start recording. Okay, please go ahead. You're all set. Okay. So, I'm calling the uh town services and outreach committee of the town council to order uh at
10:02 a.m. Um and it is uh May 1st. Happy Mayday everybody 2025. And uh pursuant to chapter 2 of the acts of 2025 which extends through June 30,
2027, the ability of public uh bodies to meet in remote or hybrid manner without a quorum of members present uh uh which is granted by that statute. Uh this meeting will be conducted via remote
means. members of the public uh who wish to have access may do so by Zoom or by phone. U there's no in-person attendance. This is a uh a meeting that is entirely u
remote. Um so there's no person in attendance to the public u at this meeting. uh but we've made every effort we can to adequately assure access to the meeting and uh anybody who's present
should recognize that the meeting is being recorded. Um so that said I want to go to make sure that all of our committee members can hear and we can hear them. So I'll start with councelor
Ryan. I'm here. And Bob Pegner present. Council Lord present. Jennifer Tab here. Okay. So all five members of the pres of the committee are present which of course
therefore certainly constitutes a quorum. Um so I want to start with one announcement and uh just to go over the u agenda which is really fairly simple
today because it's basically one item but um we do have the Heatherstone um road evaluation coming. you um committee members uh should have received um a email from uh council
president uh in district two uh member of the council Griezmer was that recent about 10 minutes before the meeting started and um I'll you don't need to
look for it now because I'll just uh both for the public and for the committee make it clear um it is not posted as a meeting of the committee. The it is a district meeting in which there has been
substantial additional outreach to uh people who live in the Echo Hill area to give them the opportunity to use the district 2 meeting to comment. Um should you wish to attend you'll find the link
um there and uh if you're interested in joining um there is a process that people from the district can ask to be brought into the room. However um I'm not going to be present if more than
three of you are there. Uh um President Griezber is going to keep an eye on the situation because uh we um probably should not have a quorum of the committee present in actually in the
meeting room. Uh councelor Ryan. So, I thought last time it was clear, but maybe it wasn't that um we would be in the audience or we'd be invited to be in the audience. Um anybody who's in the
audience and just listening in um doesn't count as a quorum. It's only if you ask to be brought into the room into the meeting itself. And my understanding last time was that we were in agreement without any kind of formal vote that we would not uh go into the
meeting that we would not be making any comments or not participating in any way, shape or form, but that as many of us as possible would try to be in the audience to hear what people are saying and thinking. So I don't think there's going to be an issue of quorum unless I misunderstood what Yeah. No, it it it
um I'm just uh telling you what was in her email. She was not present in our last discussion. We certainly uh uh have nothing that we want to do other than to emphasize that
we're hearing. uh the the technical aspects of the Heatherstone Road design uh will be answered by uh uh Superintendent Moing who will be present at the meeting. The other thing to note
is that she assured me that she is recording the meeting so that it'll be available. If uh you can't view it tonight and uh I will not as I noted be able to be there. I will try and uh
listen to that portion of the meeting at a later time should the recording become available. So that said, um the uh there is are no town manager appointments. Uh I think
that uh it was just delayed with all of the things that uh the manager has been involved with, including the fact that the budget is uh going to be made available to the council today and uh so
he just did not get an opportunity to work at at it. um he is not able to be present and uh Superintendent Boring is not going to be able to be present today.
Um, so, um, what we want to do is, um, spend most of the time trying to finish up all of our business and, uh, get, uh, get the, uh, transportation park commission out to, um, other committees
and boards and, uh, do future meeting planning. Council Ryan. So, I just note that we do have one person in the audience. I don't know if you want to do public comment now or if you want to wait.
Uh yes. Um I appreciate that. Um and uh we will do public comment because we're required to do so. Let me just see if I can uh get to the participant list on my own screen.
I can't without um there is a uh provision that we always have for public comment and if there's a member of the public would like to comment to the committee about
anything of relevance to um what the committee does. It doesn't need to be on today's agenda. We certainly would welcome the opportunity to hear from you. So um please raise your hand and um
there is a provision and the uh using a telephone I believe it's star 9 and if you do star 9 that does enable you to raise your hand uh so you can let
us know if you'd like public comment. Seeing no request, um let's get back then to the major item of the the day. So I what I wanted to do or what my suggestion is but I'm certainly welcome
to comment and suggestions from the others on the committee is uh I took the la the comments at the last meeting and I tried to incorporate
them into um draft new draft which um I think they were get hopefully getting to the final um and councelor Ryan has gone over it and I think that
uh we've basically come to we've identified that it incorporates all of the major comments that were received as far as we can see but I don't know if you have any fueling so uh
we probably should go through the draft the one issue that is out there that was uh we had substantial discussion on at the last meeting but um I wanted to bring it come back to it is the fact
that we had um a discrepancy from prior the prior recommendation regarding one segment of uh traffic control issues and how they should be handled whether it should
by recommendation to the council for action or whether it should be by final action of the uh commission. And uh so I want to make sure that we are at a final stopping point on that and I may want to
take a separate vote on it after a little bit more discussion. Um, so I suggest we hold that knowing that that's something that we need to spend a little bit more time at and see if there are
any other issues that people have with any of the um sections as written. Uh Bob, I don't I don't have an any issue, but I w wondered whether either you or George had circled back with uh with the
the town manager on whether or not this these changes that we're proposing are going to further his goal to reduce staff time and his own personal time. Um, councelor Ryan actually did have a
discussion, so I'm going to turn it over to him in a minute about um some aspects where we were raising a question of whether he would like to keep u his role
in certain in one area or give it to the commission. So I'm uh so that was probably the major discussion. The other thing that I will note is that
u I have sent him draft two uh the uh la last week so that he would have an opportunity to to see that and have compared it to his original proposal. Uh councelor Ryan, you did
have a discussion about one item. Yeah. Um it's in the u also you'll see it in the the uh document that I sent to you um where you see that the TPC has been stricken and um it goes back to the
town manager. That reflects a conversation I had with Paul where he felt that um in those cases it would probably be simpler and easier um for it to be handled in his office rather than sending it to the commission. So, as we go through that document, um those
particular items we should discuss and make sure we're in agreement with, but they're based on Paul's input that he thought um probably be better. Basically, it's handled it's largely handled by Angela Mills and they're it's kind of something that they handle pretty well. So, he said that he would
be happy to keep those and he thought that would be better. My recollection is that it is about uh special accommodations uh that are made for restaurants and um
use of parking places or public way area. Um that was the topic, right? Yeah. As I said, I don't have an issue with it. I just wanted to make sure that he had a chance to He did. he did
provide input since he's not here today. He actually, if I understood it, councilor Ryan, uh when you were at a meeting with him on a different subject, he's his indication was that he would like to keep that.
It's was a specific ask. So, are there is was there anything else that people have seen that they want to raise questions about as far as uh how we the changes discussed at the
last meeting were accommodated. [Music] Uh, Jennifer. Yeah. No, I I thought it looked good. If there was um there were just a, you know, as there would be in any document, some typos here and there, should we just track change, send them back? But I
thought that the substance looked good. Uh, if they're just as we would call scriveners, uh, yes, types of things, just do that. Send. Well, I thought I think it looks good. I don't have any,
you know, sub. I'm fine. I'm good with it. Our back in the town meeting days, um, when Harrison Greg was, uh, the moderator, he used to just accept
changes like that as a matter of declaring them scriveners errors. So I I hearken back to Harrison and Greg days of town meeting. Uh send them along and before we
um uh circulate this, I'm not going to probably get to it until I'm back in town on Monday. I'm out of town now. U Yes. Am I correct? This is totally off topic. We have a council meeting Monday.
Yes. No. Two weeks in a row. Okay. I was hoping I was misreading that. No. It's not a scri It's not a scrivener's error. No. No. And it's a budget. It's It's a budget. It's a budget meeting.
And he's uh the town manager is required to give us the budget uh by May 1st. And I understand that that is the plan that they will be sending it. um electronically to the council to meet
the uh charter requirement, but the presentation will be held until up until Monday. Uh council Ryan, your hand is up, so he Yeah, I just wanted to point out to everyone that under the TPC
process section of uh the report, um Andy's included a sentence that I had u proposed. I wanted to make sure people saw it and that they were comfortable with it. Um I had urged that we say something about what the the uh TPC can
do on its own initiative. And so I had proposed this sentence that uh basically the commission in particular may make recommendations on its own initiative in matters involving bike and pedestrian safety, safe routes to schools, and
other matters in light of the town's complete streets policy. Um, I'm not sure that really covers the the entire uh gamut of things that they can do. Um, but first I want to make sure people were okay with that. And secondly, if anyone has any further
thoughts about other suggestions for them, um, in terms of what they should be potentially taking initiative on, um, I think that would be welcome. That may also come up in the process of review with the council and with TAC and so on,
but I just wanted to point that out. Yes, Jennifer. Again, this may be veering into a scribner's correction, but in the document, it refers to the commission, disabilities commission is the commission and then sometimes it refers
to TPC as the committee. But when it says committee, that's referring to the transportation and parking commission. Um, I'll take a look for that. And if you know, we may want to distinguish between the two commissions.
Yeah, I think that uh I think I I think there was one sentence where I was feeling like I was using commission on disabilities twice, but that may be necessary.
But we shouldn't refer to TPC as a committee. Sometimes it's referred to as a little confusing. No, it should be in we should u just in terms of general you know gram grammatical approach we should spell it out first and then put TPC and
then use TPC throughout from then on and we could do the same thing with with you know the the disabilities commission. Um but well uh uh I'll look at that. um when we
uh before getting it out and if anybody wants to propose changes like that, let's go ahead and do so and get it back to me by Monday and uh when I'm I'll be
back in Ammerst on Sunday. So by Monday I might be able to get to some of this how much I want how much I want to read the budget in advance of the meeting. Um and it's hundreds of pages
of detail. Um, so should we get to the the issue that's um, yeah, I I I I zoned out a little bit
when you were talking about um, earlier on, but um, there was a question as to whether the the TPC can actually hold public hearings on placements of utility polls. Has that been settled? No. Okay.
And I think that we uh Athena. Um whether you choose to include that or not, that would be something that go determine because they usually do a legal review prior to the council action. Mhm.
I think that it would I tried to write it as an unsettled question so that it would alert the readers to the uncertainty of that. If you'd like if you'd like them to do the hearings, then I I suggest including
it and then go can excise it if um if it's not legal. We can uh let me see if we can do a little bit of rewrite on the um poll hearings question.
Do we have a um is there anybody who would like to have the council retain poll hearings as if I mean if we have to we have to but uh question is if we have the
opportunity not to is there anybody any member of the committee who would suggest that the council hold on to it even under that circumstance. I'm not going to suggest that. In fact, I was going to say that in my
experience, any poll hearings are um you know, uh the electric company comes with a with a with a representative and Guilford says, "Yeah, we've reviewed this. We agree." And then the council
says, "Yay." I mean, there isn't really much of a hearing. Um, you know, people can can, you know, people can raise objections or raise concerns. Uh, but the when it comes to the council, it's pretty much a
rubber stamp. you know, um I agree with you and I think that the only issue that the uh council has uh entered into in the all these this time is that it is the
preference of some members of the council and possibly a majority of the council though I'm not sure we've ever tested that to know that we not put up more polls if we don't have to and that
we should endeavor to reduce the number of polls if at all possible and uh if that is the sentiment of the council I think it would be more efficient for the council to just say
that point blank to the commission if it's commission is created and then let the commission be aware that that's what the sentiment of the council is and they can apply it. I
don't think the council needs to have this is my opinion. This is stated as an individual member. I don't think it's necessary. U kind of where everyone is at. Should we make that a try and
incorporate that to some extent in the uh document? [Music] Okay, we will do that. Uh Bob, yeah, I was just going to point out that the council changes every two years, so we
should revisit the the council's opinion on things. Uh I I don't I don't think one council can prevent a future council from making a decision that they you know, the the previous council didn't
like. Um, so I that's I mean it's just I think if you know I I would I would you know the superintendent of public works reports to the town manager and I think if there's a sentiment that we shouldn't
have more polls the town manager would know and would discourage that you know but I mean who you how are we going to express that concern uh with a new council. I I don't know how you do that.
I think that that's always a ongoing issue and it's dealt with basically has each council's aware of where the prior council has been on issues and if there's a reversal because
of change in membership then that will be reflected in actions that are taken within the council itself at the time. And if one council passes a bylaw
and it becomes a public issue and next council can come in and repeal that bylaw. It's probably the nature of how how anything works in government. Athena, just a quick note
that some of these um petitions that include the poll hearings are for other things besides installing a new pole. So, we have one coming up that will be on the agenda later in the month um that's for an underground duck bank. So, they're not always to install a new
pole. Some of them um I think we had another one in 20 24 that was um adding something to a pole, adding equipment to a town on pole. So, um, just for consideration on this issue, I think we've just over too many decades
referred to them as poll hearings. I have to say that uh, having served two terms on the select board and three terms on the council, I think I've had about as many poll hearings as I can
take. Uh so uh shall we can we turn to the question of the um one the the the it's illustrated the traffic I'll
call it the traffic control issue and where the decision making is placed in that and I and as we said we did have a good discussion about the last meeting and I u reviewed the recording of it. I
think that my concern that I just want to express for um is that one we rec uh we recognize that this may be an issue for members of the council that the
council may feel that things like speed limits um are important issues that they would like to at least have the opportunity to have a say about
it. And uh I tend to um be a little bit more sympathetic than uh about it than some others apparently. Um but it it is partly that
and partly that I think that if the commission does a good job and expresses makes a recommendation and why it made that recommendation that it's going to go
pretty quickly at most council meetings. U we're not going to be spending time. There's this idea that it's going to save lots of council time. I don't think so because I think that a lot of these things will be done on the consent agenda.
And at least it gives the opportunity through the consent agenda for a counselor to say, "Hey, wait a minute. I'd like to talk about it." Um and uh I'm not sure that I feel on on some of
the matters that I want to deprive of uh the council of that opportunity. Uh but I do also agree that there are some things that like uh what are referred to as truck limits which I
I still believe is probably waiter height dimension are made on fairly technical grounds and that it's not a matter that
uh it's very likely to have an opinion about I think that there may be more on some other issues and I I am somewhat uncomfortable with the idea and that's what and so I wanted to put it out there
one last time. I didn't say it at the last meeting because I was concentrating on the role of being the chair in trying to get us through the entire document and I let it go but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to at least
say that. And now we'll have u as we used to say in the count po point counterpoint days public television the counterpoint counc um in this business we've discovered
that everybody has an opinion everybody's an expert um on these things crosswalks stop signs speed limits and everyone has an opinion including counselors and certainly
residents do and so residents speak to us about this and um we want to you know be responsive but I have no expertise no particular knowledge of this in any
professional way and so we turn to you know people who do this for a living and seek their input and advice. So, um I kind of like the idea that we have a body that at least on paper would have a
fair amount of experience and knowledge in these areas and residents would bring their concerns to them and um then they would uh provide you know a response. If it comes to us, um it's just 13 of us
pontificating on what we think the speed limit should be or what we think um why there should be a crosswalk here or why there should be a stop sign here. Um and so I kind of like having it somewhere else um for a host of reasons. Um, an
example that is recent in my memory is what on Northampton Road, um, the speed limits, uh, a constituent who actually has a fair amount of knowledge in this area, but still just a constituent raised the issue of the speed limits on
Northampton Road. Um, and because it's a state road, um, it has to go to this to DOT. Um but again the argument is that they are the experts. They you know have some knowledge and experience etc. And
we're hoping that they will adjust the speed limits in the way that we suggest but um we trust their judgment. So in a town situation the equivalent of the DOT would be I would think something like TPC. It wouldn't be
13 uh counselors spending 20 minutes, an hour, however long it takes um each one of us with our own opinion about what we think the right speed limit should be or why a stop sign should go here or why it
should be, you know, whatever. So, um I'm kind of leaning towards leaving it with the TPC. Um but Andy's right. other colleagues may differ and when it gets to the council we'll see what people think and I guess as noted I uh I don't
think that it's going to be very common that we're we would have a substantial discussion but that if somebody was which would probably be resident driven originally but not necessarily
necessarily that we shouldn't take that opportunity away from the council. Uh uh yeah, I've I've I've sort of gone I've I I've see both I've sort of been in both camps at one point or
another. Um, I think I I first was thinking that this is something that the council should should do because it's important that the council make a decision. Um, on the other hand, I agree with George in that the council just is
it's just an opinion. Um, it's not really based on any particular knowledge base. So, I'm I'm I'm leaning more now towards let's let TPC do this. Um we can always if it's not satisfactory to the
council we can always change it. Uh but um and you know I think we should point this out when we bring it to the council that this is you know we're suggesting well whatever we suggest you know we're suggesting e A or B. Um and uh you know
it's an important decision for the council to make. Do you want to give up this this uh I guess authority or not? you know, so and I think we'll we'll find out how
the council feels about it, but I mean I right now I would vote to give it up to to to move it to the TPC just because I I think they're going to act on a basis of knowledge, not on a basis of
political pressure or opinion. looking to see if there's any other hands. Jennifer, I'm sorry. I think my doorbell rang. But are we talking about speed limits per se or other um It could be anything. I mean, it it
could be speed limits. It could be crosswalk a crosswalk. U yeah. No, I'm good. I just think um this would be a forum for residents
to to bring their requests like for a crosswalk. Yeah, I'm I'm good with I'm good with that being a commission um jurisdiction. You know, my concerns were, you know, in terms of like a
parking structure that that's something that is a per that is a major policy long-term um decision for the town that that those kinds of decisions should stay with the council. But I think if
residents constituents have a place they can bring a request and that it will be heard. You know, part of my concern at the beginning was that if a if there was a request for a crosswalk or a signal on a particular
street, would the would that rise to the level that the commission that has, you know, townwide concerns would actually hear that resident? But I think as we've gone through the process, I'm feeling more confident that the commission would address, you know, a a more neighborhood
based concern, you know, just so residents feel like they have a place and and in addition to their individual counselor to bring that kind of a concern. You know, again, Henry Street comes to mind that I I think those residents initially
went to the district counselors in district 2, although the preschool in Henry Street has families coming from all over town, but they were able I mean, it may have taken them more time than they than they hoped it would, but that they were able
to elevate that issue so that the council and I guess in this case, the commission would take it on. And even though we couldn't we couldn't decide what the speed limit would be because there's all kind of state laws that apply to that but we could
articulate that as a priority to the town manager and in this case it would be the commission. There are a couple of things I think about. One is is that going back to Henry Street that u the residents of the
street wanted to make the intersection at Pine Street and Henry Street uh near the Kushman just up from the Kushman store be a three-way stop sign. And uh the standards for um installation
of stop signs according to the the professional standards are that it did not meet the criteria um that would make it appropriate for that uh three-way stop as the solution
to the problem. And the determination was then made along that basis. Um and that was uh and I think that the commission in in if created would have
made that same recommendation and u whether it came as a recommendation to the council or a decision of the commission, it probably would have ended up in the same place that we ended up with anyway.
Um there have I can think of back in uh slug word time of uh that that it actually the slug word did make a change in the placement of a crosswalk and I think it was a very important
um change that was made and uh it had to do with uh where the crosswalk is placed at the curve where uh Pine Street turns to Bridge Street or branches off in a
much less fashion towards the Kushman store and uh there's a crosswalk right at the curve and if it uh hadn't been for the select board discussion that crosswalk would not have been placed
there. Um and uh it was a significant enough decision that was made that within a year after the um crosswalk being uh installed some careless driver actually went off the road and wiped out
the pole that held up the crosswalk flashing beacon. U which kind of showed that it was the right decision that was made. Uh would the commission have made it? I
don't know. But uh the original DPW recommendation had been to not place the crosswalk there. Councelor Ryan. So there is I think a little bit of confusion in the existing document, a
policy document um and what we're proposing. And so I think as I assume we're going to do when we go through and look at the red line changes, this might sharpen the discussion a bit and I could use your input as a committee on uh whether I'm reading this document
correctly. So I think um if if it's appropriate at this point, we should take a look um at the changes we're proposing, make sure people are okay with them. Um, and in one or two cases, I could use some input from the committee. And assuming we get through that, I think we would then be in a
position to to approve at least this uh document and then have it sent out. Which document? Uh just to make sure we this is the town council policy on the public way which we are proposing to um make changes to based on our creation of
the of the commission. So based on what we uh are also going to do which is propose a charge for for the commission um that results in changes to the public weight policy. And so a lot of what we're talking about is is uh in that
document in the policies document not in your report um and not in the uh I don't know if you have a charge yet red ready Andy but um we eventually need to have a charge for the commission we need to have uh a redline
version of the uh policy and of course the report that will go to the council. All those have to go eventually, but today I think we should go through the the red line that I sent everybody. And um there one or two places where I just I'm not sure myself what what should be done, but I want to
make sure that people see it and that we're okay with what what it says. Okay. Uh we'll get to that in a second. Uh let's see if we can just there there are three options that I think we have here
on the traffic control issue. One is to just make a decision that we're going to place it with T that discretion with decision making authority with TPC. Second is that uh we
ask TPC to make recommendations to the council and the council consign will sign off on them probably on the consent agenda unless there's an objection made u for for practical purposes. And the
third is uh um quest possibility is to um tempor place it in one of the locations with notation that this was this one issue that was uh substantially
discussed by the uh by our committee and your preferences to how to handle this one issue and then we'll go on to what uh the policy that the uh public policy
is councilor Ryan [Music] requests. Uh Bob. Yeah, I guess I'm I'm okay with the second um option, which is to basically have the TPC do the work and come up with a recommendation, but
bring it to the council for final approval. Uh that way it it it retains the authority of the council to decide. Um but you know as you said it's like likely to be on the consent agenda and unless there's a particular uh objection
to that um it will you know sail through without much effort but I think you know the the the work that goes into it I think the TPC should do the work that goes into it and come with a reasoned you know uh
recommendation to the council. So I I can go I can go that way. I can go with the first option. Either way, um I think e in either case, I think we should point out to the council that this is an issue that, you know, we agonized over
and we're not sure we made the right decision one way or the other. counc. So I at the moment uh prefer the first option over the second. I don't think the third is appropriate. I think we should present them with something. Um
and we can make clear that this was something we talked a lot about, but we should if we can um say we we think this is the the way it should go and then let them decide. So, I would my thought is I'd rather have them deal with it period um and uh not have it come back to the
council. Um it's easy to make right and right now that's the way the document the red line document reads. It can be easily changed. That's not a problem. Um but at the moment that's the way it reads. Um and uh if we want to change that fine um but my preference would be
just to leave it with TPC. Um I guess the other experience that I would throw out is that uh what we heard from uh Alex Jarrett, councelor Jared and Northampton
is that they deal with everything as recommendations and u that that it is not an issue that he even has thought about pretty much is where it came down
to and that it runs very smoothly because the recommendations are reasonably and thoughtfully made. So I I guess that's the last piece that I
would put into it. So I think that uh but the there seems to be agreement we should alert alert readers on the uh TAC as well as the
council and others who see this that uh this was the issue that has had more discussion than any other and councelor Ryan suggests leaving the draft as is well I think we should look at the draft
together and make sure that that what I've written is what exactly we've said. Um I know people haven't had a lot of time to look at it but um um and so I think that's important that we take a moment and do that.
Um you want to do that before we settle this last this one question? I think so because it and you know it doesn't really matter but I think when actually looking at it because there's actually as I said there's a problem in the document there's a if you look at a different section uh some of the
language that I'm that's being proposed in the red line seems to be in tension with some previous existing language um where it's given to the town manager. So I want to make sure that that what I'm reading is is that you all agree with me that that there's a problem there
because maybe I'm misreading it. Um, we didn't have a chance to raise it with Paul. We didn't have a with Guilford because they're not here today. So, I just need somebody to look at it besides me and go, "Yeah, that's a problem." Or, "No." Do you want to um do a share
screen? Yeah. I think if someone if you could put up the uh the redline version, we just go through it. There aren't that many proposed changes. It's not a huge amount, but um I want to make sure people understand what they are and that they're okay with them. And if they're
not, we need to talk about it because eventually this goes out to counselors who are going to look at it and I know certain counselors will look at it appropriately with a fine tooth comb and we just want to make sure that it's it's our best we put our best foot forward
before they start monkeying with it. Okay, let's see if I can do this. Um and did it come up on screens or Yes, on screen. That's it. That's great. And the first change, Andy, is a
2B. Um so if we go to 2B, everything else is staying the way it is, but in 2B. Um and this is what I mentioned earlier in conversation with Paul, he felt um that this this particular 2B1
um which deals with seasonal use of parking spots um related to um what is it? Expanding sidewalk, cafe, food and drink. This is something that his office has been handling without much difficulty. They're used to it. It it moves fairly quickly. And so we were
originally going to give it to TPC, but in conversation with Paul, um he said that he thinks it should stay with him. So that's why at the moment it's stricken. So um if everyone's okay with that in the final version, uh actually in the version we'll give to the
counselors and to the public, that's not even going to be there. That stricken line won't be there because we're not making a change. So originally we're going to make a change. Then Paul said, "I don't think that I think it's better if it stays with me." So, I wanted you to see that. Um, and then when this
finally gets approved, when it does, that whole thing will disappear and it'll just stay. There's no change being proposed here. So, that's Yeah, I need input. Jennifer, you're muted. I'm sorry. Um, I'm good with that. I
think we should leave it as it is. Okay. Anybody else see raised hands? We're go on. So the next change is to what is it? 2D again permanent or other requests.
Um and here we are making a um substantial change. We are basically giving TPC the authority to hold a public hearing on any request for permanent parking changes, modification of fees, or other requests related to
parking not detailed above. We're giving this to TPC. However, it will then come back to the council for final [Music] approval. So, um this this is what counselors would see. This is what the public will see um as what we're
proposing as a change to the document. It will look just like this. Any objection to the No. No. I think we're fine with that. The next one is 3C. These are long-term closures.
Um, and again, this is dealing with sidewalk, cafe, food, drink, other retail. Again, this is where Paul said, I think it should stay with me. So, um, what I'm what this document with the striketh through is saying we're not
going to change this at all. So, when it goes out, um, Transportation, Parking Commission, TPC, and RED won't even be there because there's no change. That's that's the second one. Mhm. That's good for me. Okay.
Um then the second one for all other closures TPC will um there's a I have to there's a typo will review um following consultation with the town engineer blah blah blah and before making recommendation to the council. So this
comes back because it's a um uh all the closures I guess we felt that it was important that this come back to the council um because these are not permanent but long-term and um I know people have
thoughts on that. Why why is it coming back to the council? Because my my feeling was at the time that unless it's permanent, we don't really need to weigh in. But Maybe there was an argument at the time because at the moment, this is
what it says. It's not permanent. It's just uh 14 consecutive cumulative days, but not greater than 14. Um yeah, it goes to them, but it comes back to us. I don't
know. Why do we want this to come back to us? Is there a definition? Is there an outside? It's greater than 14, but but it doesn't set an upper limit. I know it has no upper limit.
In other places, it's 180 days. Um here it doesn't say I don't know if it really matters but it's it's basically clearly not permanent and I felt that in our discussion we thought that anything permanent should probably get um you
know should be run by the council but maybe there was a reason why yeah so here I would suggest that maybe we just leave it with them Jennifer so I'm trying to think of when This might come up. So, let's say with the
library construction, they found they had to close a street. Would that for a matter of months? Would that fall within this? It's more than 14 days. I guess it
would. Yeah. I was thinking it would be a major construction project. And again, the thought was, you know, what what's the council going to do? They're going to say, okay, we're going to have a major construction project. It's going to be a serious inconvenience. Everybody acknowledges
that. Um, but we still have to okay it. So, what if we say we don't like it or we don't want it. I mean, it seems like it's right. I guess maybe you could argue that, well, maybe there's another way we could do it. Maybe instead of closing that street, we could close this street
or da da da da. Um, but again, so back to station road. Yeah. Um, so what h that was going to be closed for a long period of time. It was going to be and but did the council weigh in on that? Cuz I think they made
some accommodation. was before George. You may have been was it during the first council? Yeah, it was during the first council and um eventually they came up with like a temporary structure so that you know
traffic would stop on one side while the other traffic. But did the council weigh in on that and just I don't I just don't remember. I don't remember. I mean it certainly came up. We talked about it but I don't know that we made any uh decision what decision Yeah. Right. Right. I feel like something like that
should have come before the council because it was like because we do live here, you know, somebody could make a decision who doesn't have to take that street every day, right? But the question is, do we have does it just come to the council? It came to the
council, but you have to remember there was money involved. Yeah. Right. In the acquisition of the bridge, the temporary bridge, and that's why I came to the council. Uh the the more applicable one is probably when the
there was on Spring Street, the section of sidewalk street in front of that building that has been put up by Archipelago across the street from the in at Boltwood. Uh that did have
substantial discussion on closure of a section of public way. And it could come up um in construction of any major building uh where you've closed off sidewalk and
right people have to go to other side of the street could happen at uh Jones Library. I don't know. So I would be comfortable leaving it the way it is. you know, if there's no other alternative than the council. But
I mean, people have the right and they would be encouraged to come and and state their case or, you know, and that part of the creating this body is that everyone knows this is where you go to make your case. Um, so they would go and make their case. TPC would make its, you
know, decision. Um, and then what they're going to, well, they make the recommendation. Then it comes back to the council and the same folks are going to come and say the same thing. Um, and I'm not sure what is being accomplished here.
Um, we're trying to make sure that people have a place where they can express their concerns and can be heard. Um, and that's what TPC we assume will do. But when this comes back to us, if it does, what are we bringing to the
table other than just what Well, I would say yeah, having a place you can bring your concern and being heard are not oh, you know, that doesn't always happen. Um, but I guess it doesn't always happen on the council either.
Um I mean my thinking was that because it's not permanent right that this could be left with a body that has we think some expertise and is you know deals with all the minutiae and all the details um you
know like the you know uh yeah so at the moment it comes back to the council when I'm looking at it which is why I want to add this discussion I thought to myself Why is it coming back to us since it's not permanent? And the answer may be because
we want to give people yet another opportunity to express their displeasure. Then we're going to overrule the TPC. I mean, we could um could based on
based on what? Um I mean it just Yeah. Yeah. No, I could go I'm fine. I could go either way. I'm not You know, I'm trying to think about it. If u the decision were made that you were going to close the sidewalk on Amity
Street and u make people cross the street in order to walk that block. Um as opposed to um creating some accommodation where you create a a safe
pedestrian walkway along the street. That was the decision we were talking about. More than half a year. That's a long period of time. And it could be more than half. It could be Yeah. I mean, it could be could be two years
that we're talking about that for as being accommodation. It's a fairly significant decision and to leave the council no place for the counselor to say, "Hey, maybe we
should talk about that." I guess that's where it is. Why wouldn't they do go to TPC and make their case? So, I mean, nothing prevents them and the residents from coming and making a case. Um, as opposed to bringing it before 13 counselors. Um
quite frankly in the cases I've experienced many of them are utterly indifferent to the problem of your particular constituency. Um they don't live downtown or they don't live right and you know they they just they kind of shrug their shoulders. At least TPC
would you know be a neutral body that would we'd like to think with membership on it would look at it from an objective and and and balanced point of view. um as opposed to what happens on the council which is everyone's looking to their immediate constituencies as they
should. Um and in many cases when there isn't a constituency um when it's a particular neighborhood issue um they like they have no skin in the game at all. They don't really care. Uh Bob. Yeah. I I had a question here,
George, as to why we don't have a public hearing mentioned in this section, right? Um there is no I mean it it it goes back to the original policy, but I mean I think we should have a public hearing on this uh one way or the other.
Um just says we'll review and con, you know, consult with the town engineer, but there's no real public hearing. there's no real opportunity for people to come up and you know and express their opinion in a public forum
and we have it in other areas where we're giving it we're delegating to TPC but they have to come back to the council but they do hold a public hearing think I will point out that uh you talk about neighborhood issues But I've
always viewed the central business district as everyone's neighborhood. Well, I know a few counselors in my experience who don't see it that way, but that's okay. I don't agree. I mean, that's why I made you have except for council meetings. I'm not sure they ever come downtown,
but anyway, that's all right. Um, when we were talking about parking, at one point I made the point that uh if you're talking about substantial decisions affecting downtown parking that everybody has an interest.
Agreed. Bob raises a good point. Um, if we do, however we do this, should it include um, uh, some sort of public hearing? Jennifer. Yeah. Oh. Um, yeah, I think a public hearing
is a very good suggestion. I will just say this and this is where, you know, why I've I've come around to this commission, but why initially I was, you know, sort of raised my hackle, so to speak. But, um, I can tell you there
have been bodies like this like the planning board. I'm just going to say it because I used to write letters. Um you know during the first council there with one exception there was one point of view on
that body and they there was no penetrating them with public uh with public comment. So that is my concern is you could actually I don't hopefully you know we've set it up so that won't happen but you could have a body like that where
they public comment if it's not the comment that they agree with they just you know you're stonewalled. So, and I feel like at least on the council, you do have a district council representative, you know. So, that's
always been my concern that when somebody's appointing a body and you're not appointing it, you that body can definitely have a perspective that's not all-incclusive. Okay. though our residents always tend to feel
that they're not heard if they if we didn't end up with a decision that they agreed with. But every person on that body really if you have six out of seven and they let you know they don't agree with you, there's no point in going to that
body. So maybe I'm just thinking out loud here, but maybe um given your concerns, Jennifer, given Bob's desire for a public hearing, maybe we should leave it the way it is. It comes back to the
council and that would be I I assume that would then resolve the public hearing aspect. So that people were not happy with uh what TPC had recommended, they would have ample opportunity to come to the council and present their concerns and the council then would make
the final decision. So maybe that's maybe we should leave it. I mean this is what we did originally at least I understood was our original decision and then afterwards I thought to myself why is it um you know uh coming back to the council and maybe I'm hearing from the
two of you at least reasons why it should come back to the council and maybe we should just leave it as it is Jennifer I would feel more comfortable with that and I'm not I really don't want to divert on to a former planning board.
But again, one of the concerns as you know um George alluded to is you can have a body where yeah I think in that case nobody lived or came to downtown much. So I mean again I think you know
when it comes back to the council at least you know you have at least two representatives that understand between the council everybody understands every part of the geographically of the community and it would be interesting if we leave
it the way it is and it goes obviously goes to the council for final approval whether other counselors pick up on it. they might very well just, you know, say fine and not have my question of like why is it coming back to us? So
yeah. So what I'm hearing is we should leave it as it is. Is that is that the consensus? So then you get back to the question as to how does that affect your thinking on the traffic control issue? Well, we're going to get to that in a second. I hope
you want to sell go down. Yeah, I think the only all the other we've got um um as we scroll Andy, if you um if you can go back to the screen, stop it right you scroll bit right there at D. Just
even though there's no change here, I want you all to see this before we start talking about the other big change. This is D. What is it? Two. Is it 2D or something? I don't know what. Yeah. Anyway, placement of road and temporary signs. The current policy reads all
placements of signs that relate to the control of the public way, crosswalk, speed limit, yield, stop, etc., and placements of movable signs not covered by general or zoning
bylaw. Guess what? Goes to the town manager. And that's the current policy, and we're not proposing to change it. So, that's where I have a question. And so when we discuss in a moment with the change we're making below, I'm with this in mind, it seems like there's a a
tension here. It it sounds like yield, speed limit, crosswalk currently, unless I'm misreading this, currently go to the town go to the town manager with a report.
So that's not Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead. that's not changing the existing I I read this as not changing the existing um you know issues like in other words you have a crosswalk it's already there
okay you're not putting a new crosswalk in and you're putting a maybe a crosswalk sign or maybe you're putting a a rapid flashing sign in or something um same thing with a speed limit a yield is a little bit weirder because and stop
because those are things that I don't know I don't know who controls what on that those um you know there's the inter crosswalk's already there that's part of my problem right crosswalk's already there it's just
putting a sign in so that that's not a big deal that makes and the speed limit is the speed limit it's already set right so it's signage right right good now yield and stop is a little different in that it's controlling ing traffic
movement, right? Um in a different way um I don't know would be literally traffic control as opposed to signage. So yeah. So maybe this is something that Guilford or Paul can help us sort out. Um and we
just have to leave it with a question mark. But thank you. Your point first of all is that we're talking about signage here. Yeah. So in the first two cases is not a matter of traffic control at all. It's a matter of signage. In the other two cases it would seem to be a traffic
control question. So how do they Right. But right now it goes to the manager. Yeah. I mean like just as a case in point I live on Tangle Wood and it's intersection with Wildflower. There's no sign. Right. No neither stop nor yield. Right. Right. It's every man for
himself. Well, I've been told that appar there's also one of those uh in my district and I've been told that the uh that's okay because you're supposed to stop. Well, I do stop. I do stop, but Exact. I
Yeah, I said, "Why not just put a stop sign there?" And Guilford says, "Well, you know, state law says you got to stop there anyway." So, okay. Yeah. Whatever. Well, he's got the potholes make everybody stop any. That's ultimate traffic control. That is
that is our ultimate weapon. Okay. And I was thinking yielded. There are lots of places there yield signs. Like when you get towards uh some of the major roundabouts, there's a yield sign to remind you to yield to the people in
the roundabout. even though that's what the rule is. Why they choose to put them there in some situations not in others, it's beyond me. But you know, I don't I don't want to get into the business of those kinds of yield
signs. Uh well then if we just go to G, I think we could be done with this. Um that helps me. I don't know if anyone has any other thoughts, but that I think there's still a question that we'll have to raise with Paul or Guilford about stop and yield signs, but um then G um is probably the
big item um and touches on what we've been talking about and I broke it up into A and B just because that's what I that's what I did. Um so A refers to all permanent changes to roads or sidewalks. This is utility structures, bus
shelters, benches, permanent signs, electric vehicle and other charging stations, bike share stations. Again, uh there's again maybe some crossover here. We got crosswalks in again and we have
signs. So, um again, there seems to be a little bit of Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, all such changes whatever whatever the list finally turns out to
be regarding traffic and and all such changes regarding traffic controls such as modification of speed limits, truck limits, stop signs, yield signs, no turn on red, etc. All these kinds of changes currently we're suggesting go to TPC
which will have authority to review and act And again, the first thing I notice as I look at this one more time is that it includes u signage and uh crosswalks
which yeah may need to be sorted. And then B is the any major redesigns. Um and here we felt very strongly that um this should they should hold a
hearing. Um and then they should make a recommendation to the council and we have the final say. And I deleted all the language that follows. I here I just I'm out of my depth whether this language is actually
required. The assumption would be that they would do this as a matter of course in their process. Um for some reason it's in the existing policy as it currently stands, but in what I'm proposing and what we
have here at the moment, it's just deleted. If there's a reason why it has to be in here, we can put it back in. But um anyway, thoughts on this? Well, the same paragraph is follows is under acceptance
of public ways. Um I think it's verbatim, right? So um I don't know but that's just for acceptance of yeah I think that's a very complicated and that involves right but
this yeah so I unless uh someone who knows a lot more about this has a thought on it at the moment I haven't stricken but there still is an issue that I'm seeing now where uh we seem to be duplicating ourselves a bit and I'm not sure what
But it sounds like people are okay at least with the division between what we what gets bit gets sent back to us and what we are leaving to them to do on their own. So um
Unless somebody wants to recom speak up if you want to make a recommendation to change what George has put in. We'll leave it as it is in the draft.
It is a draft. It's going to go out for comment from multiple sources including counselors, TAC, Disability Commission. Um, and so it certainly will not look like this when it's finally done and we send it. I assume it won't be completely
like this. There'll be some minor changes before we send it. Yeah. Yeah. I I I guess again I I think we should flag this as something that we really need discussion with the council on. Um, you know, does does does the council
want to retain authority for all of these, you know, with a recommendation from TPC or, you know, just keep the town, you know, Mhm. just keep the authority to to that everything has to come to us um or has
to come to the council, whatever. I don't know. But I think I think we need definitely need the council to weigh in on this. this particular I mean in in addition to the whole piece but this particular
issue I think is just a it's I I I can see going either way on it. You're referring specifically Bob to this G to the permanent changes to the public way that whole yes G. Yeah, I was
I was talking about that. Right. Right. And right now we're splitting it and we Right. We want to see what they think, right? Are people okay with this as it is? Then it's not perfect, but it's it's good enough to go out for review from various bodies.
Okay, I think that's probably right. I'm going to stop share. Uh I mean it's this conversation has actually been very helpful because it makes me realize that pro we may need to
reconsider in the U report itself to just be very upfront that u the most difficult range of issues we had is uh the question of under what circumstances is should
things be coming back to the council as recommendations and what are final decisions and that we look for comment on that without having to site every section. But there's no reason not to. I
mean, we know where the agony has been and we want to want to share it. We're gonna share it, acknowledge it. Misery loves company. So, uh, it's not been that bad. I mean, it's a good discussion. Um, and I'm very curious to
see what others think about it. Um, there aren't easy solutions to these to these issues. That's the problem. But I think this is this is definitely going to I think personally this will be a real improvement. Um, and hopefully will benefit both uh residents and also
staff. Um, and it's a work in progress, but this is a great start, I think. And we'll see what others what they want to add or to subtract. Yeah. Well, thank you for your work on this. Yeah, George. Andy's been great. No, Andy's been
great. Um the uh I think the thing that we probably want to just get back to and I may need to do this in my own is to make sure that
um we very clearly state that u the one thing that we have universal and very strong agreement is that having a commission gives us a group of people who are really going to
concentrate on addressing the issues, studying the issues, and um whether they're making decisions or are making recommendations that the time that they're going to put into it and the expertise they're going to bring to it
are of extreme value. And um that above all else that that u we feel this strongly that the creation of the commission and what it brings to the process is tremendous
value and so getting hung up on one point uh but I don't think that it it really takes away from the value that the commission is going to offer
us. Um, as far as the committee charge, I did look at the committee charge that um, Paul brought to us last summer with the original proposal and I realized that it doesn't really need a whole lot
of changes. Um there will be some changes but not a whole lot. You know you look at membership and the membership with seven people and it's exactly the seven people that we've identified who are not
counselors. So the only thing that you get you there was a difference of what we put in there was u vice president of council and a member of the finance committee the chair or the chair's
designate but other than that uh the uh membership has didn't change and we didn't really think about it from the term of what was originally proposed But we ended up there. So it was uh kind of an
interesting observation to make in the end as I was looking at it. Councelor Ryan, I apologize for this, but where is that? I I should know this and it's but where is that document? I um I can send it to you or add it to the packet for
today's meeting. Yeah. Um it was from last summer. I know. I just I think that the the things we want to send out as I understand it are this document we've been talking about um and the committee charge for input
from at least from the counselors. I'm not sure. I suppose TAC we we could send it to TAC as well to disability but um but we need to see that I think as a committee the original charge. We need to see whatever charge we're proposing. We need to I mean we're
asking people for input on these these things we're proposing. Um and one of the things we're proposing is this charge. And so I don't think we can send a charge out until we as a committee have had a chance to look at it. Yeah. We're um I don't want to send a charge
because we haven't had an opportunity. Yeah, I know, right? I think that it won't be the the idea will be to modify the charge that Paul proposed to the extent
necessary to accommodate any changes that are made. Right. Um, so do you feel like we should we should send at least send this out as soon as we reasonably can just to start getting some input, some some response and then
we'll I don't know then we'll discuss the charge at our next meeting. I think we can do that. Is there any disagreement about that? And and if we could see the I I maybe I have it somewhere, but if we could see the old language that Paul I just I don't even
know where it is in my I I I'll send it to you. That would be great if you could send it to I did put it. Yeah. Thank you. And then we would talk about the charge next time, but we could already get this started with sending this at least out to counselors and to uh TAC
and disability. Okay. Yes. All right. So, is there um should we actually have a motion to uh send the proposal and the proposed revisions to
the policy after um well, it's a draft, Andy, and I think there's a consensus at the moment that this is it's certainly we can see problems with it even ourselves, but we think it's it's it's good enough for the
moment to get some response back. So, I would say we don't need to vote yet. Um, what I'd like us to vote on is the actual final thing we're going to send to the council. Um, but at this stage, I think unless people disagree, we have a consensus that this is as good as we're
going to get it at the moment. So, let's send it out and see what people think. Okay. Because when we we're done with the draft will come off. Exactly. Draft. So I will uh why don't we do this?
Um send it to the committee to all of you. Um what George and I come up with with each of the two documents and uh I will of course accommodate the look to the changes that
you send to me regarding scriveners errors or other things. um take today's meeting and uh then um we'll save one week from having been
sent. If there's no problems, we're going to go ahead and send it to TAC the Commission on Disabilities and Coun and counselors for comment. um and just say
this is not we have not made a final recommendation but we want to receive comment and I was thinking about it with the uh uh preparations committee charge that u you know now we're going we're asking
that committee to go back and look at it all over again. We're giving them the giving counselors the opportunity to ask us to look at it all over again. I noticed that, Jennifer. Uh, okay. Maybe we want to
rethink this. Yeah, I think we have an answer to where Is there any objection? Council Lord, we haven't heard from you. You okay with that? I am on mute. Okay. So, um the other thing that I uh just wanted to point out
to you uh so that we can see if we can get some agreement on how we're going to do our own scheduling. The next meetings we have are May 15th, June 5, and June 19. Um and then we have
uh other we we've set aside the first and um third Thursdays of each month so you can know what it is the issues that are before
the committee besides this one. the waist taller for Graham and uh Paul has said that as soon as he can get to it, he will put together a memorandum
telling us where um he is with the waist holler RFP which has been what has uh caused the delay and u so I will urge
him to do that because he's had problems with attending Thursday meetings for his own personal reasons and we which we certainly understand and respect. So yeah, if he I will urge him if he's
not going to be able to attend the meeting to get to get us that memo so that we can know what is happening there and can continue that policy. the Heatherstone review um we talked a little bit about earlier as far as uh
what the listening session is. Um, I would also like to schedule a meeting and propose to do that on May 15th if uh um unless people would rather push it
back one more meeting and um at um the fire department, PBTA, school bus drivers or the or somebody from the school who oversees the buses and um uh USA
u ways because of the trucks that they drive through the area whether they have any um thing to offer that they would like to make as comment as well as one last round of circulation to Echo Hills
saying if people who are residents in the area or regular users of the road uh would like to offer comment and uh open up discussion at at a committee
meeting after we've heard and invite participation. Uh so that was that seemed like a reasonable way to go. Yeah. I just wanted to add to the list of people we should hear from is uh the
snow plow drivers because there's been I've heard complaints about plowing the the circles, the mini circles or mini roundabouts and they they're not plowed properly. Um, and maybe that's
because I don't know. I don't know whether they are being plowed properly or not, but um I've heard some complaints that they're not, which we should be hearing about that from uh members of the public, too.
Yeah, I mean it's possible that that we'll hear from that, but it would be good to know whether the people driving the plows are having trouble with these these these structures.
Um, anything else on that? So, I'll add that to the list. I wrote that down. Um there are a lot of other things that we need to get back to at some point
besides the one does two. Um we were referred to bylaw to look at u which was uh councelor Hankey's uh proposal to adopt a public
urination bylaw. Um, so we have that to deal with. Um, Andy, would she be invited to attend? Would she? Yes. And I would try and encourage either Chief Ting or Chief
Ting's designate plus Mandy. the the uh if you recall the council meeting uh council Haniki had had substantial discussions with the chief and the chief seemed to be
interested in the by the bylaw and I'd like to be able to hear from him directly as the committee that's reviewing it. Um and uh everything else I mean the other
things that are out there is u we've had a longstanding discussion that sometime we should talk about the outreach side of uh town services and outreach and we've uh never we we did have one
uh meeting where we had some discussion about it but not much whether we want to come back to that. Northeast Street will return in some fashion unless uh we succeed in getting a commission created
and can give it to them which actually might make some sense. Yes, I think that's motivation for us too. Uh it was quick but we do we did leave it that money was going to be requested
through the um capital um budget for the next year the uh this CIP. So um if there's money that's made
available then the question is should there be a consult what should be the consultant's directions on how to deal with the next steps. Um so we at least have to keep an eye on that until the commission is in place
assuming that that's going to happen. Um way back when, this is for uh the rest of you were on this committee, there was a lot of time spent by the
uh by TSO on lighting policy and street light policy in part and uh so that whether we should ask for an update on that at least
Um, I think those are the major things that I've thought about um is being there to deal with or recognize. George, councelor Ryan, you have another I don't know about this one.
East Common just sort of like we've kind of dispensed with it, but come fall of 26, we have no idea what's going to happen. And I'm wondering, we should maybe just keep
it occasionally on our agenda just to Right. We're we're basically what I think we've decided is we're just going to see how it plays out. we're not going to, you know, and the reasons for that, largely financial.
Um, but and I'm not sure there's much we can do. Um, right now it seems like there's nothing we can do. Um, but it's going to be, I think, I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling it's going to be a fair amount of unhappiness um potentially when that
school opens and we basically have the traffic configuration we have right now. Um, and I guess when I think of this committee and what it might possibly do is simply be a kind of thorn or burr in
the side of just saying, well, what's the plan? What's the plan? What, you know, are we going to what are we going to do? How are we going to manage this? Are we just going to literally sit back and see what happens? Um, and we also, I think, want to hear from the school and from their folks there,
you know, that deal with, uh, drop off, pick off buses and all that stuff. Um, I don't know, maybe it's outside of our purview and we just, we're just going to sit back and see what happens. But, um, at the moment, that seems to be just
dead. But, the problem is going to be real in the fall. That's what I was referring to with Northeast Street. Oh, Northeast. That's what you meant by Northeast Street. Okay. Okay. Um, so George, you're talking about this fall.
Um, when is the school opening? 2026, right? So, fall of 2026. Oh, so fall 20. Right. Well, there's nothing's going to be done. I feel like we don't have the I guess the question is what's being planned? What sort of I mean, given that
there's not, as you said, there's nothing going to be done. What is the plan to deal with that? I mean, literally, we're just going to see what happens. Is there going to be I mean, some kind of temporary lights. Uh, we're going to use the cops. We're going to, you know, uh, and the answer may be,
yeah, that we just don't know. We'll see. But I would still like some some information about how many more cars they expect to be coming. And
is some work or communication being done with the parent body to encourage the maximum number of students to be taking the bus. I I keep thinking back to what Andy said that when your
kids went to Fort River, the enrollment because there were more children living in town, the enrollment was greater than it will be with the you know combined school, but there seem they seem to be able to
accommodate that traffic. So what's what happened between then and now that we can't that it's going to be a major problem when we've already had more than the number of students we anticipate going to that location. I think we came up with two changes. One
was pointed out by uh Guilford boring which is the school bus issue that post pandemic the number of people riding school buses has Yeah. But we need to try and and the
other get ahead of that. Yeah. And and the other is uh that I think is very significant and uh when you have a separate entrance and exit and the entrance was much farther
south where the bus entrance will be now. Right now it's the construction entrance. So you'd enter there and leave in the it it makes a difference that people are coming in and out of that same place so
close to Main Street. But is that for during the construction that's happening or that's permanent permanent because under the when you look at the drawings the uh entrance is now construction entrance is just going to be school
buses buses and vans. No passenger cars. No parent drop off. No step. Yeah. still go back to we should limit parent drop off, but yeah, I mean, we don't have $6 million for that's never going to happen.
It seems like it, right? So, I um I was going to propose that we uh get this on the agenda either June 19th or July 3rd, and there seems to be
agreement that we should do that. There won't be a June 19th meeting, right? Isn't that Junth? The schedule is May 15th, June 5th, June 19th, July 3rd, July
15, 1st and 3rd. 19th is a scheduled meeting. Yes. Is that Junth or my Yes, that's a town holiday. So, yeah, we couldn't. That's right. So, we won't have a meeting that day. So yeah, June 19th actually is a
problem. So he's make it the 26th or should we I don't like cancelling meetings. Um but if we don't have a reason to meet then I guess that's a good reason to cancel, but I think we probably have enough to keep us busy. So should we
change to the 26th? But that means either way it's going to mean a back-to-back meeting. And you have um on my version I have June 5 and 12 and then skipping the 19th and the 26th and then three July 3 and
17th. You have this on the 12th. Yeah, I didn't either. I didn't have that but that's good to know. Okay. So, um Okay. I don't know if that was just which is just me or is that a Well, it's a conflict for me, but that's not the end
of the world. So, I'm just checking to see where I got that date because I Well, you might have been paying attention to holidays. I don't think we were. Well, I hope I didn't just decide by myself. Well, we're not in season, but
yeah, I mean, I can do the 12th or the 26. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm free both days. Thank the 26 is better for George. We could Yeah. I mean, if that could work out. It's not a It's a medical appointment or it's a health
appointment, but um and I don't want to change it based on our schedule. I thought it was good, but I may have had the wrong schedule. Any objection to making it to June 26? I don't have a problem. I don't either. I'm okay. So, so you'll do June 5 and
26. Is that right? Is that okay? With that and not absolutely not the 19th. Got it. I'm good with that. And uh and then you will be back to back the
26th and the 3. Yeah, they'll be back to Okay. Okay. So I will uh work on a agenda but I think that I think we know pretty much where we're going then.
So I don't think there's anything else we need to do today. Um and what I will do is uh I will do one last round of um this memo and uh look for your comments and
suggestions. scriveners errors. Uh get it together. Um so that next week, give it one week and uh church essentially going to do the same with the policy.
Then we will get it out to councilors to TAC and to the commission on disabilities and anyone else who captures it and see if we get comments. So, anything else? I don't anticipate
anything. Jennifer, no. I was just going to move to ajourn. Can I second that fine motion? I think the motion's been made and seconded by So, uh, Bob I
I'm an I. Jennifer, yes. Council Ryan. Council Lord. I I think we're adjourned. Okay. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you.