Thank you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. 2026. Welcome to our select board meeting. Our first agenda item is to
move into executive session for two purposes. So I move that we go into executive session pursuant to Mass General Laws chapter 30A section 21A6 purpose 6 for the purpose of considering the purchase exchange a lease or value
of real property specifically 26 Pleasant Street and 2B move into executive session pursuant to Mass General Laws chapter 3A section 21 A6 purpose 6 for the purpose of considering the value of real estate at the
following properties Babcock Street, 12 to 24 Center Street, and 25 to 39 Center Street. And uh assuming we go into executive session, we will then come back into open session following our executive session for the rest of our
meeting. >> Bernard, >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> Anthony, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. >> Recording stopped. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat.
Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Good evening everyone. Welcome back. Uh we have returned from our executive
session and our next agenda item will be announcements and updates. Do any select board members have some announcements or upcoming events to disclose? Michael. Uh yes, thank you. Um the first thing that I would like to uh announce just to make
sure that everybody is aware that um following up on a town meeting warrant article um the first version of the renters handbook uh is now available on the town website. Um
and I encourage all renters uh and landlords to look that up. Um the second thing that I would like to announce is uh uh the uh select board's 2030 roadmap has a uh a a goal and a set of actions
around um working with community groups and uh integrating with their work. Um so in the select board packet today um there are three announcements from the uh Brooklyn community mental health
center um about various uh activities that they're do uh uh taking on for the community. Uh there is a child and adolescent groups uh at the Brooklyn Center for Community Mental Health uh to help young people overcome challenges so
that they can enjoy fuller lives and experience brighter futures. There is a program called momentum coaching um which provides personalized coaching for high school students. Um and thirdly, um
there is a parent support group for the summer of 2026. Um and the flyers for these are all in the select board packet and more information is on their website. >> All right, Amanda.
>> Yes. Uh our last select board meeting, I had asked a question of um the town clerk in need of pole workers and I got a response that I wanted to share. Um, we have a high need for poll workers at all elections. This September 1st election is an especially high need for
poll workers um for reasons of timing and logistics of the state primary and the state election. >> Recording stopped >> at the same time. >> Recording in progress. >> There's also one clarification. Uh, this is not a volunteer position. Pole workers are given a stipen for the day
of work, receive training before election day, and are provided with breakfast and lunch on election day. If you are interested or know someone who is, email poleworker bricklinemma.gov. >> All right. Thank you, Amanda. Anyone else? I will mention that uh next Tuesday,
August 4th, is National Night Out, which is a a nationwide community police awareness raising event held by police departments across the US. This year's event will be held at 599 Brookline A at
Lynch Park from 5 to 8:00 PM. Like last year, there will be a bounce house, bounce obstacle course, police canine demonstration, touch a truck, food, ice cream, carnival games, entertainment, and much more.
Anyone else? All right. So, with that, we will move to our next agenda item, which is public comment. Melanie, if you'd like to review the rules. >> Sure. Thank you for joining us for public comment. This is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brooklyn that matter to you.
Each person speaking tonight is limited to three 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 onscreen timer will flash orange when you have 60 seconds remaining and red when your time is nearly up. Please conclude your remarks at that time. If you have more
to say, you're 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, either their Brooklyn precinct number or street address, and the specific topic on which they wish to
speak. The board encourages, but does not require that remote users turn their video on when commenting. First person to sign up is Annne Lusk. >> All right, Ann, please come up. Have you started my time yet? Tell me.
>> Are you ready? >> Okay, I'm ready. and lusk precinct 5 uh refinements to consider for the CIP funded study for the Lars Anderson DPW yard and the land below. In January 8, 2024, Aaron Shu sent a letter to the select
board members about Lars Anderson's Park DPW yard and moving. She said she had started to think about possible options. At the select board meeting on April 18th, 2026, Chaz Gary Chaz Kerry said that the DPWARD
predates article 97, but that maintenance is approved under article 97. He has committed to using CIP funds to do a townwide facility study because this stuff must go somewhere. We want to make it work. Chaz also said that he
added the DPWSI to the conservation and preservation study being done by Kyle Zik. So, thank you. In July 16th, 2026, Brookline News published a story about the pool at Lars Anderson Park. Aaron Chute was quoted as saying, "The
maintenance yard remains essential to the town's operations." She listed maintenance on hundreds of parks and open spaces, the need for storing tractors, mowers, synthetic turf materials, trailers, snow removal equipment, playgrounds, etc. That would be for the entire town to have
maintenance at Lars Anderson. In all of these discussions though, no mention is ever made that Isabelle Anderson's 1948 will predates the DPW moving to the yard and predates Article 97. All 64 acres were given to the residents for public
recreation, conservation, and public education. A maintenance shed just for Lars Anderson exists beside the playground. Please consider the following. Though DPW is mentioned, other departments, including the police, who have five cars with no license
plates on them, use the DPW yard for storage and alternate space should be found for them. So the find a place for the police department. The land below the walled garden should be included in the CIP funded study because storage there includes office of emergency management, five trailers, hauling
trailers, school shuttle, two huge shipping containers. Three, the land below the walled garden could have gravel or staymat with concrete butters bumpers and a center pull-in signs to help drivers understand the layout on a gravel lot. You can't paint lines on a
gravel lot. Trees would be in and around the lot to create a climate responsive parking room. At Lars Anderson, rooms were created in all of the spaces, including the walled garden and the Italian 8 garden. you want to see pages 64 to 68 in the Lars Anderson and
Isabelle's wealth and celebrity age you want I can send you the sections of those pages. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Who's our next speaker? >> We have Susan Park. >> Good evening everyone. Susan Park, town meeting member from precinct 17. Good to
see you all. I know you just met for executive session and I don't know where you landed, but I came tonight to represent the 53 abutters and neighbors that signed a letter you received in your inbox yesterday morning. As stated in our letter, we are very concerned
about the well doumented fact in the town and the metropolitan area planning council report that Koolage Corner is an urban heat island with a concentration of imperous services that absorb and retain heat. These factors will continue
to lead to higher temperatures in Kage Corner compared to anywhere else in Brooklyn. North Brooklyn is documented to be below the national average for having open space as mentioned in economic development director Cara
Brutin's workshop report on June 16. The consequences are significant such as health risks, higher energy consumption, and diminish quality of life. The good news is that open spaces effectively reduce temperatures in urban areas and
they improve air quality and manage water runoff. with the Waldo Durgen site proposing a 10-story hotel with approximately 160 rooms, a 14-story residential building comprising around 132 units, and ground floor retail and
restaurant spaces with underground parking. Um, creating more open space on 26 Pleasant can provide the essential cooling through shade and greenery to balance 292 unit right next door. The 15
mature trees and vegetation will absorb sunlight and release moisture, filters pollutants, produces oxygen, helping to lower temperatures. We can create a natural buffer against the heat, making North Brookline more comfortable during the sweltering summer like the heat wave
we experienced this summer. And in June, we saw Spain's most intense heat wave on record. With Waldo Durgen's big development in the pipeline, we know Coolage Corner's heat island will get worse, which results in more electricity used for air conditioning. As we are
learning from our European neighbors in Spain and France, as they are having to use more electricity for air condition like never before. With higher temperatures, we see the exacerbation of air pollution, particularly ozone levels, leading to increased respiratory problems like asthma. More green spaces
can significantly improve the air we breathe, which is crucial for our health, especially for vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly. A park at 26 Pleasant could reduce stress and improve mental health, providing space for relaxation, recreation, and community gatherings for
Brooklininers of all ages. They foster social interaction, and create a sense of belonging, which is especially important in our fast-paced urban environment. And the fact is right across from Kulage Corner Library and next to the massive Waldo D development
is a golden opportunity. I hope you will consider it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is our next speaker. >> Um we have Al Davis online. >> Thank you so much. Um Joanie Mitchell wrote a song saying take paradise uh and
put up a parking lot. Developers think they're doing the opposite. taking a parking lot and building a paradise. I think the opposite is most likely true. Developers are taking advantage of liberalleaning population by exploiting them for their own profit. I'm in favor
of sensible increased housing, but not at the expense of uh destroying a neighborhood. Putting a third giant development at this location will be an environmental nightmare. Dysfunctioning traffic, dust, noise. Waldo is enough
plus the building across the street. I think I think North Brooklyn has become an overrun district and it's very very concerning. Um on the contrary, installing a beautiful park to complement the public library is brilliant and a fantastic and
appropriate idea for city planning. Let's let's find a way to increase housing. Let's find a way to preserve neighborhoods. I I just don't see the idea that we all live in this town because of its beauty, its parks, the way that we are the way that we function
and just by trying to turn us into the seapport or something by just putting up as many highrises as realtors are are willing to develop, I think is a tragic mistake. Thank you. So, our next speaker, >> uh, Martin Yasin.
Hello, I'm Martin Yasine and I uh live at 25 John Street and I have which is the one of the John Street town houses that occupies one side of John Street and um I've lived there for 43 years
and I just wanted to say that I've talked to everybody in our side of this block and the
opposition to having yet another large structure built uh on the parking lot is very very adamantly against. And I I have to to
ask I wonder where where is it that the the rights of the people in this neighborhood, our health, our mental health, our physical health. Where do those
rights come in to when they butdding up against these multi-billion dollar developers? Do we have rights at all? The idea that
you have been discussing of putting a park there is a wonderful wonderful idea. There is almost no green space uh in Koolage Corner. And I I I might also
point out that Koolage Corner at 26,000 population per mile is one of the five densest urban areas in the state of Massachusetts.
And we really need a little bit of relief. We really need some green space and it would be a tremendous benefit to the children of the neighborhood, to the adults of the neighborhood, to the
elderly in the neighborhood. You really could not do a a a greater good service to the people whom you represent by somehow figuring a way to deal with Nord
Bloom and to make this property uh a public property that could be used by the people of of this community because there is very little space around and we're just kind of suffocating from all
of the building. So, I hope you can work something out. I just wanted to make that remark and I commend you for your efforts and I'm sure you will sincerely work toward doing something to make this
wonderful idea an actuality. Thank you. Thank you. Who's our next speaker? >> We don't have anybody else that signed up previously. >> Looks like we do have somebody who would like to come up and speak. >> All right, come up. Please identify yourself and then you'll
have three minutes. >> Sure. I am Molly Sheepa and I am a resident of uh precinct 17 and uh live near the 26 Pleasant parking lot. And so I am here today to express my support
for the idea of making 26 Pleasant a public open space. Um, North Brooklyn is already densely developed and has been identified as a uh heat island area because of the concentration of buildings and concrete that absorbs the
heat and retains it. And uh creating a park at 26 Pleasant would provide lasting environmental and community benefits including shade, reduced heat, improved air quality, and just be a welcoming space for neighbors to gather. I am concerned about the proposed
development at 26 Pleasant in combination with the Waldo Durgen project as well as the 55 unit um apartment complex behind Trader Joe's. I'm concerned that it will create lots of traffic and congestion and parking
issues and uh contribute to the um the heat island effect that we already have in place. So, a park would be a permanent public asset that could serve residents of all ages. One idea for the park um could be to grow a mini forest.
So there are communities around the world that are planting pockets of mature trees um to help manage the effects of climate change and we have grown too many forests in Brooklyn already. One at um FRR School and then also one at the Brooklyn Avenue Park and
so that could you know not take up the whole 26 uh Pleasant spot but it would be a place for a mini forest. And so um so that in combination with just making it a open space would just uh make the neighborhood healthier, more resilient,
and uh more livable for generations to come. Um so I do recognize the need for housing, but I do believe that responsible planning also requires planning for open space, especially in the town's most densely developed and heat affected neighborhoods like North
Brookline. Um and so I um ask you to um strongly consider um making 26 Pleasant a public open space. So thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> We generally all lot 15 minutes for public comment at the beginning of a
meeting. If anyone would like to offer additional public comment at the end of our meeting, you will have that opportunity. So with that, we will move to miscellaneous items. First up is 5A. Question of approving the meeting
minutes from July 14th, 2026. It does not appear that any revisions were made to those minutes. So I will go ahead and move approval of the minutes of July 14th. Bernard, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes.
>> And I also vote yes. Next, we will take up item 5B, which is the question of approving a citation of recognition and appreciation for Dr. Harold Peterson, who is gracing us with his presence this evening. Thank you for being here, sir.
And uh Michael, I think you have something to read. >> Yes, thank you very much. Uh I have a proclamation from the Brooklyn Select Board. The Brooklyn Select Board is expressing its appreciation to Dr. Harold Peterson
for his exemplary 37 years of service to the town of Brooklyn on the board of assessors. Whereas Dr. Harold Peterson has proudly concluded an extraordinary 37 years of dedicated service as a member of the
town of Brooklyn Board of Assessors. And whereas the vital work of the board of assessors is essential to the fair and effective operation of local government, ensuring that property assessments remain accurate, equitable, and
consistent to support the schools, services, and community resources that residents rely on every day. And whereas throughout his tenure, Dr. Peterson has consistently demonstrated the highest
standards of professionalism, integrity, and unwavering commitment to the residents of our community. And whereas his deep understanding of assessment practices, institutional knowledge, and
expertise as a renowned economist have brought a unique and invaluable perspective to the board of assessors, allowing him to expertly analyze economic trends and market forces to enhance local decisionmaking and
economic stability. And whereas Dr. Peterson's remarkable dedication has provided vital continuity through decades of change, reflecting the very best of public service through
fairness, thoughtful analysis, and care. Now, therefore, in consideration of the foregoing, that the select board hereby extends its deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation to Dr. Harold
Peterson for his lasting impact on the town of Brooklyn and the board of assessors signed the Brooklyn Select Board. And may I also add happy birthday. >> Oh, happy birthday.
So now let's let's make it official and then we'll hear from you. Okay. So I move approval of the citation of recognition and appreciation for Dr. Harold Peterson as just read by Michael. Would it be uh out of place for me to add some comments at this point? >> No, not at all.
>> Okay. Um Dr. Peterson, I hope you don't mind um me telling people about a different aspect of your incredible contributions to Brooklyn. uh in your 2018 book 56 years, two journeys, uh
mainly about your time at Boston College, you talk about how uh you and a small group of individuals and churches took intentional steps to racially integrate Brooklyn uh by establishing the foundation for Brooklyn housing and
acquiring housing that they initially would rent and later sell to black families who face housing discrimination in Brookline. Um, their first house purchased by what was become the foundation for Brooklyn housing was rented to a black professor at Boston
College who like you wanted to move from Brighton to Brooklyn for the schools. Uh, the house unfortunately had an existing tenant who was a town activist uh who you had to evict because of his hostility to a black family living in
his building. So, we talk a lot about affordable housing, uh, but we need to also continue to talk about racial integration that includes middle class, black families, among others. And you did something more than just talk. And
personally, uh, I thank you for that. I think the town should thank you for for that work many, many years ago. >> Thank you for providing that additional history for us. >> Uh, now, why don't we complete the vote? Yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes.
>> And I also vote yes. All right. Dr. Peterson, you wanted to come up and give some remarks. Wow. I didn't even know I died to have such nice things said about me. But, uh, seriously,
uh, I'm blown away. I can't imagine why you've done this since there are so many others far more worthy of recognition unless it's a reward for my stepping aside or because it happens to be my birthday
and you even knew that. Wow. No, seriously, this recognition should have been given to the to the chief assessors and staff with whom I worked for all of these years. They are the ones who kept things going. and I accept this on behalf of
all of them. I would like to express my to the members of the select board how very grateful I am for the service they give to our beloved town of Brooklyn. When I think of the hours you put in
with very little reward, save for your own sense of satisfaction for what you're doing, I am constantly amazed. we should say thank you more often. I do leave you with a warning.
I'd been a political activist prior to going on the board of assessors, but once there, I tried very hard to put that aside. I did not endorse any candidates for election in Brooklyn, and I did not openly give my views on important
issues. My warning is that now I may once again be very vocal on controversial issues when I believe I have some solid evidence to back up my views. You will be hearing from me.
>> Thank you very much. All right, with that we will move to item 5C and then probably take the rest of the items in omnibus fashion unless another member wants to remove something. >> I'd like to pull out 5F and 5H.
>> 5F and 5H. Okay. And Amanda, do you have an item? >> Uh 5 C. So, >> okay. So item 5C C is the question of accepting two partial fiscal year 2027 grant awards from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Jail Arrest
Diversion Program totaling $82,000 to support the continuation of two important behavioral health initiatives within the Brookline Police Department. The awards consists of $64,000 for the Norfick County Crisis Intervention Training and Technical Assistance and
$18,000 for the department's co-response jail arrest diversion program. We have some uh representatives from our Brooklyn Police Department uh and also Chief Pastor, excuse me, now just noticing you here. If one of you or all of you might want to come up and just
explain to us about the diversion program, these uh financial awards and what they will facilitate. >> Sure, I'm happy to. Thank you for having me here. Uh Jen Pastor, chief of police. Um it's I'm always happy to come in and
talk about any of our programs particularly when they pertain to uh mental health and crisis response because I think we've been seen across the state as a role model and how police departments can respond to individuals in crisis. So as you see there and you mentioned we have two different grants uh that are up for renewal. The first is
the Norfick County TAP grant. Um Brookline Police established a crisis intervention team back in 2012. Um, and at that time the few of us that were trained had to go off-site to different departments try to find training. Um, in 2016, so a decade ago, the Department of
Mental Health selected Brookline to become the regional training and technical assistance center for Norfick County. Uh, we say Norfick County, but at that time it included Boston, some Southshore communities, and even some Metro West communities. So, our center is funded through DMH grants, um, not our tax dollars. We're one of the
state's leading resources for crisis intervention training. We provide the nationally recognized 40-hour crisis intervention team course along with numer numerous advanced additional trainings throughout the year to police officers, dispatchers, clinicians, and other public safety professionals uh
from across the state. The goal with that is straightforward to just better prepare first responders to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness, substance use disorders, developmental disabilities, u people who are, you know, exhibiting signs of a trauma response and any other behavioral health
issues um that lead them to come into contact with the members of our department. We uh try to guide officers to use effective communication to deescalate situations whenever possible and to connect people with appropriate services rather than solely relying on
law enforcement or um punitive actions. Um while the national CIT model recommends training about 20 to 25% of an agency, uh Brookline has gone much further and 100% of our department is trained in this 40-hour model. Um this philosophy is part of our
organizational culture rather than just a specialty assignment. So the second initiative that you see there is the co-response model. Um that's the officers who are here in the back of the room. So our new clinician, our shiny new clinician that was hired at the end of May is Leah Duour.
Um and she's assigned on an impact shift from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. with the members of our evening community service division. I have with me officer Liz Wagner and officer office Oscar Santos. Uh, officer Tim Stevenson is the third sworn member of that division.
Um, so rather than focusing on training, this program places Leah in a marked police car with one of our officers and they go out and handle calls in real time. So she's been Leah's been responding in the field since June. Um, just to give a picture of what that looks like. Since June, she's responded
to nearly 50 incidents. Um they include psychiatric crisises, suicide related calls, well-being checks, um and a lot of follow-up contacts with residents and families. She provides onseene assessments, helps develop safety plans, and connects people with treatment and
community resources. An office often continues working with individuals long after the police response uh has ended. Uh so the two programs are designed to complement one another. CIT ensures that every police officer has the skills to safely and um compassionately respond to
behavioral health crisis. The co-response program adds the expertise of Leah when additional clinical interventions are appropriate. >> All right. Thank you very much for that very thorough explanation of both grants.
Any questions from board members? Any comments? All right. Well, then I move that we accept the two partial fiscal year 2027 grant awards from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Jail Arrest
Diversion Program and the department's co-response jail arrest diversion program. >> Bernard, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. All right. With that, we had a request
to take up 5F separately. So 5F is the question of 5 and 5H. So with 5F, >> question of accepting a FY25 emergency management performance grant from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in the amount of $23,040
to enable the Office of Emergency Management to purchase security equipment for the Emergency Operations Center. So Bernard, do you have a specific question regarding >> I do um these these are great uh pro
money used for really great programs and equipment. My concern though is that as everyone knows this administration is imposing on its grants certain conditions with respect to immigration with respect to DEI and other matters
that are in my opinion unacceptable. Um, I I raised this question because the um federal articles of agreement for this contract were not in the packet and I got it later on. Um, and
town council has said that uh two of the conditions number 11 and number 55 in a list of um conditions uh are not a problem uh because of the court case in Rhode Island. However, there are other paragraphs to these uh
conditions that are really problematic. Um mainly a definition of DEI um that is defined in an executive order and that requires that any recipient uh
not have any programs that promote DEI or what they call discriminatory equity ideology. Um so my question is just to get just to get assurance that we have um
that we have taken steps to ensure that we're not going to be subject to uh those provisions even though it seems that the court case in Rhode Island doesn't cover all of the paragraphs of the uh agreement. >> Yes, that's right. Um thank you for the question. It is and and is it's always
worth looking through these and making sure that we are >> aware of where all these court cases are. You can actually see towards the end of that document there's a bunch of hastily added paragraphs that say by the way all of these are canceled because we've lost a bunch of court cases about them. um that particular instance about
the DEI language, what we have always said in response to that is we are in compliance with the policies and programs uh of title six of the civil rights act uh of on all of these and
when you read the you know the description of you know what they consider to be DEI and you realize that because of the constraints on placed on them by the actual federal law. Um they're not we are not required to buy
into their definition of DEI or any of those things if just merely by signing this. Um we are not using any money in this grant for any of the purposes that they any of the end purposes that they seem to be concerned about. and we don't
ask for money to deal with our efforts to maintain uh a diverse and fair uh community uh from this federal government. um they are not able to and should not be able to um come to the
town of Brooklyn and say, "Hey, just because you say you like to be a diverse community that you um you're not allowed to have these grants, you made a material misstatement when you sign these grants." Um none of that is applicable here. We when they when they
first started putting that language in, we looked at it and we said very clearly, is is this something that applies to this particular thing that we were asking for? Um, you know, for if if we were applying for a program that um
conferred, you know, that that had a mission statement of, you know, providing increased equity and so forth, um, then I would want to take a hard look at how that inter how that executive order intersects with it. But that's not what we're doing here. What we're buying we're doing here is we're buying cameras and desks um and shelter
equipment um for emergency management. So there's no implication here with this grant uh about their DEI stuff and their definition of DEI and nothing in this document requires us to accept their definition of DEI which to be clear we do not.
>> Right. My only concern is that we're monitoring this very carefully because the language in um paragraph 18 is very broad. >> Yes. >> It says recipients are certifying that they do not and will not during the term of this financial assistance award
operate any programs that advance or promote DEI etc. Yep. >> So I mean yeah we can't resolve this right now. I just want to make sure that we are constantly monitoring this and making sure that we're not going to be trapped into some of the um you know
behaviors of the federal government around these grants. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We don't we don't believe that they are you know right comply with all um so you read the top of it res recipients must comply with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws material to the government's
payment decisions which we take to mean for the purposes of this grant. Um, none of these none of none of these apply for the purposes of this grant, for example. Right, we're talking about security cameras for the emergency operations center because we're replacing the ones that have outlived their useful life.
None of this applies to that. We're not we're not running equity programs with security cameras. Um and you know if we were to be and so this this does not this is very careful not to attach conditions to a grant that are broader
than the terms of the grant itself. The federal government can't force us to do unrelated things to the for the condition of the grant in order for us to accept the grant. So they can't force us to you know swear an oath that we're not going to do any sort of diversity related work to accept a grant for
security cameras. that's beyond the ambit of the grant agreement. So, it is a good question and it's good to look into, but I do, you know, this is something we watch very carefully because as we've said before, right, not we are not going to sleepwalk into
agreeing to these conditions that the federal government is placing on us. >> Yeah. I I hope the public knows or or sees how difficult it is to work within this current environment. And I I think that you've committed that if uh we
can't avoid these conditions, we'll just uh give up the money. >> That's right. >> Which is going to cost us, but is more important than uh >> That's right. >> You know, it's important to maintain some integrity in our in our town. >> Yeah. And I think, you know, you on the select board have done a really good job
with this. You know, even in you know, right when the election happened, the 201244 election happened, we had these conversations with you. you've always been clear with us. You've given us clear guidance and we are following your guidance on this. So, we appreciate that you were ready and reactive and you know
pro proactive in thinking about where these lines are and how we can be set where if we need to make hard choices in the face of a hostile federal government, we can. So, thank you. All right. Any further comment or questions on item 5F?
All right. Then I move that we accept a uh FY25 Emergency Management Performance Grant from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in the amount of $23,040 to enable the Office of Emergency Management to purchase security equipment for the Emergency
Operations Center. Bernard, >> by the way, 5H also was was one island PL, but they're basically the same issue. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, I think we can do both them together. >> All right. All right. So, you want to do both 5F and 5H? Okay. So, amended
question. I move approval of 5F and 5H. >> Bernard? >> Yes. >> Michael? >> Yes. >> Amanda? >> Yes. >> And I also vote yes. And that now leaves items 5D, 5E, 5G, and 5
through 5 Y. >> Can I ask one quick question? >> Sure. Go ahead, Amanda. >> Five uh Q. What is an open air parking license? >> Good question. Um, parking, we uh require licenses for open air parking. Uh, the fire department has to review
them uh for fuel storage uh and safety in terms of in case of car fires and so forth and the police department reviews them um as well for >> these are like assigned parking spaces outside. >> These are these are private lots. Um
private lots in Brooklyn are licensed by by the town. So yes, the fire department, the police department, the building department. >> And I just wanted to make one comment on 50. Um the uh the question of approving an increase in rental days from 90 days
per year to a maximum of 180 days for a short-term rental located at 129 Addington Road in Brooklyn. Um I believe um this is in response to a bylaw uh requirement with regard to short-term rentals. And since the short-term rental
bylaw was implemented by town meeting, my understanding, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, uh is that this is the first time that we've had such uh an approval come before us. And we are uh looking forward to granting this approval. And I just want to express my
appreciation to the applicant uh for following the process and bringing the question before the select board per the town's bylaw. So, thank you. All right. So, with that, we uh go back to the vote moving approval of 5D, 5E,
5G, and items 5 through 5 Y. >> Yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. With that, we will move on to our next agenda item, boards and commissions interviews. Parks and
Recreation Commission. We have two candidates to interview this evening. And as usual we will ask how many spots are u available and how many applicants do we have. Okay. So for parts
we have one pending um opening and there one person is not seeking reappoint. So that will be a potential second one. We do have two current
applicants for this, but we did have somebody stop by our office this evening. Priscilla stopped by. She said she tried to apply online. Her application didn't go through, so she will also be applying. So, you'll have a future applicant for that. >> All right. So,
first up, we have Jess Levasur. >> She is online. >> All right. And what we will be doing now to try to be fair to all of our candidates is asking that they contain their introductory remarks to three minutes. >> Time or
>> or just roughly moderate. It's a soft three minutes, but to give an idea as to what we're expecting for your introductory remarks. It can certainly be less. All right. Whenever you are ready, Miss Levasaur. >> All right. Hi. Um, I'm Jess Levisar. I'm
a new town meeting member from precinct 9. Um I am also a mother of three. I have three children who utilize the parks uh ages 6, 8, and 19. I myself um
use the like I I play the adult soccer for the wreck league. I'm a public school teacher in Newton. I do track coaching in the spring. I'm one of the assistant coaches. I am very involved in my community there uh through the
school. I attend a lot of the events. I'm one of the ski club um chaperones when I go. I'm the spring and win oh sorry spring fall and winter. I'm the faculty adviser for math counts and
um I've coached soccer previously. My youngest is finally following in my footstep and being interested in soccer. So, I'm um going to be a soccer parent again. I might look into coaching for her. I haven't submitted that yet, but
um not sure what else I should say for the introduction. >> That's fine. Uh any questions from board members? Amanda? >> Sure. Um I know we have uh currently some very uh passionate voices on
passive recre passive open space on the parks and recck commission. Um, and I am definitely interested in hearing voices that uh are um in touch with recreation needs. And so I'm wondering what you think are some of
the the biggest recreation needs that the town is facing. Um well I think honestly I'm um an active parent in Brooklyn kids unplugged and one of the things that gets shared a lot in the conversation there um what
are ways that kids and adults um can connect as a community because community is one of the biggest ways we can keep our kids off devices right now. Um, and so I think like the movies in the parks type of events, like sports obviously,
but as I know from my two older kids, not all kids are into sports. So a lot of the um community events that I've seen offered in the in the parks um like um I think like just some families are
looking for ways to connect with others like other age groups. So it could be kids, it could be adults, it could be teenagers, but have something that maybe connects them. So even just like pick up leagues, not always um something that comm that requires a commitment like
sports teams do. Um but something like some towns have things like it could be like volleyball pickup hour and there are nets set up and this is a good time and it would be a like something recurring. So like things like that I guess.
Bernard, >> so you uh teach in Newton and also coach uh in Newton. So uh we always like to learn from our neighbors. Is there anything that Newton does uh with respect to parks and open space that uh
maybe we should consider or can uh teach us uh something? >> I feel like that's something >> perspective. >> Yeah. Um I'm not familiar with the entire town. I am coaching as part of the school. So I'm familiar with uh the
school fields I guess. Um that's something that there's a lot of sharing between the high school tracks with the middle schools. Um that's my experience I guess is uh having that opportunity for the sharing
and the town manages like there is a coordinator um for the coaching on the coaching side who does coordinate the use of the fields and um it's probably a lot of scheduling. I'm
>> so but >> oh sorry >> I had a similar question to Bernard. I saw that you had a four-year coaching stint in Neapville, Illinois. And I'm just curious what maybe you learned about uh Neapville's practices that
would help inform you on parks and recreation here in Brooklyn. Um, one thing that I'm not sure because I haven't coached in Brookline yet, so I don't know if this is already something that's done, but um, before I was able to coach in Neighborville, they had a
like there's a whole binder training. Uh, they had all the coaches come in to one of the indoor fields and we had a morning um like seminar kind of. We were coached into coaching before we did. Uh so we
were uh by sports like whatever we were coaching. So I was with the soccer uh group and so they talked about went over the equipment and they went over the binders and what should practice look like, what kind of activities. There was a question like a Q&A session and so it
was very involved with the coaches before they had us coach. I'm not sure if that's something Brookline currently does. As I said, I'm not yet coaching in Brooklyn. >> All right. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, thank you very much for the interview. Uh, we have some other
candidates to interview as well. We will get back to you eventually. >> All right, thank you so much. >> All right, our next candidate is Sarah Paglia. >> Good evening, everyone. Hi. Um, my name is Sarah Polychio.
Thanks, David. You got that just right. >> Did you talk into the mic? Sorry, Bernard. I thought it was. Um, can I start over? Still get my three minutes. Okay. Um, hi. My name is Sarah Polyatio. Um, I am a longtime Brookline resident.
I've lived here for most of the last 28 years because I love the trees. I think like a lot the schools in the trees are big draws uh around our neighborhoods. Um, professionally, I teach at Bentley. I'm a career consultant in experience
design. I'm now also full-time faculty and running the consulting team at Bentley University where I focus both my teaching and my consulting on creating um accessible inclusive systems thinking
approaches to design thinking and human experiences both human to human and human to device and increasingly human to environment kind of experiences is how I approach my design practice. Um and and again my teaching to my
students. Um on a personal level, I am also a mother to three boys. Um the two older kids are grown now, 22 and 20. Although when they come home, they still like to hang out with their little brother who's 10. Um we've been big
users of the parks. uh almost all I think we've hit almost all the parks in the last 10 years through wreck programs, pickup games, um Brookline Sunday at uh Downs and at Driscoll. Um Sam went to SU um did SU during the
school year and SU summer. He did a bunch of the Burck programs there at the gym next to SU as well. He's played soccer and baseball. So we we've been everywhere around town. I also do a lot of volunteering at Lincoln um where uh
all three of my kids have gone where Sam still goes. Um and I'm a uh part of the PTO. I'm the room parent coordinator. I'm the co-chair of the garden program, the green team there. And um recently was invited to become of the part of the
site council at Lincoln. Um, some of you might also already know me as the lady who sends all that all those emails about getting the new Lincoln Ground CIP program um into the budget, which um the Lincoln community thanks you all very
much for your support support of our CIP program. So, I'm sure that was more than three minutes. Thank you for being forgiving. What questions can I answer for you? >> All right, who has some questions? Go ahead, Amanda. >> Uh, I actually have two. one is the a
repeat from before. What do you think are sort of the biggest recreational needs in the town? Yeah, I mean I think first I have to say that I think we're already doing quite a good job meeting a lot of diverse needs around town which is exciting but I also know in my own
experience and other famil family's experiences sometimes getting locked out of some of those intro programs especially for the littles right we're really space limited in that small gym next to school some of those indoor programs the like learn how to play basketball learn how to play taekwond do
like don't even get me started on the learn to swim program, right? That one gets filled up in the 5 seconds after it opens. Um so, um I do think that there um we could meet a higher demand, but I know some of that is also space limited,
so that probably requires bigger conversations. Um I know there are ongoing conversations about creating a site for a new outdoor pool. Um I'm really interested in seeing what the feasibility study comes back with in regards to the pool. Um, it would be
great if we could find a site in North Brooklyn. I think right in my I've lived in every neighborhood in Brooklyn in all these years. I feel like that's probably pretty pretty limited options there. Finding a site in North Brooklyn. Um, I would just want to make sure that it's
accessible and fair, that people can get there, that we can park there, right? That it's open and available and we're not creating a new problem by we solve the pro pool problem, but maybe create a transportation problem. Um but um I I do think that we could be probably serving
a few more communities. We could probably be serving seniors better also. I understand that the space I haven't been in it myself, but I understand the space at the senior center is pretty small. Um the complaints that the gym gets crowded, things like that. So um if there were some creative things we could
do to create more space, I think we would meet a higher demand. Then my second question, uh, because you touched on accessibility, which is a cause near and dear to my heart, uh, what do you think we can be doing to
increase accessibility of our parks and open spaces around town? >> Yeah. So, I love that. um as we've been redoing some of the parks, right, the the sort of roundroin of of the parks getting renewed um in uh adjacent to the new schools, but also right um Robinson
Downs um the Cypress Field playground, those have all been done, I think, in the last 10 years now, certainly since we moved into the neighborhood. Um I love that um those like accessible pathways are already being created around those parks. I would love to see some of the older parks be sort of
retrofitted with more accessible pathways, easy access, better gate systems, right? Not putting gates in the fences where we don't need to, right? Flat pathways that people can circumn the parks. Um certainly I know the wood
chips are like I personally like I I have mixed feelings about I love the wood chips because it's natural material, but it's also messy and hard to maintain and not accessible. wherever we can find some kind of compromise that are actually accessible solutions, right? But that we're not dumping
petroleum in our parks. I'm all in favor of that those things. Um, I feel like I'm rambling a little bit. I hope I'm answering your question. >> No, that's great. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks, Amanda. >> A question I have for you. You mentioned in your application that you followed closely the development of Downsfield, Cypress, and Robinson.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> And I'm wondering if you can elaborate on what you see as the positives of those three, maybe any drawbacks that disappointed you. Yeah. >> And how that would inform your thinking if you joined Parks and Recre. >> Yeah, I think those are good questions and I think um and I do
I do I trying to get more and more familiar with parks outside of those that are also right in my neighborhood. Right. So, because I'm in precinct 5, those are the parks that we also go to the most, right? spend the most time at um uh at the Cypress playground. I
actually love the way the park the play structures themselves were like built right into the landscape, right? The way the hill was accommodated with the stonework that the kids can climb on. Um uh I I think um I wish those trees I
wish we could have been able to afford in the budget more mature mature trees that we or faster growing trees that we planted along um Cypress there, right? Um the the top of that hill along the sidewalk is still pretty hot, right? Um
so um that would be sort of a pro and a con there. The splash pad is fantastic though and the place structure itself is just awesome for kids of all ages to learn and grow. Um Robinson had its own kind of unique needs and I think that
this is wonderful too that we um we do our best to try to meet the needs of the neighborhood. Um Robinson really addresses the needs of lots of different ages of kids, right? There are even just like different levels of swings that are set out in different areas. Um they're
sort of designed to be for like the really little kids, the slightly bigger kids and then the middle school age kids um while allowing also for hardscape there. Um I'm not sure I really have any complaints about Robinson just like a
mom complaint that when the mulberries start to fall like the kids kids come home dirty, right? When with handfuls of m hands full of mulberries. Um, down it downs. I think it's been a little bit um
of a mixed bag. I like the playground. I I worry that um that and maybe this is just me, but that um the playground at the end that's closest to Pond Avenue almost feels a a little a little too kittyish. Um we're not accommodating all
age groups. That strictly now feels like a very like a tot lot, right? Um, and I know that, you know, there's plenty of room for the kids to do other things, but that like the kind of jungle gym stuff that we put at the other end, the obstacle course stuff doesn't get
utilized very much. Um, and then the underneath it, it get uh, so no, sorry, it's turf underneath. It's artificial turf underneath there gets really dirty. Um, and I don't know that there's a good way to clean that up more consistently. I know they come and they use that
machine to clean the artificial turf in the middle of Downs, right in the center of the track, the football field area, right? The playing field area. I don't ever see, but maybe it's just the timing of when I'm there. I don't ever see anybody going in and like cleaning up the artificial turf under that obstacle
course area. And it's just yucky, right? Like nothing biodegrades there like it would into natural turf. Um, so I do think and I still miss, it's so funny, my my kids are way beyond that little kid phase. I do kind of still miss the
sand pit under the tree. Um, but I also understand the concerns about having just an open pit of sand in our playgrounds was probably environmentally and health-wise not a great idea. Um, >> thank you. Any other questions?
All right. Well, we do have another candidate, at least one other candidate that we will be interviewing, so we will get back to you. But thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you all. Have a good evening. Can >> I ask one quick question? Not a sorry, just generally. Um, I noticed we currently have an associate member on
parks and wreck. So, is that one of the commissions that we can add associates but not alternate members? >> I believe so. I'll double check. Um, parks and wreck is a is a statutory body. It's creature bylaw. So, I'll check the bylaws. Right. >> All right. So, next we will move to
interviews of candidates for the board of assessors. And first up is Nicholas Erinelloo. >> Can we also in this case get the number of openings and the number of candidates. >> Um with Harold's resignation, there's one opening and one candidate.
>> Great. >> Thank you. >> I will note as well um the the board of assessors is a little different than other committees that you appoint for a number of reasons. Um, one, like some of the other boards, it requires a level of professional expertise. Two, it is a paid position. There's a stipen involved. It's not a full-time job, but
there is a paid stipen involved in it. And three, you do not need to be a resident of the town of Brooklyn to be a member of the board of assessors. So, I just want to make sure all that information is before you. >> All right. Thank you. Whenever you're ready, sir. >> Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you so much
for having me. My name is Nicholas Arinello and I'm here to express my candidacy for the position on the board of assessors. Um, I'll give you some beef brief background. Uh, so I have a bachelor's in business administration from the Eisenberg School of Management,
UMass Amherst, and then I have a law degree from George Washington University Law School. Uh, and I spent the last 20 years working for the board of assessors for the city of Boston. um the first 13 well 12 12ish years of that uh I was
counsel for the department um and so my responsibilities included dealing with number of abatement applications appeals uh working on legislation and working on um contracts for tax agreements. Uh and then for a year I was uh director of tax
policy and then for the past seven years I was the commissioner of assessing. Uh and in Boston the setup is a little different from some other communities. Um but u in essence due to the city charter and the way state law works uh the commissioner of
assessing is a oneperson board. Um so I was in essence the entire board of assessors for the city of Boston um for the past seven years. So I have some familiarity with responsibilities of the board. Um various duties related
to tax valuation uh dealing with abatements dealing with appeals. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. I don't want to go too far field. >> All right. Any questions, Bernard? >> Well, as the town administrator stated,
you don't have to live in Brooklyn. I assume you don't. Um, >> okay. Nothing wrong with that. Um, what what is it? And the Boston um assessor's office is a lot different than ours. Um, what is it you know about
Brookline that um we should know that you know uh to be able to step into this position quickly? No, >> I I appreciate that. It's a really good question. Uh I do have some familiarity with Brooklyn, but I don't know like property by property level detail. Um, I
think you'll find actually that in general assessing responsibilities in Massachusetts are very similar from community to community. Um, you guys have a lot of the same property types that we have in Boston that we're dealing with modeling for. Uh, it's just
smaller. Um, but you have single families, two families apartment buildings, you have hotels, you have commercial office space, you have retail space. These are all things that require different valuation approaches and modeling. Um we've also uh
in particular Brooklyn and Boston have worked very closely um at least during my time working for the city. Uh so I worked closely with your current chief assessor Ted Costigan. Um I worked with his predecessors Rasheed and Gary. We
worked on a number of appeals together dealing with personal property utilities. um issues that end up impacting the whole state. Uh but that Boston and Brooklyn tend to lead um honestly and then the
benefits of those decisions help out the rest of the state as well. Um, but to to get back to your point, a lot of the really what a board of assessors does is to make sure that the system is being implemented fairly uh and that values
are going out at 100% fair market value so that one you can get state certification. Um, but also just to make sure that everyone is paying their their fair share. Um, and then it's also the assessor's responsibility and the offic's responsibility to be uh
available to constituents and make sure that they understand how the system works, understand um basically no one really likes taxes, but at the same point they serve a purpose. Uh, and you want to make sure that everyone is paying what is what is
appropriate within our system. and that those rules and requirements and restrictions, they're the same throughout Massachusetts since we're all operating with the same system of laws. The other questions, Michael, um yeah, uh thank you very much for your application. Um, I'm I'm curious whether
in your role in Boston, and uh, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think this is part of the role of the board of assessors in Brooklyn, but if you had any uh, uh, input or feedback on the policy decisions of
uh, in our case, the select board or other uh, bodies that um, you know, determined rates or um, you know, set in our case, residential exemptions or how your work interacted with those decision
processes. >> Yeah. No, it's it's a great question. So yeah, um one of my responsibilities throughout the years was to um explain our system of laws to uh
both people within the city government, so the commissioner of assessing at the time, the CFO, the mayor, um and then also to appear before our city council and to um explain the systems that we have and then help advise on potential
changes or new systems. Um, so I've worked on legislation that changed residential exemption requirements. I worked on legislation that changed senior exemption requirements. Um, I've been in a number of meetings trying to figure out ways to
kind of work within the system that we have and to get things through the state legislature. Uh, I've appeared before the state legislature and testified on a few different occasions um to advance positions that the city was advocating for in relation to tax legislation. Um,
so I I touched on a bunch of different aspects. >> Thank you. >> What is your approach to community engagement and dispute resolution specifically if you have residents who feel that their evaluations are inaccurate or inequitable?
That that is a great question and I I really do feel that is I think some of this ends up falling I I'll talk based on my experience and kind of what I felt was in Boston. I think some of it ends up falling a little bit more on the the staff in the
assessing department that have to be there day in day out and and deal with taxpayers and um but the I was viewed in Boston that there's really the overall objective is to properly value the city. Um, but then
there's also this kind of like subobjective that was really kind of on equal level, which is be able to explain the system to our constituents and make sure that people kind of understood where their values were coming from and why. Uh, and so we did an immense amount
of work to have lots of information available to people. Um, not only in being responsive if they filed for an abatement and had questions about their value, um, but also putting information up on our website so you can get all kinds of sales data, all kinds of maps in transactions to kind of see what's
happening in your neighborhood and get a sense of where other people are in relation to you. Um, people don't own property for a couple of months. So, anyone that has a question about their property tax bill, if you can't help them with that question, they're not going to go away.
They're going to have that same question the year after, the year after, the year after. And so the more that I think the again the bulk really does fall on the staff of the the assessing department in the community because they're the ones that are there 9 to5 and have to deal
with people when they come in unexpectedly. Um, but the more you can explain that process and kind of figure out a way to get to understanding, people may not be happy about it because again, nobody's particularly happy about
taxes, but at least they understand they're being treated fairly and that you're you're working to help them kind of understand the parameters and how the system is set up. >> Okay. Thank you. Amanda, you had a question. >> Uh, yeah, just one. Um, why why Brookline? Why are you applying
for this position in Brooklyn? >> Yeah, it's a great question. Part of it timing. Um, I ended my position with the city of Boston at the end of the fiscal year. So, the end of June, and I'm thinking about kind of what I want to do next,
taking a bit of a break for myself. Um, I happened to hear from TED that the position was going to be available. Uh, and I thought it might be a nice way for me to continue to help out in government while I figure out what my next steps
might be. Um, it's not so time consuming um that I wouldn't be able to continue to do it uh while I work somewhere else when I figure out what that might be. Um, but at the same point, it gives me an opportunity to give back to
a community and state that I I deeply love. >> Thank you. All right. So, we may have more candidates, we may not, but at some point we will get back to you. So, thank you very much for your interview. >> Thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. >> So, next we will be interviewing a
candidate for advisory council on public health. The usual question, how many spots available? How many candidates? >> Currently, two vacancies. We have four applicants. >> All right. Thank you. I will answer Amanda's earlier question. Yes, because parks and wreck is statutoily limited to
seven members. So you can appoint associate members who are basically exeicio, you know, don't vote, can't can't serve as alternates, can't have vote, they don't have voting privileges, but they can be you you can basically ask them to be a part of the discussion and the board accepts them on that
basis, but you can't name alternates. >> Thank you. >> All right. So our candidate for uh this evening for advisory council on public health, Jessica Mickelson. She's online. >> All right, Miss Mickelson, whenever you're ready.
>> Hi. Um, thank you for Oh, sorry. I'm not used to seeing my speech come up. Okay. Thank you for inviting me. Um, it's a pleasure to be here. Um, and sorry, sorry, I'm just having a
weird Zoom issue. Apologies. Um, oh, never mind. You're coming across to us very well. So, >> okay. I can just see myself multiple times and I can't see you. >> Oh, we see you once.
>> Well, that's good. All right. Okay. I will just not worry about it. Um, so I'm Jess. I live in precinct 15. I've been in Brooklyn for nearly two years. Um, and I'm applying to join the um,
advisory council on public health because I want to use my skills to contribute to my my new community and my new town, I guess. Um, and my kind of professional expertise is in health policy and government policy. Um, so
I've spent the last decade in senior roles in the British government in policy and administrative roles. Um I was the senior administrator for community- based healthcare sectors um which is a very broad remitt um in
the UK covering everything from community hospitals home and community based care um end of life care social prescribing and more about 300,000 national health service staff work in
community based healthcare sectors um and in that I also led the um British government's COVID 19 response across community based healthcare sectors. Um and I would say I was particularly
proud that we kept all the sectors functioning. Staff didn't lose their jobs. Uh patient care continued even while we adapted to COVID response. Um, and I guess I think the the
relevance of this for um, my ability to contribute on the advisory council of public health is that I've got a lot of experience in leading health policy in really complex political environments and faced with various crises and emergencies.
Um, and I think that the town I mean public health everyone is currently facing just multiple challenges and threats. Um and I would like to contribute to that or to address in those. Um thank you. Any questions?
Okay, >> Michael. >> Uh so thank you very much for your application. Um given your extensive work uh in the British health care system and now uh being in the United States uh for a uh a couple of years. Um
uh so the balanced way to ask this questions um are there are there aspects of the public health regime uh within uh Brooklyn, Massachusetts and the United States uh that could benefit from uh
experiences that you've had with the British health care system? I think so. One of my observations um would be that the problems that we face I think are really similar even though the systems as you say are so different.
Um so I guess one example thinking from a community perspective is because the UK government and the the national health system is responsible for acute care and for care in the community.
the the the kind of transition from hospital back into the community um can be smoother um just because it's all one body for example I think there are other things that um and that isn't just a bookline issue that's a a wider
issue um I think there are other things that the UK can learn from bookline as well so >> thank you >> thank you I notic in your application materials. You mentioned that you led the UK CO 19 pandemic response across
community- based healthcare sectors. If you could describe how that experience would inform your service on the advisory council on public health. >> Sure. I think um thinking back to that time I think for
me a big part of it was facing challenges not that I had never faced before but that no one I was working with had faced before and the ministers and the politicians hadn't clinical leaders hadn't I mean we were very much kind of in an unknown
um and so I really had to change my style of working um to adapt to that environment um as well as just new kind of issues arising regularly. And uh it feels to me
like there is a lot of relevance now some of the issues that public health is facing with the wider political context and the challenges at a federal level as well as things like misinformation and um
the impacts that has on trust uh for example. So I think there is a lot of relevance in facing kind of new challenges that that you have to just think about in a new that require thinking about in a new way because no one has has really come across them before.
>> Did that make sense as an answer? >> Oh yes. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? Amanda, >> uh, I noticed that you you mentioned your experience and educational experience in conflict management and would love to get your your take on how
that might be beneficial to navigating public health at the local level. >> Um, I think I would say it's all about the kind of hearts and minds side of public health.
So thinking about my experience in conflict management was very much about how do we take people who have different perspectives and find a way to work toward a shared goal or how do we navigate differences but come out with
something that benefits the community or in this case you know the the world the the country whatever level you're doing it um so but I think it really comes down to the people so I think it's just the ability ability to
kind of step back, listen and think about how do we come together with a shared goal. Maybe that means not everyone gets exactly what they want or maybe that means we take a completely different route but kind of everyone benefits
would be my um Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Well, we will uh have other candidates possibly who are who we will interview and we will get back to you.
But thank you for applying and for your interview. >> Thanks. >> All right. So that concludes our interviews for the evening for various boards and commissions. We will now move on to our next agenda item. Washington Square Brooklyn Village parking studies
presentation. >> Commissioner Shoot is online. Good evening. Let me just get my video on here. Great. Uh my name is Aaron Chud. I'm the commissioner of public works. Uh before turning the presentation over to our
consultants, I'd like to briefly place tonight's discussion in context. The Washington Street Complete Street Project is a comprehensive reconstruction of approximately 1.3 miles of Washington Street from Washington Square through Brooklyn
Village to Route 9. It provides major improvements to accessibility, pedestrian and bike safety, transit, traffic operations, signals, drainage, lighting, landscaping, and the overall streetscape. This is a mass DOT
transportation improvement project or TIP. The current estimated construction cost is approximately 34.8 million with construction programmed for federal fiscal year 2030. The town is responsible for advancing and funding
design while construction is expected to be funded substantially through the federal and state tip program. Though following extensive public review, the design review committee advanced the preferred design in January 2025,
followed by unanimous support of the transportation board. And then on February 11th, 2025, the select board voted to approve the preferred design and advance it to Mass DOT. And the board uh then also voted uh to request
improved wayfinding and a parking and curb use study for both Brooklyn Village and Washington Square as part of the project planning. So since then the town has submitted the 25% design to Mass DOT
and worked through the agency's review comments. We're now finalizing that design and preparing for the formal mass DOT public hearing this fall after which we'll begin advancing to uh the 75%
design. So I this has been a truly collaborative effort. I want to recognize our partnership with the planning and community development department including Jessica Doy who's attending this evening along with Dan Martin, DPW sustainability transportation engineer who's available
to answer any questions. They're both attending in person. And so in response to the select board's direction, the town retains Stantech to conduct the parking and curb use studies. Tonight is anformational update. No board action is
required. And with that, I'm pleased to introduce Liza Cohen from Stantech. She'll present the study's purpose, approach, community engagement, findings, and recommendations. So that I will turn it over to Liza. Thanks. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Can you all
hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. Um, I'm going to share a screen. I've got some slides for you all. All right. Is that working? Full screen. There we go. >> Great. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Uh some
slow internet here. Uh so, as Commissioner Shupe mentioned, uh Stantech has been working for the last 14 months or so on a parking management study for both Brooklyn Village and Washington Square. Tonight I'm going to provide a very brief update on uh where
we are with those studies so that uh you all have the information at hand and um can hear a bit about what we are recommending for both of those areas. So, as I mentioned, these are uh this is about a 14-month process began in the spring of last
year, and we are at the little we are here section where we've submitted a final report and are wrapping things up. And as Commissioner Chute mentioned, the studies and have sort of mirrored or followed some of the Washington Street project milestones. Um, and we most
recently presented at the transportation board. Um, we've also done some other engagement opportunities that I'll talk about here in a bit. So, these are our study areas. You can see Washington Square on the western side of the map and Brooklyn Village on the eastern with the Washington Street Complete Streets
Project Bounds running between them. And one thing that's really important to recognize is that the town has done a lot of work that these studies needed to both fit into and build off of. Much of it to help people travel by modes other than driving. So, actually a couple folks on some of our focus groups
recently made the point that a lot of that work is actually going to reduce uh parking crunches in and of itself. Um, which is important to recognize. We also uh were able to develop study goals from a lot of this and and draw on a lot of this work that the community has done uh to look at the town as a whole and these
study areas. So, key components of both studies, we're still talking with people. We did um this through two phases and a variety of outreach points. We had some focus groups at one point. We stood around in Brooklyn Village and talked to people that were walking by. We did the same in Washington Square.
That's one of our favorite things to do to make sure we hear from a lot of different types of folks. Um, so that was a two-phase effort as I mentioned. Um, and one important part of our overall approach to the parking system is that we don't just count spaces. Um,
we want to develop a parking management approach that supports overall community goals. So, as I mentioned, you all have established a lot of things that Brooklyn wants to do that uh the town wants to to develop. And so, we worked with the community and town staff to develop these goals which sort of provide the framework for all of our
recommendations and really our approach to this study and those are shown here. So, I'm going to quickly take you through some of our findings and then recommendations. So, here you have a map of the parking inventory in Brooklyn. The different types of parking facilities are shown by uh the
regulation which is denoted by the different colors on the map. Um and you know perhaps surprising to almost anyone who's ever parked in Brookline Village, we counted over 3,000 spaces there. And that is because we counted both what we call publicly available as well as restricted parking. And those generally
break down the regulations generally break down into two major categories, right? You have the three-hour limit that costs $2. that's kind of in the core area of demand. And then beyond that, free parking with a 2-hour limit. And then various other regulations, of course, interspersed throughout here.
Following the inventory, we went out and counted all the cars in all the spaces in May. And we did that throughout the day on two weekdays and a weekend. And you're seeing one of the peak times here for Brooklyn Village. So, there's a lot on this slide. The chart on the left
hand side shows occupancy in the dark blue bars and empty spaces in the light gray. The map on the right hand side is a heat map. So um parking street segments and off- streetet facilities that are shown in orange or red are those that are at or over capacity. And
then the cooler colors represent parking locations that have capacity available. And we can also break this down uh by you know almost any way you would like to. many uh different regulations. We chose these four. Um the one that I
want to draw your eye to is the restricted parking on the top right. So even at peak time, you have, you know, a thous,000 spaces that are just going unutilized in Brooklyn Village. Um but you do have, you know, that core that I showed before in gray. Core public
parking does get quite busy at 9:00 a.m. and noon in Brooklyn Village. And that's probably, you know, when someone is driving up to the front door of somewhere and they can't find a space. And so it's that that we're looking to decongest and try to use some of that underutilized parking. One important
characteristic of Brookline Village is that today town hall staff are parking on the street while the garage is under construction. So, we were able to take that into account and look at that core parking for example today and then what that will look like in the future when those townhouse staff can go back into
the garage and come out of the core and come off the streets where they've been parking today actually and they're in some um of the publicly available lots as well. I'm not going to talk a ton about public outreach tonight. Um there's a lot in the report. I wanted to point out, this is one of our favorite
questions to ask um employees and visitors and residents. Would you be willing to pay a little bit more to park closer and overall more visitors generally say yes, we'd be willing to do that or would you rather park a little bit further away to have lower cost or free parking and overall more employees
are more willing to do that. It's the longer term parkers of course that would like to pay less for parking. We took a similar approach to Washington Square. So this is the inventory and again we're trying to highlight kind of where the different major regulations are so we can understand if that correlates to demand in Washington Square it generally
does. Um the core of demand is kind of that first block of Washington Street south of Beacon and then you know the two sides of Beacon Street on either side of the tea station there and beyond that parking is fairly underutilized. So, oh, one other thing to mention for Washington is that what was interesting
there is instead of a a morning midday peak like we saw in Brookline Village, the peak is really in the evening when the restaurants are very active. So, we were able to take looks like this, which was to compare some of the space reductions associated with the Washington Street project to the
utilization and estimate, you know, if all those cars still parked there tomorrow, what would core parking look like in the future? And you know, the Washington Street project is so long and spread out that you're not actually losing that many spaces in the core. And in Brooklyn Village, you're also gaining
back some spaces with those town hall employees moving out. So overall, the impacts are not that significant in those core areas of demand. So some of the key issues for Brooklyn Village, and these will be similar for Washington Square, but are that, you
know, that core area is very busy, but there's out there's availability outside of the core. um long-term public parking is difficult to find and then some other findings about regulations and that sort of thing that aren't always clear which of course impact whether people can find parking. So this is an overview of all
of our recommendations. They fall into four buckets. Um generally improving experience, optimizing the existing supply, making sure that parking supports the overall transportation network, and then trying to futureproof the system. Um there are a few of these that are similar for Washington Square
and Brookline Village. So, I'm going to talk through Brooklyn Village fast, talk about the three that are very similar, and then um follow up with Washington Square at the end. So, for Brooklyn Village, and again, these are just some of our recommendations. There's much more detail in the report, but one of
our primary recommendations was kind of a two-step process of increasing the parking available to the public. And by that, we don't mean necessarily building new parking, but instead taking advantage of some of the parking that's there today. So, one important thing that Brookline Village has to offer is the Brooklyn Place Parking garage, which
actually is open to the public today. Um, and the town is making moves toward potentially moving some long-term parking in there or otherwise bringing it more into the system again in order to decongest that core. Alongside that, there's then an
opportunity to make more of the core parking available to shorter term parkers. So, when the town hall garage opens up, the Kenton station lot will be able to come back into circulation, incorporating the library garage into the pricing system. And then looking at
town hall facilities, particularly at night when they're not being used as heavily, opening those up to the public as well. We also think although you do have, you know, a priced core and some free parking beyond that, which is great, having that striated parking system, um, we think there's an opportunity to
create some further zones of price differential to better respond to demand. So, you could probably charge a bit more to park in that core and then have some zones on the side that are kind of in a a middle ground area and then zones on the very outside that are free. And that will again create more
options for people and allow people to um who are more price sensitive and want to park for longer to perhaps come out of the core. We also took a look at the commercial permit program because you run a lot of commercial permits on street. Um a bunch of recommendations here. A couple that I
want to highlight are moving to more of a monthly and perhaps in the very long term daily option so that people don't feel they have a sunk cost and you all don't feel that you have sold all the permits while people aren't using them. Um there were several employees and and
restaurant owners who were kind of like well I can't buy into that program because I don't have employees for long enough and that sort of thing. So trying to make that program more flexible. Um, this map is complicated, but we also tried to identify some streets where it might be possible to sell some more
permits as well as consider um selling permits for contractor parking. We heard that that was an issue in both study areas. Uh, so a few recommendations for both study areas. One, as Commissioner Shupe mentioned, is a streamlined wayfinding
system. We have some examples here. Um, the one this one in particular I like from Salem. This provides real-time availability, which is relatively easy these days to do off streetet and getting easier even to do on street, which is pretty exciting. Um, but also creating things like this map, which we
were able to do through this study, which is kind of a attempting to be a publicfriendly way to describe what is truly a very complicated parking system and to make it obvious to folks, you know, where they should park depending on what type of parking they need. So, we created one of those for Brooklyn
Village and for Washington Square. Another recommendation is um related to this chart in the middle of the slide here which is trying to say how many different entities need to touch parking. It's a lot and um it's going to be important to designate a parking
champion role or otherwise sort of vest that into one person um who can then follow up on a lot of different kind of coordination that is needed to manage the parking system. One of those things is potentially uh activating the existing parking benefit district in Brooklyn Village um and considering one
for Washington Square. And then finally, this is my favorite recommendation. You will now have all of the data needed to go out and replicate these counts with relatively little effort. And that's an important thing to be doing as Brookline invests in additional infrastructure um
and as things change. keeping these counts up, publishing the results publicly. This data can just be really powerful in terms of how you're managing your system. So, for more information, there's a lot more in the report. Um, I'll quickly go over a few for Washington Square and then I'll stop
talking, I promise. Um, one of the ones I wanted to highlight for Washington Square is just um the the loading and unloading activity and then a similar issue in that folks are hunting for long-term public parking options. Um, we heard a lot about just kind of confusion
and underutilization of the existing commercial permits. So, um, again, we have some that are similar, but looking at a demand sensitive pricing structure here that really values those first few blocks right around the Washington Square T-top and responds to what we saw
in terms of utilization patterns might help some folks decide, okay, I don't need to park right out front. I'm going to park one block away and I'm going to pay a little less to do it and therefore I'm more willing to do it. We identified some other locations in Washington Square where you could increase parking open to the public. One big one that
came up a bunch was the Driscoll School and folks not really being sure if they could park there when school was not in session. Um, so that could be a great option that's right in the core and folks who own restaurants in the area were pretty excited about that option. Um, another is to facilitate valet
parking. Brookline has a valet parking program. I don't think there's a lot of awareness about this and some towns have actually moved to what's called a universal valet. So you operate one valet for multiple vendors. Um you could use that to you know draw some of those locations that are further away uh
closer together. And then again we took a look at the commercial permits and where there might be space to add additional commercial permit parking. So overall um the goal is to spread out the demand within a system that does have
capacity and try to manage things in a consistent manner that kind of responds to those overall goals that I talked about at the beginning. So I will stop there uh and happy to take any questions as needed. >> Anyone have questions? Michael.
>> Uh sure. Uh well, thank you uh for the for that very thorough presentation and I look forward to diving into the the report as well. Um I'm wondering um many constituents have spoken about the
challenges of either uh people in our commercial areas uh dealing with uh loading and unloading of uh materials for the businesses and the effect of that on local parking and street traffic
more generally. um as well as whether it's short-term pickup uh or double parking for Door Dash and other such businesses. Um did the did the did your parking analysis
um deal with any um any means of of addressing those concerns? >> Yeah, that's a great question. I didn't go over it tonight, but we do have um we did a comprehensive inventory of all of the curbside parking, so we understand where there are and are not loading
zones or short-term parking zones, and there's a whole wide array of different types of those in both areas. Um, and we found that there really aren't a lot of those right in the heart of either area. And so we would argue that some of those front door spaces might be best utilized
for short-term pickup and drop off and or loading. You know, one space can either serve one car sitting there for 2 hours or 8 to 12 deliveries right out front and that might be a more valuable use of that curb. So we identified some locations in this report and then we
also provided a few follow-up steps um if you wanted to do an, you know, a more sophisticated loading study. the types of questions you might need to ask in order to understand the different patterns and that sort of thing. >> Um, and the second question that I had
was, um, did your parking, uh, you talked about long-term parking. I'm assuming that was long-term daytime parking. Were there any did you get any information about the need for long-term overnight parking? >> We didn't look too closely at overnight
parking. We were mostly looking at kind of businessoriented parking. um in in these studies. >> Thank you, Amanda. >> I have a few questions. Um one of them is where did these recommendations lie?
And maybe Dan knows this, like there are some recommendations that might happen when Washington Street happens, but there's a lot that we can do now. Um and so whose responsibility does it become to take action on some of these lowerhanging fruit?
>> Sure. Um Dan Martin, transportation engineer here. So some of these we've already started. So like upgrading the park meters, trying out new tech new technology. We're going to be piloting a pay by plate option in the town hall lot to see if that's more efficient for people. If it works well, we'll expand
it townwide. So um parking will be a little more streamlined. Um we're updating the curb and inventory on on GIS. We'll hopefully have an inventory of all of North Brooklyn to help us better determine which streets we can
expand parking permits on beyond just the commercial area itself, but a little wider of a net. Um, so a lot of these do fall under transportation, but again, um, some of them like increasing the parking fines that involved many different departments including the
select board. Um, so it just depends on the scale of of the recommendation and how many departments it touches. Um and recently too we we just started the new um wayfinding project for Koolage Corner. That's one of the right recommendations in port as well and that's a partnership planning and got a
grant bill for that. >> And then along those lines the second question is uh there's some discussion in this report about parking in the Driscoll a lot. I know people have thrown out the idea of after school
parking in basically the three schools that are near commercial districts which will be Pierce when it finishes, Driscoll and Ridley. Um, and I don't know uh what the steps might be to even make
that a feasibility. Um, and I'm looking at Chaz because I don't know if you know the answer to that. >> I mean, it's going to be is a discussion with the schools, right? That's really what that is. Ultimately, you know, these are town facilities that the schools use and so those are discussions that we would have to have with the
superintendent and school committee. Yes, it is possible. >> And could we bring it up at the town school partnership as >> Yes, absolutely. >> place to do that. Yeah. >> Um, and then my third question was, uh, in the report on Brookline Village, I
was taking notes as to some of, um, the concerns about pedestrian accessibility, especially at Harvard and Washington and where they intersect. Um, mainly because this is my backyard. There's no walk signal on Davis Avenue at Washington
Street. Um, cars do not see pedestrians when they are crossing, especially when taking a right turn. I'm wondering if that particular intersection is something that we can look at before 2030. >> We can try and take another look at that
one. U I don't know about five years ago, we did try and add um pedestrian displays and push buttons and found a lot of the conduit was damaged. We have to do substantial underground repairs to get those push buttons and displays functioning. Um, there was a temporary
project possibly to expand the signal or reconstruct it, but we thought that might be too disruptive to rebuild it and then distur it for the next Washington Street project. Um but we can look at >> I mean even just like I know it's it's
easier said than done but um for particularly those with limited visibility um not having a pedestrian walk is problematic. So, a question I have related to
Amanda's second one. Uh, you note on slide 11 that the study's inventory uh represents the current signage and usage rather than the legal status of ownership of parking spaces. So, beyond some of the spaces being in schools,
there are also some spaces that are currently privately held. And uh do you have experience or knowledge of how other communities have tried to partner with uh private land owners around
making those spaces available? >> Yeah, there's a whole spectrum of ways that that can work. Um, so I think one of the the best examples, I believe it's in Lexington, is where they just have a lot that's privately held, but it's
fully open and available to the public. And then there's kind of all shades down from there. So you could, you know, the town could facilitate a relationship with one property owner or with a group of employees so that now you only have a limited set of folks who are permitted
to park in that lot. Um, and you all have different ways to incentivize doing that, whether that's revenue sharing agreements or offering some inkind services. You know, you're out there striping your streets and you offer to restripes a lot as well or or maintain. I'm you know, I'm sure uh Commissioner
Shu loves me adding to her list, but uh the you know, I think there's a number of different ways to do it. I would also point you to I believe it's MAPC. They provide um a lot of great resources on shared parking and how to facilitate that. They have some good stuff online
including sample agreements. >> What are the usual barriers to entering into those agreements? Liability concerns or something else. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Usually it's kind of folks are really worried about liability. People don't want to do the paperwork. Um and
that's why that option of a, you know, testing out a lowerhanging fruit where you have a select group of people that are going to park in the lot um could be a good way to to try all it out. Um, but you know, I think
I think providing the data and providing those agreements and kind of trying to smooth some of those barriers right from the get-go can be really effective. >> Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Well, thank you very much for this presentation. Very informative.
This is very helpful. >> And we will now move. >> Thank you for the opportunity. >> You're very welcome. We'll now go to our next agenda item which is the 16 William Street pilot agreement question of voting to authorize the select board chair, town administrator and tax
assessor to execute a payment in lie of taxes agreement with victory programs related to 16 William Street. Looks like Carara is going to give us an introduction to this. >> Uh yes, my name is Cara Brutin. I'm the
director of planning. Um, I want to recognize that Lincoln Heinaman, our finance director, who is um, critical in getting this pilot draft going. He's not here tonight. As well as our assessor, Ted Costigan, who I'm hoping is still in the building or maybe joining by Zoom.
Um, and also John Bouite might still be on Zoom um, from town council's office and Alexander Train might be here online um, from victory programs. Um, it's the end of the evening, so I will try to
keep this short. Um, the reason we have a pilot agreement in front of you for victory programs regarding 16 William Street is because of the right of first refusal that the town had and the select board assigned that right of first refusal to victory programs with a
couple of conditions. One of them being that um the new property owner continue our kind of standard 25% pilot payment um for this charitable use property. Um and Victory Programs is willing to do
that. The draft that you have in um to sign tonight is very similar to what was um provided in the packets except for a couple of things. One, there is actually an attached exhibit A which describes the property. And secondly, um thanks to
one of you SLET board members, um on page two, um paragraph three, uh because this agreement is for 20 fiscal years, um we count fiscal year 2027 as year 1. And so um in the signed version, there
are edits so that it says now it says in extending through fiscal year 2046. Um there's a second uh edit that our tax assessor caught in the middle of that discussion and that is um a couple sentences down um where
it says prior to termination victory programs may elect to renew instead of elect to renewal which just doesn't make sense from a language perspective. Um I'm happy to answer any questions. 20 years is kind of the typical term um for
our charitable organizations. According to John Bukite, this agreement does not ramp up um like some of our older pilot agreements do from, you know, 0% up to 25%, we just start at 25%. It um the agreement anticipates renewal at the end
of the 20 years. And of of course with with all these kinds of things, the pilot payments pilot agreement is voluntary. Um, but we expect Victory Programs to continue to work with us. Um, and it's extremely
important as we try to reach out to all of our charitable organizations and treat them all fairly that even for these small properties, we're trying to treat everybody to come to the table and offer a a pilot agreement with us. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions,
Michael? >> Uh, thank you very much. Um I just want to confirm that the calculation of the 25% is based on the assessed value of the property and that the um the
property is uh reassessed according to some regular schedule so that the 25% is of a growing of a at least changing number over the course of the agreement. >> Yes, that is correct.
Any other questions, comments? >> All right, seeing none, thank you very much. I move that we authorize the select board chair, town administrator, tax assessor to execute a payment in lie of taxes agreement with victory programs related to 16 William Street. Bernard,
>> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. >> Thank you. And with that, we will now move to our final item of the evening. Warrant article vetting review and possible vote on invitation to vet potential warrant
articles in advance of filing. I know this is something Michael's been working a lot on. If you'd like to or Chaz, go ahead. >> Um, so we've uh Michael and I uh traded drafts back and forth. you have in the um in the packet is a red line um of the
final a proposed final version. Um we can get you a clean copy. I think it's reasonably clear. Um Michael made edits to my edits. So the redlinined version that you see there is the version we'd like to send out to town meeting members. Um the long and the short of it
is um it's an invitation for folks to if they have an a warrant article they would like to propose to submit a draft in advance so that we can identify how it fits into all the other plans that are out there. um look into whether the aims of the article can be accomplished
in other ways um more efficient ways um and then estimate the amount of time and money it would take to prepare that article uh for town meetings consideration and then implement it once passed. So um it's basically a pre-review prior to filing and allows
folks to get a sense of you know what the impact of their article is, how it furthers the goals that uh have been laid out by the community. Um and um hopefully if there's a better or easier way to do it um we can work together with that that person or those people to make that happen. So it's an open
invitation. Um it fulfills the goals of your roadmap in terms of um bringing the process out more to the people being transparent and clear. Um and um I'm happy with the language of it that Michael's put together. if the rest of
the board is >> Yeah, I think it's great uh great language. Tried to do this a few years ago and we never got anywhere. But um I'm wondering whether we have any sense of how town meeting members are going to respond to this.
>> Not guaranteed that, you know, they see the wisdom of uh >> Well, I mean, I I I we try and really emphasize in this that it's not gatekeeping. It's not, oh, you can't file a warrant article if you don't do this. Listen, you can get you get 10 signatures, you can file whatever you want. That's the way it works. Um, but this this is this is trying to be
helpful to them to them. You know, there's a long process that any Warren article goes through. There's a lot of hearings. There's a lot of back and forth. Um, and giving the folks in charge of implementing the law a chance to look at it well in advance to figure
out how it fits into the broader scheme and whether there are ways. You know, whenever someone comes to me and says, "Hey, I'm thinking of filing a warrant article." I try and go back to the very basic principles and say what problem are you trying to solve? Um is there an issue out there? Is there something that
government is not doing for you that you would like it to be doing or is there something the government is currently doing that you would like it to stop doing? Um can can how can we be of help to you? Um because sometimes yes the right way to do that is to file a warrant article and make sure that that gets out there and sometimes there are
changes in policy that can just make it happen faster and more effectively. Um, and so it's really in that, you know, I would hope that based on, especially based on the language that Michael has put together here, that folks take it as an open invitation to be collaborative and be and for us to provide help as
opposed to saying, you know, we're going to look at your Warren article and figure out if we like it or not. That's not the point of this. It's not about liking. It's about, you know, figuring out how it fits into the established community priorities and figuring out if there's a better way to do it, what that
looks like. Um, I guess I would also add that it it's my hope that in addition to the uh the population of town meeting members and others in the community who uh are relatively familiar with this
process and uh have uh worked the system um uh relatively regularly and consistently. that this will also provide an opportunity for broader outreach. Um, and bringing other people who, you know, as as the town
administrator said, may have ideas about how they want to improve the way that government functions or to pro to stop government from doing things that they don't like. Um, to be able to engage in these conversations.
um and I don't I don't just want to say conversations but but also to help structure their thinking in order to be most to make most effective use of the legislative process time that is you
know a lot of work for petitioners and um a lot of work for town meeting and the boards. I I will just say like from the folks I've talked to that have brought Warren articles before, the idea of getting feedback before the gate is closed on
making edits within scope is appealing. Um and so hopefully for to your point for those who have gone through this before and have uh run into problems with uh what the moderator deems in scope uh this becomes an appealing path.
Um the other thing that I I would say and I don't know uh that we can demand it but I would like to encourage town boards as much as possible to do joint hearings on some of these um so that
it's not 20 hearings that petitioners have to go through. Um and if we can streamline any of that um or encourage them to streamline it I think it would be helpful. We can send a message to boards and committees if you would like us to do
that. We have the list and we can just say to all the chairs, you know, the select board strongly encourages you if you're interested if you're interested in holding a hearing on a particular warrant article to let us know so that we can and we can basically put a list together. You know, here's all the here
are all the boards and committees that want to uh be heard on this um or have a hearing on this and then we can talk about crosscoordinating that. Yeah, I I like that. I don't want to speak for anyone else.
>> I agree that could be helpful in reducing the number of meetings that petitioners have to attend and uh thematically it can be useful to actually hear from more than one board at the same time. I remember during my time on school committee there were a
greater number of joint select board school committee meetings. We haven't had those in ages. Part of that is because we don't have as many school construction projects, but there are other times we had joint meetings and I found them to be useful. Uh, also I want to add that to me what's
most attractive about this opportunity beyond what Amanda stated about scope is also oftentimes petitioners will be frustrated that a certain technicality or legal issue renders their warrant article sort of dead on arrival. And had
they known that prior to the filing deadline, they would have constructed it in a different way. And that actually increases the uh ability for the change that is desired to be effectuated to occur uh more quickly.
It's it's my hope um and I'm looking to your uh collective council on this also um that in addition to just publishing this to the TMMA list serve that we also try to broadcast this
either through um various social media sites that many people in the town uh congregate on or um townowned channels of communication. We can talk with the communications with Christina and the communications folks about how we get that out in terms of
social media. Um, you know, I think it is generally a wise policy from my perspective, right? town individual town uh um individual town employees um don't
post in an official capacity on on social media sites um on message boards and so forth because that creates an expectation of response um and um so you know for example I don't think you know
departments will occasionally post events on um you know the Facebook town discussion page, but individual department members do not um in an official capacity. So, we can think about how we message that out.
>> All right. Well, I'm very pleas but but with that said, obviously, individual select board members are always free to message that out and that might actually be a better way. But again, it's all about the creation of expectations. You know, are we are we overreactive on social media? Um so, we try not try to
strike that balance. All right. Well, I'm very pleased with how this is uh written. So, thank you very much for that, Michael and Chaz, for your back and forth in uh making this happen. And I would like to move that we uh vote to approve this language
to invite the vetting of potential warrant articles in advance of filing. Bernard, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. And >> can I ask a question? the definition of vetting.
Um, and that's more and it sounds like we're talking about approving war, but that's not really the point that we're making here. It's it's more I should have thought of this earlier.
We're more we're saying here's an opportunity to get information as well as help from the select board and town staff. >> I think vetting is word that people may react to.
>> Uh first of all, thank you and I agree with you. Um the second thing to say is that that um in my last uh set of edits I actually
removed the language about this being a process of vetting and referred specifically to the public vetting process leading up to town meeting which is obviously after after filing. So, um,
in the in the language of the letter, um, I I removed the notion that this was, uh, a process of vetting in any sense. >> I guess maybe I'm reading this out of context, but in the second paragraph,
second to last line, it says, um, following process can help. Um, the warrant articles are ready to face the public. Okay. Maybe I I misread that. >> But to your point, the way this is titled in the packet is
>> Yes. Yes. The way >> prophetic invitation, >> right? Okay. That's it's that's no longer what it is. Or I mean, if it ever was, I think that's inaccurate language on our part on we we put the agenda together, but the actual document does not say vetting. This is a vetting opportunity.
>> So maybe we can come up with a better title when we >> when you disseminate it to to meeting members. Yes. I mean, yeah, I assume Michael, if it's okay that Michael can send it to TMMA, we won't use that term. >> All right. So, that concludes the uh
agenda items for this evening. Is there anyone who would like to be heard in public comments? No one. So, that concludes our meeting for this evening. Thank you very much.