thing is so it being six o'clock I am calling to order the selection board of November 17th, 2025. If you join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And this meeting is being telecast live by Chumsford Teledia and being recorded for later viewing by the public. Um first on our agenda we have public
service announcements. >> Okay. Um so the first item tonight is a certificate of recognition. [snorts] Um and I'll just read this. This um certificate of recognition is hereby presented to Stannis Waba Gre Gregovska
Voltage um Stacia uh Neeres on her 100th birthday born in Odruskin Krosno Poland December 1st 1925. She was a member of
the Polish resistance movement from 1941 to 1945 fighting for the liberation of Poland from German occupation. Stacia was awarded the Polish Army Medal in 1966 and home army cross in 1986.
Stacia moved from Cro to Chsford in 2019. Today we have the honor of celebrating Stacia Waltos, a woman of strong faith and who has shown great courage and bravery in the face of Nazi and Russian
persecution. Happy 100th birthday to her. Awarded this 17th day of November, 2025 by the select board. Is there anybody here to receive this in Stacia's honor?
Seeing none, um we will uh if >> I could if I could just Oh, >> sure. Please go ahead. >> Oh, no. I was just going to make one comment. Um if Staca's watching or anybody that knows her, we all want to say to her, Stalot Vienz, that means 100 years and many more.
>> Absolutely. Happy birthday. >> Happy birthday. >> Thank you all. Okay. Um now for some fun stuff. If that wasn't fun enough, uh, the Vinyl Square Tree Lighting Committee presents the annual Vinyl Square tree lighting. This will be held Saturday,
December 6th, 2025 from 4 to 6:00 p.m. in Vinyl Square on the North Chelmswood Calming. Join them for a magical evening as they light up the Vinyl Square tree and kick off the holiday season in style. Event highlights include a
special visit visit from Santa Claus with wishlist writing supplies and photos with families. Live music by local musicians in the gazebo. Fire truck bringing Santa to light the tree. Hut cocoa, delicious food and festive
treats, holiday crafts and activities for the children. Bundle up, bring your families and friends and enjoy the warmth of community music and holiday cheer. We can't wait to celebrate you with you. If interested in volunteering or donating, please contact Brian Kramer
at brian.f.creamergmail.com. The next item is join the town of Chelmsford for the annual Chelmsford holiday prelude. That will be held December 7th, 2025 from 400 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. And the tree lighting will be right
at 5:00 p.m. Chumsford Town Center com town center in Common. Start off the holiday season by greeting your neighbors at the annual holiday prelude. Activities include traditional hustdron and tractor hay rides, free goodies,
face painting, performances, and of course, Santa. Admission to most of these events are free. Donations are appreciated. And um a notice from uh the Department of Public Health um they are offering
free inhome flu vaccines for homebound residents. Getting a flu vaccine is essential for staying healthy during the respiratory illness season. If you or your loved one finds it difficult to leave the house to get their flu shot, call the Chelmsford Health Department to
schedule an inhome vaccination today. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact Darcy Beal RN at 978250-5251. 5241, excuse me. 2550241 proudly offered by the Chumsford Health
Department. And our last item is a Chumsford memorial tree program. The town of Chumsid is proud to launch the memorial tree program, offering residents a meaningful way to honor loved ones while adding beauty and shade to our
community. Participants can sponsor a tree that will be planted in a public space in town, creating a lasting living tribute that will be enjoyed for years to come. Learn more about the program and how to participate by scanning the
QR code, which you can't see, or visiting the link here, www.chelmsfordmass.gov GV um slashdocument center view1372 slmemorial-tree-programs. Let's grow Chumsford's future one tree
at a time. And that concludes our public service announcements for this evening. >> Thanks, Pat. Um and next up we have general public input. And I don't know if we have anybody here in person who wants to provide public input. No. Um I understand that we do
have somebody online that wanted to comment on um something about the dog park. We do have that later in the agenda, but if you um if you did want to provide your input during public input right now for three minutes, you are
welcome to do that also. >> Go ahead, Larie. >> I'm good to talk now. Fantastic. Thank you. Um hi, I'm Laramie. I am a dog park regular and have a child who also loves going to the dog park and I just wanted
to comment my personal opinion on the age restriction change. Um, right now it's 6 years old and we have problems with people who bring infants and toddlers there without any idea of the
age restriction in general. So, I'm not sure what purpose an age change would have. I understand the principle of other communities in the area have higher age restrictions, but it's not
being enforced now anyway. Um, if they were to change it, I would suggest 8 years old instead of 10. That seems like a good age of children being able to make decisions by themselves and accept responsibilities and kind of being
taller. Um, if they possibly want to do a height requirement instead of an age requirement or an addition to, I think that might work out. But also, the biggest thing for me would be increased signage no matter what. um putting more
signs that are larger and more easily visible at all entrances and exits and several of the most congregated in areas. I think would really help with an age restriction in general. Uh and I was also wondering how the town would like
people who are attending the park to help enforce any age restriction regardless of what it is. um because it's not enforceable right now. Um so yeah, that's pretty much it. I think that the age of 10 is a too high of a
restriction and that the town should put more signage in the park regardless of what the age restriction is labeling the age restriction. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. We'll keep that in mind when we're doing the hearing
later. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else for general public input? No. Okay. Um, next we have committee vacancies. >> Okay. Committee vacancies. As of 111725, the Agricultural Commission has one
unexpired three-year term ending June 30th, 2026. The Board of Assessors has one unexpired three-year term ending June 30th, 2027. The Commission on Disabilities has one unexpired three-year term ending June
30th, 2026, two unexpired three-year terms ending June 30th, 2027, and two three-year terms ending June 30th, 2028. The Council on Aging Board has one unexpired three-year term ending June
30th, 2026, and two three-year terms ending June 30th, 2028. The historic district commission alternate member has one unexpired three-year term ending June 30th, 2027. The holiday decorating committee has one
unexpired one-year term ending December 31st, 2025. The parade committee welcomes all applicants to one-year terms ending July 31st, 2026. and the Vinyl Square strategic action
plan committee um is looking for a business representative for a one-year unexpired three-year term ending June 30th, 2026. If you are interested in serving on a town board or committee, please complete an online application available at the
town website. And for more information, please contact the town manager's office at 978-250-5202 or TM office at chumsridmass.gov. >> Thanks, Pat. Um, next up we have some public hearings. We have three for National Grid and Verizon pull
petitions. We have somebody from National Grid here. Hello. >> Hello. Do I start? >> How are you? Yeah. Could you just say your your name and >> uh Vasna Ang uh 11:01 Turnpike Street here on behalf of National Grid.
>> Thank you. >> We want Garrison Road first. >> Okay. So, do you want to just um walk us through these? The first one is Garrison Road. >> Yeah. Um, National Greater is uh seeking the town's uh petition approval to install
uh two jointly owned poles for uh system reliability upgrades. The poles will be installed in the public way on Garrison Road. >> You can see it's right at the intersection of Littleton Road. >> Is it are they are these additional poles or
>> these? Yeah, these are two new additional poles. Yep. These are the ones the P1 and P2. >> Yep. So you can see that exactly. And why do we need those? >> Uh for the new equipment that'll be placed on the poles in order to keep the system running in case there's any uh
you know uh shorts here and there. So >> they can't place it on the existing poles because there's two poles. P125 and P150 are existing poles, right? >> Um unfortunately the poles there now have equipment on it already. So it required a two new post for the
additional equipment. >> Any other questions? >> Can we do we can do these all together? >> I would I do them separate because you have a public hearing, you know, so you're going to have a butters from different locations possibly. >> Yep. Okay. >> That's what I would suggest, but you can do whatever you want. >> Okay. Thanks. Does anyone have questions
on this one or comments? I assume the butters have been notified of this and and I assume that's in an easement um there that we're looking at >> the tower right away. >> Yep. Okay. >> And the others have been notified.
>> Um so far uh to my knowledge none have uh contact us uh with any questions. So >> Okay, perfect. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> It's a public hearing. >> Oh, so we have to close the public hearing, right? >> No, we have Oh, so we have Oh, we have to take Thank you. It's been a while.
Um, yes. So, do we do we have any input from the public? >> There's no one online. >> There's no one online. Anyone here? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. I'll take a motion to >> Okay. Motion to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I.
>> Okay. Um, does anyone have anything? Any comments? No. Okay. I'll take a motion. >> No one has anything. Um motion to approve the poll petition for um the two polls at Garrison and
Littleton Road. >> Second that. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I >> Okay, motion approved. Um do we have to reopen the public hearing now? >> No, different public hearing. Okay, so next we have a public hearing for
another National Grid and Verizon poll petition for Bill Rea Road. Vasna 11:01 Turnpike Street here on behalf of National Grid. Uh National Grid is seeking the town's approval to
install pole uh jo 62-50 on on BIC on Bela Road uh for system improvement upgrades. The pole will be installed in the public way. You see that's adjacent to Apollo Drive on that side of the road
uh you know in front of where um the existing business is. Yeah. The one that does the cleaning the uniforms. >> Cintest. Yeah. >> No, Cintas is down on that end. >> On that Yeah. That end right. Yeah. The
reason for the new poles, >> uh, system reliability upgrades. >> This is one of the taller poles, right? >> Uh, >> way I read that, that's the -50 or No, >> excuse me. >> It says it's a -50. Is that just >> No, that's just the the numbering of it.
>> 50 and a half. Yeah, you got pull 50. You had 62 and 63 and that becomes 62 and a2. I thought it said something about it being a bigger pool. >> Well, on on it the second paragraph, it does say it will be >> it will be a 50 foot high pole. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> What's the normal height?
>> It's not really 50 ft high. >> Uh it's all normal height. It's dependent on what the two adjacent poles are on each side. If it's a 40, we can only go five feet in difference. We can go 35 or 45 depending on what the poles are on each side. So,
>> but you're looking to do a 50-ft pole in this instance. Uh, I believe so. For the equipment that's being uh put on the pole, we require the the 50ft H1 pole to make it more robust for the equipment going in.
>> Guess we're pounding poles in between poles now, not taking any away, >> right? We need to work. So, >> I don't have any questions. Okay, I'll take a motion to close the public. Anybody here to >> Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Is there anyone
here from the public that would like to comment? >> No. >> Okay. >> No, you can see there's just two abutters. So, motion to close the public hearing. >> I'm sorry. There are two abutters on >> Oh, there's just two abutters to this hearing. Yeah. One being Atrius Health and the other. >> Thank you. We have a motion to close the
public hearing and a second. Uh, all those in favor? >> I >> I Okay. Does anyone have any comments, questions? I'll make a motion that um the board approve um poll 62-50 on Bill Ricker Road as presented.
>> I'll second that. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> The motion passes. Okay. And next we will have a third public hearing for um another National Grid and Verizon poll petition at
Central Square. Basna Ang 11:01 Turn Pike Street here on behalf of National Grid. Uh National Grid is seeking the town's approval to install uh pole 1-50 in the public way in uh Central Square
for a system reliability upgrade. >> So this is um >> it's right in the island right here. >> Right in the island. Okay. And this calls for another 50 foot high pole. And I know that um >> we're hoping it's only going to be temporary so that when they do the
undergrounding this would go underground with the others, >> right? Because that's we're anticipating burying all the utilities here. So, >> but in the meantime, they need this pole for the center. >> Okay. All right. And same reason, um equipment. Yes. Okay.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Do we have anyone for public input? Any comments from the public? No. Okay, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. >> Motion to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I >> I.
>> Anyone have comments? Question. >> Okay, I'll take a motion. Okay. I'll make a motion that the board approve the um uh pole petition to install a 50- foot high pole on the U small common
pole 1-50 between um well I guess it would be Bela Road um would be the location. So at Bela Road as presented. >> I'll second it. >> Okay, we have a motion in a second. All
those in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Have a good night. >> Okay. Next, we have some licenses. Um, first up, a license for a roadside vendor license for Almo's Flower and
Garden Center, Inc. at 55 Granite Bill Road. >> Hello. >> Hi. I'm uh Robert Brezi from 271 Shaw Street and I'm here to represent uh Elmo's Flower and Garden Center from Drake. >> Okay. >> To uh get our yearly vendor license.
>> How many years you've been doing this? >> Oh, too long. [laughter] >> I've been selling trees there probably about 20 years now. >> No, not quite that. It's about 15 years probably. >> It's Oh, it's >> Can't believe it's already here again.
>> Yeah. Don't rush it. >> I know. [laughter] >> Okay. >> So, when would you uh when would you start? >> Uh he gave me a paper >> from November 28th to December 24th.
>> Or December 25th just in case. >> Write the [laughter] I won't be there. >> He won't be there Christmas Day. >> There's a tree in the lot. You can have it. >> Okay. >> Does anyone have any questions? Any comments? >> No. Good. Oh, okay. I'll take a motion.
Be ready. >> I'll make a motion that we um approve the roadside vendor license application submitted by Almo's Flower and Garden Center to be held at um Sully's Ice Cream at 55 Graniteville Road,
Chumsford, Mass, as presented. >> I'll second that. >> We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I motion passes. >> Thank you very much. >> Good luck. Thank you. And next up, we have another license for a transfer of the common victular
license from Nick County DBA Thai Jasmine Restaurant to House of Carowan LLC. >> Hello. >> Hi. My name is Abishia Wong. Um from 313 Littleton Road. Yeah. Sure.
>> Hi. Welcome. So, okay. So, Tai Jasmine is going to be House of Carowan. >> No, the name the name will be Udum. >> Odumsuk. Okay. >> Okay.
Is this a ownership transfer? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Remain a Thai restaurant or some other kind of >> It's the same Thai food. Yep. But better. [laughter] >> Better. >> We won't tell Nick you said that. Now
everybody here welcome [laughter] 10% off >> one pass. [laughter] >> So tomorrow we fully open. So please welcome everyone. >> Okay. >> Um and uh you're aware of the DPW concern um saying that the seating plan
shows 84 seats but the application states 95. Do we know which what what we're doing or or >> so like I feel like they over uh like overwritten uh before for the previous owner but the true capacity we believe
is about 84 that we were submitted. >> So that would be what you're you're looking for is the 84 seats. >> Yes. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Um >> seating capacity. Sounds like we're we're increasing seating capacity from
84 to 95 is what you're looking for. Is that >> you have the uh drawing? >> This is the drawing there. >> What? So, but the from the people. So, what we doesn't care because we not tend to like you know what I mean? So, I I I think like what is allowed the maximum
that tow allow what would that be? >> So, you're not trying to increase seating. You're actually just going to keep the seating as it is. We're just unsure actually what that number actually is. Exactly. So, whatever the town's approved and whatever the max capacity that like the uh the town will approve for us, I'll take it.
>> Okay. >> I have a question. >> I submit this. >> Could you do you mind just coming to the the microphone so we can hear you? Sure. >> I'm the uh landlord. >> Oh, hi. >> And uh I submitted this uh official architect drawing to building department
and and I gave to um the secretary what's her name? Vera. >> Vera. Yeah. Anyway, um she uh so we we we cor we changed it to 99 from 85 because the previous restaurant which
was 20 years ago 2004 I was here too um was 99 we didn't in try to increase anything just she said the best way is to keep the same as previous one because you bought from >> the seating is only >> previous one so I had my architect
redraw the plan change to 999. >> I see. So it says the customer seats is 84, customer standing 10. So the total occupancy is 99. >> I want to make sure the number is the same with the architect official architect drawing with the application.
Don't confuse with why is this, why is that? >> Yeah, >> it's it's not going to matter so much now, but when they come back for a liquor license and we submit it to the ABCC, it has to follow the plan. And I'm not saying they can't have 95 occupancy, but the seating plan has to be the seating plan. So, as long as they stick
with the seating plan, which is what we're hearing, I think they're okay. >> So, we have an application, >> this is just for the common vitula, >> that says capacity for 95 seats, but we actually only have seating for 84. And then with 10 customers standing, five staff, total occupancy is 99.
>> Yep. Exactly. So, >> however, the DPW does state that if the seating plan is changed to add additional seats, this will be capped at 14 seats, which is understandable. But after that you'd have to apply for
sew or INI and that must be addressed if you were gonna going to do any more than that. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> So 99. So that's what it is. >> Total occupancy. Yes. Yes. >> Awesome. >> Okay. >> Yeah. As accord so it would be according
to this this document. Is that correct? Do we have to specify that in the motion? >> Because the application is for 95. have to be specif the the application as presented and that would be it. >> That would be >> for for 84 seats and 99 total occupancy.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Does anyone have any other questions? >> Yes. Hours of operation 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. >> That's a little later than we usually allow. Um and I know the current one the
current license is only 11:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. just one maximum that we can do something like that. >> Yes, >> we we kind of stretch it when we give when we allow one. >> Um, >> right. 1 a.m. is this is the standards boards closing for any for new licenses
and that has been in effect for at least 15 years >> at least. Yes. >> One 1:00 a.m. >> 1 a.m. >> Perfect. Yep. >> 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. >> Yep. >> Okay. And and you are aware as Paul said that this is only for for food. This is
not for alcohol at this at this time. Okay. Just want to make sure you're >> clear on that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else? Okay. I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion that we approve the um common
victual license for um House of Shaong LLC DBA Udamsuk Thai Kitchen and Bar to be exercised at the premises at 313 Littleton Road, units 2,
3, and 4, with the exception that we would limit the opening hours from 10:30 to 100 p.m. >> 1 a.m. Uh yeah, sorry. [laughter] >> That would be really >> That would be really shot. Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> I'll second that. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good luck. >> Okay. And we have another license for um common victory license for JHM
Chelmsford >> a home to suit by Hilton. >> Yeah, that's the for those from in the audience that's the former Rison Hotel and on off of Alpine Lane. Ashock Patel is on Zoom uh to speak to this application. >> Okay,
>> Mr. Patel, are you there? Hello. >> Good evening, >> President. How are you? >> Hi. Um, so do you mind just stating your your name for the record? >> Sure. Ash with the application uh for
the home to hotel to have its food and food license um be processed. >> So I have a question couple questions about this. Um, is it is it for to serve only the customers of the hotel?
>> Correct. This is uh it's a typical hotel setup just like what we have at the hotel next door which is a Holiday Express where the the breakfast area is complimentary to the guests of the hotel >> and and as you it's it's only for breakfast. Correct.
>> Correct. Okay. It looks like the hours are Monday to Friday 6:00 am to 9:00 am and Saturday and Sunday 7 am to 10 a.m. >> Correct. >> So I guess I have a question and the DPW has the concern about seating but if it's only for the customers is that
>> Yeah. Now DPW satisfied. >> Okay. All right. Good. >> And are we are we actually complete because the it says it's incomplete because it's missing the business certificate. I believe somebody was somebody has
already processed that and >> dropped them off. I know one of the office person was working on that. >> Yeah, I think that's all set. I think that's all set. >> I think it's all set. >> Okay. We we won't release it without the business certificate. >> So, we'll make that a
>> And then what about the sewer flow calculations? Because again, this the seating area outside is only for the hotel guests. So that's okay. >> Right. But um the chief of police um asked for more
detailed plans needed regarding the the two outdoor seating areas to ensure the safety of the public. Do we have any further information on that? >> Yeah, so we've already addressed that because Mr. Um the Jose Jose from the
building department was already out there looking at it a week ago and he recommended that we should be putting some ball arts in place. So those are being worked on as we speak. >> Okay. And how do we monitor how do we make sure that well the police I'll make
a motion contingent upon >> successful installation of the ballage to satisfy the police chief's concern as well as um receiving the um the business certificate before it's issued. >> Okay, >> you ready?
>> Anybody else questions? >> Okay, I'll take a motion. Okay, I'll make a motion that um the board approve a common victual license for JHM Chelmsford LLC DBA
home two sweet suites by Hilton to be exercised on the premises at 12 Independence Drive. um contingent upon um successful um uh successfully uh
issuing the um missing business certificate and contingent upon the installation uh and acceptance of the police chief of Ballards or permanent structures needed uh due to the proximity to the roadway as presented.
>> I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion in a second. All those in favor? I >> thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Have a good night. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And we have one more license in
front of us for a transfer of um auto dealer license from Middle Sex LLC, DBA's North Chelmsford to St. Car LLC at 170 Kingsboro Road. Hello. >> Hello. Well, good evening. Muhammad
Bejnney, representative Street Cars, owner Anderson Santenno. >> So, this is why you noticed my lights were on earlier because you work with cars. You're just you're [laughter] just it's all coming together. Thank you. >> She I told him she's going to say, "No, I'm going to approve you because you know what you're doing. You know, work
with cars." [laughter and gasps] >> Okay. So, what do we have here? What are you guys doing? Uh so we were just taking over this location that used to be mom's uh for I guess 23 plus years. Uh so we wanted to transfer over to dealer license and uh
we're also doing uh body work. So we have the license with the state um and everything pretty much all uh crossed off with all the departments in the board and we were just looking to get the dealer license uh established with
the town. Okay. Um, >> building's empty now, right? >> No. No. >> Okay. >> I mean, it's empty from mom's, but yeah. >> And um,
so this is this will be for the to match the license in place now of 30 vehicles on the lot and no more than that. Is that correct? >> Yes. Yes. because mom's was selling motorcycles. So, I think their license was 150
um which then they were using in a showroom indoor too. So, we're not doing that. >> Okay. So, what is it? This number nine. It says, "Have you signed a contract as required by section 58 class one?"
>> Class one is No, Class one would be a new car dealership. >> Oh, okay. That would be Yeah. >> So that's not applicable, >> right? >> Maybe in the near future. >> I wish. >> Are you putting in a partition wall?
>> Uh yeah, we did. Okay. Um, okay. I also see this note here that says the applicant has failed to apply for signs permits as mentioned multiple times. If the sign permits are not applied to by the sign company within the next three business aids, fines will be issued. >> Do we know that?
>> This is why we have new owner. Yeah, we'll have new owners here. So, but I think Jose wanted to raise the concern about the signage that you just can't keep continually putting signs out there. >> Okay. >> We did apply for it um as of Friday. >> And today I sent a message internally
just asking if uh if we needed to do anything else. And I I believe it was either Wednesday or Thursday we applied for the permit. And just before coming here, I saw a response. I just didn't have time to reply. They just wanted the
luminous uh the luminous uh and the dimmer switch, which I I got to do some digging because this this is a previous sign and we didn't do any work like that to it. We just replace the facet. Okay. >> So, I'll respond to that. >> So, it was an issue with the previous owner.
>> Yes. >> And they're working on it. >> Okay. So maybe that needs to be >> might be contingent upon successful completion of the application for the sign permit. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Is this the only place that you have or
do you have another is there do you have other locations? >> I have another location before but not right now. >> I have a downtown low like I am a group. >> Okay. And it also says a comprehensive parking site plan is needed because the police department has concerns over parking
locations right along Kingsboro Road and the number of parking spaces located on the site. >> Yeah, but then read the next part. >> Yeah, they were they were all addressed later. >> They've been revised. >> It says no concerns with the revised plans here and >> Okay.
Oh, yeah. 10 10:15 and 10:30. Okay. Okay. Does anyone else have questions, comments? No. Okay. I'll take a motion. I'll make a motion that we um approve the application for the transfer
of a class 2 auto auto dealers license currently issued to Mom's Middle Sex LLC DBA, Mom's North Chelford to St. Car to be exercised on the premises at 170 Tingsboro Road. and we'll make that
contingent upon successful um application and completion of the signed permit um as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I set. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good luck. Thank you again
for the light and shout out. >> Hopefully the battery is good. [laughter] If not, let us know. We got a tow truck on. I >> I will come to you. Thank you. >> Okay. Next up, we have a tax classification public hearing. Um,
just so the public knows, state law requires that the select board hold a tax classification public hearing every year. Um, this provides an open forum for public discussion of local property tax policy. And then after public discussion and review, the select board
decides whether to tax all classes of property at the same or different tax rates. And here we have someone to present to us. Hello. >> Hello. [clears throat] Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, and town manager going. For
the record, I'm Sam Chase, board of assessors chair, and together with chief assessor Reagan Lame, we're representing the board at this hearing. [clears throat] Now, uh, before we get into the meat of our presentation, I'd like [clears throat] to take a few moments to
give you and the community some information about assessors and assessing in general. In Chsford, the town manager appoints assessors for a three-year term. Current board members are Sam Chase and Mike
Donahghue, who is sitting right here. The town manager also appoints the chief assessor who manages day-to-day assessing operations. Our chief assessor is Mrs. Reagan Lameé. Currently, we have a board vacancy
because Harrison May resigned this past spring to take a new position as Townsen's town clerk. Harrison was an important contributor to the board's work and we wish him well in his new profession.
All board members and the chief assessor have to meet the minimum qualification standards established by the department of revenue as specified in Mass General Law Chapter 59 section 21B to qualify as assessors. Board members
and the chief assessor must complete basic courses of training and then pass a department of revenue administered exam within one year following their appointment. This requirement assures both the department of revenue and the public
that board members and the chief assessor are proficient in the application of Massachusetts assessment law, administration, procedure, and techniques and that the assessors are qualified to assess all real and personal property
within the town. [clears throat] Now, uh, let's take a moment to review how we assess chunks of property. Our chief assessor will give a summary overview of the process that all local assessors are required to use.
>> Okay. To determine assessed values, we use mass appraisal. The do defines mass appraisal as the use of standardized procedures for collecting data and appraising property to ensure that all properties within the municipality are valued uniformly and equitably. Mass
appraisal values. Mass appraisal values a universe of properties as a at sorry as at a specific date and using common data a standardized pro procedure and stat statistical testing. Unlike
individual properties, fee appraisal which banks and real estate brokers use to estimate the market of the value of a single property. The goal of mass appraisal is to bring all properties to their full and fair market value to achieve property values equity
throughout the city or town. The do requires that we revalue all properties every 5 years for certification according to specific requirements set by the Bureau of Local Assessments. Physical 26 is a certification year for for Chumsford. The result of the
revaluation process must meet DOR defined standards. In addition, the do requires that cities and towns perform an interimm year adjustment, which is a re-evaluation between um certification years.
Our property valuation process is based on standard standards and established by the American Appraisal Institute and governed by the Massachusetts Law and DO regulations. Residential properties are valued using the construction cost and sales review methods together.
Commercial properties are valued using the cost, sales, and income capitalization methods together. Results are checked using standardized statistical testing methods to arrive at a market value for specific property types. The do reviews the assessor's
work and must certify that all real estate values meet the legal standard of being at full and fair cash value before a uniform tax rate can be finalized. If residents would like a more detailed description of the assessment process, they can read the assessing divisions
report in the fiscal 25 annual town report. >> Thank you. >> Now, [clears throat] uh assessors don't set the property tax rate. We calculate a uniform tax rate by dividing the
amount to be raised from the tax levy by the total certified value of real and personal property that is subject to taxation. Then the select board decides whether that uniform rate will apply or whether commercial and residential properties
will be taxed at different rates. The so-called classified or split tax rate approach. Tonight's public hearing is the beginning of that process. >> [clears throat] >> Now depending on economic conditions
under a single tax rate, residential and commercial property values may increase or decrease at different rates annually, resulting in a natural tax shift over time from one property class to another.
And that's exactly what was happening in the late 1940s and 1950s. So in uh the 1950s, the city of Springfield decided to address that particular situation by instituting a form of classification that taxed
commercial, industrial, and personal property at a higher rate than that which was applied to residential and open space. As a result of that action, Springfield's commercial property owners sued the city. The case is Better Goal
versus Assessors of Springfield 1961. In Better Gole, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that any attempt by a municipality to tax different classes of property at different rates was unconstitutional.
As a result of that ruling, Springfield had to abandon its split tax rate policy. And from that point on, it was generally understood that taxing different property classes at different rates was in fact unconstitutional.
That is until 1978. Throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, annual increases in residential property values under a single rate system continued to outpace commercial property
value increases. to allow communities to compensate for rising residential versus stagnant commercial property values. The state authorized the split rate system by way of a 1978 state constitution amendment,
thereby eliminating any legal impediment to taxing property classes at different rates. Unfortunately, the state legislature gave no guidance as to how communities should implement split rate tax classification.
Instead, they left that decision up to local select boards and city councils. Now, currently about a third of Massachusetts cities and towns split the tax rate. There seems to be no consistent reason why some cities and
towns choose to do that while others do not. A few towns try to stabilize residential and commercial property levy shares to a predetermined fixed percentage. Littleton, Maynard, and
Tukbury have consistently use that approach. Some resort or summer towns assume that the commercial property class uses municipal services or negatively impacts local infrastructure more than the residential class does. So they use that
logic to provide tax relief to their residential taxpayers. Nantucket and Rockport have provided that explanation in the past. After conducting an exhaustive study in 2004 on the effects of split rate
taxation, the Department of Revenue concluded that most communities that split the tax rate do so primarily to provide tax relief to residential taxpayers and they don't provide any other explanation for doing the split. A few
cities and towns, however, speak frankly about the political nature of classification. When asked by the news media about why they adopt a split rate, they answer that they do it only to give residential taxpayers the lowest possible tax bill.
Both Lel and Bill Raer have provided that explanation to the LL son in the recent past. Now let's uh go on to our presentation. It's designed to make it easy for you to see how various rate and exemption options can impact property taxpayers.
You can also see how Chumsford's property tax burden compares with other towns in our area and how we rank tax burden wise with all Massachusetts cities and towns. Hopefully, this information will help you reach an
informed decision. Now, on behalf of our board, I want to express our gratitude to Chief Assessor Lame and her capable staff for the outstanding work that they do to ensure that residents are treated fairly and courteously. Residents who have any questions concerning property
valuations should feel comfortable in contacting the assessor's office at 978-250220 or you can go to the town's website and find the contact information there. The staff is always available to assist you.
Okay, so I guess the town manager is going to manage the slides for us. That's good because I wouldn't have a clue on how to do it. So slide two, please. So why are we here? Well, we're here
because we have to be here. As the chair indicated in the opening remarks, state law requires that you, the select board, hold a public hearing every year on the subject of tax policy, or more specifically, a split uh determining a
split rate situation. And if that's uh what the intent is, the reason that the state has this requirement is to analyze the data that we have that will enable you to make that decision and also to give the public an opportunity to weigh in because what you're doing in effect
every year is you are making tax policy and the public uh has a right to uh express their opinions on on how they feel on that. So after the public hearing [clears throat] uh and the discussion uh you folks are going to
decide whether to tax all classes of property at the same or different rates. So this presentation uh will give you the various policy options that are available to you. Uh it also will give you u whatever
information you feel is necessary to conduct this public hearing effectively. But most importantly at the end of the presentation you're going to get our shift tables which shows you the uh effects uh var at various shift levels
uh on uh residential and commercial property. So we're going to look at all classes of property as shown on the slide and we're going to talk about some of the mechanics about how assessors go about doing their job. We're going to talk
about the residential factor. Uh we're also going to give you um a summary of statutory exemptions that are available to you uh to implement if you choose to do that. Uh we're also going to give you
a uh short abatement history and a little bit of a compliance narrative on commercial property ex income and expense sheets. And I believe that is still required by your tax policy. So we give that to you every year. And we're also going to give you a historical
review of tax rates and levy shares. So once we're done the presentation and the public hearing and you've had your questions answered, um you have to do uh four things. You have to vote on a residential factor. You have to vote on
whether or not you're going to adopt a small commercial exemption. You have to vote on whether or not you're going to adopt a residential exemption. and you have to decide whether or not you're going to apply an open space discount. So, uh I'm going to ask Chief Assessor
Lame now to walk you through some of the uh technical uh factors that surround um what we've just been talking about. >> So, this is a split tax rate and residential factor. So, a municipality may increase the small um CIP levy by
50% if at least 65% of the levy on a single rate basis comes from the residential class. The select board determines a percentage of the tax levy to be paid by each class of real estate and personal property for the fiscal year by adopting a residential factor.
The residential factor must be an amount not less than the minimal minimum residential factor determined by the commissioner revenue. Um the MRF represents the maximum shift allowed in the total tax levy for the year.
The residential factor factor determines how much the residential and open space classes property tax burden may decrease. How many how much the commercial industrial and personal property classes property tax burden may increase?
The split tax rate residential fac. It's continued. Adopting a residential factor of one also called 100% results in taxation of all property at the same rate. Adopting a residential factor less than 1% 1% sorry less than one results
in increasingly greater tax burden shift from the RO classes to the CIP classes. Adopting a residential factor at or above the MRF ensures that tax levies for each property class will fall within statutory limits. Small commercial exemption. To qualify
for a commercial parcel, um, it must be valued at le less less than a million dollars. Qualifiers only qualifies only if occupants and tenants are eligible businesses and each tenant in business has no more than 10
employees at locations. The director of the department of unemployment assistance must provide certificate to this effect. small commercial exemptions. I'm sorry. So, this is an example. The select select board adopts a 10% small
commercial exemption. The tax bill for an eligible property is reduced by 10%. The amount of that reduction is added to the bill of all non-eligible commercial and industrial properties. Residential and personal property values are unaffected by this exemption. The owner
of the parcel received the exemption, not the eligible businesses. Um the residential exemption um these may be granted to taxpayers principal residence properties. It reduces the tax valuation of the property up to 35% of
the average assessed value of all residential class properties in the municipality. Uh the residential exemption shifts the tax burden from lower to higher valued homes and those owned by non-residents.
The residential exemption cannot exceed 35% of the average assessed value of all class one residential parcels. The CIP property classes are unaffected by this exemption. Um the open space is an unimproved land
that is not otherwise classified and is maintained in a natural state. It exempts up to 25% of the land value that is classified as open space. The OS discount shifts taxes to the remaining non-exempt residential properties.
>> Okay. Okay. And I neglected to say at the beginning of the presentation as we go through, if you have questions, uh, feel free to interrupt and stop us and we'll try to answer those questions. If we don't have the answers for you, we'll we'll write it down and we will bring it back uh, in two weeks when you continue
the public hearing. Okay. So, uh, let's see. We're on slide number 14 now. [clears throat] All right. This is, uh, this is a summary that is required. As far as I know, it's still required in your tax policy. We're supposed to give you every year a summary of uh
abatements abatement requests by taxpayers and then those which were actually abated. So we have it here starting in 2021 uh through the latest year which is 2025. And you can see that [clears throat] uh for 2025
the number of abatements filed is substantially less than what you would conclude the average would be from the prior five years for both residential and commercial. 2024 we had 43 which is normal and then 2025 we had 16 on
residential and commercial was 27 and 16 respectively. So you might ask well what happened? Okay. Uh we don't know for sure because we'd have to go out and ask everybody in town, which would be roughly 13,000 parcel owners, uh why didn't you file for an abatement this
year? We're not going to do that. So uh we conclude that because the value increase from fiscal 24 to 25 was relatively small for both residential and commercial. For residential it was
9/10en of a percent overall and for commercial it actually went down a tenth of a percent fiscal 24 over 25. So we're just guessing okay but we feel that uh if a taxpayer gets gets the bill and says well wait a minute really didn't go
up that much probably not going to waste time filing for an abatement. That's just conjecture on our part but that seems reasonable. So, uh, on the commercial and industrial for 2025, you say, "Well, now wait a minute. You had 16, uh, filed and you granted nine.
That's more than 50%. What's going on?" Well, the abatements, especially on commercial properties, don't necessarily equate to the abatement requests filed in that fiscal year. contained in that number nine of abate
of abatements is in fact uh some settlements of cases longstanding cases that we've had before the appellet tax board. We settled those. So those abatement numbers would be contained in that in that number. Now I I [clears throat] als I like to
highlight uh commercial property income and expense forms. So So what are we talking about here? uh Department of Revenue says that commercial property owners uh of lease property especially they have to file
with the assessors every year an income and expense statement. It shows their gross uh income uh as a result of their lease operation and then it shows their expenses and we use that information to
help determine the lease market. That's what we do. What we don't do is we don't use that sheet sent by that business to peg the value of that business. We don't do that. A lot of people think that's what we do, but that's not what we do
because our job is to establish the general market and then assess properties and adjust it to the market. That's what we do. Okay. [snorts] So, uh, another thing I believe your policy still does is you're interested in knowing, um, what's the return of income
and expense forms. So, this past year, you can see we mailed out 597 of these things, 216 returned, and we have a compliance rate of 36.5, which is somewhat lower than we've had in recent years, but we're still ahead of the statewide average, which is 24 and a.5%.
Very important to get that information. And by the way, if the commercial property owner doesn't send us the INE, they forego their right of appeal before the appellet tax board. So, it's pretty important to get that in. All right, [snorts] next slide. This is rather busy
and I apologize for that, but I think this is a is an important slide because it helps to contextualize for you and the general public where Chumsford's average single family tax bill falls uh
as compared to our neighbors. All right. So, what we're doing here is we are comparing ourselves to 10 towns in the area and you can see them there. [snorts] All right. from 211 to 2025 and the way you read this uh sheet is it's
it's should be self-evident but if you move over to the first column Chumsford and you go from 211 to 212 and then you move to the next column on the right you see a percentage so what that percentage means is that from 211 to 212
Chumsford's single family tax bill went up 4.2%. So that's how you read that all the way down. And then at the very bottom where it says average annual percentage increase, that's an indication of what it says, the average
of all those percentages variations in the prior years. [snorts] So Chumsford's tax bill from 2011 to 2025 went up an average of 3.6% per year, you know, based on that. And that's how you read this chart. So you can see that of
the 10 comparator towns, [clears throat] five have higher single family tax bills than Chumsford. And those would be the ones that are shaded in the yellow. You can see those towns. And five have a lower tax bill. So we're right in the
middle. Right in the middle. That's where the school department likes to be on their on their data. That's so I'm told anyway. But that's where we are. Okay. [snorts] Any questions on that slide? Okay, next slide.
Uh this is uh this shows the uh where we rank statewise in our average single family tax bill. So you can see that actually uh I guess some people would say we're going in the right direction, Mr. Cohen. Um last year
our fiscal 24 we ranked 78th. We had the 78th highest tax bill in the state. fiscal 25 we have the 80th. So we dropped a couple of points. So what that means obviously is that 79 communities have a higher tax bill and
271 have a lower tax bill. So that's where we are and those uh single family uh tax bills are after the shift is applied. Okay, I want to make that point. First year for the tax shift was fiscal 2019 came in at 127 and we are
now sitting at 117. Okay, next slide uh is is um something that we started to include last year because we did get questions on how we establish the uh the market uh for the the properties.
And uh the uh standard that's in place is that we examine sales for all the property types for an evaluation period. And that is usually the calendar year two years back from the fiscal year that
we're talking about. So we're in fiscal year 26. So we would examine ideally 12 months of sales that occurred in calendar year 2024. That's the ideal standard. In reality,
uh we don't get enough sales in the 12-month period. So we have to extend that. And the Department of Revenue prefers that we don't go beyond 16 months because the farther you get away from the PEG date, the less reliable the data is. It's less representative of
current market. The farther out you go. Now, in this particular case, you can see that we had to go back to March of 2023 and grab sales from there and then we advanced a month. And they will allow you to advance up to six months in very
extraordinary cases. They don't like that. Okay. But we did it here because we had to do it to get the requisite number of qualified sales. So we have for this market data period, we have a 22-month evaluation period, which is longer than ideal, but we have no
choice. And you can see if you look under the uh column that's uh the heading 101 property class, that's single family. Single family parcels in Chelsford are 9,061. Total sales for that evaluation period
were 288. But we can't look at all of those sales as representative of market because we are only allowed to look at qualified sales. They have to be arms length sales. There
can't be something else going on in that sale that indicates that it's not market. So once you examine those sales, we have a fallout down to 192. So about a third of them dropped out. Okay, we can actually look at 192 and we
just barely meet the requirement which is 2% of your sales. We have to have 2%. That's the minimum. That's why they extend that's why they extend the evaluation period because we had to get the 2%. All right. So [clears throat] you can see uh the
same process occurs for the other property classes and uh that's how we do it. Now median ASR ASR is assessment to sales ratio. So the standard that's imposed upon us by the department of revenue is that the median assessment to
sales ratio for all property types or types within the property class has to be between plus and minus uh 10% of 100. So the standard is all properties represent 100% market value. The do
allows us to be at 90 or 110. Okay, that's the standard. So we have a little bit of a window there. And if you were to look at these sales, you'd understand why that is. Okay, so actually as far as single family, we're in pretty good shape. That's that's 98%. I can't ever
remember being that close to 100. And I've been on the board now for 17 years. And I don't think we've ever been that close to 100%. That's good. Condos are 96, two families 91, apartments 95, commercial 93. That's a little low. I'
I'd rather have us up around 96 or so, but we'll take the 93. That's within uh the uh variation that's allowed by the uh Department of Revenue. Okay, next slide. This is simply a tabulation. It just
shows you the val the various levy share values going back to 2021. And as I alluded to earlier, you can see in fiscal 2025, the overall value growth for all property classes was 1.9% which is very low. In fact, it was so low that
I questioned it last year. And uh I talked to our consultant. I also called several of the assessors in the abuing towns. I wanted to make sure we had done this correctly and they came up with the same result. We did the same thing this year. We talked to a local assessor to make sure that our numbers um jived with
the area residents and of course the department of revenue certifies them anyway. So once they sign off, you're good to go. This year and I'll admit I was surprised and uh Reagan will uh break this down further in the next slide, but we had an overall value
increase this year uh 26 versus 25 of 8.4%. 4%. So I was a little bit surprised. So why don't you uh take them through that? Um >> so I think it's interesting and useful to see a breakout of the residential value. Um for example, the first line on
the slide shows the single family value which shows that the single family value is about 77% of the total residential value. The next column um the next column over gives the single
family percent of the total real estate value in the town. And the last column shows you the value change from last year. Um and then on the on the bottom we have listed here we have 637 parcels in the
town that are exempt from taxation. The value is 512 bill622, million500. Right, I read that wrong. >> That's right. >> Yeah. Okay. Which represents about 5% of all property. Um the town property and
schools are all exempt along with any nonprofits that we have in the town. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, people might think that's a big number until you look at cities like Boston and Cambridge where they have over 50% of their real estate isn't exempt. So they got a they
got a problem, okay, as far as their tax base is concerned. So, uh I think we're doing pretty well there. And here the surprising thing to me again was the I mean, wouldn't you say the commercial jump? I I was surprised to see that number, but
that's that's good news. All right, we'll we'll take it. We'll take that. Okay. Uh summary of levy share. Uh this just gives you a breakdown of where we are levy sharewise from 2021 through 2026. And you can see uh
and this is pre-split. Okay. So this table is based on a single tax rate. Okay. So you can see that on that basis we are moving away from commercial, industrial and personal toward the residential. So in 2021 83%
of the uh value was in residential 17% was in CIP. In 2026 we are now up to a little more than 85%. So we've had a shift. We've had a shift towards the residential. Okay.
All right. So we talked a little earlier about calculating a single tax rate because that's the first step in the process and of course uh the town manager is all too aware of this. So what we do and
this is totally statutory. Okay, this is there's no discretion involved here. This is what has to happen under state law or what is allowed to happen I should say. We start with the fiscal 25 the prior year's levy limit. [clears throat] Okay. And then we are
allowed to increase that by 2 and a.5%. That's a provision of proposition 2 and a half. So you see the number there. Then you are allowed to add to add new growth. Now what's new growth? New growth is not value appreciation. If the
value of my property is $640,000 in fiscal 25 and it's 700 in 26, that's not new growth. That's value appreciation. New growth is additional square footage, new construction, new
development. That's new growth. Okay? So, we're allowed to add the value of that. And uh Reagan and her staff, they calculate that every year. They send it into the Department of Revenue and they certify the number. So you could that's a good number. All right,
that gives us the levy limit. Now, if we'd had a Proposition 2 and a half override, an operational override, we would also add that in, but we don't have that. Okay, so this is the calculation this year for Chsford. So
our levy limit is now 12869 2027. we are allowed to add excluded debt which is actually a pretty low number. I think we've heard from uh our finance director the last couple of weeks about
that that that's a very low number but we nevertheless that's excluded so excluded from the limitations of Prop 2 and a half. So we're allowed to add that and then we get total allowed levy. Oh, our tax levy for fiscal 26 is going to
be the number you see there 129131849. Okay. So the total assessed value for the town in 26 is 9 bill494,445104. This is how we get the single tax rate. It's very simple. There's the equation
right there for you. You take the levy and you divide it by the total real estate value. You multiply that by a,000. Bingo, there's your single rate, $13.60. And when do comes back, it's not going
to be more than a penny or two off from there. Okay? It'll it'll be 1360 or 1359 or something like that. Okay? Now, where do we go from here? We talked about the residential factor and how that determines how much of the uh tax levy
the residential and commercial properties are going to share. We get a calculated minimum residential factor from the department of revenue. They tell us we don't do that ourselves. They say okay Chumsford because of your
demographic you are allowed to shift a maximum of 50%. So we can do up to a 150 shift. Now some towns can do a 175 shift and they're allowed to do that because of their particular economic demographic
and it has to do with the value of the residential versus the commercial property shares. Those towns that have higher value in commercial are not allowed to shift as much as the other towns. Okay? because the the commercial is already picking up uh a good portion
of that. All right, but we're allowed to shift up to 150. Okay, so next slide, next two slides are the shift charts. This is what happens to the average
single family tax bill and the average commercial tax bill at the various shift levels. We're projecting this. Okay. And again when the final results come out from department of revenue it's not going to be off by more than a couple of pennies. Okay. So this these are the
projections. So we start with the minimum residential factor which is at the 150 split. It's 91.3769. Now I've rounded that up in the fourth digit to seven. Okay just for ease of
viewing. All right. So when you look at this table here's how you read it. So you start in the upper leftand corner where it says levy shift and you follow that all the way down to the bottom and that is the various uh percentages of of
levy shift that you can do. Okay, let's follow that uh uh first white line where it says one levy shift one. Follow that over to about 2/ird of the way over under the column that's headed 694695.
That's your average single family residential tax bill projected for fiscal 26. You see the number there? It's 9448. So what this says is if we were to have a single tax rate in Chsford,
the average single family residence tax bill would be $9,448. Follow it over. Keep going over to the right under the commercial tax column. And the average commercial tax bill would be $19,69.
This is how you read the table. Okay. So, let's go back over to the left hand side, your levy shift column. Follow it down to the 117, the shaded column. That's where you are now.
Last year, the board decided on a one 117 split. So, that's where you are now. So, if you follow that over to the right, that will tell you that we are projecting under a 17% shift, we're projecting an
average single family tax bill of $9,171. And we're projecting a commercial tax bill average of 22,943. Okay? And you can see what those numbers would be at the various shift levels.
That's the point of this table. Okay. So, the second page simply extends that uh up to 150. All right. So, why don't we move to slide uh unless there are any questions on that. Any questions on that? Okay. Let's move to slide 24.
Okay. And what we're trying to do here is we're trying to show you what the increase would be to a tax bill this year versus last year. So if you look at the right hand
side of the page up at the very top the heading it says change from fiscal 25 average tax bill and then you see two numbers 8820 and 22784. So the 8820 represents the average single family tax
bill in fiscal 25 last year. And then the 22784 is the same for commercial property fiscal 25. All right. So move back to the 828. Read down that column till you hit the shaded area which is yellow.
So what we're telling you here is that if you stay with a 117 shift, it will mean that the average single family tax bill will go up $351 versus last year. That's how you read
this. The average commercial tax bill will go up $159. Okay, is that clear to everybody? All right. And then again, you see it at the various shift levels. So if you were to go, you know, if the board said, "Hey,
we're going to go back to a single rate." Well, that would cause the average single family bill to go up to go up by 628 and so forth. So that's how you read this table. And then the next slide, we've just extended it out to the 150 limit so you
can see what the impacts would be at the various uh shift levels. Okay. Uh and that's really it for our presentation. Uh we're not giving you um values on a split tax on a small
commercial exemption because technically you haven't adopted that yet. Okay? So those numbers are not available. But um if you do adopt that uh then we can come back to you and we can give you those we can give you those numbers. But just by
a frame of reference, so last year we had a total of 401 commercial parcels and [snorts] 65% of those qualified for the small commercial exemption. So it's actually pretty high number. All right.
Any questions at all on the presentation? Any questions of either Chief Assessor Lame or myself in general? Yeah, Sam, I'm looking at the review of surrounding towns. It looks to me like the ones with split rates actually have higher uh
residential increases. >> Some of them ones without >> uh what's that slide 14? >> 15. All right. >> Yeah. So, if you look at Bedford and again, the very top line shows the shift level for those towns as as it applied
in fiscal 25. So Bedford shifts at 175 which is the max and they've done that for years. Um but the their percentage of tax increase uh 24 for 25 was still 7.1. All right.
So so the shaded towns um let's see we've got split towns Bedford, Littleton, and Low. Okay. So Littleton and Bedford have higher single family tax bills. Lowel of course is lower for a whole lot of reasons. Okay. Number
one, their property values are lower. All right. Uh number two, they shift at 175. So that's going to drop the residential tax bill. But most importantly, the low tax levy only accounts for 34
uh% of the city budget. 34%. What's ours, Mr. Town Manager? The 78%. >> Yes. >> All right. So the taxpayer in Chumsford pays 78% of the town and school expense. The low taxpayer only pays 34%.
So that's a very significant impact on the low on the low tax bill. That's why it's lower. Okay. And the same thing is true of Draco. They get more state aid than we do on that. More state aid, less has to come
from the taxpayer, lower tax bill. Does that answer your question? >> Okay, >> Sam, just a quick question on the small business exemption. Yes, you answered the first part at the end of the presentation. 200 and something out of 400. >> Yes. >> Um, >> it says the director of the department
of unemployment is the one that certifies that, >> correct? >> But who decides what the two the two qualifications are, the million dollars and the 10 employees? Is that a state decision or does the town decide that? It's slide nine. Well, we would decide
that because we have the values, >> but the amount of those values are set by state law that correct the million dollar. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I I misunderstood your question. I I apologize. Yeah, that's state law. That number that number hasn't changed for years. >> No. >> So, it probably should. I mean, just
just on the basis of inflation. It's sort of like the uh exemptions, right? >> Right. >> You know, they're out of date, but that it is what it is. It's a million dollars and has been for the 17 years I've been on the board. And on the um on slide 16, again, this
is for somebody that wasn't here on these prior decisions, the shift has gone from 127 down to 17. Is there any any anything in particular that that caused the board >> to drive those down?
>> This board, not that board. >> No, I know. >> Yeah. Uh I'm asking for a little context. >> No, I understand. The first year uh we had we didn't have a shift. We had a shift 35 years ago. Uh and it was 5% for several years and then the board decided
they wanted to ratchet that back. It took them three or four years. They took a point off every year and they got it back to parody and I would say that was probably in the late 90s. All right. So from about 1999 through fiscal 218 we were at a unified
tax rate. Okay. So in fiscal uh 2019, the board decided to implement the shift at at 27 127, which is pretty steep for a first year. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Pretty steep. >> Um just to just I'd like to remind the
rest of the board members, we're not here to debate tonight. We can't do that till we close a public hearing. You can ask questions, but we shouldn't be debating or deliberating. So then um I think what happened uh and Pat you were on the board all these times so if I say something that doesn't sound right to
you jump in correct me all right but if I as I remember um that the following year there was a a discussion a pretty spirited discussion on the board and I think most of the members felt that perhaps the 127 shift was a little bit
too aggressive coming out of the gate so they dropped it five points. All right. uh and there was there was as as I recall there was significant community input as well on that and that was also the sentiment. So they kept it uh they kept it at 122 for the following year
and then 22 through 24 it was 120. And I think the again as as if I recall correctly, the board was looking pretty much at the uh tax shift tables and trying to, you know, arrive at some,
you know, uh reasonable uh situation relative to tax increases because the tax bill is going up every year. Okay, we could split at 175 and the first year you'd get one heck of a benefit, but the next year your tax bill would still go up. All right, so I think
that's what the board was trying to wrestle with uh the relative numbers at that point. So they dropped two points off and then last year u as I recall the way the numbers fell um the board felt that it could go back
three points with actually relatively minor impact to the residential class. Paul, is that correct? Is that the way you remember it? >> Yeah, I think as you noted that was a peculiar year with a very small change in valuations. >> Exactly. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. because we only went up 1.9% on the values. So, the board used that opportunity uh to back that off a bit. >> I can go back to the minutes for kind of some of the detail, but that was the color I was looking for. >> Okay. >> Thank you.
>> So, Sam, since the shift, um the commercial values have dropped in this town. Correct. >> Not this year. [laughter] Um since the shift, no. Uh >> I'm saying the the levy percentage.
>> Well, yes, that is true. Uh we've had we've had uh um the residential pick up a greater share of the levy value uh for the last six or seven years. [clears throat] >> That's slide 20.
>> Yeah, slide 20. So Sam, I have just one question about the small um commercial exemption. Uh you noted that last year 259 of the of cost was work were were qualified. Do you automatically put them in that
program or do they have to ask? >> Do you autom automatically give them the exemption or do they have to ask for the exemption? >> No, they get it. >> They did. If the if if the um if the uh if the um employment department comes back and says they're qualified, they'll
get it and then the assessor will look and make sure that the the parcel still qualifies. But what they're doing is they're certifying as to the number of employees. So you can't have more than 10, right? The business and that means all locations. That just doesn't mean that location. And so if UPS has a
satellite office at the council mall and they have two employees, they don't qualify. Okay. Because UPS has 9 trillion employees, right? So that's the standard that they that they apply. >> Okay. I guess the reason I ask is because I [clears throat] a couple years ago I was talking to one um small
business person who who would have who did qualify and he didn't want to take that exemption co I guess. Yeah. you know, he felt it was unfair to to burden the other the other in that in that. And so that's why I was questioning if you why you automatically um
>> apply it without them asking. >> If they qualify and they've had it in the past, they're going to get it pretty much automatically. Okay. >> But you wouldn't have time to survey and get and get responses because >> you've got to turn [laughter] bills out within 30 days. Yeah. You wouldn't you just wouldn't have time logistically to
go out and ask them if they want it or not. >> Correct. because we >> No, there is there is no push on that. Yeah. So, >> okay. >> It's a very high number and um there's only 14 communities that grant the small
commercial exemption. >> Okay. >> Which is somewhat shocking to me, but that's those are the numbers. >> Anything else? >> Anyone? Good. This is a >> It's a public hearing. >> Okay. Yep. So, it is a public hearing.
So, if we have anyone from the public who would like to who has any questions or would like to comment, now is the time. >> You got to come up to the >> Come on up to the >> Mr. Harrington. >> John Harrington, executive director to
Chic Business Association. And my phone is shut off just in case anybody question [laughter] that. Uh the question I have for Sam is the people that take this uh discount small business does that does that not swing
over to the rest of us that do not qualify for that abatement? >> The answer is yes. >> So the other people like myself >> now we're picking up that 10%. >> Correct. And maybe that's why Pat, the person that just did did not want to get
it, is saying, "Hey, that's not fair to the other people." >> That was what they said. Yes. >> Okay. >> But it does it does transfer over to to the businesses, not not to the res. >> It does not affect Yeah. And not nothing outside of the class. Okay. It it it
will be picked up by the commercial >> and industrial class >> that are non-existent. >> Yeah. Not the personal property won't pick it up and not the residential. >> Yeah. Okay, >> we have no one on Zoom. So, >> no one on Zoom. Okay, so um so I think
the standard is that we usually continue for um a couple of weeks to give everyone a chance to digest and think about this. Um and then we will take it up and vote then. >> So we need to continue the public hearing.
>> So we need to continue. So I'll take a motion. >> Motion to continue the public hearing >> for two weeks. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Sam. >> Thank you, Sam.
>> Thank you. Appreciate it. [clears throat] >> Okay, so next up we have reports and presentations. And first we have um our police chief Colin Spence
to talk about bodyborn cameras. Chief, >> good evening. >> It's an honor to be before all of you tonight. I would first like to thank the select board, town manager Cohen, and most of all the
citizens of Chsford for constantly supporting our initiatives at the police department. Whether we are requesting funds, seeking the public's help during incidents, or
participating in our various community events. Our community is always supportive of their police department. For today's presentation on bodyborn cameras, I have also brought Sergeant Nick Zaminsky. Sergeant
Zaminsky has been instrumental in our training unit to make sure our officers are trained to the highest levels in the Commonwealth. In addition, Siden Zaminsky has been instrumental in applying for the various grants, writing our body one camera
policy and researching the various camera companies and products. As I've said on many occasions, we have an outstanding group of officers in Chamsson, and I'm fortunate and honored to be
their police chief. The reason I am before you tonight is to give you a quick update on our progress towards obtaining body one cameras. When I was interviewing for police chief back in 2023, believe it or not, it's been that long,
I mentioned the importance of implementing a full bodywn camera program for the protection of our offices in our community. In addition, the latest strategic plan recommended researching the implementation of a body
one camera program. And I'm excited to report that this goal can be achieved with your support. As far as a presentation, the little history of bodywn cameras pretty much introduced in the early 2000s
in American law enforcement became more widespread in 2014 under President Obama and the federal government began to subsidize these programs. In 2015, one in six police departments
nationwide were equipped with bodywn cameras. Ipsswitch and Mthuan police became the first police departments in the Commonwealth to adopt body one cameras in 2016. Regionally, we now have LOL, Bill Ricka,
Bedford, and Burlington that are currently equipped with bodywn cameras. Why have bodywn cameras become a part of American law enforcement? Body warn cameras and law enforcement deliver measurable evidence-based
benefits, enhancing officer safety, accountability, evidence quality, and most importantly, our community's trust, building trust by providing an unbiased, highquality audio and video recordings of police
interactions. It also meets what the public expects for accountability and transparency. We are fortunate to have an outstanding group of police officers and officers that are embracing this program
and shows their commitment to building and maintaining trust accountability within our community. Now, as far as strengthening community trust and cooperation, President Obama released something called the six pillars of 21st century
policing. It was basically a road map for what police departments should do. The first pillar was building trust and legitimacy. And while the chumps police department enjoys a great relationship with our community, it is vital to continue to
earn that trust each and every day. As far as the benefits, when we were doing the cost analysis, the benefits to the town of Chsa and the Chumsa Police Department, body warn cameras have a long-standing reputation
for reducing complaints and use of force incidents. They can impact both the officer and the public's behavior. Normally when I speak to other police chiefs throughout the Commonwealth, they mention that when officers show up and somebody knows that
they are being recorded, they act differently. They see the button, they see the light, they see the camera is mounted uh on the chest, much like Sergeant Zaminsky, our professional model, is wearing over here. [laughter]
that right there. Once they see that and see that they're being put on video and that it's being saved, they usually modify their behavior. Provides an objective record. It's not what the police officers are saying
happened. It's more objective as far as exactly what the camera is showing. It also has a higher conviction rate and guilty rates that increase the efficiency of our judiciary.
Another thing that it does do, a lot of these cases will not end up going to trial if there's a body warn camera because the defendants will take a plea saving us on the end of sending officers into the courtrooms because we have to pay the officers to go. also internal
affairs investigations. They can quickly determine the validity both positively and negatively to civilian complaints and internal affairs investigations. As I spoke to several chiefs at the latest Mass Chief's conference, one of
the things when they get a complaint that they believe might be fraudulent, as soon as they say they're going to have the person watch the body on camera, the person normally withdraws a complaint. Also, jurisdictions report fewer complaints in lawsuits, also saving
taxpayer money. One of the other things, use of force reviews. Applications of force are office, yeah, often complex and chaotic and very challenging for our officers to catch everything that happens in the time of stress. Body one
camera footage can greatly assist in document documenting and investigations of these incidents. And I already mentioned the deescalation that they normally provide. The US Department of Justice strongly
recommends bodywn cameras. I also over the past several weeks have spoke with Middle Sex District Attorney Mary and Ryan regarding our body warn camera program and her office fully supports these throughout Middle Sex County.
In addition, the latest strategic plan for the town of Chumsford strongly recommended exploring the implementation of bodywn cameras. Also, it will assist us with our recruitment. Many officers that are coming out of the policemies
that would like to either transfer or come to departments want bodywn cameras. It supports the officers. The video can also be utilized to modify our training practices. As Sergeant Zaminsky can demonstrate, it is
extremely helpful to be able to see what has happened during these serious incidents and basically step back and go, okay, how could we have done this differently? It's extremely important. Body warn cameras demonstrate the Chumps Police
Department's commitment to modern and professional policing. As far as funding, which is always the main question, we're currently seeking both state and federal grant funding to purchase body one
cameras and to equip all members of the police department with these devices. The grants will cover the purchase price of the body one camera and both the hardware and software to roll out the body one camera system. This will
include the storage of video that was recorded by our offices. The one thing that was up until about five years ago that was very difficult was the storage because the storage was normally cloud-based reoccurring amount
of money every year extremely expensive. that with the program we're looking at now that cost is eliminated with the exception of the server purchase which as I'll go into the server is going to be purchased under this grant
the first server which will be good for approximately 3 to 5 years I've met with all three of our police unions a patrol union the sidence union and the commanders union and we have agreed in princip ible to a 1% salary
increase effective July 1st, 2026 upon full implementation and use of the bodywn cameras. Union negotiations of the bodywn camera is necessary in
order to apply for this grant funding. This implementation and salary increase is contingent upon receiving full grant funding for the purchase of all the needed cameras and equipment to implement the program.
As I've mentioned earlier, we have an outstanding group of police officers and they are committed to building and maintaining trust, accountability, and professionalism within our community. The company we are currently dealing with that is on the state bid list is
called Access Communications. This is another excellent benefit to the town of Chsons. They are located right in town on Apollo Drive. We have a long-standing relationship currently. They handle the majority of the cameras that are in the police
station in addition the school department. And if we do go to a body warn camera program, it will integrate with our current camera servers that we currently run in the station.
Little bit on the body warn cameras. They can live stream events during emergency situations. We can actually log in and see what the officer is seeing. It's high definition video and audio, which I'm going to show you in a moment.
There's multi-layers of encryption to block any kind of illegal access and it's about a 15-hour battery life per device. Let's >> go to the video. >> What you're going to see here is the
walking through a parking lot. Ready? Yep. And this is just a sample of what the offices will be wearing. The mount will be a little bit different. Now, as you can see, as you're walking
through, this is mounted on the offic's chest, I believe. Much like Siden Zaminsky, the body one cameras, even if that is shaking up and down, it stabilizes the image. As you can see, it is extremely
crisp as far as what we observe with the cameras themselves. Now, this is actually from the actual parking lot of access communications. Now, as far as implementation of this program, at the beginning of the offic's
shift, they will check out the body one camera. It's all done electronically with key fobs. So, they basically swipe the camera that is assigned to them. They take the camera, it's charged, ready to go. Throughout the shift, the officer
activates the camera. It is the large button that's on the front. In addition to that level of activation, if they turn on the lights, that will activate automatically. So if the officers in a stressful situation,
they turn on the lights. If they draw their firearm, it also activates immediately. So those are some of the things as far as so the officers don't forget to activate the body one cameras. >> How does it how does it do that? How does it
>> There's a box in the back. um of each cruiser that connects to the light to the lights basically and then the firearms at Bluetooth. That's all Bluetooth, right? >> Oh, Bluetooth activated. Yeah. >> Oh, interesting. >> So, it's it's very advanced. Obviously, we're our expectation is the officer
will hit that. Uh there's also a capability that if you go to a major call, all the cameras go on automatically once one person puts it on. So if somebody is rolling around on the ground, somebody else arrives, that camera automatically goes on because it
knows it's in range of the others. >> Interconnected. >> Yes. >> Now, we've already developed a policy that we've met with the unions on because that is another requirement of the grant. Examples of when the body warn camera is
activated, motor vehicle stops, obviously, is probably one of the uh major ones. arrests, any use of force, pretty much any interaction with the public, we will be activating the cameras.
At the end of the shift, the officers dock their assigned body one cameras. They basically go onto these racks and the server automatically downloads the footage and the tagged events. One of the things that is is beneficial
is during discovery the district attorney can automatically access the footage so they have that right away. Also included in the grant funding is outfitting each cruiser with the system
that automatically activates the body one cameras which I discussed. I already discussed the firearms also that will be activated based on the Bluetooth signal. And just in closing, bodywn cameras are
not just equipment. They're our commitment to obtain the highest levels of integrity, fairness, professionalism, and supporting our community trust. By embracing bodywn cameras, we strengthen
our relationship with our community. And I'm here to take any questions that you may have. just interested um the DA can access um immediately um you know upon discovery and so on. Are they accessing your server or are they coming
>> in the end they'll be accessing our server uh normally through the court prosecutor. So we have a court prosecutor that's assigned to the court and so he will have automatic access right into the system to give them what they need. So it helps us on the day of arraignment. That's one of the problems that some departments have with some of
the older systems. They actually have to ether email to the DA. We will have access right there. Right at the courthouse. >> Excellent. >> So, um, how secure is that to the uniform? I mean, it looks like it's just a clip that clips it.
>> So, that that's not actually what it's going to be. I think Sidon Zaminsky, >> there's a bunch of different mounts. That one is made for the external vest where this is a magnet system. So it's it's it's a hard pole to get it off. Can
it fall off? Nothing's not none of our gear is stapled on. So they do the best they can with it. >> Okay. And I I understand it's only while they're on duty, but do you have to do you have to be wearing a uniform to be required to wear one of these if somebody's plain clothes?
>> It depends on what activity what their role is. um if they're not going to be out going to calls, our expectation is going to be if they're going to a call, they need to have this on. Um and if unless they're in an undercover role, obviously we're not going to have uh but
we're going to have some modified ones for detectives that they will have access to that they can just basically pull out and put on um depending on the situation. Okay. >> They're an undercover role. >> Yeah. And just and just lastly, since you working with the union, this is not going to be a voluntary program. It's
going to be required of of all >> It will be required. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. And that's one. It'll be right in the union contract. Uh a 1% um compensation. That's pretty much the industry standard. Uh the town manager and I have looked um that's pretty much
the industry standard. So that is what Bill Rick just agreed to. Also, >> Chief, could you could you not to interrupt, could you just more of a presentation, could you describe when they're turned off and and what the right of privacy is for people again, their homes and so forth, just so that way not only this board, but the
community can understand when the cameras would be deactivated. >> So, in certain situations, a victim may ask for the camera to be shut off. Um, but if we go to, say we go to a domestic call and we go into a home, so we go
into somebody's home and the neighbor requests the footage. Public records request comes comes to us. Okay? >> We do not have to share that under rights of privacy. So that's something that we would basically be like, "Nope, you're not getting that. It is going to
be scrutinized before we release any of this footage." >> Who who authorizes the release? Is it you? will fall will follow the public records law. So public records law basically if you're if you're in a private if under the rights of privacy nobody has to know about the husband
wife situation and what happened on that domestic. That's just not the public's right to know. So we would not release that. >> So it falls under the same the same rules as any public request. >> Exactly. >> Okay. >> Exactly.
Now, as far as uh I mean, generally during an incident, they'll be running the whole time. That's our expectation. Uh the policy is pretty um straightforward when you're interacting with somebody, it's supposed to be on. Uh you have to do a report if for some
reason if you forget to turn it on, if something happens, um you basically have to write a full report and there could be discipline that's involved. So the so um the in order to get the grants that are going to pay for all
this that the the 1% was part of the that the negotiating with the unions was part of that. If we didn't do that then no grant correct it >> you have to sit down and negotiate with the unions because what had happened years ago. So that that's a state grant. It's 185,000 I think is what we're
asking for from the state. Um, one of the things you have to years ago PE places did not negotiate. So they got the grant, got the equipment, never used it >> and and then the union refused to >> Yep. >> enforce the use of it.
>> Exactly. >> So I'm fortunate enough that the union agreed, you know, I think they our unions, we have uh three unions and I think that they've really embraced it because it protects them. It does. And so it's the it's the 1% the first year that they go in that's the sort of the
buyin so to speak and then and then that opens up all the grants for this to be completely funded by a grant. >> It will be completely funded by the grant as long as we we get it. Obviously if we don't get the grant then we're not paying the 1%. >> Yeah. No, I just wanted to make sure I tied those two together.
>> Yeah. I'm a I'm a little bit confused about that also because we have a we have pre-negotiated contracts with the union. So, how is that is that to be implemented in a future? >> It's called Yeah, it's called midterm bargaining or or a side letter with the union. So, because we're because we're
in in existing contract, we basically have it's a sheet of paper that says, you know, the town and the union agree that the town will implement body warn cameras upon receipt of the grant and upon that date, which we believe would be, you know, fiscal year 27, that, you
know, the union would receive a 1% adjustment to their pay schedule. >> It would be retro. No, no, it would be going forward because we would get the grant before we would implement this. So, but it would go forward. There's no backwards. So, it wouldn't have any >> would be within a current contract. >> Be in a within a current contract. >> Oh, yeah.
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> And that's a standard for any midterm. You know, you have a duty to bargain any change of working conditions. And this is a a change of working conditions because they're they'd be wearing a body warn camera. Um, so that's that's how it is. I I think the reason I think the
reason it comes up now is society and community has had 20 10 years of experience with these things actually out in the field in terms of the area >> and we you know you don't want to be the first one to jump into the pool and so you know we've now can see these and we
see them operating effectively in our neighboring communities such as Berka and Burlington and Bedford and so forth and then I think the the other um aspect of it is you know you it's now almost expected more by the public because you can't go on a
newscast or any television program without seeing oh here's the camera footage of of the incident and so forth and so I think that's it and I think the last piece is don't forget the amount of turnover we've had you know that what percentage of the force has turned over since you've been chief in three years
in terms of retirements >> 35% yeah >> generally from retirements because they're all hired in 1994 >> yeah so I think you have a natural you have a generation now that's grown up with video and and and as as the chief said in this presentation they're expecting this when they come to the
position like you know that that's part of the norm and I think it's not so much you know we can't sit there and say oh you know we've got problems that we're trying to challenge with Chford in terms of behavior it's more I think if you're an officer because this was the concern with the whole police reform and so
forth is would they be sub subject to false claims and liability and and as an officer and I think what this does is this helps remove that cloud because unfortunately in today's world people will make an allegation of anything to anybody against anybody and I think what
this does is say no no no it's not your word versus the officer's word this is what happened and believe me >> that's why I'm a little confused because it seems like a protection for them so that's why that's why I'm not sure why there's a salary bump as if it's a as if it's a hardship actually
>> it's just the way that it falls out over time in terms of their expectation the end of there and it it it it equalizes because it becomes uniform. Then you're just comparing your pay rates across all the communities anyway. >> And so this is sort of the interim step where in the early years when you were
in those initial community zip switch and so forth, they were getting three 5% to implement body warn cameras. Now it's basically 1%. You know, that's what you see in Bara and that's what you're seeing out there. Um, and that's and again it's more just an equalizer now because when you go the next time you go
to the bargaining table it's like okay well here are comparable towns and 75% of them have body warn cameras anyway so what's your pay level? So it just it just becomes part of the norm in that condition. Um I guess I want to um we're going to have
a we would apply for grants and receive grants to implement um um these um so five years. First of all, how long what's the longevity of a camera? How long should we expect it to last? And
then let's assume it's five years. The town would be on the hook. Maybe that's a poor choice of words, but the town would be responsible for future purchase of those cameras and how many cameras are there and what size grant
are we talking and um just to get an understanding of of cost um you know aside from the the 1% just um the actual cameras themselves and so >> so basically what we're looking at they come with threeear warranties. Okay.
>> Okay. Um, probably I think the estimated life is about five years is what they what they estimate per camera. It's about $1,000 a camera. >> Okay. >> Okay. A lot of it is the infrastructure that's inside the server. That's another expense. That's about three to five years. So I I just think as far as
planning financially, I would say that the server is going to be every five years. The cameras themselves, they're $1,000 each. They're probably going to go down as more and more departments uh start getting them. We're blessed to have access in town
here because if we have a problem, they're right here. >> So, what's the cost though? And what's the grant? >> So, the grants for 185,000. >> Okay. >> So, if we looked at it now, but I think it'll be less than that if when we go to replace them because you're not going to have to replace everything.
>> And how many cameras [clears throat] are we purchasing? >> 60. >> 60 total. >> Okay. And then there's But then there's costs behind that also for like the implementation, the video, and everything else. >> Yes. Exactly. So what is kind of the estimated cost over I don't know a
certain period of time? >> Well, for the next for the next pretty much five years, this grant has funded all the equipment we're going to need for five years. >> So we won't be revisiting in five years. Uh we will be, you know, in five years we'll have to say >> maybe there might be another grant.
Yeah, potentially. >> There could be potentially another grant if they mandate them. Um that's the other thing. I I do believe that this grant program, this was delayed this year by over a month and I think it may end up going away. That's another issue
that we're looking at as more and more departments have already utilized it. I know I've been contacted by two chiefs in the area when they found out that we were going for body warn cameras. They want all the information about the negotiations and everything because they're going to apply for the grant. Um and that is due December 1st. So that's
kind of how this this developed pretty quickly. Uh we had already met with the unions before the grant was released. So we're a little bit ahead of the game that that was already done in place. Uh when was the grant released? >> Yeah, about three weeks ago. Um so we
already have everything in place. We're just looking for your approval for the next step. >> And do we have a sense rough numbers um of the what the 1% cost is? It's about 7576,000 >> annually.
>> Annually. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> So Pat, to your point, I think the police foundation would be more than willing to help five years from now if we need to purchase new equipment. >> Oh, I I would go to every community resource that we have uh in order to
make that happen. I think it's great. It it's it's awesome for this town. I really truly believe that. Uh, and the officers believe that and I think it's going to put us at a whole different level of policing. I truly think it's uh
>> I think the cost question for me is what's the cost if we don't do this? >> I mean, I think that's and I think that's a bigger number. >> Oh, yeah. No, and I asked the question only because I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking about it. So, >> absolutely.
>> You know, so >> and and not just dollar cost too is >> right. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I think it's bigger. So, >> well, it's also liability against the town. Um, it may be liability for the officer, but there could be liability for the town also that's negated because
of that. >> But if these guys that are out doing it on the street are saying we want these things, that's pretty telling to me, too. So, and if that's what they need, that's what they should have. >> Thank you. >> So, we want to take a vote. >> Sure.
>> I'm ready. I will make a motion. um to um to approve the police chief's uh pursuit of the grant for and
successful negotiations with the police unions um to um implement and um pursue um the use of body cameras by all officers in town
>> and authorize and authorize the town man anything authorize the town manager to enter into a agreements with the three police unions at an amount not to exceed 1% for the implementation of the program. So that way because what that allows me to do is then sign those
papers give it to the chief so he can submit the application by December 3rd. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So moved. >> I'll second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. And all those in favor? >> I >> thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much everybody.
Totally appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Best of luck. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next we have um another report or presentation from our operations assistant James Gerity. Status update on the strategic plan and
a report about the citizens academy also. >> Yeah. Members of the board, this is my assistant, James Gity, and I'm gonna embarrass him at the moment, but because [laughter] this is his first presentation to the board, but more importantly, last Friday, James just completed a training program. And and
Jam, just take a moment just explain to the board what you did and and what it entailed because I think it just speaks to his development and and what we're doing here as a community to support our employees. So, >> Sure. So over the past five Fridays, I've been participating in the MMA SUFFK
um municipal financing budget course. So I've been doing deep dives into all the different financing departments that help make a town run from structure of government to the assessor's office. So Sam Chase's presentation was enlightening. I was, oh yeah, we talked
about that and that and that. Talked about the role of the finance director, town treasurer, town accountant, and how to structure information so the town can make informed decisions when it comes to its financial policies. So >> great. I just want to recognize because sometimes you see the beacon of the MMA publication they talk about this their
affiliation with Suffach University and the training programs and James is a now a credential graduate of those program >> and sort of what brings him here tonight coincidentally is James has also been the leader in terms of the community engagement part of our strategic plan operations. So that's what he'll be
presenting this evening. >> Great. >> Thank you Paul and good evening everyone. I'm excited to be here and I know we've had a lot of reports tonight so I'll do my best to keep this brief but informative. So as we all know earlier this year the town adopted the first strategic plan for Chsford and in
that strategic plan it calls for exploring community engagement assessing it and finding opportunities to improve it. um and trying to figure out how we can cultivate a culture of active participation, collaboration, and ensure that we have informed residents and that
their voices are represented. So, we can skip over to the next slide. So, back in June, the community engagement task force, and I'll be referring to it as a task force, was created, and it was charged with fulfilling the community engagement part of the strategic plan, assessing
Chsford's current conditions for communications with its residents and how we go about uh cultivating community engagement, and presenting recommendations to the select board uh by mid- November. And I'm here, so we met that goal. The task force members
was made up of a variety of town employees from across the town. Um, and everyone who participated in the task force really gave unique perspectives that helped to make this report as strong as it is. So, right in June when we got started, we all quickly realized that the media
landscape is complicated. If you do any kind of research on current communications, you'll quickly hear a phrase that communications and marketing has changed more in the past 20 years than in the previous 200 years. Every couple years, there's a new way and a new system to communicate with people,
to grab people's attention. And what in in our research, what we discovered is that there are really two key elements that town officials need to focus on when it comes to community engagement and communications. The first is that there are about five categories
of media that we should pay attention to from traditional media, digital, mobile messaging, different online platforms, and then in-person communications as well. And what we learned through studying all these is that Chelwood residents have a tremendous amount of
media options available to them. If they get bored on Facebook, they can go to YouTube. If they're watching football and they get bored, they can decide to start messaging a relative who lives halfway around the world. And this leads to another phenomenon that we discovered which we can go to the next slide.
Something called the attention economy. Basically, communication experts and marketers know that your attention is the most valuable currency in the world right now. If they can get you to focus on their issue, their product, their candidate, they're going to be able to get your money, your resources, or your
vote. So people build careers off of just grabbing your attention. There are people who literally build careers around just designing YouTube thumbnails and titles so their channel can get more views than their competitor's channel. And that has a lot of effects on town's
communications. Our traditional media outlets of doing legal ads in the newspapers or having public meetings or gathering people together are slowly [snorts] being pushed aside by the rise of social media platforms where everything is optimized to fill the
algorithm. Algorithms unintentionally give people content they want to see. For example, I really like cooking, so my Facebook feed is full of cooking videos, but I hardly ever see anything about sports because I don't follow sports as closely as other people do. So, if I'm curious about the Patriots, I
have to actively look up different Patriot stats on Facebook in order for the algorithm to push that material to me. And essentially what that means is even though the town is trying its best to push communications out to residents to get information out to residents, if residents aren't actively particip or
aren't actively interacting with us on social media or other digital platforms, they aren't seeing everything we're putting out there and they kind of forget that we're doing stuff. So, we can go to the next slide. So, as we wrapped up our research of the
media landscape, we started diving into the town's current communications and community engagement methods, and we got some numbers which are enlightening. One is that our website gets about 20,000 views a month. And most of those views are for transactional purposes, people
paying their taxes, using GIS mapping, or finding information for trash recycling. Very few views go to board and committee pages and a handful go to department pages. This means that boards and committees can have a tremendously designed web page, but only 24 people
look at it a month and half of those might be bots, which means that the website, even though it's chalk full of information, isn't great at getting the reach that a lot of border committees need to promote all the activities that they're doing. Uh we have over 24 different social media accounts across
platforms. Some are super engaged. They post on a regular basis. They have thousands of followers. Others only post once or twice a year to promote an event the committees or department's doing. And others are just dormant and those get incredibly low views. Digital
newsletters and physical newsletters are on the up are rising upwards and becoming more popular. The senior center does a physical newsletter with about 2,000 readers. The library has the most popular email newsletter which is about 6,700 subscribers and the town manager
is started recently adopted to an email newsletter and already has 2400 subscribers and the CCA and the health department have recently launched theirs with about 27 and 1,000 subscribers uh respectively. And what's most important
about the email subscribers is the open rate. In email marketing, if you have an open rate of about 20%, meaning somebody clicked on your email and read it, that's a really good number. The town newsletters have about a 55 to 70% open rate. That is a tremendously high
number. And what that shows is that people who sign up for the newsletters are really engaged and care about what's going on in the town. And then continuing on with the assessment on the next slide, we also have the trash recycling app which has about 5,000 downloads.
and Tele Media boasts 10,000 over 10,000 views a month and 3600 subscribers for their channel. And what we realized as we were gathering all these numbers is that numbers only tell part of the story. We wanted to hear from department heads and board and committee chairs about how
they view communications. So we launched a survey and we learned three key things from that survey. One being that most town leaders, so department heads, board of committee chairs recognize the need for improving communications. We learned that a variety of boards,
committees, departments are experimenting with different ways of communicating with residents, whether it's different social media channels, different types of content, or ways of getting people to the website. And we also learned that different departments and different boards of committees try different strategies on
how to produce those communications or that those community engagement efforts. Some have dedicated employees and others kind of assign an ad hoc depending on what's needed and the results vary based on how much effort or time the communications get. And what we heard
overall was a clear need from department heads and board and committee chairs is that they need guidance and structure from the select board and town manager on how should they be doing communications and what kind of resources should they be pursuing. So as we continued with our assessment,
we dove a little bit deeper into the strategic plan and we defined a few of the key terms from this plan. We spent a couple days talking about who an informed resident is and we decided that this res this type of resident is someone who knows how the structure of
government works. They know what the select board does versus the board of health. They are engaged with the different key elements or decisions that are currently being made. They know where to get information from. And they also understand who they need to ask
questions to when they don't understand something. And when it comes to active participation and collaboration, this builds off of informed residents. This happens when people come together and serve on boards or committees. They get their voices heard with surveys. They are engaged with community events and
they help to kind of get the spark that Shelford has with it to keep it going, to keep it moving forward. We also talked a little about what the role of the town government is when it comes to increasing our community engagement and participation or
communications. And we realized that it is not the role of the town government to compel public engagement or interests. Instead, it's our role, if you kind of think of it kind of like a storefront or store window, it's our job to make sure that when a resident is interested in what's going on, they're
able to find the information that's accurate and trustworthy. It's accessible to them, and it's easy to find. if they want to get involved, they see ways that they can attend meetings, join a board or committee, or help improve their community in different ways that they can get involved.
We also have a strategic opportunity right now through the different surveys that we did with board and committee chairs and other committee members. We realized there's an active interest in improving our communications and our community engagement efforts. People are willing to do the work to make this happen. They just need to know where to
go. We also have a healthy committee vacancy rate. It's about probably after tonight's appointments are going to be under 4%. And that means that boards and committees aren't struggling to attract members to make to allow the committees to even meet and to be able to function. But if somebody is interested in joining, they have different choices
that they can choose from to fit their goals. Can move on to the next slide. So when it comes to the recommendations that we're doing when we were brainstorming and coming up with these, we had two um key things that we wanted to share.
One being is that we did think about recommending hiring a communications director would solve a lot of our um struggles that we're facing. However, with the town's current finances and where we're forecasted to be with our current finances, we didn't think it'd be a sustainable recommendation to make. But we do think it's important for town
leaders to continue to think about what that kind of role might look like, especially in future years. We also saw that with a lot of our ideas, they were all they all needed a strong foundation in order to build off of. So that's why our first three recommendations we're
calling foundational recommendations. And these are designed to give the town that strong foundation to build successful communications and community engagement off of. So our first main idea or recommendation is to update and enhance our social media policy and
communications policy and use that to springboard and create a social media strategy for the town. Our second idea or recommendation is to integrate communications into job descriptions. So whether that be department heads or key employees and we're not asking them to create viral Facebook content or to
create Tik Tok videos that go viral. Rather, it's about ensuring that the website is up to date, that they create communications that are clear and easy for residents to understand, and that they dedicate some time to make sure that these communications are sufficient for their department or border committee that they're supporting is attempting to
do. And finally, what we're going to hear about after this report is creating a citizens academy. This was based off of realizing that if we're able to get a group of residents who want to learn more and be able to um engage with the town in a more meaningful way, we should
give them a space where they can learn some of the details to make the town run. And this would be a multi-week program to teach them how local government works, why decisions that we're making tonight matter in their day-to-day life, and how they can learn how to influence those decisions.
We also outlined a few other additional steps or recommendations that the town should take. One being building a brand guide, having communications and materials that are cohesive in how they look. Not only looks professional, but it builds trust. Um, we should provide
website training to town employees. Civic Plus hosts the town's website and it's a very powerful tool, but if you don't know what you're doing, it's incredibly confusing and frustrating. They also provide a lot of free resources that if it's um combed through can create a pretty powerful training
document. We should also work to create better supporting materials for boards and committees. These are all run by volunteers and we should be able to help give them some resources that they need. So if they want to publish a news flash about an upcoming meeting where they're doing a survey or they have a large event coming up and they want to attract
more people to come in, we should help give them some tools or some processes on how to promote these or increase engagement. And then finally, increase our social media utilization. This is based off of the first foundational recommendation, but this might just mean experiment maybe with different videos
or different styles of posts to see if we're able to increase our engagement or get more people to um pay attention to the content. And then finally, establish KPIs, which is a marketing lingo term for key point indicators. And basically
this way [laughter] what this would do is we can start to measure how successful our communications and community engagement efforts are and then measure them year after year or time frame after time frame and see if we're succeeding or if we need to adjust something or if we're meeting our goals.
So overall this is a pretty intensive. We want to increase our communications. It's going to be a big push. It's not simple. But by focusing on this we can increase we can increase our effectiveness communications with residents. We can
build a resilient communications infrastructure and this can help sustain a lot of communications growth with our town residents. And one last slide as well. I just want to give um a shout out and a thank you to everyone who participated in the community engagement task force. definitely could not have
done this by myself and they all brought a lot of valuable insights and they took a lot of time out of their already busy day to help make this happen and also want to say thank you to everyone who participated in a few of the surveys that we sent out. Um those were very insightful and their um participation
mattered a lot. So thank you. Happy to help answer any questions. Feel like I should give James a round of applause. Good. Thank you. Um, anybody have any questions,
comments? >> Great. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, and you're going to do the >> So, I also attached >> more to say about the community task force. >> Yep. I also attached a more formal write up of the presentation. So, if you get curious over the weekend or later in the
week, if you have a question, feel free to reach out. >> I would like to comment on the the recommendations though. Yeah. Um, I think those are spot on. As I was kind of making notes, going through this the other day and and through this presentation, um, those kind of hit all
of the things that I was >> awesome. >> I think I would I would um like to see. Um, I think the the first two are are really important. Again, I'm I'm not a fan of social media anymore. Um, but I think it's how two things the data said
to me. they people are looking to these newsletters to maybe that's the replacement for the for the newspaper um and if those are well done >> kind of chalk full of information but easy to read you know so like the the content and the design matters >> and the frequency matters but I think
having a >> a social media try to reach the elusive people that we try to re that we try to reach that just they don't necessarily participate um I would I would like to see some I know investment in bodies right now is a little bit challenging, but there are ways for us to get that
support, I think, and you know, via some of the high school kids that that are interested in that for career or for college interns or those types of things. And I really like the idea of the >> the citizens academy. And I think that should be something that's for all ages and and if that can be designed in a way
where if you want to understand what the planning board does and what their legal authority was and what their charter is, you could you could come and learn something like that to know if you need to attend the meetings or the select board or any of the other programs. So, but I would I would want to see that encouraged for all ages, especially the teenagers that are
>> the future leaders. >> Starts January 27th. So, >> so if you want to come attend some of the classes and >> Yeah. So I think this is I think this is is fantastic actually. >> Yeah. Awesome. And just to comment quickly on two of the points that you made. Email marketing or email
communications is one of the most effective means to reach people. Social media unintentionally hides things you might be interested in. Email is still timeline based. If I send an email to you, you're going to see the email one way or the other. And when it comes to social media, what's probably going to be most effective for the town is going
to be that storefront or store window approach. If we have content, maybe people don't follow us, but when it comes to the country fair and they're like, "Oh, what time does it start?" They go to Facebook and they see a few posts about it. Oh, awesome. Super helpful. Or, why did my taxes go up again? Oh, the tax classification. I
should pay attention to that next year. That type of content will reach people a lot and probably be effective. >> I definitely like This Week in the town manager's office by James. [laughter] 10 minutes of uh Tik Tok video. >> Oh boy. Well, anyway, um, diving into
the recommendation for the citizens academy, unless anybody else has any other questions. Awesome. So, as we just talked about with the commun community engagement task force recommendations, we recommended a citizens academy and basically what this academy is going to
be is if you think of town information like an onion. Most people see the onion skin. Some people who might pay attention to um board committee meetings might see the first layer of the onion. The citizens academy is going to be a deep dive into the second or third layer
of the onion. So rather than residents just knowing that the DPW maintains the roads, they're going to learn about how the DPW makes decisions about what roads they maintain on what years and the different factors that go into how they maintain the roads and coordinate different efforts among sewer
infrastructure, water infrastructure, etc. The right now we're planning on making this ages 16 plus just because a lot of this information is going to be fairly high level and translating it into middle school age level or elementary school age level would
require very different types of information formatting. But as we move forward if we decide we want to lower the age all high schoolers or middle schoolers those can be discussions that we'll have in future years. Uh this is going to be an eight-week course predominantly on Tuesday evenings as of right now and it
be separated into two one-hour lesson blocks um with a half hour break in between where we would probably provide like a light dinner, like some pizza or salads. And the goal is going to be to build a knowledgeable base of residents who are informed, can have informed conversations, and ideally be inspired to want to serve on a board or
committee, become a town meeting rep, or attend meetings and make sure that their voice is going to get heard. And one of my favorite parts about doing this part of the project was reaching out to the other communities who've had um citizensmies for the past couple years um after watching the MMA webinar about
citizensmies. Um I reached out to Bridgewwater and Danverse Massachusetts and the town manager in Bridgewater and um sorry not Bridgewwater Barnstable um town manager in Barnstable who's been leading this academy or being part of it
for almost for over 25 years. and then the assistant town manager in Danverse. They each couldn't say enough of the positive um attributes that Citizens Academy brought to their town. I also talked to the Kingsboro town manager who's been leading his for a couple years. He had a lot of positive things
to say about it. And the assistant town manager in Easton um also had a lot of positive things to say about how it brought community together. It brought people who um had a lot of illinformed questions about different processes in the town. They were able to start asking more
informed questions and some of them even became community leaders. And this also aligns with a select board goal of exploring citizensmies and it aligns with the strategic plan to increase community engagement. And attached to this memo was the rough
outline of the schedule. As we're talking to department heads and their schedules, it's being tweaked slightly, but overall, different departments are going to have either a whole hour block or parts of an hour block to talk about some of the key topics. We're going to start by going through about the
structure of town government, um, town meeting, how some of the departments like IT, human resources play a role in how the town runs. That will be Paul's moment to shine. And then we'll go into like how the town clerk runs through it and then variety of other topics from
town financing to fire, police, DPW, human services, library, and then depending on how the schedule ends, um call to action for people to get more involved with us. >> Well, the town court social media posts are definitely entertaining.
>> Oh, yes. It's fun watching them create the videos, >> seeing one of them just continuous to fall into leaves and >> wondering if you need to call the um EMTs and you realize it's a video. >> They're so funny. >> Yeah.
>> Um I have a few questions on on this. Um first of all, the name of it. If if you look at our at our goals, it says one of the goals is to create a civic academy, not a citizens academy. And I kind of have an issue with the word citizens because um I think that if somebody is
is not a a citizen of the this country, they might, you know, kind of feel like they're not inclusive. I think that, you know, civic is, you know, like in in the previous report, you never said citizen. You said resident all the way through it, which I really like. >> Oh, resident versus citizen. >> So anyway, I don't know. Just something
to to consider changing it to civic. >> No, those are all good points. Um, and also, so you're going to accept applications for this? Yep. >> Um, is it going to be what's it going to be? Just an email to you or to the to the committee or h how is it going to how are they going to be selected?
>> Yeah. So, well, they'll be selected through the town manager's office and we have an application process because we can only effectively run this with about 20 to 25 um residents who are involved. And we want to make sure that if somebody like Sam Chase who's been around Chumsford forever, if it's down
to him versus somebody who recently moved to Chsford who's thinking about wanting to get involved but they don't know anything about town government, it should go to the new resident. Sure. >> And I think somebody like Sam Chase would understand. Um >> be a presenter. In fact, >> exactly. Um >> but I know what you're saying. >> Yeah. So that's predominantly why we
want to have the application process. >> So So okay. So, you're thinking that you won't have you won't have too tough a decision to make as far as to to scale it down. >> Okay. >> It's the first year we're doing it. So, I don't want to >> make a predict. I don't want to make an uneducated prediction. >> Uhhuh.
>> From all the other communities, they none of them said they ever had any major issues with their application process. >> And And what's going to be on the application, like why they're interested in it or >> Yeah, if you look at Danver's application, theirs is pretty intense, but it's um how long have you lived in
town? Do you serve on boards of committees? How long have you been serving? How long have you been involved? Why do you want to participate? >> Can you attend all the nights? If we have somebody who can only attend four out of the eight nights and somebody who can attend all eight nights, we're going to give it to the person who can attend all eight nights and get the most out of it.
>> Okay. All right. Thanks. >> Anybody else? >> Great job. >> Yeah. Great. Thanks, James. >> Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Okay. Uh next up we have one more presentation. Uh we're going to hear
from the the um Chsford dog park advisory committee. >> Hi. >> Hello. >> With a request to raise the minimum age of children allowed in the Chumsford dog park. >> Hi. How's it going? >> Thank you for waiting so patiently.
[laughter] rigger mortise was setting in, but we we pulled through it. This this presentation is not nearly as technical as anything you guys have been hearing all night. And [clears throat] before I get into the nuts and bolts of that before I start, I have one quick
question for the town manager. And >> are you willing to light the big tree on the at the prelude next week, couple weeks? Awesome. Okay, we're getting things done. >> All right. My name is Vivian Merrill. I'm the current chair of the dog park advisory committee. I am here tonight with a couple other committee members,
Danielle Anatha Corsino, as well as the uh president of the Chonu Dog Association, Lisa Graasso. And our request is pretty straightforward. Uh when we first opened up the Chon Dog Park, it was about 10 years ago. We were one of the first dog parks in the area.
Um when we were establishing our rules and regulations and things, we really didn't have a whole lot to go with. We kind of did a what made sense to us at the time approach and I mean we got a lot of input from a lot of different places but there really wasn't a lot of
hard facts out there and as time goes on and more parks have been created and things like that. We're kind of looking at what they're doing and we've been talking about this for like the last year or so. It's like should we raise the minimum age of children that are
allowed into the park? I mean, currently we're seeing a trend where very very young children are going into the park and it's kind of scary because we have a lot of big dogs there. They they run fast. They run hard. Um we've had issues with adults getting hurt. I mean, we got
people going in there with baby carriages and when you got your volunteers going, "Um, did you take a look at the rules?" And they're like, "No, we didn't even see the sign." And it's like four feet tall by three feet wide and there's three of them in there. So, I mean, getting people to kind of
follow the spirit of of what we'd like to see at the park has been challenging. Um, and I think this is like a first easy step to try to tackle some of those issues with getting people to recognize that the rules are there for a reason.
Um, we had, um, Arthur do a survey of various parks, which is the chart you're looking at. the uh we've got six parks that the minimum age is eight years old. We've got six parks that the minimum age is 12 years old. 10 seems to be a
reasonable um compromise. Are we married to a number? We're really not. Um it's whatever you guys think is reasonable. Do we need to change it at all? It it's more or less up to you. This is just something that we have been talking
about and we think should be changed and then we can work on how we design the signage and things like that from there if we do make a change. And that's basically all I got. So open questions. I don't know if you guys want to add anything. >> Note that the committee we [clears throat] did vote on an age of
10. >> We did. Yeah, we we did recommend an age of 10 and we did vote on that. >> Oh, an age of 10. >> Yes. Okay. Okay. And like I said, that was that was based on the the data you're looking at here. You felt it was reasonable. >> So So what would be your method of
enforcement other than just signs because people, >> you know, >> they're going to do what they're going to do anyway? I think from a town standpoint, it kind of makes us look more receptive with, hey, we told you your kid, you know, your kid was too young to be here and you did it anyway.
So I mean, the park is already used at your own risk. Um, it it more or less tries to cement that that people should be looking at the rules and regulations. It gives them a more a a more solid boundary. I mean,
um, I know Laramie earlier spoke to having a height requirement. It's an interesting concept that we've never really thought about before. I mean, we've got full grown adults that are taller than me that have been hit by a running dog and have gotten hurt pretty seriously.
>> But can I just say it sounds like it might not be even the age requirement that's the issue, but the fact that people just aren't respecting it, [laughter] >> right? Or you mentioned the signage, too. Do you think that you need more signage or placed differently or
>> We've had those discussions for a number of years, too, cuz I'm not a big fan of sign pollution. And after a while, people don't read them. >> Um, like I say, our volunteers, they do try to engage people to pay attention to what the
>> makes it easy if you have a big sign right in the middle and they can we right. And I mean, we've we've talked about different ways to try to get the rules more out there. in a way that you can kind of see them like be it a a rule of the week program or some kind of
contest. I mean they they've the CDA has done a variety of things to try to get people to think about the rules and it's it's met with varying degrees of success or failure so to speak because a lot of people just don't want to be told what
to do. >> Um it it's been an ongoing problem. I I I mean when you think about it, like I said, we've had full grown adults get hurt by running dogs. I mean, we don't have any reports of kids getting hurt by
dogs, but that could be very well because the parents know they're not supposed to be in there and they're not making a deal big deal out of it. I don't know. >> So, is there volunteer supervision at all times while the park is open? >> No.
>> No. the volunteers for it when there's so many. >> Yeah. >> I mean that the volunteers are there, you know, trying to keep the park clean. Um, you know, answering basically. >> So, it's all just by report of something an incident or something like that.
>> Very reactionary. So conversely, if you have a huge 100 pound dog that may be out of control, there's nobody there to say your your dog, you know, you know, or you need to contain your dog better or any
of those types of things either. >> It's it's more or less people talking to each other and fighting it out. That's what it comes down to. >> Okay. Um, I mean, have people called the animal control officer? Have people called the police? They have. And
there's varying degrees of success with what they're even able to do. You know, because by that point, the the incident has has happened. And a lot of the times the people that are involved in these incidents, they just take off. Nobody even knows who they are.
So, I mean, it's it's a tough situation. Um, you know, we've been talking about this for over a year trying to figure out what the best way is to grapple it and I think this is a start. >> Okay. >> I don't disagree with what you're saying. My only concern is the young
family got, you know, you got two kids, one's nine, one's six. You can only take one kid with you. >> And that's going to be a challenge. Hey, it's it's a challenge now because I think people like that go to the park early in the morning might be bringing their kids to school and they're letting them run in the park just to burn up
some steam or whatever. And what people are failing to realize is this is a park for dogs. It's not a park for your kids. >> But but some people have but some people have kids and dogs and if they have to take the dog out and they have their kids all the time like some of us do,
it's hard to not to have both. So I see what you're saying though. I mean, have you thought about having like an observation area where the kids can like sit and watch the dogs in the dog park without >> section off a >> 10 by 20 area to say if you if your
child's in a >> in a baby carriage, you need to be you need to be. It's tough because do you stay with your kid or do you watch your dog? I mean >> Oh, well, no. I mean, I would put like I so I have I have a 10-year-old and eight-year-old twins, right? And I would
put my eight-year-olds in a in a fenced in area with a bench while I let the dog run and be like, "You guys, this is where the kids have to stay, >> you know, and I would be like, you sit on the bench, you can watch all the dogs run around and play, but you can't come in with the dogs, you know, like I would be okay with that as a parent."
um >> you want to come up to the >> maybe not like my three-year-old to to leave them in there and you know go away but like people with like >> that sounds like you're having free free daycare at the dog park [laughter] >> which sounds wonderful actually. So yeah I'm Yeah, >> I can speak to that a little bit.
>> Yeah, >> because I'm there a lot and I do see people that do come in with their children >> and I do say to them if you'd like to I can keep an eye on your dog while you're outside with your child so that your child is not >> Yeah. at risk. Yeah. >> And most of the time people are really
receptive to that. So they can walk around the the perimeter or the outside or even be in the airlock area or the entrance with their child. So the child can actually interact with their dog, too. >> Yeah. You can walk around the fence and still see the whole thing. So like little kids that you wouldn't that you
wouldn't want unsupervised would be one thing, but kids that are, you know, six, seven, eight, you could let them outside the fence and kind of Yeah. >> My biggest fear is that something does happen. Yeah. >> And I don't want to be in charge when something does happen. >> I don't want to wait until something
does happen and then have to react to it. I want to be able to be pro proactive. And a six-year-old. And if you look at your chart, >> we are the only >> dog park that lets sixy olds. >> Yeah. I wouldn't bring my eight-year-olds in the dog park. No way. I love dogs, but no, that's the wild.
There's so many dogs. It gets I know it gets a little crazy. Like I wouldn't bring my kids in there. to that to to all of these points. Um >> so this this >> if it was if if we vote for you know children must be 10 years old to go
inside the dog park. So there would be no restriction to Jeff's point if he had a a a 10 and a six year uh nineyear-old that that 9year-old could stand outside
the fence. I mean there's no restriction there. It's just strictly what's where the dogs are inside the fenced area. >> Okay. And that is also where the height requirement could come in because there are some well I could say that somebody
that meets this height requirement here can come into the dog park with their parents but I can also say that a toddler is never going to make that and that's something I could uh point to to a parent be like >> my only concern there is I remember
taking my grandson to an amusement park and his sister got to go on a ride and he didn't and he had a meltdown. So I hate to have that line where you stink stink stink. >> Well, you also need like a level of maturity, right, around that many dogs where the age I think is pro maybe like
a more appropriate >> the bigger thing. But I can also say, hey, well, if you don't hit that height and your your kid is is obviously not eight years old. Yeah. >> But we do get that kind of push back all the time. >> Yeah. >> Well, yes, they are. How do you know
it's not? So, what can we do for you guys besides So, you're looking to uh for us to do we have to authorize >> Yeah, you take a vote. Yeah, >> we have to vote to change the age to 10. And then is there anything else that we can do as far as like the signage? Would it be helpful to
>> more signage to relocate the signs? Do you have any thoughts about that? Or I mean we can you can come back to us if you >> Well, I can do that without >> Yeah, DPW can help as you know >> because it sounds like maybe the signs are kind of maybe you need a sign that's
more aggressive. [laughter] >> The dogs will bite your children. >> We joked about having a little image of a dog running away with a child. [laughter] >> I mean honestly like maybe Yeah, maybe you need to to have some more. consider putting the temporary breaches over
there as a >> I say maybe developing an an observation area could be helpful uh >> well just so people understand because it's dangerous you know so that's yeah >> yeah and an >> a family safety area which I think would be
>> I like that >> a nice way to put it >> we'll work with DACA and make sure that we can get the signage up and potentially an observation area that's safe for children to be in Okay. >> Okay. Do you want >> to give us something to work on?
>> Okay. I think are Does anybody else have anything? >> Do you want to take a vote? >> Sure. >> Do you want to make a motion? I'm fine. Yeah. Uh, I'll make a motion that we um authorize the dog park advisory committee to um
increase the age limit of children children ch children uh allowed within the area of the dog park and to increase that age to 10 years old. I'll second it.
>> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. You guys have a good night. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next, um we have a home rule petition discussion. >> Yeah, Madam Chair, we'll pick up the
pace a little bit. This basically this is a follow-up from town meeting. town meeting authorized the vote on the uh SG's second generation anti anti-coagulant rodenticides that authorize a select board to submit the home rule petition. So the action tonight would be for the board to vote
to submit the home rule petition. Then I'll obviously send it off to our legislative delegation. >> Okay. Does anybody have any questions about it or comments? >> Yeah. And I like that the I guess a super short answer. So we submit this >> and then >> wait
>> if it gets but if it gets granted >> then then we can say within Chumsford you can't >> well we'd have to come back and adopt back to town meeting adopt the bylaw >> bylaw and then I mean again assuming it passed now pass the bylaw too >> but otherwise it's just waiting until
the state decides to act on that. >> Yes. >> Yeah. If they do and there's other towns as we know ahead of us including Bora there's also statewide legislation that's been filed. So the hope would be something might get done by the end of this legislative term which would be next, you know, next year within a year.
>> If they've got a dozen towns or whatever that are asking for the same thing, isn't it easy enough for them to just say, "Yeah, that you can have it." >> They never did it on plastic bags [laughter] or a number of other things that communities try to restrict. So >> you pay them, right? >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> You'll be here next week. >> They'll be Yeah. You'll be here two weeks. They know they know I like them, too. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. I'll take a motion. >> I'll make a motion that the uh board
approved the submission of the home rule petition um as stated in the memo from um the town manager um to um the state legislature as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All those
in favor? I >> I >> thank you. Next up, um discussion topics for our upcoming meeting with the town's state legislative delegation. >> Yeah. U in your next meeting two weeks on December 1st. Senator Mike Barrett
will be here. Representative Rodney Elliot. Unfortunately, we just learned today that Representative um >> Catalo has a conflict. Um so he will not be joined but he's going to send his legislative aid and representative RCOR was unable to attend. Um so the question
becomes as we in advance of this is you know what is it that we wish to discuss with them. What I provided for you in your packet and what's displayed here this is a memo that went from the Northern Middle Sex Council of Governments um executive director Jenny Ra and basically she solicited the town
managers to support the municipal empowerment act which is H56. House 56. And the reason [clears throat] I put it in the packet is I think it's a lot of the things that this board has talked about in terms of what we would ask our legislature to do. Perhaps the first one
had to do with remote and hybrid meetings that can that is not uh permanently installed in state statute. It's been a series of continuating uh resolutions to extend the deadline to allow for remote participation and
hybrid meetings. So one request was to you know to you know formalize the this act action. The other one was on procurement updates. One was to update the provisions under the procurement law that allows um
municipal purchasing up to $100,000 for school departments but only 50,000 for for bids for municipal governments. No one ever understood how it got through for the schools. But now when when it did get through the last couple years and and the we've asked the governor and the governor's included in her bill is
why isn't $100,000 for all municipal purchasing. So that's one. Um a couple of other ones that are um >> are they going to do that? >> Well, that's what we're going to ask. We don't know. The legislator's held a hearing on this. They've broken it apart from the fiscal part to the you know
nonmonetary part. Um so that would be so we we hope they'll do it. Um some other municipal government's items. One is is to allow communities the option to increase the bond term for school construction projects like what we're looking at for the Parker School. You
know, could we extend that borrowing period from 30 years to 40 years? That would be an option. Right now, we cannot borrow for a school project that we know would was going to serve our community into the next, you know, 40 to 50 years. We can only borrow it for a 30-year period. Obviously, like a home mortgage,
if you borrowed for a 40-year period, you're gonna pay more, just like a car loan. So, when again, we're not saying Chsford wants to do this, but what we're saying is give us the option because obviously if you extend the note, just like extending a car loan, you can you can get the tax impact, you know, lower.
Um the other thing is if there were an emergency situation like what happened in Lemonster and some of the Western Mass communities where you had a severe weather event, the idea is you could amatize any kind of a deficit that a town would incur from an emergency over three years rather than one year uh in
your budget process. Um also the one that I mentioned about every year at town meeting this the annual renewal of revolving funds where you have to revote them every year which is ministerial. The idea would be you'd only have to go back and make a vote if you wish to change the amount. So that's what
section 39 is. And then section 79, which is near and dear to our heart. This would enact financial penalties for double pole non removal that after 90 days that if they didn't do it that we could impose financial penalties and we know from our experience despite our
ongoing efforts that the 90-day standard isn't being met. Um so that's a big part of what's going on. There are other things in the municipal empowerment act such as, you know, increasing the the ability at the local level to increase the meals tax or the hotel excise tax
and so forth. Um, we as NIMCOG managers didn't get into that because we knew they were divided opinions amongst our executive boards and so forth. But those are the type of items. Um I think at this point, you know, it sort of following up on what we talked about at
the tri board meeting last week is it comes down to I think the issues of what can the legislature do to be an effective partner with the cities and towns and that had to do with the chapter 70 formula, has to do with the unrestricted general government aid that's been underfunded, has to do with
some of these nonmonetary things. So, um, I think that's where I'd like to start and then again, if you got other items that you wish to discuss, I can send them to the legislators in advance of the meeting to give them a heads up that what they'll could anticipate in two weeks from tonight.
>> Well, uh, if you remember, it was back in what March or April was before before the election. We we for the the other in Parliament as 1.0 or whatever. We did send a letter and we had a list of things and some of those are in here and some like oped and like you said local
option taxes and exemptions from taxes for you know maybe you want to review that too and see you know what what those and then and then we also recently sent them a letter about about that that paint deposit >> yeah thing. So we might follow up on that and see and then the thing that we
just talked about home petition those are things I would add on to the list. Yeah, I think I think I think Pat just said some of the things that I I was thinking of like these things are good and like to me I don't know why they don't just get done. They're kind of no-brainer but then again it's the state
house. I guess this is how it operates. But it's those other things that have real financial impacts that we need these guys to support on. It's just we're not the only towns that are going to that are suffering or >> so. Does anybody have anything they want to off the top of their head add right
now or do we want to just think about it and email them to Paula as we think of them >> in the next couple of weeks? >> Yeah, if if you Yeah, because you'll be here in two weeks. If you get me something, you know, by the beginning of next week, I'll send it out to them. You have anything else? Okay. >> Can you can include that in the packet, please?
>> Okay. Okay, I will. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Um Okay. Next up, we have town manager bit of works. >> Yeah, real real quickly. The one we have is for the golf chumps country club or the golf course. We we issued an RFP.
Christina Bruce handled this in my office. Uh and uh we you know we advertised, solicited, got a lot of inquiries. U the price proposal and submission that we received came from our current vendor which is Sterling um
Sterling Golf Management. Um, and as you described in the, you know, attachment and materials that I I provided for you, this is a five-year procurement going forward. Um, the, um, funding amounts have increased. Um, so, for example,
right now, we've got 10% of the firstund $400,000 of gross receipts as a fee to the town with a minimum of $50,000 annually. would now if those revenues are rising so therefore if it exceeds 400,000 it would go to 16% you know kind
of like a graduated tax rate um and then similarly um if it's above 750,000 we'd get 30% of the gross receipts >> the idea being is >> you know there's a fixed cost that they have to run the course staffing and so forth and the idea is
>> if the popularity of the course is continues to increase then therefore the marginal revenue more of that marginal revenue should come to the town. Uh and fortunately, you know, the golf is stabilized and is a little more popular and the number of
competitive courses is diminished in our area and that's what's helping. As you may know, the actton took a course offline bara uh and so therefore, yeah, we got it's been helpful. Uh and also I think they've done a nice job of maintaining the conditions of the
course. Um and then also for capital improvements they're proposing 2% of the gross revenues devoted to capital improvements. Currently that's 1%. Um so what happens is is again they they you know that's why you competitively procure this. There was a number of
interested bidders uh who obtained the proposal. Again it's a sealed bid process and and obviously doing this is and I think the fact of how you know how well things are running out there they've increased it. And then finally on the on the clubhouse, um that's a
more challenging and it's always been a more challenging procurement. The monthly rent is $700. That's a $100 per month increase above the current monthly rent um at the clubhouse. Um the the again we we've been the town has been
fortunate. Sterling Golf Management has managed this facility for 30 years and we've bid it every five years and in some cases there have been other biders. This year there were other biders who pulled it, including locals, but didn't bid. Um, but we've been fortunate and I
and I I know because when people are upset with the golf course, we hear about it. You probably hear about it as well. And I can I can honestly say in the last five years, it's really been a very positive trend and positive experience. And I think in summary, I'm asking you to to approve the bid awards
for the um for the golf course um operations in the function hall and pod management to Sterling Golf Management for another 5-year period as presented. >> Paul, if somebody rents the function hall, does the town get the money or does Sterling get the money? >> Sterling gets the money, but they pay us
the rent. And then also they have a license from the town, >> right? Um, so and again the challenge there is and it's a challenge with golf in general. People just don't can't have that amount of time. You know, they they, you know, right now it's a challenge to give people time to play
nine holes of golf, never mind the old days when it'd be 18. And that's why the function hall never caught on for people to stay after they play. And then also just the structure itself doesn't lend itself. golf mean you got to go up those ridiculously large stairs to get there from the golf course side I'll go all
the way around to the front um and so the function hall is is it's never you know it could it can't stand alone um even though we bid it separately and probably in the future we'll probably bid them jointly um but it's yes so Sterling gets that and obviously we want
to make it attractive for them to continue to invest in it um and so you know that's that's really where it >> yeah go ahead who sets the rates um for nine holes or the rental of the of the room or
>> they do but they discuss that with us annually. So know before the season's open the DPW director Christine Clancy and I will meet with you know Sterling Golf and discuss you know well what's your plan for the upcoming year in terms of rates operations what improvements do
we need to do in terms of tree work and and so forth. Um, generally what really dictates it, Ben, is the market. You know, they know. I mean, it's it's it's I mean that somebody like Jeff who golfs regularly, I know they know like, oh, what are they what are they charging, you know, over here and what are they
charging over there and, you know, what's the private clubs? And this is a it's a public course and it has its own market. Um, so that's really what's driving it is is really the market in terms of the popularity of golf. I mean, the heyday was Tiger Woods. I mean you
you couldn't keep people away from the courses and tiger and then it kind of waned now it's becoming more popular. So the answer to your question is p they they f have the final say but the town has an active you know role in terms of discussions because you know it really
needs to be a win-win because if they're if they're driving people away or losing revenue they still have those same carrying costs. Um so it's really driven by what the market is out there. >> Great own little niche. I mean, people who are not like great golfers say that's a place they can go and relax,
>> not be intimidated by like some of the private courses and stuff like that. >> I think that's the benefit of that course. >> Yeah. >> Because beginners are welcome there and Right. And and they just don't want to price people out and that's why you see all the they really try to attract young
and new people coming in or or seniors at the other end. Um, and that's what they do with their pricing programs. And they'll have a a program where you, you know, Sterling manages about 10 courses and they'll have one where you can buy like a pass where you can go to multiple courses and so forth
because and then they also support the high school in Dhoba Tech which is getting those kids onto the course as well. >> So 2% of annual sales which I think it's at 700 and something thousand here. >> What happens if there's a major capital improvement? How does that get resolved?
That's why we have the enterprise fund. And so every year we put that money into that. So, you know, there's going to come up and that was how we fixed the clubhouse when we had repairs. But also, if there comes an issue where we got to deal with the irrigation system on the course and so forth, we go to town meeting, get that vote to uh, you know,
to use that funds. Very similar to what we do with the forum, the ice rank. Same thing. We run an enterprise fund, have retained earnings or enterprise free cash. And that's sort of our fund. And then if it gets real significant, we'd borrow. You know, we would have to borrow over a period. But, you know, the
other thing that we're going to do over there is we're going to install cameras. I mean, there's a theme here, you know, cameras because we really want to again increase the visibility on the course out there because that helps them in terms of pace of play, but it just also
helps with security out there. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, I need a motion to support that. >> Except for bids. I'll make a motion that the board authorize the town manager to enter into a 5-year agreement with Sterling Golf Management, Inc. of 212
Kendrick Street, Newton, Mass, for the operation of the golf course and the function hall and Pub at Chumsford Country Club. >> I second that. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you.
>> Next up, town manager reports. >> Yeah, real quick. This is a good news report tonight. Um, since our last meeting, as you see the letter data, November 13th, we received notice from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Envir and Environmental Affairs, Department of
Energy Resources that the town of Chson has been awarded a $1 million grant under the climate leaders community decarbonization accelerator program to support the installation of solar photovoltaics at at the two fire stations that are planned for
construction, as well as groundbased heat pumps or you know we call geothermal um for the Roberts Field Station. Um this has been mentioned in in the past at you know discussions with the
um building committee and so forth. Um and this is just the you know great news um and expected news because you know we knew there was a narrow window because there are very few climate leader communities. there's funding available and uh and this basically will pay for
the solar panels and the geothermal uh uh at the Robertsfield station. So, it's just it's just great news and um you know just it's just great to formally announce uh and >> move forward with that. So, we'll be taking what what what are currently the
least energy efficient buildings offline and bringing on hopefully new new online stations. >> That goes a long way. Yeah. >> And we qualified for this. Is this the work that the >> the sustainability commission did? Yeah. Exactly. And and
>> so it's paying off. >> Yeah. And and you know, again, Christine Clancy, you know, again, was sort of the department head who oversaw this, you know, with Chris Haley, her, you know, energy sustainability coordinator, and they moved with Hamdi who was from left
field to get the application in and and we got it. Uh the next thing is on is a more traditional grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. This is the um sustainable materials recovery program, i.e. the recycling program. And
this this year, Chad earned eight points and we'll receive $16,800 that we use to support recycling activities in the community. And then the last thing on my report is the traditional monthly double pole report. Um
again the neverending double pole report th this what's happened in the last month three three double polls were removed 11 were added uh so it's a plus 8 to 54 the most important thing as I note in my memo is Verizon is the last one in the cycle so the fact that
basically 19 of the 54 are at Verizon means that you know those double polls are virtually you know at that last stage and I'll keep pushing Verizon as well as Comcast Uh, and the others are basically those third party providers that I push National Grid on um because we're
obviously getting to the winter conditions. So, good news is is they they have less compelling work to do. And the bad news is as soon as we get these the you know snowbank conditions, they can't do this work. So, I I just wanted to let you know that we're still monitoring this and we'll keep pushing
them to remove the double pole. So that concludes my report for this evening and I just have a few appointments. >> Thank you. Go ahead. >> You can go ahead. >> Okay. The three appointments to the capital planning committee um Path Wisla
of Dunville Road to the Capital Planning Committee for a three-year term ending unexpired ending June 30th, 2028. And then two for the permanent building committee, Karthik Cajun Narun of Bellia Drive uh for a term ending June 30th,
2028. >> Had some punk twist harder than >> those are harder than Miss Polish name, right? And Michelle Dela who who we met at the last permanent building committee uh and was very interested and we were very impressed and um and that would be for a three-year term ending June 30th,
2028. So again, that would um fill the vacancies on those committees. >> Anybody have questions or anything comments? No. I'll take a motion. >> I'll make a motion that uh the board authorize the town manager's appointments as presented.
>> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor? I >> Okay, now we have some meeting minutes. have anything on these? >> I didn't catch anything, but if there's spelling, you know, Pat get catch it. [laughter]
>> I always look to Pat first. I do when I look up and say, "Does anyone have anything punctuation also? Okay, I'll take a motion. >> I'll make a motion that the board approve the uh regular meeting minutes
of October 27th, 2025 as presented. >> I'll second that. >> A motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I will abstain because I wasn't here. >> Motion passes. Four in favor, one extension.
And we are to um raise our reports and referrals. You want to go first. >> Uh just very quickly um the capital planning committee started its work um last week. We'll be meeting again um this Wednesday evening. Uh I believe those meetings are televised. Uh but
we'll be meeting here in this room 6:00 p. p.m. um Wednesday evening for capital planning. And then um um we also have a school building committee meeting on Thursday evening at the school committee meeting room.
>> It's at the Elks, not the Elks. >> Oh, it's at the Elks. That's right. I'm sorry. Um that's right. We are moving to the Elks this time, but because we're going to do a visioning session right after. So, um so we will be meeting Thursday evening um uh a little bit
prior >> six o'clock and then 7 o'clock is the visioning session. >> Okay. Okay. Um, so 6 p.m. um the school building committee will meet to uh discuss its business and then 700 p.m. at the Elks we'll be doing a visioning session. So anybody at home that's
interested in um helping to um uh put forth ideas and and so on of um you know what may be appropriate um going forward for the different grade configurations in the building etc. um please attend and um offer
assistance. Thank you. >> Um yeah, I have a a few this evening. Uh first this this uh actually this morning into this afternoon. Um Aaron and Paul and I were at Triton Systems on Apollo Drive. Uh you may know that they they have a headquarters over uh next to
Press Cafe while they have a new facility now on Apollo Drive. They're doing a lot of really good stuff there. Um anyway, they had a ribbon cutting there. So, um you know, congratulations to them. There was also a ribbon cutting, uh a while ago at Jersey Mike's in Drum Hill. Um so, u good food there.
So, if you're hungry sometime, stop and have a sub at Jersey Mike's. Um couple weeks ago, I went to the cultural council meeting. They are in the process now of uh selecting who will receive uh grants from them. every year they get a
a pock you know pocket of money from the town I mean from the state. This year it's about $20,000. So they solicit um applications for for that money. They received 37 requests with for a total of 46,000 dollars in requests. So obviously they
can't give they can't um grant every request. So they're in the process of evaluating um those applications for who's going to get uh some funds. Um, this Saturday, November 22nd, the Chancellor Friends of the Library is
going to try their first crack at a popup book sale at Navigation Brewery from 12 to 400 p.m. So, you can come by and buy a used book while you're drinking a, you know, a cold beer. Isn't it a good idea? Yeah. So, we'll see how that works. It might they might might
become a regular thing. And then just a few um Thanksgiving related things. Uh as the usual that uh Thanksgiving Eve there will be a walk on and through Thanksgiving forest which is at the end of Janet Road uh starts at 2:00 p.m. So
all are invited for that and looks like it's going to be pretty decent weather. Um and secondly the Jones High football team. I know they lost their last playoff game but they get to play their traditional rivals Bill Ricka on Thanksgiving Day. So, uh, good luck to
them and hope they'll bring the, um, what's it called? The cup >> used to be the Burke K. >> The Burke Helen cup, you know, to Chford. And then lastly, happy Thanksgiving to the residents of Chfordwood. That's all I have.
>> Well, I'll start with conservation. We all received an email from John Wright and it seems that things are moving at Kulis Farm the way they asked and um but I haven't talked to Carl Biskoff since town meeting so I haven't heard much
from conservation pretty much same thing with cemetery Dave Superintendent Bole and I will be attending a uh seminar for the New England cemeteries in December for a couple of days and then the parade committee is meeting for the first time in a while tomorrow night to discuss
banner sales for the winter banners >> that are up. They look nice. >> The winter ones are already up. >> You see them in the center? Yeah. Yeah. With the American logo and the star. Yeah. >> Oh, I haven't seen them. >> Yeah. When you get a chance, they they're very impressive. I noticed them. >> Oh, I I like the proof. But >> on Saturday,
>> I uh I'll be curious to hear how sales went. >> Yeah. >> Because I know I have a lot of people approaching me like that haven't gotten them asking me how they can get them. >> So, I always direct them to uh jumpsup.org. or.com or whatever. Um,
you'll get there easy enough. And pretty much that's all I have. >> Okay. Aaron, >> um, I could do this pretty quick. Um, my apologies obviously to two of the boards that I missed their last meeting. So, Vinyl Square met. Um, obviously
treelighting was um, on their their calendar as as well as working through their 2015 recommendations. Um, and I know that their next meeting for 12:15 has been cancelled. Um, I'll update you on anything that comes out of the next
meeting. Um, and that was on the night of our tri board meeting. And then the, uh, council and aging board. I will get to the next one and have an update from them. Um, the planning board um, met the other day. There were, you know, again, as always, they're they're pretty busy.
Um, we got to see the presentations on the two fire stations. um which was interesting opportunity to kind of see that from a different lens. Um Chunford Mall continues to be continued. They had their hearing in their vote on 191 River
Road that was Commonwealth Construction Utilities wanted to go on that um lot that's over there and that failed to um move forward. I don't recall what the vote count was. Um and then 131 um uh
Princeton Street, which is the liquor store up on um up on North Chford, that uh that had another hearing there, so that's continued. So that's still open item. Um and then uh we saw a little bit of it tonight, but that the uh the
renovation of the hotel into hotels, residents, adult daycare, and a pizza shop. So, they'll I'm sure the pizza shop will be coming before us again at some point, but that that did um that did get approved what they needed approval from the planning board from
that did get approved for um for what they needed to. So, that was uh I think this tonight was just kind of the next step in that process. So, uh they're in good shape. I did go to the capital planning uh committee just to sit in on that and hear those list of unfortunately I think all critical
projects. Um, but that was very interesting there. Nothing really stood out other than again we have a lot of capital needs and a lot of old buildings. Um, and then uh I saved the age friendly um committee for last. Um, this is a online
meeting that they get to do with Paul and Chief and and um that that committee over there. And there's always, you know, they're always just working on something. Um, you know, they continue to work towards their strategic plan objectives to align with what the town
adopted. Um, and one of the things that that kind of stood out to me, and Paul can correct me if I'm wrong if he recalls, but they do their growers row, and this year it was over 2,000 pounds of fresh greens um that they were able to um provide. Um, 900 pounds of that
went to table of plenty. Um, but I think one of the things that definitely caught my eye is u my former colleagues up on Elizabeth Drive um at Brooks Automation. I did not know this. I don't remember it being there when I was there, but they have four 25 ft beds and generated over
400 pounds of food this year. So, um I think with with food insecurity being in the news lately, um that those are those are good news things and and although not a liaison assignment, um I think this is just important for me to share
personally. Um you know, we try to give to the food pantry once in a while when we can. I know people think about it a lot during the holiday season. I think people think a lot about it when you know we had this this government shutdown. Just don't forget there's a constant need. So, I had to remind
myself of that and we brought some stuff down. There was a line of cars like Chumsford supports us. There was a line of cars out there for donations and they were opening up trunks. Um, it just reminds me on, you know, for all the differences we have in this community.
There's one thing we do and it's we show up to support our fellow citizens, the food pantry needs, the schools. Um and that was just further echoed by um the opportunity to attend the um the Veterans Day celebration and to see all those people there and the and in the
football team and stuff like that. So um people ask me what how what what it's like being on the board. Um when I get to see things like that and attend events like that, um it just shows me that again despite our differences, this is an amazing community. Um and it and
it's an opportunity to participate in those things. So, um, I'm going to keep showing up and I ask my fellow residents to keep coming out there and showing up with me. So, thank you. >> Well, I give like to give a shout out to the Veterans Day Committee. They did a
fantastic job and even though it was greatly well, very well attended, a lot of younger people, which I was happy to see, even though it was bitterly cold that day. >> Um, and I don't have anything, so I'll take a motion. Motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion and a second. All those in favor? All right. >> All right.