##VIDEO ID:93xr1v-p9bU## good evening this is to formally advise that as required by uh Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A sections 18 to 25 and pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 an act relative to extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency signed into law on June 16 2021 as extended by chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 the Arma select board will hold a public meeting on Tuesday October 1st 2024 at 5:45 p.m. beginning with executive session and then opening to the public no sooner than 6:00 p.m. in the hearing room Yarmouth Town Hall 1146 Route 28 South Yarmouth Mass 02664 the public is welcome to attend either in person or via the alternative uh Public Access provided on the town website I would accept a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining which if held an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining of the public body and the chair so declares with the board to reconvene in open session so moved second okay if we could have a roll call on that Tracy Post hi Joyce F and uh the chair also says I um we are now in executive session I'll put up okay evening sorry hearing at 6m just gone into executive session I'll he he he he he'd said to just oh oh right we need a little sign us okay thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e s e I don't know if I want to sit there thank you all for your we thank you all for your patience we are now uh back in our session and I'd like to call the meeting to order with on the Pledge of Allegiance please to the flag the United States of America the stand na indivisible and justice for all thank you and do we have any announcements today and public comments do we have anyone that would like to make some public comments good evening uh I'm Jim Sabin for those who don't know I'm uh the chairman of the driveing sight committee I'm the vice chairman of the planning board and the planning board's representative to the drive to the uh design Review Committee what I'm about to say has nothing to do with any of them this is my opinions and not those of any of those Boards of committees um unfortunately I was away when you got to uh the process of naming the park and I just want to take a minute to comment on that because um it's much more than a boardwalk that property um has been designed by this community it's not just a boardwalk it's a kayak ramp it's a walking area it's a playground it's artist sites it's an event space it's not just a boardwalk I appreciate that you spent all your time deliberating as did the drive and sight committee that spent a lot of time thinking about how to name this property and um my own personal opinion is that um the word woodwalk uh as a disservice to what this park is and it's not too late for you to reconsider your naming and look at some of the names that the the committee uh recommended to you but I truly believe in my opinion that calling it The Boardwalk Park is a disservice to what it is and to the time and efforts that the committee and town staff went into creating this property that's not just a boardwalk um so that's my comments with regards to the drivein site and I'd appreciate if you think about it and and and like I said it's not too late to change it um and and to look at the recommendations that we have the second is is something with regards to planning um the board has put together a committee to review the use of the mes property and I'm really having a hard time figuring out how the biggest piece of property will redevelop in our town requires planning but for some reason the finance committee is on this committee and the planning board is not on the planning committee so I'm sure other members of the planning board probably have similar thoughts but maybe you could take a minute and explain to us why you don't have a member of the planning board on a committee that is going to plan the biggest piece of property we've had in town revelop probably ever and the logic between having them off and other committees on so I think we just are trying to figure that out I I know I've been trying to figure it out so maybe you could take a moment and explain to us why the planning board is not part of the planning of a huge Town property those are my only questions thank you thank you Jim do we have any other public comments today okay the next item on our agenda um is a hearing for a special alcohol license and I will be turning uh the chair over to our um licensing chair Tracy Post Bob you have information on this and I did speak with the applicant just as we were going into executive session and um she requested a withdrawal of this application without prejudice and and then they're going to maybe replan a different event and come back with a new application so and that was Miss deula there okay do we ever ask for those withdrawals and writing or is verbals acceptable verbals acceptable well i' make a motion that we accept we accept the withdrawal with do I have a second second oh sorry any discussion on the motion all those in favor iOS passes back to you thank you Tracy our next item on the agenda is the discussion for the me small feasibility with the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School superintendent and school committee good evening after good evening and if you'd like to just introduce yourselves please uh Mark Smith superintendent uh from Dennis Yarmouth Tomas Totino the chair of the Dennis yth Regional school committee representative Yarmouth and we have uh Mr Joe Glenn AR Le aison also I believe he's online okay and um we were asking you to come to today cuz we really are trying to get a handle on um Where Do We Go From Here MH and what are your uh suggestions and where we're going from here so if you could respond to that so we're talking specifically about the me small project uh maybe a clar I think to clarify you recently had a meeting with the um perhaps Bob could yeah just um to summarize um in in a nutshell and um we briefly discussed this in my uh Town administrator's report um at the last meeting and we promised to set it up for an agenda item so that we can um discuss it further and um this goes back to the meeting that we had last month with the superintendent of schools who um gave us a nice presentation along with David Flynn on some of the statistics condition issues surrounding the me small school and we began the process of of having a discussion of some proposed options and um he had announced at that time that a week following that meeting we had a meeting with the school building authority that um School building assistance program and um we have made very strong applications worked with our legislative delegation and this been going on for the last few years to try to get the Emmy small school into the SBA program so that we can uh begin a feasibility study generate some some options and and also uh be able to gain the subsidy um from the SBA on a potential School construction project and it was very interesting that um some of the information that we had discussed prior to the SBA meeting conflicted with a little of the information that that we received at the SBA meeting from the SBA folks and they had specifically requested us to give them some additional feedback during the month of October that would assist them in making their final decision whether they were going to allow Yarmouth to enter that program for the me small school and one of the the key issues that that um I wasn't comfortable just based on some of the conflicts U between our discussion and the new information that we learned just providing input so what we felt is we needed some additional discussions with the board with the school department hopefully with the idea of just having full transparency and understanding and any feedback that we give to the SBA which may determine whether they accept us this year or Not that we're all comfortable with and we know the implications of and um the real specific issue uh came at at our last meeting we discussed um that it was important to study uh the possible integration of the students from the me small school into the station Avenue School that that may be um a more economical approach to to dealing with the problems at the school and that it could be done by um an addition and when we met with the SBA um they were really pushing for that but um their program and and the way they would work it is they wouldn't allow us to um under their program go in and just do a little addition on the back of the SBA what they want to see on the back of the Station app what they want to see is us combine the schools into a Consolidated School and do a a major renovation of the entire school which may not achieve our goals of economy um that what what it would be doing is creating another new 800 student School potentially at that site um and and it may have higher costs and and they you know kind of put us on the spot and they they you know they were saying things like are you ready for this program is the town and the school together are you going to do this and you know we just thought look um what our our idea is that um we would study the potential integration of those students at Station app that's what we want to look at and have some various cost options to do that and we'd also like to study the feasibility of a St the loan school and um not buy into this notion that we're either gonna build a a new 800 student school at stav or another location to combine these and have a massive project and I I just think that we need to kind of be clear with the SBA that they're looking for us to take on a much bigger project I'm not sure if that's going to make them 100% happy with us but um we wanted to to make sure that when we go back and talk to SBA we wanted to to do it together hand inand um stay with the with the school district and and the town with everyone knows what it is that we're um telling the SBA that we're going to be doing and not promising them that we're going to have a a massive cons consid solidation when it may not be in our best interest so what we felt was that we needed and I think I discussed with superintendent Smith as well as with the board of selectman separately that we needed to just have one more meeting to go over some of those issues and hone down what our comments and um you know Promises to the SBA will be and then we're going to go back and talk to them and and hopefully be accepted into that program but kind of on on our own terms and and not have the project room before we even start and and I think that was a worth the discussion that that kind of sums up yeah so I mean my I would agree with a lot of uh What uh Bob had to say that definitely the msba is not um or they I would say they encourage school districts to look at larger projects um you know i' come from another Regional School District that was formed because one town wanted to build a new high school it would have been a smaller high school and msba said we'll consider that once you look at regionalization first and so the town one of the two towns went through the process of exploring a regionalized Rel relationship with another town they ultimately ended up in a region and then they ultimately ended up with a new high school that is a bigger Regional High School um because msba is reluctant um to to fund smaller projects especially at the high school Level Elementary School is a little bit different but definitely uh they're you know they're looking for scale right they want to serve as many kids as possible um if you think about it from the state level it makes sense from a state state funding standpoint so they that I got the same sentiment they definitely want us to at least study the concept of uh um consolidation I had expressed the same concerns that that I expressed last time I was here about consolidation on the particular site that is where cation Avenue currently um sits and their response back was that's a site specific problem that isn't necessarily A consolidation problem um which was something that I think caught both of us off guard um in the sense that um so they're they were because meaning like you can consolidate the schools you don't have to do it at that site so you could you could explore consolidation and look at other sites as part of the study now they also were clear to say study just means you study all the options and then you determine what is the best option for the community going forward but they wanted to know look from basically the my understanding from the exit of that meeting was they need to know from us are we going to study consolidation as part of our feasibility study and the different ways we could consolidate or not not or we just focus on Amy small and we're not going to look at the other Elementary School at all um that was sort of my takeaway from from the meeting and and we owe them a response um because they will consider that as part of our um final you know their final consideration of the application for this for this year uh with whether or not we will study in the feasibility study cons consolidation options you know and the option may be that um we you know that I guess I could I'm not the study expert but you know I think basically you're looking at studying a standalone project that is Emy small either full renovation or full rebuild brand new school option b is some type of addition expansion renovation that includes bringing me small over to the current Station Avenue element elementary school or option C which is some third new school which consolidates those two schools into one new elementary school I know Yarmouth Elementary School X um that doesn't currently exist and Tak Station Avenue and me small offline but it consolidates the both of them into now one Yarmouth Elementary School was sort of my gist of the the coners or my understanding of the conversation right but that those would be studied as part of the feasibility study and then that then you don't make any decisions as part of the visibility study but you have to put all those out in front of the community and the community then ultimately makes a decision wasn't the best interest of the community and how do you feel about that I'm personally I believe that if you're going to go down a project as big as this any school building project you should study all the options I have my per my my um P um perspective on station ad about moving um em small over the station a but I'm just one person with one perspective um I'm not a study expert I think we should study that option um and if I'm shown that it can work in a way that lays the concerns that I have and the community at large the Yarmouth believes that that's the best option that's put in front I do I to to uh Bob's earlier comments you know it's not just you know it's a 30 that building is not an old building but it's a 30 coming up on a 30-y old building so and I seen the hbac system that exists inside the the brand new school and I've seen the boilers that exist in Station Avenue if you're going to add 4 350 to space for 350 kids you're going to need a modern HVAC system to heat that and so either you're goingon to have two operating HVAC systems or you're going to need to upgrade the HVAC system in the current station na in order to make it all work together so now you're you know the the project just starts to get big and then I don't know what happens once you start to open up Station Avenue do you have to bring everything in station AV the old part of station AV up to Modern code I I don't know enough about building to know all those things but that's what a study would bring right study would bring all that stuff in front of the community and say you know the addition renovation project Station Avenue this is what you're looking at a brand new uh school that just serves the needs or a fully renovated me small that serves the needs of just that student population this is what it looks like and some third option that would be Consolidated this is what it looks like and then that's in front of the community and the community ultimately makes the decision I'm you know it's it's not my decision to make it's it's ultimately the taxpayer's decision to make so let's say that the taxpayer comes up with a decision that is contrary to what SBA wants will SBA still contribute financially going forward my understanding is once we're in the stud once we're in the pipeline SBA wants SBA is looking for us to they will aot us up to they they they budget again you correct me if you heard this differently and my understanding of the way SBA works is is we need to signal to them that we want to at least study consolidation because that is ultimately what they'll budget so they'll budget for the potential of their portion of a 800 roughly 800 kid Elementary School mm that doesn't mean we have to build an 800 kid but when they're forecasting now six years down the road when that project would be completed they're gonna and if they award Dennis Yarmouth and the town of Yarmouth to be invited in they have to set a figure based upon square footage estimates and the price to build per square footage and then they have to multiply that out by a you know is are they looking at a 300 or you know 350 to 400 kid elementary school or an 800 kid Elementary School they have to set a budget for X number of years now and if if they set one for us quite frankly and they said this at the meeting too if they invite us in at at 800 that probably means somebody further down the list is not getting in this year um because they need to hold the funds in case they have to do their contribution to our project five years from now so it really helps them and their budgeting process to know are we going to explore this as a potential option or are we not um and I got the sense and this is just my gut that they want us to at least explore it as an option I don't know if it strengthens the application or not but that was that was my sense of the in the meeting right yeah I I think that um it would probably strengthen our application and you know on the positive side if we agree to study the consolidation but um on the negative side they're pretty bold you know they say right out we want you to consolidate so um we're going to have to um if we decide look at the numbers and and decide together that it's best to to just do a standalone school um you know we're going to have to withstand a lot of pressure from that state agency because they have an agenda that's what they want and they're clear about it they they set it right out Terry okay thank you so we've been down this road right they're not shy you're absolutely correct they pushed us into that exact Direction and it was not at the community's um wish because ultimately our community voted against it we still got sucked with it and I don't mean stuck with it in a bad way I'm not trying to be negative but that was the reality we lost complete control when they came in so I'm very hesitant and I'm nervous to to undertake such a big project I don't think it's as simple as I mean as you know I've been sitting through the school committee meetings I haven't seen any discussion from the school committee at at a detailed level in terms of where they want to go so I'm interested in your thoughts on this entire process um you know I think for me you know how I feel about our taxpayers having to undertake uh the expense of a whole another school at this point I think it's um it's a lot um and I unfortunately I feel like the time for the conversation probably has passed a little bit but um it's a it's a bigger issue on many levels because not to rehash our entire conversation from before but um you know I don't think that we think out of the box a lot of the times and I know traffic is a a complete issue on station AV which is where your positions from but have we looked at alternate um access to that property has there has there been any look to to get there from a different direction from perhaps Regional or you know I remember the whole thing around the school when it was planned but we don't even use that and there's a traffic issue in the front um but maybe we can take people off that site in a different direction you know I talked the last time you were here about the solar panels what's the life expectancy of that entire area is that area available um but I think the school committee needs to really uh dive into this in detail because um it's not it's not that simple and I'm afraid to go into something and have it as you said mushroom into something that we lose control over only because that's what's happened before um you know my other thought on this and I'm going to say it is we have um gotten away from our renegotiation of the regional agreement uh we did some to satisfy our last situation but uh perhaps you know I'd be interested in talking to Dennis because if Dennis was willing to actually pay 50% of the capital perhaps we look at a joint uh school you know they've not been willing to renegotiate at a higher percentage they you know were stuck on a formula that's based on student population for both the operating costs and the capital for a long period of time we were trying to get them to should look at it differently and take Capital as one percentage in the operation as a student population but you know if Dennis was willing to open that negotiation up again and pay for 50% maybe we could look at it at a a different type of uh combined school I think that that would be a lot more palatable to the taxpayers here in Yarmouth but to pay 70% of a school um again at 100% at this point you know if it's just Yarmouth is is going to a tough pill to swallow so I think that we need to really um maybe do some I and I know we're on a timeline because it's October and they need an answer by October my answer isn't no I I I hate to not look at these options but again I'm very hesitant because what ends up happening is we say yes well you know we're going to look at some type of regionalization and as it's already known we see what happened the last time it's a hundred million building it's beautiful it's great but it's expensive and we can't afford two of those so um you know to the extent that we can uh look at that property and and really do an analysis of access or we talk to our partners about some type of negotiation um on the regional agreement and splitting Capital um at that point in time I I would think that that would be um amenable to doing some type of joint building between the two the two towns again again but that's my comments it's it's it's a very complex issue and again I'd love to hear the school committee's position on it because um I haven't really heard yeah it's on our it's on our next agenda um you know we've we've heard the minutes from the meetings and discussions that have had but we haven't had an open discussion on you know specific thoughts of what was happening you know we really wanted to know your thoughts because at the end of the day that's going to help us make decisions but uh we haven't had a formal discussion at any of our meetings about what the plans are all this has happened you know so fast between the meetings with the msba and then when our meetings and your meetings happen so it is on our it is on our next agenda but that doesn't help us today because we haven't had a open discussion about it and when is that next meeting Tomas it is it's Monday Monday so okay but I mean the committee has been apprised of the S this is the sixth year of this application I mean I sat in front of this board last year during the budget process and got full support for our SOI application said we'd have full support for going through this process so you know this is not a new application this is not a new process this is not a new need in the town um and you know I did respond through um through the District staff to your last question about the solar panels so but maybe that information didn't get to you so the solar panels are 10 years old they have a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years old so they've got plenty of plenty of life left on them as far as a roadway goes we the only way to come in off Regional La would be go through the athletic fields so you'd lose um the field that the Cape Cod um baseball league plays on you lose the soccer field some portions of all of those to get a road back and and I don't the price of asphalt is not cheap right now um it would not be in an inexpensive project and then we'd have another problem which would be what where would we displace all those athletic fields that are in the back there um and then there's I mean there's a direct route but we'd have again have to go over the new fields to drive into that that that um there's a neighborhood right behind but I'm not sure that neighborhood would want us sending tra into that neighborhood um out the back there um so I'm sure we would have some complaints if we um because we did discuss you know I've I've communicated out to the public that we are going to have to we uh repair the damages to or that we had a faulty design in the in the field projects we're going to have to do some reconstruction there with those new fields and you know somebody asked if we'd be able to put a right away in through that neighborhood and we're no we're not coming in driving construction vehicles in and out through that that that um access way so I don't think making a permanent way to send buses or something else in and out through that neighborhood would be would be a good idea um and then as far as amending the regional agreement you know that's something that we can we can definitely look into the flip side of that coin is a 50-50 split Ezra Baker's 94 years old I know that's we both need to build schools at right and if we want to enter sort of the land of third rail conversations um the idea of either one of two the two communities giving up an elementary school in their towns I I'm not saying it's impossible but I've worked in and um have superintendent colleagues in all sorts of regions and the hardest thing to get any Community to accept is the idea of not having an elementary School in their community so somebody would have to say okay we're going to get rid of the we're not going to have an elementary school in Yarmouth and we'll build a combined school on the wixon campus I'm not sure how the Yarmouth residents would feel about not having an elementary school in the town of Yarmouth or vice versa if we were to say we're going to close as rebea and build a combined School in Yarmouth and now all the schools are in Yarmouth I'm not sure how the dentist residents would feel about that idea and I can understand the feelings that would be associated with that I think that would be a pretty hard cell but not but and that doesn't that and that would take I would think a long time to build that case um I don't know th those are just some of the immediate things that I see in front of front of that well the the regional agreement needs to be there were things that never got done that were on the list one of them being the only people who could make changes to the regional agreement are the two partners but it has to be brought forward by the school committee so the only person who bring forward um an amendment to the um agreement is the school committee so it has to start with them on all the issues the issues that never got addressed the last time so the capital part aside there were other items that um that need to be addressed so thank you Mark I don't have any questions thank you Joyce oh thanks um I just have two um one is um how is the EM small school for students right now it I assume there have been um enough repairs that it's safe and that they're dry inside uh because I do remember the leaks but then the second question is thinking concentrating on me small do we have any sense of um how strongly parents in West Yarmouth would feel about their Elementary age students going over to station EV as opposed to having um an elementary school nearer to home second question I don't have I couldn't give you a a straight answer I don't have like that data I haven't asked that specific question I don't know if as a resident if you do um so I I can't answer that specific one I we could try to get a sense of it but I don't have I I'm just fully honest I don't have have an answer to that one to the first question uh I would say we do the best we can but there are when we just had that big rainstorm just the other day um I would be lying to if I said there was not water in the building um I was over there walking the halls with the principal and there's water in classrooms there's water in the hallways um The Roof is is has failed and we're doing the best we can um but it's it's a to replace that roof it's a multi-million dollar investment um and so we throw um money at at it the best we can um we have patched it we tried a temporary rubberized solution that held a little bit but when we got four inches of rain in two days um it didn't it didn't hold um and uh you know and there's you know there's lots of other issues in that building um that just don't make it conducive to a learning environment for the future but we do um we definitely do the best we can to keep up with it and we'll continue to invest actually we have a um Finance subcommittee meeting coming up here soon to talk about some um ways that we might be able to invest some more um because even you know even if we do get invited in we're we're you know five six years down the road from yeah whatever the solution is right um so we need to continue to look for ways to um to your point keep it a healthy um and safe um environment but is it ideal no and you know and I don't mean ideal like as in ideal shangra La idealic I mean not having to have a big bucket in the hallway um where the water's coming in when it's raining that's yeah those those conditions still exist especially when we get a heavy rain well they'll love it by the time they get to the intermediate school but they may be somewhat demoralized by then yeah I think I think parent and every small appreciate where the location of it I think they love the community they have um you know and you know when we talk to the principal and we we continue to let them know that we have not forgotten them you know and we say the same thing to the students right you know there's a brand new school that they'll get to but they're not in it now so but uh I think they want what everyone wants they want to make sure they're in a a safe learning environment and you know is it as safe as it can be right now you know we're working on making sure it is but could it be better yeah obious it definitely could be so um I think they have a great community and whatever option is decided you know will be the best for them um and I'm sure you know not everyone's going to be happy but you know as long as we can create an environment for the students to learn and not have to worry about something like noise of rain or moving your location of your desk you know if as long as they don't have to worry about that they can do what they do at that age and just learn and have fun I do realize there's an applied science you know lesson in there somewhere but probably that would be better taught in middle school thank you okay and um as part of the feasibility study is there an enrollment um piece as well because we heard from you that over the past three years you've seen an increase but it begs the question does that mean that next year it's going to suddenly tip and go the other way yeah and that was actually part of our application too because not only are we do we have an uh are we tight for space um and they're using every space in me small but the same problem exists at Station Avenue so actually part of the application that we wrote this year uh was to was to discuss that the fact that so for um it's doubly compounding in that Emy small houses all our um substantially SE separate special education programs because we have no room at Station Avenue to hold them me small uh holds our Yarmouth based preschool because we have no room at Station Avenue to have a preschool um so not only is does em small our current building that is in most dire need um it also holds some of our most vulnerable kids and so it was it really was um a focus of the application this year uh and the msba spoke to that when they came um I know one of the the the sort of the the woman who was in charge of the operation pulled me aside and said that she noted noted that as part of our application um and and maybe that's probably why they want us to look at the whole picture but it's also while the focus is at em small we need to look at enrollment and cross yth uh and because we need to relieve some pressure at Station Avenue as well and however we do that um because we're we're overcrowded in both locations and a a long-term enrollment study will will will um we'll take a look at that um but I I don't think this challenge is um I don't see it changing no and and seeing as you drive down and seeing new construction and new places being built on 6a you know that's only going to increase the amount of families we have right and so we increase the amount of families that means there's more more students so you know as as things continue to grow in town in different areas that's going to continue to put compression on the maximum space we have currently um and as you know part of the things we have to look forward uh a couple years on you know what's happening in town because that's going to affect you know how many students we're going to have eventually in the next coming years and the only other part that I would add is that we you know we're launching a new strategic plan this year and one of the things that I identified coming in is for the last I only looked back 10 or 11 years but so the last 10 or 11 years Dy has you know everybody knows school choice is a thing on the cape and Dy and we discussed school choice a little bit while we were here we talked about school choice in Dy loses school choice at a rate out to in as four to one so and that's not something that I want to continue so and we will be working to correct that so that means that we will have fewer and fewer people who reside in town going to other public schools so the enrollment push is going to just continue to move in the direction of either more stability or continue to increase I there's multiple factors that are going to continue to keep more kids in the Dy District um and that's ultimately going to either stabilize enrollment or continue to push it up um but this definitely other factors at play that are increasing student enrollment and who pays for the feasibility study is it something that the SBA pays for it no that would be something that as a community we would that would be a community pay for just like the last time um we be a was 475,000 475,000 the last time and that's where I think uh Mr ritten hour mentioned right it's the SBA looks at two things they look at need um and they look at Readiness um so is is there a need for the building project and that's what was part of that senior study they came out they asked spent about an hour asking us very specific questions about our application and then we toured the space so they got to see some of the things that we had sent them pictures of or had mentioned in our application but we actually walked them through classrooms brought them down to the Boiler Room brought them to the crazy electrical uh it can't describe as anything other than looks like something out of Frankenstein where the electricity comes into that building and it's this big like thing like like out of whatever that was like was built in the late 50s early 60s it's like this interesting looking thing that looks like something from like Frankenstein so monster um but just and then showed them where the water is coming in like all those I really had wish it had been a rainy day but it wasn't a rainy it was a beautiful sunny day but um but you can still see where the water um tends to come in um and then the other pieces and they asked those are the types of questions that um Mr row referenced which is like you know is the community going to be ready to move on this project if they say you can come in is the community ready to say okay we wanna we want to enter in and we we need to be able to say yes or no on on those two things well the need we can answer we can't alone answer whether or not the community is going to come in so hypothetically we get approved for this does that mean that in the budget for the coming school year we have to add $475,000 for the feasibility study we need to have a conversation about that yeah that's we took we took that as a separate article to T meting the last time and had the public vote on that separately the only redeeming feature it didn't come out of the school budget it was a separate line uh paid by the town vou okay so where do we go from here uh so I [Music] we uh we meaning really the school district needs to send communication it would be great if it came joint communication from myself and and Mr rittenau about whether or not this the next thing that they're waiting for from us is whether or not um we want to enter if we want the feasibility study to look at consolidation to include consolidation or not to include consolidation which would get at the idea of em small and Station Avenue in some way being combined the only thing I can say to that is if we take the same approach of bringing it to a town meeting um you know I'd be more comfortable with that and having the people have their say because um I think that that I don't know if there's harm in saying let's move forward and if we get entered into it then if we can't get the feasibility study we H we have to decline but for me that would be an indication of you know the public sentiment on the project that that's who we ultimately represent and I think you know I wouldn't want to miss out on it m but I think that if we bring it to town meeting and let the people tell us how they feel about it and and it may be a no and then we have to take our direction from there but um that might be the the best way to move forward I'm not sure I know that I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing how the people feel about this I mean this is um another potentially costly item um but at the same point there is a tremendous need at at me small I don't think anyone is disputing that fact um so is there a downside side to our saying we could go ahead one small step in that we would be asking a town meeting for the approval of the the voters of whether or not to um spend the money for the feasibility study so no I think what we would be um because ultimately at the end of the day um the taxpayers are ultimately going to have to if so there's two is the step obviously of the feasibility study then there's a design phase if uh well then there's selecting of options then there's going to be a design and then there's ultimately going to be a um B like a a bond amount right I'm skipping skipping a couple steps but those are those are the big kind of big steps in which we'll need the community to be involved in making like the big decisions right so yes decision yes or no to fund a feasibility study and then once that feasibility study is done here's what the feasibility study which I I'm a big like full transparency put everything out on the table put all the options out on the table have a community based discussion on it I don't think there's any harm in that personally um and say Here's all the options here's you know this one is got its pros and cons this one's got these pros and cons this one's got these pros and cons and then let's have a conversation about which one and then maybe you know collectively we all have a recommendation but ultimately it's going to be the taxpayers that are going to say they think you know they agree with our recommendation they don't agree with our recommendation whatever it is but we can put everything out on the table then the next option is we're going to go with this and then it's got to go out to get um preliminary design and preliminary bid done on it so we can get a sense of what the bond project needs to be and then people are going to have to make a decision and we're going to get from msba what their percentage of that is going to be so then you'll know that you know the $100 project msba is going to cover $57 of it so the town's going to be responsible for $43 I'm obviously using fake numbers um and then then that's going to then have to go back to the taxpayers to say do you want to fund that and at any point in that process it could be stopped and a ballot question as well and just to recap procedurally I mean the way I I see this thing stacked up is um you know we've worked hard on the application we've got the legislative delegation everyone we've got the attention of the SBA now they need to determine and they're going to do that in Fairly short order are we going to be invited to participate in their program and what that does that's the key to us going to town meeting if they indicate they're willing to take us on we're still not in we go to town meeting and we present this is um what our obligations are this is what we'll be studying on a feasibility study do you want to move forward now with with this or do you want to wait a year consider it and we don't have to to go in there but the the one thing that um I'd like to do is at at least in terms of getting that initial decision whether the SBA is going to invite us in or not um I I'd like to see that done jointly between the boards and just indicate uh you know to them um we'll be willing to to look at the feasibility of consolidating but um you know I don't really see a compelling argument why we would need to consolidate and I think that the critical thing that um Dr Smith pointed out it it strikes me is that from once we get the the nod that they're going to be willing to take us on which which is the key to getting the 57% right every step along the way um is the town of Yarmouth decision only it I it doesn't involve any votes from Dennis or anything it's it has to go to town meeting for the feasibility study then the feasibility study if that's approved it has to go to town meeting for the design and then once you get your design you get your budget it has to go to town meeting to approve the budget and it has to go to the ballot as well so there's four or five key votes that have to happen in yarma for the thing to to move along and and I I I'm just happy now that we've had a level of discussion question at this very base level to um you know discuss how we're going to approach it with the SBA and and you know um I I really don't think that there's any harm it's almost in aside but um I I I thought it was a very Innovative um I idea that um s when post um indicated that perhaps we should um you know in a very polite way um let the folks in Dennis know that there is a a potential idea out there if there was a 5050 split if there was any appetite through this process to look at bringing the two elementary schools together and and I certainly understand that there's you know would be uh it's a heavy lift uh you know it's a difference in the percentage contribution it's the potential loss of a Community School uh it may not happen but uh you know these are the things that type of communication just like our Communications have been you know wide open and transparent with the school committee um I I think districtwide you know we continue that and you know put innovative ideas on the table and and see if there's um any desire to do that and and if um you know if not you know we're still prepared to address our obligations from the yarma standpoint but um I I would like to see us um respond together but with our eyes open and and I I think we have to be careful not to let SBA dictate the process to us just because they control the funding this is a local decision and it needs to be made locally yeah and and not even sure how I can I'll give a little thought on how to have the conversation um with with Dennis the the other consideration I would say is that's roughly a 1200 kid Elementary School um which isn't impossible but prek to 3 that's a lot of pre- 3 just thinking about it from a school operations side it's not like it's not a it's not a mall right when you have that many kids at the age I ran a 650 prek to2 school um just a level of care that is needed for kids at that age um but if you left station AB where it is and just did just did that oh you're talking about combining because there schools that need it yeah maybe I'll be interested to see application in no so that I'd have to I'd have to because that building even though it's older is actually in better shape what it needs is boilers are about 20 years past life expectancy and their so is their um HV system but um but the roof doesn't leak um so and it's built out of solid brick it's like the what is the Three Little Pigs right brick house right yeah it's like that bones they good bones right yeah um um I lost my train of thought because I got on the Three Little Pigs well it's difficult it's difficult and and we don't want to complicate the matter but I think for the sake of communication you know it'd be interesting to see what their viewpoints on on that school in the future are and and that way if we enter into it you know doing our own thing at least you know we know that helps so it' be like one Regional Elementary School and then one Yarmouth based Elementary School I'm just trying to picture this yeah and I don't even know if that's a bad idea but it just um I was very intrigued by that observation that um you know our neighbors um have an old school as well and and I I think that you know it's just an an interesting um point and I I really don't know you more you know what's the word you know the bigger the project the more savings there is instead of you know building two elementary schools we've been dealing with the same thing with Wastewater instead of building two plants we were trying to build one for three towns and now we're building three plants which is not the most cost- effective way to do things um again I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around whether or not the taxpayers can support 100% of a new school and you know not to go back in history like I always do but they didn't vote for the last one my understanding that was largely over the percentage breakdown it was there was discussions on trying to um change the regional agreement at that point in time right and that's why it's it's set at a different rate than other capital projects because that the the the debt for that project is different than um other debt projects yeah we tried 6535 6535 yes which is not the way the student population breaks out but we we were trying to get to 5050 on the building um but we didn't want to lose the SBA money but again it it mushroomed out of our control but that's my understanding like the suit wasn't over um not building the project it was over funding of the project it's then the split between the two towns kind of both I thought well I mean ultimately the taxpayers of Yarmouth didn't vote for it the taxpayers of Dennis voted for it you know so it to me it was a little bit of taxation without representation and you know the minority dictated to the majority that's that's how it ended up coming out I I I just whether it is or not it was a lot of money for the taxpayers and to build another school I think think it's going to be tough so I think we need to look at Alternatives I think that's what the feasibility study will do so you know we're not necessarily um saying that you have to um make a decision for the town we're just asking for you know the guidance and advice that you guys would support the idea of a feasibility study to include consolidation of the schools um once the if we're decided to put in obviously then as Mr written hour said it would then go to the the town to vote to appr approve that amount um and then we would go through the same process on Monday um to approve it as well or at least discuss it again it's ultimately up to you guys if you would like to support the idea so do we support the idea I'm on board Tracy I think there's no harm in moving forward at this point um yeah yes joce and I'm a yes so we appreciate support on on Monday U we will bring this up to our our full board and um conclusion of that we will send our response to msba as a joint team thank you yeah thank you for your time before we before we conclude I I I just want to just commend you folks for having this discussion with us I think it's very very important that when from a Communications point of view when there's a change in our understanding about things with respect ECT of the state and how they're going to fund this and approach this I think it's wonderful that we can get together and and have this kind of exchange so I I appreciate very much you're being here and being here with the other school committee members I think this has been a very very helpful very very good conversation I think that uh Mark's really speaking for the board on that one you know this openness is is definitely something that we would encourage and would like to participate in as well uh because a lot of times sharing that communication can you know that you you both come in thinking one thing but then as you communicate you find out well you know what there is a common ground yeah um and we don't have to always be in a lawsuit or uh or something like that yeah and I I've said this uh to Mr rittenau um and so I would just open this up to the board you know I'm personally um I'm at the service of the residents of Yarmouth and the residents of Dennis so uh you know at any time you have information or questions about the school district I'm half happy to come so please invite me anytime you want to discuss the school district um it's ultimately what they pay me for so please invite me anytime you have questions um and I think I I would agree I think the only way we're going to move forward is to ultimately work together on these projects um I know um I think I said the last time I was here as a school district District we are I know like the governance model because it's set up as a region is a little different than if it was just a straight Municipal um School District operating inside the town of Yarmouth or a straight Municipal School District operating inside the um Dennis um and we are the we are the municipal government we're part of the municipal government we just happen to stretch across both towns right we're one of the largest employees of Municipal employes for both towns we we operate the large probably the largest amount of Municipal property taxpayer property um square footage acreage right so we're responsible for and and care for um a significant amount of taxpayer um property and um and we take that responsibility very seriously um at least I I mean I know the school committee does I know and I speaking for myself I take that part of my job very seriously so I it's very important to me to make sure we have that's why I think like the feasibil study is important because it's you go through the process you lay all the options on the table and then you have a conversation about it so the more conversation to me the better Tomas talentino thank you for coming tonight appreciate you taking the time no I appreciate as I said Mr Glenn is our liaison and he's always on remote when he can't make it in person and you know he can answer questions and he uh gives all the information to us um when we're unable to watch but I appreciate you having me here today too thank you thank you very much thank you okay you only oh sorry just add one more thing and if any select board member would like to tour any of the schools to further understand I know we had some conversation about maybe worried or wondering about space I'm happy to take you anybody on a tour of the district at any time too because I can assure you we are using every inch of the district but if you would like to see it for yourself just shoot me an email I'm happy to bring you around at anytime thank you our next item on the agenda is to um the Wastewater contract bids M chair I'm going to recuse myself okay noting that Tracy Post will be recusing from this um decision hello Jeff yes good evening uh Jeff Colby Public Works director uh I'm here tonight to uh build upon that presentation from a couple couple weeks ago about the Wastewater update uh we had talked about uh me bringing back the budget numbers to you and the contractors associated with each contract for uh your endorsement and uh and hopefully authorization of the Town Administrator to enter into contracts with these uh uh these contractors as I mentioned in the update uh two weeks ago uh we got some very good bids here and we're excited to be moving all of these uh contracts forward what I want to say about the the Wastewater budget sheet that's in the packet that is very similar to the state revolving fund budget that uh uh they develop and um uh require us to manage to so the the the way it's set up with regards to the contracts and the contingencies and the other costs associated with uh police details and Paving uh in eligible costs which are in the Wastewater column and ineligible costs which are in the water Colum is very similar to the way that the state revolving fund tracks that but uh in talking with the Town Administrator I understand that it would make it a lot clearer to have a a contractor associated with that so I've updated those spreadsheets and hopefully you had those uh at your place um tonight as we talk this through I think that is a great idea it's just that um many of the budget sheets that we have don't necessarily have that component um broken out but I'll I'll walk you through uh where we stand with regards uh to the spreadsheets and uh assure you that we have much more detailed spreadsheets uh that support all of the expenses associated with these I just thought that in talking through this with the board this would be a an appropriate level to uh discuss all of the numbers and to show where uh everything is coming from with regards to the $27 million for Wastewater and the uh $5.6 million for water that's been appropriated by town meeting uh so just walking through that and please stop me as I go through these if you have any questions at all uh but contract number one is for 97 m 550,000 for uh some alternates that potentially be cut and the treatment plant was one of those when you're designing a hundred million project uh there is the potential for for things to come in higher than is expected the two alternates involve uh denitrification filters which I think is an important component because we're doing this as an environmental project to um enhance the removal of nitrogen so I think that's a an alternate that we would uh recommend accepting and the second alternate is a relatively modest vehicle storage U building to house four or five Wastewater Vehicles as part of the project uh the low bidder for uh that contract number one was CH Nickerson uh we have uh dedicated based upon the the full budget document you see here a percentage contingency uh srf requires at least a 5% contingency for all of these but because there is some um we got attractive bids we have some flexibility to uh recommend a particular a higher contingency so on the treatment facility itself we are recommending an 8% uh contingency uh just to make that um as uh supportable as as possible going forward again this is something that wouldn't be used if it's not necessary that's why it's a contingency but it allows us uh some flexibility uh in case there are unforeseen conditions that occur during the construction of that facility uh contract number two why don't we just stop at Contract one does any any of the board members have any questions on contract one I don't my only question in any of this is um we're planning on doing a vote correct Bob yes okay so the question is making sure that if there's any need to be overly specific or detailed in a vote or do we can have we can have one overall vote at the very end to accept the bids essentially as presented so I'm looking for some guidance should we be taking these up and voting them on them individually or should we be doing them as an in an aggregate at the end what do you think vote them separately the next two have already been voted and approved so they don't need it so there's only like four votes and they they're they're all big and um yes the one thing I will say about that first uh contract I should have mentioned this before there's no ineligible cost there's no water component to that that's why that column is blank so these are all srf eligible costs for that contract okay that's great so the um award essentially for contract one the wrrf is to CH Nickerson that's the company in the amount of now is it 90 is it what's I'm assuming it's each of those numbers added up correct it's just 97551 51 and that's the one then uh I would move that we approve the award of that contract to CH Nickerson 97 m5501 151 second okay all those in favor I I moving on to contract two okay great thank you very much contract 2 is Route 28 and Old Main Street uh this is a contract that's currently being worked by Robert B hour uh that low bid um for the Wastewater was 16,298 1843 uh there is a component in this one as in several of the others of ineligible cost so there is a water component associated with that uh that's the second column that's highlighted and that price for the the water itself is 3,576 775 and as uh the Town Administrator just mentioned that contract's already been awarded and it's moving forward but it's important to note all of these costs you can see where the full budget breakdown is with regards to uh the full amounts as I mentioned before the full $27 million for Wastewater and the full $15.6 million for for water these are all components of those how far into contract to are we approximately 50% this is um something we talked about two weeks ago we showed the full map and uh they are making excellent progress and are approximately 50% done with the collection system the pipe in the road work which is ahead of schedule and that's going well and budget wise it looks like they're staying within budget yes absolutely okay contract three the contract three is Route 28 and Southshore Drive uh that's been awarded to roli construction uh the breakdown of that particular contract is 14, 96717 for the Wastewater the srf eligible costs uh there is a water cost that's ineligible not going through the srf program the town is is borrowing and paying for that uh through the water uh revenues and that number is 3, 28,6 45 uh that also is um underway right now and is closer to 25% complete for that project there's a lot more U piping to do uh there are uh some uh more significant areas to to dewater closer to the ocean which is uh a particular challenge that contract's being currently worked uh and um is on budget and on time they're just not as far ahead as that other contract was okay contract four contract four is uh Route 28 uh that is I put North Main Street there just to help describe where that location is that is really the project limits of the Bass River Bridge Project which incidentally is currently advertised so that's uh good news that the mass do is moving that project forward in the bid openings for the bass Bridge Project are in November just for point of reference but uh the reason we broke that out separately from a Wastewater standpoint is we want to get the pipes in the ground before uh they really get geared up to do the bridge and the road work as associated with that project uh so that low bid for contract 4 was Robert bow and the Wastewater eligible costs for that are 2,443 768 and so that is the srf eligible cost uh there is an amount that's really just a placeholder at this point for the ineligible water costs because water is going to be done in conjunction with the mass stop project so we will end up paying that but through uh the massot process they're going to administer that project for us which is a a huge help and assistance to us and will actually save us uh significant uh money and not having to U you know repave and and um you know reconstruct the roadway as part of that project so we're continuing to uh participate with Mast do with the water component we had to uh we would prefer to do that with Wastewater as well but because of the time frame and the requirements to award all of these FSR cost by October 31st we had to break that out separately and and award that separately uh so that is one that uh we would like the board to vote on that has not been awarded that's contract 4 uh we have a slightly lower contingency that we're recommending there because there is um it's a slightly smaller project and also beginning that right away the um contingency I I should have mentioned for contracts two and three that's being recommended is a little bit higher because there was some delay in beginning those costs so there was a a change order associated with both of those contracts for uh the delay in starting from when uh the contracts U Were bid until we actually awarded and gave a notice to proceed uh because of the delays in the permitting with DP but we're past those now but that's why we are recommending a higher level of contingency for that uh but feel that for the next couple contracts the 7% contingency again is adequate um srf requires a a minimum of 5% and seven is kind of still give us some additional Comfort if you will okay any further questions from the board on contract four if not I'll entertain a motion I move to approve contract four do I have a second on that all those in favor I I I contract five contract five is uh Route 28 this section between the Parker River Bridge and the barns timeline is such a large section we broke it into two separate contracts so the the middle is Higgins croll Road uh so contract number five is from the park Reser bridge to haens coll Road the low bid for that uh contract was Robert B hour and the numbers associated with that were 15,980 74 for the srf eligible cost which are the waste water costs and the water uh ineligible costs for contract 5 are 3 Mill 97,5 79 again the 7% contingency is what we're recommending there and it's consistent with the other Wastewater contracts that we're just starting now so that's one that also we'd like the the board to support any questions on contract 5 I entertain a motion I move we approve contract five do I have a second second all in favor I I contract six right contract six is the the next segment which is Route 28 from that Higgin coll road to the Barnstable town line uh the low bid for that contract was digit construction and the numbers associated with that contract are 15 mil 103,788 for the srf eligible Wastewater uh contracts there are um just to note there are two pump stations relatively small but two pump stations as part of that contract and the ineligible costs which are the water component is$ 4,215 $215,100 and that does have a base bid and alternates associated with it but it really was segments of collection system that were designated as alternates just in case we the bids came in high and we had to cut off pieces uh to do but because we got attractive bids for all of these contracts we're able to recommend doing all of them so we're recommending accepting all of the alternates associated with that particular contract which are in the numbers that I just mentioned excellent any questions on contract six entertain a motion I move that we approve contract six I'll second that all those in favor I I great and the kind of the last wrap up here that i' I'd like to uh bring to your attention with regard to other costs associated with uh this overall budget uh is construction Administration it's been uh kind of lumped together here rather than individual uh collection system contracts just because that's the form that we uh developed with contracts two and three the components of those are CDM Smiths of designer review submission and submitt process and uh construction phase Services as well as right peers who are owner project manager uh they actually um uh have all of the inspectional service with regards to the um rprs the resident project Representatives that are within the right Pierce contract so each one of those that you see construction Administration has those two um components and it's broken out roughly 50% in each uh based upon the scope of work for each of those so those are all uh srf eligible costs and are in that column with Wastewater other things that are srf eligible include police details and and flaggers which is there the same line item and the final Paving final trench patch if you will uh those are all srf eligible costs uh for police details we're uh budgeting $3.5 million they've come in a little bit ahead of what we'd initially uh planned for in the original srf filing but in within this budget we've bumped that up slightly to to cover some of those additional costs uh as well as the final Paving costs of just shy of $6.5 million that's really the final um trench patching uh because for rout Route 28 we do not need to do a curb to curb resurfacing because of followon uh Mass do projects that are happening throughout the cordor so that's a budget savings for us I know that looks like a big number for final Paving but it would be much higher if we had to do a full curb to curb Paving on Route 28 which we don't have to do per our permit so those are the things I wanted to draw your attention to I also want to U mention that in those srf eligible uh components we do have uh the 0% interest as well as the debt forgiveness component to that so that's a good thing right now we're at 6.6% debt forgiveness and then the cap and Islands water protection Trust of course is funding uh 25% of our costs associated with the srf eligible cost in that Wastewater column as it stands today so that's all good news and um just wanted to mention that because that's a a cost share component that will help U you know ease the burden of some of these numbers you're seeing today uh so I think those are the things I wanted to highlight happy to answer any questions you might have about this um Jeff I I note that um we have in the audience some distinguished guests representatives of um these fine companies that the board has just awarded major contracts to I I thought maybe you could help introduce them a little and and I'd like to you know if the principles are here um have them meet meet the board at least so you know we have a face to face so when we when we meet in court no we won't be doing no um I do think we have a representative digit construction here is that Carrie is is here and it's company it's good to have you on board welcome Carrie uh we have a representative CH Nickerson is there anyone hear from them no and uh I think that's about it I don't think we have anybody from roli or Robert bow here well thanks for coming out thank you appreciate you taking the time I'd happy to answer any questions that you might have well I think now we now that we've met him we know who to contact if we have traffic problems right or construction delays no I the only comment that I'd like to make is once again I think just in the interest of keeping the voters of Yarmouth informed in the interest of transparency I think it's important to have these kinds of public discussions in these kinds of presentations and deliberations so once again I just want to tip my hat to the uh to the administration for doing this I think it's important for people to know how their tax dollars are being spent what they're being spent on and that we can deliberate and discuss these things out in the open so that everybody can uh be on top of what's going on so once again thank you thank you than you really appreciate it great thank you very much and we'll update you on how this budget is going at our next Wastewater update so thank you thank you for the helpful tabulation okay um our next item that was on the agenda was to discuss the volunteer Fair U for attracting committee members um but we also had an item for 7:15 and of course now it's 7:45 uh request for lease of town property from cap and Islands Mitsubishi so if it's all right with the board I'd like to take those out of sync and we'll um ask for uh the request for lease of town property from cap and Islands Mitsubishi Workshop Road South Yarmouth oh we have it let got another page thank you this we do if you like to start by introducing yourselves please my name is Jeff Bellis um I'm here speaking on behalf of Mr deir who's the owner president of Capen Islands misubishi I'm a I'm a I'm a lawyer and attorney feel free to call me Jeff or whatever um you prefer but we're here um okay you said it you said it I know I know careful what you say I wore an extra shirt so um so in any event we're here this this evening um to uh request a carve out of a portion of a parcel that had previously been awarded on a lease um as I understand it it was to a Solar Company they were going to put panels on a big portion of this town property um the economy went went against them and they weren't able to fulfill their obligations as part of their Master Lease there was a a carve out sublease for cap and islands of one acre for him to expand his lot um when that all fell apart cap and Island no longer had access to the one acre lot Mr deir needs it because the master franchise or Mitsubishi North Amer Amer Mitsubishi USA is insisting and has been insisting for a number of years now that he expand a lot to include more new cars right um currently everybody Drives By it there's a lot of trucks a lot of pickup trucks they sell people love them um it's not really helping Mitsubishi North America they want him to have Mitsubishi cars on his lot and um he wants to stay where he is it's a great location um he likes it he's settled in he's been there what eight years now eight years at that location at that location 10 years in yarm so we're here asking the board um for them to begin and it's you know it's kind of convoluted because it's an RFP for a portion of a parcel is what we're looking for it's one acre is essentially what the um concept is calling for that that's my summary and I don't know if there's questions or if I miss something I have questions but it's mostly of Bob to talk about how we got here because last I knew we were on a different plan right now um let me first confirm um I became aware of this issue practically day one when I I first um arrived here um Mr Ed senteo our finance director um was managing the project to move forward with the um lease of the overall it's quite a large piece of property there for um the solar farm and um I I can confirm that he did have that um lease Arrangement structured such that um he had he had the request from Cape Ben Island's Mitsubishi and um wrote it into the the documents such that the Solar Company would be having a sublease of a small um piece of property for um the Mitsubishi dealer to store some of their cars so that that was a way of taking advantage of the single procurement um having the lease go to the solar developer and um being able to to take care of the Mitsubishi issue at at the same time and um what has happened since then is that the firm that did the bid for the initial lease uh because of financial changes in the Solar Market was unable to fulfill their obligations under the lease to develop that entire parcel and um so the in the meantime we had been contacted uh I think a few different times by Mr deir on behalf of the me subishi dealer that um what does he do now that he's in danger of um losing that location for not having enough space for the the Beats subishi cars and so um he kind of got stuck in in the shuffle so um what the town is faced with is is there's the immediate issue of the small parcel adjacent to the Mitsubishi to see if there is any appetite on behalf of the town to it would have to be a totally separate procurement to um potentially lease um a small area for the vehicle storage that's issue number one and then issue number two I think there's a much bigger issue with the um town meeting the select board already went to town meeting to get the approval of the voters to lease the whole parcel and it doesn't say it has to be for X use or Y use it's just the um the board has the authority to lease that parcel now I think that there's a future discussion that's a much bigger discussion as to whether the town wishes to issue another RFP for that entire site and um I personally wouldn't do a one for um solar I would look for a different direction is very difficult and we had these discussions at the board level I think many times Mr Santa was um in here and and I think the board expressed a lot of concerns about um cutting down all of the trees on that lot for a solar and and so it you know I I think there's going to have to be a lot more discussion if the town wants to initiate another RFP for the remainder of that lot but um we had been contacted by Mr deir who again got kind of caught short in the whole process and um I I just think he he needs to know from the town if there's any interest um so that he can do his his own future planning um and I I would say um I have discussed the matter with the um property owner um that that leases to Mr deir which is the Davenport company and they're aware of it have indicated that they would not have any any problems with it and I disc discuss it with the Building Commissioner as well and um he's he's aware of it you know reviewed all of the special permits and um has indicated that you know his office doesn't you know have any any problems but it really is up to the select board if there's an appetite to to kind of do that and you know I suppose the reasoning would be in involved with um he seems to be indicating and and I think they can give us a little more clarity on this that the um present parcel alone and it is um a little bit of a um challenge shape of a lot there doesn't appear to be large enough to support that class one dealership um under the you know his own obligations on a long-term basis so he's indicated he might have to you know move to a different location which you know in in which case we' lose one of our only class one dealership so so how does this affect our plan for the bigger picture though are we being shortsighted meaning we don't know with the contiguous property that's still there is the Anor robic digestor off the table also the whole energy park or just the solar piece just the solar piece and the solar piece had I mean it's a very large lot that had that um you know acre area was just buffer zone anything and and I think that that would still be a you know you'd have adequate uh be able to have adequate buffers and you know you'd still have 85 Acres out there um and and so it wouldn't impact um you know there's some questions on that Anor robic digesto project whether that you know the finances of that seem to have changed as well and I know the finance director we've recently been looking at has a lot of concerns whether that is truly a beneficial project for the town to bring in the um septage waste of all of the other um towns in our region and what benefits do we get for that so I think there's a lot of discussion that needs to happen on that but the town staff doesn't feel that this one acre is going to impact no any of our other plans or potential uses no that okay and so to our same point though about the highway and the trees I mean I know that the solar uh parcel was much larger what what's your what's your Vis what's the vision of the offramp visually so even though this says Highway the offramp actually is much farther away so visually there's no it there's a buffer no it's when they designed this they designed it BAS B on knowing that they have to be a certain amount away from okay the office so you won't even see it because where the lot cuts off the triangle um if you've ever come off the highway it's a good 50 feet 100 feet before you see any of my uh Vehicles how long is your lease there you're looking for a 10year option with the town what's your lease on the property now it's coming up soon so I kind of have to make a decision on if I'm staying um I've been putting Mitsubishi off since 2018 and they left me alone during covid and now they're putting pressure on me again to so in terms of access though if you no longer lease the parcel how does this piece you know it doesn't have its own access are you talking about the triangle I'm I'm talking about if your lease if you choose not to have a lease with Davenport for this parcel anymore what happens with this piece well no if you folks if if I could pull this off then I'm resigning my lease so I would have two leases one with the town and one with the dports I'd like to obviously stay I'm been here for a long time so before I sign I wanted to just see if I could put this together first but just I you know to kind of clarify that that point what um you're willing to to stipulate that that if you close down the the Mitsubishi at at the current location that that the back property well I think we're saying we'd like that to revert to the town we don't want you to move it from one location to the other that we're saying it's contingent upon um remaining that that operation where it is that that would facilitate that not be in uh Li of it correct correct I I'm looking to sign a lease so that the two leases are expiring about the same time and then I could go to Florida wait what I don't want to do this forever you know 15 20 years so young all right that's all the questions I have for now Mark uh my only question is one for Bob and that is um is this a soul Source procurement no I I I it's it's not going to be a soul Source proc curement um I I think that um in all sincerity what what we would have to do and we would seek the approval of the select board um it would be to initiate an RFP for the use of this parcel it does have limited access and you know and I and I think that we can um establish some conditions that don't make it exclusive in any fashion but um okay that answers my question because typically when when a municipality is in the business of entertaining a lease often times we have to go through a procurement process so he just answered my question by suggesting yes we will we'll issue an RFP we'll identify the parcel and then have to go through that process it's difficult in many cases for a municipality to have a sort of a soul Source procurement without any kind of bidding process at all so that answers my question I'm very comfortable going forward with that kind of process to make work this out thank you um I just have a question for Mr deir I noticed we talked a little bit about um barriers of borders you know the kinds of um things that like help Shield a zillion cars from human eyes I live in South Yarmouth and I drive by there every day W will will I still see some trees yes if you look closely at the design I saw we had some little tree drawings right so there's probably based on the bylaws when I worked with the Building Commissioner this is the amount of trees I need to put up and it's a pretty good chunk it takes away about 20% of my parking but it's required to have those trees planted so you what you're going to see is trees and beautiful lights and shiny new cars and a thriving new thriving old business of yam as soon as you get off the highway well and I think you know trees make a lovely compliment to to shiny new cars you'll probably sell more with more trees well everyone wants to go electric and be green so kind of goes with the theme thank you okay um so what would we as a board here have to do so at this point um we just would need the board's approval to prepare and RFP um and that you know we can even bring a copy of the draft back and and and have you look at that and approve that and and that way it's a it's a competitive procur procurement you issue that and then the proposals would come back to the board um for award um and you could still at that point reject um any any bids if if you didn't like the terms um and maybe we could you know include a little more deta site planning um make sure that the Departments that you know do that um you know weigh in and and that and then if at that point that the next step after that would be a lease would come after the procurement is home approved what's parsel was looked at by the town and the Departments before we brought the town meeting as a potential lease correct that is a yeah what the purchase but as yeah what's what's the street address B it is um of the parcel in question can can you help us out what's your address my parcel were the dou not yours the one that he's I want to make a motion to put out an RFP station what is 527 station all right Madam Vice chair I want to make a motion and I'm moving that we uh authorize the Town Administrator to put out to bid or put out an RFP for the leasing of 525 station a that might be the is that that's leing it to himself yeah well that's not that that's not what I'm looking for what I'm looking for is the address of the property and question need to book parel so the least area would be assessor map 97 parcel six that's the that's the piece that we're looking at 97 parel 6 is the actual okay then that that'll I'll incorporate that in my motion do I have a second second any discussion all those in favor I I I that's unanimous get to Florida yet I'll be it for a while thank you very much thank you thank you sure you guys see you okay Joyce would you mind waiting with yours to let Mary I think I'm I'm going to be here for a while anyway I suggest we let Mary get home okay then let's Mary's here she's on Zoom at home Mary was watching from Zoom upstairs okay so our next item on the agenda then will be the um fall election matters and yes thank you Mary meski Town Clark so this is our traditional letter that comes to you for every election uh there are uh two main motions that we need for you folks to vote on tonight uh the first is to assign the police officers uh back to the to assign the assignment of the police officers back to the police chief and myself uh the second is to vote on the ballot warrant for the uh November state election uh so both of those motions are in the letter I would also just like to take the opportunity to tell people that the ballots did arrive today thank goodness so we will be working to get the vote by mail ballots out it will likely take us about a week to get the 6,000 ballots out into the mail uh however if there is anybody that is leaving town beforeand and they wish to come in and vote that are not they're not going to be available on November 5th they are welcome to come in and vote this uh this week and next week inperson early voting doesn't start until October 19th as you all know that will be set up down here for two solid weeks before the uh November 5th uh state election however if there's anybody that is leaving town they are welcome to come in we'll just ask them to fill out an absentee application and they'll be able to vote at the counter are there any corrections need needed to The Ballot or is the ballot as printed so far we have not found any any errors it is it is as Mir good to hear I make a motion that the select board hereby delegate its Authority given under chapter 92 section 72 of the acts of 2022 to detail a sufficient number of police officers or constables for each building that contains the polling places for one or more precincts at every election herein to preserve order and to protect the election officers and supervisors from interference with their duties and to Aid in enforcing the laws relating to elections to the chief of police in consultation with the town clerk you have a second second okay any discussion all those in favor I I that's unanimous I make a motion that the select board adopt the warrant for the November 5th 2024 Massachusetts state election presented by the town clerk and directed that the warrant be duly advertised and posted in accordance with Mass general laws the town of Yarmouth Charter and bylaws do I have a second second any discussion all those in favor I I hi thank you very much thank you Mary you put uh quite a bit of work ahead of you we'll get it you and your team we will get it done and we'll be back the end of the month to see you on other matters thank you very much thank you okay Joyce uh our next item is discussion of the volunteer fair for attracting Community Committee members oh thank you madam chair um this will be short and sweet um I've talked to a number of people who have applied through the process we've had a flurry of applications recently and with that feedback I've decided we need two halves of the volunteer fair to get two different populations um I'd like to propose that we have the the fair on November 21st so that we can take advantage of having a flyer and an announcement at the special town meeting and I'd like to propose that the two parts of the fair be from 9 to 11 a.m. in this hearing room and then for people who are working 9 to five and might skew to a different age um 4 to six in room a it'll be a smaller group and this this room will be in use then and and what is what does it entail Joyce the fair oh um my notion is to have representatives of every committee there to um chat with prospective applicants even committees that don't have like we just finished filling conservation the last meeting um even if they don't currently have openings to give an idea of what those committees do uh have an informal session it gets to PE people to town hall I started to think that that was preferable to the senior center just so people would have a sense where people come for committees and maybe acclimate them a little and then uh um the uh idea would be a a flyer which is currently in preparation by staff um and uh uh the personal interaction so people might be able to see with whom they'd like to work say if they were qualified in in overlapping areas and essentially cheerleading for new volunteers and introducing them to the town and I'm hoping that uh uh putting it on social media but also having that important flyer at the special town meeting at a table um will help build um numbers for this and who who would you see organizing this Fair um me was my question go ahead and volunteer anyone else I I see someone in the audience with a hand up no okay and uh what would you need from this board um I guess just a general blessing um and uh a modest money for Refreshments um I picked your pastries and coffee for the morning session and you know some sort of late afternoon snack for the four to six and from a monetary perspective Bob how would that work I mean is that something that's available money is available now in say the administration budget or yes we can cover the cost of refreshments and also assist in the you know administrative setup of it okay thank you okay well just beat the bushes and find people and bring them any comments Mark no Tracy sounds good sounds good Joyce uh I I will tell you that uh my sister brought back a flyer from the East Ham Public Library that listed out all of the Committees that are available in town and the volunteer positions available nice you should think of a library good idea yeah that that was one thing that was out there and certainly the backbone of our of our town is our volunteers and yes yes I think a lot of times people will say well nobody ever ask me so this this might be you never know might be a way to get them to come on down and and volunteer hope so we used to do a volunteer breakfast um when when Eric was here he always coordinated the volunteer breakfast and um one of the things that always was great years and years ago was Jerry Sullivan he did a great video of interviews with different um committees because you know I think trying to get people in here is much different than um you know getting it out it played on channel 18 and it was great because he would he went to each of the Committees and talked about what they did and interacted and you know talked about how they got on that people talked about you know what interested them and and we got a lot of um really great positive feedback from from that I remember those I especially remember the last one that I was at and Eric T was chair then and I can remember him getting up and and saying you know your volunteers you work for bacon you re referencing the breakfast okay um so we'll just give you our blessing to go forward thank you madam chair I don't think we need a specific MO or anything of that nature so good luck and thank you for the uh suggestion thank you be great next on the agenda we had the review draft of the special town meeting warrant um Bob okay um we have the warrant pulled together I want to single out Bill Scott for uh his tremendous work with all of the Departments agencies and everyone to um review all of the articles make sure we had the right amounts and everything that people needed um we have 12 articles I could go through them quickly and we'll see what if there's issues concerns or questions um and then um we'll talk later about the date for when it'll come back for execution um but um for now we have there's a placeholder for article one for any prior year bills and they're still scouring the books but we don't have any yet so we may lose an article and I'd like to see that because I hate prior year bills it's just one of my pet peeves but um so far we haven't found any um and the second article is our annual OPB transfer um from free cash in the amount of 1.2 million I I want to mention too is um board members I think have seen we did last week get our free cash certified um 11, 800,000 which is um consistent with our expectations and I think it shows solid performance so we have the free cash available to take care of the annual OPB transfer that's article two um article three are funds to uh restore the school resource officer coverage and and these were amounts that were cut by the school department that I cannot believe that I'm really surprised to see this I'm sorry but um I got qu I don't know how we got to that in this day and age this is a very I think that they are extremely important actually I believe that they should be in every school um and Yarmouth does I think we have two and Dennis has one I'm not sure how so it used to be split and I'm not because it was paid through the district right so these funds will be paid through Yarmouth for us to have a school resource officer in the Intermediate School um that's right so how does Dennis pay their portion of that are we asking Dennis to pay or do they put in an officer as well um yeah it's a mixed thing I I think probably the best thing would be at our next meeting to have the chief in and we can talk about the article and what all of the details of it okay are and um that's why it went through the the district always before so that it was split by population of course they're only in schools for the most part that have both students in it um you know I see here it says that it's also covering station avami small so that's a different story if it's just in Yarmouth but um no it deserves an explanation so it's good let's get on the next agenda so that's article three and article four is also from the police department and and this is to transfer the sum of $40,000 to purchase and install equipment for the least police cruisers and this lowers the lease so it's a lot more money if you get it through lease so what they want to do is if they they pay cash for the um special equipment in the vehicles you don't have to lease it and pay um extra for it I thought there was an article when we rented them to to outfit it is this an overage or something what we can ask ask him when he comes about the right I I don't recall that article I I know we approved all the leases but I I don't think they approved the equipment so and um Article Five is for galf Capital expenses um they have three projects that have gone through the capital program that they'd like to get accomplished prior to the next season some Bass River Clubhouse improvements lightning detection system and improvements to the bayber hill patio area and they also have had their retained earnings um certified at 2,778 396 so they also continue their strong performance and the 390 here 390,000 would be transferred from retained earnings that's Article Five article six is the Wastewater engineering discharge analys is and um permitting it is um portion of the overall cost of this project in at 500,000 to get us through um there will be additional uh work associated with that but they need to determine their exact Budget on it but um this keeps the work with the D for the permitting moving forward um and this would be recommended to come from the Wastewater Enterprise fund that's article six and then article seven is our annual article to continue the prefunding um for the overall financial plan um and it's $2 million from free cash which is the amount we've been putting in every year and um a million from the Wastewater Enterprise fund to the Wastewater stabilization fund and the um again we created this Wastewater stabilization fund and I thought the finance director did a great job job on that the purpose for moving the money from the Wastewater Enterprise fund into the stabilization fund is it can be invested um at a higher rate so it's better to have the stabilization funds that um they're invested differently than the um Enterprise fund is counted as operating funds and this is for long-term Debt Service so the stabilization is the place for that so three million into Wastewater stabilization and that's according to to our plan and article 8 is an additional 110,000 to bring the Route 6A Village Center streetcape Improvement design um up to the pre 25% design submission um in the hopes that that these plans are then that will short cut the system for getting these on the tip so that they can be these streetcape improvements for the Route 6A um historic village can be funded through the state um with the town doing the initial design work on those and we've had a series of of meetings and I think that they have some great design work so this will help move that forward and that's article eight article nine are the um additional funds for the Parker River Boardwalk Park and it is 160,000 to um put partial irrigation um in the park that wasn't previously funded and so that's 160,000 from free cash that's article 9 article 10 is the analysis of the past groundwater contamination in the amount of 50,000 and that's seed money uh based on a proposal that the town has received to initiate some of those um studies of the potential environmental impacts of past that are not water um system related um so this would be be um primarily starting in the mil Creek area um they'll be studying the ecological impacts of pasas and this is sort of groundbreaking work that would benefit the town can I just ask you a question about the free cash yes so we get a lot of free cash in here and typically we do our free cash at our annual [Music] so NE not necessarily I'm not sure I would agree with that assumption no that well it's not um the way it's normally been done but I'm just listening to so you have we have we just got our free cash certified right so that's what you're spending so typically we had waited well and I'm sure it's probably changed but um we used to have like one slate for our free cash after the budget was done at at town meeting now it's yeah I the way I see it is we've significantly decreased the um free cash spending at fall town meeting in fact like this is probably all time um but um traditionally Yarmouth has a even earlier free cash certification in fact a lot of times we you know get that certified in July or August and um September this year and there generally is some free cash spending for things that they can't wait at the fall town meeting but primarily um the like the CIP all of that stuff we hold it back for most of them and I like to consolidate as much as we can under the capital Improvement program at the annual town meeting so we just sort of scaled back for the things that we need to get us through right so can I can we get like just a list of picture of where we are what we have what we're going to have left over oh sure that'd be great I just don't feel like I got a I have a picture of what we have I think in the past and the reasons why we may not have done it in the fall and focused largely on the annual is because we went through a period of time where we just didn't have many now I feel like we're taking it out in my mind we always had those the capital and also things I want to make sure that yeah but also in the past we didn't have much free cash either so we're in a very different situation right now the way the way the town's been managed did Bill have if I may uh all of these are already in the CIP process so what we do is track the fall time meeting is fiscal year 2025 and then 2026 and the spreadsheet shows both runs so I'd like I'd just like to see it great thank you yeah we can give them that so we're thinking about well billson we're thinking about the um the fall in conjunction with the spring as well same time and um trying to be as conservative as we can on on the overall spending at the same time um and then thank you a after article 10 there are two proposed zoning articles um I think you you've seen the drafts before the first one is the affordable housing calculation of cash payment in lie of affordable units for um local initiative projects so um the way that's calculated is going to be more related to the modern day cost of these units so that's an improvement in that calculation and the methodology I think is outlined in in the article and and um article 12 is um like a further restriction of seasonal employee housing at motels and hotels um which proposes that special permits or variances won't exceed the 15% cap that currently exists and all of that so you can't you can't um exceed the 15% cap through a variance um so that's that's a further restriction of um so we're making it more difficult for employers to house their seasonal employees yeah yes that why yeah what's the the logic behind that I mean we have a huge Workforce housing problem and why would we want to limit the ability of businesses to and this is a recommendation from the planning board um my my understanding is that the Genesis this was complaints that they had received um from people that um don't feel that the hotels and motels should have um a lot of seasonal housing in it but there's no other options so um yeah I'm not I'm not I I'll say right off the bat they're going to have a hard time selling this one at least with this select one because the reality is is I mean we have a housing crisis in this community and from my point of view the best place to actually provide housing for seasonal workers is with the employers they can they can essentially provide the supervision they can make sure that the units are kept up um you know obviously I'd be concerned about the loss of uh units that are available for let's say motels or hotels but uh the reality is this is a crisis and uh you know I'm sorry people are complaining but uh I think I think we really want to spend some time on this particular article and really get it fully vetted so um in the planning board is going to be before this board to explain the Articles and well they have to have their own public hearing correct that they they require a public hearing and they um have to make a recommendation and um we were going to try to have them in tonight but um they haven't had their public hearing yet so they wanted to have the public hearing and then get a a better sense for their their process so so I think they're scheduled for the next meeting in order for us really to follow the process we need to have a meeting on October 22nd to execute the uh town meeting warrant don't we we can't wait till our next meeting on the 29 yes I I um I would request that we have a a meeting on October 22 if for no other reason than to um approve the warrant that way um you know it should be published by the that 29th not not approved so um and we could have the police chief come in at October 22nd since that is regarding the special town meeting warrant to discuss that um those two articles so the 22nd I think that's the same night as the Chamber of Commerce dinner what's that I have something in my calendar but yeah and I'm unavailable that well I may be unavailable that we would not have been a majority what about the 15 we typically don't meet after a holiday yeah and I'm not available on the 15th either see what I do is I try to get the select board meetings locked into my calendar ahead of time so that I can fill up all the other dates so I'm I'm somewhat Limited in October right now I I just have a a question about the warrant and the procedure um we do have it on the agenda tonight um would it be possible for us to vote that tonight approval of the warrant without getting into whether we approved of individual articles is the petition time passed yes all the deadlines are passed um and this if if you you want to keep the these 12 articles you could um vote to approve and execute the warrant um tonight but we can't change it we wouldn't be able we wouldn't be able to change the warrant so that's why we just had it on this was our first review of it if um there was another night um sometime before the 29th is a 22nd earlier that day possible I mean if it's just that one vote yeah I can do that earlier in the day and just one maybe your that's all that's on the agenda I could do that I could do that on the 22nd what what time would we be talking about having the meeting could you do it at 4 I could do 4 oh yeah okay then I would recommend that we have a meeting on the 22nd at 4 P.M we'll just have to check hopefully this venue is available happens to be a day that has a half day of school so won't be driving the bus W works for you huh you're lucky for that thank you there you go do the kids get on the bus wet no no they don't just rainy days okay so we'll have um a meeting we're going to be adding a meeting then for October 22nd at 4:00 hopefully in this meeting room and we'll also be asking the police chief to come to that meeting so that then if there are any questions concerns they can be answered at that time for those two articles sounds like a plan and if I may uh the background on all the CIP items is online under the capital budget committee there's a link up at the top Under fy22 26 which gives you all the profile sheets for everything that's coming in the fall town meeting and the spring all right anything else on U the draft I think we're we're all set on that Joyce you're up okay thank you um I would like to move two different appointments um the first is a new appointment to the mid-cape cultural Council of zavia M Walker that would be for three years um ending October 27th 27 sorry so moved do I have a second um I'll second but I'd like to discuss this okay discussion um and this discussion this particular committee aren't they involved in making Awards to various organizations to help promote the AR they they do have um I guess um a fairly modest awards for cultural grants and then they do they do other things to generally encourage cultural events yeah what I'd like to do is make a request that we put this council at least on an as an agenda item so we can at least get updated from them on what they're doing okay no I think as as as it lays out in our Charter we're supposed to meet regularly with with the Committees all right so on the list of things that we have to do as select board members one of them is that to meet with committees and that always gets challenging because we have so many committees and our schedules our our agendas fill up I I'm I'm not suggesting that we meet with everybody I'm just this particular Council I don't think we've heard from anybody on this Council for years and um I think uh I mean I have a clue as to what they're doing but I do read about arts councils and other communities all right now we combined our Arts Council with Barnstable yes so they're joint they're together so as a way to expand the pot of money I'm just curious what the council is doing to help promote the Arts in yarm I see you're afraid it might be falling too much on the Barnstable side I don't know but you know what part of our job is oversight and to make inquiries and so I think uh we should be looking for a spot on the agenda to have this Council show up and explain us how they're working and helping promote the Arts in Yarmouth we can do that why don't we put it on the December 17th agenda that would be that would be great okay so and I I assume that doesn't interfere with the pointing this person no not at all no I just I just didn't want to lose this and also in her 20s oh my God go well okay all those in favor I I you have a unanimous on that one Joyce next okay the next is a reappointment to the Board of Health Eric Weston for a three-year term ending October 2027 so moved do I have a second second okay any discussion on this okay all in favor I I you have unanimous on that one as well excellent there someone that's been appointments chair in the past thank you for your hard work Joyce it's I know there's more to it than people think it's kind of fun maybe an hour for today's interview was too much and me no sub okay on next on the agenda we have the approval for the minutes of the September 10th 2024 meeting so moved do I have a second second all those in favor I I those are approved and uh up coming agenda review we just added that we'll be having a meeting on October 22nd at 4: and that uh the police chief will be uh joining us and that will be to execute the town warrant we have found quite a list on the October 29th meeting it looks to me like we're pretty set on that one Bob you don't have anything special that you need to add to the 29th um no we will have the planning board in you can see on the discussion of the zoning we also have 6A and your presentation on the 6A I think you'll find that very fascinating too okay and then November is kind of an interesting um month because we have the election on November 5th and uh we have our special town meeting on November 19th so we'll be meeting as a board at 5:00 that evening prior to special town meeting and we have to have two meetings per Charter right so my question my question to that would be should we be looking at November 12th it's another one that is just because it's the day after a holiday and that's that's a is that a Tuesday that's a Tuesday yeah I think we have no choice we have to meet before town meeting and we have to have a discussion of the Articles and at least engage in some degree of Education both ourselves and the community right I mean think about it so so that would be our usual I think yeah I think the 12th the primary order of business on the on the 12th should be a review of the Articles we're going to have to make decisions on who's going to cover what recommendations right recommendations there may be people that we need to come before us that night to help explain themselves so think about it um and that's uh that is listed on the agenda for October 29th what we can do is to move that from the agenda on the 29th to uh November 12th I think you should at least have a continuation of that discussion right because there going to be things that we need to talk about um that might not get adequately covered there may be questions that we need to get answers to so you definitely want to have some time to cover that on the 12th I think I have found it helpful that as a board when we meet uh it's helpful to have some meeting and some discussion before the town meeting that that at least gets at least some segment of the the government Community thinking and preparing for town meeting so I mean we used to do that on a regular basis is always have a meeting and a discussion Adam chair after town meeting um I'd like at some point to have a report on the uh uh green communities program and the progress of our second Grant from that and also a question about whether the town is still going to pursue the anerobic digestor okay yeah so would you put these are items to put on after town meeting after town meeting I have some items on after town meeting too okay well how about before town meeting on November 12th we'd have um the review of the the articles is there any other item that Bob that we should be putting on uh um on November 12th nothing I can think about right now Mary won't have to give us an update on what's going on with the had gone on with the election we could get an election probably sure that'd be great well speaking of Elections we have our December 7 well no didn't we have some outstanding questions about the polling locations for the the uh special Town special election not the special one no I'm talking about the November election November 5th wasn't there some concern about having so much traffic remember the last time we had a presidential election that's going to be the presidential though that's that's what I mean that we had huge tra I mean it was a mess at the senior center and I mean I I haven't heard any plan well I heard from the school committee at the school committee meeting that there was a meeting between her and the chief at with the schools about potential locations but I haven't heard me right and and I think she was here at your last meeting and and talked about it and it was you know too late to move the presidential election and board members one that needs to be moved but December 7th doesn't need to be moved I think board members sort of indicated that um it was kind of too late to move it and that people would have a lot of questions and concerns and so it was decided that she would um work to develop a program to have the auxiliary parking and trim the path and to have the golf carts and to have the um senior van and to do the um shuttling and transporting of people can we get an update on that before before the election why we put on we're going to have the police chief here on October 22nd to talk about the town meeting let's get on that so when don't we add that on the 22nd yeah of October about the 22nd was that was the early meeting yeah that's the one at four that we someone had said it was going to be one agenda item you could do it on the 29th too yeah 29th would be fine yeah no I think at least I I received a lot of negative feedback about all the traffic all the congestion and and the need to improve access in and out of that polling location for the next presidential election I heard that after the last presidential election so I'm glad she's working on something but it might be nice to get an update so we know exactly what's being done to to improve the situation okay well we'll put that on the October 29th agenda yeah that would be great um my three non non-at specific I would just put them at the back the back end you know how we have a list list of items that we should potentials potentially look up yeah um I think we need a Mass DOT update on the route 28 construction project where where are we with design I mean it's been like forever since we got the latest on that what makes me nervous about that project is the more I mean the more time flies the more the project gets pushed off and so cost more and cost right and and then because it costs more then what happens is it drops in status on the transport on the tip and then when it drops on the tip it's just we somehow the pace of this thing has to get picked up because you know I mean it's already on there Mark I know I know it's on there but I'm saying we've got to make that a priority because what's happening is is that project keeps dropping yeah and dropping and it's last time I last time I checked I thought it was a real priority for us so yeah I I it's there but we need to draw attention to it the other thing is that we were supposed to get an update on the um the station AV traffic Corridor study that was supposed to have been done by the Cape Cod Commission in December 2023 and what is it now okay so here we are it's you know we're in October now it's many months have gone by we're almost a year behind so the upside the benefit of the delay is that we now have this situation unfolding involving the schools and it may very well be that the study should examine you know this other scenario and perhaps discuss or at least I think now would be a helpful time if we're talking about one of the options in a in a school study feasibility study including a much larger uh project on station I think that would it would be helpful to have a transportation study or the traffic study at least include that potential scenario and what we're what we're going to be dealing with right so I I would recommend and maybe this is some discussion with our team with our planning staff and the administrator maybe some discussion with the cap cut commission about examining what's going what what the scenarios that are laid out in this school feasibility study or the the likelihood of them I think I don't think there's anything that we there's going to be anything new I think we're going to know what the various options are it might be helpful to get the Cap Cod Commission staff to sort of do an amendment or a change or an adjustment in their scope and what they're doing and at least examine what's going on here because I think if we're going to have an intelligent conversation about options at some point um I know the consultant should be doing some analysis but I think I might be hopeful to get a head start on some of this so I think that needs to be an agenda item so I'd put that up there and the other item that I would add on this because I don't see it there maybe I'm missing something is the um the economic visioning that you know and the studies and the work and 28 you know we've had discussions of that before um I know Bill's been working on some stuff but you know at some point we got to bring that up and put that on the table and start digging our sinking our teeth into that so I don't know when that's going to be ready but it should at least be on that list of uh at least unassigned agenda items so I I would definitely put that there and elevate it any other well that's it for now gra all I have a whole list of things that aren't on there from from our goal setting thing that did make it on here that we we identified that weren't goals but we're going to be upcoming to discuss but yeah let's get that now that we approved at the last meeting the goals and there listed on the goals are a whole bunch of upcoming agenda items so let's we'll work to get those on okay any other items nothing tonight thank you the only question I have um can you tell me what's going on on Station Avenue when we had Beacon or Seasons come in and tell us about how they were building the new Shell station and putting in that property um if if I remember correctly they told us that they were going to turn the other Shell station into green space but what I see is that they've painted the building and they've paved it and um right uh the one reassurance we had was that there wasn't going to be a gas station there which clearly in their Paving there isn't but I'm I'm curious as to what's happening with that property because that sh doesn't look like green space to me it looks like it's getting set up for some kind of little retail operation and the only hope for Green Space will be a large Christmas tree seasonally well if there if we never did we ever did we make that a condition of the permit do you recall I don't really recall I just remember that that was the yeah yeah I don't think we did well maybe we maybe we have the basis to resend the fuel storage tank permit that was what the purpose of that whole discussion was about is as a board we have the the it was our job to issue a permit for fuel for fuel there so that they could do the gas station and I can recall voting no on that because I thought we're turning TR we're turning station avue a traffic nightmare right as much as I I'm fine with the gas station U we have too many gas stations there and the traffic patterns are atrocious there um and even the traffic patterns at that spot don't work because they they want the traffic to go in a certain direction but people ignore totally ignore it totally ignore it I've seen so many near accidents there and right my vote on that was because that was going to be green space I mean when that was presented to us right so yeah it' be nice to get some kind of like an update or something what what is going on with that property well we may have to have a licensing hearing a show cause hearing on just just kidding no but I I think it warrants definitely some scrutiny and some discussion an update maybe at our next meeting on what's going on there just a quick update of oh no they pulled the tanks up I mean that was took the lifts out too part of the put the tanks out they put the pumps out they I mean they did that that was on the list of things they promised to do but also on the list of things they promised to do was to turn that into Green Space and at the moment the Green Space seems to be quite small comparative than what they had at least L there's a lot of black top space let's put it that way I know so yes please I would I would like to hear what they have to say Okay um moving on from individual items then to Town Administrator items we have the consent agenda so everyone had an opportunity to take a look at the consent agenda I just assume move it and then we can discuss it if you'd like Madam Vice chair sounds I'm going to I'm going to move for approval of the consent agenda who a second second discussion um I just want to acknowledge the um donations that are here for the recreation department are um the list of donations in memory of Mike Stone and um it's a significant amount of funds were donated on behalf of Mike at the request of his family so I think we have a Deb of gratitude to Mike's family for directing funds towards the recreation department which will very gratefully be used for children's programming for recreation here in our town so thank you we send a note of thanks to Mike's family for that I think that'd be very appropriate thank you okay anyone have any questions on the approval of division of natural resource shellfish regulations for the approval of instar utility whole relocation so in that case um all those in favor of moving the consent agenda hi any opposed that's unanimous Bob Town Administrator okay I have a um a couple of quick items I I do want to announce that um we reported before that the engineering division was success ful in being awarded a $434,000 grant um from EPA funds under their Southeast New England program for wetland um Watershed improvements and um very significant Grant it's for um us to move forward with the chasebrook mil Creek combined um Park that the town um is developing there we have all all of those detail plans so that's uh very sign ific Grant and I'm real happy to announce that the EPA has scheduled on this Friday oo October 4 at 11:30 a.m. um their entire Regional announcement of all of their grants is going to be out at the mil Creek Park so sort of the Yarmouth is the stars of their program this year and um they've asked me to introduce the program and the our U illustrious chair Dorcas is going to make a few comments and if anyone can make it I I think that that would be great we have the event covered it's also going to be we're going to be filming it so I think that'll be a real nice you have Congressman keing there don't we congressman keading is coming and um I I really want to single out to Amanda Lima and Nate weton our engineering division that um you know we really having trouble getting enough funds together to get this part going and you know they worked with Kathy and Karen and Community Development to identify how much extra funds we needed and search for Grants and um this is all fantastic work and um that'll be a beautiful little urban park right there so that's going to be on Friday October 4 and um I wanted to say tomorrow morning starting at 8 AM we've got the wage and classification kickoff sessions with the town employees department heads so we're going to be initiating that study and getting everyone on board and um and working with that and I'm so looking forward to that very much okay anything else I think that's it for tonight I would entertain a motion I we adjured Madam chairman you have a second Al those in favor all thank you very much appreciate everyone's time and effort