heat Heat Hallelujah Heat Heat Good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brooklyn Select Board and this is the meeting of the select board for April 8 2025 First item I'd like to move that the
select board go into executive session for the purpose of approving executive session minutes and discussing strategy related to bargaining with union employees in local 950 International Association of Firefighters and the
Brookline Engineering Division Associates The bargaining with union employees must be discussed in executive session because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the town and the chair so declares an executive session therefore
to be necessary All in favor please indicate by saying I John Vancoyaki I Michael Sanman I Paul Warren I chair votes I We will return after the executive session Heat Heat Heat Heat
Heat Heat Ooh Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Oh heat heat Heat Heat
Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Hallelujah Oh heat Heat Heat
Oh my god Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat one Good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brooklyn Select Board and this is
the regular meeting of the Select Board for April 8th 2025 Let's start off with uh announcements or comments from the select board Uh I'd like to add or mention just one thing
that I've been asked to uh tell people Comcast changed our civic channel from 22 to 8 in case you're interested Um let's see Uh during tonight's meeting
all other cable channels remain the same I've done my duty Any other comments john Paul yeah I think I have a duty too A very brief one Uh tomorrow I have the privilege of attending a groundbreaking
although I think it's more of a renovation initiation Yeah Uh at the Brookline Community Development Corporation Uh they're doing great work within our community Um it marks the beginning of some renovations that they're doing including uh transition
away from fossil fuels and electrifying their building improving insulation and installing new heating and cooling systems and windows And you ask well why why tell us about that it's because we've given them a lot of money to do it That's why uh they we awarded them uh
$756,000 from ARPA Uh they've got some preliminary commitments from lean deep energy retrofit which is kind of matching funds Um they we awarded town meaning uh last year awarded them through the CPA community preservation act $766,000 and they've gotten a grant from
uh climate ready uh initiative housing So that's a total of about 1.9 million Uh this organization does a great job in providing uh important affordable housing um to those who are in need So I'll be attending that tomorrow morning
uh at about 11:00 a.m Thank you Uh Friday morning Friday morning Is that Is it time Friday it's Friday Yeah That's what I meant You'll be you'll be too early I'll be too early if it's I think Mike had So speaking of Brookline
Community Development Corporation um uh the uh the chair Deborah Brown convened very interesting group Um uh all of the uh representatives uh who uh represent Brookline uh Congressman Aenclaus uh
State Representatives Vtolo Schwarz Honen and McGregor and State Senator Cynthia Cream for a discussion about housing Um and this was a couple days ago Yeah Monday Uh right Yeah One day
ago One day ago Um and John was there as well uh and um I there's the there it was a very interesting discussion about what the possibilities are in the state legislature to uh to support housing and one of the messages that came through
from the state representatives was that the uh that the budget is going to or the legislature is going to be very very cautious about spending anything beyond what they absolutely have to until they get a much better sense of what's coming out of Washington Um and one of the
messages from Congressman Aenclaus was the funds that have been coming out of Washington are uh for certain kinds of things including housing are at risk Uh so I think we have to be mindful of the fact that we're not going to get a lot of extra help uh this year from the
from the state and the state is very concerned about the amount of help that it's going to get because a lot of the money that comes through localities from the state originates with federal grants that they're not going to get a lot of help from the federal side So uh it's a fact of life You can nash your teeth uh
or uh whatever you like but it's a fact that we're going to have to deal with uh in the budget John couple of things Um there is going to be a week from today uh uh April 15th at 100 pm uh a
program that is uh via Zoom set up by our office of diversity equity inclusion and community relations Um ODIC R uh and it is a a zoom session on know your rights uh fair housing law and also the
Americans with Disabilities Act So you know if you are interested in learning more about your rights under the Fair Housing Law or under about under the Americans with Disabilities Act uh a week from today 100 p.m and the Zoom information is on the website of the
Office of Diversity Equity Inclusion and Community Relations Um the other announcement I want to make is just that um the April newsletter uh Brooklyn Mothers Outfront um has been published as always with their newsletters Um it's
full of really good information and so I recommend people just kind of Google search um Brooklyn Mothers Outfront and um uh get get your hands on uh their their uh April newsletter April 2025 newsletter
Okay thank you Next public comment Let me make a note or or let you know that we have a timer on the screen So if you overgo if you overshoot the three minutes that you get I'm not going to have Tiffany tell you but I'm going to
tell you Actually I don't expect much problem from the audience but sometimes I have to get the board to settle down No but anyway Stephan anyone Thank you Yes Thank you for joining us for public comment This is an
opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you Each person speaking tonight is limited to 3 minutes You don't need to use the entire time but you may if you like Once 15 minutes has been met there is an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments Members
of the public sometimes raise questions during public comment We may be able to provide a quick answer to a question but are more likely to work with staff to get a more thorough answer and respond over email The timer will flash orange when you have 30 seconds remaining and red when your time is nearly up Please
conclude your remarks at that time If you have more to say you are welcome to send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in greater detail Any person wishing to speak must begin their comment by identifying themselves with their full name and either their Brookline precinct number or street address We do have a full
public comment um of folks who've signed up in advance The first speaker will be Rachel Dunar followed by Emily Jacobson Okay I think people will lose time if if we have outbursts like that All right 2:57 on the clock All right Uh
good evening members of the select board um committee My name is Rachel Dunar I am a special educator with the public schools of Brooklyn I am here uh to speak on behalf of the youngest members of the Brooklyn community Our school district is facing some major budget
deficits The Brooklyn school community uh the Brooklyn school committee sorry has to make some difficult decisions regarding what or who to cut While I'm grateful for the proposed cuts that have been off the table including my own position uh there will be more to come
We have already experienced some devastating losses On March 13th of this year the school committee voted to dissolve the office of equity of educational equity This department's purpose was to ensure the needs of all students were being met in order to
succeed They were supposed to lead the district in making radical changes to the way that we teach assess and use data to make our practices better I fear that this district will continue to see an ever growing achievement gap amongst our traditionally underserved
populations Another cut the school committee is proposing is a cut to our curriculum coordinators the people who work hard to help teachers navigate the district managed curriculum These coordinators collaborate with teachers to plan and execute effective instruction for students all across the
district With the new literacy curriculum starting next school year we will need their help more than ever So allow me to propose a different solution It is my understanding that there is a fund of certified free cash that could be put towards covering this deficit
This would be a great solution to ensure that the needs of our most vulnerable students are being met without jeopardizing the town's financial standing As a champion for these students I implore you to please consider these alternative funds so that all of us here in Brooklyn can continue
the work that we do Thank you Thank you The next speaker is Emily Jacobson followed by Justin Brown If you just It's fine I'm not on the board Oh my gosh
Hey my name is Emily Jacobson I live at 166 Walnut Street I'm here before you to speak on um an item that came before the board last week That's item 10A question of approving the contract number blah blah blah bicycle network implementation
plan in the amount of $118,000 I am the chair of the committee that recommended that the transportation use a portion of the funds dedicated in the CIP to bicycle access um for this study Um it's unfortunate
that I was not informed um that the item was coming before your board last week and it appeared to me that there was some confusion as to the goals of the study and as to the current transportation policy framework in town
Um I respectfully asked the chair to allow me a couple extra minutes um to make some remarks I don't have a lot to say but it's not going to fit into three minutes Um you know we're we have a long long
meeting tonight Also if we give you extra time we give everyone else extra time Unfortunately we can't do that but the board can does and does accept emails at select board.gov A and after the meeting you can we do set aside time to hear
additional comments from the public Okay Um so you have before you Brooklyn's multimmodal transportation plan It was completed in 2002 uh sorry 2022 before many of you were on the board Um it was
completed after two years of planning I'm sorry I don't have a price tag for it I don't know how much it cost If you turn to the small tab in the plan you'll see a sun diagram and it shows basically the transportation framework for the
town This knits together the needs of different stakeholders into one plan and gives a high level estimate of the funding needed to bring our roads back to a good of state repair The bicycle plan is one of
several stakeholder plans that are included Um some of the stakeholder plans are consultant-driven plans Some of them like the pedestrian and the bicycle driven plan are entirely volunteerled plans Um the bicycle plan has been updated
over the years as infrastructure has changed and as best practices for bike lanes have evolved It has been an invaluable tool to communicate both with the transportation division and with the transportation board the priorities of cyclists It was seen as such a useful
tool that the pedestrian advisory committee was asked by the transportation board to create their own plan Um I applaud your intentions to uh make the Green Roots Plan multimodal That's what we want in town We want a multimodal transportation network Um but
I think it ignores the broader policy in which it already lives Um I would like to speak to you about the reasons why we feel that the plan needs to be updated That concludes your time I will wait for the end of the meeting Thank you Thank you Thank you
Next speaker is Justin Brown followed by Maggie Keniff Good evening Chair Green and members of the select board town administrator Carrie and those watching from home and all the educators who are here Uh my name is Justin Brown and I'm the president of the Brooklyn Educators
Union representing about 1,300 uh par profofessionals administrators and teachers who work in the public schools of Brooklyn I'd like to touch on two points Uh first a reminder of the union's position We believe that a
multi-million dollar budget deficit for next year is a threat to jobs programs and the capacity of our educators and schools to meet the demands of teaching the students of of PSB We also believe that a one-time movement of money from certified free cash to the school
department's budget will eliminate the need for any further cuts and allow the school committee to uh the ability to resend cuts it has already made Through our analysis we feel that this is not a threat to the town's AAA bond rating nor
its overall fiscal health There is work to be done for sure to fix long-term problems and we look forward to collaborating on solutions Second I want to talk about workplace injuries Educators are being injured on the job as the result of uh
disregulated student behavior which we all know is the result of the understaffing and underfunding of PSB At half of our prek to 8 schools this year I have talked with teams of educators who are impacted by injuries educators
are being bitten kicked assaulted with objects strangled punched and having their hair pulled out This is happening to paraprofessionals to teachers and to administrators These emergency situations pull educators away from their other duties and responsibilities
starting a cascading impact on entire school communities No one should go to school expecting to be hurt This is not the fault of students This is the result of underfunding undertraining under staffing the lack of resources in a plan the lack of time for educators to meet
and all and other things all of which have budgetary implications Educators are already being asked to do more with less The double-digit FTE and enhanced OSS positions for next year that the school committee has already cut from the budget are not new initiatives not experiments or pilots but badly needed
FTE right now Our budget is failing to meet the moment and our educators and students are paying the price It's widely said that a budget is a demonstration of your priorities What then should we make of a budget for next year that's already unable to tackle
systemic racism fully fund the needs of our most vulnerable students and allow educators to do their jobs without the demoralizing fear of workplace harm What are your priorities we are urging you as town leaders to do the right thing in the short term Ensure a budget for FY26
that allows educators and students to thrive and invest in the long-term structural change that will put an end to the cycle of layoffs Thank you Thank you The next speaker is Maggie Keniff followed by Justin Robinson Good evening members of the
select board Chairman Green Thank you for hearing my comments this evening My name is Maggie Caniff and I'm a Brooklyn Public Schools educator and parent and a proud union member I appreciate first of all all the work that this board has
already done to understand the budget crisis in the public schools including meeting with school committee members parents and educators I would ask for you please to continue to work with the school committee and come up with a plan to bring a balanced
budget to town meeting without any more cuts I realize this means tough decisions on your part and that you will need to prioritize funding the public schools over something else I know that managing a town budget is complex and that there is no simple solution to this
problem I do know about budgeting in general and I know that if you don't have enough money for everything you have to prioritize We are asking that you prioritize the students of Brooklyn Public Schools Please believe us that this is an emergency and the cuts that
have already been voted to pass will hurt our schools If any more cuts go through we will be in very dire straits indeed Lastly I want to say that leaving this unbalanced budget and passing it along to town meeting would cause some very serious problems For example
deadlines for reduction in force letters are quickly approaching If no resolution is reached before May 1st the administration will likely begin to send reduction in force letters to many educators and staff members This will cause talented educators to leave
Brookline and will continue to erode the already low morale among educators and staff in our schools In Brooklyn we have historically had exemplary schools and Brooklyn remains one of the most desirable towns in Massachusetts in large part because of those schools But
that reputation is unfortunately faltering now and depending on what happens in the next few weeks will continue to falter My colleagues and I are frustrated and tired but we will continue to speak out for ourselves and for our students Right now we don't feel
like a priority We feel like we're being treated as a burden We believe children and teachers are not a burden They are an asset We believe the children of Brooklyn deserve to be prioritized Please do the right
thing by them and close this budget gap Thank you The last speaker will be Justin Robinson There's a trend here Uh good evening My name is Justin Robinson and I am the president of Brooklyn Firefighters Local 950 I am also a 27-year veteran of the
fire department and a former resident of this community I stand before you tonight to speak on behalf of the 148 dedicated men and women of the Brooklyn Fire Department who work tirelessly and around the clock to protect the lives and the property of this community We are on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week
365 days a year Over the past decade Brookline has experienced significant growth new residences hotels businesses and future expansion plans that have already impacted and will continue to impact both the community and our fire department As the town faces projected
budget deficits I was alarmed to hear the suggestion at a March advisory committee meeting put forward by a member of the administration staff that the idea of reducing manning could result in a savings for the town The recommendation to reduce the four-person minimum crew size per fire apparatus to
just three in the hope of achieving some alleged savings reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the demands of our work I ask you as elected representatives and residents of this town to carefully consider the implications of relying on a vague could save money metric when evaluating the
critical nature of the work we do Firefighting is inherently dangerous The mass.gov gov website defines firefighting as a career requiring professionals to quote respond to risky and physically demanding calls working shifts that operate around the clock
Brooklyn firefighters responded to nearly 10,000 911 calls in 2024 and at the current rate we will exceed 10,000 calls in 2025 There has been a 37% increase in call volume compared to just 10 years ago To suggest that the job of a
firefighter in the face of increased call volume can be done as safely with fewer personnel is both misleading and dangerous It ultimately puts at risk the very people we are sworn to protect To help address this issue we worked with the IFFF resources Chief
Sullivan and fire department technology analyst Stan Reichart to produce a geographic information systems report about the town and its fire department A GIS report is an essential tool for the municipalities and labor unions alike providing data that helps both management and labor make informed
decisions We are sharing this report with you in the hopes of sparking an open conversation The report is available on our union website at brookland firefighters.org and we encourage you and anybody in town to review it to start a dialogue In the
coming weeks we will host anformational meeting for anyone who wants to learn more about the report and the critical work for your fire that your fire department performs We hope you'll join us to better understand how our service directly impacts the safety and well-being of this community Thank you
for your time and attention Thank you That concludes the time for public comment at the beginning of the meeting Thank you Next miscellaneous items First approval of our minutes for April 1st 2025 Any corrections or edits to those
minutes uh seeing none I move approval All in favor please indicate by saying I John Vanscoyak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David Fearman I Chair votes I Next I want to move approval of item 7B
to 7E in omnibus fashion Unless someone wants to pull out one of the items for further discussion You would i just can't hear you Folks can we keep it down as you s file out please thank you Your taps of the Hey folks please keep it down Thank you
Thank you Thanks What were you saying the usual 7B I want to move approval of items 7B to 7E in omnibus fashion unless someone wants to pull one of them out for further discussion Michael I I just
want to comment on 7D Okay Um and it's a no-brainer to accept this Um it it does however call the the details in the memorandum call for level two installing level two charges And I uh hope that we can look towards establishing a policy
of of putting in level three charges wherever that's possible Perhaps I I don't know if it's possible to convert this to uh from level two to level three but level three charges are much more frequently utilized and they're much more efficient Auto automobile chargers
Okay Mhm Yes Yeah And we know that but EV char electric everyone in the audience Yeah Okay Thank you Anything else david I just have a technical question regarding 7C So when donation when proposed donations come before the
board is there some kind of minimum threshold that requires select board approval apparently not No any any gift um any gift requires your acceptance uh except gifts to the schools which require school committee acceptance All
right Okay So with that I move approval of items 7B through 7E All in favor John Vancoyak I Michael Simon I Paul Warren I David Pearlman I Chair votes I And we'll thank Mr Weeks for that donation Yes
Thank you Mr Weeks for that donation um to the uh police department's K9 fund Okay Boards and commissions interviews Interview of Franchesca Gorga I hope I pronounced that correctly
Francesca's online Franchesca I'm promoting you now You should be able to start your video Okay perfect Can you guys Can everybody hear me okay perfect Um yes you got that right Um although I've changed my last name
recently so might need to might need to make a little update to that Before you go or start um you're applying to the Brookline Commission for Women correct just so the audience knows Okay go forward Give us uh some background on
yourself and why you're interested in um this uh this commission Yeah definitely Um so I am a resident of Brooklyn as of four years ago So I'm fairly new Um and
I work um doing ARPA uh grants management and monitoring for uh Massachusetts New Hampshire and Vermont Um so I do a lot of state and local government consulting very um involved in that world Um I also do a lot of nonprofit work So I'm somebody that's
very passionate about um being a public servant and um really promoting and advancing issues that I'm passionate about Um and one thing I'm very passionate about is advancing women's issues Um especially promoting um empowerment and raising awareness for um
equity Uh I just a little background on me So I come from the Balkans where I feel like women's issues are very dicey Um however moving to the US um I feel like I've had a lot more opportunity than I would have had
in like my home country So it's it's definitely something that I'm passionate about and passionate about helping other people um you know just break through those barriers But I don't know if all that made sense Anyone have any questions okay Thank you
Um I I guess I'll start off by u you asking you what ideas do you have for uh the women's commission particularly with your experience in the Balkans um and comparing you know uh that that part of the world uh with the United States as
you've uh indicated Yeah I think it's definitely difficult to get out there and break through um you know like those ceilings when you
don't really have a model or um you don't really know of other people that also have um kind of found their way through Um in the Balkans it's definitely a very patriarchal society Um so women are expected to stay home be homemakers
which is perfectly fine Um however it's a little bit frowned upon when um you know you have your own career or you prioritize a career or um you know you get married at a later age And I find that a lot of um family
members or friends that are also Albanian that are here um struggle with that And I know it's not just like a Balkan thing It's um for a lot of immigrants that grow up in those kinds of societies Um and the US is a great place I mean Brooklyn is an incredible
uh town to live in Um and they you guys already do a great job of promoting um you know equity and women's issues but I would just love to get involved and maybe just provide a different perspective um from somebody with a different background than maybe what's
you know more common Paul yep Thank you First thank you for uh for your application When I was reading your resume and your in your application I first thought well why isn't she on the small business committee you've got some great business uh experience
Yeah No Well I mean your family business and such and all the grant things that you do but of course just they are all applicable also to the women's commission But tell how would you apply them though that it's really this it's interesting uh your business experience
um in and leadership in and grants and and things like that and operationally with your family's restaurant Um certainly uh womenowned businesses are um I don't we have some of them in Brooklyn We certainly can use more So yeah So my parents actually own um I
don't know if anyone here is you know too familiar with the Northshore but um there's a lot of roast beef and pizza places So my parents own a bunch of those right um and since I was and neither of my parents speak English very well so I would say since I was maybe
like 14 I've been working with my parents And at this point it's just second nature of doing a lot of the administrative or like the hiring for the store in addition to everything else that I do Um which I feel like for a younger woman
is you know can be challenging Um I know a lot of folks you know maybe don't take me super seriously since I you know kind of act on behalf of my parents My parents are obviously much more experienced much older Um but I know how to navigate
through like the state local federal level or getting things done Um obviously with my job experience and with a lot of the other experience that I have um even if I'm not familiar with something I'm very very good at just
kind of figuring out on my own But not everybody has that ability to kind of just identify issues and like you know find ways to solve them on their own Sometimes they need a little bit of guidance So um I do think that is helpful too um in advancing you know issues um or promoting you know women's
empowerment Yeah Thank you Uh David a question similar to Paul's I noticed that uh part of your leadership experience includes having served as an executive board member where you organized fundraising
events and you also marketed events to uh educate people about the Balkans in that particular context How do you see those skills translating to uh the women's commission yeah Um so a lot of
it was um I do a lot of diaspora issues Um a lot of folks from the Balkans live abroad um and bring a lot of money back home Um and when you're working kind of overseas or with people you know
organizing like the diaspora you have to you know interact with a ton of different perspectives personalities People grow up in different places um they have their own ideas So you're working with a very diverse group of
people even though they're all more or less born or their parents are born in the same place Um so I think that's also helpful in just understanding some of the nuances with you know women's issues right like I'm a you know white
immigrant woman right that's one perspective but there's so many other perspectives out there And I think just being able to um you know just ask the right questions or like better understand other people and their perspectives and where they're from and finding a way to work together
um to really advance a common goal um which is kind of what that you know nonprofit work is is just making sure that you know you take all the different perspectives and you just really um you know try to do the best that you can to help people out
Okay great Thank you We will uh make a decision with respect to appointments to the commission for women uh at a future meeting but uh we appreciate your application and coming before us for this interview Thank you Awesome Thank
you so much Next departmental budget reviews Uh let's start off with the Council on Aging Oh we have planning first today Sorry Oh okay We move things around a little bit Sorry Cara You scared a rush She She
retreated Good evening I'm Cara Brut and I'm the director of planning and community development And with me tonight is Awanda Linda Smith um housing community planning director And online are other two directors Meredith Mooney the economic development director and Holly
Selco um in charge of regulatory planning Uh we're not going to get to everything that our department um does on a day-to-day basis So this photo collage is just a to summarize some of the ways that we're positively affecting people's
lives in Brooklyn every day Um our top accomplishments for this fiscal year that we're wrapping up in FY25 Uh number one we launched the public process for the comprehensive plan um chaired by select board member Warren and that plan will direct how the
town uses public and private property for the next 15 years or so Um in the fall we received 10,900 comments of exactly how we should write that comprehensive plan um of what the town is doing well uh what should be
protected or what we could improve Secondly we completed the financial study uh related to potential affordable housing overlay districts You might remember that topic from a couple years ago at town meeting Um that study demonstrated some interesting um ways
some interesting mixed income financing models that um could leverage local and state funding that we haven't seen in Brooklyn before So that really raised awareness even among some of our housing board members um that are in housing and and have a housing development
background Um what that study showed was that there are some creative new ways that Brookline could add affordable housing units across a wide spectrum of income levels Um at least where we allow five to six story buildings which might be another topic Third we secured federal funded uh
contracts in time to assist our business community in continuing to recover from CO impacts And fourth we did a quick look back at um the first two rounds of grant recommendations using community preservation act funds And a majority of
that funding will help areas that are either highly vulnerable to climate change um to be more resilient and or are in lowincome neighborhoods So moving forward looking at uh this next fiscal year we are
continuing a lot of these things I just went over right we're wrapping up some of the ARPA federally funded projects to help our business community Um we're continuing work on the Chestnut Hill um area study to help increase commercial tax base We're going to continue and
hopefully be able to wrap up the comprehensive plan this next fiscal year Um and I'm not going to obviously go through all of these but we'll also be um continuing to work on the Fiser Hill West advisory committee that uh Chair Green is um is chairing
um to figure out how the town should use that property that was newly acquired We're going to continue uh assisting the Brookline Housing Authority in securing funding but also completing construction documents finalizing relocation plans We
do a lot of the um federal permitting that's kind of behind the scenes for the housing authority and all of that's related to the um walnut high property that will add badly needed affordable units as well as effectively modernize existing units that are there today
Um we are as I mentioned last year going to be um continuing to look at ways that we can continue to deter demolition um especially of those types of housing like two and three family um building
stock that are more likely to be um financially attainable to households The second largest um area of two family districts is the Tox neighborhood And um that's a an area that has been um trying to organize different ways to
self-regulate that community um going back more than 10 years So we're we're excited to work with them on that And then finally following uh the attorney general's approval hopefully this June um related to the accessory dwelling
unit bylaw um we'll be doing some outreach with the broad community about how to incentivize those to actually be constructed So here's the numbers in one pie chart Our um budget is relatively
flat um except for the um funding for our consulting services there is a cut that's basically half of um the funding that we have set aside for hiring outside consulting that will not affect the comprehensive plan um because we
received a grant um from the state to help bridge the gap there Um so that that will be in a good place for the Chestnut Hill commercial area study we will likely need to depend on other sources of funding such as transportation mitigation funds um or
possibly additional private funding What this does mean is that this this cut it will extend uh the Fiser Hill West committee's work into fiscal 27 unless we get a um grant which we are applying for but we won't know about that till September So that does delay that
work Um this is a slide that's in your packets about the comprehensive plan budget which is in the CIP I'm not going to go into details but we can come back to it if you want Um we are doing well We're spending the money We spent the state grant money first Um and as of now
we will have a little bit of a a balance Um at the end of the work I wanted to spend some time talking about affordable housing trust fund um which is in the uh not in our operating budget not in the CIP but you'll see it
in the free cash flow um part of the administrator's budget and the affordable housing trust fund is one of the oldest um compared to some of our peer communities It was started in 1998 Um and most of that funding is now
committed to projects So in the last um several years since 2000 2019 to 2024 that housing trust fund um thanks to Roger Blood the chair of the housing advisory board and others um have funded
171 new units of housing and also funded re the rehab or replacement of another 159 units Um so we will continue to look for funding sources We hope that the um
line item for 1.6 million remains in the budget for fiscal 26 for a couple reasons We have a strong um backlog of needs especially with the housing authority and the Brooklyn Community Development Corporation for housing
preservation and rehab of the existing units those aren't getting done um enough by state and federal sources and both of these groups are able to leverage these local funds with state matches in order to preserve the units that we have Um additionally in the next
couple years we expect that our revenue sources from uh inclusionary cash payments and l um affordable units being built on kind of smaller projects will decrease significantly in the last several years because of a couple very large projects
that have kind of bubbled through We were seeing $1.8 million a year from some of these private projects going to the housing trust fund But moving forward including this fiscal year that's going to be less than 400,000 So the needs are still there The revenue
stream is going to return to what it was frankly before last couple years Um and and that's why there's a big gap The CPA the community preservation act committee um has been very clear that they want to fund new units only Um so what that
means is that we will need to be relying on the housing trust fund to help with some of our um existing households be able to stay in a safe and clean environment I think I'll skip through the next couple of slides pretty quickly Um the housing trust fund 88% of it is used for
development projects Um another 9% is used to preserve units like I was just talking about And the administration for this fund is funded by the community development block grant These are some of the recent developments that make up those units I
was talking about um earlier Um the revenue sources like I said was from the inclusionary zoning payments 75% but that's now going to be much less in future years Um and you can see that free cash flow of 14% is where the average of what it's been last couple
years Um we can come back to this if you'd like and that's it So I' glad to answer any questions you have So any questions from the select board paul Thanks Cara Um the I'm curious maybe dig
a little bit more into the consulting dollar cut and you mentioned um I think Chestnut Hill West as an impact or was that more Newbury West i forget Fisher Hill West Um both Oh both Okay Both It
it it depends on a couple things will happen We're going for additional um grant funding from the state for Fiser Hill because it better aligns with the state schools So if that comes through this fall then we'll be able to use the money that we have for Fischer Hill I
mean sorry for Chestnut Hill Um if that doesn't happen then we're going to have to regroup and figure out which is a bigger priority probably come back to the select board Um but we are also with Chestnut Hill um like we have in the first phase asking some of those
property owners to help fund the gap that we might have And so and the just understand the cut was that because we lost some grant money or did we cut the budget services budget to lots of departments needed to get cuts to get to get to our gap Okay Yeah Okay
Uh John thanks Carara Um and thanks to all the members of your department Uh I I did hear you mention um in connection to the affordable housing trust uh the problem of people who are struggling to remain in their units Did I hear that correctly
what I meant is for the units to be preserved Um we are also seeing meaning the maintenance the maintenance and capital upkeep gap that's with all of with many of our housing authority units Okay that's what I Okay Um because I I just wanted to to draw the distinction
um that uh and people can correct me if I'm wrong that my sense of the affordable housing trust funds is is that they should always be aimed at units um you know and and not become a source of uh like emergency aid or yes
you know help with a down payment Yeah I won't speak on behalf of HAB Bernard has been through all of those discussions But I know that they did fund one round of that kind of emergency funding but I don't get the sense that that's an ongoing objective Yeah and I get that too Uh yeah but I think in in so doing
there was a lot of discussion at that time that this is not something we can take on permanently or or or that sort of fits in with the overall you know historical use of of affordable housing trust Yeah we we are hearing um we not hearing we are getting phone calls now
about people that have been on the waiting list for housing 8 vouchers for years Yeah Have recently just in the last couple months been queued up Their their spot has finally come up where they're getting you know Corey checks and financial records checked and go
through that couple month process And just last week we're told that they cannot get a section 8 voucher and that's because of uncertainty Some of you all mentioned it with the earlier um presentation you were at with some of the state representatives but because that funding is uncertain flowing through the state to our housing
authority um we're we're seeing the beginning of a crisis of of people not being able to get into some of the section 8 units which is um you know very very unfortunate And and yet at the same time I mean it would it wouldn't prompt us to embark on trying to
substitute for section 8 um through use of our funds Not that I'm aware of Yeah Okay Yeah And HAB the HAB regulations do allow the type of rental subsidy that that you referred to Um there
was robust discussion as to whether that is appropriate And um Mike I just I want to say um had the benefit of working um closely with uh members couple of members of your staff
in particular but in general um I think we've all had the benefit of uh getting presentations and and explanations and so forth from your staff I I u I I don't have any questions about the budget Uh what I really want to say is thank you
and I hope you'll convey that to um all of the people who work in the department that um I think the whole of the select board really appreciates what they do Thank you I'm going to um remind us all that there are 19 people in our department Um many of the slides were
done by those people Um we are I feel like a wellrun machine this last couple years um we have ways we know we need to improve in some things but we're excited to do that as a as a team collaborating But I also want to take a moment to thank all the other departments that
support our work When I was preparing for tonight's um uh presentation I was doing a word search in the budget book for planning and it comes up in other departments accomplishments right like town council supports us building DPW ICR health finance schools fire police
town clerk IT U town administrator's office and I know I'm leaving somebody out but all of those are people that I'm talking to the department head you know every other week or so and asking for help So um thank you to everybody else that helps our work and and uh 19 staff
members sounds like a lot but over the years we've just put a ton of work in your lap So despite the fact that you're getting help from other town departments uh it's uh it's quite uh impressive that you're able to accomplish what you have
um given what what is in your lap Thank you So so thank you to everyone David regarding help from other departments I noticed that several of your FY26 objectives seem to uh relate to tasks
that normally one might think would fall under another department's opaces For example number six convene research project with a UMass Boston Gerontology Institute on a needs assessment on Brooklyn older adults That sounds to me
a little more like a health initiative I agree That's not one of our objectives I think that's in in her section Okay It might it might be a formatting issue would but um I can guarantee that's not one of our objectives Sorry I guess I'm looking at the wrong list that would
explain it Confirm though it's not So I had one other or ask you one other question So your objective number seven um is a good one meeting um meeting the select board's objective of retaining relatively moderate housing stuff Uh and
you're looking at any impediments um to development of uh accessory dwelling units Um are you also looking at uh impediments that that may exist um uh here in town um I think you may have
mentioned this to um preserving the that older housing housing stock that is typically uh more affordable than than the newer fancy buildings going up and down Yeah that's something that we started with the what's called the T5 NH
zoning district a couple years ago but we're continuing with the Tox neighborhood because it's the second largest now that we've done that work it's the next largest area where there's those that two family housing stock Um I expect that we'll also see kind of a broader range of strategies um coming
out of the comprehensive plan recommendations Any other questions uh thank you Cara Thank you Good night Okay now I'm going to get back on my forex schedule
and welcome for her maiden voyage before the select board Emily Williams new council and aging director My third week Third week Hi everyone Good evening Um thank you My name is Emily Williams I'm the brand new
Council on Aging Director and I learned uh from Ruthanne actually just today that I'm the fourth in its entire history So I'm very proud to be number four This is my first presentation I look forward to many more to come Um and I hope to bring a unique perspective
because um as I mentioned I'm so fresh and so new that I can um share from an outside perspective what that looks like and what the true needs of our town department look like Um as in any presentation I always like to share the
mission because it really grounds us and it brings um the discussion really to our purpose and who we are and who we serve Um the senior center is a town gathering place dedicated to enriching the aging experience in Brooklyn's older
adults age 60 plus Our mission is of the senior center is to provide social services that allow people to remain independent Our goal is to help people maintain their independence so they continue to be active members of their community We believe in enhancing growth
and a sense of belonging while encouraging individual contribution and the sharing of our life experiences The senior center welcomes all who enter our doors regardless of age income disability ethnicity or religious background And we recognize the efforts
of all of our program uh collaborators and are grateful for their support Excuse me The next slide includes uh just I I'm a visual person um that you'll soon learn to see Uh this top map is the
northern Brooklyn and the southern is south Brooklyn Um we are located with that giant red pin in the northern section and um as you s soon learned or u may not already know that there are challenges amongst both sides of Route 9
Um but for our operational stability and service delivery we have age 55 plus which I always like to start with Our primary focus is age 60 but before you know it folks Aed 55 plus will be age 60 Um and
that includes 28 25.8% of the population And it is projected that that number will increase dramatically in the next 10 years Over 20% are below the federal poverty level And since CO 19 um what's
been trending really is that the senior centers and councils on aging have become true frontline clinical partners in promoting health reducing isolation and connecting all residents to mental health resources nutrition programs and public benefits
The COA is a really it's a true social service model that prevents the crises and also the um it prevents the reliance of um or reduces the pressure on our emergency services and police and fire Our town budget provides less than 70%
of the Council on Aging operating budget needs and the remainder is supplemented with support from our nonprofit the Brooklyn Multi-ervice Senior Center Corporation as well as federal and state grants Right now one of our uh largest state grants continues level funding
which also does not always uh include level service At $15 per senior that equates to approximately $195,000 And future federal funding is unknown at this time I want to emphasize
that the next slide includes our uh fiscal year budget summary Uh as you can see there are slight increases in our salaries utilities and budgeted capital Our salary changes reflect an average of about $25,000 for fiscal year 25 from
our May 2023 override which includes a 38 FTE transportation coordinator position Previously this position had no municipal funding and relied on 100% of grant funding since it was founded in 2015
Utilities are 22% higher which is about $16,000 That includes a 36% increase in gasoline which is about $1,310 77% decrease in natural gas and a 77% increase in
electricity Our fiscal year budget request of $1.3 million remains at only slightly over one quarter of 1% of the town's total fiscal year 26 budget Increased levels of susceptible funding are due primarily to the 70% budget
funded by donation states and federal grants Our biggest concern in the Council on Aging budget right now is the need for sustained funding for uh transit services and that's something that I will be highly focused on in the coming year Also the end of our ARPA
funding in December of 2026 Um the woman on this picture um was a Brooklyn resident for many many years She passed away at the age of 103 Agnes I actually knew her daughter personally from uh many years ago but she was a true lifelong advocate for Brooklyn
seniors and I wanted to just show her picture because as we expand our programs for healthy aging this is what will happen It's a good thing Um from exercise classes in our fitness gym and support groups to free tax assistance work services to home care uh social
work services and our growing um network really expands townwide supports to a grow a growing older adult population Um we employ 31 uh staff and support over 3,000 unduplicated residents age 65 age
60 plus excuse me We have um a significant uh volunteer base of 370 uh residents which uh in fiscal year 24 that equated to about 42,000 hours and
$1.3 million with the average um or the going rate for a a volunteer is about $32 per hour And what that um that equates to is 20 full-time positions We really can't do the work we do without our
volunteers Uh stability in our budget also enables life-enhancing services to grow with the growing community Um for the past year our we successfully launched programs including solo aging aging solo and wise aging excuse me which are two programs that really build
the community together in an intergenerational perspective Uh we launched the growing older and wiser in Brooklyn column series in our very popular um and sizable beacon newsletter We initiated cross-ep departmental emergency preparedness
services And just last week there was a fire right near the senior center and I was uh witnessed that directly of how the senior center building is used directly for those types of emergency services Thankfully it was not needed at that um uh at that moment but I learned
of our our protocol which was nice Um and we finally launched a volunteer medical escort program in response to the growing needs for uh medical procedure escorts Our next slide includes diversity inclusion and accessibility
Um overtime we really utilize uh targeted funding to provide transportation that bridges north and south Brooklyn but also for medical services Um we are focused on translation services as well as culturally relevant services and
programs that ensures all Brooklyn older adults regardless of their mobility language or income can really fully participate You can see this infographic um which was in your slides and on this the screen here Um I think that is a
outstanding visual aid to give um all residents um the knowledge of over 10,000 rides were given in just a single year for medical rides as well as other essential services like services such as going to the pharmacy and going to the
affordable grocery stores Um and that's gone up on average 37% over year-over-year I mean that just speaks volume to the needs of our growing community of older adults but also the need for um uh thoughtfully coordinated
transportation services Not everybody can use an app Some folks prefer to talk to a person over the phone to be able to do that Um the average cost per ride is approximately $16 almost $17 and most of that is subsidized by these services
Uh our next slide is on innovation and modernization and uh this will be one of my future goals which are in direct alignment with the select board goals Um for example we'll be bridging bridging the digital divide to create an increase in accessibility to all kinds of
services Um I'm sure each one of us can speak to the number of scams that older adults have faced over the past five plus years Um but what our our volunteers and our tech support staff have done is to sit one-on-one with individuals to give assistance in public
housing settings as well as at the senior center to be able to help the seniors navigate digital challenges and we are very good at uh offering hybrid programming which again some seniors still don't come out of their homes So be to be able to still participate in
our programs they can do that in a hybrid format Um the HVAC and electrification of the senior center is up and coming Our senior center building will be converted this year into all electric Two minutes We'll be having a new HVAC
system chiller installed as well So you'll be seeing a crane in front of the senior center um very soon We are um as was mentioned we'll be working with um UMass Boston School of Gerontology to develop a community needs assessment to determine what is the true need of older
adult services and programs in Brooklyn And of course there's space So we'll be working on the Fiser Hill program space committee as well as other town departments um and committees to be able to identify other locations such as the Peterham Library to expand our
programming Senior centers need to be proactive nowadays They really really do So we've divided it into three different buckets Um the first demographics and population data We'll be working with other town departments like the town clerk's office
um the census and other and planning department to really look at existing local data um especially demographic data We'll be looking at participation trends like tracking program performance transportation requests social work case
loads meal counts to identify what services are in demand and where their unmet needs Um we also want to look at uh demographics by neighborhood and then the times of the um requests coming in And we really want to talk to the
community of all different ages not just older adults to be able to see well what is your expectation um and feedback of our current and existing services but what would you like to see down the line especially if you're a 55year-old about
to retire in your 60s um and finally the collaboration with other partners but using the the lens of equity I think is going to be significant because working with DPH and housing and social service organizations as well as other community nonprofits within our area will really
identify emerging issues around social justice affordable transit food insecurity caregiver burnout um mental health needs Um there's a dramatic rise in dementia across this country Um and then we want to look at who's not using our services and why they're not using
our services So in summary we'll be starting with the data We'll be tracking the usage very closely and I'm all about data because data truly tells a story Um and then we're going to ask the community directly about their needs partnering across departments again
using the equity lens on every piece of our work And together we'll really help to um help this the council on aging and the senior center participants ensure that every town dollar is spent on the growing needs with our growing community So thank you Great Thank you David I
have a question about the uh medical escort program Is the data from that incorporated into the rides uh slide that you provided or are those completely separate included okay And could you describe the medical escort
program in a little more detail sure We have a uh part-time I'll do my best A part-time employee who uh literally takes phone calls on a daily basis Monday through Friday Um she comes in very early and then she offers the service until uh 2 3:00 in the afternoon
to coordinate the services with a local taxi company to get in and out of Boston Obviously there's a geoence that we have so we're not going too far away like we don't go to Carney Hospital formerly the Carne Hospital as well We do go to St Elizabeth's and Brighton Um and it
basically brings the seniors to their medical appointment If they make a request say they're a solo aager and they don't have family or friends really in the area then we're able to connect them to a medical escort companion to go with them All right And is that companion stay for the duration of the
appointment and bring the patient back depend I think it would depend on the individual making the request Is there assistance provided for those who are mobility impaired in in that context i would think so Yes All right Paul hi
Thank you for the presentation Um so there's been quite a bit of discussion about the current uh senior center being too small uh inadequate for our needs Uh there's also been discussion about a second satellite senior center or a
second satellite sec location in South Brook line Um metrics that we should use or data You said you want to follow the data What what is some of the data that you would look at to try to help guide us in determining where when and how well I don't know the the residents that
are coming from South Brooklyn to our senior center So I'm going to be analyzing that about where folks are coming from Um we'll probably in the near I want to say first quarter of the fiscal year looking at new databases to be able to track not only who's coming
in by their demographics but where they're coming from Um one of the other situations that that's come up are um caregivers um and giving them a break if their spouse needs to come to the fitness center for you know just some physical fitness or coming to a
caregiver support Um I think it was my second day uh two weeks ago I witnessed a digital uh equity class and we were learning about artificial intelligence and the room it was packed with seniors Um so if that speaks about the true need
of changing services in uh program requests I have one followup Bernard Sure Um so um you spoke a little bit about social isolation So social isolation is a huge issue right it has causes um anxiety depression It has you
know if you have socially isolated you have poorer health outcomes higher rates of heart disease I mean it's proven that it's very very very costly uh to ultimately um to for social do we have an idea of how many of our senior
population are actually and I don't know do you is there a classification system to define if someone is uh considered socially isolated there's numerous v variables about those who are socially isolated because you can be you know lonely and socially isolated which is
the worst it's equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day You can be lonely but not so socially isolated which is a little better but you can be socially socially isolated intentionally but not to my knowledge there isn't but I think that's one of the questions in
working on a needs assessment survey Yeah that would be really helpful to know um to get some sort of metrics around it Thank you Absolutely Thank you Yeah I have a couple questions First of all I want to encourage you to continue your intergenerational um work um with I mean you mentioned I
think in your objectives uh teen center and and high school um but there are a lot of other opportunities out there and and that's one way of addressing social isolation I think or it creates opportunities to break down some social
isolation um for both the senior citizen as well as a teenager many times Um two things Uh your one of your accomplishments is uh helping uh develop leadership and technical supports for
seniors uh seeking appointments to uh boards and commissions Um I I hope that that includes expanding the number of seniors who are encouraged to join our boards and commissions You know right
now there are maybe five or six people uh who are on every you know board and commission in town Uh we need to take some bur some of that burden off their shoulders and and you know make sure that we're uh developing broader number of people who are both interested as
well as uh trained to you know really provide the critical um perspective and and um assistance on those uh committees and boards and commissions Finally um you know I go to the senior center at
least once a week and I think it's wellmaintained It's clean you know but not everyone thinks that It's mainly people who don't go to the senior center who who believe that many times Um I notice in your budget that uh the um
building cleaning service and maintenance supplies are basically flatlined um is that that is a bad sign I mean am I missing something here are we maintaining uh the building um with
sufficient resources so that we're not going to have problems down the road from deferring uh some of these uh costs well the the best to my knowledge um I know your news I'll do my best Yeah But the um the inside of the building I've
heard the same as you I think it's you know wellmaintained and clean by most It was recently painted Um so it looks even better It really sparkles on the inside Um I know the outside of the building I'm still learning about who's responsible for that But one thing
that's really lovely about outside work is the gardens and if you have a retiree who's passionate about gardening and you know giving back to the community I think it's a great way to get them involved Um I do not have the answer about uh last year's budget and why it
wasn't increased I know we offer an annual deep clean which you know everything gets vacuumed and cleaned and and waxed and just really sparkles but I don't have an answer for why it wasn't increased this year
John um thanks very much Emily And I just wanted to say because I had the pleasure of attending a um a friendly cities committee meeting this afternoon at which Emily uh introduced herself to everybody Everybody introduced themselves to her Uh there was a lot of
sort of fruitful discussions that went on between committee members and Emily Um Ruth Anne was there Uh I I got the sense uh and it gives me great confidence that the handoff is going really well um really great
compatibility uh between Ruthanne and uh Emily and um things look to be off to a really good start which in the case of the senior center is is really important You know we don't want to have to play catchup Um and it's been um a challenge
to find a worthy successor to Ruth Man but I sort of feel like we are off to a good start and I wanted to thank you Thank you very much We had a great meeting Yeah Great Any other questions great Thank you Very
successful maiden voyage before the select board Cheers Have a great night Take care Thank you Next we have fire department and Chief Sullivan's at the podium Apologies Let me pull this up on my
computer because I'm not finding it here One second I'll just start by uh introducing myself Chief John Sullivan um fire department and emergency management director Uh and uh it uh it's a little dismaying to know
that I fit into Miss Williams demographic now And so I'm taking advantage of the senior center as I go forward here Um the the fiscal 26 budget you you have before you Um we'll we'll
get the slides up very briefly Um but uh well here we are And so I will go straight into the presentation So um I pulled out some of our higher accomplishments I didn't give you all of the accomplishments and the objectives They're in the budget book so
you can see that Uh so uh for FY25 uh some of our major accomplishments or completion of the architectural design phase of the renovation projects for station one and station 4 Um pleased to uh you know say that uh we are at the process now where uh a general
contractor is imminently uh going to be chosen if it's not already There there's a there's a corresponding meeting uh right now with the building commission that I can't be at because I'm here uh but uh they'll be discussing that this evening uh and hopefully we will uh start to get some uh work done in the
very near future Uh transition to a new uh record management system uh called first due Uh this was a a huge project for us our previous records management system uh which was um called Firehouse which we've had for about 16 years now
uh had aged out if you will and uh the company that bought it uh was no longer um servicing that product and and it was it was kind of a third generation back computer uh program and so uh first do is very user friendly it's going to give
us a lot more capability uh to be able to run reports and to do uh some of the data analysis that um you know is is called for in this next generation So uh we're we're we have converted over to that system now and we're just populating it with uh information and uh
it has a lot more capabilities than uh we have in place right now but we have the modules in place uh and uh we have records management for our training division We have records management for our maintenance division so we can track our our maintenance schedules and our preventive maintenance and all of our
costs and all of those things So it has a much more vibrant platform for us to be able to make uh good decisions on behalf of the town and the uh and our our constituents and our budget and and planning going forward Uh successful implementation of our smart 911 um
program uh whereby residents can provide critical information to the 911 uh system pre-emergency Uh so far in just 6 months we have 730 profiles folks who have chosen uh to um avail themselves of this uh this platform uh whereby they
can put in some information into the system so that when a call comes for service for a certain address uh we have updated information about uh whether it's particular medical incidents whether it's uh access codes whether it is uh uh folks who have disabilities all
kinds of information can go in that will be at the fingertips of the dispatchers uh when we're on our way to the calls for both police and fire to be able to tell us um you know some of that critical information before we get there and and hopefully um that will um be able to give us an opportunity to better
serve our our our folks in a faster more timely way uh three key goals for FY26 Uh completion of a collective bargaining contract with negotiations with local 950 IFFF uh which we're we're in in the in the middle of now Uh begin and
substantially complete the renovation of station 4 As you know uh we have a a project that is a multi-year project developed over uh the um the course of the the next several years Uh station 4 is the first of our renovation projects
uh which is up on um uh Boilson Street at Reservoir Uh that's kind of the lynch pin of everything It kind of revolves around that one Uh we we have to move apparatus around every time we do a station So that one is uh kind of the the central point uh which we're going
to be able to utilize uh as our our our key uh to to be to success for the other ones Immediately after that we uh the the planning was to get our architectural design for both station one and station 4 done at the same time
with the same uh architectural design team uh and potentially the same general contractor so that those two projects can go immediately backtoback And uh as we as we head into the uh construction phase uh of the renovations for station
4 and station one uh we will begin uh the planning and preparation of uh the the committee of seven and uh uh so on to to get moving on station five So we're not standing still We're going to be keep moving uh so that we can do that
We've had discussions just today uh with the local uh about potentially moving some of those timelines up and what we can do um operationally it will be challenging but we're certainly willing to sit down and talk about those things and see if it's something that we can we can make happen Um third to uh finalize
and implement the town's comprehensive emergency management plan I know uh the chair and uh uh select um selectman uh select person um Warren came to our um our uh MIMA training last week or the
week before uh and uh we talked extensively about the comprehensive emergency management plan Uh it which is it's the base plan for our response to all hazards emergencies Uh and we are right at the final phase of being able to uh bring that to you for your review
uh and uh and get that signed off and in place so that uh the rest of the the sub plans from that uh comprehensive plan uh can really be as effective as they they should be Uh so that's the uh that's that uh conformity with the select
board's goals Um we have the uh fire department emergency management uh departments continue to support the select board's FY26 goals uh preserving financial health It is uh you know my fiduciary responsibility uh to make sure that we are scrutinizing our budget
challenges and our opportunities as much as possible We're leveraging uh grants uh to the extent that we can especially in emergency management as the you know Miss Williams told you and as we've been discussing all along here for the last couple of few months um the the
landscape for for federal grants is murky you know it it's not certain uh right now we are able to continue uh the the work that we uh uh started in especially in emergency management uh and and and so far so good Um we we we
continue to be hopeful that uh the um those funding uh mechanisms will continue as we go forward Uh planning for the future continue to assess the operational and infrastructure needs of uh both the fire department and emergency management So that is uh in conformity with your goals as well uh
long-term goals and objectives for us um continue that station renovation project which I just called for uh uh talked about and uh enhance the professional development training in the fire department for our frontline supervisors working with our uh training division staff the deputy chief and uh the the uh
staff down at the training division They're very uh adamant about um getting a a comprehensive uh program for our first line supervisors uh in place over the course of this next fiscal year So that's uh one of our high priorities for
that Continue to enhance the safety education evaluation of our personnel regarding exposure and risks around occupational cancers um collaboratively uh with the union uh and uh the HR department We're looking at uh different opportunities uh in which we can uh move
forward with um potentially uh offering medical evaluations and screenings cancer screenings for our firefighters as part of our operating budget moving forward Um you know obviously it's a it's a uh a difficult fiscal time right now Uh but that's not stopping us from
planning and making sure that we're giving our uh firefighters uh as much education and opportunity to be able to uh reduce their risks as possible Uh in in this last fiscal year we were able to uh leverage about $50,000 in ARPA
funding in order to be able to buy uh each of our firefighters a quote unquote threeseason jacket that is PAS-free which allows them to have limited exposure in their structural turnout gear uh which still unfortunately contains PAS Uh but uh it had been um
traditionally the firefighters would wear that turnout gear on the vast majority of our calls Uh now they are instructed only to use that turnout gear uh when there is the potential for thermal impact So fires in particular car fires dumpster fires building fires and all other times they would be
wearing the uh the PAS-free um coats so that they can uh limit their exposure Um obviously uh maintaining our town's class um uh class one ISO rating is a high priority for us Uh we just got done um at the end of last year submitting
our information to the insurance services organization Uh and we should be hearing back sometime uh in in calendar year 25 as to uh our our rating Two minutes Enhance the town's emergency management planning and response capabilities Um kind of touched on that
with the SEM plan uh leverage all state and federal funding sources as we as we can Demands for service There has been an overall increase in service over the past 10 years as I know uh President Robinson mentioned to you earlier Uh the raw numbers uh 78,7 uh
7,873 calls in 2015 up to 10,68 calls in 2024 Uh increase uh uh of six calls for service per day over that 10-year period Um and um one call per day per apparatus for the five engines and and two ladders
Uh five fire department currently has three recruit firefighters working through the HRD process Uh scheduled to begin two of them are scheduled to begin a recruit class in July Another one was delayed because of uh some medical evaluations that took a little more time Uh his application is going in at the
end of this week once he uh completes the uh PAT test uh and hopefully we can get them in the same class but if not we'll get them in a different class and get that moving forward as well Um you can move forward if that's uh budgetary constraints Um budget has a few
traditional constraints Uh increasing the overtime budget which we've talked about increased costs for service contracts which is part of the increase that we got in this year's budget was to cover those increased service costs uh no line items for professional continuing education for our training
budget uh and or our emergency management budget and then in insecurity around the federal funding Those are our budgetary uh constraints So I'm happy to take whatever questions you have for the fire department and emergency management
John thank you so much Chief um just focusing on the uh project to u renovate um or replace uh as the case may be um stations The the the plan embraces five stations right correct Yeah And and you
mentioned I think two that are sort of the first two Correct And what comes next and what has happened to the budget for the overall project so to answer the first question first the the next one would be station five which would be the rebuild So the complete knockdown and
rebuild Uh and then we would move to station six down on Hammond Street and eventually back down here on Washington Street to station 7 Um at this point because the override uh was back in 2021 the estimates were from 2019 um the
estimates are have we've exceeded what the estimates were for the original budget There's no doubt about it Um it wasn't as much as was anticipated by the the uh committee um going forward Uh I I don't have the numbers in front of me
right now but uh certainly the the 65 million that was uh appropriated at town meeting will cover the majority of the costs for the first four stations We expect there'll be a budget shortfall for the the last one um that that is the
anticipated outcome right now So I I'm sorry I thought I may have heard you say two different things cuz I I heard you say at this point we've exceeded the amount in the override Um no the amount appropriated per station in the override per
station Okay Okay There was an estimate that was given uh to come up with that 65 million There was an estimate at that time and the actual costs that we have now now that we've we've gotten to that point are are exceeding that that original estimate but they're not as
dramatically exceeding as we kind of had expected given the global um financial issues right now Again I don't know what that's going to look like going So as far as you can tell though we're still on track to complete four stations for 65 million Correct Okay Thanks Yep
So there are a couple of people in town who expect me to ask this question Smart 911 Yes sir Um what type of protections of uh people's profiles do you have in place and so the the the
the app is stored on our our you know encrypted computers or protected computers here in town Uh the only folks that have uh um access to that are our dispatchers uh and the folks can put in as much pertinent information as they
want So if there's personal information that they don't want to have in there uh they are certainly capable of doing that Um there's there's disclaimers that go on you know with the application of putting your information in there that if you share something that you don't
want to have dispatched over the air where people can hear it you know you probably might want not put that in there Uh but you know I think the overall benefit of having that information earlier outweighs the you know the potential risk of someone's
information Yeah Absolutely no doubt that that's the case Yeah I mean it would the the systems that you know our IT department have in place to be able to um secure that data I think are are very robust But you you say that uh
certain information is going over the air and people have um you know um scanners and scanners and things like that So are are you sort of warning people that that's that's all in the information that goes to you know folks that are putting that information in and
there's nothing uh you know I shouldn't say there's nothing but there's you know there's there's a limited amount of information that you know we would ask you to give us you know so um that's that's something that uh and we we still have the opportunity to be able to call
back to dispatch and not have certain things go over the air as well David that's just a couple questions and a point So I noticed that in terms of the personnel it's been remarkably consistent between FY23 and the
recommendation for FY26 Uh literally every category is exactly the same in terms of numbers Uh for example 113 firefighters right that's been very stable across the board I'm wondering what is the thinking behind uh not having made any
adjustments is the those current are those current numbers serving well presumably or yes um as as we've discussed before uh our staffing levels are you know we we we budget to the maximum of our staffing levels So each
one of our apparatus is uh is staffed at five personnel per apparatus and then our our ancillary divisions of uh training and maintenance and the command staff are also staffed at full capacity
So uh we you know we don't we don't have anywhere else to put anybody else unless we added companies to the uh to the mix or we added people to the uh complement of each one of those apparatus So I I think the stability is in you know the
fact that we have been able to maintain those numbers over years which is which is great All right Also I noticed in terms of number of medical emergencies so since FY21 those have gone up by over a thousand a year And are medical
emergencies being defined any differently in more recent fiscal years compared to just 5 years ago or to what do you attribute such as large increase nationwide the the the service the the fire service is is going to more medical
calls So it's not unusual for Brookline to have more more medicals than before Uh the overall number is only going up by about 200 So that means that other calls for service are actually decreasing at the same time as the medicals are increasing but that's a
thousand over the course of time So there's there's a there's a kind of a back and forth Some years the medicals are higher than our uh you know the the biggest increase I think you'll see in that is this last year is our automatic alarms or or box alarms or whatever it's
categorized I forget the the name of it right now because I'm having a senior moment and I got to go see Miss Williams about that But uh the the number as we modify and uh um our our systems become
more um prolific So as we build new buildings and we have more uh modernization of our automatic alarms we're going to see more of those over time And so that's one of the categories where we're going up Uh our categories
of um you know uh res responses to other areas and especially in the areas of actual fires car fires and and so and dumpster fires and those kinds of things Those are trending down uh over time And so we're not seeing a one for one Uh but
certainly a medical emergencies are consistently going up as our our population ages as the expectations of our system are are increased We are working with like the senior center and the health department uh to be able to
you know kind of quantify and and get services prehosp services for folks so that they don't have to call the 911 system uh to kind of reduce those numbers There's there's all kinds of programs that are involved in that We worked with uh community centers of um
of Brooklyn community um um yeah the community centers of Brooklyn in in a project over a course of several years to try to do that Having uh social services in some of the elderly highrises as well as medical uh staff coming right to the um to the facilities
so that they they get those pre uh they get those evaluations at their own facility so they don't have to call an ambulance to go to the the hospital and stuff So then my last question I promise uh you mentioned as one of the challenges for going into next year no
line item for professional and continuing education right you also have as an objective to enhance the town's emergency management planning and response capabilities and I'm wondering in concrete terms uh how you plan to achieve that objective given that limitation So gen generally speaking
it's done through grants So we've we've been able to leverage um uh assistance to firefighter grants AFG grants uh for continuing education opportunities over the course of the last several years Uh and uh those are competitive grants It doesn't always we don't always get them
but when we do we're very grateful to have them And those are sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars that we put into our professional developments Uh we leverage uh cooperating agreements with other fire departments who are um happy to use our facility because we have a great facility So over the course
of the last several years uh we've uh we've we've uh partnered with the the the city of Cambridge um they they pay for the professional development opportunities and they get to use our facility and then we get to go to their um to go to those trainings So those part of the ways that we do that and the
same thing for emergency management um they're they're almost exclusively other than this the salary line items in emergency management we use grants in order to be able to meet those objectives Thank you Paul Yeah just uh thanks Chief A quick question about going back to
John's questions about the fire station rebuilding the fire stations Do you know um what percent or how much we're over from the first two and do you have a do you have a sense of how far we'll be off by the fifth one yeah Uh I don't off the
top of my head to tell you the truth Paul It was it was u many many months ago now that that that number came up Um I can get that to you though It it it it was much we expect uh and and these are just numbers I'm throwing out the top of
my head We expected you know the the a $6 million budget estimate to be 9 million you know and it it really only came in at like 7 and a half So it's it's it's it's within a reasonable number Okay When you look at 65 million
it's within a reasonable number of where it was to begin with Right Well so there's there's a point right Chaz that when we exceed a certain amount approved by the voters we'd have to go back and ask them do we know if we've exceeded that yet we haven't yet No we haven't yet Okay No because we have 65 million
Okay And we wouldn't get even close to that 65 until the fourth project So we have plenty of money in there even for station five and we don't even know what that's going to cost yet but we know it's not going to come close to the 65 million Okay So we're going to get the full five stations We will get four and
then we'll probably have to go back and and augment that 65 million at that time Yeah Okay But that was always kind of anticipated in that it's a seven-year project Okay And you can't predict cost seven years So I get it Okay Thanks So the the town is trying to electrify you
know all of our buildings Mhm Um is there but your electricity bill increased by $152 but your natural gas increased by 25,000 Is that due to like usage or as opposed to um cost yeah
that's uh I I don't know the the costs that are negotiated by the town Uh I don't really have a lot to do with utilities The the the Charlie Young and his staff do uh the estimates on utilities Um and then we we pay the
bills more or less But uh you know all of all of the stations are going to be 100% electric So we won't have a gas bill for these stations as we move forward Uh at least not natural gas Um so I I can't really tell you why You know there's there's no there's no
significant reason why the usage would be any different this year than it was in the past It it's probably due to the um the increase rates that we're all seeing on our own gas bills you know that right at that level Got it
Okay Thank you Appreciate it Thank you Bernard I wonder whether after uh Bill's presentation we might take that break You promised Yeah I'll be fast All right Um right now our budget is slightly welcome
I'm Bill McGra director of veteran services See you got me all whooped up And um you know right now our budget slightly discreet decreased from last year but it is adequate to meet our needs as it is right now I'll preface that It's turultuous times Um and I
don't know what the demand is going to be in the future because we're really based on on need Um right now we're at the lowest level I think I've been since I've been here for 115 benefits I just had one veteran I had to terminate because they didn't reertify and we just lost one of the people that one of the
widows that we've been helping for years Um if the economy goes into recession that could change and we might have to come back for a supplemental budget but you can't predict that Um my biggest focus right now I've had to lift and shift gears
is because of the demographics of Brooklyn and the expense of living in Brooklyn and the fact that 115 is set to federal poverty levels many of our veterans who are in need don't qualify financially So I've over the years
mostly lifted and shifted the burden to the federal government through the Veterans Administration And I don't know what the impacts of the federal cuts are going to be on them yet The biggest impact I've seen is on mental health Um I've literally have to go in with my veterans now who are
intake for the first time because it's a 10 it's a 10 to 12 week wait now to get initial in uh intake They'll send them to the ER and a a they'll break away a psychiatrist as soon as they can who will evaluate to see if they're a uh danger to themselves
or others But if not it's a 10 to 12 week wait and things can go really bad in 10 to 12 weeks I've been able to go with them and aggressively advocate and at least get them some help uh while they're waiting for that to happen I get the psychiatric nurses to see them So
there's something going on there but it's it's wholly inadequate And that's just in the mental health field I'm not sure yet what's happening with other medical fields or um what's going to happen with claims right now or if there's going to be reduction in benefits So it's it's
really all up in the air I can tell you on a personal level I had a provider that left in November and I couldn't get a new provider till March which is probably comparable with the civilian sector but it was much uh reduced from what the VA had been doing in the past Um we're doing
outreach We did a lot of outreach last year and I'll actually you guys This was made by the uh Christine Medaf at the uh town of Commissioner's office for us and did posters also sent out mailing We're going to do that again this year Um we
also purchased an electric vehicle So now I'm transporting veterans as needed an electric vehicle and this also provides use to the uh the public health Um again our big focus is to make sure our veterans are buffered as much as possible in what's turning out to be
very tumultuous times And I worry about the morale of the staff of the VA that supports them I have a family member who's a federal employee And I'm very very proud to say I'm confident this board would never treat its staff the way that those people are being treated right now
I haven't seen as much with they're getting it too I remember it's a Treasury agent It's just horrible where they've been treated Yeah Yeah So yours is a twoerson office Mine's a twoerson office Yeah I think
maybe the only one in town but uh unfortunately you didn't get the smart one She's Well that's the that leads to my my question Um uh just let us know for sure you know if you're if you're ever not getting the help you need Oh I I really appreciate that Right It sounds
like you are You know quite frankly um the town minister's office is super supportive of us Good Across the board Good I'm not saying that cuz he's sitting there but it can't hurt Can't hurt Okay Any other question you want to say
a word about uh it's coming up next month Memorial Day um we're getting ready from We First of all I'm going to brag just slightly We had a really good Veterans Day We changed our focus a little bit We've te we partnered with the teen center which I really want to
do because veterans have a lot to give back to the community and working with our younger people can give that sense of service to the community and civic duties Not military duties necessarily but civic duties But we did a much more family oriented event with events in the
uh on the green in front of the library as well as the coalition we normally do and and uh public works and police and fire brought vehicles for the kids to get on and it was um very successful event Memorial Day I'm not going to go quite the same direction because that's more of a somber uh event but right now
it's the 250th anniversary of the um American Revolution And I'm trying to I can't guarantee it yet but I'm trying to get reenactors to actually be our speakers in in costumes Kind of get that feel for the revolution and honor our
founding fathers Be sure to invite William Daws We're trying and his horse And his horse Yeah He actually got through to Lexington and Concord unlike the famous one Yeah But the other one had a much
better uh publicist Right for sure Okay Um anything else thank you Bill Thank you very much Have a great evening Thank you too And at this point we're going to take a five minute break so we can stand up and do our seventh inning stretch
Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat
Heat Heat Heat Heat Heat Oh heat Heat Heat Wow Wow off of the strategic plan and then followed by the budget presentation So
Chief Pastor hey good evening and thank you so much for having us here tonight Um as you mentioned we're going to start with our five-year strategic plan It's the first time that I'm aware of that our department has ever undertaken something like this Um as much as I would love to take the full credit for this plan and what you'll see before you
tonight uh the biggest thing that I did right was hire John Osman who's standing behind me um who's the CEO of Osman Business Strategies And with that I will turn it over to him let him introduce yourself and I'll stand close by unless we have uh in case we have questions as
we go Thank you Chief Good evening So why a strategic plan for the U Brookline Police Department and really uh two reasons One as Chief Pastor already said uh they've never done this before had never been through a process
like this before And uh I had been doing this for a number of years Um I've been running a consulting business for almost 15 years And I got into the municipal space really in 2014 Uh I helped out my
um u local town uh police chief He wanted to run a strategic plan and he had hired some uh outside folks to run a SWAT analysis with the community and it didn't turn out well And I I went up to him when I was watching this and I said
you know maybe I can help you out because I come from a corporate background and maybe this is something you know I can help you with And so in 2014 I did his first five-year plan I did two for him and then people started to find out about this and this became
something So I I in my consulting business I normally uh handle private clients for-profit uh clients and I help them uh go from good to great or fix them if they have problems and do that sort of tinkering But uh in the
municipal world uh the elements of private industry or business don't appear normally in the municipal departments and that sort of space So that's sort of a unique little niche that has become something And I did a
presentation for um the Norfor North County Chiefs about a year ago uh at the invitation of Chief Grace in Foxboro because I had just done his plan and um the chief pastor saw me do this and said "You know this is something that we
might be uh interested in doing." And one thing led to another and and here we are So this started about a year ago and uh we finished the plan itself in November and after some graphic design and formatting and all of that we had a
final plan and here we are tonight So I'll take a few minutes and go through uh what this plan is all about The other reason for doing a strategic plan uh for municipal entities for departments and in this case for the uh
Brookline Police Department is that it's a it's a unifying process uh where the team comes together as like a business and as a team to decide what it wants to be where does it want to go uh what are the challenges ahead how do we overcome
these challenges what are the investments necessary to do this what are the plans nec necessary to do this and provides a roadmap for the future So we had an initial meeting with chief pastor and the senior team uh once
we were approved to do this last July and then we started off with a confidential SWAT analysis with the department personnel SWAT is strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats It's the classical method for deriving raw material from an organization to
understand uh what people feel works well the strengths what people feel are weaknesses things don't that don't go well what are the opportunities that present uh for the department going forward and of course what are threats what are the bad things that can happen
what are the things we want to plan for so it takes a couple of weeks to do that takes a long time to compile all of that from how many people we had um 70ome inputs into this thing So even more than that and uh so it was quite an
extensive um bringing together a lot of raw data from the department So once we had all of that um we started to have meetings So there were two department meetings that we had
in August of last year First department meeting was to describe to the organization uh what the strategic process planning process is What's strategic planning all about this is training for the police department as to what is this thing and
what is this business guy coming to talk to us about So we went through the training on the strategic planning process Uh we did a SWAT analysis review where we don't know they don't know who said what but I play it back to them in an organized way to see what they felt
the strengths were what they felt the weaknesses were what they felt the opportunities were and what they felt the threats were in an unvarnished way So a lot of credibility there And then after a break we went into the really the meat of the process which is
discussion of what's a mission what's a vision and what are your core values and beliefs So the second meeting a week later we come back to the group with a uh draft vision and mission statement
for them to look at and approve Uh we come back with some core values and beliefs for them to look at and approve And then we've talked about we talk about strategic goals and we talk about objectives for those strategic goals Two full department meetings After
that we go into a process where we have um small group or focus group meetings depending upon what the strategic goal is Like one goal might be infrastructure another one might be professional development Each week we had one of these that was a smaller group of people
tuned into the particular uh subject matter So in this case we had six small group meetings where we developed strategies and action plans for each one of the objectives underneath that strategic goal So then we uh when all that was
done six weeks of all of that we reviewed the draft plan with Chief Pastor and the uh Brookline Police Department senior team And then we went into what I call post-production or final uh plan content development format in graphic design So
all of this takes several weeks to do So this was the fall of last year So what we came up with and to be brief uh this evening as much as possible we had one vision six strategic goals 26 objectives
65 strategies and 209 action plans in 92 pages of a report So just to do the highlight reel of the 92 pages and we're not going to go through that tonight Uh the front page is of course police station police headquarters and their motto they came
up with for this plan and they might want to uh hold on to it um for their use later on is service integrity and community So as part of this process we went through is well what words would describe uh your department how you feel uh about the department what you would
put on a cruiser if you could or what would you put on a uniform if you could and so they decided on this So this is the front page of the report Um couple of pages in we'll we show the mission statement the vision statement
and the core values and beliefs which is really the code of the police department So this is really the leadoff page of the of the plan and the vision really is the what you want to do next The mission is a description of the identity and
what the department does today So what are the services and what does it offer to the community that's it's its identity today But the vision statement is what do I want to become what do I want to be in 3 to 5 years and the core values and beliefs is how do I want to
do it so a pretty extensive table of contents But basically in the table of contents we show a um uh summary or overview of the department an overview of the strategic planning process um a message from the chief and then we
go into detailed strategy descriptions and we'll go through some highlights of those uh quickly here So we'll have a welcome from the chief to explain a little bit of her involvement with the process what she felt about it and how she feels about
the plan going forward Uh also in the front end of this thing is and again this is a public document so people can understand uh how the police department works what it really does for a living Uh and most of the public really doesn't know They only know uh you know they only know the
police when they're in trouble or something happens but there's a lot of other things the police department does This plan goes through a bit of a public explanation of what they do for a living So here's a a what would be called a traditional organization chart and we
also have with it a functional organization chart how things actually get done Probably one of the most important parts of the plan is this matrix here where it shows the strategic goals across the top and then vertically underneath each one of the strategic
goals are the associated objectives For example um the six goals are community engagement staffing recruitment and retention leadership administration and organization people culture and communications professional development
or training and then infrastructure security equipment and technology And without reading through all of these these are then breakdowns of how you want to achieve each one of those goals Like what do you want to do in community engagement one of the things that are
necessary to have that happen So just to take that one is uh first objective was BPD uh PR and brand management Then there's a number of strategies and action plans that go along with that Uh objective two here would be leverage
social media platforms Objective three community event participation Objective four is public education And objective five is outreach and collaboration So each one of these strategic goals has a number of objectives Underneath those a
number of strategies and action plans So each one of the pages that follow this in the uh in the plan report has a strategic um strategy sheet what I will call a strategy sheet which shows the goal shows the the objective these
particular strategy the target completion date active fiscal year funding what the action plans are the purpose of doing it and the measures of success and on top of that we list who are the strategy sponsors who's responsible
in the department for actually seeing that these things come to fruition So uh then the rest of the report is divided up into six pieces for each one of the strategic goals So goal one the first divider here shows um uh
the community engagement one for example the five objectives we talked about already and each objective has several strategies Each one of those strategies like strategy one would be ambassadors of professional policing in that page shows an action plan regarding that
Strategy two new brand visualizations There's some action plans there and so on So it just goes on and on So community engagement is this first one here The second goal staffing recruitment retention You'll have
recruitment retention staffing and succession planning and several strategies underneath each one of those And each strategy again is a page with action plans purpose when it's going to be done who's going to do it uh and why Goal three is leadership
administration organization You have strategic planning I always try to stick that in to make sure that businesses and organizations continue on uh with this process Objective two is improve town support Objective three is an accountability Objective four is
performance review Objective five is accreditation In goal four we have people two minutes people culture and communications Objective one is health and wellness Objective two is communications Objective three was recognition and
objective four was onboarding And again each one of those has a set of strategies and then the action plans and so forth underneath them Goal five is professional development or better said maybe training Objective one is training
Objective two is career development Objective three is mentorship coaching and counseling And last but not least is infrastructure security equipment and technology Just about every organization has this one for sure And objective one
here was police station building improvements Objective two is police station parking improvements Objective three was um equipment improvements Objective four is information technology improvements And objective five is future police station
plants And that's 92 pages of a strategic plan with a lot in it And this is the back page a nice picture of the uh of the group and I'll take any questions you might have
Yeah Hi Um thank you So uh I think I think it's reasonable to say that uh implementation is the whether something can be implemented is the measure of a plan's value uh and you're either fortunate or
unfortunate enough to be talking to a select board where there are a couple of people who've done a lot of consulting work including strategic consulting work Um but I promise that's not a threat Um so it is actually an understanding of pretty good understanding of what you're what you're trying to accomplish here Um
I guess the the question that I have is for example if I look at page 22 of the report um this is really a question for uh chief pastor um there are some the act the plan is to
improve uh PR and brand management and one of the elements and the element there is website refresh and I think uh in terms of measuring success Ideally what you would do is measure how well visitors can accomplish what they came to do
there Um the question I have for you is do you have the resources to do there are a lot of these this is a a very ambitious plan Do you have the resources to do this um and
um any sense of uh of what additional resources you might need well before the chief comes on uh this is not all going to be done by Thursday Oh no no I understand this This is this is five years and and when you look at it in total it looks like Mount Everest Yeah
But uh over the course of the next three to five years um number of these things can happen Certainly when you go through it you can see a lot of lowhanging fruit Yeah Uh which are more easily accomplished and can happen sooner But some of there are some larger things in here that might take some time and
certainly would involve probably some investment Yeah like I said a couple of us have done this before so we do understand that point But nonetheless the question is always do you have the resources to do even the lowhanging fruit but particularly the um the what do you need in the longer term
or is it a wish list and you're going to use it as such i think it's it's a hybrid So there are a few things happening at the same time we were developing this strategic plan which by the way was made possible courtesy of ARPA funding So thank you for that Um developing the strategic plan developing
our goals and objectives for FY26 and then also being hit with the the budget crisis that everybody else is facing So these things were happening kind of overlapping Um so it's very likely that you'll see things that we wanted to achieve in FY26 that maybe
have to go out to FY27 um in that particular area with regard to social media um and communications and things like that I do feel I think it was Bill who um raised Christina Metaf uh we've been doing a lot of collaborate collaborative work with her in the town administrator's
office Um I do think that those areas we have a good social media team in place Um maybe you know they're always asking me for better technology and you know to go to additional training and professional development That's not a high cost item necessarily Um but I
think you know continuing to invest in those areas even small amounts Um the website again you know it's a relatively small amount of money needed to improve the website and have it um I think we've already discussed that or started the discussions with Ben um on bringing us
up to where we want to be Those are not high high cost items Um but again we might have to shift some of the years that we wanted to get things done But I do feel like we're in a good place to get most of it done in the fiveyear Okay that's encouraging Thank you Yeah so I had I I zeroed in on I don't know what
slide it was but it's one vision six goals 26 objectives 65 strategies and 209 action plans Seemed like the the measurement of this plan Um I guess I'm I'm similar to Mike's thinking I'm really concerned just about how you're
going to do it You've never had a strategic plan before Just to execute and keep track of 209 action plans Who's going to own them how often are you going to check in how are you measuring success i mean it looks good on paper but like this is a
classic something that I feel I'm I'm worried it's just going to sit on a shelf Um and and you know we we spent some ARPA money well and got it done before the deadline but I just want to make sure that this actually helps you and adds value And I worry that 209
action plans is a measurement of success of the development of the plan actually it's implementable and whether you actually can affect it change is what the measurement of success is I feel confident about it and maybe we don't get to 209 maybe we stop in at 190
something but a lot of the action plans are actually you know one page I guess I I I would hope that when you come back each year and do your budget report that you have some sort of measurement on progress on the on the five-year plan And I think part of um John's wisdom was
his suggestion that we attach actual actual employees to these items to hold them accountable And you know people might change in their positions Maybe it'll get reassigned to somebody else in that new position but then they'll know coming into the position what's expected of them
Okay David Just a question somewhat similar to Paul's but focused on FY26 So there um are about 36 objectives between the different divisions I'm wondering how you uh devised this list
because some of the goal some of the objectives are highly specific Um for instance some of the technology ones other ones are a little more expansive Uh do you have a do you have these listed by priority or do you have
something internal that prioritize some of these over others we tried to divvy up the work in a way that made sense either by division by area of specialty and also with a uh a focus on not giving not overburdening one particular unit We made sure each
deputy superintendent had an area of responsibility and oversight Um and we tried to not make what the you know uh our two detectives in it have a burden That's they always do It's just the changing nature of of what we're doing Um and that would if I were to forecast
out and you know anticipate an area where we'd need to expand personnel IT and technology would likely be it Um but we know well just just as an example so for the patrol division develop a health
and wellness center for first responders that sounds like an enormous undertaking for one year Is that something that uh you will be collaborating with public health on so the health and we have a um we'll say we're taking baby steps in that direction under the leadership of
deputy superintendent O'Neal Um we're constantly looking to improve the gym facility that we have Um we are working with Cara and her team to look at Newbury College and see if there's space up there that we might be able to utilize um as a health and wellness center In the meantime he's taken small
steps for example by bringing in a vending machine to supply healthy snacks 24 hours a day to our officers as opposed to having officers run to 7-Eleven um you know at 2 in the morning um and just try to take small steps introduce the you know the idea of prioritizing health and wellness while
we can and then um ideally if we can look at space maybe with the schools with the teen center with some of the other buildings that that have the capacity that we don't um there'll be a you know there's always a need for collaboration but Fisher Fischer College I think I tried to plant the seed
Newberry College rather I tried to plant the seed last year is where we'd like to be Okay just going to drop that Go ahead Um I just want to say I'm I see myself as maybe the board's number one skeptic when it comes to um uh strategic plans
planning etc etc etc I really like this plan Um thank you I did it all myself Exactly I I find myself um you know um sort of nodding and grasping the approach and grasping how the the
approach you know sort of led to and then this and then this and then this and then you know break it down Um like other people have commented I I think I share that sense of um you know is this a plan that uh at the end of
year five people you know are supposed to be able to look back and say well finished with that plan now move on to the next strategic plan These seem like permanent a lot of them seem like permanent things to do to in in order for the department to be um uh reaching
its maximum potential Um and so they're all good in that sense They don't some of them don't it seems to me don't necessarily need to be uh done in year one versus year three You know some of them are things you would expect to be ingrained in the culture of the department Um and what would bring it
home for me and and you were bringing it home for me just there in in some of your comments is how you operationalize you know some of these these the these you know points like like health and wellness And then I hear you say you know well a snack machine a
fit fitness you know facility etc etc And and then have that defined in terms of FY26 we're going to do this parts these parts Um and some of these things we're going to do in FY27 Some of them
we're going to do in FY28 You know it's not one of these things that you just sort of you know shoot the starter gun and then you're off and running on all 260 of these objectives So I I appreciate this plan I think it's it's well done
Thank you Yeah And and we never met did we so and we now have that recorded You have that recorded positively Yes Yeah I can't take it back Okay thank you Let's uh move on to your budget presentation You reject these for
me then Thank you very much Can pull this one Yeah today is right Should we wait for the town administrator or does he um He probably
knows everything you're talking about So I agree Oh he's sorry He'll be back Okay He knows what's in your budget Okay We're trying to get out of a change do it now before you come A really good idea So we all the million dollar increase All right Well I apologize then for the first slide where you asked for
three accomplishments and I snuck in for um the four biggest ones The rest you have in your book Uh we did hire 16 new officers last fiscal year which is great Um nine of those I believe were lateral transfer officers um which means not
only did they come to us with experience but it also saved us money because we didn't have to pay to send them to an academy pay them as employees for six months pay to outfit them with academy gear uh before they were able to hit the streets So they came in they did two weeks in the station they did three
months with an FTO and they're out on the streets which is fantastic It's also a sign that our reputation has uh advanced It's and over the last few years That's right and it um helped hit the FY25 goal that all of you had um for
valuing I'm going to butcher the wording on it but really valuing our employees paying them well providing good benefits as well as increasing our diversity and community engagement Um we'll see on the next slide
um what our diversity looks like in terms of personnel where we're I believe we are at close to I think we're at 18% women 19% women where um the national average is between 12 and 13 and just has been for 25 years or more Um and I should
have worn my glasses but we can see um that we're about I think it was about 56% white males Um and the rest we're looking at a um larger number than historically we've had for black latinx
um and Asian officers which is great Um to go back to our accomplishments uh we completed the renovation of the women's locker room which helps certainly with diversity Um members of our department were recognized by a lot of fraternal organizations to include the Latino
Police Officers Association and Noble Um as you just saw moving on to the next goal we finalized our first ever strategic plan We saw a 6% reduction in part A crimes Um all violent crimes were down Uh we were up slightly in lararsenies and we fully implemented our
body warn camera program So back to the personnel Um it's 93% of our budget and so I think it's worth talking about here although I think we're all the most part aware of where we stand We have 10 open positions Um six of those include the the vacancies
that we will not seek to fill again in FY26 I do hope that we can fill those in FY27 I think um our calls for service are increasing and we're seeing a need particularly on the south side of town um where I'm growing uncomfortable with having only two officers
um assigned to a growing population and an increased call volume up um in the area of Bournewood and Hancock Village specifically We have three officers who are out on long-term leave two not expected to return due to onduty injuries Um we have officers who have obligations to the
National Guard or reserves Um that's unpredictable as we all know right now Uh we have an officer who has to retire before June Uh another six who are eligible for full pension So they could go anytime Uh we do have one officer um
who is returning to us after if you leave policing as a profession u in the state of Massachusetts You can come back in a five-year window without having to go to an academy all over again And so she's just under that mark and we're happy to have her back She should be on the streets by the marathon
Um some of the increase in salary items are due to the contract that again we're appreciative of and has helped made us more attractive to candidates um both new and laterals Um you'll see uh I'm sorry it's hard to see with the
the setup here but um it looks like a step raise to uh eight-year patrol step for next year Um and the increase in the tactical stipen and there it is there the pay competitive wages and appropriate
benefits to all employees which was FY25 But um wanted to highlight that we did hit that with the help of the board This is what our crime report looks like and we can talk about this more u we can talk about it tonight if you want but I think the annual report presentation covered it Um moving
violations as we spoke about a little bit earlier offline um were up almost 70% 68 and a half% Um so increasing the goal there for FY26 not directly related to road improvements but certainly helping with
with road safety Parking tickets were also up 8% Um and I would attribute those two things to both an increase in morale as well as uh more appropriate staffing levels Um some of the more commendable or newsworthy police work the stuff that
made the headlines Um we've had a few unfortunate cases involving um child pornography child enticement Um we've had breakins where one suspect in this case was arrested um while sitting in his beak motor vehicle of the homeowner
Um and as we know we started the year uh with the shooting on New Terrace Road but we were able to make four arrests in that case in a pretty timely fashion and recover the firearms that were involved Um revenue in 2024 Again with the increase in parking violations uh as
well as motor vehicle violations uh there was an increase in revenue collected detail search charges Uh the increase in detail rate that um all of you approved began Sunday March 23rd Um which benefits the town It went from 57 an hour to 75 an hour And there are some
caveats there that are a little bit in the weeds for this discussion Um but the town charges a 10% hourly search charge on all private details So that should benefit us as well I've listed here the grants that our department receives Uh the CITT TAC the 911 training grants uh
the EOPS grants are all state funded grants Hopefully we'll be okay with those and we'll continue to apply and receive those The UASI grant money Chief Sullivan spoke to a little bit Um we do receive at least 150,000 in UASI funds Those are a little bit up in the air
right now but we have no word that they won't be coming to us and we're going to continue to apply and submit our um abstracts for next fiscal year next week drug for forfeite money I just wanted to highlight there on the bottom Um it is money that comes into us There
are caveats Uh and that's directly related to one sergeant We have a task attached to a DEA task force He does incredible work Um it's usually a few years behind you know after drug cases have gone through the courts It's the share that comes back to Brookline thanks to his participation Um it's
pretty restricted in what it can be used for or it can go back into our department budget to fund efforts directly related to um fighting drug trafficking Uh so just to highlight what our non-s salary budget looks like for next year Um we saw slight increases in
most of the non salary items with the exception of capital Again thanks to ARPA we were be we were able last year to replace our animal control vehicle which was the last gas vehicle we had in our fleet That'll be all electric an electric pickup truck So Officer Bridges is pretty excited about that Uh it
hasn't come in yet but we're looking forward to rolling it out Um everything else you know you'll see a slight increase However I wanted to highlight um and just kind of put it on on the board that we'll be coming back next year asking to see those numbers restored to where they were pre-
pandemic particularly in the area of training and supplies Um we were fortunate the past two years to benefit from ARPA money to supplement where those numbers were cut Um but that's no longer the case So it's going
to be a tough year for us in terms of training supplies and everything else I did if it's okay with the board I wanted to share uh this video from about three weeks ago on body worn camera to highlight the need for training and equipment
Um just to preface it a call came in to dispatch for a man holding a knife Um and this is the body cam footage from the first officer on scene All right I have a copy Okay stop Hey drop the knife Oh God Help me
Riley He's not going to He's not going to Drop the knife He's not going to hurt anybody Drop the knife Come on Riley Drop the knife Stand down Stand down over sir Drop the knife Drop the knife Drop
them Get over there Get on the ground Get on the ground I've seen it Get on the ground That's about a minute and a half We have one officer responding to a call a man holding two knives with a staff member
less than 3 ft away from him Um the officer responds in a textbook fashion He shows up He calls I don't know what you could hear and what you could see clearly He meets the caller goes in by himself He calls for a less lethal option to respond There wasn't enough time for that to be deployed Um he
engages with the woman who's standing three feet away from him trying to get the knives instructs her to come back actually physically pulls her out of the way He does have his firearm drawn and is able to get that suspect down on the ground um after he dropped the knives She then went back and retrieved them and brought them back to the kitchen But
I think we see and we've have seen from uglier headlines across the country um this isn't always how these calls end But because of training and a lot of training particularly in the areas of deescalation and defensive tactics this was a successful outcome And so I just
you know want to present that I think our training asks are modest in compared to what we'd spend for litigation had that gone wrong And I just want to put that on on the radar of the board for FY27 if not for this year Good Thank you Was that a a residence or a business of
some sort uh it is a it's a group home that is staffed Um and I will add to that you know in line with our CIT uh philosophies and how we run our department Um particularly with regard to people struggling from mental health issues um there was a lot of follow-up
done by the sergeant on scene that night We've engaged the employees and the company that operates that home They're very receptive They're very appreciative of the response that night Um we've arranged for officers to come by in times of non-crisis so that the residents can familiarize themselves
with our officers Um and we can offer if ne if if they take us up on it some um safety training for the space If we could wrap up in a couple minutes here Yep Uh three goals Uh staffing professional development and training
and technology It seems in line with what you heard in the strategic plan but I can elaborate if you'd like And there's our most popular officer Okay Let me ask first question or
following up uh early something you said earlier So um when the fire chief was here he mentioned Smart 911 Um do you I I assume you still maintain a a database of kids on the autism spectrum or suffering from
mental illness that uh will inform officers before they go into a a house or or whatever The idea is to merge the two Mhm Um so Officer McCabe who'd been keeping those forms and sharing responsible for sharing that information out has been reaching back to anybody
who had submitted one of those forms to see if they can if they'd be comfortable sharing similar information in the 911 format Okay So the idea is to merge them and not duplicate efforts Yeah Paul Yep Uh thank you Chief Um two quick
questions So the first it's been back in the news the Boston brick Um and I just wanted to get some clarity um about it I know there was a pretty extensive discussion again with the Boston Boston City Council and the brick and
information Um and this is the Boston Regional Intelligence Center The brick Yes BR I see And I just wanted to clarify what type of information exchange do we have with the brick um how do we protect
information i know we we don't really control I think once it's in that repository but could you just describe a little bit about what what type of information exchange does happen or could happen with the Sure Yeah the the Boston Regional Intelligence Center is designed specifically to share
information criminal intelligence information Um so typically what that looks like for us is you know we have information about I most commonly crimes that border Boston or you know crime sprees crime trends that we're seeing Um there's a phone call every morning where
our detectives will call into the brick They'll listen to each of the US partners that contribute to the brick Um try to identify any patterns that are emerging share information specific to criminal cases Um I think some of the criticism that I've heard is related to
whether or not ICE participates in the brick Yeah Um and there was some controversy back in in 2017 about a misidentified MS-13 gang member from East Boston Um very different than what we use the brick for which is strictly you know for example you typically crime crimes that
just happen between us and Austin Brighton And we we couldn't do what we do without participating in the brick So so it's a there's a triggering event that has you uh communic Yeah the the brick um and inter information and intelligence sharing is uh controlled by
uh federal law It's like CFR 23 um that regulates the sharing and storing of criminal intelligence And my understanding is that the brick my research I could be wrong but the brick does not they do not proactively actually share federal agencies don't even have access to the information
Right No the city of Boston um they operate under I believe it's the trust act that is similar to the policies and procedures that we have in place locally in Brooklyn including our um general order 43 on immigration Thank you That's really helpful And then you mentioned your I think you said 10 open positions
10 minus the six and six and so six I just want to be sure the six are there They're just being held back I hope so Yes Six of there they're just being held back Okay I'm asking Yes That's my understanding Yes that's where we are Okay thank you
Uh Mike um thank you Um so uh I was very pleased to see the the increase in um traffic citations uh up to 60% Um I think any of us who drive around um see
uh more enforcement on the street by officers Uh and uh that's great to see and I appreciate that it comes from both an increase in morale and increase in staffing Um I would appreciate very much if the department would advocate for red light cameras in particular uh in order
to um perhaps increase the number of citations but mainly because it used to be that you know you'd see one car go through a yellow light or a red light as it turned from yellow to red Now you see three recording some intersections where it's just it it really is ridiculous And
of course there's been a comment an increase in the number of crashes from 1160 in 20 in 2022 to 1447 in 2024 That's a substantial increase and I I I can only attribute that to the
increasing disregard for uh the traffic rule So I hope that um you'll continue uh enforcement and really ratchet it up And if there's anything you can all do at all to get us um uh to get the uh the uh the point across that
cameras are free of bias They don't care whether someone uh is young or old whether they're male or female what their skin color is uh where their country of origin They just take a picture uh and uh so I would love to see uh see that in Brooklyn across
Massachusetts for that matter and I hope that the department can uh help advocate for that That would be a very interesting discussion to have Yes plenty of but I'm here for that Yeah I'm here for it Let's
uh John um thank you very much for the the report um and the budget Um so I don't know if you were here earlier when some of the teachers were speaking and uh one of them in particular mentioned uh attacks on
teachers that you know have caused harm um and maybe you know in the in the course of kids fighting with each other or or you know maybe in the course of it wasn't quite clear you know a direct attack on a teacher Um do you want to just offer any thoughts on that um in
the and I'm not trying to be cute here you know in the context of past discussions that um we've had this board has engaged in uh as to the decision on school resource officers uh that was made a couple years ago and whether we should revisit it I absolutely think
it's worth revisiting and I don't think it's a secret that I am strongly in favor of SRO's Um and I think that you know having a uniformed presence in the school might deter I I wish that I had heard
specifically what was said because I didn't hear anything with regard to attacks on teachers Um so I can't really speak to what was said I do think that it would act as a deterrent in some cases um for any kind of violence Mhm Um but I think also um the most beneficial part of having
SRO is just the relationship building with the kids and the students And you know when students have another trusted adults in their life that they can go to um it's a it's prevention And when the officers in the school and they know what a baseline good day looks like
they're keyed in on when things are going wrong and they hear the rumors and they hear you know who wants to fight who after school and they can get in there and and get ahead of these things And I think that's what we're missing by not having them One of the things we're missing by not having them Yeah Thank you
Anything else good Thank you Thank you Okay Next I'd like to pull warrant article 20 um up first I believe Let's see What is warrant article
20 um do we have banan right we have someone um representing the petitioners Yes the petitioners are online and I'm promoting them now while they're promoting while they're being promoted I just want to thank again as we always do the all the department heads who've come tonight Uh again a really great u
cross-section of work that's being done from um very different departments all of which are rowing together in a great way So I just want to thank the department heads and all their their team their staff for the great work they're doing Absolutely Yes Absolutely
What are we doing 20 You said 20 Yes Hello everybody I'm just sharing my screen Um nice to see you all My name is Ezra Kleinbomb Can you all see my screen yes Cool Um my name is Ezra Kleinbomb I'm a senior at Brooklyn High School a member
of the PSP sustainability task force Um thank you all for having us tonight I'm here with a couple of my peers to present on behalf of Warren Article 20 to prohibit the sale of fuagra Um so what is fogra fagra means fatty liver in French and it is the diseased
and enlarged liver of a duck or goose that is often considered to be a luxury food item Fogra is produced through extensive force feeding of birds which causes the bird's liver to expand anywhere from six to 10 times its healthy natural size
um and to become white in color The image on the slides shows a healthy liver on the right besides the liver of a forcefed bird on the left There are currently two major frog farms in the US one in New York and the other in Minnesota And the majority of fuagra today is produced by making by force
feeding moolard ducks Uh fuagra is extremely cruel especially due to the force feeding that the birds experience on the fogra farms At just 10 to 14 weeks old ducks and geese raised for fogra are forcefed two to three times daily for up to a month
And this process involves force for forcing a foot long tube down their throats to pump in excessive amounts of food far more more than the quarter to half pounds a duck would naturally eat And this amount increases daily reaching up to 7 pounds pushing their bodies way
beyond the limit Um the European Union Commission on Food Safety's Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare found that fograph production severely impacts bird welfare as it compromises their liver function causes birds to sit more and engage less
natural behaviors It damages their esophagus increases bone fractures and raises mortality rates compared to non-force-fed birds This article would prohibit the sale of food products made of the liver of ducks geese or other birds fattened through
the practice of force-feeding All production of grow requires force feeding And if someone were to find a way to produce fuagra without force feeding then it still would not be covered by this bylaw Hudson Valley Farms is known as the industry standard and they produce freerange organic fuagra that in the
past had has been advertised as humane However they quickly dropped this word from their advertising campaigns when a federal judge gave the animal legal defense fund standing to sue them for false advertising and the Better Business Bureau dubbed them as deceiving While Hudson Valley Farms doesn't use
metal tubes the flexible tubes they use are still mechanis mechanisms of force feeding that are cruel to the birds A warrant article is necessary because there aren't any foil farms in Massachusetts which means that we can't regulate production and the federal
animal welfare act only applies doesn't apply to farmtype poultry which means that force feeding is legal and we need to take local actions to fill these gaps We reached out to a number of town departments and found that it doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of any of those departments and action by town
meeting is necessary To the best of our knowledge this is the first such prohibition introduced anywhere in Massachusetts But the entire state of California banned the sale of fuagra as did the city of Pittsburgh New York City also banned the sale of fuagra but that was later repealed on a
technicality that is not relevant to us which I can explain if you have questions later And the city of Chicago also banned the sale of fuagra but later voluntarily repealed its own its own ban um for loopholes Essentially it banned the sale of fuagra and so restaurants
started gifting fuagra to customers So to prevent the same from happening with this bylaw it defines food services establishment as including any place that offers customers prepared food whether such food is provided free of charge or sold and it prohibits any act of selling trading distributing or
bartering for monetary or non-monetary consideration which would prohibit restaurants from gifting Fuagrad to customers The language we're introducing is modeled on language passed in other jurisdictions and tailored to Brookline with input from town council health commissioner Ree and police police chief
pastor Importantly before Chicago voluntarily repealed its own pre its own fuagra ban it did go to court In the case Illinois Restaurant Association versus City of Chicago a federal judge upheld the constitutionality of fuagra bans And here in Massachusetts we also
have a strong precedent of our own attorney general upholding similar retail bans including our ban on the sale of fur and our various restrictions on the sale of nicotine products Our own tobaccof free generation bylaw was even upheld by the Massachusetts Superior Court
After significant research we are aware of only four places in Brooklyn that sell fuagra One being Bostonbased Love Walls location in Washington Square Another being Kurds & Co and Brooklyn Village selling almost 150 products only one of which is Fuagra They also recently added a plant-based alternative
after we reached out to them Also Star Market on Beacon Street sells one item And lastly Barcelona Wine Bar has a rotating menu And on the phone they confirmed they occasionally feature fuagra although we have never seen it advertised on their website There aren't any businesses in Brooklyn that rely principally on fog
for their income and this would impact fewer businesses than our tobacco restrictions Um while we would be the only the first municipality to ban the sale of fogra in Massachusetts uh we were the third to ban the sale of fur and now there are
seven total municipalities and Senator Cream just introduced um a statewide ban Um and we were the 15th municipality to ban the use of a number of wild animals and traveling animal acts Um and now there's a statewide ban And all this
shows that we can be leaders and this is another opportunity for us to be leaders in terms of fagra So just to go over everything one more time um there is a lot of crazy stuff happening in the world right now but this is something straightforward that
we can do on a local level that is clearly good It's something we can do with minimal economic impact on only four restaurants It's something we have a strong legal precedent for and it's an opportunity not just to do something good in Brooklyn but to be part of something bigger and start a movement I
also want to add that the advisory committee public safety subcommittee voted to recommend favorable action on this article and there was a little bit of confusion about our small business development committee hearing this morning but they did vote not to make a recommendation either way on this article In both of the hearings we've
had so far none of the businesses that in Brooklyn that itself have attended even though we've reached out to them and informed them about them Um I guess we'll see if any came tonight Thank you Okay Mike So this is very interesting
Um I read an article recently um about um someone who has figured out how to take duck and goose liver from animals that have not been force-fed and um uh transform it using some additives
apparently consumable additives uh into something that tastes exactly like fagra And so uh I I will ask you a rhetorical question you don't have to answer it In fact be probably better if you didn't Um how you would uh regard that product and
whether it would fit in uh with this uh and um uh I I do want to want you to think about an answer to that before uh before town meeting because I expect that someone will bring it up there Thank you
May I respond to that yes please We were very deliberate in the way we drafted this article about explicitly divi defining fuagra as a product of force-feeding So I saw that article too Um there was a physicist the New York Times wrote this article um who
developed like a fuagra product without force feeding There have also been some articles um NPR published one about farms in Spain where they sort of let geese gorge on olives and nuts and it has a similar effect on their liver But none of that would be affected by this
bylaw which very explicitly only applies to products produced through force feeding Thank you John Thanks Thanks very much for the presentation and um the small business
um development committee Yes Uh had a meeting this morning All of the members there um uh were very high in their praise of the students for the work they did on this presentation that they made Um when it came time for the vote excuse
me Um there were you know only a couple of yeses maybe three at most I can't remember for sure Um and then the other members were kind of torn Um I think largely because they did not want to sort of um what's the word I'm looking
for you know they didn't want to disrespect the work that had been done by the students but they clearly had a lot of concerns about this uh Da David uh from the Chamber of Commerce um uh had uh was was quite explicit that he
did not think this was going to be good for several of Brooklyn's businesses and not just because uh there are businesses and not too many that do um sell um but because the the message that
Brookline is a difficult place to do business would be all that much more amplified um because this you know came along and then uh it was if it if it is adopted um in his view and and in the view of a few
others th this would sort of add to um an impression that you know if you do your business if you do business in Brooklyn watch out because at any minute you know there might be decisions by town meeting to get in your business and start telling you you know well you can
sell this but you can't sell that Um and some of it let's face it is is more reasonable Um obviously the tobacco ban um is it got wide acceptance and encouragement and and should have um and
the and the ban on furs Um but people were quite specific about the dilemma posed by this particular proposal because it is a food item And if we start going into the food chain um and
looking at how our dietary needs are met through um food production Um I I I know I have a really hard time drawing a distinction between the ethics of fuagra versus the ethics of pork production um
or the ethics of beef production or the ethics of egg production um or you know chicken as a as a meat production And um if we can't explain why we would focus in on you know the danger to ducks and
geese of being overfed I'm not sure how we would justify not intervening in the danger to pigs cattle chickens you name it being slaughtered so that we can eat them Um
and I think that was on the minds of people I won't speak for them but um and they and some of them weren't quite as as as explicit as I have just been but um the end result was they weren't prepared to vote for this and then they got into a a little bit of confusion
between whether they could issue a um report that simply said they have no recommendation but they ended up taking a vote no action So I don't know if they even understood that no action in town meeting
parliament um means no Um but um you know we'll leave that to them and and maybe they're going to revisit it before um the town meeting occurs I don't know May I respond yep Please do Me or Mr Warren
no Did you want to respond to John i can wait Sure Sorry I'll respond quickly Um I think there I think there was like Mr Lashinsky was I think a little more conflicted and certainly um talked about
saw um that how he saw the um the importance of um restricting the sale of fuagra And when under the initial motion this morning um to recommend favorable action he abstained Um he did not vote no on a motion for favorable action Um
and I think there's I think there is a pretty clear distinction between fuagra and pork production in that there is force-feeding involved in fuagra And this that's why we were very explicit in rather than um defining uh fuagra by
some end result product we defined it via the process because it's really the process of force feeding that we're taking issue with here Um and I I think also this morning the intention um and what was explained before the vote was
taken even if um it was said that the the vote was no action the way it was explained was to not make a recommendation either way and the motion initially was also for no recommendation and that was what was voted on Do you
mind if I ask question so uh you you you and I heard the same discussion And the folks who abstained initially then said "Does abstain mean no?" And when they were told "No it doesn't mean the same thing as no it just means you're not you know you don't have the vote on this."
That's when they started to ask well then can we vote that you know no action or no report um um I you know I we we don't have to sort of settle this tonight and and probably it's not you could go back to those people right now
and they wouldn't agree among themselves what they did exactly Um but I I didn't see a significant number of people in that group who wanted to see this pass Um and um you know that to me was the overriding message that came out of out
of that uh meeting Uh Paul thanks John I went back to the I went back to the video John because of that confusion And Ezra is right David first uh moved to um voted to abstain but then there was some confusion and you yourself actually said people who
abstained if they want to be no should vote no and then a number of people who abstained switched to no vote But the second motion was a motion um of not to recommend as Ezra said and that was the one that's p that passed So they took no position for or against as was explained
to them before their vote Yeah And but I did hear them say "All right then it's a vote." Ann said it's a vote on no action and then people said I or no on no action Yeah there was confusion She said people can go back to the tape themselves Yeah I'm glad to share it if
anybody wants Yeah Yep First uh Ezra and team thank you for bringing bringing this forward I always appreciate the articles that you bring there well thought out and always the the the PowerPoint slides are the best I've ever seen Um as as as before I I do I have a
similar first of all you should know this is not a product I eat I'm married to a liver transplant surgeon I can't go anywhere near it She would kill me Um but I I do want to say that I I share a similar concern that maybe I heard raised by John or maybe it was from the
small business that that this is a an an issue of ethics right now that where you're drawing the line as force-feeding but you know there are there's farmed fish that are housed in pens that you know there's a lot of disease and they're they're they're forced together
in an unnatural state Um there are many uh food products um that are are processed in a way that are often culturally important that may not be acceptable for for certain individuals Um and my my concern about this is that
um that for now it's your ethical issue of force feeding and someone else may come along I mean where do we draw the line um right It's just it you're starting you're we're that's my concern Um is to set a precedent where you know John said it's difficult to do business
in Brooklyn Um I I could see uh this setting off a series of uh of bans on various types of products that people feel are unethical in the way that they're processed Um I'm sure there's a lot of people that think a chicken in a
coupe laying an egg that doesn't get to run around is is unethically treated or a fish Um so that's that's my concern about it It's really not meant for you to answer because I I know you I know you didn't come to this with a list of future uh products that you're planning
on banning I know you you're going to go to college and be very busy so you'll have to do that later But I do I it is and I say that tongue and cheek by the way Um I I it is a concern that I have um that this would set a precedent that other products based on the ethics of
the the folks bringing it forward uh would would would ban products and I'm concerned about that Um okay David first So I I'm a bit less concerned about the line drawing issue When there's a future Warren article that comes before us we can decide where
to draw that line Uh I do think that setting an example is something that's important We often pride ourselves in Brooklyn in doing that In terms of economic impact the tobacco ban had a much larger economic impact on
businesses than what this proposal uh would lead to And the petitioners invited the affected businesses to participate They haven't participated Uh and it seems to be a fairly minor element of their particular menus Anyway
uh California as mentioned has a statewide ban on uh force-fed fugra and you can still buy pork in California and chicken And the sky hasn't fallen down for u meat eaters and those who like
poultry Yeah Yeah Right But they can certainly draw the line there if that's what they decide to do Uh because one can make the line drawing argument about almost anything and then we would never pass any bylaw Uh so I like to take them one at a time This seems to be very
reasonable to me It's well researched I think all of us on the select board are in agreement that this presentation was incredibly thorough and the research that went into it and the education that's being provided to the community So I'm very thankful uh for that as well
But I'm inclined to support this Yeah Um you know a few years ago we um a similar situation banned ve uh here in Brooklyn uh ve that was prepared through I think it was force feeding also right no um
something there is there is a type of Yeah Yeah That but that's the ve we we banned Yeah Okay Because v all by itself is not banned You can have real parmesan if you wish by going to a restaurant across the street here I believe that
was a resolution not a not a bylaw Okay Okay Whatever Oh their homework I I you know my I do have concerns about uh you know where is the line um you know pigs and cows are not force-fed but fattened
up in pretty um outrageous ways Um I think that uh well well I agree that you know the way that uh uh ducks are forcefed to produce fagwa is um
probably orders of magnitude worse than than that Uh but I think u it's important that the records show that we have we do have some concerns about you know ho how far we're going in terms of controlling things like what people eat
uh in the kind in in terms of how it creates an atmosphere in town um that business views as as not very supportive or not very um um makes Brooklyn not a very good place
to easy place to do business I think that that should just be on the record Um that doesn't mean that I would not support you this particular uh form of inhumity Um and and that uh you know that is not
where I would draw or that's where I'd draw the line uh not the various other forms of inhumity that uh um are are seen in production of particularly meats in in this uh in this world really meats
and fish Um so Mike so uh speaking of inhumity we have a lunatic in the White House uh and he and his crowd are trying to turn back the clock to 1950 um put women back in the kitchen put gays back in the closet uh put other
people back in their places Uh and um it seems to me like this is uh um an inappropriate use of our mental uh of of our of our honestly of our time and of town meeting And I'm not
suggesting that we completely stop things that need to be done that are of lesser uh import But this doesn't even rise to the level of being lesser import to me John just want to get your attention But
wait can I ask Mike so are you saying that you would support or not no no I I think I I think it's um it's a very impressive exercise on the part of the students Uh I don't think it's appropriate for a town meeting
So I had a question Ezra Um does this ban effectively make it illegal for people in Brooklyn to consume fuagra no No it it just applies to the sale um and would find the one who does the selling Um and I think as as to where
the draw as to where to draw the line um the the beautiful thing about town meeting is and democracy is that as a community as you know town meeting gets to decide where the line is and um we make those decisions with the best information that we have at any given
time and we can always change those decisions later but um with the information that we have right now I think it seems very clear that force-feeding is wrong is significantly worse um and and falls on the side of the line that we that is unacceptable
Yeah Town meeting has to draw that line I asked that question I asked because actually the California ban does not make it illegal for people in California to consume bongra So they go on as they have in the past if they choose to and
they can order it You know every everybody knows about ordering things delivered to your door Um and it's a food item that can easily be ordered and shipped and delivered to your door and you can eat it And you know what I keep coming back to here is um you know as
you said town meeting can make its decision as to what people should eat But people can also make their own decisions as to what to eat and they do And some of them don't eat fuagra Some of them do Some of them don't eat beef
Some of them do Some of them don't eat pork Some of them do Some of them don't eat beef that has been butchered a certain way but they'll eat it if it's been butchered a certain other way I don't want town meeting getting involved in making those decisions for other
people you know based on what I would eat or not eat and then telling other people what I choose to eat or not eat is what you have to choose or to eat or not eat And that's where I become very uncomfortable with this especially if
it's going to create this you know sense or add to this sense that um Brooklyn's a very difficult place to do business because we're always getting in everybody's business I may put it that way You can uh find at least five
varieties of fuagra on Amazon 10 I'm scrolling down Doesn't surprise me 10 Can I just respond to that briefly yeah very quickly This is a public hearing Need to open up the public I I understand I just want to make sure that John is clear on what this law does and
does not do It does not prevent anybody from eating anything It does not prevent anybody from buying anything All it does is it prevents the sale of force-fed food That's the only thing that it bans in Brooklyn We can go across the line to
and only in Brooklyn and and get frog right from say where but there are a few stories there from those barbarians in Newton Yeah Okay This is a public hearing Uh Tiffany can you open up the public hearing yes Now that the chair has opened up the public hearing there are no individuals who signed up in
advance If there are individuals online who would wish to speak on the warrant article 20 related to fogra please raise your hand using the raise hand feature If you're in the room please make your presence known at this time Okay we have one speaker Cara Homequist I am promoting you
now You can start your video and begin your three minutes Hi good evening I know you have had a full agenda and I'll be real quick My name is Cara Homequist I work at the MSPCA just down the street in Jamaica Plane and I just want to uh show our
support for this measure Um we've been fortunate to work with this group of students and sheriff for a while and of as you have been very impressed with their how thorough they've been how well they've presented the argument Uh
there's not much I can say about the process except ex itself except that they've described the cruelty involved and uh the town has taken action um really in dramatic fashion with some of
the other measures to re eliminate some of the cruel activity or not participate as a town in some of the worst cruelties that we know happen to animals Unfortunately many cities and towns are reaching out to us all the time working
to pass local measures It's really we have a lot of energy around this U Brookline is really held out as a model It's a very animal friendly community A lot of other towns and cities are aspiring to it and so I really hope you do uh give consideration to supporting
this measure Thank you Thank you Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item at this time there are approximately 26 individuals online and three in the room and no one else is indicating their desire to speak
Okay we will close the hearing and um unless there are any other comments or questions from the select board we'll thank the petitioners and move on We'll do this vote on this next time uh want to that would be I'd like to noodle on this a little bit and hear
from has it when is has advisory taken it up you had the full advisory or just the subcommittee the subcommittee you said y that's what you usually do more time I'd like to noodle a little bit but I do I really appreciate the petitioners coming forward with they've done a good they always do a good job okay uh next uh
warrant article is warrant article five um budget amendment which is a placeholder I believe and we don't have anything in this for this place do we that's correct good evening everyone Melissa Goff
deputy town administrator um we filed this warrant article when we heard that the school department was projecting a deficit for fiscal 25 in the event that we might need it we had town school partnership last week whereas as of that meeting um they were
um confident that they had a plan in place to address the current projected deficit So we don't anticipate needing this article and the recommendation is no action Okay Um we have to have a hearing So open up the hearing Now that the hearing is
opened on this article there's no one that signed up in advance Is there anyone online who wishes to speak on this article if so please raise your hand using the raise hand feature or make your presence known in the room There are 22 participants online three in the room and no one is indicating their desire to speak Okay I'll close
the hearing and move uh no action on warrant article five All in favor John Vancoyak I Michael Simon Hi Paul Warren Hi David Pearlman I chair votes eye Next Warren article six approval of unpaid bills of
a prior prior fiscal year Um Melissa do we have we do have unpaid bills right we do Um chief pastor I'm hoping she's either still online or still in the room And then Liz Scott should be promoted as well These are police department bills Liz I'm promoting you now And Chief is
also online Okay Uh Chief Faster tell us about your unpaid bills So unfortunately uh as part of the turnover in the public safety business office we were going through trying to close open POS try to make uh sense
of what was in front of us Um it was discovered at that time that there were some outstanding bills from FY23 Um I believe that what you have in the packet is a comprehensive list of what's still owed Um primarily contracted
services Um we won't know for sure but my understanding is that they there was either not enough money in the budget for the manager at the time to pay those bills Um and there was a small amount there for the Boston Police Department that
should have come out of the training bucket That was an unanticipated expense at the time Again I I don't have um a solid answer to explain why it wasn't paid at the time but there was a change in the protocol at the Boston Police Department where
they started um applying a 4-hour detail rate for our officers to use the shooting range at Moon Island Uh so I do apologize for being in front of me today with these bills Um but can assure you that with this Scott in place now um
she's gone through she's in the process of checking in with all vendors that we use to make sure that there are no further surprises uh from past years and I can assure you that since she's taken over uh we are up to date with this year's bills
Great Any questions from the select board again a public hearing Uh Tiffany want to open it up yes Now that the chair has opened up the public hearing if there's anyone online who wishes to speak on this or an article related to unpaid bills please raise your hand using the
raise hand feature at this time or make your presence known in the room There are 21 participants online three in the room and no one is indicating their desire to speak Okay I'll close the hearing and um I think unless anyone objects I think we
can accept this and vote uh vote now I can add earlier tonight the advisory committee voted favorable action on this article Right Okay Uh I move favorable action All in favor please indicate by saying I
John Vancoy I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David Pearlman I chair votes I Thank you Thank you Uh next warrant article 17 um amend the town's bylaws to restrict the possession of firearms in
medical healthc care settings and places that serve alcohol for consumption on site and other medical health care settings Uh I see Anthony Aishak is um on uh on the screen Uh and lucky for you just Monday you got a Supreme Court
decision that backs up your Warren article So tell us about it And um you know make your make make your pitch for Warren article 17 Um I'm going to share the screen if that's okay
Yes Thank you Good evening My name is Anthony Aishak speaking on behalf of my co-itioners who I believe at least one is joining me um Janice Khan and Petra Benyami in regards to sworn article 17 which seeks to um ban or prevent the use
or carrying of firearms in sensitive areas So our objectives for this brief presentation are three-fold Summarize the data on firearms and alcohol review the impact of firearms on health care and healthcare settings and an update on
where this article is in the process of hopefully becoming a bylaw So the intersection of firearms and alcohol includes 47,000 people yearly who die in the US related firearms injuries Um this is the third highest of all time behind the previous
two years In other words we're not seeing a downward trend Uh this data is as of I believe 2023 Third of homicides are related to alcohol Order of suicides completed using firearms also involved alcohol A
2022 Philadelphia study showed increased firearms related firearms related violence on blocks that had bars and restaurants that served alcohol Um this was kind of a unique study They basically used um like Jones and satellite foot footage to look at the
different blocks see the composition of businesses and residential and compared similar blocks that had alcohol permits versus those that didn't um to show that there was an increase in firearms related violence in in those
areas with alcohol permits So this seems to be a rational intervention um to consider banning firearms where alcohol is served Um right So firearms usually require um attention to detail um and clear focus
Alcohol in some situations can impair quick decision making and um rational decision- making This data is from the John's Hopkins um center for uh gun violence and it
recommends basically limiting access to guns when and where alcohol is um consumed and you can see specifically where we would fit in in this It says states and cities should prohibit the public carry or possession of firearms in locations where alcohol is consumed
on the premises To the right is a study that was done a few years ago It could look a little bit confusing Um on the right side is people who said no firearms should not be in that setting So you could see in restaurants in general it's about 52% When you slide
down for um places that are clearly more associated with alcohol it's 69% um that believe that And then you can see other places in the range um government buildings which at least for our town uh is already
banned States across the spectrum have done this The ones I list are the ones that have a ban on open and concealed carry You could see that this is across different um thoughts in terms of the spectrum of firearms in terms of who
could carry it and who can't And you can see geographically it follows the same thing Uh right now currently it's about 27 states of which Massachusetts is not one which is why we are here before you today
Brewin decision a few years ago obviously had a very big impact in policies that impact firearms and they also still carved out specifically places that serve alcohol um by referencing the Heler decision that it is a sensitive
area They also said that sensitive areas can be um identified using historical analysis um comparisons and I'll bring that up in a minute What about healthcare settings so we know healthcare related firearms incidents have also been increasing since the 2000s over a quarter century Healthcare
workers are disproportionately experiencing firearms related trauma particularly in the emergency department setting Some settings had exposure rate is up to 20% according to a 2024 systematic review Those studies are um shown below They are in peer review
journals Similarly states in DC have enacted restrictions of some sort of which there is a total of 17 Um you can see Texas is on there Um notably I identify because of course we probably are well aware of how permissive they are in terms of
firearms rights So as the chair alluded to this um just yesterday the Supreme Court rejected the challenge to New York's gun law They said the court's decision not to intervene means most provisions including a ban on carrying concealed firearms in sensitive places remain in
effect That included healthcare settings places where the public gathers such as churches which are not included in this warrant article and other places of entertainment and including parks So warrant article 17 fills a gap
The 2024 surgeon general report declared fire armed violence a health crisis This was last summer Um about three weeks ago when I was preparing these slides for presentation to the advisory council of public health I went to put on a screenshot and to identify the um document and as you can see as we are
well aware of um the federal government has basically um fully abandoned public health in this country of which this is a concern So what does warrant article 17 do bans firearms in areas where alcohol is consumed by the public So places where it is open to the public
for consumption on site So this does not concern people who purchase alcohol and use it in their own homes This does not concern areas that are private and have a permit for alcohol use that is not open to the public Bans firearms in areas where healthcare and medical care
are provided to vulnerable populations This can be compared although we have decisions that support this This can also be compared to considering what were known as asylums um in previous centuries Advisory subcommittee took
this up last week Um the the original form of this uh proposal included parking restrictions In other words that it would include the adjacent parking lot You couldn't have a firearm there Um that's been since removed We feel that
in Brooklyn that does not impact us as much because most people get to their places by foot or by public transportation or trains Um so there are very few places with a permit to sell alcohol that have a parking lot that is exclusive to them It also limits it to
areas that are open to the public So for example places that get a one-day permit that are exclusively private property So picture someone's home where they're having an event and they get a one-day permit that this does not apply to them The idea being that this is meant to um
be geared towards the public where there is the potential for more difficulty in terms of regulating how much someone gets alcohol and and who's there Visor voted favorable action 23 to zero Earlier this morning uh my two
co-etitioners presented to the small business development committee Um there was some discussion over signage if signage would be required This does not require signage Of course businesses can choose to put up signage if they would prefer Um what we've identified which we knew of um ahead of time and we've
discussed with Chief Pastor and others Education and awareness will be important Um I have reached out to various people within um town departments and town staff to make sure impacted places are made aware when this was filed when there would be hearings And my hope is I suspect this is going
to take a while just because town meeting is in a another couple of months and the potential for the attorney general to review this We still have a long period of time to hopefully get the education out there make businesses and healthcare settings aware of
this They also voted favorable action 70 as of this morning That brings you up to date I don't believe there has been any further current events in the last 12 minutes or so since we started Okay Okay Um discussion I have a
question um about the text of the article Um Anthony uh it's it says um uh in um C3 any establishment open to the public that's licensed pursuing to sell
dispense alcohol to customers Which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose does that mean that this refers to a bar but not to a restaurant where alcohol is sold no it would apply to everywhere
where alcohol is sold and consumed So picture if you have a bar on the left side and then a bank and um like booth seating p I'm picturing coolage corner It would apply to both areas Um yeah but I mean there are restaurants
where there is no separate bar and they serve they may have a wine and beer license or even a full uh al well they would typically have a bar if they have a full alcohol license but certainly wine and beer not necessarily not necessarily what they wouldn't
necessarily have an area primarily devoted to such purpose I wonder if you you really want to take that phrase out Um I don't there was some discussion about that before The the primary reason
for that is because those are areas that are like meant to be for consumption So it's not meant to be the consumption of alcohol but the primary it's primarily the alcohol is being sold in that area I think you're missing my point but I
won't press it Okay Uh Paul Yep Anthony thank you Um a quick question So I'm digging through the amended version Uh looks like it's when you say did a So AC voted 23 to zero but this looks like the
subcommittee may have uh amended Um where is enforcement coming from where would enforcement come from So um give me just a second I was actually trying to pull up um the word
document to also have it but I think I can answer it without um looking at the document So are you asking enforcement of the application or if there was somebody who violated the bylaw in terms of are you meaning a customer who had a firearm or are you meaning if a let's
say that that you know someone walked into a restaurant or a bar with a firearm that was concealed and someone noticed it what would you do um the police Yeah that would be the recommendation Um there would be some education in terms
of what would be the proper um methods for businesses but ultimately it's similar to the previous war article submitted two years ago which is um you would call the police and the police would come and have that discussion But so but if
the and if this is a I guess I'm is it a criminal compl like what would happen um would happen if so we cannot have um felonies or or that type of charge as a town it would be basically the maximum which is a $300 fine
Where does it say that is it where does it say that you can be fined $300 um give me just a second I actually I have to pull up the document but I believe it probably references um so if you give me just one second Yeah I saw it in there So did you see it
i was trying to find it Bernard I just couldn't find it Yeah because um that was part of the reason of the ordering right so if you see that it was put in the alphabet so that it would be above Um so give me just one second Um
I would actually have to look and get back to you if it's just by the way it's written within the zoning um or sorry within the bylaws if it's referenced at a area above what is actually put in the warn article but I
do know that when we um did this in 20 21 2023 three that that was addressed that we put it and we made sure working with town council that it did reference that this would fall under the the finage and the punishment or the um yeah
I guess punishment would be the word or penalty but that would be the intent is that would be the $300 which was updated with the previous foreign article Yeah but but it's not actually in your article I thought it Yeah it's just not clear at all as to how where
enforcement's coming from or the fine So I think because this is an amendment to a bigger article and unfortunately this is part of the issue that's being brought up in the um in the next one 23
Um we're trying to figure out um just want to be sure that um it's re you know we we have to pull that uh earlier article that um Mr dry shack is referencing from the uh 2023 and make
sure that that's included in there the language about the fines and it might not just be the specific warn article I believe it's because of the way it's put in in that section but I I believe we had addressed it the last time So I I can look and potentially ask that question of town
council um to make sure Yeah it would be helpful to know how this is being enforced and what the consequences are of um you know not obeying the bylaw Okay this is a public hearing Can we uh
open the public hearing Tiffany yes Now that the public hearing has been opened if there is anyone who wishes to speak on the warn article 17 related to firearms please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time or make your presence known in the room There are 20 individuals online
three in the room and it looks like no one is indicating their desire to speak Okay I'll close the public hearing Any further discussion all right Um aren't all of our warrant articles like this cross
reference to the uh enforcement uh bylaw well the enforce by law the general penalty provisions Um I'm pulling Joe and I are currently looking at this Um um and I think there may be there may be
an issue here Um but we will circle back with the petitioners because um I'm just looking at the version as amended um on the advisory side um and the original
6.2 or three or whatever it is right i'm just trying to see Does it have any cross reference to Well I'm looking at the original now and I'm cross referencing So the as amended version is 6.6.1.6.2 Perhaps we could solve this Yeah maybe
they could come back and Yeah we could do the research and bring it back next week or are we meeting next week or is that the following week meeting next week Meeting next week Yeah Um it does look like so the penalties there are there are listed penalties in the um the general penalty provisions for 6.6.1 and
6.6.2 and those are both $300 So um it's modifying those two subsections Um so there is language in the general penalties but the town council and I will confirm and reach back out to you Thank you Okay
Um so we'll take this up next week Next um warrant article 23 to require the town clerk who just walked in
to timely update the general bylaws following amendment So I see Mike Tooff is in the audience and he is the uh our a petitioner Been waiting for three hours
Patient young man Good evening Hold it by the minute Good evening everyone Uh Mike Toffel town meeting member from Precinct 8 and my co-patitioner uh Alec is online and we'll give some brief remarks after mine So we're both town meeting members
Precinct 8 uh bringing what we consider to be a good government proposal to town meeting This is fundamentally about the rule of law We think believing in the rule of law requires that the government makes it easy to know what our laws are
for our community whom we ask to adhere to our laws and for our elected leaders and town staff responsible for enforcing that law including our police department the building department and the select board Moreover town meeting members are
not currently notified of bylaw approvals by the attorney general and the updates to our bylaws that are then made So even our local legislators as ambassadors to the public are not given timely information on bylaw changes Unfortunately in Brooklyn our
claims to be dedicated to the rule of law isn't matched by the status of our bylaws which are 5 years out of date This means to learn what our town's laws are you need to first check the main bylaws document but that's only updated as of the 2020 town meeting Second you
then need to check the town website to see if there are links to any updates from the last two years And third you need to check 160 page document that's a compendium of correspondence between the town and the attorney general's office about the bylaws town meeting passed
since the year 2000 Brookline's the only town among several others we checked whose bylaws are outdated at all much less 5 years outdated We believe town meeting will agree that this is unacceptable and that we need to
set a clear standard for timely updating of our bylaws Two years ago Alec and I drafted a bylaw similar to the one we're bringing to town meeting next month After discussions with the town clerk at that time we learned that efforts were underway to fix this problem and so we
held off Two years later the problem is still here and we're done waiting Our proposal calls for a very reasonable deadline uh for the town clerk to update our bylaws 10 business days after receiving approval from the attorney
general office We've heard objections that we should just wait another year for the bylaws to get updated Some have said it's inappropriate for town meeting to set a deadline for the timely updating of our bylaws Others have asked why this isn't in the MIU for timely
updating the public of the status of warrant articles I advocated for this at the time but those signing theou didn't include it And so we're bringing this to town meeting to set a reasonable deadline We believe having easily accessible accurate bylaws is
fundamental to living the words being dedicated to the rule of law and we hope you support this proposal when it comes to a vote at town meeting Let me turn it over for to Alec to see if he has anything else to add Thanks Mike And good evening everyone Um
not too much to add I think Mike gave a great overview of our rationale behind this article and why we think it's important Um I just reiterate how core of a function this is for any government but certainly a local government in fulfilling our mandate to the public and
our mission uh at providing quality services and enforcing the rule of law Um and I'd note that you know this is something that not only impedes on the public's ability to stay appraised of uh updates to our bylaws to what
enforcement actions they may face for what has previously been allowed activity that might not be allowed anymore Um this is something that also impedes the functioning of our legislature um in deliberations in this uh for this upcoming town meeting and the previous town meeting uh we have had
proposals that have come before the advisory committee that have involved uh amendments or updates to bylaws passed since November 2020 And this has led to an increased administrative burden as we've had to parse out what final version of the bylaw had been approved
and what were the final numbering of that bylaw was and where it was situated in existing bylaws So you know this is something that really speaks to I I think what has to be a core competency and a core responsibility of our local government and it's one that all of our
comparable neighboring communities have managed to do Um this has been a persistent issue in Brooklyn as Mike has mentioned Uh and we feel that for that reason a bylaw uh is the appropriate way forward uh even with the the ongoing efforts that the town clerk has
undertaken and we are appreciative of those efforts um you know a bylaw ensures that regardless of any changes in personnel uh over the years to come regardless of potential changes to private vendors who might service uh the e-code or any other future bylaw system
Having a local bylaw in place ensures accountability uh as time passes and again as personnel change Uh and for that reason we uh we feel very strongly that this is something the town meeting needs to consider And I'll leave it there Thank you Right Oh stay stay Yeah we're we're
going to grill you We're going to grill you No I have a I'm not being grilled by you Happy to answer your questions but I have Mike thank you for your and I appreciate where you're coming from on this So um I noticed it's only the general bylaw Why not the zoning bylaw so we were asked that by AC as well The
the zoning bylaw does not suffer is not years out of date It's up to date It's up to date Yep Was it always up to date cuz I'm focusing on the problems of today I don't know the history So okay But again why why apply i mean there's going to be changes to the zoning bylaw
in the future Why just if this I'm happy to have your support to ex to expand this to include zoning It probably won't fit uh the moderators I'm sure it'll be an expansion Again I'm just curious This is not a combative You're being a little combative Why reing sounds combative I think you
started the com the combat Mike I'm just accusing us of violating the rule of law associating us with Trump I didn't say anything about Trump No you didn't But you So you can share our our affection for
being in favor of the rule of law and requiring knowing what the law is We share that So your so your answer is that the zoning bylaw is not out of date Correct Today Therefore we don't need to apply your solution to the zoning bylaw You only want it to the general bylaw
because the general bylaw is currently out of date Correct Okay But the general the zoning bylaw could be out of date in the future Absolutely In which case we would be delighted to bring another bylaw proposal which hopefully would get your equal support John is is uh Ben
gonna comment on this or um I would like him to Yeah too Are are you want to do it now you must be here for a reason right i'm happy to do whatever the board would like I'm happy to ask answer questions or to to provide some of my insight uh
on this particular article and the and the situation with our updated general bylaws Um Mike's argument is spoton Uh our bylaws are incredibly out of date They've been out of date for years They were out of date long before I became the clerk Um and it was one of the issues that I ran on when I became the
clerk Uh I undertook a project in 2021 to try to bring them up to date in our current system And it required me being in town hall from 5:00 p.m to 10 p.m 5 days a week for the entire months of June and July of 2021 At the end of which it was updated to the point where it is now and really made me realize
that there needed to be a different way So I reached out to other communities to see what they had done much as Mike had done actually some of the same communities uh Belmont um Arlington and came back with the general code uh project Um you asked about the zoning bylaws The project was for both the zoning and the general bylaws Um huge
huge appreciation to Cara Brutin to Pauly Selco to the team in the planning department for getting the zoning bylaws up to date And we're doing the same project right now with the general bylaws We've actually completed our work Um currently we're having department heads review our proposed changes because there's some clerical
corrections in there um corrections of spelling and references We wanted to get their input back on it and it has to go before town meeting So it's going to go before town meeting in November in order to be adopted at which point our general bylaws will be at the same status as our zoning bylaws Um in the interim um I
signed on to a memorandum of understanding uh with uh the board and with the moderator um that includes um uh addressing some of the issues that are raised by this bylaw Um it says that uh the town clerk will to the best of their ability uh update the um uh post the bylaw approvals from the attorney
general's office within 10 days uh and then we'll send those approvals to general code or vendor within 10 business days Um what's important is it gives a level of flexibility and this is one of the issues that I have with this specific bylaw change Um the bylaw
requires updates that the uh corrections be posted within 10 business days and that the bylaws themselves be updated within 10 business days And there's three reasons why that sometimes is not possible The first is due to the timing of us receiving bylaw changes from the
attorney general Sometimes they send them back to us in a scattershot fashion A good example of this was we received the approvals for a historic district but we did not receive the approved map until 2 weeks later In that situation it made sense for us to hold that approval
not post it within our 10 days so that we could post both the approved language and the approved map together um as a single posting Sometimes it has to do with the timing in the town clerk's office The approvals from the May 2024 annual town meeting were received in the town clerk's office on November 5th 2024
which was election day The town clerk's office had tremendous obligations to do after that So we prioritized doing those other obligations and certifying the election ensuring that we counted provisional ballots so that we could have a free and fair election Um which did result in those bylaw changes being
posted 15 days instead of 10 days after we received them from the attorney general's office And the third is our requirement to actually have the bylaws updated within 10 days And the reason for that is under the new general code uh project our e-code is actually updated by our vendor It's how we're
going to allow our bylaws to be up to date the town clerk's office does not have the capacity to do those updates as they currently exist So we're essentially outsourcing that work so that it can be done in a timely fashion even with our current staffing levels However in our contract we don't have a requirement that it be updated within 10
days In all of our experience with general code on the zoning bylaws and in every conversation I've had with other communities when looking at going to general code they have made those updates within a couple of days but it's not a requirement in our contract And a concern that I have is that if we were
to approve this bylaw general code would look at it and say "We're not willing to be out of compliance with your general bylaws This is going to void the contract that we have with them and potentially kick our entire project back to zero." So the recommendation that I've made that I made to the petitioners when they first came to me with this
that I made to the advisory committee and that I make to the select board tonight um is to not craft a bylaw that's trying to address a problem that will already be resolved in a year uh to instead support the memorandum of understanding that we have Uh I have continued to update the uh website I've
sent an example of that to the board I've also sent it to the petitioners looking for their input um and to allow the town clerk's office to complete that codification project to bring it before town meeting in November and to allow it to go into effect and if after that there continue to be these issues to
reapproach this conversation but currently to pass a bylaw on a temporary situation that's already being resolved and a bylaw that the town clerk's office is likely not going to be able to effectively comply with because the current status of our bylaw does not allow us to comply with it uh is something that I don't think is
appropriate at this time So I'm happy to take any questions from the board Uh and uh happy to answer any of them Yeah Go ahead Um Ben thank you very much Uh quick bit of history U one of the first things that happened when I was elected to this board was that the prior town
administrator um urged me to work with him for Brookline to uh petition the legislature to have an appointed town clerk versus an elected town clerk That didn't work out so great the uh the the the measure was defeated um you know at
the when we voted on it locally Um my the the understanding of the office that was conveyed to me at that time was that the town clerk has a lot of independence I mean you are an elected official Okay I am an elected official It's it's not
clear that I can dictate to you how you should do your job and you can't dictate to me how I should do my job Um I I have my own questions as to whether the town meeting can dictate to you how you should do your job You know when one is
an elected official usually the remedy if a person is not living up to the expectations of the voters is to vote that person out of office and vote someone in office who you know will live up to those expectations So I'm not going to try to resolve this tonight um
u nor nor do I encourage people to get into that question tonight but I think um it's cons that question is consistent with what you have just said which is that um it's not always the right thing
to do to attempt to legislate how someone has to do their job with hard deadlines etc etc etc because then what if they don't meet those deadlines what I mean they get dragged out of the office and put to in jail I don't know what the the the the punishment is for
not conforming to this So I appreciate what you said I appreciate Mike's efforts um and the efforts of others but I I think there's a lot of questions as to whether this is even uh doable to to have town meeting intervene and dictate
to the town clerk deadlines for when the town clerk has to have their their job done So um I'll just leave that question hanging in the air Okay Uh Mike so um uh Mike said something very interesting uh
that sort of uh links back to what you've just said John Um Mike I think you said that the bylaw ensures bylaws don't ensure anything Um people do the work and that's what ensures that things get done And very clearly we have a town
clerk who is doing the work doing his job Um and he's saying um I really can't can't promise to comply with this particular construct and I realize that changing the construct in a significant
way will you may run into problems with the moderator but um you may want to wait until November town meeting see what happens with what's going on currently back off of this and then
again I it's you came up here you of saying well you know the zoning bylaw was in is is in good shape but the this the the general bylaw is on Well he's been working on the zoning bylaw So I think you have to give credit where credit is due right from the get-go Uh
and uh you don't need to respond to that right now but I do want to put the idea on your head that well let's step back Uh Mike why don't you respond uh so I wanted to respond to John Vancoyak's question about whether this is legal and
if you believe the town council It is We sought his approval and he agreed this was appropriate Thanks Paul Yep So um I want to provide some history and context here because a boatload of work went into an agreement
um between the town clerk the select board and the moderator um that was initiated by Mike was going to file a warrant article that had some of this stuff in it Actually what's in
theou or some of the things in theou um and we spent a considerable time with Mike in Chaz's office I pulled everybody together Um it it was a humongous amount of work to get the three parties to come to an agreement as to what would be done
Um and we had an extensive convers and by the way that's being executed on the moderator is executing on it Ben is executing on it Uh the select board uh signed on to it with with the support from the town administrator Um and it's really it was an example of how we
should do things Mike instead of just throwing warrant articles Let me finish You could let me finish Um against the wall right um to actually work collaboratively and collegially with the with the individuals that we're trying to influence to execute and do their
jobs So I'm I'm almost done David Um I'm actually I'm not almost done Well let me finish because this is a I'm I'm going to get there You know this the 10day issue was discussed at length Um Mike
knew that 10 days was a problem for Ben because of the contract with the vendor Um that was made very clear to you Mike at the time Um it it's it's not something that we can change Uh there was a commitment to to do it as quick as it could be done once the bylaws are
updated The zoning bylaw is now updated I'm sure it happens very quickly in days Uh but you knew very well that the general bylaw could not be done committed to within 10 days because of this issue with the vendor right that's what that's you knew that Um and I guess
I'm I'll be clear I'm pretty disappointed that you didn't even bother to approach the parties ahead of time and say "I'm going to bring this article because I'm still stuck on 10 days What can we do about it?" Um I think that
unfortunately the collegiality that you kind of participated in before um that's the right way to get this type of stuff done instead of just coming and throwing a making accusations that the select boards are not following the law Um and here's your warrant article You're going
to solve the problem Uh thank you for the opportunity to respond So uh I think you might have missed the point where I said very clearly Alec and I met with the town clerk two years ago when we proposed this and pulled back because of we
understood at that point that a project was underway and that we're returning now two years later after having had those discussions after theou has been completed that excluded this piece and we're bringing this to town meeting to
hear their perspective because at the end of the day to remind you all this is a town meeting decision and we'll be happy to continue the conversation at town meeting David actually I I want to address one thing
on the memorandum of understanding and please correct me if my recollection is incorrect about the memorandum of understanding but there actually is a section of theou that includes timely updating Um and it says that within 10 days the constiples will post it and that within 10 days it will be sent to
general code to be incorporated into those bylaws So I I want to make sure I understand that that is part of thatou and that that is part of part of our agreement Well I don't have it in front of me I recall that that's exactly the exactly correct The lang the language is
Yes I I just want to take this a step back for a moment David oh I'm sorry Actually read the language The language is within 10 days after attorney general approval of any bylaws the town clerk's office will one direct constables to post the approved changes and two submit
approved changes for e-code publication beginning in May of 2025 for the general bylaws Okay David I want to take it a step back for a moment I don't think we should decide warrant articles on the basis of the
personalities involved or what happened when but on the merits of what the text of the warrant article actually states And Mike mentioned that someday in the future there will be the very distant future there will be a different town
clerk there will be a different select board there'll be different people in place but the bylaw would potentially survive if it's a good bylaw So I I think that we sometimes have a tendency to get lost a bit in the who and the what and the why rather than what would
the Warren article do what does it say what would it accomplish and we heard I think some very legitimate uh counterpoints from the town clerk about well if something comes to me on election day that's really got to be my focus I'm not going to be able to get it
done in 10 days Very understandable So I think when we have that type of feedback is there a way uh Mike and this would be a question to you that the 10day requirement you'd have a willingness to loosen up on a little bit i understand
your general point and I certainly agree with it but there are some circumstances I think you might be willing to concede where uh 10 days is not practical and our town clerk gave two concrete examples of that Uh I think if those
types of situations can be addressed I would be very supportive of this Great Thank you David Um is the is the town council on in the meeting is he on town council is online Let me see if I can
Yes I am Hey great Thank you uh Mr Kalian So uh to get at uh David's question I wanted to uh ask you to participate in the conversation if if we can And so as I
understand it once the constables post uh an updated bylaw publicly that it is then the the law of the land Is that correct so um so after the um AG's approval yes as
a posting requirement it only becomes effective for general bylaws at that point and and zoning bylaws for the date it was originally published but that's a that's a date that goes into effect The effective date might be different for general bylaws versus uh zoning bylaws
but you're essentially right Okay Thank you So for in the context of the general bylaws it goes unless it has some effective date that's post-dated it goes into effect the day it gets posted by the constable So the question then David to answer you to think about is how long
do we want laws to be in effect but are difficult or impossible for the community to know what those laws are and for the enforcement agencies like the building department or the police department to have difficulty knowing
what the laws are And so my sense is it shouldn't be very long as a as a matter of good government We shouldn't have laws that are on the books that people can't know about to know to adhere to or enforce And so the question is what's
the risk how many days do we want to allow that circumstance to arise where there are laws of the land that are on the books but people don't quite know about them and my my senses and Alex's sense is was like 10 business days from the day that the town clerk gets it to
the town time that everyone's notified is like roughly the right amount of risk But I'm I welcome feedback on your risk tolerance to your hear proposals You mentioned that other municipalities have have it established at 10 days I'm not disagreeing with that as a general
principle I just think that there can be times such as uh Ben stated where the 10 days is not practical Now in in my field there are time standards for when you need to achieve permanency for a child who's involved in a social services case
and it's generally 12 to 15 months But a judge under the exceptional circumstances clause can decide to extend that So we could do something similar here that 10 days is sort of the default but under exceptional circumstances there could be an
extension because I do think we have to be mindful of finite resources with the town clerk's office There are situations that may arise So I don't think that no matter what we can always ensure that it'll be 10 days but I would I would like to see it usually 10 days I think
Alec and I can take this feedback uh back and think about d uh whether we can draft something to accommodate that suggestion Oh pro probably an expansion of the article but you just heard the town administrator say that's exactly the agreement that's in place between
the select board which you approved the agreement I think you were here for the vote So it was just a year ago uh the the moderator and the town clerk and it was very clear that 10 days was the target but because the vendor cannot commit to 10 days which means you're
going to pass a bylaw that is potentially already putting the town clerk in violation of the law Why would we implement and pass a law that we know is already automatically going to put the individual who's responsible for it
in violation of the law makes no sense to me David I agree with you I'm asking for an adjustment I'm saying 10 days where we can and if there's a circumstance that arises that we can't have that allowance Yeah Um yeah Mike a quick bit This is a public hearing and
I'd like to end this meeting before the day is out You and me both Um so essentially that's what I was asking uh as well I I will say that um Mike from the perspective of knowing about it um if the town clerk simply publishes that
bylaw or warrant article number ABC or whatever or 567 um has been approved by the attorney general and that list is up there It's very easy for people um uh in the in that interregnum period that
whether it's 10 days 15 days or 16 days to go and look up what people what was passed at town meeting So it's not quite as severe as people having no idea what the law is And I really do think you have to take that into account
Okay Thank you Uh this is a public hearing and we open the public hearing See if anyone is interested in speaking Yes Now that the chair has opened the public hearing if there's anyone who wishes to speak on more article 23 uh please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time or if you're in the room please make the pres
your presence known There are no there are Would you like to speak okay Thank you uh Regina Frolley from uh precinct 16 I think it's very important
I've written a number of articles I've also had a number of agreements from different departments and it's amazing how quickly the institutional memory just disappears and is something I want to talk about tonight when I rise for the
public comment So I I am concerned that this is being done as a memory of of understanding and I I would go on the record of guaranteeing it would be in default at some point It it just won't be honored the same way It just won't
Thank you Okay There are approximately two individuals in the room and 17 online and it looks like no one else is indicating their desire to speak at this time Okay I'll close the hearing Uh any
further discussion okay thank you Okay warrant articles that we've already held our hearings on for um warrant article 24 home rule petition real estate transfer fee Any thoughts on that before we vote
uh Paul yep So I have uh John Vinskcoyak and I um along with Alec Lieovitz representing the petitioners of article 24 have filed an amendment to the article Uh it should be in the packet Is it in the packet it is It is in the
packet Um and essentially what the amendment does is the original article had 100% of the real estate transfer fee going to the affordable housing trust Um and the amendment uh divides the fee
between 50% to the housing trust and then 50% into the general fund Um and the reason for that is uh for a number of reasons One uh part of um our great challenge today and we'll have
challenges in the future is uh meeting our obligations for our budget and our limited ability to be able to uh raise um additional taxes without having an operating override So it's essentially creating another local option tax for us
that would go into the general fund Um and you know depending on the rate with which town meeting ends up deciding or the select board recommends to town meeting the percentage and also uh the the exemption level You know this could
be a significant amount of money that would flow into uh into the general fund potentially um reducing or or eliminating the need for operating overrides Um so um the the most important thing here is the petitioners
have agreed to this uh as a friendly amendment I believe Alec is probably still online about it Uh last night uh EDAB uh took it up as part of their consideration of the article Um and they have uh they've voted favorable action
on the amended article Of course we're the you're the second ones to see it because no one else has seen it yet So anyway that's uh that's the amendment Uh any further discussion so an end run around Proposition 2 and a half Say that
again An end run around Proposition 2 and a half Only if the legislature passes it Yeah I mean only if the legisl All it is is it's consider it's an additional local option tax All it is Okay So I will say that at the uh I'm
sorry No go ahead uh at the um sort of group of of legislators that was convened by um the Brooklyn Community Development Corporation uh yesterday there was a uh Representative Vtolo said
when um town meeting passes a a home rule petition he brings it forward uh he's not necessarily in favor of this particular home rule petition but he did say that he would do his job and uh and present it to the legislature
accordingly So um I do think there's uh and other other municipalities are doing the same thing Whether the legislature passes something that allows communities across the state to do it or not remains an open question but I think this is probably a sensible thing for us to do
And I like the amendment Good comment John Um yeah it I'm excited that we might have a sort of a breakthrough here Um you you won't often see uh you know articles or amendments brought to town meeting co-sponsored by
me Paul Alec and you know all of Alex co-etitioners Um uh a and one of the things Tommy Vatollah will also say rep representative Vlo and says it often uh because people come to him and they say you know I'm told that um if we send
this up to the legislature it might not pass So should we change the wording of it in a way that it might pass and his answer is always ask for what you want And this is a way of asking for what we want And it makes a very important statement I think to the legislature and
to um the town if anybody hasn't sort of already figured this out We need revenue and we need revenue not just for housing We need revenue for schools We need revenue for municipal purposes and so on And and this is an improvement on on what had been the first iteration of
this several years ago where all of the revenue if it were to be realized would have gone into the housing trust Now we have a chance at you know 50% for the housing trust 50% for all of these extraordinary other needs of the town Well just add one more point Bernard I
know you're anxious to get this done Um this also has an important implications for affordability in Brookline So we know that as we continue to raise taxes as we have operating overrides this adds a tremendous financial burden tax burden
annual burden um on those who are trying to stay in Brooklyn Maybe they're houserich and they're you know income poor um or both Um and you know this given the way that the article is written there's a tremendous amount of
flexibility for a town meeting to exempt those that would be harmed by such an attack a transfer fee Right so this this isn't adding to the annual burden So if there's an individual that has a property they're they've been in it for a long time They're going to need those proceeds to either downsize they're
income restricted or they need those proceeds to perhaps go into longerterm elder care you know we have the option to be able to set the exemption level very high We could say it's not a million dollars it's $4 million and we could exempt a whole class of individuals to to be determined But I do
think it's an important part of our ability to try to start reducing the an you know annual and also every three years uh operating overrides I think it's a way to bend the curve if it ever came back to us So I hope that you would support it and I would um I would like
to move uh favorable action on the amended article Okay we didn't vote on this so far so we don't need to vote for the amendment Okay Um you've made your motion Uh all in favor John Vancoy I Michael Sandman I
Warren I Pearlman I I guess I'll vote I Not really for more taxes Any rate Um okay Next um we have article 10 Community Preservation Act fund
appropriations Let's see Uh okay Do we have a revised motion yes on this Um there's um there have been just some slight changes um in um appropriation 10 naming the recreation department rather than the
parks and open space division You know it's basically it's a couple of modifications to reflect the correct divisions that are uh not there's no money there's no monetary changes No monetary changes Okay Uh so um I think we're ready to
vote Yeah Um as as amended as as amended Um all in favor please indicate by saying I John Vancoyak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I pro I Chair votes I Warrant article
18 amend article 8.32 town's general bylaws to reduce demand for singleuse plastic food packaging Um was someone supposed to follow up or was that amended or anything no not that
I development committee was okay with this Yeah I had the DPW support Okay Um why don't we just vote then all in favor please indicate by saying I John Square I Paul
Warren I'm sorry Michael Sam I Paul Warren I David Pearlman I vote I or in article 19 amend article 8.33 of the town's journal bylaws to expand and
adjust adjust the regulation of plastic bags any updates on that same same result with the SPDC Yeah Okay And they were favorable to this Yes Okay Yeah All
in favor please indicate by saying I John Vancoyak Hi Michael Samman I Warren I Um David Pearlman I will vote I Okay Reconsideration of warrant article two because of the um uh the the beta um for
Kline Engineering whatever Right Melissa Melissa has Melissa So earlier this evening in executive session the select board voted to approve the memorandum of agreement between the town and the engineers unit
Um now that that has been voted uh we can put this in front of town meeting for funding of the contract So um it's a very simple um uh agreement It is a straight 2% wage increase for the unit just for one year for fiscal 25 Um and
it will be uh once committee approves we'll move funding into the fiscal 25 budget approximately $24,000 Great So we voted no action on this last previous meeting At the time we didn't have any agreements but now we do So you need to reconsider Well that's
just what I was going to do I move reconsideration All in favor john Benoyak I Michael Sam Hi Paul Warren Hi David Pearlman I chair votes I Uh so we're reconsidering Warren Article 2 to incorporate the um the um u collective
bargaining agreement that we approved in executive session earlier today All in favor of warrant article 2 with um with the beta uh contract in it uh indicate by saying I John Vancoyak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David Pearlman I
chair votes I and that I believe is the last item on our agenda Do we have anyone who wants to speak yes we do Um first up will be Regina Frolley Thank you again Tiffany Regina Folley from Preaching
16 and and the topic was really the previous article uh that Mike was talking about is the same issue Years ago there was a um trafficcoming committee met here in the
building Nobody knew about it uh it was mixed with both uh mostly with uh volunteer uh board members and somehow or other I finally caught wind of it when they had finally done a
draft and my head was spinning like I had heard nothing about this Turned out they never did follow the open meeting law They never did advertise I went to town council and uh that was Jennifer Depazo and she said give me 24 hours to check
into this and she did and she found that they were in violation Now they had spent months doing this and she told them to throw it in the barrel to throw it away and start denovo And uh two of us myself and Hugh Madison attended the
meetings and were active participants in the design of that comm of that uh uh proposal for uh policy for uh street calming policy It came to our attention fairly recently
that there are plans on my street to add several speed bumps We've never been consulted We've never been invited to any kind of meeting We're just being told this is how it is now Maybe that was done within strictly within the engineering department and
transportation I really don't know But that's kind of the issue We really don't know I the sense of the meeting I had as Paul heard on sat Saturday is my street which is only three short blocks we don't want it but nobody's consulted us
in the past I can tell you with great authority factual authority because one of the people came and told me about it that there was such incestuous kind of of consulting with individuals on the street when when the
engineering department wanted something and If hundreds and I mean over 300 people in the neighborhood opposed something it didn't matter if the transportation board wanted it if one member wanted it and the person who told me all about what went on secretly in
their homes Uh they were each three or four different people on the street would promise we'll give you this a bump out of this a um if you support this over the objections of 300 people And they did And one of the people never got
what she was promised So she came to me to tell me about it So bottom line is that um the open meeting law the development of policy maybe it's now being done extr exclusively in-house I'll never know or
I hope I will know but I don't know should be made public that we should know when these things are happening and we should be consulting with the neighborhood the people who use the streets not those who theoretically design them Excuse me It still had 15
seconds No it's it's over time now Over Okay the next speaker is Emily Jacobson Hi Thank you for staying late Um so I've given you the transportation policies I've given you uh the
bicycle pardon me I'm a little bit tired The green the green roots plan and the and the walkable streets plan These are all volunteer-led plans Um so I would like you to reconsider your decision Um because the
reason we would like the Green Roots plan updated is that when we first started this plan it was 2008 At the time there was very little technical guidance for what an acceptable bicycle facility was It was state-of-the-art to
ask a group of volunteers "Do you think this is good enough?" and have their advice Since then the National Association of Transportation Officials released its bike design guide in 2011 MASDOT uh
released their design guide in 2015 And very importantly this year the manual of uniform traffic control devices was updated This is the first update that it's received in over 20 years These guides are generally in effect for 10 to
20 years And with that guide um was released a bicycle design guide So in order for the green roots plan to remain useful it needs designs that are feasible on different roads so that
staff can go to complete streets into the complete streets design not only with a high level of the cost of different options but with their eyes open to the different technical suitabilities of different designs Um when the bicycle advisory committee
recommended bicycle access CIP funds be used towards updating the green roots plan it was with the knowledge that we were going to be giving up other more tangible goals that could be achieved with these funds like a new baller protected bike lane for instance
Um my predecessors and colleagues on the committee have done a wonderful job of creating this plan and shephering it from relative obscurity to a place within our town's goals as expressed through the complete streets policy and
we're in article 31 In order for the town to achieve its goals within our budget we need targeted technically feasible recommendations to help our staff Um so I ask you to please
respect the advice of our committee the time the staff that used to prepare the contract and the years of volunteer effort that went into the plan And um I urge you to reconsider your decision and move swiftly to approve these funds Thank you Thank you
And it looks like no one else is indicating their desire to speak Okay so that will end the meeting Um