##VIDEO ID:Zy09MrxGtew## folling to order the December 5th Thursday uh meeting of the weight Le Select board first item on the agenda is to review and approve the meeting minutes from November 26 2024 does anybody have any corrections or comments no not I move to Second all those in favor I I I okay review and discuss vendor and payroll warrants any discussion on those no comment okay and public comment residents May provide comments up to three minutes per person on items not on the agenda anybody here to provide comment on an item not on the agenda now we're moving into the uh fiscal year 2025 tax classification hearing is there a motion to open the hearing I move that we open the fiscal year 2025 tax classification hearing second all those in favor I I I okay I believe the board of assessors is going to give us a presentation um certainly in the past the administ to start off by sort of outlining what our responsibilities and options were at this I don't know if the assesses are going to do that the do that what we have there four different votes take oh or well you can do that I can do that tax rate op space homes dead ex and I don't have that information sorry well I'll start off by saying that we are required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to address tax classifications on an annual basis and that's why we do this uh what do this the basic thing is the the tax Shi options split but there also there are three other should be in that well I remember you you sent something to the board of assessors on the four criteria that we should be addressing during tax classification that's I think what that's what he's referring to what he's referring to that and you asked for specific information to be presented to to the board right but we got to take votes on four separate right have that information avilable well our text assistant Ste Casey here should I also have that somewhere excuse me yeah hi hi my name is David burgers and I work for RG systems as a regional tax assessor uh Steven works here as the Assessor for you in time this is one of his first classification hearings uh Mr Barn is quite right there are four items the four items you have to decide is whether you're going to have a split rate residential commercial and Industrial yeah and personal uh a residential exemption yeah for non um non owner occupied property a small commercial exemption for properties less than million dollars of less than five employees and uh the open space if you want the shift open space so those are the four items and there motions at the end that sounds familiar from yes and Fred just found that I I found a something from a couple years ago good from 2022 gearing that outlines okay the the things yeah I seem to recall that we had four separate votes we had okay and does the board of assessors want to present their information we've had it and we' looked it over to want to present it to us what's your last name I'm sorry Casey um so on if you look at page two that outlines the different steps yep so on page three I'm going to go over some terminology more or less to do the figes so we have the levy in waight me the levy to be raised is estimated to be 5 million 11 15, [Music] 3971 this represents .4% increase over last thisal days I interrupt that is not a correct figure the the dollar figure is correct the percentage increase is 4.4% not 1.04% thank you for the correction is4 4.4% it's 104% of the previous year's correct number but is a 4% increase is a 4% increase I miss spoke a 4% increase over last fiscal years 2024's Levy of 4,898 446 10 the levy ceiling is at 9,586 57610 our new growth revenue is 11859 the levy limit for fiscal year 2025 is 6,335 192 our excess Levy capacity is at 1,218 795 in below you will see a table um showing the ly limit and amount to be raised we have a breakdown of the major property classes residential commercial industrial and personal property yeah I think Fred had a question on uh from the vision of local Services dateway there are five categories open space is a category and it seems here the number seems we combined into commercial what was well but they're in different classes right the commercial the way it's been treated in this community is has been treated as 61 and 61 for on the commercial plant I'm sorry would you say that again chapter L 61 chapter 61 61a and 61b this is way the open space has been characterized here in whing and those classes are commercial so it should have been on the commercial class okay thank you for the explanation if you could for next year for other plac put that as a note because when I compared your numbers to local Services numbers they weren't looking the same we can do that thank you I'll tell you it's not part of this meeting so we'll discuss it later okay I I understand there might be reasons but it was confusing to me to see different you know a different number there than I was getting on the website you appreciate the clarification thank you thank you Mr Casey so moving on to Shifting the tax version um below you'll see a t table that shows different Shi factors and please note that the overall maximum decrease in average residential bill will be 352 while the average commercial industrial and property bill would go up by 9,26 that's if the maximum ship was foot in maximum shift would be if we split the rate if we split the rate and went to the max allow that we allowed to right improver Stephen or Mr Casey um Mr Casey page five we have the tax rate tax rate for 2025 at 1.34 then we have historical figure for f 2024 at [Music] 13.69% in the last two lines under tax impacts is that something that also should be that's also no no yes let me hear why you saying only changing by $245 that's only half% of the most 20 48 $248 as as opposed to 39 no was a portion of 18595 no but we're talk that's that's the value increase 248 is the tax increase that should be that's compared to the taxes fromy 24 right so that yeah because it's 248 compared to 5570 and that's something like 4% if I do it in my head I think what they probably meant it's a factor of 1.04 right right right which an increase of 4% they're saying the same thing only just the notations wrong yeah right okay as long as you don't come back and just make it 1% we're not looking all right Mr casy if you continue the Board of assessors recommends that the select board adopts a residential Shi factor of one um Bas on above assumptions and single tax rate the estimated ly to be raised by taxation would be 5,1 15, 397 in one C the excess Le capacity would be in amount of 1, 29,999 the board of assessors recommends that no residential exemption no small commercial exemption and no open space exemption be adopted and so I'm going to put it in more late person's terms for myself when you say adopting a residential shift factor of one that means flat tax rate correct thank so Bel there is oh that's thank after we close the year portion is there any more discussion or comment from either the public or the select on the information that we're looking at regarding the tax rate yes hi I did you identify yourself James Ross 177 State Road I just wanted to speak uh as a small business owner lle to maintain the flat tax rate for business and residential in the town yeah um we go around every year talking about this Finance Committee Member but committee recommends keeping it board of assessors recommends keeping it we need to promote growth in this town and we're trying to tax businesses more is not the way to do that go on that but that's just thank you appreciate your input any other discussion from well I I've got a question for the assessors I'm looking at the assessment of commercial properties was up 25% from this year can you give a little more detail what caused that big BM Well if you look down road you can see a lot of development uh on River Road State is there no storage facility been open I think it's a 7 million dollar increase in the ass yes that is and the the billing permits for them improvements were considerably more than what we have it assess for for one because we don't we don't assess I'm not just I just saw a big bump I'm trying to but but that's we don't assess based on on B perit values we based on on on formul criteria what we see and that's what we assessed it as and I know at least one of them on the one on River Road is not completed yet so that's only partial think and that is qualified as commercial though it's on agricultural line yes yes we go by by the use rather than the zoning okay when it's a development like that there's no development well then it's a commercial development there so okay there there is some some increases there the other increase if you notice in these tables is uh there's six single family homes were added last year to our residential value uh I think all of them were in fine Plains EST States and maybe uh some on Merson Road no residential increase seems to be is lower than the year than last year higher than the year before but it's roughly in line where residential growth has been right it was just that other number jumped out at think yeah and that will increase again next year because we see some of them more work being done which is critical because New Growth helps with the TX okay the tax levy increased numbers so sorry I'm actually the chair yeah I'm sorry still surprising yes okay speak yes okay yes sir comping what Fred said about the growth the residential growth I think is going to decrease because there's fewer and fewer available land to build up without changing lot sizes and stuff so we need to encourage more commercial growth which we in fact we saw this year the storage you're not going to see as many as six houses being there's no land available to buy to buy so we need to encourage there Land by now you never know when land may come available our class keep going up every year well as a town you can say that every year every town any further discussion no I thank you for the report I think this one when I read it um everything was was clear I figured out the 1.04% thing apologize on my own but but that that's okay and and I noticed similar to what Fred was saying that residential percent is at 78% and in the past it's been around 80 so at this point it's at kind of a the lower end and maybe that's a trend maybe it's not but um thank you for the very um easy to understand report I'm sorry you show me you're seeing there well I rounded 77 I was looking in the wrong column of percentages thank you got it okay is there a motion are we going to have further discussion after CL the public we can have further discussion as the raise points I want to raise now if you have I don't have this isn't question these are more statements okay okay or things that you want the uh public to respond to anything else or is it just no um well I'll bring them up now and I know the in particular comment but uh once again I have been a proponent for split tax rate J you know I've not pressed it to any degree but I raised my point and the reason for that is we've got in this town a very out of balance commercial and Industrial sector we've got a total of $62 million $63 million in commercial and Industrial 20 plus million of B in three properties cestro Yankee Candle fure gas uh which makes looking at anything that cause for averages in that those classifications essentially meaningless those just put a huge stum on the scale of average uh there's only 75 I believe prop commercial industrial properties and three of them represent over a third of the total de and these are and I fully recognize the additional burden on the small B we had small businesses and yes this would raise taxes on them on the other hand it would reduce taxes on the on all the residents of town any living in town would have regen uh and that aging population many unfixed incomes who could benefit by had getting a reduction of whatever size in their property tax and I think in spite of dire consequences for proestro n candle in particular I if they were to move out of weight Le would not be deposited 20 or $30,000 increase in the proper tax it's can cost them millions and millions and millions of dollars if they want to move closed or move their facility this would not be what caused them to do it and I would love to see the residents of the [Music] town keep a little more money in their pocket and maybe take a little more money primarily from multi-billion Dollar multinational corporations and I wish there was something we could do for to splits that our hands are tied do what that's always that's the problem that's always that's always that's always the problem this exemption does not apply to the small businesses that we have because they're just large enough that they don't even though they're not multinational M right but so we're injuring them sorry yeah no absolutely we I I prefer I like to call collateral bandage unfortunately that I don't wouldn't want I don't want to prevent but I want to help the 15 100 plus residents of the Town by reducing their taxes and that's the tradeoff the balance they have to consider and did you say uh that those three companies own are third third a third of the combined Comm commercial industrial asking the small businesses who are two3 two3 to share that well some are small businesses those are just the three big I haven't even some of the other businesses aren't that small either um I don't want to go I don't have the figures in front of me but there there are some larger companies that have that's actually thing I'm missing from this year's package is a um a rundown of the businesses in town yeah that's on the back of the we just got oh that's what the coun listing right ahate can I say something yes would you identify assessors this is as as you know come up in Prior years of uh how do we improve the the or reduce the tax rate for residents and last year recommendation was made and it was followed up you look on our website there is several several different uh activities that residents can do to reduce their tax rate uh that that is been on last year and it's on this year and there are residents that that take it advantage of that that that cement information for that we have information we provided last year of of benefits and get for for veterans handicap uh there's CPA even exemptions there's also uh the bigger one that is uh a state tax credit a senior circuit tax CR tax break for for senior residents anybody over age 65 I think is is eligible for that and there's like 25 30% of if you look at the residents in weightly 25 to 30 are over AG 65 and if you if you take a percent of that maybe half of that I mean you're you're looking at a substantial amount that these people get on their income tax tax rate it's not a property tax but it's an income tax rate so there are ways for people to reduce their total taxes in why can't they expose so why can't people get that that tax reduction and the another tax reduction they deserve well because and I I guess the the biggest impact or or the the largest the largest impact is on the people that have higher taxes the tax rate is is not what I want to say it it uh the the smaller assessed properties save less than a larger assessed properties because because they pay less taxes so so they're going to get smaller savings then were the people that and and the and the same is true in commercial industrial too right right but then people are probably also the ones that that qualify for the state income tax uh credit for that because of their income is so low their property taxes are low so that interest that helps them qualify for that uh the higher higher property values probably can't afford to pay if they can afford to live in weightly I guess some people say you can afford to pay property tax uh and we're not that much different than other surrounding towns if you look at the tax rates uh in frankon county or or the needed areas uh joining us in medor towns we're at a similar tax rates so and all others there there's very few even in Franklin County that have a split tax that's mostly because of their High industrial or Public Utilities uh power plants uh which we have Maybe not maybe not as high as a couple of other towns that have 90% of their value in one Dam hydroelectric Dam yeah so so there are ways that that we different I guess in our residential okay we we talk about this this last year and my point then and my point now is that that you know tax credit on income tax is not relevant to this discussion because Everyone's entitled to whether or not we do what we do anyway yeah but it we can advertise it more and let people know and let them take it but that doesn't mean we couldn't give them a little extra something by cutting the residential rate so that that depends on your on your property tax I think how much depends on your property tax but if if we went to a split tax rate everyone every residential tax bill would go down can I can I ask a question of the board of assessors sure I I am probably alone in finding this package really confusing this year um sorry yeah no no I I there's a lot of figures and and the conclusions don't necessarily seem obvious to me um on page four the maximum decrease in the average residential bill is $352 while the average CIP bill would go up by 9,26 that's not 9,26 for a small construction company and 9,26 for cestro that's just an average what is the percentage that's also based on a maximum a maximum sh maximum shift which we have never considered which we have never considered so I guess what I'm wondering is how much burden are we putting percentage wise on small businesses and how would it affect their tax rate that's what has led me in the past to vote for a single tax rate because it just didn't seem to be directly Rel to what per that you vote if you vote 10% you're impacting them by 10% you 20% you're going to increase your taxes by 20% that's and 20% would be the one what you're going to do is you're going to raise the tax rate by I see okay so every every point you raise will raise by one point tax okay you like the last column in that table you can you know look at the differences that's average anywhere from you know 2 to 9,000 is going to change yeah but that's average depend the average in the CIP num is an irrelevant number because it's a it's a small sample size with a very big spread within that sample right yeah if you take the seven I think the highest fting property has for commercial is 7 and a half million uh it's N I think n okay you're looking it raing something like $60,000 in tax uh if we were to maximum yes if we do maximum which we have not ever considered the number we were the number several years ago when we were looking at this was doing a 1.2% shi not a 1.5% sh 20% right and the owner of that property is Yankee Candle the ones who would pay that who did in the neighborhood as a corporation of a billion dollars in sales last year the $220,000 difference is not going to make a break Yankee canle so show me here because you're better at this a small business that you would like to raise the taxes 20% I don't want to raise anybody's taxes it but it would that it would damage damage that it would raise and and tell me what the amount is that would raise their attack I don't know but if you look at the the total values here they are they run roughly in the neighborhood of 400,000 500,000 like as opposed to F toal seven if you take say for instance [Music] the 44,000 I'm just going to throw which one is this sorry it's 84 con street it's the Mason Family Trust which page if you look at the basic tax rate is 1334 we look let's say 1334 you're looking a little bit over uh $5,200 on that property and if you go to um 4 or S you'd be looking at about $6,400 so you're raising about $1,200 you see 44,000 I think that yes that's let's just run that the 400,000 on that one fair fair enough and that's the value of the that's the value yeah okay so looking somewhere with 50 $5,400 tax proposing at a single rate and at 20% you're looking to $6,400 say the first part again I'm sorry 5400 54 versus 64 yeah so they're raising it by a th000 yeah for a year for this year yes year okay before I get involved this rrg I'm going to put the numbers out front RG there's no comment on how you vote this is your time you vote your way clarification if you back next year y inste we want a split or we want a single rate you're going to be raising the single families abnormally from the following year if your board changes because you'll be picking up what they save this year plus what will go next year so that's something anytime you give something you always have to remember that that could come back it's the same if we were we say the same thing to our small business people that we change next year then they get a for them in the future yeah but I mean your Bas is need be 80% residential so those are the people you know then they say increase following year yes but our base is 80% residential who would see a substantial decrease this year if we do yes you decide to put it back on or take it off what way you want to say the word if you go back to a single rate after you be the split rate the residential's going go yes' um I don't know if this will help you but it let's just look at the 20% Which had been another consideration okay if you do the CIP shift Factor 1.2 that means the rate for commercial industrial goes up by $2.66 because that's the difference between 1334 and 16.0 okay so they get a $2.66 per th000 increase in the rate the residential only goes down by 44 cents per thousand uh right because they because and that's where the 820 comes in so if we kept it we use round numbers 8020 for every dollar you raise the commercial industrial the residential only gets 25 cents because of the way this shift Factory Works um it says you know so if you're going to get more out of this small 20% you've got to actually increase theirs a lot compared to these percentage to the other 80% right but we're still we're still talking about I agree that it's still going to reduce residential taxes and as it always does the the the Richer you are and the bigger your house the bigger your savings would be on that and it doesn't discriminate against I mean it doesn't tell same rate for Yankee Candle as it is for everybody else um so I still at this point feel like this is too crude a way to shift things like I don't know that our tax system is completely fair right now but I don't think this makes it more fair so that it's it's a very crude way to do it but it's it's the system we've been given right and and it I don't like I don't think it makes it more fair I guess so I don't I hesitate to change because I don't think it makes it more fair or the benefit to Residents isn't enough to offset what would certainly be perceived even if Yankee Candle and kestra and Berkshire gas don't care I think a lot of people on these pages will whose commercial rate is going to go up substantially more than the property rate goes down that's that's kind that's where I'm I'm sitting I mean I completely understand your argument I know what progressive tax ratings mean um and that taxing businesses a little bit more because maybe they're thriving and maybe they can afford it well I don't know that all the businesses are thriving but some of them are and so just just I'm not comfortable putting all of those in one bucket and just saying well you're all thriving and you can afford more and same way with residents I'm not sure that all residents can't afford their taxes I know there are people on fixed income and we have some remedies for that is probably not enough but I just feel like I mean I just feel like this is too crude uh Legend to use um to try and make something more fair and I don't know that it would really end up being more fair I would love to see the um the split and the small commercial exemption rules change oh yeah because how do we get that to happen I don't know but that would give us a little more sophistication about making this decision um because it as it is and I've voted in past years not to split the rate because we are asking the bigger companies to pay more and we're trying to give a break to the residents but then we're inadvertently penalizing everybody in the middle and one of the things that's wonderful about this town is the number of small businesses that Thrive and if we had a more sophisticated instrument um I'd be happier about that but I agre it is a blun instrument do we are we done with discussion well just I just wanted to add one thing about the difference between the residential and the commercial will bringe when I say this but I own a small business myself and to some degree business at least can have an influence on its Revenue businesses can increase prices on things to cover additional cost residents don't have that option they can't go out and say residents on fixed income do not have that option even well yeah theoretically someone could try to go out and get a new job for more money to cover cover it but that's not really poor people get postive living increases or that mean living increases your salary is not stagnant for all your career for the people on fix income and for most people they don't have the option of saying okay okay I will tweak this to try to increase my Revenue by 3% or 5% but who pays when the business increases their prices well their customers whether the resent whether the residents of this town or another town or someplace else gets passed out it increases like that will always get passed yes get passed down but and then get spread to a wider range of people um I'm not saying that it's something business don't want to raise their rates but if say they're in the building and their rent goes up they're going to increase their prices to cover the rent if the cost of materials goes up they're going to increase their prices to cover the cost material and if their taxes go they're going to increase their prices to cover their taxes and residents don't have that option just one point it's kind of on choices or I want to emphasize something that chice I made we were talking about if that maximum decrease the average residential bill would decrease by 352 that's the average corre and we've been focusing on those with fixed incomes those with fixed incomes likely don't have an average tax bill they may be on the smaller and therefore their savings is less because the benefit of that reduction is actually going to be on the larger I'm not saying larger incomes and they're the ones receiving the benefit I'm not saying the average reduction would not be huge not for the be aund and something be hund and something dollars you know depending on what numbers we adopted probably be in the range of 10 and something thousand it is not huge something and and it's spread AC that to try to also say that it's the larger businesses that are going to pay the larger increase the the the flip site is the um those with a smaller property or a smaller uh that pay a smaller residential Bill are going to see a smaller decrease it's the same we have to acknowledge both sides AB absolutely um I'm ready to move on to a v um I think we to close the public no I'm just saying I think okay we close the hearing I'll second all those in favor I I I okay I um moved that the board vote in ACC course with Mass General off 40 section 56 as amended the percentage of local Levy which will be borne by each class of real and personal property relative to the setting of the fiscal year 25 tax rates and set the residential Factor at 1.0 with a corresponding CIP shift of 1.0 pending certification of the town's annual tax recap by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue second all those in favor I I oppos oppos okay chose two in favor one opposing um I move that the SL board vote not to have a residential exemption second all those in favor I I I I Mo that the S board vote not to a small commercial exemption second all those in favor I I okay I move that uh we that the sled vote not to have an open space shift second all those in favor I I thank you very much and thank you for doing all the moving it was tough and thank everybody who came and offered your information thank you oh you know how movie theaters they remind you thank you guys thank you everybody no I know that and and you know I have a note for myself because I really like to know how we get a more sophisticated end I think that's a good topic to take up at um with our and even people aren't does kind of leave our hands very blunt we can we can still pretend we're in her District she pretends like she does pretend that we like that too we'll have two senators we'll good minut it yeah all right next new business boards and committees appointment of Fred Orosi to the housing committee I move that we appoint Fred Orosi to the housing committee second all those in favor by bye I I would just like to know to if there's any other resident that's interested in serving on the committee we do have one additional vacancy okay you heard it here first boards and committees appointment of the ad hoc committee energy storage system study um are we appointing Jo M yeah so Joyce has steep forward as a volunteer to represent the select board on that St the rest of the board would agree if you if you agree I agree do we need to vote on that if it's at um it's that question like let's vote I move that we appoint Joyce to the ad hoc committee for the energy you want to you want to do all seven of them other six they're in the uh yeah back and forth I'm happy to read you go for it so for the planning board represent uh representative it would be Brant yep conservation is George Owens Board of Health Michael Ral a commission Doug Coldwell energy committee Paul nulan and the atlarge resident would be Judy Mar I believe that the board appoint the members as outlined to the ad hoc committee energy storage systems study committee all those in favor I I I thank you everybody for stepping up to take care of that the host Community agreement Urban grown is currently in a renewal process for their HCA they never started operations and they'd like to sell their license they've asked the town to agree to an HCA waiver which would exempt them from having to complete an HCA which will then make it easier for them to sell their license our feedback from Town Council is not a good idea to give them that waiver any discussion or questions I with with Council on that I agree with Council is there a motion um did I yes oh yes sir I didn't realize what's your name stepen her hello Stephen I'm Julie yeah wager yes I can give you like upload um the missions I think' pass we first uh aim the waight Le to try and uh activate our provisional license in the town and for a number of reasons we couldn't do it and so um I recognize that you have a concern um it was back in 200 19 January that we got license provisional license and um the papers I've given you are change in location and change in ownership the concern I believe that you have is that this would set up a precedent uh for anybody else um wanting to get the HCA uh W done also our concern that if you sell the company that that you are also selling the lack of an HCA sellable license yeah yeah currently we don't have an HCA only I think Council also says that you can't really do that sale without your HCA i' I've got a question into the Cannabis Control Commission to see what we can do if we don't get the waiver it's very unlikely I understand we have a very broad basic HCA that's been through the new process it'll take you 25 seconds honestly to get an HCA it will not delay you at all I don't mind getting the HCA okay good I think we're done I think we're done I mean h but does that have to have agreement with the previous place that we were going to the the thing with the HCA is it does have to have a location yeah so it does have to have address Associated to where you're going to be going to and green jeans is taking the property that they're in a conundrum we can print these hcas like on a xerox machine so if they need a property associated with it can they use the green jeans no no because green jeans is can they use the property that they had previously that's that's the green jeans property green jeans ended up getting the agreement on that proper so how do they get an HCA if they don't have a vehical property address they have to find a new property that's the thing is that they're going through that process if they were identify another property then they can go ahead and get that ACA Associated the property yeah there's no way if you move to another location or you sell um business never get activated not a business um that that could operate anywhere else without doing an HC a new location but you get a new location we'll give you an HCA and like yeah yeah right I mean that when you find a location and apply you will get your HCA for whatever the location is yeah we pretty well assure we got we've got that we don't give anybody different I mean everybody gets the same deal the HC but if the hdaa if if the new location wasn't in weightly then you have to get then you're not doing a host agreement with us so you're doing with the other location yeah I've got to clarify with the um commission yeah whether I can move it without a current HCA right that's my our biggest or the council's biggest concern is you're looking to sell the license right and if the license is tied to an HCA waiver and you sell it to a a company that then now owns that license they have a license that has a waiver on it that's what we're concerned about that's what they they if they operate coming back say to wait they have to do a new HCA that's not the interpretation that we have based on the you look at those docents if you require it it would say I've highlighted but not if we wave it for you and you sell it to someone else and they say hey I've got this nice you gave my friend Mr Heber uh and he sold it to me our our Council says I would concerned that if the town grants a waiver to Urban Grove just to facilitate their planned sale of the business license a subsequent owner might make an argument that the waiver is for the business and not just personal to open and grow so we don't want it sold somebody and operated within weightly at a different location they still have to get an HCA through your system according to our Council possibly not we give but that's your choice not oh well if then if we choose not to give you a waiver we're in good shape yeah no I appreciate what you're saying and I don't want to make a burden for the town or potential burden for the town I just don't think it exists because whatever the new owner the new location not a new owner would still we we tried to operate by the Diner um and just didn't happen and if we had operated there we would have had to get a new HCA through you guys we knew that and that would have taken very little time this is a still go through the this is a case it's your problem to figure out not ours so you're asking us to make it our problem by granting you the waiver and I think we don't want to do that I'll appreciate that I appreciate that and I'll accept that I will talk to the Cannabis commission but they're not very responsive oh well person who does the licensing yeah I appreciate that you're in a pickle but good luck yeah no I understand what you're saying to do we have a motion I think I Mo we take no action I guess we don't have to vote to take no action I move that we deny their request for a waiver oh I I that yeah okay all those in favor I I I thank you very much back no you Sor get off thank you for speaking up because I did not realize that you were here to represent that company and if you get additional information from like CCC y we just need to make sure that we're we'll be happy to work yeah there was never a difficulty with the weightly select board um and we got through the uh bing board so we we were ready to go but it just didn't happen yeah thanks than so much thank you for your timee you yeah okay old landfill to discuss and review the scope of for contention as requested by mass Pete can I ask you to sure give us that info um the town does have an old landf fell down on uh long Plane Road it was shuttered and closed uh with no monitoring requirements back in 1983 um since then however um regulations requirements have changed essentially D has come back to the town to say Hey you do have residencies directly adjacent to this old landfill there is no monitoring currently happening the EP wants to is requiring that we do monitoring to en ensure that we are not creating off gassing or water um uh water contamination from that landfill and so what they did is they provided us essentially scope of work that would help to remediate and allay the concerns as well as set up that monitoring system I then did a site visit with two reps from dep um and during that site visit we talked about the landfill we talked about we actually walked the property in order to DET exactly where these Wells would have to go for both the gas and for the water um went through that scope of work and the that's what could likely be a cost because one of the D members was from the private sector that did this work privately Le before so they could give us a general idea um essentially what I did is I put together the scope of work that mimics what they had requested um what I suggesting is that we submit this to D saying this is what we are proposing to do scope of work it mimics what you asked us to do let us know if that is okay if so we will then go and seek the capital PL so doing a capital request and then go out um to solicit and find a contractor to do the work it's looking like it would be about 15 to 20,000 the main reason why the cost is there is the fact that we have to do two Wells on the down slope on the Eastern down slope of the property which means that we've got to bring in a a decent arm that can actually get down because you can't it's overgrown so we're going to need a vehicle that has an arm in order to do the penetration um and it needs to be penetration down to the water the the water table um so that's that's why there there will be that cost because that that vehicle is a higher cost on a daily rate yeah um and it's really just TI back but it's still you know it shouldn't be should be more than 20,000 however I will go once D says that the scope is good I'll go and get firmer estimates from a few firm just so that we know um I do want to put in a capital request now and just great budget it at 20,000 and if it comes in less than F then I'll adjust the capital request for to get into the budgeting um so I'm just asking the board if you agree so that we can at least get this first step get this letter to DP get it reviewed and we can move on um the so what would happen is sampling would be done the wells would be put in and then we would do monitoring they want monitoring done um on a specific schedule however if during the first 6 months the monitoring demonstrates that there is no off gassing or water contamination that is hit certain levels they will reduce the amount or the frequency of the testing so it will help reduce our cost because there will be ongoing time testing costs um just like we have happen at like transfer station and are those ongoing testing costs rolled into the 20 or are those going to be sear the 20 is a capital so that's a one time cost and then you're going to be doing an operating budget for the health department uh the Board of Health sorry to do ongoing testing in the future so the Board of Health ultimately was responsible for doing the testing overseeing overse oh and and then testing would involve probably getting water samples from those three Wells and the gas the gas samples y okay y well thank you for putting together the scope of work it looks good um do I have a motion I move the board approve the scope of work as provided and submit it to the Massachusetts D so all those in favor I I I next on the agenda uh select board liaison updates I'll go first and just say that we haven't had a water department meeting for while so I have no updates uh I am going to make a meeting with Cindy at the library uh but that hasn't happened yet to just get updated what she's doing there haven't met the has met South County Senor okay nothing I've got nothing from SC negotiations for the union 38 for teachers and IAS are going they current negotiations we've had two sessions proposals have been exchanged we have three more sessions scheduled and I do not want to characterize negotiations in anyway okay sounds good uh the other point is and this is not based on a meeting uh I did talk to Pete Bardwell who was planning to retire in May or June what the date is and I think we should as a board consider our process for how we're going to replace and we certainly need to make sure the job description meets what we want to hire as opposed to necess soily what Keith has been doing which is often above and beyond his job description so I think we need to nail down a job description and get a process in place the likelihood being we were going have to go outside the town to hire position doesn't seem to be anyone a people in that could be wrong the people in parment could apply and be chosen but the like it's a good chance that we would have to go outside so we need a time and we need a timeline we and I think we need to start after the first of the year start on this because it may be a lengthy process yeah should we put it on agendas for the 14 yeah and if and that time that we have like some kind of proposed timeline that might be good right but I just want to get that on the table Yeah excellent thank you um Town Administrator update uh the only update that I actually have is um over the weekend yeah it was over the weekend the animal inspector uh G for resignation which will be effective at the end of the year so she is serving through the end of December um but she was having a hard time balancing her full-time role and the barn inspections which is seasonal it really it does happens during the fall but it it was time consuming for her um so I would just ask that the board will allow me to repost the position um two things I like to comment on one is do we have a uh timeline for ER roer she starts Monday she starts she will start Monday okay yeah she got tied up with moving and issues um and just so people know in the future can you sort of go into the physical changes that have been going on here so people come in they know what office do do you mind if we finish the first thing I'm sorry I didn't mean oh no no no I need the board to agree to let me post for the job yes yeah I'm sorry I move we uh through the job of animal animal all those in favor I I sorry no that's okay um but yeah as Fred mentioned we did based on the last meeting we had a discussion about moving the treasurer and the assistant Treasurer um we this week we did finalize and we did make the moves um within the building okay um the treasur and the assistant Treasurer are now located in my what was my office um what that does is it gives them more space it was the largest private office so it's a larger space it gives two individuals a little more room and they do have a lot of records that they needed to move in there um okay although we won't be able to put in a window like in the wall it's actually easier because what we'll do is change out the door with a Dutch door that has a counter on it okay which is much cheaper method to create a customer service window than cutting into the cinder block wall um so I then moved into the Community Development administrator space um that particular office and a tour afterwards yeah I guess want this to for the general population and then U looks great what this also does is it allows the Community Development administrator who essentially is the technical assistant to the planning board and the zoning board and has to review all of those applications that come into the clerk's office will now be with the town clerk to be able to review the applications at the time that they're submitted and let the applicant know you're missing your site plan we can't accept this it's incomplete come back um rather than a time delay or something like that so and they'll the Erica Rober will be able to answer questions at the counter if there are questions about when I apply for my special permit from the zon for what I need um so it can all happen right there at the same at the time that they're materials awesome and the uh conservation agent who we it's a shared conservation agent amongst five communities when she Kelly needs to come on site she we have a floating desk now at that same space um so they are right next to Erica's desk that floating desk is also used by Lyn sley our emergeny management director and by uh Jess who is also the assistant town clerk on Thursdays Thursdays guys she wears a different hat on Thursdays except for today today she's woring two hats three know I got today guys okay everybody's comment um so yeah that we do have that floating desk sounds like just in general any more efficient use space that we have yeah so those are the moves currently we kind of discussed some additional movements but we are going to update the signage in the hallway to make it easier and understandable where off are yeah but you don't have a corner office anymore to bad but I'm okay with that I like the smaller I think you wanted to go in that was very excited yeah okay it and I felt like I felt bad trying to fit Morin and Amy into there because we were do it difficult okay thank you everybody our next meetings are settled right meeting is December 17th and the one after that January 14th okay can I move to a turn second all those in favor I I thanks guys all right