So, good morning to everybody. Um, it's Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee. Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, extended through June 30, 2027, gives public bodies the ability to
hold meetings remotely. This meeting is accessible in real time via Zoom and by phone and is being recorded. First, I'm just going to make sure that everyone can be heard. Um, and I'm just going to start with who's on my screen
here. Pam, >> yes. >> And Andy, >> yes. >> Jennifer, >> yes. >> Paul, >> yes. >> Um, and Jason, >> yep. >> Okay. I still do not see Holla, but I'll
keep my eyes open. If you see her, let me know. Um, but we have a quorum of the council present. Um, the agenda this morning, we are planning to begin with Jason Skills presentation. Um, then general comment, public comment. Um, and
then we're going to turn to Paul's appointments. Um, those are the first three major items. Um before we begin with Jason, uh I think most of you heard this, but um we've been asked to hold questions off until Jason is finished with his presentation. Uh the reason
being that the hope is that they can snip out uh Jason's presentation and then make it available to the public and to the rest of us to share. Um so rather than having us interrupt him, um we're going to hold off until he's done and then we can turn to questions. So that's
um what I'm proposing for this and Jason if you're ready um we would like to start with you. >> Okay. Um oh yeah let me just get the let me share my screen first. There's
that there. And I'm going to put it into Oh wait a minute. Hang on. I think I need to put it into slideshow mode and then share. Um, hang on. Stop that for a second. One second. Um,
here we go. Slideshow mode. And now I lose you guys. Um, there we go. Green two. Okay. Is everybody seeing uh little Honda Fit in the town of Ammer Seal? >> We can see it. Would you please begin by introducing yourself, Jason?
>> Oh, sorry. Yeah. Uh, sorry. Jason Skills, uh, town engineer, public works, uh, worked for public works, now pushing 25 years if you don't count the intern years. Um, so yeah, this is our payment management plan for Ammerst. Um, we use
a company, uh, they were formerly named Street Scan, so this is an older slide. Um they've changed names to City Logix because they've incorporated a whole bunch of new items in their um list of uh services, I guess, uh on top of just
payment management. Um so this is the data collection uh vehicle. It's got a 360 cam on the roof like um like Google Street View does. Um then it's got a GPS so it knows where it is. And off the
back are some 3D cameras that scan the surface of the pavement um and can detect every kind of uh deformation, deterioration, pothole, crack, crevice, you name it. Um we had a fresh scan done last year. We try to get a scan done
every 3 to 5 years to keep our pavement conditions up to date. Uh the years in between it uses a deterioration model that follows sort of a standard deterioration curve. Um, so yeah, last year in September they came in, drove the roads of Ammeris for 4 days, scanned
all 104 miles, um, and delivered then they spent a couple of months processing the data and delivered our data in November of last year. Um, so next are a couple of examples. Um, so this is what the 3D camera can can
detect. Um, all the different kinds of distresses. there's bumps, surface distortions, potholes. It can detect if it's a pothole that's already been patched. Um, then you've got the, uh, longitudinal cracks that run lengthwise down the road. The, uh, transverse
cracks go across the road. Um, when those get bad enough, they turn into block cracks where it's just sort of all sorts of blocks and chunks of pavement. Um, and then it gets down to the the worst kind or like alligator cracking or the whole surface of the road becomes
like the surface of an alligator's skin, just 100 million cracks. That's the kind of road that's probably not going to last much longer or many more many more winter seasons anyways. And then it even detects if we've already crack sealed a road to prevent uh additional cracking
or additional deformation. Um, so yeah, the it runs all that data through the 3D cameras and then it runs it through an algorithm where it puts out what percentage is deteriorated, what percent is it, and then it ranks it from 0 to 100. Um, with 0 to 10 being a failed
condition and 85 to 100 being excellent with all the different uh categories in between. Um, and we can do a couple of examples. Um, this would be an example of an excellent road. You can see it's pretty much uh freshly paved or at least within the last year was paved. Um so
that's an excellent 85 to 100. Um this one is in good condition. You can see it's been crack sealed once. It's got some new cracks forming in the wheel path and you can I don't know. You can kind of see some deformation in the wheel. It's like the wheel path is kind
of starting to rut a little bit maybe. Um and then this is an example of a very poor condition. and it's alligator cracked up and down. It's rutdded. Uh it's it's deteriorating pretty bad. Not worst I've seen, but getting there. And then there's a a failed condition 0 to
10 where it's just uh patches upon patches upon patches. Um and that's you know getting to the point where they shouldn't you shouldn't have to be patching a road that bad. It should be resurfaced. Um though next uh so once they do the scan then we get our results
for pavement condition and that comes in the form of sort of a report card and a map. So we'll start with the the sort of report card. So this is our scan from 2021. That's the last time we had it scanned prior to 2025. And this is sort of our report card. So, we had an
average PCI in 2021 of 65 with a total estimated backlog to get it up uh to 100% of 49 million. Uh big number. Uh and then they sort of categorize it, you know, how many are poor, how many are very poor. Um we had a lot in poor
condition that um since then have deteriorated much more. Um so I'm going to move to um I'll go to the 2021 map so we can look at that. Um, so here's the 2021 map. You see a lot of green, uh, a
fair a considerable amount of orange, and then a few little reds in between. Um, just to orient people. Um, let's see. This is Route 9 coming through Ammerst. I'm tracing it now. Uh, this would be Amity Street, Main Street to
Pelum Road. Uh this is Northeast Street, Southeast Street, uh Bay Road, and this is West Street to South Pleasant Street to Pleasant Street. So hopefully that gets everyone oriented on the map, um just to figure out where we are. Um so
that's our 2021 map. Fast forward to 2025. Here's our report card. Now we've dropped to a 57. So we dropped about eight points over 5 years. uh our estimated backlog is 47.7 million. Uh
part of the reason that number has actually gone down is because we finally decided to apply less expensive repairs to some of the more local roads. Um so we've got some cheaper alternatives to fix lower volume roads. We can't really
skimp on the higher volume roads. Um this year they also broke it down into sort of our average PCI per um the uh the the uh roadway classifications. And so the roadway classifications are locals, arterials,
and collectors. And we break our arterials down into minor and principal. Um so a local road, an example of a local road is just like a culde-sac with a few houses on it. Doesn't provide access to other roads. It's primarily just the residents that live there. uh not doesn't promote cut through traffic,
that kind of thing. A collector is a kind of a cutthrough road or a connector road or maybe the main road through a subdivision that branches off onto culde-sacs. Uh and then the arterials are, you know, there there are main roads, their main street, their north pleasant, their west street, there are
numbered routes uh through town. They're just the the major thoroughares are are arterials. And then you can see the breakdown here. we uh a lot of these poor roads dropped into and they changed the classification which I'm a little I wasn't able to
correct but they call it critical which I think is poor no is is yeah it's we didn't have any failed so critical is the next step from up from 10 and above um so that's our report card this year
and I'll switch to the map now and there is our map and you can see there's a lot more red this year Um, and yeah, there are a lot of our side streets. You can see like our main roads. There's a few bad spots, but we've we've we've paid a lot more
attention to keeping our arterials clear and passable um than we've been able to spend on our side streets. So, our side streets are starting to suffer from uh lack of attention, lack of money. Um, I'm just going to move on. Another
product uh we get with the evaluation is a distress map. and that lists all the different kinds of failures and the specific locations, which by the time they deliver it is not always the most useful information, but the types of distresses help you to determine the
type of repair because you can't just overlay a road that's just horribly potholed. It's just doesn't come out that good. So, there's, you know, certain levels at which you can't use a certain repair for for every road. Um so the distress map helps us make our
decisions on what what treatment should be done. Um then so once yeah once we have our graded roads now we have to come up with a methodology for repair suggestions and the costs. Um so we move
into um this is an example of the decision tree that we use. ours um we break all ours down by their classification of um local arterial and collector and we do different treatments on each different classification of
roads. So this is just a very simple example. It's a $100 a square yard for reclamation where we chew the road back up to dirt and repave it. uh a mill and overlay just scrapes off the top surface and puts back, you know, you you remove an inch of asphalt and you put an inch
of asphalt back, but the road's got to be in pretty good shape to still do that. Um then in the 70 to 90 PCI range, we can crack seal or do a surface treatment that prevents further cracking and seals the road, keep it good newer longer. Uh then from 90 to 100, we you
know, defer maintenance unless it might need a little bit of a crack seal to keep water out. Um, so this is the raw data for this year. When I put in a $5 million per year budget, uh, and this is just the raw data. It spits out individual
segments of a road and we try to group them together so that we're not just paving short pieces of a road. Uh, the segments are broken down from one intersection to the next intersection. So, we try to group, you know, segments together so that the paving contractor isn't hopping all over town. and we get
uh much better price if we can kind of group the streets together so they don't have to keep mobilizing all over town. Um so that's just the sort of raw data list. I'll get into more details on this. Uh this is the the five year. So I did a five-year plan with a $5 million
budget per year and this is what it spit out. I had to kind of group some things together because it was kind of a a variable rainbow throughout. So, I spent some time grouping neighborhoods together, getting some main roads taken care of, and uh and grouping things where it would make more sense for a
paving contractor. So, the blue are roads to be done in 2026, 2027, green is 2028, red's 29, and the purples are out in 2030 if we ever make it there with a $5 million per year budget. Um, move on.
Uh so this is our this is what we are going to bid this year. Um these are all the roads we've chosen for this year. These will go out in a bid uh very shortly. And um I it's got a this is our we do a detailed estimate. We actually go through and make sure that the
treatment fits the road and that the the that that it's going to be the right treatment for everything. And you see there's a lot of overlays. There's a few mills. There's a few. FDR is full depth reclamation with um 3 in of binder, 2 in
of top. Um FDR with asphalt injection is full depth reclamation and they inject a liquid asphalt into it so that the subbase becomes somewhat stabilized. Uh it becomes like a like a binder coat of asphalt almost that you turn the gravel into. Uh, and then there's shim and
overlays, which are a lot of these side streets, um, where it's just we sort of do a shim coat to get rid of the bumps. They let that sit for a couple of weeks and then they come back and do a nice smooth overlay. So, it looks great. Uh, just probably won't last as long as a full depth reconstruction project. Um,
and these bottom ones are some roads we just recently installed water manes on. We did the Canton Grove and Harvard A neighborhood. Got new water manes. We replaced a 2-in rot iron man with a 6-in mane and Kendrick Place was I think a
6-in cast iron man that we replaced for the length of Kendrick Place off Northampton Road. Um so those will be getting paved this year after the water project that the water projects we completed last year. Um so that's this year's list that will go out to bid
shortly. Um and then there's some remaining work from 2526. We did a two-year bid with Palmer Paving. Oh, Palmer Paving won that bid. Um, so they got a lot of the work. They did all the work last year, the downtown stuff, everything else. And these are the last
few on their list this year. They have they just have some shoulders and swailes on West Bay. The paving is done. Uh, they just have to when they once they mobilize, they'll come and do the shoulders and swailes for drainage. Um, we have Flat Hills, half of Flat Hills, we're going to do a Shimon overlay from
Market Hill to High Point. Lincoln A. We're going to uh we need to do this section of South Lincoln A. That was supposed to go last year. It just didn't fit in the schedule. Um from Northampton Road to Amity Street. Uh and then University Drive from Amity Street to
CVS is on their calendar um for when the roundabout gets completed. We want to make sure all that construction is done so we don't tear up the new road running construction equipment over it. Um, and then we have the private neighborhood uh that is pushing for street acceptance of
Kestrel Lane and Hopbrook. It's the uh Meadows at Ammerst Fields subdivision um that's still trying to get uh accepted as a town street. And so they provided some money, not enough to repave the street, but we're going to try a it's a
called a 20% rubber chip seal. Uh we're also doing some spot repair. There's some bad sections that need to be completely dug out and repaved. So, we're going to do those spot repairs first in the really bad spots and then we'll come through the whole neighborhood and do a chip seal. And a chip seal is they spray down an asphalt
emulsion. That's this image here. Uh they spray down the asphalt emulsion that's basically like an adhesive like glue. And then they come through with the the stone chips and distribute that in a in a chip screed over the surface of the of the the the road and the the
chips stick to the road. And um so with a with a traditional chip seal, it's unccoated stone and there's a lot of stone that ends up on the side of the road. With the 20% rubber chip seal, the stone comes coated in a rubber asphalt uh emulsion and so it sticks much
better. There's not as much mess. Uh it's a much cleaner one and done product. They they do have to come through and sweep up any loose stone a couple weeks later, but it's not nearly as bad as the traditional chip seal. Um so we're hoping that that pulls the neighborhood together, gets the roads in
one piece, and uh makes them passable once we do the couple of spot repairs. Um so that's the remaining work from Palmer Paving. And then we have some sidewalk work we're going to continue on. Uh the first one is North Pleasant Street. There was
a CDBG grant. Um we're going North Pleasant Street from Puffton Village to Hobart Lane. Uh we already did the sidewalk on the east side of the road, the 5-ft sidewalk on the east side of the road. They're going to finish that up this spring. Uh starting next week, Taylor Davis is going to mobilize back
out there. And then they once they finish the east side of the North Pleasant Street, they're going to swap over to the west side. And we're widening that sidewalk to about 8 feet. So, it's sort of a multi-use uh path and uh we're going to pave that stretch of
it with the remaining CDBG funds for that year. Um these other streets we've got planned are some repairs and replacements uh around the intersection of Southeast Street and College Street near uh there's a Florence Savings Bank. Some of these connect to near Fort River
School and then up College Street are some severely deteriorated uh sidewalks. Uh West Street, we're replacing actually uh West Yeah, West Street. We're relocating a stretch of sidewalk that goes from Mill Street almost up to
Dennis Drive. Uh we're going to pull that up against the road because there's a a pedestrian bridge that's failing. It's a bridge over a small wetland stream that is uh in disrepair and it's easier just to put the sidewalk up against the road uh so that we don't
need to maintain the bridge. Um, and then we're doing a section of Kendrick Park, uh, calling it Kendrick Park South, which is along Old North Pleasant Street from Hock Street to Mlullen. Um, where we're going to connect, there is no sidewalk currently on that section of
Kendrick Park. So, we're going to connect that out to North Pleasant Street. Um, and I guess that's also I understand the Portland L is also going in uh right near where this project's going on. So that'll be nice to have a a public bathroom with sidewalks
connecting everything and that's again funded by CDGB funds. Um so yeah, just a couple of pictures down on the bottom here. This one on the left is Kellogg A. This is uh Mill Street or Mill Lane. Mil Lane by the Grist Mill. And this is a
stretch we did last year on West Street out near Hampshire College uh Long Meadow Drive. Uh then oh here's then so another thing the program does is these budget scenarios. So you can punch in $5 million a year, $4 million a year um and
and whatnot. So what what we've been doing for probably the last 15 20 years is we get our chapter 90 which was $800,000 a year since 2012. The last couple of years they've upped that. Uh we got 1.5 last year, we got 1.2 this
coming fiscal year, 2027. So they've they've increased it a little bit, but it's still not really keeping up. Uh we've had town contributions between 500,000 and 100,000 for the last, you know, for for a couple of times throughout that history. Um so
with with the So if you look at the the graph here in the middle, I know it's a little cluttered, um but the red line here, that's about $1 million a year. And you can see we decline um two to three, we were able to do two to three miles of road. Um, but the condition
drops three to four points per year and we end up, you know, with deteriorating roads. Um, so if we if we did three million a year, we'd still, that's that orange line. We still drop about two points per year. Um, if we were able to do $5 million a year consistently, that
would be this blue line that sort of just maintains current conditions. And if and I punched in 7 million per year, we finally started to get uh increases of a of a point per year. Um, so it's a lot to really see major improvements. Um, this year's, uh, step in the right
direction. We've got our 2.7 million from free cash, uh, plus our $1.5 million chapter 90. So, that's a definitely a step in the right direction. That at least puts us somewhere between this blue and orange line. Um, which is better than the
steeper decline of the other, uh, previous budget years. Um, and this over here just in the right is our our historic chapter 90 aotments. Um, back in 2010 it was in the 600,000s, but you could do a lot more. You could buy a lot more asphalt for 600,000 back in 2010
than you can now. And now with the uh price of fuel oils going up. It's going to be a little bit of a crapshoot to see what we get back for bids this year. Um, so hopefully I'm going to stay optimistic and hope it comes in okay or lower than our current budget. Anyways,
uh then I put together a little history on what we've done over the last 6 years for road paving and sidewalks. Um in 2026, we did the downtown intersection to sort of finish off the um the the uh town common project uh to tie all that
together with crosswalks and and walkways and get the road in good shape to match, you know, the the the common. Um so that was the downtown intersections. Uh, we did Pomeroy Lane last year. College Street, we did a a
section of College Street that was in bad shape. We did West Bay Road, which was in horrible shape. Two sections of that cuz we had done a smaller section years earlier and couldn't afford to do the rest. Um, then we've got a section of South Pleasant Street from the center
of town through uh past Ammerst College uh to Snell Street. And we did Southeast Street from uh we did an overlay from Valley View Drive to the Normotic Rail Trail because that was a section that was imminently failing um from a
previous treatment that was a experimental reheat treatment or no cold in place treatment. Um then the year before we did quite a bit because we had a little bit of a backlog. Um we did almost 4 million and so that was you know last year was 1.7 miles for about 2
million. The year prior to that, we did 3.4 miles, which was about 4 million. Uh 2 million of that was a seed mass works grant for um for Belchuretown Road reconstruction. Uh and we fit bike lanes, uh sidewalks down both sides, and
it was a you know, kind of a Cadillac road treatment. Uh but it's expensive to do roads like that for all users. Um so we like doing it, we just can't always afford to do it. Uh the mass works grant was a great step uh to get some of it done at least. Um that was 2025. Uh 2024
we only did about a mile uh for half a million dollars. Uh we were working on the Pomeroy roundabout that year. Uh and there were some budgetary concerns about uh possibly being able to finish the roundabout. So I think that was a short
year. Uh 2023 we did about 4.3 miles with $2 million. Uh we did a lot of overlays which kept the you know made us be able to spread it a little further. Uh 2022 we did 3.7 miles for 1.3 million. These were all sort of shorter
stretches um but very needed roadways that needed doing badly. Um and then 2021 we only did about 1.4 miles for about a million. Um, so that's then for sidewalks, uh, there's the last five or
six years worth of sidewalks. Um, I'm going to skim over this. The sidewalk projects are extremely variable and all very case dependent on how much they cost, what sort of amenities you're trying to do, and how wide, how much roadway, if there's telephone poles.
There's so many different The costs for sidewalks vary greatly. There's no great way to say that 5 ft of sidewalk is going to cost you this much money because it's all case depends on the roadway, depends on every all the other conditions. Um, and then I think that's
all I've got for now. If anybody has questions, um, happy to go back to any slides and and review or answer questions. I hope I didn't go too fast. >> No, Jason, that that was great. Um, and
there is a lot of information here. Um, but um, I first just want to say thank you to you and to uh to all the people that work with you and for you. Um, uh, it's a tremendous challenge. Um, the lack of funding makes it even harder,
but um, we're deeply appreciative of what you do and what and what your staff does in spite of all the obstacles. Um, let's turn to questions. I see Pam Rooney has her hand up. So, Pam, why don't you start us off? Thank you. I had a question. Uh you
mentioned that College Street was done not long ago. Um it occurred to me that College Street is an extension of College Street and and uh Route 9. Why is that not a Massachusetts Department
of Transportation project, a state project? >> I I don't know the history with Route 9. I know there are sections of 116 that we've taken over from Mass DOT. I don't know if or when we ever took this
section over or why if we did. Um but that's the the state will give sections of highway away. They don't they don't want it on their budget anymore than we want it on our budget sometimes. Um but I I don't know the history on that honestly. >> Guilford, your hands up. Do you want to
address that? So when Mass Highway was formed back I guess it's back now in the 60s or well when ma mass highway was formed they actually took the roads and divided them up and this section was given to Ammerst from South Pleasant Street all
the way to the town line. They determined that that should be a section maintained by the town. So that's goes back quite a ways ago, quite a while ago when they actually gave it to the town. >> So it wasn't the it wasn't the town's
choice to say, "Yeah, we really we really want it." As as I think town meeting did with West Street. Town Meeting said, "We we don't want to have to build to state standards. We want town standards." >> No. And now it looks like it was in the
original agreement. We also They also gave us a section of 116 from College Street to at the time Snell Street. That was ours too when that when that was originally decided. So I think it was meant to be the sections that were in the centers of town were given to the
towns to maintain like Route 9 through the center of Northampton is maintained by this by the city of Northampton. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, >> Jennifer. Um, thank you and thank you for that
presentation. Um, I have two questions. The first, I might have written something down wrong. There was a 1,220,000 price tag on repaving. I wrote South Lincoln, but I think it's University Drive. >> Yes.
>> And was that all paid for by Ammerst or was some of that part of a state grant? >> Oh, here we go. This is Yeah. 1.2 million. No, it's uh it hasn't been done yet. >> Oh. Um, we're holding >> remaining. Okay. Will that be part of
what's covered by the roundabout funds? >> No. >> So, that's all Ammer's paying for. >> Correct. Or chapter 90. >> Or chapter 90. Okay. And then um I have a question specifically to High Street >> which is in district 4, but it's also
>> now I don't know if that would be cons considered a collector street because it's one of the main streets going to the middle school and we we were told a number of several years ago that the
sewer line under High Street it desperately needs to be replaced and that they weren't going to repave High Street until the sewer was replaced, so the street didn't have to be torn up after it was repaved. So, what is the status of that?
>> Sewer is still just as bad as it was whenever that was said. Um, it has not been addressed. Uh, we haven't had the funds to fix the sewer. It's sort of a storm water drainage and sewer uh problem. Um, it I haven't even looked at the water main, but that might even be
due for replacement as well. Um so yeah all that all that uh infrastructure work needs to should be addressed before we touch the road and I know that road >> the road is in really bad condition so I mean if it's going to be many years well so again this is a whole conversation
but realistically when could the infrastructure be repaired and replaced so that the road can be repaved because it seems like one of those things that's just never going to happen.
>> Um, it's hard to prioritize the many many infrastructure woes we have. Um, and we are almost at a triage level of tackling the ones that are imminent failure and the ones that can keep going.
>> And how would you assess High Street? >> Uh, it's not a major problem. It's just not worth paving it before that is addressed. So, it's not immitted failure, but it's in very bad shape and needs to be taken care of. >> But, I mean, what what is the condition
of the sewer line underneath? I mean, how close is that to failing? >> It's a 120 year old clay line uh with many individual points of failure that don't uh it doesn't make it not function. It
just makes it in really bad shape. It's like it makes it so that if we if we put a paver and a roller on that street, the sewer would probably collapse just from the vibration of the of the roller. So my there has to be I mean I know if
it's state funding there has to be something we can do than just have you know even as a as the district counselor I feel responsible. I mean, what we just say, well, we're going to wait till it or that the sewer is in the line
underneath the grass is in such poor shape that we can't repave your road because everything underneath it will collapse. I mean, there's nothing we can do. >> Guilford has his hand up. Perhaps he would like to address this.
>> So, there's there's several there's several roads like High Street. Uh, Summer Street's another one. Um, there's utility work we want to do, but the utility while we want to replace it, it isn't as bad as some of the other work, you know, some of the other places we've
been forced to go do work on. Um, the one time we were going to go work on those roads and then we got a told that Route 9 was going to be repaved. So, we shifted gears and we update upgraded the the water line on Route 9 because we wanted to make sure that was done before
before the state uh repaved it because we didn't want to have to come in after they were done and do it. So, there's been little projects that have pushed off water and sewer work. Um replacing water lines that are too small, those have taken priority over replacing water
lines that are sufficient capacity. So, we just need to get it back on the top of the list. Um, the one that's taking priority right now is the u the sewer siphon on Celely Street, which continues to
back up and flood sewage into the what's that stream? >> Fearing Brook >> into Fearing Brook. So, we have a project to redesign that sewer and move that sewer so there's no siphon anymore. So, it's it's just a matter of time and
money and some of the things that are bad but really aren't that bad get pushed pushed off a little bit to deal with something else. >> Okay, last question. Can high street because cars are swerving around the potholes. We could we could pay we we could put it
on the we could just pull it off the hold list like summer street and just pave those to quiet down the problems and then in another five or 10 years we could just come back and redo it. But I mean that's something we'll look at >> right because there's it's a narrow
street. It's a major street between AMD and the middle school. It's a through street. Um so cars it's a narrow street. cars are parked on at least one side. So, there's literally no place for the cars to swerve around the potholes.
>> Um, I mean, we we'll take a look at and see if we can move it up as long as as long as all the counselors promise not to come back with traffic calming requests if we actually do pave it. >> Well, I guess I'm making a special request since it's a main street to the
middle school gets a lot of traffic. Well, >> we'll we'll see what we can do. >> Thank you. Yeah, the bus traffic really does a number on roads and that's the main one that the buses get to the high school and middle school on. >> Well, I'm trying to drive as little as
possible, but I I I imagine that's not having much impact. Um Andy, uh you have your hand up. >> Um there's so many questions. Um why is traffic calming a a problem for
you know for roads? >> It adds pretty considerable expense to the road >> in terms of what I mean >> let's let's just say it takes away from other roads we should be paving. >> So adding us a couple speed bumps is
actually really expensive. $10,000 a speed bump and that was 10 years ago on Lincoln F. So yeah, they're not cheap and you can't just add one. So you got to do five. So that's $50,000. You know, it just it adds up quick and then you're all of a sudden you're erasing a street
that needs to be paved from the list of streets that need to be paved. >> Yeah. Um you mentioned that I mean looking at the amount that we've put into roads over the past five years compared to what we're putting in this year it's I mean I guess costs have risen also but
it's pretty um you know this year isn't is an improvement but as you note it's not going to it's not going to chip away at the backlog. So >> um that one year that was a bigger year there was a mass works grant. Is that something that's available regularly or
how did we get that that time? Do we I assume we're always applying for those things? >> It's sometimes they come in through earmarks, sometimes they come in through applications. Um, so this year we've got AMD, which was an earmarked MassWorks grant.
>> No, it was just a Mass Works grant we applied for. >> Oh, okay. >> We we haven't got we actually haven't got we haven't gotten your mark in ages. I thought the Amity Street. No. Okay. >> No, it was we applied for it and
>> Okay. >> Paul. >> Yeah. I think the town has been pretty successful at getting uh major grants from the especially Mass Works grants. That that's what did um the Pomeroy uh roundabout. That's what did the it's
doing the um Amity Street u drive um roundabout. It's also is what did the Beluretown Road. We applied several times for the North Ammerst intersection, but that never uh we even had the secretary out here trying to look at that intersection, but that never got funded. Uh we we continue to
try and get funding for that because that's a it's a very high expense item as well. But I think in terms of um what the state is willing to fund, they don't they're not going to fund just roads. They they they're looking for things that promote economic development. You have to tie the um application to real
um their investment. that they want to see generates things that are going to grow the economy in some way one way or another. So, um we we actually been very successful at getting major grants for that. And when you get a grant though, it brings its own sort of complications.
Uh it it tends to, you know, there's a lot of requirements that the state puts on it as opposed to us just using our own money to go and pave some roads. And I think that, you know, what the DPW has been trying to do is stretch that dollar as far as they can. uh because you know we continue to ask for additional funds
and and they are looking at different techniques for extending the dollars in terms of you know I think Jason talked about the chip seal um you know to but there's a there there is just we always are facing they're they're competing goods you know we want traffic calming
but then it means you can't pave as many roads as you'd like to pave and there just sort of trade-offs on those types of things Um, I guess, you know, we could each come up with our favorite, you know, bad street. I know I used to live in North Amoris and Summer Street's bad and I
just heard about that. Um, I've seen I see a couple of ones that I would that I would advocate for are um maybe on the list, but how do you take into account requests to move things up? >> We could all be putting those in. You
know, >> I try not to I try to let the the the paving mount the the street scan vehicle do its job and pick independently of uh popular opinion and say which ones are worse. Uh we do put a we try to we do
try to focus on main roads first because obviously the higher volume roads uh you know generate more complaints generate if it's a bad road it generates more damage to vehicles. So yeah, we do want to take care of the higher volume roads first. But we've gotten so far behind on
side streets that we're now trying to push both those rocks up the hill at the same time. Um, you know, catch some of our main roads before they're gone and hit some side streets at the same time, especially if we're already sort of in that vicinity of town. You know,
doing doing roads within proximity of each other gives us a break from the contractor not having to mobilize their equipment all over town. just to follow up then. Yeah, I mean I think that's that's the tricky part, right? Pe people see the the stuff in
their neighborhood all the time and they're driving over bad, you know, a bad road every day >> and um yeah, that's I mean I symp I certainly sympathize and I again it's it's a an example of what of where I
think we need to generate more revenue. Um and so uh however we can figure out how to do that would be helpful. So thank you >> Pam. >> Just thinking about the the road use.
There is a tremendous amount of volume daily that's generated by folks going to and from UMass. And um that's never been part of our support formula or our strategic agreement. Um, we are a little bit like
Hadley where people come pouring through that town to get to UMass, but they also come, you know, right up from Belchure Town. There's a main a main supply of of UMass employees and students. And so we
have we have, you know, Main Street, we have part of Route 9, we have Triangle Street, we have North Pleasant Street. And if there is some manner of somehow getting state support
via UMass or in any other state support method uh to help cover some of that. We if it were not for that draw, we would not have the volume on many of these roads, including High Street, which is primarily buses, but um it is also it is
also a cut uh for folks getting up to uh Orchard Hill. Thank you, >> Jennifer. Yeah, I just want to reiterate what Pam said and I'm not just advocating for district 4, but we do um both of our
precincts are adjacent to UMass and I've sent pictures before, but on Fearing Street where year after year for decades, there are literally thousands of students that traverse Fearing Street
every weekend. and on fearing just east of Lincoln cuz there's only a sidewalk on one side. This there's a whole chunk of the sidewalk that's completely worn away because of it gets it must get more pedestrian traffic than any, you know,
sidewalk traffic street in town. And there's just I can't see any reason why UMass wouldn't be asked to contribute to those repairs. In front of my house, there is a sinkhole and I reported it
four years ago on Cclick Fix and we fill it with gravel so some pedestrians don't fall. It's never been fixed. But we also have hundreds of students that traverse that sidewalk, you know, after midnight
when it's dark. And I was looking that it's gotten worse the last couple of months. And again, I, you know, I don't think UMass would want their students to fall and get hurt in the dark. So, I just there's a direct connection I think between the deterioration of some roads
and sidewalks and the safety of students that I would think the university would I would hope they'd want to address and should be asked. >> I have a couple of just a budget sort of planning type questions. Uh I don't know if there are any other questions uh that
the committee members have. Um, but I was going to ask a few at this point. Um, Jason, the first has to do with the remaining work that you showed us with a dollar figure attached. >> Yep. >> And my assumption is that that money is
is there and it's it's safe and it's just a matter of getting the work done and it's not part of the 4.2 million that you are budgeting for the coming year. Is that correct? I'm not 100% sure about where this funding is coming from. We spent 2
million in chapter 1.9 million in chapter 90 for the work we did last year with Palmer. And I'm not 100% clear what funds are dedicated for the rest of this because we usually do sort of a 50/50 split. Um, and I I don't know what was
allocated last year uh out of town funds. So, our chapter 90 money is spent for our two-year bid. Um, and I don't know what's I know there were some town funds. I just don't uh know the details of that. >> So, some of this remaining work um is
contingent on funding or maybe all of this remaining work is contingent on funding. >> Yeah, >> this this work will be this work is going first. So, the funding we have will be used for this and then we'll >> Okay. Then we'll address >> Okay. All right. >> Then we have to see what the bids come
in at. Hopefully they come in lower, but the Middle East is not helping with asphalt costs right now. >> Okay, Athena, you have your hand up. >> You heard she's joined us.
>> I'm sorry. Okay, >> Councelor Lord has joined us. >> Oh, thank you. I didn't hear that. Councelor Lord, um can you just uh tell us that you can hear us and be heard? >> I can hear you. Can you hear me? >> Yes. you're coming through loud and clear. Um,
>> thank you. >> We are in the midst of Jason Skills presentation. We're in the question section at the moment. Um, and I think we're almost done with questions. Um, this is a larger question through which
I probably should know the answer. Um, the funding of water sewer I believe is totally separate from funding of roads and sidewalks. And my understanding which is not very good is that it is funded uh largely if not exclusively
through the enterprise funding mechanism. Is that correct? Could somebody enlighten me as to uh how we fund uh the kinds of water sewer work that we've been talking about particularly with high street for example? Guilford. >> Uh yes those the water and sewer
projects are typically out of the enterprise systems. We do have a water and sewer project we're doing in our in our system up in Pelum which is coming from the state grant and actually that that grant could possibly help with some of the work we want to do in the water
and sewer system in the future. It's actually becoming a very easy grant to get and um we've only we've only seen it a couple of times but um that's a future source that may be available to help in some areas. But you do have to have
something you're trying to alleviate some >> Andy, you have your hand up. >> Uh yeah. Um I was just uh I'm on the Dwight Capital Planning uh committee and I was just looking at our report and um that just
that just was sent to the town manager. It says road roads and sidewalk sidewalks with the additional funding from closing out older projects the total allocated to sidewalks and roads in FY27 will be 5.2 million including nearly a million from the capital
budget. Um so that might you know Sean was very helpful in going through and looking at some previous capital projects that had had finished and and hadn't used all their money or or whatever. So maybe
there's a little bit more coming, but obviously that's advisory to the town manager and there are a number of draws on uh on on uh capital funding, but um hoping that that may be helpful. >> Paul,
>> uh so two things. One is I think on Jason, if you go to the slide, but that shows where the water and sewer work is um that gets carved out at the bottom of the list. >> There it is. >> Yeah. So, so those things that those are the roads that are going to be paved, but they're going to be paved out of the
water and sewer funds. It doesn't come out of our paving funds. So, when there's water and sewer work, they're responsible for repaving the road. And this is a way that this gets done. Um, and like if if you know if high street does nothing gets done on High Street and then it gets that's how this would
be paid. It wouldn't come out of our paving budget. Uh, it would come out of the water and sewer rate payers budget. Um, it's still people paying for it. It comes from somewhere. Um, yeah. And in terms of the funds, you know, right now we know what the appropriation is. The council approved the 2.7 million uh at
your relatively recent meeting. So that's funds we have in hand. Um the JCPC recommendation is, you know, we we've been trying to uh garner as much money as available. We really want to get to that $5 million annually. And um
this it'll with this um money that will be presented to the council that will become available on July 1 um possibly sooner but most likely July 1 which will go for the paving that will happen in 26 and 27. Yeah. I think for me and this is a
complicated question and it's a simple-minded question that I'm asking but it it is one that I think is on the minds of many people which is you know the big picture how do we you know given the scale of the work needed that Jason has has has presented to us um uh very
clearly um and given also the the serious concerns we have about the state of some of our sewers that's also we've talked about this this morning um there's sort of the challenge or the sense that you know how do we how do we plan for this how do we you know how do we balance you know
what's available in in the enterprise fund how that you know is you know how do we plan this over the next 5 years or so um Jason clearly has laid out a plan that that if the funding is available this is what he can do for 5 million this is what he can do right and um and
it seems like it just just to maintain things as far as you know roads uh let alone sidewalks just roads we're talking about 5 million a year. Um then there's the the larger issue of our water sewers and and you know what's prioritized, what needs to be done. Some of it
obviously is is is dicey because you you know if you're if you're going to dig up a road anyway, then that's makes sense to turn your energies there, turn your focus there. So maybe challenge it is a challenge to plan. But I think that one of the things that I'm sensing is that I don't have a clear sense of what that
sort of larger plan is. um we clearly are getting a better sense of the need. We're getting a sense of what we think it will cost over the next five plus years at least. Um then the question becomes where do we how do we fund this? Um and right now it seems every year it
depends on the council and its whims. Um this year the certain amount of money that was supposed to go to roads didn't go to roads um because of the the the middle school auditorium roof. Um it seems every year there's something. I remember last year um it wasn't even
anything specific until the council just decided not to fund the million dollars. Um and then we had to come back the following meeting and and at least get some of that money put back. So the council doesn't help things, but I think also having a sense of what the larger
sort of budgeting plan could could be or should be um is is something that that I'm looking for. I'm not asking for an answer to that now. I understand the challenge, but that's kind of been back in my mind. >> Um, so let me see. We got a bunch of hands up. Uh, Paul, let me start with
you and then >> Sure. So, you have I I think we gave you what you asked for there, George. Um, in terms of the five-year plan, which we presented to the council a couple months ago, >> which shows where funding, how much funding would be needed, how would we get to $5 million over the next several
years, and what kind of priorities the council would have to set to in order to achieve that? That includes uh dedicating free cash, dedicating carving out money into the capital plan, maintaining our commitment to capital at 10 and a half%. These are all pressures
on on the town. you we're looking to get money into operating budgets or not. >> Uh and there's it's a balancing act like you said. So, you know, I think we had put together a pretty coherent plan about how to address the short term, how to make some adjustments and how we
actually operate uh deliver the services to the town in terms of our roads and then how we fund it over the next several years. So, I can share that memo out with everybody so you have that in front of you. >> Thank you. Um, Jennifer.
>> Yes. So, I did want to ask as we begin um renegotiating the uh strategic partnership agreement with UMass and um I'm not sure where we are actually with in negotiations with Ammerst College,
but will we include uh infrastructure? I mean, I think we have gotten I I know we have gotten used to as a town a very high level of dysfunction really in terms of our roads and our infrastructure and our
buildings. Do the college does Ammeris College and UMass understand the point that we are at? You know, where we literally have sewer lines that, you know, are long past their useful lifetime. And you know, everyone knows
our roads are in badly in need of repair. I mean, will that be part of the conversation? Um, I just, you know, when we it's not that we made the decision, oh, we aren't going to give, you know, as much money as we can to roads and sidewalk, the middle school auditorium
roof was had failed. I mean, it's moldy. It's leaking. You know, kids are in the orchestra. They're being rained on. I mean, we just it it's hard to say, well, the middle school roof isn't as important as roads. We're at a point where we need some
critical support and I don't, you know, we'll work on economic development, but that's longer term, but as we're negotiating these agreements, yeah, um, how much is that a part of the will it be a part of the conversation? Well, you
>> I think it's a good it's a good point and it has been and continues to be part of the conversation. I think the priority in the past has been to support our um fire and EMS services and that's where we've seen the biggest investment from the university and the college. Um the co the college did uh dedicate funds
for downtown improvements which mostly goes to like the town common and roads and you know the areas the public areas uh adjacent to the downtown area. Um, and that's there's a certain amount of money that it doesn't go very far. I mean, I think what we're finding is that
even with significant investments, it just doesn't go as far as you hope it will go because everything is so expensive, >> right? >> Do they understand how bad things are? >> I I Yes. They live in town. People live in town. They drive on the roads. They
get it. Yeah. >> But we But it's always good to reemphasize. We can never say it often enough. So I I think hearing the council is really important. So I think saying those things uh out loud is is is a very valuable thing. This will come up later in the meeting I
hope u when we talk about future agenda items. But one thing that I have been uh thinking about and we'll see what the rest of you think is inviting um a representative of the university to come um and certainly part of the conversation would be some of the things that Jennifer is raising. Um, so we'll
see if that's something that the committee wants to do. Um, I have one last question. It's almost an hour now and I think we've we've um taken advantage of the time of Jason a great deal here, but um the the one thing that I'm thinking about is Amethyst uh Brook
School and uh what's the plan for that? Not just short term, which we obviously have to come up with something by the fall, but the sort of longer term issue. We had a very expensive extensive um and probably also expensive um plan that uh
TSO reviewed last year and and met with a lot of resistance and we kind of hit the reset button. Um and I have a feeling right now that's kind of where it's at. Um but in terms of our long range planning, Paul mentioned the up in North Ammeris the the desire that we've
had for some time to address that issue and the struggle to get the the state to help us with that. Um, I'm now looking at at at the other end of town. Um, and that, you know, with the school opening, um, with potentially some, uh, affordable housing coming in the next
year or two and perhaps also some, uh, development in that area. Um, is there some any kind of plan or thought about how we might seek state help with, um, the, uh, the road um with the intersections and roads around the
Amethyst Brook School? I'll I'll jump in. I guess >> you don't have to answer if you don't want, Gilfrey. It's just it's a question >> to get state help to if you wanted to jump in and get some money from the the
not the complete streets program, but from the money for the um school programs. We need to come up with a plan. So they won't they won't give you very much money to do planning. They want to do actually
construction. So we haven't moved this forward at all about what we want to do there. Um the last thing that was talked about was waiting to see how it comes out and then do try try to do some quick and dirty analysis and um that's going
to get you a a halfbaked plan which is kind of what's got as Jennifer pointed out so clearly is what got us in this town and this whole situation we're kind of in. Um, there really just needs to be money put us put into developing a model
so we can model the intersections and come up with a corridor plan for that corridor um between Main Street and College Street. Um, we just if there's no money to do that, then there's that's not going to get done until until there is money and then once that money is
there and we come up with a plan, we can actually then go to the state and say we want to get some safe routes to school money and do some changes. um the the programs are there. Um we do have a good chance of getting funds there as long as the I believe Fort well I believe the
existing Fort River has been a member of the safe roots to school program. Um so that would help move this along and make it work better. We haven't gotten a grant from safe roots to school in a long time now. >> The last one we got was for Wildwood.
>> So we're in a good position to get more money. We just have to come up with a plan and we need to do the modeling and the and the thought process to come up with that plan. >> Andy, >> I have just on that topic. I know I'm I know you've heard from Kathy Shane that
she feels like we could, you know, put in a left turn signal and uh you know, cut off that triangle road and that would be a fairly, you know, in less expensive way of of at least addressing some of the traffic. And I
don't know how to I don't know how the design discussion on that happens, but um that you know, I know that's a concern. My my major question is just to to try to get a list of what are the various sources of
um funding that we can that we can draw on to um for roads and you know what I'm hearing there's town dollars there's chapter 90 there's water and sewer uh enterprise funds there's mass works
grants there's other grants like the safe roots to school and there's uh the university and colleges and um am I missing anything or is that sort of the ma the the ballpark that we're playing in? >> You can also try to get federal money to
help you but then that to get the federal money you're competing with the re the you're competing with the entire um Pioneer Valley Planning Commission region. So you have to score well in those in those categories to get the money from them. And that's a that kind
of rounds out the whole picture. Safe Roots to School is actually federal money sent through the state. >> Is Pioneer Valley Planning are they able to help us with design or thinking about this stuff or are they a compet competitor?
>> Well, they they they can do some of the base baseline stuff we need if you need traffic counts done, but we've actually kind of come up with a way to do that. Um they can do some planning programmatic stuff if you want to. um they don't get into the design design
aspects that that much. They pretty much are more of an over uh overarching regional planning and how how the plan would work and how it would fit into the regional planning. >> Thanks, >> Pam.
Uh, it seems that um I'm I'm wondering if our if our budget, which hasn't been finalized yet, can include a sum for um planning fees and that would be something that could be incorporated right now. I don't know if
the department has put money in for that. I know PL the planning department often puts in anywhere from 30 to 200,000 for planning and studies. Can your department do the same thing?
>> We do it by projects. So in the capital plan, there is money for the corridor, the Southeast Street corridor there. That request is in the capital plan. >> Okay. And that's for and that's for this year's budget. That was the request this
year. Yes. >> Okay. Good. Good. >> Could that money be used uh for what we're talking about with Amethyst Brook School that could be included in that or no? >> That that's what that that is what that money was for was to have the model built so we could look at different
options. >> Okay. Okay. Paul. Uh and just to for Andy's you asking sources of revenue in the memo that we gave to the council those sources of revenue are outlined in that memo includes CDBG funds and we we're getting less and we used to get
funds from Uber. Um they had to pay but that money is going away unfortunately. Um so those are all outlined uh just summarized in that memo and I'll I'll resend that. >> Thank you Paul. I'm yeah it's something that should be
imprinted in my brain but it isn't. So I would appreciate it. Thank you. Um well I think unless Andy you have a hand up but >> one thing is that this this presentation is very helpful and I I know I've talked to people who have looked at previous
presentations and it's a video but they it's hard to see the you know the lines in the spreadsheets for the video. Is there a way that we could get the actual um presentation this the slides and put them in our in our uh meeting packet as well? Yeah, I think I've provided it in
PDF form over the past years. I don't know where it gets deposited, but I've sent it up to town hall in PDF form. Uh it's the graphics are a little too big to send the PowerPoint presentation for some reason. It's hard to share that way, but >> fine. Just as PDF, I can put it in the
packet. >> Oh, okay. Thanks, Athena. >> Uh Paul and then >> Yeah, just just to add on that. So that it does get posted on the website and also um the actual street scan is posted uh on the website as well. I think I think that's up there by now. Um Jason,
>> I haven't checked but I know Mike Warner was working on it. >> Yeah. >> Is that in the DPW uh page or where is it posted? >> We can share the link out for you. >> It's under maps, I think. >> Yeah, it is under maps. Yeah. Jennifer,
>> yeah, I just wanted to ask if, um, you know, because we all see potholes and different, you know, even side streets, if if there's a large pothole, will they get just patched temporarily if they're not on these lists? I mean, you just
sort of go around town and >> Yes. When they're when they're out potholeing, they pothole the entire town regardless of the road is on the paving list or so forth. >> Okay. If the contractor scheduled the road to be paved in two days, they'll skip it. But otherwise, it gets done.
>> Okay. Thank you. So, I just don't want people to see this list and think a pothole on their street then will not get fixed because it might. >> It will. They may only get the big ones on the street, though, >> because you you do the work, Guilford, until the money runs out essentially, right?
>> We pothole and Yeah, we pothole. As long as there's potholes, we pothole. >> Okay. All right. >> All right. Well, I I think unless there are any more questions, I think we should let Jason and and Guilford go. I appreciate very much their time and uh
we look forward to getting uh this to share with the public. Um but uh um I'm prepared to move on to the next item on the agenda and uh and release uh our two excellent town employees. >> Thank you all. you.
>> Well, thank you. >> I'll stop sharing. There we go. Okay. Thanks everybody. Have a good day. >> Thank you. >> Next item on the agenda is general public comment. And uh we do have some members of the public uh present. And so
at this point in the meeting, if um anyone would like to make a public uh excuse me, a comment on matters within jurisdiction of the committee, they're welcome to express their views for up to three minutes. um what they need to do is raise their virtual hand. Um and they
will be recognized. Um so I'm going to pause for a moment and see if that is uh something that anyone would like to do who's present here. And I see one hand being raised. Um the if you would uh when you're uh uh
unmute yourself please and identify yourself u as to who you are and u uh roughly where you live and then you have uh three minutes up to three minutes to address the committee. So K
>> thank you. Um K listen can you hear me? >> Yes I can. >> Okay. Uh I am at uh 158 High Street and I want to first of all of course thanks
to Jason and everyone else for uh the presentation and it's I'm happy to uh hear the conversation um and understand how challenging uh the
work is. But I'm here uh because I want to add to the comments about High Street. Um knowing that it is um uh you know very wellused kids coming to and from school, cyclists to and from the
university and the college, many many walkers, many elder walkers using the sidewalks and then of course the school traffic and the buses means both the roads and the sidewalks are very well used. then it is also a cut through to
uh the university from uh Main Street. And so I'm glad um well I'm very distressed actually to know that high not see High Street anywhere on any list for the next 5 years is pretty upsetting especially knowing the situation with
the infrastructure underneath. Um, uh, I know potholes have been filled, but they pop out very quickly. Within a couple of months, a filled pothole is then they're now empty again. They were filled, I think, last late last fall. So, at the
bottom of the street where high where High meets Main Street, at the intersection with Taylor Street, and also at the crosswalk in front of our house, which is just north of Harvard. um the poth there's just so many
potholes. So cars and cyclists are swerving around potholes um which is is not only an annoyance but it's a danger I think for um walkers and cyclists
um and uh so that's that's my main uh comment I want to make. The other comment I have which uh is maybe for another committee and you can I can be directed somewhere else is the parking on high at the intersection of Taylor
Street is so congested that both Taylor and High are pretty much one-way street uh and particularly on High if you're heading south towards Main Street there's no way to see if anyone's coming up the street in that lane. So, uh, it's
particularly dangerous and there's new housing going up on Taylor, which is going to mean even more cars and more congested. Even coming down Taylor, cars have to back up or pull in quickly to make room for another car coming the other
direction. Cars park right up to the stop sign. So there's no way to get over at that stop sign if a car is coming around the It's just a very problematic situation there with the parking at that uh corner and the potholes only make it
worse. So uh anyway, thank you all for uh your attention to it. I'm very happy to see University Drive on the list. Uh but um I'm hoping that High Street will get the attention uh that it needs and I
appreciate everyone's comments and responses to questions about the needs on High Street. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you for your comments. Um, in answer to your question about parking, um, the Transportation and
Parking Commission, um, is about to, uh, make its inaugural appearance on April 15. And that kind of question is one that it would be addressing. And so, uh, at some point, if you want to reach out to me, I will be on that commission, um, either directly to me or through your,
um, your council reps. But um that would be where you would bring this concern and it would be something that they would they would be addressing. So it's a transportation and parking commission um not TSO for that particular question. Um Jennifer. >> Yeah, I know we don't respond to public
comment but just as a general comment um the the situation on Taylor and High Street is that at the corner there is a duplex which has for you know it's rented to students. So there's eight residents and they're now the owner is
taking advantage of the byite ADU. So there's an ADU bill being built. So on this one lot there will probably be 12 cars. So when we talk about when infill is and I think a lot of these byite ADUs
are going to be built that they in district 4 so far the ADUs are almost exclusively going up on the lots where one or two student houses already exist. So we're talking about a lot of people and a lot of cars in a small space. So,
we're that's what you're seeing. Um, you know, what's exacerbating the situation on High and Taylor because there's already eight residents on one small parcel and there's soon going to be 12 with as many cars. >> Okay. Um, so next item on our agenda is
town manager appointments. Um, we have two appointments uh in front of us and Paul, if you'd like to. Uh the first one is Community Safety Social Justice Committee, CSSJC. >> Um Paul, if you'd like to present that. >> Sure. And before I do, I just want to
again thank you for letting Jason have the time before you. I mean, he could have gone on for another hour. There's so much detail on it and it's Yeah, you learn every time you hear from him and I think I I appreciate how much he focuses on datadriven decision-m which is what
we really prioritize. um he understands our roads and just uh and I think but I also am cognizant that um really being clear I think this is a high topic so really be clear on our website where you can find the presentation where you can find the
PowerPoint presentation um you know as listening to your questions and maybe think we should you know talk with Sam our Sam about um a Q&A like frequently asked questions so if you're having frequently asked questions please send them to me we can put a document
together. Uh for instance, the the comment about um you know uh potholes, they they pop out after you know a month or two. Um it depends on when the you know right now they're using cold patch. The asphalt plants are not open yet. So they're using cold patch and that does
pop out pretty quickly. Once the asphalt plants open uh they can put in hot patch and then it is more secure over time. So there's there's reasons for why things happen. Uh they but I really credit the DPW for all that they do. Um and so if there's anything like that, any of those
kinds of questions and I also appreciate this the way they are thoughtful about like they've held off on repaving University Drive knowing that there's going to be a ton of heavy machinery going up and down doing that roundabout. Um when that's done that'll get smoothed out and hopefully for more additional
development there. So anyway, with that uh we have two appointments. One is for the first one is for the community safety and social justice committee. This is Anna Derby. Um so Miss Derby moved to Ammeris a couple years ago um to to um attend a graduate program at
university. Uh she has kids in the school district and has extensive experience working in New Orleans and uh in Africa and uh has really put a lot of um uh um she she's a and is really trained in restorative and
trauma-informed practices and was really really impressed by the the the committee is very impressed. So, I recommend her appointment for the CSSJC. And we have um we have we're we have some other people to interview on that. They have they have they have a number
of vacancies. One there's some people who couldn't attend because of a car accident and stuff. So, we're going to be reining. So, you'll see some more hopefully some more CSSJC appointments coming forward. And then should I do them both at the same time, George?
I need to unmute. Um, yes, please. Why don't >> Okay, so the other one is for the Council on Aging. Uh, this is Margaret Arsenal. Um, she had worked at the university for a number of years and is now in her, uh, retirement section part of her life. She's looking for ways that
she can again reinvolved in the, uh, community. And she's, uh, will bring a lot of talent to the senior center. Um uh she there's a there's a there's a vacancy right now. Um and she brings uh
you know she has worked in the university center. Councelor Rooney is aware of this. You need to have facilitation skills. You need to be able to work with other people know how to advocate for things and she brings all those things to the table. >> Thank you Paul. um questions for Paul on
either of these two appointments um from any of the committee members. If not, then I'm going to make a motion and seek for a second. The first motion would be that uh TSO recommend the town
council approve the following town manager appointment to uh the community safety and social justice committee uh of an Anna Darby um for a term uh of three years to expire June 30, 2029.
Is there a second? >> Okay. Seconded by I didn't get Thank you, Jennifer. Um, without any further discussion, I'm going to move directly to a vote. Uh, Pam Rooney, >> yes. Yes.
>> Andy Churchill, >> yes. >> Jennifer Tob, >> yes. >> Hala Lord, >> we've lost Holla. >> Oh, Holla. Okay. And so Holla is absent. Councelor Ryan is is an I. So the vote
is four in favor with one absent. Um, the second motion I'm going to make, um, is that TSO recommend the town council approve the appointment of Margaret Arseno, uh, to the Council on Aging for
a three-year term to expire June 30, 2029. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Yes. >> Andy Churchill seconds. Thank you, uh, Andy. Going to move directly to a vote. Uh this time again just do uh Pam
Rooney. >> Yes. >> Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> Jennifer, >> yes. >> And councelor Ryan is also a yes. And uh we have one absent council Lord. So the vote is 40 with one absent. So um both
appointments will be moved on to the council for approval. Um thank you Paul. >> Thank you. Next item is simply informational. Um the chair is going to be meeting with uh the residents advisory committee
tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. um and town hall and we're going to be talking about the role that RAAC can play in this process of of looking at uh town manager uh committees and what uh the steps might
be taken to potentially reduce some of the size andor number of these bodies. And the thought was that RAAC would be um an excellent resource and they have uh through their chair um have expressed an willingness to uh to take this on at
least to meet with us and talk about it. So they will meet with me tomorrow and um I'm looking for any particular questions or concerns you'd like me to raise. Um my initial approach is to see
if they are open to some kind of of questionnaire or some kind of outreach to uh the town manager committee chairs. Um and we would have to agree on a set of questions. Um but um this is sort of the next step. Um so Pam, you have your
hand up. >> I do. Thank you. It occurred to me that this small committee, the resident advisory committee, is um is a small and b
um very involved in in so many of these appointments. And I'm kind of looking at Paul as I as I say this. Would it be appropriate for that committee to be a little larger,
a little bit broader um distribution of of folks from the community? And I think I'm I'm what's going through my head is trying to allay some of the the sort of
the background suspicion that somehow we aren't being we aren't seeing and hearing people who apply a number of times and somehow never make it to committee. Um,
you know, I have to think that the the resident advisory committee is party to all of those decisions. Are they um are they as and I'm just going to use this word not negatively, but blind blindfolded. Are they do they have
blinders on in terms of um other folks that that might be in the community that that want to be on these committees? Um, that's a very broad question. It's a very unfocused question. Is the group
too small? Should it be broader itself? And um, I'll stop there. >> Paul, George, you are muted. >> Sorry, Paul. >> Yeah. So, first off, I I I don't think
that that narrative is accurate. And if there is some accuracy to it, I really want to have that um there there has been one person who I've heard that about. We've doc I've documented that with Angela about exactly what has happened on if this person has not been
appointed for various reasons and I I can go in detail with that. The one person I know of if there's anyone else who has and I can get in more detail and one-on-one with you. um counselor or any of the counselors um versus saying, you
know, talking about it out loud. Um and I I just don't know if there if there are other people who are falling into that category. I would really like to know that because I don't know of anybody else. Um so I don't when uh that gets stated publicly, it sounds like
it's a real issue and I don't know if it's truly true. So um you know, I've talked about it with our staff and um I really need to know what you're talking about. if that's what you're and so you and I'm happy to have those one-on-one conversations with you if you can tell
me what what they're about. >> Um, in terms of the size of the committee, you know, I've tried really hard to be very diverse and diverse in the committee in different ways and it's hard to get people who are willing to serve necessarily, but this committee really meets periodically, but their
work happens during the interview process and they all, you know, we've been very good at covering all the interviews with the three members. Uh, I think the three members are all very strong with Meg Gage, Jim Pistrang, and Anastasia Ordonz. I think they all
>> have a deep tenure in the town. They know the town. Uh, they have broad representation in terms of the political um sort of uh vibe of the town. Um, you know, we had Kesha Dennis previously and um some
people who um she found it hard to she she was very valuable when she was able to serve and then she at the end of her term she didn't want to continue. Um so if there's you know you you can certainly talk to the committee. I mean George you may bring it up if they need
more people. I think that um uh we kept it smaller purposely because we wanted the people who are on the committee to be exercised and and plugged in, not just somebody who every three or four months gets involved in in
appointments. You know, the the they are real valuable members because they have interviewed a lot of people and they have an overview. they know what it looks like and they know um you know they have a broader sense when you
interview a whole lot of people you get a sense of who's who's who's contributing and um and also just in process in the interviews you know obviously we have the chair of the committee who sits in and the staff person who sits in sometimes co-chairs sit sit in on the interview so it's a a
lot of people I usually start the interviews and apologize because we're overwhelming the people with the people on the our side of the table because it'll be five or people when this person's coming in to want to sit on the cultural council and they're like, "Wow, what are you doing?" You know, it's not just a one and done, but we're very
inclusive in terms of um giving um somewhat ownership of the chairs of the committee so that they are shaping, but also that we're in alignment with what the goals of the town are. So, by I do if you if there are individuals, please reach out to me. We if there's people
who are feeling that way, we want to address that. So as Okay, Andy. >> Yeah, just along those lines, I I was impressed with the um interview team for the community safety and social justice committee. It included, you know, the co-chair of the committee, Algra Clark,
the uh Meg Gage from the resident advisory committee, Camille Theorak from Crest, Pamela Nolan, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Paul Bachman. So it seemed like a pretty I mean it gave me confidence that there
were a variety of perspectives being being involved in that in that decision. And similarly on the um >> the senior center there was it wasn't just Paul sitting there saying well you know what do you think? So that was uh interesting to see. And then um in
terms of questions for the um resident advisory committee or when you're meeting to them in in the uh minutes uh of the last meeting, the March 5th minutes, there's a list in
number five of um you know input on the following committee process and purpose. if they have trouble achieving quorum or recruiting members. Are they listened to and by whom? What parts of the government or departments do they interact with? Do they feel their work has had an impact on town policies or
actions? Do they have input on merging with another body? And do they um apply are they part of grant application processes? So bringing in money. Um so that's a pretty good starting point for questions I would think for um you know if we were talking to committees or
surveying them. If I can just rudely jump in here. Uh Deb Ferrer, the other co-chair of CSSJC was also scheduled to attend that interview for the CSSJC member but had to bow out the last minute. >> Pam, >> uh question um
probably I guess for Paul because you deal with both of these. What is the role of the personnel um advisory committee? Is that is that sort of a similar role to the
resident advisory committee or is that just for staff? Yeah. So the personnel board if it's okay George um so the personnel board is uh there is a personnel bylaw and uh there is a
personnel board um they meet maybe once every two months um they um I think that's a that's a question about the committee like is it you know is it achieving the function and um so I think
there are some roles that they play in the town, but it's not a very busy committee quite honestly. >> And but it's not it's not um it's it really is staff oriented as opposed to volunteer board oriented. Okay.
>> Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. That's that was my >> I should have said it that way, >> Jennifer. >> Um yeah, I did want to respond to Paul's response to Pam and that's I think that's great. Yeah, that you know there's some debriefing going on and
you're looking at who's applied and but yes maybe I don't know it could be a matter of course and it might be just on the calf whether they've you know just to look over maybe a 5year period of who's who's applied because people the
applicants have long memories and they may feel like oh I applied four years ago and then if I apply now and I don't get it that's yeah thanks >> so um again I just raised Just so you're aware that I will be meeting um with
RAAC. Um Danny pointed out u most of the questions I'll I'll be raising with them are um we've already discussed um and they're in the minutes as well. But if there are any further questions, I certainly will raise the question that Pam has raised. Uh does RAAC uh feel
that they are of sufficient size given the work that they do? I'll be curious to hear what they think. Um I guess there is a certain irony in that the main purpose I understand this to be to reduce the size of bodies and to reduce the number of bodies but I think it's a
fair question and I will certainly ask them uh and see what their response is. Um so that we have a speaking of minutes we have a set of I'm sorry Andy. Yeah, just the other question would be um ask them what their sense is. Are there certain people that that have come
through a few times and they haven't uh you know what what's their sense of that? >> Okay, thank you. I'm typing and running a meeting at the same time. Not a pretty thing to see. Um so set of minutes in front of us uh for
March 5, 2026. I'm going to make a motion that these minutes be approved and seek a second and then we can discuss if there are any issues or concerns. >> Second. Thank you. >> Um, so any particular issues or concerns, anything needs to be changed
with these minutes? If so, please raise your hand. If not, I'm going to go move immediately to a vote to approve these minutes. All right. Um, Pam Rooney, >> yes. >> Andy Churchill, >> yes. Jennifer Tob,
>> yes. >> Councelor Ryan is also yes. So, the vote is 40 with one absent. Um, the minutes for March 5, 2026 were approved. Again, our thanks to Athena for her work. Um,
future agenda items. I wanted to give you some sense of how the calendar seems to be shaping up. I met with the manager the other day and um, what we are thinking about for the next three meetings. at the moment. Uh, April 16th, our next meeting. Um, I would like to
invite, uh, Sam Gifin and, uh, Angela Mills back. Um, focus would be on outreach. Um, Andy has given me, Andy Churchill has given me a set of questions already, and again, I'm soliciting questions from you. Um, just
send them to me directly. um because I'd like to give Sam and Angela specific questions in advance of the meeting rather than just have them come in and and sort of have a general discussion. Um and so I've got a good set of questions already, but I'd be happy to add to that list. Um but the main focus
as I see it for that meeting would be on the whole issue of the website outreach. Um Paul just mentioned an item related to FAQs. Um it would seem that would be an opportunity also to to discuss that. Um, so we don't have to you don't have
to give them to me now, but if you would please keep that in mind and I'll remind you before the next meeting happens that u I'd like to send some questions to them. But we're thinking of having uh Sam and Angela come back on April 16th, which is our next meeting. Um, before I
go on, uh, Pam, you have a question. >> Could uh the questions be shared with the rest of us so we don't have to, you know? >> Oh, and sure. In other words, you'd like, you know, when I send this notice out, I can show you what I've gotten so far and you can add to it or or Sure.
Absolutely. >> I will do that. May 7th, um, street lights, uh, Paul has said that the students involved and the, uh, are ready to would be ready by that date to bring a presentation to us on
that. And so that tenatively is scheduled for May 7th, which is the next meeting, second next uh second meeting. And then on May 21, uh we uh would like to hear from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission consultant uh related to the
waste hauler. So right now, that's the way the schedule is looking. Uh Sam and Angela on April 16th, street lights on May 7th, and PVPC consultant and waste hauler on May 21. Um, we'll still be getting, of course, town manager
appointments to review. Um, any thoughts, comments, questions about future agenda items. >> Those are good ones. >> All right. Um, I have no items not uh
anticipated by the chair and so uh unless there's objection, I am uh ready to move that we adjourn. Second. >> And we have a second from Council Rooney. So, uh, without further ado, Pam Rooney, >> yes.
>> Andy Churchill, >> yes. >> Jennifer Tob, >> yes. >> Council Ryan is also an I. Um, and so we will be ajourned. Paul, again, as always, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Paul. >> Thank you very much to Athena. >> Thank you. >> Um, and uh we'll see all each other all
all too soon, I'm sure. >> Monday. >> Monday. Piano.