So, last time I said mute. Yeah. All right. I won't say anything now. >> We're We're recording. Please go ahead. >> We're recording. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Tina. So, good morning. Um it is Thursday, July 2nd, uh 2026. This is a
regular meeting of the town services and outreach committee. Uh, chapter two of the acts of 2025 extended through June 30, 2027, gives public bodies such as this the ability to hold meetings remotely. This meeting is accessible in real time via Zoom and by phone and is
being recorded. >> Just want to check and make sure everybody can hear and be heard. I'm going to start with my screen. Pam Rooney. >> Yes. >> And Jennifer Tub. >> Yes. and Andy Churchill. >> Yes.
>> And we have the town manager present. And I don't see Hal at the moment. And I'm going to take >> I just sent her a message. I But I'll keep an eye out for >> All right. And at the moment, we have one member of the
public in the audience. And uh in a minute, we're going to turn to public comment. Our agenda today is relatively light. I was hoping we could talk a little bit about
uh lighting, but that didn't work out. So, we'll talk about all that when we get to future agenda items. Um, so we begin with uh general public comment. And if anyone in the audience
would like to make a comment, they need to raise their virtual hand. And I'm not I'm seeing Athena's hand raising, but she's not. Athena, go ahead. >> No, no, no, no. I was I clicked the wrong button. >> Oh, okay. Well, that happens. It's to
the best of us. All right. All right, I don't see any hands being raised and so I'm going to move on to the next item and the main item of today's meeting which is review town manager appointments where in my count we have three four five six seven seven new
appointments and three reappointments and Paul why don't we start with the uh the new appointments affordable housing trust can we begin there >> thank you so affordable housing trust these this is an unusual committee. It's uh under state law, there are two-year
terms. So, they um so the these are all for two-year appointments. Uh the two people I've appointed and looking for your support on is Een Zu, who is a rising junior at Ammeris College. Uh he he has been working at um Ammeris Community
Connections downtown and working with a number of people who are unhoused and got really inspired about the needs for the unhoused and wanted to continue service uh on the trust. The other person is Mayan Thorson who's also a student at Ammeris College and has uh
also serves on the town CDBG advisory committee um and has been very reliable and uh helpful for that committee. There's a lot of discussion with the people you know we had the um chair of the trust uh along with the the staff
person Greg Rashane for the trust a lot of conversations about you know students membership and you know too many students or what are you know the number of people that is the appropriate number the trust has had good experience with student members um there weren't a lot
of other there weren't any other um options available in terms of people who were putting their names in they the trust felt they still have I think believe they still have another vacancy if someone were to be interested. I can double check that for you though. >> Um but the chair um especially because
they're two-year terms felt that was important to keep um membership active um and and and have the the trust full in terms of being able to achieve a quorum. So I I know that that's something it's something we all talked about whether and and I think that the
sort of advice from the the recommendation by the chair of the committee was that they would like to move forward the in terms of um having membership and being able to achieve quorum. >> Good
>> questions. Pam. >> Yeah. Did they did they talk about what students bring? So this the Amoris housing authority or trust sorry um I mean that there's some financial responsibilities for the for the the
group. Um what did they feel that the students bring to that besides besides establishing the fact that they could more readily have a quorum? I mean that's that's not a great reason to have somebody on a board just so you can have a quorum. >> Well yeah I mean they do need to have a
quorum. uh otherwise they can't act. Um and I think you know they do have a pretty strong base of people there on the trust itself. They're losing um Algra uh she and um and Alex who is moving out of town and he and he was a
student already. So it's basically adding one additional student. Um they have a really they have some really strong finance people. um I forget the gentleman's name but uh relatively new but he is a banker and joined um and you know I think that you're right they do
have significant responsibility like with the with the work they've been doing with the land trust uh on Amity Street um so um and you know the these students are super bright they are um really
engaged they have had experience in other communities actually even though they're young they have many of them have had um experience working uh as young people in other communities as as well. So um you know the the
having a range of people on the committee and the trust uh is is valuable and so I think that's why they're advocating for it. >> Thank you. Did did just a little quick followup. Did they actually ask if they're going to be in residence for the
duration of the term? and we bumped into that >> at planning board discovered somebody actually wasn't living in Ammeris anymore. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So they we usually do explore that. Um and we also recognize that sometimes it doesn't match up perfectly.
If someone graduates in May, they term ends in June. But um yeah, so the one is a rising sophomore and the other is a rising junior. >> Thank you. I think certainly to judge from the
performance of Alex Cox um students can be extremely um I mean he was a graduate student I believe but still he was very impressive and his he is a loss as is Allegra to that to that body. >> Any other questions concerns?
What I'm seeing here is that there's still probably one vacancy but um it'll be much closer to full house. Uh Jennifer please. Yeah. Well, I was ask Pam's question. That's why I initially had my hand out, but I'm just sorry. Did alleged term out?
>> I She's uh getting off of several boards now, so I'm not sure what her reason is. Okay. Um >> yeah, but we do have to Well, again, that's part of this committee, the outreach. Um really work on getting the word out and trying to get, you know,
just more applicants, whether they're >> Yeah. Yeah, we sort of pitched it to the to to the members of the the other members on the trust themselves that that's how you get members often times. And I think you know you know it is a is sort of when John Hornick sort of moved
on he was such a strong advocate and uh um person who sort of recruited people and I think that you know people haven't really taken that on as their mission uh to connect with people but the trust the council is really the second best after
the committee itself is the second best recruiter because you're talking with people all the time and guiding them to opportunities. So, we do have an opportunity here if you have somebody who's interested. It's a great committee to be on. You know, they meet, they're very regulated on their meeting. They meet every they do once a month on Thursday that they're very strict about
the meetings going two hours. Um Gaston is a great chair. Um and they and they they have a staff person that's really dedicated to managing the the process well. So, it's a really good committee. Um and they do get asked for money a lot. So, Yep.
>> Yeah. Andy, >> you're muted. Andy, >> um I was just going to ask given that there were three vacancies, um is that just sort of a you know, two of them are leaving because of their own personal reasons, right? It's not like a lack of interest
in the committee. >> Yeah. like one is moving out of town, one um you know I you know when we asked if you would like to be reappointed people say yes or no we don't really get into the details of their personal lives
and I forget what the other whether why there's another v vacancy someone moved or something like that I forget what it is though >> so if there are no further uh questions or comments I'm going to make a motion that um the committee recommend commend
that the town council approve the town manager's appointment uh to the affordable housing board of trustees uh the following uh Asen Zhao and Mayan Thorson for terms to expire June 30, 2027.
Is there a second? >> Second Rooney. >> Second by Pam Rooney. Thank you. Uh without further discussion, I'm going to move directly to vote and I'm going to start with Pam Rooney. >> Yes. and Jennifer Todd. >> Yes.
>> Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> And I am an I as well. And I still I believe that Holl is still absent. So the vote is four in favor, none opposed, and one absent. >> Thank you. And I just want to mention one other thing. Students are also
bringing us greater diversity on our committees as well. So these are um both people will add to that and also bring us a younger voice to the mix. So I think that's that's one of the advantages as well. It was not a criticism. >> No, I know. It's >> just just a reflection. Yeah.
>> Not sure. Yeah. >> So, the next uh item on my list here is the board of assessors. Paul, do you want to take that, please? >> Yes. Well, we have big shoes to fill. Uh you just look in the audience um to recognize that. So, um the so Paul Zagas
Zagasi has been um he moved to town recently. He's been um he comes to almost every cup of Joe is really interested in town governance and that's sort of an indicator sometimes of people are coming up to public meetings. He's been to council meetings in the past as well when Pali Village was on your
agenda. Um and so he's uh he's a a tech guy uh self-employed consultant and uh is has the flexibility and the time to do the work that's necessary to be a member of the board of assessors. Board of Assessors is one of the very few if
only board where you actually have to go to school to get qualified to be a member of the board of assessors and our principal assessor guides them through that. But it's not uh you know and it's an important task because they are looking at personal information when
people are asking for you know you know relief on their taxes and things like that and there's a lot of policy things. A lot of it is scripted by the state. there's not a lot of discretion involved, but there are there are some decisions that need to be made, but the biggest thing is being learning about
assessing and being responsible and they they have to go to school for that. And I think mostly online now, but um but Paul's will be a really strong addition to that committee. They have they have a very good um base to work with right now. >> Any questions or comments from my
colleagues? Nope. Um, I feel that I would be remiss if I don't acknowledge that the position that is being replaced is a member, Richard Morris, who has served since 2016, according to the record I have in front of me. So, he has been a longtime uh
member of the board of assessors. Um, so without further ado, I'm going to >> Well, can we say can we say thank can we say thank you since he's in the audience? >> Well, if you want to say thank you to Mr. Morris, you may go ahead. >> I would like to say thank you to Mr. Morris for his service on the board of
assessors. >> So there's one thank you from the committee. Oh, there's two thank three thank yous. All right. >> And and he was immune to our beseeching him to continue service. So >> um so Richard, thank you. Um so I'm going
to move for a motion. Uh going to move that uh town services and outreach recommend that the council approve uh the the town manager appointment to the board of assessors of Paul Zigeski for a term to expire June 30, 2029. Is there a second?
>> Second, Rooney. >> Okay, Ro. I just keep unmuted so I can say it quickly. >> That's fine. Thank you. So we have a motion. It's been seconded. I'm going to go directly to vote. This time I'm going to start with Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. and Andy Churchill. >> Yes.
>> And the chair is an I and Pam Rooney. >> Yes. >> So again, the vote is 40 with one absent. >> Paul, the next one up on my list is Community Preservation Act Committee, CPA. >> So we have two um at large openings. So if you recall, the CPA committee has
representatives from the recreation commission, the historical commission, the conservation commission, the the um housing authority. Is that everybody? PL and planning board >> and planning board. Yeah. So those they're they're they annually appoint their members for one year and then
there are four other vacancies that are at large. These are two of the vacancies. Um so one the current chair Katie Zobel is is did not seek asked to be reappointed and there's oh and uh Tim Neil had moved out of town. So his term
had end had expired when he moved out of town. So we have two vacancies. one will be for two years and one for three years. So John May uh he he's a person who came to us. He participated in the civic academy last fall and we've gotten a number of people who participated in the civic academy which is again a
really good indicator of your willingness to be involved in local government which takes time and effort as you well know. Um and he um did some really thorough analysis of all the town's committees cuz he was inspired to join a committee, but he looked at every committee that we had to decide which
one he felt would suit him best and he chose this is this he is a um a um he volunteers at Kestrel Land Trust in the Survival Center. Um he he has a sort of a tech background working in
security for internet companies. um and very organized that way, thinks that way. And part of his role at at Netflix was to manage a grant program, internal grant program for Netflix for new initiatives and things like that. So, he knows how to review applications, uh set
priorities and say no to people. Actually, the other person is Michelle Lab, who used to be the chair of the conservation commission. Um she had taken a couple years off and was looking to get involved in something else for the town. Uh again she grew up in in
Ammerst and moved back here is raising her family here um and uh is um a very strong on conservation issues and so you know while I'm cognizant of the idea of like overloading on any one topic or or
another but she's pretty her experience um and her previous experience on the um CPA committee when she was representative of the conservation commission was pretty even-handed not overbearing right? Not over uh evaluing conservation or any of that and she looked at everything pretty
straightforward. So these are very two very strong candidates for this committee. >> Any questions, comments, concerns from committee members? >> Andy Churchill. >> Did I hear that there are that there are still two other remaining vacancies or
was that or was that >> No, they're filled. They're filled. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Any others? Again, these seem like strong candidates. Um I'm going to then make a motion that TSO recommend the town council approve the following
appointments to the Community Preservation Act Committee um for term, excuse me, John May for a term to expire June 30, 2028 and Michelle Lab for a term to expire June 30, 2022. Is there a second?
Second. >> Thank you, Jennifer Thomas. Second. Um, I'm move directly to a vote. This time I'm going to start with Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> And I'm an I. Pam Rooney. >> Yes. >> Jennifer Tob. >> Yes.
>> And again, we have uh one absent. So, the vote is four in favor, none opposed, and one absent. The next body is the cultural I'm sorry. Oh, the cultural council. >> Great. Thank you. So there are three openings for the cultural council that we're trying to fill with these three
appointments. So the first is Micah Fanner um also a student from Ammeris College also involved in student government at Ammeris College but also uh interestingly you know works on the League of Women Voters works at the Ammeris Chamber of Commerce and
volunteered at the town's global villages event. She's fluent in English, Japanese, and German. grew up in Japan. Um, and uh, we recruited her when the C council general um, was here from Japan. We asked her to come because she and she
had a nice conversation with him in Japanese, which we were really pleased by. >> Um, and very interested in all things cultural. When she uh, interviewed, she talked about her interest in sort of promoting and engaging in the community
when she got here. Um so um the second person is Brandon Castle. Another very interesting candidate in that he is um he works at in the UMass in the library system but as a member of the Alaska native tribe that where he grew up um
he's very interested in educating people about indigenous tribes and things like that. and so um wanted to be involved and and so it was just exciting to get someone who lived in town um was on Spring Street and um and also worked at
UMass and was willing to participate and Don Ripley is actually a member of the council on aging and he had broader interest and just the council when we interviewed him at the time he's very interested in cultural issues as well um and he brings sort of more of an organizational skill set not a cultural
background to the cultural council which is really important for the cultural council because most of their work is about awarding grants and organizing. They get hundreds of applications. They have to make decisions. Um there's spreadsheets galore because everybody's looking for 500 bucks or $250 or
something. And they and he's actually brought an interesting concept about like that he wanted the cultural council to think about which is what he called spreading the peanut butter. um do you when you have a limited amount of funds, do you spread the peanut butter over lots of different sandwiches or do you
let it you know and so it's just sort of a policy thing that the council has to grapple with every year. So they tend to gravitate towards giving everybody a little something but some that becomes really hard to manage because they're $200 grants and stuff just it's just paperwork that goes along with them and
whether they make a big difference but their mandate is pretty broad. They can give grants to anybody. I've gone to Charlemagne music festival and it's they credit the Ammeris Cultural Council for supporting their work. You're allowed to give money out of town as well as in town because we we go to things out of town. You know, it's not just you can't
depend on Charlemont to just support something that's a regional activity, I guess. >> So, these are very we think very strong candidates. >> Very good. um questions, concerns, comments from the committee on these three appointments to the cultural
council. >> I'm just going to make a general comment. I I am always um impressed by the background and strengths that are in the community. Uh it is a very deeply
>> it's a very deepseated um layer of expertise. I it's a bad way to say it, but but just seeing some of the the credentials of these folks is is really encouraging and and what strikes
me is that, you know, it's like where are these people? Where are they where are they hiding? I don't know them. And so I'm really pleased since we don't have the 240 person town meeting as a way to get people into the community of
government. Um that these that these boards and committees have to serve that purpose as well and nice to have them introduced to the the running of the town. >> Jennifer. Yeah, just picking up on that as someone
who I've lived here much I'm like a newcomer compared with uh the other my fellow counselors on this committee. But I'm just always amazed that when we talk about getting experts, they really are e because of the colleges and universities
like national or international experts in the field. like I really saw that on the solar bylaw working group but it's always so yes it's um we're very fortunate >> to have um you know those really deep
uh thinkers and experts in the field to volunteer for our boards and committees. Yeah, I just um you know there's just some we seem to be challenged some boards and committees more than others. Um but I think uh yeah I don't know we
just have to find ways to do um better you know broader outreach. >> Yeah I think we get people interested who have they're interested in their topic that they're they're expert on uh or people just want to be involved in town government in some way and they like the idea of a board because it's
small enough they can be engaged they it's not overwhelming to them. It's a good some for some it's a foothold to to further engagement. I mean, I 100% have to give credit to Angela Mills who is out. She has conversations with every one of these people trying to make sure it's they're guided. One of the
questions we ask every time have have you attended or watched any meetings just to see if you've shown expert uh you know interest before you interviewed. Make sure that's one of the the residents of oversight or resident oversight. The resident advisory committee that's one of their key
questions. They want to show higher interest in in this these committees. Um, but there are just tons of talent in the town and just tapping into it and people willing to fit the need, fit their engagement level like cultural council is really busy from like uh
October to February and then there's pretty much not a whole lot going on after they make they make their decisions and CDBG is sort of a similar track. >> But I didn't realize they could make grants out of Amorest. I mean, I think that's a good thing because wonderful things happen in towns that
are too tiny to support them on their own. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, you mentioned um and it's in actually the u summer schedule of TSO that you currently have an intern that is doing some work for the town related
both to website upgrades but also recruitment for boards and committees. >> We have two interns actually. Yeah, >> two interns. Can you say do you want to say anything? Can you say anything about that right now? >> Oh, sure. Um, so, uh, one is from, uh, Ammerst College working more on outreach
things and like helping Samantha do, um, she's working right now on getting some, uh, postings for Instagram for uh, Pride, the Pride event. Um, and, uh, also, and you know, an internship runs two ways. One is you want to give them exposure to things and bring them to
meetings. Uh we had um our recreation person and Becky Demling and fire chief in Springfield on television, one of these talk shows that they did. And so Sam brought them along so you can see the inner workings of how a television show is it's a it's a brief interview to
talk about fireworks and fireworks safety and what we're doing on the on the 3rd of July. Um so they get to experience what's going on. We bring them into meetings that they you know just to help give them a taste of local government, hope that they get engaged in local government. they want to think about a career in local government,
which often happens because they get to work with Sam and Angela usually um and Stephanie and so um so we and we have a we have a a intern Stephanie has an intern as well um uh working on the sustainability stuff
updating the greenhouse gas initiative. DPW has several interns. They often have interns once a former high school graduate who's now at UMass uh doing engineering work for them. So, and I think Angela sort of organized all the interns together to bring them together
for a lunch and sort of like and we do a little in she does a really nice sort of introduction to how town government works and things like that. So, the two who are here are just assisting Sam in some of her initiatives in terms of websites, updating the website. You know, one of
the initiatives is about the things that the council has identified and we've heard also is just the searchability of the website, how hard it is to find stuff. Um, we're do we're working on a redo of the website. I'm going on a little more because we do have a little time today. So,
>> right. No, this is >> and so um when you do have a redo of a website, you're allowed to change the we we have we're sort of locked into this company Civic Plus, I think it's called. Um, and you can change like colors and fonts and things like that. And but they
also give you best practices like do you have too much stuff on the website? If you search, you know, Pride and you get the 2005 Pride fly, like what's the point on that? Um, we sort of use the website both as a um library of material so
people can go and they and that's we love having things on the website that when see people do public records requests, we can say it's on the website, here's the link. Um, other towns look at it differently. They very have very slim websites. They just want to have current information and people really need to know now. And if they
need more information, they seek it out. But, uh, the the search functionality gets encumbered when you have lots of information on our website. It's one of the challenges. And the Civic Plus search function is not good anyway. That's why I tend to just go to Google.
It's much quicker and more accurate. >> Um, so they're working on those types of things. Um, uh, I'm not sure exactly. >> It mentioned recruitment. It mentioned recruitment, Paul, but I don't know. Maybe that's is that something? >> I think I think re reaching out to people and putting together information that we can share out with folks.
>> Outreach. Maybe outreach is another. Okay. Okay. >> I'm hoping uh I think we had talked George about having Sam come in in your first meeting in August and hopefully she'll be able to if we're I'd like to do it in the earlier so that interns are still here. So again, this would be an excellent opportunity for them to meet a
town council committee, you know, to see what it looks like to have them that you want them to talk or not talk, whatever Sam wants. So >> Okay. No. Good. Andy? >> Yeah. Just um on the topic of of recruitment, I'm just struck by how
effective the civic academy was in activating people to want to get involved. So, if there's ways to, you know, I know it's kind of labor intensive, but it it seems to be yielding, you know, a good crop of people who actually understand
how things work and are interested. Um, so the more we can do that and whether maybe maybe there's like a civic academy light that could be like, you know, a one one evening kind of overview of the town and invite people to come who just
want to know how it works. and maybe that would be a way to >> to round up some more people. But I it seems to me that's a great indicator that there's a it's a good tool for recruitment. >> It it it has and we're actually and you're seeing that actually twice today.
Um and you're right. I mean Sam and Angela put that together. We talked about how do we um grow that but it's really hard and and Sam's feels very strongly that it's the size and the dedication of time matters a lot in
terms of the success of the program. Um and um we but we are looking at different ways we can sort of um encapsulate what all the department heads um are doing to and that's one of the things the interns are working on as well meeting with department heads to
look at what they what presentations they made to the civic academy. Can we snip that into a a nice presentation that we can put online that people can click on it? Like what does the conservation, you know, conservation agent do? Like click on it and you get a five minute thing. And so that they're working with the department heads to
sort of distill that down into some um things that we can put online that people can self select if they want to learn more without going through the whole civic academy. >> Good. So I'm going to move to motion unless there's any further comments or questions for the manager. Um, I'm going
to move that TSO recommend that town council approve the following appointments. Uh, to sorry, my mind is on many things. To the culture that we're talking the cultural council uh Micah Tanner for a term to
expire two-year term to expire June 30, 2028 and Brandon Castle and Don Ripley for three-year terms to expire June 30, 2029. Is there a second? >> Second, Andy. >> Thank you, Andy. Second. Move directly
to a vote. I'm an I. Pam Rooney. >> Yes. Yes. >> And Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> And Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> And so the vote again is 40 with one absent. Next body is energy and climate action committee. Paul.
>> Yeah. So this leads into we have two candidates uh that have been appointed. So, Bernard Brennan, who also went through the Civic Academy, um also the owner of Amethyst Brook Farm, longtime uh involvement with uh organic farming,
uh runs a CSA, um invol in involved in leadership on multiple different national nationwide and um state boards and um so and and also involved in the energy use and climate action committee in Hampton, Connecticut. So, a really
strong candidate. so excited that he's stepped up also as a farmer brings a perspective that that the ECAC doesn't have right now. The other par person is Bart Shear who's um somewhat new to town um
uh and but he's been involved in uh climate action things at at the um at the university uh and very excited about um has been very and much very big advocate on the campus itself and wants to bring
that perspective to the town as well. So Paul, I see that this body currently has five vacancies >> and so this is two. Uh so it will still have three vacancies. >> We're looking for more. Yeah. >> Yeah. Is it
is it having issues making quorum? Is it how's it doing with such a small number? >> Oh no, there's they're still achieving the people who are on it are are very committed. Um but we are looking for an additional members. >> This might be a body. This is for a future discussion that perhaps the size
could be perhaps reduced somewhat and make it bit easier. Okay. >> Yeah. You we have had that conversation with the chair. Um there when they're fully when they're full when they're full up there's usually a lot of talent that's when they say oh well this person gave so much we don't
want to have that seo unfilled. But I think the reality is that some of our committees are just too big and seven is probably just as functional as nine. >> Yeah. Thank you, Andy. >> Yeah. Um, yeah, I was just gonna ask whether how how big it was. So, it's a
ninep person committee. >> Yeah, >> that's pretty. >> All right. I'm going to move then to make a motion that TSO recommend the town council approve the following town manager appointments to um the energy
and climate action committee. Um, Bernard Brennan, Bernard Brennan for three and also Bart Shear both for three-year terms to expire June 30, 2029. Is there a second? >> Second, Rooney. >> Um, thank you, Pam. Move directly to a
vote. Pam, >> yes. >> I'm an I. Andy, >> yes. >> Jennifer, >> yes. >> Well, the vote is 40 again with one absent to approve that motion. Next body up is Human Rights Commission. Yes. So,
uh Matia Kramer is um the appointment for your consideration. Uh Matia has been involved in a number of things throughout the years. She actually authored the reparations um report that was done which is really an excellent product.
She's an author in town and um I just read her book actually. It's really interesting called the the untended. It's about um opioid drug addiction in Greenfield. She grew up in Greenfield, uh lives in town now. Um excuse me. Um
so, but a very strong candidate um and um very familiar has been followed things uh the human rights commission for for a long time. So, is really pleased that she stepped up and offered her services. Any questions, comments, thoughts from the
committee? >> This looks like a seven member committee and currently it has only one vacancy. So, this would bring it to full strength. >> Yes. >> All right. I'm going to make a motion then um that GSO recommend the town council approve the following town
manager appointment to the human rights commission um Mattea Kramer for a three-year term to expire June 30, 2029. >> Second >> and seconded by Jennifer Tob. Thank you, Jennifer. I'm going to move directly to a vote. Andy Churchill, >> yes.
>> Pam Rooney, >> yes. >> Councelor Ryan is an I. Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> All right. Again, the vote is 40 with one abstension. Next body up is water sl excuse me, water supply protection committee. >> Yes. So, um
this is one of those expert committees where we can't believe what kind of experts we actually get. So, uh Mr. Mlan is um is a watershed forester. He's been in charge of the forestry and Quabin which protects the the water for that
serves Boston area and you know millions of people. um and his back an academic background in botney or something like that. Uh but he really does understand um you know the importance of conservation of land around water
resources. Um we don't have someone with this level of expertise on the water supply protection committee. Now we tend to have more uh you know John Tobias type people who really know water supply and water quality issues. This is a person who's looking more at water
protection issues which I think in terms of land use and he has really deep knowledge of that. So we're really fortunate to have him stepping up. >> Paul, this is ignorance on my part, but this is a body that is required by
state law or is it something that we >> You know, I don't know if it's required or not by state law. It's been in effect for a long long time. >> Yes. Um, >> and we tend to have sort of steady membership. It meets a few times a year. Um, not that often. Um, and it it Amy
Roski is the person who managed that and really talks through what we're doing with all our water supply issues and just an outside view of things. >> Looks like they provide basically advisor council to DPW and through them to the manager on these. So essentially
advisory body. >> Yeah. with substantial expertise. Okay. Thank you, Pam Rooney. >> Andy had his hand up first. >> Andy, go first. Andy, >> well, I took it down because my question was basically are are they a sounding
board? Are they do they have, you know, I mean, we have staff to do the the technical stuff. So, I but I think that was answered >> and staff seems to appreciate it. I take it. Obviously, it's been around for a long time. So, I think this is kind of a dumb >> Oh, yeah. They really rely on on it.
I mean especially yeah when CO was up you know they talked through all the PAS issues things like that any any kind of technical the people who are on this committee tend to be cutting edge knowledge on water supply issues >> any sense Paul how recruitment here
seems to be going fine is that is again is internal people just within the committee talking to people who know people or is this just Angela Mills again again working her magic >> so I think it's two so I think it's two things one is the membership on this committee tends to be very stable and we we you know we let people stay on
because it's really is about experts who have brings uh subject area knowledge. Um also a lot of times people when they're scanning all the communities that are available look at water supply and they say oh that looks I'm a scientist that looks interesting. I want to support I want to protect my water
supply. Uh so it it you know as opposed to zoning board of appeals they was like oh that sounds scary to me. um w water supply and then they look at the you know they say oh it only meets a few times a year that really fits into my schedule I'm an academic um so I think that that's why it becomes more
attractive to people >> it's an easier cell maybe in some ways yeah >> yeah excuse me >> and and some people will say oh I really want to work with Brian Yellen I I s I see who's on the committee you know you have you have some really incredible people on your committee um or John Tobias and they say oh I would love to
ser on a committee with him and so that that's that's and sometimes you get like junior faculty type people who get cultivated it through senior faculty saying okay if you're going to work in the town you're going to live in the town you should be involved in town government here's your your way of getting involved that that where you're
you're not going to get involved >> on all kinds of things you're not going to get involved in cultural council but this is where you can actually people want to give where they feel like they have expertise you know >> um I was going to express appreciation for this for this committee. Um their
recommendations for the clean energy bylaw have been very helpful and that is the level of expertise that as has been acknowledged a number of times. We do not have, you know, uh, water quality experts on
the CRC or the planning board and rely on best practices for setting specifically setting distances from uh, battery energy storage units to drinking water,
you know, private wells, town wells, um, and even surface water. So, that's been really helpful. And I and I would, if I could do it over, I would actually say, um, you know, here's our here's our draft document. Would this committee
please double check our numbers before we send it off to, um, the town council? Maybe we still could, but, I don't know when they meet. >> And we've we've gotten good feedback, good feedback via Amy >> um, on the topic. But so I'm I'm
assuming that they >> she may have reviewed it with them. Actually, I'm not sure if she has or not, but >> yeah, but they did put a white paper together on just, you know, disturbance and that kind of thing, but thank you. >> So, I'm going to make a motion um that
um TSO recommend the town council approve the following town manager appointment to the water supply protection committee um Richard McClean for a term, three-year term to expire June 30, 2029. Is there a second? Second Churchill.
>> Andy Churchill seconds. Thank you very much. I'm going to move directly to vote. The chair is an I. Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> And Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> And Pam Rooney. >> Yes. >> And so again, the vote is 40 with one absent. The final item here, Paul, is
reappoints. I think you have three. >> Yes. Susan Crutch to the Mson Memorial Building Trustees. Uh Lori Friedman to the public art commission and Erica Zikos to his design review board. These were things that we didn't answers we didn't have at the time I did the last memo. So Angela's gotten answers since
then. So these are reappointments. >> Any questions or concerns from the committee on these reappointments? Seeing none, I'm going to move directly to a motion. I'm going to move that TSO recommend that town council approve the following reappoints. Town manager
reappoints to the months of memorial building uh trustees return to expire June 3029. uh Susan Crutch to the public art commission for a term to expire June 30, 2029, Lori Freriedman, and to the design review board for a term to expire June
30, 2029, Erica Zikos. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Um vote, uh Pam Rooney, >> yes. >> Andy Churchill, >> yes. >> Councelor Ryan is an I. Jennifer to
>> Yes. Again, the vote is 40 with one absent. We have a set of minutes in front of us. 64206. >> Point of order. Point of order. >> Point of order is here already. Oh goodness. >> Point of order. There was not a memo. There was no minute.
>> There were no minutes in our um in our >> folder in our SharePoint folder. So, I did not have any minutes to read. >> So, I can't vote on it or I >> Yeah. Well, I read them. I'm not sure how I was able to access. >> I read them.
>> Mr. Churchill. >> I I didn't see them either, but um I was looking. >> Okay. Well, we can we can put this off to the next meeting. That's really up to the committee, >> but I guess um >> I did look at them. I thought they were fine, but I understand that you might want to look at them. So, >> and why they weren't in the packet, but
that's not my Yeah. Before we moved on, I did want to just recognize the uh the work that was done in recruiting these these candidates. And um it's really uh you know, I know we're going to be looking at, you know, the scope of our committees, but it's reassuring and and
refreshing to see a number of you know, the number of good people that are being brought forward and being involved. And so wanted to thank staff and the chairs of the committees for doing that. And and just so you know that um you know for the people who don't get appointed, Angela reaches out to them individually
and sort of talks about are there other things that might match up you know with their interests but sometimes we just don't have seats for people you know quite honestly. >> Yeah that's great. Is this a good time at this point to just generally touch on
this topic of um the fact that TSO reviews I find this fascinating to I mean I've already read them. I read each of the each of the recommendation papers. Um I'm trying to put myself in Paul's shoes who not only has had
somebody write these memos up, but you're having to present it to us and then we have to re and then we get to you get to do it again at the council meeting. And I am I am feeling I I'm feeling like it's redundant for
you. Um, I could I could easily just sit in a council meeting and go through the half an hour of reappoint discussions, if you will. Um, is this is this appropriate for TSO to
be doing this this preview, if you will? >> Are you asking me? >> I'm I'm I'm looking at Councelor Ryan. >> Well, Councelor Ryan has some very strong views on this, which he'd be happy to share, as you know. Um I think that um we do the work of the council. So I don't think it would be a good use
of council time and I think you're all familiar with how our meetings can go on quite at some length for for you know 15 20 whatever amount of minutes it would take. We just took almost 35 almost 45 minutes to go through this set of appointments. Sometimes they're even
more sometimes they're very few. Um, but when they come to the council, they're usually on consent. And I can't count very many times, if ever, that we've had, at least from the TSO recommendations, any council discussion. They kind of rely on us doing the work.
Um, I assume that they take a look at the packet and if they had any questions and concerns, they could raise them. Um, I think the time is better spent at at the committee level rather than having the council do it. Um Paul really doesn't have to repeat what he's doing
this morning uh before the council uh for these appointments. Uh they're in consent. Um and if there was a concern, if some counselor took something off consent and said, "I have a question about X, Y, or Z." Um that's their right. And then Paul would have to address it and we'd have to discuss it.
But it rarely happens. Um so I guess Pam, my thought is it better here um than at the council. just just for the point of view council time and energy and I Paul can speak for himself but my impression is at least for this part of what he does he's got to do it at one
place or the other and here he does it at TSO >> Paul yeah I I agree with that I think this really is an important checkpoint I mean I I I know the some of the counselors feel like oh we just rubber stamp everything but I don't think that's necessarily I think that could
speak to good staff work um I put a lot of time into writing the memos and making sure that they're they're all um you know up to speed and and we do spend and I think having a member of the resident oversight resident advisory committee present at all these things that they bring a broader perspective than just the chair of the committee
they have you know they've you know me gage has really put a lot of time in this year um and Jim Pistrank does too and in uh Anastasia as well so they see a broader range of people but like I'll give an example today you know I was
with the two students um on the trust. You know, I I sort of have a sense of where the council has concerns about things like are we overload? And it's worth it to say if you had had a red flag on that saying, "Wow, this is just um we feel like we've justified it, but it it's I think it's important to
justify because if you just saw this without any explanation, I think you would have said a red flag and at least we have the conversation on on something like that, you know. So, and I think so I do think that this this is a time well spent by this
committee. Um and and then and that mean and I think George is right that it just um the the the council trusts the committee on its vetting of the appointment process and you the the reason I give you the information you have is to try and help you make a
decision, you know, pretty quickly. >> I mean, I appreciate it and I and but that that's helpful to that's helpful to hear that side of it. So, I feel better about rubber stamping. >> Well, yeah, I understand that concern and we've heard it before and and it's
it's a legitimate one, but um from my view, there's a process that's been established by the current town manager and our part of our job is making sure that that process is followed. When Paul leaves us someday, um we will have a new town manager and we now have in place, I
think, a very uh sound and thorough process. But if suddenly he or she or they do not follow that process, um then if I were around I'd have serious concerns. So I mean part of it is just making sure that the process is followed um that it that it has a wide net. Um
and so that's part of our job is just ensuring that that happens and someday maybe that won't be happening and at that point this committee might have a more serious uh role to play. But I think its role already is fairly serious. But anyway, so that's that's my
thoughts on that. Uh, we have still um we got derailed there. Um, I'm going to go back and make a motion and see what happens to it. I'm going to move that we approve the minutes of June 4, 2026 as presented by our very capable council
clerk. Is there a second? All right. So, uh, we will take these up again at our next meeting. Is that okay? I mean, I could just >> I trust you, George, but I still want to verify. >> I'm sorry. >> I trust, but I want to verify.
>> Trust but verify. Okay. All right. So, we will we will pass on that uh motion, which did not get a second. Final item is future agenda items. >> Excuse me. Point point of order on that last topic. >> Yes. >> Um it it's really helpful when it goes
into the SharePoint folder. That's where that's where I go to look for all the information for the meeting. So, just popping it there. If it goes on the town website, I'll never see it because I never go there. >> I would hope it would go both places because it
>> should go it should go both places. Yeah. >> All right. >> Right. >> And I as chair I will also try to assist Athena in just making sure that it happens because she has 50,000 things to do and it's easy for something to slip. Um, and so I also consider it my responsibility in the future to make
sure that it is on both sites in advance of the meeting. For some reason, I just assumed because I was reading it and I had it that it was there, but I must have gotten it some other way. So, yes, future agenda items.
Ah, item number one, um, we were hoping to discuss lighting today and we were hoping to have the vendor come and speak to us, but he's not available. Um my hope is that he will be available. We'll get to this in a second when we talked about uh the summer
schedule, but my hope is he he might be available on July 16. Um and what I have uh created is a memo that I wanted to share with you and I will share with you later today. It'll be in your inbox. Uh please take a look at it when you get a
chance. It's meant to summarize what I took to be our discussion and what our general points are. And I want you to look at it and make sure that that's correct. if there's something that needs to be added, revised, whatever. But it's a memo eventually to Paul to sort of describe what we as a committee think we
can do and why we think we can do it and how we can work with staff and he will look at it and hopefully he'll be impressed by it. But before he gets that, I need you to look at it and tell me what you think. And so that will be something that I will send to you. If you have any particular direct comments,
you can send them to me, but only me. But the thought is that would be a topic of our next meeting. Um, also I'm hoping that Guilford can tell us that the vendor will be available at the next meeting which is scheduled for July 16
at the moment. Um, we were hoping maybe we could cancel that meeting, but quite frankly, um, if the vendor's available, I would like to have that meeting both to discuss the memo um, make sure we're all on the same page and then send that to Paul and also talk to the vendor and ask questions. and hopefully Guilford
would also be present and we could also ask him questions. Um so that's that's the first item of future agenda. Um any thoughts or concerns about that either from the manager or from the committee. What I need from the committee are any questions you might have for the vendor.
I think it would be helpful if in advance we could give the vendor some idea of the kinds of things that we would like to ask uh them about. So, um, it would be helpful if you could send me any questions you might have, broad or detailed. Um, I think one that's already
come up is the bug rating. Um, and understanding how that works and I'm not sure the vendor necessarily has to answer that, but um, Guilford certainly could help, but that's one small item. Um, but there are many other things. So questions you have for the vendor and as I said I'll send out this memo as a
draft and I would appreciate any thoughts you have but definitely at the next meeting we'll discuss it and hopefully finalize it and then Paul can look at it. Second item um I did reach out to RAAC. Um it's just the as you we just saw we're just finishing a set of reappoints
and I asked Jim Pistrang about his uh survey and they're planning to meet sometime in July. So that's still in process. Um my hope all along is that we could take this up in the early fall. So I'm hoping that over the summer um RAAC will be able to create a survey um send
it out and get some input back from the various boards and committees on on their thoughts and so forth. But at the moment there is no survey and the RAAC is planning to meet sometime in July. So I did reach out and that's what I learned. Pam
>> Andy actually put his official hand up, but I'll ask quickly. Um, are they going to include size of committee as a question like what do you feel would be a >> Yeah, my hope is that yeah, I don't know. I in my discussion with them that
seemed to be something they very much were interested in, but they have not yet met and they haven't put together even a draft. One of the questions is if they do a draft survey, do we want to see it in advance? >> Um, >> yes. >> And the answer is probably yes. So,
good. Um, at the moment, I don't even have that. So, once that happens, um, it would come back to us to for review and then it would go out. As you can see, it's the summer. Um, anyway, we we can only move as fast as
we can move, but yes, I will I will bring back the draft and I will make that clear to Jim that we'd like to see it before it goes out. Andy, >> that was my question. I I think we should see it. >> Okay. All right.
Um, next item. I have sent the manager a memo related to recrefields and that's in his court at the moment. He's pondering it and he will get back to us. But um just so you know that that's
where that stands at the moment and I'm happy to share that memo with you if you wish. Um but essentially just spelled out our discussion and what we think we'd like what we'd hope we can do again in a constructive way not uh to create
even more work um for our staff but um that's where that stands Paul. >> Yeah. So I think I mentioned this to you George. I don't really know if this is I don't think this is a topic for TSO. This is a management operation issue. It's not a um policy issue that the town
council would engage in. We are in have put in ton of work in working with the schools and DPW and recreation and we're working on memorandum of of agreement. So we're unlikely to come to the council for for this kind of um public
discussion about the sort of negotiations we've been involved with the school district. Just want to let you know that upfront. If you have concerns, I'm happy to if you have concerns here, I'm happy to talk to you about it or or listen to what your concerns are. Mhm.
Um well I we will have a conversation I know at some point over the summer but I'd also like if anyone's interested to hear from my committee members because I do think there was a sense at least I had a sense the committee felt that at some level um respecting obviously
negotiations and memos and rightous at some level um there was an interest in the committee and trying to better understand um the challenge and to better understand what the town perhaps Yeah, just to understand what's going on. Um, and in terms of the number of
fields, the care of fields, who's responsible for what. I think there's just a lot of confusion in the community. There's certainly confusion in my mind and I got the feeling there's confusion in the mind of many members of the committee as just how that the whole thing works and um there's also a deep concern with a whole number of fields
coming on on board new fields um all grass um how we're going to manage that both from a uh you know logistical point of view staff point of view funding point of view um so I think for me at least the purpose of this is just a bit
to understand a bit better um what how we manage, care for, and oversee our fields. And that seems like a legitimate question for a services committee to ask um with all due respect. Um not to manage and not to to dictate, but to
understand and then perhaps maybe to make some suggestions or recommendations ultimately maybe through the council. But anyway, that was my thought. I don't know if that's shared by the other members of the committee and maybe we should save this for a future discussion um because this is a future
agenda item um topic but Pam and then I'm going to shut up. Pam, >> um, it's it's a little akin to asking, you know, how they're managing the snow removal process and, you know, are we contracting the right number of, you
know, local local trucks to to augment the the town's um fleet. So, it's it's kind of digging in the weeds. I think there is um I I think an explanation of the
complexity of the field management is certainly um of interest to a lot of people and and perhaps just an education on the fact that there are and now we're starting to deliberate in the topic. So, um, but if it's,
um, we have a lot of agreements with the school, I think maybe George, your your bottom line is, is this costing the town more than it should in in terms of keeping up our fields or what, you know,
what is the burden that the town is bearing? So, I'm not I'm not needing to explore. I'm always interested, but I'm not needing to, you know, turn over stones at this point.
>> Andy, I I think it's a pretty complex issue and I think it is something that staff should be doing the leg work on, but I do think that having that that that actually lay out who's
doing what and who's paying for what um would be of interest to the council. Um, so it might be just the level of we'd like to we'd like to see someus and who are who are the partners who need to be involved in those because there's also community groups as well as
the schools and the town people who are taking care of things. So, um I guess that would be my major interest would just be like are you know will there be agreements in place so that if if the new field is
water logged who's going to say don't plan on it so it doesn't get ruined you know or you know who's going to buy enough who's going to make sure who's buying the fertilizer stuff like that so again those details we don't need to know the nitty-gritty of them but I think knowing that there is an agreement
so that the staff know that would be a policy thing that would be useful to us, I think. >> Okay. Well, I what I'm going to do is I'm going to send a copy of the memo I sent to Paul. Um, in addition to the other memo that I've mentioned for you to review. Um, again, if you have any
particular concerns or questions, send them to me directly. I will have a conversation with Paul over the next sometime in the summer when he's here and I'm available. Um, and you know, I will we will explore this in greater detail. I would like to put this on an agenda at some point um in the next uh
month or so. But first, let me have a conversation with Paul and I will send you the memo and if you have comments, you can send them to me um prior to my meeting with Paul. Um looking at the uh schedule uh for the coming months of the summer, July and August.
Um we're looking now for July 16. We're hoping the lighting vendor will be available and we can discuss uh the lighting memo to Paul. July August 6th um is the meeting that Paul hopes we can have with uh Sam and the interns uh
present to discuss their work on uh the website and outreach. And we're also hoping that Mimi Kaplan will have a report for us uh available will be coming back to us with the draft RFP. Um, currently there's no meeting
scheduled for August 20, but that would be a placeholder um, if one of the other two if either the uh, uh, update website update wasn't available yet or if Mimi had to delay until August 20, but hopefully that won't be the case. That's where the summer's looking at the
moment. Um, and as I said, I'm going to be talking with Paul at some point about um, wreck fields. Let me start with the manager. Uh just to let you know, Guilford has not heard back from the lighting vendor yet, but he's still he put the August 16th date
on front or July 16th date in front of him, but we have not heard back yet. >> Okay. >> As of this morning, >> okay. Uh Jennifer. >> Yes. So I have um July 30th as a TSO meeting. So there won't be Take that off.
>> No, there should be no July 30 TSO meeting. >> Okay. And then August >> be the first and third Thursday. >> Yeah. Um, why I have that? So, August >> 6 and >> August 6 is when Mimi is supposed to come. >> That is what we at the moment what what
we're hoping. Yes. That that's Yes. >> Okay. I can't be here August 20th. So, I'm really hoping that's not when Mimi comes. >> I can't. >> Well, currently there is no meeting scheduled I believe on. >> Right. Right. Just you said if Mimi couldn't make it on the Mimi Kaplan couldn't come on the 6th, we'd move to
the 20th. So, anyway. >> Okay. So, you for the sixth. All right. >> And I will also >> So both Jennifer and Andy away and also Paul. So it would be Pam and myself and maybe
Hollow and Athena. Maybe we could meet at the local uh >> Yeah. >> Well, Paul should definitely be here for We shouldn't have the meeting without Paul. >> No, I agree. All right. So u and as you can see then Yeah, we the summer will pass
quickly. Um, any other further thoughts about agenda items? Um, I've got a little bit of homework for you. I hope you will take your time in the next few days or week to look over these memos and and share your thoughts again to me only. Um, but please be prepared to
discuss at least the lighting issue at our next meeting. um and give some thought. Take a look at what I sent Paul on uh uh the the other issue related to um the uh
what was the other issue now. >> Fields. Fields. >> Fields. Thank you, Brian. Fields. All right. So, I have nothing further. Um so, I'm prepared to I'm sorry. >> I'm prepared to make a motion to adjurnn. Second.
>> Motion's been made and seconded. And I'm going to go directly to a vote. The uh Pam Rooney, >> yes. >> Andy Churchill, >> yes. >> Ryan is an I. Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> All right. We are adjourned. >> Okay. Thank you, Paul. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Athena. Byebye. >> Thanks, George. Bye-bye.