Okay. If uh I could have everybody's attention. Um I'm going to call to order this May 18th, 2026 meeting of the Council Select Board. If you would join me in a 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. >> The first item on our agenda this evening is a joint meeting with the Chancellor Housing Authority Board for a couple items. the first filling the vacancy on the Chunks Housing Authority
board. Um we did have two um potential applicants who submitted applications for this position. Uh Taran Angel and WendyRandle. And I think that's the only two applicants that we have unless there's
somebody else in the audience. Okay. Um if either of them are here, if they want to come up and talk to us a little bit about why you want the position. I see Taran. >> Hi. >> Thank you for having me. Um, I'm interested in this position because I
work in public health and I know that there's a real connection between public health health and housing and I wanted to just be a part of this to try and help fill those gaps that might be here in the community. and I work very closely with our residents, so I know how to connect them to services,
resources. Really good with community engagement and social media and things like that. So, I just thought this would be a great opportunity to even do more for the community than I already am. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thanks. >> Um, is Wendy here? Okay.
>> Hi. So, I served uh five years previously and I've just lost the position. So, I was hoping if I had an opportunity to get back on. I have a real estate office here in the center. Um, so I work with a lot of, you know, real estate related things. Maybe I have
someone that wanted to um look into building veteran homes and things like that. So, I was just hoping to get back on. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, we have two candidates. Uh, do we have a nomination for either or both?
I would like to make a nomination for Wendy. Just >> want to go to the microphone. They can't hear you in the audience. >> Lyn Marceller, I'm currently on the housing authority and I'd like to make a nomination for WendyRandle. >> Okay. Do we have a second for that nomination?
>> Okay. Laura, I mean Mara. >> Okay. >> I'll move uh for Taran Angel to be a candidate. >> All right. Do we have a second for that one? >> Second. Okay.
Okay. So, both candidates have been nominated and seconded. Um, I will do a roll call vote so we can see who's the next who's going to fill the position. Uh, start with Lynn. >> Wendy Grand, please. >> Mara. >> Wendy Grand. >> Um, do we have any other of your members?
>> Two additional members. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. And >> Wendy as well. >> Okay. So, and then Aaron, who are you voting for? >> Um, Taran. >> Okay. Dave,
>> Wendy. >> Okay. >> I'd like to support the wishes of the housing authority and vote Wendy as well. >> Okay. And John, >> I'll vote for Taran. >> Okay. And I'm going to vote for Wendy. Uh, she was on the on the board before
and I think she'd be good to be back on it. So, congratulations, Wendy. Um, so we have another item on the agenda this evening and that is um an intermunicipal agreement for affordable housing services between the town and the housing authority. Paul, if you want to
tell us a little bit about this. >> Yeah, thank you madam chair. Members of the housing authority board and and ch select board. Um what we're seeking to do here is result of the transition between David Hettes leaving as executive director for the housing
authority and myself departing as town manager. We've had a basically an understanding or an arrangement over the years that the housing authority fulfilled the many housing functions for the town of Chsford and and with with David's direction and the assistance of
Kirk uh as our new director and so forth, we decided to memorialize them into a document uh that Christina Anderson of the housing authority produced. And um it's my understanding the housing authority has already agreed to the agreement, you know, and basically just for people watching understand the housing authority assists
the town. It many of the town's affordable housing responsibilities in terms of monitoring compliance, developing the weight list for 40B and other units that come on the town. um keeping track of our subsidized housing um list, which is the list that deems
whether we've met 10% under our obligations to the um state under, you know, chapter 40B um and and other compliance efforts. So again, this agreement memorializes that. Um it's, you know, it's obviously an
intermission between the municipal entity of the the housing authority and the select board. So obviously it can be terminated any at any time and there's no compensation for the service. So again it's it's really been a tremendous assistance of the town over the years and again hopefully this guides the two
boards and officials moving forward >> and you said the housing authority has already approved. >> Yes. Yes. Good. Y >> All right. Uh any questions for the town manager? Any questions from housing authority members to the town manager or but to correct the executive director
since he's going to be responsible for it too. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> It's important to just remember that this really just memorializes the work that we've been doing with and for the town for the past two decades. Like Paul said, it's it it has no change in the authority of the town. All the decision-m lays with the town in and of
itself continuing moving forward. You know, this just memorializes what we're kind of already doing and would love to continue to do. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. There's no questions. I'll take a motion. >> I move that we accept >> Oh, I'm sorry. I move that we accept the
uh >> memorandum of understanding. >> Sorry, Jeff. >> Okay, we have a motion. >> I'll second it. >> Okay, motion and a second. All in favor? >> I I And I guess you guys can Well,
you've already voted for it. You said so. Okay. >> Okay. Great. Thank you again. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you. And so I'll take a motion to adjourn the joint meeting. >> I'll make a motion that we adjourn the joint meeting of the housing authority and the select board. >> Second.
>> Okay. A motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Thanks very much for coming. And you're welcome to stay for the rest of our meeting. >> We understand if you don't. >> I'm sure I'm sure it'll be a good one.
>> Thank you. All right. Uh now we're at and before we go to there I just need to I I forgot to make the announcement at the beginning that we are being recorded and broadcast live by Chancellor Tele media um and also uh recorded for later rebroadcast.
So now we will go to public service announcements. >> Okay, first thing we have on the agenda is a Memorial Day proclamation. Excuse me. Town of Chel proclamation in recognition of Memorial Day May 25th, 2026.
Whereas Memorial Day, May 25th, 2026, has been set aside as the annual day of remembrance for those men and women who served our nation during times of conflict and as members of the armed forces. And whereas we pause this day to especially remember those who made the
ultimate sacrifice of their lives to defend the freedom of all American. And whereas we honor the service and sacrifice of all veterans of all wars, conflicts, and join the living veterans of the town of Chsford in expressing our gratitude to their fallen comrades. Now
therefore, we the Chser Select Board do hereby proclaim Monday, May 25th, 2026 as Memorial Day 2026 and join all the town residents in recognitions of deceased veterans of Chsford on this solemn day.
signed the 18th day of May 20 26. >> Regina, do you want to take >> Yep. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. I'm Regina Jackson and I want everybody to know that on Monday, a week from today, is Memorial
Day and the Chsvit Memorial Day observance will be in North Chsvit this year. So, the American Legion Post 313 is the host post. So, if you would like to be in the parade and everybody's welcome, um, please assemble at 9:30 at
the American Legion Post 313, which is on 90 Grten Road. Um step off will be at 10:00 shop and we will go down proceed down to Vinyl Square and then we will have a program
um at the square and then after the program the North uh North Chumps Town Hall is inviting everybody to come over for ice cream and cupcakes and if anybody has any questions just please
call um call my office 978-2505238 and hopefully we'll see you all there. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Then there will also be a ceremony to dedicate the vinyl square town tower clock to the town's veterans immediately
following >> immediately. Yes. >> Yeah. Virginia. >> That's Virginia. >> Oh, okay. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Um I'm standing in for Bill Gillette, Virginia Timonss, uh 28 Love It Lane. So, um, Bill wanted to be here
to announce that following the ceremony, as um, select board member Mr. Hardy said, there'll be a dedication of a new street clock in Vinyl Square. Uh, Bill organized a team of volunteers who did
the research on the clock, did the fundraising for the clock, and then worked collaboratively with the town leadership um, to get it installed. And we're really looking forward to that. and they'll have a special dedication to the veterans um at that time as well.
So, if you are in the square, we really encourage you to come to the clock dedication after the ceremonies before you go get ice cream. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we have a few more. >> Yeah, got a couple more. The Chumpser
DPW food drive for the Chumsford food pantry will take place on Friday, May 29th at 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Market Basket at 288 Chumster Street. Additional drop off locations will be the DPW at 9 Alpha Road, Monday, May
18th to Friday, Friday, May 29th. They're open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 400 p. a.m. Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. We look we look forward to working with you to support
the Charles food pantry. And thank you for everybody for their generosity. We also have the how should we make the LRTA buswoods better. They already had their event last month, but they also there's a survey. You can go to
surveymonkey.com backra-frsa-fy to take that survey. And we also have the Chumsford Market on the Common announcing their two thou 2026 season every Saturday starting June 6 to October 10th from 11:00 a.m. to 9
or from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. locally grown and artisan fra crafts. It's always a good time. I think that's about it, right? >> Okay. Thank you. All right. We're now at the public input um section of our
meeting. So, anybody who wants to address the board on any topic uh is free to come up. And just a a reminder that you are limited to three minutes. >> I'll be less. Uh Lin Marcela Chelsea parade committee. I know Jeff has mentioned the parade at your meetings,
but I just wanted to make a few comments about our plans for the 4th of July and the 250th celebration of our country. Thank you to all the businesses and families who've been sending in sponsorship and banner orders to support the parade. It is very much appreciated that DPW will start hanging the banners
this week. We are inviting businesses, organizations, and families to enter a float in the parade. We have great prize money, 1,500 for first prize. Second prize is a thousand, third prize 500, and we will also have a couple of honorable mentions for a 100. We have a
lot of great things planned for the parade, including some new bands and participants, and we think it'll be a fabulous celebration for the town and the country. We will also be having a great concert on the common during the country fair. Nashville star and Chumsford girl Jilly Martin and her band
would will be with us again this year and they were such a hit last year that we hired them right away that night. Um we have quite a few committee members retiring this year. Some of us have been on for 20 years. So as Jeff has mentioned, we're searching for new committee members. It's a great
committee to be a part of and Jeff and I know we've enjoyed it since 2005. Yeah, long time. So, >> finally, it's been a pleasure to have Paul Cohen working on the parade since he came to town. He has helped us in many ways, co coordinating important details with the DPW, the police
department, and the fire department. At one time, before the DPW stepped in to help us hang banners on the light poles, Paul was climbing ladders with us on very cold days >> and stuffing envelopes >> and stuffing envelopes and doing all all the menial tasks that we have to do. So,
we certainly appreciate everything you've done for us, Paul, and you will certainly be missed. We wish we could talk you into staying, but I guess that's not going to happen, right? >> But I thank everybody, and we hope to see you all on the 3rd and 4th of July. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Uh my name is Nicholas Spanelli, 11 Golden Cove Road. um kind of got a lot to say, but we'll try to keep it short, I guess. Only three minutes, so we'll see how this goes. >> We'll give you we'll give you a little bit of a break there. >> Oh, all right. Yeah, we appreciate it. Um I'd like to start off by just expressing my gratitude for just the
community of Trumpert and everything, the outreach this town has given me is it's been crazy. I'm a I've grew up in Trumper my whole life. Uh went to high school here, played sports here, and everything. So, I'm a lion through and through. I love this town and its people
have just been absolutely remarkable and it's been motivating me to get through this injury more and more. So, I just want to express my gratitude for this town and I can't thank everyone enough for everything they've done to help me get through this. Um, I'd also like to I mean continue the gratification, but um
for instance like my family, especially my mom. She was by my side in the hospital every single day. Can't thank her enough for everything and she was always been there for me and especially this tough time. So, thank you, mama. I appreciate it. Um, going further, um, my
union, the guys I work with. Um, I a lot of people say it, the fire service is truly like a brotherhood. And I didn't really think much of it. I mean, I work with those guys. I go out with those guys all the time. I didn't really put too much thought into it, but it really truly is. Um, those guys were
by my side in the hospital from the day I went in. Some guys were spending the nights there with me and um, their support and everything. I I want all them to know I will always have every single one of their backs through thick and thin. And that's whether we're on the fire ground or anything. And that's
even off the job, I'll always have their backs no matter what. Um like to also thank the president, Rob Alban. Um he has gone he's so Rob's obviously union president. He has jobs to do as the
union president. Stuff he has to do. But Rob has gone above and beyond for me and everything he has done. I can't even put into words. Um, obviously it's not on you guys. I got to figure it out myself. But getting paid and everything, I wasn't even conscious or I was barely
being conscious in and out of it and I had to worry about my recovery. But Rob has been working every single day to make sure I'm covered and get through that. So, I can't thank him enough for everything he's done and just it's unbelievable. It really is. So, yeah,
the community, my family, the brothers I work with, my friends. I just I I can't thank everyone enough for everything that they have done for me. So, just want everyone to know that I'm truly grateful for everything and uh you all motivate me to get better every single day. So, thank you.
>> And we're so glad to see you. Good evening. Rob Albon, One Driftwood Drive. Madam Chair, members of the select board, thank you for having us tonight. Um, another name you may know me by is Mr. Impatient. I'm just going to put it out there. Um, you know, I I I I'm very appreciative though in the fact
that the select board is going to be addressing the this this bigger concern that is on our plate going forward. Um, as we all know, the governor did file a bill that um, you know, through a lot of hard work and dedication through our our state organization, the members of this local, I'm very proud that the governor
decided to put that bill forward to to try to get Nick covered in the long run, uh, you have some very important topics to discuss tonight uh, in your executive session. I will be on the record saying that I am disappointed that it is an executive session. Um, as a point of order, I would hope that something that
of this magnitude would be brought up in the public session so that way everybody in the public can kind of hear the conversations going on regarding that. Um, you know, I'm my concern is that I don't want the select board to be gaslit by certain members of this community, whether it's be the town manager or the
fire chief. As we know in the past, uh, there's been misrepresentations about the continuous communication that's been brought forward to our our local. And I can tell you right now uh unequivocally that's all 100% false. We haven't been made aware of anything going forward. Um
to speak to that point, we're at now day 13 for a freedom of information request regarding communications with the town. Uh we're very disappointed in that. But again, our our fight isn't with the select board. We know you have a very very difficult decision going forward and we hope that you consider uh what was brought forward to you and to help
one of our own and Nick and um work with us to to kind of make sure that this passes the goal line at the state house. So thank you for your time. I appreciate it >> and and and just a note Rob that after executive session we will be coming back to open session to kind of talk about what we do talk about in
>> correct but we're not in there for any deliberative actions regarding it. Correct. That >> that's correct. >> Thank you. Anybody else? Sure. John, >> John Harrington, 149 Boston Road. Uh, just want to bring up a comment that I
would like to make to the chair. Uh, about a year ago on liquor licensing, there'd be a two week, you'd have a hearing, then you'd wait two weeks to make a decision. that in the past has proved to be very well
done. But what I'm saying there, this board will have an example of information in that two weeks time that they don't get that particular night when there's a presentation. It's only
two weeks and in the past there has been things brought up that the board was not aware of that helped them make a decision. And for this board uh not this particular board but the previous board they said hey we don't need that uh
we'll make a decision right then and there and I think that's shortcutting basically what the residents would like to see have input those two weeks and I think it's very very important so people aren't saying it's being snowballed right past everybody and uh I would hope
the board would reconsider bringing back that policy. It proved to be very well done for over 30 some odd years as you mad chair realize you've been on a long time. You know that and John as as well.
So uh and when you have people come here representing their their clients they're always going to say, "Oh, we have to move real quick. The ABCC takes a long time to make a decision." Well, wait a minute. this board has a right to say
hey two weeks we'll give you a decision which is very nice and and it's happening in in the past we shouldn't wear the board should not worry about what's happening down the road with the ABCCC you're giving that individual a license possibly and uh they should make
you should not make any exceptions that's all I have to say on that thank you >> anyone Is there anybody on Zoom? >> No, not for open session board purpose. >> All right. So, uh we'll go >> committee vacancies. >> Committee vacancies.
>> Committee vacancies as of 518 2026. We have one unexpired term on the age friendly imple implementation committee. We also have one unexpired term on the CCA town hall advisory committee. We also have one unexpired term on the
clean energy and sustainability committee. We have five openings on the commi commission on disabilities, one unexpired term on the council of aging and one unexpired term of the cultural council and one unexpired term of the
diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Four unexpired terms of the holiday decorating committee, one unexpired term of the military covenant task force and parade committee. All are welcome. And as I've you know it just because we're getting close to the the
date doesn't mean you shouldn't join now because this is the time that we do a lot of our I mean obviously we work all year to get prepared for this time but this is when we put everything together. So it' be very good for somebody new to be able to watch how we how we proceed
with that. And anybody if is interested in serving on our town board of committee, please complete an online application available to the town on the town website. Or for more information, please contact the
town manager's office 978-250-5202 or TM office at shelfordmma.gov. >> Thank you. All right. Next up is uh a report about the Barney playground. Yeah, we have our uh public works director Christine Clancy here this
evening and we have um Kim Riley from the railroad foundation uh to present a donation. So Christine, if you come up here and uh just provide the bit of perspective and background for this generous gift. >> So good evening. This uh this project is
the Vanney playground phase 2. Um and so first this pictured here is the first phase that was installed a couple years ago. Um, and we left a second piece that could be completed. Um, and it was the Railroad Foundation that approached me and thought that they wanted it would be great to donate to the community. Um,
and looking for a piece of equipment that really could service all children of all abilities. Um, and I had also received feedback in other playgrounds how it's great that we're trying to um, promote equipment that is is accessed by all um, different, you know, abilities, but it would be great to have a piece where kids in wheelchairs could access.
Um so really this is a perfect timing oper perfect project perfect timing. We were starting to look at that second phase. Um this was recently approved at town meeting. It is a overall larger project. Um but really without we really was brought forth by the River Road Foundation and really bringing to the
community um identifying this need. So working together and I'll let them um talk about their organization and really they're here um we're a collaborative effort with DPW. Um this is here pictured the piece. Uh this piece will be installed later this summer. So
probably just after Labor Day um so by September um and it also includes the poured inplace um pavement but I or port in place um rubber cement so full access onto it. Um but I don't want to take away from the present really this is I want to present the um the railroad
foundation. It's really their efforts to bringing this project to fruition and collaboration. So thank you. >> Thank you Christine. Hi, my name is Julie Armmitage. Um, I actually live in a neighboring town, but I'm one of the co-founders of the Railroad Foundation, and I wanted to thank you guys for collaborating with us
on this project and just give you a little background on how our organization came to be. Um, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with an ultra rare disease when she was two. U, but being the youngest of three, we were no strangers to playgrounds. We were there all the time. However, as her needs
became more apparent, it became very challenging to take her to a playground both physically and emotionally. Um, physically, she had mobility challenges and needed mobility aids and we could not navigate a playground with wood chips. We would get there and there was no structure for her to play. And so, I
found we were sitting on the sidelines. So, emotionally, it was it was not fulfilling. We could not enjoy the play. We watched everyone else enjoy the playground and we were left out of those opportunities to build a community that I was afforded with my other kids. Um I didn't realize I stopped going to
playgrounds because of this. And then my older son one day asked us why we didn't go to playgrounds anymore. And that's when I realized um how much these barriers really impacted our family. And that was the inspiration for the foundation. Uh we've been solely working at trying to improve local playgrounds
and to build a community where kids can play together. And that's what led me to meet the Riley family. >> Okay. U my name is Kim Riley. Um exactly how Julie just said, we also have a youngest um our youngest daughter who has a rare um chromosome deletion. It
just brought us to meet the Rare Road Foundation. And then when the opportunity came um to give back to our own community here in this town, we knew it was our turn to help. Um hosting our fundraiser this past March, we were able to bring together not only our family, our friends, our kids schools, uh local businesses, but we're able to bring
together an entire community we didn't even know we had here in our own town. Um it was a reminder of just how incredible this this town really is, how supportive Chumsard could be. Um together we were able to raise funds to help make Varnney Playground more inclusive. This project will not only benefit our own family, but so many more
families, so many more children that we could ever imagine. Um, it's going to strengthen our entire Chsford community. So, we just wanted to say thank you for allowing us to be part of this and thank you for allowing us to partner with um DPW together. It's going to make a more inclusive place for everyone. >> Thank you.
>> And then we have the official unofficial check. Um, so we're going to present $10,000 that we were able to raise this past March hosting a fundraiser in name of our daughter Meline to you guys here at the select board.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Um, I guess Christine, you can take the you can take the chat. >> Yeah. Can we do a quick picture or >> Sure. Sure. Do you want it with the select board or >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Sure. We can do that. I did all the work.
That's the real one. All right. Some good news for the community. That's that's really good. Okay. Next up is a a license, a change of manager and change of officers and directors and managers on on all alcohol beverage license for
Rush Hospitality Element by Weston. Is anybody here for this application? >> Lorraine Day is on Zoom on behalf of the license holder. >> Okay. >> Yes. Hello. >> Great. Okay. Okay, if you want to tell
us a little bit about uh this and you taking over the position. >> Yes, it's good. Um Katie Blake had um received a promotion. Um she was the one on the license prior, so they asked me
if I would um be on the license. I am the GM here at the element. Um, I think I think this would, you know, it's a good idea seeing how I'm on property um, maintaining everything.
>> Okay. Does anybody on the board have any questions for Lorraine? >> Okay. Um, now are the I noticed um the hours of 6:30 a.m. to to 12 midnight. Is that what the hours are right now at that facility? Paul, do you know? >> I believe so. Yeah. No, there's no
change in hours. >> Okay. Because it just seemed earlier than what I typically expect. All right. Okay. Um if we don't have any questions, uh we can take a motion. >> All right. I'll make a motion that we approve the application for the license
change to Russell Hospitality LLC at element by Weston. >> Second the motion. >> Okay. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I >> I Anybody opposed? Okay, zero. >> Great. Thank you, Rain. >> All right.
>> All right. Thank you all. >> All right. Next up, uh reports and presentations. First is capital strategic solutions. Um is going to give a final report on the assessment for the potential consolidation of the three water districts. >> Good evening, board members.
My name is is William Keegan. Um I'm a I'm a senior project manager for Capital Strategic Solutions. We're a firm based out of Hudson, Massachusetts. And we were tasked with the with the prospect of of of evaluating the three water districts here in the town of Chamster.
We actually uh provided an update to this board. Uh it was about about two months ago that we were here last and providing you some indication of where we were headed and what we're finding up to this point. So um so what we've discovered in in terms of the final
report is that um we have um we found that some there's a lot of inconsistencies in terms of how things are actually operating with the three different districts. Um the the the purpose of the study was to determine whether or not it made better sense to actually have one district for all for
the entire town as opposed to having three three separate districts. Now there there are a few places in Massachusetts where there are multiple districts within the same town but there are also several other instances where you have multiple uh towns actually run
as one district. Um the example that comes to mind was a town that actually was a town manager and was in Dum where the Dham Westwood water district was run by one district uh for both for both communities. So what I'd like to do is just go through the slides uh uh quickly. Um,
first of all, the current there there are three districts in town. The East Chamsford Water District, the Center Chamsford, the Chamsford Water District, they call otherwise known as the center district, and the North Chams water district. Um, we have I'm going to try and read it from there because I'm
actually seeing this from I'm actually having it having a very limited view of this of this of this uh presentation from here. U let me see hold on a second. Here we go. Okay.
Better if I my eyes are not as good. I used to be good at one time. It's actually it's pretty it's pretty it's pretty far away for me. So, um I'm glad I did it this way. So, the the three the districts the three districts are different in the sense it's it's primarily by size. Uh the the east chs
water district is the smallest say of 700 to 700 750 uh connections. The Chelms Water District is the largest with about 8,500 connections and North Chelms there's about 2750 or almost 3,000 connections overall.
The the key findings that we found were that the greatest operational concerns were identified but in the study was was with these cher because we couldn't find we couldn't get the information that we asked for. Uh originally we had uh we we gone there a couple times. Myself as
well as uh my colleague uh had had gone there to actually meet with the folks there. We did talk with the superintendent a couple times but weren't successful in meeting with the staff, the office staff. So we couldn't get any of the financial information that we were looking for. We did try a couple times uh uh by email and then we
also called and and couldn't get couldn't make a connection to get the information that we were looking for. So, uh, what's even more concerning is that there was no documented evidence from our perspective that we could see from, uh, for capital planning. Uh, there was minimal staffing in involved
with the with the operation. There's only three people that actually run it on a day-to-day basis. There's the superintendent, there's the office manager, and then and then there's the, uh, there's a water plant operator. Uh, there's limited governance uh, govern the the governance transparency. It was
a concern to us as well. We couldn't find any records of their meetings. Uh we looked we we had no minutes. We had no postings of meetings. We had no uh no no uh certified votes of actions taken at at uh at district meetings to actually confirm the actions that were
taken. So we without having the information was we were put at immediate difficult diff at a at a very difficult spot to make any any solid recommendations. And then there was no financial information that we could find either. In fact, we even went so far to check with the Department of Revenue and the only statement that he had was that
there nothing had been filed since 2014, prior to 2014 and nothing after 2014. So, there was nothing nothing on the on the record that we could find. The Chelsea water district uh conversely had had actually is actually got a is a very good operation. Um we uh we had the
they had the strongest organizational capacity. They established they've established capital planning. uh they were the only ones that actually had a capital plan per se. Um it wasn't a complete capital plan because but it did actually talk a lot about the infrastructure development over over time. They actually have a a multi-year
plan that they put together. They did they did a they did a environ environmental partners did a report on the asset management uh back in April of 2024 which was actually really well done and did did a nice job of actually laying out what the needs are for for that organization. They have a robust
sta uh staffing structure. Um and they advance they have advanced cyber security and operational systems and they have strong financial reserves which are really significant for this uh for for the uh for the ongoing future of that operation. They are the largest of course so therefore they do have the
largest opportunity to pull from the from the membership of the community to pelp pay for things. North Chelms was operationally sound and financially stable. uh but they have aging equipment and infrastructure concerns um and they and they they don't seem to have a a
clear capital plan. They've done some capital improvements but they don't have a capital plan per se. The capital plan just for the for the uh definition everybody here would be a multi-year plan that will look at things that need to be replaced over a period of time. It would also lay out the finances of that
and actually come up with a financial me planning mechanism that actually help pay for those improvements. uh there was inconsistent documentation. Uh some of the information they they indicated they did not want to share with us for for reasons because they felt it was not appropriate to share. But the information that we were looking
for was stuff that was was uh for instance like looking for uh cyber security plans um you know the emergency management plans things of that nature which uh we understand that D uh D actually has some concerns over that but we wanted to just want make sure the
plans were in place and that they were actually consistent with with best practice. Uh there's no formal as I said no formal long-term planning and capital replacement plan in place. There are some vehicles that they that they've been replacing. Um, but uh actually the
only only group that actually had any kind of replacement plan was uh was the was the Chumsford district which actually uh was was looking to replace a vehicle a vehicle as well as one piece of equipment each year. So they've actually don't at least have a plan in place.
Some of the shared challenges across the three districts are that they have an they've consistently have an aging infrastructure system. Um they have all everybody has PAS uh issues requirements though I will say that uh that that two out of the three are actually uh either
dealing with it uh and actually in in the uh in the North Chamsford plant they're actually actually treating it right now uh but actually the um north the Chsford district is actually have a plan in place to actually to build some new facilities and to treat the water in
in that district. We could not find, as we said earlier, any information from from um other than to say that they were looking to try and do a pilot program with somebody, but we had we could not find any information to support that. Um the employee benefit costs across the
three districts was was actually very interesting to us because we we saw in many cases that the that the health insurance payments were much higher than what they should have been. uh we've we've identified that in uh at least two of the three districts uh the the the payments that were being made were actually in excess of what the state
statute allows. So they were in some cases being paid 100% for the for the health insurance coverage which uh by law if if you look at the health insurance uh chapter chapter 32b section 16 allows the maximum you can pay is 90%
and the employee has to pay 10% of that. the equipment replacement needs. Um, that's that's an issue. As I as I pointed out earlier, nobody really has a full-fledged plan except for Chumsford who does one one a year or one vehicle a year, maybe another piece of equipment
per year. But, um, obviously that's something that's going to continue to be an issue as as the equipment ages out. The two pieces of equipment that we identified in the East Chelmsford uh, department was so one was a 2017 pickup and the other was a 2014 GMC pickup as well. was the only two pieces of
equipment that they identified. Um there is a duplication. There's rather regulatory compliance demands made of all three uh which we think that actually could be consolidated into one compliance request and one compliance report that actually be much more efficient to do as opposed to doing it
three times. Uh the duplicate there's duplicate administrative and operational systems. Uh in other words, there's multiple there's there's three different rates. There's three different billing cycles or three different billing companies approaches that they use uh which would could all be done consolidated into one if they had one
one district for the entire entire entire community. And then for then then of course the last piece is really the the inconsistent customer service that you get uh especially with a with an operation such as East Chford if if the if the person who one person who works in the office isn't there either she's
sick or or is uh is on vacation or has isn't isn't able to come come to work for whatever reason that that day. There's nothing that there's nobody there to really answer the phone. um unless it's an emergency of some sort and they won't get reported to the superintendent um in that respect but there's nobody to answer questions or to
answer have any uh responses relative to rates etc. Um the other thing too is that the the um that the web pages for both for all three are are pretty different as well. If you take a look at uh the Chsford has obviously the most
advanced. North Chams actually actually has a decent one and the one on one for the uh for the East Chamsford website is actually fairly minimal information. It talks about what the rates are uh for the for the current year, but there's no other information. There's no indication
of when their district meetings are being held. There's no indication of when uh when their um when their annual district meeting is being held. Uh so it's difficult to know you know what kind of information comes out of those meetings in that respect.
Um so with respect to the I pointed out earlier that there's three people on the on the on the staff in East Chsford. There's the board of water commissioners that that leads the the operation. There's three three uh board members in each of the three districts. Um there's the superintendent and then there's the
office manager and the water treatment operator. Uh the key points is that there's 700 uh 700 plus service connections. It's the smallest smallest staffing structure of all three and there's limited staffing redundancy. In the event that something goes wrong or somebody gets hurt, uh it creates it
automatically creates a significant impact on the operations. Uh there's no documented backup operational structure identified. We we couldn't find any none know the information was shared with us. If it's available, it just was simply wasn't shared with us. and the North Chamsford Water District.
Um they have a uh a little more they have a a more advanced I wouldn't say a little more advanced staffing structure where they have a board of water commissioners again three members a superintendent treasurer um environmental engineer a supervisor foreman that and then he actually
supervises uh he she supervises all the operators for the department which I believe there was five um key points approximately 2750 uh service connections there are in the community um they operationally for a stable
system. Uh there's there's there was we didn't have any operational concerns about them per se. Um the aging infrastructure and equipment concerns are concerns that we that we see pretty pretty much consistently throughout all three systems. Um and there's one staffing vacancy which I'm not sure if
it's been filled or not. Uh that was the superintendent at the time we started the study. Uh where that person has been actually there was there was an interim person. I'm not sure if that person has been made permanent or not. And then finally, the council water district. We had the least concerns of all three of this district because of
course they're the largest, but then they're also the most sophisticated of all three operations. Um there's a board of water commissions, again, three commissioners, a business director/treasurer and the superintendent. Then the superintendent reports to the business director. um you have several uh different line
operations and um and and employees that belong to each of the each of the different divisions which most report all to the superintendent for operational purposes. The key points is that they have 8,500 service connections. Um most developed they're the most developed operationally and
they established the their cap their capital planning systems are actually pretty pretty far advanced in comparison to any of the three uh of the of the three that we talked about. the strong sea there's strong staffing depth and operate operational capacity. So if somebody is out sick or if there
somebody's on vacation the work still gets done it doesn't get put off to the next day because because someone's not able to perform the work. So what we did after that was to say okay what if we were to do a consolidation of all three
and to address the issue of why do we need to have three superintendents. The answer is you don't. Uh, organizationally, you could have one superintendent reporting to one board of say five members as opposed to nine members where three different boards with three with three each. You could do
a nine per instead of a nine person board, you could do a fivep person board. Um, you could have the the the the superintendent/ business director, whatever title that you want to choose for that, could actually report to the to the five-person board. Uh, then you would have effectively two different
operations. One is the uh the assistant superintendent would be in charge or the slashengineer could be in charge of the operation side and the and the treasurer/finance director could be in charge of the financial side which would address all the all the issues dealing with billing and dealing with pay bill paying doing the budgeting things of
that nature. So in conclusion, what we have found and what we recommended is that uh is that operational that there are several operational challenges um that need to be addressed that could be addressed if we if we're able to consolidate uh the
operations into one larger one larger operation for all three. Uh the financial challenges uh are significant because when you think about it, if you if you're all if you're going to hire if you're need to do the same level of work replacing pipes or or doing capital improvement projects such as building
water plants or PAS issues, you could do that collectively as opposed to individually which uh which makes makes good sense financially. U the governance challenge is having three different boards with three different policies um doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Uh and then having three rates of course is
is another concern. Uh there will there will always be some little bit of a difference initially um if you were to consolidate the three because we don't know what the level of infrastructure needs are in uh in at least one of the operations and and possibly uh we would need further evaluation of the operation
of the infrastructure needs and the other two as well to confirm what needs to be done. But at least you could at that point whoever had the most impact obviously would have to require a uh a a budget adjustment in order to to make that make that rate work.
Um we do recommend that um so immediate actions that you do shared services initiatives uh buying chemicals together buying uh doing doing contract work together as opposed to doing it separately. Um how having one contract do all all work in all three communities
all three districts rather. you actually have one of the a couple of the districts actually doing their own improvements. Um perhaps if you did uh you could actually maybe contract that work with with East CH East Chsford to actually do some of their work. Uh any one of those things any one of those scenarios would would be would be
useful. uh there'd be joint procurement efforts uh instead of you know like I said you you first of all there's only we only could identify two people are actually licensed in in all three districts right that had the the certifi certifications for procurement which I think is something that needs to be
addressed immediately as well um I think it was um it was it was Chelmsford that actually had the had the members that were that were already licensed um standardized data collection why have three different districts with three different sets the data at the end of the day it's it's one product that
you're selling. It's it's one product for the entire community. Why why have three different ways in which you can uh you you you produce the data? The data should be standardized if if at the very least and administrative coordination. You could have support uh throughout throughout
the course of the day where people could the community could could call and have their questions answered. You could have uh questions about rates. You could have questions about operations. you could have water quality issues addressed by the community uh whenever that issue came up. You'd have one person or a few
people in the office that could actually respond to those those questions and calls. Um a unified governance approach again is something that we we really think is really important by having the be having just the one board and not multiple boards creating f multiple
policies. a centralized capital improvement program um makes all the sense in the world in order to have so we have a true understanding of what the condition of the of the infrastructure is uh throughout the entire community and and that you're not creating an
imbalance if you will in one district versus the other if you have a unified system you could address it that way and then if we actually did do go through a consolidation there would be uh this would we recommended this would probably take about a three-year process in order to accomplish it Um but at the end we
would there would have to be formal legislation in order to to combine the three into one. Um but I do think that we do think that consolidation represents uh the the uh the best solution for the community at this time. Um as I said we did check and to see how
many communities there are how many places throughout the the state that we could identify. Um there's a couple um Lynfield I think has two districts within it and I and I think on the Cape there is uh there are several different villages on Cape Cod in Bonstable. Uh if anybody's familiar with that there's
there's several different villages in Bonstable and they have different water districts within that as well as well as fire districts for that matter which used to be the case here in here in Chsford. So it's an evolutionary process but at the end of the day we think in the best interest of a water of the
customer we think that this is the better approach to take. So those are our our thoughts our recommendations our report has been provided to you. Um all the details are there in the report. Um if if if additional information was made available to us we we would we would
have been happy to include it. um and we would have been we possibly could come up with a different set of results in some cases but um but that's that's the findings that we found. >> Okay. Thank you very much for the report and and just so everybody is is clear
each district is its own separate municipal agency. So this board really has no um um absolute authority over them. So we can't force any of these actions to be taken. We can definitely advocate for them. So, and having said that, if anybody has any questions for
Mr. Keegan about his report, we can ask them now. Anybody? Dave, >> I have a question for you. >> Sure. >> Hi there, Dave. Good evening. >> Thank you. Um, one of the things that I didn't see was did you encounter in the last 5 to 10 years an issue where the
town of Chford had a water problem that resulted in customers not getting water or service for some extended period? >> We did not we did not come across that. if if there was some it just it wasn't made available to us. So, we didn't see it in a report that came out of that. It
wasn't identified in any of the reports that we had. >> Okay. >> So, um but it may have happened, but we it hasn't wasn't identified. >> Yeah, I know you said you got a little sketchy information on some areas. Um the the other question is you continued to say aging equipment. I saw the lists
the long list of equipment that's out there. Was any of it on a list of this one is 25 years old and probably won't last any longer that we should really pay attention to? >> Yeah. So, any of the equipment that's uh particularly um construction equipment
is about a 20-year life expectancy and then um and it gets at that point things start to age out. They they become expensive to fix. The parts aren't as easily available, things of that nature. So, that so anything that's over 20 years old would be something that we would look at more seriously. um you you
some of the uh daily equipment such as dump trucks and and um and pickup trucks uh they can last a little bit longer but the some of the construction that's you know some of the heavy uh so back hose or uh excavators would have to be would have to be looked at more seriously.
>> Right. I was more concerned with the water components that if something fails and somebody doesn't get water that's when the problems occur. >> Yeah. So the so the water infrastructure in some cases is pretty old in some cases from where we could see. So, um, we do and and and it's not unusual to
see that in Massachusetts. In fact, Boston actually has some very old pipes. Um, but but I will say that, um, in this day and age when we're looking at trying to create a, uh, a safe water product, uh, there's all kinds of regulations
coming out of the EPA. Uh, D are are regulating this pretty heavily. uh when you have PAS concerns, you want to make sure that the pipes that that are transmitting that water to each and everybody, every household is actually um doing the job the right way. Now, I
will say that all three districts um did had all three districts did do the lead le survey and all three came back with a positive result. So, that was that was one good finding that came out of that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else? Jim.
>> Yeah. Um, is there anywhere in the report that references any adverse effects to the water takers if there was a consolidation? >> Well, we we can only speculate what happens if you actually because if because it could could be a wide range of events. One, you could have a a major
water break that shuts down the entire if it's a main main water line, it could actually shut down the a good section of that district. Um therefore that and and given then the uh the limited resource that you have say particularly in East Chford that could take longer than that if say say Chmsford who could actually
get out there and fix that in a in a quicker way than than uh than East Chelms can do that. The other issue is if if you have a boil water order uh because there's contamination the pipes themselves. Um, I worked in a community in in Foxboro, we had we had a couple
situations like that until we're able to actually get the water treatment under control. Um, as I said point earlier, we didn't see that happen here. Uh, but I will say that the older the pipes are getting, uh, the more the bigger concern that is to to address that. And by the
way, the older they get right now, the more expensive it gets to actually make those improvements. >> Anyone else? Aaron, >> I just um at the end there you mentioned that if the water districts were to join together and taken on this process that
you think it would take about 3 years. >> Um do you have any kind of sort of background on why you think it would take that long and not um less or actually even more? >> It could take long. It could take less. It really depends on the cooperation and
the willingness of the three districts to want to do this because actually as you correctly pointed out Madam Chair that the uh they are a they are three separate uh legal entities and as a result there would have to be cooperation amongst all three in order to achieve that. We laid out what we
think is a is a workable plan to actually start the process and it could actually be done based on that number if in fact there's there's there's a willingness to in cooperation to make this work. >> I think the other um thank you for that.
I think the other question that I asked the last time and and maybe I didn't ask it right at her to be more clear about it. that um my guess is is doing this you know because not only because it's a legislative processes is you know the
devil's in the details with with the three entities um pulling this off which again I think we've all concluded is obviously worth the time to look at um but do we have any examples you know over the last 20 years of two at least
two water districts merging and and what the process was like so I'm thinking you you showed up there. Three distinctly different water districts. One really wellrun, but they've got 8,000 connections um and and the other two at
varying um at at varying levels of of uh of uh structure. So, I'm I'm just curious like is there any example we can look at to see if there were lessons learned or challenges, those types of things? Um it was as I indicated earlier
that the uh there aren't that many examples there few examples where you have multiple districts within the same town. Lynfield is one and you you have you have it here and then of course in the Cape. So there aren't that many examples where that's actually been done. All right. So, I would say um I'm
happy to go back and look and and look further for you uh to see if I can find anything or even outside of Massachusetts, even in other states to see if in fact that's been done in other places uh to see if that's a possibility. >> Okay. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. No problem.
>> John, anything? >> So, since we don't have any control over it, do the voters have a control? In other words, if there was a a ballot initiative townwide, would that and and to to consolidate all three, would that
would that at least start the process so that we could get something before the legislature? And >> I suppos I suppose you could do a uh a non-binding referendum. >> Okay. >> That would say something that could be an indication of whether whether there's support to do it. Uh which is probably the only way you got to find out one way
or the other. Well, my concern my concern is that the central district will say we don't want to do it. And even if the other two say that they do, there's not going to be the the number of votes to do that. Well, I again I I always like to to sometimes use that as
a benchmark to see what is the will of the people in this situation because I do think that you know the folks in Chelmsford Senate the Senate District probably don't have as great a concern about this as say perhaps maybe East Chelson or North Chamsford. But then again, if people are not complaining
about it, they don't they may not know what they're complaining complaining about because if they don't have enough information about that as to what the conditions are of their system, then they they maybe not in a position where they complain about something that that they they could talk to, you know, fluidly. But I think if if from a purely
from a business perspective, organizational perspective, and from a financial perspective, this makes better sense. No, I I agree with you and and I think that your presentation last month and this month will will help um ad inform the voters what the problems are.
Correct. >> I think the real problem is how do we implement it? >> And so that that would be my suggestion. Um I don't think you can uh since they are three separate entities that the only way you can actually determine if there's support to do it then I think you could pursue it further from there.
>> Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Thank you. Um and I I will note that there are uh some water commissioners here in the audience uh this evening. Um if you wanted um maybe one from each um each district if there are that many could
could speak but just note that this is not um posted as a joint meeting. So be very careful about what you would say. So if any of you want to make any comments at this at this time Any takers?
>> Okay. All right. >> East Chford. >> Hi, my name is Ron Pereé. I'm the chairman of the board and I just want to answer some of the comments that are on that report uh about communication
and so on. Uh I've brought the superintendent with me and the office manager also and see and the board has gotten all this input. I would think that some of you could ask them questions if you want and uh we can
maybe clear up some of this stuff. Uh the East Johnson Water District, I've been on it for 28 years and in 28 years I've never heard anything from the town manager or from the board of selectman about anything. They've never called at
any time and said, "Gee, Ron, do you need any help over there with all these stories?" And that's never happened. We've always gotten along on our own. We use outside uh workers to fix breaks. In fact, we used the Senate district a couple weeks ago because we had a
couldn't get a hold of the regular people that we use. Uh we're very uh frugal about what we do with the money. Uh and we do have money and we do have plenty of uh capital
improvements uh to do and the PAS is about the only real thing that we're facing right now. And like I say, if you want to ask some of the real technical questions, the superintendent can answer them for you. But as far as the
communication goes, in the 28 years I've been there, anytime anybody wants to talk to us, they call up and they ask when the next meeting is, just like we're doing, you're doing now. And we have them come in and tell them to tell us what they want or what they're
thinking. And uh and that's never happened. And in this case, they sent a person to talk to the superintendent, which I'm going to let him defend that himself. And somehow or another, it got out of hand. Uh so if you want, I'll let
uh Rob Conway come up and uh uh talk to you. >> Okay. I mean, just so you know, part of what the discussion this evening will be is what our next steps are. And not that might be getting all of you in a room together. >> Well, I just want to defend some of those. There's some stuff in there that's not right. It's not fair to the
people of East Chson. We only have to answer to the state and to the people of East Chson. And the way they're making this sound is there some kind of a monkey crew going on over there. And I don't like it. Okay. >> At all. >> Thank you, Rob. >> My name is Robert Karma. I've been the
superintendent since 1999. And at the time that I came in, we were shut down by the DP who has jurisdiction over all water supplies because I am a public water supply. So every month we test our water as well as we have
sanitary surveys where the D comes out and looks at everything that's going on with the financials with everything that we're moving forward. And if we are self-sufficient, which we are, okay, they built the treatment plan in 2007.
they paid for it. There's no monies that they owe. So that's that we're basically self-sufficient. And as I said, the our boss is the D and the EPA. Right now, we're in the process of a pilot study for the removal of PAS.
We're promulgated. We'll have to have all the removal done by 2031. So if you have any questions for me. >> Okay. Okay. I think we probably don't have enough detail right now as far as
uh what you know what's in this report from from your district. >> Mr. Keegan just informed you we are a separate entity. >> Correct. >> All right. So the people of the district vote to determine what we do. >> Period. >> Right. >> So it's not the townwide vote, but it's
the people of the district. >> Right. Determine what goes on in the district. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone from the center district >> and the select board? My name is Richard Romano from the Chumsford Water
District. I'm the chair of the board. I just have a brief statement and if you have any questions. As many of you know, the towns uh talked about consolidation within the three water districts many times in the past. The overarching outcomes have remained relatively
unchanged. Full consolidation is an extensive process that would span in our estimation a decade or more. It demands major legal, financial, operational and governance restructuring. This represents a highly expensive and disruptive process when the core
operational issues uh may be uh pertaining to one one district. um recommending that all three districts commit to a costly minimum 10-year restructuring process goes far beyond the scope of the actual problem. Rateers
in the better performing districts are not asking to be absorbed into a completely new structure to solve the challenges of one district. These rateayers deserve to understand that this study's broad recommendation is not necessarily in their best
financial or operational interest, nor is it the only viable path forward. A more prudent approach focuses on targeted correction, infrastructure planning, account management, and the direct protection of the rateayers serviced by any affected district.
The district appreciates the comprehensive work and effort that went into producing this study. However, because the board and management team just received this report on Wednesday night, we have not yet had sufficient time to review and analyze the material collectively. To ensure a productive and
well-informed dialogue, we will thoroughly evaluate the study. We'll contact the chair uh of your select board within a short period to share our formal thoughts and coordinate next steps. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Sure. Christine Fitch, office manager for East Chmsford. I just want to make it clear it that it was said that we were not forthcoming with information. The first that I got
the request for information was Monday, March 16th, which does not leave anytime. I've got the emails here from Mary Ellen Kelly. I told her at that time I was in the process of a billing. She understood
that. And then the next email I get is her date of March 31st. Impossible to get that information in that time. So I take umbrage with that. And to say that we're not in financial good
standings. We have liquid as we speak of over half a million. East Chford's not hurting financially. The comment was made about if I'm out of the office. I have never once had one
complaint that somebody could not reach me or that a telephone call was not returned. Not once. So I I just want to I guess defend us to some degree. because I don't think it's fair what was put out there. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Is there anyone from the north district that would like to speak to the board? >> Okay. Um, >> madam chief, if I may make a closing comment just to put it in perspective,
>> as you know, Pat, we we we've served together 18 19 years and in that first decade of that, we attended quarterly district water meetings, joint meetings of the three water districts. That hasn't occurred in a decade. That that's a fact. Right. >> Right. Also, as you know, because you
were on the board at the time, about a year ago, I visited each of the three districts and talked about this and spoke to them and discussed this study and two occasions attended the meeting in East Chadwater district. So, let's make that fact known, too. So, it wasn't as though this is the first time they've ever heard that we're doing a study.
I also want to make make it known that um if you recall last summer before we initiated the study the select board at the time invited the three water districts to discuss this topic with the select board. None of them replied or
chose to meet with this board almost a year ago last summer. That's a fact because it's in our records and in our minutes and these meetings are televised. Um, it it's and the final thing I'll raise about a concern you asked David about an
issue. It probably goes back now about a half dozen so years ago when there was a fire on Rainbow Avenue and there was a failed hydrant situation with the fire response and the then chair of the select board Mark Karata raised the concern about the
maintenance of hydrants in the community for fire protection a essential public safety source. The short story of that is Mark had to attend an amps water district meeting. I was there. I don't know if you were there, Pat, but I know I was in attendance. I don't recall. And
basically, there were promises made. There'd be follow-up reports and data. To date, we've not seen anything. This isn't about picking on anybody or or anybody's. This is about this the essential core public safety for the town of Chamsford in terms of fire
protection. It's also about public health for Chsford. And it's also about all of the Chsford community. That's what this was for. And I and I would ask that that that's what the concern should be going forward is this shouldn't be a situation where we where
we're looking at what turf and area or section we we you know we have in Chsford. You know, we don't structure ourselves in the fire department that way, the police department, the housing authority, or any other the sewer operations of this town or otherwise. And that's what this was all driven about because we've heard the concerns
here about the struggles that residents have in terms of their utility bills, whether it's national grid for electric or national grid gas, sewer bills, and certainly their water bills. So, you know, let's just understand what the nature of this was. This wasn't a witch hunt. This wasn't to go after
individuals or interests. This was a way of how do we improve efficiencies and operations for the town of Chelmsford, for all the residents of the town of Chelmsford, regardless of where they are. And yes, as the consultant mentioned, that can be addressed over time with search charges in other areas to be fair for those sections that have
been underinvested because you're right, it wouldn't be fair for somebody who's paid, you know, higher costs and capital assessments in one district to then pay for those that are limited to or service in one district. But that's what this is about. And my hope is is that that going
forward this that this issue can be a you know something that unites and serves the community to the betterment of Chsford going forward. So that's all I wanted to say with this study and and and I wish I wish you and and everybody well and moving forward because that's
really what the intent with this is about is how can we improve things for everybody's benefit. >> Thank you madam chair. I'll I'll support that with town meeting charged this board to try to find turn over every stone and try to clean up any
efficiencies that might exist in town and that's what they asked us to do. >> Okay, Dave, >> I'm all set. >> Okay. Um I mean I guess what I would suggest there has been comments that um the one of the districts wants more time to
review this study. I think maybe members of this board would like more time to review this study and maybe go over some of the the details in, you know, in greater detail. Um, and perhaps we could set up some kind of meeting with representatives from each district. Um,
you know, there there's rep there's somebody here from every district in this room tonight. Um, I think we can reach out to them and set up some kind of meeting and start to move forward. I don't know if a three-year consolidation as as Mr. Keegan mentioned is realistic
uh no matter what we decide to do. But um I think maybe we can get started doing something and I think that's what the community is looking for and then the more we can make the community aware of of the of the differences in the in
the different districts to see how we can make them be more compatible, I guess you could say, and more fair across the board. because yeah, it's not fair that somebody in one district pays, you know, more or less than somebody in another district. So maybe there can be some way that that those rates can be, I
don't know, stabilized, I guess, for lack of a better word, or or to know why they can't be. And I think that's that involves just a lot of discussion with somebody from each district. Um, and you know, there's a lot of information in this report, but I think probably not
enough for us to even begin tonight to start to even know what the questions are to ask. So, I mean, if everybody's okay with that, I can reach out to the representatives that were here this evening and see if we can set something up and and get moving on this because
rather, you know, we don't want to leave this with this report on the shelf just to collect dust and then do another one 20 years from now. We don't need to keep doing that. >> That sound like a reasonable plan? >> Sure. Works for me. >> All right. Okay. Any other comments
before we go on to our next topic? >> I don't see any. Okay. So, next up is >> Thank just say congratulations to Paul. This was his last night. You get a full agenda. So, but best of luck to him. I I know where he was going. He's going to a really great place, too. So, best of luck to him. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, I believe Christine Clancy is going to talk talk to us about the front yard free program. >> Thank you. This is a timely presentation just because we're wrapping up our first pilot program on the front yard tree program project. Um I was before the
board, I want to say probably in the fall talking about this project. Um, and this really was a collaboration between the DPW, the tree committee, um, and really the vision of the select board, you know, the select board's goal to being to restore the diminishing tree canopy. Um, also this really this
project couldn't occur without having this without having the state MVP grant. Um, that was with Evan Balansky, town officials, committee members, and local um, residents that we were over the past couple years worked together as a team to find a sustainability related project. Um, and this project really
came to fruition um, as out as outcome of that that uh those meetings. Um so really it is a collaborative effort. The program goals um really how do we replace our diminishing canopy? Our tree canopy is unfortunately diminishing 1 to 2% a year. In the past couple years
we've tried to look at ways to restore you know just to try to plant I mean there's a lot of various reasons why tree canopy is diminishing whether it be disease development. Um also people you know just people want to have you know just also storms. some people like storm
damage. Uh so we have done over 100 trees last year. We're targeting tree 100 trees this year and going back a few years probably about 50 trees. Uh we look looking in the right of way there's limited trees to plant within the right of way. And so we saw a perfect opportunity that just directly adjacent
to the right ofway it benefits the you know the tree canopy of the rightway but also it's a benefit to the community. So this program offered a free tree within your front yard the first 20 ft. Um and it's the responsibility of the property owner to maintain that really adopt the tree, take care of it. So it's it's a
great program for the community and for for the residents. Um this program provided promoted tree values, aesthetics, um habitat, biodiversity, flood and storm water mitigation, heat reduction, and carbon goals as well.
So this this really was this was funded through the MVP project, $50,000. Um, we started this project really going this back this winter. Um, in coordination with the tree committee in DPW, we put together a uh advertisement. Uh, thank you Courtney Thompson for the public
outreach efforts and Evan Bolinsky also did a mailing. Um, we launched the application in February and quickly received a number of applications. 78 applications were received. Of that, we went through each application. Um, and also we had a dollar amount we wanted to target. So 62 ultimately were were
accepted. Uh on the the application we uh with the tree committee we selected native species 12 that they could pick from six uh species being more trees under underneath overhead wires and then other areas that were um you know larger fields and other type of uh various
trees. Uh we procured the project in March and then just this just finished uh planting really last week. just toss. >> So, if I could just ask you, you said you received 78 applications but only accepted 62. Why were the other 16 rejected different reasons?
>> It was more so we we were going out to bid so I had to go out to bid a certain project and so we were estimating and so I originally capped it at $50,000. So it was really and we were we're just just under that. So I mean maybe I could have added in a couple more but it was we didn't know what the bids would come in
as and the bids actually came in quite variable. they were ranging from um like $45,000 for this value upwards of you know 90,000. So um so it really was based on the amount funded. Um but I will like we do have a plan for the remaining applications that we do want
to continue this program. Um so next slide please. And this just shows really it was throughout the entire town the applications came in. So it just shows you know really spread um both north Chumsford, East Chelmsford, uh South Chumsford. Uh these are all the
properties and these are just pictures of the the installation so in people's front yards and I just I thought it was timely to bring this to the board just to show the success and also just how happy the residents were that people were so grateful for the program um you know
because they taking ownership of a tree in their yard and is also helping the the goals of the town and select board to restore that canopy. Um the trees were planted. It only took took less than a week to plant all the trees. The crew um they went quickly,
you know, 20 minutes, half hour at each property. Uh we also met with residents making sure the trees were in the right locations. Uh we provided tree care kits which is it's shown um is a soil moisture meter. Uh we gave each each uh resident that kit. So basically it is
helps determine if the if the soil needs more water. Um, and what I've actually heard but had heard feedback from some residents that it's great that they have that the that material to help take care of the tree. They also were given a bucket because a TR the thing with with new trees is planting is the easy part.
It's really the the watering. We, you know, we've planted 100 trees the past couple years, but even tomorrow I got to go look at some trees. You know, we're going to lose some trees in that process um for various reasons or, you know, we've had we've had severely uh hot summers. So this is an opportunity where
a resident can really adopt a tree, take care of tree, maintain it. Um so it takes 15 to 20 gallons a week of watering. It's pretty significant and that was all provided to the to each of the residents. Um and so you know what do we what do we want to continue? I think this is a
great program that we want to continue. Um Chamson Tele Media did do a news piece on this and that should be available any I think I don't know if it's this week or next week. So that's coming soon. So that will be soon on YouTube. Um, we do need to find ways to continue to fund this, I think, in a small capacity. So, of the 16 applicants
that weren't selected, I'm hope I have them on a waiting list and I'm going to try to plan them for this fall because you can do planting in the fall as well. Um, we might grow that a little more to maybe it's, you know, 30 trees. Um, continue to look for grant funding opportunities if we could go back up. It
was it was a great um pilot, but it also was a large project. It was a lot of coordination on my behalf. Our stormwater engineer tree committee helped a lot. Um, so, uh, while it was great, I think we just maybe if we continue to baby step it, maybe look at 15 20 trees in this fall, maybe another,
uh, 30 in the spring. And I just want to continue the program. Um, also, when we were out there, people like neighbors were coming up saying, "How how do I get a free tree?" So, I do think that this if we continue this, um, we're not going to see it drop off. I think it will continue for at least, you know, several years. Um, and, you know, that's
something that we'll continue to discuss on the tree committee. Um I and people always ask me how do I find out about this program? We post it on DPW but also you know the town manager newsletter. That's really where I think a lot of people did see this originally. Um also Peter Spawn from the tree committee is
here and I don't know if you wanted to say anything else about it. But thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi everyone. Peter Spawn uh 24 Fenwick and Tree Committee. Uh, I'll make this quick. I just wanted to acknowledge Christine and Courtney. Um, they did a
lot of work to make this thing happen and to make the residents feel like the town government was being very responsive to the somebody coming and digging up their front yard. So, I want to thank Christine for that. And I also wanted to comment that um, what I like
about this program is it fits a whole bunch of town goals. So yeah, tree canopies in the strategic plan, right? But um the trees are also part of the town's climate resilience effort, which we don't use that word a lot, but
combat, you know, heat and habitat loss and, you know, has like many many values besides enhancing the public's uh front yard. Uh and finally, uh Erin, I don't know if you want to make a comment, but I had a marvelous chat with Aaron. I don't know if I shared this with you,
Christine, but you got a tree and you were talking about how it's a great opportunity. The program is a great opportunity for the town to give something directly back to residents that's visible and people are excited about and I I didn't think about that,
but that's kind of a cool aspect of the program. >> Yeah. No, thank you, Peter. We Yeah, we Peter and I talked about it cuz I was, you know, bragging and getting ready to pull out pictures of my tree and and I was fortunate enough to to get an application that worked and I had the
right spot that worked. Um it the the way um you go through an application process and you get your bucket and your instructions, you really do feel like you're um at least I do and my family does, you know, we have an obligation to take care of this tree. It wasn't to me about getting a free tree. was about
hosting a town tree that's going to be on the rightway. And it may sound a little corny, but that's really um how we feel about it. And you know of I'm going out there with my bucket to water it and we're checking the days and we're checking the and then even you know one of my kids is out there now checking it
too. So, I just think it's a I know it's a tremendous amount of work and Peter and I spoke about that and I and I hope that now we've done it that we can find a way to continue to to fund some level of trees every year and have it not be so ownorous on um on Christine and her
team to go do that. But, um I just think it's a it's a nice way to connect to a town. And again, it's one of those other things where um you know, I don't see that necessarily happening in other communities. So again, I look I look forward to having the tree grow and taking care of it and um and definitely
encourage other people to get on that list. If you don't get your tree next year, stay on the list and try to get it the year after. So >> again, I do appreciate it. It was great work and come visit my tree if you want. >> Thanks. >> Any questions for Christine or Peter or Aaron? >> Yeah. Um those water bladders that you
see, are those you do those make sense or not? So, we thought we do put those on all of our town municipal trees. That's supposed to be, you know, slow basically it's a slow release. So, we thought about including it in here. Um, but a lot of times people bring a hose over and that also was a slow release.
We did provide the buckets. So, one idea that actually someone on the tree committee said if you drill some ho holes in the bottom of it, that will act as a slow release too. So, it's not as necessary for um home owners and just because they might have, you know, bringing over a sprinkler or hose. Um but it we do put on municipal because
they're going out and doing a watering once a week. So, that and it allows that slow release. So, you do see them on town. >> There is benefit by doing that. >> There is benefit um dep that's if you're going to dump all the water at once, there is benefit. Um we just didn't put them on the the town the the residential
trees, but we do use it on all the town trees. >> Okay. Hey, anyone else? >> Yeah, I um I came in but I missed the cut off date I guess and your staff was very polite about it. They said probably just want to hold your application because it might get lost in the shuffle
because you guys had already gone to bid at that point. >> Yeah. So, we will probably be I mean I have so I have a few people in line but we'll probably accept some more. So, we'll be doing a launch at some point this summer. I just haven't set a date yet and we'll do an announcement with the select board. Uh so stay tuned. my
application. >> So, get it ready. >> It's in my truck. >> Hey, anyone else want to do an application? >> How about your backyard? >> I thought they wanted it in the front yard so people that could could see it from the street.
>> All right. If there's nothing else, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Christine. Thank you. >> All right. Next up is the environmentally preferred procurement policy. Paul, if you want to tell us about this again, ma'am. >> Yeah, sort of following the green and the tree issue. This this this is the
for the update um to the town's policy. We had the first read your last meeting two weeks ago and again this is to again reaffirm the town's obligation to purchasing uh environmentally uh preferred products and the reason for this is you may recall is we there's a
grant deadline of June 1st to have re a policy that meets the state grant conditions in place. Uh and again a lot of it incorporates some of the things that we already do in terms of you know looking towards recycled content and reuse and and um activities uh and
avoiding uh unnecessary purchases uh and so forth. So um I guess I'll just leave it at that because we we kind of covered this at length last meeting. >> Okay. Does anybody have any any questions additional questions about the policy? If not, we'll take a motion.
I'll make a motion that we support the environmental preferred procurement policy. >> Second a motion. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I Okay, unanimous. 5. Very good. Thank you. >> All right, you have some bid awards. >> Yes. And good thing Christine's here
because they're all public works uh because she's sort of pushing her way through uh a series of projects. The first one is for the McCarthy roof replacement project owners project manager. Um proposals were issued by the department of public works. Uh this was a request for proposals. So as opposed
to you know invitation for bids. Four bids were submitted by uh project management corporations. Uh they were evaluated again irrespective to price. The um SooTotech AE consulting LLC was the highest ranked firm under the uh
review committee. And then once they selected that rank order they then re received SOAK's price proposal. Um and that met the project budget constraint of $75,000. So again, we're seeking the confirmation of town manager bid award as recommended
by the Department of Public Works for the contract for OPM services for the McCarthy roof replacement associated work to be awarded to SooTO Tech AE Consultant of Charlestown, Mass in the amount of $75,000. Do >> we have any questions?
Okay, if not, we'll take a motion. This is for the uh McCarthy >> McCarthy. Yep. Yep. >> I make a motion we accept the town manager's recommendation for the McCarthy roof replacement project to OPM
services and roof replacement for the work at the McCarthy Middle School. >> Second the motion. >> A motion and a second. All in favor? >> I unanimous. >> Thank you. Staying on the roof theme in schools as you know that's a big area of focus on our capital plan. This is for
the center elementary school partial roof replacement. As you see this is a rather minor project school roof. It's only um you know a product in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In this case it was a um three bids were received. Um the bids range from $17,000
as you can see. The second one was $178,000. And the third one was4 $242,400. Uh the lowest qualified bidder uh and the low bidder was CNK roofing of Hudson Mass in the amount of $17,000.
It's $11700. Um this was again reviewed by our project consultant Soo Tech. Uh again falls well within our project budget and they also more importantly have um solid references. So again, I'm seeking the uh
select board's confirmation of my bid award as recommended by the DPW um public works director for the center elementary school roof replacement project to be awarded to CNK roofing of Hudson Mass in the amount of $17,700.
>> Okay. Any questions about this bid award? >> Okay. If not, I'll take a motion. I'll make a motion. We support the town manager's recommendation to award the roofing replacement project at the center elementary school to CNK
roofing in Hudson, Massachusetts. >> Second the motion. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I thank you. Now we now move on to the drainage improvements for the uh again 2026 construction year. There were um a
project estimated cost of just over $444,000. There were 11 bids received for this work. The lowest responsive and responsible bill bidder was UEL Contractors Inc. out of Clinton Mass in the amount of 374,314.
Again, favorable project references. And so again, we seek the confirmation of the bid award as recommended by public works um for this drainage projects as presented. >> Okay. Any questions about this bid award? >> Well, we'll take a motion.
>> I'll make a motion. We support the town manager's recommendation about the drainage improvement for 2026 to go to UEL contractors. >> Second motion. Have >> a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I I >> Thank you. The next one is Sump Pump
Project. Again, quotes were received on April 30th uh for a project estimated cost of almost $49,000. Five quotes were received. The lowest response and responsible bidder was JP and Suns out of Hudson, New Hampshire in the amount of $28,250.
Again, positive feedback for references. Again, we seek your confirmation of the bid award for the Son project to JP and Sons of Hudson, Mass. I'm sorry, Hudson New Hampshire, the amount of $28,250. >> Any questions? >> Okay, take a motion.
>> Make a motion. We support the town manager's recommendation for the Sun Pump Wolves going to JP and Suns out of Hudson, New Hampshire. >> Second a motion. >> Have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I I unanimous. >> Okay. The next one is microacing
um for for the upcoming construction season. Um estimated project cost is almost $23,000. One bid was received uh the lowest responsible bidder was Seal Coating Inc. out of Brainree, Mass and their bid was 26,147
with positive references and DPW has previously worked with them. So again, we're seeking your confirmation of the bid award for the microsering the seal coating um as presented and this is not a typical currently you know in recent years this is the company we've worked
with and we've often only received one bid for this microcealing work. So we're not alarmed by this. This is somehow the the market that we're in for this service. Okay. Any questions? Take a motion. >> I'll make a motion. We support the town
manager's recommendation for the microacing to go to Seal Coating, Inc. >> Second the motion. >> Okay. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> And then finally for the hard pond ADA access Americans with Disability Act accessibility improvements uh at the
beach area. The estimated project cost was $120,000. This was funded through an ADA grant. Uh, five bids were received. The lowest responsible and responsive bidder was Feder Rico uh LLC out of Western Mass and he bid amount of 133,372.
Um, we have uh they have positive references with um shared similar work experience. So again, we're seeking confirmation by the select board of the bid award as recommended by DPW for the Hart Pond ADA improvements to Fred Rico Company of Western Mass in the amount of
133,372. >> J, any questions on this one? >> Yeah, I see that they were not the lowest bidder. Is there a reason we didn't accept? >> That's why we use the word responsive and responsible. Unfortunately, we had we had an adverse uh response to to the
low bidder. uh public works communicated with that low bidder. They were apologetic and basically would, you know, have had a change in personnel and management. So they they're not barred indefinitely, but we we're hoping to see some track record and pro positive references and to be considered perhaps
a year from now when this type of work is rebid. >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> My question. >> Take a motion. I make a motion that we support the DPW's recommendation for the Heart Pond ADA improvements to be
awarded to Frederico Corporation LLC. >> Second a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I unanimous. Okay. Thank you. So on to your reports. Paul. >> Yeah. Uh just a couple items of community concern and notice. First one
is is pertains to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation plan cleanup of the homeless encampment on the stateowned land adjacent to Route 3A in Drum Hill. Um you let me see if I can pull the graphic up because because we know there's a number of encampments up there. We want to explain this is the
area off of Parkhurst Road. You can see that sort of circled there in the red. Uh Parker Road, Route Three. Um we we meet regularly with this weekly with the police chief, public works director, health director, and so forth. At this point, all we have is this notice that's
gone out that they intend to clean out the encampment. Um Masdot did reach out to Community Teamwork Incorporated because of the impact it could have on homeless people. Um but to date, we have not received any any formal notification of when this may occur. Um, and again,
it's something that our police are not involved with because it's on stateowned property. So, I just want to make the board and the community aware that the mess out there, particularly when the foliage was down, was much was is visible. And again, we're we're we'll be working with the state and our community
resource partners to provide, you know, an alternative. But the concern with this, we've seen this in LOL and other communities, is many of these people um refuse to go into indoor shelter situations. And so it almost becomes a game of just they they end up moving
around. Um so I just again want to make the board and the community aware of this latest effort um on that property. Um the next item on my report is I want to just share the results of um the OPED funding ratio comparison that was just
released this month by the public employee retirement administration commission. I've got a copy of memo that should have gone in with the report but our finance director John Souza provided me with a copy of this report and just wanted to note that you know how do you
measure yourself you measure yourself by you know those that are similar to you in this case other mass communities and you can see I've listed um six communities adjacent to Chsford from Bara Draket LOL Turksbury Tingsboro and Westford uh again they have different
measurement dates as measured by the PERK or the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission on how communities are addressing their unfunded other post-employment or retirey health insurance liability. And clearly you can see that, you know, childhood is doing quite well compared
to our other communities. We're at a 20 over 25% funded ratio. Um followed by Westford at 9.3%, Tukbury at 8.9%. Um and then you know and going from there. So again, this is this is a concern even with some of the fiscal
challenges that we have is and and really what it comes down to is a generational fairness situation. There is no state law that says a community has to fund other post-employment benefits. It's noted as we know from our credit rating agencies, which is one of the reasons the town has a 8 bond
rating, but there's no mandate. What there is a mandate from is that we have to fund our fully fund our pension system by 2040. And we're on schedule with Middle Sex County Retirement and John Sus, our finance director, is on their advisory board to have that done by 2037. And why I mention that is the
current unfunded liability for the town of Chsford towards that op that pension liability is over $12 million per year. So this is the question of generational fairness that we talk about. Well, why are we funding, you know, the OPED liability? It's because those who come
after us shouldn't bear the cost for services that this community received in the current date. Much like we're bailing out the unfunded pension liability that that was sort of pushed upon us back in the days when the pension system was just on a pay as you go system. So that's I I just thought it
was helpful information for the community as you move forward. Um the next item under my report is the um my monthly double poll report. And I w I would have wish I could have given you better news. Um but as as we stand uh on
May 1st, the town has in the database has 87 double polls. Uh that was an increase of two from the prior month. Um and the change on that was seven double polls were removed in the month of April. Uh and nine were added. And so as
you can see there's a backlog. National Grid is always first. That's why fortunately they're moving it along. They're at zero. Um but the backlog and Verizon's last on the polls. So there's a clearly apparent backlog at Comcast. They actually took action last month,
but then new ones got added. Um so again, we send out messages to the utilities and we do monthly tabulations and again there is legislation before the general court um to provide under the municipal reform act to provide
enhanced financial incentives i.e. penalties for the utilities if they fail to act in a reasonable time manner. And um we're hopeful that that will occur, although it hasn't occurred in recent years. But again, we just continue our diligence because it just it's a safety
concern. It's often sighteline issues for double poles as well as an aesthetic concern. So that's where we are on double poles. Um, and then my um penultimate item, uh, and again, I'm
just trying not to leave you with things hanging, but we still have not had a renewal of the parking lot lease agreement at 40 Vinyl Square. Um, we'll see it on Memorial Day where the clock is in the front. That piece in the front is municipally owned and that's why the
clock's going there. Um, and it's and they're parking in the front, but in the rear, the town just completed a 30-year uh lease agreement for a dollar with the then owner of the property. The property conveyed, I think now about two years ago. We reached out to the new owner.
They they were cooperative. Oh, yes. Want to work with the town, so forth. brought it to town meeting, got the authorization for another 30-year uh term because you can't enter municipal can't enter an agreement more than five years in our case without town meeting approval for the same $1. And I just
have just have not been able to secure the deal. So therefore, the existing lease has expired. Fortunately, there's nothing going on at the site that's telling people they can't park there. Um, and so again, I just wanted to not leave you with a hang without knowledge of an of an outstanding issue. I did
speak to the management representative or slash owner, one of the owners of the LLC a couple months ago, but and I know they and I I believe what the issue is is they purchased the property obviously as an investment. And my guess is they probably have some investment goals. And
what I've encouraged them to do is if they're concerned that this lease may impact those will have a discussion with our community development director planner and and you know if necessary go to the planning board and you know then we can have shared communication and understanding so that you know we we
could get this done because much like we have the secured property in the center that the town purchased, we want to again support the the merchants and and those up in North Chswood with the with the renewal lease. So, I'm sorry I wasn't able to bring this to closure, but I at least wanted to let you know the status. And then the final one,
which is another ongoing measurement and issue is the sewer flow report. Um the the good news there is we continue to be in a drought. That's the only benefit of the drought is the sewer flow doesn't rate issues. And I'll just sort of blow this up. As you can see, our our
sewer flow is well within our permitted limit of 2.66 66 million gallons per day. For the last 12 month period, we're at 2.28 million. Um, and then what you see in the highlighted yellow is what happens in in heavy years of heavy
participate precipitation. And that's what the concern is is you know we had a period there in two out of five years we exceeded our our our permitted flow u to the treatment plant in lol and hence going back that was the issue of the um
moratorum and now the sewer connection u policy by DPW um so I guess you know for the last two years they've been below average rainfall but again we know that weather tends to be cyclical in terms of this error of climate um so again it wanted
to let you know where we stand and why I haven't been presenting them to you as regularly as we were back in 2024 because at that point, as you can see, we were exceeding our flow. So, that's that concludes my my report um this evening. >> Thank you.
Okay. Um next on our agenda is meeting minutes. >> Actually, I have one question. >> Sure. Sure. >> Paul, who owns the lot across the street, the parking lot to the left of Rose? >> Uh that's not the town. Uh I believe it's the ent I believe it's the entity
that owns the business adjacent to it but you know I don't know the name off top my head. We can get that from the assessor's records >> but they don't they don't give anybody a hard time parking. >> Right. >> Okay. Any other questions about the community reports before we go to
minutes? Okay. Then we're at minutes. Everybody have a chance to look at those and see if there's any edits necessary, corrections? >> I didn't catch anything. >> Okay, we'll take a motion. >> Make a motion that we approve the
minutes of the May 4th, 2026 meeting. >> Second motion. >> Okay, a motion and a second. All in favor? I >> Okay, very good. Okay. So, we are
at select selectman liaison reports and referrals. We'll start with John. >> Okay. This is Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Month. On May 14th, I attended a de uh DEI um uh uh
uh uh first annual rice fair uh at the McCarthy. Uh it contained numerous rice dishes from different uh nations and cultures. There was dancing and music.
Um it was really nice and uh uh the DEI will have library postings about uh AA and PI Heritage Month. Uh on June 6th, there will be a booth at
the farmers market to celebrate PI Pride Month joined by the First Parish Unitarian Church and Chamsford uh connected. That's what I've got. Okay, Jeff. >> Pretty much all my attention is focused on the 4th of July at this point and I
think Lynn gave us a good update. >> Okay. >> So, that's >> all right. Aaron, >> um yeah, just a couple quick updates. Um I was triple booked on Monday, so I didn't get to do um board of health, but you know, Donna is usually pretty good.
If there's anything that we need to know from them, they tell us or she'll communicate through me. And again, I think the the big thing with Vinyl Square action is obviously the clock's going in and we'll be able to to uh see that in person soon. Um and then we had
um a managed growth strategy that Peter was talking about, we were chatting about the other night. So, we're uh we're in a little bit of a of um a lull here. We're going to have another meeting and I think um in June where we're going to take some of the feedback
and some of the work we got um done by NEMCOG which was turned out to be really great by the way. Um they're working on a couple of grants for us to get that study to get all the studies and information that we need funded. So that work will continue on throughout the year but at this point um it's going to
get a little quiet because we need to wait on the output of those studies. We think it's going to be around $200,000 all in by the time we're done getting to where we need to get to. But, um, that's a very diverse committee and very active. And again, I can't I can't say enough about um the effort that NMCOG
has been putting in. Um, and then there was uh there's, you know, kind of couple of standard things going on on um planning board. They're already working on um things for next town meeting. Um but no, you know, no big projects to note of now. And then um I don't know
what I did with my notes there, but we uh had our first meeting of the town manager selection committee and I'm you know was honored to be uh selected as the chair of that um chair of that uh committee. So um we are our next
meeting, correct me if I'm wrong John, is the 28th, right? Is that the day we decided? I think it's the 28th. >> Um and we're inviting uh anybody from the public to come in. you're going to be able to register to come in and speak. And then um anybody that wants to
um provide comment or feedback is going to email me directly and I will disseminate that to the board. And I thank you for all of those that have already emailed me. Um just because I haven't acknowledged the reply doesn't mean that um I didn't get it. I will definitely get those acknowledgements
out. Um and then uh I didn't get to go, but I caught up a a headline. So, uh, as we all know, we have a local racer in John McKenny, and he clinched a checkered flag down at Secon for the first time in the Wheel and Modified Tour Series for a while. So, I was pretty excited to uh to read that uh
headline. So, um I didn't uh I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it, but it was a it's a big deal at that at that level that he did that. So, um >> yeah, it's it was pretty cool. And that's all I have for tonight. >> Okay, great. >> Just a couple things. We did uh several of us went to the fire station
groundbreaking today. Pretty good event. Great to see a new fire station going up, especially if you've looked in the old fire station. It really needs some updates. Uh it was going back in time is what I said and way back. So, um that was one thing we did. U the other one I
wanted to mention, it wasn't brought up, but in North Chelmsford specifically, the DT DPW did a lot of um ADA compliant stepoffs in the last month, and they were really quick. did a really efficient job at adding those and I know there's some people that utilize those
step off because it it they have people in their family that can't walk. So, uh that that will make a difference to them. They did a really good job. There was one right at two right at the end of my street in fact. So, good job by those guys getting that done quickly. They didn't leave the sidewalks in disrepair
for maybe less than a week before they were out there redoing them all. So, real nice job. >> Good. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh the only thing I have this evening is uh you know we had the some of the members of the water commissioners here this evening. Um some
sad news uh having to do with one of the North Champford water commissioners uh Bob Levit who passed away about a week ago. So condolences to his family and um you know to the other members of the water district. I know they're a very tight-knit group. Um so Bob is definitely going to be missed. So with
that we will take a motion to go to executive session. >> Okay. I'll make a motion that we break to executive session to discuss the strategy respected to the collective bargaining with Trumps and firefighters union local 1839 for injury leave
compensation for firefighter Nicholas Spanelli pursuant to general laws chapter 38 section 21A 2. Also to discuss with respect to collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters union 1839 for a new
collective bargaining agreement pursuant to general law chapter 3A section 21A2 and to discuss preparation for negotiation with non-UN personnel or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. the responsibilities of the
acting town manager pursuant to general laws chapter 3A section 21 A2. Then we will return after executive session to wrap up today's agenda. >> Second the motion. >> Okay. A motion and a second. Before I do
a roll call vote, I have to note that uh the reason we're going to executive session is because to discuss these uh issues in open session could be detrimental to the uh position of the of the town. So with that, we'll do a roll call. Aaron, >> yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> Jeff,
>> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> And yes. Okay, so we are adjourned and we will be back. May 18th. Is it still May 18th? We're reconvening this meeting in open session for a few announcements to come out from
our executive session. Uh first of all, we uh completed um negotiations with the with acting town manager John Souza. Um he will be compensated each pay period, an additional $1,500 per pay period
until a new town manager is uh is on board or for six months, whichever comes sooner. And then we may, if we have to, we will um renew that appointment in six months. but uh and then we'll go from
there. So, congratulations, John. Look forward to working with you, having you up here in two weeks. >> Thank you. Um want to give an update on the new town accountant. Uh the past couple of weeks or so, we've had we interviewed um Heather Russo as a new
town accountant. She she was one of the probably the easiest um interviews. I think uh Paul was there and John was there and uh Lisa and Darlene Lucier. It was more of just a conversation about how everything works as far as being a
town accountant. So they carried most of the conversation then, but she came across as very knowledgeable, very experienced, um knew a lot about the town before even coming to the interview. So that's always impressive when you know somebody does their homework. So, she will be starting on
August 17th. Uh, she was unable to be here tonight to introduce herself. So, hopefully at our next meeting, she will be able to be here and we'll talk more about um the um uh the criteria that that we have and uh her her salary and
all that other information at that at that time. So, >> you want to take a vote to for appointment on >> Okay. Yeah. She's agreed to an appointment offer. Yeah. All right. So, uh, Heather Russo is her name. Can we have a motion? >> Yeah. Of Derry, New Hampshire. Just so
that way, >> I'll make a motion that we appoint Heather Russo of Dair, New Hampshire as our new town. >> Second the motion. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Anybody have any other questions about her that I might be able to answer? >> It' be effective August 17th.
everyone know that when she'll have an overlay with Darlene for a few weeks till Darlene retires beginning of September. >> Okay. All in favor of that appointment. >> Okay. Unanimous. Very good. Thank you.
>> Okay. And I also want to announce that we did talk about the special legislation that the governor has submitted for the injury relief compensation for um firefighter Nick Spinale who we heard um here earlier this this evening. Um,
uh, we did talk definitely about, um, strongly supporting that legislation and I think, uh, each of us can probably work to get in touch with our legislative delegation to be sure that they know how serious this is. But in the meantime, effective tomorrow,
>> you want to take a vote first to support the legislation, Pat? >> Sure. >> Formerally, House Bill 52 5429. I'll I'll make >> a letter from the governor. >> I'll make a motion that this board
supports the house docket 5429. >> Second the motion. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I I thank you. And I just want to also announce that
during our our earlier executive session um we voted to um that effective tomorrow firefighter Spanelli will will be under
um administrative leave during which time he will receive his his uh full um pay as he as he would as he would get it if he were on duty every day. Um, this will this will continue.
Um, the town will cover that that cost until the legislation that we just voted to support is passed at which time the town will be reimbur reimbursed per the that legislation for any expenses any um
salary and expenses that we um uh expend during that time. Is there anything else that we need? >> Well, more importantly, Mr. Spanelli will not miss a paycheck. >> Right. Exactly. That's what the bottom line is. He will not miss a pay a paycheck. So, and we look forward, it was so good to see him here tonight and
we look forward to seeing him, you know, recovering completely and if he's if he's able to be back on the on the firefighting uh force. So, is that everything? I think that's
>> Yeah, I would just want to make a a statement. I I'll interrupt for the last time, but I just want to acknowledge and state for the record, you know, the efforts of by town officials towards the action tonight as well as the legislation that's been filed by the
governor. As Chief Ryan noted at our last meeting, you know, despite what was reported in the submitted article to the media and and statements that were made in this room, Chief Ryan, myself, and our labor
council, KP Law, worked diligently on this from the onset um discreetly and and did communicate and we will in fact release all the public records that were requested uh on this matter so people can make their own
firsthand evidence determination, but we've worked from the onset to, you know, to address the compensation because this was all about Nick's finale and and is and and thank God he survived that fall and thank God he's doing so well in his recovery and and that's
never waved from our mind and that's why many times we bit our lip and bit our tongue because we didn't want to get, you know, derailed by not by not focusing on that. And so again, I want to acknowledge that that you know that this that was that's this
is a great outcome and great decision by the community and and we thank all those in you know who've contributed to that from our legislative delegation, the state fire marshall's office, the executive uh secretary of the of the executive office of public safety and security,
the chosen firefighters union, the mass the professional firefighters of Massachusetts and all those others who've worked for this goal. Um and um like I said, it's it just I just wanted to note that for the record that um you know,
we're we're given all that's transpired, we're we're fortunate that, you know, to have him in this room this evening and that we're fortunate to be able to um have the support of the governor, uh which again took some time and and and we thank our legislative delegation and
all the others. So, thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. Um, we're ready to adjourn, but if you have any last comments, Paul, you'd like to make this being your last official meeting. Um, you have the floor or or not, whatever you want, whatever you prefer.
>> Again, I I I just would just say thank you. Thank you for the opportunity and and the support that I've received over the past 19 and a half years. Um, you know, I I've thoroughly enjoyed my my time here in Chford. And again, what
I didn't achieve anything without so many others that are thankless to recognize and and to and to commend, including the 25 different select board members that sat at this table with me over 19 and a half years. Uh as well as the countless department heads,
residents boards, committees, volunteers, and so forth. um you know it it basically I spent about a third of my life you know in this community as the town manager and um I just thank you for that opportunity and uh and I wish nothing but the best
for the town of Chsford going forward. So thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you Paul. We truly appreciate everything you've done. >> It's a been a pleasure to to work with you Paul for 20 some odd years. Thank you is not enough, but I
definitely appreciate all the years that I've lived here and you've been the manager, but especially over these last couple to sit at this table with you and uh be able to participate in our government. So, thank you is not enough, but that's what I got for you. >> Anything? >> I wish you were saying.
>> Yeah, I wish we had worked together long. >> I would like to say one more thing to follow up on Mr. Spinelli when he came up to the mic tonight. I have suffered through a life-changing event and I know without my family and this community, I
never could have gotten to where I got now. And I I know how important that is for him and I hope this town will always have his back. With that, I'll make a motion we adjourn. >> Okay. >> Motion seconded. >> All right. We have a motion and a
second. All in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you.