We're gone. Where do you want you want? Oh, well, yeah. Down here this time. TJ, how you doing? Not too bad. Not so bad. back to me.
Last night, you're not wearing your hat. You're not You're wearing the wrong hat. You had your Last time I was here, you're wearing your Patriots Championship. Oh, I was here this week. Oh, okay. You are. Oh, I didn't see the That's what All right, that's fair. What's camouflage? I was looking at the back. I couldn't
even see it. Is Cara joining us? remote. She's in remote again. I thought she was uh Is she at? I don't think she is. I don't see anybody waiting. Sorry. Meeting open at 6:05,
whatever that is. I just wanted to do that. All right. Be my guest. Who's chairing this meeting? You want to chair? You. You're the lead chair. Is that what it is? Yes. Um it is 604
beginning the meeting. Um call I call this meeting to order. Need to confirm that there's a quorum present. There's a quorum two out of three. Yeah. Okay. So there is a quorum present. Is Cara on the phone by chance?
Don't see her. Last time she was late joining in. Uh she was trying to download Zoom. So, right. So, I'd like to um first discuss the, you know, approve the agenda for
tonight's meeting. Um we'll there's no records to examine from the previous meeting from what I can see. No, that' be next week. Okay. We have two action items to review. One
is to re uh review and approve Lawrence 7 accounts payable and wired payments. Is that in this? They're in the red folder there. There's three of them. Okay,
here is warrant number seven. Counts payable. If you want to take a look at that, I'll look at the wire. sit there. Yeah, we can do that. That's not bad. We're gonna move over there if we don't have our backs to the audience.
Ruby that way be closer to TJ. Yeah, there I'm not normally a little That's okay. You're doing okay. Thank you. Oh, it's right there. Sorry.
Okay. I move to approve uh warrant number seven, accounts payable and wired payments. Second. Any discussion? None. None. None. All in favor? All in favor?
I. Thank you. I none opposed. And none opposed. Okay. Approve warrant. This is uh payment for uh payroll.
Second. All in favor? I none opposed. None. What was the last thing? Sorry. No. Was it just these two? She said there was three in there. There's three. I think there's probably a wired one.
Yeah. Yes. Okay. These words will come to you in your sleep eventually. Eventually. Yeah. Very often enough. Yeah. Not officially chair. Um.
Okay. So I motion to review and approve warrant seven payroll for payment. Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? No. Jackie, you should say I as well. I as well. I as well. Okay. Any oppose?
No. All right. That closes that part of our discussion. Okay. We have new business. Uh Gateway Regional School District Superintendent Melissa. Is she here?
Melissa. I am. Batarazza. Yes. Well put. And I have two guests with me as well. Right. Please join us. Yeah. Did Did we u announce that this meeting is going to be recorded? Oh, you're looking at me. I'm sorry.
It's being recorded. Thank you. This meeting is being recorded. Good to know. Now you did. I did not. Well, thank you for the opportunity. Uh town manager as well as uh select board. I'm Melissa Morarazzo. I joined Gateway
Regional School District this August as the newest superintendent. Um and uh we have had a relatively smooth opening to school. We opened looks like we now have 734 students this year. 93 of whom are joining us from
Blandford. So thank you. Wow. What was it last year? Do you know? Last year in March it was only 81. So not not sure but um but that is certainly helpful. And um we also will be back again as we head into the budget
season and um those challenging discussions which are ahead. We wanted to express our gratitude that you're continuing to help us uh save for our roof replacement which um we are learning about as we speak and likely will come up in the coming years. Um but
I'm not the only new person in the central office at Gateway. So, I wanted to make sure you all also got to meet um my colleagues who are new to their roles. Some of them are very familiar to you. So, Amy. Hi, everyone. My name is Amy Mason. I'm the school business administrator and
I'm replacing Stephanie Fisk who is previously the assistant superintendent for um finance and operations. And um previously, I've been at Gateway for the past eight years working in the vision impairment program. I was the vision impairment program coordinator and I'm
continuing to serve in a mentorship capacity to our newly hired staff in the program. So, um everything is going well there, but I'm glad to be in the business office and working in central office working with the budget and getting to know the layout of central
office. And so, um everything is running as expected so far as we finish out the first quarter at Gateway. um budget's looking pretty good overall, especially considering some of our early challenges over the summer with health insurance changes with premium increases and
things of that nature. Um so I want to just welcome you anytime you have questions or anything about the budget. I'm more than happy to answer them. Just reach out. Right. Um, and I am Stafy Stewart. And while I am not new to Gateway, um, most people
know me as either the administrative assistant to the superintendent, um, or the school committee secretary. So, I have taken from the role of, uh, the human resources director. So, I've shifted more to the staffing part um, as well as the benefits um, you know, and
insurance and some payroll and and that kind of thing. So, um, I'm looking forward to working with the different departments of each of the towns, um, and kind of just furthering our communication and our our network. So,
thanks for letting us. Are there any questions or sharing, I would say. Um, I don't necessarily have any specific questions. Um, do you for uh for them? No. Do you have any challenges or
concerns that you want to talk about? Not particularly not yet. Give us some time. And um Amy and I were just going over the budget timeline because Christina and I discussed making sure we get in early and get those discussions started
early. I know you have some big um expenditures coming as well in the town. So we will be attentive to that and starting to pick that off unfortunately rather some. Yeah. Yeah, sooner question about the 12 new students.
I did have a question about 12 new students. Yeah, we under and this is purely rumor because I've Well, the student count did go up. Yeah. Is that the 12 were there 12 new students recently that were added or what what drove that increase? Ah,
was it recent? So, we have we had two families move in I believe in Bamford. So, that would explain it. between them. They have 12 children from kindergarten to I think 11th, maybe 12.
Um and so, uh their addition was um significant for us given how small we are. Um some of the students um all of the students are in school now and so we're excited. Great. Good. Okay. Probably your biggest issues will
be when the budget. Yeah, sure. Because I honestly I was going to do the math and the budget to say what's the cost. So probably not probably not there yet. Yeah. And then there's time for that
if you didn't have to go in there, but with that information, yes, it could make a difference. You also may be graduating students, you know, that could your number for FY27. Yeah. I would prefer if we could keep a few
just just continue to be a healthy community. But yes, I understand that. You know, I personally I feel it's it's healthy for Blandford to see more children come into town. So, you know, it's good for the town as well. Something attracted them. So, I'm under
but we will be asking that question. Keep your eyes out on the March census. different by then. And just so you all know, I know that sometimes there can be fluctuations from town to town, but I do intend to try to keep it like capped for the entire
district, for all district towns at 2.5% increase or lower. So that's kind of what we've been last year, the same thing. Exactly. So we always try to keep it at or below that level we possibly can. So you're not expecting anything new
other than that? I don't think so. You you know about the roof coming up things like that. Exactly. So the yeah the major capital project with the roof but other than that nothing additional at this time. Cars
don't well thank you for the well thank you and be in touch please. you know, if anything comes up, come up and see us. And if you have questions, you let us know. Shoot us or call.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Drive safe. Thanks. So, next up is for new business is to talk about the process for potential temporary mortgage.
So um this just you want to I don't think did we have members from other boards who are going to join us or well we thought we were uh looks like this was a joint yeah but you can definitely keep up and uh
I guess some things were not available. I'm not sure. Did you ask the board a hot We don't need them. We have zoning board and planning board. Yep. But one of each.
Yes. So, right. So, no more than either board. So, you're not you're not here. You're not convening a meeting. The zoning board of appeals, right? Yeah. And I think uh conservation is having their meeting. Oh, is that
Well, Mr. dates is not there but um the remaining members of conservation may be down there. I can go take a look. Christina, we'll wait for Christina folks on the phone. the kids, right? I
think that's a conservation. Yeah, there's no one down there. Okay. All they are there. Do you want to introduce yourself first? Yeah, most everyone is me.
John Ikeman from KP Law. John does uh a lot of the town's uh land use and and uh real estate practice. And so we want to make sure he was available to to the select board, but also to uh the land use boards as they grapple with this
issue and specifically to discuss the uh machinations with respect to a potential moratorum on on solar facilities. So, we're we're really here um to answer your questions, assist you however you see fit. John, do you want to make a
brief introduction? Uh I suppose um so maybe just jump into the subject more. So the town asked about um possibility of adopting some
regulation to allow it time to look at the impact of solar facilities and battery energy storage facilities on the town and potentially adopt some regulation addressing those impacts. U right now the town has an fairly
extensive zoning bylaw regulating solar facilities and an even more extensive bylaw regulating battery battery energy storage facilities. But as we understand it um the recent impacts to the town in the form of
petitions for solar facilities and a potential impending petition for best have raised concerns in the town about that how that's going to affect the town. Um, one of the things we initially suggested was you can look at your zoning bylaws
number one and determine whether protect perhaps the concerns that have been raised can be addressed by changing amending your zoning bylaws making regulations more specific tight tightening them. Uh the one thing that I
noticed immediately was that you allow large-scale solar facilities and buses by special permit in the agricultural district in the town. That covers approximately at least 90% of the town, right? Um you don't have to allow them in 90%
of the town. You can limit them. You can't prohibit them. The state law tells us we can't prohibit solar facilities. Nor can we prohibit prohibit buses that are basically providing capacity for solar facilities in the area. But we can
require a special permit and we can limit the areas in which those facilities get placed. Right now there is really very little restriction on where they can be placed. So maybe one of the first subjects for consideration in the town looking at the potential
impacts that were unanticipated would be to look at where we want to allow these facilities. Um we suggested as part of this process that you may want to consider a zoning moratorium. Zoning moratorium is a temporary pause
on a particular use in the town. It's a zoning bylaw. It would expressly say this particular use is basically paused for a period of six months. There won't be any special permits for let's say large scale solar
for 6 months while the town goes through a planning process to determine what potential changes to zoning regulation the town may want to consider and adopt to address zoning. Um because it's a zoning bylaw, it requires a two-thirds
vote in the town of town, meaning it has to be approved by the attorney general um as being consistent with state law. Um these types of moratoriums have been successful in the past. This presents a
little more of a challenge for Blandford because you already have a solar bylaw. You already address solar facilities by regulation in the town. So to have a moratorum that passes AG review, you have to articulate
planning reasons why you need to pause things now so that you can adopt regulation. You need to identify the impacts of these solar facilities that were unanticipated. You need to identify what the negative impact of those those facilities will be on the town. What can
you reasonably expect that forms a basis for a sustainable moratorum? One thing can I just can you just add that it can't be was just so moratoriums are temporary pauses. They
are not prohibitions. They are temporary prohibitions that prohibit to allow the town to look at regulations and change the regulation as necessary. Once the moratorum if it's adopted if the AG approves once it expires the zoning bylaw goes back to the way it was unless
you've adopted regulation in the meantime to change things. So the purpose of moratorum is not to prohibit solar in the town entirely. Just to make a quick blanket statement the state legislative branch executive branch and the courts have all told us
in very uncertain very certain terms you cannot prohibit solar in the town. you can regulate it and that's what we're trying to do here. give the town a chance or the moratorium would do give the town a chance to look at its regulation and say given what we are now
seeing about the density of solar applications given what we're seeing about the potential location which maybe we really didn't think about we just said we'll go everywhere um maybe there's we should have some regulation to address this mortorium will give you an opportunity to do that
last but not least the moratorum is in effect the day it's voted by town meetings, the attorney general will review it. Attorney General may not approve it. He may not find the reasons that we give sufficient, but once it's voted and until the attorney
general reviews it, if it remains in effect, it will not allow solar facilities to to ask for special permits during the time it's in effect. So, you know, while we can't guarantee that this is going to be sustained by the attorney general, you're looking at a finite
period of time, 6 months would be recommended, potentially a year to pause zoning to allow this to happen. Um, the attorney general will take 3 to six months to review things. So, you will have potentially that period of time.
Again, though, it has to be approved by town meeting. You have to go to town meeting with this. It has to be approved there by 2:30. So in the meantime, even before you get to town meeting, you want to be thinking now about if you want to consider this, what would be the
basis for a moratorum? What why do we need to pause? What concerns do we have now about so going forward, not prohibiting it, but how do we regulate it so that it addresses our needs that we may not have had when we put the
bylaws in the first place? Right. new concerns, new issues, right? And one thing that I was not aware of but somebody pointed out was that the recent expansion of the substation that's been approved by I'm
going to get the entity right was what's the state entity DPU department of public utilities that has the purpose of that is to expand the capacity of the grid that's necessary for the solar facilities in this part of state so that the energy can be stored that's produced by these
facilities that alone right there which was not anticipated originally as potentially resulted in an increase not expected in this town or number of facilities that would be the start in my opinion for a reasonable basis to pause
things but it should be you need we talked about looking at what were the percentage of or what were the number of facilities that were being sought in the town permits that were sought before this what about surrounding towns how has it increased what's what does the
increase look like where where are they going? What are the potential impacts based on location? Those would all form a basis and you want to know that before you adopt this because the attorney general is likely to ask, right? They want to see the basis. Well, what
about like the number of solar facilities, right? Yes. You know that we already have three. There's three more that want to come in. And down the road from the general telegraph, we're we're hearing that
there might be four more. How much can the town absorb? But I think the concern well that I think the concern that that John is referencing is that having adopted a broad solar bylaw to begin with that
clearly the town recognized that there were going to be a number of these facilities. The issue now is in the pause whether we could point to something specific. Not just saying, well, they're going to be a lot more than we thought. That probably in and of itself may not be enough. It's, you
know, how how how much is a lot more the the impact of the best that now allows them to propagate at a greater rate that you're going to have a lot more than than reasonably anticipated because the solar facilities on their own can only
do so much. the best now allows uh an even greater impact. So I think what we're talking about in in advance of any town meeting because again as as John said we got town meeting vote two-thirds vote of town meeting we I think we we're in a pretty good place that we're going
to get the two-thirds vote of town meeting but then you've got under under chapter 40 section 32 the the review by the attorney general they specifically have a 90-day period. Very often we see
with more complex and difficult bylaws, the attorney general will reach out to town counsel and ask for more time to review. We want to give as much time as much information because as we're talking about attorney general may or may not approve it, but it's in place
once voted at town meeting. So if you could buy a longer review period, you're buying that much longer a a moratorum. Even if at the end of the day the attorney general disapproves the moratorum, you you you got that period
during their review. So we want to come up with in advance of town meeting kind of the the planning and study justification because the moratorium is intended for planning and study. We've got to overcome the idea that we did some planning and some study to come up
with the extensive bylaw we already have. It's not just a simple bylaw. And so it shows that there was already some consideration given what are we thinking about now? What are the things we need to think about? We need to study. We need to consider. You guys need to consider as the as the the town zoning
boards. What are the things that the town uh through the the executive body and and the land use boards are going to be studying that justifies this this uh extent especially if we're if we're asking you know six month if we're asking for a year the longer it is the
harder it is. So that's that's something we need to think about and uh it would it would be part of our consideration in drafting the warrant article that comes before a town meeting because there's there's the bylaw itself is going to have its justification. You're going to
have I I imagine a bunch of warehouse clauses the bunch of introductory clauses in your moratorium doesn't look entirely like and yeah you've got you've got a sample it's very simple. Yeah, but it can't but it yeah in terms of um
authority and purpose you're going to the that's an introductory and you want to make sure that that's that there's enough there. So how strong is it going to be when we don't have we have yes the three that are looking now right and not
all of them have filed correct and then we have others where these vendors have said oh we got two more or four more whatever that number is it's not like I have a piece of paper that says well they filed to be able to say to the attorney general we have six we
have four we have three that have filed and you you know because these are arbitrary. You know, we don't know the facts yet on some of it. Well, I think you can certainly, I think, look at um two things. Number one, you know, the capacity is going to be expanded over the substation.
Yeah. Right there. Absolutely. You can treat these inquiries as serious serious indication that you're likely to see more applications. You have land, you have you're at an elevation where you're going to have slopes that are
really good for this. Um and yeah, it's it's an area that uh solar development you're going to see you're already seeing in other towns. You can reference that. Um as to the numbers to your question earlier, there is no magic number. You it's pretty hard to justify
saying we have three. We can six is it you need to base that in some sort of what is the impact of six on the town? Where are they? Why why is that good? Why is that bad? What does that number mean? It's not just a magic number. To
this point, the courts have looked at generally in terms of what how far can you take your regulation in terms of limiting numbers. They're looking at eight of acreage of land area in the town. Um they struck down a bylaw that limited
solar to around less than 2% of the town. You're at 90%. there's a lot of room between% and 90%. Right? So that's probably a better measure, but again even then you're looking at why is
this why is it this land important to us? What is important about maintaining this land free of solar? That's what you need to articulate to address in the regulation to support a moratorium.
Um, one other thing you do, as Mark talked about, we have a little bit of grace period with the attorney general, but you don't want to depend on that. You want to proceed with a good faith effort to try to figure out what's going on here because the attorney general sees that there is no
good faith effort. You're not going to get six months a quick review, right? That's going to negative. So what you're basically telling us trying to keep the pristine of a nice quiet
rural town is really a pipe dream. Um according to the state because I was on the committee when we first started with the uh green community, right? And as I look back,
they never mentioned to us largecale solar. All right. And we're on the committee meetings that what was discussed was solar and we were led to believe, well, this is solar
on your home or an array in your yard to How long How long ago was that, TJ? Six years. Yeah. That's And and a lot has happened since then. Yes. But none of us were kept at date, right? No, I totally agree. It's just it's just interesting because I remember that discussion. I remember the
discussion when we're talking about uh the wind turbines and all all that we we've gone through in developing in in Blandford the issues of you know green communities and and clean energy and how this has evolved because you never anticipated a battery energy storage
system in in Blandford, right? And none of us were even talking about that six years ago. So what and and that's part of what John's getting at is what has changed in the intervening period and and uh knowing that a a best
facility is um there there's a reason you put it in here. It's not just for its own its own good. It it allows more of these facilities to be developed and and implemented because now you have a way to store the run.
You got the eversource infrastructure, the best facilities separate, right? But it but but it's it's not separate. It's not speaking back to exact right. And that's and so that you're looking at a totality and and
getting back to what TJ was talking about six years ago. you were talking about throwing a few solar panels on your house. That's right. And and and then we started seeing more and more of the ground the ground mounted and we addressed that in the bylaw, but it's it's kind of snowballed
and and we're trying to get control of of how far that snowball rolls and how big it gets. Well, another uh thing that we have to consider too, like uh we have two solar fields that already have clearcut almost
200 acres. Mhm. Okay. So, that's that's another issue. You know, how much acreage are we going to lose to solar? How much acreage are we're going to lose in forest land. Now,
the state owns a lot of forest land in Bford. So does in Springfield. Springfield's water, you know. So I mean how do I mean how do we get this in a
simple moratorum so that it would we could actually postpone this for 6 months or a year so we can get some kind of uh strategy to save this. A lot of people moved up here because they want to be sure,
you know, on their own in a way and yet in a community and this is going to destroy the whole character of the town. But I think I don't mean to talk over you there. Couple of things at at play. You need to be studying all of this. You
need to be studying it right away. So because you you you can't count on a if you're going to get a moratorum and b you know if you don't how long that review period is going to go for. So we as we we asked for six months there's
there's the 90-day review period. If if there's not appropriate justification that review is going to go quickly. If there's appropriate justification it requires the the attorney general study. Maybe you'll get more time and maybe you'll actually get your six months. But you want to make sure that you're not
sitting around waiting to hear from the attorney general and not studying this stuff. You got to study it right away. And so you gota you got to prepare your justification for the moratorum. But then you got to take advantage of any time you get. So not waiting to see gee
what's the agent going to say? Probably not waiting to see what's going to happen at town meeting. You know get get going on the the the issues and and what you intend to regulate and how you can regulate. um legitimately and those are some things I I think John you can
probably talk to some of that but uh whether we need to bring in a consultant what what we need to do to start that study process and not just be waiting until we get to town meeting right there's a lot that that needs to be going on I know you know that yeah
obviously you just you just appropriated you know $200,000 for for the committee and I know there's several different components but at the end of the day there all these components are interlin. Just just to be clear though, you don't have to have a full-blown planning study
in place to enact a moratorum. The purpose of the moratorum is to give you time to do that. Yeah. But we just need a justification now based on what you're seeing in terms of influx and understanding what the impact is in the town and why that was unexpected in
terms of what you previously adopted. But we want to take advantage of the time as much time as we have. There's two prongs, right? One is keep moving to figure it out. The second is get the moratorum and hope to get more time. I think from John's perspective, you know, it's just what you could do to you you go to town, you can pass that
moratorum and you got to justify it to the attorney general. You've got to be thinking about, you know, now and through and and and to the end of the moratorum if you get it, what you're doing overall because there it is a it is a pretty significant planning
process, right? Because ultimately the purpose is do we need to adjust our zoning by all of us? Let's think about how we need to do that. Whether you get the more term or not, you need to be thinking about that because yeah, because at the end of that process, hopefully we're going back to town meeting with with amended zoning
and hopefully it's amended zoning because then again that amended zoning again if passed by town meeting goes back to the attorney general for further review. And we don't want and that's even more critical because the review under the statute is to determine
whether your your bylaws in this case your zoning bylaws are consistent with state law. And obviously state law is and and and we know the position even of the all the way up to the attorney general is to favor solar development and and alternative alternative energy
systems. And so you need to make sure that when you're enacting this this amended zoning based on whatever study you you are able to accomplish during the moratorum period or the review period up to the point where that moratorum is or is not
rejected. um that that you're setting up setting it up so that when we go to town meeting um after the planning board has its public hearing and uh ultimately bring a recommendation on a zoning amendment that that zoning amendment is going to pass muster with the attorney
general. So that that that that's the next that's the next hurdle. And just one last thing on the planning process, maybe not last, but listen to him. Huh? I mean I I know the town is small town has very limited
sources. You don't have a planner, right? Yeah. Part of the process is trying to reach out to get assistance outside of the town, the planning cooperative that's in the area of Pioneer Valley. Um yeah, to the extent that there are funds available to if that's not
sufficient to get a consultant to help the town look at their zoning bylaws, which is appropriated $200,000. Say that again. We just appropriated $200,000 for what? To help us through it. Yeah. Good. All right. Occasionally,
right? We we start with the solicits that are available. We don't start. Well, that's the idea. Push that cost back on to these vendors, but day we don't want to stop. We don't want to be caught when we can't move. But that's why, like John's saying, talk
to Pioneer Valley, try to get some assistance. Uh I know there was a discussion about you know that that grant program it's not even really a thing yet but if there's any mechanism so you could supplement because the idea was you know we appropriated $200,000
but we don't really want to spend it if we could avoid it because that's a huge amount of money from Lamford. The grant program you're talking about is the grant program that put into place for the upgrades to the grid the substation etc. Right. Exactly. That's not really a
thing. So, and and and you know, Blandford is is very rich in property. We have we this it's a surprisingly large town on the ground. Yeah. 53 acres. But, uh but you know, resource wise, I'm
sorry. Three miles. Yeah, I was 53. I can I can think of a farm up the block that would eat that up pretty fast. Um three miles. Yeah. Yeah. So, um Yeah. So, I mean, we like John said, you you you have you
don't have your own planner. Christina's Christina's got plenty of things on her plate already. And this this is this is very specialized stuff. I think you've done an incredible job pulling together information materials, but uh running with that if and and I
don't know how much discussion you've had already with the Pioneer Valley folks. I uh reached out to Eric Wise. I have a meeting with uh Kimberly Robinson on Thursday and uh it's kind of like a meet and
greet with the state people. Yeah. And uh so this will give me a basis to get the communication going. see if we can get a committee together and see what what is the discussion with your
legislative delegations. Do you want to just with um Paul Marx and Bodega? Yeah. Uh Paul Marx has been in communication which is good and has sent someone from his group in and they've
also sent someone from the small solar board or sighting board. Um and the energy facility sighting board, right? Yeah, that's the substation piece. That's substation piece for the DPU. When you say substation, you talking about Eversource or you talking about
something else? No, I'm talking about the expansion of the Eversource facility on That's one piece, right? They also are looking at regulations for all the smaller solar operations not just the substand's not
okay sign board is well that was anything greater than 25 wasp yeah okay um so we're just trying to learn about those two constituents right and
understand that um but this the fact of reaching out is what we really need to do. Yeah, absolutely. for planning consultant. I think um the other thing just to lay it out there with substation just to you know one of the things that we are hearing is
the reason why they want to come here is because they need to be close to this they want to be as close to that substation as they can be and because it's cheaper for them of course well that substation is practically in town right that's why we're seeing more right
um so that's that's a challenge so that's something I think that we can all talk about with the bylaw as to where where do we want to see this? Right. But I I I'm happy that you guys are here to at least explain the moratorum and explain that it's not like you could
stop it. Start putting bylaws making them stronger. It can't be, oh, you can't come here, but it's a tool to Yeah. to to allow to the planning process. Go ahead. Um, so say say the town votes
for the moratorium, how would that affect projects that are in the review stage right now, would it put us put it would it halt them where they're where they're at? If the permit is they're in the process
right now, if they don't obtain a permit before the publication of the first notice of the planning board hearing and the moratorum, it would basically halt them right there. they can continue to go forward but they can't really do anything because at that point
um the use is not not allowed use for six months if the moratorum six so yeah the statute lays out a process whereby depending on where you are you you you may avoid the impact of the moratorum
and you possibly avoid the impact of future zoning but if you as John was saying if you if you haven't obtained your building permit yet and you're just in that stage page and the moratorum is it's not even the passage at town meeting. It's the publication of a planning board's uh public hearing. So
your publications what kind cuts off their their ability to get that permit if they haven't already obtained it. They're subject you're subject to zoning bylaws later adopted unless you have a permit in hand. So if they don't have a
permit in hand, they would be subject to a moratorum provided that they didn't have the permit at the time even affect the first notice the when public and that and and that's regardless again of whether the attorney general ultimately approves or not. Again, as John was saying, you know, that that's
the line when it's deemed effective until otherwise dis disapproved by general. Yeah. Then the clock just starts again. Y now yeah now is there is there an outline
or road mapap on how we start with this moratorum that we we have to give Christina a template we got yeah so that's that's a starter that you know and and
that that's the outline um we've used this form over the years Um the attorney general will certainly recognize the form. It doesn't really the details that need to be filled in are the ones we've talked about. What's the impact on the town? But this has essentially all the legal
language you need. Um and this would come from you today. Well, we'll do the we'll do the document, but do we send it in or you send it in? Oh, no. We No, once town meeting approves it. Yeah. The town the town clerk has a
specific submissions. town clerk has a form that has to be filled out that talks about when the hearings were held and notice there a bunch of check offs and it's the same as any other any other town meeting action on on a bylaw or zoning bylaw and then it gets submitted by the town clerk.
Okay, great. Sometimes the attorney general will call us up and want to discuss before they take action. I can't tell how many times both of us have gotten those phone calls. I see this. Can we talk about it? And sometimes we can convince them, sometimes we can't. Um, sometimes we can
come up with a justification. Um, and and sometimes the result is instead of getting a disapproval, you get you get warnings or different different things. That's more on the on the actual zoning side or bylaw amendments. That's the moratorum. Probably wouldn't wouldn't go
quite like that. But, uh, we do we have a very close relationship with the, uh, attorney general's municipal law unit. So, we we talk to them all the time. Close, but no control. No, absolutely. If we control that, TJ, then then wow, we we would really be special.
Who do we want to have take the lead when we Well, well, the committee exists. Yeah, I think it's it's the committee. I'm absolutely no problem. I just want to make clear who's taking the lead so
no one goes, "Oh, I thought you had it. I thought you had it." Yeah. No, we we've definitely well we did vote to uh make a committee. Yep. So, we should that should be our first uh step. Okay. I do I do want to indicate you know some
concern and uh management in terms of access to us. That's got to go through Christina. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to make sure that's known then. And it's not meant as offense to the committee, but you know, you wind up with a lot of people contacting town
council. We we're answerable to you through Christina. And if there's a lot of people, you wind up, you know, you're going to rack up a bill for stuff that you might not want. So, we want to make sure to control that because ultimately, obviously, it's got to it's got to go to you. Um but but it's got to make sure we
shepherd it through and we're we'll review it before. So that so the committee Christina's number one on that committee. No, she's not. No, no. It's got to go.
Well, it will. But she's not on the committee will come back. committee and and and the other thing to keep in mind, you know, the committee can do a bunch of stuff as it wants, but when it comes to spending any of that money, they they they go to Christina, she'll bring it to
you, right? They they don't have spending authority, right? Okay. That's why we wrote that very specifically to make sure it comes back to you because ultimately, you know, we're we're we're we're guarding the town's check, too. No, because you got to preserve those resources to the maximum extent possible. So if the committee and and DJ
you can certainly give them the information you've compiled but if the committee can work with Pioneer Valley and any other resource they can come up with and they can come up with ideas because the moratorium itself you know again it's a zoning by it winds up uh at
a public hearing for the planning board but they can do a lot of that that background work right but you know obviously the sooner the better because you've got you've got applications you've got facil of interested parties and like John said if
they're if they're getting their permits your moratorum becomes less and less effective if they're all permitted already and I'm not obviously we we hopefully catch some of them we want to catch more than than you are and so the sooner this gets done the more the the
more more effective that line is. The committee's meeting on Wednesday night so discuss this on Wednesday night. Okay. And their meet their meetings are posted. Yeah. Good. Thank you. Yeah. If I if I can suggest just maybe focusing what what you're going to do
with the committee. Sure. Um, one thing we talked about is obviously the size of the zoning district. So, one thing the committee wants to look at is is that size appropriate? Can we reduce it? If you talk to a consultant, the question is how do we reduce this and stay within
the law? How far can we reduce it? Number two, you want the committee to be looking at what are the negative impacts of the solar facilities that we've seen and the anticipated solar facilities you based on location, based on size. What
are those impacts? That's what we're trying to address. And then three, which is the last thing, but it's still important. What is was unexpected about that? Why is that disruptive in a way that we didn't anticipate based on the
regulation we just adopted a few years ago? That'll help support the moratorum. The first two are really all about adopting regulation. Okay. I'm happy to put that in an email, too, if that helps. That'd be great. I'll send it to Ste.
She'll make sure we Yeah, Stephen probably has memorized at this point, but I will pretty much we do have a little communication. Any other questions you guys at the moment that you have? Oh, good for now.
We might get home more. No, this is this is a process, right? It is. Well, we really appreciate you guys coming. No, I think that I think it's helpful and I think it's again it's important because you have time but you don't have a lot of time and and time is
never your friend and uh there are a lot of facets to this because you're you're again you're working on the the moratorum but you got to also be thinking the end goal is the zoning itself. Got it. Okay. Okay. Good.
Thank you. And yeah, we we hear from Christina and we jump. Thank you. Yeah. I'm eternally grateful for you guys because I've harassed you more times than That's not harassment.
Good. Good. We can work out first. That's for sure. Do you have any other questions, TJ? You want this one? I wish I was meeting with them tomorrow. Whatever information you you dig up, I mean, it's Yeah.
Even if it's just at a meet and greet. Well, unfortunately the gentleman that I worked for or worked with on the green communities now Maroy so that might be a problem but I I think
Eric and and uh yeah there's a couple other and green community set a really low bar in terms of what you had to allow for solar as you pointed out right minimum amount of allowing solar was enough to get you qualification. It didn't address any of these issues.
Yeah. Well, I really wasn't anticipating the interview. Good. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate you coming down. Absolutely. I'm going to head up to the farm now. Enjoy. I don't I don't
Thank you. I want to I just wanted to let you know that I may have misunderstood Pips um about getting on the agenda. He's not on the agenda, but he's here. So, I don't know if we can give him a couple minutes, you think?
I anticipated by the chair. All right. Thank you, Mark. Nice to meet you, John. Same here. You do. Thank you. Thank you. And you want a copy of it? What is it?
This is the outline. I don't know if you alleviate any stress. Okay. Okay. Well, that's good and bad, right? Yeah. Yeah. Always. Yeah. All right.
All right. Thank you. This is basically aformational kind of time for me to make sure you know what the historical society is up to and uh uh we we'll
just go quickly through the the list here shouldn't take terribly long and make sure that everybody's uh up to speed. Um you probably have heard that the D is coming in to do they they are spending a huge amount of
energy. There are going to be all sorts of people brought in from outside uh for this this dedication for the own sign. like there the there are some veterans there's a reenactant
I think we will have some guns going off whatever and and they're really trying to make quite a quite a thing about it and you you'll note uh on the same day uh uh Ted Worth is a a
person who has had orchestras in the area for the last 40 years and and uh has he has uh been desperate for a place to to perform this halfbrow house
Bavarians they they thought they had a gig here they they have to in order to collect their money uh they have to perform and so they are actually going to put on a performance at the white church uh at 11:00 on the same day as
the so anybody who wants to hear some halfbrow house of ovarian in music. Uh the people are uh encouraged to come. This this uh Tedworth has uh generously donated a secondhand ham organ to the
white church. So uh that should be actually ready to be uh demonstrated for anybody who's interested in in what's going on at the White Church. um the ghost talk that uh has really taken off like a skyrocket with uh with
Jane Roman uh being in charge and having some 28-year-old young uh people who are all excited about uh becoming involved with theatrical kinds of things and they've done a lot of research on on uh
I think there are eight different uh uh people that are going to be memorialized in in the old cemetery there and 2 to 4 on on the 18th is is when that's happening. It's a weekend after after the D. And uh the only thought there is
that um we will let the police department know that we're we're we're this being the first time we've ever done this uh we're not sure how large a group of people are going to be uh there. And uh they're they're talking about between two and four having m
maybe three different groups go through the cemetery. It uh maybe 15 or 20 minutes apart or whatever. And and that uh most of the parking some of the parking be the the uh cemetery, but if they've if we have enough people, we'll
be parking them up across the street from the historical society and people will be a little bit of traffic uh issue that might be there. I don't know. We we just want to make sure. Can you contact with the police department? That's what I was going to do. We will let them know.
Yeah. You're you're going to want someone on there. Right. Right. We we will we will uh that is on our agenda to get done next day or two and we'll make sure that they know all about that. And then then um the uh
uh I for particularly for for Jackie for your uh benefit that uh this is uh added here. This is something that's been ongoing. Uh the the uh uh just just for your uh
information that the uh our the building that we're in, we have a 99y year lease on from the town. It's a town uh building and uh so far we've replaced the roof on it. We've replaced every window in it. Uh we've gotten a a ADA
compliant bathroom in it. And now we're going to go after uh we we're don't have an ADA compliant entryway. And to do that, uh uh plus we are desperately needed more space uh that we're this
this uh drawing here. we we've given to the the board before just to to show you what it is. But uh we're now at a point where the window is opening for going after a matching grant uh which which we will be uh trying to do. We've got money
raised for the project. This is not costing the town anything at all. Uh but it's it's just we want to make sure that you as the landlord know what we're doing with your property basically is what we're talking about here. But it's it's a an exciting kind of thing and and
it's it's probably we we've been given a guesstimate cost of of about $200,000. So now that we've got the red the roof on the church all done and paid for, we're moving on to another project here that that hopefully will be a nice
addition to to the building and to the town and uh uh whatever. So that is the story there. And then then later this week on Thursday, I'm going to a meeting up uh uh in Great Bington of the uh
state's 250th uh celebration uh uh committee that is checking on what we're the Western Mass is doing for uh the uh whole uh Knox Trail uh kind of situation. And they had
the uh rumor has it that uh Great Bington is going to do something on on uh the the uh um it was the the uh uh the 10th of January and and uh uh Knox
came here the day after that and and so was talking about uh the possibility of having a a communitywide excitement about a bond on fire uh up at at the fairgrounds and the fairgrounds have
been given the green light that they are happy to have us uh uh to to do that. We talked with Matt and Greg about know about it. Wasn't part of which bill they didn't want to burn. Was that my hearing is terrible? Maybe I
shouldn't have heard that. Never mind. Anyway, anyway, that that that's that that is the thought that maybe we could uh and get and the person that has has uh been uh had came up with the idea of the wildfire is Melissa Ham. And Melissa
Ham, I don't know if if you you know her or not, but this is Tom Ackley's daughter, one of his daughters. and and uh uh uh she's going to get uh the fire department all excited about being on top of helping us out and being a part of the whole thing and making sure that we uh do it all in a way that makes
makes sense. And and now that we have these theatrical young 28-y olds involved, we might uh put together a some kind of a little program there and make it just a fun thing for the entire community. And that's great. the the the fair can have
a big kettle out for donations for the fair, whatever that that it's not meant for anything other than, you know, it's not a a matter of of tickets or anything like that. It's a it's a fun kind of way to prove that we're trying to do it. The other thing I would bring to your
attention that we uh have back uh in in uh 50 years ago, we had the bsentennial times and I don't know if if you've been into the store, you see the big uh posting of the old bsentennial times
that we're there. There there are 16 of them. We started uh when the Lexington alarm happened and every month 50 years ago we came out with a new edition of it and we're we're uh enjoying providing each month a new copy of of 50 years ago
what we what we did for you have one here in the town hall. Uh we no we just have done it for the as a store but but uh uh the problem is we need to have it in a a nice frame and and and
where we how we would do it is is the story there. But anyway that that's a little update is still up to and making sure that everybody never but the the um no they are independent of themselves. We Okay. So we don't have to worry about answering. No.
Okay. Okay. And where's the quilt? Is it still at the uh the quilt is in? Right. It's hanging upstairs. Our museum up there. I haven't been up there in a while. Well, we've added some new things. Yeah. One of the nicest things is Chuck Benson
has built a beautiful bench table up there for displaying small items. And uh all made out of ash. He had to take several ash trees down and he made it all into a beautiful a beautiful table for me. So good. Come see it. We would
love to. Yeah. And I'll get in touch with you about that'll be great. Yeah. Okay. That would be great. We have we'll provide the manpower to assist and Okay. Let me let me know if you want to go over and look at it. Make sure. Yeah. I will. Yeah. Great. Thank you, Chad.
Thank you. Onward on uh Christina. Yes, please. Yes. So, what do I have about um I have contacted the applicants for the treasurer collector position. I'm waiting for replies in order to set up uh interviews.
We're going to do the interviews uh hopefully in conjunction with Sarah so that we can get her input on the candidates. That's how we picked candidates from the pool was with her input. We looked over some uh resumes. So, I'm just waiting for replies. Um
we're looking probably on Wednesdays. I don't know if that fits your schedule. Um, well, what we were going to do, and I just want to make sure you're good with it, is Sarah, myself, and Christina were going to interview various people. I don't know how many we're going to wind up with because some people may have
already found jobs at this point and then bring a couple to the Okay, that's fine. Okay. Um, we received the updated language from legal counsel on the personnel policy.
Um, the only thing I want to say is that the policy needs to be obviously voted on for you guys to adopt it and put it in place, but also distributed to all the departments so that everybody's aware of any changes that Yeah.
Um, did you get a chance to look at that language? Yes, I did. I think he replied, didn't you, to the he said looks good to me. Okay, good. Good. So, do we need to do anything about that? I mean, has Cara given any feedback? She has not.
She has not. I mean, I'm fine with it. Are we able to just go ahead and have You can make a motion. You can make a motion. You have a quorum. Okay. I make a motion that we approve the language for the licensings for the highway. Oh, hold on. Sorry. Just the licensing
because other things changed in the personnel policy. Oh, there's a number of things. Yeah. Yeah. So, what are you you're not approving the policy as a whole? I can. Oh, I'm just I make a motion. I didn't know which one I was doing. I make a motion to approve the entire policy that we updated with throughout the last few weeks.
I second it. Okay. Any I I say yay. And uh yay. Yay. So, we're all yays. Yeah, we're all yays. I say yay because I'm glad it's Any discussion? Uh any discussion? No.
Joanne, this is personnel policy you're talking about? Personnel policy. Yes. Okay. Okay. Um, we've scheduled uh an executive session for October 20th for uh the highway superintendent's review
of his contract. Okay. Uh I got an email today about the water department. They did not get approved for fiscal year 26 uh EOED grant for the ozone treatment. I supplied copies of
that to the water department. Um, I've not heard from Brad on if he has spoken to the superintendent, water superintendent candidate. I know that he was supposed to reach out. Uh, I haven't heard, so I haven't been able to move forward at all. Uh, I You want me to follow up?
Sure. I received the updated proposed scope of work and quote from Weston Samson on the possible additional location study. The study itself will cost $14,200
and should the location be found suitable, there would be additional costs associated with a phase one environmental site assessment and a geo tech investigation. Copies of the information have been provided to you guys in your packets there. Uh currently there's approximately
165,000 in that account. Uh the total for Weston Samson for task two schematic design with this new study uh would be 120,000 not including the previously mentioned site assessment and geotech study in addition
go backwards just a little bit last um let's go back just to Okay, so I know you're you're closer to it than I No, it's okay. So there's currently $165,000 that I believe we they haven't done end
of year, but I don't think anything else is going to hit that account, right? So 165,000 rough estimate, we'll say. Yep. With this new study, and it's in the in your packet there, Weston and Samson is saying that to get through task two, it
would we would incur 120,000. That's just Weston and Samson. that doesn't account for any funds that we would have to spend on the OPM city point and uh it doesn't account for any of the
environmental site assessments or geotechnical investigations. So I thought that was included in the feasibility. No, it's not. No. And we don't know what that figure is going to be. I can ask them. Um, no. I don't know
what it would be right now. So, that's that. Uh, Ryan Bangler. Well, wait a minute. I mean, sure, we need to talk about this. So, in order to be able to assess
whether or not that area out there that you identified, right, yeah, is feasible, it's going to cost us another $14,200. That's it. Yes. For this step. Yes.
We need to approve that. I don't know if it's something you guys even want to do if you want to move forward with the So, just keep in mind the 14,200 is just for them to say it's doable or it's not, which is what they've done with every other one. There's been nothing.
I'm not saying it's not, but I'm also just saying that's how much we have the 165. Understood. If they say, "Yeah, we could do this site." There's going to be additional costs because it's a site acquisition. It's not a property that we already own. Correct.
So, there is a geotechnical study that needs to be done and an environmental site assessment that needs to be done. And then obviously, you're talking which we didn't have to do that for the other ones because already own the property. Correct.
And that's going to be 120. You said that I don't know the cost on the additional environmental stuff. I don't know the cost on I I know that the 120 is for Weston and Samson only. So we're not even talking about City Point.
Weston and Samson. No, I get that. Okay. So that's the additional feasibility study, not any of the other stuff that goes with that property. And then the other tasks that are identified in the schematic design phase through
Weston and Samson is the 120. Okay. Now they they need to get well I I'm assuming that the uh this 14 uh K is also they get them
acquiring a copy of the of the deed so they know where the boundaries are and all that. Oh yeah. Well, so additionally in in in addition to this, we need permission, right? We Well, yeah. Yeah. So, there would need to also have to be
some sort of I'm sure meeting with legals to meet with this individual who owns the property to draw up a document that allows us to be on that property doing what they need to do. We're going to have to reach out and tell them that we're doing this and that he'll be hearing from them, I would
think. Well, or is that our responsibility? I I'm not entirely sure. I've never been through this process before, but something would need to be signed. We we would need it in writing that if we're allowed to be there yet. When I say we, I mean Weston and Samson or whoever that they have to do that.
Well, they could. All right. So, let's just walk through this for a second. So, they could go out and look at it for 14,200. We'd still have to get the owner involved with that process, right? Possibly get something signed for them to be able to do that. Yeah. If they come back and they say,
"Hey, yeah, we could probably do it here." I'm going to throw it on the table that I would recommend that we take we only go with that when we go to the town because it could be that we, you know, to spend this other 120 or whatever it's
going to take. Um, that the town may say we don't want it there. Well, I mean, they're going to have two options on the table possibly, which is this new place that you right. No, I No,
I understand that. But I mean, uh, that's a bridge we're going to have to cross and get there. I mean, first we got to find out if it's feasible. Sure. All right. And then, well, just this environmental study. Well,
that would be that would be after we uh come to the town. So, so just point being here to your point, Jackie, the town could vote to say, "Yes, we want this new location." And we could sit down at the table with
the owner and the owner could say, "Yeah, I'll give it to you. 5 million." He gets to set the price. He is the owner. Yeah. So, even if the town votes and it says that they want it, are you guys going to pay that property? Well, uh when when I spoke with him, uh
I told him, you know, that we know that he was asking 65k for all right. And uh he said, "How high would you be willing to go?" And I said, "I really don't know." I said, "But you know, I would
like to use the 65K starting point." And I said that's, you know, and he's looking at it and what he had explained to me was that he wants to get rid of the property. He the town has given him
a lot of leeway with the uh cannabis growing facility and that he would be willing to work with us and he would even be willing to sign checking papers for us if we two chose do so choose to
buy purchase the property. like a memorandum of understanding prior to the meeting I think something that we would have to do. I guess uh just to go on that question of could he come back and say well I'm going to million of course but but let
me just say when we looked at the property across the street next to the firehouse Yeah. and spoke to that guy who who gentleman whoever owns that house. I thought they could only go with market
value. They couldn't just say whatever they wanted. It's private property. You can sell it. Yeah, they can ask whatever they want. His wife was the one objective to it. Okay. All right. All right. Um, so
I I we vote if you like the 142 if you would like to. I can't tell you. No, I know. But the process is what I'm saying. I'm asking I'm not saying give me approval. I'm saying
I know. I I just don't know if you want to have a more in-depth conversation about it. Um I I was just letting you know they got back to me. Here's the information. I'm not looking. I would I would like to, you know, if I my vote would be to go move forward with
the 14 and get get their opinion of the property. Okay. you know, uh because it's important to the town. Okay. I'm I'm for it. So, do you want to make a motion? Yes, I make a motion to go and approve
the 14,200 to have Samson and Weston take a look at the property that we're second. What's the address, Jackie? I have no clue. Well, it's across from four North Bford
Road. So, I would say four or nine. It's parcel 7.2 on North Bford and Road. It's on North Lford and Otis. Once we do that, then we'll determine how we're going to approach what we're going to approach the town with in the
next steps. But it either says it's a viable environmental solution. you know, it passes go or it doesn't. Okay. Um Ryan Bengal had reached out. There
was an issue uh Ryan Mo. Okay. There was an issue with the sumac over there uh by the post office. Yes. So this is a before and after. I gave him the okay. I said yes. Go ahead. So this is what it looked like before and then that's what it looks like today. Oh, that's cool.
That's great. That's great. So my only question to the board because when he came to me with this I said um okay I said is there anything we can do to to to keep it from coming back and he said there is I'm not going to say it right it's some kind of spray that he can purchase um to stunt
the regrowth of it tricop spray is that sound I don't know um but the I haven't heard of it yeah but so the spray I guess costs like around $500 so are you okay with just this for or you okay with that?
Well, when I had shoe neck on my property and oil go up, I cut I cut it all down and then I rotat till it and it took all the roots out and never came back. Well, maybe we'll Well, I don't know if he rotilled it though. I don't know if he ripped up the roots. Yeah.
Um Okay. I spoke with both Sarah Hunter and Michaela Smith today. Michaela, if you may or may not be aware, is uh our administrative assistant in the assessor's office. Okay. Um right. Um so there's a quite a bit, I guess, a
backlog of work in that office. And she is really trying to sift her way through all of that. And in conjunction with Sarah, I you have been talking to Sarah about tax title, about outstanding taxes that haven't been paid. What are we doing type of thing? And so Sarah's
really putting all that together, working on it, and that's going to be a component that Michaela is gonna have to work with. I told her I would speak to the board tonight. Just something for you guys to think about moving forward. Perhaps something we could put on a special town meeting warrant. She's that position is
only allowed 8 to 10 hours a week. And that's very difficult to prioritize the tasks, I guess, that need to get done in that office. And so in the assessor in the assessors. Yeah. And so realistically, it should be staffed closer to around 15 to 20 hours
a week in order to operate efficiently. This is what I'm being told. What I don't really Yes, Joanne. Um, they should know that there used just like the tax office, there used to be more coverage in that. Absolutely. Went away and it never was replaced,
right? And now they plump Michaela in that seat and said just do it. So she had the assessor come in and ask. Well, we used to have a board of associates that had three components and they
worked with the uh you know cuz my wife was one of them. She used to come down twice a week and work with uh the secretary to get things squared away. I and I think the secretary was uh
Mar at the time that that position the structure of that position has changed dramatically in the last year and a half. They're expecting a lot more from her than what started. Yeah. I don't doubt it. You know,
so I'm just passing along the Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. And and you know, look, you know, I'm a proponent, I am personally a proponent of if we need the hours for work to get done, we should the hours. I'm a little challenged by the fact that we keep running into these situations
where there once was or what happened to that and and and so our budget looks great, but at the same time, like we're putting more in cash and not filling these roles exactly appropriately. And what's going to happen is we're going to get behind on
excise tax. We're going to get behind doing the work to bring the revenue in, right? Which the town can't afford. So I I mean what I would prefer I mean if you're relaying the message they need that many hours, I would prefer let's get what do they need?
I believe that they are h they the assessors are having a meeting where they're going to discuss this. So you're kind of giving us the heads up. Just give just letting you know discussion that I had today. Yeah. Yeah. because y we got to stay on top of that. Oh yeah. Um the next department level meeting
will be held on October 27th. I sent out an email to everyone and I included the Vadar training video. Um so everybody has access to that and if anybody else wants it certainly I I will share it. Um additionally I let them all know and
when I say them that sounds rude. I let the departments know that the November meeting uh which I we haven't picked a date for yet, but we will obviously at the October meeting. I let them know that we'll be focusing on capital improvement items for the FY27 budget and ask them to be prepared
prepared to speak on that. Uh, can we get um I guess you'd call it a department, but I' I've I've always wanted to know what exactly the gentleman does with the veterans.
We have a $10,000 budget for that. That's from the state. Understood. Okay. But it's still money that we have to put in there every year. Correct. Or is that state money? No, that's the state money. Give us the money. Yeah. That money is for what? is for assistance with veterans whether they
need help with heating oil, medical bills. I I want an understanding as to, you know, I I would hope that if there's anyone out there that is a veteran that needs support, winter's coming up, they
may need some support. I don't know, but I'd like to get some an update from him as to what's going on with that. So you and and I don't know the gentleman's name's not being expended then obviously the veterans in town may
not know it's available. That's possible. I don't know. I don't know. I just want to understand what's going on there. Maybe we should have uh Mary put a article in uh when she does the town. Well, we need to clearly know what it's
how you do it though. Process. So, if we could do that and have him maybe come in and explain the process, that would be great for the department. You agree? Because I think it also helps for uh
veterans that have that post stress syndrome. I I don't know the parameters of it. Yeah. Okay. Um he gets money through the veterans. So,
so I a few weeks ago put out a RFP on combis and in the newspaper and on our website for assessor services because we use regional resource group RRG as our assessor. Uh we got one letter from
Tyler. Uh it's a name that's that that's the name of the company, Tyler. And they said, "We're too busy. Thanks, but no thanks. You know, we saw your posting, but we're not interested." And then the only other response that we got was from RRG. Okay. They gave us um a quote for three three
individual quotes for the next three fiscal years, including this one. This really should have been done a while ago, but it was it wasn't. Um, so they are the only option for us right now. I sent the notice to RRG. I did speak with
legal counsel. They're going to take a look at the contract, sign it, and then you guys can sign it and move forward with RRG. We received a change of use notice for 32 Nybrook Road, which will include 114 acres
for the purpose of logging. I give copies to the town clerk, assessors, select board, and planning. But here's the original. And for me, that's I think pretty much it for now.
What about the uh what did we wind up doing with the gentleman that uh applied for the water superintendent? I I So Brad was supposed to call him. Okay. And I haven't heard from him.
Have not. Oh, that's right. You weren't here, TJ. Yes, we had a meeting and they were they going to attempt to offer him. Yeah, that's what I was want. Okay. Because I thought it was kind of up in
the air and then there was a hehaw and all that. Is there any just to go back for a second on the assessors? Is there anything that you're concerned about or that that we're not billing or something of that nature that we need to address and help or
I don't know enough about it to be 100% transparent with you. I don't know enough about it. It does, from what I have seen, it does make sense that things are probably a little bit backlogged in there. Yeah. Um absolutely. Yes. I just want to make sure that we're not like delayed on
Billy or something. Well, we have one one person running the assessor's office for a couple of years and I don't think he really knew what he was doing. I think that's probably
part of the problem. Okay. Yeah. Um, we got audited, right? We had our audit, which is great. Got this feedback. Are you going to meet with them first and then come back to us with what are the highlights of I mean I did read the audit but
of any concerns or challenges that we need to address but what are your thoughts there? Uh I think beyond the audit information itself I I could certainly ask Tony for a meeting and and I I think he's
probably just going to read to me what the audit says. I don't know. Well, what do we need to do if there's, you know, there's there's certain points that he did make throughout the audit and I'm not sure if there's things that we need to execute on and do or make sure it doesn't happen again.
So, when I met with him last year, his big thing was funding the OPED. That was what we needed to do. And he hasn't pointed out anything, but I can certainly touch base with him and see if there is something else besides the OPED. If there isn't, then that's great. Right. Because we're doing that now.
Yeah. Right. Appropriately and we haven't gotten any update from Wright, I take it from No. What's going I mean that was on my list but I didn't it wasn't pertinent. I was not here. We can't get an update. Okay. I didn't know if he made me reach out to you or not.
I have any uh comments from our esteemed audience residents? Anybody? Oh, go ahead. Hi. But um they're talking about you know bylaws and stuff like that with Haley's green plan.
Can't she just override her? Can't she just say but it's going to be done or is that something that we need to look into? So her it is going to be done right. It is but what we can do with the bylaws is mitigate how much and where.
Right. But to your point yes it is it's gonna happen. Yeah. But it's right, but there's still, you know, from talking to the attorneys, there's still some opportunity to at least, right, decide, you know, maybe our bylaws aren't strong enough to where
it's not far enough away from the street or something. Something that will booster it up, bolster it up a little bit. It sounds like they do a lot of gathering for sure. Yeah. Well, what what what happened was back, you know, when we were in the
first process of the green community and that we did have setbacks for how close the solar could be to a property line and that was 100 ft. But one of the solar companies, well, the one on
Chester Road, uh, they chose not to abide by the bylaw and put put everything in. Exactly. And, uh, then they volunteered, well, we'll put trees on his property so they could keep their
solar. And he said, "No, you know, get your stuff where it's supposed to be." And the town never did anything. And so the fight is is that we really have to have more control if we're going to
make these bylaws. We have to have a way of making sure they're being adhered to. Right. Well, I think that's an important part, TJ, is that not only that we have the bylaws and that the bylaws protect us and are appropriate, but the follow through on the bylaw
that, you know, even if we do all the right things and get all the right language in there, we're lacking the component of the follow through, right? Who's checking up on these order of conditions, who's making sure that things are being done, right? And I think that's something that we're also going to have to look into a
gap in. Well, that's why, you know, like with the fire department, that's why we would have an OPM. Yeah. Because they're looking out for us. But even so, you're talking about just as soon as it's built and then Okay. But what about after that, you know,
erosion and things like that, we we have to make sure that, right, if there's things in place even for the vendor, right, that someone is following up with the vendor and making sure that they're fulfilling their end of their obligation to us. Mhm. I see. Unfortunately, when we did the
solar, we didn't have that followup while, you know, and we never Yeah, exactly. Because we have volunteers, you know, they have jobs, right? So they can't go in like when
they were clear cutting they there was no one there to make sure that they were staying within the boundaries you know because everybody went to work but these are things that we have to make sure in our these are things we have to address. Yeah.
Okay. Anybody else? No. All right. It is 7:35. Meeting is adjourned. Get off. Hey, you did great.