[Music] good even everyone today is Tuesday February 25th 2025 it is 400 PM this is a meeting of the board of Selectmen is there a motion to call the meeting to
order so move second all those in favor this meeting will be audio and video recorded please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge to the flag of the United States of America to theic for it stands one
nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right first on the agenda there have some meeting minutes um is there a motion to approve meeting minutes for November 26
2024 December 11th 2024 and December 17th 2024 so move Mr chairman I wasn't at the 26th so rather than kind of confuse things I just won't make a motion I won't second it you guys can do it okay I'll second all those in favor
all Mr chairman if I could just point out one thing yes sir I don't know if you notice these minutes here but just a subtle point we are utilizing chat GPT or AI to get these minutes moving yep and talking with
Sydney it's something that she's taken on and taking on that initiative and it's a eventually cut the time in half um I think the the detail is just as good if not better than it's ever been and so I
think the more we can look at using technology to create efficiencies not only in our office but within Town Hall all total is uh I think will be a benefit to to everybody because that's that's the only way we can stretch dollars is to create efficiencies and so
thank you Sydney for for taking that on we hope to utilize this with other boards yeah who have to do minutes and that's a very cumbersome task so anyway good for you Sydney thank youc thank you CD all
right open town meeting War Mr Kelly do you need a motion to actually open the town meeting L yes since we published a timeline uh and we're going to
tentatively close uh with the vote of the board on March uh March 18th March 18th all right gentlemen is there a motion to open the fiscal year 2016
chrishna annual town meeting warrant with all articles to be submitted to the town clerk's office or the board of select's office by the close of business on Tuesday March 18th 2025 so second all those in favor all right looks like we have
some articles in our book that have already been submitted those don't have to be reviewed they're just will continue the L as we as we go okay some of it is noticed from various
departments yeah there's a couple from the planning board I see here I'd like to run through some details too before and look at them actually see what's changing on those Mr chairman on the planning board articles there there's one comment on the solar bylaw if review the solar bylaw they just
kicked off their first solar um uh felic installation under the new byw and definitions definitely need to be added to it for clarity for the planning board Perfect all right all right so gentlemen uh take a
look at these when you get a chance and if you have any questions you CH to Mr Kelly or the department head subit all right number two hiring frees uh Mr Kelly we are only going to temporarily put a hiring
freeze in place correct until barring the finance department the uh once finances clarify and you know if there going to be layoffs if it's going to be nonfilling
and unfunded of vacant positions or what but uh is it number one it's not fair to hire someone and have to lay them off 3 months four months later and number two
you'd owe that person unemployment Mr chairman you know what do we call it you know hiring freeze hiring pause hiring review I think regardless it's a good practice before we fill a position we have a
conversation and do a critical review of that function how it operates how the overall you know um business is is running is an opportunity to consolidate is there an opportunity to divvy out the the
responsibilities um but I just you know I think we've talked about it to just do the same old same old well the position's open let's just fill it and not think about it um so you know how would we do this moving forward any open position we should review that before
deciding whether or not to to fill it sure uh you know the same capacity I do think there's opportunities to consolidate um if we if we look if we think hard enough about how to do it and we're creative and reward people that you know want a career advancement yep
um you know so anyway that's my thoughts on that all right I will say that we do actually have a couple of appointments tonight for necessary positions um so barring those necessary positions that directly affect the livelihood of the
town and the town's people um just for reference the appointments that we have later on in the agenda aren't affected by this particular hiring freeze is there a motion to implement uh there's a motion to establish a temporary prohibition on filing any
filling any vacant positions in other words a hiring free as of February 26 2025 this temporary hiring freeze will not apply to positions within the finance departments or other necessary positions so move second all those in
favor I all right with that being said uh we also finally found a great candidate for our assistant Town accountant uh Jamie ly Velasquez um I believe Mr Gasper and Mr Kelly had the
uh opportunity to sit down with her and she's here tonight um welcome if you'd like to introduce yourself to everybody and say a few words about yourself yes my name is Jamie and I live close by live in freet toown I'm about 18 19
years I've worked municipality i' worked multiple areas so I have great experience and thorough knowledge of all the laws and know House of how they all work and I look forward to working with
everybody in town and seeing how my knowledge can help you guys out excellent Mr chairman I I I was uh fortunate enough to interview Jamie Lynn um and above all other candidates she was topnotch um I think resume speaks
for herself certainly does and uh I look forward to having her in this um position of assistant Town accountant we all know that the vacancies in our finance department so I look forward to having Jamie Lynn filled out void in our assistant Town accountant
position right perfect there's a motion to appoint Jamie Lind Vasquez to the position of assistant Town accountant subject to any recruitment negotiations at a salary of $60,000 so second all those in favor hi welc board congratulations thank you
thank you jam Lyn see you tomorrow uh Mr Kelly in that regards to um I was informed by The treasur Collector um that somebody in accounting needs to set up a PF for her before
tomorrow um so I believe Whoever has to handle that if you can get the correct rate over the J so she can file that so there's no hiccups police insurance the ra shouldn't vote Mr chairman I would just advise that we do have to talk to the
steel workers on that position of our intentions of moving forward and have a letter of employment written up to discuss with the Union but um under the management rights we have the authority to do what we're doing tonight so absolutely it's just something for us to
bet out with the Union absolutely make sure we follow the protocol to the contract all right Mr Kelly I believe this is just an authorization to expend the insurance proceeds in the past uh Mr chairman the limit was
50,000 the state has changed the limit and uh under advice of councel uh we discussed with him how that motion because it's no longer part of the town meeting vote it's just a vote
of the board of Selectmen in Town Council said to note the claims number the amounts and for the a basic description of what the uh claim was to
repair so where' the chief go right this this has already been work performed correct Chief yes yes certainly it was like I want to say it was like $120,000 I think in total somewhere somewhere that um but due to
the lightning strike which happened in May some things had to be repaired as soon as possible just because the building itself wasn't safe and the computer systems themselves were wen't destroyed um so that that work that was
completed uh that vendor has been very kind to us holding that bill for us since since J I think some of the work was done in the end of May maybe June sometime and then once that the the
initial thing uh got completed some of the Gremlins came out and it was discovered that all of that needs to be fixed also so that was one of the issues that we uh we ran into but we certainly by authorizing this by you guys doing this we can pay them and then we still
have a lot more work that has to be completed because some of the stuff that's some of the hardware that's in there is end of life it was put in there when the building was first up and running so I think we carried some of that equipment from the old would be
surprised new building you know I wouldn't be surprised if we did so moving forward we can have irit look at certain things that need to be done we have an agreement we have a service agreement with with the companies that do our work now you know what I mean so it's just a matter of replacing the stuff that needs that's at end of life
which is critical because it's essentially duct taping uh zip ties right now thank you Mr chairman I'll move to authorize the chief of police to expend the proceeds from the insurance payments claims number 226 28573 in the amount of
15441 3 dat 75 2024 and claim number 226 28573 in the amount of $15,512.71 for repairs for the equipment during the lightning straight second all those in
favor Mr chairman Mr Kell uh I would like the board to know that the Chiefs and sent fonts fought like hell with the insurance
company and worked with our insurance agents to fight like hell with the ins insurance company I think it was some insurance company of South Carolina yeah of course it's never anybody right you know right down the
street that and uh they increased the amount substantially from the original offer and uh I think the board should know that it was yman work and they did
great work doing that I re remissed if I didn't push that back on Sant F because he was our contact person and uh Jeremy I appreciate all the work and certainly the board does thank you we
appreciate that because I believe the original offer was substantially lower was it yes that's good good work all right uh next up police Sergeant appointment so under Chief Richmond uh
we were're able to authorize the gentlemen and Ladies of the offici police force to take the sergeant exam and it looked like we had a total of seven that took it uh seven off yeah seven took it and uh yeah six
we have six uh six that passed I believe excellent um so for me personally I can say that the exemplary records of every officer in this town means a lot to me and means a lot to the public and I've had convers with every one of you and I
want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for protecting our town my family and everybody around here and I look forward to working with you guys for a very long time ahead right so as the board of Selectmen
we are to review the top three scores of the sergeants exam top three scores were Adam he Ryan Hempfield and Courtney saw uh Chief I'm going to turn this over to you uh tell us a little bit about the process and well I mean you you pretty
much hit the nail right on the head so September we had the exam but civil services as you guys certainly know and if anybody out there that doesn't understand that it's a process so uh the officers that took the
test um in September the grades were finalized by civil service in January um once uh former Chief Richmond left and I was moved into into his current roll that left the void in the in a
patrol sant's uh I guess slot slot if you will and uh the grades came out I notified you guys as soon as it was certified that we have a list and I'd like to you know move
forward you guys took the ball from there we're finally here tonight um the three gentlemen that are on the list that you mentioned officer Adam heit a detective Ryan hempell and officer Courtney SS I'll just give you just a real brief uh
synopsis um in no particular order officer heit graduated from the training council's Police Academy in 2018 he currently holds a master's degree and criminal justice and he works Patrol 8 to4 uh DET detective hemp Hill graduated
from the police academy in 16 he's got a Bachelor's degree in criminal justice he's currently in the detective division as I mentioned um officer saw was uh we were able to get a great candidate through a lateral transfer she was worked at Fitchburg State University
Police uh she worked there for a couple years uh we were able to grab her in 2023 and she also hold a massive criminal justice so quite honestly it's a win-win for the town any candidate out of the three that you choose is going to
fit seamlessly in that role um and they're all here tonight if a candidates pool no no no it's it's it's you know quite honestly when we go if we go further down it's it's you're going to see the same you know what I mean you'll see the same thing the candidate pool as
it moves down is even better you know what I mean it was just uh the reason the Civil Str give you the uh the the particular order that you mentioned is is is basically the scores you know what I mean and uh they rank them by by score
yeah so if all like I said all three of here tonight if you have anything for them feel free to shoot at them or uh but uh you guys are the hiring Authority when it comes to this I can't just say yeah I want all three
unfortunately because you just put a hiring freeze I think you did that on purpose but um but yeah like I said three technically they were already hired so well that's true but I mean I'd love to make them all Sant right now so Mr chairman I I I'll touch based
on what um Chief kuu just said right so we have a you three individuals particularly have a unique opportunity at the timing of the sergeant exam right if if you look forward in the department you look at things that the the way the ball's moving right now this list is
good for two years right so me being me I can look forward and say there's probably a really good opportunity regardless whoever's chosen tonight all three I would believe at some point in the next two years can make that um promotion to Sergeant right I agree um I
think the way we look at you know knowing what I know about the department is seeing the way the ball's bouncing right now this there's a really good chance and this list is good for two years it's only a month old um so regardless of who that choice may be keep your chin up keep doing the job
that you've been doing um over your careers here in the town of a Kush and and I can honestly say as Mr inkley said God bless all of you for doing what you do right and it's two years uh sorry Mr gas but it is 2 years from the date it was certified not when they took it in
September that's correct it's only a month January a mon right so I mean basically two full years right so um going back to what I was saying God bless all of you for doing what the job that you do every day and protecting the citizens of aush and elsewhere um in the
surrounding area kudos to all of you you all deserve it we only have one position at this point um as we look forward we'll see what happens but again I do believe there's an opportunity um moving forward over the next two years that you know both of you can make it into that
spot whoever it may be the last two that opportunity is still there so keep your chin High continue doing the hard work that you do um and opportunities will come for whoever the two are that aren't given the opportunity tonight to be
promoted the sergeant thank you I will say Mr chair if you want a motion I can Mr wer doesn't have anything to say I me this is how I feel about the Police Department fire department like when we have these promotions whether we get into the chief
and Sid it's like me having to pick who my favorite kid is right like and I don't and I say that like I don't use the kid the term kid pejoratively like you know you're all important to the town all important to me personally I've seen a lot of you grow in the position
um and that's really great to see so you know whoever we decide today again it's based on I look at it you take a test for reason and and everybody has a great credentials based on its score um but as Mr Gasper said if you don't get it tonight hang in there plenty of
opportunity to grow we just ask that you stick stick with us right and um it may be tempting to go elsewhere um but we hope that's not the case I think the chief will agree with me when I say this though when when I look at this department now there's
great caderie in that department right um so many of you get along with each other right and and you help each other out day to-day operations whatever it may be filling in for each other whatever it may be um I don't think I've seen it like this since I've been around so kudos to all you folks that are
really making this department click the way it's clicking right it's it's it's incredible for me to be able to see see it and actually have a good place in my heart where I believe in it now right it's not that I didn't believe in it before it's just when I look at my offices in my SS to my PD it's
incredible to see what I see today right so just that's why I want everybody's self-esteem to stay high all you folks keep keep your self-esteem high and just continue doing what you're doing and continue to make this department a great Department because truly I believe we have one of the
best I'll agree based on that and it's not easy making a decision whenever we get to this point but based on that and based on the higher score I would make a motion to appoint Adam heit as an ex sergeant of the accuset PD
effective March 2nd 2025 second all those in favor [Applause] I thank you gentlemen I appreciate your effort moving this forward it was well you know well I had to get a deep dive
into civil service and how it works so luck for all the confusion and figure it out let me know there's there's a lot of uh in-depth yeah work dealing with civil service so Mr chairman Mr Kelly did you get the uh did you sign the
document uh not yet all right so uh before the movie yeah we've got a block scheduled tomorrow morning with civil service to make sure that the mentor from Civil Service walks us
through a number of actions to get this done okay and other things let's get it done Mr he I know I know you're not this kind of guy but I'm going to give you some advice that A A very wise man once gave me regardless of your success don't
ever forget where you came from right it's the best advice I could ever give anybody right and you've earned everything that you and um you worked so hard and you've earned every step of the way to get to where you are today so congratulations to you sir thank
you and congratulations thank you thank you gentlemen thank you and Ryan and Courtney I meant what I said right chins up just keep moving forward um and the opportunity is going to be there in the future trust me when I tell you that all right uh gentlemen we have a
planning board clerk letter of resignation haly Souza I'm writing to inform you of my decision to resign from my position as senior clerk my final day of employment this February 13 2025 I appreciate the opportunities and experiences gained during my time here I
concluded it is time for me to continue my career elsewhere is there a motion to accept Haley su's letter of resignation with the regret so move second yes it's like this is a position that we're talking about let's look at how it fits
within the the overall orbit up there you know is there a way to consolidate with other departments um that are cross pollinating so this is a perfect example of that I agree I think there's been
enough comments made about the plan and board Clerk's you know the the hours that are really needed to do the job so I think this is a unique opportunity to look at that and look at other positions clerk positions and merge I'm all for it
obviously we had a motion in a second all those in favor I I I um you know we have a an opportunity at this point we all know Financial situations dictate how we have to help run the town so anytime we can consolidate save some
money and move forward without losing services I think it's a great thing correct all right Community preservation committee as you know has a couple of vacancies for sitting current board
members uh one of them happens to be for a sitting planning board member so is there a motion to appoint Brian damps as a planning board representative for the community preservation committee so moved second all those in favor
I all right we also have a letter of resignation from historical commission member Nancy BOS um Nancy's been a active member of many communities in this town for many years um and she has some stuff
happening where she needs to put her time somewhere else so I would ask for a motion to accept the letter letter of resignation from Nancy bis on the historical commission with regret with regret so move second all those in favor hi
all right we go back and forth here um we have cson interest form from Robert Conlin Mr Conlin has actually asked to be on a few committees and also um as an
election official um I spoke with the Town Clerk and Pam is still in need of election officials um so Mr Conlin would like to be on the agricultural commission as an alternate the beautification committee and as an election official uh so I'd
ask for a motion motion to appoint Mr cin to the agricultural committee as an alternate motion to appoint to the beautification committee and motion to appoint as an elected offic election official second all those in favor
all Mr chairman one sec is it Mr conin from um uh matoa Road yes can I while while we're here if I would if you guys have driven by the police station earlier in the summer and you saw how it was overgrown in a mess and Mr Conlin
came in and volunteered with his girlfriend and he's the one that did all of that everything wow wow everything so I wasn't sure if you guys were aware of that I I didn't want I didn't want to say that because he asked me not to give him any recognition for well I I I I we
I I mean it's fine the che you can do what you want it looks great I know he doesn't want recognition but I he deser he and his girlfriend certainly deserve it I mean they did individuals for the work that they did there I seen it I stopped and talked I mean they're
just incredible individuals that did that work for us so it was it was all he he he wouldn't he was he was fantastic I just wanted to you talking about I know there's only one you know Robin conin but I wanted to make sure it wasn't somebody G somebody else Credit in Fr
record he spilled the beans sorry but he's packing it oh it's good so Mr conin uh s if you can get him all three of his appointment letters appreciate it and thanks again to Mr compon all right Miss Leon is on
vacation for two weeks but she did make reach out to the moderator to do to swear people in that need to be sworn in so I don't know how that conversation ended up with her but if you want to just let Robert know that you know he he's going to make arrangements with the
moderator and speak to the town clerk's off office on when that availability is going to be perfect to be swor in he'll be done by the moderator okay excellent all right moving on to golf all right so we have a a couple Surplus
items that Mr tius has asked us to put in for a surplus the only thing is that I didn't get was okay okay he did yeah he did put
condition codes on so we have a surus Smith Co sprayer star 3180 tff sprayer a surplus Falcon 16.5 covered boom um he did follow up with an email afterwards saying that these two pieces do not work
with any of our newer equipment and at this point are just taking up space and ask that they be turned over to Surplus Mr chairman Mr Gasper we we had a discussion um for the spray and I went down and took a look at right we decided to buy a new one and we said that we put
it on a mity bid to see and he said the trade in value was only like $4,000 so I figured it' be worth a shot throwing it out there putting a minimum bid or whatever double that number 8,000 and see where the bid goes if it doesn't go anywhere um we'll figure out another way or either that take the trade in that
4,000 so if we can figure out a way to get that up and going and and that other boom thing that he's talking about from weight that doesn't isn't retrofit to uh sprayers especially now the new Toro um I don't know anything about that we can look at that and see if Mr tibles has an idea of the value of that and put
it on at the same time well according to the condition code it's listed as new or unused so correct I'm sure there's a a a somebody out there that could use yeah whatever a falcon 16.5 covered boom is so right you know we'll just have to look it up to see the values are right
and then put them both on yeah I think that's a greata for auction and Let It Go y I agree you need a motion for that you need a motion that says what the resolution
is read the resolution third page resolution declare items as Surplus whereas the town of aiss is the authority declare items of surplus that are no longer deemed necessary or adequate to properly perform the duties of government prescribed by law whereas the town of aush golf committee requests
approval from the board of select decar the attached list of items of surplus property and properly dispose of them now therefore be it resolved by the board of Selectmen of the town of aush meaning and regular session this day that is this board hereby approves the
disposal of the attached list of surplus property that's the motion is there a second so moved second all those in favor iect all right list them up see what happens all
right so we have next the clubhouse project architectural firm approval so this is something that the golf management committee started looking into well before we expanded and
kicked off the uh clubhouse subcommittee or exploratory committee so to speak and they went for RFP correct Mr Kelly on this and this is the company that they landed
on this is the company that they was chosen and [Music] competitive it's kind of a bummer we don't have anybody here that was involved in the process Mr chairman but um I've reviewed everything and I know
that there was some comments made to me about the the last golf committee meeting about you know solar coverage over pocket Lots Paving and all that and I said well that's not what the task at hand was right it was first and foremost like at building a new Clubhouse it's fine that if if the golf committee and
exploratory committee wants to look at alternates and things of the light but this proposal from this company does not integrate any of that extra work into that proposal the only thing this does say is a chrishna River Valley Golf Course committee right and and like you
said we formed the exploratory committee for the clubhouse so I think just for a correction in this it needs to be done with the the golf committee and the exploratory committee to review things right if the exploratory committees there to give input on what they feel a clubhouse
should be I don't know how they're operating right now if they're just going to continue joint meetings for Clubhouse or they're going to do separate things whatever they're going to do I just think it's important that you don't disregard the input from the exploratory committee right MH so it's
somebody's going to communicate with both of those committees on how they're going to move forward and kind of stay in sync with each other with Communications yeah Mr Kelly if you can reach out to Chairman Flynn and I believe this is a yeah this is a
contract with the town so it would be with the board of Select with the board of selectman so ultimately you just communicate that right no that's fine it's just language any about them talking only to one correct right and I don't know if that's really the objective it's fine to go into them but
I think the other the exploratory committee input because it's talking about designing and layout and all of that stuff that's part of the exploratory committee I and I'm I'm sure they'd be okay with changing this language like I said I believe this this was facilitated before we put together the explorator you you could actually
just instruct the golf management committee to instruct them and make both of them your representative yeah right with this contractor because the contractor is uh
that's fine it's work Contracting with the town it's a communication thing Mr Hinkley and sometimes some people just AR good at communicating right that's why I'm trying to bring it up now to make sure that communication line stays open
absolutely there a motion to accept the clubhouse project architectural firm not to exceed $25,000 yep so moved second all those in favor perfect believe
the um exploratory committee has their first meeting this week they're voting on chair Vice chair and they're the agenda looked like they actually put together a nice solid objective so I think I think it will move pretty
well right gentlemen we had lost our Council on Aging Outreach coordinator a few months back um trying to replace a full-time Outreach coordinator seemed to be kind
of tricky and Miss Golda seemed to find two people to split the uh split the difference essentially so rather than having one person working 18 hours individually they're going to split proposing we decrease the
position to 16 hours weekly and then split it between two candidates um so she's asking for a motion both are qualified both are extremely qualified Mr chairman I'll make a motion to appoint Patricia maderi to the position of Council on agent
Outreach coordinator at a salary of $20 per week for8 hours per week and I'll make a motion to appoint Samantha Ortiz to the position of Council on agent Outreach coordinator salary at $20 per hour for $8 a week second all those in
favor all right gentlemen next thing on here is just me wanting to say something out loud on record uh utility company utility company declaration I said call to action because I'm I'm getting awfully frustrated with the back and
forth from the utility companies um without much of an explanation um as you know our representative from eversource sent us an email for us to tell everybody that there's ways that you can ask for help on your utility bill and I
replied that Resident shouldn't has have to ask for help and said pass it up the line um these constant increases I understand that every business has to make money but when it gets to the point where people can't afford electric and
gas anymore and you see it all over the news the the state government is now insisting the dpu is insisting that the utility company reduce the gas delivery fees by 5 to 10% after they just went up 20 to 30 um and I also believe that the
dpu is officially in charge at approving any delivery charges on utility bills so ultimately I want to really focus on and I want to bring this to your attention too if they're going to ask us to communicate with our residents and we're
going to sit here and let them come into our town and insist on having poll hearings and not listen to us I've spoke with Verizon multiple times got six different reps all saying they're going to take care of these double pole issues um I wanted on record that if the utility company's not going to play nice
with us we shouldn't play nice with them and it's not me putting my foot down it's asking for something in return if they're going to pass all this on to our residents I would like them to at least make the residents feel like they're heard and do something about our double polls
and I'd also like them to explain why they have to go up 10% 20% every year and not replace services such as gas Mains and lines and stuff like that so it's just me yelling out into the wind
and hoping it lands in the right ears good few I'll support you a bunch of horse Manu is what it is because even the dpu coming back with all we we're asking that you U ility companies to reduce it by 5% so that's great keep your five bucks cuz for every hundred bucks you're chargeing me you're going
to take $5 off that's not helping anyone that's a joke I mean really this is what they're doing to say oh we we did something to help you come on it's it's an absolute sin what they've done you know anytime you're in a situation where you have a regulated Monopoly and you don't have another
choice we're kind of stuck where we don't have any way to fight back without just saying it out loud over and over again until somebody listens urce has roughly 650,000 Natural Gas users in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts if somebody's bills up a $100
year-over-year on delivery charges you do the math $65 million a month right on just that $650,000 number do the math by 12 months it comes out to $780 million that they're banging everybody like what's
the justification almost a billion dollars a year just in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts absolutely no excuse for it corre thank you gentleman for hearing me out got my vote all right rural Town designation uh
selectman wner um you asked for this to be on here yeah um so first of all I just want to share with you all that a new State Rep Mark Sylvia guys hit the ground running I mean the guy's fantastic I get I'm sure you get emails
and texts I get every week a check in here's what I'm working on so on and so forth and in talking with Mark uh representative Sylvia about rural towns we were operating under the assumption that a kushit was designated a rural Town well guess what you would think we are not it's a
formula that we do not fit in and so as a rural Town you're you're uh open to a lot of benefits whether it's you know Regional School District reimbursement other grant opportunities so on and so forth so um I wanted to share with you
that he's requested that um former Senator Ann GOI who heads up the rural Town program for the state she's going to come to a kushna I believe in March um to do a tour uh of a kushit and take that information back so once we get
that date pinned down let the board know um you know we can all attend and we have to post it but you know I think it's something that if representative Sylvia I'm sure there's other towns out there that probably fall in this weird basket like a Christian you know we're not a Gateway
City we're not a rural Town we're not a rich town we're stuck in the middle and we don't get the benefits of that you know the the freebies that some of the other municipalities so hopefully we can try and um see if we can Rectify this either with some type of legislation or
expanding the criteria whatever it might be it just seems um nonsensical and that we're not a rural town and you know maybe when the the program was created 26 years ago whenever it was the criteria was very narrow right so I
don't think we're that far off because after after I started diving into this it's not that far off at all for population to be designated that right and for a town that was built on agriculture and apple orchids and peaches and farms in general doesn't
make a lot of sense to not be right right and I just think you know this is an example is it going to be a game changer for us probably not but you know if we take the approach that we have to look under every single Rock and look for whether it's inefficiencies or opportunities I know Mr Gasper on the
finance side is always looking to make things better Bob you've looked at from an operation standpoint and you know uh how we can make things better so you know to any departments think think creatively and look for programs or grants that we're
missing out out on um because either we're not a rural town I don't know Chief kuu you know from a police department standpoint if we had a rural Town designation would that open us up to you know more grants on the police side of things I don't know but anyway it's just something small thing but
something I want to make your make you aware of cool are you said rep syvia is already started looking into it yep y I will say that rep Sylvia I'm really glad that he immediately started doing town office hours at Council on Aging and
he's checked in multiple times with me um he reached out actually to speak I won't hand out anybody's phone number ever without permission but he did want to get in touch with Chief garu to sit down with him he already sat down with Chief Farland and he really wants to
understand what a cush's about which I appreciate so right back to some old business here Town Administrator search Mr chairman I was happy to speak on this if you permit I mean I know at the last
we've had this on the agenda for probably about a month now uh Mr Kelly provided us with a number of potential job descriptions um you know and I think that's great but I mean we all know what
the town what a Town Administrator does and I appreciate the effort but I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel um we've got you know the last time we went we did this we I think we had a pretty good description of what the Town Administrator should be doing um I think
we got to get this out into MMA and get this thing advertised you know we've the last go around uh you know the job pays 142 I don't think if we go try to go below that I don't think we're going to get anybody qualified that can serve to
do what we need to do um so I think we've got to set that you know at a minimum 14 42 and if we just advertise it at that or we can go to 145 whatever it is I don't think we need to ring our hands too much about that but I do think we got to get this thing out the door
into the public domain and start seeing what we have for candidates I don't want to be in a situation where Mr Kelly's leaving and then we're stuck um we've got ample time to to get a c find a candidate vet a candidate and if we find we don't find anybody then we go back to the drawing board but I don't know that
we need to continue to bring our hand hands over job descriptions pretty clearcut my opion Mr chairman Mr Gasper so as far as salary goes you always in my opinion and I've had this conversation with Mr Kelly um based on
candidates that are out there for other positions that we've interviewed you you you open that bar up right you never confine yourself to a small um plus or minus because you don't know depending on qualifications if you advertise a job at 140 to 45 you're stuck paying in that
range so if the goal of the board is to say you know 145 is the high then I would make a recommendation you you drop the lower end of it depending on qualifications and it gives you that flexibility when you're negotiating with an individual much better negotiations
than strapping yourself to the 135 or 145 range right you just don't know what's out there I can tell you based on watching what's happening in other communities there's not a whole lot of good out there right and you're going to conf find yourself by advertising by that range and and I've had Mr Kelly correct certain advertisements for other
positions and say you need to open that range up right and give that opportunity so that's you know my my opinion is go further to the lower end you can keep the higher end wherever you want to keep the high run in case you get somebody you know that's good um Elon Musk wants to apply and he's a rocket scientist and
you want to pay him 150 so be it right um that's that and I think that you really need to take a look at this book because the town chter gives a description of what the town administrators qualifications are and I've seen us and again we've done it to
ourselves a number of times we shoot ourselves in the foot um by putting Master's Degree phds for jobs that don't warrant degrees right and if you look at the Town Charter it says under the Town Administrator quite simply qualifications the board of selectman
shall appoint a Town Administrator for the term of not more than 3 years fixes compensation with the amount appropriated by the town he shall be a person especially fitted by education training or previous experience in public administration to perform the duties of his office we did however go
in in 2017 and get an act um house number 1409 that we struck out the third sentence with the um the Clause where it says after 12 months you have to be live in the town of auset and it goes on to say he shall devote fulltime to the office and shall not hold any other
public office elective or appointive nor engage in any other business or occupation during his term there you go for qualifications it's plain and simple right again you start throwing master's degrees and all this coam Manan degrees C's and D's get degrees doesn't mean
that you will be a good person and you're good at doing a job the town chat specifically gives us qualifications follow the town chat in my opinion it's all it's all it's all there right I I don't think we need to turn this into you stop putting master's degrees and you don't have that
flexibility which I Town sha gives flexibility to that position you're confining yourself to somebody who has a degree and quite honestly the way I look at it I think somebody that's out there that might have 10 15 years but doesn't have a master's degree or whatever degree you want to call it um could be better fit so now you limited the pool
again to the people that might apply for apply for the job so I I I'm all set with advertising jobs putting handcuffs on this board um and not being able to move and do anything with it so it's fine that we want to be you know the salary range up at the whatever end we
want to Peg that at my preference is put a big range on it and and drop it down to low range you don't know what you're going to get and it all depends on your qualifications right so you have that flexibility in salary um and your qualifications are sitting right there we did have in 2017 we did strike out
the residency Clause by special act okay well I mean truthfully I feel like the range should be in that 140 to 150 range or 135 to 150 there's a legislation right there just based on reality and you know if we want to strike the ba required we could say ba
na desirable but not required I think that would open that would send the message that would open things up I have no problem with that um so I have no issue with that I just think we need to follow the guidelines of the chat you wanted to put that on there is you know a added bonus if you have a ba whatever
that's fine but not required and I think that would that would solve that I'm open to that but the salary range I mean who cares you know what you could you can do it at the whatever the 145 we're pretty close to that right now in the budget anyways right we're talking about budget
constraints and deficits again and you know this person wants $400,000 that person wants a million dollars when you only have $900,000 to balance a budget we'll figure that out again this year I guess um but again you got to keep the fiscal matters of the town at hand when you're doing this and we can see we can
see range of 135 to 145 doq magic letters you can if you whatever you want to go lower on the bottom end it's it's it's it's it's up to you I mean now you're stuck at the again you might not you might find a really good person in in 125 they say I'll take the job for
120 I don't know so 125 to 145 that's fine I want to move it along we all just follow the chatter when you put the advertisement in and I would like before you advertise this thing that the board of selectman reviewed the advertisement before you send it off so there's a draft in your
folder yeah I seen that and I don't care for that's why I brought the town cha so we can make sure that the qualifications fits more to our town Chow right so that's what I'm saying I'll amend it we can just amend that last sentence it says ba ma desirable uh comma but not required
yeah what I like going back to the 2020 2021 advertisement tooo where it actually says the positions responsibilities are defined the chapter 5 in the general bylaws and they actually listed so if we could add that too okay CU that directs it to the Charter and that's just I mean that'd be
good for anybody to read and understand anyway so it's chapter five of the Town Chad y you can't circumvent the town CH yep so the town CH is there for a reason if you want to change the town CH then you have to do a special act like we just did right we don't have the
authority just to make things up so so if we can get the dra revised um with those am with those amendments uh sure I give it to me a copy of it and we'll submit it to the
board next meeting TR qualifications right there yeah you can um as Mr W said add the ba if you want you know that's can we vote to have it posted subject to the board's final review I don't think we need to vote on it again yeah if we
do it that way and we say that then once we see the draft you can show us the draft individually and we we'll we'll all initial it so we can see it and that'll be in document and then we can get the advertisement
out so what was the motion you just made motion to post Town administrator's position uh set the salary range between 135 and 145 125 and 145 and to add town administrator ba ma
desirable but not required and just put that put that Charter reference the town CH that's I think I think it's important you put he shall be a person especially fitted by education training or previous
experience in public administration to perform the duties of the office it's one sentence yep you put that in there and it's very clearcut people understand it and then you don't have you know some yo-yo putting in his resume and with going through hamburger flippers to look for a Town
Administrator we've seen enough of that I've surely seen enough of that want to waste any more of my time screening applicants that AR qualify for positions and I'm sure Mr Kelly's probably tired of doing it as well cuz he's seen a lot more than I have ask for a modified version what the
motion you just made how about a motions to although the president of the United States did French fries Mr Kelly will put it together we'll review it we can we can do a little change around if we want to say just just fine initial it if you're fine with it if not then you put in a little
sentence and Mr Kelly can call up and say Mr chairman of the board put this sentence in are you guys okay with it yep okay put a date that we that's all done I think the most important thing is getting a salary range you don't need to complicate requir correct yeah cool we need we got a
motion to set the salary range at 125 to 145 second put something together Mr Kelly you know let's Dave I I like what you said let's put a Time Mr Kelly can have that done by the end of the week okay very good that should be easy so there's a motion
to Second all those in favor all keep that record so oh perfect thank you that book looks like it's been around for a while Kev yeah I've been waiting for my new updated one that one's a 2008 well still waiting it's all right that's how there you go yeah all
right uh Department board fee schedule um we're still waiting on a couple of departments um we've gotten quite a few um what I happened to notice was everybody that is subm is comparing
with surrounding communities what the current is and what the proposed is um I think this is a lot of information to go through um so I would suggest I think we put a time limit of our March 5th meeting anyway to review this um but I just
wanted to make sure you guys had what has been updated fee schedules and if you guys have any questions too by all means um bring them up because I don't want any conflicting ones and I think there might be some in here um going back and forth through all these some of
them look pretty straightforward though Mr chairman can I make a recommendation for a second time sure so I believe when we discussed this matter I asked for all departments responsible for perming fees and Licensing fees and the such that each individual Department submit only
for their department so if we can do this exercise one more time and have each department submit their permitting and Licensing fees to the board of Selectmen and I want it signed by the department head so I want to see
planning board concom DBW building department Town Clerk whoever does fees and permits and licens and whoever's got that under the jurisdiction put it together sub as an individual department so there was one in one of the samples in here I looked at I
obviously noticed it because it was on the gas permitting and suan is not on the gas permitting and is not on the jurisdiction of the billing department and it's far from being correct so I don't know how a su Tian got mixed into that table but those are the kind of
things that I'm talking about right it's got a su Tian of $50 at 62 $25 and then you have a connection fee of $6,000 so it's not 50 bucks so if we're going to be voting permitting fees and Licensing
fees from each individual Department separate spreadsheets from each one and we can go through and vot them each department so Mr Kelly once again I will ask you if you can send out a memo to everyone each individual department and when they're done putting their fee
schedule together for license and permit current fee schedule proposed fee schedule other communi so we can see where we're at and have them sign it so we have documentation that it came from that department now you got me wondering if I'm wondering if the
building department has been charging the DPW a fee no because DBW does their job and they've been reviewing everything and they do every year when they set a budget they know exactly what they're doing I'm confident in that excellent all right good enough I'm just concerned with the paperwork that I've
received Perfect all right right I'll make that a motion I'll second all those in favor I uh Mr Kelly we got fiscal 26 Draft Town Department
budgets um we don't I I don't see any budget look no we we have had uh uh accounting has loaded this week the changes from Fall town meeting so we will be able to
produce budgets that actually show any transfers uh and we'll also be able to show uh the updated expenditures as Mr Gasper and I
discussed with uh in each department so and we have the books set up and we have in some cases multiple options of possible budgets in
the future for the board to look at and tell uh the staff or make decisions yourselves on which way to go Mr chairman Mr on that subject matter I think it goes back again to what Mr L has been talking about right um years
ago we've always done it where you when the Town Administrator and finance department submits to the fincom come January February you always see a year-to DAT expenditure right so I asked Mr Kelly this year to go back to that because it tells fincom and it tells us exactly where somebody's at within their
budget right and it's a guessing game and if you look at free cash again it's up there right but you look at free cash a lot of that is turn back right so we need to start scrutinize these budgets along with fincom because that's what I used to do on fincom from 2005 to 10 that's that was one of my benefits is to
be able to look at where somebody's at if you have a budget and it says in a line $50,000 you 7 months through the year and you only expended $10,000 it's a red flag for somebody on fincom to say what's going on with this some people that Mr Kelly and I have talked to said we don't incur those expenditures until
the second half of the year that's fine as long as you get that explanation right but other than that I mean that's what we call fluff right so I think that's the reason you know Mr Kelly's updating the budgets and we're taking a hard look at that moving forward and I
think it'll tell us a lot along with fincom a lot of you know if there's Cuts that's what we need to go look at right yep absolutely uh gentlemen selectman announcements announcements I do not have anything Mr
gasp I don't think I have anything Mr chairman I got one I'd like to say congratulations to one of our longtime cifi Fighters Mark Panos and his wife for the birth of their very healthy baby boy so congratulations to Mark and Jay
uh other than that I have nothing and we got a couple of executive sessions to get through tonight gentlemen an executive session under Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions and preparations for negotiations with
non-un Union Personnel fire chief to conduct collective bargaining sessions of contract negotiations with non-union Personnel an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares in the board will not return to public session at the
conclusion of the executive session we also have executive session under Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining fire agreements if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining position the public body and the chair so declares
and the board will not return to public session at conclusion of the executive session and executive session under Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation Mass office of campaign and political Finance have been an open
meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares and the board will not return to public session at the conclusion of executive session is there a motion so moved second all those in favor roll call Mr wer yes Mr
Gasper yes and I am a yes you're an exec session
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