um and we can do announcements like lightning public comments we should have public comments yeah y Dan have Vice chair so he can okay good evening everybody thanks for being with us tonight uh selectman Stone uh the chairperson is um hopefully going to join us a little bit late he's not feeling well tonight so he'll be joining us on Zoom but I thought we' get the meeting started anyway and try to get through some of the preliminaries um as is customary I have a um notice that I have to read as required by Journal laws chapter 3A section 18 through 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 and extended by chapter two of the acts of 2023 the Yarmouth Board of selectman will hold a public public meeting on Tuesday March 26 2024 at 6 p.m. in the hearing room at Yarmouth Town Hall please join me now uh uh reciting a pledge of allegiance the United States of America the rep for it stands Nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay again thank you for being with us hey Mark um so let's start first with uh do we have any announcements anybody have an announcement to Bob do you have anything at all you know I wanted to mention that there is a a kickoff session that is scheduled for the local comprehensive plan and that is going to be Wednesday April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in this room and I'd encourage um everyone there's um on the town's website also it's a remote meeting so there's some Zoom instructions but we're very excited about kicking off the the process for the update of the town's comprehensive plan and that will be Wednesday April 3 right here and 5:30 5:30 p.m. okay very good okay uh that brings us to public comment anybody have some public comment for us Peter um I see that you will be finishing up the warrant articles I guess and uh um I uh just wanted to make some comments on uh the uh Town seal article uh the uh uh that the uh committee I can't I think has been pestering the uh Native Americans to chime in on on their little project here and finally uh David Weeden who uh is the uh uh the the chair the head of the wak uh historic preservation office and is a member of the mashby select board uh answered uh I think I got a hold of the letter from him uh uh very early in uh January I think it was and I just think uh people ought to uh hear this this is just just some excerpts from his letter but in the very first sentence he says there are some concerns with the proposed new seal the first concern is that it feels like there's historical eraser of the uh of the uh indigenous Americans in the newer rendering uh at the earlier seal has a prominent focus on n peoples even if captured poorly it was prominent meaning the Native American in the seal here whereas the new seal aside from the word mes what reflects on the past so how do you pay homage to those original people that are now gone in this new rendering I think it's a pretty eloquent statement uh uh in the meantime I guess the committee didn't particularly like that version uh so they must have pastored some more and they got a reply from uh Brian Weeden who happens to be a nephew of David uh weeden's all of 28 years and I think he gave the committee something that they really uh rather liked uh much better I think and they if they speak today they probably will give you extras from whatever he wrote uh and all of this uh uh is after the uh uh the state which had jumped in and they were going to redo the seal the state seal but I guess if they when they checked in as to how much it might cost uh they just wrapped it quietly but the whole thing has been dropped uh uh as far as the announcement was made at the seal committee meeting so I'll take their word for it uh and uh I just uh I I I wish that uh the people also take into consideration what's going on with the uh the uh fiscal situation and especially with uh I don't know what the override is going to be but uh right unless there are some adjustments made uh it's being uh you know the the the figure uh we're looking at is over $800,000 so um I wish that people would take into account such things now um another thing uh uh we used to have uh candidates night uh here for many years uh uh you know every time there was an election coming up and then has been dropped so I'm suggesting because from what I've heard the people who have uh uh pulled the papers uh uh seem to be uh a very diverse group in terms of being known to the Pu and familiar to the public there are some who are very well known and some at least to me I have no idea who they are and uh among the I guess there are six now uh who have pulled the papers uh for the board of Selectmen uh and two for the school committee for one seat uh and so I hope that uh somebody will make sure that uh uh this this uh candidates night is uh brought back again so it would give the an opportunity for those who are not so well known to the public to to present themselves I I think that would be uh a good idea and the last thing is I was looking at the uh I guess at the agenda and or some material that uh was came in the packet I guess and I noticed in connection with the school at the uh Library uh proposed new building I guess but there's something constructive disruption and uh Bill tells me that that this is the name of the uh uh consulting firm that that they uh I I think it's a little bit too uh too precious and too too uh not not seriously sounding enough but that's just me okay thank you Miss Morris Tom Nick Canelo and Dan when when he through I'd like to make a quick announcement too sure okay like to go first with thank you Mr chair Vice chair Tom nielo from the very historic Old Town of Yarmouth just a couple things uh first of all I'd like to thank the finance committee for their hard work over these last couple of months as I read through their report they uh a spot on on a number of issues uh Wastewater is a extremely hot issue for us and they have some great um great comments in their in their report they also have the section 3A budget for the revenue Levy which is uh extremely important for myself being a business person in y and paying uh too little too much on residential and not enough on business is uh definitely not a sound way to go into the future uh with that I'd like to say uh I was one of the people who pulled nomination papers for select board and over the last couple of weeks talking to citizens the town listening to the concerns I am extremely humbled that I have acquired the amount required and now be submitting the papers to the town clerk at the end of the business week which is the end of this month and uh on another note as you know our town is um coming up in 15 years I know Sun's far away but it's kind of like right around the corner at my mature age it goes by real fast asked so I just want to say that uh there's a great book out there old Yarmouth it says the town of Yarmouth included within its limits in 1794 all that is now comprised in the two towns of Yarmouth and Dennis is the founding of the old town so described that it was proposed to celebrate in hence called in this Memorial old yarma so sometimes people say well why is it old Yarmouth well we our two communities split up in 1794 we became old Yarmouth because Dennis was just at its birth and our official birthday is September 3rd and in 2039 we'll be celebrating 400 years thank you very much thank you Tom uh Peter you had something yeah very very quick announcement um uh tomorrow at uh at Buck Island Road the fire station uh there's a there's a dedication of 40 years of service for John Sawyer who's retiring so if if anyone would like like to attend there'll be some light refreshments and it runs from 9:00 a.m. till noon um in terms terms of the of the candidates night that was always run by the Yarmouth Area Chamber of Commerce so if Mary is listening maybe she should get together because that's that's it was a very very good event thanks Peter anybody else public comment okay uh we're two minutes early uh but that does bring us to the hearing from change of manager for RJ Resorts Riviera Beach Resort uh DBA Riviera Beach Resort um 327 Cal Drive South Yarmouth sir are you ready at this you can sit right here at the table if you like uh before you begin Bob is this this isn't technically a public hearing right this is that's correct it's filed with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission um so it's not our standard public hearing but it does require a public meeting okay okay sir if you could introduce yourself sure my name is Jeff streer I'm the um one of the assistant general managers for Red Jacket Resorts um for the past six years I've been over at Red Jacket Beach Resort which is at one cell Shore Drive um this season I'm going to be moving down to Blue Water Resort and Riviera Resort um so I'll be taking over hopefully the um liquor license the um previous holder of the license stayed within our company but moved up to Maine and is now working for the Kenny bunk Port collection a different area of our company so do I understand that you're going to be managing the two properties correct yep Rivier and blue water are right next to each other and both run through one front desk really um but it is two separate buildings okay um let's go to the board Peter have you got any questions at all um no questions orus no questions mark no question the only question I had was when I was looking at the paperwork it appeared like your TIPS certification was over at the end of this month it was yeah I have renewed it and this is I've mailed it into Pam with the town but I have a hard copy for you if you'd like okay very good uh do we need a motion on that approve motion to approve for both individual ones for the Riviera Beach and RJ Blue Water Resort you need two separate motions you can make them in the same motion but it needs to um be discreet to mention each um establishment both the blue water and the Riviera correct um Mr Vice chairman I so move to um approve the change of manager for both the new water and riera Resorts second second okay all those in favor I I any opposed passes unanimously thank you so much sir thank you with would you like me to approach with this hard copy for you just leave it over here for the town manager okay we're moving a little bit uh quickly here but um are we ready for the Wastewater interim loan note discussion good evening Hi how are you good how are you Jennifer Mullen Director of Finance so I'm here to um respectfully request your motion and vote on the um interim loan note for the Wastewater project and I put a memo in your packet if you able to review um and I'll just go over that real quick um that what you need to sign is in your red folder Mary Alice um put that together for us so as you know the town recently approved um contracts two and three out of the six contra TRS for phase one of the Wastewater comprehensive plan um and we've mobilized we had the um groundbreaking last week and so now we're ready to sign and um execute the interim loan notes and so I'll just go over that real um quick we will be borrowing through the Clean Water trust they voted 0% financing at their March 6th meeting and the way that this will work is that we will um our engineer will will prepare the invoices and their certificates for payment sign off on them DPW director will sign off on them Mr rittenau will um they'll go through me I'll send them over to d d will review and send them to the trust and then the trust will wire us the money for the payment of the invoices and so that's how the short-term interim loan will work that's the cash flow um there's two interim loan notes one for the 38 million that's for construction for um contracts 2 and three and the other one is about 3.6 million and that's for the construction services um so I'm here to answer any questions you may have or anything like that thank you focus have you got any questions at this point no questions thank you Mark I'm fine thank you Peter I'm I'm glad we're moving forward and signing contracts and getting the thing moving thank you all right and I'm fine as well um can I get a motion to approve contracts two and three so approved second so moved a second very good all in favor I any opposed passes unanimously Thanks Jen and I just want to mention that um I will be coming before you in the next few weeks for another um borrowing it will be a bond anticipation note um and that will be for water and golf um as well but I just wanted to give you all the heads up thankk you and also for your minutes what what I i' I'd like to do is and you may have done this already sorry I was just talking to Mike on the um phone if you can look in in in your packet on page two is the vote of the board of Selectmen so you should make a motion um to approve the vote of the board of Selectmen as presented um in the packet it's quite lengthy so we can just do it by uh referring to the document yes okay are we talking about making an approval related to the financing yes right what we're approving is the interim it's the interim loan closing document so the um these are ultimately going to be z% loans and what what this does is it just has the interim financing before you get the the final loan and this enables now that we've started the construction the payments all work through the Clean Water trust so we we get uh the invoice in for work done to date then that's submitted to the state and and they approve it and they make the actual payments to the contractor based on this but it um we have to do the the that full boat vote okay I I'll I'll make I'll make a motion I'll do them yeah if we can let step do them separately um I vote that we approve the um interim Loan in the amount of 38 million U 169.254 you include that Pete yes okay including that language have a second on that second I'll appro approve i i i i opposed passes unanimously second one Pete second motion is is a note number two in the amount of um 3,610 054 town of Yarmouth interim loan note um and Bob what was the rest of the language presuming to the bond Council vote of the vo Selectmen is presented by Bound councel in the um loone closing documents yes you have a second second all in favor I opposed passes unanimously U Mr Vice chair just so you know that Michael Stone has joined us Mr chairman how you feeling can we get him raised up into the meeting please Mike can you hear us you're muted so you have to unmute okay there you go buddy thank you how you feeling okay all right you feeling up to taking over the meeting I'll keep going I'll keep going all right I don't want to interrupt we're moving quicker without you we're we're running early but uh is the library building Jen do you need anything else um I just want to mention that if I apologize if I wasn't clear but the vote of the board that's in your packet that will be incorporated into your minutes so the general vote works but when you approve your minutes you will have that lengthy vote in there that's like two pages long with a lot of Legal Information before you go Jennifer sure I just want to say that I am very happy with how things have been progressing with you since you've come on board uh you really hit the ground running and um been very impressed by the work that you've been doing so thank you very much thank you very much I appreciate that yeah we all have thank you Jen thank you thanks Jen um do we have the library um group ready to present is it too early we have Judah Judah hammer and Stephanie Chase they are they already on Zoom they're on zoom and Jane's not here yet Jane was on her way okay um let's see what else we can do we can go right to committee business yeah let's do that so um Dorcas we're going to go to um board and committee actions you want to the um we just get to that spot here it's a little more challenging that the um stuff on PDF not quite the same anymore okay um move that we uh accept with our thanks the resignation uh from the uh disability commission by um Donna Arnold yep can I have a second second okay all in favor I you might have to do roll call since M oh that's right thank you um Mike hi Mark hi Dorcas hi Peter hi I and I vote I unanimous okay that so accepting uh resignation with appreciation and then we have uh Joseph Sullivan right accepting I move that we accept um a resignation with appreciation for Joseph civan who has served on the Yarmouth Board of assessors so moved second okay Mike hi Mark hi Dorcas hi Peter I and I vote I unanimous brings us to appointments okay um move that we accept um the appointment of um Michael uh Dunbar as an alternate to the waterways and shellfish advisory committee uh this will be for a one-year term to run through May of 2025 I is there a second on that oh second I I I made the motion oh you made the motion so second very good Mike I Mark I Dorcas I Peter I and I vote I unanimous okay um let's go to consent agenda what you got first I'll move the consent agenda let's have Mike you're a little bit difficult to hear he's moving the consent agenda I'll move the consent agenda I'll second that okay moved and seconded um Peter um I Dorcas I Mark I Mike I and I vote I unanimous all right um still waiting for Jane um count administrator updates yeah if you don't get some stuff for us po yes I I did have a a couple of items I I wanted to to mention to the board um first of all I thought there was a very nice groundbreaking ceremony for the the Wastewater it was great to see long last that project kicked off and um all of the visitors I thought that um came to town were you know shared the enthusiasm of the select board and I just heard a lot of great comments so um very nice event glad to to see things are moving forward there and um on the project generally um we had another meeting today we are still meeting every two weeks with the mass D um moving towards the the groundwater discharge permit and I think we've made a striking amount of progress uh to this point there are still um a couple of informational items that were filling for the the D but they indicated today that um now they haven't issued anything but they're undergoing um an internal draft process um on a permit for the town that will enable us to move forward with the next phases of that and and just having them work on drafting the permit um is a huge milestone um for us as you recall when we we started these meetings we had a a draft denial letter um and and we were working off that so now we're no longer working off a draft an letter that um our our team has pulled together I I think a tremendous amount of information and also last week we had um the meeting a hearing in front of the Conservation Commission that we have involved as our partners and and the whole issue is to develop a program that monitors any potential future impacts to Wetlands as a result of the groundwater um discharge at that location so um I I think we're going to be on time for the deadline that we pick for this spring um to to go out to bid for the plant and so we made a lot of progress I feel real good about that um I want to um mention to the board that um our Municipal vulnerability program for Coastal resiliency that we embarked on um last year um you know we had a very successful process in updating the town's Municipal vulnerability plan for um all of the threats from Coastal um erosion sea level rise and what that did for us is established a whole series of priorities throughout the community that evaluated all of our public infrastructure and and set up priorities so now we have become eligible for the municipal vulnerability Grant programs that we haven't always been eligible and um I I met with our team today which I I really have to say we have a great team you know with our DPW and the engineering and DNR and conservation and how everyone you know pulls together and works on these projects and um we're looking at a potential uh project to study the um low-lying roads in our community that are subject to coastal flooding and um this really hit hard this past January when um you know the entire almost Englewood area uh was under some serious flooding and and we have long-standing problems in the entire tier of our community south of Route 28 with coastal flooding and so um you know we hope to um engage with the uh Commonwealth of Massachusetts to have them fund our additional studies to examine all of the coastal structures what uh potential options that we have and to move forward um with some programs to to help with the coastal resiliency and you know these are programs that in the past we would um just simply defer year after year after year but but now that we have the the planning in place and all of the vulnerability programs that that were eligible to to seek some funds through the state agency so it's it's nice to see that moving forward can I I have a comment absolutely yeah Mr chairman thank you um I I want to just touch on this topic of low-lying Roads first of all I hate the name low-lying roads because it sounds like there's something wrong with the road but the phenomenon is flooding and as we deal with sea level rise we're going to see more and more flooding um what I'm concerned about in this initiative is to making sure that we're we take a broad look at the flooding problem because it isn't there's some areas that may that do experience flooding and have had some issues but in many cases they've been neglected for many years and I'm speaking specifically to the captain's Village area so my hope and my request is that as we explore flooding that we take a broad coastal flooding in our road on our roads and on our road areas that we take a very broad perspective in terms of the flooding issue it may not necessarily be just sea level rise it may be bad planning and design in areas where there're sensitive watersheds or Wetlands or ecosystems so I'm very nervous about a very narrow uh definition we want to take a very broad look at coastal flooding or flooding in all of our road systems so and I think uh I specifically would like to make sure that Captain's Village doesn't get sort of Left Behind in this whole discussion I think it's important that we find ways to address these issues and I've seen some of the recommendations in some of the areas and there's some fairly ambitious mitigation measures being proposed in some of these areas uh where we have flooding so um and that's nice to see and what's also nice to see is the speculation at least that we might be eligible for some grant funding to help underwrite the cost of some of these improvements because if we take them on ourselves they're quite expensive and it's a fairly significant undertaking so it's great to see the Commonwealth putting money into this I just don't want to see the um the uh the C Captain's Village and some of the other areas where we've had flooding it's been on the record for a while uh we just haven't been able to address it I'd like to make sure that we have a a broad look at this so those are my comments but I think it's great thank you it's um all I had for this evening okay very good Mike anything else on that issue okay good all right um I noticed that Jane Kane came in and I think we are in a position where we can begin the library discussion if you like thank you very much I talked to Mike about uh sharing the letting Judi share the screen St and Stephanie thank you hi everyone Mary you can sit up here good evening everyone hi Jane hello Jane you could you just introduce everyone sure I'm Jane Kane I'm the library director for the town of Yarmouth with me tonight is Mary Reen Johnson who is the acting chair of the library planning committee other members of the planning committee are here Mindy Harrington our children's librarian Youth Services librarian and Chris Kaufman who's our Technical Services it librarian and visiting on Zoom our Consultants Judah HR and Stephany Chase of constructive disruption I'm just going to turn it over to those folks and um the staff will have something to say a little bit later okay thank you Jane um which one would like to begin the discussion um so I'd be happy to start I would love to share my screen if I'm able to she's gonna have Pete can you just the one with the PowerPoint can you just ask them if you can share the screen back there no they're not GNA be able to share the screen oh okay because the only place you'd see it is here so if you could manipulate the uh the you know I'm assuming it's the right arrow yes so Stephanie we have the slides up on the big screen in the room and if you could indicate uh when to change to the next slide James happy too happy too um so hopefully um I know we sent um the the updated one with some notes from um Bill and Bob um that we wanted to include so hopefully we're working off the same one but the content is really the same um so we're really uh thrilled to be here tonight to be able to present to you all um the findings of the study that we did um as part of the the libraries assessment needs assessment and Library building program we're going to get into a little bit more detail uh about our findings uh but first what I would love to do is to have Judah introduce himself actually why don't I introduce myself and then I'll hand it back over to you to introduce yourself um so um I'm Stephanie Chase I'm the founding principal of constructive disruption and I think uh hilariously you'll find between Judah and I we have over 50 years of experience in public libraries um both of us have worked extensively in New England and have served as Library directors and we are bringing that experience really to this work we do we really focus on a lot of strategic planning a lot of strategy with libraries and a lot of assessment work like the work that we did here for Yarmouth um I uh currently live on the west coast uh where I'm also the executive director for the resource sharing Cooperative that covers all of Eastern Oregon as someone who grew up in New Hampshire um it's hilarious to me that's 58,000 square miles uh Three Counties the size of the State of New Hampshire in that um and I also serve on the American Library association's board of directors which is the fiduciary and governing body for the world's oldest and largest uh Library trade Association so Judah I'll hand it back over to you now thanks so much it's great to uh meet everyone here and to be here for this opportunity to share our findings certainly a a quick highlight for very full report my name is Judah HR I'm a lead consultant for constructive disruption as Stephanie touched on I've had a long career in libraries started out as a library page in a custodian and 31 years uh kind of cap stoned my period in public libraries uh after considerable time in library directorships and management um I'm familiar with the Kate because Province Talent is home for me and really understand the Dynamics as does Stephanie of uh towns that really swell seasonally and yet at the same time have a significant year round population that this calls for a particular kind of balance not only for Library services but really for townwide services you know among them your sewer project right and so I say this as my neighborhood is getting sewage right now and so I'm really pleased to be here and without further Ado um we we'll launch right in and we are going to um walk through highlights together of our findings you I think in your packet have a note about this report and and a link to a pretty significant report that really does a deep dive of the data analysis both quantitative and qualitative of really representing a lot of time we've spent uh in in The Villages and the town to engage with the public so if we move to the next slide um it should say why now the mblc process perfect um so the mblc the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners that's the state's Statewide Library agency has opened their construction grant program which is really an opportunity for Yarmouth among other libraries um to apply for funds to really improve Library services in a way that doesn't rely entirely on local funds and on Municipal bonding the mblc as part of this process has tiers for matching local dollars put up for a project and that is typically between 40 to 60% of the total cost so As you move through the phases when you get to the end if we start at the end there with phase three where you've moved successfully through the construction Grant process um you have done the work to uh design and and then uh propos to build a new facility a significant part of the final cost of that facility would be covered through the granting process so it's really a huge huge opportunity and you can see by that note in Orange with the arrow where we are right now is in Phase One of how nblc Des describes this process so we have worked with you all with the town and with the library and with The Advocates here um to really complete phase one and that covers the bulk of the Grant application that's necessary and as Judah mentioned the report is uh pretty long it's linked from the pocket and it'll be available on the library's web page tomorrow so we'll really be touching on the high points here so there in Phase One we're really doing bringing together all of that research uh that you've done in the past the engagement and research we did at this this point um to the point where we really uh the community needs to make a decision about whether it would like to proceed with phase two and that's what's really uh on the agenda for the town meeting which I know um that warrant is the the bulk of the rest of this meeting so the will for the library and the community to proceed is really a prequisite for moving to phase two you are unable to submit your Grant application without that acknowledgement that the community really supports the project and for the NLC that means the town commits to appropriating $150,000 for the design phase which is then matched by the NLC with an additional $75,000 so again that's phase two as part of our engagements with the public here in phase one it's very clear that there is consensus that something should be done to move the libraries forward there's a lot of love and support for the libraries a lot of acknowledgement of its value and its importance but that also that people would really like to see the facilities improved in in order to strengthen or expand even current services and to nurture new ones before we move ahead with the presentation we really want to acknowledge uh that for many really the questions so the capital T capital h capital e question um in this discussion is where a new or a newly renovated library in Yarmouth would be located and what we'd really like to emphasize is that this is really a question for phase two so in the scope of this process we don't need to have deed where that is yet we need to decide what the community needs and what that could look like so to have that conversation about placement the town really needs to finish phase one and then in phase two having that conversation will require an architect to apply what we learned from the assessment to really plan and design a new space so there's still considerable decision- making to be done after this presentation and after any potential appropriation at town meeting and while there have been many of those conversations during phase one there's obviously the opportunity for many more conversations to be had so if we move to the next slide just talk a little bit about why it's important now to change so this is a a a a timing question really and so over the course of almost 50 years so that's a joke as long as you and I together have been in libraries Judah five uh different professional studies on yarm toown libraries have reported that the existing facilities are grossly lacking in usable space um they lack Modern Building Systems uh they do not have they're not fully Ada accessible and they lack public meeting room or program space to really meet the expressed needs and the desires of the community so while we may have not been able to move forward from these past studies or the point when these past studies were done it's clear that Community leadership and stakeholders made the effort because the facilities are really the thing that need to change so the facilities are really what's constraining the capacity of the library to serve the community as well as it can or as well as it should so this is really the most compelling reason to consider why to change why to change now in Yarmouth when it comes to the libraries not because the libraries are behind peers across the state although yes uh the research and we'll touch on that shows this but that because for Yarmouth the y Library facilities themselves do not come close to supporting and sustain the kinds of activities the community wants and needs so it's really that signal that Community needs those Community aspirations that really show us that it's time for change so I'm going to hand it uh oh one more thing so next slide uh so we talk about the parts uh we were really working on to to show you today there are two parts in that significant report to submit the grant to the NLC the town needed to have completed a community needs assessment and a Library building PL so those are the two significant parts of our report and again we've Pro uh provided them to Yarmouth in a way that they can be submitted directly as part of the grant so the needs assessment is about studying the people in town it's about learning about your lives seeing how the library intersects those lives and how it could intersect the lives um but may not your lives but may not because there are some conditions that prevent that so again that's really the the bulk of the report and what we'll be focusing on today the library building plan which is the second part of the report then takes what we know about the existing buildings and how the community uses or would like to use Library Services library programs and Collections and packages this information into a recommendation for components of an updated facility whether that's a brand new building or a major renovation of an existing building as part of our assessment work we benchmarked the town libraries against others across the state since the applicant for the grit is Statewide not just limited to the cap that benchmarking really gives us the sense of how the library really compares to towns that are comparable in population size and other demographic factors for example you could double the square footage of the libraries in Yarmouth and that alone might seem astonishing right to us locally in town but that doubling of size would simply put Yarmouth on a more equal footing with similarly sized towns across Massachusetts so we're hoping as part of the next section here we can really make that benchmarking which can really seem abstract and seem removed really help bring that to the life for you about what it might look like as we start to approach these benchmarks and potentially take advantage of this opportunity so as you switch slides I'll hand it over to chetah thanks Stephanie hi everyone again so um you'll see on this page is live work Play and Learn and these are themes of the Yarmouth Vision plan that I I suspect are amiliar to just about everyone in this room today and we're using the vision plan as a framework for highlighting our findings because modernization of a library is a case study and how that project alone could move the town ahead on each of the four components of this Vision plan and so for the benefit of anyone in the audience who's unfamiliar just quickly the vision plan is the town adopted Town supportive framework of where armouth should be headed as a community so it really Builds on the strengths of the community and says yeah but we also want to want want to expand and get stronger and go in New Directions and it aspires to make Yarmouth the best place a great place to live work Play and Learn and so I hope you see and I'll keep tying back to this in this um part of our presentation that strengthening the library facilities would really position the town to move ahead in each of these Lanes so to speak so if you could move that slide ahead someone that would be awesome thank you so what I'll do in each of these um segments is kind of just toggle back to the vision plan so that we have that as a basis for considering some of our findings so the vision plan describes Yarmouth as being a great place to live because it has High Caliber Municipal facilities and Yarmouth Town libraries are uniquely positioned as local free and open public spaces that support ideas expressed in the plan in regards to this and a few of them are welcome vulnerable community members offer robust services and Facilities to older residents and active seniors and also nurture a strong sense of community that Fosters belonging and inclusivity so when we surveyed the public and talked to them in interviews and focus groups and it was patently clear that people really appreciate the role the library already takes and they envision the library taking a more prominent role given additional supports and capacity and so there are a series I'll I'll kind of helicopter over these for everyone of programmatic interests for adults children and teens so let's hear just take a look at the ones for the adults few highlights 2third of the community see the library as a place for wellness activities about onethird are interested in programs and languages other than English and this statistic gets higher there's more of the population interested in multilingual programming Spanish for Portuguese particularly um the younger the respondents and about two out of three people who participated in the survey really see the library as a place where they can engage in some kind of activity that's indoors primarily and really have a social experience and and as we've mentioned and we'll probably mention many times the library just doesn't have enough seating or program space to really pursue offering these kinds of programs and services for adults if you could move to the next slide that would be great thanks and then when we look ahead for children which are you have some notes in the next slide there is overwhelming community support for programming for children in in the community it's it's often three quarters or higher of the community 70% 73% 80% see the library as such a great place for kids to have Community programs many people are interested in programs for the whole family which currently take place outside when they can because that's all you've got um and certainly interested in Hands-On learning and arts and crafts activities literacy based activities and activities that are stem based and for so folks who aren't wired into that stem is the acronym for science technology engineering and math and and particularly for children who are interested in advancing their skills in this area yeah if you could forward to the to the next slide um when you take a look at people's feedback in the community about programming for teens it's it's really very similar to the feedback for children what you see on the slide are different ways that libraries uh support and approach engaging teens in community-based programming through activities meeting groups and so forth and when we look at the Children's spaces in South and West and the Teen space in South South they really just do not support this range of activities there's really we when we look at at South there's there's just seating for two or three individuals in the children's space from the public and the Teen space in South that that really is a built out space for teens can hold two or three kids um and barely hold kids in the collection or or young people in the collection so let's take a look um and and before I cap this I I think just to to remember the upshot really here is that people are interested in the library as a destination for this range of activities and the library simply as a Facility South and West together or separately there's just not the capacity to host these things so let's let's move forward and just take a a look at work as as another vertical so to speak of the vision plan the vision plan relates an aspiration for Yarmouth to be a great place to work including a thriving year round economy with a variety of quality employment opportunities and business and Yarmouth toown libraries can support progress on this front with modernized facilities that support work remote work capability and Community collaboration and provide access to a robust technological infrastructure designed for today's Technologies and and those are that are coming down the road and the community absolutely sees this as a role for the library and so there couple of statistics on the slide about interest in people who are kind of in their Prime career years mid early and mid-career really looking at the library as a place for collaboration for having some individual you know temporary office space and three out of five people say they're likely or very likely to use Library spaces for remote working and learning if those spaces were fitted up for that that opportunity and and as we know there it's just not where it's at right now if you could move to to the next slide that would be great um oh good thanks there's a second work slide with green I I can keep going I hold this up um that's the next one and so um and so um working spaces can also just have a more casual design um I like to sit at a desk with a with a high back chair that's not everyone um there's lots of people in the world who want different options and and work differently in different spaces and so intersecting some of this remote work and remote learning and studying at the library capability is that people want these different kinds of spaces but they absolutely recognize that there needs to be the infrastructure literally the electricity to charge a device a a seat that maybe is just not a seat at a table and that they're not running extension cors that they bored from the circulation staff or having those little gray devices because West doesn't have three prom Outlets so any computer or charging device um really won't charge in so these are the the really everyday challenges if you want a visual of what people experience when they're trying to use the library for work now so we talk about a modern Public Library that's aspirational it's really also bringing the library up to speed to Modern electrical infrastructure and spaces for working and learning that use technology that rely on electricity and internet connectivity we could move to the next slide that says play thanks we're there great um so we just have a a brief um pause on Play The Vision plan refers to the aspiration for yarm to be a great place to play with community members having access to Opportunities through Civic and Social Clubs volunteerism community events I'm familiar with the town as is Stephanie we see that lots of this does happen in the community already and the library is a place where this already does happen through a range of activities for different segments of the community a modernized library that had more space to host events and programs and activities which strengthen this role by creating capacity to host and partner with Civic and Social Clubs to expand scale and scope of community events that one room is pretty limiting and to serve as an indoor option for recreation and entertainment so we we all know there's there's a great landscape on the cape and Yarmouth of course is is a model for that and has many different options and there's an opportunity for the library really to complement this with some indoor play distinct from sports-based and fitness-based opportunities that people have elsewhere and again there just is not the the space there's not the seating there's not the program space for the library really to take services in this next Direction in alignment with what people see for the community and people certainly see for the library a couple of examples here they're looking for at the library as a way to access a technology-rich lab space or just a place to bring kids to socialize and spend time with others we could go to the next Slide the learn slide that' be awesome thanks so the vision plan explicitly identifies the library as having a role in making Yarmouth a great place to learn so we've just gone over um live work and play and I've really pulled out where I see this opportunity of intersection that makes your arm with the case study and when we come to learn absolutely laid out in the vision plan is people see a role for the library So the plan expresses a value for Yarmouth it's committed to educational excellence and lifelong learning and I'm going to circle back we all I suspect in this room value public education libraries are the only free and open destination for learning in a town that serves everyone of all ages so the library's role in the town's vision for lifelong learning is preeminent the vision plan states that for Yarmouth to be a great place to learn the library has modernized facilities that offer a variety of activities and programs for all ages that's in the vision plan and so the library is doing I I say a bang up job of that already but there's certainly constraints because of the facilities and these constraints if overcome could position the library even more strongly now what I want to do is step away I've talked a lot about programs and activities and I'm going to shift my focus a little bit here to collections and it's something many of us think of as kind of a Cornerstone a legacy service of libraries lending content and lending physical materials and providing access to digital materials because of the size of the buildings the libraries in Yarmouth really can only offer so much content part of that structural constraints and Engineering wise what the Li liaries can hold and part of that's literally just the square footage of the libraries and um you have some ways to measure that up here compared to the rest of the state by any method of measurements Yarmouth Town libraries offer less than half the amount of content to its public compared to others in the state peers and some libraries that are a little bit bigger in in bigger communities population wise and places that are in in the half of the state that ser communities that are in sizewise smaller than yth so this is where absolutely it gives us a perspective um and and we thinking about that impact on the community let's look at the next slide we'll talk about this this a little bit at the same time as this Dynamic there's really a strong appetite in the community for access to really strong robust collections we know this because of the heavy use of what is offered at the library and there's a little bit of drilling down on this chart here and that's what these statistics speak to the entire collection is very well used things aren't just kind of sitting waiting to be touched and used they're moving out of the building they're coming at they're moving again and so at the same time that we see this movement overall The Lending is lower than you would expect for Yarmouth compared to other libraries serving communities around around 25,000 people year round and why it's because the physical collection is small and so this brings us back to this this challenge faced by the libraries there there's just not enough space for the collections in the facilities if we could advance to the next slide that would be great thank you and so to give some texture to this um let's look at what this means there's a there's a slide that says learn content is key to learning um there's a lack of shelving particularly shelving that can be adjusted so the collection is constantly being shifted around and content has to get moved because it's still being used but there's just not space for it and new materials coming in because the public wants new things they've used what's there already there's a limited collection spread over two locations both with these shelving issues and it's even less accessible since you may not have the same materials at both locations you don't actually when we look at the collections so that leaves a member of the public kind of wondering where do I go for what I'm not really sure and I might have to toggle back and forth even if I have my favorite Village Library and community members need access to more content it's just that the buildings don't show that so if we could um leave this slide up because I'm here now thank you so much thanks I think we added a slide that's the slide we add I was talking through so thank you um so when we drill down on what the community feels about learning experience Es at the library it's really clear that their perspective reinforces the need for a modern Public Library to support Community member goals and aspirations so content is one part of the equation and certainly Educational Opportunity is another part and there's um we asked a series of questions about all sorts of different learning opportunities that the public is interested in and and we spoke to us about and so just a few are highlighted here you can certainly look at the report for more two out of three respondents who are early in midcareer really are interested in the library being a place where they can build job skills half or a little over half the respondents 57% are interested in technology related learning at the library um 40% are of folks are interested in in what something the library offers already and and it's constrained to do in part because there's no space for itable which is really get some oneon-one tech support is really customized instruction to help somebody kind of you know Bridge a gap in in their learning so they can get towards that next goal or or objective of what they want to do and then um when we look at English language learning I I think many of us who who live and work on the cape are aware that we have multilingual communities about one in six respondents are interested in basic English language learning and and when we drill down at younger Generations that really UPS to about one out of three it's 36% of people want English language learning basic and Beyond there's definitely a community interest um and need for that type of learning so if we could um forward the slides to a library staff experiences I know that um Stephanie you can hand it off we have a couple people in the room who can really kind of duve tail with what we're telling you about from kind of this analytic very study head down way that we pull this data out and um we have folks here in the room right along with Jane who are living this every day and seeing what it looks like for the community now Jane introduced them when uh she began the presentation but we have Youth Services librarian Mindy Harrington and Technical Services librarian Chris Kaufman we've asked them to just very briefly give you a picture of what it looks like uh to really be functioning in the spaces so we've highlighted some real opportunities of where the physical shelf space really Limits The Collection the physical space really limits the ability to come together uh for events to learn together or to to be uh visit the library multi-generationally so we asked ask Mindy and Chris to share some brief comments about again what that's like in real time okay I'm a start I'm Mindy Harrington I'm the youth services librarian and I just want to start with it was my pleasure to input the data of the paper surveys for the LPC the LPC um because it really showed the um community's connection to the the library and the affection they have for the library and staff um our commitment to Excellence remains steadfast despite the obstacles we Face even when those challenges may not be apparent to the public Resolute in our mission to provide excellent exceptional service the implementation of a new library would undoubtedly Elevate our efforts Yarmouth toown Library attempts to provide a diverse array of educational cultural and recreational programs catering to all ages despite the high demand for the space the space constraints are a limiting factor so West shouth library has a stunning front yard it we use it throughout the summer but it has seasonal restrictions it's weather dependent um there's noise challenges and safety um issues with the proximity to 28 um it has deterred some presenters from their willingness to host there our inside Space when we do host programs in there or have to move move in because a weather are small and it interferes with others enjoyment of the library um the storage is confined to the basement of West Yarmouth library and is arduous to carry things up those steep staircases in the summer we host family fund days um where we do field games outside it can take up to 11 trips to get everything outside for those days and there's two of us carrying that up and in addition this getting the supplies from South Yarmouth to West Yarmouth it takes us in the summer my SUV a pickup truck and us both driving at the same time to get everything over there I mean if we forget something it's over um at South Yarmouth Library we have a beautiful gazebo which is ideal for story time in good weather um the proximity to the parking lot has once again been a safety issue um little kids are really fast um our single meeting room is in very high demand um it makes necessitating additional program in other per um in other public areas which once again disturbs others use of the library um The Limited waiting space outside our one meeting room is also a problem it poses safety risk with larger groups waiting on the Steep staircase for their program to start and the other to leave um we have the operational challenges of nonfunctioning sinks in the basement requiring all the program materials to be brought home for cleaning adults um that attend our programs have to use baby wipes to wash their hands um it was obvious to me we weren't meeting the community's needs when um due to a lack of meeting space a family was forced to attend a court-mandated zoom meeting behind the dumpster in the rain um the library should aim to offer more spaces for programming to run concurrently establish meeting rooms and tutoring areas facilitate workpace for remote workers and students provide meeting spaces for wellness checks and supervise visits and a separate teen space creating creating separate inviting spaces within the library will ensure that our patrons feel valued and integral to the Library community and I'm going to turn it over to Chris sorry about that hi can you hear me hi my name is Chris Kaufman as Jane said I am the head of Technical Services and it librarian for the Yarmouth Town libraries uh my responsibilities include the purchasing of and access to all of our collections as well as all of the technology used by patrons and staff um I'm also responsible for all of our data collection for our annual reports to the Massachusetts Board of life Library Commissioners so if you have any questions about usage or Holdings uh please let me know a big and ever growing part of my job is also helping patrons learn how to use technology or troubleshoot their own technology I know you've heard about how the space constraint that the libraries affect our ability to maintain our Collections and how it limits our ability to do programming and that deserves to be talked about um because an inordinate amount of staff time is spent trying to work around these space constraints and we can't keep the kind of things that other libraries do and that our patrons would love to have I mean other libraries have power tools and kitchen gadgets and Lawn games we can't do anything like that um if it if it doesn't fit in like half a shoe box we can't keep it um I also want to highlight though how much our lack of space affects Patron privacy some of the things I and some other staff help patrons with involves very sensitive personal information we help people navigate all of the things that used to be done face to face or over the phone but now has to be done online this includes RMV transactions and all other social services medical and legal situations job applications online shopping booking flights hotels rental cars uh applying for new business licenses or paying quarterly sales taxes that's just to name a few things and those aren't even the most sensitive things we help people with I recently had to help a patron rescure their laptop after they fell for a scam email reporting to be from comcat they lost comcat sorry they lost $2,000 um they worried their accounts and computer files had all been compromised and they had been um while we make every effort to ensure as much privacy as possible all of these interactions in which personal experiences passwords email addresses sometimes credit card numbers and dates of birth have to happen pretty much out in the open because there's no space available in our libraries with doors that close in order to give Yarmouth residents the Privacy that they deserve to have when reaching out to us for help uh I know most people would think that this is a temporary problem uh that in a few years everyone's going to be used to the internet but this isn't going away uh technology is vastly outpacing most people's ability to understand it and with the increase in artificial intelligence in all aspects of customer service in both private and public sectors the need for this kind of help is only projected to continueing to increase for decades and the library is very quickly becoming one of the last places where people can have a face-to-face interaction and get help navig ating these aspects of Life uh there are also other services that other libraries and towns this size in Massachusetts offer that we can't hope to provide in yth because of lack of space uh passport services technology training spaces so we could offer classes instead of one-on-one sessions uh small business help centers a kiosk to pay town or water bills uh Town tax or water bills that's just a few examples um some towns smaller than ours even have uh 3D printing and again you might think why would we need that uh replacing small pieces increasingly means buying a big uh set of parts that you don't need it means replacing something instead of fixing it with a 3D printer you can replace the do hickey from your bathtub shower handle for pennies instead of spending $200 or more for a whole new fixture Set uh we love our libraries and we love our patrons and I know they love us and would hate for the buildings to go away or to or to change but part of the reason our patrons like them so much is because they're this Hidden Gem they know about you can drive right by the libraries and you have no idea they're there or how much we have to offer if you know to come in but public libraries like all other public services aren't meant to be well-kept secrets that you have to know to look for I've worked at other libraries on Cape Cod and the libraries are a tourist attraction they're a destination people plan into their itineraries and I used to field phone calls for people wanting Hotel recommendations because they were going to be traveling to attend a program we were hosting or because they planned their summer vacation around our summer programming in Yarmouth we just don't have the facilities to attract people like that the ones who know to come are almost always glad they did but they're not the revenue or Prestige generating PR presences that they could be and we might have a shot at changing that with the state's help um and we really hope that we at least get the opportunity to try thank you for your time I just want to thank Mindy and Chris for being so eloquent thank you so much for sharing what that is really like and I think so important to recognize both of you spoke about how much staff time is spent just overcoming the spaces that you have to work in so time that really could be spent again on things that you are already seeing uh requests for Jane do you have Jane were you gonna pop in I'm good okay so we have just one last slide and um so if we have can put that back up and I'll hand it uh to Judah to just do some sum up for us great hang on I'm looking this is where our slide decks were slightly different okay I think you could go for or go you could go forward one more if you like to thank you there we go thank you so just making sure we're all on the same page thanks everyone so I think um just to kind of recap what we've talked about this evening there's kind of these like really broad categories or lots of details about where the current buildings limit the town's ability to offer the kinds of services the community is asking for and they're really laid out here just kind of like a tip of the iceberg you know with one small meeting room and limited spaces elsewhere in the library there just isn't space to hold programs and events and we can drill down on all the nuances of that but there needs to be more space to support these kinds of efforts because that's what the community is looking for there's certainly not enough space for collections for books other media the community is using it's not enough space for what they're asking for now and really no room for growth and this really has an impact a lot of friction on community members who are looking for content from the library and then when we shift to technology and infrastructure the spaces and systems that support the current technology are really underst strain for what they're what they're doing already they're not really quite meeting as as Chris talked about for for privacy you you have some computers but really where they're placed limits what people can do um and the way they can be served and how they have to be served because that's not something the public or the staff can work around right now it's really it's there's kind of boxed in so to speak and then when we look at Building Systems they they are Antiquated I think the the kind of canonical example of that is the the electrical infrastructure in these buildings um and you you might argue also some of the literal building and girder structure that doesn't allow for more books to be added because the buildings cannot hold the weight and then when you look at these buildings they're not fully Ada accessible in ways that modern public spaces provide access that b benefits folks with various kinds of physical limitations and at the same time when we make buildings fully a ad accessible also these other benefits to the rest of the public anyone who has navigated public spaces with a stroller or just simple Keen you know where you're not you're not even wheelchair bound but you have some mobility issues these libraries are just not configured to provide support for this and so really the the granting process the next step with the mblc is structured to provide generous matching funding to towns who make the decision to move forward so that you can take these findings that we've talked about really hand these off to an architect as a partner to look and say what does this look like what do we do here with these existing facilities or a new space that's the next step of the conversation so I think the the building the warrant on town meeting is really about the community decision to take that next step to continue the conversation the conversation that we know because worked with you all for months is really kind of a a Hot Topic at different points about what what what building is going to get improved or where a new building will go or what that even looks like but really to say what do we need first based on what we all know about community and what does that mean for where that happens and to lead the conversation that way because it's very clear there are Community needs and there's Community interest and support for a next chapter for the library that involves different looking facilities and so I would like to thank everybody for your your time tonight Stephanie and I are happy to feel questions um from select board and um and and thank you so much okay thank you Judah and Stephanie and Jane um before I go to the board um is there anybody in the audience that has any questions or comments at this point that you'd like to share with us anybody on the screen it looks like there's a woman named Judy Warren we could raise Judy up please Judy can you hear us this is her husband Arthur Warren that's the problem with just a name no sorry um I'm not in charge of our technology at home chairwoman Judy Warren is um I do have uh a question and a comment um If U the consultant could be so kind uh the implication in uh the town warrant at least the advertising indicates that the state will provide uh a grant uh one grant for one building um when uh Judah you Pro provided a presentation uh to the public and to the pound Library trustees uh you indicated that the grant uh could be made for a bill building or buildings in other words multiple entities could be part of uh the grant money for uh either rehab construction you know adding to West gerou or adding to sou can you clarify that uh absolutely um may I speak do you mind if I answer that go right ahead sir thank you um yes so the the constraints of the nblc grant so so say for example you you go to the next step is that the application that ultimately gets delivered to the state for construction funds needs to be for a new building or the expansion renovation of one or the other existing facilities so I know in your myth we recognize that there's a village dynamic in town because the state recognizes The Villages as the town of yth the granting structure means that one building is getting renovated or a new building is being built there's not a capability to say okay we get just to use a round number $2 million and we'll put a million in South and a million in West that's not the way the granting process is structured if there's 2 million the decision has to be made to put that into a brand new facility or to choose one of the existing facilities or optional Le to say there's this other facility that we think could be rehabilitated and become a library what's required for that is a whole separate assessment of that potential facility so um I lived in R Vermont for ages so if my library said hey I think we're you know I live in a town with a thousand people we could take over the church and not be in town hall anymore because the church has moved to a bigger building we would have to then do a full assessment of the potential poal for that church building to be used for a library I hope that helps yes that does so if I hear you correctly and thank you for that very accurate um description we could take the West Yarmouth Public Library uh which has abundant land and a vacant uh fire station behind it and what appears to be a a building adjacent to the vacant fire station that could could perhap perhaps the land and building purchased the U and the building demolished and uh the grant could be for expanding that particular location in that Facility have I got that right yes yes without wait without me waiting into the the merits or or demerits of that and and just to add a tiny bit of nuance to that Grant funds may be used to purchase land for a building as well okay addtive provide some texture to that scenario um because some some places in other communities say hey we we need some funds because we see this this empty lot on Main Street and we think that that makes sense you know so they they also look for matching funds to help cover the cost for that okay and I and I'm sure the public is aware as as our the selectman that in barnable there are five six or seven libraries because of the village concept on on Cape Cod and the dentist a smaller town there are four or five so the fact that we have multiple libraries um we actually have three uh there are three major Villages South Yarmouth West Yarmouth and um over on the North side in yarmouthport it's now called the private library that wasn't used by the committee in any of its calculations it still is open to the public uh even though there are generous people uh supporting it um I wanted to make a comment I could um I'm not against any attempt to modernize or centralize a library I live at two Shore Road uh our children rode their bicycles to the West garmouth Library many of their friends walked there met there so a was a wonderful resource for many years I just want to remind the Selectmen and everyone at home and everyone in the audience uh that a Harold casting gay built the West Yarmouth library with his personal funds as a memorial uh for the death of his teenage daughter and I have evidence and very strong indications that the purpose of that library in West Yarmouth was a memorial and that that building will always be used I underline always as a library open to the public um and regardless of where you end up with this planning project uh as a resident as a taxpayer um I think it's very important that the select board take into consideration the generosity of Carl cting gay when the backer Mill was falling down and the town voted against to its rehab Harold casting gay stepped up uh and paid for the Reconstruction and Rehab of that building so I believe whatever you do if you want to centralize a library that's terrific uh put it in the middle of the town I'm not against that but I just want everyone to be aware of the purpose of the West yth Library was paid for by personal funds and I believe strongly that it is a memorial uh to this teenage daughter and it was something that was done based on a handshake without a lot of poopa and he did it for this town he's done many other things I just want to remind everybody on the library planning committee everyone in the audience and anyone listening at home uh that that building is one of the most beautiful picturesque buildings on Route 28 uh and it should stand as a library regardless of your Grant proposal and the direction you want to go in I'm thank you for your time appreciate your comments Mr Warren anybody else in the audience okay seeing nobody Mike do you have any questions or comments at this point I I had a um private meeting um with uh Judah was very interesting very informative and um you know from my involvement with libraries which goes back a few uh decades and then some it seems that based on this survey based on realities of of the day that people are looking for a lot more from public libraries than they used to when I grew up in Access libraries you got books and sometimes you studied there or something like that there was no technology like it is today people weren looking for activities um so I think in part the evolution of our societies is impacting on um even though we say y people want this y people want that it really goes beyond that it's the evolution of what a library means in today's Times um it never ceases to amaz me to see these little kids wherever they are libraries restaurants the way they can manipulate information and Technology it's it's for somebody you know with an outside perspective like me it's almost magical watching them so the um and when we talked about Vermont and similar Coastal type communities and some of expansions where you're bringing in not just local yarm people but people from really especially in Cape Cod all over the place it's a it's a destination now and you get a lot of people from New York New Jersey you name it um and they have different ideas as to what a library should mean what services there should be what kind of space there should be and they're you know even though they're not in the planning stages they are end users just like we are and uh so it's a fascinating subject I remember when I was a kid if you got punished which was not INF frequent thing in my case the one exception the one reprieve if your father said you can't go out for a month but you could go to the library but he knew how long it took but even even though you were you know getting restraints on um what you could do or couldn't do there was always that exception that's the truth and um we we didn't have all this technology we I was from a big family not much money we didn't have a television I think I was like 16 years old so we read a lot and um it was it was an important part of my youth and my upbringing I don't have Solutions and I'm only one voice but I'm um I'm glad we're having this dialogue I'm glad we're having this assessment I'm glad we're looking at what the opportunities are and trying to invite as many people to processes we here great thank you Mike Mark thanks Mr chairman um first of all I just want to make it very very clear to people that uh in Yarmouth we love our libraries we love all of our libraries uh we love our staff we know they work hard and uh at times under some very difficult conditions so we appreciate everything that you do um and I think it's important to get that out there I I want you to know we we we've heard these complaints for many many years and so there's there's not a lot of new stuff in in this report uh but I think we're we're setting the foundation I think for building consensus in terms of what the solution is and that's really what the next stage of this whole Enterprise is and figuring out okay where do we go from here and so that's what you're that's what you're looking for the money for I believe and that's where we have to go now I have to say I think the Consultants that you hired I'm very impressed with them um in my brief interactions with them I found them to be incredibly professional and very helpful and I think our biggest challenge here in Yarmouth is is having sustained Community engagement having more public dialogue more this is a process that really needs to have the community fully engaged for as long as we can get to the get to a consensus because that's what we're missing is a consensus Vision in terms of where to go folks feel so attached to their Village Library and so what we have to do is figure out a way where we can all come together on a shared Vision in terms of where we improve the libraries because we that's what we all want to do um so if if I had one recommendation it would be uh in the next phase um I think the Consultants that you've brought on I love the name constructive or creative destruction is that is that call them CD just CD no but I think what destru I think I think what we need is we need a sustained engagement by this firm uh I know typically in these I guess what worries me is is that the state has a cookie cutter model approach to how it goes about doing things right so you have this phase and then this phase and then this phase we may just be unique we may be we may need their services through an extended period of this process to help us in the in in crafting the solution phase so I think we need to take that in heart I don't think I don't think the next phase we need a lot of architecture we need help of an architect in a firm don't get me wrong but I still think we need the the creativity of a firm like this to assist us in going through that process because a lot of this involves dialogue and conversation and helping people understand the challenges that our library system is facing in the opportunities going forward so there are many things in the report um that uh I I found very very interesting um I was amazed at the decline in our population the population projections are astounding MH I didn't realize that in the age group the age category 55 to 59 going to projected a 24% decline in that population 60 to 6 get older they're all that's what's happening is is that the older population so here's the challenge the growth in our population the grow in our population is literally in the 75 to 8590 population next 30 Years right so um it's going to be a very interesting Library experience for all us old folks that are going to be we're very helpful yeah so I can understand maybe the the value for a drive-thru right right is that where that's coming from safe J yeah no that's good and I also was impressed possibility no and I also was impressed with the the information on the languages the different languages and the various populations that are here they're not your what you would for for someone like me it's not what I would normally here um I think we've got a Portuguese population that is of some size which I think is very interesting information so I think some of the work that did come out that that is that there is I mean there is some new stuff in here that I think is very helpful for us to better understand our community now one of my one of my questions and I hate to sound like I'm Meandering here but I apologize to you all but I have I do have a few questions that get into sort of the the approach that's been taken and and that is for example I know a survey was done I heard from a lot of folks that took the survey but at the end of the day how many result how many surveys did we get turned in pull that number up and between 650 and 700 I want to say 675 or something do we consider that a fairly healthy number in terms of gauging where the community is is that a Judah says that it is yes yes absolutely and we also did it very randomly so that we had a good balance of the different age groups and things like that and that was particularly helpful now during this process were there any any public meetings or any there were oh that's great you know something to keep in mind is is that the planning board when working on its Adu proposal for the town did over 27 meetings now I know that sounds exhausting and um but we were able to actually come up with a consensus in a decision at a town meeting where it was very spirited conversation on all all sides of the topic but at the end the day I think there's no one that would say we didn't have enough discussion on the adus so I I my recommendation here is is while while this may not fit the cookie cutter model that the mass Library Commissioners have I do think in Yarmouth the more public meetings and the more public discussion the better um now I'm glad I had some discussion and a chance to review the report ahead of time because tonight I felt the I found the presentation very difficult to follow because so much of it was on zoom and I think it would have been 100% better if we could have I mean you've got a great Consulting team I would have loved it if we could have had them here in person because I think it would have added a lot uh to to the discussion tonight so my hope is that in the future there will be opportunities for more public meetings and more public discussions and our Consultants um I mean if it costs a little bit more money you know let's talk about it let's figure out a way to provide that um but I don't think this the public engagement and the public participation really can't be short changed I would recommend it it should be on the we should go over rather than under so the more public meetings the better the more we can get your Consultants here I think they need to be sustained in this process till we get to a point where we have a consensus so I'd keep that in mind um because I have found the shortcomings in past efforts have been we do the needs assessment and then we go quickly to an architect and then all of a sudden we're focused on buildings and having these and and and somehow we've we've fallen short in the past and I think what we need to do is is work with an architect to have more dialogue and shape a consensus ficient in terms of a project so those are just some thoughts now my other question shift to the Grant application itself when is the this Grant application we have a town meeting coming up are you going to have any other public meetings at all before town meeting is there going to be an opportunity for Yarmouth residents to come in someplace and and maybe ask more questions about the project in case they they need to because we didn't really have too many folks from the public but I'm just curious if there is something coming up that we can at least we can mention a date or at least plug a date my art open house you want to talk about it yeah keep pull up the date I didn't bring my planner with me um I don't have just on your phone if you can pull up a calendar I can tell you exactly what date um so I reached out to the elementary schools Emy small and station a and we had the children draw the visions of their libraries so right now in our Leonard room I have approximately 150 pieces of art hanging and it's a beautiful colorful thing the children are spoken we want rainbows Kitty um tree houses a food court and um don't forget the air conditioning in the mini fridge um and rainbows and robots um so we have that out and to help um bring more attention we have that and we're doing an art show on the 20th um at South Yarmouth library in the Leonard room we've had the community building mini masterpieces or mini marcher pieces and those will also be on display so that's an opportunity we'll have some snacks and refreshments for people to come in look at the Children's vision of the library look at one of our programs which is the mini masterpieces and speak to us about what's going on at the library okay thank you welcome um again just I'm making a pit as much opportunity for public engagement as possible I'm assuming we're posting the the report on our website is that yes indeed the game plan okay we wanted you folks to see it first and hear from the Consultants first thank you the um the application is due when Memorial Day weekend May 3 well it's actually May 31st the week after Memorial Day okay what has to be in the application itself what is basically aside from a request for money in a in a budget but do you actually have to have a site and a overall plan figured out what are you going to be asking money for then in the application you submit two options as potential locations and again it's early and we're not sure exactly what that will be um but we we kind of have an idea the library planning committee but we want to hear from other people but um and talking to Bill and Bob about it as well there are different choices that we could make for locations but you have to submit two so we'll do that one probably an existing location and one centrally located or a different location okay yeah because I think so it sounds like the we're going to have to work on a fairly brisk Pace oh we've been working for months I'm not suggesting that you're not working all right no again I'm thinking of the engaging the community in this conversation and the need to have the the public involved particularly in in in the stages leading up to an application because if we're going to as a board sign off on a Grant application yeah then we will want to make sure that there's been an adequate public engagement our staff has Heard lots of comments from the folks who do come into the library but in addition to that the planning committee members have been having you know group conversations with their neighbors or their book group and things like that to gain and Garner as much input as we can we had public meeting we had we we've met with the West Yarmouth board we've uh met with the South Yarmouth board and we met with someone from yort Port we've we've offered we've been to each of the library locations we had engagement chamber sry I want to make sure that we're answering Mr forest's Question so the it's pretty prescribed what has to be in the Grant application it includes the an updated strategic plan it includes the needs assessment it includes the library building program so again those two pieces the needs assessment and Library building program are in the report so those pieces are done the two substantial big substantial pieces are done in addition to that strategic plan which uh Jane and the library board worked on together and then it needs to include um that uh the the proof of a positive vote it needs to include any building assessment reports so those exist for some of the for the two facilities for example a report that was done in 2018 and what I think Jude and I just want to make sure that people here because I I can hear Mr Forest like you're now like oh my gosh do we have to get some engagement between now and and May 31st and what I we want to emphasize is the the MBL just wants to see that their options exist so you could submit two options they do not need to be the ones that you ultimately go with you certainly do not to have to have them decided and in fact the mblc does not want to see that you have decided because the process I think as Judah really highlighted is really leading from that place of what services are the community looking for and what do you need to meet those Services how much square footage what kinds of spaces um and that not know Grant applications that aren't successful are the ones where the nblc can see you have already made a decision about what that is before the very kind of Engagement that you're talking about so that kind of real deep engagement where we're having those discussions about what does it really look like to have a space that meets all these needs um those are absolutely a critical part of the beginning of that phase two process right before you get to the part where an architect is drawing up plans so I just want to reassure everybody that you do not have to figure this out before May 31st and in fact the mblc does not want you to have figured it out because that is the body of the work for that second phase um and again it's really rooted in community engagement and Community needs for service um and the the actual space right the actual physical building is kind of secondary in that Grant application to what the needs are that's great thank you for answering my question um once again um I think you've got a great consultant team I think they've done a great report I feel much more confident of our ability to get to the end zone to to to to use the sports metaphor to get into a to the end zone and score a touchdown this time around um because you've you've got really good people here that can help us get to the get get to that point so um once again thank you and uh thanks for all your time and energy and effort on this I know it's at times it feels exhausting but um I think at the end of the day it'll all be well worth it so thank you thank you Mark dorgas I want to just agree with Mark in that thank you very much for all the hard work I know all of you have already done um all you have to do is say my library uh and I think it's important to say my library because to each and every person that lives in this town they have their own unique experiences when it comes to the library I mean it's it's it's very emotional for an awful lot of people and there are many different issues you know do we are building in West Yarmouth our building in South Yarmouth our our um building in yarmouthport um do we centralize do we decentralize do we start from scratch do we remodel there are an awful lot of things that need to be discussed still and I think it's critical and we've certainly learned both from um how we approached the wastewater treatment plan and um also the accessory dwelling units I think is another good example that the more that we get the community involved in that decisionmaking process the better for all of us um I think we have to keep an open mind I need I think we need to go in and really give everyone an opportunity as much as possible to express what they would like to see because we're not going to make everybody happy I mean I right here and now I'll announce it we are not going to make everybody happy but we can at least try to do the best we can and to come up at the end of it with something that's really going to work for the community not only today but 20 years from now you know to be there for the kids that are your elementary kids that are talking now and that sounds great I definitely have to go over and see that um and I'm glad to hear that the next phase is not going to be us having to lock step into something that we still are open I agree very much with Mark that I believe we need to have our Consultants continue on board to help this uh we need to have those facilitators it's not that you don't do a fantastic job but I think this is something that this is what they specialize in and because again that I think from my own perspective it's a very emotional one I think the more that we can have someone there to help us with diffusing that emotion and putting it toward the positive and not the negative the better um because at the end of the day we're going to have to have something you know at the end of the day we can talk about it all we want but at the end of the day we got to have something if we're going forward and uh we've done an awful lot of talking in the past and as Mark says very truly we get to this point and boom that's it it hasn't gone any further than that this has to go forward we have to figure out what we're going to do I think what we're seeing from the assessments that you've done so far is there clearly is a need I don't think think anyone in town if you ask them is going to tell you oh no there's no need at all for anything I don't think anyone out there has been saying that we all we all do see the need the question is how do we go about producing that product that's going to be um I think something that can be a unifying uh situation for the community you know we always talk about the young you know we look at Co has completely changed Our Lives when we look at what has happened to the children um our children of Co it it it just highlights how we need to really start to reach out to them and come up with programs that are going to help to bring them into more of a sense of community so I mean I don't want to go on and on I just making the point I'm with you I understand I I'm still very open to what that final product would be but like Mark says we've got to have a lot of conversation involved we do still continue to need to have the consultants and um we need to make sure that we've got the community is as much involved as possible and thank you all for your hard work because what you create over there in your space every day is amazing absolutely amazing and I support you and I am over there every week getting my books and I as I say my library and I think there are a lot of us that feel that my library thank you so much thank you daas Peter um when we go to the legislature uh which by the way is Town meaning um it's Article 13 and article 14 so you know please please review those and in particular on article 14 it talks about we're looking for 150 ,000 for Library assessment planning feasibility and design and act in any manner related there too it looks like with the Consultants you've already done a whole bunch of the library assessment where what else would be included in the library assessment in that 150 that you haven't already done more technical um assessment um engineering architecture yeah but just to a degree um feasibility location will be a decision in the second phase and that's what the 150,000 will carry us into the second phase okay would it it get us towards the second phase but but Article 13 and article 14 is not going to make a decision as to where when what it's just down the road the tools to make this the tools to go down down the thing I I I think it's very good I I very much enjoyed meeting meeting with the Consultants I met with them personally and and I I agree with uh with the Mr Forester that it would be really nice if if we can get I know you're on the west coast and but I I think you're in provinc town or up in amers that that that you can you can get here would make it much much easier much easier to to communicate and stuff um we we do need we do need a larger facilities um I was shocked when I found out that the physical buildings are not strong enough to even support the books that are that are there so um I it very good and and moving forward very nicely and and again that was a plug that if you guys didn't get it to go to town meeting this stuff is very important and you are the legislators for the town thank you thank you thank you Peter um I guess my first question would be to Bob are we doing videos on the Articles um to be shown prior to town meeting this year yes we will be okay i' certainly encourage you guys to do that I think it's just so important to try to distill this information down into manageable bites so that you can focus people in on what the real issues are here and what the real purpose of this first phase is um you know because we do automatically jump to the questions of where and how big and how we going to pay for it when we really just want to keep people focused and their eye on the ball as to what it is we're doing with this first step at town meeting um I think the thing that just occurs to me overall is the um the importance of state aid in this process for the town of Yarmouth we've got so much going on in this town that um require U significant financial contribution by our taxpayers and all the different resources that we've been trying to tap and if this uh expansion needed expansion of Library services to happen in town we are most definitely going to need State assistance and it doesn't come around very often you know these windows are very very small and that's why I applaud you for putting the town in a position where we can at least apply and begin these conversations because if we don't get our foot in the door we're out in the cold and it'll be another 20 years before we have an opportunity to do this again I um a lot of appreciation has been expressed to the consultants and to the staff I think the unsung heroes of course is the um Library Planning Commission uh committee and years past too I mean this has been um a process for a very very long time and it's it's been thankless uh in many respects and we've learned a lot of important lessons particularly consensus particularly the public engagement and uh the need to do that if we're going to find um a solution and a consensus moving forward um those are the lessons of the past we have to make it work this time we have to be clear about what we're doing and um really listen in terms of what it is that the majority of our popul is looking for um thank you so much it was a great presentation tee this up at town meeting and really get this conversation started and um I look forward to hearing the comments of uh people in town as to what they feel and um where they want to see our library Services go in the future so thank you thank you thank you for your time everyone thank you thank you thanks Judith thanks Stephanie thank you so much everyone have a great night yes thank you so much thank you I just want to R ladies for a second in the way the state sets up this process next that's not what we need we need people we need why Warren were on good they can EAS from my point of view sorting this out George sens you've done this before what are the concerns meetings where people come lay you're thinking and get them to be fully want to do then you know you gotta really work next one there we go yeah it's true it's been the major shortfall be a team okay that brings us up to uh we were doing so well there but that's such an important conversation so I'm glad that we gave it the time that it needed and um that brings us now to the community preservation committee and review of the annual Tom meeting articles okay good evening um Christine migliano I'm the vice chair of the CPA committee this evening U with us is George slammer from the historic commission Debbie Clark from the Recreation Commission Joanne Crowley from the planning board Paul Huggins from the Conservation Commission uh and Bob Lorton I I assume is representing the community has Housing Authority he's here the affordable housing trust affordable okay thank you you're welcome um the first article is on the CPA estimated revenues it's to see if the town will vote to appropriate the following sums of money from the fiscal year 25 estimated annual revenues of the armouth community preservation act fund as required by GLC 149 sections 29 98 of the acts of 2004 the appro Appropriations are as follows community housing Reserve 189 723 historic preservation res Reserve 189 723 open space Reserve 189 723 and operating expenses of 94 861 this article is a required housekeeping article that appears at every annual ual town meeting as required under the Community preservation act a minimum of 10% of CPA revenues I'm sorry could you just back up uh what were those numbers on this is article 31 right this is Article 28 yeah we don't have in our packet I don't see 28 I see 29 and I think the numbers have changed since um someone's got to or if you're going to make a presentation someone's going to orient Us in terms of what we should the original memo that went was sent back in February and I think the article numbers have changed should we be looking at because it doesn't mesh with what you well this is Article 28 but the memo reads article 29 because it was originally drafted in February the next one says 29 right that's let me chime in it's on page 31 page 31 on the on the war thank you okay and the town meeting warrant yeah I right so the language that's in front of you on the slide is a mirror image of what's in the warrant um what Christine was referring to were the figures that were um originally discussed by this community preservation committee the warrant language um was subsequently changed after uh discussions with our finance director Jen Mullen um so the language that's um in front of us this year is slightly different from what we've had in previous years that called out the um 10% allocations which as Christine mentioned will each be uh $189,000 so sorry for the confusion want me to read from the slides instead yes read from the slides okay so this this first article Article 28 does what um has previously been done through a housekeeping article that called out what the 10% allocations were as well as what the um 5% administrative uh portions were the language that's being used this year are different based on our recommendations from our finance director okay so we can go to the next slide um do you want do you want to ask questions on each slide or each article say does anybody have questions on Article 28 Mike no okay n none for me okay daus you're fine you're fine okay thanks article 29 is the uh community housing project and I'm going to skip the Preamble on the slide it's it's two portions um and the second article Christine you can go ahead is for the affordable housing trust okay now we do you want me to read okay I'm just reading off of the slides because it's such a nice big text um and that's for $200,000 and that was the amount that was requested by the affordable housing trust and um approved by the community preservation committee um that's for preservation creation and general support of affordable housing efforts uh for uh housing that's at or below 80% of the area meian income for folks at home and for folks that might not uh remember this is uh kind of a standard appropriation that's made um for our affordable housing trust which then oversees These funds and um utilizes These funds to staff the program and also to uh generate new affordable housing we could just stop right there yeah go ahead Mark no I wanted to just point out that in the warrant the way it's drafted it doesn't say projects it just says project so it so that okay on the on the um warant the warrant the warrant says okay when when I'm reading the warrant it's looking like there's a project that's envisioned for this funding but that's not the case it's for the pro projects that relate to the work of the affordable housing trust so all I'm suggesting is when you finalize the warrant make sure that that's fixed because people can be confused by it okay Mike you got anything no questions Peter Dorcas no question okay article 30 got the next one Christine article 30 is to see if the town will vote to transfer and appropriate the following sums of money from the community preservation act fund for historic preservation purposes it's uh the article is from the armouth DPW to replace the cottage roof at the torb farm this is for $45,000 so where it's appropriate to the DPW do I assume that they're going to do the work DPW is going to oversee the project I think um and I do think that these staff will be able to uh do the work can you just ballpark how much um the T bra Farm has received with CPC funding um I don't have that figure this is this is specific just to the cottage um the farm has received a significant amount of money um I would put it probably around a million and a half to $2 million and that would be for all three structures including the barn the new appropriation for the barn um which work is underway uh now we have a Contractor on board to do phase two of the barn um and then also funding for the uh Farmhouse that was done some time ago anyone on the board have questions regard to no article 30 no no questions okay if we can move to article 31 please next you want to read the uh Artic uh the the CPA open space Recreation projects is to see if the town will vote to transfer and appropriate the following sums of money from the community preservation act fund for open space Recreation purposes there are three sections to this uh article the first one is the armouth conservation department for FR mighty's management uh this is uh over I believe a three-year period it's for 37,000 the arms Department of Natural resourc es is a town Wass to water assessment $98,000 stop on the a for a moment sure certainly all right are the what are the areas that are going to be handled in terms of frag mighty's management is it just the area on Southshore Drive no there's um four different areas um meow Meadowbrook Park um run Pond Road and there's a north and a South part on the Run pond um a small section of taylorb farm and another very small section on Alms House Road now is there any work contemplated you know we created these Scenic Vistas that you can't really see much of anything from I'm I'm guessing you're talking about um chasebrook Parks yes so that work will be folded in so we're um moving forward on that project we're working on preparing an update for the board um we've been through the Conservation Commission for the notice of intent on that project and we have a series of other uh permitting uh coming up we will also be doing a a bigger meeting I think it's that towards the end of April um for the environmental justice but the work on the frag mighties and invasive species management is all folded into that because all of the permitting was done at once so once that work is figured out once the once that money for this will be used for that the mone's for will include the chasebrook fragrance no chasebrook Park is not included in this appropriation separate funding request correct okay when are we likely to see that I would say for next town meeting for the following town meeting yes okay thank you the vist of views will be up at uh the farm and you run Pond you can't even see you run Pond from the road you know once you get rid of the FR minies You' be able to see that run Pond no it's the same thing with Chase Brooke but I understand some sites are a bit more complicated from a permitting point of view separate project than others yeah okay section B on that all right section B is uh the town ways to water let's see this would provide 198,000 to document the locations ownership and conditions of town ways to water three sites in the most need of repair would also be identified an interactive map would be produced for use by the public there's about 32 locations of ways to water and some of them are the most beautiful sites I mean investigating them you know you you you go down a dirt road and all of a sudden you come to where you can put a boat and and conservation land is there I I never knew some of the the locations were there this is going to be a great Improvement for Public Access you know to our waterways many of them are on the south side but there's a few little hidden beautiful locations on the North side as well this is a great way to inventory all of the sites identify the priorities and then improvements will be subsequent to that you're going to have some um um photos or something to show to town meeting absolutely yeah we had some other slides but I think they're they're mixed in the um at the very end of all of the CPA articles or okay yeah my my question centers on what are we spending $198,000 on specifically it's a it's a scope of work that um was solicited by uh DNR um and the scope of work it it does its documentation of the physical condition of each location so this would be the 30 some odd locations that are um in one of the slides we have is is a map of the Town Wass to water um so it would be documenting the physical physical conditions of each of those and going through and really putting together a recommendation on the repairs and improvements that are required for each of those sites to actually make the improvements needed to provide the public access to water thank you um and it's not just you know uh the beach access like Christine mentioned there's some real you know hidden spots you know I think of one off of uh River Street where there's a stairway to the water it's it's exceptionally beautiful um and I think it's preserving those types of opportunities for residents who don't necessarily get access to the water right that spot used to have a sign that's at Town way of water it has not had a sign for probably 30 plus years I okay I'll look into that I I I think it used to be there but they again they used to used to be sign my my grandmother lived right across the street from that so I know exactly where where it is did she take it down local she she probably did is there any way you said there was a map that actually identifies can we see them can you oh it'll come up okay great we we I don't know if it's in this package it was in the other I sent it's other file and Karen I'm GNA go back to fragm mites um on the fragm mittis taking them out it it's almost like sisifus because there's so many there's so many fragi everywhere you take them out and they just replant themselves is this a waste of money ultimately it has to be it has to be done on a threeyear threeyear project threee Pro I I think that if it's done properly and it and and when done properly that's why it costs so much money when it's done properly it's a very labor intensive um kind of handiwork it's not just mowing it Down Right process I think that um a a good example is torra Farm was done years ago many years ago uh the area just around the the boardwalk that was done and they did such a good job I I somebody hit the deck um this is not real wood um it it is beautiful thank you I appreciate that I don't want it to come back but that work has really lasted and the view has been maintained I think that if you do it properly and then take the the the steps to maintain it as you need um it it's it's an effective process thank you Bob thank you all the yellow uh notations are there 30 yellow dots there yeah it's it's hard to say I flunked I would flunk my eye test I cannot see 30 dots there maybe if you could could you send a PDF file of that to us happy to um selectman Smith can identify all the these all the historic ones that may have been forgotten so the these photos here are of some of the other locations that would be um reviewed in the the town ways to water uh study I'm just going to go backwards these were uh the fragm locations so that's the uh South Side on the left um it's run Pond of run pond on the right hand side is the Meadow Brook area which is really one of the larger uh larger areas that we'd be working on um um and then there's illustrations uh of what the frag mides actually look like at Southshore Drive end of run Pond and then you can just see on the Meadow Brook conservation you just can't see anything it's really a shame um this is a slide that shows you the condition of the cottage roof which is in pretty rough shape um the last if any other questions on this Town ways to water no I I just think what I I think it's terrific that we're doing it um it's it's a priority if you don't identify and protect and take care of these spots they they end up disappearing or somebody ends up building a a a dock on it or a boardwalk on it or it shows up in someone's yard well there's some legal research involved as well and with the Deeds yeah so I understand what we'll probably end up doing is an RFP put a proposal out and allow Consultants to come in and bid on is that the okay thank you you're welcome uh the next one is 32c if hopefully I got the numbers right and go ahead Christine please all right this is providing 27,500 to the Friends of Bass River to study and evaluate alternatives for the covert between Bass River and crwl or run Pond the study would inform uh is regarding future phases for design and permitting to improve the flushing of crow Pond um this is just phase one so you know many ju similar to what's happening with mil Pond you know it it takes about three phases in order to get the permit you know the studying the permitting and then finally the uh the work getting confused did you say this is run Pond or craw pond it's the same place it's the same name really it's the same project same project that's going to confuse some maps say crow Pond some maps say run Pond you know historically I think it's run Pond or Crow what yeah I would recommend that just to ease the confusion many people in town refer to that as run Pond all right that's what I've called so I think you're going I mean I have no problem that's funny if you have both names on there I think you may may you may be well served um but just to name it coll Pond there are going to be people saying where where the heck is good it's a good suggestion because even the beach people call the beach by two different names yeah or more you talking about smuggers Beach Bass River Beach I that one up good just staying with that for a minute Karen um again in the town warrant this is 31 C it's the numbers are I apologize for any confusion I apologize but the the photos here are pretty illustrative because you can see the the so the culvert is down low and you can see what it looks like on either side and it really is just jammed up and the uh work that's been um discussed moving forward and this was an application from Friends of Bass River who were moving down the river um you know they're they're thinking about uh that the product here might be three different conceptual um designs for the improvements that could resolve this uh this problem it could be a replacement structure along the existing alignment with a larger diameter a replacement structure along the existing alignment with some portions larger um or a larger Culvert in general so this is where the cul has I believe it's it's collapsed and it runs under the beach parking lot yeah can you just explain for me um friends of Bass River relationship to the the town how does that work in terms of allocating money to it's um they're doing a lot of the the the groundwork their their funds uh uh back you know the a lot of the projects they do a lot of the footwork they do a lot of the research and then the funds that are um funded by the town go into the studying for the projects and the permitting and everything else if I understand right yeah so so this was an application from Friends of Vass River um with the project they'll work very very collaboratively with Town staff with um Engineering in DPW um similar to as had been done um up on the North side where crab Creek is and all that um we will have a contract with friends of Bass River and what we do is have uh the Department of Public Works um kind of partner on the contract and review the products um and facilitate the reimbursement that way okay please I'm not denigrating no River tricky no I think selectman Horan raises a very very good point because it sort of speaks to the way in which this program works right if you're an organization you can apply you can be an applicant for the funds the committee makes a determination I think just given the nature that you because in many cases the funds are going to a particular particular department and then all of a sudden you get a a private nonprofit a 501c3 pops up in the list of recipients and it does beg the question you know what how do they all of a sudden get a specific allocation and it's important to be able to be prepared to at least explain to people that right um there is a process in a vetting they've applied for the funds they were awarded by the the property is owned by the town but the projects uh the impetus comes from the friends of be River these projects would never get rolling if they didn't start every everything going I don't think anybody disagrees with that I think it's just the the nature of the procurement it looks like a soul Source procurement to an individual nonprofit organization some would interpret that as favoritism what you need to be prepared to do is explain how that process works and I I think uh Karen did a very good job in explaining that if I may uh doesn't that organization bring a lot of grant money in that the money from the indeed is match money and not necessarily right the primary money many times the value of right what's been provided through CPA so the CPA is bringing leverage and not the primary amount for the project so they bring the engineering and the grant money and everything else and they're bringing the match money well there's an Army Core of Engineers project ready to you know I mean the the federal government is prepared to put a substantial amount of money in of that project what's been missing is local support and local interest so hopefully they can help with that God bless you okay I believe that concludes your presentation it does any other questions Mike any further followup no sorry okay all right thank you very much okay thank you sorry for any confusion on the numbers we'll oh no it's just it's just the material is I think you need to make sure that we get everything in sync for town meeting agreed because I'm looking at a packet that's very different from all the other material and thank you to all the committee members there's an awful lot of hard work that goes into what you do every year so thank you very much okay that brings us to a final review of the draft's annual town meeting warrant final recommendations uh and then the execution of town meeting warrant so um Bob um want how would you like to proceed on this sure well we should go um article by article and then um attack the recommendation first and then at the um any questions at the end we'll need a vote to approve and execute the town meeting warrant okay and didn't we already sign recommend a number of these articles we didn't mark because we only had three at that point remember we did a bunch of them except with with we just left yeah I think no we only had three Selectmen at that point we decided to wait okay I thought so the first one is the um construction and demo on snow and ice left over from the current fiscal year that's article one that needs a recommendation move we recommend article one second all in favor oh actually we have to do these by poll each article L of these already um hold on one sec Bo want do a group of them are you 100% sure that we have not already done some of this yeah I yeah I can recall at a previous meeting we we basically did a bunch of these and we held off on some but I have no problem going over it and do it doing it again Mr chairman that that I don't want to confuse the right that's not the case we had four Selectmen another one left then we I pulled the board we pulled a few because everybody was here all right the where there's a question we'll just we'll go through it tonight uh so there certainty all right so article one's been moved and seconded all in favor I I I any opposed that passes five to zero zer brings us to article two budget I recommend second all in favor I any oppos do we need to do roll call because of do we we we're supposed to be doing roll calls on each vote because of my vot my vote is high on articles one and two okay on article one uh Mark I I to Peter I I vote five to zero article two I moved that one hi hi second M Mike is um I Markus IUS Peter I and I vote I 5 Z it brings us to article three so moved I recommend second Mike article three I I Mike uh Mark Dorcas Peter I if you keep going the same direction we can all just chime in real quick we can sounds good I vote I 5 article four uh I recommend second Mike I I I I and I vote I 5 Z Article Five I recommend second Mike I Mark I Dorcas I Peter I I vote I 5 Z article six I recommend second Mike I Mark I toas I Peter I I vote I 5 Z article seven I move to recommend second Mike I Mark I Dorcas I Peter I I vote I 5 Z article eight I move to recommend second second Mike I I I I I vote I five Z article N I move to recommend second second Mike I I I I I vote I 5 Z article 10 I move to recommend second second Mike I I I I I vote I as well 5 Z article 11 I move to recommend second Mike I I I I I vote I as well 5 Z article 12 I move to recommend second Mike I I I I I vote I Article 5 Z Article 13 I move to recommend second I I I and I I just good I uh and I vote I is y 5 article 14 I move to recommend second Mike I I I I I vote I 5 Z Article 15 I move to recommend second Mike I I I I I vote I 5 Z article 16 it's up on the screen now I move to recommend article 16 I I second Mike i i i i i as well 5 Zer article 17 I move to recommend second second I I I Mike did you say I I I vote I as well 5 Z article 18 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i as well 5 Z Article 19 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i as well 5 Z article 20 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i 5 Z article 21 okay okay um now this one we haven't talked aboutuse on this one for the for the purp yeah let's come back to 21 let's just hold on that and come back to it okay article 22 I move to recommend second Mike wish I I I I I 5 Z article 23 I I move to recommend second Mike I I Dorcas I sorry I I 5 Z hold on a second brings us to article 25 I think right 24 24 where am I missing it we're on 24 25 I'll move to recommend article 24 second Mike i i tocas i i i 5 Z article 25 I move to recommend second just 25 uh page 30 mik least Department generator I I I I I 5 Z article 26 um I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i 5 Z I'd like to pull 27 okay hold on 27 Article 28 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i 5 Z article 29 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i 5 Z article 30 I move to recommend second Mike i i i i i 5 Z article 31 I move to recommend second I I I I I'm sorry I I 5 Z what page are we on S right along we're on page 33 33 article 32 I move to recommend article 32 second Mike i i i i i 5 Z article 33 I Mr chairman I move to recommend article 33 second Mike hi i i i i 5 Z so the only two ones that we've pulled out are 21 and 27 can we pull out 28 too 21 is on page 23 that is the town seal and we do have several people here wishing to speak to it if we have any questions I would assume um it had this discussion um does anybody have questions on article 21 Mike you have any questions I don't have any questions I have a lot of concerns about the cost and the design and things like that I'm not prepared to support it at this point if we want to have them I don't know if we're going to have any more input on on that one or not before Tom meeting I missed that last port is he suggesting that we take it up again and Oh you mean I wondering if there was going to be any before the meeting the 30th Mike I'm sorry we having difficulty hearing you I had just questioned I know Mark at the previous meeting mentioned and I don't remember the specific articles but various articles that we wanted more information on I don't know if that was one of them or not I don't think it was no it was not it wasn't are you looking for further information Mike am I looking for what are you looking for more information on this if there is any I don't know what the status is the status I don't know if there has been any other updates or not is what I'm saying well the committee's I think the chairman of the committee's here here um Mike has any questions or would needs a briefing or an update I mean Mike do you have any specific questions you'd like to address to either of the committee members the chair or um is it just uh reservation on your part about supporting the article more more the L okay all right well then to move things along I'm just going to vote I'm going to move to recommend article 21 I I have I have a question on it the comment that came up was was the uh picture of the Native American and the seal was going to be removed and it looks like it looks like there's going to be no Native American on here is is it true in fact that the Native American personage is is to be removed yes it's a tree can we invite can you go right up to the microphone you could put that on yeah if I may uh we actually worked on the presentation so they have it if they want to U I don't want to speak for the committee members but the presentation is available George Bob good to see you thank you Mr chairman good evening I did hear the earlier in the meeting the the comments from member of the public and we had to answer those in a letter to the board dated March 3rd where we talked about the uh lack of person on there we made the change based upon discussions with the wamp o u tribe not all of them agreed but certainly the the chairman did agree as SE as well as several other members of the tribe that we had contacted also in the letter we discussed the uh state of Massachusetts when they were reviewing their seal they agreed that they were going to take that it wasn't appropriate to have a person on the seal town of mashby eliminated theirs and recently we were informed that the town of Bourne is also looking at changing their seal again eliminating a person so that was that was the rationale for taking that action and I I I I understand the addition of the eastn white pine is because it's very important to the Native American folks on the cape yes sir and it was part of yarma History I think in the 250th anniversary of the town that it was prominent I think George may have some information on that yeah the um informed speculation was that the pine tree that was on the 1894 seal um could have been the lone lone tree pine that was referenced in the 250th um anniversary of the Town um and uh so so clearly it was important to our for beers um but uh clearly um the easn white pine as indicated here by David Weeden that the white pine is absolutely a sacred tree for variety of reasons and if we could go to the next slide um here also uh is um affirmation um of a uh W belt that has been recreated by um tribe members and uh Paula Peter is Peters is shown here where in the middle of the Wampa belt is a uh pine tree a white pine which is um an important part of the uh wo tribal um creation stories so uh so it is a very important and a very sacred tree uh culturally to the wag people Peter if do you have anything else um I I recommend um the town seal can I just ask um is there any estimate as to what this potentially will cost us to change the seal there is um several parts of this the only thing that must be done after the vote if the vote is positive is for the town clerk to change the you know what the technical term is the slug that's in the embossing machine that's about I think $300 after that our uh recommendation is that as departments change their uniforms update them uh departments purchase new vehicles Etc the new seal would be incorporated at that time we're not we're not advising that all the seals be taken down and uh replaced right away so and in the town budgets each department has funding um to do those types types of updates uhhuh so our recommendation um obviously letterhead it's no issue that's all computer generated okay so and um Dorcas to your to your point in the December 19th 2023 presentation the slide deck uh contains uh a cost analysis um broken down by departments with the estimated cost uh which was about $145,000 if you to do it the day after but but as Mr chairman has mentioned that's not our recommendation that it would be phased okay thank you that answers my question that's why there's no appropriation requested okay thank you Mark do you have any questions go ahead Mike what was that article number this is article 21 what is it number 21 it's article 21 on page 23 Mike page 23 okay and right at the bottom of the page running on to the next page okay see it yeah I I also had concerned about the cost of it whether it's peace meal or any aggregate it's a lot of money and um tell you the truth I have concerns about it taking walking a step backward in terms of the honor it pays to the Native American based on what's there now okay thank you Mike um my I have to admit I'm a little conflicted with this uh you've done a lot of detailed work and it's much appreciated um I'm glad we looked at the question I have some of that same sentiment that um and I appreciate we we're talking to the actual tribe people who are saying that they would rather see the tree rather than uh an Indian depiction um it just on its face seems contrary to um idea that Mike's talking about of wanting to honor the tribe because that's just not a recognizable symbol to 90% of the population um I'm curious was any um compromise discuss as far as what was the actual issue with trying to depict a tribe's person George do you well you know if you look at um can I just jump in for a second George yeah sure I'd like to respond to this no I think and and I want to speak specifically to your recommendations the the committee actually looked at the design criteria that the state commission had established for its review of the state seal and I don't know if you have that information but the state commission actually developed with input from Native Americans on the criteria for a new state seal and among the factors almost at the top of the list was not depicting this was a recommendation from the various trib tribal leaders that were represented on the state commission looking at design considerations and design factors for a new state seal and it was virtually unanimous among the tribal leaders that there not be a depiction of a human that be taken out and that was a recommendation that had significant influence with the mash B so in the mashby community which the tribe has enthusiastically embraced that new seal that new seal does not have a human in it so a lot of weight has been given to the recommendations of the tribal community that influenced the uh the new design criteria for the state seal is that a fair my accurate okay so that's fine we understand where the recommendations are coming from and there certainly people of import I get that but I'm I'm looking for the rationale why what what is it that's so troubling if if you refer to the slide up here these are from the minutes actual minutes uh you know from the um committee and what you can see here and the uh one of the chairs is Brian Weeden who sat on this and you can see that it's mentioned that uh human repes representation in the in the design uh should not be included because it cannot represent everyone and then also human represent representation is problematic because it is not inclusive so so based on these findings and recommendations the sealed committee here discussed and deliberated and um made the decision that um we would not um propose a human represent a on oural so that still strikes me as a little vague what is meant by everyone what is meant by inclusive well um you know if if you represent the native person as um a warrior then it's not including you know native women so uh that's you know our interpretation and um uh and and that was part of our decision also now if it was a female would it be less offensive no no no it it seems and should we put a veil over mon Lisa's head I'm sorry Mike could you say that once again should we put a veil over Mona Lisa's head because she doesn't represent everybody or or the statue of David I don't Jane did I see your hand go up would you go to a microphone please certainly I remember reading especially uh recently the town of bourn's discussion on a similar topic you know how to be inclusive and and all that and even the shade of the skin of the particular individual who knows what it would be you could make it too dark or too light and as um my colle colag have already stated you you could represent a person of one gender and it should be more inclusive to include a child as well as an older person or a female and a male and then we don't really have a lot of Photography from that era so we don't know really what the costume was except for what we what we think or what we've seen I know that that the town of Bourne had that discussion particularly and if you look at their seal they've really got to work on it okay thank you for the input sure any other questions before we move this to a vote okay um I think someone made a motion I made a motion to uh recommend article 21 second Mike no Mark yes I yes yes and I vote aay 32 okay that brings us now to7 oops thank you so much for the work that you guys have done on that okay article 27 page 30 um I think we should hear from that committee so I I would continue to hold that I don't think I think there coming in the next meeting aren't they yeah aren't they coming in make a recommendation on town meeting floor sure yeah let's just do that on the floor I agree okay fine with Mike so there you go and I agree with that as well that concludes all right that brings us to agenda review you need a a vote to oh to approve the war approve and execute the town meeting warrant don't moves second Mike hi hi I and I vote I as well 5 Z I gotta go okay and let me see if I can get to okay agenda review um looks like our next meeting is on April 2nd we from tonight night another busy night looks like a a full evening and highlights are the open space Recreation Plan update and we seem to have our homework for us that was pretty big that one okay when was um oh yeah okay the open space and Recreation update okay when was the um tourism group coming in I thought I thought they were in here we have to fit them in see if we can put them on next meeting or the 23rd at the latest yeah 23rd looks like it's got a little bit more space on it and still gives us time to Pete thanks so much have a good night if we can uh shoot for the 23rd if that's doable anybody have anything else that they'd like to see um covered in the next two meetings prior to town meeting we were thinking we can have on the 23rd a sort of a town meeting rundown too okay like to do that great and I think we have to keep in mind that there may be some discussion regarding the music room on the 20 you know on that one the 23rd so I think we want to make sure we y leave enough time for people to be able to express their opinions Pirates FES will be quick right but I'm just thinking in the music room yep now there were a lot of people here the last time can I comment on that please on on the music room that's a disciplinary hearing so public comment will not be allowed okay public oh okay thank you I didn't know that in addition in addition to that the police and them are talking to see if they can work out a res resolution I don't know what that's going I just know they're talking oh okay it would be nice if they do would that resolution Mike be done um absent um board action or contingent on board action correct contingent okay anybody have anything else they want to see on the 2nd or 23rd okay um and we only have the one article to talk about anything else that we need to cover at the pre- meeting to town meeting not that I know of right now okay well sound check make sure everything is please doing I would have been over at madaky yeah intermediate very good very good and the other two is just I would recommend again about the mobility issues that we have um making sure we have some space set aside for those with potential mobility issues so not being relegated to going up the stairs thanks for saying that I don't know if we have capacity for this but um I was troubled by a lot of people sitting on the edge like on the it was like going to church um but he's far away you know but no but I mean they were on the ends of the aisles and people were having difficulty I saw somebody that was um struggling physically to get over people to get a seat is there any way to uh have somebody there encouraging people maybe that's something to talk with Ken about users yeah um just to kind of encourage people to move toward the center of the seating it's a good point one guy just refused to move and this person was struggling to get over him um okay so that uh is a gender review uh any selectman items dcas no I don't have anything and Mark's absent Mike you got anything for selectman items at all I just want to mention the uh um it was nice to to get the Wastewater groundbreaking underway and um we had good representation from our federal delegation our state delegation um in town staff committee members and um Bob did a great job coordinating it and uh MC and the ceremony and um I've been on this for about 11 years and it predates me so it was nice to see some kind of formalization that this project was underway and um B again Bob did a great job putting it all together thank you actually I would like to just also thank once again the St Patrick's State committee for a job well done uh the parade I think was once again a great success and everyone that was there was having a wonderful time and thank you throwing candy all right uh barring anything else I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor Mike I Dorcas hi I vote I three Z thanks Mike I hope you feel better thank you you did a great job appreciate it