Canadians, Australians on these trips. >> Hello everyone. Welcome to the September 23rd, 2025 select board meeting. Uh Dan, can would you like to do the pledge of allegiance? >> Certainly. >> Welcome back, Dan. >> Thank you. 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, Dan. >> You're welcome.
>> Uh do do I have uh a motion to approve the minutes of September 9th, 2025? >> So move. All in favor? >> I >> I >> abstain. >> All opposed. Um at this time, we are going to go into
new public business. Uh thank you very much everybody for coming. Um anyone in the audience for new public business, please go up to the podium and address yourself and uh welcome. >> Good evening. >> We do have a timer. The clerk also has a timer for three minutes if we could limit it to that. Thank you.
>> Well, good evening. I'm Bill Kosawan and I live at 7 Fairview Street. But then again, most of you probably know who I am and probably why I'm here. Uh, amongst other things, I'm a member of the Danis Historical Society and since the time of my youth, I have been fascinated with the town history of
Danver Revolutionary War history. The United States of America is currently celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War. And what I'm here to discuss is an offer by Mnt Bank of their property located at one federal street as a gift to the town of Danis as
a historic park. A significant early portion of that conflict occurred in Danas during the September of 17 summer of 1774 when General British General Thomas Gage relocated his residence here and had two companies of the troops accompany him as
lifeguard. In specific, Gage lived in what is then known as Rob Rubbert Robert Hooper's great house, known today as the Lindons, which was formerly located at 135 Silvin Street. And across the road was the encampment, the site of his troops. The remaining portion of which
now is known as one Federal Street, which abuts and is a part of the MT Bank property. For that brief 1878 87day period, Davis was the geopolitical hotspot of the erupting revolution and should be commemorated for our community.
Decades ago, both sites were recognized by the town of Damas, having historical sight road signs acknowledging them, but those signs disappeared long ago, and the memory of General Gage and his troops in Damas appears to have faded away with the greatest generation who knew the story well. I might mention
that my parents bought 135 Silven Street back when I was 8 years old. And I can pretty much tell you that every day I've driven down that driveway, I've thought about that encampment, which was right across the street. So this is a personal matter which I'd like to pitch to you regarding Federal One Federal Street
which is the surviving underdeveloped remnant of this encampment site. It is owned by Conet Ventures Incorporated um somehow related to MT Bank. Parcel ID 062017A classified as unbuildable. Land size
area is 0.19 acre valued at $15,900 and and was build a total of $174.74 cents for real estate tax of the past four quarters. With historic commemoration being my motivator, I queried Mnt Bank about the
parcel in January of 2025. And on May 9th, 2025, I was contacted by J by Jason Chu, vice president Mnt Bank corporate real estate, offering the parcel to the town of Danvas so long as it solely was used as a public park.
I originally w forward the Mnt Bank offer to the town of Danvas back in May. However, I was only notified on July 14th that the offer needs to be voted on by the select board and then possibly by town meeting in order to be accepted. At present, Mr. The Schwed of Mit Bank
patiently awaits a town of Danveris' response. Further, I'm not aware of the political mechanism required to accept such a gift. So, I stand here before you tonight to initiate that effort. Therefore, my mission tonight is to explain my outreach, which leads to making a motion to town, accept MNT
Bank's offer, and thereby create the historical site. As for the naming of the proposed park, initially I I had extemporaneously come up with General Gage Park as a relative moniker. However, as of recent, I was approached by several interested parties who want to suggest what they feel would be a
better name for it. Our state representative, Sally Sally Currents thought heritage park might be more politically appropriate. Henry Ratkowski, captain of the Disarmless Company of Militia, suggested calling it Expedition Park, which would be an accurate description of what was there,
an expedition. Finally, my friend Robin Gogggin, suggested Liberty Park, which has a nice family-friendly ring to it. I might also mention that uh Dick Tras, our town archivalist archivist, reached out to me and he supported this this this uh proposal. So that's my point for
being here and I thank you very much for your time. Do you have any questions? >> Thank you. Um we will defer that to the town manager and have her look into that for your bill. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Does anybody else would anybody else like to come up? Please go up to the podium, introduce
yourself. Thank you. And I forgot to say if anybody does have cell phones, if you could turn turn it down or if you need to take a call during an emergency, we understand. Please step out of the room. Thank you. >> Hi, Richard Baldick, uh, precinct forward town meeting member. Um, a few years back, I was up here about um, road
conditions, um, trench work, repairs, what's our fallback on contractors, who repairs them, how long it takes to repair them. And some of these roads in town are horocious. They're they're terrible. And
now I know it's beating on a dead horse, but the gas company is one of the biggest culprits. They don't know how to patch it a hole or a trench. Um, I understand the concept of construction and trench settling and all the other
good stuff that goes with it, but there's got to be something they can do to put a good temporary patch because come winter time, the plow's going to have a heck of a time with some of these trenches. So, I don't know what repercussions we have on some of these contractors, but
can we look into it and see what we can do on some of them because some of them are pretty bad. Thank you. >> Sure. Thank you. and we'll have the town manager look into that with DPW. Thank you very much. Anybody else? Please go up. Nice to see you, Mark.
[Music] >> I don't know how to reset it. Oh, >> three minutes. >> This is for every I'm going to be very short. Mark Zubreck, uh, nine Glendale Drive in Danvers.
I'll be very short, but I present I proposed a citizen's petition to you and it is documented with the information that has been provided in front of you. What I we want to do is this is a
citizens petition and you know I'm famous for that. So the pl this is subject is to the planning board actions and master plan consideration. This petition asked the select board with the planning board and the town
manager the appointing authority of the planning board to consider the following. Limit the current permissible density by right. Evaluate the consequences of implementing the MBTA law. Anticipated
consequences of congestion of the allowed zoning. Review and consider the possible relief in density, congestion, and the parking requirements currently allowed by Wright and then expanded by
special permits and variances by the planning board actions. The the build in in exception and permissible variances and relief petitions need to be controlled better.
These may be controlled by the planning board actions. Planning board must reflect the majority views of our residents to preserve the local zoning developments for our community. Consider the results of surveys and
petitions of our residents. The Danverse community survey report in 2017 was very explicit about the density, congestion, taxes, and traffic. Explore and consider the development of
a master plan for the town of Danvers to provide guidance and vision for the town. What do we want to be when we grow up? This petition is submitted by the representatives of Danvas concerned citizens. Mark Zubric submitting the
petition on behalf of the Danvas concerned citizens. I think my petition is self-explanatory and this is a continuation of what has transpired with the town meeting in the
past and it continues because I have four different state petitions that are asking for exactly the same types of approach to reconsider or rescend the
MBTA law. I know that we are not able to rescend it, but we can adapt it to our needs to preserve the community of Danvers and the culture. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark Lou.
>> Any questions? I >> We're going to have We'll have the town manager. We'll take that under advisement and talk with her about this. >> Madam Chairman, may I make a comment? >> Sure. Yeah. >> Um, selectman Bean, myself met with the town manager a couple of weeks ago to
talk about goal setting for her and her team and the input from this board. I think three of the five mentioned some type of master plan and we discussed is there a need for a master plan? What is
a master plan? Is it going to cost 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 depending on the depth of it? Um, the town manager is doing some more research and Mr. Bean and I will be meeting with her on October 1st to talk about goals and
obviously the master plan will be one of those items for discussion. >> Thank you. >> Well, that's where we're at. >> Thank you very much for at least considering that. But I would rather, you know, see that we go and into a
little bit more detail, not just the master plan. The master plan would give us a map to go to. And I think that's the first step. And what I've been told is that this has been proposed two or three years ago under the old town
manager and it was nixed at that time. So this will be a good start. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you Dan for that. Is there anybody else that would like to go up? Okay. Thank you everybody for going
coming up and uh letting us hear what you have to say. At this time, the board is requested to approve the sale of 4,850,000 general obligation bond issued to Janie McGomery Scott LLC at the price of 5,284,8330
and acrewed interest if any. Um, who is here to speak? Rodney. Thank you. >> Thank you. Through you, Madam Chairwoman. Uh we had a successful uh bond offering uh a couple weeks back. The in front of
the board is action to approve that sale. Um $4.85 million in general obligation bonds, a total of 5.2 and change in terms of the actual offering. Uh the funds are for the Northland substation project and the water main
replacement program, both which have been authorized at town meetings over the past two or three years. Uh a little over 3% 3.057% 057% interest rate. Um, again, a little bit higher than that uh great rate market we had over the past few years, but still um very compet competitive uh true interest cost and
happy to answer any questions the board has. >> Sorry, what did you say the rate was? >> 3.057. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any questions? Um any more questions? >> Scott Gardner, is that it? >> That was the only question. I I support
this. Thank you. >> Terrific. Mike. >> Um, good to see you tonight, Rodney. Um, so did the amount that you of the sale, was it more than you anticipated? >> No. So, essentially what we get is a premium for our bond. So, as part of it,
essentially, it's cash upfront, which lowers the long-term borrowing, which results in 4.5 4.85 million as the debt service we'll have to pay over the next 15 years. 5.2 in change is the actual cost of the project, which was 5.2 2
million in proceeds we needed plus we always uh incur additional money to pay for the cost of the bond so for our bond council uh financial advisor um etc. >> Okay, thank you. >> Terrific. D >> uh no questions. Thank you >> Dan.
>> Thank you. Yes. Hi Rodney. How you doing? >> Good to see you again. Um Rodney, on the front page you talk about the true interest costs of 3.057655, 057655. But on the second page, we're being asked to vote on different amounts that
mature yearly and nine of them are at 5% and six are at 4%. So, can you explain that? >> Yeah. So, with the true interest cost is taking the amount we're actually borrowing the premium. So, essentially the cash that we're getting that's doesn't need to be bonded, blending that together with the coupon rate where you
see the fours and fives and the net result is a 3.05. >> It's a net. Okay. Thank you. All right. All set, madam chairman. >> Wonderful. So, um, good job, Rodney. Thank you very much. Um, any We're all set. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> So, >> do you need a vote of some type >> to take a vote? Yes. >> Uh, there's a I believe that you've drafted some uh language specific to read that, Gardner. >> Um, is this what we're reading, Kathy? >> Kathy, do you do it? Madam cler madam or
I don't >> Was there was there a specific language? The LA is the last page of the specific language >> certify. That's just my certification page. >> And I move we accept the uh recommendation and sign the bonds uh with the true for 4
850 4.850 million uh general obligation bond issue as presented. Do >> I have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> opposed. None. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.
All right. The board will consider a proclamation in recognition of Damis Electric for public power week. Um God, would you like to read that? >> Sure. I didn't realize I was going to do it, but sure, happy to >> and and Clint, would you like to get up
and thank you? Introduce yourself to everybody. Sure, we know you. Thank you. >> Do we want to hear a report and then I'll read the proclamation? >> Sure. >> Okay. Thank you, Clint. >> Uh, thank you. Good evening, Clint Allen, utility director for the electric division. Uh, I am here tonight on
behalf of the municipal light board to recommend the select board issue a proclamation in recognition of public power week, which will take place October 5th to the 11th of this year. Uh, public power week is basically an opportunity to highlight the benefits of a community-owned notfor-profit electric
utility uh that recognizes the dedicated service um of the employees and all the team members of Dammers Electric in the town itself. Uh across America, there's over 2,000 communities that annually that participate in this weekly tradition. Uh Damers Electric is no
different than any of those. We've done it for the this will be the 15th one that I've experienced since I've been here. Uh but we felt that it would uh just be a nice um concerted effort show of support from the board uh to formally
issue a proclamation. Uh and we would really not only appreciate that, but we would like to have it documented for all of our rateayers and all of our citizens to have going forward um in the future. Um, this will also serve not only as a
kickoff to public power week itself, but I feel obligated to do a little pitch that uh our open house will be next uh Thursday, October 2nd at two burrows. So, we have a lot of goodies and a lot of fun stuff for the kids. We hope to see everybody down there and it is a
week before the fair, so we were considerate of that as well. Um, but with that, uh, I respectfully recommend that this board adopt this proclamation, uh, designating October 5th to the 11th as public power week here in Danvers. >> Wonderful. And Pon, would you like to
read it? >> Sure. >> Thank you. Whereas the select board, members of the municipal light board, and the citizens of Danvers place a high value on local choice and community service and operate a community-owned notfor-profit electric utility with the
MLB having a direct say in its operations and policies. And whereas Davis Electric provides our homes, businesses, schools, social service agencies, and municipal operations with reliable, efficient, and safe electricity, employing sound business
practices to ensure the best possible service at not for-p profofit rates. And whereas Davis Electrics is a valuable community asset that contributes to the well-being of our residents through energy efficiency programs, customer service, environmental stewardship,
economic development, and safety awareness. hand. Whereas Damas Electric is the a dependable and trustworthy institution whose local operation provides consumer protections, supports community resilience, and contributes to making Danvers a better place to live
and work while protecting the global environment. And whereas as as Danver Electric continues to provide safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to the residents and businesses of Danvers just as it has since its founding in 1870.
Therefore, we are proud to recognize the week of October 5th through the 11th, 2025 as public power week in recognition of the people of Danverse Electric, their dedicated service, and to educate customer owners, policy makers, and
employees on the benefits of public power. and that the town of Damis proudly joins with more than 2,000 other public power systems across the United States in celebrating public power which puts people, community, and services before profits.
>> Wonderful. Um, I'd like to make a motion as presented. >> So move. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Do a great job. You know, I look forward to that week. I remember when my kids were young, we put them in
the bucket truck and uh you also do a lot of um what do they displays and face paintings? Everything. >> Everything. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. We're just we're the second best game in town maybe behind the top wheel fair. >> But I will say, you know, for the residents how lucky we are to have Damis electric have our own electric. You
know, keeps our rates down, right? >> You bet. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. >> To you, Madam Chair. Uh what time is the offen house on >> 101? >> Thanks for asking. It's from 4 to 7:00. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> That's it. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> All right. Let's see. So, we will go. A public hearing will be held on the application of Guzman Corporation DBA Honeydew Donuts 156 Andover Street. Rakila Gabri
Gabriella Guzman, owner for a transfer of common vehicular license at that location and who is here to speak on that. Thank you. Please introduce yourself. >> Good evening. >> Uh I am Raalita for the Kuzman
Corporation. >> Hi. >> Hi. Good evening. My name is Marvin Reoso. I'm his husband. Um we are looking to open um um the franchise honeydew in Denvers. So that's the reason we are here tonight.
>> Excellent. Terrific. Um board members, um do you have any questions, Dan? >> I didn't see any paperwork on the packet. >> I have the paperwork here. It's just a brief it it's just the brief transfer of ownership
>> based on the um agenda item. that Dan, I >> I don't understand why we couldn't have got a copy of it. A simple piece of paper. >> I think the clerk said everything's in order, right? >> Well, I'm sure it is in order, but still, I think it should have been in the packet. Very simple request. Thank
you. >> All right, we'll make sure that we can get you a copy, Dan. Thank you, D. >> Uh, no, no questions. Thank you. >> All right, Mike. Good luck to you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Gardner. Uh, >> no questions. I probably am funding this. Uh, I'm a frequent flyer at at the, uh, store, so
>> well, I wish you luck, too. Um, folks, this is a public hearing. Does anybody in the audience have any comments? >> Motion to close the public hearing. >> Motion. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Second. Um, I mean, all opposed? None. Okay.
>> Thank you. What's the will of the board? >> Thank you. I move that we approve the application as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> Opposed. >> Thank you and good luck. >> Good luck. >> All right.
Public hearing will be held under chapter 140 section 181 weekdays including Saturdays. Chapter 136 section 4 Sundays of the general laws on the application of J&J Asian cuisine 156 Andover Street. Xi Longho for a 7-day
entertainment license at that location. Uh, who is here? Please go. Welcome. How can we help you? >> Uh, hi. Good evening. Uh, my name is Shilongu. I'm here to apply the entertainment
bison for the karaoke for my restaurant for customer. >> Well, thank you. Um, paper. Is the paperwork in order? >> Paperwork is in order. you have a diagram of where he's looking to do um the karaoke at that location.
>> Board members, do you have questions, Dan? >> I do. Is this is a um currently you're open for business and now you're looking for entertainment. Is that correct? >> Yes. For >> through you to the chair? Yes. That's correct. Mhm.
>> And how long has he been in business >> at this location? >> Uh, I'm here one years. >> One year. >> Thank you. That's all for now. >> D. >> Uh, no. No questions. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mike.
>> If you're bad at karaoke, can you still sing there? >> Oh, good luck. I hope it's I hope it uh drums up more business. >> Yeah. Thank you, >> Gardner. >> No, I'm all set with this thing. >> Well, we wish you luck. Um, you know, I think I have never been there. I'd like
to come sometime, too. And, uh, maybe I don't think I sing as well either. So, >> if you go, if you go, you got to sing. That's the deal. >> Um, so this is a public hearing, folks. Um, anybody in the audience have any questions? >> Okay. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing?
>> So moved. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? I >> opposed. What's the will of the board, please? >> Accept as presented. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Thank you and good luck.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Next on the agenda, a public hearing will be held under chapter 138 of the general laws on the application of Saltwater Grill LLC. DBA Saltwater Grill, 50 Maple Street, Danverse, Mass.
John P. foul and manager for a transfer of all alcohol come from vehicular license at that location license previously held by Unity uh Viculas. Who's here? Hi, John. >> Good evening. My name is actually Joel Favaza. I'm an attorney. >> I'm sorry. >> Um John Jack Fallon is here. He's in the
blue shirt. For the record, my name is Joel Favas. I'm an attorney at Seaside Legal Solutions with an address of 123 Main Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Anyone who's a Denver High grad, please don't hold it against me. Um, so Jack operates a restaurant called
the Saltwater Grill in Gloucester. It's um, if you go to Gloucester, you come in over the bridge, hit the Rotary, it's where the old friendly was. It's about 100 seat restaurant. It is uh, one of the more popular restaurants in town. It's um, a great place to bring a family, great place to watch football
game, great place to just not have to fork over your whole wallet to have a good meal. and he's had the opportunity to bring a similar style restaurant here to Maple Street. And so he's seeking to take over what was Uni Victuals and uh create that to a I don't call it
Saltwater Grill Annex. It's about half the size the one he has in Gloucester, but he's starting small to make sure he can get it right. Um we have the application submitted. If you have any questions on that, I'm happy to go through that. Any questions for Jack in particular? He's not shy. He'll come and give you answers as well.
>> Thank you. Uh, Madam Clerk, is the paperwork in order? >> The paperwork is in order. >> Okay. Uh, Mike, do you have any questions? >> Um, I definitely want to know what's on the menu. Uh, but I'm happy that you're taking over and moving in. Uh, we we were just talking about it last week
about the the walkability of the center of town, so this will fit right in. So, thank you. >> See, >> uh, well, I don't know if this is out of order. Madame town manager, would you recommend this? >> Yes, I was there recently and the uh
boosters for the Gloucester High School volleyball is meeting there tonight at 7:00. So, it is a definitely a community restaurant. >> No questions. Thank you. >> Got a few uh common liquor license questions I have uh through you chair to the applicant. Um some of the
information here is redacted for be for public use, but what town does uh Mr. to fall and live in. >> Uh Jack lives in Salsbury as a as his primary residence. >> Okay. The reason I ask is I note that you uh put down the number of hours you'll be in on the licensed premises as
20 a week. What are the hours of the business and how many hours how many hours a week is it open? >> Sure. So the uh the application was we did 20 to on a 40hour work we to split between the glosser location and this that was before your town clerk um point
us toward the town of Danver liquor license guidelines and regulations and so we noted that he needs to be on premises at least 50% of the time per your local regs and so we're happy to amend that to ensure that he's there um as the name manager 50% of the time to answer your question as to ours
expectation is that Monday through Thursday they'll operate from about 11:30 a.m. until about 900 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. They'll open the same time. If the business is going well, they may stay open till about 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Um, and then Sunday, uh, they currently run
brunch in Gloucester and would probably not immediately run brunch here, but would like to move into, um, a brunch and brunch would typically start 10 10:30 on a Sunday. >> Okay. So, in excess of 50 hours or 60 hours a week? >> Yes.
>> And you're going to amend this to be half of that? Yes. >> And our liquor license regulations also ask for and I didn't see attached here maybe actually in the packet where's the alternative manager list because we we want someone on that list whoever it is
to be on premise >> at all times at least one of those people. >> Yes. >> I didn't see them in the >> It was given to me tonight. I have it. >> But you have and you're satisfied. Okay. Thank you. >> Um Okay. Um, what is the relationship of
Melissa Burn to this application? >> I I I see a lot of reference to Melissa Burn on the first page. Oh, >> but I don't see any no >> officer or this this is not asking uh >> for that person to be on the license unless it's in alternates.
>> Wait a minute. Hold on. >> Uh item five and item eight. >> Oh, I apologize. That is uh from a different application. >> Okay. All right. >> So, you can scratch that off my memo. I'm sorry. I apologize. >> Not a worry. Okay. Um,
great. I think um I think that's all my questions. I see you're uh serve safe certified. Can I just ask your experience in the other restaurant? Have you had any uh alcohol compliance issues in in the other location? >> Okay.
>> Do you want to go up to the podium? >> We have the mic. So that's >> and actually if you might expl expose upon your experience as as the uh liquor license holder in the other location. >> All right. Thank you. Uh we we haven't had any infractions whatsoever at the uh
Gloucester location. Um I have an extensive background in the food and beverage industry probably about 40 45 years if you want to count when I was a dishwasher starting out. bus boy manager
and so forth now owner. Uh I was at the local country club Bass Rocks uh country golf club in Gloucester where I oversaw the beverage operation. I'm happy to say we never had any major
infractions. U we we've dealt with people that have had alcohol in excess so we're certainly trained to um address that. when that happens. >> And are you the license holder at that
other location, too? The liquor license responsible person. Okay. And how long have you been in business there? >> Uh, seven years. >> Seven years. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, All right. I think that's uh um
I guess I'll ask I Danny, you gonna ask about >> Dan's gonna be >> I have a field question. Yes. >> All right. Then I'll you >> I know I know what Dan Common likes to ask. I'll leave the answer. That's my questions. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um, >> what kind of food will he be serving?
Regular pub menu or sit-down dining or >> uh it'll be a full service uh menu. Uh predominantly seafood. Uh we're excited to be part of the community. You know, we've looked at a lot of the local places and I think we
found a possibility to really provide enjoyable fresh seafood. you know, um, right from Gloucester to Damas. >> Okay, that's good. We we we need more restaurants downtown. I look forward to it. So, when I uh visit your place, what
will the experience be? Um, with the entertainment or action or TVs, uh, just sit down, quiet, rowdy. What What should I expect? >> Basically, we'll have just music that's that's background music. We'll have TVs
for some sporting events. Um, just a friendly welcome to everybody. >> Okay. >> You know, I might be able to tell a few jokes on this on the side. >> Well, comedians aren't popular right now. >> Um, >> but I think it's just generally we
provide a great atmosphere, friendly local scene and and we're excited about being part of Danvers and hopefully we'll we'll get going real soon. So you have 24 14 bar stools and 22 tables
that's 36 but you have capacity of 53. So that other 17 some of those will be you and staff will be a lot of people standing around. >> No I don't I don't anticipate that we'll
have some bench seating you know you know as far as people waiting for a table. >> Keep talking. >> Yeah. So I think by code it's um occupancy is 64 but I think if we
>> yeah I think the seating is 36 um seats at tables including the benches and then 14 bar is 50 total. So it's 50 seats >> there 50 seats >> that holds 64 people. So again I don't think you'll have a full staff of 14. means there will be room, you know, if there is a few people standing, you
know, behind a seat at a bar, there won't be over occupancy, but the idea is that there's enough excess capacity in the occupancy that you can fill the 50 seats um without it having to be overcrowded with people, you know, unable to get through. >> Okay.
And um Mr. Tras touched on your experience and with no no alcoholrelated incidents. >> That's correct. >> In your other place, that's good. That's correct. >> Um, what is your policy on cing patrons? >> Well, we have uh the employees, the
bartenders, and you know that the servers trained, tips trained, so you know, they they're aware of what to look for as far as a patron that you know is is having alcohol. But, uh, typically we look for identification if
they're 30 or young, if they appear to be 30 or younger. A lot of our uh establishments the they have the policy of cuting everybody. >> Some of them 40 is the cut off limit.
But still we have occasionally a misfortune of somebody going in to buy a Budweiser or a case six-pack of bud and doesn't get asked for their ID and then they're before us for serving a minor.
>> Yeah. And that happens unfortunately. >> So I I prefer a card all so there's no problems, no questions as to who is being served in your premises. Not not making that a requirement, but I
just I recommend you think about that, especially if you're going to be downtown and kids can walk in easily. >> Not unless kids take that into consideration. >> Okay, good. >> Yeah. >> All right, that's all. Thank you. >> You also I think it's great, John. Um I
did do Google. Uh you have a place in Portland, Maine also. >> No, that's different. >> Oh, that's different. >> That was different. Oh. Oh, okay. But I'm excited about the seafood, >> you know, because when you think about it, we really don't have anything in town. And that's what we want. We want
to promote new businesses. And your place in Gloucester is fabulous. I've been there before. >> So, I wish you luck. Um this is a public hearing. Does anybody need >> the chef is here with me as well. I'd like to recognize Adrianiano Katano. >> Do you want to go up and say anything? A
specialty that >> Oh, well, thank you for coming. Yeah, go up. Introduce yourself. >> Be soon. Yes. >> How's your calamari? >> It's great. >> Okay. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Adriano. I'm the head chef at Chaw Water Grill.
So, we're looking forward for for the second location and I hope to see everyone there. >> Wonderful. We're looking forward to having you. Good luck. You know, um this is a public hearing. Does anybody in the audience have any questions? >> Okay. Um do I have a motion to close the
public hearing? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. What's the will of the board, please? So, if I may, um, the applicant came in not fully aware of our rules and regulation initially and
got caught up to speed on the requirement of the manager being on the premises, the fact that we need an alternate. Um, the I heard the clerk say she got the name of the alternate today. So, we haven't necessarily seen that. Is it only one person that's the alternate?
>> Right now, it's woman Alexander Shear. She works in the Gloucester location and I think the long-term plan is to kind of shepherd her through and then over, you know, the hope is that maybe not the first renewal, but maybe by the second renewal, she'll be taking over as the
primary manager of the license. So, she's listed as the secondary manager currently. >> Is that going to be enough for the hours that you're in operation? >> Yeah, she'll be able to be on premises when >> what happen if she's out sick? Then my friend Jack here is gonna have
to get to Danverse. >> He has a really solid crew in Gloss. >> No, I I'm sure he does, but I'm just Life happens. >> So, it sounds like what I'm hearing is uh kind you would like to hear you like to see us supplement more. >> I'd like to have somebody as a backup on
the license so that if you have an issue, she has an issue, there's somebody that can be there >> as well. You know, he's he's back and forth. >> We get Adrian Tip certified and get him. So that so that's no problem. We can update that form prior to um opening if
we're so fortunate to get an approval to >> that acceptable. Do you uh madam clerk? >> Yes, absolutely. >> Okay. So we'll expect a third person. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh what's the will of the board? >> I move we accept the application as presented with the uh recommendations
that we get finalized paperwork. Correct the paperwork as discussed this evening. >> Terrific. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I opposed. >> Thank you very much. Good luck. >> Thank you. Can't wait for that calamari.
>> Tony, we'll meet. We'll go we'll meet there for lunch. >> All right. >> Oh, good. >> Next, we're going to go a public hearing will be held under chapter 138 of the general laws on the application of Blazing Wings, Inc. DBA, Buffalo Wild Wings, Independence, I'm sorry, 100
Independence Way. Joshua Metsah, manager for a change of officers on all alcoholic common vehicular license at that location. Is the paperwork in order, man? >> The paperwork is in order. There are no changes at the local level. Um, so the applicant was uh not instructed to come
tonight. It's all corporate change. >> Okay. So, uh do do I have a motion? >> Is it a public hearing? >> Oh, yes. I don't know. >> Motion to close the public hearing. going to ask the public if they want to speak. >> Oh yeah. I'm sorry. Does anybody want to speak on behalf of this?
>> Motion to close. >> Okay. Motion to close. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. >> I move I move we accept the uh the change of corporate offices with no local >> change >> modifications. >> Okay. Wonderful. Dwight a second.
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. >> Terrific. Thank you, madam clerk, for clarifying that. >> All right. A public hearing will be held under chapter 138 of the general laws on the on the application of a amy's
Danverse LLC DBA Kelly's Rose Danverse 165 street James Roger manager for a transfer of wine and malt beverage license at that location. Madame clerk, >> is all the paperwork in order?
>> The paperwork is in order. This uh was presented to the board. Uh the ABCC returned it due to deficiencies in some of the paperwork. They've resubmitted the entire packet. There's a a memo that you were provided with um a response
from the uh director of management from um Kelly's roast beef. And there's a gentleman here that's going to explain it. >> Wonderful. Hi, welcome. introduce yourself. >> Uh Jim Ratai, Kelly's Rose Beef. Um I
was here maybe two or three months ago. Um not sure exactly what uh what went wrong. I don't think they filled out a couple of uh lines on the application and the ABC pushed it back. So I'm here this evening to answer any questions that you might have and um see if we can
move forward. >> Wonderful. Um G, do you have questions? >> Uh yes. Um, are there any changes to the alternate listing dated 42825? >> Zero. >> Okay. Um, and everything else was in
order at the time we talked about it. Thank you. I'm all set. Thank you, >> Mike. >> Uh, no, no questions, >> D. >> Uh, no, no questions. Thank you, >> Dan. >> Thank you. Hi, Jim. How are you? >> Good to see you again. I guess it's pretty cut forward, straightforwards. ABC made the corrections. They made the
corrections. >> Sounds fine. >> Yes. Okay, I don't have any questions here. This is a public hearing. Does anybody in the audience have any comments? >> Okay. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second.
>> Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. What's the will of the board? >> Move we accept the application as presented. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> All opposed. Thank you. >> Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
>> Thank you very Thank you very much. All right. See? All right. Now, the board will hear from the town meeting, town manager acts review committee. And thank welcome and uh please introduce yourself.
Nice to see you. >> Good evening. My name is Sally Calhoun. I was appointed the chair of the town meeting town manager review acts committee um which has been a great honor to be a
part of. Several members of the committee are here with are here with me tonight including Natalie Fiori from precinct 2, John Elmeita from precinct 3, Mary Beth Verry from precinct 4, uh Fawn Anderson from precinct 6, Mike
Mcbachuk from precinct 8, and also um Mike Trainer is here who was um probably the most common the most frequent non-committee member at our meetings and helping us through uh some important
issues. Did I miss anybody? So, on behalf of the town meeting, town manager acts review committee, I'd like to thank the select board for placing our report on tonight's agenda. We are looking forward to sharing our report with you and with the entire town of
Danvers. We're very excited about it. So on May 20, 2024, the annual town meeting voted to establish a citizens committee appointed by the town moderator for the purpose of reviewing as well as updating the Danvers Town Meeting Act and the
Danvers Town Manager Act. Those two acts establish the representative town meeting and the strong town manager form of government which we have in Danverse. The vote also the vote in May of 2024 also instructed us to prepare a written
report of our findings and conclusions. Also town meeting voted to refer the citizens petition which was which was before that meeting. Uh they voted to refer that petition. It was regarding recall provisions to our committee for review. The town moderator
then appointed a committee of 10 consisting of one town meeting member per precinct, one atlarge member, and one chairperson. And I've already uh given you the names of the committee members that are present. The ones who were unable to come tonight include Nova
Samadai from precinct 1, uh Don Gagnen from precinct 5, Noah Levit from precinct 7, John Gorski who's the atlarge member. It was a wonderful committee to work on. It was a great group of people. Um,
the Town Meeting Act was first adopted in 1930 and it changed Danvers from open town meeting to its current representative town meeting format. The Dammerous Town Meeting Act was last reviewed over 50 years ago in 1973.
The Town Manager Act, which was adopted in 1949, established our strong town manager form of government and was last updated almost 30 years ago in 1997. So, our committee met 19 times from July
2024 to May of 2025 for a total of almost 40 hours. All our meetings were public. Our meetings were televised by DECAT except the first one because I didn't know how to set that up. We had several invited guests and input of many citizens of the town who came to our
meetings. We grappled with multiple viewpoints, debated all sides of the issues before us, and we worked hard to come to a con to a consensus. Attached to our May 13, 2025 report are our recommendations for changes
to the town meeting act and the town manager act shown as redlinined edits. Now, we uh delivered copies of our report to the select board back in May. Uh and I I should have asked before this
about whether they might be a there are any more copies that might be available to members of the public, and I don't know the answer to that, but I'll I'll try to find out. I'm sorry. I I only have one copy with me tonight, but I'd be happy to make it available.
Um most of our proposed changes uh reflect the September 15, 2020 board of selectmen vote to change from a board of selectmen to a select board. Additional changes we are proposing uh
expand pronouns to be more inclusive and some of our proposed changes simply attempt to clarify language that we found confusing. So I' I've tried to just summarize our our most uh significant uh proposed changes to you. Would you like me to go
forward in that in that vein? >> Please. >> Thank you. So in the town meeting act um in our process of reviewing and discussing the act we became or we were most concerned about finding ways to encourage more active participation by
the citizens of the town of Danvers in governance and operation of the town making sure that everyone has a voice and a way to become as involved as they wish. Um town meeting is the town's legislative
branch. It's vital for town meeting members to understand their role and to be prepared to represent the residents of their precincts at every town meeting. The committee believes town meeting members should be contact points and advocates for the residents of their
precinct. It seems that that concept of town meeting members having constituents to represent that mean that is the residents of their precinct. That idea of of being representative of the uh of the residents seems to have been lost
over the years from probably back when representative town meeting was first uh uh introduced to the town. Our recommendations are intended to revitalize and re-emphasize that concept.
For instance, um, the Anverse currently has eight precincts in town. By state law, each precinct can have no more than 4,000 residents. And our population right now
is 28,087. So, we're at eight. See what I've learned from you, Kathy? Um, some precincts, some of those eight precincts always have contested races because each each uh annual election we
vote for onethird of the town meeting members for each precinct except in a um census year. So, some precincts always have contested races, which means more than onethird of the town meeting members, more than onethird of the town
meeting members have one or more candidates on the ballot. Other precincts, however, don't have sufficient candidates running to be town meeting members. So those precincts need to hold a caucus before each annual town meeting to try
to bring another candidate or a couple candidates in to run for town meeting members. Just by way of example, the May 6, 2025 town meeting only had two of the eight precincts with more candidates
running for town member than there were vacancies. So we had six precincts that didn't have sufficient candidates running to fully fill the slot of ca of uh town meeting members for that precinct. This kind of suggests to us as a
committee that there's not sufficient knowledge or interest about the rationale for and the role of town meeting members. So, we're suggesting that the town um meeting act be revised
to reduce the number of town meeting members per precinct from 18, which it is currently to 15. Now, we think that will help encourage and trigger more interest, more participation, more competition for
those seats. That's our goal. And perhaps if we reduce to 15 per precinct and emphasize that representative constituency aspect, we can rekindle that interest in being town meeting members and that higher interest and more competitive races may in time lead
us back to 18 for precinct. But for now, we feel town meeting me town meeting is a little too large, a little too unwieldy, a little too sluggish to get the work done. So our proposal, probably our biggest proposal is to reduce town
meeting members to 15 per precinct. Our second major suggestion in the town meeting act is this. Currently, town meeting members do not have to pull nomination papers and gather 10 signatures in order to run for another
term. They just need to let the uh the town clerk know that they want to run again. We recommend requiring all town meeting member candidates to pull papers and get those 10 signatures. Again, we're trying to revitalize, reactivate the
representative status of town meeting members. Third, we recommend inserting language in section 12 of the town meeting act to formalize the town moderators currentformational session for town meeting members in order to encourage
and that that presentation should encourage active engagement and encourage town meeting members to uh meet with other town meeting members in their precinct and with the residents of their precinct. We think that that presentation by the
town meeting by the town moderator should be available electronically for those who cannot attend in person. We also recommend that section 14 of the act be changed to require that the act be reviewed at least once every 20 years
or sooner if voted by town meeting. On page f pages five to seven of our report, we include other ideas and recommendations for the um for the town meeting act. Our idea, one idea in
particular um is that we should have a townwide forum where precinct members and residents, town meeting members of each precinct can meet to discuss issues and concerns. We suggest it take place
at Danver's High School with each precinct having an assigned classroom to meet and that that meeting be during the first week of February in each in each year. That would allow time for precinct members to meet one another, time for constituents to come in and talk about
any issues they have and and for the town meeting members to still be involved in the finance committee review of the budget. So, we we picked that date pretty deliberately. So in a nutshell that that's the gist of what we're suggesting for changes in the town
meeting act. In the town manager act we dealt with three major issues. One was adding a recall election provision based on the citizens petition uh that was filed by Mike Mike Trainer. uh in our report pages,
page eight deals with our recall election discussion and basically our recommendation is to add a new section seven to the town manager act to provide for recall elections. Um this section would apply to townwide
elected officials with more than six months remaining in their term of office. To start the process, 350 or more registered voters would have to file an affidavit with the town clerk containing the name of the office to be recalled and a statement of the grounds
for recall. The town clerk would then provide the petitioners with copies of printed form petition ballots with the name of the person whose recall is sought and the grounds for the recall as stated in the citizens affidavit. This section 7 clearly states that a
vote of an elected official on any matter before that elected official's body would not constitute or should shall not constitute valid grounds for recall. We we debated long and hard about how specific we should be about what grounds for recall should be.
The committee finally came to the following language. While it is expected that the recall process set forth herein would only be used to address serious malfeasants or misconduct, the voters themselves shall individually determine whether the
grounds listed for recall are sufficient. We didn't want to narrow the definition too much. We didn't want to broaden it too much. We didn't want to have it be so broad something could throw fall through the cracks. We didn't want it to be so narrow that it would in that it would make it impossible to do.
We came to this language in w with a great deal of help from Mike Trainer who is here and available to comment more if you'd like. From there to move forward with a recall election, the petitioners once approved by the the town clerk would have to obtain the signatures of
at least 20% of the total number of registered voters in the town within 20 business days after the petition is issued by the town clerk. If the petitioners obtain those necessary signatures and return the signed petitions to town clerk, the registars of voters would have to
certify all the signatures and then the town clerk would would submit the recall petition to the board whose member is the subject of the recall. If the officer sought to be recalled does not resign within 5 days, then the select board would have to order an election.
If a majority of the votes at the election are in favor of a recall, the person being recalled would be deemed removed from office immediately. Now, there's some more details in the section, but that's kind of the major sense of how how it would work.
The next change that we're suggesting in the town manager act is to uh is to state that the town accountant is uh appointed by the town manager. The current uh town manager act says
that the town accountant is appointed by the select board which probably made sense back when the act was first adopted but currently you know the town manager is the chief financial officer of the town and the town manager should be able to create and assemble a team
that can uh deal with policy in a in a manner that the town manager sees fit for the purposes for the needs of the town. So, we feel that it's important for the town manager to be the person that appoints the town accountant.
And our our final major change that we're suggesting is to remove the residency requirement from the town manager position. The committee received a lot of input on this issue, too. This is one of the issues we spent a lot of time talking about. And after much debate, the
committee concluded that the residency requirement really is no longer needed in a day where we have so much um uh electronic and online ways of keeping track of in and in touch with one another. Also, the residency requirement
unnecessarily limits the pool of potential vac uh candidates in the event of a vacancy. So, while an argument could be made that residency might assure that a town manager is fully invested in the affairs of the town, again, in this age of social media and technology, that's not
as big a concern as it might have been. A town manager must be fully invested in the affairs of the town and can do so without being physically present 247. To be an effective town manager, the person has to be the town manager has to be informed and involved and physically
present in the town during work hours. and for other significant events such as nighttime meetings. And if the town manager if the select board finds the town manager is not sufficiently in touch with the town or engaged with the town, the select board has the authority to address that situation and take
action if necessary. We included sections uh sprinkled throughout the town manager act that provides for specific communication between the town manager and the select board. That recommendation is in response to concerns some residents shared regarding the need for open lines
of communication between the select board and town manager. We uh uh recommend adding language to section five 35 of the act, excuse me, to encourage town meeting members to attend finance committee meetings.
And we also recommend adding a new section that says that the town manager act shall be reviewed at least once in every 20 years or sooner if if so voted by uh town meeting. Similarly to the time frame we set in
the town uh meeting act. Now we also spent quite a bit of time especially in our first couple of meetings talking about the form of government here in Danver. We there was a lot of talk about you know is representative town meeting and strong town manager form of government
still the best form of government for the for the town. We had lots of opinions lots lots of people had lots to say about it. We check we reached out to the town moderator for some clarification and our our mandate as voted by town meeting in May of 2024 was
to review the current acts and report back. If town meeting or this select board deem it necessary to consider other forms of government that in our in our mind would be the work of a different type of committee than ours. I personally, and this is not the
committee, but me personally, I feel that our current form of government, the representative town meeting, a select board, strong town manager, works amazingly well for the town of Danvers. Um, so I don't feel that I picked an issue up and put it down and I'm
disappointed in that. I'm I think that we have a very well-run town. I'd like to open more doors for people to feel they can come and speak up for whatever their issue is in town from school buses
to what field they playing soccer in to finance committee meetings to uh the diversity committee that we have in town. There's lots of ways to get involved. We just have to help people find them in my opinion. So, it has been a wonderful honor to work on this. Several members of the committee are
here if you have any questions. As I said, M Mike Mike Trainer, who's the author of the and the instigating force behind the recall provision, please feel free to ask away. >> Well, thank you, Sally. And I can't thank the committee enough for all your
hard work, you know, really um a lot of hours, a lot of thought. Um select board members, um we're going to have the opportunity to ask any questions um to Sally. Um the town council is also here if there's any legal questions and
then we'll refer it to the town manager for some timelines afterwards. Um Gardner, would you do you have any questions or any points? >> Um no, I want to thank you for all the hard work. Thank you very much. Um >> uh for all the thought thought that went into this, the care that went into this,
uh the debates. I attended a couple of the meetings, so I was a witness to some of it. Um, many of these things I'm I'm uh I'm I'm happy to embrace. A couple of them I I I uh I'm going to
uh dig deeper into. I I I I one of the questions when you mentioned uh moving from 18 back to 15, I want to go and find out when we went from to 15 to 18 and whether that's mandated by law as a percentage of the population in a
precinct. Uh, so I'm not sure if that's the case. I know that when somewhere in the past 18 or 19 years when we've done a when we've gotten a new census and we and at that time Joe had to figure out the with along with Kathy had to figure
out the precinct lines and what streets moved and to what precinct and so on and so forth. It was not only a balance of equalizing the precincts in number, but I also thought it was a I I for the best of my recollection, I thought it was a
percentage representation was a percentage of the number of people in the precincts. >> Well, it's interesting because our population really hasn't changed a whole lot for many years. Kathy knows all the numbers, but it's I'm surprised when I read the population because I remember looking it up when I first moved to
Danvers. Oh, when was that? back in 1985. >> But we may have been slow to change. We may have been slow to change based on population changes, but I I just want to find out the facts. >> Sure, absolutely. >> Um uh a couple of the other ones that jump out at me. I'm well familiar with
the recall petition. I was the uh original author and this board didn't take take up as a citizens petition and it was passed on. Um, I do have a concern and and I'll read it again. I want to make sure that a reason for a
recall cannot be that a person is doing their job as elected. You may not like the vote I take. You may not like the position I have on on some of these issues, but that alone is not a reason for recall. when you say
malfecence when you say um you know I want to be very cautious that this is not an easy task to partake in and I think between the number of uh signatures you have to get that's a high high hurdle um so it's not going to be
like I don't like the fact that gardener does something whatever it is >> uh it's not I don't like that person it has to be for reasons that are malfecence illegalities But I also cons he heard the concerns of people in the past when I presented it
and then later before the iteration you see now of innocence before uh before proven guilty. So someone is accused of something do we take action on based on the accusation
or do we should we wait until that plays out in court? If someone's accused of uh stealing money from the top uh from some illegality, do we act on the premise that they're innocent until proven guilty or we don't
like that they were even charged? So, I'll be digging deep into that and when we have our workshops and our discussions, I'll want to I I just want you to know that these are the kind of things I'll be I'll be looking at. Um the town accountant uh is hired by the
town manager but the language is that they are accountable to the select board and I want that distinction maintained >> if if I may. Yeah. Um the it's interesting because the town accountant as are other positions in town. For
instance, the um um the director of public health have responsibilities under Massachusetts law regardless of who appoints them. Mhm. >> And so a town accountant, there's a there's probably several
statutes that apply and they are they would be obligated to report to the select board of any anything that was not correct or not right uh that the town accountant became aware of. So the fact that that our
language is suggesting that the town accountant be appointed by a town manager does not take away that statutory obligation that a town accountant would have. >> There there's a difference between the employment hierarchy and the
responsibility to report. And we only as select board members only have the ability to we currently only hire the town manager. That's the only hire we ever make. We have no other authority in personnel issues from the
town manager down. That's that's her responsibility now. But >> well, the current I'm I'm sorry. I don't The town the town manager act currently says that the town accountant is appointed by the select board. That's why we're proposing a change.
I want I want the I want the ability for the town accountant, as you said, to be able to report to the select board without having to go through the town manager. I want if they feel that there's a fundamental issue with the way the
town's finances are going, I want them to have the latitude to come to the select board without go without skipping their hierarch hierarchy boss. Um, and I think there's a distinction to be made there. And I I'm just letting you know I'll be digging deeper into those as
well. >> Um, and um, and as far as the uh, my my suggestions will be as far as the residency, I'm all for the town manager not having to live in
town. However, I would want it to be the town or a touching town, a surrounding town. Uh I would not uh I would not feel comfortable hiring a town manager who lived in you know Eping New Hampshire or lived in another you
know four towns away. There is a necessity. I agree there are safeguards and there are professionals when we have emergencies that the town manager you know relies on. But if you're 10 or 15 minutes away and you live in PBD and you have a
family home that's been in your family forever, I don't think that we should penalize your ability to work in Danverson. And I think you're absolutely right. It dilutes the pool or it minimizes the pool of of potential candidates. Um so I would I would be
fine with reticency of Danvers or a surround town. Those are my thoughts. >> Those are my thoughts. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Garner. Dan, >> thank you. Um, thank you Sally and members of the committee for all the work you did. Uh, you're right. Your
mandate was to review the town manager act and the town meeting act. I have a couple of questions. But before I ask those questions, you reference the town meeting member should represent their precinct.
And I would offer Andrea Daly as a perfect example of a town meeting member that represented her constituents in her precinct. >> Jim Morose is another one. >> Jim Marose is another one. Yes. We've been fortunate to have Bill Nicholson
and others in town meeting that understand that role as a town meeting member. um on the um town meeting.
Uh I'm sorry, I'll start with the um town manager act page 25, section 26, the tree warden. Did you have any discussions why the tree warden is listed in the >> Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we did and we had no idea. Right. And I I don't
understand why it's there either. I mean, >> why not DPW director, utility director? >> So, you just didn't understand it and just left it. >> Well, um the tree warden is appointed to
is to be appointed by the um town town manager and that warden shall have all the powers and perform all the duties conferred. So, uh, I I'm sure it's a very important job and I'm sure we benefit greatly from it. I mean, there's lots of trees in
towns and there are pro in town and there's problems, I'm sure, from time to time and it's good to know there's somebody who's the point person, but I I couldn't tell you historically where it came from. >> And I don't want to say something off um, line, but it seems to me that it's a
goes back to early colonial times. the way of the way of the coal, the back, the field driver, >> the fence watchers, the >> French watcher. Um, I mean, the tree warden has a specific job and does a great job, but I I don't see where it
falls under the importance of being in the in the act itself. In the in the um review of the town meeting act, did you have conversation about the role of FINCOM in our town government and compare it to other
communities? >> We certainly did talk a lot about the role that FINCOM plays. Um I I don't recall that we that we compared it with the way other towns operate in terms of their finance committees. I
know in some communities they hold a much stronger position than they do in in town uh in this town in Danverse. But no, we we didn't explore much beyond that that I recall if any of my fellow
members. >> Okay. Um as as I as you stated the mandate was to review and I just questioned could you have done more review? probably and we'd be happy to do more if I mean right now I understand by turning
in our report our committee's work is done. We'd have to kind of be re appointed or something to go to go further into issues but you know I'd be happy personally to track down a few of these if like the tree warden for instance uh if if you'd like.
>> Well, it's not what I like. >> I mean if the board >> if the board >> and as we move forwards with the other committees as we meet. All right. Um, we'll kind of just leave that as the hanging chad for now. But thank you, Sally, for your work. >> Or Chad, thank you.
>> D, do you have questions on >> Thank you. Thank you, Sally. And thank you to the committee members. Uh, I did watch most of the deliberations. So, >> they were great, weren't they? >> They were amazing. How many I know you're an attorney, but how many attorneys do you have in that group?
>> Uh, two, I believe, right? Just two of us. >> Okay. I mean, it was just incredible. Uh the the the back and forth uh was was really fun and thank you so much. >> You know, it was an amazing committee to be a part of, but I've got to say the thing that I know I'm most impressed and
proud of is that we didn't all have the same opinion. And there were times we would deal like four meetings with one issue. >> Exactly. But um but everybody um treated everybody else with such a sense of respect and
welcoming other points of view and trying to uh address and honor and not just say, "Oh, that's stupid. Let's do something. Everybody was heard and the and the committee came to a consensus in things that were difficult to do. But it
it was it was an amazing example of of people sitting together, respecting one another, and doing some really solid work. >> Totally agree. And I also like to take this opportunity for a big shout out to Decat for broadcasting those meeting.
Greg Dolan, Owen, >> Ben Thomas. I mean, it's so important. It's a joy we have in our community to be able to to attend some of those meetings without being there in person. Um
during your deliberation, I mean I I watch most of it, but there was there were not a lot of discussions about we talk about the 18 members for um town meeting the precincts where they
contested race and then there are other precincts where there's not enough people. Did what's your thought about the fact that if we decrease to 15 we will be penalizing the
the precincts where people actually want to serve. >> We we were very concerned about that. We were concerned about whether a decrease would mean that that the residents of the town would have less of a voice because there are fewer representatives for that precinct
in town meeting. As I said, we we talked about this for many many meetings, but but we felt that by reducing it and trying to make the races more competitive and trying to share more information so the town
meeting members can be even more well informed than they are now. That that might make the body work more effectively than than it does at the uh 18 member number. But it was a tough it was a very tough call. Yeah,
>> we we we didn't want to leave any any voices unheard or any constituents under reppresented. Uh and at least in my mind, I don't remember it being a big uh discussion at our meetings, but I don't know why, for instance, just our
last annual election, why the two precincts that had more candidates than there were seats, why why they were successful at having, you know, a competitive race where others didn't. I I I didn't analyze what was going on in each precinct to to try to find out why
that might be. >> Yeah. I I I will be leaning more toward finding ways to address that and and encourage more people to be involved. Um I would say I don't know if geography has it. I
mean I I used to be on increasing eight now it's six and that part of the town center street heading toward middle town area it could be I don't know if it's because of the highway dividing
that part of the town from downtown but I think we may want to stress out the importance of having people involved and maybe keep it the way it is so that the precinct that have contested races do
not lose that ability. And furthermore, uh when I was trying to picture the logistics as to how this works, uh we will have this as where an article go to fin go to town meeting and pretty much
those town meeting member will be voting to be ousted, >> right? >> So it's almost like we're saying vote to lose your job. >> That's probably our our biggest one of our biggest concerns. But you know the problem one of the problems with it is right now we talked about going 18 to 15 and people not being as representative
but right now there are precincts even after that uh caucus at the beginning of town meeting still don't have eight members. There are precincts right now that have le less than eight town meeting members represented them. So there already is an under representation in some of the precincts. But you're
right it's a very um um I'm trying to think of a word I can say. It it's a it's a pretty striking thing >> for our committee to say to town meeting, oh, by the way, >> vote some of yourselves out. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We we realize that's quite a dynamic.
>> I I would Oh, yeah. I would definitely be leaning toward encouraging more people to and finding ways for um town meeting members to be more involved. Um, as far as this 10 signatures for uh
incumbent town meeting members, um, again, the the more burden we put on people, the the more people will be like, "This is not for me. I I have kids. I have this going on." Um,
maybe I know the town clerk keeps the attendance and this is just a thought. uh and and I don't know if you're committed that of it if cuz people get elected and sometimes they never show up to town meeting and I think that's part of the problem.
>> So if you don't attend 50% of town meetings then you need to collect the 10 signatures to be incumbent or something like that. uh so that there's an incentive for people to actually not only attend the meeting but decrease
that burden into coming back >> to be town meeting again. >> It it's really great points because again it's counterintuitive to think okay there's not enough active engagement so we're going to make everybody get 10 signatures. >> Exactly. it see it and I can see that
argument but on the other hand uh most town meeting members are appointed for three-year term and to ask them after three years of being a town meeting member to get 10 signatures isn't overly burdensome and might re re uh invigorate
that town meeting member to be like oh yeah I've got to I'm going to run for this office again and I'm gonna you know I mean it's it's we're hoping it'll it'll make the town meeting member slide thoughts seem like they're such a special thing.
You just everybody's going to want it. >> Yeah. And then the the the year number of years we the last time this was touched was 1997 which is about 30 years ago. >> Did you have any discussion about keeping it at 30 years? >> Well,
>> because 20 years is not a long time. >> We felt 30 years was was way too long. That was one thing. >> Um the census of course is every 10 years. Exactly. >> And things a lot of things can change with each census. So we felt I mean some of us thought it should be shorter than
20 years. We kind of based it on okay two census periods out is when people should should look at things again. But we wanted to include the ability for town meeting to vote to do it sooner than that. But we think going more than 20 years is is um a disservice because
we we had a we had a struggle with some of the language trying to figure out what does this mean and where did it come from and it was hard and we think that um going more than 20 years is is not good for the town. >> And for my own understanding the town
accountant so how is it how does it work now? Well, you all can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the town manager act currently states that the town accountant is appointed by the
select board. Um, and that that seemed um uh what's the word? uh inefficient to us because the town accountant has to be part of the finance team that the town
manager runs as the chief fiscal officer of the town and you need to have kind of a seamless chain of command and everybody you know on board with the same policies and procedures etc. It seemed to us it made much more sense to have town accountant appointed by hired
by the town manager and as as I said to our committee during our discussions about it. The town accountant would still have those statutory obligations in terms of reporting to uh the select board. Uh I don't I don't have those at my fingertips tonight but anyway but that's how it works currently is my
understanding. Okay. And to you, Madam Chair, and I I don't know, maybe I relied on uh select board member Gardner or Dan. Historically, the current town accountant, did you go through like an interview process or >> Thank you for bringing that up because I
was going to make comment. The last town accountant we hired or the town manager hired as chair, I participated in the interview process. >> Okay. But you said the last time the town manager hired. >> The town manager did the hire but as
chairman I was involved in the interview process to be involved. >> Okay. So even though the act stipulate that it was a select board hire, it seems to me that it was a town manager hire in practice.
>> Is is that a fair assumption? Okay. >> So pretty much we will be doing we'll be changing it. We'll be changing the act to reflect the current practice. >> Yes. >> And then the statutory obligation of the
town the accountant will still stay with the state. >> We have legal counsel here too if we have any questions about statuto regulations. >> Is that correct? >> That's what I my understanding would be. >> Okay. >> Um
>> Okay, perfect. Um I think that was the the last I think I had one more. No other ones could just wait. No, thank you. That's all for me and thanks again for all you did and the committee. That was amazing work. Thank you.
>> Thank you, D. Mike. >> Um, hey, thank you very much. I know everybody participated in a lot of time and a lot of work and um it's the work you've done I appreciate very much. It's helped me to understand
what's going on too, you know. Um couple of thoughts. Um I didn't see that it was mentioned in there um and I might have just missed it u term limits uh for different positions just to try to keep everything fresh. Um
I'm not sure if that should be in there or not. Um >> well, you know, it's kind of interesting because term limits to me suggest um elected positions. Am I right? >> And um so so these acts don't deal with I don't
there's not a spot to put in anything about terminal safe for select board members. We talked a little bit about whether or not to have term limits for town meeting and felt uh and and and did not go that in that direction for a number of reasons. One is um again we're
we're even though we're talking about reducing the number and making them get 10 signatures, we we don't want to discourage Tom meeting members. We want to encourage them to come and be the best Tom meeting members they can be. So we didn't want to put some arbitrary number of times you can run in it because that seemed even more
discouraging than what you find here. So um and also we have all experienced in town meeting that some of our most senior town meeting members bring some of the most uh incredible depth and history and warmth to the meetings. Uh
so it seemed it seemed unnecessary to put term limits for town meeting members. >> Yes. Yeah. Good point. Good point. Yeah. Um, and another question, and it's kind of a general question, on some of the other committees, um, that are
appointed, um, should they be elected positions? And I'm willing to hear an answer from anybody. Um, just to maybe give towns people more, um, say in what's going on versus an appointed position,
>> if I may. >> Yes. Um so our form of government currently by the by the act that was adopted by the town back in what was it 48 49 was for strong town managers. the town manager appoints department heads, the police chief, the fire chief, the
head of the DPW, all that stuff. If and that is instead of having those positions elected, um we feel or I feel and our job again was not to change form of government but was to address the the the founding language
that created our current. But if if those positions, say the police chief or the head of the DPW or the town clerk were elected positions, it would really change the the um face of those positions in in my opinion. Um my this is just my opinion. I don't think we
spent very much time talking about this with the committee. So please don't consider this committee talk. This is Sally Calhoun talk that that by by being able to have the the the one administrator responsible person in the town be the one appointing those
positions, we we take any um um polit politics out of it. We make it be very professional that to get those positions, you have to satisfy the town manager that you're qualified and that you're doing your job right. And if the town manager finds you're not, boom, you're out here and a different
professional, fire chief, police chief, head of DPW, is going to be brought in. So to me, it professionalizes all those positions. It's just again, it's just one person's opinion, but it goes back to okay, what does strong town manager, former
government mean? And that's one aspect of it. And even before that, you know, be select boards were the ones that appointed, hired, supervised, oversaw. And can you imagine we as busy as you guys are now if you were the ones having
to um appoint those positions. So it's a question of how you feel the government in your town should work. It's a form of government question. >> Thank you. Yeah, that would probably politicize things worse. if we were >> it might >> hiring some of those people it could be
>> could easily be >> handled incorrectly. >> Um and on uh to ask you a question Dan when you um took took part of um the uh town accountant hire um you as the
chairperson um you recommended or didn't recommend or how did that >> agreed >> agreed? If I didn't agree, yeah, I would have said so. >> Yeah. I guess >> working in conjunction with the town manager to >> Yes.
>> enable he or she to do their job >> but with input from this board. >> Yeah. I guess that's what I'm getting at. I think as long as if the town manager wants to appoint somebody if we can at least have an opinion doesn't mean >> well that's that's the only time that
you would be involved in something like that because of the town manager act and the language >> right >> but once we change that then we won't be involved in the hiring process nor should we >> be involved >> right >> because as you just said it would be very political
>> thank you Sally >> by the way to that question of accountability and with input from this board, we're our committee is recommending changes in several subsections of section 14 of the town manager act. Let me see if I can find a
page number. So section 14 begins on page 13 of the red line version. And in subsections B, C, D, F, and K, we've recommended language that provides for specific communication from the town manager to
the select board. For instance, it uh section 14B um deals with the town managers uh authority to consolidate, reorganize, abolish boards, commissions,
departments, etc. Um that's all under the direction and supervision of the town manager. we added to the end that the town manager would notify or shall notify the select board of that kind of change in C which deals with um
um the town manager having the authority to appoint and remove employees except those uh of the school department and the library and accept those under civil service. the town manager can remove employees,
but we've said it um that the town manager would notify the select board of every such appointment and removal consistent with privacy laws. Um section D, the town manager fixes the compensation of town officers and employees who are
subject to removal by town manager. And again, we've added that the town manager shall notify the select board on an annual basis of compensation of all town officials and employees who are subject to removal by town manager. In fact, that already happens without with the budget process. But because there was
some concern about communication flow between this board and town manager's office, we just put some things in, tried to keep it general, tried not to add to the burden of being town manager, tried to make it things that actually already happen or in formats that can easily be turned over. Um, we've
suggested in section F that the town, it already says the town manager shall keep full and complete records of the office of town manager and render as often as may be required by the select board a report of operations, but we've added that it would be at least monthly. Um,
that kind of thing. So, we we sprinkle that throughout especially this this section. Madam Chairman, if I may follow up on um Sally's um comments there. Um I go a little further on page 17K.
The manager shall keep the board informed regarding any such litigation. And I'm going to ask that we add language that says in a timely manner. And it would be up to the board to decide if they were informed in a timely
manner or not. I mean certainly you're >> that's what I'm going to ask for >> to that point Dan none of these kind of set a timeline and the reality is it's not saying you have to do it before a HR decision is
made you're not looking for the town manager isn't going to the select board for approval per se they have the latitude to take the action >> correct >> and then tell us afterwards I've let person X go for these reasons So, it's more of an informational as
opposed to as opposed to >> Well, I'm not going to get into examples at this time, but >> Right. >> That was deliberate. That was deliberate, by the way, because the town manager has these um authorities and powers per the town manager act currently. and we we didn't want to um
infringe upon them or um encroach upon them in any way, but but we thought it would be again because of some of the comments we were getting, it would be helpful to just say and shall notify the select board. Not that they'd seek the approval of,
but just notify. That was deliberate. >> Good. >> Okay. Um Well, do you want to say something? Yes, please. Uh I remember what I wanted to ask. Um the recall petition
um is it for you said it's for every um townwide offices. That includes school committee and library trustee or is it just select board? >> No, it's every elected position in town. So yes, it would include the school committee, it would include the um
library board and it would include the select board >> and the moderator. and the moderator. Thank you. >> Okay, perfect. I Yeah, I I definitely think I mean >> excluding town meeting members does not it does not affect town meeting members.
>> Okay. Yeah, I do. I mean I don't know what the language should look like but I think having something like this in the books uh will be important. I think it's also a form of accountability for us as elected
officials to know that you know we we have to do right by the resident and the last thing was the residency requirement. the meeting that I watched, there was some discussions about having some kind of radius
like maybe you can leave within 10 miles of DES or within half hour and how did you all come to the conclusion of just removing it all together? What was the thought process behind that? >> Each one of those ideas uh contiguous
town or community was one. Another was a mile radius 10 should be 10 should be 20 should be 30 should be within the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each one of those just seemed so um random um that it it
you could poke holes into what would or wouldn't work. It didn't seem to make sense what seemed to make sense most to us as a committee. And it wasn't I mean it took a long time for us to get to this point but to vote that it should be residency should not be required but but
also a reminder that the Tom manager of course serves at the um uh pleasure of the board which is such a weird phrase but the board appoints and can and can discipline and can terminate the position of the person in the position
of town manager. And so we felt that because the select board has that power, if if the person they hired was not a resident but but lived um 15 miles away, if the board found that that person
wasn't around enough or didn't really know what was going on in town or hadn't done enough to reach out and try to become a part of the fabric of the town, the select board could address that as the employer. that seemed to us to be
the best way as opposed to coming up with an arbitrary random number. >> But may I interrupt? Excuse me. Sure, Madam Chair. Um, >> the select board hires the town manager. There's a lot of qualifications,
requirements that we'll look at. And if we have three candidates and one lives 50 miles away, one lives 20 miles away, that will be part of our determination and who we will hire or not hire. >> Sure. >> But we don't want to limit the number of
people will apply for the position and it will be up to future boards to hire the best qualified person. Not necessarily base it on where they live, but that will be a factor. But to follow up on that, Dan,
>> if we don't in some way enumerate that, and I'm going to ask maybe through you, ch of the legal council, >> do we open ourselves up to reproach because it's just subjective. If if two people being relatively the same, having the same experience, it's a
it was a tough choice the last choice. I wasn't here, but it was a tough choice the last choice. everyone had a different uh perspective and and and uh pros and cons. If we just if we say we aren't going to hire you because you're
50 miles away or 100 miles away, whatever it is, do we open ourselves to some form of of of legal reproach in that way? >> That's a good point. But we probably wouldn't say >> so. >> We probably wouldn't say we're not hiring you because you live 50 miles
away. Yeah, I I get it. But >> do you we could hire someone that lives in Danverse and then or someone can move to Danver in an Airbnb for 6 months. We hired them and then they moved to Worooster, >> right? >> What do we do? So the my concern with
having a radius is the fact that I mean there are people who live in Peabody. We will get to Danver faster than some people who live in Denver. We will get to the the to town hall. So having the radius I think
is something that would be very hard to control because yeah you could live in puberty and then you get hired you move out of puberty. So do we fire you because you move out? That's an excellent point about you were
hired because you were going to be here. I like the contiguous myself, but there's also economics involved and now you're asking someone to move to town and buy a home in town that may not have the ability to do so. Um, you know, so
and like I said, maybe they have a family home in PBD. >> I think we should defer this to town council. Um, could you go up, Kate? Yes, please. Yes. Introduce yourself. Just one while we're waiting. One one thought that came to me as we were
discussing it is I think >> the no residence restriction also sends a message to the world of potential town manager candidates of the professionalism that the town's looking for. Just wanted to toss that out. Not that residents are not professional
because they certainly are. But to have an open pool sends a message I think to candidates. >> Thank you. through you madam chair to the previous speaker um selectman trasque you're not going to be subject to liability >> she introduced herself to the
>> I'm sorry Kate Connelly town council with Murphy Hessie Tumi and Leah I've been doing municipal law for 33 years but I'm very new to the firm um one of my former colleagues asked me to join and it was perfect timing so that's why I'm here instead of David which frees
him up for certain other things so um the town would not be liable for asking multiple questions of someone and not hiring somebody if they're 50 miles away, even if you have a no residency requirement, because there are number of things you're going to consider when
determining who the town manager is going to be. And as one suckman already said, you're not going to say something like, "Oh, we're not hiring you because you live far away because you're smarter than that." But it's certainly a legitimate concern if somebody lives so far away that they're not able to get
here. But it would never be the only thing that you would decide on. So I I think whatever you decide that you want to put and and many times don't have a residency requirement for the very reason that you want to have a wide candidate pool. So what whatever criteria you want to put if you want to
just leave it as no requirement that you be a resident or if you want to do something more specific um it's quite possible that some of them are too random but but it's not a legal thing there. it's it would be legal whatever you decided to do in terms of uh making
a radius or or something like that. But I agree it's not necessarily practical. But to the direct answer to your question, no, you wouldn't be held liable for choosing someone who lived closer presuming they have multiple other things that make them the
better candidate as well. >> But I guess just to follow up because D made an excellent point. If we don't enumerate in some way a location or radius or whatever you want to call it and they decide to move, we have no that's not grounds for uh you know for
action. If they if they if if we don't have some statement of we want you nearby local, however you phrase it, and they do decide to move to Worcester, yes, it makes their work difficult. if they decide they want to drive every day from Worcester to here, we wouldn't be
able to use that as a condition for reapprising their their >> you could buy out their contract, be done with them. If they don't want the job, let them go. >> Hey, if you if I may, regardless of where the person
sleeps at night, you could terminate someone if they're not showing up for work or for meetings or for whatever you need them for. So you don't have to couch it as you don't live close enough. It's just you're not here enough. >> I'm thinking about the emergency situations. Obviously, we're all I think
we're all, you know, the explosion or or some other emergency situation where someone should be here as soon as possible with the reason within reason. But okay, thank you. >> Anybody have any other questions for Kate? She's up. >> No, thank you.
>> All right. Um, Sally, I can't thank you and the committee enough. Um, my board members have raised a lot of concerns. Um, you know, I did watch some of it, too. It was fascinating how, you know, some people wanted it this way, other people didn't want it. Um, to get
everybody together, that's great. Um, you know, I would be concerned too about the town accountant um section 22 um section town accountant section 3 reports to the select board. To me um you know leave this unchanged.
This allows the check and balance with the accountant to report to the select board. Um and you know um also the residency requirement. I like hearing what everybody has to say too. Um so that's something that we will be talking
about and and deliberating with. Um the the temporary moderator and the absence of of the moderator. Leave that unchanged. Um how did you come to that really? Um >> this is the change for the moderator. >> Yes. >> Um well you know it's funny that
engendered a lot of discussion. >> Um and can you point me to where that is? Um I think it's section six I believe. Um town meeting act section six temporary moderate in the absence of
the moderator. >> So that's in the town meeting act right. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Oh, among the town meeting. Yeah, town meeting members, [Applause] >> page eight. >> Yep, I'm there. Thank you. It took me It took me a minute.
>> No, that's okay. No, take your time. Everybody's getting tired. So, um, we were, some of the members of the committee were concerned because it just said that if the, you know, the town the moderator runs the town meetings and if the moderator is absent, the current
town meeting acts as a moderator prom uh, can be elected by the town meeting members. And we wanted to make it clear that it was the town meeting members voting and they had to vote vote from among the town meeting members. Uh there was some
concern that it could they could vote somebody that's not even a town meeting member could vote for somebody that's you know who people didn't know who possibly would be. So to narrow the um the ca the the potential candidates we narrowed it to town meeting member. there was concern that it could be the
way the language is currently it they could vote anybody in as the uh moderator >> prom. That's great. Thank you. And um the residency requirement too. That's something we'll be looking at too, you know, that I have questions about too.
Um anybody else at this point? >> Yes. Just a quick clarification on that. Uh moderator. Um when we say it has to be a town meeting member that that includes select board members is that correct?
>> It does. Y >> okay so if I may mad chair the last time that happened Peter Zul had a stepped down for particular item the me town meeting board body elected I think David McKenna as a selectman to rep be the town moderator for that particular
article. Very simple. That's the histo history behind it. >> We love the history Dan. That's good. Thank you. >> Oh, anything else, Sally? That >> Well, again, it was just it was just a an honor to be to be part of the committee and I'm so proud the committee
members. So many of them are here tonight and the ones that can't be here were for very particular reasons. They worked very hard, very dedicated group. Um I'm really proud of the work that the whole committee did. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you very much. Thank you all.
[Applause] So that's just round one. >> That's round one. So can the uh town manager just um let the public know the timelines moving forward, please? >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um thank
you to the review committee for all your work. Um I look forward to watching the board and town meeting dive into the work. Um so the next uh for the board the next deadline so we have asked the chair has asked that members um submit
proposals for any changes that are not that are not included in the committee's recommendations to be submitted in writing to either um to both Ann and the town manager's office and Kathy and the clerk's office um by September 29th um so that we can have a chance for town
council to review if necessary and for your colleagues to have a chance to review. Um if as we as I assume during dialogue other things come up obviously um other proposals are welcome but the the goal is to have the opportunity for members of the board to review before
deliberations. Uh at the October 7th board meeting uh the select board will begin deliberations um continue through October and as of now we have time at each meeting through October and November and a public hearing date. So
the opportunity uh I know the public was involved in the review committee's process and thank you for being so open to that. Um the opportunity for the board or for the public to participate at this level will be is tenatively scheduled for December 16th will be the public hearing on the warrant. Um and
then we are waiting dates from the finance committee on when they will host their public hearing. So we are anticipating work on this at each meeting through the months of October and November. >> We're going to busy. It's going to be great. I mean, remember, we're digging into something that hasn't been changed in 30 years, right?
>> So, thank you very much. All right. At this time, um, the board the which one we're on? 11. The town man will report to the board on various items of
interest. Miss town manager. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And I usually try to keep it short, but I've got a lot for you tonight. So, start with the trash strike. We I think everybody knows by now um they have come to a resolution. Uh they have resumed um all
typical services as of Monday we did release today. So we were working with them related to yard waste and bulky items. The two outstanding items um because the program for bulky items had been on hold. We're expecting a large
amount. So, we're asking that um for the week of September 29th, anyone who currently holds a bulky item sticker um they can start scheduling pickup for the week of September 29th. And then we'll open sales of new stickers and scheduling on the week of October 6th.
Um and we anticipate that the leaf pickup um that is scheduled in October, which I believe is the week of the 12th, uh that will be picked up on time. Again, we may see some backups on um I don't think as much here in Danvers because we've had been pretty
successful. Um but I know other communities are anticipating um slow roots because of additional items that have been stored. But I think here in Danvers um and thank you so much to the residents. The residents have been incredibly patient uh and as we navigated this and so I think we'll be
in good shape to restore services as usual ASAP. Um, I wanted to inform, as is my duty, the select board, uh, that we recently signed on to the O op opioid settlement documents for both the Purdue
manufacturer and the secondary MA manufacturers. This is in addition to we are currently signed on to the Johnson and Johnson. There is no further action needed by the select board or town meeting at this time. Um my job is to report to you and then I just want to update you that the my office, the
health department and the board of health are working on a proposed plan for the use of the funds and we will update you um when we have progress on that. Um I wanted to report on clickers for town meeting because it seemed like it was time. It's a appropriate time to do
it because um if it's something that this board would like to consider um through the work that we're doing with town manager and town meeting act would be an appropriate time. I want to thank you Miss Stevens for your um research. It was accurate. She provided it to the
board if anybody still needs a copy. I have a copy and I know Kathy has a copy. So um please feel free to refence reference that. Um I did some follow-up research. Um I think the thing the points I want to point out for us in Danver's um many of the reasons that I
found in the other communities that they are using them several of them um are are opportunities that we already have in our town meeting rules. Um one of them being operations and efficiency. We run a pretty efficient town meeting. Um I do anticipate at the beginning of use
would increase time on either end as we get used to using them. Um but I think the town meeting itself runs pretty efficiently. So I think it would be similar over time just at the beginning it'd be a little tougher. Um the cost we'd have to look into whether we're
going to rent or buy. Um the most recent one the most recent towns that I saw um Andover uh appropriated $40,000 to rent them per year. Uh I think that may be higher than we need. Um so but that's handover. So,
but the cost will likely be we'd have to make a decision between buying and renting. Cost will likely be between 20 and and $40,000. I think one of the quotes I saw was 25,000. Um the um idea of one of the things that
was a common theme through the other uh municipalities was the use of uh the use of electronic voting for privacy reasons so that town members town meeting members um can vote their conscience. Um I know there was discussion here about
whether one of the the opposite you know would you use electronic voting so that people are can be held accountable. So, that's a topic that this board would have to tackle if they're going um to bring it up for discussion. Town council would of course be available to help navigate what needs to be changed, what
questions we need to answer and all of that. Um I will say um that many of the other communities that I looked into had created um committees to explore the options and make a recommendation to the select board um usually appointed by the
moderator. So that's another option if you as you go through deliberations um that's another route that you may choose to take. So happy to answer. I'm I have some knowledge on the research I did but happy to answer or find further information if any board members are looking for that.
>> Thank you. >> Um Mr. Brad, I have some answers on your trees at Pope's Landing. You weren't here the when we first started. I was concerned. Um, you were late. Uh, so they said DPW
Travis said the um, removal was delayed until the fall schedule, mostly because how busy the landing is in the summer. So, you'll see the dead trees being removed this fall. Um, and with new fall planting replacements being installed, they do have the green bags on newly
planted trees to help support them, and they are replenished with water once a week by staff. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, Citizens Academy, the town manager and the select board chair and of course the clerk because she's one of the stars of the first night. We all attended the
first night. Um, it is underway and this is week three. We um we were thrilled to uh meet the new candidates and be involved in that first program. So, we're thrilled that the that the cohort is moving along. a couple of upcoming
events. Unified sports basketball game on September 30th at 4 pm at Danvers High School. We hope everyone will join us. I will be there. Um, as you learned tonight, public power open house, October 2nd at two burough street, 4 to 7:00 p.m. The fourth annual celebration
hosted by the Human Rights and Inclusion Committee is October 4th, 5 to 8 at the high school atrium. Uh combine and enjoy food, music, kids activities, artwork by Danver students and conversation with new and old friends. Event is free and open to the public. Remember to jos
about the taekwondo tournament that we discussed and I don't have them here. So if you wanted to share Oh, I have them on my phone if you wanted to. There is a a taekwondo tournament happening um international tournament and I believe it's Columbus Day weekend. It starts that Saturday um at Danver's indoor
sports if you wanted to add. >> Uh that's correct. Yes. Um I I said during the last meeting uh it's the first time that that tournament is happening in the US and it's going to be in Danver. So I urge um all the select
board members to attend the opening ceremony that's going to be at 11:30 on Saturday the 11. >> Thank you. I will be there. Um, and just a couple reminders as we just reviewed, um, if you can get any new proposals to us about the town manager town meeting
acts by September 29th, that would be fantastic. Um, at last meeting, Aaron Henry, um, presented the changes to the traffic rules and orders. Um, I just want to remind the committee to please get any questions or followup you need from us. I will send an email to if you
have any questions or followup or other suggested changes, please get it to us as soon as possible. We are expecting a public hearing on October 21st, I believe. Madame clerk, >> I think so. >> Okay.
>> They need it for posting time. So, um, we are here to help um, as you navigate that. So, if you have questions, please reach out to myself and Aaron. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Jill. Um, at this point the board will consider
the consent calendar items as they appear. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Thank you. Correspondence. Select board new business. Previous new business update. Select board closing comments. Gardner, would you like to start?
>> I actually haven't received any um uh correspondence uh since our last meeting. Um and I'm all set. Thank you, >> Mike. Uh, no, I don't have anything tonight. Thank you. >> Okay. Date. >> Uh, yes, I do have a couple of uh PSA
information here. Um, on Saturday, September 27th, there's a Northshore Health Exposition at Essex Tech from 9:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. And that's put
together by our state rep, Sally Karens, and June Laughly. Open to the public, uh, kids, adult. Um they will have a lot of resources about uh insurance, health, vaccines like
anything, food um is at SX from 9 to 1. Um so if you can attend um at least to get some of the giveaways that would be good. Um I know they have over a hundred um organizations that will be present
including um Mass General Salem Hospital uh to you. I was thinking u the committee that work on the on the town manager act. I don't know.
Should we consider giving them those members like a letter of commendation for their work? Um I I did watch the meetings. I think it was they really put the time, the commitment, the energy. I I don't know how that will work, but I
think having a thank you letter from the select board will be a good thing. >> Just food for thought. Um, that's it. Thank you, >> Dan. >> I have no correspondence or new updates.
>> Well, you're just back from vacation, that's why. >> Well, I can't update everybody on that. >> See me afterwards. >> Oh, yeah. All right. Um, I just want to say thank you for everybody that's here tonight. Thank you for the committee. Um, thank you for board members.
Um, thank you to the town manager for um, a project that she really did not know she was going to get into with the trash. And when I tell you she was the face, the other mayors, the city councilors, everybody's been talking how wonderful we have, you know, our town
manager and uh, you know, thank you to the town employees, the DBW workers, everybody townwide, the community. I mean, when you looked around and you heard the news, Danvas, I mean, we had problems, right? Everybody had problems, but we didn't have quite as many
problems as the other communities. Um, so I think that goes a lot to say what how we have a great town manager and the staff. You know, naturally, we have a great clerk here, too. But, um, >> that'll hurt. >> Um, I did attend the citizens academy.
Remember we talked about we were going to go through the program sometime? you know, that was really uplifting. They did a great job. Um, it was really an education. Um, and I wanted to say thank you to all the departments. You know, the electric, um, if you haven't been to
that when Clint was talking about, um, Damas Electric, go to that. Bring the kids, you know, it's really fun. And D, I definitely, if if all board members want to go um, for that competition, it would be nice if we got a photo. That would be great, you know. I I really
appreciate that. in the um expedition at um uh Essex Tech. So um and other than that, I just want to say um we we have a great staff here. Um our employees are are
what holds this town together and the residents too. And um Bill, we're working on stuff. Mark, Tony, everybody, Lois, and uh Lauren. Um thank you everybody. and we'll we've got a lot of work board members ahead of us. I
appreciate all the time and effort and I appreciate the new town council coming here. Thank you, Kate. But that's it. And Dan, would you like to do your closing comments? >> Yes. Thank you. If you see a vet, please say thank you to him or her for their service. >> Yep. Wonderful. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Meet and adjourned. >> Two minutes early.