Good evening. Welcome to the May 19th uh select board meeting. Uh well, let's do the pledge of allegiance to start if we could. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The select board will reorganize and vote to choose a new chair for the upcoming year. I'm opening nominations for select board chair. >> Do I have any nominations?
>> I'd like to make a nomination. >> Excuse me. >> Mr. Brad Street is flagging you down. >> Could you silence your cell phones, please? >> I thought something bad was happening. Mr. Brad Street. Okay.
>> All right. I'll start over. >> I apologize for the interruption. >> That's okay. >> I'm opening nominations for select board chair. Do I have any nominations? >> Yes. I'd like to nominate DJ Jooko. >> Do I have a second? >> I'd like to second it.
>> Do I have any other nominations? Hearing none. Any discussion? Hearing none. Do I have a motion? >> I have a motion to nominate DJoko as chairman of the board. >> Do I have a second? >> I have I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed.
5-0. Congratulations. >> I was waiting. >> You do have t-shirts. >> If you remember last year, Moren bought dinner. >> Okay. >> So, normally Yeah. What we do D is yeah we'll move over and Dan um do you want to sit next to D and then
>> yes that's fine because usually the habit is that the latest chair sits next to each other >> that's fine >> musical chairs >> okay so I'll be here to whis in your ears. I
know you like it or not. >> I'm going to need it. >> How do we do this? >> I'm happy. I'm happy to help and read the agenda for you if you like, unless you prefer to read it yourself. >> That will be great. Um yes, I think I
will do that. >> Uh but but before we begin, um I thought this could happen, but now it's kind of sinking in. Uh I I would like to offer a brief moment of
reflection. Uh however each of us understand that uh to kind of center ourself on the responsibility uh we carry for this community. Thank you. Uh I'm honor to the rest of
the board uh for this trust. Um in my short two years, I've learned that uh we make a lot of decisions and it's not just about what decision we've make, but it's also about how we make the decisions. So I'm I'm looking forward to
uh a very collaborative board. um respectful respectful of each other and respectful of the residents that uh we we represent and I need everyone's help and thank you
for this honor. I do not take it lightly um one thing that I can assure you and the residents and something that I've always done is uh you won't lack any effort from me. So, thank you.
Now, let's get to business. Uh, I would like to have the clerk read the agenda for me if you may. >> Certainly. Approval of the minutes of May 7, 2026. >> Move we accept the minutes. >> Second. >> Any discussions?
>> Mr. Chairman, I'm going to abstain. The file that was sent to me on my email was too large for me to download. >> Okay. Any further discussions? >> I think I cannot vote as well because I was not present. That's >> correct.
>> Okay. >> Um, any other discussions? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. The minister abstain >> and one abstension. So, three yes. >> Two abstension. >> Two abstension and three yes. >> Thank you. And speaking of abstension,
uh to um uh the town manager, if someone watched the meeting and they comfortable with the minutes and they were absent, can they still vote? That I thought they could but >> I think so. I can >> that's something you may want to check with town council, but I think if you
watch, >> but that is a rule. If you've watched the me the meeting, >> you can >> because I know you can participate in the ne like you can participate in the matter if you've if you say in front of the um in front of the body that you watch the meeting but I will confirm >> that came out of co.
>> Yeah, that would be good to confirm. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> New public business, please limit comments to three minutes or fewer. >> Yes, if you want to just go to the microphone and introduce yourself. >> Good evening. I'm William Kosawan. I
live at 7 Fairview Street in Danvers and I'm here to revisit a subject which I put before this board some time ago and that is regarding uh having what is one federal street designated a historic site. It's a project I've been working
on as a part of uh Rev 250 for the last year and a half. Um before really really I had was a proposal from the bank to deed over the property to town of Danver with no ideas and no backing. Uh tonight I return it's been a while. Uh what I
have in my hand is a letter from Richard Fratown archavist who is very much in support of the project has his own ideas in terms of what's to be done there. Basically a story board perhaps a flag pole. I also have the support of David McKenna, former selectman and vice
president of the historical society and also Karen Wagner just same mention just a few. Um, obviously you have many other important subjects on your on your slate to review, but I'd like to bring this up and uh see if we can discuss it any
further. I do recall at one time that was brought to my attention there was concern about maintaining the property and the property is a very small lot. It's essentially a lawn which is right across from my other home at 135 Silvin Street and I and my family be very happy to pledge to take care of it in terms of
just mowing the lawn as required. So that's why I'm here. >> Okay. Thank you. Um Madame Tom manager, can we look into that and get an update? Thank you. >> We're all set. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
Any other? >> Yes. >> Bill Brad Street town meeting member precinct one. I received this mailing the other day. Can someone either tell
me what's happening or are you working on it? I'm going to speak to it in my I'm going to speak to it in my town answers report. >> You're working on it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public business here? None.
The board is in receipt of an application by Essex Northshore Agricultural and Technical School, 565 Maple Street, the Larkin Center, Jill Sawyer, event coordinator, for a 1-day wine and malt license on June 3rd, 2026 from 6 to 900 p.m. for a nonprofit
fundraiser and retirement party. >> Okay. And who here? Sure. You want to just introduce yourself? >> Hi, Jill Sawyer representing Essex Tech. Um, just to clarify, it is just a retirement party. It's not a nonprofit. I think there was confusion cuz we had previously applied for a one-day liquor
license that we already approved. So, this June 3rd event is a um retirement party for Whittier Tech, director of finance. They're just renting our space. Um but they are selling tickets, so it is a public event. >> Okay. Thank you. Um board member, any
questions today? Board member Bean. >> Uh no, no questions. Thank you. >> Okay. uh member to ask >> uh through you to the clerk what um what is the current what will this make if it's approved uh the count of uh uh
liquor licenses for Essex Tech and what is the total per year? >> The total per year is 30. >> Oh then okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm all set. I know we haven't granted 20 >> so okay I have no other questions and I I'm sorry. I'm presuming that Vinwood
Caterers is going to be your >> It's actually Premier Bar Service and Catering. Um Vinwood was not available. So we um go to their next option which is Premier out of Waltham. >> We do have their >> Madam Clerk, do we have details of the the tip certified and uh >> we do. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Work in order. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Are you all set? Okay. Thank you. U member Bennett. >> No questions. Thank you. >> Member Bernard. >> I'm all set. Thank you. >> And no questions. So I need a motion or entertainment.
>> I move we accept the application as presented. >> A second. >> Any discussions? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. Five. >> Just one. >> I'm sorry. Was that opposed? Okay. >> Obviously I >> like the school a lot. It's just I
disagree with selling on school property. No worries. >> One. Okay. >> One. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. On a side note, for those that are joining us on our tour on Thursday, we look forward to seeing you and put on your walking shoes. It's a big campus. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Number five, >> the board will hear a downtown update by DPW Director Steven King and land use and community service director Aaron Henry. >> And if I may, Mr. Chair, Sure. I just want to introduce um well you know our land use services director and our DPW
director. Uh one of the things uh that we have been working on and are here to show you tonight are some updates to the timeline that was the downtown and some um new things that are coming and we will be they're going to speak to you a little bit. We're going to be doing some downtown engagement with the businesses
as well. So, we're happy to bring this to you. Um, and also let you know the that we are also sensitive and have been working with the events that happen downtown this summer. So, um, >> little hard. >> We will all you will hear the rest as we go. >> Okay.
>> Thank you so much for your work on this. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Good evening everybody. Um, Aaron Henry, director of Landry Community Services. Uh, Stephen and I are going to blast through a little bit of an update. Much of this should look very familiar to some of the um members
of the board as this is this essentially the same exact uh PowerPoint deck that we gave about 14 months ago I think it was. Um so again this should look fairly familiar and most of this is uh review
but again um want to talk about the downtown project and what's going on uh in the next phase of the work. um project area hasn't changed. Still downtown from uh Park Street to uh Hobart and Locust.
So, sorry. I'll wait for Stephen to grab the lights. And I think just the way we're doing tag team, I'm just going to run through the slides and then you questions probably go to Stephen, but um we can roll with that as we go. So, again, why did we do the downtown project? Won't spend a lot of time on
this one, but basically lots been going on downtown. a lot of changes and the it had been >> several decades um since downtown had gotten a really good deep refresh. Um and this was also something that was identified in strategic Danvers as a community um point of interest. A little
bit more investment in downtown. Again, the the last change was in the 80s and that's when some significant changes uh and alignment w was addressed. Um, so it's been a while and it's, as most of you know, it's probably due.
Um, so here's a little bit of the schedule and we can come back to this with Q&A. I'm just going to keep firing through, but basically we've accomplished the first three steps and, uh, the next three steps uh, have taken a little bit longer for us to get done than we anticipated. Um, and we'll talk
a little bit more about that as we go deeper. And then we'll talk a little bit more about the comm the proposed community use area. um is we've got a little change of thought there. So again, the streetscape elements that this project touched on was lighting,
street trees, planters, benches, trash barrels, signage, ADA access, and complete streets, and community space. And then I apologize, I was unable to get a beautiful photo uh day, but these are the new lights that were installed the last time we were here. We were
giving you a schematic from a engineering book and now we actually have the new lights up and in. Um, still going to show you the picture of the dog cuz nobody complains about seeing a cute dog on the bench. Um, this bench actually is um going to be kind of
used as our template townwide and one is installed in the parking lot. Um, I'm not sure if it's an Elm Street address. Maybe it's one Elm um right here opposite of town hall. So, if anybody actually wants to see what this bench looks like, there's one uh just across the street. And there's a matching set
of street furniture that goes with that. And um we have not yet boughten all of the trash barrels, but there's an example of what one looks like. So, again, we're trying to create a a townwide vocabulary for these sorts of improvements um that we'll use beyond downtown.
Uh last time here, we had uh signage elements for wayfinding downtown. We at that point didn't have final designs. We now have final designs. Um so again that'll be uh coming up in this next phase. And um again the community space we had
talked about trying to do something in front of the uh little plaza in front of brothers uh rather than do the park lit like we did during COVID. Maybe move that up a block um and talk about some sort of uh public space there. feedback
has not been good on that and the community's interest seems to not be there right now. So I think uh one thing we have done is um there is funding available through grant programs that we could maybe revisit this but again I think we kind of want to get done the
work that's in front of us and then talk about this at a later date. Um again kind of wanting the community to kind of tell us that this is something that they're interested in. So far, again, a lot of that feedback. Most recently, we got an unsolicited um some unsolicited feedback at the uh finance committee a
few weeks ago, just kind of underscoring that people aren't quite sure what this space was about. This about as far as we got. We envisioned a space that could be transformed for community programming in the evenings or and then maybe community seating during the day to kind of help encourage people to come out downtown
and have a place to hang out. Um but again, feedback has not been good. So, we're thinking we should put that on pause for right now. Um and um as town manager Cah Hill alluded to, uh next week we'll be meeting with the businesses to kind of go over this
schedule and take some questions um about the next phase of this work as well. So with that, we'll be happy to take any questions on what's going on and Stephen probably answer more of the nitty-gritty than I can, but we're both here uh for whatever you have for us.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Um board members, any questions? Um member Bennett, >> thank you. Yes. Um Aaron, the trash barrel that you showed, there's no coordination with what Maple Square is doing with trash barrels. They're
entirely different. >> Yeah, we had talked to them about the lighting element during approval and um yes, they have tra different trash barrels in front of their property. That's something we may decide to revisit. Um those are technically on our property so we can talk about that with
them about swapping them out. >> Yeah. If you're redoing downtown I think it should be consistent and >> as much as you can. >> Yep. >> And not moving forwards with the public space makes sense because we really got a bad rap when we did the park downtown
during CO and people still remember that. >> Oh, they do. And if we hadn't done it, we got would have been criticized for not doing it. But as it turned out, >> I tend to agree with that philosophy. But >> right, but as it turns out, it was not um
a good idea. >> It's all in the execution and we didn't get hired. >> Yeah. Like you see do see do something but maybe not on such a grand scale that it's grand. >> Yeah. Thank you for the feedback. >> Thank you. All set.
>> Member Benat. >> Yes. Hi guys. Um, thank you for coming. Great um, PowerPoint. I agree with select board member Bennett. I think everything should be uniform. Want everything to look the same, right? Same. Same. Um,
the signage we're working on, which is good. Um, I think that public space popup park that we did, you're right, we we would have got criticized if we did or didn't do it right at that time. Um when you said the surveys, how many surveys did you send out, you know, for
did you send out surveys for the for the um public space? >> Um no, just the community feedback about when they've seen these plans and what we were planning. Again, the I wouldn't say it's overwhelmingly negative, but we have far more negative comments than
positive, but we didn't do any community surveying on that. >> Okay. So, we want positive. Yeah. Um, ADA is very important, you know, in the square and uh, the paving. I mean, as I had said before, our town needs a facelift right?
>> I've said it over and over. Drive through Melrose. Okay, that's I have a branch there and it's absolutely gorgeous. The businesses are thriving there, too. And you've got the pretty lights. It's um, it we want people to come to town, you know, and spend money
here, right? open up businesses. But, um, other than that, I think it's great. Um, keep on doing the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, member Bean, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I don't mean
to ask a loaded question, but, um, can you guys, and it we don't have to do a deep dive in this thing. How many how much grant money and state or federal money do we get for these projects versus taxpayer money? just just a
guess. It doesn't have to be. >> Yeah, I can answer that. So, Steve King, uh public works uh director. Uh to answer your question, for this specific uh area, we've gotten quite a few federal or not federal state grants and air marks around $250,000 to assist with
some of the projects. And then we also uh heavily rely on our chapter 90 um allocation that we get every year. So, that's typically one to $1.2 million in state funding that we get for road paving. and it's specific for the center of town. >> It can be used uh in any public roadway,
but uh we've uh systematically kind of made sure that we're able to uh schedule this work as part of the funding coming up for us in the next year so that we have a certain amount money set aside so we can do the Maple Street, High Street, and Elm Street corridor for paving
>> and downtown fund >> and and the downtown fund is also helping to assist with that as well, which is paid in through developers. >> Yeah. And it Okay. Okay. So, uh, if you had to throw a number out, a percentage, how much does the taxpayer put into
this? >> Uh, I mean, so chapter 90 is a somewhat of essential of a taxpayer. >> I I guess I'm thinking Danvas residents. >> So, typically Danas residents only, we appropriate probably $2 to $300,000 a
year um from our uh free cash into this type of haven program. >> Okay. >> That's townwide. that townwide. >> Townwide. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All set. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh member to ask. >> Thank you.
>> Um couple of things. One is um I agree that we want some uniform look and feel. However, many many many years ago, we adopted a policy at our local parks for no trash
cans, carrying, carry out, which I actually support and think it's a good idea. Why are we not adopting that downtown? Because I can go in front of CVS on certain days when and and find trash barrels overflowing. Um, so I'm
wondering why aren't we all in in one way or the other? >> And if I may, Mr. Chairman, I would think that that would be a decision of this board, but if you want a recommendation from DPW, you know, I welcome that, but that would be a policy
decision. So, if that's something you want us to explore, >> and I'm sure we probably made it at the time, and I'm I'm again supportive of it, >> but we have and there may be very sound reasons, but I'm just wondering why we we why we have >> and I don't know the history >> some portions of town that are carrying
carry out and some that are not. >> Yeah. I mean, not to hypothesize, but I think in an area like that that it is more like densely populated than some of the other outlying areas that we do is a little bit of easiness for us to be able to go in there and if we know specific
spots where people can uh dispose of their trash and we can we can collect it and move it. We can keep things a little bit cleaner in that area versus um if we did not have those locations, where does that end up going at the end of the day? >> I'll be Well, if I have a coffee cup,
I'm throwing in the barrel. No doubt about it. But if the barrel is aren't there, I'm putting it in my car and I'm driving it away with it. >> Um, but and I'm not putting you on the defense of why we I'm just it isn't it isn't uniform across town. So, but if we're going to put them out
there, I agree those barrels look great. Um, Maple Square is currently in the throws of starting their popup park. Are you working with them on making sure if they put up trashicals there or lighting
there that is in some manner uniform looking? >> That's that's the hope. Um they are still uh I think they're trying to instigate uh or initiate uh their improvements at the freight house this calendar year. They're a little behind
schedule where they want to be. Um but I think as Mr. Ben had pointed out, we'll double back with them on the trash barrels and provide them this spec so we can get that to be uh consistent with ours. >> Okay. Um I don't think I have any other questions. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um >> Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I do have one more. >> The signage is included. Does this tie into the traffic study we did way back and and start pointing people to where there's available parking?
>> Yes. Yeah. So, Mr. Tr is alluding to a 200 we did a 2014 2015 uh parking study that was followed up with a downtown initiative through Emmyhan. I know Miss Cahill will know that name. Um and we did a wayf finding program on the heels
of that and we kind of woke that back up now that this project's coming together. So this is building off of that work from okay uh about 10 years ago. >> Great. Thank you. Now I'm also Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. I'm happy to hear that you will be meeting with the
businesses next week. >> Uh that was going to be my question. I think it's important that they involved in this process. Is this a one and done or do you have like are you going to be setting up um
more meetings or ways for them to give you feedback if if as as we go along? >> If I may, Mr. I'd love to speak about that. Um, so this a couple of things and after this if you guys can just get into the timeline of of the paving piece so
that they understand. Um, this is on this project. This will be kind of the first meeting to really talk about this summer. We want to make sure that the residents and the downtown businesses um, and we've been already working with the different event and such. We want to make sure people know what to expect
because things, you know, there'll be times when this part of the sidewalks disrupted or that. So, this on this project, this will be one. Um, but myself and I think I've talked about it with you and member Tras and member Bernard um and the Northshore Chamber, we will be launching um working to
launch another kind of downtown group. I don't I don't know that it'll I don't I need to know more about what the mission was previously for the downtown committee. Um but something uh of that nature to so that we're more engaged with the businesses as we move forward so that when we have these public engagement opportunities um it's it's
just more of a smooth rhythm because they already we're already speaking to them on a regular basis. So this is since I've been here my first goound with the with downtown. I'm excited about it. Um but the team um has has done this a few times but first time for
me and uh the first of many. >> Great. I I think that's that's great. Um, last question. The people you'll be meeting with, um, were they invited to this or did you how did you
>> reach out to them? >> So, right now we reached out through uh, business contacts and emails that we have. Okay. Um, through through planning and land use. Um, so they've got our initial flyer um, with my information on it to contact myself and come and the dates and times for the meeting next
week. Uh, I definitely foresee us having more on-site meetings once construction starts. Um, it's always a little bit different to talk about the schedule and the work happening and then from the work to physically start for people to realize what is actually happening um, in front of the shops and homes and businesses. So, um I definitely foresee
us probably more field site visits um on a day-to-day basis once we start and start working specific areas of that whole corridor that we're going to have to talk with each individual business owners specifically um to let them know when we may have to take some parking spaces for the for the sidewalks. >> Exactly.
>> Um if we may um what time they open, what time they close, we have to do some night work. that will al that also have to be advertised as well because if we were tried to pave these roadways in the middle of the day, it it really upset the traffic flow throughout the town. So, there's going to be a few more meetings, few more coordination notices
going out to the businesses so they're aware of what's going on um as fast as we can let them know >> and I'll bring that here as well. >> Yeah, thank you. I'm I'm really happy for that. I think that open line of communication is going to be key. Thank you for the update. >> Mr. Jam, can I ask a question? Sure.
When is what's the date and time of that meeting next week and where is it and who's invited? >> All right. So, it's Tuesday, May 26. Um, we're doing it in the morning 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. here in the tuming room. >> And as he said, for right now, it's been
we use a business contact list. Um, >> I have a downtown business. Nobody contacted me. >> I'll have to check the list again, but it went up I did a few got a few I had a few bouncebacks but I will verify what happened on those bouncebacks and
>> I paid commercial tax rate >> you didn't make the list >> that's obvious we will definitely find the select board members >> thank you >> thank you and that that's exactly why I was asking because I think it's
important that we we cast a wide net to get as many people as we can involved I know this is not the only one There's going to be more, but it's a great start. So, thank you for the information. This does not require a vote. Any other questions, comments
here? >> Yeah. No. Okay. Thank you. Next. >> I don't I don't have to move. >> The board will hear a presentation by land use and community service director Aaron Henry regarding a housing
production plan. So, while that's opening up, um this is I'll caveat this presentation similar to the um open space plan that I came to you briefly on maybe a month ago, a month and a half ago. Uh similar
situation. We're hoping to wrap this up by the end of the school year. Um, but again, if there's major issues, we can take your time. You know, we can take the time to make sure that everyone's comfortable before we ask for approval. So, tonight I thought I would just do a quick um overview of the current state
of the housing production plan. Um, you were provided I hopefully you were provided a link to um a draft of that. Um, I'm going to try to fly over that a little bit. Um, and then a little caveat at the end because we just got a new draft inhouse
yesterday. So, um, but I'll explain that. So, housing production plan. Hopefully, my remote is working. Let's try this again. There we go. So, what is a housing production plan? The state several years
ago, probably at least 15 years ago, created uh an instrument called the housing production plan for communities to use to soften the bl uh the soften the blow of hostile 40bs. And communities that went through this uh
housing production planning process could under certain situations get some relief from a 40B. Um but pretty quickly several communities that were north of the 10% number in that uh affordable
housing world started doing them um as well. And so that's where we are in the fortunate position of even though we're above 10% we still have decided to pursue a housing production plan. So why specifically would a community
that's north of the 10% number try to do a housing production plan? And basically because it provides you the chance to look at the data, it provides a wonderful framework for you to understand your community and your community's housing stock and what's happening to the demographics of your community that affect who's living and
tenanting in your housing stock. It also for some communities the HPP qualifies as an element of a master plan. So there are communities that do housing production plans because it's a known framework um and it does qualify for one of the elements of a master plan. So
again, we thought is this is a moving target. A housing production uh plan for the community would be uh the appropriate thing to do. And I would say this is I think this is our third iteration of a housing production plan.
And the remote is stuck again. I apologize. There we go. So, a little bit on the background in the process. So, we started this in June of 2024. Um, we've cycled it through quite a bit, received quite a bit of feedback on the plan. Um, and this spring, well, really
starting about a year ago, we really started focusing back on the boards and committees um that would probably see this more often than the general public to really make sure that those boards and committees are comfortable with that. Uh primarily that would be the planning board, the affordable housing
trust and yourselves. Um although this is probably the first time we've come with uh to you with this and this is basically because again we wanted to make sure that we were in the ballpark of an approv approvable plan before we brought it to your attention. So again, um, one of the things that we've learned
through this process as we've had all these community meetings is really, uh, there seems to be a lot of appetite about, uh, accessory dwelling units, how that relates to efflas, how that relates to short-term rentals and dwelling conversions, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a second, but basically, we have identified some
common themes that the community seems interested in in exploring further. And as I said at the top, um, I'd like to get this done before the end of summer, uh, before summer starts. I apologize. Um, but if there's any concerns, issues with any of the language, we can pull
up. We're not under on a clock on this. Um, I want this done right rather than fast. So, a housing production plan, what's actually in a housing production plan and what are you required to cover? Essentially, you have to document your housing needs. You have to document your
development constraints that exist in the community. What sort of local capacity do you have uh to to implement these things? And what are your goals and strategies? And you will find all of those things in our current draft. So this is no
surprise. This is really a national trend, but lo and behold, it's happening here as well. We have an aging population. We have shrinking household sizes. And the need for affordable units is outstripping the supply available to the population to find. and a just that
this is a smattering of a little bit of the data that you will find in uh the HPP itself but I just thought kind of reiterate these it was working before there we go so the population is aging so and again there's a lot of stats in
this book uh in this report but basically what you'll see here in the uh blue green darker bar is where we were in these age buckets in 2012 and in the tan or brown is where we were in 2022.
And what you'll see here is basically as you get to the 25 year olds, 34 year olds through um really the 74 year olds, you'll see that over that decade, massive population shift in the number of individuals that are older.
Obviously, this little bar, the 45 to 54 year olds went the other way. And that's often a sign of mature householders that owned a home in a previous community and are able to now buy in where you're kind of freezing out. Um that population is kind of getting basically that grows at
the expense of younger households because the cost of entry in the community has been increasing over this time. So you see more mature households are the only ones able to come in. And then obviously you see stuff like this where you see the older population really going up. And again, some of
that, as we talked about in the plan, is the lack of ability to move into another type of housing unit. So, a lot of people are getting stuck in the house um well after the family's gone. Not necessarily a problem, but an an indicator to us that the housing stock
might not be uh appropriately calibrated to what people are looking for at a given stage in their life. So a little bit more on the other one which um highlights which is there's more need than we have units available
at an affordable price. Federal government talks about cost burden. You are considered cost burden if you spend more than 30% of your household income on housing expenses. You are extremely costburdened if you're spending more than 50% of your income on your housing
expenses. And as you can see here, we have almost 3,000 households, approximately 27% of the community, so a little over one in four households is spending at least 30% of their household income on their housing expenses. And
really, no surprise, the less you earn, the greater that burden becomes. And these are actually the numbers of what that salary looks like. This is calibrated for a family of four. Just that's kind of how the stats come out. Um, but sometimes in affordable housing
we talk about 80% AMI. So again, I figured that's a little more wonkish. Going to this slide. These are the same numbers, but just tied to an actual income just so you can kind of calibrate um where you might fit on this scale. So again, we see some people making good households making good wages that are
still experiencing cost burden. Okay, let's see what was next. My clicker really doesn't want to work today. Well, it seems to catch from time to time. Oh, here we go. So, goals and
strategies. So, specifically, what did we find in this and what are we publishing in this draft? Really, um, sustain Denver's current affordable housing portfolio with an emphasis on deeper affordability. So, at the Affordable Housing Trust, now that we've
met the 10% goal, what we often hear is, "Can we do better than 80% AMI?" Cuz a lot of people still feel that 80% AMI is still very expensive. Um, and they'd like to see that number come down. So, the affordable housing trust is over the last few years really kind of pivoted to
encouraging uh developers that come to them looking for support to go deeper uh and help more uh lower income bands. It also speaks to the fact that this is a moving target. Staying compliant with 40B is a constantly moving uh goal.
Every time we add a unit, that number changes. So, we have to stay vigilant and continue to build affordable housing opportunities. We also need to address the town's senior and accessible housing needs. That's something we just talked about a little bit um on the last slide. Promote housing production that builds
local wealth. This is a uh the state probably 20 25 years ago instituted a policy that pref prefers rental housing to ownership housing. They give you a little bit of a benny. So like uh what we used to call Avalon up on top of the
at the state hospital was a was a rental property. We get all of the units on our SHI because we went rental. Over the last couple of decades, what you've seen is most communities encourage rental housing because you're getting that extra bump. um by getting all of the
units in that development even if they're not necessarily affordable. Um but what that costs us is that people have no opportunity to buy an affordable housing unit. And the difference in your monthly rent is about the same uh from
affordable renter to an affordable homeowner. Your monthly costs are going to be about the same. They're going to be approximately 30% of your income, your household's income. But after a number of years, if you owned your home, when you decide that you want to move on from that home, you've built a little bit of a nest egg in your that equity is
yours. Obviously, you have to resell it back to another affordable house, another affordable household, but you can capture the equity that you've earned in that property, and that's a way of building wealth and helping people get up and out um into a higher income uh band. We also talked about
leveraging key sites um that the town may control. Unfortunately, as we are doing this in parallel with the open space and recreation plan, um there aren't a lot of opportunities for us to explore this technique um with town owned property that we currently own. But again, we need to stay uh vigilant
for any opportunities that we could uh take advantage of. So then I really there are I think 19 uh recommended strategies in the draft that you have um been shared and again my
clicker was working so well at the beginning. >> I got it. >> Thank you. I apologize. I won't run through all of these here, but um basically what I've highlighted here are um one, two, three, four, five, six, seven things that the community has
seems to have um identified and said, "Yeah, I like that." Earlier in this process, we did get some push back on the way that this section was worded. It alluded to strategies that made it sound like we were going to have to do all 19
of these things. We've walked that back. it was always intended to be kind of a buffet or a menu of things that we could do. Um, so we've toned down that language a little bit. And again, these are the things that uh the community has seemed to responded uh has responded to
well and I'm also excited to say that I think we're moving ahead on about half of these now. Um, so again, there's been enough consensus and enough uh action that we're starting to move ahead on some of these. And again, this would be something as you take a look at yourselves, this is
probably where you're going to have the most feedback for us. Um, >> that was your last one. >> That is the last one. Excellent. One last thing, cuz I I noted that we just got a new draft uh this week from our consultant. Um, we've been working with JM Goldson on this plan. Uh, so we just
posted a new version of the plan today to the website. I apologize. If I knew it was that close, I would have timed out that a little bit better. Um, we've been going back and forth, but basically the difference between the the draft that you've received and the draft that we just posted online is really just to
clarify some key points, correct some inconsistencies, um, and introduce some technical updates to kind of make the plan read a little bit better and make a little more sense. In particular, there's, um, a section the state says like you have to document
when you submit your plan to them for approval that you meet this checklist. And so what we did is added essentially why we met that checklist right towards the front. Um so again it looks like a more substantive change than it is because it added about two pages to the
executive summary or to the front part of the plan but it's not new material. It's just kind of an easier way if you only read the first few pages of it you get a little bit more of it. So that was the only change and that has been posted to the website. >> Aaron, what pages are those you have the
numbers? I don't have let me see I think it starts on page nine. I did not confirm that but the memo I got from the consultant tells me that those changes start on page nine. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh member to ask.
>> Sure. Uh I'm intimately uh involved or was with the original housing production plans. fully understand the need for it and the design of it and the fact that we're creating tools for the toolbox. Um, in my time it has changed from a um
the need for a uh protective or preventative document to one of now truly planning. >> Yep. >> Um glad we're over that. Glad we got over the 10% um and will remain so. Uh which just sidebar when is the uh New
England school uh home for the deaf construction going to start? Any idea on that? >> Uh they are hoping to break ground this year. >> Great. Fantastic. That was a big uh part of the getting us well over the 10% and with the inclusionary zoning the
affordable housing trust did over many many years uh helped. I would and and maybe this is the devil's in the details and but if you have an opportunity uh inclusionary zoning did a great job great did you know a really good job at
helping us um and fortunately we started in certain zones now we've made it uh we've made it uniform across all of our zones and and that's helpful as well um in that uniformity I'm wondering if we can't encourage and look at
opportunities to do exactly I I'm I'm hearing and Carla King's voice in my head about what truly is affordable. But perhaps maybe 18% when it's 80% AMR AMI and maybe it's might be some lower 16 or 15% if you're going to offer them at
60%. Or something even lower as a percentage that's way outweighed by if you go to a 40% AMI, maybe we don't look for the 18%, maybe we look for 12%. something well above 10 because you always want to keep pace and get a
little bit ahead. But if we're going to try to make 40, if we're going to try to encourage 40%, which I know because we did many negotiations with many people over the years, but and and often would horse trade, can we get an extra one uh if we go lower or whatever whatever it
is. I'm just wondering if the opportunity isn't there to suggest a playing board a modification to the percentages based on the percent of AMI that may encourage make it realizing of course developers have to make their money too. This is a capitalistic
society and they need to make their money and they need to participate in the social good. But if they can do it and provide eight units at 60% as opposed to, you know, some other, you know, 10 units at 80%, it may be cost
effective for them to do that. >> Yep. >> And I would suggest we you might look at that and you may probably already have. I'm not suggesting you haven't. Um, but I'm offering that that might be something that is uh worthy of some time. >> Yep. Absolutely. Great idea. >> Um, other than that, I don't have any
other questions. I look forward to reading the report now that the new draft's out. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, member Bean. >> Uh, thank you. Um Aaron, with all the different rules and everything going on with the ADUs and the efflers and whatnot, um goods and bads, um you know,
if it's a a unit that's in a current house, um the owner has some leverage to maintain the property to maintain the uh people living there, etc. You can obviously see the negative part
of it where uh if they're using the ADU as a uh Airbnb and it's on the property that could turn into a problem. >> Yes. >> Um and that's just going to load down the police department and neighbors will
be upset. But along with that, is there any design, physical design, uh, review that can that we can put in to help guide how these things could look in >> specifically ADUs?
>> ADU, any any of these separate buildings. Yes. And and the reason I say it because you could really build something that looks horrendous in a neighborhood >> and it it could really be upsetting. >> So, the short answer is yes. There's something you can do. The longer answer
and the more problematic aspect of that yes is the answer is you cannot do to ADUs anything you don't do to single family homes. So if you want design review for ADUs, you have to accept uh
design review for single family homes. I think that in most communities that I've worked in is a bridge too far for most. Uh there are communities doing design review for single family homes, but um that's not something I feel the community has a great deal of interest
in pursuing in this town. Um so that's not something we're actively talking about. But unfortunately, uh ADUs are now considered essentially an exempt use similar to schools, religious um institutions. Uh you have to allow them
to happen in certain uh parameters. Um, and there's not much you can do uh to mess with that. You brought up um Airbnbs or V VBO's, the short-term rentals, that is something that you can regulate. We're plan on bringing that forward. I know you all got to save the
date for a land use summit uh later in June. Um we will be talking in more seriousness and more depth about how all of these things kind of play together. Unfortunately, you know, you start pulling threads with zoning and you start getting uh, you know, the tapestry starts kind of coming
apart as unintended consequences can happen. Um, so we do think that we want to expressly prohibit short-term rentals, whether that's only in ADUs, which is permissible, or to talk about that at at a larger scale is something
we will be talking about with you uh, in the coming weeks. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All set. Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Member Bennett, >> I just comment and look forward to the land use and development on June 16th. There's a lot to talk about and >> as you say, when you start pulling the
threads, things will fall apart, especially if it's already moth eaten, but uh I look forward to that discuss. >> I think we have a pretty good strategy around that. And I think I think it's not going to be that controversial, but we never know.
>> Just June 17th. >> Yeah. And I apologize. They'll land you summoned June 17th. It's Wednesday, I think is the date. I think it's the the day of the week. >> I don't have my phone with me, so I can't tell. Look at the calendar. >> I have your phone on you. >> Yeah, we're told not to use the phones. >> Wednesday. June.
>> Wednesday. >> It's a Wednesday that I know June. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. Member Bernard. >> Thank you, Aaron. We have all the faith in you on keeping all these restrictions and bylaws and this ADU is big. I mean, it's something that all towns and cities
have to do now. You know, select board member Bean is right, too. I mean, can the town prohibit, you know, um, Airbnbs in them? You know, I think the law is I'm not sure of it, but I think >> we can we can we can regulate short-term rentals,
>> which is good, but it has to be what, at least 900 square feet. You know, that >> no more than 900 >> no more than 900 square feet. I also heard some other I think it was at the town of Lynfield was saying that if it was 900 but then if the house was say
1,500 they put it in a bylaw something that half a percent half of it the um accessory dwelling unit can't exceed so in that case it would be like 700 >> you don't need a local bylaw it's uh everyone will talk about the ADU maximum size is 900 square feet but it's
actually 900 square feet or 50 or less less than 50% of the principal dwelling. So if you had like the 1500 foot single family home, you'd only get half of that in your byite ADU, >> right? That's what I was reading, too. But I think great job. I mean, that's
going to be I'm looking forward to that. June 17th, um you know, as usual, we do want to promote more senior housing, you know, um affordable housing if it is affordable anymore. Um the population, you know what you're saying, the Asian people, that's like us. You know what
I'm saying? I didn't say that. I didn't say that. >> Did I say that? I'm speaking for myself. Yeah. Not speaking on behalf of other board members, but you know, the the young families coming in is great. Neighborhoods are turning over. Um what is our percentage? Is it is it 18%
um for the um subsidized um percentage that we need? You say, >> um you know, we need at least 10. >> We are >> Where are we at? >> Like 10.02. >> We want to keep it. Okay. >> It's We're very close. >> We're close. So we need to promote that. >> We need it's we need to keep going.
>> Yep. And I like convene the roundt discussions which I'm sure which will be >> Yeah. That resonated well especially with the affordable housing trust. >> Yeah. I think it's great and the affordable housing trust does do a good job. Gardner and Ker and the group and yourself. >> Mr. Bennett is your on anymore. >> That's right. You are Dan. That's right.
Yeah. But um you all do a great job. I think that's that's it. We want to really with senior housing that's my big thing. And when we talk well again we'll talk more about this on the 17th but when we talk about the mall area that's something that I personally or
professionally think the community should talk about uh in that area. Is that an appropriate type of housing that checks many boxes? You know so >> it's a perfect site. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Good job. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um,
yes, it's my first day, so I think the board will forgive me. It's not a public hearing but uh, Bill Barry, Tommy, you me precinct one. When it comes to the downtown area, I've made two observations, many, but
two that stick out my mind. When there's an event downtown, the trash receptacles aren't adequate for wherever all the trash comes from. I don't know how you deal with that, but some people seem to think that they can,
I guess, clean the car out or whatever and just leave it there as opposed to a cup, an empty cup or a sandwich wrapper. That's one observation. And the other one was the when the popup pack was put up downtown,
there was a rendering in the paper about what it would look like. It wasn't very accurate. I think the town or the town's people deserve a little better image considering what the town downtown area
is. It's a little more realistic. Just two observations on my part. Thank you. >> Thank you. All set. >> Thank you very much for the update. Any other questions, comments from the board? Yeah. None. Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. Through you, Will we be
voting on this at some point in time? >> Uh yes, that's >> but not now. I understand. Uh it'll probably go to the planning board first >> and then we'll be voting on it at some point. Yes. >> This just to clarify if I may, Mr.
chairman. Um these uh this one is an effort um on our part as a senior team to make sure our departments get in front of you more often. And then the this concept um that Aaron has really leaned into is let's bring it to you like the open space plan in this. Let's
bring it to you for initial discussion and thoughts and come back for um a vote. The open space plan does not need a vote, but we would like your support. The housing production plan does need a vote to go to the state for clarity.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, that's okay. >> All said, >> you good? >> Okay. Thank you. Next. >> Ready. >> The board will vote to accept a gift to the town in accordance with MGL chapter 44 section 53A from the Danvers Garden
Club. Uh >> madame town manager was here to speak to that director. Okay. Hi, good evening everyone. Uh Steve King, DPW director, Town of Dammers. Um yes, so we received a donation from the
Garden Club for $330 um for our Arbor Day tree planting um that occurred back in April of this year. So um we happily accepted the the gift in order to um plant new trees on Arbor Day to keep on with our tree inventory. So very happy for it and have
here to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Um, member Bernard, >> no questions. >> Thank you. Member Bennett, >> well said. Thank you. >> Member Bean, >> uh, no questions. >> Member Task, >> no questions.
>> Okay. I entertain a motion. >> And will we accept the gift and the chair send a appropriate letter of thanks? >> Second. >> Any discussions? Hear none. All those in favor say I. I.
>> Five. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> The town manager will report to the board on various items of interest. >> Thank you. And thank you Steve and and Aaron um for great presentations tonight. Um like I said, I wanted to
we're trying to get here as much as possible to provide you all with more information. Um, and on the downtown plan, I just want to remind everyone, like I said at the beginning, we have been very thoughtful um about the Memorial Day parade coming up, Falcon
Fest, Downtown Rewind. Um, and so we've been in constant communication with the different downtown events. Uh, so I want to start by saying thank you for a successful town meeting last night. Um, I was thrilled to be a part of it. Yet again, I want to thank the moderator, the finance committee, the select board,
all the town meeting members, um, and our incredible staff and team. Um, and again, that I'm new to this. Not anymore. I'm officially done being new, but, uh, as my as my first actual town meeting, annual town meeting when I was the town manager, I was thrilled to be a
part of it and always impressed with, um, the participation and the courtesy and and how the whole thing runs. So, thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be a part of it. Uh I had the chance to speak with many members um last night. I try uh often to I try to introduce
myself. One of my goals is to get to know all the town meeting members. Um and in that I was sharing some upcoming community engagement opportunities. That brings us to the postcard that Mr. Bradstreet was referring to. Um and you will also see an email when you get home
tonight. Uh this is so the postcard was mailed out to town meeting members in particular. This is relative to the resilient Danverse plan which you the select board has had um continuous up updates on. I shared with the select board I think it was last week when this
went out. Uh we are focusing on in that plan and you'll hear me say this a lot and it was former secretary Ash would say this all the time. Plan the work and work the plan. Don't just put your plan on the shelf. Right. So, um, we're looking at the resilient diverse plan
for, um, action items that were either that are very close to finished so we can get them over the line and where the sticking points are. Um, and trying to put some more effort into those. Uh, one key piece of that plan is the green communities aspect. Uh and we this uh
town meeting select board um and other members of the town are we need to make some decisions around that in the coming probably at that same potential special town meeting. So we're doing um you'll see a big educational push this spring
through the summer and early fall. Uh we need feedback. We need to hear from all of you um to see where people are at. So that postcard has a QR code on it asking um board members, town meeting members, people who are interested the first webinar, thought it would be webinar
because we're asking all of you to come out to a lot of things in the month of June. Um it will be recorded so people can watch it after as well. Um the webinar is Wednesday, June 3rd, uh 700 pm to 8:00 pm. Um, and so please, again,
it was specifically sent to town meeting members, but if anybody else is interested, just reach out. Um, and if you have questions, let us know. But I'll be continuously bringing updates to you all. This will be an educational background piece to help you all prepare for the land use summit in June 17th as
well. And yes, you're going to hear from me more often, Bill. Uh I want to um just bring up and ask considering today was the first uh really hot beautiful day um I want to ask the residents in
the community to come together and show respect um for our recreational areas and the community at large. We have had some reports of incidences in our parks. Um, and I think it's upon all of us to um, hold each other accountable, work
with our community, um, and really be reflective about how we use our public spaces. Um, there's many user groups in each of these spaces. Um, and we need to be respectful of each other. Um, and I'm asking for the community support in all of that. Um myself and the superintendent and the recreation
director and and many others in this committee are going to come together and and try to get some additional information out there um and community support between now and and the uh kind of official start of summer. Well, I guess that's Memorial Day. So, when school gets out um to support that, but
I'm I'm asking all of you here tonight and listening to help please be a part of that. Um, the Memorial Day parade is Monday, starts at 9:00 am at Holton Richmond Middle School. Ceremonies at 10 a.m. If it rains, it will be post and it's canceled for some reason. It'll be
posted on socials and the website in the morning. So, um, keep an eye on those um, if you are curious. Hopefully, it's going to be beautiful and sunny. And the last thing I want to, uh, give a shout out to our public works. Uh this is
something that actually came to me because people all around me in my social circles are bragging about Danver's DPW and um so they Danver's public works uh they participated in what's called the Essex County Public Works Expo and Snowplow Rodeo like road
rodeo um last week. It's uh an event that highlights public works from all over Essex County. They display their skills in operating heavy equipment, machinery, performing certain snowplow tasks, um, and all while maintaining high levels of safety. It's an opportunity to learn from each other,
um, on best practices and public safety drills. And, um, also they they make it into a fun rodeo. And Danver's had two teams and they were able to secure a first place finish, a second place finish, and a third place finish. So, we were pretty much the champions. Um, I
want to give a shout out to the members of those teams who participated from the street division, Jeff Carpenter, Dan Lec, Mike Martin, and Tim Boucher B. And from the water division, Andrew Brown, Mike Freeman, Mike Mclofflin, and Jeremy Rushton. Um, this is considered a very
high honor in um, Essex County and with Essex County Highway Association, and it really speaks to the skill of our drivers um, and what the passion they put into their work. Um, they had a long summer with the trash strike. They had a long winter with the snow. Um, it is DPW
appreciation week and we want to show our appreciation to our incredible team. So, thank you to all of them and I hope you guys will join me in that. >> Thank you. >> All set. >> I'm all set. >> Thank you very much. Any questions uh
for the town manager? Um, questions, comments, member bean. Uh yes. Um was that um DPW um event was that Friday? >> It was not Friday. >> Oh okay. So on Friday we got a notice saying the DPW is closed. Was that their
office or was it >> I just spoke >> whole department? >> I don't we were not closed on Friday. >> So >> I just brought this up to the um to the DPW director. I'm wondering and I just spoke with the clerk. I'm wondering so far I was not told that the DDP is
closed on Friday. So, Steve King, public works director. So, we do have a few offices. Our office here in town hall, uh, that closes at 12. I'm not sure if that's what got confused, but our Hobart Street Station or Canal Street, Forest Street, they're all open up till 3:00
hours. Yeah. Burough Street also is has the Friday 12:00 um, close date as well. >> Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. I got a notice online. It said, "Sorry for inconvenience. The DPW is closed on Friday." So, I don't know what that was about. >> I don't either, but I'll look into it.
But we were not closed. I when I heard this rumor as well, and I was like, well, we were all here. >> Okay. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, member to ask. >> I don't have any questions for the town manager. No, >> Bennett. >> All set.
>> Okay. No questions and congratulations. I'm not surprised our DPW is the best. So, uh, thank you. Next, >> the board will consider consent calendar items as they appear below. >> I move we accept the consent calendar as presented.
>> Second. >> Okay. Any discussions? Hear none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Four. >> Thank you. Correspondents, select board new business, previous new public business updates, and select
board closing comments. >> Okay. Um member to ask Um, as far as correspondence goes, I believe I all the correspondence I got included all the other select board members. There was advocacy for one of
the citizens petitions. Um, and we were all on a long chain of of that email, which was perfectly sound and fine. Um, I didn't get anything that other members hadn't already seen as far as correspondence. I want to thank uh again
everybody for the um actually surprisingly fast town meeting last night. Um it was it went very smoothly and uh uh even when we had some issues that uh had some spirited debate. Um it
went well. Um and so I uh I think it I think I I I I actually I always enjoy town meeting um uh and seeing democracy in action, representative democracy in action. Um so I think it was great. Um now we move forward with the next issues
uh for the next special town meeting we have. Um thank good luck to UD. Uh thank you to Moren for her year of service as a chair. It's not an easy thing necessarily. Um uh you're asked to you're put upon to do a lot of a lot of
uh ceremonial items as well as be the point person for decisions and uh discussions with the town manager and town uh um departments. Um, so I I'm sure you're up to the task and good luck to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, member Bean,
>> um, I got a few things and, um, since I can only say it here with all of us and I just have some ideas I wanted to get out there since we have kind of an early night if you don't mind. >> Sure. Sure. >> I need some time. >> Sure. Uh, >> um, can I comment on the Essex? U,
>> is an hour. Okay. >> Yes, please. >> An hour. Yes please. >> Okay. >> Uh, is it okay if we have if I put some thoughts out on the uh South Essex Sewward District situation? >> Sure.
>> Okay. Um, so I have a lot of ideas here because it's going to be a huge burden on the the residents and please anybody can correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. Okay, I'm fine with it. I just want to tell you what
I'm thinking. ju just for I mean given that this is the new business and it wasn't on the agenda it's probably just going to be things I mean you're definitely more than happy to speak of it >> it won't it won't be a discussion
>> if if it's something we can put on agenda later on we definitely can do that and have it or a discussion about it >> but you're more than happy to speak of it >> all right let me get my ideas up >> it would be better because it's not on the agenda >> you you technically can't speak to
something that's not on the agenda if it's not new business. So, I mean, he's you're the chair and your choice. We can talk about it in our meeting on Thursday. >> Okay. >> It will be on the agenda again. So, you'll have the opportunity. I I would just walk that line carefully. It's not new business.
>> Yeah. And if I might, and I don't have no clue what you're going to talk about. I'm welcome to hear that. But generally um I I I've always followed the policy of the process that if I have an idea that needs to be vetted that it's vetted
internally with the town the correct board or department so that we don't as you know sometimes PE you might put something out as a complete trial balloon or you're asking an honest question but if it's fra people will
glom on to that and and and if you think it's something that has a technical nuance or a department head nuance, you might want to check with them first. I generally that's why we have the monthly meetings with the town manager and we're always welcome to see see her as often
as we need to. Um, so I would I would be really personally I'm very cautious about bringing up new things that can be vetted internally so I can get my right answers ahead of presenting to the rest of the board my ideas. But I'm just
making a recommendation. That's all. >> Okay. Well, with that said, let me just trim it back a little bit and we will talk about it on on Thursday. Um, one of the things is that I think that the select board, we need to um, we need to
be more engaged as a board with working with town manager as far as cost cutting, uh, supporting practical decisions, not just showing up here on a Tuesday, Thursday, you know what I'm saying? Or
Tuesday, every other week. I think we we're going to have I think we should do more leg work to promote the things that are coming down the pike. So with all of us engaged, we may be
able to come up with ideas that may help some of these costs that we we're going to have to deal with that the the we got through this budget, but I think it's coming back again. So, I just want to at some point we'll go
over it Thursday and then we'll figure out what I'm trying to say without saying something I shouldn't. Um, >> all right. >> You had to wait for me to reach to >> Yeah, you really did. >> And give me and give me more work. >> I had it. I had it ready two weeks ago.
>> See? >> Um, okay. Then I can trim that back a little bit. So, um, there's a lot of I live beside the rail trail. There's a lot of motorcycle activity going up and down the rail trails. Uh, a lot. And, um, you know, it goes from just electric bikes
that you don't even hear doing 30, 40 m hour to regular dirt bikes that are full throttle. Um, so that's something that we're going to have to work on. Um, what was the other thing here? I Okay, I guess that's going to be a
Thursday. Okay. So, all right. you you need to come a little early. Good talk, member bean. >> I can make more time for you. >> You might need more time with him. >> Um, all right. We can uh we can do that. We'll do that and we'll maybe I just
propose to propose it a different manner. Just some thoughts on how we can help to uh deal with some of the costs that are coming down >> for the town people. >> That's all. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> I'm sorry. Can I say one last thing? Sure. I was on I'm on an email with the uh some of the residents uh and the superintendent of the u uh Essex Tech and they're all working out their parking and speeding car issues, but
they're all communicating and it seems like it's going well. So, I I'm glad that that's happening and the superintendent's working with them and so they're all talking about that and that's a that's a positive thing. So, Thank you.
>> Thank you, Member Bernard. >> Thank you, Chairman Dejoko. >> Yeah. And uh very happy for you. Um I want to say thank you to the board, you know, for for um supporting me, the residents for supporting me um when I
was chair. And I'm glad that you're in that seat now. And uh I'm looking forward to a great year. I want to thank uh town meeting members. I think it was a successful meeting. It really went by um faster than I thought. Um I think everybody um showed respect to each
other. Um and uh we got through it. I was very happy about that. I want to thank the staff, the town manager, the clerk, the moderator, everybody, all the residents that came to show up. It's very important that you do come for your
votes. Um, other than that, um, I'm looking forward to a great year and, uh, thank you very much and congratulations again D. >> Thank you. Thank you. I'll have member Bennett and then I'll come back to you after. >> Thank you. Just, uh, congratulations and
good luck this year, De. Thank you. We appreciate you taking on the responsibility of being chair. Good luck. >> That's it. >> Okay. Thank you. It was less than one hour. We did good. Um well um
on I totally agree with you select board member bean about the SX tech. Uh I said last meeting I I attended anformational session uh two weeks ago now I think regarding the purchase of the new
building and um I said to the superintendent then uh I think we have a great opportunity uh with our town manager to really work together and make sure that the residents stay informed and uh she committed to that and the residents that
were present were very appreciative. So, we're just going to keep going and hopefully things go well. So, thanks again to uh you madame chair for leading us this past year. Learn a lot from you
and uh thanks to again to the board for this honor and thanks to the resident. I will give it to you Ben. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes. Um, when you see a
veteran, thank them for their service. And we'll see you on Memorial Day, Monday morning. We'll get another opportunity to thank the veterans. Thank