our meeting is open and we are being recorded a couple times all right um first thing we don't have any meeting minutes I like
that uh any audience participation what comment okay uh Highway Ray what do you have for us R here too hey R it's rainy this time huh
oh so we got a lot of accomplished this week with the help of Rainey honestly um I ended up also and Dick Gates ended up helping out too uh for communication on Huntington Road I ended up getting a
hold of Colin medy the state Forester director and talking with him and he hooked me up with John Ryan um he's been doing the timber work he's like the head of the Timber work as my understanding out on
the end of Huntington Road so he oversees everything and there was a miscommunication between the two there was John Ryan and Tom Jenkins uh there was a miscommunication of no one come into the highway garage to actually notify us or even say hey we're going to
be out there so I opened up that line with him I gave him my number I said look even the email whenever you guys step foot back in the woods again even though you're saying you're done two weeks ago well two weeks ago we have damage on that road we have to repair and we got it done quick but there has to be an open line of communication so
at least stop at the shop I said did you end up speaking with someone prior that was in my seat before and he said no we never even came to the garage so we got that squared away so if there's any issu they're done out there yeah they're done out there when they I guess when they
rolled out that was it so um we don't have to worry about that at least so that was good to at least touch base with them uh what else we have lot of debris down this morning the guys went the guys
were busy all day and um they went out they checked the the steam pipe on Gibbs that's starting to fill up the Culver pipe that's right by um Zayn's house or not Zayn uh John um what's his name John in Lan yeah I
know where you mean Johnny ven yeah oh oh that his old house that big steam pipe there well we got about a foot before it's going to be plugged completely and it'll be coming over the road so tomorrow we're going to end up once they finish up everything that they
need to end up doing we got a sander to get out of it a truck we'll go check it out see how bad it is if it's something that can wait for like Wednesday we'll end up taking care of that Wednesday we'll send the the cable and the claw through it with the escavator and pull the debris out of the pipe okay cuz we
have about a twoot difference so the head pressure is good we want that so that it'll end up cleaning the pipe out when it actually does let go so that would be good to end up having done for the midweek so we don't have a issue around that pipe we did end up last week
fixing a wash out that was right outside of uh the resident's house right before that steam pipe we had like a twoot ditch that ended up going right to the Culver pipe so that got taken care of um trying to think what else pretty much just getting paperwork
all in order in the jop going through all the files Culver on Maple Lane I see there's some oh yeah cones there what's going on with is that our cover or is that their cver so the C that is our CT
is there I want to find out who owns that CT first off do we own it does the road own it you know mapleine yeah that's why I was asking I know we had someone doing work in there I'd like to find out what he ended up doing or she ended up doing uh we do have a few pipes
sticking up out of the ground where I'm wondering where they're going but we're having uh some washing going around the actual existing driveway cover so we ended up digging around it I'm getting murky uh water coming out the bottom
around the pipe and not coming out the center of the pipe so where the tree line was along that house that's there's a pipe sticking up out of the ground kind of like a mid shift I don't know catch Basin they're trying to make to catch the
material it's really not the best but I'd like to figure out why not just shoot it right to the inlet not even 4T ahead and then the water would have flowed right in the same pipe that was there you might private there to is that
that's who did it so do we have huh he was hired by Edna bander bander to fix that part of the road okay and so you you might talk to him you might have figured out where comes see
what he's doing yeah okay uh this week I'll I'll send them a a call and I'll leave a message with them no and I'll see if I can get a hold of them the only thing I I don't have any contact information for other than just do you have contact MERS yeah if you do if I can get that for you then at least I
just have a chat with them is that a metal cul or that is a metal culvert the original one like the actual yeah this road one yeah but there's a lot of plastic that's around there so it's just you have another plastic pipe that crosses over right by the telephone pole
made sure that was cleaned out the metal one's completely collapsed and covered right now and then I brought it up with Gordon telling them look you got to figure out what's going to happen with this uh entrance of the the road because it'd be nice to actually have it paved
and do a new uh shut off uh stack coming out of the ground for the water department yeah and then have it sealed I don't know how wide the road is there Ray you know for the center line where the would be cuz that'll tell you if you look it up where you're going to be it
might be all Maple Lane I don't know and we can't do any work on that private road no and that's why I haven't done only thing I did was I looked at it I did some samples you know I ended up making a pool checking out making sure we didn't have a water break contacted
Gordon making him informed on it he had his shut off is washed right out like the actual cap and the pipe is visible from the wash out so that's what I was a little concerned I know so if we can end up figuring out resolution to it and doing some asphal
even if they end up paying for it do an apron going in at least you know six feet that'll hold that all together but before we ever put any asphalt on the ground I'd make sure that all those pipes are right where you want them to be for the next 20 years yeah honestly so we're not going back five steps no
you're you're 100% right I agree with you um my neighbor had asked and I keep forgetting to bring it up um on Chester Road Rainer it's before me there's a covert that runs under the ground and it floods the front of their yard every year during wet season just if you don't
mind just keeping an eye out if you notice it is it on your side of the road it's on my side of the road it's in his front yard is that the house that burn down no next past that it's right next to that driveway just that driveway you should be a
trench that ran down going toward the Turn Pipe there and it's all over r thing yeah so it's just um it just floods and he ends up with like a a little okay so just keep an eye on it if you notice it flooding and then just
what your thoughts are in terms of like if we need to do anything with it something saying yeah I don't know I think it there was something like you said there before and I think it just I there was ail that went down through but that's on residence land though am I
correct it's on the property line on the proper property okay so it's not Town property anything oh it's not rainy did you have I think he's that that one spot there um I'm not sure but is it really
on Chester Road or is it on North Street it's North Street is State yeah it's Chester Road it's past the the dump past the dump Road okay U the only other thing I wanted to remind Ray was the signage you were talking about the loggers yeah that's the next thing I'm
getting to okay today oh good okay I was going to let them know about that okay all right so we did end up getting signs uh like rainy mentioned so we ended up ordering um ordering enough
signs for the dirt roads to make sure that we can actually visibly post to the public road closed mud season and then has the blanford highway and then our contact number for commercial vehicle so
I don't want residents saying oh I couldn't get a gas delivery I couldn't get my mail my kids didn't come down no it clearly states commercial vehicles so we ended up getting nice red outline with a white background so it really
stands out nice reflective and they're not small signs either we ended up doing it's I think 8 by 16 so and they'll go right underneath the street signs um I ordered up Sanderson Brooks sign because we had an accident there I
guess long time ago when the sign never got replaced so that's one that I noticed we got ordered and that's going to be going back up very shortly as soon as I get that good um bu land road do you have any uh have you reached out for the loggers
that are doing the work down in uh in the forest area there so I don't have Chris's contact information but what I can do tomorrow I can do some research and see if I can get all them and they're not doing us any favors with
that road either on buan itself yeah okay yeah see what they have going on and what's their game plan because if they're going to be moving for the next couple weeks that road is going to just get worse and worse especially right now everything's turning into a swamp we're
going to have we're going to have to address that that road has to come up a little bit yeah most definitely I agree with you we were do you want us to make the motion um we're going into executive session at 6:30 I just I want no later
in 6:30 a roll call V to do that okay so I just wanted to make sure we we have to we already to get through this in the next 20 minutes just okay if anybody else has any other questions I would say that's it just getting stuff done up there making sure we're getting
progress okay good thank you Ray welcome all right Christina what do you have for us uh the town received an anonymous and generous donation of service member Flags to be flown at the Veterans Memorial uh the donor wishes to remain anonymous okay but I did want to take a
moment to um publicly appreciate them um they're very very nice and we will definitely be using them um and then once we get them up if we could have a picture Mary that would be great thank you thanks um I met with the new town
accountant Kelly uh things are going really well she met TJ um she met a couple of other uh members she met Mary she was sworn in okay and uh things are going well there okay um I did reach out to Legal regarding the potential climate
change leader status I don't know if you guys saw the yeah they did there's a lot there there's a lot there um so I think that's something that you guys are going to have to discuss um Mark did write up an agenda item if you guys want to vote on whether to go forward or what you're
doing with that I think yeah we need to talk about it uh I haven't gotten any official word um from Kristen Smitty but I did see that the school assessment uh for Blandford this year is at 1.63 million an increase of $
59,0 over fiscal year 24 okay uh they also discussed the 35 eth graders who have expressed an interest in attending vocational schools although applications are 35 I thought you said 85 no have expressed an interest but applications
aren't due until April 1 so we won't we won't know so those numbers could fluctuate the total number of Gateway students currently enrolled in Westfield Tech and Smith vocational is 92 I'm sorry did you say we you have 35
potential new students either either vocational yeah 35 eth graders have expressed interest um so we do have that I don't know I guess fin uh Finance can talk about I'm not sure what's in our stabilization for education but I think we've been eating
away at it so okay um the bid solicitation for the library has been submitted on comis and will be posted on March 19th in accordance with the posting on the central register and the newspaper publication so that is good to
go um there is some we I'll let Mr Gates address the possible conservation agent that we had talked about if you want to talk about that with your other stuff too okay um there also were issues with the host
Community agre agreement for Bel Flur so I had they contacted me on Friday and asked me to get it done by Saturday and it's it's not that simple the legal has to look into it legal is looking into it they have come back and said it there's different designations whether they are
an 11 or a three and some outdoor thing there's a lot going on but legal is working on it okay I completed the amendment for the mass Works grant for beachill municipality is now authorized to receive its final reimbursement and Mr raldi will process the town's final
reimbursement either today or tomorrow and send it to the E oed's Chief Financial Officer and hopefully blanford will receive the remaining 19964 within the next three to five business days I did send that
information to both Sarah and Kelly okay good um a representative from the hamon county sheriff's office reached out to me just today uh apparently they have a program um he works with Nick coochi
and they would like to schedule a community service day and they're reaching out to see if we have any projects around town that we would like for them to help with um you said no right well I did say I know that there
are a few town-owned green spaces that are in need of some TLC okay uh he said that and then I asked if uh in a town employee would need to be present or overseeing it and he said no we would not need somebody present or supervising but they would like a point person at the appropriate Department with whom he
could coordinate details equipment protocols leaving bags of trash or brush that they cut that would be perfect perfect they spoke with uh Don humson and Chester and they're planning on providing basically the same thing TLC for their green spaces so that would
work out yeah yeah they used to do that before um we had them do work on like Blair Road and some of the sidewalks and absolutely thank you I will move forward with that uh
see uh we are still I am still waiting for the the um contract ex uh renewal for the police department from um Don hson so okay I will check in again with him on that for the Chester Blan Le shared
services and uh Chief dubiel let me know that they that she sent a letter to inform uh a resident of several complaints regarding a cow and a sheep that just keep getting out and getting onto somebody else's property so
I have a copy of that letter here okay and why is the chief doing that why isn't that do not knowt Chief has nothing to do with animals cats and dogs oh yeah Jennifer what Jessica Ken is supposed to be taking care of things like yeah this is
in regards to a loose cow and a loose sheep so uh but I did just want to let everybody know okay and that's all I have all right thank you Jennifer small down so I really just have that
did you guys get a chance to see the looks awesome yeah so it's about 90% finished and it will pause be ready by the end of April the latest wonderful so we have some signage and some the rules and regulations okay get that out and we'll
do that through the paper great and then we'll be ready I love it that's it thank you excellent work all right conservation so as far as the agent goes um I had a discussion with Dave Johnson who's the
chair of the bucket uh Conservation Commission George thank you they their agent they also had Nick petero okay and but when he left they brought in another woman
who was their previous agent she's not leaving um so but they've identified a person who they believe would be interested in doing Becket and Blandford okay and maybe another town or two she's looking to get like fulltime work and
they were supposed to interview her last Friday I traded calls with Dave today but I didn't connect with her so I don't how that went but I'm going to pursue that with him that would be great to see if that works out uh I asked him to send me her qualifications and so forth but I haven't got that yet but so I'm going to
I'm going to pursue that outly to see if we can make that work because that would be a great ARR I do you know if um the hill any of the hilltowns have a conservation agent any besides us or oh many of most most do okay yeah wondering if anyone else is in the need of someone
um well I I I think she's looking at places over in the burkers to fill out but they probably pay better but but anyway uh that that was a new development that I thought was promising so I'll keep following that good great thank you so so the other thing I want
to talk to you about tonight I think is in the good news column compared to what we better than the yeah last week was like end of world so I was contacted by the department of conservation and Recreation last week by email sort of
out of the blue um but it it involves a project um out way out on Chester Road near Joan property actually where uh the Terry property which is the Christmas tree
fer on both sides of the road there 577 Acres that um the plan is as I understand it that the nature conservancy oh is going to buy oh that would be the property but at the end of
the day it's going to end up split between DCR uhuh on one side and Mass wildlife on the other side so the side that the Christmas trees are on that would connect to the Chester Blandford State Forest oh great and they're
looking to build or either use the existing entrances there to make a new access point into the state forest from that side of the road and the other piece of it which is really interesting is they're looking to create a wildlife
passage under the turnpike oh wow like a tunnel yeah under the turnik that's so for wildlife can't imagine what the engineering is for something I think they had just complet something like that and I heard something in the news maybe it was New York or Vermont they
had done one Florida florid usually they go over not that's so cool I hope it's not like the big dig down there no no I used to hunt down in there and that's quite a distance uh you know from
Chester Road going in through uh the so it's the two Parcels outlined on both sides of Chester Road okay yeah that's great so what you're looking for from us is a letter of
support um which which I I other members of the Conservation Commission are in full support I think this is an awesome project yeah for the town if this this comes to pass which it sounds like it will so they sent a a draft um or a
template of a letter which I tweaked a little bit but I've got it all ready to sign okay so I thought i' just bring you folks into the loop before we just shot this letter off but it seems like they also just they would like the 120 day waiver
did he talk to you about that no uh should DCR decide to pursue this acquisition it may be necessary to complete the transaction in less than the 120-day notice period otherwise required but then he called me again and I believe he said
that they don't need the waiver that's why I wanted to touch base with you um to see if he had mentioned anything about the waiver um I will check with him again okay but so cristino the wa regarding it says uh
if we were to give it to him it would say pursuant to 301 CMR on behalf of the select board hereby agree to wave the 120-day notice period as required by said section as to a parcel of land of approximately 218
acres in the town of blanford shown on exhibit a attached chair to in which the department of conservation and Recreation is considering acquiring an interest um okay we may not need the waiver request anymore given the in the project
however we do eventually need a certificate of announcement as shown below stating that the select board announced the project in a public meeting and they were hoping to close by the end of June but the project has since been delayed returning the certification by email is fine he gave
us the letter of support template so do we need to make a public announcement we wait until public meeting meeting um I think just a select board meeting is probably well it does say public meeting so I think it would
have to be something that's um published okay so so I have something else that I have to publish coming up to so do it then George question I think it's a great project my only concern about it is is the effect it might have on the tax base of the Town how much lost in
taxes well because the town has suffered tremendously from the Springfield Watershed property and to lose this much a reg and possible development that a for commercial use or home use um has to raise some questions
about what it's going to do to the taxes to the town do we know what we're getting in taxes now and what we'll get in taxes after this project goes through um okay thank you it's probably
chapter it is chapter it's chapter 61 so but what words does anybody have any figures on of course not George of course they don't have any figures not yet he just brought it up okay well I'm just saying did they put this as part of their proposal I'd much rather we lose
the taxes than solar farms and the storage Banks move in so yeah I mean the other big picture with this is that it connects a lot of protective prop on both sides all the way Chester to the other side of the
firm it's a it's that's a huge that it connects all yeah I think that's awesome thank you for coming with I go to sign I'll sign yes okay and then I will put um for their because they need this public certificate of announcement and I
have to do something else for eversource so I will publish all that do a public meeting for that we'll get them the certificate of announcement as well okay great if you if you ever get the chance before they make it off limits or anything if you follow uh the where uh
what was his name uh anyway where McKenna used to live Henry's place you follow that road down and you come to a pretty good sized uh Hill when you go up over that hill come
down the other side it's like no one's ever been there and what was beautiful about it back like at the turn of the century I was down there my boys there's a sawmill down there and it when we went
down there it looked like they just walked away the truck was there the piles of lumber were there The Sawmill was still standing everything was there it was just like they didn't go to work the next day what Happ all right thank you dick
um motion to approve uh warrant 19 payroll I didn't see the accounts one I just saw the no she didn't get that to me you have any idea about that she didn't she was here last week this is a vehicle warrant yeah I a warrant from
from Kelly I don't okay so um just the um payroll warrant number 19 is there a second any discussion all in favor all right um do you need me to approve it pending do you need a motion
to approve it so that we can release checks and then we can just how can we do that though um we can have is that legal to do if will they stop in and sign TJ and Jeff yeah I'll I'll just ask TJ or Jeff to come and sign it before
before Thursday um all right so guys just look at water can you approve it pending no no what do we do this pending uh contingent upon um I knew it wasn't
there and then I forgot to go back I checked at 3:00 and it still wasn't there and I didn't didn't think to go back motion to approve warrant 19 accounts payable um contingent upon no
um what's the word I'm looking for uh when we pull it no conflict no not that no concerns no issues no issues something like that is there a second any discussion all in favor
okay um so we've got the amended contract between mass munin and the town of blanford for Treasure collector which we already talked about and agreed upon um so motion to approve second any
discussion all in favor I I um we motion to approve the special warrant for Council on Aging vehicle any just is there a second second any discussion all in favor all
right um and then we've got the final quarterly report from the mass Community block grant um I don't need a motion just a signature just a signature all right that's all set it's
signed all right um and then we have the expenditure report um let me just look at it real quick did you guys see anything on it a concern where's my cheat sheet it's Mar it's almost April so like
70% all right so we would do um a motion and a roll call vote to go into executive session hold on uh for two reasons GLC 30A section
21 oh same reason two different uh one to approve the draft Highway superintendent contract and the other high uh Highway superintendent contract with Raya um roll call vote car says
yes not to reconvene did I say that um discussion all in favor I I that's yours right was false had a 50% chance yes you did oh it's sideways this is fun
yeah look your computer yeah