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Good afternoon and welcome to the December 2nd, 2025 meeting of the Chattam Select Board. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly hereafter for scheduled and on demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device. If anyone else is recording the meeting, including
the use of AI note-taking apps, please notify the chair. Seeing none, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 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. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 38 Section 20 until June 30th, 2027. This meeting of the Cadam Select Board is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can
adequately access the preceedings as provided for in the order. A reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number 158-945-4410. conference ID 230 I'm sorry 203 386491
pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft teams through the link in the posted agenda while this is a live broadcast and simal cast on Chattam TV Xfinity channel 1072 despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide real-time access we will
post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible first order of business is to establish a quorum Davis Present. >> Mr. Dykins >> present. >> Mr. Matters present. >> Mr. Smith, >> and the chair is present. >> Um, before we get to the business agenda, we
will have first public announcements and agenda item requests. Are there any from the board? Um the chair will just announce that tomorrow at 6:30 in this room and also available online and by phone um we will have a special meeting of the select
board to take up the recommendation and report of the uh center for active li living working group. Um so that will be at 6:30 tomorrow tomorrow evening. Um anyone in the audience with an agenda? Chief Anderson I'm sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the board, I come before you as not the chief of police, but a representative of the Chattam Police Association. Uh just to remind everybody, every year the association does a Toys for Tots toy drive. Uh it's been very successful. Uh
last year we donated 874 toys and all of those uh go to Cape Cod families. None of those toys leave the Cape. We have a PD lobby dropbox in case anybody's interested in dropping off a uh new and unwrapped toy. Uh but I'm here to
announce that we are having our annual stuff a cruiser drive this Saturday, December 6th, at the Ocean State Job Lot from 10:00 to 2:00. Uh I'd like to shout out to the job lot for the great partnerships that we have for them. Uh in the past, we've been visited by Santa
Claus. I can't guarantee that he'll be here this Saturday, but odds are in favor of that. So, come down Saturday, the uh December 6th from 10:00 to 2 and meet some of the men and women of your police department and please help out a good cause and bring us some toys. We'd
like to shatter that record uh of 874. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Chief. Good luck. Um anyone else in the audience? De Hold. >> Thank you. Good evening to the uh select board. I have an agenda request. >> Yes. >> Um I'm asking for an agenda item to
address the specifics of the removal of a massive number of trees at the airport. It's my understanding the airport commission plans to remove trees from 60 acres of woodland surrounding the airport this January. This is not just about tree removal. This project will result in the complete destruction
of acres of Chattam's diminishing wildlife habitat. There has been much interest in Chadam concerning airport activities. In the interest of clarity, accountability, and transparency, I think this project needs to be clarified in a public forum. I and others do not
understand what exactly the airport commission intends to have done. For example, will the 60 acres be clear-cut or will they be selectively removed and pruned as I was once told? Is there an estimate of the number of trees to be taken or an on the ground delineation of
the subject area? Will there be a survey or an audit of the area to determine if wildlife is sheltering there so appropriate care can be used? How will the contractors be monitored to ensure no tree removals? What are the alternatives if any? How will the
airport mitigate the tremendous loss of biomass and habitat? The result of this project will be shocking. So these questions should be answered publicly and let me add that there will be many more acres of Twiddland's cut for the three housing developments already in
process. I hope you agree that this projects needs to be better understood by you and the rest of the town and that there will be accountability. So I ask you to add this subject to an agenda in the very near future. Time is important in this case. Thank you.
>> Thank you Judy. Anyone else? Yes, Dr. Thompson. >> Uh, thank you, DD. I would just like to second that request very strongly. There's very strong arguments that I can give for why this should happen and
they're not related specifically to trees. They're more related to safety and and the oxymoron of what's going on. But, uh, I do endorse this, uh, request for an agenda. item. It is serious. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mike. Anyone else here? I see
no. Oh, uh, Steven Buckley. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, this is a a request an agenda item, but I had already sent in by email to the chair, but I thought it would be worth making it as a public announcement so that
people could be prepared for when and if it does make it onto the agenda. And that has to do with um a draft environmental impact statement that was released a couple of weeks ago uh on the
Cape Cod Canal Bridges project. And uh this is the point at which the Federal Highway Administration is requesting comments on what it thinks will happen if it builds uh bigger and
wider bridges to and from Cape Cod. And so I don't think since this only happens like once every hundred years um we won't have the chance to say anything well even after it's built. So uh yes what the effect will be on Chadam and
the people in Chadam of of of that beyond clearing a traffic congestion I think this is the time for some thought. The due date is um January 5th and it is
in the main sheet uh newsletter put out by the town manager, but if you just Google Cape Cod Bridges Project, you'll find the website there and then look for latest updates. Thank you very much, >> Stephen. Uh you you and I have had some
email correspondents on this. Are you requesting this as an agenda item? Do you want to come and make a presentation? And I know that you were going to attend a a state hearing on December 9th. Is that what you would like to would you like to come and make a presentation about the January
deadline and the EIR? Is that what you're asking? >> Uh ask asking that it get on the agenda. Um there is a uh advisory group meeting of u selected uh officials mostly from
born but um I think that the town should that's on December 9th and if the town was to send somebody there maybe from community development that they could um report back uh within and it's a hybrid meeting so they could still attend it
and then report on December 9th meaning next Tuesday about their sense of uh how to go about uh providing some comment. Um and I I would expect that staff could draft up something even if it was only a one pager
>> about any concerns that we have. >> Stephen, what I'm what I was suggesting was that I don't know if anyone here is going to attend that December 9th meeting. We have a very long meeting of our own uh that evening, but if you're attending the December 9th meeting and you want to bring the board's attention
to the January deadline for the fed for the feds, did you want to have an opportunity between December 9th and that January deadline to come before the board and talk about it? Is is that
>> that's a suggestion among or or if um come before the board. Well, I couldn't come before the board in time, but if there are general questions, perhaps you as the chair or the town manager andor the town manager could I could relay those questions. I
will be attending that meeting. You don't have to be an official, but they don't like to publicize it either. Um, but I could ask questions on behalf of the town and see what kind of response. >> We'll we'll follow up with you. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you very much. And as far as
letting me tell people uh what's going on so they can take their own act on their own initiative as well. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. With respect to uh the prior requests from JD Holt and Mike Thompson, I will confer with uh our liaison to the airport commission and we'll decide what
to do. >> And if it helps move it along at all, I'd like to join that. >> If it helps at all, I'd like to join them in that. >> Okay. Yes. I I received a an email I haven't had a chance to read it. It's fairly long from from Dr. Thompson uh
just before the meeting and we can share it. Thank you Kathy. I think you had an announcement on behalf of the harbor master. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um the fishing partnership um will be offering a first aid and CPR hands-on
training uh in Sandwich on December 8th. That's Monday from 8:00 a.m. to 400 pm and it's a fisherman's first aid training. And while it's not an event here in Chadam, uh we know that fishermen from all over the Cape and Southshore will travel to this and they provide breakfast and lunch and a custom
first aid kit valued at $300 um free of charge for commercial fishermen. So, we just wanted to let people know. Um there is you do need to sign up with Julia Messersmith um and her email is online uh on the board right now um as part of
the fishing partnership.org and again it's Monday December 8th 2025 from 8 to 4 p.m. at the Clark hated American Legion post and sandwich and it is completely free to commercial fishermen. >> So we have it shown on the slide. Did did someone wish wish to speak on this?
Is that what you're saying? Uh no, this was pro uh provided by the harbor master who just asked me to announce it. We'll be putting it up on the social media sites and in the main sheet as well. >> All right. >> Thank you. I guess that concludes this portion of the meeting. We'll go right into the consent agenda. >> Stuart, I'm sorry.
>> I had one agenda request. >> Um and I'm hoping that time permits to have this uh for uh next week. Um two weeks would be fine, but next week would be preferable. uh regarding a uh
select board holiday proposal for staff. Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We have a consent agenda um that consists of two items. One to consider
requests for temporary closures of establishments holding an annual liquor license and second is to consider an annual liquor consider annual liquor license renewals. Uh the licensing agent has prepared the lists. Um we would take a vote on the consent agenda as a whole.
Um unless somebody uh from the board wishes to remove an item for separate consideration. So I'll ask the board what would you like to do? I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Is there as proposed in the memo? >> Is there a second? >> There is second.
>> Okay. I will call the role. >> Miss Davis. >> Hi. >> Mr. Dykins. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> I. >> And the chair votes. I >> Okay. So now we have a um the business agenda. public comments on the business
agenda which you could make now or later on during each of the separate items which include salt marshes presentation. Uh personal care sites and emergency management um a successor employment agreement with the director of finance
and that's it. Um, so any public comments on the business agenda at this time? Hearing none, we'll go right into the first item on the business agenda, which is an update on the studies for preservation of Chattam Salt Marshes. Uh, this is requested by the Energy and
Climate Action Committee uh on October 22nd. And I will turn to Greg Berman who's going to introduce a member of the climate action committee. >> Great. Thank you much. Greg Burman, your director of natural resources, and with me is Jerry Stall, a member of the
Energy and Climate Action Committee. Um, as you saw in your agenda report, uh, this is a report out of what is now the first Salt Mar study. The salt mar study was supported in the May 2023 annual
town meeting. Um, and that has just wrapped up. It was performed by the Center for Coastal Studies. we have a additional 2025 town meeting uh for the rest of the salt marshes. So the first
study that we have the report on was for those first four marshes. Now we're doing the rest of the marshes. Um and I'm just trying to look here. You know, we we had some excellent results and I I think Jerry's going to share that with
you. And once we wrap up this second study, that's when we get into the prioritization and management and adaptation methods that we might be able to use. So >> Jerry, Greg, before you introduce Jerry, u is the second study, the one that's ongoing, is that also being done by the
Center for Coastal Studies? >> It is. The RFP and contracting just wrapped up a week or two ago. >> Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Good evening. Um so the package for tonight's select
board meeting contains uh Greg's quite comprehensive background description of this research. Uh it describes the technical studies that were conducted by the consultant uh the center for coastal studies.
It also details the funding source which was the community preservation act. Uh finally it links to the technical report submitted by the consultant as well as to a report to Chattam residents from the energy and climate action
committee and it's this last report which focuses on the issues of climate change specifically as they apply to South and West Chadam um that I'm going to talk about. So if you download that report from the
package, you'll have most of the images that are in my presentation. So here are the here are the four marshes along the Nantucket Sound that were studied last year. And here are the um
here are the main points of tonight's presentation. A, what are the facts about climate change specifically for Chadam today up to date? B, how much of Chadam's salt marsh
is likely to be lost in the coming years? C, where could new salt marsh form in the coming years? D, what are the latest predictions for flooding and wave surge in South and West Chattam? and E, where
are the biggest threats to neighborhoods by flooded roads in South and West Chadam? So, we start uh with the primary indicator of future climate change, global warming and sea level rise, that is the amount of carbon
in the atmosphere. Despite all claims about reductions in carbon emissions, the basic fact is that the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is still increasing and even accelerating.
Specifically, Barnstable County is experiencing warming temperatures even faster than the world in general, and that's predicted to uh continue and accelerate. Similarly, the sea level is rising
faster around Cape Cod even than most other places in the world. Uh this is uh at Woods Hole and this is at Boston, the closest sites to us. Uh this is a century of measurements by
Noah at Woods Hole and in Boston. Uh unfortunately the study that we had uh from um adopted dated and overly conservative predictions of sea level rise from the United Nations report but we can easily
adapt the prediction years based on more realistic predictions from current local data. So in this chart I've compared uh various predictions including those adop the newly adopted Massachusetts coastal
flood risk model marked MCFRM frm which we'll discuss later in the presentation and I believe that the that the best um predictions are those of MCFRM
which I've used in this report. Um, so we turn now to the most important finding of the marsh study, the likely loss of twothirds of the healthy marshes in South and West Chadam.
This chart is directly from the CCS report. They figured out how much marsh would be drowned by sea level rise and how much land around the marshes would be suitable for the marsh to migrate to upland. taking into account
sedimentation of sand and slope of land which they measured very accurately. They could not take into account houses and private ownership. That's something that our committee, the town and the residents will have to think about in
the future. There are many threats, other threats to the marshes and the study alerted us to the presence of purple marsh crabs which can destroy marshes and have become a real problem on Cape Cod. Our committee
is already work and Greg and his people in the town are already working on this problem, but there's no clear solution to it at this point. Uh perhaps our most important finding from the study and the analysis by the
consultants is the detailed prediction of possible future marsh migration which will help us decide uh what to do about it. Here's the map by the consultants in red of migration areas
possible in future target years combined with Chadam's parcel maps of ownership of properties that are overlapping the parable possible marshall possible migration areas.
Um that's in South Chattam and this is in West Chadam. The same kind of mapping. So you can see uh how many properties u um are are affected or are blocking
possible future marsh migration. >> Jerry, can you please explain what you mean by migration and what what its benefit is? >> Yeah. So, um you can sort of see in this map that um
so here here's here's some marsh along here. The blue >> and the and the blue over over here uh our current marsh and they're likely to be flooded. They're likely to be uh
submerged as this t as the sea level rises. >> Mhm. there there won't be any plants there, any salt marsh grasses. So, it won't be a healthy marsh environment. But what the marsh tends to do is so-called migration uh upland. So,
it moves up to higher levels right around the marsh. And that's what these uh the different colors show where it's likely to to be in different years in 2050, 2070, and by 2100.
the different shades of red. And what happens is that um well, as the as the sea level rises, the water goes higher on the land and so it can support marsh grasses there. >> You see? >> Um but if there's a house there, then
that's a problem. Or if it's even if it's just private property and people put up some kind of fence or whatever to stop it. And basically you can see from this map just sort of eyeballing it that a lot a good deal of the potential place
for Marsh to move to is uh is blocked by right now by private property. So I think this is going to be an issue for the town in the coming years as sea level rises as a lot of these homes start to get flooded. What are people going to do about it? They can't get
insurance and so on. um they maybe they can't still live there. Uh maybe the town wants to somehow take over uh the property or put it in the land trust. Some of the some of these properties are already townowned and
some are already in the land trust, but most of them are not. There's a couple that don't have any houses on them. And this is the kind of analysis we can now start to do given the predictions of where the marsh is likely to be able to move to. The whole the whole theory of
the study was to see how we can preserve the marshes. We know a lot of it will may be flooded. Some things we may be able to do to stop the flooding like add some sand carefully to raise the level of the marsh
that may or may not be possible in different places. There may be other solutions possible, but one possibility is just to clear the land, some land for the marsh to move to. >> Thank you. >> And that's what we really and they did a
very thorough studies of elevation. and they have uh very fine grained elevations data now that we can use uh which we we didn't have uh before. They looked at the slope of the land because a marsh can't go up too high a
slope. So they took that into account. They started to look at sedimentation. So some sand washes in and builds up the level of the ground. some old marsh plants die and stay there and build up the level of the ground. So they've
taken all those things into consideration um and and modeled it and so on. And so now we have that which we can combine like here with our own information about properties and who lives where and so
on. So yeah, so in in those two maps we just saw for South and West uh Chadam, there were four over 400 properties involved. And uh we have to look more
carefully at each of those. Some have houses, some are on developed properties. As I say, some are owned publicly. So the next study, as Greg mentioned, is actually starting this month uh to look
at the other nine uh salt marshes with the same consultants to get some get the same kind of data for all of those. And then we have a picture of marshes throughout Chadam, all the major marshes and the data that we need to do analysis
and to and to be able to prioritize where uh where we should talk about doing some um interventions to help preserve the marshes.
Uh and here's some ideas for interventions. And uh it it's going to have to be a uh a combination of work between our our committee and other committees and town staff and the uh people who live in the
neighborhoods. So here here's the nine marshes. You see they cover alto together including the four we've already looked at. They cover a good part of chatam sort of all the uh
sea seawward areas. Okay. So now we're going to take a quick look at predictions for south and west Chattam from the Massachusetts coastal flood risk model which is newly adopted by the state to uh to study climate
change uh throughout Massachusetts. So, here's here's their predictions for a major flood in South and West Chadam overlaid over the map of um properties.
uh the the model that they use is so previously we had FEMA maps which looked very similar to this but the FEMA map only looked back at historical floods not taking into account future climate
change. Um and it's what they call a bathtub model. It just looks at how high the water will be everywhere. like this might be three feet above uh current tides. Um but the new the new model is very
probabilistic and uh takes into account climate change is going to change the kind of storms that come here and they modeled thousands of possible storms and this is the probabilistic model result
that they came up with. Uh and it's very detailed. So you can blow this up down to uh you know a couple feet and see exactly uh what's predicted to how deep the the flood will be at a given point.
Uh and also they did the same kind of model for um for wave surges. Big waves coming in through storms come even higher than the flood. And uh this is
how they might be distributed. Uh this is a this is a key thing where marshes are really important. If you have a marsh, if you live in one of these colored areas and you have a marsh in front of you, when the
waves come and the storm comes, the marsh buffers you from it. It it it cuts down the wind and the waves. Uh and it also draws the the the water away after a flood. Uh if you don't have marshes
there, if they're all dead, then uh you lose a major protection of homes along those areas. And there are quite a few of the uh of Chadam's homes are in those those areas.
Uh, one aspect of this is so-called low-lying roads, uh, which may be uh, the most critical thing for the town to think about uh, starting right away and and they are working on it. Uh so if you look at the
roads coming in, the three roads that come into the major beaches along there are all going to be flooded uh by storms soon and they will cut off access to all of those houses that are
in those three colored areas. So, Coco Cove Road um when when it closes down there from being flooded, it cuts off access to and from 97 homes, which means not only the
residents can't get out of there, and they their homes may be flooded, but emergency vehicles can't get in there either. Uh Ridgevale has even more 122 homes cut off and Hardings has incredible over 400 homes uh would be
isolated by a flood of Harding Beach Road. Uh and this just shows the properties in each of the in each of those neighborhoods. So imagine over 600 homes being evacuated from South and West Chattam
when a big storm comes in. Where would all those people go? How would they be supported for however long the flooding lasts? And so on. Okay. So, climate change and sea level rise pose difficult issues for for
Chadam and our committee is trying to collect accurate and critical data to help everyone understand the challenges and to explore responses. Uh, any questions or >> Thank you. Any comments or questions? Shireen.
>> Uh, Jerry, thank you very much for the report. It's really informative and a little ominous. I'd have to say just want to comment that you were those predictions those latter predictions were in the year 2017. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> Yes. >> One of the things that there's a couple of things. Um just an observation. And I think the last big tides we had Oyster River marsh to the was totally flooded um in a way that I
have I people were sending my family pictures just to show us simply because we've never seen it like that. So I mean the occurrence of flooding in that area is is getting more and more dire. Um, so the next steps are to do a uh do the
other nine salt marshes on in the community and then to to start to think about a a management plan that includes mitigation in some capacity. Is that the the next recommendation that ECAC would
bring before the um the board? >> Yeah, I think the the idea is for instance lowlying roads. I showed three of them. Uh there are there are others around Chadam. Uh and there there was a little study done by Cape Cod Commission I think. >> Yep.
>> Um I didn't think much of their study. It didn't really look at it wasn't tuned to Chadam at all. It was really tuned to a place like Sandwich which had a lot of businesses that could be flooded and so a different structure totally to the road system and the housing and so on.
Um so that's why I'm trying to develop these maps of the flooding related to the housing there. Uh and when we have them for the whole almost all the low-lying roads are in marsh areas in the flood plane. uh so when we'll
have a pretty pretty comprehensive uh view of them after the next study and uh then we could prioritize um which ones to do something about each road I think the commission uh
came up with a price tag of around a million dollars per road minimum so it's fairly expensive to do the to do that kind of mitigation Um, but you see there could be hundreds of family houses affected. Uh, and so
where are the town's priorities and something like that? >> Tell me about the uh the the purple crab. It's invasive obviously. And I mean it's >> what does it do to a a salt marsh that that that it's detrimental to a salt mar
in general? Actually, the uh this this shows what it did by Harding's Beach. >> Okay, I get it. >> So, um Greg and I went out with uh somebody from um the from an expert about these crabs who's been dealing
with them at the National Seashore where they've been a real problem. And he and we walked and that's where I took this picture. Uh so what they do especially near near the ditches is they burrow and they eat the roots
especially of the of the vegetation of the salt marsh grasses. Other other crabs don't eat the grasses. But these gr these crabs eat the grasses and kill them and then nothing grows there. And you have these mud flats here
which will eventually be flooded with no grass or eroded away with no grass to hold them in place. >> Do you know if they're edible? >> I I've asked a number of people and nobody's tasted them. >> Okay. >> They're they're also nocturnal which me
makes them hard to find. They they bured they burrow under We did find a couple of them when we went out during the day. >> There's no known uh solution to them. They they used to be controlled by predators, especially fish. >> So fish are the predators.
>> Certain certain fish and uh apparently uh there's not as many fish around as >> not in Nucket Sound because of the seals. So >> um Okay. Thank you. I appreciate the work that your committee is doing and the report is really really interesting
and thank you so much. Continue up the good work, >> Jeff. Thank you, Jerry. Great report. try to look forward to kind of downloading and and studying those maps a little bit more closely. It's a little difficult to understand what's going on, but I think you guys are hitting all the high points. And I was very interested
in Shireen's question on, you know, after we map the next nine marshes, what are the next when would the town and the select board and folks receive recommendations on actual action plans for humiliation or for assistance to
preserve our marshes? seems like a big order for me, but it's a very important one. So, >> yeah, it's hard to answer because we don't know what this stud is going to find find. That's why we're doing the study. Like the mar the these crabs,
they came out of the blue, the purple. >> Yeah. >> And um you know, we had we were not expecting them. The consultant was not expecting to find them. They sort of just tripped over them. And so we'll be looking more carefully at the other nine
marshes to see if where where these there were certainly a lot of them at Hardings when we just walked out there. Um so in in some sense we don't know even what kind of uh recommendations might be made. The other thing is that
um Greg works very closely with the committee. Uh so for instance the marsh the the crab thing came up and we didn't have to you know come make a it an agenda item here and come and present
and and have you vote on something. He just went out and got this uh this expert from the national seashore and some other people and started looking into it right away. So um we have a good
working relationship already with staff. So u some of it takes gets taken care of that way. >> So is it fair to say that we have at least a baseline if you will on the four mar the four marshes that have been
studied thus far and then we will also have a baseline for the next nine marshes that you guys are going to >> Exactly. Yeah. A baseline baseline data is the way I look at a lot of it. >> Yeah. like >> I I have spec I just have a question about and I understand the
prioritization of the marshes that are closer closest to low-lying roads and properties etc developed properties but how about the I think one of the most mo most beautiful and large marsh um in Chadam which is up the stage um you know
stage not stage island but uh Pleasant Bay um I think I think baseline ought to be studied there as well Um I I just because it's right in the middle of Pleasant Bay and it's impacted by the Atlantic rushing in and out all the time
uh with high tide. So I think >> yeah, Pleasant Bay of course has a Pleasant Bay Alliance which Chadam is part of that does a lot has already done a lot of these studies. >> I I misspoke. strong island obviously, but I would hope that we get baseline
data there as well because I think it's probably fairly indicative of of you know climate change and sea level rise, but I don't I I don't know if the Pleasant Bay Alliance is doing it or not. Maybe Greg does, but I'm not familiar. It's just a
beautiful marsh. It's gigantic. >> Yeah. No, tr truly beautiful. So, uh, uh, our marsh studies are actually somewhat modeled off of the Pleasant Bay Allianc's studies that were done throughout those marshes. So, we didn't want to duplicate anything that was already done, but Strong Island was
included in that Pleasant Bay Alliance work. >> Um, you know, we have partnered with the Pleasant Bay Alliance on a variety of things. Uh that's one thing where they you know took this data from the marshes and eventually once you get all the marshes involved you start doing
prioritization finding out which marshes can be you know have opportunity for adaption and which marshes are doing just fine and which marshes really have no ability to migrate at that point and might need to be just observed. But you
know that that's our next step after getting all these and the consultants are going to be providing us with these recommendations and adaptation methodologies. Um you know when we were out looking at those purple marsh grabs uh one of the very few things that uh Steven Spear
from the uh park service was talking about was um placement of sand over top of the burrows will displace those crabs. So, you know, kind of the the dual benefit of thin layer deposition along with crab u you know, prevention,
but there's also, you know, is it actually it's not killing the crabs, it's just pushing them off to the side. So, more work has to be done. We don't want to push them somewhere else by accident, right? >> So, we're we're proceeding but cautiously. >> Thank you, Greg. That's very helpful. And just not to overstate the obvious,
but uh I you know I have deep concern about the causeway and little beach the little beach area and the you talk about lowlying road. Hopefully that's part of the study u going forward. >> Yeah and I can follow up with that for just a second if you want. So I mean the the lowlying road project from the Cape
Cod mission, you know, focused on that Morris Island Road a bit and the tide gate. Uh we then did a follow-up request for a municipal vulnerability preparedness grant which was not awarded. Uh since then we've you know identified and allocated town funding to
do that study and research looking at the Tigate and Morris Island Road adaptation alternatives. Um so that is a contract that's in place now and we start expecting results and we will bring them to you when we have them. Um another low the low road was uh up off
of u uh Crows Pond and that was another one that we applied for a grant with the Pleasant Bay Alliance to take a look at that one that wasn't funded. So, you know, we're even these things that aren't funded, we're trying to find ways to to keep things moving. >> Super. Very helpful. Thanks, Greg.
>> Corey. >> Thanks, Jerry. >> Jerry, first of all, thank you very much for the presentation. Would it be safe to say too that the work on the marshes is also very handinhand with beach nourishment because I mean when you
showed it like the hing beach, ridgeville, Kakokco forest that stretch. I mean that beach has changed drastically. I mean and you know from when I was a little kid to where it is now and all the beach is being you know
blown away and it's starting to creep into the marshall. I mean over between Kakoko parking lot specifically to where the retaining wall is that is dropped back considerably and it's creeping up on that marsh land behind the the Chat Harbor Lane area and then
you go further down that barrier beach is kind of getting beat up pretty darn well. Um so I mean we got to keep our focus too on some beach nourishment because if we don't it's just going to accelerate. Correct. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Okay.
And just to follow up with that one, that's literally another grant that we applied for. That one was not funded either, but we have, you know, I identified some funding through the uh uh Mil Creek Jetty Work that's going to look at depositing that sand and working
with uh Kaka Cove and Bucks Creek and an analysis of the Nantucket Sound shoreline sediment budget. Um, one to make sure that our dunes are in place to be able to protect the natural resources like the marshes, but two that you know the sediment's not making its way into
our estuaries or if it is what needs to be done, whether it's a regular dredging regimen or whether, you know, we're putting too much or not enough down in the right time. So, that's going to be the results of that study when it comes out. >> Any other comments or questions from the board
or the public? Um, well, thank you very much. Uh, and thanks to the committee. I'm sorry, >> there's one question. >> Oh, Brian Phillips. Sorry. >> Uh, for the record, Brian Phillips, 374
Orleans Road. I guess my question is um how does building you know non-p permeable surfaces houses and pools in uh flood zones or coastal conservancy districts affect kind of that information you just presented like the you know like the flood patterns or the
you know the ability of the salt marshes to migrate properly and kind of anything else would have to do with that type of stuff. Thank you. Uh well, obviously they would get in the way of of a marsh. And um
uh we do have the the wetlands laws that protect a lot of property from uh new new construction like that that would be in the way of the wetlands. Um but that's that's something we have
to look at more closely is where in in the some of these maps um where there are obstructions to the marsh moving impermanent impermeable as you say. All right. Thank you.
>> And just on a a lighter note after talking about all the grants we didn't get, one of the grants that we did get was a SNEP technical assistance grant uh that looks at the uh uh coastal resilience zone, if you will. So that's the flood plane. That's the flood plane as it's impacted by sea level rise. And
the Cape Cod Commission is going to be working with us to provide extensive outreach and stakeholder input to see, you know, what regulatory changes may help, what impacts it would have to the town, uh how it would in fact impact private property. So, that's kind of
coming along the way. >> Well, again, thank you both uh for this really very helpful and informative report. Um I think the board I I think I speak for the entire board in saying that when the um rest of the study is completed, the other nine marshes
perhaps we would look to the energy and climate action committee uh and maybe you could collaborate with some other committees as you mentioned earlier like open space or conservation maybe even the planning board and come forward to the select board with a set
of recommendations for mitigation and control of these issues. and as well as staff continuing to um try to get more grant monies for us. Um but thank you. This is really very very informative. I hope people paid attention to it. Thank you. Thank you,
Jerry. Thank you, Greg. The next item on the agenda is a continuation of something that was taken up in August uh at the request of select board members Smith and um resident Lane Gibbs on personal care
sites and emergency management planning. Uh we do have um um a memo in the packet by the police the fire chief Justin Tavano and I'm going to ask him to kind of give us some highlights. I know we received an email from Miss Gibbs which
we will read um shortly but turn it to you. Welcome Justin. >> Thank you. Good evening everybody. Uh fire chief Justin Tavano. Um as the chair indicated this is a continuation of uh discussion on personal care sites and sheltering from August. Um I'm just
going to highlight I don't have any slides to present just going to highlight some of the more salient points from the memo um that I wanted to point out and then available for questions. Uh the town of Chadam has emergency management plans which have been vetted by MIMA and are reviewed on
an ongoing basis regarding forecast severe weather events. Our emergency management team begins incident specific planning several days in advance with our internal partners locally uh internal departments throughout the town regionally with our county partners at
the state level with MIMA and with our private util utility partners. One of the primary focus areas during these planning meetings is sheltering. Chadam's emergency management plans identify two distinct types of refuge, personal care sites and overnight
shelters. Personal care sites are meant to be temporary. They are open for specific hours to provide the public with temporary access to climate controlled environments and emergency power to charge medical and communications
devices. When Chadam formally stands up a personal care site, the primary facility is designated designated as the community center. Overnight shelters require medical and security personnel on site, sleeping accommodations, pet accommodations,
showers, and kitchen facilities. Chattam along with other municipalities across the county and in line with the best practices identified by MIMA has adopted a regional shelter approach for overnight sheltering. The primary regional overnight shelter for Chattam
is located at the Cape Cod Technical High School in Harwitch. The decisions to open personal care sites and/or overnight shelters may be made proactively or reactively and can depend on the confidence level of a weather forecast or real-time community
need. For example, there are times when community need is low and services can more effectively and efficiently be be provided to residents in need by bringing them to a public safety facility which is open and monitored around the clock. As community needs
increase, it may be determined that a dedicated personal care site is required to meet those needs. Local information is then shared with our county partners to determine the need for overnight sheltering. I cannot stress enough that if at any
time a resident is experiencing an emergency or feels unsafe in their home or if they're aware of a friend or family member or a neighbor who's in need of assistance, it's critical that they notify public safety by calling 911. It's also important to remind residents to take proactive steps while
in advance of severe weather by maintaining an emergency supply kit, having a plan, and staying informed. Keep your communications devices charged and only use them for emergencies if power goes out. Sign up for emergency notifications from
the town through the town's website. Sign up to receive emergency not notifications from private utility providers. Report utility disruptions to the utility providers. and sign up to participate in the town's
other services, including the reassurance program and the special assistance list, which will ensure that someone from public safety comes to check on you if contact cannot be made. In closing, it's my recommendation that Cadam maintains the capability to open
emergency personal care sites locally for short-term community needs and for larger or prolonged events requiring overnight accommodations. The town should continue to collaborate with regional partners to activate the regional sheltering plan which offers the most effective, sustainable, and
safe means of providing comprehensive emergency overnight sheltering services. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. I should also mention that we have present your deputy emergency management director as well. Any uh questions or comments to the chief from the board?
>> Stuart need to put on your >> Thank you. Um just we've chatted about this for some time. One of my concerns is that the town of Chadam, correct me if I'm
wrong, um doesn't control the opening or closing uh of the regional shelters. That's done by a help me out. It's some sort of a committee. >> The the Barnstable Regional Emergency Planning Committee, correct?
>> Which is uh how is that run? Um, so that's run through Barnesville County Emergency Management. Um, Chip Riley's the coordinator up there. Um, so they also run the multi- agency uh
coordination center. So they kind of um have morphed and spearhead all these kind of planning and strategy sessions in advance of an event. Um, they bring all the different municipal partners into play, the utility providers, everybody who's kind of a stakeholder.
um if we were to get a forecast severe weather, a blizzard or a hurricane, major tropical storm, things of that nature. Um and they, you know, they they they go around the room in these meetings, they talk about community need, um perceived need or actual need.
Um and that it drives kind of their decisions. So, um, if there were, uh, if if we had 100% confidence we were going to get hit with a blizzard, um, the decision is usually made to proactively open up the regional shelter so that they can safely get people there in
advance of the storm. >> So, that committee is made up of >> representatives from all >> area communities, fire, >> all the all the communities across the county. >> Um, see, I think that that's a that's
problematic. Um, I can see the wisdom in having regional shelters. It's more efficient. Um, and we have to, you know, we can collectively staff those shelters uh perhaps more effectively. Um,
but having seen that system fail, I think it's important to have an alternative as to what's going to take place when the county for whatever the reasons. They're looking at a 150,000
people. So, for whatever reason, decides that uh they're not going to do something that Chadam would like done during an emergency. And uh like so many other emergencies that we've faced in
the past uh you know the best laid plans uh you know can falter and um and I and I've seen them falter. I've seen you know a lot of promises from federal and state county organizations that are you
know good as armchair sailors now. Um, but when they hit the pavement, they begin to disintegrate. And those are the things that I'm concerned about because I've seen it. And um, an alternative to
those regional shelters um, when that fails, because it did and it will in the future, hopefully not often. Um, and maybe we don't have to stand up this alternative, but I think having that alternative plan B is an important part of an emergency plan. And
I' I'd encourage uh you know I guess I can make a motion to that effect that uh but before I get to that um what are your thoughts on having an alternative?
>> Yeah. No, I I I don't disagree. Um you know part part of what we do is we you know we don't we try not to just rely on plan A. Uh we try to have conting contingency plans. um deputy director and I review the plans throughout the year. Um
you know, we usually one season ahead we're looking at winter storms while it's still summertime and vice versa. Um and we we do we brainstorm, you know, what are we going to do if and then if that fails, what do we do if? Um so, you know, it is it is part of our
conversations. It's part of our discussions. It's part of our um tabletop exercises, which we we have one um planned in the near future. um to kind of work through some of these these challenges that might arise. Um so, you know, while I don't have a
specific plan B before you here to present tonight, um it is part of our ongoing conversations um looking at different facilities throughout the town that we could put people in if we needed to and where we're going to get those resources and equipment. the uh and the second part of my uh comment is
um relating to the warming centers um because they're they're they're two different issues really um and we have you know we built the community center part of the rationale I can remember uh it being presented at town meeting was
well we're going to use it for uh sheltering well that didn't happen for a number of probably good reasons. Um but nonetheless, and we were going to we were going to build a uh COA building in um West Chadam, and we part of the
argument was we were going to use it as a shelter, and we were going to put a generator there. And whether it was part of the sales pitch or not, I don't know how serious that um discussion was as to uh warming center or shelters, but it was there. It was
made. Um and but we don't seem to we don't seem to follow through with that. So we've put a uh you know a a generator um at the community center which I think I supported. It was that's a that was that was very positive. But
um other than what's contained in your conclusion, I think it's important that we uh we have more of a reassurance to the community. Um and that we are
actually, you know, going to open that for not sheltering because it's clearly not prepared for that unfortunately. Um but for uh a a warming uh center based on uh
a certain criteria of contingencies. You you certainly allude to that that you're going to make that happen. And I I appreciate that, but you folks are all busy. You know, it's a busy time. Um and
I I think it would be hoove um you know, we don't want people coming back later and saying, you know, told you so. It it it would be nice to to uh move forward with a plan for the community center. and and I I see you reference the I'm
assuming it's the police and fire stations for some alternative small groups warming charging center. Um that's positive. Um but I think the utilization of that community center is
going to be important. Um it's going to important to develop uh a plan on how to staff that. Um you know the police and fire folks, DPW folks, some of the other smaller
departments, they typically come together during those emergencies and make things happen. Um, and the warming sheltering issue is kind of a, you know, red-haired stepchild that we we haven't really fully addressed how we're going
to staff that. And um uh aside from police and fire, I'm less concerned about that because you folks have a you know, you have a regiment that you go through to to respond just under normal conditions to issues at at the community
center or elsewhere. Um so I'm not worried about I'm not even sure it's necessary to staff it with police and and fire, frankly. I mean, the the people who are staffing it should be minimally trained. um in first aid and
CPR and um uh and so they can address a lot of the issues and they call if necessary for a ambulance or a police officer for some other issue. Um but I think we're selling ourselves short if
we do not have a alternative plan to make that happen. And I see, you know, you make strides to assure that that's going to we're going to make it work. And I I just think it would uh be further reassuring if we were to have an alter alternate plan. And my uh when
appropriate, I'll make a motion to >> Thank you, Corey. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Justin, thank you very much. I mean, I I totally understand where you're coming from with um we we we've been going around this question quite a long time. You know, the community building as a warming
center, charging center. It's it's good and it's bad. I mean, I mean, honestly, when you walk in the lobby, we got the set of stairs going up to that second level. So, that has some deficiencies for a larger volume of bodies. You got the gymnasium or the auditorium, whatever you want to refer to it as. Um, so it it does serve a a
meaningful purpose. Um, but having more tools in our toolbox would be a nice thing. Um, for whatever it's worth, I'm going to throw my two cents worth in. I think maybe it may be beneficial to have the conversation with the school. I think honestly the ideal facility is the
middle school on CL Road. You've got um a facility that obviously younger kids if it's an emergency they're comfortable with. You have a facility with showers. You have a facility with a kitchen. You have uh two gymnasiums. One could be dedicated for
pets so you separate it from the everyone else. Um it's a school so it's you you have locking doors and can be secured in a in a pretty thorough manner. um you have access points from the perimeter for buses or whatever else. So, it may be at some point time worth
having a conversation with the school that that could be a plan B um under the right circumstances um for a local shelter if that is something the community wants. Um it it seems to be the the the the perfect answer structurally at least.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And if I may, Cory, um, you know, I I have had conversations about the schools with the superintendent over the span of the last six years. Um, we've we've we've looked at the schools, we've looked at the facilities, we've done assessments on them with, um, with
reps from MIA and the Red Cross. Um, I've had ongoing conversations with with the superintendent um, just as recently as the um, the immigrant issue over on the vineyard a couple years ago. Um, just looking at different sheltering options we might have. So, you know, I I I agree with you. The school is, if we
were looking at a plan B, the middle school is the ideal location. Um, a lot of the different facilities and have their own varying challenges. So, the one at the middle school is that there's no full building generator there
either. So, um, if it's extremely cold or extremely hot, there's no way to control the the environment. Um, so that's that's kind of the big challenge over there. Um the the generator there runs emergency power, emergency lighting, emergency power. Um some of
the outlets and runs the boiler for the hot water. So it it kind of creates some unintentional radiant heat from the hot water flowing through the building. Um but the blowers don't work um on the generator there. >> Okay. Thank you.
Um, if there are no other questions or comments from the board, I'm going to ask Kathy to read an email we received from Elaine Gibbs because Elaine was one of the initiators of this agenda item initially and then I'm going to ask the police chief if he has any comments and
then we'll open it up to further public comments. So Kathy, we got an email just before the meeting. I really haven't had a chance to read it carefully. Um, would you please read it from Elaine Gibbs? >> Certainly. I am requesting again that the select board be able to vote to
declare a local state of emergency with advanced notice to the public that the community center will be will keep the door unlocked overnight when all power is lost, including cell phone service, making making calling 911 possible or
impossible. It will allow people to come in for a few hours to warm up and charge cell phones. They do not want to leave their homes overnight in the event they need to clear fallen trees at daylight. Regional shelters may not even open if they don't have staff or we are the only
area affected and we won't know it until it's too late as they don't make that call until 4 p.m. before or during a storm. It has happened before. You can have anyone that enters sign a waiver of legal liability. The link to Ct for the
regional shelters on the town website is blank saying it's in progress of being developed. It should not be on December 2nd. There is no page on the town website when you click public safety about our local emergency management team. Only links to the American Red
Cross and outage maps, etc. I disagree that it is ultimately personal accountability and responsibility of residents to quote take care of friends, neighbors, and family end quote and not local government. Many don't have them in the winter or may not have cell service.
Public safety is your first and foremost responsibility. This current plan is an absolute abdication of that government responsibility when the solution is so obvious. One death will be too much. Ela Gibbs, >> thank you. Elaine explained that she was on the road and wasn't sure if she was
going to get to the meeting. Um, Chief Anderson, did do you have any comments on this because your your department is mentioned in the fire chief's memo? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to date myself. Um, back in 2006, I was promoted
uh to lieutenant and I was introduced to the command staff of the department. Since then, I've worked with three former and one current fire chief. Um, during that time, I've seen the evolution of the sheltering pendulum swing in in
many directions. Um, there's no there's no perfect solution to this problem. Uh but the the current plan that is in place with the fire chief and emergency management uh shockingly or not surprisingly I support
uh and I am happy with the police department's role in that plan. I'm comfortable with it. Um if if things change the police department can adapt. We we will and we do. Uh but just to further go into what was mentioned about
my building. My building used as a small temporary warming or cooling station does not have any of the challenges that you know some of these other locations like the community center has. I mean you might have to say that to to people at the community center, hey, we're
closing. You need to go someplace else. We don't we we we're staffed in our lobby. Um we've got restrooms. We've got heat. We've got water. Um but again, we're we're not the solution. We're we're a band-aid. And and just if I could just add one more thing, what the
fire chief said, this this plan might not, you know, apply to everybody, but even if it applies to a few people, um if if you feel that this plan falls short of your expectations and you're in distress or you're in crisis or you have
an emergency, just call us and we'll we'll come to you individually and we will we will address it and do the best we can to to mitigate your problem. So >> would would you also explain or either of you what happens when the person can't call because their phone is down?
You have checks, don't you? You check on folks that have >> Well, the the first thing I would say is, you know, it's it's really it's really easy for public safety to say make a kit. Um there's options to to to charge your phone. I mean, anybody can buy a separate charging battery. Uh you
can use your vehicle. Um but um I'm sorry, what was the question? >> Well, I think you have reassurance programs where you check on you do check some on people and if they don't respond. >> Currently, we have I think at at at the highest in the summer, we have about 75
residents that are on the reassurance program. And again, if the public wants information about the reassurance program, it's on the town website underneath the police department. And in short basically means u if you're on the program uh you call the police station
every day uh and a certain time if we do not hear from you we will try to contact you by phone. If we do not get an answer we will visit your home uh and you usually give us authority or permission to uh gain access to your home to make sure you're okay. And the system works.
Um there's usually two, three or four saves a year where we have a resident that is in crisis or has fallen uh that we've been able to to to save uh that otherwise would go that call would not be able to be made. In addition to that,
we have what's called the special assistance program, which might not be applying to the uh the reassurance, which is really targeted our seniors, but we have people on our special assistance list uh that might have mobility problems, vision problems,
hearing problems, might require mechanical assistance with oxygen, or some type of other medical equipment where uh power outages could be could be pretty pretty severe to that. uh and and when certain conditions dictate uh we
will reach out to the people in addition to the reassurance we reach out to the people on our special assistance and and the same thing they fill out the required forms and authorizations for us to you know next of kin or family members or neighbors uh access to their residents and who to notify in case of
emergency. So if if anybody out in in Chadam is not on this uh I encourage you to look at those two options. Um, not a lot of towns have the the reassurance and I I know not a lot of towns have the uh special assistance program and that
special assistance program uh both programs are maintained, updated, checked uh on a on a regular basis. >> Okay. >> And Mr. Mr. Chair, if I could just add on to that a little bit too, the special assistance list. One of the things that we do in our emergency planning when there's a a severe weather forecast is
uh Leah Lacrosse has done it or other partners over at the SEAF. Um they actually make phone calls in advance to those people, make sure that they know about the storm that's on the way, make sure they have the supplies, adequate supplies that they need in the short term. Um and see if they need any
immediate assistance. Um, so that that also helps kind of drive our decisions locally about, you know, do we need to get have a personal care site open or do we need to get in touch with the con uh county about opening an overnight shelter. >> Thank you. Uh, I would just observe that your recommendation, Chief Devano, was
consistent with what you've said in the past and what your predecessor uh, Chief Dasquali said, um, on occasion to us as well. Uh, I'm going to throw it open to public comment if there is any here in the in person or online
and I don't see any. So, I'm going to bring it back to the board for any further discussion or motions or whatever. So, >> I'll um uh appreciate everybody's um patience and response. Um I think uh the
chief's memo is um tes most of the bases but uh having seen these things fail uh we need a plan uh uh and I'd ask the I'd make a motion
that we ask the town manager to uh with her staff to uh develop a alternative to the regional sheltering plan uh in the eventual uality that that regional sheltering plan fails uh to open or
fails to meet the needs of our constituency here and um that uh so I'll that's my first motion. >> Is there a second? >> A second for discussion though. >> Okay. >> So >> So we've got a second. So we'll open it
for discussion on the motion. So with the chief has confirmed that they've they have looked at other facilities, buildings, whatever, and they seem to be shortfalls with with with each of them. So I guess coming up
with a you know, no problem coming up with a plan B. More tools in the toolbox, wonderful idea. What great. But if we have whether it be the school, whether it be another town facility, um I I'm guessing we're going to need
either another generator, another element to the facility to meet certain accommodations. So um it's not just identifying another facility. there's going to be a probably a capital cost of I mean again my my thought is this middle school middle schools that one of
the um hurdles is the generator and having a proper um heating cooling elements to that. So um it's a little bit bigger than just identifying plan B. But I think it I think having that discussion and working on it I'm fine with but I think it's a little bit
more involved than just a simple >> my and good point. My my my uh motion was deliberately broad in that it's uh I'm putting it back onto the operational folks to develop whatever plan that they
whether it be the elementary school, the community center and uh there may or may not be but there there may be costs involved in that but we won't know any of that until we get whatever proposal uh comes back for an al mind you for the sheltering issue. This is simply an
alternative when the regional sheltering system fails. Chadam. >> Okay. Um Jeff, we're still talking about Stuart's motion and then Shireen. >> So, so we're going to have a duplicative shelter should there be a severe weather event is what you're saying because
you're anticipating or what >> you're anticipating that we'll be not able to use the regional shelter which is only uh down 137. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. and and that would be a very severe event. You're talking about a massive hurricane or a blizzard, but the
shelter would ought to be open >> to take care of a a massive really untored weather event where one might lose cell phone capability. But but we're we're duplicating what already exists. >> We're not. So, and let me explain. Let me explain.
>> So, before I retired, we had a blizzard. >> The regional sheltering system failed. We needed a regional shelter. Haritch was uh unable to open. I think they were doing renovations and my recollection is
the alternative to that was East Ham and the heating system failed in East Ham. So those two alternatives were not viable alternatives for that eventuality. This event this plan may never have to be implemented, but it
doesn't hurt to have one. So I don't see it as a duplication. I see it as an as when those issues fail because they have let's have a plan. >> So, and the shelter would include um CS, bedding, care for children and pets.
>> It would include whatever the town manager and her staff come up with. >> Well, that's what the shelter's capable of doing, >> the regional shelter. >> And we it may or may not. Maybe during this this uh study, let's say this um contingency plan, they they realize that
there's some aspects of a shelter that they're just not able to provide. Maybe it's phased. Hey, we can do this now and when we do some improvements that I think are anticipated for the elementary school, we may be able to do some further um uh refinements to the plan.
But this seems like a prudent measure to simply address something that has taken place. >> I I'd like to know how many other towns on the Cape have a secondary shelter. Um whether we'd be the outlier or having a
shelter that that we as Stuart mentioned earlier are in control of whether it's community center, the middle school, the police department, wherever. Anybody else do this? >> Not that I know of. uh you know the the host towns have the luxury of having the
regional shelter within their town so they have those facilities. Um but there we're still all part of the regional plan. >> Yeah. And were we around or was I around even or the chiefs or our town manager around when the regional center that um
Stuart refers to I believe it was Haritch at the time is what you're saying. >> It was first Haritch the alternative was East Ham and it was two years prior to my retirement. So it was >> so so it failed miserably. We couldn't cape tech had had was not u the
construction hadn't finished yet. >> Naset high school was the was the shelter at the time for the region. >> Um >> that was the storm that for some reason generators were failing everywhere. Our generator failed at the fire station. >> Uh East police and fire their generator
failed. Um and then they had a generator failure up there at the site as well. Um it was after it had already been stood up and people had checked in. Um so they did have to move on to their contingency plan which was then going to be moving those people to Barnstable High School.
>> And now that the the regional tech is open, have we done drills over there? Have we have we tested the have we done tabletop exercises with all the the folks police fire the surrounding towns and with the school itself? Yes, I' I've been over there several times with uh members of the cert team and the county
and our other municipal partners. >> Would one say that the that NASA because it wasn't open was an anomaly rather than you know an it's an anomaly? >> Yeah, I mean it it was it was open um they had they they had to move towards closure because of the generator failure after they had opened.
>> Got it. Okay, Shireen. Um, so a couple of things um that that I'm wondering about is um my notes say that you have alternative and contingency plans that you set up um
as a plan B already in place. Um the other point is that um from the perspective of the Capecot Technical Regional School, it's a brand new facility now. Um, it is probably equal distance to some residents in Chadam as
would be the community center. So, I'm pretty sure I'm, you know, there's a a good portion of the population of Chattam. It's closer. I know it is to folks in River Bay where I reside. It's closer to go to 137 than it is to go
downtown. Um, so it's it is a viable alternative to um to anything. um the the idea of of putting together or expanding on your alternative plans or contingency plans. I mean, I would have
to say we'd have to see what the cost associated with something like that would be. And if this is just an expansion of the tabletop exercises, I don't see that that's a big deal. Um but I'm concerned about
about the redundancy. uh as you had said Jeff that we're duplicating effort. >> Yeah. And I just I want to be fully transparent. So you know in our in our formal plans we've adopted the regional shelter plan. As far as contingencies those are the result of of different
brainstorming and and tabletop type exercises. They're not we don't have those contingencies formally built into our black and white on paper plans. So the uh county emergency planning people
I mean that is made up of you um the committees are or that planning group is made up of emergency service representatives from all the towns correct I'm assuming correct and if we were to adopt a standalone emergency
shelter plan does that would that jeopardize our relationship with planning you know for storms and emergencies. Would it be by default that it would just say CC Chadam, you're on your own. You have this plan in place and
>> No, it wouldn't it wouldn't jeopardize that. But as far as staffing, we would as far as staffing that local overnight shelter, we would be on our own. We wouldn't get the volunteers would be >> that's the other piece to that is the the the staffing. How how do you how do
you go? I mean that that would be I guess I'd be curious about how how are you staffing um you know it's just not going to be volunteers that know a little bit of CPR. I mean there's a lot to it I guess you know with the cert
volunteers that they go through considerable training to be part of that. >> Stuart then Corey and then I want to talk >> Stuart. um redundancy in the emergency business is critical.
So if we're going to coin this as a as redundant, absolutely that is exactly its intent. The other thing I'm I'm going to mention is the chief's correct in uh that blizzard
a lot of natural gas generators failed. Um it it was in that respect somewhat of a perfect storm but it did happen and um coming up with alternatives
uh was a challenge um to for some of the public safety facilities. It is the precise reason why the town because I was part of those discussions and I advocated for a diesel fire generator at the community center specifically
to avert and have an alternative to that type of event which will run much more uh effectively in that type of weather. So that's exactly why we chose that type of generator for that eventuality. >> Okay, Corey.
No, I'm looking at this not redundancy. I'm looking at is we have a plan in place that is endorsed by both chiefs. We're very comfortable what we have in place. Um there are some people that are very concerned about it and the concern is not a bad thing. you know, you have concerns. We want to improve things, but
we have a plan that we feel comfortable moving forward with, but I don't find anything wrong with doing some due diligence and having identify another facility, figuring out under the right conditions that we would maybe
have to implement it. You know, what is it going to cost to, you know, capital cost to bring it up to whatever standards are? the voters would have to weigh in on that. If they don't support that kind of project, they're not going to vote for it. But there are other logistics about staffing these
facilities. So once we identify where it is, there's a lot of logistics of, you know, if you're going to do this, this is what it takes to pull it off. And I think that would drive exactly when and if it ever were to be implemented as a
plan B. We we have a plan A in place and we hope that always stays true. Um, but it there's no harm in having that extra layer of protection that all right, we've we've identified a location, the building is now equipped with X, Y, and Z. So, if we absolutely had to implement
it, this is what we would need to do. This is how we need to staff it. Um, this is hopefully these these conditions are not something we do on a regular basis, but to have more options for us. Doing due diligence is not a bad thing. It's not I don't see it as as we're
opening that location and the the regional shelter. This is something we have in our in our master plan that if we needed to implement it, we have it available or we have a plan available to execute it in the event it needs to be executed. That that's how I'm looking at
this. >> Thank you. Well, I like the fire chief's recommendation and it's not just his recommendation. It's also supported by the police chief and I believe we should take the advice of our paid professionals. It's also it was also the
recommendation of uh Chief Devano's predecessor because we had this discussion multiple times. Um, and I think it's understood in that recommendation and from the chief's presentation that
the emergency management department or division is always undergoing continuous evaluation, improvement and adjustment of the plan.
Um so and I think that phase or aspect could incorporate some of the things that Mr. Meadows was has been talking about uh with respect to what you would have in a local shelter.
has been pointed out to us by the fire chiefs that best practices, whether they're dictated or directed or or simply advised by e emergency management professionals,
um specify a number of things that we should have in these shelters that are going to cost money, um including staffing. and I just don't think it's something
that we need to do. And so I I'm not going to support the motion. I understand Stuart, where you're coming from. Um and um I just think um we have a good plan in place and we should listen to
our public safety professionals. So unless there's any further discussion, I'm going to call the role on the motion. Okay. Miss Davis, >> no. >> Mr. Dykins, >> no. >> Mr. Matters, >> I. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes.
>> And the chair votes no. Are there any other motions? >> I was going to, but uh I don't think it'll be supported given the fact that you didn't support uh the first one. Thank you. >> Okay. Are there any other motions?
Well, I'm going to offer a motion that the board endorse the fire chief's recommendation, and I'll read it. Chadam should maintain the capability to open emergency personal care sites locally for short-term community needs for larger or prolonged events requiring
overnight accommodations. The town should collaborate with regional partners to activate the regional sheltering plan. The town should continue public education and information efforts to ensure residents understand the difference between a personal care site and a regional shelter. That's my motion. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any
discussion? >> If not, I'll call the role. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Dykins. >> Hi. >> Mr. Matters. >> I. >> Mr. Smith. >> Abstain. >> And the chair votes I. So that's 401. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you, Chief Anderson.
>> Thank you, Deputy Chief Heler. The next item is uh to consider the approval of a successor employment agreement with director of finance Carrie Mezero dated July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Uh this is uh
the second of three personal employment agreements with department heads. Uh and I'll turn to our town manager for a presentation on this. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we have our director of finance, Carrie Mazerol, who is going into her third year uh with a
contract expiring on June 30th, 2026, and that would be fiscal year 2027. So before you is a successor agreement that we had discussed some refinements to uh take out uh specific references to
the first agreement but also provide for compensation at a total of a 4.5% increase per year for the three years and that includes uh cost of living um traditional step increases. It's all in
for that. And then um it also has uh an item where the where she can uh cash out uh up to five days of vacation leave not taken. And the last item is to provide an extra week of vacation for her use uh
considering her years of service um in her career. So before you is the draft successor agreement. If you have any questions, I'm here to answer. Uh Director Mazerell is also here to answer. and I respectfully request that the select board approve the successor
agreement. >> Thank you, Jill. I just had two questions. I really didn't have a chance to touch base with you about them beforehand. On page two of the contract up at the top, the third line down, there's a reference a reference to it's the last sentence. The first review of
performance shall be done within 90 days. Is that still relevant to this agreement? >> No. So, it's done on annual basis. So, thank you for catching up. It's a a remnant from the first agreement. >> And then on page three, right at the bottom, it refers to
longevity. Is this different from the annual step increases longevity? >> It is. So this would I don't have the personnel policies in front of me, but this would kick in after a sum after a certain year of service, and that was
also in the previous director finance um contract. So, the annual step increases are not included in this contract. That's expressly stated. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Are there any questions or comments to Jill Stewart? >> Um
I guess first I'll um and then I just had a couple rudimentary questions, but um first I'll uh I guess it's appropriate to make a motion to approve contract. >> Whenever you'd like. >> Did you make that motion? Just a second. It's been moved and seconded. Thank you.
>> All right. So um the differences between So this is the current finance director's first uh >> term person >> term contract. She's had a contract, right? >> Uh so Carrie, it seems like she's been
here for a very long time, but she's only been here for about two and a half years. And this is one of the the three positions that master general law allows for uh an employment agreement. >> And the differences that I see between
uh the previous finance director's uh contract and this one are there like particular reasons for the differences? Not not the pay. >> Sure. So the previous finance director's
contract was first negotiated when she began her employment in 2010 and she has since retired obviously and um similar to uh both the chief contracts I haven't done a restructuring while someone's in that position because
that was the terms or the terms of agreement that they first agreed to when they were employed with the finance director sorry director of finance uh we were able to capture um one is a a
review of the job description and the comp compensation plan that we had the call-in center perform and also uh review other towns that had directors of finance what their agreements were. So this this was the agreement that um was
presented to Miss Mazerero when she was offered the position >> and the um so two two two differences I'm curious about and I assume uh Miss Mazerel is
supportive of the contract. Yeah. Um on page three number 17 indemnification it's very different in the current contract as opposed to uh the one in uh the previous one seems
the indemnification appears to be broader to me. Is there like a is that maybe this is a standard one? And >> so again, I'm town council at the time back in 2010 probably reviewed that
contract with um my predecessor and we had labor council review the language in this contract before it was presented. the um I mean the first part is uh something to take note of and it says
the in the previous contract the employer shall defend save harmless and identify the employee against any tort professional liability claim or other legal act action whether groundless or otherwise um arising out of an alleged act of omission occurring during the
performance of the employees duties. But that isn't That isn't exactly what it says in uh in this proposed contract. Is that just something uh Miss uh Mr. Talerman didn't think was
necessary? >> Um it wasn't uh Tal, it was um Town Council Clifford and Kenny. Okay. >> Who reviewed it. So >> is this the same? If I could interject, is this the same >> language that was in the the fire
chief's contract? I don't remember because I didn't I didn't compare it that we approved last week. >> I have to review it. >> Kathy, can you pull that up? Part of the part of the procedural question I was going to comment on was typically the board for instance in collective
bargaining agreements has the opportunity to meet and discuss uh you know what they want to see in a contract and then the town manager appropriately in contained in the charter negotiates that. Um
so we seem to be doing a different process here. Um, and I don't know why that is. Um, but while you're thinking of that, is there a reason because I think you said something when
Justin was before us at the previous meeting that this contract is being done 7 months prior to the expiration. Is is that a budgetary issue? >> It's it is a budgetary issue. So, and then also if
for some reason either party wanted to terminate, there's just there's language in there that provides notification. I have no intention of terminating the agreement, but we are going to put out a I am going to put out a a budget for FY27 come mid January.
>> And you want to contain this is that so that's why >> Yes. >> I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but that's why we're doing this seven months ahead of time. >> Yes. But I I think appropriately it should be done this far in advance no matter what for any contract that's going to expire. But yes, the the
funding the recommendation that I have in here is to insert the amount into the FY 2027 budget for July 1st, 2026. >> Okay. Um I was just comparing it with the previous one which wasn't seven months, it was uh March, April, it was
like two. Um, so and the other thing I noticed in that's really the only thing I have to well the previous one previous contract with the finance director and the other I don't know about the fire chiefs um
the other uh staff is so they're paid for a certain amount of uh unused sick time if they leave but that has been that has been dropped in this one. >> Is that here or I didn't see it. >> Yeah. employees hired after 2013.
Um there's no cash value for their sick leave, >> their unused sick leave. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And that's with the both the contract all the contractual and the union employees >> including my contract. >> Well, you just didn't negotiate that. You should have me negotiate that for
you. >> I will. >> Um okay, I think that's it. Thank you, >> Kathy. Did you find that condemnification provision? Do you is it would would you like to read it please? >> Certainly. Um it was clause 18 indemnification for professional liability. The chief shall be
indemnified by the town for claims made against him arising out of conduct within the scope of his employment. The town agrees that it shall defend, safe, harmless, and indemnify the chief against any tort, professional liability claim, or demand or other civil or criminal legal action, whether groundless or otherwise, arising out of
an alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of the chief's duties as fire chief of the town, so long as the chief is acting within the scope of his authority as fire chief. >> Now, was that did that come from the same law firm? >> Do we know?
>> I don't know. But to move this along, if the board wants me to review the indevocation to provide the employee more protection, I'm I'm happy to meet with >> just hearing what Kathy read. I like that one better. If I'm an employee, I
like it better than this one. This was very very generic. >> So, I mean, chairman, if I might. >> Yeah, >> I like that language better as well. And I think we ought to suggest that it be substituted for in this. >> We could do that tonight. Yeah. Um, was that review >> Carrie? Are you amendable to that?
>> Was that reviewed with council? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Well, I'm sure Carrie is it's more it's more proper. >> Maybe there were two. >> It It is. It's It's better language. I >> And and um as far as the process,
Stuart, I um we owe it to you for to bringing this to our attention that we should be approving these. The charter says we approve them. It doesn't say we what how we do that and if the board wanted to we could take these into executive session and discuss them as we
do with union contracts and do that but that's that's what >> yeah and that would be my recommendation but for the next going forward I don't want to upset the >> um also as far as the timing the isn't the intent here to try to put the chief's contract and the the finance
director's contract on this the cycle with the fiscal year beginning of the fiscal year wasn't that your intention Yes, but they're they're they're they're not in sync with each other, but they are based on the fiscal year. >> Does Carrie's current contract expire
when? Now. >> It'll be June 30th, 2026. >> Okay. All right. So, I'm going to ask Kathy to read that language one more time before we take a vote. >> Indemnification for professional
liability. The chief shall be indemnified by the town for claims made against him arising out of conduct within the scope of his employment. The town agrees that it shall defend, save harmless, and indemnify the chief against any tort, professional liability
claim, or demand, or other civil or criminal legal action, whether groundless or otherwise, arising out of an alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of the chief's duties as fire chief of the town. So long as the chief is acting within the scope of his authority as fire chief.
>> I like that. >> Me too. >> Okay. Carrie, did you want say something or did you want to wait until we took a vote? >> But you're okay with this. >> Okay. We have a motion that Stuart made to approve um this contract for the
finance director and it's been seconded. >> Any discuss further discussion? >> Well, only with that with that >> without amendment. Without amendment amendment, >> right? Okay. >> All right. I'll call the role. Miss Davis. >> Hi. >> Mr. Mr. Dyken. >> Hi, >> Mr. Meadows. Hi, >> Mr. Smith. >> Hi,
>> and the chair votes eye. Carrie, >> thank you so much everyone. I appreciate it. Um, I look forward to continuing working for the town of Chadam and to continue my efforts and work with my team. Um, the past few years have been
uh challenging for me. um is stepping into a new role and a new community. Um I've learned a lot over the past couple years. I'd like to uh thank the town manager for her support and her guidance
and um my teammates as well. So, thank you. I appreciate it. >> Thank Thank you, Carrie. Um you know, >> it's never in doubt. >> I I think um I think I speak for the board. I I think you've done an outstanding job. I remember when you were um I I won't say interviewed
because that's not the charter term, but we were all given the opportunity to meet with you and I had a conversation with um at the time with our former chair Mike Shell and uh he made the observation uh which I shared that and I
I don't know if the public is aware of this that Carrie started out at a very junior level in the finance in municipal finance and um continue to progress upward >> um in terms of responsibilities and and
uh and uh I I think um we both thought you were an ideal candidate for this job and I know you worked very closely and well with the finance committee as well. So >> yes, >> congratulations and um we look forward to your continued good work for the town. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
>> Thank you. Okay, last item is to consider uh committee appointments and we have um two appointments for the historic business district commission. Uh we received a communication from chair Dan Silver
who asked that he himself uh be um changed in status from full member to an alternate member. I think the committee has the commission has three alternate positions. Uh only uh two of two one of which is filled.
>> Uh yeah >> by Tim Gilmore and he recommends that Tim Gilmore be be elevated to the full member position and if we make these appointments tonight um we would expect that the HBDC will reorganize and vote
for a new chair formally and a vice chair and a clerk. So the first um I'm um I'm going to turn to Shireen. The first there are two motions proposed. One is relative to Mr. Silver. So Shireen, you want to take that one? >> I will in just a moment. I just wanted to uh say thank you to Dan for his
service as chair. >> Um he's he's been a a a wonderful valuable member of the HBDC for a number of years. Uh I really have a lot of faith that um Mr. Gilmore will carry through. He's a very active alternative. Yes.
>> Um also, uh uh it's my understanding the com um the acting chair right now is thinking about after the first of the year reorganizing the board. >> Good. >> Uh in that I'll move to uh I move to appoint Daniel Silva as an alternate member of the historic business district
commission through June 30th, 2026 unless sooner revoked or a successor is appointed. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. I'll call the role. Miss Davis. I >> Mr. Dyken. Hi. >> Mr. Meadow. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> Hi. >> Chair votes. I >> uh Mr. Chair, I move to appoint Timothy
Gilmore as a full member of the Historic Business District Commission through June 30th, 2026, unless sooner revoked or successor is appointed. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Call the role. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Dyken. >> I. >> Mr. Matters. I >> Mr. Smith. >> I.
>> And the chair votes I. >> One more motion for tonight. >> Move to adjourn. Mr. Chairman. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Call the role. M. Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Dyken. >> Hi. >> Mr. Matters. >> Hi. Mr. Smith >> I >> chair votes I we are adjourned at 7:17
p.m. Good night chatam [Music]