This is a meeting of the Devon Jurisdiction Framework Committee. Today is Wednesday, May 14th, 2025. My name is Victor Norman. I will chair the meeting and then call the
role. Robert Ponrean here. Brian Sawyer here. Logan Breeze. Dan Nason here. Robert Brian Hildebrand. Jim Geller. Neil Angus here. Bill Marshall. Bill is not going to be able to make any
sense his regrets. Janice Livingston here. Odal Smith. Brian McDivet. Christian Cullen. Susan maternity leave evidently. Kristen Cullen is on maternity leave. Yes. Okay. Uh Susan Mary reading. Yes. Here.
John here. We have a quorum. We are in order. Minutes. We have minutes of our meeting of April 9th, comments, questions, corrections there. Motion just one
correction, Mr. Chair, on the last page. Actually, no, sorry. On page two, uh, Hilly Driscoll Housing Economic Bill working group update. Um, oh, it was just a a tense thing.
Uh, the second last sentence says al the meeting also covers voting procedures should be covered. Um and then just uh the more substantive
changes on the last page. Uh the second bullet uh the committee expressed concerns about the process particularly the lack of review and approval from the full body of the DF DJFC.
Um, I think we should add before the chair sent the email to Chris Clutchman regarding the funding. Um, so where exactly would that be? What line are we on? That would be on the first the first bullet on the last page.
Um, where it says full body of the DJFC. We should add Are you with me? No, I'm not. right after uh right here right after. Oh, okay. Starts with the committee expressed concerns. Okay. After that sentence, it says the full body of the
DJFC. I think it should say before the chair sent his email to Chris Klutchman regarding the funding. Just to clarify what put it in context about what the committee was
expressing concerns about. I believe it was about the email. Yep. Just so I want to make that so before sorry um before the chair sent the email to Chris Klutchman regarding the
funding and just the last sentence in that bullet it says they agreed to release the money to the housing working group as previously decided. I I don't think we have we agreed to release the money. It's not our money to release. I
think we should just say they agreed to not accept the funding. Period. That make sense? But is that what got said? I believe that's what got said. I mean we don't have the authority to So is that a motion with those changes?
With those changes. Yes. I'll second that motion. Okay. Okay. On a motion to approve the minutes as amended. All those in favor say I. I. All those post say nay. Without objection. The motion passes
unanimously. Stakeholder updates. Town of air. Mr. Chair. Um the air local committee uh is in process of scheduling uh another meeting for the purposes of they've met with all of the air departments with
respect to Devons and looking to begin to frame sort of their study uh report. So that effort um is ongoing. Also, the Air Select Board authorized and sent a letter uh to Secretary How uh in the
same vein that I believe Harvard and Shirley did as well. And that's all I have for my end. I don't know if Select Livingston anything else. No, I think that covers it. Yeah. Okay. Uh town of Harbor, the Harbor Devon jurisdiction committee did meet on
April 14th. uh we discussed the work of the report from me on the work of the of this committee um particularly discussed the funding situation with respect to the RFP which uh was anticipated to be
finalized at the next meeting which is today's meeting um we uh discussed the 13th framework element uh municipal finance and budget um Uh and then with respect to the
working group, Susan Mary suggested the house the how Harvard Devon's committee took a position with respect to the working group relative to prescriptive uh elements particularly Vicksburg Square and Supertown meeting. Susan Mary
suggested that it would be more impactful if the letter came from the select board. So the letter from the Harvard Devans committee was referred to the select board and the select board did take up the matter.
Um and that was the essence of the important matters with respect to the Harvard Devons committee town of Shirley. Yeah, as Robert stated, uh the town of Shirley did send a letter to Secretary How uh following the lead um
of the letter that Harvard had sent. Um so that was approved by the select board and sent out um a few weeks ago. Okay. Deons John. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh no major updates. Uh we're pleased with the progress of the housing working
group. We we feel that the demos committee um as well as all all committee members have uh done a good job of representing their constituencies. Uh the demons committee uh got a lot of feedback from the residents and shared that incorporated that into the into the document and um
we're pleased and I guess today was the day and it's well on its way. Devon Enterprise Commission. Neil, uh, no real updates aside from what else we're going to discuss on the agenda. Okay. Okay. Moving right along. Old
business, uh, the DJFC working group update draft RFP. Robert, do you want to kick that off? So you have in your packet um the uh draft RFP that uh the sub working
group of this committee um has been working on for some time. And just for the record, that consisted of myself, the chair, um Brian Sawyer from Shirley, and Neil Angus from the deck, and um Jim
Geller um and I know John in the beginning as well um from the Devon's representatives to work um on the RFP. And one of the key things in addition to having this RFP together was to use this
as the goal anyway as part of the a potential strategy to get a mass development back to the table. So I appreciate everybody on the working group um that worked on this as well as the committee's uh uh patience um on
this. uh we did take um the applicable um applicable components from the original um RFI um and obviously re um tool that um into the RFP. So I don't
know Mr. Chair if there's any key points you want to mention on that. I I think the biggest distinction between the RFI and this document is that this document is really focused uh on the financial element with respect to
future governance at Devons. So before we decide what to do with this document, let's let's uh discuss it and and hopefully uh be able to take it from a draft to a final document. Any comments?
A few comments, Mr. Sure. So, um background one, two, three, fourth line down. It should read uh base realignment and closure commission rather than base closure and realignment. Those are just
inverted just a grammatical thing. Um do we need to say no? Okay, we got that. Uh no, first background. Yes. Background. One, two, three. Yeah, it's supposed to be Brack.
Yeah. So, it was B base realignment. Just a small correction. And then um second to last uh sense under background as a result residents vote in the underlying town on which they reside but not on matters pertaining to D. Is that
necessary? It's on the page one. I'm Oh, the last sentence on the background. the whole last sentence or just the last part of it as a result residents vote in
underlying town in which they reside but not on matter that is pertaining to the dess what's the concern of including it what's your concern including um what value does it bring what what value does it bring kind of the the unique nature
of Devon's but I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other but it does kind of lay out that Devons is different. It's citing that you're able to tax them, but on the other hand, they're not voting particularly in that realm, right? So, they don't vote on the
taxes. I think that's the point that I've heard um expressed at least at our meetings that we want to make sure it's known that people don't get to vote on what is being decided necessarily. That's all. If it's not
important to the RFP, then I don't think you need to include it. But I think that's why it's in there to begin with. And that's the question. Is it important to be honest? I I don't I don't see it real. Okay. Um maybe it should be converted into two sentences instead of
one. Um as a result, does res residents vote in underlying town in which they reside. And then if you wanted to make the point they they do not vote on matters related to the
enterprise. Do we need that? I don't think we I think anyone who gets into this will quickly see that how if we just put a period after reside
and just strike the rest of it is that Neil is that I don't have a yeah I I think we would just need to clarify that's Devon's residence right think we talk about I think that's
covered already assumed I think that's that's covered right in here just yeah okay yep that clears it up um thank you uh chapter 498 so I'm sorry
I'm still going here um okay it says Deon's jurisdiction so one two three third paragraph third sentence mass development in the Devon's enterprise commission in Devon, it should say Devon's residents and businesses a little more clarity for
whoever's going to be there. Yeah. Which um third third line, right? So on third paragraph, yeah, the demonstration. Okay. Okay with that. Yep. should have
brought the word document. We worked on it right here in real time. So, page four, um, line three. That link is dead. Deon's reuse plan. WW Devon's That link does not work. So, that there must be
another link that works. Devon's reuse plan link is dead. This one, I think it might be I can give you an hour or you could No, we can we can look it up. Yeah. Yeah, we'll update. Okay. And then my final comment on page five. Should RFI
read RFP just Yep. is that is that accurate? Yeah. RFP amendments make this RFI or should we should read RFP? RFP. Where is that? I'm sorry. In both locations. Yes. Yeah. Everything that says RFI
should be RFP. Isn't that good? It talks about there's a couple places where it says okay. Anything else? Just a question. Um, on the evaluation and selection process, we kind of left
that TBD. I think there's some other elements that might be TBD as part of this when we are ready to release it. Um, but this is a pretty important section for the respondents, I think. So, we we do have to work this out at
some other point. But I'm fine with it the way it is now as long as we have a chance to revisit this before we really Yeah, I think that's the expectation. And I think um if the the funding does come along and we do have an opportunity to actually
use this, then I would expect that we would go through it one more time before we actually release it publicly. Okay, good. I think for the purposes of now and getting this into the letter and
Chris Kletchman and to mass development. Okay, good. What's the pleasure of the Lord? So, this is going this isn't going out out as an RFP. It's just going to inclusion in the
right now. Say this stays out as a draft. Yes. Uh we've we've approved. So, this would secure the funding. This would help secure the funding, the usage of the funding or what? This is kind of like the template I think to once we find out if funding is
becomes available, we're going to use this template. We're going to build off of this template and submit it for future future funding. Okay. Because today Chris made it sound like there was money already allocated. No, there is money uh that was allocated to the DJFC
through the town of Air and and the Devon Enterprise Commission which is the money that the DJFC Thank you but no thank you. Um but so the the working group is looking at the possibility of using that
money for some of those studies that were mentioned in the in the report. Okay, gotcha. So it's a separate separate issue RFP if another RF if another grant proposal or opportunity comes out. I think that's their intent right is sure this
use this framework to apply for that grant funding. So do do we want to approve this as a draft document or how do we how would we characterize
it? It's a approved draft one with as amended. It's like an RFP on the shelf and we're waiting for an opportunity to use it. I will have to customize. How should we how should we characterize this? Mr. Chair, I think as selectman Livingston said um may make a motion to
approve draft one of the RFP as amended. So it captures the ch as amended and we start there. So then it's an approved draft which can be used in the letter to Chris Kletchman and also if it's the
will of the committee also as um uh reference to mass development about them coming back to the table. Yeah. So it' be an approved draft and I mean because from my perspective it's there. I think the the last two pieces which um are not
necessary for this initial purposes Neil mentioned is the evaluation piece which we can add and you know the the contact information. Okay. But I think substantively it's ready to go. So everybody good with that concept? So,
I would make a motion that the framework committee vote to approve uh draft one of the RFP as amended. Seconded. Second. Any further discussion? I'll take I like to call a role on that. Okay. On the motion to
approve RFP draft one as amended, uh Susan Mary reading. Hi. Dan Nason. Hi Robert Ponfrion. I John Katar. Hi Neil Angus. Hi Brian Sawyer. Hi Janice
Livingston. I the chair votes I. The motion is approved unanimously. Okay. So we have good piece of work here I think. U now the next item on the agenda is a letter to Chris Kutchman. You've received
a draft letter which has not been sent. Robert, I was just to say, Mr. Chair, thank you for putting um the draft together. I think that um it reflects um the intent of the committee and now with
the approval of the draft RFP to be attached, I think it'll be useful correspondence to uh Miss Kletchman um for future grant future funding that's applicable to the RFP. I I don't from my perspective I
don't see any changes. I have a Well, your last line where you have attached as an RFP, you have it in parenthesis. That doesn't look right. Okay. Well, I guess the only reason I did that
is because in the body of the letter, it doesn't build up to that. Couldn't Well, but but putting it in parentheses like all by itself. Okay. Just how about please see attached
um for future reference. Yeah. Yeah. Tweak that to to and remove those parentheses. Okay. It almost looks like and and then I was thinking and I'm just going to throw that out there. So I think you could say to uh at the end of the third paragraph you to that end we
have included a draft RFP that would be ready to use for future funding if it's um available to you say since they're presently engaged in planning for future housing development um you could add it there just saying to that end okay please find
an RFP y approved by the working group Mr. Question to the town of Har town of air the has the select ward approved the sort of re reusing of the grant? So just so just through the
through the chair so go back to last summer the the this committee authorized the application for the grant funding and as you probably know and can appreciate there had to be a uh
community entity. So the town of air um volunteered uh because at the time our economic development director did the grant application as sort of the sponsor committee but that was just for the mechanics of the grant. So it ended up
being air and u the deck as sort of the administrative entity. Yeah. So um whatever the will of this committee is with the with respect to the funding is sufficient. Okay. So, but I understand what you're saying in a normal grant role, you know, the select board. I'm
just making sure the parties that got the money are aligned with our sort of now saying should go this way. Yes. Okay. Yeah. No, your question. All right. But that original grant application uh identified two funding sources and one was uh related to
housing and the second one which is listed here is a community planning grant. I think that's more appropriate for what we're doing. Even though there's somewhat of a housing element, it's more community planning than it is housing. And I think that's that was the direction that Chris
Kutchman was focused on when she identified this and said, "Ah, this is a perfect match between this housing working group and and these funds." Um, and I I suspect that if if she agrees that mass development is
more appropriate to do this work that they will just um redo the the grant award and take out town of Ayer and the town of and the enterprise commission and just make it a grant to mass
develop, but that's up to them. not a little funky given a grant to municipal entity like that. I mean, they already are funded based on what they're I think they're looking at for the
grant, which would be kind of a regional school needs assessment would be, I think, the first thing they'd be looking at. It may be more appropriate to involve air, Harvard, and Shirley. So, um
it's up to it's up to them. beyond our and to that point I was I was going to suggest you know I think the idea behind this letter was to you know thank you for the funding um we think it should we wanted to utilize
it for these purposes u we realize that you know you've got other other ideas um but here's our RFP we look forward to working with you to um you
if additional funding becomes available. So I wonder if even that the third paragraph in this that starts out however um is that paragraph even needed as part of this letter? Are you suggesting striking that
paragraph? I'm I would suggest striking that paragraph and and just saying, you know, I would actually look at editing the the first part of the letter just to say, you know, on behalf of the DJFC, thank you for the grant funding
recently awarded to the Devon Enterprise Commission and the town of Air. Um, just to kind of have a nice open intro. I mean, we don't want to burn any bridges with uh um executive office. So, I think we should
uh you know, I think it would just be nice to have a nice intro. So, jumping right into it. So, on behalf of the DJFC, thank you for the grant funding recently awarded would be my suggested edit to that first sentence and ending that paragraph at
the DJFC in brackets. and then just say the DJFC intended these funds to be used for a data-driven planning process. um so that they understand the intent of
it. And then just jumping into uh attached uh attached is the RFP including a scope of work drafted by the deck or the DJFC, sorry. Um but I would add to that that
expanding on that saying this is outlining the information we are interested in gathering to assist mass development the deck and the communities of heir devans Harvard and Shirley with the disposition process. I think if we put it in that context
um it gives a little more context to what the RF what the RFP is for. Um I know that's a lot. I can share these proposed edits with you if you'd like, but it's not changing the form or context of the letter. I think it's just
expanding on what we're asking. Okay. Yeah, I understand the sentiment and I agree that we, you know, I'd like to believe that uh they would consider us for future funding. Yeah. And then just you the the second last
paragraph before attaches the RFP. Just use that as your closing uh sentence to say, "We look forward to working with your office to consider future grant funding under the community planning grants program or any other potential funding sources that may exist.
Okay. Um it's a lot. I know. No, that's okay. We're we can we can deal with it. Uh, so I'm going to ask you, uh, Neil, to to craft a a letter with the sentiments you expressed, unless anyone has any real
objections. I can do a red line of this letter if you'd like and get it to me with you. Get it to me and I will send it to the members for a fine if if if that's where we want to handle this. I'll send it to the
members and if anybody has any further objections, we'll recirculate it. If it gets really cumbersome, we'll put it on the agenda for our next meeting. But if Neil's if everyone likes what Neil has done to this letter, makes sense. Then I I I will send it
out. It makes sense. Okay. So, we can probably get it out. So, is that okay, Neil? Are you I'm fine with that. Just Okay. Um, we're not voting on something via email though, right? I mean, just
want to respect open meeting, right? Sorry, I'm I apologize. I am new, so I'm asking questions that probably you all don't have, but the intent of this is, thank you so much. Thank you so much for the money. We asked for it to do this. We now see you want to do this with it.
We're aligned on that, so great. Go do that. But we'd like more money in the future to do X, Y, and Z. Exactly. Essentially, right? Yeah. But the part That's a great summary. Very good. The part you're missing is that we we were so excited about receiving these funds
and we put a lot of work into this RFP and then we some of us felt like the rug was pulled out from under us and the funds diverted to another purpose. And so uh some of us got I got really uh incensed over it and and uh overreacted
and uh we did a cleansing we say because that that directive came from secretary has division or clutchman you have that money but we now need it to use this or you have to use
it this way. That's right. Which one? We want it back to use it on this. You can have it. Oh, the intent was for housing related issues. And so they said we were focused on finance. Got it. And they said, "No, it needs to be used for housing." We in turn said, "No, we're
not we're not a housing committee." So, thank you, but no, thank you. Okay, got it. Okay. So, I wrote a a a poorly crafted letter that really burned a lot of bridges. And it was Jim Keller who actually talked me off the ledge. Okay. after uh during the meeting and and as a
result we're we've got a much softer touch. Okay, got it. Hopefully is a will result in uh money to carry out our mission. Okay, so that's that's the plan. So, wait a minute. Let me just make sure I understand the plan. He's going to
redline the letter. It's going to get sent to everybody so we can at least see it. But it's not going out until we all come back next month and then say yay or nay, right? How how are we doing this? Cuz if we Are we saying we are approving
even though we haven't seen the exact wording in on in on a piece of paper? No, I don't think we should approve anything. That's what I'm saying. So he can send it to us. We can all look at it in advance to the meeting and that way anybody have any questions, they can
bring it forward, right? Unless everyone's fine with the letter. Well, that's the thing. If if there's a concern about us saying yay or nay via an email, then we can't. So, but what I'm saying is so he can redline it.
We'll get it out to everybody. We can get it out the moment he redlines it or it can be a part of the packet. It'll still be a part of the packet. Um but we're not doing the formal approval until June is next month. Well, that's what
We what I'm suggest Neil Neil's edits really have done violence to this letter. Violence. Violence. Violence was unintentional. No. Violence trying to be constructive. Is that why you came early
in in the in a in a uh uh grammatical uh thematic way? Not a not um not substantial. So, I think that so I think if Neil were to rewrite this letter, it doesn't have to be red line. I think red line
uh is my I guess what I'm trying to avoid is wait having eight different people making changes to a document floating back and forth. And that's why just suggesting it if Neil sends a letter to me then I can send it out for
comments to be returned to me so that we're not doing so if somebody has a a minor comment grammatical comment or spelling or something I can correct it. Uh and then if the if everyone is good with that copy then that that letter can go
out. If there are major concerns about it then we'll put it on the agenda for the next meeting. You can go back out. I think we if we're aligned on the intent, right? We authorize Neil to write it. We you he sends it to you. Yeah. You could send it
out to us, but we also could also authorize you to make amends as needed. You to work it out. We've aligned on the intent and then it goes off. Otherwise, we're going to delay this by a month. That's that's the point. So, Janice, you uncomfortable with that?
The only reason would be to get it out there and rather than waiting another month. The only reason I bring these up this up and I don't like the back and forth either, but because but I want to ensure we we kind of seem we rush to judgment early on. I think we need to be
a little more thoughtful in our response this time around. That's my only purpose of making these edits. Y agreed. Agreed. So, I move that we um authorize Neil to rework the letter
based on the intent that we've agreed to at this table and have him send it to the chair. And we authorize the chair then to send the letter off. Seconded. Okay. Okay. All in favor of the motion
say I. I say nay. Without objection, the motion passes unanimously. Okay. Um, what's not on the agenda is uh something that usually appears. You approve the agenda?
Absolutely. As it is. Yes. So, what is you about to say is missing? It's just that master development update is usually on there. And I said to you in my email, is this needed? And we could
have agend we could have amended the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and you said it looks good. And so I went with it and took it off. So I could have fixed it. I know. Could have amended it. Do you have an
update for me? Well, the only no except uh that we had thought that and and this can certainly wait another month. It's not critical that we would use this RFP as a way to hopefully
re-engage mass development with this committee. Right. You said that earlier. So, yeah, we Yeah. So, draft another letter for consideration for next meeting. Well, Here it is. Here's what we sent you. Yeah. My what I have done
had done for many many months years actually uh before each meeting is to reach out to mass development and say you know that you know you like to come to our meeting and have been routinely ignored by mass
development. Uh so what's the pleasure of the board? Do we want to send a a a re-engagement letter now or do you want to wait a month? Think about what how we want to do that.
Could you just in your sort of chairmanship send here FYI here's an RFP draft that this the Devon framework committee approved and then we could agree on the letter the next time. Yeah. If we want to follow it
up with or do you want to add a copy to mass development on the letter you sent it as an FYI just like we're doing with Jamie and and them on the one that we just approved them to write. Okay. I don't what how do we feel
about things? I I just have to say this. Um, I've met Najit and interacted with her as via the housing working group. I get a better feeling from her than I did from
uh Yvon. How I don't maybe that's I'm just clutching at straws. But so Mr. Sure. I think there are two ways that the committee could approach this. So the whole thrust of why the
RFP is the lynch pin to get mass development back to the table is if you when you obviously read the RFP without Mass Development's active involvement um the it's a uphill battle, right? So
one option would be option one would be to send a communication to mass development that this is the you know the RFP and um we need um mass development to be actively
involved etc etc be happy to work on language for that and send it. The second option would be to prepare and and there's a chance after the clutchman letter which has been approved goes
out. There is a chance that perhaps there is some funding for this RFP. And so option two would be to do the same thing to mass development but do it in June after if we see if we have any funding. So option one is here's the
RFP. This is what we'd like to do. we need you at the table. That's fine. Option two, um, if if the committee doesn't want to wait a month, option two would be by June when we meet, hopefully we will have heard back on from
Clutchman. Um, is and if it was funding, it would give it more teeth. I think we should wait till June. So what if we in terms of order of operations, we send the clutchman letter as we've just voted. Y and then for the
June meeting on the agenda, have a draft and a discussion with a letter to mass development to come back to the table based on the RF RFP um project. Okay. That's I mean that's what
I propose, but Okay. Is it likely to I mean you were talking about money moving fairly quickly there. Is that at all likely? I mean, you're absolutely correct. It's a very short timeline. The only thing
I'm holding out, as Neil knows, when we talked with Chris Kletchman, she indicated that there were other funding sources from the state that would be applicable to this project. It is a stretch, but okay. But I I'm just
thinking if I'm mass development and we come forward with look, here's our RFP, we're ready to do this. Here's the the funding. Let's go. you know, as opposed to if we go reach out to mass development, here's our RFP, but we
don't have any funding yet. Well, let us know when you have funding. I don't either way. Okay. I think for June would be fair. Okay. I I understand uh your perspective now. How how do we make this RFP more impactful to mass development
that would cause them to say let's get let's re-engage with the framework committee and over the next month we may get some kind of feedback from Chris Kletchman. Yeah. uh that says we'd be happy to entertain another grant or it's just something to provide a little bit
of encouragement that allows us to say to mass development we're hopeful that funding will be available to execute this RFP. So if by adding if there is a glimmer of
hope that we will get funding from Chris Klutchman, then mass development may say we better get involved in this because this is a pretty big deal if this RFP actually gets funded.
That that was my thinking. Okay. Yeah. I don't think there I don't know what the the appeal to them would be to engage without some funding. I mean, they'll continue to operate as is. No, for sure. And and
uh I wasn't at the meeting, but Robert, you were with Chair um Ivon How where the this committee was encouraged
to submit a grant application. That was last year. Yeah. Yeah. and uh Jamie and others reached out and said, "You guys ought to submit a grant application." Correct. And that was the as a result of
that. It was an 11th hour effort by the town of AR to craft an application and we did get funded. So, you know, that kind of uh who knows that kind of encouragement may still be forthcoming.
as the letter to Clutchman um does copy the because they were involved in in does copy the the legislative delegation because they were involved in uh
encouraging application for the grant. So, um, they Jamie or Cronin may reach out to Chris Butchman and say, "Look, you know, you're going to can we can we can
we encourage these people to to apply again? Right. Just so we can as I said just trying to put something in that letter that may make Mass Development think this is an opportunity for us to get involved or we
need to get involved in it. Yes. So, Mr. Chair, what I would propose then is we have a have a plan um on the Kletchman letter. So, what I would propose is for the June meeting, we prepare I'd be happy to work with
whoever on that, so I'm not just saying it. Um, for June, we have a draft letter prepared for mass development. We'll call it the re-engagement letter. Uh, we'll have that draft ready and hopefully in in to the selectman's
point, there's a a very small window. Maybe we'll have some clarity on funding which could would only help. Um, and if we don't, um, I think we'll be in a position in June to to move forward. Okay. I think that's fair. And to your
point, I know I have talked to Senator Eldridge on other matters. I mean, he's aware of what's happening. He's very supportive, meaning that the grant we got that funding is going to go to a different aspect of the Devon's question, right? And that we would like
funding for this RFP. So, I'm sure not to speak for the senator and the delegation that they'd be supportive. Who's going to work with Robert to draft that letter? I can work with him, but I don't know if you a little late to the party here, but
I can happy to help him. Yeah. Okay. All right. Perfect. All right. Okay. Yeah. Uh All right. Right. So, we'll hold that the uh communication with mass development in advance uh until the next meeting and it will be on the agenda.
Y say yes. Okay. Question 13. Moving right along on the new business municipal finance and budget town of air. Is that okay? Year. Hey, Mr. Chair, I just want to thank Selectman Livingston for
putting this together on behalf of the town. Thank you. Welcome without having something special. Um, so basically what it is here is I'm not going to read it. It's that if the decision is made that
jurisdiction is returned to the historical property line for air is returned to air, um we know that there would be a transition period. Nothing happens overnight. In my head, I'm thinking it's going to be a minimum of a three-year transition. Don't know why, but that
number comes to my head. But anyways, so once that happens, the moment the word comes out, then everyone starts to work as far as doing an assessment of all the residential and commercial property um that would be in the historical town of
air line. Um and then slowly try to incorporate that into the town of um finances budget. Um, so it would start as a separate budget line item just to get everyone kind of acclimated as they
could see as it sort of merged in. Um, and through that uh we would also look at other activities that are funded such as aid to education and chapter 90 funds. Um and then the town of air departments
and the finance committee would do their reviewing, assessing, combining budgets and as things are straightened out, there would be an article on the town warrant for town meeting to be approved. It could either happen, you know, piece
by piece or it could be one town meeting with everything that needed to bring Devons back into the town affair. So, Uh, who does do you have an outside firm that does your
assessments? What's the firm that Harvard uses? Can't remember the name. Which is the same firm that Devon uses. I don't know if anybody remembers it. He I think he sold the company actually. We use them. You do? Okay. So, that's
And yeah, so Harvard Devon's hair uses the same professional assessment. Why are we drawing a blank? I don't know. I am too. I think must be.
Anyway, the point is that we would all be working from the same page that the the the valuations on property, commercial and industrial property would all be the same. In in theory, full and fair value exists throughout the Commonwealth, but but
um the the the process of assessing the property, it would be just a matter of uh using existing information. True. But I think what I was in saying
in mine is is reassuring everyone that this is an open process, right? Okay. RG systems. Yes. RRG systems is the name. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Any questions for air? Okay. Harvard. Um I I think u just working from uh detailed financial information which presumably be the stuff of the RFP that
we've talked about. Um I think the biggest challenge that I identified in this in this the commentary here is is again work of the that's contained within the RFP is to look at what's left of the redevelopment
function. uh and making ensure that the funds are there to to complete uh that activity and then that for chapter 498 does say that there's any surplus funds at the end of the project then they they get
divided amongst the towns. Um so that only comes to bear with respect to a um preparing a budget that encompasses Devons that the
redevelopment functions remaining to be completed would have to be funded in some fashion and that could be a budget item for the towns. Is that clear? Right now, Mass Development has
direct access to the tax base. So, they they use land sale revenue, lease revenue, and tax revenue to fund their operations. Um, at the end of the day, they would no longer have direct access to the tax base. They'd still have land
sale revenue and lease revenue. And if they needed more money, they would come back to the municipalities as uh every redevelopment authority across the Commonwealth does and said, "We need funding to complete our work." Um, you
need to provide that in your budget that the the three towns would have to provide it. Yes, theoretically that could happen. No, state can You're giving them the money because No, no. The state state
200 million. Okay. Yeah. I I suspect town meeting would go. No. I Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully the the the balance sheet would be adequate to complete the redevelopment
project. Um you have debt on here, debt service, too. I mean, that all has to be figured out, wouldn't it? Is that part of this? That's an interesting question. Um that would
be only well except for utilities which is a whole separate financial structure. Uh mass development in my understanding has not incurred any debt beyond 2033 except for the public safety building. I don't know what the
term of that debt is. So if that term extends beyond the establishment of permanent governance, then the uh towns would have to pick up that debt
pay it off before they leave. Yeah, they're going to have Yeah, exactly. Because No, why should we pay somebody else's debt? That's a good question. So I mean again, I don't think Cal Meeting would go for that. No, this is all these are all the things that need to be worked out. That's right. Disposition.
Nobody's to cover that. It's a disposition question. The only issue raised here is that that would be a question that would get raised at at the point of u determining jurisdiction. I think that the two I've always seen it as like two functions.
One is to make decisions with respect to permanent government and the other is to make a plan for transition. uh and and the transition would deal with things like outstanding debt. I think it's important too to remember
that this matrix was developed not just to to come up with ideas but also to come up with questions and these sounds like these are questions that we should be preparing to ask a consultant when they do come on board. Um, you know, these are the the debt service issues,
the taxation, you know, also would include a capital if there's a capital plan where does the maintenance of any buildings that will revert to municipal use, right? So, understanding those. Yeah, that's a good point. So the the
question is just how how does the uniqueness of Devons those aspects of Devons that are different work with the existing budgeting process for the three towns for Devon as a town it becomes
um a they still have to deal with those issues that will still be a factor. Um okay anyway so that so so budgeting with the issues were raised here uh go into the
matrix um surely uh yes um currently um generally referring to our operating budget um that is approved at annual town meeting um and it's mainly funded through local property taxes which is
typical of a local municipality um however there are other funding sources such as local receipts, uh, state aid or other available funds. Um, and that's how we fund, um, our, you
know, the services that the town provides. Um and if we were to receive the historic boundaries, um we would kind of follow that same process of uh any property taxes derived from uh those
lands from Devons or um state funds, etc. Uh that's how we would fund uh any services and we'd have to assess, you know, um services, capital, things of that nature. So I think the big big issue for Shirley
will be um looking for a a pilot payment in le of taxes for the wastewater treatment plant which is in Shirley that provides services to the entire enterprise zone. Okay, John from
uh Devon as a town. Not much more to add than what you see. Um, it's sort of similar to the other metrics that we put together. We would stand up a municipality as necessary and leverage Massachusetts Commonwealth services that are available to assist and with the
goal of ensuring a lean organization uh that controls costs and maximizes efficiencies. Okay. All good stuff. Okay. Neil, status quo. Um, so I just laid out the sections of
chapter 498 that deal with taxation and and finance um, you know, between the mass development and the Devon's Enterprise Commission. Well, Mass Development is the tax collector. So, they um, you know, generate all the funds. We do get a small percentage of
those that tax revenue to to run our fund our operations. But uh mass development, you know, is responsible for setting the the municipal budget for for uh the operations of Devons. Um and they set the tax rates.
Um we are the Devons Enterprise Commission is you know generally self-sufficient on you know um permitting fees is where we get our funding from. Um so that's what I've laid out.
Well, I went to chapter 498 and looked at section 4, the debt obligation. It is dense. I mean, I that the the original $200 million was was I assume that that's what is
referenced there. Yes. My understanding there was uh not all that was debt. It was $80 million of that was an appropriation and $120 million was debt. Who knows? Not me.
Not I. And and also the the the funds that are in mass development's annual budget that go to the deck. I I don't know where they are in that budget. It's not their annual funds. It's their
taxation. We we get 2% of their uh taxes for that they take in a year, right? But that that in that number is in the budget, the in on the income side, the
2%. No, the total amount that they collect from property tax. Oh, and and 2% of that goes to the deck. Yes. Right. But I don't know where that is in the Anyway, this goes goes back to
somebody's going to have to unwind all that. I you know I I did put an asterisk again as I with most of the matrix ones that uh I you know I haven't reviewed this or vetted this with Mass Development. So this is all my uh you
know that not my it's the Devon's Enterprise Commission um information as we see it. So the deck expenses are those listed in a budget that's available is it Yeah, our
budget is online. Yep. Uh, our FY26 is will be online this week, but yeah, the current approved budget is online on our website. There's some similarities between the deck and
Devon's utilities and that they're u self-supporting, if you will, that the utilities function, all their expenses and revenues are kept in a separate pot. and deck is as well. How often does Mass
Development need to replenish the 250 cash balance annually or is it been help? That's only if we if we drop below a certain threshold and we have not dropped below that threshold since I've been here. So I don't think so 18 years. You're
self-sufficient. I don't think that was ever triggered. I think it it was in the past before 2006. Maybe it might have once or twice, maybe once. But but it was, as I recall back in the day,
it was a the Bill Marshall was a brilliant negotiator. He told Mass, "If you don't fund us, we're going to send our own tax bill out." Well, chapter 498 gives authority to do just
that to Yeah. collect taxes. And that's the last thing anybody wanted to do was collect have two tax collectors. No, Marshall wanted to do it. Or so he said. As you said, he said he said. Yeah. Um, okay. Moving right along. Public
comment. Okay, good. Items for uh next meeting in addition to the mass development update. Um, question 14, taxation. Um that will be interesting
because currently Devon has a split rate commercial and residential and air does as well but Harvard does not. Yeah. So that will be interesting to see how what we can come up with to deal with that.
Um so that's 14. There are 19. So we're coming to the end of uh work on this matrix. Okay. Any other business? Is there a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion to adjurnn. There a second. Second. Robert, all those in
favor say I. Oppos say nay. So without objection, motion passes unanimously.