order. And if everybody would join us in the pledge of allegiance, please United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you everybody. Okay, our first order of business tonight is a joint meeting with the school committee and town moderator to appoint a representative to the Shoba Valley Technical um district school
committee for a three-year term ending 331. Um I'll invite uh the town moderator up to uh tell us all about it. Thank you very much. Uh it is now 6 o'clock on the button. I call this
joint uh committee meeting between the Chumsford Select Board and the Chsford School Committee for the purpose of appointing a uh school comm uh Chsford uh Nishoba Valley Technical District School Committee uh position.
Uh and I declare for the record that we have a quorum. We have four select board members and five school committee members here. So, at this point, I will entertain uh a motion for nominations. >> I will nominate Lawrence McDonald.
>> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Uh do we have any other nominations? There being none, I will close the nominations. I will ask the nominee if he wishes to make a few remarks.
Good evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I am uh Lawrence McDonald and since this is my fourth term that I am going for, I believe you all know me by now. I will say that serving on the Nohovitech
school committee representing Chumsford is one of the great honors of my life and I'm eager to continue and I don't want to belabor the meeting because I know you have much to get on with but if anybody has any questions they wish to ask me I'm available
otherwise I appreciate your support any comments questions or discussion for Mr. McDonald. Seeing none, >> hand it back to the moderator. >> So, since he is the only nominee, um
unless anyone has any objection, I would uh recommend that we vote to approve him. Uh and I'll entertain a motion to approve him by acclamation. Do I have such a motion? >> I'll make that motion. >> Uh do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Okay. All all in favor of uh
reappointing Lawrence Macdonald uh as the one of the uh representatives of the Chuba Valley Technical High School school committee. Uh please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Okay. Uh I will entertain a motion to
adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I just want to make a reminder that next Tuesday is election day. So, I encourage everyone out there to vote. Thank you. >> Okay. The um
>> next item is public service announcements. And um I will hand this off to um Pat in a moment, but there is one that I wanted to read myself. >> Pat, at a point of order, do you need to announce it that we're >> Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Um, you're
right, Jeff. Um, we are, uh, recording this meeting and it's being recorded by Chelsea Tele Media and, um, um, so for the viewing public that are, um, watching it tonight, uh, that's fine. And then, uh, it's being recorded for
future um, uh, television presentation. So, thank you, Jeff. Okay. Um, so public service announcements. Um, I just have one that I wanted to do and it's a um proclamation uh in recognition of the 150th
anniversary of Central Congregational Church of Chelmsford. Is there anybody here looking to receive that? Um, I'm I'll read this, but um I I wanted to read this because I'm um um close to um
Don and Jan Bighgam and um I know we lost Jan last night and uh Jan was 95 years old and Don and Jan were um uh devoted members of the Central Congregational for since
>> since I was before I was >> Yeah. So before I move here, um this couple, uh Don is still alive. Jan passed, um last evening, uh at 95 years old, I believe. And um this couple was
married for 77 years, um and uh helped lead the church and do wonderful things over there. So I just wanted to um put a little side note to that. And with that, I will um read the proclamation. And the town of Chsford proclamation in recognition of the 150th anniversary of
Central Congregational Church of Chsford. Whereas the Central Congregational Church of Chsford was founded in 1876 by residents seeking to create a place for worship, fellowship, and service in the town of Chelmsford. And whereas for 150 years, the church
has served generations of families offering guidance, compassion, and faith- centered centered community life while demonstrating steadfast commitment through charitable outreach, mission work, education, and support for those in need within Chelmsford and beyond.
And whereas the church has played an important role in Chelmsford's civic and cultural life, providing a welcoming space for worship, reflection, celebration, and community gathering. And whereas the year 2026
marks the 150th anniversary of the Central Congregational Church of Chelmsford, honoring the faith, dedication, and perseverance of its founders, clergy, members, and supporters across generations. And whereas the anniversary celebrates the
church's rich history and its continued mission to serve, inspire, and strengthen the community for generations to come. Now therefore, we hereby recognize and celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Central Congregational Church of Chelstead and
extend sincere congratulations and best wishes to its clergy, congregation, and leadership as they commemorate this historic milestone on April 26, 2026, signed this 30th day of March by the board. So, congratulations on that.
>> Thank you very much. if you um like to announce your name and say a few words. Um >> my name is Glenn Dissinger. Uh I've been a resident here in Chums for about 17 years. I'm a member of the uh committee that is putting together our celebration plans. And so we are excited about the
fact that we have an official proclamation from the town recognizing our celebration which we will be conducting on the 25th and the 26th that weekend. And uh I also want to personally just say I on behalf of the church, we appreciate your personal
comments about Don and Jan. You're welcome. >> Loss of Jan is a >> It will be a hard funeral. >> Yeah, it will. >> A celebratory one, but a very hard one. >> Understood. Yes, sir. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you.
Okay, I'll turn it over to Pat for the rest of the uh public service announcements. >> Actually, we have somebody here from the town clerk's office who is going to do the next one about the end of town election. I'll welcome Pam up to the microphone. >> Welcome Pam Gilchrist. >> Thank you. It's actually Pamela Connor's now.
>> Oh, I'm so excited. Um, thank you so much for having me. Um, as was just mentioned, my name is Pam Connors. I am the assistant town clerk here in Chelmsford. Um, and we just wanted to remind everybody that our annual town
election is coming up quickly on April 7th, which as of the date of this meeting is one week from tomorrow. There is no in-person early voting for this election, but vote by mail is available. Um, as of today, 6,749
voters uh have requested and received their mailed ballot. We have received back 2,118, which means 69% of those mailed ballots are still outstanding. Um, so we strongly encourage uh voters to return their mailed ballots as soon as possible
to make sure that they are received in time to be counted, especially whereas the post office does recommend allowing seven days for delivery. Um, voters can also return their ballots via the dropboxes in front of town hall or directly to us in the clerk's office.
All vote by mail ballots must be received by uh in the clerk's office by 8:00 p.m. on April 7th in order to be counted. The final deadline to request a mailed ballot is tomorrow, March 31st, at 5:00 p.m. If you plan to vote in person,
polls are open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on April 7th. You can find your polling location, track your ballot, and more by visiting voteinmma.com. Sample ballots are available on the town's website. And Chumsford Teledia
has done a wonderful job of recording interviews and debates and televising those. Um, and they can uh that's with the candidates for townwide seats. Um, and those can all be found on demand on Teledia's website, chelmsfordv.org.
Um, any questions that voters have can be directed to us at the clerk's office via phone, email, or just stopping by the office. Do you guys have any questions for me or anything? >> No questions. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Pam Connors.
>> Okay. Um, >> okay. Now I have a few. >> Has a couple. >> All right. Now I have three more. Okay. The first is a Chancellor's Town Cleanup. annual cleanup will be from Saturday, April 18th to Saturday, April 26th. Um, please join the town in
cleaning up litter along the Chel roads in your neighborhoods and other recreation areas in town. You can plan your cleanup and volunteers are urged to wear bright colored clothing to avoid stepping into the street while working. Um, whenever possible, bring your yellow bags to your home curbside and they will
be picked up with your regular trash. You can sign up at the DPW. There's a um a registration link on on the town um website and in the um agenda that we have here. You can uh pick up your yellow bogs at yellow bags at 9 alpha
road between April 13th and April 24 during the hours regular work hours there which is Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 7 to 4, Tuesday 7 to 6, and Friday 7:00 a.m. to noon. Uh, next we have a spring annual town meeting beginning Monday, April 27th,
2026, not 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at the senior center at 75 Garten Road. Um, the t the annual town meeting spring warrant is available now on the town's website. And reminder, any resident who's not an elected town meeting member may still attend the sessions of town
meeting and participate in the question and answer and discussion portions of the proceedings. Um, links to the presentation and the finance committee's warrant book will be found on the town meeting web page at least one week prior to town meeting. And the Chancellored Friends of the Library are having their
spring book sale on Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd. A large selection of fiction, non-fiction, children's books, DVDs, and CDs. Uh there was a special membersonly sale on Thursday, April 30th from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. You do have to be
a member of the Friends of the Library to to uh buy on that day, but you can join that day if you wish to have take advantage of the best selection. Um on Saturday the the uh the uh sale will go
from 9:00 am to 2 pm and from Saturday to 1 to 2 pm all teachers, educators and literary groups can receive free books. And this book sale is held at the usual spot in town gym um behind town hall. And that's all I have.
>> Thank you, Pat. Uh our next item on the agenda is general public input. I don't believe we have anybody on Zoom this evening. Um is there any g general public input for in the audience? >> Seeing none, we'll move to the next item uh which is committee vacancies. P.
>> Okay. Committee vacancies. As of today, uh there's one vacancy on the on the following committees. the age friendly implementation committee, the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee, the CCA town hall advisory committee, the clean energy and sustainability committee, the council on aging board,
the cultural council, and the military community covenant task force. There are five vacancies on the commission on disabilities, four vacancies on the holiday decorating committee, and the parade committee, as you as you all know by now, welcomes all applicants um for
one-year terms. Committee applications are available in the town website or through the town manager's office. Thank you, Pat. Uh the next item on the agenda is a public hearing for a wine and malt
beverage restaurant license for Cre Hospitality LLC DBA Creek Grill at 18 Boston Road Sweet 200. Do we have anybody here representing that firm? If you would kindly state your name uh
and address for the record. >> Hi all. Uh my name is Brendan P. I'm the chef and owner of Creekree Grill located at 18 Boston Road here in Chelmsford and um I'm also a lifelong resident of Chelmsford. Um I live on Vincent Road
now. I grew up on Lynwood Street back in the day and um we are opening a new Greek restaurant um casual counter service restaurant and applying for beer and wine to complement the food at the
restaurant. Okay. Um, do we have any um questions or comments or concerns for >> um Yeah, I have a couple of questions on the on the capacity. Um, one place you indicate that there's I I can't tell if
you meant 24 or 26 inside and then 12 outside, but it looks like you have 36 inside. >> We have 36 inside. So, there was a little back and forth. Um, and the the restaurant is approved for 36 seats in total. So we or 38, excuse me, 38 in
total. So we're doing a a small rebuild and we're going to do 36 seats inside, leaving only two seats outside. We may at some point try to get um some seasonal additional seasonal seating
outside, but as of right now, the plan is to do the 36 indoors >> with the two outside or or no, >> correct? So total for of 38. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. I have another question. On your application, you said um you want to
serve beer and wine with cordial. Can you define a cordial? >> So we actually struck that from the that was on the original application. From what I understand, Chelmsford doesn't do cordial licenses. Um, cordials being low alcohol, low
alcohol content um, drinks for like mimosas and brunchy things in case we were going to do a brunchy type menu. It's not part of the business plan. So, when I heard that the town doesn't really do cordial licenses, I just struck it. Beer and wine is sufficient. It's going to be a really small alcohol
menu. It's going to be maybe like two or three Greek beers, maybe four Greek wines. >> Okay. Yeah. because other establishments if they do cordials they they need an all alcohol license basically instead of a beer and wine which I think is a little bit more expensive right now. So >> it it is and it's really not about that
for me. It's more like I don't want to manage a full alcohol program. I don't want to manage a bar. >> Okay. I just wanted I saw that you saw two places so I wanted to confirm that. Okay. Thank you. It's all ahead. Um,
>> have you have you developed the um plans for your renovations at this point? >> Because I'm seeing um that the board of health, the fire department, and the police department are all looking for those plans. >> Yes. Yes. Uh so we submitted the permit set for the building permit uh last
Sunday. So it's gone through all departmental review. Everyone signed off except for the health department at this point. Um, they're going to come take a look at some FRP walls in the kitchen to just make sure that we're putting in the right the right materials in the kitchen and then we should be good to go. But
everyone has received stamped plans. >> Okay. Okay. So, if we were to approve that, we would do that contingent upon. >> Yeah. They wouldn't they wouldn't be able without a sign off from the boards either. >> Okay. >> As well. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Um, anything from the
other board members? >> Yeah. Are you taking a spot of a previous >> This was Peeta. It was the fast casual Greek restaurant. >> Yes. Yep. So, we're going in there. They're also doing a Greek concept, but kind of building on that. Um, we're going to expand upon the menu a bit. So,
it's less like a fast casual Chipotle style and more inviting uh sit-down style restaurant. >> Fantastic. >> Mhm. >> Wonderful. >> Okay. Um, if there's nothing else from the board, um, being with this is a
public hearing, um, is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against this, um, establishment? Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> I'll make a motion to close this public hearing. >> I'll second it. >> I have a motion and a second. Um, all in
favor? I >> opposed. That's unanimous. >> Okay. Um, any further discussion or commentary by the board? Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to uh approve the license for Creekree Hospitality LLC. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the
uh um beer and wine license for Creek Hospitality doing business as Creek Grill as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed.
>> Congratulations. Good luck. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay. Um, next we have a series of licenses and the first is a one-day baron wine license from Juliana Meg Bongzi twin of 115 Middle Sex
Street. Um, if you'd come up and tell us um, uh, state your name for the record and um, tell us what it is you'd like to do. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Danielle. Um I live in Draket, 27 Drewood Road in Draket and my parish not
St. um John the Evangelist where I worship was Juliana Trin. Um Juliana asked me to come in this evening. She's actually at work. Um she's a nurse and she really couldn't leave the patient bedside and asked me to come in instead. I have previously also applied for same
license when we celebrated the life of um um my my dad. This is Juliana who is celebrating the life of her dad who passed at the age of 104. And she's humbly requesting a one-day um beer and wine license um which will happen at in
the premises of St. John the Evangelist Church. Um I'm hoping that um her application would be um accepted. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions or comments from the board?
Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to approve. >> Okay. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the one day um uh alcohol license for uh Juliana >> beer and wine. >> It's a beer and wine. >> It just be wine. >> Okay. Beer and wine. Yeah. It doesn't
check either one. Okay. Um approved a one-day beer and wine license for Juliana for April 11th, 2026 at St. John's Evangelist Church at 115 Middle Sex Street. >> I'll second that. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in
favor? I opposed. That's unanimous. Congratulations. You're all set. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. Our next license um is a common vitual license uh for DY DR Yp YP LLC DBA Triangle
Delhi. Is there anybody here from Triangle? >> Oh, we are. >> Um Toby Villano for Sacred Heart Drive Nashville, New Hampshire. Longtime chumps resident. raised my children here in town and the Triangle has always been a store for us. So, we bought the Triangle recently and turned it into something a little different.
>> I've heard you're doing it very well over there. So, >> thank you. We're trying our best. >> Okay. >> A lot of work. >> So, you're here applying for a common victual license and um tell us about your offerings and and so on. And
>> we're doing um really nice coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and deli sandwiches at lunchtime. Um, pretty simple, very basic. We do have some market items. Um, you know, some little pastries and donuts and stuff like that. Um, we offer some, you know, regular
market items, gallons of milk, you know, orange juice, bread, milk, uh, eggs, you know, stuff like that. So, it's it's very simple what we're doing, but we're really enjoying it. >> And this would give you the ability to put your seating in and
>> correct. Yes. It's all grab and go right now. Okay, perfect. >> Which selfishly, I guess we'd like to see somebody eat our food, you know, just to see how they like it. We're hearing good things, but we don't get to see it. >> That's great. Um, okay. Um, any
questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to uh approve this license. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to approve um a common victual's license for uh DYP. Do do you call that drip? Okay. Yeah.
>> So, Drip um UP LLC uh Triangle Market in Delhi at 148 Gron Road as presented. >> I'll second that. >> I have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed. Unanimous. Congratulations. Good >> luck. Appreciate that. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. Our next license is a common victual license for AOE MG LLC. DBA Mexican Grill. Am I saying that right? >> I believe so. >> Oh,
good. >> Years of Spanish in school. >> Yes. >> Um, okay. Welcome. Um, you're going to be uh looking for a license to reside at 313 Little >> Is it Littleton Road, Unit One? That's the one. Littleton Road. Okay. Right.
They forgot the the do at the end of it. Tell us uh state your name uh and address for the record and tell us a little bit about what you're looking to do. >> Uh my name is Hers Franco. I live in Grafton, so 70 Samuel Drive. Um I'm looking to open a restaurant at 313
Littleton. Like you mentioned, it's going to be a Mexican restaurant concept. Uh we only have capacity for 20 seats, so we're looking to keep that. Uh what we offer is casadillas, tacos, main items. Uh no alcohol for this one. So
just looking to get approved. >> So just fix your list. No, no alcohol at this point. >> No alcohol now. >> Okay. Okay. And you're looking for 20 seats. I see no concerns from um any Well, the fire department has uh
concerns. Um but it's just final testing once you're all set to go. And DPW who's looking for confirmation of a final seating plan. Uh must be submitted to the DPW. Um applicant needs to confirm no change in
use and maintain sewer usage. If additional seats are requested, sewer capacity impact fees would apply and the verification of Littleton Road sewer main would need to be confirmed. So are you you're aware of that? >> Uh correct. Yeah, we're keeping like the previous restaurant had it.
>> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Um, everything else looks to be in order. Any comments, questions from the board? Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to approve the license. >> Okay. I make a motion to approve a common victory of license for Ede Mexican Grill at 313 Littleton Road as
presented. >> I'll second that. >> Have a motion and a second. Uh, any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed. It's unanimous. Congratulations. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
Next item we have up is a Kino's license for Mike's gas station. Is anybody here from uh Mike's Gas Station? I would doubt it. They t but this is sort of one where they have approval from the state and only if the town has any objections
and you have to you have 21 days to note them. We've seen this in the past in locations of town with the kino through the um monitoring through the lottery commission. Um, okay. >> So, I think I think it was sent to Pat as the member on the board. That's and then
>> Yeah, I don't know if everybody else got it too. >> Yeah, I didn't see it, but u but anyway, but the point is is that um you know, we put it here in case the board has any comments because you can see the letter was dated March 13th and so you still have time. I've never in my experience here in the town we haven't object the
board hasn't objected to the uh kino to go agencies and this is the gas station you know right at the corner of actton road behind the library heading but >> I don't there really have been no issues there with parking or other activities so
>> again we just put it here as a formality >> thank you Paul uh I'd entertain a motion then to approve the kino license I don't think we say no comment no comment okay we just don't Yeah. Okay. >> We We only say if we don't like it. >> Okay.
All right. Let's see. The next item long description. The next item is a discussion regarding Choice Housing Opportunities for Intergenerational and Community Endeavors, Inc. Choice, a
nonprofit organization and SCG Development Partners LLC. SCG project elig eligibility application for the proposed Chancellor Arms Residences 96 unit senior housing development at one Smith Street. Um so we have very large
files here that I've been waiting for since I got the letter in January, but uh I've had a chance to go through it and uh so welcome. Uh if you you state your name and uh >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. For the record, attorney Melissa Robbins from Ferrell and Robbins. I'm here tonight to give a preliminary
overview of the project known as Chumps Red Arms, although I think most of you are very familiar with it and have already supported it through uh CPA funds and other town votes. Um, also here tonight with Kirk Fulton who is the executive director of the Chsford Housing Authority. Uh, we do not have a
representative from Choice here this evening. Uh, David Hison was unable to join us. Uh, but like I said, I think the selectman is generally familiar with this project. Let me tell you where we are in the steps. Uh the first thing you have to do when you go through project uh a comprehensive permit is get a
project eligibility letter. That's the part of the process we are in now. Uh we got the project eligibility letter. Now we go to comprehensive permit which means we will actually be applying to your zoning board of appeals. Uh you might be looking at these plans and saying counselor there's not much meat
to this. And you're right. Uh what will happen now is now we have the project eligibility. We'll go to full design so that we can now go to the zoning board for approvals. Uh, I did see all the links to your package and most of them were saying that they didn't have enough information to comment. Uh, but once we
get to the comprehensive permit process and actually apply to your zoning board of appeals, the rest of those blanks will be filled in. On top of going to the zoning board of appeals, we obviously have uh conservation in the rear of our property. So, we'll also be applying to the conservation commission. Um,
we also are going to have an abuters meeting on April 13th at Chsford Arms. Uh we've mailed those notices out, but as your town clerk has pointed out, the US mail can take a couple more days to get there. So those abutters within 300 ft who haven't received a letter from us yet, uh please join us. We're going to
do it April 13th right at Chsford Arms. Uh the board and any members of the public who are interested in getting uh one-on-one with any of our consultants or uh Mr. Fulton or Mr. Hison can answer all their question person to person that night. Uh we like to do that before we actually apply to the zoning board of
appeals. That way if uh members of the public or abutterss have questions that we can answer before we get to the hearing process, that's a great forum to do that. Uh just a little bit about the site for anybody that's not familiar. Uh Mr. Co, would you just mind flipping down? Thank you. That's okay. I always
feel weird asking. So this is uh these are the existing conditions at the site. I think everybody's very familiar with it. It was built in the early '7s. It's aging is an understatement I think at this point. And if you look at the next slide, you can see that um you know some of our this is a a project that we just
completed. It's extremely difficult to repair these older buildings. It's certainly hard to bring them up to code once we repair them. So the answer here is really to redevelop. Uh the good news about redeveloping is there's lots of good news actually, but the first is that we're at 64 units now. We will be
going to 96 units. So, we're really increasing the inventory uh for our seniors 62 and over to get affordable units in the town of Chsford. That also means those additional units will be counted on the town of Chsford subsidized housing inventory as soon as we get a comprehensive permit. Um, all
of the units will be onebedroom. All of the units will be priced 60% or lower of the area median income. I can give you a breakdown if you're interested in the prices, but they go from 30 to 60%. Um, some of them are voucherbased programs and some of them are not. Um, you can
see the new development is in one structure. If you're familiar with the old setup, there's a few separate disjointed structures. Uh, the one structure will be three stories. It'll have an elevator. This will allow for better circulation on the site. It'll certainly allow for better fire access.
We'll have a designated pickup area in the front of the building for the van and any services that come to the structure. Uh the site is fantastic for energy compliance. Um if you can see on the next slide, we're designing this to meet passive house standards. So it's
very environmentally friendly. Uh we'll also be in improving the storm water treatment centers. I think that goes uh without saying, but uh right now we have 1970s storm water design out there. So anything we do out there will be an improvement. Uh but we really will be uh
enhancing the site with significant storm water controls. um which will obviously improve all of the wetlands to the rear. Uh and overall this site, even though we're adding more units, will reduce the impervious that's on site. Um and it'll be um designed to be solar and
energy efficient. Uh what I'd like to do is just let Kirk run through the amenities. He knows them better than me, so I will uh turn the mic over to Kirk. >> Thanks, Melissa. Uh thank you again for having us. I mean, we're super excited about this project. I I started working at the housing authority about 10 years
ago and one of the first days that David walked me through one Smith Street, he's like, "We got to figure out a way to get something done here. We got to figure out a way to get something done here." And we've been talking about it for 10 years. So, the fact that we're here tonight, you know, and it's becoming real, it's super exciting for I think not only the housing authority and choice, Inc., but for the town in and of
itself. Um, but again, I think everything that we do at the housing authority and with the nonprofit partner Choice, Inc. is is more than building units and creating units. We want to create servicerich communities, you know, while we're building new affordable housing units. Um, the
building does provide a spacious lobby and reception area. Um, they'll be able to see the on incoming visitors, you know, from the layout of the new building. Um, there's on-site management offices for our property management team as well as our resident services
coordinator permanent to the site. Uh, the mail and package room, easy access. I mean, some of these things may seem like, hey, geez, yeah, like, why wouldn't it be like that? But anything that we have that was built in 1969 and occupied in 1973 is it's it's not like that, you know, and a lot of our aging
housing stock does not provide these somewhat simple amenities that you might be seeing here. Um, large community room with a kitchen that opens up and an outdoor patio out back. The outdoor patio is an awesome space for outdoor gatherings when the weather um is accommodate accommodating to that. Uh
the vertical circulation hubs, that's design language for elevators and stairwells. There's actually going to be two elevators given the size of the building. You know, we don't want somebody who lives on the end of one of the Z-shaped buildings to have to walk all the way across to a singular elevator. So, there's multiple stairwells, multiple elevators to
improve the accessibility within the building. Um shared laundry rooms on each floor. Right now, if you're a resident of Chumsford Arms, there's A building, there's B building, and the community building in the middle. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've seen one of our residents with a laundry basket on a walker going outside
because the laundry is in the community room in the middle of the development. I mean, to say inconvenient is is an understatement. Um, so each floor of the building has its own individual laundry room, which is awesome. And then the smaller things which are super important that the residents love is a planned
library space, salon, wellness center. And this will incorporate all the services that we have at our other developments. You know, we do things like chair yoga. We have a new program with our activities coordinator where they have a chair drumming session to keep the elderly active. And like sounds crazy, but they actually love it, you
know. And um these are things we know people love doing because they've proven true at other developments. And then as we continue to meet with the residents that are going to occupy these units, it will be up to them what they get to see for services as well because they have a lot of input into what gets done at the building. Um generous hallway nooks.
Again, it's not just a community room and reception area. Each floor has a space for gathering. Um, and then again, the beautiful outdoor seating area. And then as far as neighborhood fit, you know, the only way to go from 64 units to 96 units is to go up a level. And I think we've worked
really well with the design team to kind of soften that by having that Z-shaped building. Again, here you'll see in that overlay, you know, we're not taking up a whole lot of additional space on the site. Um, and we've also been pretty thoughtful about the gabled roofs and dormers to soften that massing of the
building, that third floor. Um, no single the Z-shaped was to avoid like that singular long facade, you know, especially from the Smith Street or Sedman Street side, but that Z-shape fits really well on the site. Um, and then again, there's already natural screening on the Sedman Street side from
the trees. And then we've added some more natural screening on the Smith Street side as well. But, uh, I think we've been we've worked really hard with SV Design, our architectural team, to kind of soften the massing and layout of that third story that's being added. Um, the community benefits, again, 32
new affordable units, 64, the original 64 units that are current public housing units, those will be projectbased voucher units. So, those will provide extremely lowincome elderly residents, permanent affordability. And then the remaining 32 will be the mix of the 30, 50, 60, you know, 100% affordable and it
provides long-term affordable units. And again, Chumsford is a it's a high cost of living area. You know, it's it's tough and uh having those permanent affordable units is is key to the community and and we'd love to be a part of that. Um preserves the critical housing. Everything we do, we want to
support aging in place, independence, you know, and social activity for the residents that occupy these units. And again, super sustainable, as sustainable as it can get. You know, we're highest level stretch energy code and we're doing everything to passive house standards. That's exciting. You know, it's 100% electric, airtight
construction, as sustainable as construction can get. So, it's um really exciting to be a part of a project like it's our first passive house project. We've done a lot of development, but it's our first passive house one. And it's exciting. You know, it's um not something everyone's into into doing.
you know, we're glad to be a part of a community that wants to proceed with construction this way, and it's exciting to be a part of one. Um, and it's an investment in Chsford future, you know, modern, safe, sustainable senior housing. And again, a commit a commitment to collaboration between the
housing authority, the nonprofit, and the town. So, again, after a decade of talking about this in the office with David, to be here tonight presenting about it and talking about it is is truly an honor that we're excited to be a part of. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um any questions or comments um for the applicant or the >> I think this is a well needed project in town currently. I mean I think it's fantastic what you're trying to do here because I know as a community we are
aging so it's completely necessary addition. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. I don't want to I don't want to get into the weeds. I know this was coming up, but I was just curious um as this construction goes on, where's
everybody going to go and roughly how long it and again the cliffotes version would be great. >> So if you you may or may not be aware that 10 Wilson Street just adjacent to us is undergoing a large-scale modernization project. That project is scheduled to finish about January 1st,
2027. You know, and the folks at Chumsford Arms, current residents of Chumsford Arms, a lot of them are transplants from McFarland. So those people will all come back to McFarland, you know, and in theory, Chumsford Arms will be vacant at the time of redevelopment. So the relocation needs of the residents are being met through
the combination of sideby-side projects. >> And that's a huge that that that's a huge piece of getting these things done. You know, we don't want people to be homeless and we don't want people in hotels, you know, >> and that's a key piece to it. >> No, I I agree with with Jeff. I mean,
this is is sorely needed and Yes. So I think the only thing we need to do this um uh this evening is offer a vote of I don't even know that we need to vote this we can send a letter to us. We usually don't even do a vote but we can
>> so you have the if I'm reading the room right you have the board support and uh we will forward a letter back to the state um telling them that you have the support of the uh the community behind you. So we will do that and uh I thank you for your time. Thank you very much,
Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> Thanks everybody. >> Okay. >> Um, next item is reports and presentations and we have a report this evening and a presentation from Capital Strategic Solutions with a status update
on the study of the three Chumsford water districts that um this board uh initiated uh last year sometime. And we have one of the members of the consulting team on Zoom this evening. That's uh Marielle and Kelly. And I
believe the other two are coming in the room right now. Bill, you're on. We're on. >> Good timing. >> It's good timing. >> Excellent. >> Couldn't have been quicker. >> All right. We said there was a little break in the action there, so we figured, hey, we'll we'll we'll join you. We can come in and see how things
are going. So So, well, good evening everyone and uh thanks for having us here. >> Good evening. You could state your name for the record. >> Sure. We'll do. My name is uh William Keegan. I am the I'm a senior project manager with Capital Strategic Solutions. I'm joined this evening with
my my colleague John Duca who's here in the audience as well. Um and uh Mary Alen Kelly who's uh joining us uh should be joining us online. >> Y as soon as she speaks you'll see your picture come. >> I'm here. >> There she is. Okay, great. Excellent. There she is. Okay. So uh Mary Ellen's
actually in Florida right now. So, she's uh she had had to be remote tonight, which is >> You drew the short straw. >> Yeah, she drew the short straw. So, that's how it worked. But, um but just by way of background, um I'm a 43 year veteran of public service. Been a town manager most of my life. Uh know Paul
well. I've worked Paul Paul and I have worked with each other on the Maya board directly for about 10 years. I retired about two years ago, actually almost three years ago now. um and um have been working with cities and towns all across the country actually on various
projects. Uh uh this this being of course the water project. So I' I've brought with me John Duca who is about 37 years working in the water sewer industry including the city of Boston uh Frammingham and um and uh and the city of Somerville. Uh Mary Ellen has been a
finance director for many many years. She retired a few years ago as well. uh most recently was the finance director for the town of FR city of FRA town of Frammingham that's actually run like a city now. So um so we're we're very with the people that we have with us on this team are actually pretty pretty
talented. So the purpose of the study that you've asked us to do is to is to basically evaluate the three water districts that are here in the town of Chumsford and and historically speaking um how do we get here? Why why why is
there three separate water districts? And and really it goes back to the history of the town where there were three essentially three villages in the town of Chsford. One the north north Chsford, the center of Chmsford and and of course East Chsford. Uh and also
there were three fire districts as well at the time. So they sort of followed that same model. And in the time when they developed these systems, they were based upon the fact that at the time it was the geographic locations of the of the systems were such that it they
required that they be built in in those areas because that was the cheapest way to do it at the time going back to the early 1900s. 1913 I think was the first one when CHS was first established. But obviously things have changed over time and um so we're at a point now where we
wanted to actually take a look at this based upon your request to take a look at the at the at why it makes sense or why it doesn't make sense to actually have three water districts in the in the town of Chsford at this point. So we're here to assess the the existing conditions and the performance of all
the all three water districts. Uh identify opportunities for coordination and efficiency. uh evaluate the and shared ser value evaluate possibility of shared services and consolidation options and and the final is to provide clear and actionable recommendations at
the end of the study. So we we're at a point now where we're actually starting to move closer to that stage uh of the of the of the of our project. So the three districts of course are East Chsford, West Chelmsford Water District and of North Chsford. North Chamsford being the largest of all three. uh north
uh CH North CHS with the the second largest and and East Cha being the smallest. All three districts are separately legislatively uh established. Uh so they all have been created uh by the legislature uh to to and they actually run as in actually as
independent organizations within the community. They all have three elected elected boards. All three have elected boards and they also have they all three have separate superintendents and operations teams varying staffing levels and op and operations and uh finally
they all operate independently um based upon their infrastructure status and they there is very little interconnection between the three of them. uh the work completed to date uh we have we've actually done a lot of the independent review of the bylaws the the
the various uh legislation that created this the the various studies that have been done the work that's been done so far uh we've taken uh we we've we've actually met with the the leaders uh the superintendents of all three districts uh we tried to meet with some of the
staff members as well we have been successful uh at least in two out of the three situations that have evolved Um the the data collection has been uh we're in that process, but we will admit to you it's been difficult at best to get the information that we've needed.
Uh in fact, to this date, we've yet to get anything really in terms of data out of East Chsford. Uh we've tried multiple different times and multiple different ways to get the information and unfortunately they have been nonresponsive. So we we that concerns us because obviously if they aren't willing
unwilling to share the information with us that means that they're not willing to share that information with their own own customers and that's concerning uh and it's a concern to to it should be for everyone. Preliminary analysis uh we'll get to in a few minutes but uh there clearly is an indication that
consolidation is the way to go. um we we think that's going to be there's some challenges to do that but I do think that it's we do think that it's the way to way to approach this from going forward. So from a governor's perspective uh the the uh the interpretation of the
independent operations with the uh with the uh with the the three in the coordination between between the three is is is a concern to all of us because the the question become comes down to why should you there should be three separate districts, three separate boards, three separate superintendents,
three sets of virtually everything. Uh that's really not a conven you know an efficient way to operate. uh there's you know different policies and procedures for each operation and we don't think that that's a way to way to proceed. Um the sim the the administrative capacity
of each is varies rather actually rather significantly. uh there's very little support in east. Uh there is a a greater amount in north and is and is and is probably and of course as you would expect since since Chelson is the largest they have the the largest support staff of all three uh there's
clearly opportunities for shared services whether it be maintenance administrative services or even doing setting financial or doing some some strategic planning if you will uh as to how the three should operate going forward. Uh the inconsistent
strategic planning is a concern as well because now you're looking at uh there's diff different ways and different levels of of how the operation is functioning right now and um and it we there's not somebody taking a bigger look as to how the whole system is functioning
collectively and that's a bigger concern to us. So at this point I'll turn it over to to my my colleague John Duca who is uh here to talk to you about the operations side. Uh, and Marilyn will follow up with the financials and I'll turn it over to John.
>> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Evening. >> Uh, John Duca, Capital Strategic Solutions, and uh, I'm also an operations uh, a senior operations manager. So, I think that's all of us. We all have the same title. So, but uh but I did get a chance to
visit with all of the u the three districts and um and I can honestly say that Chelmsford was impressive. Um they seem to have a a good operating procedure. They were doing well. Uh North Chelmsford had um uh no no
director or or superintendent at the time. I'm not sure if that position's been filled or not, but uh uh there was someone that was the board down there had put in charge and uh and she seemed to do an adequate job, but uh they still had some deficiencies with the uh
flushing and programs and and different things that they they needed to really come around on. PAST is of course a big issue with the water quality today. So, I think we've all uh we're all pretty familiar with PFEST. Have we heard about
that? And um so Chelmsford themselves do have uh one plant in operation. Um and they're looking at two more other plants that they're going to build. And um North Chsford uh was just in a study and
uh East Chsford uh was had uh also an just secured an engineering firm for some sort of study that they were going to do there for PAS. Um we wound up um uh really not as Bill mentioned uh trying to get some more information out
of East and it's been very difficult. um they have no records, no computer planning, no documentation. It was it was very difficult to to get what I got out of them, but um um they they could use some some different leadership. One of the things about East Chelmsford is
there was one interconnection coming from Chelmsford that was cut and capped and uh disconnected many years ago. So the only emergency connection for East Charms right now is LOL and they open that quite frequently
in order to fill their tanks if they need to if they're in a drought area. So um that's alarming and uh you know that really needs to take a good look at and see exactly what needs to be done there. Chelmsford runs about 85 pounds of
pressure. East Chelmsford 55. So you need a small pressure reducing valve push the water into if if needed. And that's if Jonesford had the extra capacity to do that too. >> Can I ask where the where the cap was
placed um that shut off the the old line? >> The superintendent for East Jumpswood should have that exact location. He didn't share that with me. I'm not sure exactly where. >> Where was the line feeding from? From >> Chsford into >> center district. >> Chumsford into East. Yeah. You would
call it center. Okay. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Um and and yeah, I just kind of found that a bit alarming. LOL's accommodating. Um and thank thank them for for what they do, but uh but yeah, it's u that in
itself is is something just to be aware of over there. Um so we had a limited limited emergencies uh system maintenance. You know, if we was to get all that system maintenance under one roof, you would save quite a bit of
money. And and I'm not going to say right now that it's going to be uh easy to get this done or inexpensive to get this done, but in the long range it's going to. And that is something that, you know, taking a good hard look at would help quite a bit.
Uh the asset age and condition varied wildly. There's there's quite a bit uh lot of capital construction going on with Chsford. Kudos to them. Uh a little bit with North and virtually none with East. Um they were just uh more
reactive than proactive. Let me say that. Um of course a lot of the systems are nearing their end of their use for life. um existing interconnections. Uh North Chsford and Chumsford did have adequate
interconnections with other uh towns that was good to have. Um but uh again they would just East Jumps would reply on that uh low connection. Uh and then the capital needs were very insufficient. Yeah, they really need to
do rate studies and find out what their capital needs are. There is no capital programs. there was no capital for uh vehicles. Um and and you know, how do you set rates if you don't know what your debt's going to be further down? And you really need to have that done uh
maybe on all three districts in order to get a good capital construction plan. I would recommend five to 10 years. Um financials turn. >> We can turn to Mary Allen for that. >> That's me. Um can people hear me?
>> Yes. Yes. Okay, great. Um, so the rate structures um for all three districts um are not uh hugely different. The the there's a base charge of some sort for both Chelmsford and North Chelmsford. Um, and there's no
base charge for East Chsford, but if you look at various usages, um, I would say, uh, North Chelmsford is maybe a little bit higher, uh, in terms of an annual cost than Chsford. Um, and then East
Chsford has just two tiers and the annual costs um, are less for at pretty much every level of usage. Um but again as John mentioned there's no um uh input into the maintenance of the system. So
at this point it's just keeping rates low um and and not having any investment into into the system and once the systems begin to fail the impact on the rate would be significant. Um there's
not a lot there's not uh a real reserve in any of the districts. Um and it doesn't look like it's planned by policy. Uh there's enough generated enough revenue generated by um the rates to uh balance the bottom line very close
to it. But uh should there be any emergencies um uh then there's really not uh a significant reserve. if there was a loss of of usage, if there were lower usage um in any particular year that didn't
generate adequate revenue, uh you don't really have um much of a reserve fund there to um rely on that to to keep your bottom line. Um in Chelmsford and North Chelmsford, there is a bit of an
operating reserve. There's no policy on how to build it. um and there's not a policy on how to use it um should you build it. Uh again, that would be something they would want to uh provide in the future in terms of uh planning.
Um debt levels uh vary considerably and I have no idea what the debt level is in East Chsford. Again, we didn't get any financial information from East Chsford at all um despite our requests for it. And uh John of course uh was able to go
physically there and and see uh some of the operation but um we did not receive any financials. Um the financial response for both Chelmsford and and North Chelmsford was terrific. Um they had plenty of of documentation. We got
audits, we got um budgets, we got annual reports. So the information is there. Um, I think it's uh well recorded. The accounting process uh looks really great in both locations. Um, I would say in North
Chelmsford maybe a little bit more detail in terms of the budget that they submit for their annual approval. Um, and Chelmsford um does a really good job of um preparing their budget. Uh the reports
that they also repair prepare for the state at the end of the year are also um compliant with the year-end activities. Um East Chelmsford has not um filed a report with the state as far as I can tell. I went all the way back to 2014
and there are no records at the state for the annual report being filed by East Chsford. Again, that becomes very concerning from a financial perspective. Um so we have no information with which to evaluate um their financial footing.
Um there is it looks like there's a significant investment starting to happen for PAS. Um Chancer has taken uh the opportunity or advantage of state funding, state loan funding. So they have um they're working on uh uh loan
eligibility with uh for PAS um supplemental uh at the state level in addition to their PAS uh funding that they're receiving from the settlement. So kudos to them. They're moving forward with that. Um the capital funding in both
cases or capital planning in both cases for North Chelmsford and Chelmsford is not really part of a long-term investment plan. um they're not looking at capital strategically. Uh they're not looking maybe a five or a 10-year uh term in
terms of um you know pipes, pump stations, uh treatment plants, uh equipment, etc. So um look, taking a long view of what their capital needs are uh we think is uh something that that should be um considered and is
really is a requirement for water and sewer systems. Next slide. Um the budget structures for um Chelmsford and North Chelmsford are almost identical. There's a few things that are different. The staffing
structure or the the employee titles are slightly different, but it looks like a lot of the activity and the responsibilities are very similar. Um the revenue categories are also very similar. um more than 90% of revenue on
both sides is from rates. Um and then a small amount is um non- rate revenue and again those revenue categories are very similar. Um but we don't know u moving forward how the financial sustainability
um would be. It is not planned at this point and we would recommend that a long-term view be taken in terms of budget planning, capital planning, uh rate structure. Again, once you start looking at capital and budget planning
over the longer term, you can build some predictability into the rate structure for um people for public rate players. And I think that's it for financials. So some of the emerging themes that we've identified are that there is
increasing regulatory demands whether it be PAS or cyber security or just operational needs in general. uh budgetary themes that are that are occurring that really need to be looked at seriously. If and and this is an
opportunity right now that where the pressure is starting to starting to to mount on these on these issues that you should probably look at these things as as one one entity as opposed to three. There's one source of of funding essentially for the PAS construction. Uh
it makes sense to actually do PAS for the entire community as opposed to three different entities. it doesn't make any sense to do to break it up. Uh so in terms of cyber security, well that's that's that's a critical issue right now. Uh we're dealing with that uh primarily because there's third world
nations out there uh and and and some of the people in the world that don't like us are actually targeting those types of entities and unfortunately it's something we have to be very pay very close attention to. Uh uneven infrastructure burdens access all three districts. So there there is some but in
in as noted probably Chumsford and North Chamsford probably the most and there's very little in terms of capital investment on if any on the on the East Chsford side. So if if in fact so that's a that's a good news bad news. The good news is that it keeps the rates down now
if you're not paying a lot of capital. But the bad news is that when it does happen it's going to be significant. And the question then becomes if you spread it over the entire town in one system in terms of the cost versus breaking it up into three separate districts. The impact and the rate to the to the to the
residents might actually could actually be more beneficial in many ways. So it's it's something to think about in the in terms of long-term planning for this. There are opportunities for shared services and a procurement across the board. Whether you're buying chemicals together or whether you're buy or whether you're dealing with employment
issues such as repair of the system as things go along, having one maintenance crew as opposed to multiple crews or hiring um hiring private contractors to do that when you could probably do it internally. Uh that there makes sense to do that. Potential long-term administrative, operational, and
financial benefits for for consolidation are clear. um potential long-term administrative if you have um you you only you you have virtually no administrative support in east who you have one secretary and you have a superintendent and you have one other maintenance person. So when that
administrative person is out for whatever reason either sick or or on vacation the the office essentially shuts down. So that's should be unacceptable to the customer base. I would think that that's something if you need to need need to contact someone, you would think you would you would have
somebody to to reach out to and address that. So some of the further analysis that really is needed when you do a study like this is to take a look at the asset condition assessment that that some of the stuff requires a a specified engineering firm to do this kind of
analysis. We we're here to talk about the overall analysis of whether this makes sense or not. But the some of the some of these analysis we require a specialized engineering firm. Uh the capital planning and cost projections should be done collectively for all
three as opposed as opposed to just one. Uh that's that's what we would like to see happen. The budget assessment and rate modeling is something that's in process right now. Mary Lamb's been working on that and we were hoping to get all three and therefore we could give you a better perspective and understanding of what that means across
the board. um a legislative solution would be needed if we would to take all three and put them under one roof. Uh they were all separate separately created by legislation. So we would create a legislative act to to to break put them into one. Um it it was never our charge uh to be clear on this one to
state this for the record. It was never our charge to look at this as as an opportunity for the town to take over the department. It was always the idea was to look at it from the perspective of creating one one oper one operation uh one one district if you will. Um the engineered inter interconnection
feasibility is something that uh John and I were just talking earlier tonight about that that would require a specialized engineering firm to do that. We would require an analysis and we do recommend that that gets done as part of the next phase of this discussion if in fact the town decides that they want to
pursue this. But that would be something that should be looked at because obviously they you've got three separate systems and there should be some way to connect all three. But it's going to require an an investment as well as uh some some engineered studies to see how that could work. Uh billing and customer
service seems like a no-brainer to all of us. Um in terms of having one company do all the billing, one company doing uh the system the the uh the system alignments. Um you've got three separate separate budgets or three separate
rates. um you could you could actually come with come come forward with one rate which would carry a certain amount of debt burden in it which everybody would be clear about. So there wouldn't be any surprise about that. Sure. Certainly some people would be impacted more than others because that would but if you would but if you let the system
go as it currently is and you don't fix what should be fixed over this over the course of several years the impact is going to be significant to one of those three uh versus all three collectively. Um and then consolidated staffing and organization plan makes total sense to us. You know, you don't need three
superintendents. You don't need you don't need three three um three different crews. You could have one crew doing handling all the administrative and and uh and and and direction of of the entire staff. So, so far we've completed in terms of our we've completed all the interviews,
the data collection. We were waiting on EW ECWD um east the East Cher water district. We actually were prepared to go forward with a presentation that that didn't include them because we never got the got the information. And then all of a sudden within two weeks before tonight's
meeting, they said, "Oh, we well we didn't we never got the information which which we did send to the superintendent, but it wasn't wasn't transferred over to this to the person in the office." So they didn't. So we gave them a little extra time, gave them the benefit of the doubt, and now we haven't been able to reach them at all to get get any further information out
of them. Uh the comparative analysis will be finalized uh hopefully by tomorrow now based upon what we have. Um we're hoping to get all the information out out of them by today. But obviously that's just not going to happen in development. Uh
the recommendations that we have for you uh we've already started working on those things. But um but there is going to be a stress for consolidation. We we think that's critically important in this in this day and age. It's if it's consolidation if if it's if I look at it we look at it from the perspective that
um I actually do a lot of work with with regional dispatch centers right now and um we're actually consolidating regional dispatch centers because it doesn't make sense to have as many centers doing the same type of work. All right. So the cons the world of consolidation is here. Uh we need to embrace it. We need to
take a look at it from the perspective does it make sense for the customer who is in fact the water rateayers of this community and does that make sense so that we can operate in a much more efficient much more effective way in producing water for the community. So that that concludes our presentation for
tonight. Um we do have some key takeaways that we we did want to just share with you. The study is progressing. Uh there were delays due to the data collection gaps. Uh there are clear operational differences that exist between the districts. The strong there are strong opportunities for
coordination and efficiency. The long-term sustainability of each district to operate independently appears unlikely and we say that because of the of the capital needs and the capital costs and the regulatory requirements that are coming onto these communities dealing with PAS etc. Um the
consolidation is the most logical path to to maintain existing services. And finally, the regulatory pressures will challenge the independent operations. And I dare say to you that you know when these these districts were all three were created during the time they were
back in 1913. Uh things have happened have have changed rather significantly in that in the 113 years that have passed since then. So, I do think it's it's the opportunity for now to to take a serious look at at how this operation works. So, that concludes my presentation. Happy to take any
questions you might have and uh or if you have any further direction that you'd like to give us, we're happy to to take that information as well. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Questions, comments, discussion? Yeah, I've had some discussion with some of the board members of the different
districts and their their concern was to combine them. It would be cost prohibitive and it would hurt the current water takers in those spec specific districts. So, I know I'm probably putting the cart before the horse here, but I know that's one of the huge concerns.
>> I think the perspective that we have on that is pay me now or pay me later. And if you pay, and I say this because if if any one of those one districts had a major capital improvement or failure of their system that they'd have to fix, it would be only on that district that would pay for it as opposed to doing a
strategic plan for all three systems and coming up with a plan that could be sp that that could be spent over multiple years. I think that would be the better approach. >> Okay. >> I think you all >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, I think my concern here t
backing away from the the you know, just question and even the people question, there's an infrastructure problem here. >> Yeah. >> Um and looking back at that now, the investment hasn't been made. >> So, catastrophic failure,
everybody ultimately ends up paying even if it's just in one district. Right. >> That's right. Um, and you know, no planning for the future I think we all know is not necessarily prudent. Um, and I rather do things, you know, I rather see them do things over time because
again, to your point, this is not a town takeover. This is a >> recommendation for the citizens of the entire community, right? >> Um, and and the reality is is when we can buy things together and we can buy big if we're bidding out five PAS plants
instead of one or two. Yeah. um you have a lot of there's a lot more opportunity. I think again the thing that that got me I don't know if it was um John that may have said it but you know we've got these specialized assessments that need to be done and I think that that has to
be a priority of the districts or ultimately a consolidated district >> um because we need to know where we're at and how far away we are from a potential failure. I mean what happens if low can't provide water to east? Well, that that's that's a very good point. I mean,
there's and and but you do have adequate resources within your own community. >> And if you shared those resources collectively, uh that would be again cost more more cost uh more more cost approval, if you will,
if but if you did that way as opposed to cost prohibitive. >> Um I just want to follow up on what you just asked. Um do we have any long-term agreement? Does East Chumps of Water District have any long-term agreement with the city of Lel
to provide water as a backup or can they just tomorrow say, >> you know, we're we're at capacity. I can't I can't help you anymore. >> I wish we knew because uh the records that we have from them are so sparse.
Um, when we asked for the records, the records were in a file cabinet in in the superintendent's office in the garage, which was scary. When I saw that, I said, "Well, even if there was a good agreement, we wouldn't know if it was even in good shape to to to pull it out
and read it." >> And do we know um how we went about disconnecting the line to center district? Um, did center say we don't want to support backup anymore or >> do we have any idea how that that
disconnection happened? >> There was there was some comment made by the superintendent that they at one point the decision was made just to disconnect. He didn't really elaborate for a lot about why, but he said but there was decision made because it could have been a difference of opinion
between boards. you know, simp things like that happen, you know, and we we've been all been around long enough to know that those things can happen in in uh in these types of situations. But if that's the case, then uh it seems now would be a good time to at least look at it again and see if that makes sense. >> So,
>> yeah. No. Um and then the last question, Mayor, I think this was for you um from a from a financial perspective, obviously not having east data. Um but but I think you know what you read here is from a financial perspective
um there's not a there's not a whole lot of concern other than it all of the revenue is basically coming from rates and there's nothing built in to support that the the necessary capital investment but there you know we're not concerned about these guys being on
financially shaky ground. Is that a fair statement? I'd say for two. >> Yeah, I would say at least um Chelmsford and North Chelmsford. Um the they're reporting correctly. The the audits are being done on an annual basis by a
legitimate auditing firm. Uh again, their net positions are in uh good shape. Not not a lot of reserve, but you know, they're they're um they're successful on an annual basis in terms of their operations pay their revenues
paying for their operations. Uh it's really just the long range view. Um and one of the things that you don't want to get um caught with is lack of investment in the system and then having the D uh
or EPA come down with a consent decree that says you've got to invest XYZ money in this short period of time, which will drive up rates dramatically. If you come uh up with a a longer range plan and are able to do it moderately over time, that
benefits the rateayers and it benefits the system and it's a lot easier to manage in terms of investment. Don't forget when you start putting this c a capital plan together um that the the staff and the administration of the
water district has to manage it. Um, and you don't want it to become something that is is handed down to them from the state and something they can't manage. And there have been a lot of of districts that have um been ordered by
the state to invest amounts of money uh complete capital projects in a short period of time. Uh, and it becomes a real challenge to do it successfully. So if you take a longer term view and a and a a a strategic plan and a good capital
plan, you can start small and build up and um begin to I always called it baby steps. >> Start with baby steps. Um and and you get into a pretty good um uh sort of a rhythm within the department that says
all right we start this project this year we move to phase two next year we borrow money for this at you know on a periodic basis and the financial staff gets in with the operation staff and it becomes a pretty smooth operation um and that's entirely doable here.
>> Thank you. I think the just the final question uh Pat if you don't mind is because I I asked that question because I think I'm most concerned with East because they have the fewest level of water takers, right? >> Yeah. I think they have roughly $760
so water taker accounts. >> So some sort of million dollar multi-million dollar would be a killer for that. Um do you have with all of your collective years of experience which by the way I thought was pretty impressive in the beginning um h have
you se has this successfully been done in the state where there's been multiple because again we can't do this right that's got to be done by the legislature where this has worked out positively >> well see I I can only speak to I I have worked in um two other communities I
worked in Denim and I worked in um in secon where they both had separate water districts Um, we never had a I've never seen a situation where we had three water districts under the same community. U, that's a new one for me. So, um, it's not to say that, you know, it's not manageable. It can't be fixed. It can't
be addressed and it can be done, uh, going progressively forward. Um, John and I were talking about the the point that about the borrowing issue about, you know, water and sewer issues are one which probably have some of the longest terms you can have. You can probably up to 30 years, I believe, if I'm not
mistaken. Is that correct, Paul? I believe that's a you can borrow for up to 30 years to to fix uh these types of issues and because you know once they you fix them, you don't really have to address them for another 30 or 40 years. But I will say that and John actually
did that with Marielen working in Framingham where they did like a $52 million project that lasted over multiple years, but they they they did it a little bit at a time and um and then and by before you knew it, the system was fully fully renovated. So you do have to I mean everything's expensive
nowadays but if you spread it out over the the entire model of the of the rateayers collectively um you can actually lower that burden and that lower that exposure. So >> so doing the doing a consolidation if
that was the recommendation and the choice these guys made it's it's not an impossible task. It's and it's most likely the most prudent. >> It does require more study and analysis in terms of the system. >> Yep. you know, to make that happen. But I will say in terms of you could you
could actually without even doing any of the construction side, consolidation of the staff alone could be helpful. And and I say that um because I'm actually doing that in another community in two communities right now. We're we're merging the two um centers together.
We're doing administrative merger first and then we'll do we'll do the rest of it after as the time time allows us to do it. >> Thank you. >> Good. Thanks. Um I I'll be interested to hear the the recommendations on on how you know step by step this this could happen because
you know it's not going to happen overnight. >> No, this is not going to happen overnight. No, there's no question. And anybody who's worried about, you know, um their their their position and their respective district disappearing overnight, it's not that's not going to happen. But but you could be a situation
where when when people do actually leave either through retirement or attrition, you could take a position where you you'll start looking at as looking at more of a a regional or interreional approach to addressing those those vacancies as opposed to just hiring a new person.
>> Okay. Thanks. >> Um I'm just going to circle back and kind of maybe try to summarize where we started and what I've heard. Um I I'm a believer in consolidation. Uh I
don't believe the town should take it over. I think we should have an independent single water district in this town. >> Um for numerous reasons and the first one I would cite is par you know par in
the rate paying par in the quality of the water >> um and on and on uh in the maintenance and so on. So, it is disturbing when you hear that you can't get the proper information from East Chelsea Water District. Um, and um, and yeah, we it's
a townwide problem. We have water quality problems throughout the town. Um, I don't believe it's sustainable to to keep going like we are because at some point the town will pay overall for a single district potentially and um
that's not technically fair to some residents in one part of town. They may have to pay for another part of town to have good quality water when they don't. Um so par is a is a really big thing for me. um
cyber security. We're derelict and our responsibilities right here today in the way that we're operating and the fact that you can't even get information from one of our districts. um this is a major target going forward
for in the world and you know we need to wake up and realize that and I'm sure they're each doing their their you know limited amount of due diligence but uh I suggest that um we should have one entity that we could um call upon call
call upon as a town to say what have you done where are we going how are you covering these bases and so on. So, I see um I see that as a a very um lacking area that we should be addressed
sooner than later. Um and then you get into PAS and and we talk about all different areas of the town. I just got I live in the center district uh but my business is in the north district. So, I get letters from all of them. Uh we just got a letter from center last week
talking about water quality um from the fourth quarter last year. Um you know so when I look at the different districts again at some point it's going to come back and it's it's going to one or another is going to have a large
problem. And then I also look at um things like free cash at one of the um districts recently and I was surprised that it was a very large amount of money um that seemed to be going in free cash
and uh you know so um so again back to the parody I think we have an issue where people are paying different they will end up paying different rates they will suffer one part town may suffer more than another part of town. Um, I guess I would ask if
I know it's going to take a legislative action to um to make this happen, but does would it require a town meeting vote first to before taking it to the legislature or how how how would the
town assuming that we're going to have a report that is desirable for consolidation? How would the town progress in the future to enact something like that? >> I think ideally you'd want the
partnership with the three districts and that and have the three districts have their meetings and and everyone rowing together and coming together on a common path um before before a a a you know
difficult situation is encumbered is encountered. Um, so I think that's how it would be is I think, you know, we don't have the the authority. Um, it's the legislature has been stated a number of times. So I think the town would basically look to partner with the three districts and everybody moving together
because as I think was suggested earlier, it should be a win-win for all. The problem is going to be, as Jeff noted, the relative wins are going to differ because of where they sit today. And that's and somehow that has to be, you know, looked at maturely and and
clear-headedly saying, "Hey, look, yeah, this is how life works." Unfortunately, you're all at a different place and which we've heard tonight. But collectively, if you all, you know, come together at the end of the day, the rateayers, i.e. the chumps residents
will all be better off. And yes, the the differential will differ. But the problem is if if you continue the way it is right now, there could you know there could be a particular situation and let's let's and you've heard it tonight in East where you know you could have a
problem that's that's you know is overwhelmingly challenging to even the entire entity if this continues to go on unressed. Um again how much can six 750
775 water takers take on not only aside from PAS everything else water manes >> you know other issues you know I mean you know and what what troubles me is there's people in town who live in a
particular area and and unknowingly you know probably didn't know when they purchased their home or or if they have the long-term residence what the condition is of their water district and you don't want to wake up one day to a to a you know a real unfortunate situation where you know basically it's
a crisis situation in terms of how do we how do we stop the immediate problem but then if there's a long-term ongoing underinvestment it may be um it may be you know nearly impossible to come out of I mean the closest parallel we can
see is you know we run utilities for the town we run a combined sewer operation you know as you with numerous pump stations and lines all across town and and as you've seen, we've gone to town meeting repeatedly updating pump stations up, you know, mains and so
forth. You know, we run five fire stations, you know, you know, you would run them as five different entities with five fire chiefs or five, you know, ladder trucks and five pumpers and so forth. So, it's inherently um obvious, but I think the challenge is going to
be, you know, I think the reason that they're not getting records is the records are probably aren't there. I mean, he can they can submit a foyer request and they'd have to comply and then you go through that song and dance, but the bottom line is we we've know that they they haven't submitted East Chelsea
hasn't submitted balance sheets to the Department of Revenue and the reason there's no debt is because they haven't borrowed anything. So, you know, and that's been going on for years. And so the problem is then again there's going to be a day of reckoning >> but there's also a public safety there's
going to be a public safety thing there at 55 lbs and the rest of the town's at 85 pounds >> and if there's a major fire and all of a sudden the I mean remember the situation we had a few years ago Pat you were here when there was a fire on Rainbow Avenue and one one of the hydrants didn't work you remember the delay and and we went
through grief and meetings and so forth you you could see what could potentially you So you don't have to think too hard to think about what could happen particularly in East Champs if there's been a chronic underinvestment in that infrastructure in that case as you said it's a public safety threat in
terms of fighting a fire or other you know or or basic occupancy of dwellings if if there's issues with with the water quality because it's not just PAS you've got to flush lines you've got to replace lines you've got you know or reline and so forth and and you're right the
short-term answer and we've seen This is East Chamsford is going to buy their water from LOL because they can't take on reasonably a PAS particularly in the short term, but at that point they're the tail at the end of the dog, right? You've got a community that's 120,000
people and you're you're literally at the end of the line like the tail and they're really not going to pay much attention to what the needs are for East. Um, but the bigger problem is is it's not just the quality of the water going through. It's it's the transmission lines and everything else. the hydrants and everything else that
runs the system. Um that is that is that that is worrisome. So if the three districts decided that's something that they collectively wanted to do, can they just they >> Yeah, they could do it approach and how it would work over time is basically you'd have to have some kind of a an assessment or an adjustment by the
people in a particular district so that it level it kind of levels the playing field over time because you're right it shouldn't be on as Jeff noted earlier the customers in Chsford who've made an investment to then subsidize the east portion. So, there would have to be some kind of a search charge of something
over time to to level the field to make it work. But that's going to be, as you said, that's long-term planning uh and and and and needs careful financial analysis to get there because that's what I'm saying. In the end of the day, it's got to be a win-win. But as you're moving to that win-win, there's going to
be some disparity amongst billing because it's only fair to recognize the previous investments or the current investments that some districts may be making and others aren't to and that's going to vary between the three districts. >> And I think further even to that and
this is why I'm surprised that they haven't been able to sit down and have even an open discussion just yet to say one way or another. Now, you know, it's easy to say that, you know, there's economic disadvantages to combining the three, but I also look at it and say
with all the consolidation of staffing, equipment, maintenance, all that type of thing, the savings in itself would go forth to help produce and hold rates close to where they are, plus come up with that bigger picture scenario.
So, um, you know, it's bothersome that those discussions can't be had and it's it's just automatically uh it's economically, you know, not possible and and I and I just can't buy into that because there are a lot of areas of of
um of savings of opportunities here that would help offset the cost going forward for the entire community. So um >> yeah, our goal from the beginning to do this study was not to browbe anybody but to but to expose what the current
situation is and to show people that this is something that really needs to be addressed >> and and to deal with it proactively. And Pat Pat knows it's been a decade Pat prior to this the court the water districts used to meet quarterly and Pat and I used Pat was on the board of time I was you know over a decade ago and
then it broke down and they haven't met since >> and there has been some again be careful in a public session but there has been some discord between the East Chams and the Chams water district which led to this strain relationship
and some you know and and unfortunately again nobody wins uh in this scenario. IO and so it's not like it's unprecedented that there's been coordination and and regular meetings amongst the districts, but that has to return. But more importantly, there has to be a long-term vision in terms of an
assessment of what's out there. And that's the issue with Chsley Water District. There used to be four water districts. There was a South Chs water district and Chford water district absorbed that. And I don't doubt that Chumpswood would be of a mind to consider absorbing east in the short
term particularly, but you're not going to absorb a black an unknown. And that's the issue is that when I've I've and I'm sure Jeff's had discussions with the commissioners and so forth. They're not going to they can't risk to themsel their own district or their rateayers taking on an unknown entity. And so
therefore, that's a time of examination and analysis that has to be performed. So that one is to the benefit of the the assuming district but also the people who are in the east chams of water district need to understand what what their situation is and that's lacking
today. Um and that really is what kind of pushed us you know towards you know doing this because you don't want there to be a situation years from now somebody say why didn't somebody say something or why didn't somebody do something and that's part of what we're doing tonight.
>> Is there any way that the um somebody should should legally compel them to provide the information. I don't know whether that would be the town or if the water takers would have to file suit or what it would take to compel some something like East Water District
to produce the information so that we can complete the analysis because it's >> they're all regulated by the Department of P, you know, of environmental protection. You know, the state, not only the state legis, the state oversees them. they they do supply their water quality reports and so forth but as you
can see the state hasn't taken an active role in terms of the fiscal condition and and stability and operations of the districts and that's the problem and and and when you look at that because you know yeah this is the situation in Chsford if you go across central and
western Mass you know there's districts smaller than the you know there's there's neighborhood water districts and so forth and as you said they were fine at the time they were created but if they're not monitored like we are um in terms of the you know the department of revenue and so forth you know looking at
it you know so right now again they they've not submitted a b you can go on their website do website there's no balance sheet of you know submitted that we submit every year for the east water district going back a decade >> and when I spoke to DP like well that's you know you well that's not our concern
you know and it's like as long as they don't need to borrow the it's not a but again that's just you know that's just a spiral into to a bad place. >> That's a reason why they're not borrowing, >> right? >> Because they because they can't produce the information on the statistics to do that. >> They can't.
>> So, I mean I mean we we could do a foyer request as as Paul pointed out the uh that we could actually do that, but you know, you can't get something out that's not there. You know, that's the big challenge. >> Yeah. >> So, how do you proceed with something
like that to to what are you guessing or or is there analysis? I mean what you know what do you do? Do you take the water water taker rates and you know provide your own analysis and and you know >> Yeah. >> because at some point it's going to have to be done. >> Yeah. And maybe that's to the point
where we almost bring in the legislative delegation and sit with them because you know they you know they it may have to come from the legislature. I mean quite frankly to because you're right it's going to be this pull and pull but as you know the legislature does do air marks and they and the state does sort
of provide incentives for consolidation but again there has to be an the first thing is is knowing what you got right nobody's going to move unless they know what they got and right now we don't we don't know what we got in these jumpsuit >> I want to go back to Pat's earlier comment about the free cash just shows
with proper administration and crossing your tees and dotting your eyes there is an opportunity to get, you know, to upgrade >> without having to go too back hard on the water takers >> under the current system. But, you know, if there's no rec there's no if there's
no, you know, record or camaraderie between the districts, I mean, it's and like most things, you know, people in town don't participate in the district the annual meetings. They don't just in the elections there's very you know it's so there's it's just sort of running you
know basically under the radar and that's that's the that's the concern. >> I dare say to you that you you won't hear anything until something major goes wrong. >> Right. And that's now now you're now you're now you're responding to crisis which is some so that's why we're here
tonight to say look before there is a crisis it behooves all three boards to sit down and figure this out >> because if somebody's going to be exposed and it's going to be it's going to be pretty bad >> and we don't and we don't want to be you don't want be you don't want to be that district. So if you if you're able to to
to come up with a a strategic plan across all three districts and say okay now here's our plan and this is you know going back to the days of setting looking for capital plans for for my the towns that I worked in. So give me give me the plan as to all the things you
need and then we'll figure out a financing financing plan for it. >> It's a two-phase process. Identify your needs first and then let's identify the way to pay for it. Agreed 100%. I think it's unsustainable the way it is and uh but I won't belabor
that point. I'll ask if there's anything else anybody else has at this point. Um I look forward to the completion of um your project and I I um this is my last meeting so I won't be here next time but I hope this board goes on and um and
pushes to further that um consolidation because I do think it's an uns unsustainable situation and eventually it will catch up with us and it will end up being in you know a severe parody situation I think is what will happen and when somebody's paying for something
that somebody else in town doesn't have to pay for. And I would hate to see the day that somebody coming into this town from another town says, "Oh, I'll live in South Chumpsford, but I'm not going to buy a house in East Chsford." Yeah. >> Or, you know, anything like that. It's it's just not right. You know,
>> that is there's a raveling effect that Yes, there is. That goes the whole thing. >> And it speaks to property values as well. No question. >> You know, and in the short term in that crisis, it'll probably be the town responding, the board of health, RDPW along with everybody. And so there will be a cost to chumps, >> right? >> Yes. Absolutely.
>> My best of best of luck to you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your service to the community. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. U best of luck to Paul, too. I I'm sure I'll see him before he leaves, but but uh but congratulations on your decision as well. All right. Thank you all. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Um that was a very eye openening report. I um I was uh anxiously waiting that and uh anyway. Okay, here we go. So the next item on the agenda is town manager
vacancy and screening committee and the one after that is town accountant vacancy. Um I just I'm good before we start this discussion and it's more just a discussion of you know where do we go from here kind of thing. Um
I've actually had a couple of people in the past week um say what's going on in Chumsford, you know, and and um so my response has been um there's really not a whole lot going on in Chelmsford. It's just that that people are aging out um
and that's what's going on. So, uh, that's that's the um the the the picture behind the scenes is, you know, we're all getting up in age and moving on. And I, for one, I've had some health problems. That's why I'm leaving. But, uh, you know, Colin Spence is aging.
Paul's aging. Um, um, I don't mean that meanly. I don't mean that meanly, >> but we're all at that. No, no, I didn't mention the town of either. No, it's >> so >> and there's a and there's a hand there's
a bunch of people retiring from the school system in June too. I mean it's it's >> correct. So so having said that I just wanted to get that out there before we start the the discussion. Um so there is um there is policy as to how to move forward um in the um there's information
in the charter and then there is policy um actually that was just updated by um Pat Wes last year for both hiring the town manager and the uh town accountant which I think will prove um fruitful at this point. So,
starting with the town manager, um, basically I'll I'll just read some of this so that the the um, so Paul has given his resignation. For anybody in town that does not know this, Paul's given his resignation. He'll be leaving
us on Memorial Day this year. So, um it's coming fast and so there is guidelines on how to go ahead and um uh screen for a new town manager and then ultimately hire a new town manager. In
this instance, because of the expediency of Paul's, um leaving um the town will need to um uh provide for an interim town manager. So, um, unless it I mean, I just can't imagine
that you could get a town manager hired by Memorial Day. I mean, maybe it's possible, but, uh, I I I can't imagine that that's >> Well, that person would probably have to give notice if they're coming from outside the city as well, >> which for that reason alone would preclude from happening. So, so that um,
so there will need to be a um, uh, interim manager until that search is conducted. Uh we have some fine people in town that in Paul's absence would normally take over anyway. So um I think we're in good shape that way as far as
um having an interim come in. Um and as I said there's I know that there's a couple of positions in town that could easily step up and um and fill that void uh in the meantime. And I and I also have a um a sense that um um Paul's just
not going to abandon the town if there's a question. Um Paul >> No. And in fact, if you remember, every July I have to give notice of three people who could fill in for me in case there was I was unavailable for whatever reason. So, so we've annually provided that list and it's and if you look at the list every year was always the
finance director, the public works director and the police chief. Um obviously the police chief is sort of out of the equation now. So it kind of those are the two who who the board accepted over the years as would be adequate in the event that I was incapacitated for health or other
reasons. Um so that's sort of a an ongoing part of the charter and bylaws that we do. Yeah. Okay. So um I'm not going to read all of this but um I'm going to read just sections. So when it becomes known that there is or will
be a vacancy in the position of town manager, the select board shall begin the process to hire a new town manager. That process will include uh defining a timeline such that the steps outlined below can be accomplished adequately. Um per the town charter, the select board
shall create a screening committee. It should include at least one but no more than two sitting select board members. At least one representative employee from town staff and town residents. Screening committee should consist of seven to nine members. The process to
select members shall be determined by the sitting select board. Um I'll leave it there. I for one believe that a seven member committee is much more appropriate than a nine member committee. >> Well, can I just stop you right there? Um, as you just mentioned uh a few
minutes ago, this is going to be your last meeting and just a week from tomorrow, we're going to have two new members on this board. That's correct. And and I really think that that most of these steps should be taken with the the new board rather than this board and then have to change, you know, basically
>> I'm not offering any one thing or another. I am still the chair of this board, so I do have an opinion of how things should move forward. Number one. Number two, um I don't think it's inappropriate to alert the town as to what's going on right here today. >> Absolutely.
>> So, I'm reading this so that the town understands exactly what's going on today that Paul has tended his resignation. I'm not offering anything other than just helping the town to understand what's what. I do have an opinion as to you know maybe who should
be part of the screening committee not names but you know that's my right I'm chair of this committee >> okay go ahead >> thank you so having said that um
so screening committee needs to be put together my belief as far as screening committee goes should be I agree that couple select board members. Um I think it should be just select board members,
not the chair. Um but the um select board members, I believe two of them, town representative employee, I absolutely am emphatic that the finance director should be part of that
committee because the two of them, Paul Cohen and the and the finance director, played pivotal roles in bringing our uh ratings up to par to get us our AAA bond rating. and so on. So there's
nobody that knows what the other hand's doing more than those two. So I think as a recommendation, >> can I ask a question? Can we only have one representative from town? >> No. >> No. No. >> Okay. >> I don't know. That's up to you guys to decide.
>> I didn't know if it was >> It says at least one, right? I didn't know you couldn't have more than one. >> I The policy looks like it allows for more than one. Uh but it says at least one um so that >> the select board gets to decide what it
what the composition is. So yeah the select board at that time >> right. So you know my recommendation for that um would be you know that u the finance director should um um be on that committee. I think um I think I feel
strongly that and and I want to put this out there and this is another reason why I wanted to speak to this tonight because I want to put the call out to see if there's any uh human resource professionals in town that would be interesting interested in stepping up to
be on this committee because I think it would be very important to have a human resource professional on the committee. I further think because of all the work we've done over the years and Paul might remember this when he came on back in 2007 I think
>> six >> six um you know uh we always there wasn't always a cohesive relationship between school and town that's been
fixed I think there is a good relationship between the school and town and I for one think that the um school superintendent might might be a member that uh would be appropriate for this board for no other reason than they have to work closely together and budgets
align and the schools have the larger side of the budget. So that's my um my take on the selection of the committee. Um we don't need to talk a lot about the um interim uh because the next board
will figure that out u upon seating. Do we have to post the job? >> Not for interim. No. >> Okay. No, the board. >> The board would have to meet in a duly posted public meeting and vote someone to serve as interim >> manager. No, I'm just saying. Do we have to post the job somewhere before we can start? You
>> mean for for the interim or for the permanent? >> For the permanent. >> Yeah. Yeah. You've got to advertise that and post that. Yeah. >> Well, it's it's in the policy. >> It's in the policy how that's created. Yeah. how the job description is created >> which is done by the screening committee >> and the select board.
>> Correct. >> Well, that answers that question. >> Yeah. So, um so the next board will figure that out. Two of the member the next two members are here. So, they're hearing exactly what everybody else is hearing tonight. So, I don't think we're
sliding anything one way or another. Um, but I I felt um I felt compelled as current chair of this committee to put the information out there and let the town know exactly what's going on and um and just put forward my opinions on who
I feel um positions, business people, HR professionals, school superintendent, finance director. That's who I think this makeup of this committee uh screening committee should be. Um and I think that's appropriate. So, um, at this point, um,
other than that, I would say, um, or ask if there's any comment or question, uh, for the board or Paul or anybody else regarding that? Only thought I have is, with all due respect, would it be appropriate to at
least put out there a request for people who are interested in serving on the screening committee to submit submit a letter of interest by a set date because the >> in both in both you know because it it's going to take time and um you know
therefore if you start that now you're going to get a couple weeks head start than you if you start doing this you know >> exactly why I'm doing this April. So, you know, so I and again the board at the time can decide how many people and who they are and everything else. But if you say, "Hey, if you're interested in serving on the town manager, you know,
search committee, uh, in accordance with our charter and policy, um, you know, here, you know, please submit an application by April, you know, date and then, you know, and then that way when the board can then hit the ground running when the when the new board is seated and and going as opposed to
saying, "Okay, let's put the thing out." And then you're, you know, you're into May. >> Well, um, we do have a policy on on ad hoc committees, which I assume that's this, that's what this would be is an ad hoc committee. Um, and it says that we we should we should put out the call for and allow applications for three weeks.
So, I I agree with you. It should I think we should we can do that part. We can issue that call for that screening committee and the three weeks would be like the 21st. So, um, >> and then that way when you yeah you come out of town meeting, you can hit the ground running because Yeah, you know, let's let's hope the town meeting only
goes two sessions and then on May 4th, you could have you could have those applicants in hand and you could you could go right there appointing that committee and hit the ground running and that way you'd have enough time to have those, you know, before the meeting on the ear perhaps as early as May 4th >> and more applicants would be advantageous. I'm sure so we could look
at skill sets of everybody who wants to >> participate. Would the will of the committee support an April 21st date? get applications in >> to get to ask for applications. So, >> I mean, I would assume we'd post something on the website tomorrow and
tonight I would, you know, >> publicly proclaim that we're looking for applicants for the steering committee. >> That's basically the April 20th is the legal holiday of Patriots Day. So, the 21st would be the day after the the holiday. It's school vacation week. Uh
and then like you said the board this board would then go through town meeting and then hopefully on May 4th but certainly no later than May 11th the board would be meeting and perhaps your one of your first items that night is to appoint a screening committee and then get going. Um and then you and then like
you said from there would be the advertise you know you they have to do some steps as you can see by the screening committee which will ultimately result in the question you had Jeeoff about an advertisement deadline for applications and so forth and then and then remember that person whoever is selected is going to have to
give notice and the 60 days that is in my employment contract that we've executed over all the years is pretty standard to what's out there. It's certainly not less generally than 60 days. Um, so again, you you got to kind of bear that in mind and I think because
I think your goal would be to have somebody on board, you know, for the fall because in terms of the after they've given meaning choosing somebody because you're going to have to have you got to go through that budget process and spring town meeting, you know, it's going to it's going to come real fast. And then, you know, soon we'll talk
about the accountant position and and and Darlene's last day as well. >> Okay. So is that the will of the committee then to um can I publicly announce that we are looking to fill
positions and I guess is it possible that we could say whether that's going to be a seven? No, that they can decide the time. Just get anybody who's interested get the next board will decide on how many. Okay. >> Right. I think I think putting it out
there for a letter of interest in it, right? Because again, the more choices we have and the more time we have some I I want to have a good selection of >> of people and I think that goes for >> town employees as well as residents. >> Okay. >> Okay.
>> And that meets the policy guidelines. So then officially I will ask uh the general public um that's viewing tonight and anybody um that is viewing to mention it to your neighbors to your counterparts and so on um that the uh
select board is actively seeking members um for a screening committee to replace the um current town manager and we'd um like to see those applications or letters of interest in by April 21st so that the next board uh once town meeting
completes can go ahead and pick up the uh the work of um >> that that will go to the residents of the community. Should we have a similar notice go out to the town employees for the same deadline and same thing because the same thing that talks about having at least uh at least one representative employee from the town staff. So ask any
town staff who's interested to also apply by April 21st >> and maybe they should they should indicate if they're applying as a town employee or as a res. >> Nice. Yeah. So, I think yes, a note should go out to all the town employees for anybody that may be interested. And I would also like
to see I mean we just asked publicly, but I'd also like to see something on the website. Um >> Oh, yeah. No, we'll do that. We'll get that out tomorrow to just put it up there that anybody visiting the website would see that immediately. >> Um and I think that gets you off the
ground um in a good timely manner. So, >> and when it cuts a town website, it hits social media and everything else. and probably the l we'll probably ask the l son if they would put a little thing in as well. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. So, um having gone through that um that's what I wanted to
accomplish tonight. Um is there any other questions, comments or discussion related to the town manager uh um appointment? >> Yeah, I' I'd like to um just make a comment and and this would would cover
the town accountant, too. So, um, as Paul mentioned earlier today, it was 2006 that he joined. Um, and I remember that time frame pretty pretty vividly because I was working here in town, took
a job up the hill over at Brooks and then the economy fell apart in a few years. So, if we I was just thinking about what Paul's done over these years. Um, and he's he's led the the town through an economic downturn that lasted
a long time. He brought us through CO. Um, and he brought us through to today. Um, and our town is in excellent financial shape. I know we've got challenges coming. Um, but this is I
feel almost into my veteran season. My rookie year is almost over. that this is probably one of the single most important positions and jobs we're going to do over the next six months. So, um you know, I do appreciate what Paul's leaving us today and I wanted to make
sure that I publicly said thank you to him for that and I look forward to working with the board and our new board members and the residents and the town employees to uh trying to fill this position. And I can tell you, I live across the street, that corner office
light is on awful late, an awful lot, and he shows up in an awful lot of things. Um, so we've got some pretty big shoes to fill. And and I do really encourage the employees and the residents to um apply to be on the screening committee so that we can put together the right group to uh to fill
Paul shoes. I won't say replacing him, but to to fill that role and pick up the the baton and keep running. So, thank you, Paul. I appreciate all the work. Anything else? Okay. The next item on the agenda is um
talking about in discussion for um filling a town accountant vacancy. And um so with that um the town accountant Darlene Lucier has attended her um resignation
and um she will be leaving um or she's given formal notification that she will be leaving on September 7th, 2026. I think this allows for the um fiscal year to end um at the end of June and
then um that that position stays on to close the book so to speak and move on and um complete the audit such that the new person coming in can see how everything gets managed. And hopefully that position can be um
uh replaced prior to um the current town accountant leaving so that there is some time and overlap between the two such to that new person can understand um the chart of accounts and everything that goes through uh that accounting
department. And we also have some other interesting things in this town that some other towns don't have in that our accounting department does their own payroll etc. So there's there's a ramp up period. So I think the um the town account position should be um looked at
and and I think you know it's like everything else you know with the you know the town manager has to give notice the town accountant would have to give notice and most any good town accountant um um is likely not going to leave their
position before the end of June or the their fiscal year. So, um, so I don't know, you know, how that plays out at the end of the day, but, um, but my my thought is is if you could get somebody here for at least the month of August
and those few days in September, I think that would be beneficial to the town or even earlier if we could. Um, so, uh, and I'll read quickly, um, as to how that works. The policy provides guidelines for the process to hire a town accountant. When it becomes
known that there is or will be a vacancy in the position of a town accountant, the select board shall begin the process to hire a new town accountant. That process will include defining a timeline such that steps outlined below can be accomplished adequately. The select board chair or their design shall meet
with the incumbent town accountant to gauge that person's willingness to accommodate a transition period with a new hire. and I believe that's been discussed at this point. So, um, this information may have some bearing on the experience needed when evaluating potential candidates. The select board
chair or designate shall meet with the human resources director to develop advertising to be used in recruiting the town accountant, including where and when ads are placed and other necessary details. And I believe we have um I mean there's job descriptions for all the the
different um uh positions here. So I think you know maybe there's something that might need to be tweaked to um bring that up current. But um I believe that um even that information could be ready to go very quickly. So um I think
there is a an urgency to this one just so that um that position can be in and there can be some overlap um when the time comes. So having said that is there anybody
else that cares to add or comment or discuss that? So again, I definitely, like I said with Paul, I, you know, since Darlene's here in the room, um, thank her for those 26 years worth of service. Um, there's a
lot of tribal knowledge that will go, but, um, this accounting position too is, you know, I think it's a little bit more wonky. It's debits and credits. It's municipal accounting. Um, so replacing Darlene is not something we're going to, you know, I'm looking to do. I
would like to to see somebody that can, you know, fill those shoes and continue to work with um the town and the town manager and the rest of the finance staff um to help us continue to maintain the bond rating that we have um and to submit good books on time. um you know
with with a you know accounting accounting uh background adjacent role um it's a critical job and it's critical to the town's fiscal success um which allows us to be successful in those other areas. So I do want to thank Darlene for that and I appreciate that
as she's stated she'll stick through the audit and get us to that get the new person to the next phase. So thank you Darlene. That's all I had. Anybody else? >> Yeah. My only my suggestions on this is I think when you advertise it, put in
the advertisement the expected date of of uh of high of commencement of work because as you noted, you know, she's going to be departing in September. If you put an advertisement out in April, you want that person know we're looking for somebody for that August time frame
because like we saw in Darlene's contract, she had a 60-day notice provision as well, which obviously like myself, she fulfilled. But you you want that person to know that hey look you know yeah you're going to see this advertisement in April but we're looking for somebody for October so that way you
as you noted earlier you you as the where you are now can finish you close out your fiscal year have a transition and work with the outgoing accountant because that's just so critical in addition to the responsibilities of the job because you know
everybody's you know trying everybody wants to honor their agreements with their communities but also know that they're going to a situation that's you know that's that's um an effective transition. So I think that's that would be key not the responsibilities but also saying you know that our incumbent
accountant will be retiring you know in September we like some transition period and therefore we you know we would I mean you think about it if if that person had to give 60 days notice they'd be giving notice by the beginning of July >> which is not a bad thing. It's just that that that's that just sort of puts into
perspective that you know you the town has to advertise interview select agree agreement and then give notice so that you know and again if I think if you lay that out into the notice that hey look we'll look for somebody to start in September we recognize a transition and
this is how it'll go. So again, um I I'm sure that uh in the next, you know, short uh couple of weeks that will all be pulled together by, you know, the select board and HR director and and and so forth to get this going. But yeah,
because again, April 1st is, you know, Wednesday, so you're um you know, five months away. >> Okay. Anything else? All right. Thank you. Um the next item on the agenda is
uh select board approval of national grid utility easement at 295 Actton Road fire station site. >> Yeah. Just real quick, you the board did a similar This is for the South Actton fire station site. Um a few months ago
you did a similar one for the West uh fire station on uh or Westford Road. Um so basically National Grid needs to have the this the grant of easement provided. This is also going to you know town meeting and so forth who you know so
they can begin their engineering and plan design work. So that's why it's here before you this evening. Um again this is all fine that why this is happening is because we're going from overhead power to the buildings to conduit. So,
>> so is is it appropriate to to do this before town meeting approves the >> Here's what we want to do. We want to get this to National Grid so they can do their engineering because they won't start and then once we go to town meeting we'll we'll circle back Pat and
then have the board do it. But we need National Grid to get going. And the problem with National Grid is they won't get going without the documents. And so that's that that's how we'll I think that's how we can do it. Um and the and part of the reason for that is because of the construction schedule for the
fire stations is tomorrow the east and south fire stations will be closed. You know you the next meeting you'll have bid awards for demolition and all that work can proceed but as you can imagine like any other large utility national grid doesn't move quickly and so we
don't want to have any issues with the easement. So yeah we we just like we did a couple months ago we'd like your vote. We'll send the materials to National Grid and then we'll go to town meeting and then we'll circle back with National Grid. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, we need a formal vote on this.
Okay. All right. Is there any um comment or discussion um regarding this request? >> Okay. Seeing none, I would u entertain a motion to approve. >> Okay. Yeah, I'll make a motion to uh to grant an easement from the town of Chunswood to Middle Sex Electric Company
uh as uh as described at 295 Actton Road in Chford. >> I'll second that. >> And I'll nitpicking, but it's Massachusetts Electric um you had said Middle Sex Electric Company. >> Well, that's how it's written in Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. It's mass electric. Yeah,
>> it's mass mass electric. So, >> anyway, um any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed. Unanimous. Thank you. Okay. Um, select board um policy votes.
The first one is a um policy regarding disposal of surplus property under a $10,000 policy. Um, we've seen this already. We I think we talked about it. Um is there any um
comments or discussion u regarding that policy? >> Basically the same thing we talked about a few weeks ago, right? >> Yes. Yeah. We we saw these a couple of weeks ago. So >> yeah, the policy is we table it till the next meeting. >> So >> hopefully everybody's up to speed now
and and we're we're good. But I am okay um >> with this as written. So, >> um, so if, um, we could vote all, >> you probably do all of them. >> Probably do all of them at once. >> Yeah. Okay, why don't we do that? So,
that was the first item. The second item was, uh, contract bid award. Um, which we we did have some discussion about last meeting and um, it basically simplifies things and basically says that when a bid award is made by the town, the town managers should provide
the following information. when uh requesting approval of that award. And um prep uh one would be the purpose of the bid solicitation, two would be the number of names of the biders responding, three would be each bidder's proposed bid amount, four would be
recommended award, and um five would be bid award amount. So um is there any questions, comments or otherwise on that policy change? Okay, the next item would be agenda procedures
and this really simplifies um the um there was a very specific uh agenda and it and it it read something to the effect of the agenda shall normally consist of call to order, public service and public input etc etc. these days
things change you know consistently and it is important that the uh the chair and the town manager have the ability to um put forth an agenda that's appropriate. So uh it talks about um when um uh the uh agenda should go out
um to the chair and then when it should go out to the board and uh and so on. So um I have no problem with this policy. Is there any question or comments? >> Cleans it up. cleans it up. So, okay.
Uh meeting posting and minutes policy is the next one. Um and this is um this is a lengthy document but um but again it streamlines the process. Um and
basically in simple terms um and you know this is how we mostly approach it. Um um it it talks about what meeting minutes are and how they should be transcribed. Uh and basically he says that you know um that meeting minutes should not be
construed to be an actual transcript of the meetings and so forth. Then um so um and then it talks a little bit about um the um executive session meeting minutes. So, uh, again, I'm okay with
this and I would ask if there's any comments or discussions from the, uh, from the board. Seeing none, we'll move to the next one. The next one would be uh, boards, committees, and commissions
on boarding. Um, so this just talks about how um, how to go about appointing uh, appointing new um, committees and authorities and commissions. um you know and it speaks I believe um
I'm not sure it differentiates between you know what's the town manager >> I oh I believe it does nope >> appointing authority the first thing >> the appointing authority yeah so um so you know most boards in this town all
all boards in this town are either appointed by the town manager or this committee unless Unless there was a subcommittee of another committee, but um anyway, this speaks to that and I'm fine with um the changes here as well. So, any comments or discussion on that?
>> Pretty much all we did was eliminate the redundancy in the policies. Right. Right. >> Right. Y >> So, having put all that out so everybody knows what we're talking about, um I would um entertain a motion to approve
um um these uh policy revisions um to uh permanent policy. >> Make a motion that we approve um all the policy updates as presented. >> I'll second that. >> I have a motion and a second. Uh any further discussion or comment? Seeing
none, all in favor? I opposed. That's unanimous. >> Okay. The next item is approval of the order of layout and plan for Proctor Road as a public way. Real real briefly, last meeting we we um the board voted its intent to lay out
Proctor Road. We reached out per statute to in writing to the planning board. The planning board considered it last Wednesday. They voted to recommend approval of the layout of Proctor Road. So your final action this evening is to approve the order of layout of Proctor
Road and then the final step will be town meeting approval for acceptance as a public way. So um you have the order of layout as presented uh for you. >> We signed this already. >> No, no, this is the one for the order of layout. The other one was the intent of layout sign.
>> Okay. So we'll sign this. >> Oh yeah, it's sign. It's in the packet. Yes. >> Yeah, that's right. That was my question. So we've already signed but but two weeks ago you signed a different one. >> Yes. I'm sorry. Okay. So, we uh we just we simply need a vote. >> Yep. Okay. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Um any discussion on uh what the
town manager has said? >> Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to approve the uh order of layout for Parker Road. >> Make a motion that we approve the order of layout of Proctor Road as presented. >> I'll second that. >> You have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in
favor? I opposed. It's unanimous. >> Thank you. And the next item up for bid is town manager bid awards. >> Yeah, if public works bid awards for your approval this evening. Um the first
one is for traffic markings. Um there were um these are all seal bids and they're seeking approval this evening. For traffic markings um three bids were received. The lowest responsive and responsible bidder was Pro Finish Lines Company out of Plymouth, Mass in the
amount of 99,950. Um, as you can see, there were three bids that were received from 99950 to 106750 to 12235. Um, their references were positive and the public works has previously worked
with this company. Do you want me to do them individually or go through them all? go. >> We can probably do them all at once. >> Okay. All right. So, that's the issue of the uh traffic markings on the um uh hot necks asphalt. Um again, they estimated
cost of $50,000. Three bids were received here. Um the lowest uh responsible bid and the lowest bid was submitted by Newport Construction out of Nashville, New Hampshire in the bid amount of $35,000. Materials will be picked up at 20
Commerce Way in Westford. Again, the town has previously worked with Newport and references a positive and therefore was seeking to award the contract for the supply hot mix asphalt to Newport Construction Corporation. And you can see the bids were pretty tight between
35,000 to uh 40 basically almost 41,000. The next one is ADA ramps and curbing. Um here there was much more bid activity for an estimated project of 72,550. Nine bids were received. Uh the lowest
responsive and responsible bidder was Antineellis Construction out of Newton mass and a bid amount of 49,220 and DPW has received positive feedback from the references. Uh so therefore we're seeking the uh approval of the a
bid award to 8 for 88 ramps and curving to antennelis construction. You can see the bid amounts there varied from the 49270 uh up to 102,376 and you can see you know many of the
bids around the 60 to 70,000 range. Um the next one was uh and final one is hot hot mix asphalt burm under the supplies. Again this is a estimated $30,000 annual project for the upcoming construction
season. Two bids were received. Uh the lowest responsive and responsible bidder was CVD paving out of sus mass. Their bid amount was 35860. Uh you can see the other bid amount was 38,000. So again, it's telling you the good indication of the market and DPW
has worked with this contractor in the past with positive results. So again, we're seeking your confirmation of the approval for Hotmiss Axol to CVD paving company. And then the final one is McCarthy School Roof. This is a
obviously a significant capital pro project with an town meeting appropriation of $3.6 million. Um, this is a project that involved sub bids and general bids. There were six general bids received. The lowest bid received was from uh WPI Construction
uh of um for and this is the company that we're fortunate enough they're they're we're currently working for the town on the south row school roof replacement project. Um, so again, we're seeking the approval of the bid award for the McCarthy Middle School roof project to
WP Construction of Webster Mass in the amount of 2,78,000 uh dollars. And as you can see, the bids there were very close and competitive. You know, you you're basically at 2.1 million, 2.115, 2.3, you know, up to up, you know, it's
really close. Um, so and and then you have an outlier obviously at close to $3 million. So again, um the market is continuing to to be favorable in terms of number of biders and obviously with our budget. So again, we I respectfully
seek your confirmation of these um >> five bid awards this evening. >> Thank you, Paul. And u the market is tightening a little bit though, so it's timing is everything. >> So I thank the town authorities that uh got this out timely >> um because the market is starting to
tighten up a bit. But um any um discussion on uh Paul's description of the uh bid awards? >> No. >> Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to approve the five bid awards. >> Make a motion to approve the bid awards for traffic markings. Um the supply hot
mix asphalt ADA um ramps and curbing and hot mix asphalt asphalt burm and McCarthy roof replacement project as presented. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I
>> opposed. Unanimous. >> Thank you, Paul. All right. Um the next item uh on the agenda is town manager reports. >> Real brief because I know we've had a long meeting and we could see it coming. Just one thing, last meeting, remember we voted to send earmarks to the our
legislative delegation in the House of Representatives for the upcoming state budget. Um I did do that and as directed by the board with the different categories and so forth. Um I spoke to Representative Catalo he's still uncertain you know how much the house is
going to be able to provide because of the tight the state's tight fiscal condition. Um and what he was able to do though is the state the house of representatives did did approve a supplemental budget bill. Um and he was a he did insert one of the requests that
we had suggested which is the 25,000 to be expended uh for design improvements to the Chsford Center traffic signalization. Um and so again he was able to get our other two reps to cosign on this on this uh amendment which has been included. So now the action moves
over to the state senate. uh and then the expectation is is that this earmark will remain in the final supplemental budget bill that's adopted by the legislature and then again in a in uh a couple weeks we'll see action in the house on the state operating budget. So
again this was sort of a opportunity that arose and representative Catalo recognizing the the the challenges was able to secure an amendment for us uh in this bill. Um and again you know that's how the legislative process works. So, I just wanted to notify the board of that.
And um that's concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you, Paul. Um the next item is uh town manager appointments and >> uh what's old is new again. And we welcome back an old friend. And >> yeah, I'm seek I'm seeking your confirmation to appoint Dave McLaclin u
to the conservation commission for a term ending 6:30 2028. Um David had served on the commission for over 35 years and had to step down due to family con concern. Uh that you know he's now able to come back and wants to
contribute. Uh, and we and I I' I think we'd welcome him because we have lost the institutional knowledge that Carl Bishoff had and and um and and this quite frankly was the only application I received, but it was certainly well received. And uh so again, I would seek your confirmation to
return Dave McGlin to the Conservation Commission for a term ending June 30th, 2028. >> Any um discussion on >> I think it's fantastic. >> Yeah, it's great. >> Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. All right. I'll entertain a motion for that appointment.
>> Make a motion uh that we approve the town manager's appointment of Dave McGlaughlin to the Conservation Commission as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Uh we have a motion and a second. Um any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed. It's unanimous. Okay.
Meeting minutes. Select board. Uh we need to approve the select board meeting minutes of March 9th, 2026. Any corrections, comments, or otherwise? See? None. I'll entertain a motion to
approve the meeting minutes from March. >> Make a motion to approve the meeting. Select web meeting minutes from March 9th, 2026. >> I'll second that. >> Motion in a second. All in favor? I opposed. That's unanimous.
Okay. Um, select board member liaison reports and referrals. Start with you, Pat. >> Okay. Um, just have a a couple of things. Uh, also, um, since our last meeting, uh, Congresswoman Lori Tran has
announced her service academy nominees, including two from the town of Chumsford, Ethric Varma, who is going to the Naval Academy, who was nominated to the Naval Academy, and Ethan Lee, who was nominated to the Air Force Academy. there's still a process to go through before they are officially accepted to
thosemies, but they have gotten through this this step. So, congratulations to them. Also want to congratulate new uh council police uh patrol officer Ryan Butler who was sworn in uh just about a week ago today. So, you'll see him on patrol
soon. Um, also want to uh recog uh want to send condolences to the the family of uh retired firefighter uh John Robinson Jr. who passed away last week. Um he was very well known in the community as was shown by uh the outpouring um at the his
wake and his funeral that were held uh this the end of last week. So, our condolences to their family. And this being the last our last meeting before um the next election, I want to um acknowledge two folks that are um that
are voluntarily giving up their positions as elected officials. The first being Maggie Marshall, who's a library trustee, served 30 years as a library trustee. There's a I guess it's probably over by now, but there was a reception over at the library for her. So congratulations to Maggie and second
um Pat Maloney who want to present this >> miss in recognition of your >> Thank you >> tenure as chair. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Appreciate appreciate you all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you.
>> Anything else? >> That's it. >> Jeff. >> Okay. I'll try to be brief. Um, the only thing I really have to report on is the parade committee met about a month ago and Paige started the work of getting the new banners
um out to the public and hopefully we'll get a nice return from those. I I I love them. I think they look fantastic. I think once people see them up, they're going to be impressed. >> So, that being said, we're going to miss you on the fourth. Paul, >> I know
he's still coming. >> He Yeah, he might still invite him. >> He might. He might come. >> Well, you good. >> Um, actually, one other thing, we all had the opportunity to go over and see the new Prime 41 restaurant, and I have
to say it is an welcome addition to the town. I think if if you haven't been there, I think people are are going to love it. That's just my opinion. Also being Holy Week, I just want to wish everybody a happy, blessed, and safe Easter.
>> Thank you, Jeff. Aaron Chef, >> um I'll uh cover ahead to two um assignments since we last met. Um we had the age friendly um jumps for the uh implementation committee meeting and um
again active group um and I think they we have one we're only short one slate now um but tiny bit of shameless plug we talked a little bit about um the opportunity I had with um Maria
Companion from town clerk's office. Um, we got to do Deb's uh age friendly um show talking about becoming uh supporting the elections by becoming an election volunteer and uh you know Maria talked about the you know what the
process was and and how uh how the town clerk's officers runs election and I had the opportunity to to um to share my experiences doing that for a lot of years until I um got the chair at this table at which point I had to temporarily retire. hire um that
position. So that Chelton Tele media did a great job in in putting that together for us. So if you get a chance, if you're interested in how elections uh work in the town or uh what the experience is like being an election worker, I would recommend you spend 25
minutes and do that. Uh and then the planning board met uh as we spoke about earlier, they did vote on the on the Proctor Road, so that was um you know, that could come back before us tonight. um and the uh the elusive uh I shouldn't
say that but little tongue and cheek um gap analysis that they're working on with the planning board of health and conservation um that's coming up for um review and then uh we talked a little bit about um the managed growth strategy
group and um Evans currently working with Nimcog who's supporting us in that process right now to look for some grant money because that project which you know is is arguably at this point going to rival a little bit of the strategic plan. Um, and the stuff that is that
we've started to discuss with NEMCOG and as a group, um, I think is going to be really interesting in uh, helping chart the future of, uh, of what, you know, we think, um, we'd like to see the chart the future of where we'd like to see,
um, CHR go. And it's going to be a very datadriven process with, uh, a regularly large community that so far has made their their meetings. Usually they fall off when they're that big, but everybody on that committee is pretty committed. So, uh I appreciate the opportunity to
work with them. So, um and then they uh continue to get ready for town meeting rep uh town meeting as they we all know that half the articles are zoning articles. So, I think Chris and the team are ready to to uh present to all of us.
So, that's all I had. Mr. You're much more more wellversed in this than I am, but did we just get some pretty major musical awards to the schools and all um we in that competition? >> Yeah. And so that so that the uh they
didn't make it to the state finals this year. Although, God bless them, they took 40 kids in to go see all those all the uh all the you know, the kids go in and they they see what the the finalists were. Um and they took off on Thursday night and came home um Saturday night,
but we did get uh several awards and there were several kids that um for the for the play that we put on this year. So yeah, that that the theater group is is pretty active. >> Speaks to the excellence of the >> It really does. It just goes to how we support arts and music. I mean, I think
our schools are known to be great schools, but those programs in particular and again our sports teams, especially the baseball team this year, but be remiss to not remember the efforts that they put together there. So, but I appreciate the >> excellent >> reminder. Excellent. Um, okay. All set.
um school building committee for the Parker Middle School replacement met last week. We had a um uh our regular meeting before we had a uh not quite a visioning session, but more of an update on the project. Um so,
uh we're moving along. Um we will meet um April 16th, I believe, is the next time we meet. And um at that time is it April 16th Paul? Um so at that time we
will be voting the final option to move ahead with what we've selected as the option. I believe that option will move forward as a 4 through six option uh to be built on the fields at the existing
Parker Middle School. Um, we have submitted all we submitted a 2500page document a couple of months ago to Mass School Building Authority that came back with comments and that um we had a period of time to uh respond. We
responded the other day. So, all of our comments are back. We await now their approval to let us go into that next um um area. So, we're hopeful that on April 16th, we've got the go ahead to uh move ahead and um
um actually select the option that we're going to work on and then we can really get to work and uh get to business with the architects and owners, project managers, starting to develop the building and the site and costs and budgets and um and uh so I'll be staying
on that committee. I'll I'll I've I've been asked to stay and I'll I'll remain chair of that committee uh for the foreseeable future, but um but I kind of want to let everybody know um this will be the biggest project Chelms has ever
embarked upon, larger than the sewer project. Um we will receive considerable reimbursement should the town elect to go ahead with it. But I also want to um you know say um that we haven't built a
school in over 50 years and uh it's time that we start taking care of the kids. And uh I heard um some folks get up um at town meeting last year saying, you know, how uh how disappointed they were and how bad they
felt for the firefighters and so on. And I get that. They got their project approved. Now it's time for us to focus on our children. Plain and simple, we haven't done it for a long time. We did a small minor $32
million project back in the early 2000s. It's time. It's It's just time. We need a new school. It speaks to your property values. It speaks to our education. It speaks to so many things in town. So, um so I'll keep hopping on that every
chance I get. I hope um um um you know this board will go on and and keep talking about it because it is uh such an important um uh project. So um so that's what's going on with the school building stuff. Um,
so other than that, um, I normally don't go on about certain things and I don't like to waste time, but since this is my last meeting, I just want to say a few things on the way out the door. Um, first of all, I want to thank John Kurlin for stepping up and
taking the seat. Um, you know, with with how I felt about leaving, I felt very comfortable that such a competent person was taking taking over. So, thank you Mr. Kurland for that. Um,
so I I was mentioning to Paul earlier that um you know I've had a couple of people come up to me this week and say, "What's going on in the talent chumpsuit? Why is everybody why is everybody leaving?" And it's like um so it's it's um we're uh there's not a mass
exodus of any type going on here. It's really just that we're we're all getting a little bit older and uh uh either through retirement systems that don't work for people anymore or myself where you know I've just you know gotten a little older and uh had some health
issues and uh you know just want to get out and do some things. So um so um you know I want to thank Paul. I want to thank Colin Spence for his time um because the last chance I'll get to publicly thank him. I want to thank um
Darlene Lucia for her time and so on. But uh I want to just talk a little bit about um my um relations with some of these people and specifically Paul for now and um um we've been working together since Paul came here. Um we
were just finishing up the initial school project and we've gone on Paul formulated the permanent building committee after that and so we've done a lot of work in the town over the years. We've uh we've done fire stations. We've done
>> DPWs. >> And and I will say that, you know, for our expenses and costs and what we're into all these projects for, >> we've done it, you know, again, through the support of people like Paul and Darlene and John Souzer and the finance people helping us
put together what we needed to to really do some amazing projects. And you know the DPW I I wasn't thinking of that but you know our initial budget for that when we went out for a budget was $30 million. I think today all in still
we're 145 million. Um you know when when Westford was building a $30 million fire headquarters we were building a $12 million fire headquarters. So we've uh we've been fortunate to have some really good people here to uh make things
happen. And um so I want to thank you for your expertise, Paul, and your uh your consistency and just hanging with it. And uh I um you know, you you bought us a AAA bond rating. You did this all through when people were coming at you
trying to get you removed and and you had to put up with the BS of prior boards doing that to you. But you kept on. You did the right thing. You kept moving us in the right direction. And I thank you for that. Now, um, as far, you know, I want to
thank Colin Spence for his time. Um, I want to thank Darlene Lucy. I've worked with Darlene since the be since 2000, maybe when we started the school projects. Um, always had timely information, always had timely budget information, always um,
you know, got the bills paid on time, kept the contractors happy, all of that. So, um, you know, the team that was here and and I'll throw Gary Persetti in on that as well. Uh, but the team that was here was, um, was and is exceptional to
this day. So, um, thanks to all of you. Um, and then when I talk about, you know, some of us are all getting old. Um, just briefly, back in the late 90s, I think my oldest was nine or 10 years
old. And um so uh Dr. Moser at the time who was the school superintendent was out pushing for a new high school and I went to a meeting and um knew a little bit about construction and business uh having owned my own business. So that's when I got involved
back in the late 90s and uh so it's been a long run. I appreciate um the support of the town that I've gotten over the years. It's been an amazing amazing time and um
I couldn't be prouder of the things that were accomplished. But I also want to mention and I want to talk to the people at home with young kids and the younger crowd. We need help. This this town needs young blood.
We need assistance. Um, so, um, you know, anybody with young kids should absolutely be paying to the school project, but we we we need help across the board. And so, I'm going to sit here
tonight and appeal to the town and its residents to please get involved. um you all you folks and I know how hard it is when you're in your 30s and 40s and you're trying to manage your family and and all your business um prowess and so
on, but um there's so many committees on in this town that you could volunteer for that don't require monumental work. So um so my appeal my final appeal will be please to um the general citizenry of
Chelmsford is um get involved. Just get involved. It doesn't take much. Um it's something you can be proud of. It's honorable and um so please um we'd love to see more participation. We'd love to see younger participation and get rid of
us all of us old farts that >> that have been doing this too long. So, having said that, um I think that's about what I have for for this evening and I thank you all for um you know all your support and everything over the
time. And uh with that, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. >> So the old parts can get out. >> Yeah. Yeah. Bedtime.