lost TJ. TJ, I think. All right. So, the meeting to order. Are we being recorded? Yes. Great. We are being recorded a couple times. All right. So, um first off, I was just
going to I'm so excited to see all the people here tonight. Um, I know people from the scuttle I saw on social media are really concerned with the um the batteries. So, we're going to talk about that first. Um, and I I just think it's awesome to see such a great turnout um
with concerns. So, you'll see that the select board feels the same way as probably most do. Um, so I'm going to start off with just reviewing the open meeting law. We are trying to be better at following it to the law um here. So,
um, in accordance with that law, uh, public is welcome to attend and observe all of the meetings. A designated public comment period will be provided. We're moving that to the end of the agenda instead of doing at the beginning. That way, you will have time, everyone will have time to have heard um, all the business that we talk about. And if you
have anything that you want to mention, you can do that at the end of the meeting at the public comment time. Um, public input is limited to the public comment period. So there's three minutes um per person unless otherwise invited by the chair. So that's a time where you're making comments, not necessarily
um asking questions or having a discussion unless it's something that um we think that we're able to answer right away. We'll move it on to an agenda next time to answer. If we don't have all that um if you believe you more time is needed to discuss your concern, please
submit a request to be placed on the agenda in advance of a meeting. During the rest of the meeting, attendees are asked to refrain from refrain from speaking or raising their hands unless the chair explicitly invites the public input. This is just to ensure that people aren't um interrupted. In the
past, we've had um discussions with people up here and they will be interrupted by members in the audience. So, we're just trying to limit that interruption and make sure that that business just um is allowed to carry on. Disruption, side conversations, or attempts to engage board members during official business may result in requests
to leave the meeting. Um, we appreciate your cooperation in that. All right. So, we're going to start off with examination of previous meeting minutes. We have March 17th, 2025 and executive session of March
10th. Would you be a chance to read over it? Okay. Do you want to make a motion to accept the minutes till March 17th as read? I'll second for discussion. Any discussion? All in favor? I
I go. Motion to approve the executive session meeting minutes from March 10th as written. Is there a second? Any discussion? All in favor? I I All right. Dwayne will kill me if I lose
it. All right. So now we're going to move around on the agenda. So we go to the battery discussion first. So I'm going to make a motion to move to new business C resolution opposing the
sighting of utility scale battery battery energy storage system facilities. There a second for discussion. Any discussion? All in favor? I I Okay. So I am going to read. We have a resolution that was
drafted um by Christina, our town administrator. Um, I'm going to read it aloud and then the select board is going to vote on it. So, resolution opposing the sighting of utility scale battery energy storage
system otherwise known as BESS facilities in Bford, Massachusetts. Uh, adopted on and it will be this day May 5th, 2025. Whereas this town of Lamford is a small rural community located in western Massachusetts rich in natural resources
and defined by its extensive wetlands, forested lands, and high elevated wersheds that feed into protected regional water supplies including sources regulated under the Massachusetts Waterhed Protection Act. And whereas many of the areas potentially considered for utility scale
battery energy storage systems best developed in Bford are development in Glamford are located on or adjacent to environmentally sensitive parcels including state regulated wetlands, perennial streams and watershed protection zones placing vital ecosystems and downstream water quality
at risk. And whereas a large scale best installations utilizing lithium ion or comp comparably battery technologies have demonstrated risk of thermal runaway, chemical fire, toxic gas release, and groundwater contamination.
All of which pose serious threats to the public safety, environmental health, and the town's natural resources. And whereas the town of Lamford is served by an entirely volunteer fire department with limited personnel, equipment, and training specific to hazardous materials or high energy storage system
emergencies and does not have the infrastructure or resources to effectively manage or contain a large-scale BEST incident. And whereas due to its remote location and rural character, mutual aid responses from neighborhood towns or regional hazmat teams may be delayed or inadequate in the event of a cat catastrophic best
system failure. further increasing risk to public safety and the environment. And whereas the town of Lanford has proactively adopted section 16 of its zoning bylaws to regulate best development and to regulate special permits, site plan review, and environmental safeguards, but recognizes
that state level sighting approvals can override or diminish local protections. And whereas there is currently no demonstrated energy, economic or infrastructure benefit to the residents of Glamford from hosting utility scale best facilities while the risk to human
health, natural resources and municipal liability remain substantial. Not therefore be it resolve. Now therefore be it resolved that the select board of the town of Lamford hereby formally opposes the sighting construction or operation of utility scale battery
energy storage system BS facilities within the boundaries of the town of Lampford and urges state agencies to honor local environmental priorities and public safety limitations. And be it further resolved that the select board strongly urges the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Sighting Board, the EFSB, and
the Department of Public Utilities, DPU, to give full consideration to this resolution in any current or future petition affecting the town of Lambert. And be it further resolved that the select board called upon the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to strengthen best sighting standards, emergency response requirements and environmental review procedures,
particularly in towns with limited emergency response capacity, volunteerbased fire protection and sensitive ecological features such as wetlands and drinking water supplies areas. And be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be transmitted to the EFSB, DPU, and the
Massachusetts Department of Sandy environmental protection and the town state legisl legislative delegation adopted this day, May 5th, 2025 by the select board of the town of L, Massachusetts. So I would make a motion
to adopt this resolution. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? All right. I All right. So, let me just do fifth day of May. Okay. So, um I was going to move to do
we have everyone here for the discussion on the battery and shoe storage systems zoning planning and conservation. Conservation's here. Conservation. Um so, zoning, planning, or conservation reps, if you want to join us at the
table. No. All right. So, we have conservation planning. Do we have any zoning? Not yet. Oh, hi. Come on in. Have a seat. All right. So, um, Dick, I understand that you had a
letter of intent recently. You recently received. Do you want to, um, fill us in? Yeah. So, what was going on with that? This is new since we met a month ago. And as we discussed a month ago, the conservation commissioner received
um a document called a request for determination related to the proposed 50 megawatt facility which would be on the south side of North Bford Road sort of behind the existing South Station there.
Conservation Commission did not approve that request. We we gave them an what's called a negative determination. And so they have now gone to the next level and filed what's called a notice of intent, which is basically fancy words for permit
application. Um, which is only to address the installation of a temporary access road to get to the rear of the property to install test soil test pits. they want to go in and excavate and see what the soil characteristics are in
there. So, it's fairly lengthy document and we received it a month ago today. Okay. We or a week ago today. Uh we've been reviewing it. Uh we're probably going to use a third party consultant to help us review that and work through
that process with them. Um and we are tentatively targeting reviewing it in a public meeting on May 27th, which is the day after Memorial Day. Okay. Um but um
it's it's a very I mean in paper it's like three inches thick. Um but a lot of it is because of what they're doing. and they triggered what's called the Massachusetts storm water standards which requires them to submit a very
lengthy document as to how they would control runoff from the site while the work was ongoing. So, basically what they want to do is go in and put timber mats down over a wetland area to get to the back of the property, do the test pits,
work their way out, remove the timber mats, and their their theory is that the wetland plants and trees will will bounce back and regrow without any real uh re replanting. So we're we're sort of looking at that in detail. But but
that's what we have that that's what's happened since we met a month ago and that's still in our hands even despite this upcoming right. Uh as far as we know the the state is not involved with this. Okay. Other than DP Wellland
people who would normally be involved. Okay. But okay. Um planning or zoning. Did you have any new information or any comments you want to make on the project?
Yes. For planning, um I I think it's important to know that you were talking about lithium ion batteries. Um the 200 megawatt site isn't using a lithium ion battery which contains mang
manganese, lithium, cobalt, and copper. It's lithium, iron, and phosphate and LFP. It absolutely has no manganesees in it or copper or cobalt. Um, so there is no pollution from that. And as far as
the material that's available on site, I had to look it up because I I don't know all these things off the top of my head. It's basically saying that the LFP is highly resistant to fire. Um, won't explode. uh won't lead to the problems
that they had in California. And I'm only saying this because I'm a little worried about what's going to happen with this resolution you just made. Uh because you're trying to circumvent what the state wants to
do. And I'm not sure what your good argument is going to be. And I'm especially concerned is what is planning supposed to do if we ever get a a special permit request? Are we just supposed to say we're not going to deal with it, let it go right to the state,
or are we supposed to do our job, which is supposed to be look at all the facts and the information and make a decision upon what we see and what our experts tell us. And if there is a wetland concern, that'll be another issue. But I think that was
But what I heard from uh Tony uh after the last meeting, they're looking at just adjusting where the driveway is so they won't even be affecting the wetland area. So I'm at a kind of a quandry losses to say what am I supposed to do?
Um none of the documentation I've seen on lithium versus an LFP battery. The lithium ion batteries are the ones that were in the cars and these little whatever they call them things they ride on. They're the ones that are exploding.
They're the ones that if you overcharge them or fill them to 100% they can explode. And the LFP battery which is the much safer battery which cars are now shifting to it doesn't do that. So, I'm not sure
what our argument is going to be when we say we're going to pollute the groundwater. Now, I understand the concern about a fire, but these aren't very susceptible to fire and they're not going to be this runaway fire that they're talking about
from what I can gather. And anybody can go on the computer and look up lithium ion batteries and lithium ion phosphate batteries, which is LFP. And don't take my word for it. Look it up. Um, I don't know what the heck I'm going
to do. You know, in the planning, we're supposed to look at special project requests with an open mind and how does it apply to our bylaws and you're trying to in my mind override
what basically the bylaws and the state is saying we want to do just like an additional dwelling unit. I've got a new bylaw coming in a in a town meeting or a public hearing on Wednesday. This is another state requirement. Now, people may not like
the idea that somebody's going to do it, but nothing we can do. It's going to be approved. We either approve it or actually it's out of our hand. The AUS are going to be approved completely by the building inspector. So, I might need some
direction at some point. Say, what do you guys think I'm going to do? Yeah, I can't just refuse something because you made a special resolution. That's I don't want to be in that liability. If we get to that point, we'll definitely give you some guidance.
I don't know about that, but we'll see. Now, do do you recall like in the case of Westfield? Yes. They p they pulled that system out of Westfield. Uh Jupiter pulled it out. State didn't.
No. Was that the same type battery system as you're talking or was it different? I haven't seen their plans. Oh, if you would if you were to tell me or if you were to ask me, I'd say I I almost guarantee it's the same battery.
Yeah. But there, you know, I don't think you should ever put something like that over an aquifer. Oh, absolutely not. Um, in our case, unless I misheard the last time, the person from the Springfield water said that this is like two miles
or two and a half miles away from the water. Is that correct? Well, it's away two miles away from the reservoir proper. Yeah. But all the feeder streams that go to that reservoir are a lot closer to the battery system that
they're proposing. But if the if the if the battery people say but there's no contaminants even if there was a fire what is the concern? So I think we're going to that's not something I don't think we need and or canon debate the
logistics of right now. Um but I would ask zoning do you have anything I know sorry we're just sort of asking last minute. Do you have anything that you wanted to discuss about from your point of view? Feel free to come on up.
You're welcome. There's a chair here. Why don't you sit on it? You might have to stay. You might have to stay. What's going to happen when I volunteered with them? Um, I did have a conversation with
Eversource and their initial request was if we need a variance, are you going to make us basically are you going to make us go through the procedure that's outlined in the bylaw? I was like, well,
yeah. Yeah. And but I said, why don't you talk to the building inspector, see if you need a variance, which they did, and I forwarded that that uh proposal. Mhm.
Um, but I don't from a zoning uh point of view, the only thing I think we'd be in charge of is branding permit for the trailer. Okay. Um, they they meet their setbacks and I don't think we I think
planning would be in charge. No, no, no. planning only gets involved in marijuana. Um, but ZBA shall not grant a change in usage. We we can't get
Okay. Um, well, we know that because this bill from Governor Healey that it will be taken out of our hands, I think. Um it says requires all cities and towns to approve small clean energy infrastructure applications through a mandated consolidated permitting process
within 12 months. This is the one you had been talking about, right? Um should we not act in that time frame, the permit will be automatically approved allowing the project to operate under standard conditions. Um so that's the reason that we are doing the resolution because we want to make sure that our
legislature um our representatives understand that we don't want it taken out of our hands and that we want to have say in this um are you talking about the substation or bets? We're talking about I'm talking about the substation. Yeah, that's what you're talking about. Oh, I was talking
about this. I know. That's why I'm confused. Okay. Got two conversations going. But I don't think we have anything to do with batteries. Okay. because that'll be a change in use. It'll be a what? A change in usage.
Yeah. Okay. So, that's how I I'm reading the situation. Which means who grants that special permits are specifically identified to planning like I was saying
are marijuana solar and bats and bets and we don't have any of these other things we don't get we can also we can always like consult legal yeah we can always consult legal in terms of what happens next and Do do we do we know
that Eversource wants to do something with the substation? Oh yeah yeah yeah. They sent that detailed plan and I think it's they're going to be completed. It's a long period. I think it was two and a half years. Two years. Well I think we have until the first quarter of next
year to locally abandoning it in which case on a special town meeting expanding. Yes they're expanding it. Yes. Exactly. This is the PowerPoint that they and that is the time one. Okay. They're expanding it substantially.
They're doubling. Yeah. But they do mean all the setbacks. Yeah. When I saw everything you sent, I went I'm not sure what the heck the problem is here. They Well, now with the substage. Yeah. except I mean they're
they're not changing the use but once you have a variance for a change of use does that mean you can double the size? So the question is is that something that we as a town have the ability to
vote on the this doubling size of the substation. So those were the the four exact. Yeah. Okay. But that's the substation. [Music] So okay,
now I'm getting confused. He's talking about the substation. Yeah. Well, now the battery backup system, is it for both the substation and the solar and the wind turbines or whatever, or is it
just solely for the solar? I'd be guessing, but I would assume because they're putting in batteries, they need a bigger subst. Well, I'm not all that sure of that because a couple three years ago when Lloyd Martin was trying to put in that
solar field, it was 7 megawws. It was turned down by Eversource because they didn't have the capacity at the substation and that was like I say at least two or three years ago. Yeah. So apparently they've been bumping up capacity all
along. The battery storage system is purely so that the state when they have a low usage they can fill up the batteries and then when they have high usage they can call in that instead of burning more fuel and everything else to
generate more electricity. That's the only purpose of battery systems. Just like what you have one in your house. If you have one in your house with solar panels, you say if the power goes out, I've got this battery thing I can run for how many hours? It's like a um you
know like a mini generator type of thing. And that's exactly the same principle as a battery energy storage system. Um so I think that what we'll do, we did had invited um our representative Mark who was not able to make it today. Um
but we will send the um resolution to uh representatives and um TJ was asking if we could send it to Springfield Water. I've already Perfect. Thank you. Um we had invited Nicole from Springfield Water. come to our last meeting um to discuss how it affected them because um
some of this abuts their property. Um I'm thinking that we reconvene after the 27th when you have um that public meeting and we can see where we're at then. Right. Some things have to fall in place before we actually schedule that public
hearing. But that's the date we've sort of targeted. Okay. I I did tell this woman that we would figure out Who is in charge? Okay. Uh, of the substation? Is that a question that you need us? I
think when you look at the bylaws, it's pretty clear. That's me. Yes. Did you have I can remember um when they expanded previously, there was a town meeting and we voted. Oh, okay. So,
that was probably Do you remember, Barb? Was that about TW? It was probably 15 or 20 years ago. Okay. So, we can look in um minutes, but I think we probably have to pick what we going through anyway. So, thank you. So, okay. Kick it down the road. Thank you. Um so, I was
thinking that we would move to audience participation, public comment. Could I just make one other comment? Sure. I was extremely dis and I really want to thank Dick Gates for what he wrote in the Facebook page about some comments that were going on and asking people to be uh
civil and professional. Apparently that doesn't work with Frank Lucia. He made some very very thinking I think that's a losing battle. Yeah, but you know he borders on liel. Yes, I know. And but we've gone down
that route before and there's not much we can do about it. But um we could soon it's not me he's making accusations. Listen so many so many false statements in his I'm just going where does he get his data from? No, he
doesn't. Yes. Well, I also just want to add at one point um Mr. Gates you had suggested having a Dropbox sort of uh area on the website. Mhm. I'm going to speak with Wendy and I will um have all the information that we have available,
even my emails with um uh Senator Mark's office, the questions that were posed to uh the sighting board and um the state and just anything that comes in, it will be made available on the website as soon as I can. I don't have a time frame as
to when she's going to be able to get all that up there. She's here actually too, so Oh, yeah. I can see her in person. Um, so I will be sending you an email with all the stuff and then hopefully maybe that people can be directed there. Um, great. So that they can take a look at some of the information themselves and we can sort
of defay some of the Yeah. Uh, rumors and things of that nature, I guess. Okay. Um, so I was I just Sure. Just a clarification. I don't know. In what shape form did that come? I don't know if I would call it official. It was a PowerPoint
presentation um with a sketch of what they proposed to do. Um but it was mostly I would say a procedural question. Who do we which is kind of like Yeah. Who? Yeah. Who do we
Who do we talk to? Does it have like figures and drawings and footprint? You want to take a look? Wasn't copy that? I thought he was. I sent it to you. I thought we'd figure out who was. All right. So, I'm going to open up while everyone's here before we
move on from this topic to other business. Um, I would make a motion to go to audience participation, public comment. Second. Um, any discussion? All in favor? I. So, um, if anyone wants to make a public comment, you're welcome
to. Or, um, three minutes per person. You stand up, say your name. Um, you don't have to say your address unless you want to. Um, and feel free. Teresa Minus I often property. We have 50 acres um on
on Georgia road and um I'm going to say about eight years ago I looked into a solar project you know that went off on 14 acres no one could see it except for you know our
neighbor Pete who said that but you know I I I went through hoops for it and then I decided after those years You know, I'm just having to do it. Our property has the Knox trail going
through it. It is beautiful agricultural and I don't think I could do it. And then to have this those battery storage, it can cause a chain effect. What? You can't put them out with with
water. Somebody said, you know, I looked at the last town meeting. Oh, put up a fire hydrant. Well, great. But you can't put it out with water and it's a chain reaction. It's a pollutant. Um, you
know, they're like big giant containers. They're, you know, you know, I think 200 are proposed there. And I do you know how many times that company has offered me
multiple opportunities and money for my land and I went no I want to keep this place that I move from the strong meadow to here and I've been here for like 36 years the way it is agricultural
that's why I moved here that's why I worked for 46 years as a language arts consultant in Enfield. Travel down cuz I came home to beautiful agricultural land
and I think this is a bad way to go. Yeah, you might get some money, but you know, long run. I mean, we voted down the turnpike exit, right? Because we wanted to keep this. I said, "No, I
want I like I don't mind driving half hour here, half hour there. It is where I love and it is well you know I won't be alive for it then but do you want
your children to grow up with this? It'll be a big big change and it's a um it's not a good change. I would suggest that you have a commission that really looks into this
because I've looked it up. There are so so many things that are detrimental detrimental to these days. That's a I mean great let's get some money in right away. But what will that cost? How about
our fire department? What? You can't put up those fires. If one starts and combusts, it is a chain reaction. All of them will. Do I want anything? No. I'm sorry. That's okay. It's all right. Thank you so much. Um, does anyone else
have a comment that they want to make? Um, lifelong member family like fifth generation, something like that. Um, I I think Bford has been displaced by the state long enough. We were forced to give up family land for that turnpike to
come through. And then when Springfield water and sewer damaged their own water supply, we were forced to give up more family land. And and our tax base is shrinking. So if we continue to allow the state to force these things onto us,
we're we're just continuing to diminish our tax base. And at what point do we stop being able to survive as a town because we can no longer make the money we need to be a town? Who's going to want to move here with that danger,
with that threat? So, thank you. Does anyone else have a comment before we move on to the next business? Yeah, Brody. Um, it it sounded like you said that Springfield is not worried.
No, no, they they did come to the meeting, the previous meeting, and they did express some concern. Absolutely. Yeah. So, we're hoping to um get them on board um because as being Springfield, they have a little bit more of a voice than us. So, hopefully, yeah, they will add to this. Yeah. A little more clout.
Yeah. Whatever it takes at this point. Yeah. So, Cara, if I could just add to that. Um Sure. So, and we talked about this a month ago, but the area where both of these proposals would effect are within the footprint of the watershed of
Springfield of Cot Mountain. And it's and it's designated by the state as an outstanding water resource area. And I think that's something that the sighting board will heavily. And I think that's
probably kind of what Yeah. It's not exactly the same, but there's a lot of common issues. Okay. And there's two streams that run Yeah. right through there and and they
they they are direct tributaries to C Mountain. Okay. So, yeah. So, they're adversary to have on board. Okay. Deb, were you all set? We all set. Okay. Good. Thank you. All right. Um, so we are going to move on then to our
department reports. Um, and first up is did I see Ray be out there somewhere? Oh, sorry. Um, I'm just going to let with people move around. So, I'll have you you wanted to speak. You wanted me to read your letter? Yes.
Reading your mind. So, where did go? Just had it on top here. Which one? The letter from Sue. Oh, here it is. Okay. Thank you, Ray. Sorry, I'm going to pause it for a second and we are going to read. Um, so I have a comment from Sue Rine, 107 Chester Road.
Um, I'd like to go on record and express how I and other residents of Blford feel about allowing lithium battered battery storage and more solar fields in our town. We are talking about losing our green space and bringing in dangerous chemicals and more solar. How many solar fields do we need in this town? Some dangers from solar fields are habitat
loss, soil erosion, most importantly, groundwater contamination, and the presence of solar panels can change local temperatures and humidity affecting vegetation and wildlife. Large solar farms can be considered an eyesore by some, especially in rural areas. Cutting down acres and acres of
trees is detrimental to our environment. Our wildlife, clean air and water, and opportunities for recreation and education. Additionally, trees and wooded areas help to mitigate climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and can improve human health by reducing stress and improving mood. Tree roots help prevent erosion and improve soil
fertility. Some of the benefits of forest and trees are boost immune system. Let's stay kind um boost immune system, lower blood pressure, increase ability to focus even in children with ADHD and accelerate
recovery from surgery illness. People move to towns like ours to get away from noise and pollution from cities. But I see us heading towards a town overrun with solar panels and tractor tractor trailer size battery storage. The danger should be evident that we cannot even fight a fire if it happens because we
would not I'm sorry. We would have to let them burn pouring deadly chemicals into our air. These storage facilities belong in industrial settings, not in our beautiful town. I ask them to stop bringing these into our town. People would do better to just put solar on their Thank you.
So, all right. Um, so we are going on to highway department is Oh, there we go. We've got our We've got Rainy on I believe as well. Um, all right, Ray, how you doing? I'm good. How are you? We got some papers going on over there. Yeah, I
do. Um, so I ended up meeting with Ryan Anderson and he ended up having Where is he from? Sorry. Uh, Eversource. Okay. Sorry about that. Uh, Mike and Travis, they came out and looked at some of the concerning polls in town on Beach Hill.
I don't know if some of the residents noticed, but once you go past Julius Hall, there's one pole that is leaning out into the road and um they came out and took a look at it and that is going to be getting replaced as soon as possible. They're actually going to
putting a swamp anchor in because there's nothing but ledge and rocks and swamp behind it. And um at the same time, they're going to bring up a core drill up, too. And they're going to end up drilling into the ledge if they run into it. So they'll have everything on site if they need it. So they're going
to end up taking that and reanchoring that pole. If they have to put in an assist pole, they're going to do that, too. But definitely with the angle, like all winter, Matt had to been careful going around that corner with the Mac in the wing. He couldn't even get close, so it was going to take out the tarp arm or
even catch the uh top of the truck. I'm really surprised it didn't happen sooner, just like the one on 23 with the 53 footer that caught the wires. Mhm. So that'll be cleaned up you think before next winter hopefully. I'm hoping in the next month. Okay. They were very adamant about getting out there and getting that
taken care of. Okay. They weren't even aware of that. So instead of just putting a a support wire on it, it wasn't even holding anything. It was just leaning so bad. Uh Gore Road. While I had them out there, I walked them around Gore Road. There is one pole that
is on the road side of the guard rail that we looked at and I guess a box truck ended up hitting it a few years back if I'm right Bob. Yeah truck ran into it. Snapped it right off. Broke it.
Yeah. Yeah. So I ended up bringing them out there and I addressed that with them and they took a look at and they said they don't understand why they ended up putting the pole where they did. Okay. because easily someone could hit it with a motor vehicle or even it really is in the way for us to get the snow off the
road in that on that road. So they're going to end up uh that's a major one. They're definitely going to end up moving and the way the pole is lined up with the wires. They can reset it and then put like a tensioner system on it
on the opposite side because there it's offset right now. So they can end up moving it over at least 3 to four feet off of the edge of the road instead of being 6 in from the edge of the road. So that's something that they're going to end up doing too. Um going down Gore,
there is a couple poles that they're looking at repositioning so that they're not so close to the road. This is just for a future project on Gore. might as well start planning for it now and getting the motions going
because be better. Okay. Um, another thing I met with Angela from the uh unpaved roads. Okay. We went over some projects. I don't know, George. He ended up uh Did you end up
going out there today? No. Yeah. So, we just got to keep the conversation here. Okay. So, I don't know if if uh Angela and George met up, but today she was supposed to start coming out and looking at the Culver Pro uh progress in
town. So, that was one thing. U we'll end up meeting up uh a few times. I told her if George isn't available, I'll end up assisting her and then doing some investigations on some stuff and at least get that map written out for town so we know what needs to be replaced and
y what doesn't need to be replaced. Um still waiting on our F550 to come back from Sarah. the uh fuel lines are on backwater nationwide and they ended up saying on the ETH there'll be a release. So hopefully
we'll have the truck by the end of the week. I really need that dump truck back. So that will be a benefit for the department and for the guys to have that back. Um the Hayden Road project went very well getting
those culver pipes replaced. I really got to see the skills of the guys being able to work together. Only having Matt with uh, you know, a CDL, moving stuff around. I ended up getting out of the office and getting down there and really helping
them out as much as I could. That worked out very well. and to see the skills that they had just working together, doing the head walls, picking the rocks out, getting everything set in place, just making sure we had compaction, you know, all the way through setting the pipe so we don't have to worry about it
in the future. And we extended it enough, too. So, in the future, if we end up having this road widened or maybe even get a chip sealed or some in the future, we have enough width on that at least to do something. I know there's not a lot of residents on that, but we
might as well plan for the future. And uh getting that done was a big achievement. We had a couple stumps that were along the edge of the road we have to get rid of. It really narrowed it down. It bottlenecked the road pretty good. So, we ended up getting the JCB down there, ripped those out and got
that cleaned up. It was a safety ash uh issue, so that was taken care of. Um our roller from Milton Rents ended up getting dropped off Tuesday night. So, I went down there and met up with them and we got the roller off the trailer. Got a
nice cap. Um, it's a enclosed cab, really nice unit. We ended up getting uh some grading going after we finished up the Culbert pipes and the guys are doing some of the hand work. I had Matt go over and start the grading. So, at least we can from the end of Hayden, the
Coppel Mountain to the Triangle intersection. We do have to bring material in there and get that road at least dried out and raised up a little bit more. But we didn't have any downtime. That's one thing I can say. Everybody was productive and everybody was busy, right? So that was uh that was
good to end up getting that because I know we have our two core roads and you know George Mard is one of them and Buand is going to be a next. So while we had the roller there and everything going on down there, I just figured you know what, we might as well just do this instead of trailering and stuff all
around town. Mhm. So that was a that was really good honestly. One thing that I would like to end up in the goals for this merit system. Okay. You guys ended up uh the select board. You guys brought up uh want to end up
looking into safety issues of the highway garage. Yep. Now, for some reason, I couldn't print out the second picture of the bro of the cinder blocks crumbling in the backside. Ah, bathroom. Good. I'm glad you brought this up. So, the bathroom. Yes, this has been an
issue ever since I've been here. And good thing for uh pallets because everything in the bathroom would be soaked if there wasn't. And also, the furnace is even sitting on blocks. So, this has been an issue. This has to get addressed. I know we spent a lot of
money looking into a new highway garage, a new fire department, but we have to end up doing this. We got a full crew of guys. People are washing their hands. They're in the bathroom. Like, I I got to end up getting this fixed. And I
don't have enough money in the highway repair. And this is coming back to last week. Yeah. How I asked about has the building inspector contacted or anybody get anything? because I tried contacting him and he didn't end up getting back to me. Yep. We did check in with um the
building inspector and he had not been officially asked um to do and Christina, we we were just talking. He was brought at the building inspector. He had not been um No, I spoke I touched base with Jason um last week and he said he didn't get a formal request for an inspection on the building. So why did I have him
come do inspections? And that's he said he was going to send it the report to the uh so he had what? Go ahead. He said that he came out and just gave you guys suggestions on what needed to be done but there was no but this is something that we definitely can work under
capital improvement. Um I know that we had asked the previous um superintendent before he left to get some prices so that we could move forward with that. Um, so if you want to call in some plumbers to get some prices on what
needs to be done to repair this, then we can build it into capital. Okay. I agree. It's absolutely and board of health is board of health here. Um, would need to take a look at it. I think go out and take a look at it. We're talking about the bathroom situation at the highway department. I have no clue
what you're talking about. So, um, it it's there it's leaking. It's very wet. There's puddles of water on the floor. It's backing up. It's And has it been going on how long? Well, we had talked to Dave about Dave had brought it up and or the guys I can't remember who brought
it up. We're just It's been what couple years and it it needs to get resolved and with myself being me myself being in the seat, I'm going to end up getting it taken care of. And that's why I'm bringing it up because it needs to be
taken care of. I know when Rainey was here, he actually did have a plumber come in. They ended up removing the toilet. They moved the toilet. They did concrete work in there, but the plumbing's so old, it's starting to fail again. And okay, we can keep patching stuff and patching stuff, but it's just
going to fall apart. So, at this point, we might have to bust the whole floor apart and put all brand new stuff right out to the septic tank. And I don't know. Like I said in the list, I'm not a licensed plumber, but if I can get the go-ahad on this, yes, I am going to end up looking into this and get this taken
care of because Okay, it needs to end up getting resolved. And the cinder blocks in there right around the bathroom, the picture I was trying to end up printing out, we have a tanker in there that I can't even tell you how much it's worth sitting not even two feet away from this
wall. And we have, let me show you this. I could take a pointer stick that's about 8 feet and stick that in that hole and it keeps going and going and going. It does not hit bottom. So, what's happening under that garage? Is it undermining?
Will the floor collapse eventually? And if that wall gives out, I know this particular spot, it's not structural integrity that's there. It's just a wall that's there surrounding the bathroom. But if that wall did fall, it's going to land right on the fire truck inside the
highway garage. So So we can request an official inspection. Yeah, there's a form that you got to fill out for um a building inspection. Do that. And then you want to speak with Jason though um because I think for him
to do a formal inspection, he wants like previous reports of things that were done and sometimes that can be difficult to locate. Okay. Um but yeah. Yeah. So that is something keep these or you can keep that. Now the the written list
there that is part of the merit goal system that you guys set in place for the highway department. It was just brainstorming with the guys. We walked around the concrete floors breaking apart. Um it's just some little things that you know we as a department ended
up noticing that really uh should be addressed. But the bathroom is a definite you've seen it before too and when you first came in and that needs to get taken care of. I'm willing to do what we have to do but I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Yeah, absolutely. Do you think that maybe part
of it was originally the intention was fire and highway facilities being I mean I think that what had happened was we originally highway was on the table when we met and we were starting to talk about new highway fire and so maybe because we wanted the you talked about
what the work that was done um not wanting to invest a lot of money into a building that we're hopefully replacing. Yeah, the highway's been taken off the table. Um, even though it's going to have to be done at some point, obviously, it's going to need that work. The front of the building got replaced.
Yeah. You know, cuz the cinder blocks are just crumbling. Yeah, it's cinder blocks. Regardless, the bathroom has to be repaired. It's not very old cinder block. The whole back side of the building, 3/4 of the actual building is cinder blocks. And we can't hang anything off the walls cuz you end up
putting some into it. Yeah. It cracks. It breaks. So, we're just compromising the integrity of the walls and it's like, how much more are we going to end up doing? And y that's one thing I wanted. So, if you want to get some quotes um to for repairs for the
bathroom um then we can talk to finance and look at some funding from capital expense to get that repaired. Um I was going to go through some of the um some of the goals with you, Ray. Do
you want do we have an extra one of these just so he can look at the one that we're looking at? Um Jackie was kind enough to color code which is really helpful. Um so we were just looking at um going down some of
these, right? Um if you want to start at the at the top. Um we were talking about the road work. um the list of priorities for quarter for the fourth quarter is that something that um you have worked
on what your priorities are for so under under the uh I'm right here sorry right at the top I'm looking at just things that are either April May so in this bracket that's what you're talking about enhanced row uh right up top the first blue
quarter first quarter schedule ongoing report progress. So yeah, the first one would be the first quarter which would have been April and then the second quarter will be or sorry the first quarter for 2026 we'll be looking at in June. There you go. I think I got that all taken care of for
you and put in detail list times and awesome employees here Christine I got one for you too. Thank you. So I'm going to check that right for but there's multiple stuff I went through this whole from the one page that I ended up submitting to Mr. Hopson this original
page got turned into this five pages and I dissected this whole thing to the best of my ability with the amount of time that I can spend in the office um without leaving Matt out there and the guys out there high and dry. And uh
I went through pretty much the lists here. Okay. And dated everything implemented uh materials. Are you talking here? Yes. And I just
want you to know the quarterly. Usually a quarterly is like three months out of a year. There's four, you know, 12 months in a year. So let's divide it up four times. There's three months. So that's why in the top header of the introduction, I put a basic generic timeline of three months. Let's just do
that if if you want. I'm just So this is um end of April to end of June. Exactly. Okay. Cuz be going into July. Yep. Um so things that I ended up getting together was uh
the guys have their OSHA training. You know, they're not going to be working here without their OSHA training. So, one thing is you have on there um to have all their Yep. list of safety
equipment based on OSHA um requirements. So, I ended up going over the with the guys and I know Jen's worked with with me too with the toolbox talk, but this is uh a couple brackets of your list of goals that I went over with the guys.
equipment safety, work, job site safety, and uh nice. This is right off of OSHA. That's where it we're talk about OSHA stuff. We might as well go right off OSHA. I'm not going to, you know, make anything up. So, we went right off of that.
Um, this one that I have here is the bas uh basic uh OSHA safety standards that the shop uses and uh replenishes as soon as needed as a town request. One of the part of the merit system goals. This
item will be reported to them quarterly if needed after this. honestly. And yeah, I think if if it's if I I don't need to be micromanaged because I'm on top of this stuff, but if you need it, I'm just proving to you that I can end
up doing this to the to the town. And uh this is the list of everything that the guys and myself in the department utilize on an everyday basis. And if it ends up getting diminished, I make sure it's replenished. Excellent.
Okay. Um, so that's that was your um employee safety goal for May 1st. So I just checked that up. It covers a couple Yeah. in the the whole bracket of safety goals because it kind of jumps around in the safety goals uh bracket honestly. Um
so then you have so those other safety ones are not until due until like August you're thinking which would be all employees are using the appropriate safety equipment and ensuring there's a detailed policy and protocol are followed. So it sounds like you're already part of the way there for at
least that using the appropriate safety equipment and then partially there for policy and protocol. We'll just like develop an actual Yeah. Okay. Well, I think everyone's on the the same page at the department um working together. Okay.
the employee training in this list you ended up uh asking of appropriate certification and lic licensing. Now when you filled out when you end up making the job posting you
have in the job posting criterias of what you're looking for. So basically I just wrote down the criterias of what you guys are looking for. you know, you're looking for a class A driver, class B, you know, CDL. Um, but we do
have the positions for, you know, nonCDL, you know, class D drivers. So, um, so do you have a list of the current employees and what they have for certification? So, I got a list of every employee at the highway department from
their DOT medical card to conflict of interest, OSHA 10 medical exam, um their their driving status like from CDL to um to regular driver's license, all their oysters license that they end up
currently holding. And um okay, I have that, but I ran out of uh paper at the shop. So, I need this stuff back to put back in their file because I have their file organized by date, start date, and
everything from when Matt was started in 2018 all the way to now. So, we just need copy as well. That I'm giving this to you, but I'm expecting it back. Okay? Because this has to go on my files for the department. That sounds like a Joanne trustworthy.
Okay. Um, so let's just back up because we skipped around a little. If I go back to the first page, I'm looking at roadwork. Um, the B create implement scheduling system. So that first paper I
gave you, if you read that, that's on there. Take a look at it. I got I got everything from the taking care of uh Chester Road, Russell Stage, implementing, putting equipment away from the winter, make sure it's washed off properly and ready
to go for when the snow starts flying in the in the fall time. And then I even took two poor roads that dirt roads that is achievable like George Mard and like Buand. I think Buan needs some attention, especially since they were doing all the logging
out there. And are they still logging? I saw some logging truck. They should be. Okay. Give an eye on it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um my next question
is report progress to SL enhance road maintenance efficiency on a monthly basis. So, the enhanced road maintenance. I think he does that. Yeah, he already covered that. That's what I'm thinking. Okay. So, that's just a once a month
situation. So, I'm going to um we're good for April. Um a couple of these I don't have a date for. Like you see under core road work, there wasn't a date set. So, just like where we're at on Russell Stage or Chester Road. If you look at my you've got Russell Stage
here, your first one. take a look at the sheet. Okay, so clean and repair paste fills, make sure road drainage is working properly. So that's planned for these next three months. Perfect. Um and then you're going to be using the hot box and the small roller. Um Chester Road next
up, no obstruction for water runoff. Drain properly filled potholes. And that's another thing. So, okay, the 550s, we cannot tow the hot box fully loaded with uh someone that
doesn't have their CDL because of the combined vehicle weight. Mhm. So, the 350 is not safe to be towing that much weight, honestly. You can do it, but I don't I will not put anybody in that truck and tell them to go to Palmer and
get asphalt and come back for safety reasons, honestly. Um, people would do it, but I just I don't see that being safe for the crew. Okay. So, do you have you have Matt to do that then? That's he you're saying
he's the only one or yourself? Or myself? Okay. Um, so that's this is where I just got to ask over time going through this instead of having such a big list and I prove myself to you guys. If we can narrow it down and I end up
making achievable goals that I can present to you so that I can be out there absolutely working with the guys. Yep. I have no problem reporting to you about the progress. I have no problem. If you have any questions, you can contact me. The door is always open at
Iowa Grunch. I tell everybody in town that you have a problem, come knock on the door. I think some of these we have Ray are just like ongoing parts of your job like um you're managing the highway budget, right? That's on there as a goal for us to touch base and make sure that
you're understanding that um it's a part of the training that you're receiving from Rainey, right? So, we want to just make sure that that's understood. Um but ongoing that's just part of the position. um the grants, chapter monies, um maximizing staffing plan at all
times. Those things are part of, you know, ongoing position. Um all right, I see that you have George Mard and you have Boland um on here. So then my next question is um the equipment for winter. Did you say
that that's um put away or how are we doing on that? So everything, all the the only thing that isn't put away yet is the Mac. That's okay. Matt and the crew today, they went up in the rain. They took the wing off it. They took the plow off of it. Okay. I have one
uh one Viking plow that we're actually refurbishing that was just falling apart. We ended up reskinning the whole thing. We got new skids for it. We even got welding blinds for the shop because we're doing our own welding now instead of sending it out. That's right. Some of the stuff you have to send out, you
know, for safety issues, but a simple plow, we don't need to pay someone a licensed welder to do that. So, we're taking care of that in house now. Um the uh the only thing left is pretty much wash the MAC and put it away. But the
550s are all cleaned out, okay, and ready to go. So, I'm going to put that the Mac will be finished up in by the end of May. I think I wrote that on the sheet I gave you. It's on here. equipment maintenance. Yeah,
perfect. May 31st. Okay, cool. So, I'm just putting it on my note so I know we just touch base. Um, the signage, I know you did that. You've got the design and acquire signage monitor compliance. I'm checking that off. Um, we already talked about OSHA. We talked about lists of current
employees and their certifications. Um, all highway employees trained to operate equipment they will use and you have that documented in their final in their files there. Mhm. Um, did you start with attending the
safety se seminars with Jen? Is that the same thing or is that something different? So, we can combine the stuff that we have been doing in the past and going forward in the future. Uh but on the list to show the select
board uh desired information on upcoming certifications highlighted for the highway department through Bay State Roach trainings is another good source of getting training for the guys. Honestly, uh the locations or dates are
all included in this report to future upcoming courses. This list has been created to show how the select board members in the town for the department. So, I'm basically giving that to you so you guys can see what they have upcoming. Uh the cost of the courses range from $100 to
$300 per person plus travel that we would have to pay uh if not virtual because they do have virtual courses. Okay. So, I don't know if the guys want to do the virtual, but I like doing hands-on stuff because then
I know they've done it. They know what they're doing. Um, but the options there on some of them, but not all. The basis, the basic list that all towns and municipalities obtain the training on the employees in the
great state of Massachusetts is that list right there. Okay. This list grows every month with fewer spots when getting closer to the course date. The course dates are presented and will be selected on employees current licensing and training that would be
useful to the department and educational growth to serve the community better as a department. Uh just an outline on the timeline for these courses. Uh the availability is from 5825 through 9:2525. That's all that has been posted at this
time. Okay. But you're talking a lot of those courses all over the state. Yeah. So, one thing I did go through that list, too. I took the time and I ended up writing what course would be suitable
for what employee. And there's like bucket truck training. Yeah. I have my license to run the bucket truck. Just be Mario. But Mario has his license to run the bucket truck. So, why not send him? Mhm. to a safety training so that he I can say, okay, he knows what he's doing
around power lines and he knows what he's doing around working. Oh, good. There's a budgeting one. Um, so Ray, my only question is, uh, these ones that are whole shop. Um, what are your thoughts on, you know, having the shop gone for?
So, if you look at it, there's there's double there's duplicates of those where I'm saying the whole shop. So I wouldn't send the whole shop. I'm just saying everyone in the shop exactly. But some of them are out at the Cape. Some are
some are needed. Um you know Marboro that's a close one. Worcester's close. But you know Buzzard's Bay that's you might as well make a fishing trip out of that if you're going out there honestly. Yes. Um I would also say with travel
once we have our highway truck I would say um have the highway department employees use the route for travel. Um that's just a basic there is other avenues to go but it's something that the town has an account set up with and
we've used in the past and there's very positive uh resources through Bay State Roads. Absolutely. Okay. And I will also another thing is reach out to um Bay State Roads and see if there's anything
that we can sign up for as a benefit to have something in town like up at the salty yard. We did have a chainsaw course up there with Mike Smith. That was two years ago, I believe. Yes. And we had multiple towns come and we were supposed to do an advanced chainsaw
course, but that never got set up. So, if I can end up talking to Mike, maybe I know he had some health issues, but if he is up and running again, I would like to get him back up here. That would be good. Okay. See if we can get a break. Um, okay. So, I we went through all the
goals. We checked off stuff. My next thing that I wanted to touch base on um are where you training from Robert Plant here, i.e. Rainey. That's uh that's the information that you guys requested. And then here, this goes to
this goes with the training uh for um Bay State Roads. That's what I ended up writing up for that. That just goes with that packet of Bay State Roads. This does. No, this that's basically what the town is. This is here looking for in an employee
when coming to the town to the highway department in Bford. So, I just wrote it down and I Thank you. Um, Ray, I wanted to touch base on some of the training with Rainey and just see kind of where we're at with that. Um, so
some of the stuff the work that you've been doing with Rainey is um the budget planning for different seasons. Um, so for example, saving 40% for spring road repair. Um, have you been learning about
that? What what have you guys um worked with on that so far? So everybody knows when we get out of winter the roads need work. We like Tonolino you can spend you know 10 grand in one day just on stone
and really saving that to when you end up need not just that but we have fair share that the highway department can end up utilizing to not eat up all that monies out of that budget. So we do have a buffer at that point which is good for
our department. Um the the roads basically you you just there's so much that is a good amount that's put into that into that account. So basically here what are we getting
into May June you're going to see that account drop in the next month especially with the dirt roads that need attention and all the work that needs attention. um winter budget, you know, basically as we've seen, we didn't have anything when
Rainy got here. We're we went in the deficit. Yeah. You know, and the winter budget, you can go in the deficit on that stuff. You don't want to, but we had to this time because otherwise we wouldn't had any equipment running minimal. At least at that point, I could
say, you know, if we didn't end up doing that. So, one of the examples to save money is losing the fair share. and fair share and just be wise with what you got to do. Don't don't just have truckload after truckload delivered, you know,
honestly, work with what you have. Okay. Um the next thing we talked about was um we you already covered um the project and creating a maintenance time and cost table. Um evaluating and estimating
projects by season. So, we did cover um spring. We're talking the timeline you gave me was for spring, beginning of summer. Um so, I guess um working with Rainey. Um have you talked about moving forward like lists? And I don't expect
you to have them yet. I'm just saying, have you talked with him moving forward for seasonal priority lists? Sort of what that's going to look like each season. It says um uh evaluate and estimate projects by seasons and priority. So that's something you should be explain to him that what you're
reading from is what Rainey had given. Yeah, I should have said that. This is the list that Rainey gave me of things that he was going to be training. I was looking at this. I'm like, wait, what are you talking about? So it says, thank you, Christina. Um, it said that he was going to work with you on evaluating and
estimating projects by seasons and listing priorities. So you and and Rainey should be working on talking about, you know, after spring, what should your priorities be for summer? or what should your priorities be for? We need to be we need I'm not going to say
exactly, but getting contracts going and getting projects on poor roads. Core roads. I keep saying poor roads, but nuisent roads in town. Like Cabo Mountain is a bad road. It really does need to get work. It's been it's been pushed off so many years. It needs to
end up getting taken care of. Um, you need to end up hooking up with a lot of these contractors. You know, Warner, you need Palmer Paving. I'm getting to meet a lot of these people and just even like All States driving around with these guys. These guys got
years of knowledge and just shut your mouth and listen to what they got to say and how they do their job is educational in just itself. and to know the process of how they want you to end up implementing these roads and what's the
process of basically getting the grants. That's another thing is getting the grants to end up helping you out. Fair share is another one. Absolutely. Um you know chapter 90 is a big one too. That was my next question for you. Um what can give can you talk to me about what
you've learned from Rainey with Chapter 90 funds? Um what what have you he what has he taught you so far about chapter 90? Do you feel confident in that? So where are we at there? So at the Oh would you like
to say something? I would like to interject one thing here. Sure. Um it's been ongoing and Ray is doing fantastic. We've been doing certain things as far as the chapter 90 the fair chair because you can only use fair chair for certain things. um which is approved things by
chapter 90. However, it's a money up front so we can do it and just send in reports. Now, we've done it like with Gil finally got done with the billing on that and he submitted the u paperwork for the warrant for the last payment which is coming out of Fair Share
because that is state approved. Um there's projects like he's talking to about uh um yeah um with watershed road. What's um Cabba Mountain? Cobble Mountain. Cabbble Mountain. Sorry. Cabbell Mountain and South Street. Um those are ones that we
meant to go to because we could do those this year under this year's county bid. The others are going to be a little bit more extravagant and we really need to know what the new bid process is going to be and the pricing so we can submit requests for that. But we've already
started calculating the certain roads such as um what it could be done on Maynard or Milard. Uh what we might be doing on Huntington or Gore or um the end of Russell stage and the Russell stage.
Yes. Because there's multiple facets on some of them that you can't just throw out to bid because we didn't have the equivalent of purchasing on county bid. So the ones that we can which is Cobble
Mountain South Street, we can submit it right now. There should be no problem to be approved. The funds are there and it's all county bid. Is that for saying thing? Pardon? You're saying county bid? What count? Which county bid? Well, for
a car's the only one we use. Okay. So you're saying there's only two two roads that you can use for this year. Okay. before the new fiscal year. And with the sorry to interrupt you, Rainey, but with the chap with the new aotment that we're getting after July 1st, if it goes
through, we're going to be standing good in town. We really are. Okay. Uh and then we can end up going after some more of these problematic roads that are going to cost some money. It isn't going to be cheap to do, but at least we'll have the money in the wallet for when we end up going after these bigger roads.
I'm not going to sign contracts for son for $130,000 and I don't even have 80. You know what I mean? If that happens, then I look bad. The town looks bad. We don't want that to happen. No. So, I've learned from Rainey. He's been
really walking me through this stuff. And if I ask a question, I shouldn't get penalized for asking a question, honestly. No. No. The slack board? No. I mean, for anybody, like even Huck, he brought that up. You know, hey, call me anytime, anytime through the day. This
is with all states. Mhm. Let me know if you got a question. I'll tell you yes or no or I'll answer it best my ability. And and that was what I was getting to more, Ray, would be these things that we've been walking through. We've been walking through with the reps of these companies
that he's going to be dealing with. So, he's getting a personal contact and get getting to know what he can and can do even through their expertise that is helping us. Um, we're going up again uh district one um and trying to get a
meeting with Francesca. She said yes, no problem, but Thursdays are a tough day and that's usually where she can meet with us. Um but the whole problem there is is these things take time and the budget depends on not just our chapter
90 existing but what's going to be the new allocation. If the state bond goes through you're going to have $250,000 more a year for five years than you got right now. So you can make much better planning. Uh right now you have
about 900,000 or so um projects going out is going to be around three and then the next new allocation that will put us well over a million. So he can attack the bigger road with better options and that's why we're looking at each road.
Now what I'm trying to do is look at a road and just go well the predecessor wanted to FDR every single road. Well, you don't need to do that. Oh, he's looking at it going, he's understanding the roads, what they can do with the road, what does it need, so we're not
wasting money, but we are getting the best bang for the buck. Okay, so Rey, back to you. My question is, how are you feeling about what you've learned so far about Chapter 90? Are you feeling like in a month and a half's time, you're
going to be good with working with Chapter 90 on your own? I'm going to be capable of doing that and then some. Okay. Honestly. Okay. So, we're gonna positive. Awesome. We're going to just keep touching base, right? If you have questions, like you said, ask them. I just That's an important one. So, we
want to make sure that you're feeling before Rainey leaves, right? Confident in that. Um same thing with town bids, county bids, state bids. Um we want to make sure that you're feeling confident in that to move on right before Rainy's gone. Of course.
Um, we talked about working with vendors. Um, the other number eight on here for list is working on multi multiaceted projects to get proper results. We've talked about that. Better understanding and knowledge of procurement laws. Have you worked with
Rainey on that at all? Understanding procurement laws. I know those can be challenging. So once this is out of the way, okay, I'm not saying completely, but this has really been taking up a lot of my time, plus goals. Meeting those goals, meeting
the goals and working with the guys and getting everything together to present to you guys. This was a big dent out of this list and I feel a relief. I'm not going to lie to you because this really has been a lot. Mhm. and I have no problem doing it and I can do it, but to
have this out of the way now I can focus on. So that's an area you feel like you need to focus on more with him is procurement laws. I think that I think as soon as I have everything all everything submitted to you this whole budget on this merit goal
system. Yep. Give me a minor amount of time and I'll have this whole thing done. So that's where you feel like you need to focus on budget area with Yeah, because everything else was writing out DOT or uh OSHA standards, dude. Here's another
one. The the list of the information for the highway vehicles and requests by the select board in town. I went around to every vehicle and looked at it. went online, got three different values
online of, let's say, the greater, the the 550, the the army trucks. It's so hard to get a value off an old army truck because there's so many in the country, you know, are you buying it off the line? Are you buying from someone that has it all done up working like our
dump truck we have? Mhm. It it took a while to do, but I got that together and instead of printing out a print out, I I pretty much just went around and I just wrote in the values. But this was another thing that was on this list of goals to go around. Now, for the
insurance, I figured the insurance has an adjuster that should come out and look at this. But if they want to come out and if there's any issues on my values that I put on the town's vehicles, I would definitely go off
someone that's licensed. You know, I think the intention was for the insurance company to give you those figures. Okay. So, we can he can reach out to the insurance company. Are you serious? Like, I did all that work. Sorry, Ray. But that's a lot of
that list came from the insurance company. And then remember we talked about Paul he all Yeah. All those figures should come from the We didn't want you to like just shop around and then figure out what it needed the value of the
condition like you know some of the trucks needed work. So then I took an account of but the good news is now you can also apply to be an insurance adjuster in your spare time. I don't have any spare time at all. Cara, may I
say one more thing? Sure. Rainy um he's not giving himself credit enough on procurement. He has not we haven't sat here and went down formally certain things. Okay. But he has an understanding like what he can turn around and go out and purchase, what he needs to address to the board before he
purchases. What he needs to do if it's certain dollar amounts like say 25 to 50, he's got to be getting at least three bids or if he's over four 50,000 he has to go out to bid. So he is aware of those criteria within the the procurement laws and that's the primary
ones that he really needs to know in the beginning. Oh, there's a chart Ray. I don't Do you guys have the chart? No. Yes. Oh, okay. Up on the wall. Actually, I do have it with the numbers and what. So, it's 10 to 50. You would get three quotes. Anything over 50, then you got
to do I also have that class I signed up for. I'm going to be out of work. We're not helping the guys at least, but I'll be doing Yeah. No, no, not the budgeting. No, something different. The procurement. Oh. Oh, that's right. I signed up for that. And so, there's an introduction for the 30. So, I'm going
to do the 30 and get that over with. Okay. And then I'll sign up for the two other halves. Okay. Right. There's three all together. Great. Well, one Did you finish already, Christina? I'm finishing my third. So, if you need No, I won't be
doing that. I won't be doing that. Our children. Um, all right. So, that's awesome. It sounds like So, we went through this list. Well, just I want to touch base before again like before we're done with Rainy. We just want to make sure that you have everything that you need um from him. Um we don't need him slacking.
Huh Rainey? Um did you did you hear me here or did you just not think? Sorry, I muted myself. That's okay. I would not accuse him of slacking. Talking about you. I was accusing you of slacking. I did have a couple more questions for you. Go ahead. Will you talk to me about
Cobble Mountain Road? After we I left last time, I was thinking about we're using chapter 90 for Cobble Mountain Road. Is that correct, but then you were saying that there's only one person that lives on that road on Cobble Mountain? But the section that you were working
on, that was South Street Extension. There's only one South. So talk to me about that. So we were going to use like $300,000 for South Street Extension. No, that's combined. That's combined. That's combined. combined South Street Extension and South Street Extension is about 58,000.
Okay. I just I was left feeling confused that we were spending that money on a road with only one No, we're doing the road for Springfield Water to get to the gate. Okay, I understand now. No, we're not doing it. Cuz I was like, "Wait a minute. Why are we I understand better now." Okay. Yes. No,
it we it makes sense with the logistics. You know, they charge you if you end up loading up the miller, you know, the paver, everything. You're going to pay for that. They're just cuz you here you go. They're charging you 300,000 to do a road. Can you go to the other side of town? Oh, yeah. We can. They're going to
charge you, right? So, while we're in that area, they can crawl the machines right up crooks and then take care of South Street Extension. That makes sense. I just We might as well kill two birds with one stone. That's perfect. Um, and then my last question for you was about gas. I know that Jackie had
taken um all those receipts and gone through them and obviously there's more, you know, that came out of other um departments this time around. Um I know we've looked at a better system in the past. Um but I seen your email. Don't think I ignored you. I think that it's
time that we research that again. um so that we can better track uh as again I hate to put any more money into the highway department building that is probably going to be who knows what you know that's that's one thing since we're on that subject the tanks that are there
they're not outdated but they got some age to them yeah the ones that have had to be repaired twice now right yes and I had I had Briman come out they ended up changing the actual uh gas pump on the gasoline clean side. Okay. The
register was completely dried out. The little gears inside that roll the numbers broke right off. It was like close to $1,200 for that actual register that goes onto the pump for the gas side. Okay. Good thing that there's one
company out there making these antique literally they're antique. Similar to our fire department situation. So, it it was either five grand to update to a digital register or this one company. He called me back the next day and said, "Hey, we actually found a company that makes this still."
Oh my god. And it was a direct bolt up. So, we ended up paying for that to get replaced. And the maintenance on those tanks is going to keep going up and up and up. He even said, "Hey, for your next inspection, you got to end up
stripping all the paint off the tanks and repaint this thing." Wow. Okay. So I could end up having my guys painting tanks or working on these, you know, roads that you want in the merit system here. Yeah. For them to, you know, have
achievable goals. But the basic uh thing I'm trying to end up push across is the tanks are probably going to have to get replaced soon. The card system's there. It just needs updating. Okay. It's Yeah, we put in a card system. What's to have
the departments have a card system? It would be ideal. Yeah. You're saying the system is already there though, but it's the cards don't work anymore. The weather got to it. It's an old system, so it's going to cost 15 grand. So, you might as well just pretend like it's not
there. Exactly. So, the question is, do we put in money to replace the tanks at that location or would it make more sense to put them at the salt shed? Last year I was up there with the JCB and digging all those holes for that company from the
Worcester area doing the site testing for the I don't know who what was the company's name but that's something that we look at on capital expense is that's a big project that isn't necessarily just a highway
project it's a town project because that's I would figure that that was where the garage was going to be. I I dug a 24 by 15 pit so he could see that we had a flat sheet of, you know, ledge
6 ft down. And they were devising a plan to anchor like the towers down on this ledge cuz it was like the perfect location. And it would have been a great location for a fuel for a fuel depot. And then filling it back in it was and
then not getting anywhere. I was like, "Oh man." But um we either replace the tanks where the building's sitting. We either give the fire department our highway garage and have it fixed up to their specs. That's
already been ruled out. Yeah. But they're you they got a truck in there anyways already, you know. So yeah, I I I know what we're saying, but there's we need to do something soon. So we definitely need something with the gas. It needs to make we need to make sure
it's locked up. There's a switch inside the building. Okay. Um so that card reader system inside we have a power switch. There's three panels and one is for the card reader which is Mhm. on. Mhm. But the
card reader doesn't work. And then the other for the diesel and the gasoline. You flip it up when you end up using it. You flip it down. So if you go out, you take the handle off, no one can steal it. Okay. So there is Could I make another suggestion quick?
Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Randy. As far as the fuel system and that, uh, frankly, the the tanks are doublewalled tanks. I don't think the integrity of the tanks are a bad problem. They do need to be painted properly. The valving and the piping is what's getting old.
Okay, the card reader is in place. My suggestion would be get a price from one of the companies to properly paint the tank because you also have to do it with I believe certain paints. I'm not positive on that, but I believe they use
Emeron or a certain paint for that. Okay. Um, get a price for that, get a price for the card reader because if the tanks are good and you do change locations, you can take all of that and move it. So I think you should get some
pricing on it first. Okay. Well, that's something to think about that we need to, you know, think about for capital planning is the gas tank situation. And another thing that those tanks need is the liner on the inside. It needs to
be scrubbed out, cleaned, and then relined on the inside. But you have to you have to have a temporary fuel source for what they do that they they pressurize them too. Okay. So Ray, so nobody can fill up there without you
knowing. No one if fire department has a key, police have a key, they can get in the building. They can hit the switch up just like how all departments know. We have the sheets on the board. Gasoline, diesel. They fill out their name, date,
amount of gallons, and what department. Got it. That's how we've been keeping track of what is being used up at the highway ground. Have you ever run into a situation where you come back and you're like, "Oh, these tanks were left on and they shouldn't have been." Even if you leave it on, so long as that switch No,
I mean like the switch inside, like if they left the switch up, they went they filled up. They Oh, yeah. No, I I I'm not going to say what departments. I'm not asking you to. there. There has been times where we come in and the switch is left off, you know. So, you go over, you hit the switch down and it's off. No, I
understand that. I just my concern is if I don't want to be burning through with fuel if the switch is up and you don't know who's coming and going or Yeah. No, understandable. Well, that that for years I've been arguing with that to have a key system. It's just like the
card system only it's more weather than the card system. And uh we had uh the last time and I think this was uh five years ago or longer raining and it came in at about 9 or
$10,000. I know the key system has been along around for 50 60 years and uh it's positive. No one can go in and use say you know the secretary went in filled up
their tanks and charge it to uh the fire department. All right. Because each key is an individual key for each department that uses it. And I think that would be the best system. That card system is not weatherproof. Yeah. All right. So, um the last thing I have, sorry I lied.
There's one more thing. The liaison. I don't see Tom here. I invited him. I called him last week and asked him to attend. Do you are you interested in us moving forward with appointing a um a volunteer highway department liaison?
I feel comfortable in this seat being here for the years I've been working for the town. Okay. I know what needs to be done. I know when it needs to be done. Okay. If I had any issues, I could end up reaching out to him. Tom would answer
my call anytime. Mhm. Answer my call anytime if I called you. Right. Rainy. Rainy. Yeah. You know. Okay. So, we're going to hold on then. You can hold off on that. If you change your mind, just let us know. We'll get it on an agenda. I just want to be able to speak
directly to Christina and the select board. If there's any issues even pertaining to this merit system, I don't want someone in between Mhm. being the moderator. Good for you. For
us. That's basically what I'm saying because I I didn't know where the liaison was going. Like I got I don't need a million people in town to tell me or help me. I I appreciate the help, but I don't need a bunch of people telling me how to do my job. Just let me do my job and I can
show you guys I can do my job. It'll be a lot simpler and it will make my life a lot easier. Absolutely. And the guys will be happy too. Mhm. Okay. So, we're we're going to hold on that then. If you are interested in it moving forward, just let us know. Um we'll get it on the
agenda. We have the job description drawn up for that. Did you get a chance to see the job description? No, I did. Okay. So, this is this is for the liaison. That's for the reason if you show me. Um I'm just while you're reviewing that I'm going to call Jennifer up because I
know it's starting to get late and I don't want to I'm done. You're don't you don't have anything for us? You don't have anything to talk about? You want me to talk about Maple Lane? Well, we could talk about it together. Do you want to come up and just touch base on Maple Lane? About Maple Lane? Sure. Come on
down. So done with Maple. We really cleared this room out, huh? Yeah, I must have bored them past my bit. Sorry. Um, so they we were called and you called me
and um today there's a water leak now right on Maple Lane. So for them, for the water department to start working on that, we had to get Eminem to move the pipe and all that contamination over towards the left and
going back up to the homeowners. Okay. Yard. We did have them pump and everything today. Um we ask the um that Gordon do certain things at the once the pipe is fixed
um and make sure that those things get done. Honestly, it's late and I don't remember my list, but I I did send out an email to Christina. Okay. Yeah. So, that's who's doing what. Ray put in the um hay bales for me and
the stakes where they needed to be. And so, uh, we're progress. So, yes. So, we're doing that and I'll check on it. Okay. For the highway department started improved. The highway department did end up dropping off three 18inch culver
pipes and got them on Maple Lane. And while Mark is there, first things first is we'll send up getting the water leak taken care of. Mhm. Second thing we'll end up it's a juggle between the septic issue and the cobra pipe. But yeah. Okay. While we're in
there, fix whatever they got to fix for the water shut offs. Get everything put in the right place so it's not going to end up having any issues in the future instead of bandaging up an issue and having it arise in a year. Get that
taken care of. I have the pipes there. Mark can lay the pipes in. We'll get some head walls on the end, even widen the mouth of the road a little bit more. So, that is taken care of. So, that's that's where we were uh today with that.
Thank you. So, Maple Lane may be out of water for two days. Theord I know this is not on you, but is does anyone know if Gordon is planning on letting people know that? Well, he told me he was going to go door todo to make sure that
everybody knew that because Mark said that once he starts his work at 8:00 a.m., people are not going to get in there. I verbally called M one Maple Lane just because I'm dealing with that issue over there. So, I know that they
know. Does he know we have reverse 911? So, I told I told it's on the list of the he said he was going to do that. He said he was going to do the reverse 911. Did Do you know if it got done? I When did they start the work? Tomorrow
morning. We started it today again getting that prep. It was always my understanding that he has a login and he can do that. Um but the last two times that it was necessary to be done, he didn't do it. He sent me an email and told me to do it. So So you didn't receive an email? Well, I know I'm gonna
be out of out of the lane on this, but why isn't he being held responsible because he's not doing his job? This is getting old. I know. I know. I This ain't the place up again, but with the water issues on Chester Road looking for another water leak. This is getting old. Yeah. And our quality of our water
and he's not being held accountable. We are in conversations about that. Just FYI. Um but I would strongly suggest um attending a water commissioners meeting. So they are sort of in charge of
Yeah. They hire them. We know we do the hiring and firing but they oversee Gordon just like the select board oversees Ry similar. It's similar. The water commissions from what I understand in speaking with legal counsel they are in charge of water distribution and
water rates when it comes to HR personnel type stuff. The select board is the authority on the final authority but he he does report to the water commissioners. I just find it frustrating. I share your frustration, but we have all of a sudden it's like,
yeah, we got no water pressure. It dropped off or we had no for planning wise and help wise or some people's houses need the water running a boiler system and not just, you know, I think the only notification we ever saw, okay, they're going to flush the fire hydrants. Okay, fine. We'll be we
prepped for that. So, we get ahead of the game versus, oh yeah, well, yeah. Or you try to call somebody and they don't they don't answer back. That's absolutely that's terribly frustrating. I agree with you and thank you for voicing that. That's absolutely something that we've been discussing is
try not to get too No, it's not. It's important. Yeah, I agree with you. Um, so how do I know or where do I find out? Where do you find their um you would go to um town of glampford.com and go into water department and you'll
see their meetings should be listed there. Um, all right. So, I think we're done with that. We're moving on to town administrator. Phew. We already talked about the new position.
We talked about all your things already. No, we did not. Was fire hydrant. I thought we tabled fire hydrants, did we not? In that email that All right, then it's tabled. I love that for us. Um, the only other thing that I did want to talk about because it came up, it's not on the agenda, but I got a response from
Leage Landscape and we have two quotes here that I need you to either approve or not approve for the care of Watson and Bsentennial through the month of November. Love it. So, we've got um motion to approve a quote from Leage
Landscaping uh the amount of $700 for Bsentennial Park, including spring and fall cleanup, mulch installation, one for this year, as needed each additional season thereafter. Monthly maintenance flower beds and hardscape areas, trimming of shrubs and plants is needed to maintain clean and professional
appearance. Service starts May 25th and ends November 25th. Um thank you for continuing. I know it was hard because a lot No. Yeah, it's not May 25th though. May 2025. 2025, sorry. Um, all in favor? I Oh, sorry. Second. Second. All in favor?
I hate repeating. Uh, so the second one is a motion to approve the um estimate from Leage Landscaping for $950 for property maintenance for Watson Park. It is everything I just read and then also
includes sand, recreational area weeds, vegetation cut down to two inches length as needed on monthly or bi-weekly basis, trimming of shrubs and plants needed to maintain and clean professional appearance. Again, May to November does not include mowing because Douggee does that. Uh second
any discussion? All in favor? I Okay, so that is done. I'm going to give that back to you. Uh did you get that from Dougie, right? Yeah, I got a note. Not this. No, no, no. Oh, yeah. There was a tree that has to be Yeah, that I'm sending to Boona. Okay. All right. We're
moving on to um motion to approve warrant number 23 payroll and number 23 AP and the wired AP warrant. Is there a second? Second. Discussion. All in favor? I. I. So, we're going to not do C because that's the appointment of Thomas
Aley. Motion to appoint Jason Porg as building inspector uh July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Second discussion. All in favor? I. I. Motion to appoint Susan Rene cultural counselor for the term July 1st 2025 through June
30th, 2028. Second discussion? None. All in favor? I. Motion to appoint Dave Hopson, Agricultural Commission, July 1st through June 30th, 2086. Good lord. 2026. Yes. Uh second
second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I motion to appoint Jennifer Gerard as election word for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Second. All in favor? I I Oh, look at Jennifer. You're up for three. Motion to appoint. Does she leave? No, she's Jennifer
Gerard to emergency management for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Second discussion. All in favor? I I motion to approve Jennifer Gerard as environment environmental certifying officer for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026.
Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. All right. Um we have I'd make a motion to uh approve the contract for architect design phase. This is what we talked about last week um with the building committee for Vermont Library. Um, hold
on. Motion uh with what's their name? D I think DA DR Dr. DRA um in the amount of 18,426.
Thank you. That that amount. Um is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I All right. Um, oh, it looks like it's just Okay. Um,
and then I have So, we're tableabling the state animal inspector until No, next week. He's He was here. He took his uh stuff back. He's going to fill it out. Okay. And bring it back to us. So, motion to approve the state animal inspector. Actually, before we do that,
I think we have to motion to accept the resation of from Jeff Carrington from analyst sector effective April April 31st there I don't think there is any April 30th is there a second
second any discussion all in favor I motion to appoint Nathan Sperry state inspector of animals effective May we post that uh you might just might as well do it today today may sync the bio
um second second any discussion All in favor? I I we did animal inspector. Yeah. We are good. Um did we have another resignation to accept or we have
so motion to approve the resignation from Carrington from the HAA um Hilltown Community Ambulance Association um effective today? Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor?
All right. So, we need to um hopefully find someone else to represent us. Back of the mind if anyone anyone that's interested. We have some stuff to sign, so don't go anywhere. Um all right. So, that is it. We are done. That was a long
meeting. Um you can ask after you have a comment under old business. You have Centennial Park. Yes. Um, and we names next to it. Yes, but Joanne talked to you on the way in and that was a mistake on the agenda. It was supposed to be for next week. It
doesn't me the opportunity to talk about it. It's for next week though. All I wanted to say if I may, is that you voted tonight to approve the funding of maintenance of the park. Correct. That I had asked for
as one of the items. We have been working on it, friend. And I think it is very disrespectful to take information you have and supersede the discussion about. It just came in today, George. It was not planned. I don't care whether it
came in today or a month ago. It was on the outline of the material. I hope we could have some lengthy discussion out. Yes. and come a plan, come up with a plan and for you folks to decide arbitrarily on an amount set aside to spend when you don't have a full picture
of the park situation. Yeah. You have the research has not been completed and you arbitrarily go ahead and approve a contract. is very disrespectful to those of us including the town um other town departments who have been
working on this and gathering information. I think that we've had um excessive discussion about Bsentennial Park but I appreciate your um commitment and the work that you've done. Would you withdraw that then please? No meeting is a journey at 10
of Thank you. Let me sign. Oh, wait. We signed Tom's by accident. I'm so far ahead of you into next week. Did you sign on Jeff Allen? No, you didn't. They just moved your name around. They were trying They did. They're trying to They're trying to
confuse me. All right. We signed that. We signed that. There might be more. We sign Nope, we didn't sign that. Do I need a request from the town clerk for a copy of that?
You want a copy of the We don't have a contract. We have an approved um bid. Okay. Can I get a copy of of the bid? Yeah. Of whatever you approve. Uh I don't see why not. Okay. Who do I
request from? Um you could send that to Would that be a clerk question? Um, what? A copy of the bid with You got to sign these. A copy of the signed bids for what?