uh good evening uh we've just returned from executive session so we've done the call to order and Pledge of Allegiance and um now I'm going to ask you to stand for a moment of silence we um we lost some neighbors this week and I just want to mention their names or we do as a board uh just to recognize their uh
their lives uh we lost David Taria John derky who was a teacher for the high uh Elementary School Brian McCormack Dyson Nova Miranda and Mark Sherman thank you uh Mr Rooney you were up first how
does that always happen got a good connection is that what is Town Hall office I'm very very appreciative of that how's everybody tonight good how are you so this is a followup to our request uh that we tabled last time sir uh about the voting
uh rights to the people that you wanted to appoint right okay so um PR your request uh I did reach out to the msba um we do have uh a leaon who is um she's she's very helpful uh but I wanted to um
yeah I I understood the concern I heard the concern um from you that night so I wanted to talk to somebody who's really been through um the wars of the msba for an extended period of time so I reached out to Diane Sullivan she's um the program director of program development
she's been with the msba um for almost 20 years and um I worked with her on the adbor project and um she said that um by all means that if the selectman decide to expand the committee um that uh you
can designate who you want to be voting members and who would not be voting members um and uh you know she did say that um you know someone who is a central office administrator you know like the assistant superintendent um in
in many districts or in many situations uh that person because they have such an intimate knowledge of the curriculum and um the growth of the district from the standpoint of um the educational development you know um they tend to be voting members but that's completely
your decision um and you know the the others who would be more in the the teacher realm someone representing special ed someone representing um finding Visual Arts someone representing the core academic curriculum uh certainly do not have to be um voting
members okay um you know if if we do subcommittee work I would like for your consideration that if we are you know talking about the best way to approach um you know occupational therapy or physical therapy if we have smaller subcommittees um I would like to at
least reward their time effort and energy by allowing them to vote um in that particular environment but they would not be they would not be voting on anything that would um change the complexion of um what would be presented
to the town as the options okay uh I I think we can come to an agreement M uh this evening because I think we address both concerns you get to expand your group uh not get to probably in appropriate but the group expands and you have qualified people uh for your
subcommittees that can offer the advice and and it also addresses Our concern of uh having too much Administration and not enough public uh residents uh representation absolutely uh Nicole do you have any concerns no Mark no I would
like to see the assistant superintendent be a voting member and the other three listed to be non voting okay the board feels about that uh that's not an issue with me you want to make that into a motion okay I'll I'll make a motion for the um School building committee to
expand their committee and for the assistant superintendent to be a voting member special education coordinator academic curriculum coordinator and arts music coordinator to be non- voting members I'll second that okay motion made in seconded any discussion all
those in favor I all right sir you're up thank you very much than you thank you for taking that extra step and reaching out them no I I I completely understand the your concern and the community's concern sure thanks you Tom this is a review discussion act
recommendation to appoint Patricia Olen as a member of the Council on Aging good evening hi Miss Annabel pows wish to be here but I believe some family man man is matters that she cannot be here okay
so um as you all know we have a candidate for open position in the Council of Aging yep um she happened to be at our last board meeting our last boy had a chance to question her and interrogate her great and uh we learned a lot about her and she's definitely uh
spent a long time of her life in dyon like all of it yeah on Main Street um yes our board unanimously recommended for her to be in that position and I believe you needed to table it to make to announce the opening and that's what we're here for tonight okay and she may also made herself
available if you need to ask her a questions I I don't have any questions we I know her from from here at the town and um I have no issues at all if if you've met as a group and recommend it that's fine with me Nicole I don't have
any questions mark okay uh is there a motion on the floor to appoint Patricia Olen please I'll make a motion to appoint Patricia Olsen as a member of the Council on Aging I'll second that motion made in second to any discussion all those in favor I thank you thank you
this was easy um Tom you're still up for resignation from Dakota Ren Bartell yes uh Dakota was with us right around two years he's at last Hing um he
was able he's going to Taunton like some other employees but uh he actually always wanted to be in water quality okay so our job opened up good he's I think he applied four times for that position so he finally nailed the job in city of to that's where he's going well
congratulations water treat plant and um he enjoyed his time with us and uh so that creates an opening sure uh so um we need to accept his resignation and then uh we have the discussion about the iron freeze whether or not we can post that position
um obviously we can accept his letter and that's a few people who've lost to the city of Thomson I agree you know something about that right Mark never heard of that before um as far as the hiring Crees if we have a position like this that is
open that is a detriment to your uh your business not business your um you're running the operation I have no issues with uh replacing replacing him with I don't know if you have anybody in mind but posting it uh Nicole I don't have I I just what is
an equipment operator all all our employees are hired as equip equipment operator class one so they they have to have the CDL license with their brakes minimum and also the horsing Engineers license they all need the ability to load their own truck during the winter
time so they have the hon license okay okay thank you Mark you were concerned about the um hiring freeze what would you like to do I am concerned about the hiring freeze and the budget but I understand especially everything the highway department does so I'm more concerned just with it wasn't on the
agenda um so I would just like to see it on the next agenda we can do that that gives the public an ability to um submit any correspondence to us on the matter sure we can fully um you know I didn't really anticipate that so okay um so I
think what we're going to do uh Tom is accept the resignation and then table the um appointment um until the fact that we've do have that higher increase but it's in this year's budget uh if you don't mind so don't don't advertise or nothing until the
vote it wasn't on the agenda so right so you should wait if that's acceptable to you I mean if it's it's your call Y okay um this this is a review discussion act so if uh there's a recommendation on the floor please I'll make a motion to
accept the letter of resignation from Dakota Reen Bartel I'll second that motion made in seconded any discussion question all those in favor I thank you thanks Tom Mr Higgins nice to see you
again Dan Higgins 400 Lincoln Avenue um representing the dayon development and Industrial Commission um and officially we're here tonight to ask for a name change um that name one is kind of a mouthful people don't actually understand what it means and it's
actually the organiz the committee was founded under a state provision that's the descriptor of the committee so we'd like to have the name change to the Titan Economic Development Committee which I think is more reflective of what we're trying to achieve sure it represents more of uh like you said what
you want to achieve the group itself yeah um but since we had the opportunity to come here tonight I also thought we'd just give you a brief update on sure what we've been working on um so after the committee had um had uh become defunct for a couple years it was rest
stood up about 3 years ago and initially we decided we were going to focus um very methodically on three different things so the first one was just getting Town opinion by in about what they thought the town should be which we did
Via a survey um the economic development plan came out of that so that was done about two years ago the Second Step was to um help reinforce you know give support to local businesses particularly a shop
local campaign um helping local businesses who are trying to get started that sort of thing so there are a couple initiatives we did there um one is um working with other committees for example the um personal property tax exemption which was brought up at the
last town meeting uh which we're working with the board of assessors and my understanding is they're going to bring that back again with a better explanation this time to answer some of the questions that people had um targeting 90% um homebased businesses but all small
businesses um also um there's a bylaw change which is under review before the planning board which they hoping to have on the June ballot as well or down meeting as well um to expand what people were allowed to do as homebased
businesses um the town gets actually close to like 18 to 20 new businesses every year that open up 90 % of those are homebased and a huge percentage of the businesses that are in town now are homebased so we just want to give um some relief to those people who are
looking to do that um giving them more options about what they can do but also do it in a controlled and Safe Way for since they're operating in a residential neighborhood but there's already been one presentation to the planning board they just wanted to do a second one get more public input before it goes on the
uh the June ballot um we've also been working on updating the dton business guide which was an initiative that uh the previous Town assessor had written um it's a rather large document very textual all the information is there it's a bit hard to navigate so we're
working on trying to find ways to make that more user friendly um we've also done things like this which we're going to start Distributing around town with the planning board board of assessors that sort of thing um little quick
guideline thank you can for what's important what they need to know if they want to start opening a business in town um and we've run that past planning board Health Department assessors town clerk uh to get their input as well
um let's see there's also been um a lot of other things that have been going on as well by other committees to achieve the same kind of goal I mentioned Mike's mullen's authoring of that business guide um I think there's been a lot of effort recently particularly by Jim agar
to push all the Departments into using onboard right online permitting which has been out there for a few years but not everybody was was using I think we're finally at that point now which is a big step forward um both the planning board and conservation have recently adopted process flow changes to
streamline the number of times people have to come before each one of those and how long it takes to get revisions done that sort of thing so you know kudos to them as well um even the creation of the pack meetings which was done by U Mr Mullen was something new to
try to head off problems where people were getting caught into Loops where they were going from committee to Committee in a cycle of never you know quite being able to H the finish line so um those are all things that other groups have done as well um and then the Third Leg of what we wanted to do which
is what we're going to be focusing on the coming year is From outbound marketing um so one is we now have a new webs webs it um it's www.don bus.com um it's a pre-ir website it just takes you straight to um our site on the town
page but it has all the material there um including things like a link to our online Town business directory what um our committee is working on references in town if you're trying to start a business that sort of thing um we've
also going to start working more closely with the taer Chamber of Commerce um in terms of getting looped into events um to try to market the town um also looking out towards beyond that towards greater Providence Boston area
sure we've had some success actually with he cold calls um with companies we have a company that's interested in starting a large um agricultural business here in town um they're still just in examination phase but that was just the result of a cold call by one of
our members you know trying to drum up business um another little pamphlet that we're doing kind of along those same lines things that we like to be Distributing at those kind of events um to help put you know Tien on the map in
terms of um you know what we offer here um that's awesome and then part of that last initiative too involves creation of a um social media like short video uh which we've managed to do over step by
step over a period of a couple years by encumbering funds from one year to the next to get us to the point where we can you know forward to do that we started with some new Drone footage of the town which we'd now like to utilize to put together um a short video that we can distribute via digital marketing on
YouTube link to emails that sort of thing so those are just um some of the things that would be working on and planning to work on as well that's tremendous uh I I knew you guys are busy I didn't realize you had achieved this much but that's awesome um and Lauren
just had about some of those things I mentioned we just wanted to make sure that people in town were aware what opportunities they have so Laura Smith I'm the agricultural representative on the um commission so um we want to make sure that we're establishing relationships with the businesses that
are in town and promote shopping local so uh couple the past couple years um which I've got to meet a couple of you was at the business networking that we did at the agie um in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce so we also want to continue doing something like that
but kind of a smaller scale and to also instead of spending so much funds we'll actually um utilize this event by sponsoring um getting some sponsors um also currently um had Dan
had mentioned we have a free online local business directory so when you go to www Dion bus.com you can see a link there to click onto that and businesses that have registered with the uh Town
Clerk or if they have also uh they're on file with the Massachusetts Department of Corporations with a Dion address can be listed and on that um site so there's 72 different categories that they could
be listed under and they can have multip categor so as a farmer that does flowers or I do produce I can be listed in different uh sections um Al and to get to that you just have
to email ddic at D- ma.gov um also free yeah there's more uh the media spotlights uh which Dan I believe I think you mentioned it yeah so um
um uh Paul Reynolds um someone on our um commission uh has done some business Spotlight interviews which that's a free um thing that you can we have um it's posted on Dion's YouTube page as well as
uh Channel 9 um Paul has hosted five so far I find them very interesting because there's businesses in town that I didn't even realize were um in town and again as long as the business has registered with the Town Clerk and um or they're
with the mass uh Department corporations with a DI address they can get that so make sure everybody like And subscribe so that you can stay updated on future business Spotlight interviews um and some things that we're planning on doing
in the future um using the ddic or guess we might be changing that uh title uh Facebook page posting events that are happening with local businesses so like if somebody's having a grand opening or an open house or some a seasonal
business like Aros could post on there um when they're opening again um we'd also like to do some online listing of available commercial property that's either for sale or for lease in town um we've also started an initiative um
there's a lot of townland that's just sitting around doing nothing so um looking at the agricultural perspective um we're going to look at seeing if there are ways that we can bring in some agricultural business into town by looking at those properties maybe it can
be for crops maybe it can be for livestock also um uh Dan's been working on a welcome card so all the businesses that are uh registered into the town we send them a nice welcome
to well that's awesome uh I I can't believe the amount of of items that you guys have accomplished um we I I want to take this uh name change first uh I I know you just giving us an update and and we appreciate that uh do you have anything
else you want to add no any question sure um this is a name change which I have no issues with Nicole do you no Mark okay so is there a motion on the floor to change the name please I'll make a motion to change the dayon development and Industrial Commission to
the day Economic Development Committee I'll second that okay motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I thank you great guys well thank you for that it was very nice of you everyone's changing their name
yeah I I can change mine okay uh we're on to announcements um the highway department public notice there is a townwide parking band in effect from November 1st 2024 to April 1st 202 5 no person shall allow any
vehicle to remain in the street so as to obstruct snow removal the dayon Lions Club Food Bank distribution will be held next on Saturday February 15th 2025 and they're located at Town Hall on the lower level the open space committee
will be organizing a town cleanup um on April 12 2025 with a rain date of April 19th 2025 they are looking for volunteers to assist the clean up efforts in addition anyone who has suggestions of particular areas to clean up can contact Jonathan gails the dayon
counil on Aging will now be a host location for free tax aid program that AARP Foundation offers each year this program F focuses on assisting older adults with low to moderate income please call the dayon Council on Aging
to learn more and book your free appointment today great uh before we continue to the public input uh was pointed out to me April 12th is the election yes so do we want to contact Jonathan Gail and ask him maybe to change the date of his
cleanup yes sir I serve on that board y discussion change okay so the rain date okay great thank you okay we now move
into public input this is the first of two does yes sir thank you Leonard Hall 760 Main Street tight last evening superintendent Bill Rooney announced a preliminary budget school budget with a
4.3% increase from last year year as you negotiate with the school committee over this budget please keep in mind that the Dr per pupil expenditure is still below State
average for districts our size also the preliminary state budget as presented by Governor Healey calls for only a one% increase in Chapter 70 funding this year
once again the governor is heaping the responsibility for Educational Funding upon the cities and towns of the Common Wealth rather than carrying her responsibility for the children of this state as I did a year ago I call upon
the dayon board of Selectmen to reach out to their Senator Kelly duner and representative Justin Thurber and ask for them to lobby and at the state house for an increase to Chapter 70
funding for dayon schools thank you thank you Mr uh any more public input at this time um Town administrators report um I don't have much to report I have a few things down the line but uh but uh just to uh just
to advise the board we've been meeting with department heads to uh to discuss our budget um just uh to follow up on what Mr Hall said that uh there is a um there is a preliminary uh budget
um uh preliminary budget I don't know like display uh on on February 25th uh and on February 26th I had asked the I reached out to the superintendent and the chairman of the
um of the uh the Dion rovit school committee to see if they could send the members of the of the budget subcommittee and the uh Financial advisory committee here to the select and to this to have a preliminary discussion on the budget before before they present it officially to the board
in in March okay so um I'm you know I'm glad that some numbers are starting to come in um I thank you for that information I was unaware of that but thank you great thank you
Nicole um I just wanted to mention I don't know if any everyone saw it on Facebook the police's video that they did um that was excellent It's on YouTube Peter if you haven't seen it um they did a great job if I had any suggestions I'd say more Oki but I mean
what they did was fine um but I I just loved it I thought it was really great and it really highlight our department nice Mark nothing but I agree that video was amazing it's on YouTube I'll have to pull it up tonight I I believe it's Chief is going to reach out to Cable too
to have it put on have it put on good unfortunately I don't get nine uh well I don't think you get it either no we're too close to reob right yep okay moving on to Old business R review discuss an act Sewer Commission feedback on feasibility study um you know if you recall back at
the early January meeting we um the town had um received a a rural rural Grant to to um to explore the expansion of of sewer long 44 um we brought to the board um a
potential uh consultant and the board advis to uh get um to get to go to the Sewer commissioner to get their advice on the matter so um I had presented to the U on January 27th which was the next
available meeting I presented um uh the consultant and and the and the study to the and to the Sewer to the Sewer Commissioners and um they have a memo to you um recommending uh not to proceed
and that's it in a nutshell so I'm just looking for direction from um uh from the board if you do wish to proceed with the feasibility study or or I had you know as was expressed at at that uh January 6th meeting um you know maybe we
should turn back to Grant and you know I sort of uh uh found out what we need to do that it's not that it's not that big right okay um my opinion hasn't changed I think we should return the funds and
um consider it a a closed issue uh Nicole I agree Mark I agree okay uh this is a review discuss and act so we need a motion on the floor to um end the commission SE commission's um study I'll
make a motion to not move forward with the dayon Route 44 feasibility study as recommend Ed by the board of sewer Commissioners I'll second that motion made and seconded any more discussion all those in favor I I uh we're moving on to new business
then uh this is again a review discussion act facilities request to lay uh cast netti from haj's pill project for I hope I didn't butcher the name the Home Owners Association just the followup is um they just need some room
to have the meeting nobody has space large enough to to hold their um to uh to hold it in their little uh in their little development so they just looking to use the space for uh for the day indicated okay I had no issues with it
Ni no Mark um everything gets checked off okay is there do they did they provide us with a Certificate of Insurance they're requesting a a waiver for that um and it's something that the
town has accepted previously because it's um you know it's it's not you know it's the consideration is that it's not a big um it's not an event where we're we're too
concerned okay Peter Tom has this stand oh I'm sorry Tom yes sir it's Hunter Hill is it is it Hunter Hill oh I know it's funny I I I the first that's the first thing that came into mind but I thought maybe I just didn't know I was like I don't know this
place but it must be here hun think it's going to change decision no it's fine okay so this is just a forum so uh there's no ban or anything in um no ban no drinking no yeah Mark how do you feel about not having an insurance
policy I would just want to run it by our insurance I guess I'm not sure what how did how how do you feel about that um I think I feel okay yeah you know about it just that you know we haven't done it for you know for typical events
like that so mhm do you think now is the time that we start not accepting fee waer requests um yes uh I I'm not a fan of the uh there's a cost to the town as small as it is uh there's still a cost
that some of these um should be bearing that cost some of these organizations so if uh we want to start the year off with that policy that's fine with me I think we just in the fiscal position we are yeah that's a
good start to the year well hopefully we can be consistent on it so um so you want to table this then uh contact the insurance company or is it uh not that big of a deal I would make the motion um just to
Run Dat is 23 I'm sorry C event date is Friday oh okay so we're under the time table it's it's tomorrow actually oh that's tomorrow yeah okay thank you Friday's Valentine's Day I'm glad to thank you for straighten
that out for me Mark oh right um yeah I I'd make the motion to approve the request however not to wave the fee okay I'll second that motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I
thanks for pointing that out Tom um this again a review discuss and act Amendment to the roles and responsibilities of the Town Administrator which um I think everybody got that copy yes yeah I uh present that a memo this is a as a result of our
conversation from last week's last week's meeting um you know as as I went through it um it wasn't clear that I was a um was appointed the chief uh the chief administrative officer for the town so what I'm doing in this member is
providing Clarity uh uh to that and additionally um you know also to provide some clarity in my role as um as a chief procurement officer um as it stands now I have no really no uh contract signing
Authority uh but I picked the $50,000 threshold because in um in um as you may or may not 0 and 30b uh that is like for municipalities that's kind of like the highest threshold you can go where it's
really you don't have to go you don't have to do um an R an RFP or request for proposals you just solicit you have to it's a minimum solicitation of three um of uh three vendors so it
it's you know I think um it's a it's a good place to start instead of you know waiting around for a small contract we've done now we've done the work and it's you know and and the and the state sort of sees that as like a minimum as a minimum threshold so so those are the
two things those are two changes I I propose um so I'm available for any questions to that uh I have no issues with it I don't know how uh Nicole do you have any concerns issues Mark I just have some
questions so the um you have the responsibility for contracts $50,000 you can award contracts and um you can execute them right yeah just as far as like for the public and transparency is there a way that we
could have an update to the board or or the public on contracts awarded absolutely and all um also in addition to if you do approve a cont those over $50,000 and you do approve so you know I would have the signing Authority so you you don't have to come in and sign it I
would be you would give me the authority to sign those contracts so so I would give if we do anything um in in that threshold yeah we could I could update that's that's a reasonable that's very reasonable okay do you think that I think just even just in the board of
selectman meeting under Town Administrator just having yeah that's fine that we know and the public knows and uh my other question that kind of go hand inand is we have a bylaw for Town Administrator I believe um but this would be more like a it's yeah no we
have like a a a policy listed but there are some of and that's where I had pulled it from uh the you know the roles in responsibilities the probably the clearest place it's listed is on right is on there's like Parts here and parts there uh where it's most clearly defined
is on the website and that's you know that's where I where I I pulled this from so um there's other respon obviously uh there's budget responsibilities and and um which is which is the big one which takes up a lot of which which takes up a
lot of space um and then in and it starts addressing uh Personnel issues so um um but the one that wasn't clearly defined was the chief administrative officer right and then and then the other one which I thought you know initially was a little light was the uh
you know as you see was okay you're the chief procurement officer but that's it so so I just wanted to sort of Flesh that those out a little bit um so do you think and trust me there's other topics I care about other than contracts but do
you think it would make sense to add this like as an amendment to your contract just so like when you look at it this you have a job description right like this is kind of defining your job description like in addition to the website would this make sense to be at um oh um
that's um Al to amend yeah I would say that that that it's it shouldn't this should not be unique to Ralph Tacko right right this should be the roles and responsibility of anyone who sits in the position of of
of Town Administrator so I would I would I would refer to I would go back to my uh to my contract it it may refer to Okay so I would when it refers to it would see that account you know the person who
holds the seat is um is the chief administrative officer the person over the seat can sign up sign contracts execute contracts for $50,000 so this will go on the website yes all righty and um was what was put on the website voted
on do you know that like was that like something that the board of selectman reviewed or like so we have I'm kind of we have like amend dat on it yeah uh that's a yeah that's a um that's a good point I know it has um it's it's from
correlating procedures you know that that are kind of interweave through through different through different documents uh that we have so when I put it on the website you know if it's you know if it's the um pleasure the worth of vote in favor of this I could you
know we could list on there as approv an approval date right I think that would make sense yes yeah we can do that so then when we're looking in the future to find these things we can at least trace it back to yeah I I know we that's what caused so much confusion last week Serena and I were looking around we
could not it was not clearly defined that you know that that the Town Administrator was the chief administrative officer and I think at the time you may have just conferred that Authority onto the previous Town Administration but wasn't
on the right in in the role of the Town Administrator in general so I think this um you know this this sort of helps that process okay one last question and I'll I'll leave you alone we have the policy and procedure manual uh is there a job
is there a do it def find the Town Administrator in that because I know that was made by our first Town Administrator yeah not it it we're we're looking at you know as you know as we as we move forward with the policies and procedures
we're looking to to find it in one spot and and I I agree with you Mark I mean it you know I'm just like you know just digging through stuff you know you know find in there I was thinking yeah it's kind of funny where where if you go on the website it sort of discusses like my
role in reference to Town Council you know and that's not under Town Administrator but it's under the Town Council policies and proced so so I think someone had gone through all the policies and proed and like sort of sort
of took out what was what was associated with the Town Administrator and then sort of sort of put it on the front page of the we on the website so so that's what excuse me that's one of the things that we're looking to do it just makes it just makes life easier to find
awesome so yeah yeah I I I it's sort of all over the place it's not just policies and procedure roles roles and responsibilities of town ministri in our policies and procedures just sort of like on the M on the web under under
under the town administrative tab so okay very good thank you thanks M good meance thank you um I'll make a motion to approve the memorandum to amend the roles and responsibilities of Town Administrator
as presented in to add an approval dates in with the um memor random I'll second that motion made and seconded any more discussion all those in favor I thank you um this next one I have uh it's a request to appoint Barber cavia to the
250th anniversary committee and Pat gails is not here this evening um I I understand they're running with 10 and they should be running with 11 my only concern is that Bara be there as um a volunteer for the committee and not in
any representation of the Board of Health well we always say the person has to be here so I make a motion to the table table you want on the same page yes all right uh let's table it then is there a motion on the floor uh motion to table
request to appoint Barbara kabia is there a second I'll second that motion made in seconded any more discussion all those in favor I okay uh d review discuss an act request to appoint Steven forever as a special police officer and I guess this
was just an oversight from yeah two weeks ago or last yeah two weeks ago yes okay um Nicole do we were so moved by the reading of his letter by Nicole sure from the riv yeah um I'll make a
motion to appoint Steven Ferrera as a special police officer second motion made in seconded any discussion all those in favor I I um if you discuss an act request your appoint Margaret Mitchell as legal councel for the zoning board of
appeals I have no issues um Nicole no I don't have any issues so attorney Costa did send the board of Selectmen a memo advising um not to move forward with this not to move forward not to move forward with this wait where
is it in here yes yep he has one so that c the provided memo basically um attorney CA is saying um it's an unusual request okay I believe attorney Mitchell has worked with the planning board for a
period of time and they they probably like her her services but it's it's unusual to have um a special counsel for this board and um attorney cost's per his Letter's view is um we make an
inconsistent legal advice from different law firms and different attorneys and uh and this is not his words my thinking is it actually makes sense having our own Town Council work as like a clearing house right because we being such a small community I think
it would be almost inefficient and it's not too practical to have different attorneys for all these different boards I understand they like attorney Mitchell however gay and gay has plenty of very well qualified attorneys and personally
I found um Matt cost's a appeal to us moving and uh I I would like to see us move in the direction of following our own town council's advice I thought um unless I'm mistaken that I was told that attorney or gay and
gay was okay with this um through um through the chair uh just one thing that uh uh attorney Mitchell will be the the council for the zba uh
right it the um planning board has uses I forget I know there jman so they have so they have they have separate no no no just uh just for clarification they have Central um a separate Council as well um I know
I I think um that I just received a letter from uh from attorney from from Gay and gay uh yesterday and I and I did read it I understand the points that um that uh
the gang gay Law Firm is is is making in in relation to to it and um I um I I myself find it slightly unusual that that you know uh that we have um
that we have um separate you know so many different separate attorneys uh but I think the um the zba makes a strong case for uh for retaining uh attorney Mitchell because of all the um
comprehensive permits uh that she's been involved in and ongoing and and um it is quite a lot of work and for and I think uh the issue that was brought up that is if you know if we uh do not retain the
services of of attorney Mitchell that gay and gay would have to get get up to speed and it and um we have about I think we have four comprehensive per uh comprehensive permits associated with this and um it
is it would be um a bit of an undertaking to get them up to speed for that so that uh and I think uh not only do they um the zba um the zba um likes you know has a good working relationship
with uh with attorney which is important uh but they did they did do recognize the fact um that you know U to um to unwind from her Services um may be a a
substantial cost to the town um I I um I know uh gain gay provides very good Services they're very I mean um and they're very competent um uh with Board of appeals I got to say um
so I I think it's I think the the zba um understood it I had some discussions um with them and um you know and it's their hope to retain um attorney Mitchell her her hour um her rate the contract she
provided is up it's in the same exact price range as as gay and gay so it's not a um it it wouldn't be a um um you know effectively it wouldn't be an additional cost to the
town so one part of attorney um Costa's letter says there may be particular matters that could arise where attorney Mitchell has special expertise or experience that may make it beneficial to rely on her as special counsel in the particular matter however that is not the nature of this request so that kind
of conflicts I think what I just heard about um attorney Mitchell having expertise on certain matters because I I according to Costa that's not why they're requesting to have her do you know the the nature why they're requesting to have her just because well
no the request this is the conversation I had with with the members of the zba so um they again they're requesting to to continue to retain her because of the long-standing relationship they have you
know with her the services that has provided over the years and um and um the the um the issues that she remains in involved with um you know to your point mark you usually when you
have a special counsil it's just and and this is the point that that attorney Costa is bringing typically special council is you bring it in because it's just gay and gay can't can't do that
right and and and you know um similarly I mean that's you know um I I I I think they can perform I'm not so I think they can I know they can perform the services of um of the board of appeals but they could
also perform the services probably of the planning board as well so so can we make it so that going forward on any 40 BS it be represented by gay and gay so that we we do not have to bear the cost
of bringing gay to gay up to speed with the current 40 BS that we have um there are other aspects associated with um um um with with the board of appeals um the
attorneys would do right the decisions and they provide advice to um to the board so what would happen is that um you they would just um keep what your
suggestion is they would just keep um uh keep attorney Mitchell uh for you know for the 40 BS and then gay and gay should do everything else um I know um you know I had that conversation with attorney Mitchell that was uh that was
something that um I brought up to her and also uh also to the zba um I don't know um if if you know that would would work for her you know because being on the zoning
board of appeals for 20 some odd years uh there's a lot involved um change in Council is not as easy as just hiring another attorney and filling in uh
the we do have the exception with the plenny board exception with the Plenty board and if we're going to go forward then everything should be handled by gay and gay including the planning board's attorney um or uh because of the intro
secri of am I saying that right intricacies yeah yes thank you um I would I would say let's make the exception for the two councils I mean the two boards because of the um the amount of time and effort in the expense
that it would be to have gay and gay do those uh like I said serving on the board for 20 years it um it's not that easy no it's um the one time that uh G and gay
couldn't make uh when we had it was the town was was uh the attorney for the town was was gay and gay and we couldn't um Margaret Mitchell was not and she worked for gay gay was not available for particular case and it was um completely
different yes it was it was an issue uh disc because the Conformity was not was not there uh so my opinion is to keep gay and gay I mean to keep Margaret Mitchell in this particular incident um along with the the planning board would you
feel comfortable with your experience on the zba in many years there um but just before making any motions tonight just having a a conversation with attorney Costa yes uh absolutely well I was going to suggest that we table it because uh
I'd like the zba to be here and possibly a representative from the planning board to discuss why we should not okay I don't how you feel the no I think that's appropriate but why we should not make the exception at this time or or why we should so uh I'm all
for that okay perfect thank you uh so is there a motion on the floor to table this um motion to table the discussion of special Council for the zba I'll second that okay motion made in seconded any discussion all those in
favor I uh this next one is a review discussion act uh agreement with the town of Somerset for using the firing range on tont Street um it seems clearcut but I have a concern I've been a selectman for two and a half years and the biggest
complaint that I used to have was or resp responding to was people speeding and now the complaint has shifted from that to the noise that the firing range makes um two things should I would
prefer to table this uh for two reasons one I would like the to get a list of the communities that use the firing range and when they use it and um also to allow the residents to have some input because um through through the
chair know no you you can table it I had a quick discussion with with Chief Nichols y uh the three three communities uh um use it well three communities use it it was originally obviously dyon y Berkeley
Taunton right Berkeley um dropped out so the chief uh went to um you know Somerset made a proposal to uh to the chief somerset's usage of the uh of the range would be 2 days uh in the spring
and two days in the fall the most of the use gets done by our own right tooren and our own and um you know we have um an obligation through uh the state the the police
training academy so I mean um and I I understand uh you know the concerns of of the residents but you know I just want to provide that that information to you tonight that would be um you know Berkeley didn't use it so it would be
you know it would be four days a year why are we making proposals to other communities I don't think that's what happened okay I CU I had a conversation with the chief I believe that um the facility that Somerset had was I believe in Dartmouth and they lost um they lost
access to that range and my understanding is they propos they reached out to okay I don't believe the police propos to them okay that's correct thank you for that correction um I still prefer a table uh to give the residents an opportunity to voice their
opinions um maybe we don't need you have responded with the request of um when and where it gets not where uh when it gets used and how often um I'm not saying there's a lot of complaints I I don't want to exaggerate
this in the least it's just I don't live in that neighborhood and if I heard this popping all day I think I'd be concerned um Nicole do you have any comments at this time I had concerns um
now i' I've envisioned more communities for using it than what you just said because I do see a lot on Facebook about it I don't know if what folks are always hearing is always coming from the range cuz we are indicted and right there's guns firing um but I've heard heard
complaints and I feel bad for residents that are near there and if it is concerning them um so I feel I don't know now I'm in a different place because of what you said but right I'm fine with tabling if you want to um in definitely getting the information
out there better to Residents about when it's being used um and who uses it because it is important and we do get revenue from it and it goes into that revolving fund and stuff so um that's all I have to say the difference between hunting season when you hear pops every
once in a while but it almost sounds like this um what's the table tennis not table the uh pickle ball ping pong not P the uh pickle ball these communities are up and arms over pickle ball C because
it's that constant uh pinging back and forth uh not not to share the two I don't want to insult anybody yeah don't make the pickle ball people mad right they're scary um Mark you thoughts I think um it definitely can't hurt for transparency
and to make an informed decision to have a schedule to see what when like all right so summer sets 4 days but I'd like to know about the other communities too so we can see how much and you have a great point I also don't live in that neighborhood so to see it on paper to see what residents
are up against um yeah I I can't H for schedule is there ation if I may just just for clarification through the it's um it was not my intent as just say it's just for days I don't know how much taon uses it how much we use it and I I would
think the bulk of the um of the range use is through through Academy training so so I just say that Somerset would only use it as I as the chief described to me only four days out of the year so uh just the sheer size of the city of
tunon um concerns me and how how often or how much it gets used on a particular day I mean is it a 6h hour is it a 30 30 minute process um usually they all day it's an all day it's an all day Affair yeah it's an all day Affair it's
detrimental to the neighborhood but it's there uh no different than a 40b coming in your backyard it's the the residents that are local that are affected by it more than the residents on the other side of town um right okay I I still
think we should table it uh motion to table the agreement with the town of Somerset for use of the firing range to seek um more information on dates of use second motion made in seconded any more discussion all those in favor I uh this
uh next one is again a review discuss and act this is for Surplus equipment that has to be disposed of we do not have to read it because it's uh printed in the agenda uh uh we still have to read the motion I'm sorry but we don't have to list each item motion to accept the town
clerk Surplus equipment for disposal as presented I'll second that motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I um acknowledgements there's a re uh a letter from the chief McGee uh to appoint the new call firefighter Kayla
masado uh I'm assuming you guys had that letter too yes uh any concerns or questions just welcome welcome anything um Mr Ral no okay no sir all right is
there a motion on the floor is it just to accept it basically that accept the letter cu the chief appoints right so just to accept the the letter asled acknowledge the appointment just a motion to acknowledge the appointment of
Kayla masado for a new call firefighter I'll second that motion made in second any discussion all those in favor I I uh this last one is uh from again a review discuss and act letter from Laura maderas Council on Agent Officer uh manager regarding a donation of $1,000
made in memory of Adele Koller um I think it's great that somebody uh offered $1,000 obviously we would like to take it in um certainly Adele did a tremendous job for this community and I have no issues with accepting it obviously
Nicole sounds good Mark no just that they had a very nice letter so yeah yes oh absolutely MH okay uh is there a motion on the floor then please motion to accept the donation of $1,000 made in memory of Adele callard I'll second that motion made in seconded any discussion
all those in favor I I approval of the warrants all right get ready okay I'd like a to make a motion to pay the warrants paid by January 30th 2025 31 a-25 for
142,5 18527 31 B-25 for $75,900 d25 for $ 4756894662 $2,558 32 B-25 for $310,995
32 c-25 for 3,228 $369 75 warrants paid by February 1325 33 a-25 for $16,988
33 B-25 for $326,500 37 and 33 c-25 for $289,750 I'll second that motion made in seconded any discussion all those in
favor I I um again public input I yes sir I'll be quick no it's okay take your time one I'm still getting calls even though I'm not on the board in regards to the
shooting range y so please wonderful idea of reviewing it getting public inut thank secondly in the discussion earlier this evening you talked about the planning board and the zba but there is also one other group
that has individual Council and that's Conservation Commission don't they use gay and gay I'm sorry don't they use gay and gay I believe in the case of current litigation with a 40b they are using an
outside okay U might even be there G I thought it was gay gay okay might be good to show up that policy yes um also the difference between zba conservation
and planning is planning those members are elected officials not appointed by the board of Selectmen so I just there is a slight difference the third thing and I say this with the clock running toward the April election and the
possibility I'm not advocating one way or the other of another Deb exclusion as you go forward with your budget discussions I would ask that you take a long and hard look about the drawbacks
of using free cash to balance the town bud budget if you choose to go down that road it only postpones cuts for another year and you run the risk that residents and you know the turnout
at Town meetings that they will vote down this requested town meeting and then you're going to be scrambling how you going to make up that money thank you okay thank you um before
we there no more public input correct um before we adjourn I'm not going to be here on March uh 13th the Thursday of um budget meetings and before the schedule gets too ingrained uh I don't mind not
being here I can do it Zoom but the police department and the fire department are both on that which are Philly Lodge if um we can change that to the the prior week or the Thursday uh the Tuesday so that um I can be here for
those discussions are you guys opposed to that can we discuss it um through Karen because I don't have my schedule in front of me I'm not a no absolutely uh I I do have the schedule here but yes we can discuss I don't have my schedule so oh your personal schedule yeah oh you uh you haven't gotten the dates of the
budget meetings yet no like so I can make sure I can be available if we move it oh yeah oh I'm not talking about moving the day just those two items to a day that because the L MH so we'll keep the budget date the same just the two departments to another
day okay you are you're okay with the the dates that that okay we'll just switch we'll just switch from like storm water switch for flop it right got it not that storm water is not important I know I was like oh God don't say any
names we we move when we move uh that's right I I I apologize but in the town of Sandwich no I meant is there a motion to adjourn please I'll make a motion to adjourn second motion made in seconded any discussion all those in favor I I