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Hey, hey, Good evening everyone and welcome to the Cadam Select Board meeting of June 9th, 2026. Please let the record show that the meeting started at 5:41 um pursuant to Governor Healey's March

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28th, 2025 signing of chapter 2 of the acts of 2025 extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law general law chapter 38 section 20 until June 30th 2027. This meeting of the Chattam Select

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Board is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can access the proceedings as provided for in that order. Reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number 1589454410

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conference ID 203386491 pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda. While this is a live broadcast and summio cast on Chattam TV Xfinity channel 1072, despite our best

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efforts, we may not be able to provide realtime access. That being said, we will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as is possible. First order of business this evening is to establish a quorum of the Chattam Select Board. I'll do that via a roll call. Mr. Smith,

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>> present. >> Mr. Niccastro, >> present. >> Miss Potach, >> present. >> Mr. Meadows, >> present. >> And Mr. Dykens is present as as well. Uh we have two sets of minutes to approve this evening this evening. One for May 26th, 2026. I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes.

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>> Move we approve the minutes of May 26, 2026. >> And a second, please. >> Second. >> Any edits, suggestions? Uh okay. We'll just we'll run the run the uh run the vote here, the approval vote. Okay. Mr. Smith, >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro, >> abstain. >> Ms. Potz.

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>> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. And the chair says I as well. >> Mr. Chair, I move to approve the minutes of June 2nd, 2026. >> Thank you, Mr. Meadows. A second, please. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Potes. Okay. Any edits, suggestions, comments on the minutes of June 2nd.

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>> Okay. I think it was a 59minute meeting. >> All righty. Mr. Smith, >> I Mr. Niccastro >> abstain. >> Miss Bat. >> Hi, >> Mr. Meadows. Hi. >> And Mr. Dyken says I as well. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is are is public announcements and agenda

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item requests. The board, I believe, has a few announcements this evening. I'm going to go to Mr. Dcastro, then Mr. Meadows. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I have an agenda item request first. On the 24th of June, uh, the Department of Transportation is going to be holding

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the Croll Road public hearing. Following that, I'd like to request that the board take up consideration of the future of that project, including whether to um continue with it or terminate it. Perhaps we might do that on the 30th of June. I think the town manager had talked about that.

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>> I think we already have it. Yeah. >> And the second uh is an announcement. I watched the meeting of last week uh and Mr. Msina was here talking about history month and um Miss Potach called me today and >> uh suggested we might want to remind

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folks about that. And I'm going to ask Randy if she wants to add anything to that. >> Randy, please. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. So Cadam um this is uh June and it's Chattam History Month. Various events will happen during the month with a goal of engaging visitors and residents in the town's

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history. A free hop on hop off trolley will take place on Saturday, June 20th, and it will take people to the various historic sites in Chattam. Um, also it should be noted that the Cadam windmill group is in the need of two millers to

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provide tours and everyone is encouraged that's interested to apply and that's a paid position by the town of Chattam. So that's the uh history month um announcement and I also have another announcement if this is the right time.

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So this is a reminder that the deadline for applying for the tax aid um is July 1st. Applications are available at the treasurer collector's office at town hall or you can download the application from the Chattam tax aid committee web

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page or the treasurer collector collectors web page. The link is on both pages as well as the assessor's web page. This aid is for incomequalifying seniors 65 and over or income qualifying disabled citizens. The requirements and

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all the necessary documentation is explained in the application package. It is 100% confidential. The awards will be applied directly against the fiscal 2027 property tax bills, those coming up this November. Thank you. Thank you, Miss

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Potes. Mr. Meadows, I believe you had an announcement in order. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, in uh we did some interviews earlier this evening, and in light of the uh one specifically focused on the planning board and the comments that this committee uh made during the interviews, I think we should

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put on our agenda uh a discussion in preparation for a memo to the planning board to discuss potential bylaw recommendations that they could uh review. So, I'd like to kind of keep that hot hot going um for timing purposes. Thank you, Corey. I thought that was an excellent series of interviews with the planning board this

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evening. Uh, anybody else down the line here? I have one announcement. Um, there will be an opening on the housing authority. So, folks that are interested in serving in the housing authority, please make your interest known to either Tracy Cannon or Jill or Shauna or myself. Uh, there's going to be one

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opening on the house the housing housing authority vacancy. Okay. Um, I see Mr. Bystrom has something from the from the public here. Mr. Bystrom. >> Good evening. Uh, Bill Bistrom. So, as you know, and you've mentioned already,

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it's the 250th anniversary of our country, and you've also mentioned the, uh, trolley tour that, uh, Mr. Msine has put together. Well, I'm here tonight with a totally different trolley tour. Uh I've been working with Miladdin or

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Chattam Valet and as of next Monday the we're going to offer from Chattam Valet a free trolley tour for all Cadam residents and visitors. It's going to run twice a day 9 to 10 and 10 to 11

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starting at the Eldridge Garage. It's going to go up by the lighthouse, down by the new upweller, the Coast Guard, the old Coast Guard uh station. It's going to go past all four of the town museums, the Atwood House. It's going to

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also go by the railroad museum, the Maronei Museum. It's going to uh go by the community center. It's going to swing into the uh Writers Cove so people can have a view of what's happening at Ryder's Cove and where it is. It's going

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to go down past the uh the fish pier and it's going to end up coming making a a big loop and coming back to the Eldridge garage. There will be a person on there that will commentate uh maybe tell you some interesting or not so interesting

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facts about uh each one of those places. Uh it's totally free. There's no charge. It is not a hop on hop off trolley. That's the big thing. It's just it's a ride through Chattam purposely avoiding

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the center because of the traffic in the center but connecting some other pl points of interest. So if you live in Chadam and you just want to refresh uh your your vision of Chattam, you're welcome to do it. It's going to run again Mondays and Tuesdays through the

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end of the month 9:00 and 10 o'clock from the the Eldridge garage. Thank you, >> Bill. Thank you. Great idea. Great idea. Thank you, >> Mr. Smith. >> Sorry, I apologize, Jeff. I covered up my notes here and Mr. Bstrom reminded me

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uh for a um agenda request. Um I think we chatted about this some meetings ago u about the Eldridge Garage RFP lease. >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Uh Paula, your hand up. Welcome

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Paula. Paul Lofkran. >> Paula Lafrkin. Good evening. Thank you. I have an announcement. Um, I'd like to remind the public that the monthly meeting of the airport commission will take place tomorrow, Wednesday here in this room and live on channel 1072 at

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5:00 p.m. Among the agenda items is the engineers report on the construction phase for the tree removal project, an update on the critical airport study and the airport layout plan, and votes to authorize signing three more grant assurance contracts with um FAA and Mass

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DOT. The contracts can be found in the meeting package. Um, I want to heartily thank the select board for returning the commission to this venue. I was unable to attend last month's meeting um of the AC, but I was able to view it online.

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Thank you to the IT team for the high quality production. It was awesome. you've made it possible for the public to have firsthand information about airport operations and decisions by attending or watching the meetings um in so many formats. So, I urge everyone to

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tune in and take advantage of this opportunity either live on channel 1072 or online tomorrow night 5:00 pm right here. Thank you. >> Thank you, Paula. Any announcements and or agenda item requests from the floor

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here? I see none. Any announcements or agenda item requests from the public online? I see none. So, we'll move on on our agenda this evening. First item after our announcements and agenda item requests is a public hearing. And I will

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have our clerk potach please read the public hearing and uh we'll take it from there. The Chattam Select Board will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 in the large meeting room of the town office annex 261 George

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Rider Road, Chattam, Mass, and remotely via Microsoft Teams platform a to consider a petition from Nstar Electric Company doing business as Eversource Energy to install one new handle HH17H35

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and a 45 foot um plus or minus 2 to 4 in conduit for the purpose of upgrading the underground service for the customer at 38 Sandy Shoes Road, Chattam. The public is welcome to attend the meeting in person or participate via the link in

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the meeting's posted agenda. >> Thank you, Clerk Potach. I do see we have Marissa Jackson here with us once again. Marissa, take it away and let's What are we up to here? >> Yes, thank you very much. Marissa Jackson again with Eversource. So we

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have an existing pole along Shore Road in Chadam. That is pole 17 over35. What we're proposing at that pole is to install one handhole and from there to run approximately 45 ft of 24in conduit

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under the roadway. We have been in communication with the department of public works and they advised that this roadway is under a moratorum because it has been paved within the last 5 years. So we are in agreement you know

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Eversource and our contractor that we would be able to hydraulic direct drill under the roadway and this again is to accommodate the area resident at 38 Sandy Shoes Lane. Okay, this is a public hearing. Any

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comments from the board and or the public? Any comments from the board on the this application? Okay, it's public hearing. Any comments from folks here in person and or online? Public comments. Okay, hear and seeing

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none, I'll look to the board for a vote here. Uh motion, I should say. >> Move approval, Mr. Chair. >> And a second, please. >> Second. >> Thank you. We'll call the role. Mr. Smith, >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro. Hi, >> Miss Potach. Hi, >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. >> And Mr. Dykin says I as well. So, uh,

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congratulations, uh, Marissa. Onward and upward. Have fun. >> Thank you very much. We appreciate your time. >> You bet. Next item on the agenda is our consent agenda. We have two items this evening. Consider a special 1-day entertainment license for outdoor

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acoustic live music on July 23rd, 2026 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 4:34 Rididgeville Road, Cadam. The applicant is the Cadam Conservation Foundation. The other item is to consider a request to wave the fee for tent permit for Monoy Community Services, the Taste of

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Chadam July 25th to July 28th, 2026 at Chase Park Chadam. Is there anybody that from the board that would wish to discuss any of these items individually? Seeing none, any comments or questions from anybody in the uh in the public? I see none. Okay. So, we're going to take

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a role on the consent agenda. I move the consent agenda. >> Thank you very much. In a second. >> Second. >> Very good. Mr. Smith. >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro. >> Hi. >> Miss Potach. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. >> Mr. Dyken says I as well. >> And the next item on our agenda is the

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much awaited update on our our water and wells. Um I don't even say that tongue and cheek. It is it is much anticipated. Um and we look forward to it every month. Um, so I'll turf it off to you, Rob. And, uh, look pretty good, I thought.

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>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Rob Fley, director of public works. Uh, so I'm here to go over the, uh, May pumpage report, as well as any other updates in the drought update for the month of May. So, Chadam's Wells have been pumping 4 to 10 hours per day, and we have not hit the

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low-level alarm yet. Um, just on the update on training field, I know some of you were there for the ribbon cutting. Uh we did uh have substantial completion. Uh DP inspection resulted in the approval for startup. Um

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we held an open house recently. Uh Violia continues some of the training. Uh we're still anticipating a midJune startup of wells 5 and 8. And moving on just a quick update on irrigation meters. Um since last August we sold

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over 501 irrigation meters. That's over $100,000 in revenue. Um, now we have a total of 1438 irrigation meters in Chattam. Um, on May 19th we were at the district

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court where we brought five property owners uh to justice if you want to say. But since then um just before the the court date uh two of the property owners complied with our rules. one drilled a well and the other installed a second

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meter. So, we're down to three remaining properties. One of them had a bit of an address misnomer. Um the the court sent it to a different address. We don't know if they received it or not. So, we've notified them again. Um and the other two property owners that were

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nonresponsive will be in front of the district court on June 16th. Um the clerk magistrate is expected to take action at that time and I'll update the board for next month when that does occur. Um

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as of the end of May, we had 17 properties that still have not made appointments to install the second meter. So those fines are accumulating. Um we will send out letters once we finalize everything with the original uh set of property owners. We will start addressing these additional property

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owners. They are each at $45,000 300 in fines each of those property owners. >> Rob, so Rob, just a quick question if I might. There 1750 32 property owners should be installing a second meter. 15 of those 32 they have appointments and

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the others haven't have haven't made appointments. >> That's correct. >> Those are those the remaining >> number of folks other than the ones we brought to court that need to install meters. Is that it? the ones we know there may be a few uh out there that aren't registered. Uh but we're slowly

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chipping away at that. We look at usages and we're trying to find those uh those users >> and the way we identify those scoff laws, those remaining scoff laws is through usage reports >> water usage. So now you know irrigation system is uh irrigation season is just about full swing. So we're starting to

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really track those numbers. We see the uh the usage rates going up. So, we'd have to see who does not have a second meter and whose usage rate is going up. >> And we no longer allow connection to town water for irrigation. >> Right. As of January 2021, no new connections.

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>> Okay. All right. Good. Well, we we made a I just want to emphasize the notion that we made quite a bit of progress here. >> And it's been a busy year. >> Yeah. No, we have we've made quite a bit of progress. It's good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um just moving on for system

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maintenance. Um, nothing too uh outrageous here. Uh, leak detection monitoring has been continuing and our hydrant painting has begun. I'm happy to answer any questions on here, but it's just uh pretty much

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business as usual. >> The uh Did you go through five and five and eight? We're going to start up when? >> Uh, we anticipate next week. >> Oh, next week. Oh, good. Good. Training. >> We're still doing training. Violia is still doing training with some of the vendors that have come in, generator,

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things like that, >> but everything was working pretty well. >> Yeah, when D signed off on it, everything for the SCADA system and everything was working fine. >> Okay. Excellent. We do have a question. I'm sorry. Uh Nicole, is that you with your hand up? >> That's me. Thank you.

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>> Hi. Um, I had just had a question about the two that did go to court. One that installed the well, the other that was or didn't install a second meter. But what about the fines? Because they

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didn't do it for a long time. What kind of fines were collected? >> So, the main objective is compliance. So, we did drop uh the fines because they came into compliance. >> That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

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People can wait forever. There needs to be consequences. It was three and a half years notice that they all had and then they drag their feet again. So, I I don't think that that's the correct way. There were no consequences.

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That needs to change. Well, we did get them hooked up, but you you make a good point. >> So, the three outstanding property owners will be facing fines, I would imagine, by the clerk magistrate. >> So, the magistrate, >> that's the that's the indication I got

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from the clerk magistrate. Yes. >> I'm sorry, Rob. I'm not sure everybody heard that. So the three outstanding uh cases in front of the clerk magistrate will be um accumulating fines will be however the clerk magistrate wants to enforce that.

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>> Okay. Uh Mr. Smith has a question or comment as well. >> Thank you Jeeoff. Um I'm always surprised by some of these numbers not only here but do do we know these people are we know we're notifying them. Do we know they're

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receiving these notices? Well, that's >> so we send out their water bills and they're paid. Um, we don't get any return mail. So, we're under the assumption, >> yeah, >> that they're being paid. We talked to town council at one point because we were sending out certified letters, but

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it was costing us thousands of dollars, basically $10 a certified red receipt letter, and we sent out hundreds of them. So, um, we decided through town council that, you know, people can refuse to sign those as well. It was just just as um you know logistics just

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as easy to get a normal USPS letter to them, >> right? And the certified mail is >> that a requirement? >> It's not a requirement. No, >> we we just do it because we want to kind of >> keep Yeah. Yeah. No. And I get that the

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um I'm a so we notify these folks uh as as Nicole points out and after three and a half years of non-compliance we we go all the way to district court

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at you know some time and resources on your part. Um, and then we say, "Okay, since we twisted your arm and you you've complied, we're not going to follow through with any of

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the fines." That seems like might want to review that. Um, I can see some sort of a negotiation, but they did uh force the town to incur costs and time and resources, and it's just a pain in the neck um for people who just ignored it.

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So, um something for town manager and you to think about, you know, >> Yeah, I think we'll probably follow up with an agenda item or >> So, we we can't um assess any fines until it goes through the whole court procedure. So, if it's satisfied before

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then, you know, >> Well, I get it. I'm familiar with the fine process, but uh >> um I think that that's an unusual way of of of >> getting compliance when >> if it's going to be a general request, we'll talk about it then. >> Yeah, Mr. Nastro,

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>> I just wanted to clarify the fines started accumulating not three and a half years ago. That's when the obligation to connect, but but really last September 25, >> September, October. >> Okay. But I I agree it should be discussed. Thanks. >> It should be. Yeah. Okay.

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>> Okay. >> Thank you. Um so, uh the daily pumping comparison, uh between May 25 and May 26, you could see the last few months we've been higher. Um but now we're starting to tail off and um we're a little bit lower than we were last year,

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which is a good sign. >> Again, the U >> that looked great. Looked good. the daily comparison graph. Um, again, May 2026 is in the hot pink there. So, you can see it's just daily fluctuations,

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but very similar pattern as last year. And the same information in a uh in a chart. And here you'll see the um the daily effort for each pump, each well location. You could see on um

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I'll note that Indian Hill well number four um we did start it up on the 26th and then we had a chemical feed pump had malfunctioned. Uh so we ordered a new one. Um we had to go through bacteria testing and everything again and so that

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pump is that well is up and running again today. And here's the pumping graph comparison. And here is the year-to- date pumping report. Uh you can see last year's pumping was 103 million gallons year to date. Uh this year it's almost 117,000.

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So again, beginning of the year, every month was a little bit higher and uh and we're finally starting to tail off a little bit. Some of that may have to do with uh some of the minor leaks we found. Um not sure what any other reasons would be at this

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point. And here is our unmetered water usage. Uh our biggest usage is for flushing and blowoffs. Um flushing is now complete. So that 2.7 million gallons used last month will uh will trail off significantly for June.

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And this is the 5-year comparison. Again, we're at down to 36 million gallons for the month of May, which is um lower than average of 39 million gallons. So, we are we are heading in the right direction going into summer. Uh for the observation well groundwater,

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um we're in our normal seasonal decline. Similar status to last year. If you could see the orange line, um it's very similar to where we were at this point last year. Um this is for Chadam's well and here is for Brewster's well which is

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a more accurate harbinger of you know groundwater conditions on the lower Cape. Um you can see we're a little bit worse off uh not too far off from where we were last year but significantly worse than the previous three years. and the Massachusetts drought task force

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met on Monday this week, yesterday. Um, >> bless you. >> Bless you. So, the the six indices that they use for um evaluating drought are precipitation, stream flow, groundwater, lakes and impoundments,

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uh the KBDI which is a drought index or fire danger and evapo transpiration. So if we look at their precipitation index, the upper left was in March. >> Uh lower left was April. You can see March was uh pretty good for

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precipitation. It really bottomed out in April. And then in May it, uh you see the dots on the cape are green. So that's uh at a pretty good level. We're still deficient long term, but uh May was a good month. And then if we look at the stream flow

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conditions, kind of follow the chart left to right. um pretty consistent. Uh you can see some of the cape colors are, you know, that orange and brown color, which which is not great. Although, uh in May, you'll see a green dot on there. So,

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that's that's an improvement. >> These are This is stream flows. >> Stream flow. >> They they measure the same stream. Yeah. Okay. >> Yep. And this is groundwater percentiles. Um,

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again, it's kind of all over the place. You know, some some wells are showing improvement, some are still uh lagging behind quite a bit. And I think things on the Cape because of the sandy soil are very slow to recharge and show a vast improvement. Um, I didn't do a

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lakes and impound empoundment slide. I didn't I didn't snag that during the meeting, so I I don't have anything for that. But um here's what their recommendation is for May for the uh secretary of energy and environmental affairs. Uh last month we were at a

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level one which remember is a drop from level two for the previous month. Uh now as expected they brought us back up to a level two. A lot of that has to do with um evapot transanspiration. A lot of the a lot of the rain we're getting is not reaching the aquifer. all the vegetation

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as it's greening up and leafing out, it's pulling most of that moisture back up. Um so, um that's what they recommend. I don't know what they'll uh what the secretary will approve. Most likely it will be a level two because all other on the column under the cape,

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all other indications are that we're level two. >> So, no change any any recommendation on mandatory restrictions are >> right. That's that's why we recommended last month to stay the course and uh and we'll remain at that level. That's that's my recommendation. We we brought it in front of the water and sewer advisory committee yesterday and they

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they supported that decision. >> They agreed. Okay. Do we know do other towns are they doing mandatory water restrictions? Do we know? >> Yes. So um so Harwitch and Brewster have the same as us basically two days a week. Yarmouth and Orleans have no uh

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unnecessary watering. >> Okay. Huh. Mr. Dcastro. >> Yes. Uh I just wanted to add in connection with uh the mandatory restrictions at the request of the select board. Yesterday the water and sewer advisory committee took up the

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question of um developing and proposing back to us a recommendation for regulatory provision that would um enshrine uh the right to enforce which we don't currently have in our bylaws or regulations. So, that will be coming to

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us. Um, and there was a lot of discussion back and forth as to what that meant, but they're they're they've tasked one of their members to um look at some other towns. So, we'll be getting something at some point in the future um that would enable

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the town to enforce the restrictions. Um I noticed there is a member. >> Yeah, I I was going to let you. >> That's fine. Thank you, >> Kim. I believe it's Kim Buren. You have your hand up. will recognize you, please. >> I do. Thank you. Yes. Um I just want to

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reiterate what the previous public speaker said that it's outrageous that fines are not um implemented on those people who lasted as long as this. This is that's not fair. But my main question

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was what happens when conservation permits irrigation on a new construction um for a period of time to allow >> grass to grow >> vegetation to um

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succeed and then they've given it a time period but then they never stop the irrigation and that's new construction past when they were allowed to do irrigation. >> I have I have no idea, Kim.

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>> Who who checks that? Who follows whether new construction is actually shut off after a certain period of time? >> Well, I I I'm told and I think one can assume that's the conservation agent, but I'm not positive to be honest with you, Kim.

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>> So, if I may, Mr. Chair, we don't allow any permanent installation of irrigation to handle the, you know, the watering of the conservation plants that conf conservation committee uh recommends uh or the conservation committee in enforces. We do allow a temporary situation, but

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they can't be like in the ground irrigation system. So for a new >> So when there are when there are irrigation systems installed with new construction, it's the conservation's job to go out

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and be sure that that doesn't exist or that it's shut off at a certain time. >> They have to be on a well. If it's a new irrigation system, they have to be on a well. >> Right. Right. >> They can't be on town water. We're not we don't allow irrigation systems to be

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on public water since again since 2021. >> So then where would this go? Does this go to water department? Does this go to conservation? Or does it go to zoning? >> I mean it's moral persuasion that a person has a private well would would abide by our mandatory restrictions.

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Right now >> that's not going to happen. We've seen what >> personal obligations are doing in this situation, >> right? We we need a different policy then, Kim. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Okay.

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Anything else? >> I'm all set. >> Okay. Mr. Philly, good report. It is going to be I've said it before, I'll say it again. It is going to be very interesting to see how we fare this summer with with all the wells in this town available for providing water. I

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think it's I think it's it's a first. It's good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yep. >> Next item on the agenda is public comments on our business agenda. Typically, this is for folks that don't want to wait around for following business items. The business agenda items that we have in front of us this

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evening, we're going to consider enhance security and safety for our Chattam Public Beaches for July 4th. We're going to enter a a decorative pole attachment agreement with Verizon. We're going to take a look at the crawl an early look at the Coral Road Route 28 Main Street intersection project. You know, we have

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a public hearing coming up on the 24th at 4 p.m. in this building and uh we're going to uh discuss an annual review of our town council contract and an appointment. And then uh we have one committee appointment to the economic development advisory committee this evening. Anybody would like to speak to

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any of those items at present? I see Mr. Buckley. Mr. Buckley, I'll recognize you. >> Uh yes. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> All right. Okay. Thanks. Uh, Mr. Chair, uh, I wanted to speak to the but I

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wanted to wait and hear what the presentation was and and perhaps add to that. I've been attending the, uh, MO Cape Cod NO meetings for the past 10 years and don't want to guess what the

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presentation will cover or not cover. So, may I uh comment after that presentation or uh >> Yes, you may, Stephen. It's most appropriate that you comment after because you know there's there's some news. So, yes. Yes.

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>> Okay. Thank you. I'll wait. Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else hearing? Seeing no one, we'll move on to our business agenda. The first item is uh our police chief, Michael Anderson, is going to address enhanced security and safety measures for Chadam's public beaches for

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the July 4th holiday. We've had similar discussions, I believe, in the past. And uh we'll hear what Michael has to say this evening. Mike Anderson, chief of police. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um just a a snapshot of where we are so far

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this year. We are in a busy beach season. uh not quite on the cape yet uh because mostly all of our schools are still in session, but our colleges are out. And just to give you a couple of recent um examples of of what we call these beach

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takeovers that have been happening uh in our area. Uh May 19th, this past May 19th in Naraganset, Rhode Island, about 1,200 beachgoers rioted uh and it resulted in multiple arrests and including a stabbing and and

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included many assaults on police officers. the same date in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. Uh based upon Tik Tok and other social media delivery systems, uh several thousand beachgoers ended up

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at Hampton Beach. Uh roughly 150 individual police calls for service and 50 arrests. most recently June uh June 15th in Nantasc Beach, which is policed by the

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town of Hullmass, which is a police department slightly larger than ours. uh they got wind of a social media beach takeover and with uh outstanding example of law enforcement being proactive. Um

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they notified state police assisting agencies uh mutual aid and went to the media to say that they were aware of it and it was not going to be allowed and it did not happen. What I would like to add with that is Hull has the advantage had

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the advantage on on June 5th that we and many other Cape communities will not have during July 4th week. Uh a lot of those supporting agencies, state police, uh environmental police are going to be

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busy with the World Cup. Um there's a lot of support agencies that we rely on, especially during the summer, especially during the Fourth of July week, uh that are going to be unavailable to us because they're going to be tied up providing security for the

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World Cup. So, I don't want to say we're on our own down here, but the the the the already limited availability of of agencies uh uh providing mutual aid to us is is a lot less. So, with that, I'll just read a

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little bit of some e excerpts from my uh staff memo. Similar to last year, all we're looking to do is uh close the beaches 1 hour earlier from 10:00 uh p.m. to 900 p.m.

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specifically on the dates of July 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. And the language we also included was again similar to last year and any other date through Labor Day. If conditions dictate as determined by the police department. So let's say we catch wind

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of another suspected beach takeover at Hardings Beach on August, uh we would have the authority to do that. Uh just a reminder if you're not aware of it, on May 4th I went in front of the uh park and recck commission and and told them the same story. uh and they

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approved that uh similar to they did last year. Uh it's our plan to enforce these regulations by having uh police officers at each and as many public beaches as we can staff. And I think the

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times would be a little bit before uh 9:00 to a little bit after 1:00 when when the bars close. Um, I'll just add that these amended beach closure times were approved last year and were implemented and we saw

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thankfully a dramatic decrease in illegal beach activities, drinking, fireworks, noise, beach damage, bird harassment, uh, overall nuisances to the neighborhood.

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Um, I'd just like to add also because of the the upcoming summer season and and our and our limited resources, we really really have to rely on our public safety in town here, including the fire department

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and the uh harbor master. We had a meeting as recently as last Wednesday to game plan and discuss logistics uh joint response plans and equipment readiness uh for this year. And we haven't had we don't have a date yet,

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but we're in the in the very near future, we're going to have a drill at least a joint drill uh a joint exercise to just practice our response deployments in utilization of the police department's

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equipment, fire department's equipment, and the harbor masses equipment. um whether it's a a North Beach excursion, uh a outer beach excursion, or uh down on

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Monoy. Um so, so with that, you have the memo in front of you. Uh all we're doing is is we're looking for the board's continued support with this motion, and I'll I'll take any questions. Thank you. >> Okay, Chief. Thanks so much. Mr. Meadows has his hand up. >> Thank you, Chief. Um I mean this is this

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is this has been done in years past. Um and basically you're looking for the the mutual agreement mutual support from the board and the and on your recommendations. Uh you have the authority to do this. >> I do. >> So but it's a lot better with everybody's support.

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>> Fully agreed and I think we've we've had that mutual agreement mutual support of what is the best for the community. Um because of the realities of of how things have evolved now. It's just it's just a other communities have been hit really hard with some of these activities and we're trying to be get

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ahead of that and prepare properly. Um realizing that we have certain resources that we have hand and the resources that we wish we could get extra of um just frankly aren't going to be there. Um it's just like every other community. So um no, I I I understand. Um last summer

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we really didn't have many issues. We it pretty much worked the way it was supposed to work for the for the most part. for the most part. Um I think I think what we saw last year as opposed to the year prior to that which led to the this last year was uh there was a

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Cape department down the road that really got out in front of it uh because of an incident. >> Once they put their regulations and restrictions in place, it displaced these gatherings further down Cape into

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our doorstep. So my brothers and sisters in law enforcement uh down here on the Cape are they're they're doing similar things and again this would this would be with um you know pushed out to the public with social media that you know these

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restrictions would be in place and there's a zero tolerance for any type of misbehavior or any type of rules or violations and again whether it's on our public beaches or our North Beach Island or or the tip of of North Beach. So, >> all right. Thank you. >> Yeah.

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>> Any other comments or questions for the chief? I How did we do last year, Chief? Just >> I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the year prior to last, we we had probably four incidents where we we where we responded to uh gatherings with

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several hundred people with with a staff of maybe three to four police officers. Um, it's it's a safety issue to my staff. It is an incredible safety issue to our citizens. Um, and and the fact that I think that

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we were able to get out in front of it, even the fact that we had police officers at their posts, at these beaches, and again, we're not we're not actively throwing the average tourist off the beach.

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We're deterring the the the groups that are coming down here to to to you know tear it up. >> Yep. Yep. >> Mr. Smith. >> Sure. Um thanks uh Chief. Um this is your last one.

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Had to mention that the um so kind of following up with Jeff on the how did it go last year because of these efforts it was kind of quieter and pretty effective. >> Yeah. I don't have the statistics in front of me, but we didn't have one

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major large gathering as we did the year prior to last year. Um I I'd like to think that our our social media campaign I think the fact that the visibility was a deterrence um

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and and that's what we're we're going to continue to do. >> Yeah. Yeah. It sounds uh any idea uh I mean it's kind of a frankly I mean it's I guess it's just inherent with social media but it's kind of a sad state of affairs that we have to take these kind

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of actions but I'm glad to hear that you know it's not for your average Joe's walking on the beach. >> It's it's not it's not you know you you can still fish as rightfully so. You can, you know, uh, you know,

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it's and our officers use their discretion and they can recognize >> Yeah. Yeah. Sure. >> They can recognize who's who's who and who's doing what, >> right? >> And we do have some tools at our disposal that monitor uh some of these social media sites that

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we might not be monitoring ourselves, but we have tools available to pick up on >> Yeah. these key words or key things or >> the um and do do you have any idea I meant to email you earlier but uh got tied up. Um what the costs were last

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year? Did we do it the year before? I wasn't here. >> Last year was the first year and we absorbed the cost. Um we're able to cover it because we budgeted for it in anticipation for this being added to to this year. I don't I don't have the cost

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in front of me. It was a I think it's a four a fourhour assignment that's that's pinned by by me. >> Yeah. Right. No, I I can get it later. Um >> I I can get that to you. >> Yeah. And I I certainly support it unfortunately, but it's this day day and

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age we live in. >> Yeah. And I and again I I understand the cost. Um and I know that that there was some discussions about other town events, but this I don't consider this a town event. I this is clearly a public safety issue and >> Oh, yeah. I know it was really uh the cost was really a message to the public

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on uh you know supervise some children so we don't have to correct pay these things. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Mr. Castro. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um Chief and uh I think we all appreciate um you and your department being so

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proactive in this. And uh so I'm just going to move that the select board support the decisions of the Chattam Park and Recreation Commission and the Chattam Police Department to amend the closing times of all Chattam public beaches as recommended. >> Second. >> Okay. Any further discussion? We'll call

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the role. Mr. Smith >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro. >> I. >> Mrs. Podash. >> I. >> Mr. Meadows. I >> And the chair says I as well. Thank you very much, Chief. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Next item in the agenda is the consideration of uh entering into a decorative pole attachment agreement

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with with Verizon New England and Eversource Energy. We do a copies of the agreement that's being posited by the Independence Day Committee and uh I'll entertain any comments or suggestions uh on the on the licensing agreement. This is an agreement with the town so that we

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can place uh the Independence Day banners on the polls uh as are enumerated in the agreement. >> Mr. Castro. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, I I understand that there has been some discussion uh I guess at the staff level

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involving one or two select board members to try to um keep this focused. Uh I I just you know I think it's unfortunate that the town is asked to sign an agreement with Verizon but I understand Verizon and Eversource will

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only contract with the town. But it does put the town in the position of having to vet uh anyone that want any group that wants to put a banner up or a sign on a on a pole. Um which is which are owned by the uh the

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polls are owned by Verizon in the town of Chadam. Uh but there appears to be no other solution to this. Um historically banners have just been put up on polls. There are some communities

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um that have their own polls. Um usually they do that uh with um decorative historical polls. Uh I've seen them in my former community and um so they don't have to deal with this, but it does put

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the town in this position. Um and um I just think we should understand that as we as we take a vote on this. I'm not going to oppose it, but I you know I think it it is what it is. >> M Mr. Meadows, please. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, no, I mean this has been a kind of a long road for

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the parade committee. This this was an ask from year over a year ago and figure this is a path that they had to follow to get to this point. Um but the the one piece of mind I do have is um you know these are there specific brackets that have to be used and these brackets are

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not inexpensive. So right now there's a kind of a collaboration with different groups, you know, that we can share some brackets. Um, but if someone wants to do this, there's a great expense to have these brackets made. They're not, you know, a 1995 off the shelf. They're

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they're a couple, you know, they're a couple hundred bucks. So, um, I think, um, you know, a group came forward, asked the path forward. This is the this is where it led us. This is the the the path they had to take for approval. um you know, dealing with utilities. Um it

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is their poll. Um but we have to be somewhat the gatekeeper on some of this, but I think it's I think the ask is reasonable. Um and I'm going to support it. >> Uh as am I. Um uh I think that uh other there's some concern in the in the

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community about other folks, you know, using the polls for banners and we will be vetting those banners with Eversource and Verizon. And I'm going to make uh at least an an opinion by myself that I would be extremely surprised if any of

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the utility companies had any issue with any of the banners that the town of Chadam's considering putting up, which we've done historically, including uh uh folks that have, you know, put banners up for their events for 55 straight years and very tastefully done. So, I I'm anticipating I don't want to over

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overthink this. I'm anticipating no problems with this. can't promise it, but I'm anticipating no problems with our our use of the polls as long as we abide by um the brackets and you know and hold each other uh mutually indemnified. Anyway, so I'm going to

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support it as well, Miss Potach. >> Yeah, thank you. So, but if I'm reading this correctly, it's $300 annually that the town pays to Verizon for insurance. Is that accurate? >> The I can speak to that. So the town would have to get an insurance policy to

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also name Verizon. Oh, okay. As in and like additionally um insured and so that would be an annual policy. >> So it's $300 for insurance, but it doesn't get paid to them. So we don't have to pay them anything to do. >> No, we don't. And we town staff doesn't install the banners. It's they there's a

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contractor who's been doing it for many years that's wellversed in what the requirements are for the brackets. >> And and then one other thing if I could, >> Motes. >> Yeah. Thanks. So if another organization wants to use the polls, how what is their avenue um to do that? Do they have

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to come here or how does that work? >> So this is the first time we've we're entering an agreement with the utilities. The next step would be a policy. Other towns do have one. And I I have a couple symbols that were received today and so we'll come back to the board. So that there's a there's a

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public facing document for for entities to know what is allowed and what to do. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Dean, did you have a comment? >> Well, I think that touched on the question I was going to ask about how this is going to be implemented, but I guess we're going to get a draft policy to talk to consider at some point.

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>> We will the four corners of of what would be allowed is definitely and we have the image right behind you or in front of you. uh it's it's celebrating Chadam's July 4th and it has the the logo that's used by the Independence Day Committee. So, uh this is probably the

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ideal example that would be approved. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'll entertain a motion. >> Mr. Mr. Mr. Chair, I move that the town enter into an agreement with Verizon New England and Eversource Energy to place decorative attachments on select utility

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poles for the Independence Day parade. >> Second. >> Okay. And we'll call the role. Mr. Smith >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro. >> I. >> Miss Potass. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. >> I. >> And the chair says I as well. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Okay. Okay, the next item is a a presentation to the select board and the public uh on the Coral Road uh Route 28 Main Street intersection project. We're going to hear some history. Um there's a long history here. Um uh and

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we know, as I mentioned earlier, there's a public hearing in this room on May 24th at 4 p.m. >> Excuse me, June 24th going forward. June 24th, 4 p.m. in this room. Um, and so this is a little debriefing, if you will, a little briefing prior to that

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hearing just to get us more comfortable or comfortable with what what's going on. And we have Terry Whan and Rob Bailey here to to have this presentation and be very interested and the public is extremely interested in this as you guys well know. Thanks. >> Great. Thanks again, Terry Whan,

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projects and operations administrator and uh Rob Fley, DPW directors here, and we also have someone from HSH if we have some um high level questions. So again, following up on the staff report that you have in your um in your package, the intent of having the meeting tonight and

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just kind of in advance of the public hearing that is coming up on June 24th uh in this room at 4 p.m. is just to um inform uh the board uh citizens on the process and the best way to engage in

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the process and get those comments into MASDOT and and to do that at the hearing and the subsequent uh written comment period. So again, this project's been around for a long time. So um you know the really the purpose here is just to bring uh folks up to speed on aspects of

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the project that won't be part of the mass dot uh presentation but just to provide a fuller context for everything uh that um you know rolls into the the project o over the years. So, I'll do a real quick highle um review of the

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project history, uh the status in Mass DOT's funding queue for the project, and then identify opportunities for the select board and the public to comment uh and how to make formal comments, which will be at the hearing um not in a meeting uh like this. So, just going way

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back uh to the comprehensive plan, this is where this project h has its its genesis, if you will. Um so there were multiple locations uh identified in the comprehensive plan for um throughout town but uh basically goal it was CF13

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uh nestled actually that's the action item number within the the transportation goal which is basically uh to work with state uh state highway department to include improvements proposed by the town in the reconstruction of Route 28. And I just highlighted some of the yellow uh in

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yellow some of the items and again basically safety improvements crawl road uh the addition of bus stop shelters at the neighborhood centers. Um again crawl road part of that vehicular act access control modifications at the commercial properties to meet uh local state and

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regional guidelines. And then um some additional items as well. um sidewalks meeting ADA being a key component of uh this project and then adding grass buffers to the maximum extent practicable accommodation of

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bicycles and drainage improvements. So again I just went through really the genesis from the comp plan. Um, subsequent to that when the the board um after the approval of the comprehensive plan, there was a um local comprehensive

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plan implementation committee uh that was turned over to staff at at one point and then actually the select board uh was um managing the implementation of uh action items in the plan. Um and then

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staff continued um to work on that to get a multitude of action items implemented. Uh and our first step was back in 2007 uh for article 12 to get some funding to do many of those transportation projects uh that were

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identified uh in those um in the goal in those 10 uh 10 bullet points. Uh and from there um the to get into the mass dot process. So this project is um you know within the the the state highway layout and it's um you know under the

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purview of of mascot um around the time of um 2008 2009 there were some changes in the process for um getting a project into the queue um and there was a design guide book at the time and again people

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who've been at some of the earlier meetings or over the course of this and maybe Corey has probably been the longest um in in you know, we we mentioned the design guide book, but it basically laid out a process to get projects onto um the TIP and in the queue, the transportation improvement

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program, and I'll go over that in a little bit, uh to to get in the queue for funding and to actually uh implement a project. So, uh some of the the the qualifying steps to get um on the tip included um the submission of a project

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need form. So that was demonstrating the need for the project that needed to be approved by MASDOT to then um develop a project initiation form that was submitted in February of 2013. And then the real lynch pin to to officially move

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into the process was in March 2013 where um there was a project review committee would actually assigned a project number and then uh the project transition basically from um you know planning phase towards uh working on on design.

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So when we talk about the tip, the transportation improvement program, I know there's a reference earlier from a speaker um that you know basically it it's a funding program that's a regional uh funding plan that prioritizes roads,

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bridges, transit projects to basically um dispense federal and state funding for construction uh projects by Mass DOT and that's within the Cape Cod region. So that basically it's a list of local priorities that's managed by uh what was

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referenced earlier the Metropolitan Planning Organization or MO. Um and it's also informed by a group that Rob sits on the Cape Cod um joint transportation committee which is a technical um advisory committee primarily made up of

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um the local u DPW directors. So this this um um you know um structure governance structure really just it it prioritizes the region gets about 16.5 million per year. Sometimes there's

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other sources of fund in funds injected but basically uh projects are are um voted on and move forward in in a planned manner. So the project is is currently programmed for implementation in uh federal fiscal year 28 at an

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estimated price of uh $5.13 million and 80% of the funding u would come from federal sources and 20% from from state uh state sources. So again why has this been taking so long? Here's the kind of chronology of

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so I gave you the early planning chronology but then we still also have this chronology from 2014 to the present. So once we were in the the the mass dot queue uh they we um went through the alternatives process working with um both a designer masdot um

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multiple meetings uh public meetings through the process. So that um went on for um a good solid four years. Uh then the um uh with with again after looking at the uh different alternatives roundabouts uh

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were evaluated as part of that process. Uh then in the summer of 21 the the project moved into a more even more formal project design phase. Um and again some of that was related to COVID.

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Um and then August 21 as we were moving towards submitting what is the design adjustification workbook and the ICE is the intersection. I forgot what the C is but it's evaluation pro process of um intersections

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um that was all happening. So again this is the technical engineering and backup for uh evaluation of of traffic counts, engineering studies, movements, uh all of those types of things. Um so that um moved into the um submission of the

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design guide book and this um intersection evaluation process. Once that was completed uh the the town moved forward towards uh the 25% design submitt which happened in uh January of 2024.

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Um and once that started we the process started uh accelerating um pretty quickly catching up for some lost time. um um due to the pandemic and some other uh delays. But in in June of 2024

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um the 25% design submission um was they have a resolution meetings which basically they u they being masked um goes through uh a design looking at all their design objectives and and different policies to resolve comments

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that they've seen in the submission. So, and then into July and October of 2024, those uh final revisions were excuse me, incorporated and again still advancing this uh 25 design 25% to get to a design

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public hearing. Uh this year or last year, I'm sorry, the uh 2025 was consumed primarily with uh evaluation of the subsurface utility and engineering uh fieldwork. There were multiple studies that were required uh to

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coordinate all the different underground utilities. There was even uh some underground scanning that needed to be done. Um but this then set the stage with the completion of the um both the survey and a a utility sitewalk which

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just happened uh in April of 2026 to where we are now um for having this um the major milestone in the process to design a public hearing in um this month on the 24th.

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So the um just to point out within this that time frame of the 20 2014 to to to the um to the present I didn't put on tonight's meeting but uh uh basically you know there have been multiple uh briefings of the select board public

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information meetings and I think we've had about you know nine nine or 10 meetings. There were a lot of meetings before. I didn't characterize how many in the pre-planning process, but these were ones that were coming in at different milestones in the process to um keep the board informed of the

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process. And on the um the last meeting of um significance on on the design was uh September of 2022 where the board uh directed the town manager move the project forward as a

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25% design submission and again basically noting that uh you know to get to a mass.public public hearing and to submit the mass do alternative that we had at the time and to make identified context sensitivity sensitivity comments

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at the 25% design hearing. So we're you know we're on on the brink of of that happening. So the as was pointed out as you might um might have seen in the in the original goals from the comp plan a lot

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of those have you know carried through and are are you know just general good practices for things that have been identified as problems challenges with the intersection over over the years with different input from different um um you know engineering reviews public

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meetings um all kinds of different reports. So basically, you know, we've always been striving for a design that would address the operational deficiencies, uh fixed bicycle accommodation, um the fact that there's no priority for emergency vehicles, uh the reduction of

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conflict points, uh the limited pedestrian accommodations, um and basically just an outdated design. So this again is a high level and tonight's meeting is not really to talk too much in detail about the specifics as that will happen at the the

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mass.public hearing and that's and that would be the really appropriate place to um to make those kind of specific comments. But just for for for context some of the um to put the pictures um and and some of the bullet points um to

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what you know are the key elements of the design here. um you know in introduction of uh dedicated turn lanes, uh signalized pedestrian crossings, ADA compliant ramps. So if you've ever tried to walk through that intersection or you watch people walk through that or folks

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coming from um you know the housing uh complexes down to shop at CVS or go to the market, uh basically you know you have uh 90° uh curbing everywhere. So that um you know is a key element here of the of the design that's been

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incorporated. Um there's also uh for those of you familiar there's an excuse me on-road bike loop as well that um um is basically to the east of this the project limits but it does pass through here. So um also uh bicycle

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accommodation has been a key component of this project from um from its earliest stages that um the project adds some elements here for uh bikeway accommodation through um let's call it the north south orientation for the

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on-road bike loop. It has some other accommodations. Um and then you know the overall goal here would be to have just improved operations, safer um um elevations and and surfaces

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throughout. And we did just get some breaking news today. So I know one area that uh for members who were on the board back in 2022 when we had the alternative we uh you know there's discussion of the time of of this um

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including some type of path or um you know major changes um heading up the hill here for bicycle accommodation. So, we just learned today that mas dot is um it's going to be

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acceptable to mass dot to remove this um aspect from the project. So, um so that'll be more to come. So that's a a very late breaking change. Uh that makes this um alternative that's

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being presented um much more consistent with what the board had approved to to go into the 25% design. So that's that's um something that will be reflected again in a different version. That's why we have draft on here because this is

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not you know the final formal uh mass dot plan. So, um, you know, again, the goals here throughout the intersection are just improved circulation and again the ability for, uh, addition of public safety to be able to crash through, uh,

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the intersection with a protected phase, pedestrians to have protected phases, um, and also to meet um, updates and changes to bring the signalization up to um, you know, current federal uh,

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federal highway standards. So, I'll talk a little bit about the um some of the context sensitivity in a little bit here, but that's again the the main elements that that MASDOT >> is going to be presenting um for the um the public hearing.

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>> Terry, if I might, I their willingness to to not include or to drop that bike path going up the hill by the Unitarian Church there is very important. Um there's been a lot of discussion and push back by uh members of the congregation there that the bike trail

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the bike itself would be very close to the side door of the church and people were very very concerned. So that's really be honest with you that's very good news. Yeah. Very good. >> And there have been a lot of context sensitivity concerns about that too as well. you know, the attempt here to at least what's shown here again, but it's

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now uh not part of the proposal was, you know, intending to save the trees, but again, you were still introducing uh this path. So, again, this was a um you know, in this plan, it's shown as a 10-ft path. Uh but again, that's gone now. So, um so we'll get more

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information on that at the um pre-recorded um presentation, then also at the um the live presentation. So this is just uh this this matrix here just shows some of the some of the items that have been brought up over over the years at some

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of the public meetings, some uh correspondence and again just kind of the pros and cons, you know, as we're going into a public hearing to have some sense of what um concerns might be or both pros and cons. Um to think about what type of comments we want to bring

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to the process um you know to inform Mass Mast of the concerns. And again, I've hit some of these already, but again, basically, you've got a a pro list here of pedestrian and ADA accessibility, the opticon system, which is that public safety system, uh,

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bicycle accommodation, the modernization of the intersection, and the state and excuse me, funding availability as we're in the queue. But again, there have been concerns raised about uh community character visual impacts. we can now uh cross out the multi-use trail to nowhere

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on the east side of the uh of the intersection. Uh there's been concerns about signalization of the gateway location, construction disruption and traffic um pattern changes. So again, uh, in the mass dot hearing, they will

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go over, um, you know, or respond to questions about the construct construction sequencing, how they, uh, keep a road open during a project, um, and and some of those expectations, the timing, and so on and so forth. Um and again, you know, this this really

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brief overview here is just really uh to to remind everybody that um as part of the process now, and I think this is something that came out of co with mascot, they also do a uh pre-recorded presentation now in advance of the hearing. So people will be able to see

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that. Um that link uh if you go to the mass dot, you can just even search mass.events events. Highway events calendar is an easy way to get to the to the website. Uh and then they'll have links on here um to to view a pre the

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pre-recorded presentation of the meeting. So again, in the interest of people being educated on um you know to be ready to be able to bring their comments directly to the meeting uh to have a more informed uh public uh public process.

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>> Is that live now, Terry? So there's there's not it's it's not live right now, but we're anticipating and we don't know. We again we just found out this afternoon uh literally even after hours this afternoon about the change. Again, I don't know how much that's going to change their delivery time. The

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expectation was that it was going to be ready the end of this week. Maybe it's a little bit I don't know if it's going to add time or not or take time away, but we'll we'll keep everybody posted as soon as that is available. But the, you know, our original expectation was going to be that was Friday this week that

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that would be be live um so that they typically have it available um 10 days um you know 10 days in advance of the um the hearing plus or minus. So again just these are just other other ways there's

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um you know a project uh chief engineer has been assigned to the project. Uh this information again also available on the mass site. We'll we'll also have passroughs for the um um the town site. Um and then just you know

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potent I just put this we put the slide together you know for potential considerations for board action after the depart design public hearing and I believe um board member Niccastro um referenced you know the idea of having a meeting on the 30th after. So some of

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the things that um you know after the hearing to consider might be you know um where does the board uh feel about you know what do they feel about the current design alternative does it address the identified transportation issues you know um are there specific design

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elements the board wishes MASDOT to modify and you know should the town continue participating in the mas dot project development process via the tip. So if um there's a favorable movement in that direction, the potential uh

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schedule after the design public hearing. So again earlier I mentioned the um you know the anticipated start of the project uh in federal fiscal year um 28. Yeah. The next steps would be the

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project would move into 70 excuse me 75% design in the fall of 2026. the 100% design early 2027 uh the PSN uh design submission which is basically the full package Rob it's the um I forget what the again the P is but

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for the uh it's basically the full full specifications are ready for uh project advertisement and then the with an anticipated uh construction start of the spring of 28 and with that you know again we're just

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really hoping to um get as much public interest to to go um and obviously for the board as well to participate in this meeting and make the comments directly to Masdot um right to um the source if you will

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and again just kind of so there you know some new items are up on on the website but again the the next big item on the website will be the posting of the pre-recorded um session so with that again got Rob here and We um >> super

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>> got any questions on process or >> Okay, Terry, thank you. Uh Mr. Niccastro's hand raised. Dean, >> thank you. Uh I I won't go into great detail because we're going to have the public hearing. We'll listen to what everyone has to say. My first request is

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that and and I'm sure we're going to do this anyway. We should post a select board meeting for that evening in case members of the board wish to speak. Um, >> I think >> is it already posted? Thank you, Kathy. Um, >> sorry, I neglected to mention that.

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>> Just wanted to ask Terry, uh, in September of 22, which is the last time it was before the board, and I applaud all the work that you and others on the staff and various select boards have done in this over the years, many years.

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um can you just kind of highlight what the major changes are since September of 22 that you don't have to give a detailed account but yeah so there what ultimately now with the removal of um

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the again let's call it I hate to call that but the the the bike path to nowhere >> um you know again you had a very similar uh scenario with the uh if you can see the cursor following so with the the sidewalk improvement here. Uh you know,

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the alternative had the um um sidewalk um terminating here, not going up the hill, but basically, you know, now we have a a good crossing here that would have ramps and u uh accommodation for protected phase to get over to the

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sidewalk heading up on the u the let's call it the north side of of Main Street. to connecting to uh the the sidewalk system bringing you all the way down to the Chattam Rotary. So that was something that was a key element in in

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that design. Um and if you recollect another big change here was earlier on in a couple of the alternatives in trying to um squeeze a lot into the rightway. Uh if you recollect there was

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much more incursion into in particular the slopes here. Um, so that's been been reduced >> um and will stay. Now they're not proposing to do anything more. And we're still getting clarification on we do

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want to um advocate for or maybe it is in there with a six-foot uh increasing this from 5 foot to a six-foot sidewalk uh just to improve its um usability here. So that was a you know a a key element here. You know, we have the

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protected crosswalks here from um you know, primarily to help the church uh for for their services uh for their use of the um the parking lot here for people to safely transit um to across uh these intersections to get to the church

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uh safely from a an ADA and just overall safety uh perspective. the um as I mentioned the the you know the bikeway accommodation through is basically very similar with just some changes to to pavement markings. Um this configuration

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is very similar. Uh there was a change um from the the signalization to a single um mast arm configuration here that uh we have a proposal that it will be um architectural or um

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contextsensitive uh type of design that has um some some design elements to it some um different uh components be black structure um and then there was a change I think the Only change on the um let's call it on the

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western out feed of the intersection is um an addition of a again better bike accommodation um here with a um slightly uh wider sidewalk here um but again you know the

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ability to get people uh to cross and again on this part again it's mostly on the Nart side connecting all the way to um to to West Chadam but this section if you're familiar with where uh the

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eastern termination of the um uh roundabout at Barnhill. U basically there's the ability to connect uh and have better accommodation in this corridor in the future. So um that those are really the kind of the the big

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changes here. Uh >> I think there were two mast arms originally and now there's a single one still like a lollipop signal in one of the islands. So uh but again like Terry mentioned they'll be black so they'll be kind of blend in with the surrounding environment a little bit better.

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>> Do we know what the con what the construction time will be if it starts in whatever it was September of 28? how many years is and I understand they they have a plan sounds like they have a plan to keep traffic moving but >> yeah they would have to start construction uh in federal fiscal year

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28 so it would probably happen um you know around spring very early spring probably over the winter uh and carry through I think they said it would be a one season construction season so one full year basically >> just one year >> yeah right this is a much you know much

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smaller project than than the West Chatterway design project. >> Um and again at the hearing they can go through or they can answer the detailed questions, >> but again the same same parameters of you know maintaining um through um through um two lanes of travel at all

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time. Not to say there's not going to be um diversions in there um but you know those types of things and accommodating pedestrians through the whole process and they will for the most part uh my understanding is they they will honor the summer moratorum too. So that also then adds a little bit of time. So

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they're not going to be doing work during the the the summer period. >> Yeah. And this is the gateway to the town to the downtown. So that's >> right. >> That's of of consequence. Um >> you know, I um I offered a motion back in May of

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21 to terminate the project and to cease funding of it. And um I had one one other colleague on the board joined with me on that. I did support in September of 22 going forward with the 25%

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design. So just so as to so as to give everyone an opportunity to see what this is going to look like and hopefully they'll have some elevations so we can >> Yeah, that's part of it too. So there'll be the visual you you saw some real early draft visualizations. There will be revised visualizations that um will

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again also give some context. There was there's going to be um cross cross-section graphics showing, you know, lane uh the distribution of of travel lanes and different multimodal accommodation. There'll be visualizations. >> Who's going to present it? Is it the the

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consultant? >> Yeah. So, HSH, so our consultant, and again, they are, you know, they're a mass dot certified um designer. So, they work very closely with Mass Dot um to to put to put the presentation together. So you you'll see those types of graphics.

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You'll see more detailed history of their um you know all the engineering things that I kind of alluded to. Uh those will be all part of that process and then all the construction details. >> They'll even have driver perspective. What would look like if as you're driving the road and what would the uh

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the new you know >> my last question is is Mass paying HSH or are we paying and who has been paying for the 25%? >> Right. So we're paying so the in in the staff report we had some language in there about so in order to maintain our

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position in the tip and and this has kind of evolved over time too. So going way back sometimes mascot would pay for design sometimes not or would pick it up earlier but with you know fiscal constraints and again I don't know the exact time frame but basically there was

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a change and maybe it was 2021 or 20 that there was basically uh mass and not just a chattam but all the communities required that you committed through um through basically design documents to get to the design documents um for for

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the process. So we we we've been working under that contract and also within that time frame uh there was a change in the use of chapter 90 money that allowed us to use that for for design. So in the staff we put you know again it's about

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80 works out to about a 8020 uh split for even the design. So we're using um that money. So the um you know basically the the funding that we had residual I think from the um even going back to the

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2007 article funded some of the early town match here as well. >> Thank you. So >> thank you Mr. Chair. >> So so just to just to summarize on the money please Terry that the the town's contribution to this effort thus far has been about 330,000 $340,000. Is that a

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fair statement? and going forward the state federal and state dollars will pay for the improvement of this intersection. Is that an accurate statement? >> Correct. But I would add that we did spend a little bit more money to in the pre so we didn't put it in the report but there's also money in the pre

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pre-planning phase. So the numbers in the report basically reflect as we've been in the in the design queue. But there was money spent in the early process. So all those early years before uh getting on the tip and again a lot of that funding came out of uh that 2007

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article but we were also very lucky to leverage a lot of the planning information that fed into those uh the project need form project information form with help from the Cape Cod commission was very instrumental in providing us a lot of support that gave

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us a lot of the preliminary data uh and information that we needed. So we we were leveraging those funds all along too even in the early part of the project to you know use the um town me town money as as uh wisely as we could.

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>> Any other comments or questions for Terry or Rob this evening? I see Elaine. Elaine, you've got your hand up. >> Please go ahead. >> Yes, I do. Thank you. I'm not going to talk too long because I'm going to wait. >> But this is ridiculous. This has been

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going on for 14 years. Three and a half years ago was the last time they came to us. They wanted the 25% drop design. They were going to come back in 6 months. Three and a half years ago. Every time they come in, it's reinventing the wheel. HSH, if you

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remember, I've got a whole file on it. They were terrible. They keep changing their players. They keep changing the engineers. People come in with new stuff. This plan is absurd. The problem with TIPS is we've been on it for 14 years and the arrangement is as long as

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we're on it, they won't repair anything. That's why we have rusted out leaning lights, crumbling um curbs all over town from West Chadam all the way to the Rotary. And my recommendation would be that we get off the tip and we tell them

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to come in and they repair it. This your this design uh cause it requires a widening of Route 28 to 60 ft. And I I said one year, you may remember

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I said you could land a Pilates on it when it's done because they've got a wingspan of 59. And with all the lights they're putting in, they're they're putting in turning lanes. So we're going to have these massive overhead lights. We are not Boston. It's going to look

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like, you know, an approach to to Logan with all the lighting they're putting in. It is not necessary. At the time we got the accident reports from CPD, there were no accidents except for, you know, some stupid people. It's not a dangerous intersection for the amount of time that

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we need to have some congestion with the turning lanes. It's not worth doing this. This is we asked for a historic waiver three and a half years ago saying it's the entrance to the town because they do complete streets and they rule with an iron hand and complete streets

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mean bus stops which is ridiculous in Chadam. They they want to put it in every village center. We're going to have bus stops all the way up and down Main Street. Um trees are going to come down. They're going to have to come down when you're widening the roads that much. And then

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they we still have bike lanes to nowhere because it may not be along the church, Universalist Church, but it will be going the other way because they don't do it all the way down the street. They just do it in the neighborhood centers. So a whole family on their bikes start

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riding going to the west and suddenly there there's no multi-purpose lane anymore. So I I hope we we just tell them to go away. 14 years. And if that's any indication of what it's going to take, I don't believe they're going to be able to do the construction in a

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season. I just don't see it. It it took them three and a half years to come back to us since the last presentation. So anyway, that's it for now. Uh but I hope you just say let's get off the tip and come in and and fix it up, repair it.

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That's all we need. We need we don't need rusted out lights anymore and we don't need yellow lights and we don't need turning lanes. Thank you. Okay, Elaine. Uh, Mr. Buckley has his hand up and made a commitment to have hear you out. Mr. Buckley,

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you're on. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, yes. Uh after the West Cadam Wuhaha, um

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it it occurred to me as someone with some background, professional background in public planning that that it wasn't that things aren't supposed to act that way where where you have neighbor against neighbor,

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bad lines being drawn, And so anyway, after all that, I said, I think I need to find out more about the process. And it uh so I ended up going to the MO

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meetings, which is the mass DOS's regional meetings on, you know, where where to spend money, the tip, the you know, which the transportation improvement projects um program. And so what I just

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what I figured out from all of that was that um that the town is the applicant and that they uh we can withdraw our application at any

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time. So just a couple months ago and it's on video me asking that question saying oh is it when is it too late to withdraw you know if a town says we don't want to do that we we we reserve

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you know we're we're pulling pulling our application back until it's fixed the way we want or something like that whatever the reason and they said oh well that can go right up nast and like I said it's got a video of this thing oh well they can there have times when they

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pulled it out at the 95% design. So, what I'm trying to explain is that even though it sounds like, oh, well, we're not, you know, from this point on it's state and federal money and we're not paying anything. So, it it sounds like they're driving the bus. And

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the thing is, no, it's still our bus and we still get to decide when to get off. So I just wanted to make it clear that if three out of five members of the select board have an issue with on any aspect of this

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and I'm not getting into the what what issues you know I'm just saying I my concern is that the process be as clear as possible about who's in charge of what when are we going to hear this when do I get to talk you know and so forth

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which was not clear with West Chadam roundabouts last time. It it ended up becoming trench warfare. So that's the part that I would want to point out is that let's not have a relay

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of that terrible terrible public planning process where town meeting voted against it and then the select board voted for it and and it was like wait a minute who's in charge. So, uh, I just wanted to point that out that that

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if if there are concerns when you meet after the public hearing, you you're not wishing to, uh, that for mass do to make changes. You are telling them

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what changes you want because you're the applicant. And I just wanted to make sure that you understand, you're not advisory. you you you represent the town unless town meeting says something else in my opinion uh that uh you you're you're

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driving this bus or at least you're you're the one who decides whether or not you want to get off of it. And one other thing I just real quick um you don't lose your place. That was something that was a mis misstatement from what 14 years ago that um that said

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that um oh we'll lose our place so we have to go to the back of the line as all this programming. No, it doesn't work that way. You can simply give up your seat to the next project and if you want to pull back in you don't have to go to the end of the line. You're only allowing like perhaps one person to go

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ahead uh before that. So that's why I want make sure we're not going to lose anything. You we're allowed to just pull over, consider what we want to do, and then we get back in line. They the MO has criteria for which projects should

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go forward and it won't get erased simply because we put a pause on it. Thank you. >> Okay, Stephen. Thank you. Uh any other comments out there here? Let's go back to the board. Uh I just my comment is I look forward to having the hearing on

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the 24th and to hear what Mass Do presents and to consider it carefully. Um knowing that uh we there are some safety issues in that intersection. I'm not I don't I'm not making an opinion or weighing down on one way or the other here, but I believe there are issues with that intersection that need some

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improvement. So let's see what they come up with. And I hope we do so in a civil way so that mass dot uh will consider uh a very careful thoughtful um project should it go forward. I I would just want to remind everybody that um I I

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drove to Hyenas and to Falmouth for you know 40 years and during the course of that 40 years route 137 was redone at least twice and mass dot was mass dot's project and I have never seen anything managed so well in as a as a highway

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department project. We always had access getting out to Route Six or wherever we wanted to go and you always had access to go into all all the stores, the malls, the always. They I thought they did a wonderful job and frankly I thought they did a wonderful job with the roundabouts as well. You can actually take a left out of George Rider

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Road without killing yourself. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm really looking forward to the really looking forward to the hearing and I hope uh we we go into the hearing with an attitude of we're going to listen and and understand what they're trying to trying to do for the town of Chattam at their expense.

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Anything else from the board? >> So, you're not expecting a vote or anything or not tonight? No, this is going to go for this is a briefing for us so we get familiarized because you weren't here for one and frankly has been a few years to to Elaine's earlier point. It's been a long time. I get it. >> Um but here we are. they're they're

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going to come in and we're going to check it out. Um, and I hope so, you know, just we do it with uh >> I mean, my concern is that this further commercializes this community >> again, you know. Yeah. And you'll have all that opportunity. Again, this isn't a hearing this evening, which I was

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trying to avoid, but but you'll have ample opportunity at the at the hearing, you know, on the 24th to >> to speak your mind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then on the 30th when we when we >> Okay. All righty. >> Great. Thank you gentlemen. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Good >> information.

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>> Good information. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is uh we uh have uh according to the our contract we have with our our law firm an annual review. Um there's no time frame or uh term if you will on um our employment or

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contracting I should say contract with uh our law firm which is uh me Talaman. So I I I wanted to get on the agenda kind of early rather than rather than not knowing that you know July 1st is coming around and and whether we wanted to continue for another year with with

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uh Talon meet Talaman Costa. Was it me Talaman Costa or not and so we we considered this uh I think back in last September. Um, and so I'm going to solicit I'd like to solicit the the notions of of the thoughts and the thoughts of board members and whether or

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not they want to continue with uh Talon or whether you want to go forward and do something different. Um, this is our annual review, if you will, of the contract with with our our legal council. So, Mr. Smith, and then go down the line here. >> Sure. Thank you, Jeff. Um, so

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my my position on this is that uh um whether or not I support Talerin is really not the issue. The issue is as I felt last year is that we uh should be going out for a uh um advertisement so

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we can get a better idea of who's out there, who might be interested. And um um it it it's not bad to shake things up every once in a while. And this is one of those areas that I don't think would hurt. We may end up right back with uh

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Talman and whomever, but um I think the process and I I I think the public would be better served if we had a more open process, solicited uh people for interviews um and uh we go from there with a vote. I is my opinion.

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Thank you, Stuart. Uh, any other comments from the board this evening, >> Mr. Niccastro, and then we go to Miss Potes and then Corey and myself. >> Yeah. Uh, well, I was looking at the contract um and, uh, as you suggest, Mr. Chair, this, um, contract is kind of an

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ongoing evergreen contract. We can terminate it at any time. It's almost like a contract at will, employment engagement at will. So, um, we could go out, uh, with an RFP. We're not legally required to do that. Um

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um in which case we would advertise. I don't remember. I I know we advertised in the Mass Municipal Association website last time. Kathy, were you around then? And I there's a Mass Municipal Lawyers Association which is a

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subsidiary of MMA. Did we also advertise in Mass Lawyers Weekly? because I think that's if we do go out, I would like to see that in there. Um, we received um proposals from only

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three firms last time, which kind of surprised me. Uh, and um um it certainly would be open to me Talon to to u if we did this to to uh respond with a proposal or they could

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submit the same one. um with they have an advantage of having worked for us with for two years to perhaps propose some modifications on how they might triage the work. I I think it's great that they somebody provided I don't know

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if it's staff a breakdown of the utilization. Maybe the firm did. >> Actually, we did it. I didn't get a chance to talk about the report. So, if you don't mind. >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. And before I go >> Yeah. So um I guess for some context

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when we had u pacello um he has since retired but he had a firm but we primarily had him at one point a many years ago we had another attorney assisting and so with Pat he his

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his contract as you said was at will. His appointment I think was three years or so. It wasn't it wasn't in his actual contract um for that. So um then when he retired we went out for bid and as you

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suggested we had uh respondents and with me Talerin and Costa what we have with us is the first time in a long time in Chadam where there's actually a firm that's supporting the the select board as well as town officials and and the uh

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departments and so um what we did is we Katie had assisted is we track all the legal requests there's a there's a request for legal counsel document that we do track and um Kathy's copied on all the requests so she can um note if it's

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been fulfilled or if there's any further action. So u we're on a retainer so no matter um how many requests um how many opinions there's no additional charge. It all falls under that retainer. The only thing that is uh a potential

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separate charge would be litigation and um litigation over the last few years even before uh me Tyler and Aosta came has really been low um luckily. So um I also listed the the attorneys by name. Um you've seen some of them. We've had

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um the board of health um have assistance by attorney chaplain, but more recently many of our requests are going to attorney Elizabeth Leiden and she's specialized in contracts and so has really worked well with many of our newer department heads as well as

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training and so she has the bulk of the the responses and sometimes it's it's she and Talman or there's others in the firm. So, we just wanted to note the number of attorneys and that we do have on-site office hours and uh we were

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aiming for like the second Tuesday of the month just in case the select board needed town council to appear at a select board meeting. And again, there's never been an additional charge either with me, Tyler and Costa, or Pacello before. So, just just so the public knows, it's a little different of a format. Um but there's a lot of

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utilization and I think that contributes to low lawsuits and litigation for the town. >> Is um Jay Talerman the the one that's triaging the assignments. So we send a request to him and then he either takes it on himself or he assigns it to one of

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the other attorneys in the firm. >> He does. more more recently with Liz in procurement if when we do transmit it to town council there's times I transmit it directly to her but I do copy him as well as the staff member or the official

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who had requested yeah that so there's with with her assistance there hasn't been triage that's needed because some of these things too and again back with path Castello it may evolve in like two or three conversations or maybe a quick

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here's here's a suggestion for contract language and and so forth and you certainly have experience attorney Talerman we also have Lisa of need and she's the one who's been assisting us with um anything related to housing >> yeah when Pat Costello is here it was almost like having an in-house attorney

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>> yes >> I always felt that >> um and I I I really do believe that the most important function of town council is to provide highquality advice ice and opinion to the executive of the town. I

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I believe that's more important than reviewing documents. Um drafting contracts, those are important. Litigation is important. But so I always kind of look at things through that prism having done this type of work myself, >> right? Um and um you know I I guess I

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would be I'll say one other thing about this firm when we evaluated them against the other two. um they were the least expensive >> and I think by far

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um and I think that was a a plus and we knew them or we knew I mean I wasn't on the board when Jay was previously with the firm I think um and um but with the

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town but um the town had familiarity with them so that was an advantage Um, but I, you know, I certainly would, uh, be agreeable if the majority of the board wanted to forward this out for an

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RFP. I think we've got time. Um, because we have the ongoing contract. I hope it would be presented to to uh me Talon as just doing due diligence on the part of the firm and

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not meant as a a comment or criticism of their work for us to date. um and um they may want to kind of refine how they present um over what they presented a

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couple of years ago. But um it would be nice to know what's out there. I guess I'll leave it at that. I I don't have strong feelings on either direction. Uh and it's very disruptive to change counsel. We may wind up with somebody that isn't going to work out.

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Um and um that's a problem. Okay, leave it at that. >> Okay, thank you, Dean. Now, Miss Potach. >> Yeah. So, so I agree with everything essentially that Dean just said. I've worked with me Talaman at the county as well and I I think Jay is an excellent

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attorney and as good as he is, Liz Leiden is equally as good. Um, yeah, she she's meticulous and um I haven't seen a better attorney um in in a long time than her and I and I would include him in that, too. Um, and I like working

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with him. I worked with him um, when I was chair of zoning uh, with the affordable housing. And when you think about disruption, that would be an area that it would be a little disrupted because he's he's very familiar with

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what's happening with the current um, application. And um, I I'm a little concerned about that. Um, but if the board wants to put this um to uh you know out there for an RFP, I wouldn't I

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would vote for it because I know that um Jay and and Liz I'm very mature and they would only take it as as it's presented. Um and um as an attorney myself, I'm always happy when someone gets another opinion. I think it's a great idea

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because if if it's meant to be, it'll be. So I would support it if that's what the majority board wants to do. >> Okay. Um Mr. Meadows, >> um not much more to add. I mean I mean for me we had Pat Costello which was one

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model and now we have like a larger firm. Two two completely kind of different models to work with. Um I think um I think our time with attorney Costello was very good. I think he represented us very well. Uh I enjoyed the relationship. Um he was very

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obviously hands-on. he was, you know, he was picking a solo act. Um, so I'd be curious to see, um, if we put it out there. Um, I I get the larger firms and there's there's pros and cons with that. Um, but I be kind of on a curious side if there's another entity out like

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another Pat Costello out there that would fit our needs as well. Um, you know, I think it's more mechanical. I think it's just it's our due diligence just to see what's out in the market. um you know refresh for everybody and um you know no personal you know you know

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slant on any any one because I mean when we brought you know the company in um most of us were actually familiar with Jay from previous relationships or previous experiences. So, I just think this is this is as a responsibility that we should just entertain and um you know

397
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just see what's out there for for for all interested parties and you know I think it's I think it's healthy for us to do this. So, >> thank you and I agree. Um I I I think that it is healthy to to kick the tires and and put put it out to bid um see

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what's out there, see who responds, the quality of the response, the cost of the response and the model of the response. So, and again, I think it's very important that that you know, and I can I can speak to Jay if you'd like or I think it's important to convey to Jay and and Liz and Lisa that it's no reflection on their performance. It's

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just it's doing our due diligence going to market to see what's out there. So, I think it's very important we convey that and that I would hope and I I would I'd be amazed if they didn't, but I would hope that they would reapply as well. So, >> okay. So, I will take a motion. Um, if someone would like to craft a motion and

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uh we'll put it Do we have one right here? Well, let's >> Okay. >> Yeah, please. >> So, um I move to Oh, >> yeah. It's actually >> So, it is a So, Dean, >> you would need to craft that motion. >> Yeah, Mr. Chair, I I move that uh the

401
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town um issue an RFP for town council services. Um we'll leave the the dates uh to the discretion of the town manager in terms of a response time. Um with the

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understanding that we will continue with me Talaman and Costa as our town council uh during the process of obtaining um and reviewing and evaluating the RFPs. I think that's the intent.

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What did you say? >> It's a It's a request for qualifications. RFQ. >> RFQ. Okay. Stand corrected. That will that's the motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Castro. >> Second. You >> using um >> maybe a wide spectrum like you would

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name some organizations. >> Yeah. Well, I I mentioned that you want to put that in the motion. We can. I just was sort of advising. Yep. >> As long as as long as we can understand. We're going to cast her on that widely. You know, you know, all the appropriate

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>> She may have advertised in Lawyers Weekly last time. I don't remember. I might have asked. >> Shauna put the ad out. So, I have that. I have what was out. I just don't have where it was sent, but I know she has a very extensive list um >> that she puts.

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>> Yeah, I know she did. And um and I know I mentioned lawyers weekly because I mean I don't get it anymore because I don't I'm not in formal practice anymore, but that was that's sort of the weekly bible. Everybody was looking for a job

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and the position of employment is um looks at the the the one ads there. But and I know now there's, you know, the Mass Municipal Lawyers Association is much more formalized and I suspect they have their own web page on the MMA and and they probably have a place as well.

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But yeah, so that's the understanding behind the motion, but the motion is as I said, >> you made the motion. Cory, you seconded it. We'll take the role. Mr. Smith, >> I Mr. Castro, >> I miss pot. >> Hi, >> Mr. Meadows. Hi. And the chair says I as well. Thank you very much. We have one last item on our agenda this evening,

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the uh an appointment uh to the economic development advisory committee of Mr. Peter Wildman. We interviewed just last week um a talented actuary and uh um we have a vacant seat and I would love to hear a motion. >> I watched it.

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>> Okay. Oh, I move to appoint Peter Weldman to the Economic Development Advisory Committee until June 30th, 2029, unless sooner revoked or a successor is appointed. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. And then we'll take take the role. Mr. Smith, >> I. >> Mr. Niccastro. Hi. >> M potass. Hi.

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>> Mr. Meers. Hi. >> And Mr. Dyken says I as well. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you. And a second, please. >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. We'll call the role again. Mr. Smith. >> Hi. >> Mr. Niccastro. >> Hi. >> Miss Potes. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meers. I. >> And Mr. Dykin says I as well. Good

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night, Chadam.

