Welcome everybody. Thank you very much for your patience. We are back in open session and our first agenda item is resident concern. So these um comments are for topics that
are not on the agenda and for up to three minutes and if you could just identify yourself with your name and address. Hi everybody. Uh Lori Cooney to Dustin Lane. Um, I want to take a couple
minutes to thank the town for 12 great years. Um, my husband and I drive out tomorrow morning turning over the keys to our home. Um, and we are going to, um, my hometown of Missouri. We are not leaving for any negative thing about the
town. We absolutely love Actton and all the people in it. We're going home. Um uh I my siblings kind of scattered across the country in 1985 and one by one they have returned and I am the last
sibling to return. They have children and grandchildren and I will be with my family. Um I've always lived in big cities, metropolitan cities like with famous mayors and uh this is my first small town experience. Um, it's my first
New England experience and the way we govern here. The way I The only thing I knew about New England was from the Gilmore Girls. And I am not kidding. And it really wasn't that far off when it comes to town meetings and moderators
and speaking and issues. And I have absolutely loved that part of it. History. Um, I've uh love watching the select board meeting. We call it mustsea TV in my house. Um, and I love staying
on top of things in the town because I'm invested. I've also loved volunteering with the town. Um I have played a tiny role in the this side of the table um getting in that seat because as a member of the League of Women Voters they made
me voter service chair which meant I organized some candidate forums and each of you had to hear from me or figure out can we do what night sit and answer questions and sometimes that's the only thing our voters have to decide to pick
you guys. Um, I think we have a great town and I think it starts with town staff. Um, we have a great leader and I think Tom Bean is like an amazing second. We are very lucky to have him. We always hire great people. I love that
you chose uh Doug as our new police chief. Um, that was I wanted to come and say something positive about him and then by the time I thought to do that, you had announced you hired him. So, I just want to thank everybody, especially the friends. Alyssa, you are a friend.
We share the same hometown, so you know exactly where I'm going. And Dean, thank you so much for being such a close friend for Joe and I. You and Marca mean the world to us. And we will be staying in your house when we come back to
visit. Um, and uh, what did else did I want? Oh, Dean helped me even to the last minute. One little thing went wrong with my house last night and I was like, Dean's gonna know what to do. I text him, he responds, and they're touring it
right now. So [laughter] hopefully [gasps] it's fine and we will be able to leave. But just thank you for 12 of seriously the best years of my life. I just really have loved being here. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. That was probably my
favorite public comment ever. Uh congratulations and best wishes on your journey tomorrow and thank you both for your many years of service um with the Council on Aging, Community Preservation Committee League, Acting
Conservation Trust. It's it it was great and it was great to have you giving back to the town that you love. Thanks. Are there any um folks online with hands raised? Okay, anybody else in the room?
All right. So, we will go on to our second item, which is chair update, town manager update, and member minutes. Um, so we're going to turn to uh not so happy news. Uh, right now, I want to
announce the very sorrowful news of the passing of Actton's budget director, Ellie Anderson. Ellie joined the town's finance department four years ago in June of 2022 as a finance clerk and was promoted to budget manager and then
budget director. She was very well respected by her colleagues for her intelligence, patience, humor. Um I could go on, but um she was an extremely valuable asset to us through her work producing budgets and reports. Um, I
wanted to let everybody know that funeral services will be on August 1st at the Valley Chapel in Oxbridge. Her obituary was republished in the Act and Exchange. So, I encourage everybody to read that if you haven't already. Her
family um wrote a really wonderful tribute describing her as a bright light and this was certainly our experience. She was a rising star in this organization. And I also want to commend the town manager and the human resources
director for their incredible response to this tragic event and the support that they have provided for the staff. I also have an update from the Actton water district. Starting today uh due to ongoing drought conditions uh level four
critical drought um water restrictions are in place. So outdoor water use starting today is prohibited except for food and fiber production. So you can still um handwater your vegetable gardens. Um obviously public health and
public safety as well. So irrigation of lawns and landscaping uh pool filling, car washing and washing of exterior surfaces like um houses and decks is prohibited until further notice. This is the third year in a row of less than
average rainfall for our area. And finally, I wanted to announce the an annual event, National Night Out at the public safety facility is happening on Tuesday, August 4th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. There will be a vehicle and
equipment display um both public safety and public works vehicles. Also, um vehicles from area businesses and and sometimes there are farm vehicles as well. There will be food and music. Um it's a free event. Uh local businesses will be there with uh information and
giveaways and there will be face painting. You can meet K9 Zane um and take a tour of the station. It's always a fun event. I've gone for the last I don't know three or four years. And on to you for the manager's update.
>> [clears throat] >> Well, thank you um Madame Chair for uh mentioning Ellie. I think this is it's been shocking and it's been a very difficult uh week. Uh last week we or she passed on July 10th and and we found
out uh the next day and it's been really hard on us as an organization. Ellie was a big part of our team. Um, as you mentioned, a rising star in the profession. Certainly, um, a big part of our leadership team and, uh, really the part the type of
person that her job was to support and help other people and she thrived in that role. And, um, so she's she's really missed in a professional way and certainly in a personal way by by all of us. And um I just wanted to thank you for
mentioning Ellie and um thank you for your patience. I think as I mentioned we're we're struggling a little bit uh to get through this but we we have a good group of people and we'll continue to work through it. So thank you and thank you from for the support from the board. You've been very helpful and
members of the community that that reached out as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any member minutes? David. [snorts] >> Yes. I just wanted to mention that uh Energize Actton and the Town
Sustainability Office are holding a celebration of plant-based foods um at Nara Park uh picnic pavilion um uh 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. this Wednesday, July 22nd. Uh you can go to energizeactton.org for
more information. Hi, I just wanted to announce a a a ribbon cutting Thursday, July 23rd. Um Aldi's is is coming to town and they're finally opening. Um the ribbon cutting
is at 8:45. I happen to there will be uh giveaways. Um I know that their grand opening is the day before. So if you want to sneak in on the on Wednesday, you can do that. [clears throat] That's all I have.
>> Dean, >> a couple of updates. The U acting 250 committee is pretty much done with all of the work. The only remaining project that we're working on is uh developing developing a time capsule that uh we
hope to have placed in town hall as part of the renovation project. Uh we'll be working on that for the next couple of months and then we hope to come before the board in early October. Uh just to sum things
up and officially sunset as a committee. Um community preservation committee has reorganized after the 1st of July according to our uh the bylaw uh for this year. Um Jim Coleman will be
chair once again. Lee Stunts will be vice chair and I will be serving as clerk. And we're continuing to work on uh developing uh the plans for the public works facility. I've been attending meetings every two
weeks on Zoom uh getting updates from the architects as the uh design progresses. and the Western Samson hope to be here for our last meeting in our our only meeting in August. I believe it's the
24th of August to give full update as to where we stand on that project. But it's all going along nicely uh in compliance with the uh the schematic design that was shown at town meeting.
Um, and hopefully we'll be bringing it to town meeting for construction funding early next year. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. Our next um item under new and special business is to
approve the FY2027 commuter lot rates. >> Do a programming note regarding number six in case anybody's waiting for that. >> Oh, sure. >> Thanks. So item number six, the sewer commissioner business, we are going to be skipping over and bringing back to
another meeting. >> Uh madam chair, um for this agenda item, um treasur collector Patrick McIntyre will be providing an update and discussing uh some proposals that he has. Uh in the packet, there is a memo outlining that that Patrick will talk
about. And if you remember back a few years ago, I believe the last time that this was in front of the board for consideration was May of 2024. So, um, Patrick's done a little bit of research and I'll pass it over to Treasurer Collector McIntyre for more. Thank you, Tom. Good evening, members of the board.
Um, currently the commuter lot at the MBTA station in the South Actton is supported by a number of ways. Um, first would be the daily usage and also with monthly reserve spaces. Reserve spaces are at three locations. one Maple Street, 19 to 21 Maple Street, and at
Jones Field. And currently the vacancy rates are quite high for those. Uh for Jones Field there are 36 spaces, seven of which are reserved for an 81% vacancy rate. At one Maple, it's 26 spaces, seven reserved for a 73% vacancy rate.
And in 1921 Maple, there are 33 spaces. Only three are reserved for a 91% vacancy rate. In a review of the current structure, I called the towns of Air, Conquered, Littleton, and Lincoln, all of whom have commuter available parking parking lots on the Fitsburg line. Uh, only the town
of Conquered offered reserved spaces. Uh, taking into consideration the current vacancy rates, I'm recommending that the board approve the current rates for the remainder of calendar 2026 and revisit the rates in early 2027. U, as a reminder, the current rates are for one
Maple Street, $175 per month. 19 to 21 Maple Street, also 175 per month, and at Jonesfield it's $100 per month. In an effort to increase the usage of these lots, I would like to develop an advertising campaign. I in the past flyers have been used and I would
suggest maybe a sandwich board at the entrance of the lot to maybe remind people that reserve spaces are available. So, if they want a guaranteed spot, especially when the weather starts to turn, they don't have to fight. Uh my office is also in the process of replacing the four kiosks that are at
the the lot with a new system that will transition daily parking operations from a pay by space to a pay by plate system. This matches the other communities along the uh commuter rail. The town also prepares to transition uh oh sorry I jumped out of there. The revenue from
the kiosks operating on the pay by space system over the last fiscal year three fiscal years has been quite good. In 24 it was 107,000 and FY25 it jumped up to 198,000 and currently FY26 we finished at 148,000.
So by approving the current rates for the remainder of 2026 this will allow the kiosks to be replaced with the new system and we can gather some information to attract commuters to the reserve spaces. >> Thank you very much. Um, I just have a couple of questions and then I'll pass
um to the board, the rest of the board members. You're recommending that we keep the rates the same. Was there any um research that you did to consider whether or not the vacancy rates we could get those down by decreasing the
rates? Um, and then the other question I had was whether or not I appreciate the the um outreach marketing campaign that you're going to take on. Are there any publications like does the MBTA have any sort of publication
um or spot on their website where we might be able to alert folks who are taking the commuter rail about these parking? >> Yes, each sorry each station along the Fitchburg line has a page that talks about the commuter railing. So I could reach out to the MBTA and get that
information on to them. Advertising that in terms of bringing down the rates, I I think in order to maintain the revenue for the lot, keeping them at their current spaces would would make sense. We're not losing many people. But if that's up to you if you want to
lower the rates as part of the advertising in 27 to convince more people to come over, we can entertain that. Yeah, I definitely don't want to lose revenue, but if we increase by a a significant number of the people who are reserving, if we stay with reservation instead of switching over to um dailies,
then maybe we'd actually increase the revenue by having that slightly discounted, but we can revisit that in early 2027. >> Also, in part of the advertising of currently, it's always been built on a fiscal year, a full fiscal year. I'd like to switch it over to quarterly so
that if there is a change in somebody's life that they're not com committed for the whole year, they can pay a quarter and then if they have to cancel their space because something happened, they can do that. >> Okay, David. >> Um, thank you. I just wanted to say that
the the rates for the um monthly reserved spaces were originally set by I believe um uh the daily rate times 20 um about 20 days a month. And that was before the pandemic. That was a long
time ago. Um and um um and that was done because at that time before the pandemic um the main lot filled and people who had a commitment early in the morning, it filled at
actually 7:10. The the the people who had a commitment early in the morning like dropping a child or something like that um wanted to be able to have a way of still parking at the train station so they could drop their kid at daycare or school, whatever. um um and then go and
and catch a catch a train and still have a place place to park. Two things have changed obviously. One is um some people had to go to work all the time. They only go into work four or even three days a week or not at all. But then if they're not at all, they're not an issue because they don't take the train. But if they if they go three or four days a
week, the 20 days a week price doesn't do. And I didn't write down and do the math on your prices, so I don't know where they fall. I'm just uh letting you know where they where they came came from. And the second thing is the main lot doesn't fill. And so so anybody who works less than the rates, they're going
to park in the main lot, right? Um it it's almost full. And so this could change soon. Um um uh I would love it as you go and look into the rates further. I think advertising here may not be
enough. Um I I think it'll be self- advertising once the main fills. Um, but we we may need to have other parking models. Um, and I I I don't know what those are. And I when uh you come back with other rates, I would hope we might also look into other models that we can
um propose um you know, whether um I I think uh at one point Alyssa said that we could have people share a space, you know, one reservation uh two spaces that may be too difficult to administer. I'm just th throwing that out there as
an as an idea. Um uh there may be other ways of doing it or maybe it just be reducing reducing the price. So um thanks. Uh I was one of the people that fell into that, you know, category that David was just describing where before the
pandemic when I was um commuting into Boston 5 days a week, I would get a monthly pass. post pandemic when I was working a hybrid and only going in two or three days a week, it didn't make sense
anymore. So, you know, looking at other models makes sense. I was just curious about um the daily usage and how that's going and are you seeing kind of a steady use? Are those starting to fill
more or are you seeing more of the daily usage? >> Well, based on the the revenues the last few years, I think FY25 it peaked at 198,000 and this past was 148,000. Um, with these new kiosks, we are going to
get monthly reports or quarterly reports on usage. So, we'll have a better statistical analysis after that. I should also mention that of the spaces only four are currently used by actton residents. They're all from out of town.
Bolton still conquered. All right. Are there any public comments? Nope. Is this maybe something that the transportation advisory committee could assist with if they if we sent them off to do, you know, even just one
individual or two to to gather data for you. Um, you don't have to answer that now, but that's just something to keep in mind. they might be able to to do some analysis and and bring you some reports that might help inform um
because it is interesting that only conquered has reserve rates on this line and that's probably the only one we need to look at. Um I think there is a yes there is a suggested motion if somebody wants to make it. I move to approve the proposed
rates for the commuter reserved parking program through 2026. >> Second. >> All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? And any abstensions? All right, that's approved unanimously.
Thank you. And our next item is a very exciting one, an economic development office update from director Patricia Costa. >> Thank you. Um Patricia Costa will join us up here.
She's our economic development director and um we'll be providing an update on work that we've been uh engaged in since the strategic plan has been developed and um we'll take it away here. Thanks,
Patricia. >> Good evening. Um members of select board Alysa Niko chair and other members of select board manager John Merari deputy town manager Don Beijing and members of the Acton
community here today and online. My name is Patricia Cost and I'm the economic development director for the town of Actton and um I'm happy to provide these updates um about the office of economic
development particularly at this moment not only because we have just started fiscal year 2627 but also because uh our programs and initiatives for the previous fiscal year
they uh had as a reference our strategic economic development action plan and uh at this moment we are adding uh one new report to serve as a reference for our
work which is the cultural arts strategic plan. And the this this phase this moment for us is a moment when we are adding these um uh these findings of the cultural arts
strategic plan to our uh uh projects for this fiscal year for 2627. So there is no better momentum to uh provide this update so that we can uh look in retrospect at what we have
achieved with the strategic economic development action plan and add align the next initiatives and plans using a combination of the SEAP and the cultural arts.
So I uh I prepared some slides so that we can have a visual reference of what um setup entails what we have achieved and then I'm going to add what we plan for the next uh 12 months uh adding the
perspective of the cultural arts strategic plan. So uh the first goal of Sedap 25 uh this is very this is a synthesis of
what RKG has prepared for us. This is just for reference. I have synthesized in just uh a brief sentence but it basically uh advised us to attract retain and grow consumer and service-based businesses in Actton. We
have made progress during fiscal year 2526 in terms of promoting local businesses through events and campaigns. Uh we have also um worked in uh to
attract and retain uh businesses with one-on-one business advisory. This is basically um an office backstage daily work of assisting businesses on different needs. And we have also made progress in terms
of uh conducting outreach and uh guidance to strategic commercial properties in town [snorts] so that we can uh take advantage of strategic locations to attract key businesses to
those locations. And this is also work an a an office work that sometimes takes longer to lead to results to visible results but it has happened on a daily basis with uh strategic commercial
properties in terms of the um events and campaigns that we have conducted during the the past 12 months. Thank you Tom for [laughter] moving to the next slide. We have here a compilation of the main
uh campaigns and events just to um um um help us recall what what was conducted. So, uh, events involving restaurants, uh, shop, small, community wellness fair, uh, these on the first row of, um,
of flyers, uh, many different ribbon cutings all around the town, and a business networking event, and more recently the World Cup storefront decorating contest.
Uh, next, please. Okay, thank you. So from July 25 to June 26 only uh the office has conducted 11 ribbon cutings uh most of them uh with the presence of the acton legislative members of the
economic development committee members of select board and uh we also conducted five promotional campaigns and events and one uh art unveiling uh on great road Um in terms of goal two of the strategic
economic development action plan um it consisted of encouraging retail, restaurant and the small scale office development through public sector initiatives. Uh we understand that the best uh way to
uh work um on safe grounds in terms of encourage encouraging these activities is to understand uh what the town has in terms of uh property commercial property and also what the business community
expects and uh needs in terms of new businesses. So we've been conducting data collection and compilation of data um with an economic survey uh that is in progress with the support
of four Actton Boxboro Regional High School students working with the office and one former Ectton Boxboro High School student who is now in college studying economics and has been working with us remotely uh from Colorado and we've been working on data collection
and compilation of data. [snorts] Uh so that we can understand better what and where we what what activities we can bring to certain locations and what the businesses already there expect in terms
of neighbor businesses that that can create the best uh econ uh local impact. Um [snorts] we recently heard from um uh Marsha Ka uh the wife of the former a former EDC
uh chair uh that some data similar data was collected before COVID in 2017 with 253 businesses. So the volunteers working with the office are are also compiling the data that was collected back in 2017 to serve as a benchmark for
us. So we can see how restaurants reacted to COVID and this is data that we do not have available at the main uh sources of data the main databases. This is something that has to be collected at a local level. So we've been working with this data collection and
compilation at the same time uh conducting outreach with property owners and realtors to identify the properties that can best attract uh eeries and other services and [snorts] we've been working collaboratively with neighbor
towns um mainly Mayor DTO and a little bit farther away on route two with air we've been working in in terms of planning a an act on restaurant a restaurant week that can be
more regional in the long term and also conducting a sister businesses program when businesses such as restaurants and bookstores in Actton can collaborate with similar businesses in neighbor towns. Um so the first the first um
outcome in terms of a sister businesses program includes bookstores. We have been working with a local bookstore silver unicorn and other two bookstores one in air and another in Mayard to advance this program. [clears throat] Um goal three of the strategic economic
development action plan consisted of expanding small scale industrial advanced manufacturing and medical related uses in business parks. We have made progress uh conducting network with international chambers of commerce. This
uh is a process that has taken time but we are confident that we can reap uh good results. uh uh in the best interest of the town. So basically what the office has been doing is in creating some networking opportunities with
chambers of commerce and foundations that represent businesses from uh abroad that may be interested in establishing in Actton and in the region uh especially taking advantage of other businesses in innovation.
uh life sciences already established around the Boston area and also taking advantage of the strategic location of actton in relation to route 2. Um so some organizations that I have been in touch with are American Swiss Foundation, Netherland America
Foundation, Venture Cafe in Cambridge, Cambridge Innovation, Cambridge Innovation Center, uh the Latin Chamber of Commerce among others. Um the office has also uh supported the establishment of a foreign trade zone in Actton. This
is a process that we have uh seen progress over the past uh months. Uh this FDZ uh is expected to um start working effectively on Main Street at 976 Main Street method machines too. Uh
the only pending um um steps there are some fencing cameras, some door locking and gates that the US customs and border protection require. Um we have also conducted outreach to property managers that has helped in terms of attracting
these businesses and uh changes in zoning by laws recently approved at town meeting are a very important piece of expanding the small scale industrial and all these that go three entails. And uh
in this aspect specifically I would like to thank uh all those who were involved with the approval of the zoning bylaws and also to the acton community that understood the importance of having these changes approved. So it gives the
office of economic development a fresh start to uh plan on better grounds on an actton that is more uh businessfriendly but also who that will uh provide better opportunities for residents and
shoppers. So we are confident that these will uh lead us to even better results in the short and long term. Um also regarding the strategic economic development action plan goal for um um
included uh increasing increase in diversity in local housing focusing on workforce and affordable options. uh I'm very happy to see that uh the consulting group including this housing component in economic development and despite the
fact that uh uh economic development has a focus on attracting and retaining business some progress have has been made over the past 12 months in terms of promoting uh this goal for uh the office
has unlocked opportunities for 263 Main Street. Uh so we had variances approved with the Sony board of appeals earlier this year that will allow for the owner to redevelop that property which is which was not compliant with the
regulations. Uh we also uh assisted the the property owner in uh looking for funding with mass development to make the project a reality and we have also explored mixeduse options with developers including a school street and
dove heights. Um so goal five uh streamline and clarify the business development process in actton. uh we have made progress uh by uh working with data collection the the
project that I have uh mentioned previously with the acton boxboro high school students but most of all with uh some uh content realignment for the economic development boost for the newsletter. So newsletter expansion and content realignment.
Uh regarding this uh next please. Regarding this um newsletter engagement, I brought some metrics so that uh members of select board and the public can see uh where we were and where we are now. I have uh four different
editions of the newsletter represented in the graphs. So, uh, we have August 2025, November 2025, March 2026, and the last one, July 2026, which was the last edition. The first
graph on the left shows the number of recipients of our newsletter. So, we moved from 392 recipients to 3,819. Um, the second graph shows the recipient
open rate. You can see that it decreased a little bit from around 62% in the additions uh sent out in August and November last year to about 55% in March this year and July this year.
But this is expected as we increased the number of recipients. So we have a more diverse group. This is we believe the reason why the opening rate decreased a little bit. But on the other hand, we have the third graphic on the right hand
side which shows the number of unique clicks on links provided on the newsletter. So we went from about seven clicks uh in August 25 to uh over 100
clicks uh unique clicks in the last edition. And when I say unique clicks, I refer to uh metrics that count each recipient only once. So it means that if one recipient of the newsletter clicked on more than one link, it's not it's not
being represented here. For you for uh single clicks, we have 353 um on the last edition. So it means that 353 times the links shared on our newsletter were accessed were clicked on
and it includes uh opportunities of workforce development um commercial property in town and many other uh uh opportunities for business owners and also for shoppers and residents. We want to make more and more
the newsletter a vehicle of communication not only with the business community but also with the commu the community at large. Um goal six of the strategic economic development action plan uh consisted of enhancing form
design and aesthetics in Actton's town districts. The progress that we have made in terms of go six was uh coordination with funding agencies because we depend on assessment and study technical recommendation to uh
improve this design and aesthetics. So conversations have uh advanced with some mass development map [clears throat] and other uh partners. I have the partners listed in the other um in the other slide. These are the most
important ones that the office of economic de development has been working with from 495 metro west partnership to SBA is score Massachusetts office of business development metropolitan area planning council just to mention a few.
Next please. The last goal uh set forth in the strategic economic development action plan consisted of exploring a designation of one or more cultural districts in town. We have made progress in this regards by conducting outreach
to stakeholders in South Actton. It's uh the understanding of the office and the under the the same understanding of the economic development committee that South Actton is the uh the part of the town that concentrates more assets [clears throat]
and we should uh assess carefully the possibility of having uh South Actton included in this in a future designation as a cultural district. Um the uh plan that I have here in my hands uh that comes from MAPC in itself uh addresses
the designation of a cult cultural district in Actton. We have uh at the same time worked uh with the vacant storefront program through a grant that we have secured one mile art fronts uh that will help attract uh art and
culture to certain areas in town through the businesses like collaboration business artists. Uh in regarding this program specifically, we've been working with Mobility City, which is a new business on Great Road, 155 Great Road,
and Adaptive Fitness and Movement at 425 Great Road uh to assist them in applying for a um um tax credit under their commitment to host a piece of artwork um in their property.
uh we've been so promoting collaboration between businesses and artists. This type of collaboration I chose I wanted to choose a picture that represents it uh the best I could. So we have here uh an image of uh the
community wellness fair uh that was held at Gold's Plaza in June 2026. You can see uh some uh art workshops uh in the front of the picture. uh they were uh uh conducted with the support of
the sustainability office and in the back of the picture you can see the businesses and organizations uh tableabling and interacting with the community. So it's a perfect uh representation of how uh one possible way that how how arts and businesses can
interact. Um the strategic economic development action plan also um uh included some geographic priority areas which are represented here on the map. We have uh two of the key areas
that were considered priority for the economic development committee last uh year which are number um seven South Actton and number six great road. These are two areas that uh the consulting
group uh pointed out as priority uh from a geographic standpoint. The next slide combines what the economic development action plan sees as a priority in geographic terms and what the cultural
arts strategic plan which is the new draft considers as a priority. You can see some overlap in terms of South Actton, Kelly's corner, West Actton, uh this area around the town hall and also
Great Road. What is represented here on in on the map on the right hand side is assets and opportunities identified by MAPC that make these areas eligible to uh be considered for uh the designation of cultural districts.
uh in order to explore specifically Great Road and the opportunities that Great Road uh can um uh provide, we are organizing the Great Road Stroll, which is an event that will be held on in
August in October on October 18th. This event intends to stimulate to encourage walkability along a great road and draw attention to the businesses, the plazas and the artwork and recreational assets.
So I would like to summarize uh going over the key uh topics that uh the office considers as the main goals for this fiscal year. continue the collection, analysis and compilation of
data. We want to make it um a a [clears throat] continuous process so that we can always revisit the expectations of the businesses and also update our database of local business local [snorts] businesses. We want to
continue supporting local businesses by disseminating information. And this information includes commercial property available in town, workforce development opportunities, loans, technical assistance among others.
Intensify regional collaboration to maximize infrastructure initiatives. We understand that by collaborating with neighbor towns, we can advance in programs that can be beneficial for the entire region. And we it will help us uh
uh maximize the the results of projects that we we know that will happen in the future including for example the project on on the rotary of route two. Uh we also intend to advance collaboration to
support the designation of one or more cultural districts in Actton. Advance initiatives that integrate arts, culture and economic development, and expand networking and partnerships to attract innovationdriven businesses
especially in the segments of technology and uh life sciences. So this is what I have for today. I would like to reinforce that the office of economic development is open to uh ideas, suggestions and interaction with
the community uh based on the uh uh speech of the first person today who uh is an acton resident uh leaving soon to Missouri. I guess uh we can just see how
uh uh how important community is for the town and uh I would like to reinforce that each member of the actton community each resident who wants to share their perspective is more than than welcome to the office. So my email is available on
the screen. Thank you. >> Thank you so very much. um your office is very very busy and I'm really glad um to have you come in and share all of the work that you're doing. I think a lot of
it happens behind the scenes. So, it's really important for for us to have you here before the board um so we can hear about this, but everybody who's watching tonight um or watching recordings in the future um I think that you know I see
you around town um locally, I'll see you popping into a business um and I also know that you're at the state house um cuz I follow some of our representatives on social media um and now you're international. So that is really good news. Um but I think that most of the
community um doesn't actually get that upfront uh you know view of of the hard work that you're doing every single day. So I'm glad to have you um present it here and hopefully uh there will be even more people who are subscribing to the
business boost or reading the economic development page in the municipal monthly. Um there's definitely um coverage in the act and exchange as well because I know that they do have a business beat reporter. Um and I'm assuming that you're reaching out to let
him know every time there's something that um is newsworthy that we want um more awareness of. Um I do have I have one question. And I know that there was some reorganization in the local chamber of commerce and
because you mentioned the international ones, is there a member of that local chamber of commerce on the economic development committee or do they come to meetings or how are they supporting us and is there more connection that can be
made um or more support that they can give? Well, this is actually a great idea to uh bring the Nashoa Valley Chamber of Commerce, for example, uh closer to the EDC. Uh so far, the um um connections
that we have created are mostly between the office uh and the president of the chamber through events uh events held in town, events held in other towns. uh but we can definitely um bring them closer
to the office uh by participating maybe in one of the next CDC meetings. >> Any comments, questions from board members? I'm going to start with Fran since you're our liaison to the EDC and I feel very derelct in my duties to
report the EDC because you are so busy and the committee is so busy and um it's they're like little bees in a hive busy working. Um but I love that you can tell
who's clicking on the the business boost newsletter. I think that's really cool information to have and I also love that you've been cross-pollinating with other towns. I think that's important too with Stow and May Maynard. But thank you,
Patricia. It was a great presentation. >> Thank you. >> Um I just want to say thank you for all the stuff you do. Uh especially how proactive you are. I've been around a couple of times when um you you've been able to uh work with a business who's
looking at town to try to find them the right storefront or the right facility. Um and then that's that's wonderful rather than just have them have them go elsewhere. Um, I am wondering, uh, now that we're, uh, getting very close to Kelly's Corner being finished and people
being able to walk between shops there, um, have you seen any increased interest there for the storefronts that are there and or do you expect that? Uh conversations are in progress with the group representing uh the plaza um
so that we can make sure that no uh storefront uh remains vacant and conversations have always made some progress over the past year with stop shop but uh for the former McDonald's
building which is um a concern for most residents I know and also I I want to share that it's also a concern for me Of course, we would love to see that storefront vacant, but many times uh the timing of the corporate decision making
process is different from uh what we envision and what we cons we consider ideal. So uh these conversations have not uh developed in the timing that we would like but I would like uh the members of the actton community to know
that we uh are actively uh looking for them to offer opportunities to discuss opportunities including grant opportunities and other financing opportunities if necessary to uh bring
uh uh an economic activity to that building. Excuse [snorts] [clears throat] me. Thanks. I really appreciated um your presentation. Um, I had a
and just to follow up on that becau um because you know one of the issues we hear a lot about is what's happening with all these empty storefronts and as Alyssa said a lot of your work is often behind the scenes. So I'm wondering if
you could just maybe elaborate a little bit more on all the work that you're doing to address that issue. Well, each uh property is unique in their own uh needs. Some um struggle
with the uh limitations in um uh [clears throat] septic capacities. So, uh I have recently worked with one specific property to try to identify opportunities to help the property owner uh finance the increase in septic
capacity that they would need to attract certain businesses. Other times it's just uh uh um uh informing them and connecting them to resources and making the introductions and the followup so that they can have access to grants when grants are uh available. This is not the
case of septic specifically because there are no grants for septic at commercial properties as far as far as I know and uh we we we we would would not be able to find a solution for the septic with grants but um we have
discussed and assessed all these possibilities with uh the agencies for example with mass development. Um so this is one example of how this has been conducted. Some properties uh some property owners to be more
exact. They own multiple properties in town [snorts] and their timing to have those properties filled is also not the same as what we would like to see. Uh so I've been working with them, showing
them opportunities and uh introducing uh businesses relocating in town, uh businesses coming to town and also uh uh trying to have them more engaged with the placemaking initiatives in town to
uh see if they can uh partner with the town for these art, culture and recreational options that we have we have envisioned. than planned for uh but uh this has not led to immediate
results. It's a process. It's really a process and I I uh I thank the act community for understanding this that any change uh of this magnitude of this type sometimes take takes a lot of
efforts and um I thank everyone for the patience with these specific cases specifically the properties that have been vacant for too long. uh sometimes for example we uh try underutilize the property program but the property owner
is not interested in that at the moment. So these are all limitations that we have to deal with on a daily basis. I have two other very quick questions. I think I think they'll be quick. um the um growth in your newsletter is
very impressive and I was just curious whether you're able to break down um between like residents or business owners so to tell like what groupings of people are interested in what and
clicking on what. I mean is are you able to get that level of data? I'm able to although I do not do not have the the the numbers here but I can tell you based on the feedback that I receive the more qualitative feedback
that I receive from the community. Many times um uh residents who want to start a business they mentioned that they saw a specific training opportunity on the newsletter and they want to know more because they want to start a business.
So what else does the office can the office suggest to them uh other than that training opportunity or workforce development opportunity that is listed there? Uh so it it just shows me that uh
the groups reading their newsletter are residents, businesses, and we also have the organizations, the local organizations, nonprofits that sometimes reach out to the office asking for an opportunity to have their events posted
there. Uh or uh to ask ask they ask the office to facilitate the connection with businesses. the uh introduction to businesses that may collaborate, partner or sponsor their activities. So there is a strong participation of the uh a
strong presence of uh nonprofits uh local and regional organizations reading the newsletter. But this is again based on the qualitative information that I have and not on metrics. [snorts]
And also for my final um I was really happy to hear about all the data collection that you're doing right now um you know with the students that you have doing it and I was just curious what point you are in that like have you
been able to gather enough to do some analysis yet and if so has there been anything surprising that's come out of that? [snorts] Um yes we have been able to compile based on to be honest about 30 uh
respondents so far. So uh we changed the the we we started with an approach that the volunteers were interviewing the businesses in person. They were uh scheduling to interview them in person but uh due to the limitation in capacity
and resources because we're dealing with volunteers and businesses. So both are busy their own way. Many times the business owners do not have the the the time to uh answer the the the the survey the moment that the volunteer is
available and the volunteer has the extra class time to do it during the school uh semester. So uh what we we we have worked in this in the sense of uh providing new methods for the businesses
to answer including a link that uh was shared for the first time in the last edition of the newsletter that business owners can click on and respond without being necessarily interviewed. So we have uh in terms of the findings that we
have been able to compile so far uh it has drawn our attention the number of businesses uh between one and five people working there including the own business the the very business owners.
So uh many small businesses and um also we have been able to uh hear from them in qualitative terms what they expect the town how they expect the town to help them and they always reinforce networking training opportunities. So
this is something that will help us guide our actions uh in the next months and years because they really need it. And many times they are so they they uh uh wear so many hats that they do not have the chance to see all to read
through the newsletter to see all the opportunities that are listed there. So we have to uh do the work of reaching out to them and informing besides just sharing the newsletter. So it's definitely clear that the work
of your office is is comprehensive. Um and I want to see if there's any questions from the public. But first, I will say that conversations that I've had, um, the short videos that were created by your predecessor, Julie
Pierce, um, business owners at Ribbon Cutting, they're communicating how incredibly helpful the Economic Development Office is. Um, they're saying things like, you know, they were there every step of the way. They made
things so easy. Um, so again, I'm really grateful that you're here presenting this information to us because I think that some folks in the community are maybe stuck in the past 20 years ago when it wasn't so um comprehensive. Um,
and you've just done an incredible amount of relationship building and it's really critical that you're gathering this information to find out exactly what kind of assistance business owners need here in the community. So, thank you for that. Um, are there any
questions in the room from folks or online? >> All right, I guess you answered everybody's questions. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. >> All right, we can move on to item number five, which is approve the ASF Parland
facility use and fees policy. inside of your packet. Um there is a revised draft policy that I can bring up on the screen and I can walk you through this very quickly. Um and this is in response to the conversation that was
had at the July 6th meeting and the feedback and I thank you all for um the notes and the feedback that you provided. Um so a couple of things as we work through the first was a change of the title. This now reflects the proper name of the facility.
Um there was also a question about limitation on participants and lining that up with the exact capacity of the indoor space and that was matched with the permit for 49. Originally we had 45 to create a little bit of space but we listed the actual capacity of the facility.
Uh we did fix the first bullet line under reservations. All reservations will go through the online portal system that is managed by the facilities department. So that's been adjusted. And then two areas you'll see bullet item four and five are
highlighted and we highlighted these specifically because these are changes in language that we'd like to get some feedback from the board. Uh the first one pertains to bumping and outlining clearly. uh what would constitute the need for bumping and how that would be
handled. Um it reads, "In the event of a previously approved usage request is bumped for a more urgent need, the town will work with the permit holder to identify an alternative location or date. The town will work to avoid disruption to communitywide events or programs held at the facility and
provide at least two weeks notification of need to relocate usage. The next bullet, uh, another item that is highlighted, this was feedback from board members regarding when a deposit would be needed and outlining that a
little bit clearly. And we offer up the following language. Examples of when a deposit may be required include usage by a category 2 or three entity that requires full building and lawn usage for large programs and events for an exterior period of time, 4 hours or
more. Security deposit will be half of the anticipated usage cost or $200, whichever is less. If you'd like to discuss those, I can stop here or I can continue through to outline some of the Okay.
Uh, another item was that was brought up was trash removal and clearly identifying when uh, trash should be removed and how it should be handled. And the second to last bullet here, uh, you'll see that we tweaked it a little bit. It says that all trash must be
placed in provided receptacles. Town facility staff will dispose of trash left in receptacles after event. Large items, cardboard boxes, food containers, beverage containers, etc. must be broken down and placed next to receptacles. They're too large. They must be removed
and disposed of by the permit holder. Uh signage was another item. That's the last bullet point here. Permit holders may place temporary signage on site during the event. Allowable temporary signage includes wayfinding, user group or uh event identification, and event or
program details. And then the last bullet point here pertains to the exterior bathroom usage. Uh the recommended edit here would be access to the exterior bathroom may be requested
through a usage permit application. Requested access outside of normal town hall operating hours were include will incur an hourly fee for staff monitoring and maintenance custodial fee. And then going further down into the
group classification and the fee structure, the last section of the first paragraph under the fee uh rental fee structure reads additional support requiring town resources such as additional building maintenance before
or after an event due to the type of usage or additional staff support to help prepare for an event will incur additional hourly fees outlined below. That's added because there was some discussion about including some clarification on what inside of category
1, two, and three for custodial fees would require additional costs. There is one item that was changed under custodial kitchenet and AV fees for a better reading. Uh the first bullet point category one users may opt to
cover the custodial and AV setup in lie of fee. In category one, if you recall up here, that's primarily town affiliated groups, departments, boards, committees, and events that are sponsored by town departments or committees. So, those are all of the
edits to the draft policy that was discussed July 6th. Um, I'm happy to further discuss them or take in any more comments. >> Thank you. Um, I I do definitely appreciate all of the additional details. um to make everything clear uh
especially with things like trash and you know custodial tasks. Um this is not something that needs to be included in the policy but um because beverage containers was mentioned I would love to
see dedicated um recycling for bottles like plastic bottles and aluminum cans at this site. Um, I guess it it is confusing to me that it says that items should be placed next to
receptacles, but the example of large items is food containers and beverage containers. So I I can imagine like a giant plastic tray from you know some catering place that has um sandwiches on it would definitely
be a large container but for food but what would be a a beverage container that's large like a Dunkin Donuts coffee [laughter] cardboard bucket. >> It it could be it could be something like that. Um when I was discussing
this, some of the things that we're thinking about are cartons of water or um cases of water where you have the large >> okay >> um cardboard piece at the bottom and the plastic. Uh we're also thinking of cases of soda if somebody brought um a 24 pack
of Diet Coke into the building. Uh we're just asking people to be able to break down. Um, some of the concern would be in experiences in other areas would be people, not that it would happen here, but just in case people would use that and leave that on a table and not break it down and move it over because it's
not trash in their eyes. It's recycling, which is why we're asking to move it next to the receptacle. Um, for your comment about uh recycling bins, that can just be something that's added as part of operations outside of the permit >> or outside of the policy.
>> Okay. Um the other feedback that I have is I understand um that I think it was David who wanted some um clarity on what priority use meant. When I read you know
priority will be given to this group over this group. I think of it as a couple of applications come in and before they are approved, if it's a town committee um versus somebody who wants
to have a you know 50th wedding anniversary party for their parents on the same day, the priority is going to go to the town committee. I'm really uncomfortable with this. Um, and maybe other people will not read it that way,
but the possibility that I could be approved for a date and then a couple weeks from the date, I could get bumped. And I understand that the town is going to be working with me to find another location. Um, but what if it's a 50th
wedding anniversary party and, you know, I have friends, friends and family coming from, well, not friends, but family coming from out of town. So, I'm just wondering if if everybody else's understanding of priority use means two requests for the same day and the same
time, and we're gonna we're going to um approve this one over another one cuz it would be it would be a terrible thing if people had, you know, plane tickets to come to a party and then
guess what? It's changing the date. And was that you, David, who brought that up? Do you want to speak to that? Yeah. So I I also did speak with uh Tom a little bit before you know this over this past week about that. Um I understand the the thing that's why I
wanted to understand the thing uh the the the what was meant by priority. I'll say a couple things. One is some of the bigger events that people outside the town would uh you know not town entities would have would be weekend events and they're very unlikely to be town
oriented things on or they're less likely to have town oriented things and the example Tom gave to me and maybe he can go into it before is it can happen now where someone reserves room 204 and then we have an urgent town need for room 204 and we find we ask them to move
to the library or something like that. So, that's the kind of thing that Tom mentioned to me. Um, uh, you know, it does say we're try try not to bump you. Um, but anyway, uh, that's the, uh, try not to make it happen, but
if it happens, >> Dean, >> yeah, we we wrestled with this years ago um, when we moved into this building after it was renovated. Um, and because we were so worried about making sure that we didn't incomode
somebody that, you know, and bump them at the last minute, we basically said that town hall would only be used uh for town boards and committees. And I think that might be overly restrictive. Over a period of time, I very rarely saw
an opportunity, a situation where you had a conflict and you had to move people out. So, I I agree with David. I think it's a would be an extremely rare event and I would be the the possibility of these sorts of
things I would see would be for instance the EOC at the public safety facility which we're not talking about here. Um, if you'd booked that and then you had a hurricane come up the coast or some other natural disaster, obviously town
needs would take priority. But I don't see that a uh a seasonal facility like we've got at the ASA parliament house is really going to very often get into pumping situation. I also have had some situations I'm
aware of uh with my relationship with the conservation commission that occasionally they end up getting bumped from one room to another within the building here just because of other needs. But I I think we're probably creating more of
something to fear than is actually going to happen. >> That's very helpful. Maybe we can just include in the extremely rare event >> [laughter] >> Um because if a committee had to move to a different location, we've got a lot of
other facilities um that they can easily get to and that they're used to um besides the ASF parliament house. It's closer, but you know, we've got the public safety facility, the recreation center. >> John, did you want to say something? >> I think um I think having a priority for
town boards and committees is is an appropriate thing to have in a policy like this. I think we would we would exercise reason in enforce in implementing this policy. I mean, there are several times where I've had to tried to have a meeting in this room that it's been booked by the garden
club or by the conservation trust and we just found another space. And so, I can see plenty of scenarios where there's a 50th anniversary party at that building and we say, "Okay, we'll find another place." I mean, >> yeah, >> unless there's some kind of emergency, I don't see how we would need to do this.
I think it's just important to have in the policy that this is a town facility and that those groups would get priority. I it's not saying that it's going to be kicking everybody out. It's just saying they'll have priority. >> Yeah, I understand that and um I
understand that there definitely needs to be a priority for town uses. It was just the the language that was concerning. But if we can describe that really clearly that it's a it's a a rare event. Um
Pan, so when you say town uses, is it specifically committee meetings? So we're not charging committees to meet there, are we? But we would possibly charge a wedding
party or so I don't know what the priority would be but I'm always like dollar sign. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> So the priority would be town use. >> Okay. Okay. >> It would be we would use discretion. >> Yeah. Like I said it wouldn't it
wouldn't be black and white. It wouldn't be black or white. >> Yes. I know that. I understand that. I agree with it. and we're going to be short this 204. So, we will be meeting there. >> We will definitely be needing ASF parland for for meetings. Um, the other
question that I have, well, that was more of a comment. I do have a question. What is a town affiliated group? because the bulleted examples um that are right underneath
municipal government use or town affiliated group is only describing municipal government use like departments and and boards and committees. So, I'm just wondering if if it's a group that the town is a member of
um or has a partnership with. I think um energize actton is the one that I mentioned at our last meeting. So town affiliated groups and town municipal government use but then the bullets are just municipal government
use examples. I mean we're a member of MMA. So is that a town affiliated group? Not really. Maybe. I don't know. like are we going to charge them if they want to have a an event in this space
>> or energize act >> sure and I'll try to add a little bit of detail to it so the thought behind that when we had met I think the first time in June and discussed it we had talked about if a department was working with
Patricia mentioned MAPC so if Patricia is holding a group or a community meeting sponsored by MAPC but the economic development department is clearly part of it. Then that group would pull the permit, they'd be affiliated group of a town department and then they would fall in category
one. And when that was typed out, that's one of the groups that was thought of. If we were to hold a community um outreach for say we were designing town hall and we were for the HVAC project and we were back at step one. It would
be a community outreach project that's supported by town departments but it's really led by uh Sal O'Brien and PMA. So they would be the names who would be publicized um as part of it. So when we thought about town affiliated groups it
was more in that setting. Okay, that that helps. And it looks like the second bullet covers covers that the sponsored by town departments and committees. David, so I you can think about this and you don't have to answer.
Where does the League of Women Voters uh candidate forum fall? Right. If they want to have if the if the weather's warm enough in April to have their candidate forum uh for local elections, uh can they hold it in that building? And is that town affiliated? You don't
have to answer that question. You could or we charging them $50 to do that, right? So, um we we we should just think think about that. Um the other thing I wanted to think, you also don't have to change the policy for this and I asked this question last time and I just want you guys to think about this so we know
where we're going. There are multiple times a year where the library has outdoor events. Um I'd like the library to be able to use the outdoor restroom um um somehow, right? And I know that's just an internal policy. Um uh uh but I
you know whether it's um uh they sponsor part of Junth they do holy they do other things um outside you know near the Goddard uh Goward playground and so um any I I think we should allow that but I'll leave that to
you. I don't think that requires a change in the wording at all. It just for something for you guys to think about. Any other comments? Does anybody want to make a motion?
Thank you, Tom, for your work on this. I didn't know it was going to be so complicated. >> Neither did you. Did you? >> It's been fun. >> Before I make the motion, did you want to make any specific edits because or should I say as in the packet? Um, does
does anybody have an objection to adding in extremely rare? [laughter] >> Okay. Very well. [laughter] >> I I I I think it it >> How about rare? Is rare. Okay. >> Somewhat rare. [laughter]
I I I I'll I'll make the the motion that the the board approve um the uh uh policy for the ASAP polar house as in the uh as is in the packet.
>> Can amend that second. >> All right. Can I make one more suggestion? Can we change bumped to superseded? Bumped just sounds so rude. That's I think that's what I'm having a problem with. Not not so much the like I understand that there's going to be
discretion. It's going to be rare and it's going to be an emergency. Does that make sense? >> I don't see what's wrong with the word bumped. I think it's commonly used when you talk about airline reservations, for instance. >> Oh, which I also don't think
>> I I I don't I don't like and think it's rude. >> So, can can I just give you another example? No, I don't want another example. If you guys don't have any problem with it as written, then I am not going to get a second to my suggested edit. So, let's just vote.
>> All right. All in favor? >> I I Any opposed? Any abstensions? All right. That passes unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Have we been have folks been using the
ASAP Harland House or are you waiting for the policy to >> We we've had uh we had well we had that uh opening event. We had the um Faulner awards and we had >> uh one uh labor relations meeting with one of the unions. Um
>> other than that, no. Uh people have been sitting out on the porch or the patio or I don't know what you call it, but >> nice. Uh but no, we're I think people are excited to use it. And um it actually isn't that hot in there. Even though it was 90 degrees last week, it wasn't that bad. >> Cool. Thank you.
>> And the outdoor restroom has also been used. So the Junth event, it was opened and I think it was unlocked and locked automatically. Um all right, let's move on to item number seven, which is to discuss the water resources advisory committee role
in the MS4 permitting process. And just for time sake, I will call the water resources advisory committee rack. Um, so Actton is required to update its municipal separate storm sewer system or
MS4 permit every 5 years with the Massachusetts Department of uh Environmental Protection and the federal EPA. Um, RACK has been asked by engineering staff to review this permit and the town's updated storm water management plan. Um, the work is going
to be brought inhouse relying on um the skills of our new town engineer assistant DPW director which will save us money which is a good thing. Um so in 2022 for the last update of the plan the
town contracted with um contracted with Woodard and Curran. Um so doing it in house um is something that we can do now that we have Evan White on on board and bringing Rack into the process to review the updated plan will
serve the town's efforts um for improving increasing public education and outreach. So, RACK is eager to take on this task. Um, they might also contribute to the annual report that's due at the end of the year. And I just
wanted to bring this back to the board and make sure that everyone supports having RACK do this task or tasks that has been requested by staff. And speak now or forever. Hold your peace.
Okay. So, um I don't think we need a specific vote um for approval. Everybody supports that. So, thank you very much for agreeing to do this work. Did you want to add anything to that, John?
No. Okay. Um our final item under new and special business is to discuss the first meeting of the actin leadership group. So our first meeting is Do you want to introduce us? >> Thank you. So we have our first meeting
July 22nd, which is Wednesday. We're meeting at noon in this room and virtually and we typically try to start at the end of the summer. Uh but we wanted to get a jump on it this year. Uh so we're starting now. U I did we did
just publish today the ALG plan in the ALG meeting packet if if anyone wants to check it out. Uh we're starting the year the planning for FY28 year uh with a deficit that we had anticipated. Uh it was published in the town meeting warrant that we were going to have a
deficit of just over 3.5 million to uh balance uh which sounds like a lot but it's not much more than we balance every year. Uh may maybe slightly higher than normal but uh I think it's something that we can work towards. Uh we did get
pretty good news with state aid uh when the governor signed the budget uh recently. It was 100 about 100,000 more than we had projected. So uh the deficit is now 3.4 million um for FY28. So we're we're already making progress and we
haven't even started yet. >> [snorts] >> Um but I think it'll be a good discussion uh Wednesday with members of the school committee and the finance committee and select board and we'll help to um sort of set the table for the discussions about revenue and
revenue sharing uh that we have every year. Um, I think we wanted to add it to the agenda tonight just to make sure that board members were aware that it was starting early and if there's anything sort of left over from last year's process uh that you wanted to
remind your representatives about or questions that you want to ask your representatives uh before we we get get started on Wednesday. >> Thank you. Um on Wednesday we'll also have an FY26 update. Is that correct on the agenda?
As well as discussing the >> Yes. >> multi-year financial plan. >> All right. >> Would you like me to do a preview of that? >> Um, what do you think? >> Yes. Thumbs up. >> Okay. [clears throat] So, the preview is
um uh something that budget director Ellie Anderson and I were working very closely on uh within the last month. Um, and so that work is still being finalized, but um, we are exceeding our revenue projections by more than a
million dollars. Uh, which is good news. I think local receipts were much stronger than we had anticipated. Primarily investment income. We every year we budget this for investment income and this year we received this. Uh, and I think it's not really responsible for us
to plan on getting this again next year. So, I think it makes sense to keep our budget here, but it's it's good news. It's money that'll go back in. Uh the other thing that uh came in pretty strong was uh motor vehicle excise tax. People are still buying cars uh apparently. Uh so that's that's good. In
terms of the turnback, uh we are closing the books, you know, still closing the books right now. Uh we have a turnback. Uh we didn't spend all the money in FY26. The turnback is uh in the 1 to 2% range. um which is where we thought it
would be and um you know that number is still being finalized but um so we ended the year in pretty good shape and um we're set up for our starting to plan uh and work towards u FY28.
>> Great. That is good news. Thank you. Um, and I have a recollection that our deficit at the beginning of the budget season last year was 4 a.5 million. So, I feel like this is a lot better news than than last year. Um,
I'll just mention that everyone is aware that we're going to need a DUT exclusion for the public works facility. Um, but the timing has not been sorted out just yet. And Dean, you mentioned um the every [clears throat] two weeks meeting.
I think that was with the working group, not the the building um committee, but maybe um I think you said that the new estimate was maybe coming in August, but you could maybe provide us with an update on when we can expect that and
when the next um DPW building committee meeting is is going to be scheduled. Sure. Um I'll make some general comments first about the process with ALG. Um
I'll just confirm what John has said and what most of us know is every year it looks really grim and every year we manage to work our way out of it almost all the way if not all the way. Um I and thank you madame chair for
recommending that we take a look at the uh recordings of the most recent finance committee meeting. Um because I I think what it brought to me is you know finance committee rightly is
looking far into the future and that's certainly important that they do that. But I think, you know, some of the discussion they had recently about, you know, we're going to have to decide to have an override and they were they seemed a bit panicked about this and
that some kind of a decision is going to be made in the short term like the next month or so. And I think cooler heads prevailed in the meeting and very much it's well there's a lot of things that we have to know between now and when we
make that decision. And I think to decide prematurely that we're going to need an operating override without having sorted things out. I think that's just, you know, it's
really jumping the gun. The uh so I I think it's important that everybody kind of takes a breath and realizes, you know, we're we're only what 3 weeks into the new fiscal year. So lots of things are going to become
much more clear over the next two months. There was a statement made uh that someone had heard the legend that in previous years we would never think about an general operating override unless we talked
about it at the town meeting before. And I know Greg Jarbo was on the select board basically when prompt 2 and a half got passed and he had no recollection of that ever happening. And I would just add my voice to that as well. I I was
hired as a department head in 1980 basically when Prop 2 and A2 passed and for the next 35 years I dealt with Prop 2 and a half and we never had a situation where we would have to decide 12 months in advance that we're going to
go for an override. Um you could read the tea leaves, you could get some ideas, but it's not like we had to do a a pre-presentation 12 months in advance. um because everything is such a moving target, the
sorts of things that'll happen. You know, who would have thought 3 months before the pandemic hit that we were going to get hit with that and the huge impact that it would have and there's so many other variables that you just can't plan on. So,
you need to look towards the future, but you don't want to be fixated on it. Some of the other things speaking specifically about public works building um they we will be developing uh or the
contractor and PMA will be developing uh additional estimates the to supplement the ones that we had going into town meeting and I know there's some back and forth about exactly when we might expect that. I don't think that there will be a
new estimate for the building at our meeting in the end of August, but I think there'll be one a couple of months after that. I'm looking to Tom to confirm that because there was a bunch of emails back and forth after our last meeting.
>> Uh that's correct. It's looking more as a late September, early October when we're in design development. >> Right. Um, so that's that's an interesting thing. Um, what
I've seen so far is uh as the building plans progress, they've actually been able to simplify the building in some ways. um that has not changed the functionality of the building or the size, but just some things about um you
know, deleting some retaining walls, um being able to move some entrances around, that sort of thing. So, um and we never know where the construction market is. Our estimators keep an eye on that, but um I don't think there's going
to be any big surprises. Um no big changes coming up. And then the other point obviously that it's going to have to be discussed is if there is a need for an general operating override next year, which I'm
not sure that there's going to be a need, but if there is, where does that lie in the ballot in addition to the appropriation for the DPW building?
Now just from a point of view of fiscal responsibility we have spent between the first appropriation for design and the most recent appropriation which we're spending now for design we taxpayers will invested somewhere
around help me Tom $1.5 million in design and those decisions were made with the full support of the select board and the support of the finance committee both
times and town meeting and I think the building that we'll bring forward will probably be pretty much the way it was outlined and the prices that were outlined at town meeting uh most recently in May
to decide at some point that oh well for political reasons we want to kick the DPW project another year down the road or two years or three years or whatever that would, in my opinion, would be totally irresponsible and a total waste
of the taxpayers's money. So, as you can imagine, I'm somewhat passionate about this, but I think it's really important that no matter what calculus you use as to whether there's
operating override and debt exclusion or one or the other or and which one gets to be on the top of the ballot, I think that's really important. But I think it's the most important thing for me anyway is to make sure that that we don't just flush $1.5 million worth of
design money down the toilet because you think well now is an inconvenient time to do this. So I think those are the sorts of points that I think should be discussed early on in ALG
and I know obviously it was discussed a bit at that most recent finance committee meeting which I thought was very helpful. Um, but I think, you know, those are the items I'd focus on. And,
you know, don't get panicked because we're we've got an on paper deficit of $3.4 million because they always end up magically dissolving and the magician is right over there. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Dean. That was those comments were very helpful. Um, yes, I will say that we are not asking for an operating override um, at this point. And I will remind everyone that we have $1.2 million remaining in our untaxed levy
capacity. And we've discussed here, I'm pretty sure that, you know, we're wondering if there would be support for such an override or whether or not it's necessary. Um, but I will say, you know,
fixating on the future, maybe panicking is the role of the finance committee. So, I will I will allow them to do that. I I'm definitely not panicked. Um, and I do feel passionately about the public works facility, the need for it, the
support that is expressed for it. Um I there is no one who denies that that we need to including the members of the finance committee that we need to um replace the spaces
that staff are working in. So so that is a good thing. Are there any other comments Pam? >> I think just [clears throat] a little small piece to add to that. Um, like one of our short-term goals for this year
was to look at, examine, publicize potential operational efficiencies. So, it seems that that's an important work as part of this as well,
you know, before jumping to, you know, planning an override. >> David So yes, I agree with um everything that's been said so far except for the magically dissolved part. Um uh you
usually we we you know we solve the deficits that are in the model through uh uh work and you know uh cutting things that are you know selectively cutting things or postponing things either on the school district side or
the town side or or or both. Um, I I also want to just emphasize again that because I've heard I I've heard in social media and in conversations around town people concerned that um uh this is related to everything that's been said
so far that that an operational override is a fat complete. It's certainly not. It's not we there's no decision made. There's honestly been no decision made. I no one up here is being cute saying it's not decided when it, you know, kind
of is obvious. You know, nobody knows it. We don't know that it's not. We don't know that it is. Um, you know, I I have my own personal uh um leanings in what I think think will happen, but I I I think that uh you know, we've honestly
not no one is before the first um ALG meeting is way too early to say that we've defin we're definitely going to have an operational override. One of the things that's key here is that I believe that Boxboro is closer to their levy limit than Actton is. [clears throat]
and where you know what Boxboro decides to do there will um have an effect on our assessment from the school district. So um that that's a a huge thing which we you know will will stair step up with
Foxboro along the way. Um, finally I'll say that the the ALG model is especially in out years and this is a little bit difficult to explain to town meeting is inherently pessimistic. It is
inherently really pessimistic. um it it increases the the the the deficits in the farout years a lot and there's and it's difficult to correct that pessimism without making certain assumptions and we don't like to make these assumptions
ahead of time until they're proven. And so the the pessimism stays in that in that model until we can can show the the u the optimistic results like we haven't you know uh and we won't for months have
a a settled um uh audit of of last year and nor will Boxboro and nor will the school district. In fact, the school districts last last year took them into into this year. It took them I think more than six months. Their their auditor took a really long time. So um
anyway, I just wanted to say to to to folks that there's nobody knows and it's not it's not a simple binary decision. Some people also talking about it being either this way or that. It is not just this way or that. There are amounts involved. Right. So it can be this way
with this amount or that way with another different amount. Thanks. >> Thank you. I think that's the first time I've heard you call it pessimism. Um usually we call it conservative. you know, the assumptions. I mean, we just heard about one of those um in the
update from John about FY26 that we had higher than projected local receipts and excise taxes. Um but conservatively, responsibly, we're not going to we're going to keep it level. We're not going
to jump up and expect that we will see that again next year. So, um, it definitely I've heard you say it compounds, um, because of all of the assumptions, um, in every line item. Well, not every line item, but most of the line items for the multi-year.
>> Can I go to Fran first? >> I have a quick question in that. When was this switch to the multi-year model? Like the seven-year model, was it always seven years? Uh well, when I first got here 8 years
ago, the the ALG plan had two years beyond the year that we were planning. And so within the last 5 years, we've added made it a fiveyear plan instead of a three-year plan. >> So two years is less pessimistic. All right. So, I think we'll move on.
Thank you all for that input. Um, we are moving on, if I can find my agenda, to consent items. Item number nine, approve executive session minutes from July 6, 2026.
Item 10, approve use of town roads for the tour to cure on August 16, 2026. I forgot my progressives. And second, bikes not bombs on October
4th, 2026. Item 11, notification of approval of a one-day malt and wine license application for Rebecca Martiniano at Narrow Park Picnic Pavilion on July 18, 2026.
Item 12, approve a one-day malt and wine license for St. Elizabeth of Hungary at 89 Arlington Street on October 3rd, 2026. Item 13, approve request to amend business name of common viddler from
Dunkin Donuts to Dunkin Donuts/Jimmy John's at 100 Powdermill Road. Item 14, accept a donation of $1,500 from Friends of the Council on Aging to be deposited in the Actton Fire Department gift account number 3158.
Item 15, appoint David Krueger as an associate member to the land stewardship committee with a term to end June 30, 2027. Item 16, appoint Trevor Neil as a full member of the economic development committee with a term to end on June
30th, 2029. And item 17, accept $100 donation from the United Church of Christ Congregational of Boxboro for the annual Pride Festival. May I have a motion? >> Move to approve consent items 9 9
through 17 exclusive. Inclusive. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? And any abstensions? That passes unanimously. >> Move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> Any opposed? Any abstensions? We are adjourned. Thank you.