be here till the 28th that's correct is there somebody that can speak to the questions that Mr Sor had besides you is there somebody else that could speak I guess Roger could right we could probably bring in Roger orer so would you prefer to 28th when we have Jim or would you prefer that we ask Roger for the seventh i' would like to have Roger for the seventh okay Paula could you please reach out and see if they're available do you have anything else I have one more question because and the town administrative report was was kind of short so the water bilding that's going how did that work out so the last I heard with the water building with Fall River I had spoken to uh Paul furland from Community uh maintenance of um Community utilities and he was in general agreement that uh based on what we had discussed previously that they were going to prepare an agreement uh based on what the board had discussed the last executive session so we're waiting for the agreement we're waiting on them right now for well they they I know um they have a meeting tomorrow on on that so I was just that's what I was concerned of what that meeting was about city council I wasn't aware of that one of the council's put a resolution together to address it all right anything else all right um there was a climate resilience committee meeting which I did not attend so I don't have an update on that um none of the other committees on I'm on have been have met um anything else from the board Madam chair yeah what what about the the Broadband when's that contract starting there is no contract and nothing thing proposed um then we vote to you had a $250,000 Grant and they voted for $50,000 for the Oh you mean the Fiber project the loop project um I don't actually know what their status is but we can we can put that on agenda has the contract been signed I don't know has the contract been signed that last question I don't know that last Loop we'll get an update and we can put that on agenda we'll put that on agenda so um let's put that on for October 7 to um all right anything else from the board before we go to the public okay comments statements from the public a follow-up question to can you just say your name Carrie COA I have a follow-up question about the runoff water situation I know the state had a plan to fix it and it was put on hold I'm wondering if that's going to since the water sewer is you know for the foreseeable future not in the future is the state going to come in and still do that to the roads the surfaces Annie what did you want to know what was the question about the state and their plan to fix runoff water STM the biggest contamination of our water this runoff water we were told I have not seen the recent PL of you they they nothing's been presented to I nothing's been presented to my office as far as storm water plans for Route Six they are proposing to um do corridor plan which I'm sure would include drainage but that's that's a ways out and I haven't seen any specific designs so which plan is on hold with them they were waiting for us to get the water and sewer together and then they were going to be completed together yeah I I don't know if they were waiting for us specifically um they're way off in the the process well I say way off it could be two years could be 10 years um I haven't seen any they normally go through 25% 75% % design they have not done the 25% design they had a conceptual type plan that they were working with serid uh but I haven't seen anything beyond that I don't know if no I think you might look into it because I I mean I was told when we had that when when I had that issue on the project at the end over there they have a design complete but they didn't go for the funding yet because we were holding them up that's what the word is I can check the Design's done okay that's it anything else um I just encourage the public if you want to get involved there's a number of boards committees vacancies even if it doesn't look like there's a vacancy please talk to somebody we can probably find you a place um we are going to go into executive session in a minute but um we were going to conduct no business after executive session only to adjourn was there any topic under 48 hours that we need to discuss oh yes um which is notified by the division of local services that they provide a financial dashboard to communities it's the select board vote to requested it's a free service um they go through um um yearly filings with the state and they come up with a nice financial analysis with spreadsheets and flow charts I just ask if the board would vote to uh allow me to request um the services so that they provide the dashboard services to town Westport there's no cost is there any downside I don't see any down I move we approach the state to take advantage of their dashboard Serv development of a uh dashboard for financial services second maybe we'll get the audit committee and dig it into this for us go I'm just curious I'm supporting this of course but uh does the finance committee need to weigh in on this and give their opinion I I think they can use the information I think it's the information is there they just kind of pretty it up and put it in a presentation form look at that doesn't answer the question I um I don't think they need to oh was a courtesy I mean we work with them we you know maybe they'll have some insight into this maybe they've looked at some others like this I don't think it's ever come up before right the way but like I say I support this no question but I I was just wondering I can yeah that's I'd be happy with that that's enough all right so we have a motion a second to um allow to have Jim request the whatever that is the dashboard dashboard dashboard is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous thank you Jim uh we're going to go into executive session so 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 for Westport permanent firefighters Association local 1802 and approve the minutes of September 9 2024 so Mo St second Richard Brewer all in favor any sawai I st I shaas hi Richard Brewer hi Craig all right we are in executive session something