##VIDEO ID:JafYjD7ElTc## good evening and welcome to the January 14 2025 meeting of the Islam Town Council I'd ask that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge flag United States America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for I do that then I would ask that we take a moment of silence to reflect on the events going on around the world and at home especially the Palisades fire in California thank you in accordance with Mass General law this meeting is being recorded by elcat and I would ask if there's anyone else in the audience recording if you could identify yourself 22 News okay thank you um next up we have public comment isone in the public that wishes to make a comment this evening hey seeing none Council comments does any councel have a comment this evening actually just wanted to let the board know that I was um invited to be a part of a zoom meeting today um with our Deputy Town manager um a couple of the members of the center Town District steering committee Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Bill reel um who uh led the discussion basically on 4dr um very informative uh we were able to ask all different types of questions uh the meeting was put on wonderfully and I want to thank Rebecca for asking me to be a part of it um a lot of questions got answered and is very well uh attended thank you great thanks Ral anyone else I'd like to make a motion to skip uh to take the agenda out of order and move directly to agenda item number six Communications correspondence and announcements recognition of the Rising Star Award recipient thank you been made in seconded any further discussion all those in favor oh actually we're on Zoom so we have to do a roll call Jim uh yes Anna yes yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John and Kathy yes hey thank you our next item is the recognition of the 2024 Arley Rising Star Award recipient at this time I would ask Donna father from our Recreation Department to come forward he Donna Prather Rec director je Stacy assistant Rec director um thank you for having us I know you have a lot on your agenda today but I appreciate you taking time out to hear about Pine Day Camp uh last year about this time Jess was looking for ideas on what to do with our kiddos at camp this summer and she came across a program called Arley um Arley turned out to be a huge win for our staff and our campers and so I'm going to let Jess tell you a little bit more about Arley so kind of like Donna said it was literally about a year ago today I was sitting at my desk and I said we really need something we need something bigger and better um than what we have and I know every I was a teacher before this the worst nightmare Summers Slide the kids go off they lose a good portion of what they've learned academically Through The Years so we wanted a component that we could mix education with the physical activity and the fun that camp would provide Arley was the perfect fit um couple of Google searches and I stumbled across it we sat in on some webinars and our kids really dove in arts and crafts nature hikes um literal physical fitness exercises um they got to go on like guided tours and see really cool places across the world that they may never see and we thought it was great um and with that we would like to introduce Tony and his team from Arley who are here um to talk a little bit more thank you very much forting us here tonight um Tony Bagley a President Chief Operating Officer at uh and I'm here with Co McCarthy he's our regional sales manager and the one that helps secure the relationship here with the pine null so Arley is a a leading nonprofit in Youth Development annually hardly recognizes uh outstanding individuals who are dedicated to success for Youth Development there are two award categories that we have one of these is the Rising Star Award which recognizes an emerging leader in youth programming who demonstrates ongoing and exceptional growth and a commitment to the collective impact of the program each year Arley reviews nominations from our programs across the country for each award category we have cross functional panel of Arley team members who conduct a blind review of all the eligible nominees and scores them on how the nominee creates impact on Youth and exemplify our organization's core values uh in the course of their work we are proud to celebrate the 2024 Rising Star we winner who has made tremendous impact on youth in East Long Meadow through her role in helping Implement Harley for the pine null Day Camp I'm going to mention in the opening one in the opening comment the Arley core value and how this person performed it that value and it's excellent information on what was really involved in the process so I I want to read it to make sure that you understand what exact exactly took place pursues the mission with energy and purpose by coming in each morning to prepare all the lessons and materials for each Camp group well in advance including completing the project herself to have real time exam examples for other staff members innovates bold intuitive solutions by using rly resources to help campers experiencing behavioral changes regroup and Center themselves through creative activities and discussions Embraces personal responsibility by planning all lessons varying the activities discussions and physical exercises each day in six groups over eight weeks of Camp impacting over 500 youth here in the community promotes collaboration trust and inclusiveness by pre-planning each schedule with individual participants at mind if she knew what what the group for the camper would struggle with comp competition of activity she would find ways to Pivot andjust activity so that the campers and staff could participate together empowers results and impact by checking with all Camp groups throughout the day to oversee activities and discussions lending a hand and expertise and involving our directly so the kids could see how fun it was and arle fall um she made the program ex an experience instead of making learning a chore which is usually a difficult thing to do especially in the summertime so she really shifted culture of those campers and really making an impact on those individuals in the success for their life um so to me this sounds like someone that truly deserves an award but all that she put in so congratulations to to Elizabeth Edwards the 2 2024 Rising St oh amazing there's beautiful proudly display in your hat says 24 Harley impact Rising Star presented to Elizabeth Edwards exemplifying Excellence learning respect courage con questions it over thank you and then also on behalf Town Council we the Town Council offer our sincere congratulations to Elizabeth Edwards as a recipient of the 20124 early Rising Star Award which honors dedicated individuals making an extraordinary impact on their children in their community and witness thereof I have fix the town seal on this 14th day of January 2025 fantastic oh yeah I'm gonna get the kids we got some kids here to support do that yeah the inside here yes we're taller yeah yeah oh come on over so need you to move just a little bit good good good good this young man just hold on I have to keep going back this is the all right here we go and where's my right there and I want make sure I get everyone congratulations conr thank you you that was so awesome thank you sorry yes so sweet yeah this sh sorry thank you oh thanks for moving it G to put it back I just steer people on what you do do back where they found them everything okay before we move back to town manager report under Communications and correspondence I do have um one other thing was the committee appointments I had sent a message to all of the councelor is asking um if there's anyone interested in the bylaw Review Committee and I know Ralph mentioned his name but if there's anyone else on the council that's interested if you could let me know and then also um if there's anyone interested in serving EX officio on Tom's um Capital advisory committee this weed let me know on that as well as I mentioned to you on the phone I'm willing to try um clock's tough um but I'm willing to try if no one else is interested um I appreciate that see what I can do great all right so back to town manager report I was gonna say lost my audience uh good evening uh Happy New Year everybody uh again big congratulations to Elizabeth um we were just kind of saying I think we uh we probably could do a little bit more of recognizing the people in our community that uh go above and beyond um so congrats to her um that was a very nice uh thing so uh I have uh attached to the report it seems like we haven't been here in six weeks because we haven't uh five or six weeks of reports for the high school uh plenty of progress uh the report that's not in there uh is the one showing all the steel that's already been uh put up uh they're flying over there uh it's starting to look uh like something pretty great so um all those reports are attached and there was a uh a a report also for the um nitorum uh as well it looks like those are going to start coming in pretty regularly as well uh the town manager's office recently contracted with Tom Pine Communications for a Communications audit um so I attached the executive summary to the 100 plus page report plus appendices I think Ralph's had it for two days he's probably done so you can ask him I haven't even opened it uh so obviously uh this audit uh sort of highlighting our strengths and uh I love how he didn't say weaknesses he said opportunities for growth uh in our communication practices uh um you know obviously the final goal being to impr improve our connection with our residents and businesses um and employees of the town uh this has sort of been a common theme uh for years I guess trying to get uh the message the right message out to everybody uh to be transparent and let them know what we got going on at all times so um there's there's plenty of suggestions on how to push some of these goals forward and so uh we'll be trying to do some of those in the last half of this fiscal year um and and probably budgeting for some things possibly in in the new year uh Center Town District met on December 12th uh to identify the limits of the proposed Centertown District um the committee deliberated using the maps created by uh uh the public at one of the uh forums um as well as all the information that's been gathered up to this point uh from the public uh the proposed boundary uh basically is essentially mimick the business Commercial and Industrial properties surrounding the rotary uh West on Maple um and south on Shaker Road um the committee is going to meet again uh January 29th um to sort of start constructing the language for the rules and regulations of that proposed new Zone um I we also partnered with West Mass development to discuss fun options for cleaning up 70 Maple Street uh West Mass provided uh analization of the site with short and long-term goals for redevelopment um so there was a comprehensive review of existing site assessments and environmental conditions uh information that we received from the the previous owner and the like uh and D obviously um and we've also applied and accepted into the UK Yukon tab program program uh for the spring semester which provides technical assistance for these Grant application and and funding options so uh I expect to meet with uh our student rep uh towards the end of the month here um to to start that process but uh completely free uh it's a nice collaboration uh with with uh Yukon um uh the town is also uh pleased to welcome our new building Comm commer will c calan um he started at the end of December um he comes from us uh from a brief s in the private sector but uh extensive experience as a building inspector for the City of Springfield um we're excited to have will uh join the team uh and uh swing by his office in town hall and welcome him say hi he's never there obviously he's out in the field we also have a very big project going on at Mabel Street I told you about earlier so if he's not in his office he's probably there uh and and uh we're we're we're well into planning for the budget for for FY 26 um Kim Rebecca and I have had multiple meetings trying to forecast and and planned for uh revenue and and expenses for this year um department heads submitting level one budgets by uh NE this Friday uh with the exception of the school department who waits for the initial budget from the governor for their numbers and uh and then we'll be meeting with everyone after that to kind of go through everything and and see where we land um we have uh like I said another upcoming events uh senat toown District steering committee meeting Wednesday January 29th right here um at 6 um and that's uh pretty much all I got tonight if uh if anybody has any questions I'd be happy to answer questions through the chair sure um with West Mass is that a um printed out report uh to analyze the current conditions and we there was a there was a deliverable in the form of a report yes is there any way I can view that you may I'll send it to everybody I told you it's been a long winter with no snow I guess I guess you want to starting on the budget already did oh all right shocked thank you you're welcome any other questions for Tom thank you Tom you got it so we do have a public hearing scheduled for 15 I do expect it might take some time in seeing that the beol committee is here for the session it's up to the council if we wish to move out of order sure is there a motion I would make a motion that we move out of order to um 8b1 um which is the Town Council and school committee uh discussion per Charter article 6 section one um to go back to our public hearing when completed motion made and seconded any further discussion uh yes Anna yes yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes Don yes and Kathy yes okay at this time we have our joint meeting uh with the Town Council and the school committee for the charter article six section one uh to begin the annual proc I appreciate the president asking the question to move us up while we're sitting watching you answer the question for moving us we appreciate that more um as you know or most of you know so typically we would be posted for this meeting uh as the school committee which would allow us to didn't have an open discussion with you unfortunately um as of Sunday we were not posted and so we are not here as an official school committee meeting and so we are here just um Antonella and myself from the school committee P Blair our assistant superintendent for business and Gordon Smith uh our superintendent we have a brief handout that we can give for you tonight we know you have some information that um you got prior to the meeting we're certainly uh here to answer any questions um and speaking with Conor um he's been gracious enough to offer an opportunity perhaps to come back February 11th as a full committee and meet our full requirement as a joint meeting and give the other um school committee members an opportunity thank you Kathy I apologize I don't hold it up to the camera scan it quickly I so as many of you know we have met some unique challenges uh in FY 24 um some of our costs um have escalated significantly we've had to fill gaps um through our circuit breaker funding some of which was rolled over from the prior year and we've also used uh some of our school choice money uh to fill in the gaps uh on the paper you see there we have um do you want to go over that Pam a little bit or uh I I can start in on Gordon's a much better much better speaker than I what I what I will say is that I I guess what everyone what I would like everyone to know is that um our budget is pretty much half of the town's uh budget and it is about $36 million um 177% of that is for the operating side of the budget and if you I'm sorry what did I say operating oh okay I'm sorry 83% of our budget is for the salary side of of our operating budget 177% of that is for the expense side of the budget I guess the biggest thing that I would like you to know is that that 177% is is about $6 million to run the district beyond the salaries and when you look at this chart that I put here in front of everyone I changed I did a color coding so that it would be very clear the green is operating budget line items within the school department budget for special at expenditures that are non-salary that amount is $3 million that's half of the operating budget side the expense side of our operating budget it's significant and even that may not be enough in addition to that for uh special ed expenditures you'll see in the blue there that um there's another $4 million in other Revenue sources most of that is the circuit breaker reimbursement funding which is 75% um that we get back from the state in reimbursement there's a dollar threshold which I believe is about $52,000 and it's a per pupil amount so we look at uh each individual student uh with ex with special ed expenditures they have to have eligible um qualifications to um to be able to get this reimbursement and then over that $52,000 threshold is what we get back from the state did I get that all right absolutely perfect that's another um you can see and we can roll over one full year circuit break Revenue which is which is what business managers and school committees try to do so that we can offset the next year's budget we were able to roll over a million dollars which is great you can see that on the spreadsheet but in addition to that um I'm also projecting that we're going to need to expend the $1.6 million in Revenue that we're getting in this year which means I'm not going to have that million dollars to roll over so that's very significant we're still looking at all the weeds of uh there's many many moving pieces just like on the town side the school side there's many many different pieces and I've been diligently working on the budget um which is why I look so tired these days but anyways that's another story so you know we don't have all of the numbers but we know that this is pretty significant in addition to that on the very bottom line there in the blue portion you'll see that we had to use school choice revenue of $496,000 that we have already um reclassified for expenditures because we already know that need that um thank goodness we had the school choice uh just as a reminder school choice uh the district did not do that for many years I think it was about 17 years and then recently I think it was 2022 21 or 22 uh school committee every year votes on whether uh we participate in school choice and that is a revenue source that can come back to districts um they look at uh class sizes uh because you can the school committee can decide how many slots at what grade levels and we always want to be careful of we don't want to have to add additional Staffing so um we started by adding I think it was 15 slots or eight slots so every year we're looking at that the revenue source that comes back to the district is $5,000 per student and in addition to that is a special ed increment so if that student was receiving special education services there'd be an additional um Revenue that would be on top of that um so because we this accumulate for a few years luckily we had that there I am projecting that will uh hopefully it is a projection um maybe roll over about 450,000 in that um Revenue Source um so you know that's the biggest piece there that I guess I wanted you all to know I did give the circuit breaker um you know the history there so you could see how that has changed and if you look at that first column you'll see how you know the eligible uh expenses back in 2013 it was uh I don't have my glasses on silly me what what's that figure for thank you uh 3 million 3.3 million and now here we are at 4.2 million but the revenue if you look at the revenue that's not increasing as high as the as quickly as the um does that make sense as the expenses so that's pretty significant um uh we are hoping that the legislature will increase circuit breaker there's a few letters out there from um uh many different organizations and I can share those with you if you'd like um uh there's one letter where all the different organizations special EDS superintendents business managers School committees all collectively uh wrote a letter asking uh for additional funding we have some serious um concerns and issues out there in the school district um that certainly Gordon can speak to better than I can but being in all of the uh leadership team meetings hearing what principles say and then seeing what's happening behind the scenes there's there's some serious uh behavioral issues out there that and it's not just us and it's not just Massachusetts it's it's Nationwide I do believe so you know we are no different than any other District um but we do realize that um you know the town has its constraints as well and its challenges so uh what what I did want to make notice before I flip that page over is that Transportation was added in the special ed circuit breaker reimbursement it was just added I think two years ago Gordon um so we're just like reaping those benefits now which they because it can be very significant if we get an out of District placement along with that Transportation costs and they're very they they just can creep up very very quickly however we've only received 44% reimbursement for the transportation portion and one of those letters that I was referring to is um asking the legislature try to get that up to 75% um because that would re us I'm not exactly sure of the exact number but I do think it's close to $200,000 um with just that line item um so if you flip over the page on the other side I guess I just wanted you to see what we're all seeing on our end here um these are actual uh vendors out of District private schools um I didn't list the name I just listed the vendor number but I wanted you to see in FY 24 what we were expending and in fy2 what we're expending and you can see the difference there 2.6 million to $4.1 million it's an increase .5 million uh the bottom section there is the contracted Services uh we talked about all of those behavioral issues throughout the school well if we don't have because we have tried diligently uh school committee not wanting to increase Staffing we try to look at the bigger picture you know is this short term so you know what I mean is this is this because we're coming out of covid is this all going to change um so we didn't have staff and we need additional services so we had to do contracted Services what you can see here is again 2000 and and we need to look at two funding sources when I do look at Contract Services we have the operating budget but we also have circuit breaker reimbursement so I I looked at the two of those for contracted services and just wanted to show everyone what this actually you know has gone in 2016 it was $547,000 this year 1.7 that is a projection uh but those funds are encumbered or expended to this point so again I just thought it was crucial to show you these numbers because they are they are very large and um we need to talk about it because definitely is going to have an impact we've um you know we have a solution to get through this fiscal year but that solution is not going to be there next year so um that's what I have so everybody sees what that solution that was talking about if you go back to the other page in the blue you see fy20 circuit breaker the 1.0 that is now expended completely the 1.6 is what we actually got or received from circuit breaker for the full year so you can expect to spend that anyway and receive something similar to that next year but that 1.0 won't be there plus the 496 was inserted later on um to backfill for that two which was an additional funding and if you look on the other side it directly kind of corelates to that deficit created so you know we're not sure on the number yet there are some other opportunities uh but gives you an idea the situation that we're kind of looking at for next year and not only that but contractual obligations um for all salary increases and such too so that that comes along with it so I know it's a lot it's about how we feel yeah we all look tired these days I think a lot of it will depend on the state as as we all mentioned other districts are are in the same boat and are facing increased costs so yeah to think that the pool of money is going to increase exponentially at a state level we can hope um but as we said it's not unique so to think that that's going to be our Panacea um so I we really need to look internally and to think about how we might be able to fund some of these things and also um some efficiencies as always as we always do and we'll continue to do that hopefully have some more ideas uh if we do come back for the February meeting I would like to say it it's great to start these sorts of conversations uh sooner than later so I'm glad that we're able to collaborate on all of this and I do appreciate all of the materials that you guys have presented to us so far it's been very indepth and enlightening to kind of see how all of the breakdown happens and it it is illustrative to that um you've worked so hard in the current fiscal year that we're still actively in to make things work without having to come to us and so you're definitely that's a real thing Conor we we have come back in the 16 years I've been on the committee we came back one time and it was for extenuating circumstances for special ed cost this year we had opportunities with other funding means but it's a unique thing it does happen and that happened once before uh and so now we need to look at it that the same way I'm hoping in terms of budgeting next year you know how do we how do we fund some of that it'd be like almost coming back mid year but we're working it into the budget if you can look at it that way I know it's a lot to ask but we you know we're we have to um educate our students and these are real costs and these specialed costs we have to meet they we cannot choose to not meet those so anything um that is not funded um will come from other areas uh just to keep that in mind too um do you have a brief overview from the town perspec yeah I mean uh sort of an extension of the the the school Department's budget is no different than almost all the other Department's budgets um you know the salaries are carrying the debt um we we did a great job collectively I think last year sort of raining in our expenses um contractually we're sort of bound by um these contracts that um during covid and the three-year spans of negotiating these things um again everyone's in the same boat because when everybody comes to the table they grab all the contracts of everybody all around so true when one person gets one thing so does the next person and the next person and um you know the justification is it's sort of fair and and you're making we make this argument all the time about keeping our people and I think if you ask everybody uh sitting here every single one of our people is talented and worth it and it's hard to match up the expenses with the revenue especially when the expenses are are out growing the revenue um so from the town side uh you know again it's all one side I guess but I think we really uh at some point have to start what I this year we're going to start looking at a little harder is the the other half of the budget which is the revenue side uh we spend a lot of time um in our meetings and financial oversight talking about the budgets and the expenses and how do we keep these down there's another side of that and that is raising money uh which we don't talk about a lot and and there's not a whole lot of options other than taxes uh for municipalities but um we'll leave no to no stone unturned this year in terms of uh thinking outside the box and ways to to increase our Revenue so that uh we can grow that side of the ledger so to speak as fast as the expenses are growing and and really it's just something that everyone's gon to have to start taking a look at because every town is the same every conversation I have with every manager administrator selectman this is happening to everyone and so we have to figure out how to make those curves match up better and it's going to have to start with unfortunately uh being a little more responsible with our expenses yes but we have to we have to do some more with the revenue side so again we're we're so early right now we I want to commend the school committee and Gordon and Pam uh Gordon and Pam have met with Kim and I already uh president Thompson and president uh OA already set up a meeting between these groups to chat about this stuff and I think it's important and I and I Echo what you say about having these conversations in January and not having these conversations in May when we don't really have any time to look for Solutions um we don't know what we're going to get yet again we have this conversation every every time we have this January meeting we have no numbers we have projections and estimates and yes uh the early projections SL estimates are going to have to come down in all likelihood from from maybe where we desire them to be uh but I think there's enough people in the room to come up with these ideas to make it all happen uh that's how I feel that's how I felt after our meeting the other night uh I I think I I think there's there's enough to keep who keep the the the outstanding staff that we have in place and and and figure out how to make these numbers match up I I'm I'm confident that we that we will we can do it at the end of the day again there's still a lot of unknowns but I'm confident that that we can get it done I would Echo that too that I think we're off on a a good foot starting at this process but of course there it's it is still very early it's a lot lot of projections about what could be but until all the level ones are submitted and until we get some more ideas from the state legislature about what their budget might look like it's you know we have an idea of what we need to you know look at but it's still early to to get into the weeds a little bit does anyone have any questions or comments from either side from school committee or for from so this is more associated with sort of the rise in students needing these services not necessarily the cost of the services or what's been more of the combination of combination of yeah actually um if you look at that chart on the the second page um those as uh I would mentioned the vendor numbers represent schools out a district placements and we only have right now probably three additional out of District placements from last year so you do have Rising um costs both with the tuitions and um you have significant uh cost um escalation in contracted Services I think that number Gordon for uh the out of District placements people are probably curious I think it was 34 last year and 37 right now which can change so I mean there are students are in valuation students to 37 students correct 37 this year 34 last year just in case you were curious on that one of the biggest um areas where we're seeing cost increases Transportation you can't not transport students so and um as Pam I think mentioned uh although Transportation was added to the circuit breaker they didn't necessarily increase the amount of money that was going to be um allotted for a circuit breaker reimbursement so by law they have to reimburse academic tuition and academic support first Transportation second all of the um eligible costs that uh came in for academic support and at District commiss were met with that 75% uh for costs or payments that were made above the $552,000 threshold uh Transportation unfortunately then was whatever was left that was reimbursed at 44% um and I think we lost close to I was thinking it's close to 200,000,000 in our projections for the budget for this year we thought we would have an additional 200,000 in the circuit breaker reimbursement legislature did hear from that know if that will change things but they did hear any questions for just on an exciting note as Tom alluded to the the high school is being currently framed the steel is flying uh we we hope to have all seal up by March and have a topping off ceremony certainly we'll invite everyone it's we'll have a lunch uh they put a tree on top to signific sign signify the end of the Steal going up also so you know the school committee named The Natatorium we've named it the Redstone Quarry Natatorium neat so um we'll have kind of a quy theme there's some Corey uh hints in the architecture of the building itself so kind of all wraps right in so that'll be pretty cool and it'll be one of the nicest pools in the area so pretty excited about that thank you for having us I say one other thing I think was important that I remembered I heard Kim say that town congratulations um the bond rating is much better than projected and I thought I heard a number of like the town is going to save like $22 million did I get that right Kim yes I think that's great so congrat absolutely the life of the loan it's very significant so good news for the town it's great news for the town absolutely good for the to thanks so much for having us tonight thank so much thank you questions on the um AB Grant aon's just sitting back there she only has the one thing and I didn't know if you would entertain just if I don't I told her that she didn't even have to be here but she's obviously I don't have any but I'm happy to move out of order if someone it's just okay yeah I got my answers already okay and I'm always the one with the question so I unless you want to move out of order take that ABA Grant now sure it's a just to so she didn't have to stay and I think John's gone that's okay um what I would do is make a motion now to again move out of order to um 8 uh B5 uh which is the acceptance of the municipal Ada Improvement Grant there's a motion made in seconded to move out of order any further discussion is saying no [Music] Jim yes Anna yes yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John is absent and Kathy yes okay we are to accepting the municipal Ada Improvement Grant put on up if you here I thought she was hi everyone happy New Year happy New Year happy to be again following the statement saving $22 million um so I am um here not only as the COA director but also as the chair of the commission on disabilities um speaking for the commission with their permission in support of this grant to update the self-evaluation and transition plan that was originally done in um 2015 the commission is really thrilled that the grant they submitted um with the help of the Town um was approved and they look forward to getting to work with the Institute of human design um to work with Town stakeholders on this opportunity to improve accessibility and uh equity for the citizens of eong meadow um and then if I can put my um COA director haton again um for a minute um I support the acceptance of the grant because I think it just intersects so well um with the age friendly information that I submitted to you all um last month and it just emphasizes that that work a little bit um I'll only add that um I think the commission for people with disabilities is um really excited to move forward on this grant um and the self assessment in particular because the last time the town did the self assessment there was no commission uh that could help Shephard and ensure that uh whatever plans were made to transition to more um accessibility accessibility friendly changes uh we actually have a commission now that could help oversee that and uh support the implementation of the plan um we also didn't have this form of government the manager Council form of government so I think that we are in a much better position today to implement any changes that we create in the self- evaluation than we were um previously great through the chair sure R um I was a little surprised it seems like we just did that I'm like we just like two years ago um to find out it was almost 10 years ago now just threw me for a loop I I remember walking around and seeing all the different buildings and what had to be done and all so will this grant is are we going to use that report that we did before basically um as a basis for it and just uh update it or is it a brand new uh facilities and everything or is it a combination where they see it which helps them along well it's the sorry go it's the same company it's the same Architects um same consultant that did the plan in 2015 so they will build on the work that they um completed in 2015 and we were able to give them some of the updates um that have been done since 2015 so so they'll on that that's good yeah and again I think that the commission has a role to play here and we'll be able to work um more proactively with different departments to do these assessments alongside of the firm so I think that'll be really um a quality report thank you thanks yeah there's no uh further questions I'll entertain a motion I move to accept Municipal Ada Improvement Grant in the amount of$ 47,49 for Mass Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 53a second second motions been made seconded and thirded any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Anna yes I'm yes marn yes Ralph yes and Kathy yeses thank you for allone thanks for going out of order thank you thank you you can still stay if you'd like thank you I I might [Laughter] and I don't recall that we said in that motion to return to the public hearing would someone like to make a motion to return to public hearing it I'll make a motion to return to number seven public hearings second motion made and seconded any further discussion all those in favor Jim yes Anna yes myself as a yes Ralph yes and Kathy yes okay sorry for the delay we are now at our public hearing for the proposed amend bylaws relative to the Amendments necessary for the town to conform to the new affordable homes act let's be used by right as a required first reading the council members from left to right are Jim Iden Jones myself Conor OA Marilyn Richards Ralph pagee John torsa may be back but he's absent at a moment and Kathy Hill on Zoom I would ask the applicant in this case um if there's representative um to read the oh actually I'm doing this out of order jie could read the legal notice into the record The Long Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on January 14 at 6:15 p.m. in the media room of the C aging located at 328 North Main Street for a first reading of proposed amendments to the town of eang meadow zoning bylaws relative to the Amendments necessary for the town to conform to the new affordable homes act allowing accessory dwelling units adus by R amendments include the addition of section 450-5130 additional use dimensional and density regulations Section 450-9444 111.2 terms defined table 3-1 schedule of use regulations in table 3-2 table of dimensional regulations of the East Long Meadow zoning bylaw the public hearing may also be attended via Zoom webinar information relating to this bylaw is available for public inspection at the town clerk's office 6 Center Square to you an electronic version of the proposed amendments please visit the town's website for the council G quagi Town cler cler of the council genie then at this time I would ask our director of planning Rob if he could present the overall proposal and the reasons for it and when we're ready I think John torsa should read this in hey Rob hello happy new everybody thank so you want me to give a brief background or what would you like for me to if you just want to give a brief background of how we got here and what inside the bylaw so it's been a long long journey to get here we first heard about this law coming out August of this past year um it's taken us six months to come up with regulations um that're pretty much fine tun at this point um the planing board did their public hearing last week on this and have their recommendations highlighted in document that's before you um been pretty com comprehensive effort we've had input from every Department uh we've had input from stakeholders um Town management and we have crafted a bylaw that I think is pretty airtight there's definitely some modifications that could be made to it but I am excited to see what the council is going to discuss during this public hearing so thank you great thank you Rob at this time is there someone that would like to I'm not volun propose changes we can split it out is he just reading what's in blue or yellow or I think in this instance it'll be a surprise yeah I mean definitely have to read the whole new 45051 but then the other stuff I think we just have to read is whether it's blue or red that was additions or subtractions yes all additions subtractions highlights um each Pro also not that the playing board recommendations are highlighted too yeah yes you want to acknowledge that those sections are playing board recommendations as well as additions um that makes sense thank you so I will start with um the letter that we we received um from the director of planning it states uh at the January 7th 2025 meeting at the East long metal planning board the board reviewed proposed amendments to the town of East long metal zoning bylaw for the addition of subsection 450-1450 3.3 uh additional use dimensional and density regulations subsection 450 -9.3 projects requiring site plan review subsection 45011 point2 terms defined table 31 which is the schedule of use regulations and table 32 the table of dimensional regulations the board voted unanimously and the recommendations to the count to the Town Council and encourage that they review and adopt the amendment as presented uh the text in blue indicates language to be included while uh text in red um or while red text indicates language to be deleted uh language that is uh highlighted uh with are additional recommendations included by the planning board the advertised public hearing and the board's discussion on this vote are duly noted in the minutes and recordings of their December 4th 2024 and January 7th 2025 meetings respectfully submitted Robert wiill so we will start um under uh section subsection 45033 additional use dimensional and density regulations uh subsection B1 c um we have the addition of language um b1c will now read an accessory building shall not be used for residential for residence purposes and and this is the addition unless it adheres to the special use regulations set forth in subsection 450 d511 accessory dwelling units and then under subsection 450 d3.32 B3 uh the first line um we'll Now read loot coverage no and we're going to remove the word principal building shall be erected and the rest of it is Remains the Same so we're removing the word principal um under 45 3.3 B4 setback um we are adding language under 4A accessory we are adding building or so it'll Now read accessory building or structure uh setback shall be the setback of the District of the primary building and the setback side yard and rear yard requirements must be met for the district in which the accessory structure is constructed any accessory structure and we're adding not including accessory dwelling units uh which shall be constructed within the sidey yard and our rear yard in the district and it continues on with language currently I remember this under article five special use regulations um we are adding it the next four pages so um subsection 45051 accessory dwelling units adus a purpose um because that's not in there it will read uh this bylaw addresses the necessary permitting path and design requirements for accessory dwelling units known as adus in order to site these buildings in an appropriate manner for the community B terms defined accessory dwelling unit Adu an accessory building or addition containing a housing unit inclusive sleeping cooking and sanitary facilities on the same lot as a single family dwelling an Adu maintains a separate entrance either directly from the outside or through an entry hall or Corridor uh shared with the principal dwelling sufficient to meet the requirements of the State Building Code for safe egress an Adu is not larger in Gross uh floor area than one half the gross floor area of the principal dwelling or 900 square ft whichever is smaller adus are incidental and subordinate to the primary building accessory dwelling unit cannot exist without a single family dwelling on a lot pached accessory dwelling unit an accessory dwelling unit Abu which is an addition to an existing single family dwelling and has its own separate entrance attached adus may also have internal entryways which connect single family dwelling to the Adu contained accessory dwelling unit an accessory dwelling unit which is contained entirely within an existing or new single family dwelling and requires no significant external changes to the dwelling or site Beyond entrances and windows required by the building code uh detached accessory dwelling unit an accessory dwelling unit that is a freestanding and detached building which is incidental and subordinate to the primary dwelling detached adus May either be the product of new construction or an existing accessory uh building or structure which is converted into an Adu C applicability uh C1 accessory dwelling units adus are allowed by right in the residents able a a b and c zoning districts after site plan review approval is granted by the planning board adus are not eligible for site plan review waiver two adus shall not be larger in Gross floor area than one half uh the gross floor area of the primary dwelling or 900 square feet whichever is smaller uh three Adu shall only be placed on a residential lots which have a single family dwelling on them four no more than one Adu shall be placed on a lot five a mobile home or any other temporary structure are prohibited from being used or classified as adus D General requirements E1 accessory dwelling units adus shall meet the requirements of the following regulations under Massachusetts state law uh one a Massachusetts State Building Code 780 CMR as amended B State sanitary code 105 CMR 410 as amended C title five of the State Environmental code 310 CMR 15.00 as amended D any other relevant local state and federal regulations D2 Adu shall have the appropriate facilities including but not limited to kitchens bathrooms with a sink toilet and shower uh potable water source pling connections hot water functional heating system proper ventilation working electricity and operable Windows three accessory dwelling units adus shall not be sold or transferred separate and apart from the primary dwelling primary dwelling in the Adu shall remain in common or single ownership four attached and contained adus shall maintain a separate entrance directly to the outside uh five stairways needed to access Second Story adus should be enclosed within the exterior walls of the dwelling otherwise they must not be apparent from the street uh six adus shall be suitable for human habitation all year around and meet the minimum standards of the state sanitary code 105 cm R 410 as amended seven occupancy of an Adu shall be limited to what is allowable under the Massachusetts State Building Code 780 CMR as amended and the state sanitary code 105 CMR 410 as amended number eight adus shall have their own individual metered Electrical Connection in accordance with 105 CMR 410 354 as aend number nine adus shall not be used as a short-term rental number 10 one off Street Parking Spot shall be provided for an Adu number 11 the Adu shall have a separate address from the primary dwelling for the purposes of receiving mail and deliveries an Adu may have the same street number as the primary dwelling and be followed by an alpha numeric character example 121a 121b uh both dwelling units shall be easily distinguishable and properly numbered from the street in order to in order for emergency services to identify each building 12 an Adu shall have separate trash and recycling receptacles from the primary dwelling and must comply with the Board of Health requirements um um so should I switch the numbering because number 13's been removed so number 14 would actually be number 13 um so again uh number 13 in order to encourage the development of accessory dwelling units adus for disabled and handicapped individuals and persons with limited Mobility uh the permit granting Authority sorry may allow reasonable deviation from the dimensional requirements of the zoning bylaw where necessary to install uh features that facilitate access and Mobility for disabled persons the next one will be numbered 14 it is detached accessory dwelling units adus uh 14a detached Adu May either be the result of new construction or the rehabil rehabilitation uh Slash conversion of an exist existing accessory dwelling building structure the rehabilitated slon converted building or structure shall abide by the provisions of this section subsection 450-5130 PW Water and Sewer regulations uh 14 C detached adus shall meet all primary building setback requirements for the district in which it is located c table 3-2 dimensional regulations uh D etched adus that may require a separate curb cut and driveway shall adhere to the DP DPW curb cut regulations and gain the necessary approvals e uh detached adus shall adhere to the height requirement for the district in which it is located uh F there shall be no occupancy of a detached Adu until the Building Commissioner has issued a certificate of occupancy um 14 sorry I gotta go yes it's number e okay review process uh number one the applicant for an accessory dwelling unit Adu shall furnish a site plan that conforms to the requirements under subsection 450-9444 d9.5 review procedure subsection 450-9600 Administration subsection 450-9924 9.8 sewer and water capacity shall apply to the permitting of AD number three upon granting of the site plan review approval by the planning board the applicant shall list their accessory dwelling unit Adu on the Adu registry maintained by the planning department failure to do so would delay insurance would delay issuance of a certificate of occupancy uh F enforcement One Building Commissioner or their design shall administer and enforce the provisions this bylaw is detailed in subsection 450-7126 number three relative permits shall be obtained from the Department of Public Works and Board of Health before the accessory dwelling unit Adu may be inhabited okay under article 9 site plan review uh subsection 450-958-0365 under article 11 definitions uh subsection 45011 point2 terms defined um under accessory building or structure um it now reads a building or structure detached from a primary building on the same lot and customary customarily incidental and sporin it to the primary building or use an accessory building or structure cannot exist without a primary building on a lot an accessory building shall not be used for Resident purposes unless it adheres to the special use regulations set I believe that's supposed to be set forth yes in subsection 450-5130 Edition containing a housing unit inclusive of sleeping cooking and sanitary facilities on the same lot as a single family dwelling an Adu maintains a separate entrance either directly from the outside or through an entry hall or Corridor shared with the principal dwelling sufficient to meet the requirements of the State Building Code for safe egress an Adu is not larger in Gross floor area than 1 half the gross floor area of the principal dwelling or 9900 Square fet whichever smaller uh adus are incidental and subordinate to the primary building an accessory dwelling unit cannot exist without a single family dwelling on a lot next definition gross floor area some of the habitable areas of all floors of the building including finished basements mezanine in intermediate floored tiers in pen houses of Headroom height measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the center line of walls separating buildings but excluding I covered walkways opened roof over areas cellers unfinished basements porches and similar spaces and um I I pipe trenches exterior Terraces or steps chimneys roof uh overhang over over overhangs yeah should be overhangs and similar features um then we skip down to the definition for primary dwelling the main or Mo most important dwelling and a lot and then we'll skip down to the addition of short-term rental um an occupied property that is not a hotel motel lodging or beding breakfast establishment where at least one room or unit is rented out by an operator through the use of advanced reservations a short-term rental includes an apartment house cottage and cond and condominium it does not include property that is rented out through tencies at will or month-to-month leases it also does not include time share Properties or Bed and Breakfast [Music] homes under 1250 attachment one which is table 31 uh um adding number 12 accessory dwelling unit ad it says C subsection 45051 one and this will be allowed in Residence double a residence a residence B residence C it will not be allowed in elderly residential commercial Business indal Industrial Garden Park Golf Recreation planned unit residential planned adult residential or M Village on that was impressive I remembered all of that I then under notes number two um we are changing it it will now read an accessory structure excluding adus constructed at least 10 ft behind the principal building can be erected no closer than 5 ft to the rear and or side property line uh any other accessory structures must meet the required side in rear yard setbacks for the principal building four and five are being removed and those are also those little footnotes up and top get removed so with that I believe that's reading of this I believe that's everything um the first um so Rob under 511 D5 the stairways I went back and I reviewed um the footage from the planning board and they had suggested that that be highlighted and removed and I just think we we missed that yeah we must have missed that during the review um thank you for pointing that out so the recommendation from the planning board would be um we have it on page four would be number D5 they recommended and I believe so so did the attorney that looked at it that D5 be removed well they didn't um Advocate to have it removed entirely they just recommended uh being cautious with it because they potentially saw it as a um unreasonable regulation so that was our attorney but if you go back and look at the planning board yes I I double checked just to make sure because I couldn't remember because I yeah adjust it but again I think that's just something read it in yep that the planning matter subcommittee when this is sent to them takes a look at see I got it thank you okay that said this is a public hearing so if there was anyone in the public wishes to uh make a comment or speak um you may come forward and state your name and address for the record and for your comment anyone in the public hey seeing none I will close the public input portion of this meeting just bring up back because we're gonna right yep then at this time if there's any counselors that wish to make questions or comments or concerns Marilyn Rob I have a question on um e review process number three where it suggests that the planning board is going to maintain an Adu registry um I think that's great first of all in fact I think the whole document is done very well um thank you the registry piece I imagine would keep a tally of how many of these smaller units we have um okay so uh to answer your question are you I'm going after the regional fair share that that the I asked the legislators this and they didn't have an answer and I don't expect you to have one either but I think that we are we're required to have 10% of our housing stock as affordable and um this is being done to provide affordable opportunities so my question would yeah wouldn't it be yeah yeah yes Ando i it it does both those things it allows people to provide more affordable housing at the state level but also allows for more housing to be created in general the biggest issue is just housing Supply but but how does it impact our 10% requirement so I mean it should in some fashion I you know we should get credit for it is what I'm what I'm leading up to and I don't expect you to have the answer I'm asking that in your travels if you if you're talking to other communities or we can chase after this to see how we can add this to our 10% which is probably now 6% you know something depends how much they charge for rent true and and see so that's so then then we're defeating the purpose of what we're why we're doing this well we're doing it well because protect ourselves from what sort of was imposed on us I I hear that and and to go back to my comment from before perhaps increase Revenue but also I do want to point out that what you're bringing up is the uh 10% fold for the uh community in terms of affordable housing which is 80% of area median income which is listed under the state um subsidized housing index and usually what that means is if you reach your 10% you're technically considered a Safe Harbor community which means that you aren't forcefully required to approve a 40b project that's when you have the authority to deny one if you felt that's not appropriate to be in the community uh we are not that 10% I believe no um I also haven't so 40 BS also aren't as common anymore as they used to be at least in this part of the state maybe unless like in a Springfield or a hoolio um more common out east usually developers who do them try to force the way in um which isn't the most appropriate way to do it um but yeah that's what you're referring to in this situation the legislator for the Adu wanted to make housing easier and more possible so it's more about not the affordability piece per se it's more about the quantity so how can we find ways to build more housing just overall and to go back to the registry we're also required by the state to report I don't know if it's an annual basis or quarterly basis annual the number of approved permits we have for adus and that's kind of the two-tier factor of the registry it's going to be an open go registration we're we're not going to charge a fee for it you just go on there fill your information this will help us determine if it's being rented out uh who's going to live there and it'll help us with our um our metrics so we can report to the state the appropriate number of adus thanks Ro other questions through the chair not a question I just want to say um excellent job on the bylaw um obviously you know I've read through it multiple times for for having such a short time frame to put it together fantastic job thank you yeah I'm just glad we're finally got to this point and also um don't I do want to ask one question of the council so do you all accept the recommendations by the planning board in this document and if so I would like to make a cleaner version of this that incorporates those versions without the highlights so it's one fluent docu I had sorry you didn't read the highlighted parts right are you so I read the highlighted parts that that we were included the document there was one highlighted part that was exed out andou I understand but I still want to speak to it um it says that accessory dwelling units shall be designed so that appearance and scale of the Adu is come is compatible with the primary dwelling and you know that's always been something that we have focused on with any of our residential um bylaws that there is um it reflects the area where it's being constructed you're not going to have a 50 foot structure with ranch houses that kind of thing and I understand that that was overly restrictive and that's why it was taken out and I believe the playing board brought that up too during their public hearing last week and that's why it was decided to to recommend the removal of that section or of that uh 13 well I had a conversation with a very wise person and he told me that um he has seen these units being built in other communities and the builders are doing an amazing job so I I'm thinking oh my gosh how much how much is it costing to create these units for you know for communities um and that it really does not detract from the original structure which is what my goal would be so I guess we have to hope that the builders do a good job so if I may and I don't want to interject too much into this this is really your call I'm I perhaps if if the planning board recommended a version of that that's what regardless of if you agree with their recommendation or not you should get the the version that they recommended and you can go back and delete or add what they did or didn't do but I think the one that they recommended should be the one that comes to the council well also it has their edits in there yeah yeah no I know it does but if you're going to clean it up clean it up as recommended by the planning board right yeah the chair which is what we actually read into the record right which was our first reading so um so would it be appropriate for me to clean it up yes yes and just note that this includes recommendations by the planning board yes okay I can do that I do have some comments myself if no one else has any others um I think I mean first thank you for putting it together and of course the planning board and everyone else that was involved it's definitely a lot of work in a short amount of time to put all of this uh these changes together I think the only thing that I strongly disagree with though under um e4a and d5c is really changing the requirement that a detached Adu should have to follow the primary building's setback requirements I think that's highly restrictive and basic negates the point of State Legislature adding adus as a requirement for all communities in Massachusetts I even just took a lot that my parents house is on which is almost an acre and if that was to be requirement you know if an Adu Max could be 900 sare ft it would be impossible to build a 900t Adu even though there's plenty of space from a visual perspective on the whole side of the yard even an attachment if it was attached you probably could it but if it was detached it would not be possible so I just a followup to that um the state is in the process of doing um cmrs which is suggested regulations for it and that is one that they've included in that suggested regulation again they just closed the question uh um comment period on it so the regulations AR finalized yet but it looks like down that path so but is that a suggestion or is that a you can't it's 760 CMR which is state regulations um but the regulations are very vake and they're not going to be done by that February 2 deadline they have to read through thousands of comments submitt to them and they only have one attorney working on this so I don't think they're goingon to do it in time it's gonna take them a while just to get through M it took took them six months to do the draft regulations so I mean it's probably gonna be another six months to a year six months to a year before the final comes in in worst case scenario we just do another amendment to this section if we really need to and I just think about it from the perspective too that if our current bylaws say that you can build pretty much any other accessory structure especially in zone a 5T from the property line and be 35 feet tall why should an Adu that's going to be probably smaller than that any different because it's a dwelling unit which is probably quieter than a mechanic in a garage probably not right anyway personal not not for so but that was one thought um I'm also curious and I don't know if you have any insight from the planning board perspective as to why they are prohibiting a site plan review waiver considering that all other residential development doesn't require a site plan review in our bylaws so why would just for single family homes and that's just what the board wanted they they wanted more oversight with these adus um and it hasn't been very clear to us about whether or not we can even require site planers rev because the majority of communities in Massachusetts don't require site plan review for single family homes and they're telling us not to be more restrictive than what we already do for single family homes so that's the one area that's kind of the biggest question mark and the lawyers have not sorry Our Town Council or town attorneys did not present that as an issue to me when they reviewed this document before went to the planing board so that's why it's being kept as such but there was discussion about whether or not to require um attached adus to go through site plan review which I'm I'm more than open to discuss that with the council if that's what you want to do but I do encourage that for detach adus that at least keeping the site plan riew requirement there would ensure that they comply with the provisions of the section and in response to that um currently we have attached adus already in place oh they're attached uh additions know what I mean bedroom with a bathroom so there are there are additions to homes that have met building code yep and as long as there's free access within the structure it has a separate entrance a driveway it looks like a single family home but it is it does have a an accessory unit and that's just with the building inspector there's also a provision in our special permit section for uh non-conforming structures that allows for you to create an Adu in a building that's within say that 5 foot area property if the board feels it's not be more detrimental to the area then they can grant that to you so there's a pathway for people to go if something doesn't fully fit within the confines and it's an existing building so we're not trying to prohibit everybody's ability from from doing this so the the other thought was sort of the only other places where you can have multifam residences do require site plan which is planned residential which have their own Zone which requires a site plan so we've basically been forced to have multif family allowed in zoning and so that was just a and the state I believe suggested or said that the towns could do that so they had that whole list of things we couldn't couldn't do and site plan was one of those things that they suggested to do yeah and so I think we just kind of left it in there for some some another level of oversight yep and mind you you know site plan review cannot deny the ability for somebody to build one of these it just requires further review from the planning board and that's pretty much it the site plans that people can draw for this don't have to be thousands of dollars they could be a simple sketch that you would submit for a building permit it just depends on the complexity of the project I just wanted to make sure we're not making it overly burdensome or expensive thereby and negating the and we also yeah right we also allow for waivers too for site plan reviews so if there's aspects that are not relevant the applicant could request a waiver from those things but in this case the bylaw as presented says waivers aren't permitted well for the site plan review requirement so we have a waiver from the whole site plan review process you can wave the landscape plan the and all that the traffic study stuff like that the more expensive things you can wave those all together and I think the only other thing that I was thinking of there's a couple other things that potentially be cleaned up but we have to tackle it at the moment but just I think it's some consistency stuff like we say accessory dwelling units adus in parentheses in a number of places but then other places we're just saying adus I think it should be one or the other since we already defined the the term and I another consistency thing I'm not sure what our practice has been with some other stoning bylaws lately but we have terms defined as a section in the bylaw itself but then we also have all of the same definitions under 4 50-11 for where all of the terms for our zoning bylaws are and I understand having them in some instances in the bylaw itself if that definition was going to be different than the General accepted definition but in this case they're not so I don't know why we would put them in both sounds like a job for your BW Review Committee yeah chair some of them are different such as gross floor area area uh the definition that's read within the bylaw is completely different than article 11 um and again I I believe our bylaw says that a definition within that portion of the bylaw is only for that portion of the bylaw but also to go back to gross FL area that's put at the end in section 11 on purpose so it could be used throughout the whole bylaw I think what he's referring to is um in 450 5.11 where you have right access dwelling unit but those other three terms underneath actually aren't in section 11 so the only one that is in section 11 is accessory dwelling unit so the reason why I put those other definitions here is so people can easily reference them when they're going through the section of the bylaw they're not used anywhere else in the bylaw the only term that is used throughout the whole bylaw the whole zoning bylaw is accessory drawing unit that was a justification for organizing it that way um but I could definitely look at the consistency of using um Herm accessory dwelling it with the parenthesis and just clean that up and then uh bring that back to the council okay and then the only other thing was also in some places we've put um like a reference to other bylaws and we would say like 450 Dash whatever and in parenthesis we'd put the name of it I don't know if we do that and all of the other ones because if we ever change the name which we've changed the name of bylaws before we would then have misleading references all over the place instead of just telling them to go to the the section number he he's talking about C and we've always felt that that's that's better than writing it all out you know you because it's important when you're dealing with that particular area that you know the whole thing you know exactly what what is based on that statement so that's why it says csection 450 Dash whatever um that doesn't necessarily have to have the title um oh yeah I still like having the reference you know go find additional requirements but yeah having the title of it I hear you yeah might just lead to more revision later on so I'm just a little bit I'm trying to understand so if you look under e review process number two provisions of subsection 45095 oh I see what he's saying is remove the review procedure y then the next one you know you just put a comma for 1596 and you just remove Administration for the next time you Rectify yes sure yeah I could just s years so I guess it makes sense take out the parentheses with the title and just keep the numbers okay that's essentially what I was trying to say yeah that makes sense I can definitely do that that was the end of my thoughts does anyone have any there I met with the planning board they were very gracious to hear some of my thoughts and concerns and uh one of the largest ones that I had um that they chose not to uh accept and go with is what you've brought up which is site plan revealed um I had no problems with detach dwellings seeing where they were going to be located on the site and all I just thought uh an attached Adu was a little much to ask for uh based on the fact that they need a building permit anyways under the building permit they have to make sure all the setbacks and all are done and I just thought the cost of the site plan um the time to you know go to the planning board set up the meeting um which you could be looking a couple months was just a little bit overburdensome for something that they had no control over they can't say no if it meets a requirements um that that was just one of my thoughts when we were looking at it that um I know this goes to uh the subcommittee and I think that's just something to keep in the back of our minds um and again I know the planning board wanted some control over it like Russ said uh even though some of them they may have to allow he wants to be able to say hey I don't think that's very fair um you know it doesn't look quite right even though we have to allow it thank you Ral thanks anyone else okay seeing none um we can now take a motion to public hearing I think we will meet definitively uh next week at the planning matter subcommittee to review this as well as the solar one so we could continue this to our January 28th meeting unless people felt it appropriate to give more time to February 11th but is there a date is there a date for that meeting next week we had talked about it we were hoping to send it out but Wednesday or Thursday okay okay that's fine I just didn't have it I it hasn't been totally formalized okay gotcha through the chair um can we look to continue it to the January 28th and at that time um if the subcommittee hasn't come up with the recommendations we could always continue it to the following meeting if needed but I do know the state law goes into effect February 2nd regarding this and the Hope was to try and get some type of bylaw in before the law becomes effective I think we're doing pretty well with that timeline um since that's a second reading date so I also do have a question uh for the council uh through the chair um sure so did you want me to do the suggested uh cleaning up edits before that playm subcommittee meeting or is that not necessary I would say if you could just clean it up to what the planning board had recommended to the council so that there isn't all the highlighting andal strike through yep and then from there any of the things that we suggested today we can add on top of it from there yeah the council review and I can note that too um as additions from the first review just so we track of that but okay sure do that yep okay so if we're ready for the motion we are I make a motion to continue the public hearing for the proposed amendments to the town of East Long Meadow zoning bylaws relative to the Amendments necessary for the town to conform to the new affordable homes act all accessory dwelling units to um January 28th and 6:15 pm at 6:15 we already have a continuation for the solar bylaw amendments so then we'll do 6:30 6:30 sounds wonderful it's a busy night second motion's been made and seconded any further discussion for continuing hey seeing none Jim yes Anna yes I'm yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John yes and Kathy yes thank you than you rob there thanks Rob thank you Rob make a motion that we forward this uh proposed Adu bylaw to the planning matter subcommittee for their recommendations second and made and seconded any further discussion n Jen yes Anna yes yes yes Ralph yes John yes and Kathy yes okay that next okay so now we are down to 82 quarterly financial report see the the attachment halfway point does anyone have any questions or comments concerns on the I would prefer it in smaller print so it fits on 42 pages M could probably go smaller no we have think with the glasses I think the only thing from my perspective and it's not so much on the the numbers themselves I do like seeing all of that level of detail but I think it may be helpful for from a council perspective if we just had like a one sheet either from you Tom or from the finance director that just summarizes anything that looks glaringly maybe out of the normal or that we are on Target because some of the stuff it's hard to remember that oh yeah we expect that that's halfway spent or no that one's 100% or yeah and that it's always the the encumbrance and bills get paid at the beginning of the year and they're at 100% in the first quarter uh so um we can do that I mean if that if that would make it easier in terms of breaking it down as long you know so that way we don't have to say go through every sheet and say this one's at 48% looks good this one's at 99 because right we spent all the money at the beginning of the year or it's all encumbered um which the school like for instance the school does a lot of their budget's at 99% whatever right now because they encumber everything um so but we can we can certainly do that there was nothing uh sort of out of line jumped out of at me or unexpected um but yeah we can we can do like a summary sheet kind of okay anyone else so than you chair I guess my question would be for our finance director and um if in the 84 Pages you saw anything that um concerns you at all with regards to like in the past we've had our um a legal uh account which we've had concerns with maybe we got to switch it from this or that and I just wasn't sure if anything um is throwing up any red flags that we have to be concerned about I did see like the snow budget um looks like we're already over Y which we expect but again that's one of those where I just want to make sure that as we go along if it's going to be quite a bit of money that know ahead of time and start planning for it I didn't see anything that really jumped out based on the last few years in comparison um but I thought it would be a fair question you came all the way here this evening the least I could do is ask I mean being halfway through the year it's not like I don't see anything flaring at me the next couple months we'll start to look at it a little bit closer just to make sure um things are not aligned um one other question um sorry through the chair um jeie um I know as far as your budget were we able to um think ahead I know uh ecode was expensive last year and I mean as far as the town uh Clerk's budget does it look like I mean obviously we talked today about if we do this Charter Amendment um so you're talking about fy2 6 planning for FY 26 well yes we're in 26 now right well we're in 25 and so your budget for 25 obviously if we have to send out postcards and all are we going to be short do you think be short for that if we do the charter Amendment because by law we have to notify every household of any Charter Amendment and the postage and the printing will be and that was unexpected unanticipated and that's what I'm thinking is any unanticipated things that we know they always come up but thank God we have a little bit of free cash left yeah well then we still have you know we but the reserve fund is is there and sort of un reasonably untouched uh so far this year uh thanks to our legal account being in line uh but yeah we'll we'll if that's the will of the council we'll we'll make it happen right okay now but I feel good now but yeah otherwise thank youing the information okay done with fory financial report next we have under financial matters accepting the sfy 25 law enforcement body warn camera program Grant there a motion I make a motion to accept the F FY 25 law enforcement body warn camera program Grant in the amount of $29,980 section 53a second motion's been made and seconded any further discussion Tom um so uh I was chatting with Mark uh the other day about this um obviously great news um this is obviously been something that the police department's been looking into um for a while and to have a grant pay for it all um the the slight wrinkle is and and I'll let you decide what um what you think we be sign the quote that we got uh that we're going to spend this money on is Motorola and with this with their package comes a fiveyear sort of service agreement for upgrading the cameras after two or three years and then the video storage now over three years I'm supposed to have your permission to do that so it's not really a five-year contract because this is all the money we're expending and we're not expending anything else so we're not like locked into anything but I think technically uh Mark and I kind of decided that this is really a five-year agreement uh whether we have to pay for any of those years after the initial really is is immaterial I still kind of need your permission to to sign that five-year thing even though we're making the onetime payment and it's good for five years that's my interpretation of the spirit of that three to five year thing I'm open to doing that if if there's no other and so under the motion do we have to know um the details of the contract in other words who the five-year contract is so or this was my this was where our conversation eventually ended up was we have a meeting on the 28th so hopefully we can have that contract for Motorola uh and and the specifics of it and then maybe you make that motion then yeah um I just I wanted to bring it up so I didn't spring it on you in next in two weeks when we've already accepted the grant gotcha but but the accept acceptance of the grant is going to mean we'll have to make that motion to accept the fiveyear agreement so whether you do it now or NE in two Tuesdays it still had to I wanted to bring it to your attention yeah I think that's appropriate the chair sure now is that like a full implementation is that just like the equipment or is that the Equipment Plus the storage what's the yes Equipment Plus Storage yep money on the whole huh it's like how they really make their money on their on the right it's the storage aspects of it y other than that the uh I've seen firsthand how much this can protect officers and how much it can um potentially save the town so this is phenomenal phenomenal yeah yeah yep I agree just out of curiosity through the chair will our insurance give us better rates because we have it don't you think I'm going to bring it up okay there's no other questions um a motion was made in seconded so Jim yes Anna yes I'm a yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John yes and Kathy yes thank you you and next we have accepting the m C sustainable materials recovery program smrp Grant sure I make a motion to accept the mass D sustainable materials recovery Grant in the amount of $17,600 per Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 53a second Mo been made and seconded any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Anna yes I'm a yes Marilyn yes yes um yes and yes great more good news then next we have the acceptance of donations in the amount of $1,050 uh for Ley field this one B6 I'll make a motion to accept donations in the amount of $1,050 from the lehey family for lehey field per Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 53 a second motion made and seconded any further discussion seeing none Jen yes Anna yes I'm a yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John I'm a yes and Kathy yes great thank you to those who made donations thank you and next we have amending the vote from our December 10th 2024 meeting for the arpa funds uh for the tip projects him were the number or the account numbers correct in originally the account numbers were correct but I think the second one had the wrong title so this is just correcting it so that the titles reflect and so I could eat crow since I said we weren't gonna bring up ARA ever again okay is there a motion no you go okay it I'm done to the 2024 from surve yeah I make a motion for reappropriate $5,299 and remaining American Rescue plan arpa funds from account number 5855104861 truck number 73 flatbed the amount of $532 4420 line item 5855 517 Municipal Light plant 9,712 line item 34216 Patrol vehicle replacement on a $ 34,5 line item 34227 DPW North Main Street tip Arness Dearborn the amount of it 8,288 total of $152.99 reappropriate free cash and interest from these projects to account number 5855104861 4 transp a Improvement program tip to the following projects 58555 17 DP number 73 flatbed in the amount of $ 5,244 120 the line M 5855104861 L item 34216 Municipal l plant $4,525 light item 342 20007 Patrol vehicle replacement the amount of 8,288 for a total of 35,2 201789 and excuse me 99 reappropriate free cash and interest from these projects too out number 5855 second yeah motion's been made and seconded and as Kim said the numbers didn't change dollar amounts wise it was just the correction of the description accounts next to it thought it was appropriate for us to revote on that just so wasn't any confusion that on the he motions made in second any further discussion okay Jim yes yes I'm yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John yes and Kathy yes okay thank thank you now now should I say it now we're done shouldn't next under orders of the day we have approval of minutes is there a motion to approve the December 10th minutes I make a motion to approve the December 10th to open session minutes thank you as amended since you just amended it great Point didn't hear uh yeah that we could approve them as amended since we just amended the motion that we took at our December 10th so that's what we started with it was I make a motion to amend the vote from December 10th right I think we're gonna accept the minutes the minutes right the minutes are right the minutes are correct for so I suppose we're amending it today so we don't need and tonight's minutes amended vote will be in so later when I'm looking for that vote I have see other send you the amended certified motion tomorrow I think that makes sense so we just accept the minutes as as is as they were that was what happened oh I see oh okay yes yes Marilyn yes pop it down I need to abstain John yes and Kathy yes motions are hi old business we have number one discussion of the proposed bylaw chapter 414 regarding mman aircraft system drones so after one of our previous meetings where we had a proposal before us to added bylaw regarding drones and aircraft systems and the council at that time uh opted not to take any action on proceeding with it but uh there was an action item that Rob followed up on to ask the police chief a few questions that both we had at that time and so I'll just read for everyone's awareness what the police chief Mark Williams responded on December 9th Rob I am not aware off the top of my head about a significant amount of complaints about this if any at all is this a foreseeable issue in the future as drones become more widespread both recreationally and in commercialization yes I suppose so it hasn't risen to the top of my priority list for new bylaws that's for sure but I guess one or two overly exuberant drone operators could quickly cause an issue as Lieutenant Manning just reminded me Christmas is coming so who knows how many new drones be out there in a few weeks in terms of how we would handle those complaints now we would probably do a lot of advising and reminding people of FAA regulations I suppose depending on the nature of the violation and if it was repeated after being warned we could get into the criminal world of trespassing or criminal harassment but that would be a reach in a lot of cases and I'm not sure how the courts would react this isn't a high priority for me but I respect the forethought in considering it these General non- zoning bylaws that are only enforcable by a fine don't historically have a consistent enforcement action here which may also affect my general position towards bylaws like this but yes once something is a problem it's nice to have an enforcement mechanism in place a couple of thoughts to consider if this is moving forward at some point of a violation is the seizure of a drone for a period of time in appropriate response I say not knowing the legality or constitutionally of it just a thought also I know that our East Long met Police Department drone may not meet the definition of a private drone but if it does some sort of clear exemption for Public Safety drones operating in the course of their duties would be appreciated Mark Williams the police chief so that was just a general update and I think it tends to align with the discussion that the council had at that time but I wanted to bring it back in case anyone had any additional comments questions concerns or wanted to revisit the stance that the council had just of a comment that I thought of after the meeting after we had discussed this was it's probably won't come up now and it may not for like another 10 15 years but I think it'll be interesting when we might have to face regulating like deliver drone or like or in fact if Public Safety or like healthare or something drones are used in that capacity and I feel like same thing with like where electric cars were maybe 20 or 30 years ago this might be something we might probably eventually have to face if we don't face it this year at this point to just regulate those things right the only other thing I thought of since we had discussed it of course it was kind of like the uh the the arpa word there was that it came up in the news of course with the you know drones flying over but it also just kind of I think reiterated or reinforced to me that if larger government entities Beyond e Long Meadow like States and federal have a difficult time determining what these things are and who's operating them and if they're following the rules that it would be very difficult for our town to try to enforce that stuff I think it's a good sign that it's been a few weeks couple weeks since Christmas and yeah got their drones from Santa no issues so you didn't see the Forum today they had a huge one on the for no I don't participate I'm just joking go joking was there an issue not a town sanctioned site no issues whatsoever I didn't anything I just saw the picture so through the the chair if we choose um which I believe we've pretty much already stated not to take this up at this time this doesn't preclude uh whether it be the planning board or someone else down the road from bringing it to us where uh if they if we had gone forwards with it and voted it down then it would be two years before they could bring it back so um so I think it's basically uh it's good for us just to put it off and see if there's an issue and I'm sure Chief Williams will be surprised if is then we'll go from there I agree thank you okay if there's no comments we'll move on to new business so we have discussion of proposed assisted zoning by law yeah y good evening good evening sryy back there my name is William llant um owner of llant construction also a property owner in town almost a lifelong resident in town as well um so I own a piece of land in the industrial Garden Parkway and as we were looking at different uses for that land um I had some individuals come forward looking to do an assisted living Memory Care type facility um as I started looking into the um zoning table um noticed that that although nursing homes medical facilities hospitals are all allowed in the industrial Garden Parkway um Assisted Living was not allowed um so I talked to Rob about it um I talked to a few other people in town and um you know just about everyone I spoke with agreed that um putting amending the table to allow for assisted living memory care convalescent home in the industrial Garden Parkway under a special permit so that the planning board still has the ability to look to see if the project is appropriate or not um for the proposed location um thought that that would be a good a good idea so we scheduled um an appointment with the planning board and the planning board made a unanimous recommendation to amend um the table um with a special permit um for assisted living um convalescent Memory Care Facility we've done a lot of u a lot of research on on the need um with the Aging population and the need um to try to service um our aging population in town and keep keep a facility like this close to town interest ly on Benton Drive there are a couple of facilities um in the same neighborhood if you will um but that's where the Zone um transitions into residential which is an allowed usage under residential um so that's that's what what I'm here for great I think in terms of a just a clarified process too so this was something that the planning board had simply provided us as a like letter of recommendation or support but they hadn't taken a formal action on it or hold public hearings correct on it so at this point it's not a first reading and we haven't really officially started the process this is just us offering any comments or or input but if we are to move forward with this it would have to go back to the planning board for them to hold a public hearing and make any proposed zoning changes that would then come to the council and then we would continue it from there um so that was the the process aspect um does any counselor have any comments or questions so should we read the letter from the planning board into the record sure who would like to do that John would you like it I have at their December 17 2024 meeting the planning board voted to issue a letter of for the zoning Amendment proposed by William Will PL owner of land in the affected zoning District industrial Garden Park in which the proponent seeks to amend the schedule of Youth regulations table 3-1 to allow for convalescent Assisted Living congregate elderly handicapped housing or nursing home by special permit in the industrial Garden Park zoning District the planning board is not the proponent for this amendment but wishes to express its unanimous support for the zoning Amendment East Long Meadow and surrounding communities have an aging population and assisted living facilities are becoming more needed the board hopes that the Town Council will consider moving this proposal forward and to jump start the public hearing processes on behalf of the board Robert rilla director of planning thank you for reading that so through the chair sure um I I completely and totally agree with uh the planning board um I think this change would benefit the town and um I for one that we should move it along to the planning board so that they can consider it and hold their public hearing I also think that um the way that it's being approached doesn't change the zone for the property it just allows an additional use for the property and so you know I get concerned when we start taking our industrial Garden Park land and use it for other things and then there's not that land available when we have manufacturing issues or which you're not eligible any place else to so I think it's it's a good a good fit I have a slightly different take um I definitely agree with the are we surprised I'm actually surprised you didn't we'd love to hear it yeah um I definitely think it's a a valuable use and something that the town needs I am a little concerned about adding it as an allowed use to our industrial Zone as a use considering that's not really where people tend to to habitate today and I know it was definitely a big concern of people um at the fields of chestnut when there was a warehouse proposed there on Chestnut Street and although that was a residential area but it was right next to an industrial sort of parcel and existing section of town and so I I do get a little concerned that if now this is something that could spread throughout the industrial Garden Park area that we would only exacerbate potential issues of having people living next to other loud or industrial kinds of uses that may be disruptive to residential uh activity of course it's tough because I do see like where your parcel is and I don't have a problem with it being there but we have to look at at the zone as a whole and I think that's a pretty large of town to be yeah and when when you look at the industrial Garden Parkway and what's available and and where this could happen and that's where the protection comes in under the special perm that if it were next to an intense industrial use then it may not make sense when you look at the uses along that Corridor currently and some that are under construction right now it's consistent with um a facility like this when you look at the dental um you know the dental the medical um some of the other offices um obviously having the two large um assisted or Elderly Care um again right in that um not in the district but literally abing that District um so that was the thought in in talking with the planning board and talking with Rob that um under a special permit it allows it allows it if it's deemed appropriate in that in that specific location yeah I appreciate that I think the only other thing um with Tom's blessing I had reached out to our director of assessing Diane Bishop because I knew that some other previous projects like that Islam skill nursing home was partially tax exempt and so I was also wondering if we start now allowing residential uses especially of assisted you know or Memory Care Ty if that's now potentially I'm not suggesting that it would but that there could be a risk in the future that our industrial Garden Park commercial tax base could slowly get hollowed out if any of these kinds of uses are by Nature tax exempt with the way that those oper operations or Bronner structured um your potential use probably isn't but by her explanation only because those properties and those tenants have a like possessory interest and it's a voluntary stay and they have a reasonable expectation of privacy because they have separate you know like locked quarters and stuff but if that deviates and it starts to become a little bit more communal in nature um I don't know that's definitely something that I I worry about I do think it's still worth you know moving it to the planning board and seeing what their thoughts are but I'm just a little hesitant to start moving residential and potential tax exempt uses into our commercial place in town does anyone have any other comments or questions do you happen to know if any other communities have adopted the similar sort of umy permit use for industrial Garden Park or has this become might be maybe a question maybe for Rob to research perhaps if other communities have done this I'm I'm I'm unaware of that um again I just look at the existing Corridor there when you look at what's there it's a kind of adjacent it's a very appropriate use for what's there it's not an industrial a a traditional industrial Zone that you would see with heavy industrial yeah there's a lot of things that are traditional indust yeah it's it's a very eclectic mix you know purposely so with the industrial Garden Parkway Zone i' definitely kind of open to it at first impression looking at it so through the chair sure um kind of really appreciate your comments bill um more Curious and just I know it's just like an initial more as a con if you have like three or four dwellings is under the management of the same health care provider you have like three or four freestanding homes like how does like the guess the business work so on this particular project it would be a single building um on the parcel gotta um under you know privately owned pay taxpayer that um you know would be providing providing the the services like in The Proposal with the long-term goal is to build three to four homes loc locally not so much in that same area but maybe in different areas right right we're looking at different communities um anything else say none I'll entertain a motion I move to refer the proposed Assisted Living zoning bylaw Amendment the planning board for recommendation to the town Council I'll second that it's been made in seconded any further discussion none Jim yes Anna yes yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John I yes and Kathy yes okay thank you for your thank you very much next under new business we have discussion of proposed amendment to the Charter regarding multiple bylaw changes multaneously Ralph what um so I have uh um obviously in our Charter section article 9 section 93 um mandates that once every every 10 years we look at our general bylaws for either um the ability for recodification review um removal of bylaws that are no longer necessary the addition um but a full review um so with that being said that has to be done on every year ending in a five we start the process um so having recently gone through the codification process um we ended up changing the charter when we did the codification because there was literally hundreds hundred a 100 changes hundreds hundreds of changes that were made and currently our Charter says that we can hold uh we can only make one change at a time so you would hold a public hearing for the one change you would vote on that go to the next change so if we had to follow it for the regular codification we were talking a 100 or more public hearings um so seeing that and realizing that I remembered that the language that we put into the charter was specifically and only dated for for that particular codification not thinking about the process that has to happen every 10 years and that there may have to be multiple changes there probably will be um I've had a chance to talk a little bit with our planning director who's extremely excited and has multiple changes um so my thought process was to amend the language that we had voted on that the town had voted on to accept in the charter to allow this process once every 10 years when we do this review to be able to accept multiple changes at once thought process is just like the codification if there's any substantial changes we keep those separate and so we go through the list of them and if there's any that are you know we're not sure of whatever you set that out and then we vote on those separately and can vote on the rest as one whole at one time Anna question I know you have a question no I makes sense so I I attempted to uh adjust the language to reflect this um I'm not an English major that's why this is strictly a draft and I am open for any suggestions I do um I know there's a process um through the chair if you don't mind my asking jeie we talked a little bit to um this looks like it's got to move forwards pretty quick because it's got to go to the AG it's got to go uh our attorneys got to review it the AG's got what four weeks and um then we need it five weeks before the elction so do you want me to read what we have or do you guys just want to look through it and make suggestions do you want to sent to our attorney to get his thoughts on it um I feel the town attorney should review it first and then bring it before the council when it's already been reviewed by the town attorney then it can the proposed um approved by two-thirds can go to the AG's office to start the review process I'm happy to have the town's attorney review it but maybe after any potential like thoughts or tweaks that the council might have just so we're not like right multiple times the the I overall think just my thought on the draft I think it's good kind of like as a minimum for I think what we need for the the general bylaw review process every 10 years and moving forward especially with this year that we have to do it um but I do I kind of struggle with that in the charter in general like I understand the the reason for not wanting the ability for the council to just kind of like kind of do what the state or the federal government does and have these huge omnius bills that just shove all sorts of stuff together and nobody knows what's in it I but at the same time I I almost wonder if we should make it a little more flexible for the council maybe requiring a super majority vote where if if we felt that there were other matters which we've had some over the last few years that we've ended up having to split out into multiple hearings over the course of the Year sometimes I think there could be efficiencies there if we thought upfront that yes we should allow ourselves to package a couple of these together and move forward instead of it just being a once every 10e process but so through the chair um So currently we allow um one issue at a time to be addressed um the thought process was that was in the past um before the change in government and all um we found that they were grouping multiple things together um a few people were grouping multiple things together tooking one vote and boom and you may not have liked four of them and they only liked one and that's why it was hey let's let's address one item let's make sure that one's good and go forwards I do understand what you're saying no and a lot of times there's two or three items that you're like these are no brainers we should just vote on them all at once um but I do I think that's also a different part of the charter that we have to look at changing and I think that would probably be a separate question based on the locations also I I apologize if you mentioned this but you're looking to take out the codification section and replace it with this correct you can either take it out or you can replace the wording there's probably 20 words that have changed in it um so again I don't know what's the easiest I don't know if it's to say remove this paragraph and put this one in or change this wording within it and again I think that would be our attorney would tell us the best way to go I think removing it because that that codification was put in there for specific purpose specific date so now that is not necessary but take that one out and put this one that's just my thoughts Tom if you I mean if you could we we sort of internally work uh working the problem as far as you can and then the attorney looks at it uh it's sort of the last thing so that you're not bouncing it back and forth to the attorney every time there's an amendment um if if if that's okay with you if you could get sort of what you would call a final product uh then we give it to the attorney and then inevitably he'll have changes anyway that you'll have to discuss and change again but um it seems to work better if we get as close to final as you would like to see before we get it to the attorney so John did you have a question yeah well more just kind of a comment I mean I I think it's a pretty good idea in the sense of if we can kind of make things more efficient there's a lot of things that we discuss sometimes quite at length which I think is really great then there's sometimes where there's things that we all collectively know in five seconds we'll probably be able to get done um but I think the idea of maybe having like a super majority vote it protects the minority interest of maybe saying hold on let's kind of put the braks on this so if it's something like two3 or you know whatever it is I think would be something definitely we should maybe consider putting in if we're going to do something multiple things at once so I think it's I think it's a good good idea but I'd like to see what the town attorney on think obviously you know if there's major problems and so would the pleasure of the council be we we bring this matter back up at our next meeting this month on January 28th and that'll give people time to think about it and if we have any suggested changes so if we have change like you're talking that would be a separate question a separate portion of the charter maybe um you know if we choose to go that route it would be to change that um from must vote on one topic to um we got to word Smith that portion which would be a separate question um yeah and maybe we don't undertake it but at least we could just make sure we're all good with the language you have here for that particular section and then if there was something else that we wanted to tackle at the same time if we've already go got to go through the process that'll give us two weeks to think about it okay so to be continued on that one I mean 20 minutes wasn't enough okay so then our next topic under our new business was the capital stabilization policy so this was something that was an action item that came out of us approving the creation of the new capital stabilization fund at our previous meeting in December um so if anyone had any particular language changes or suggestions that they might like to see in that policy to tighten up the language was the the suggestion I don't have anything in particular myself but if anyone has anything happy to discuss so through the chair I will um so I was not at the December meeting um and I just had a couple questions I know um within the capital stabilization fund it says annually at a minimum $100,000 will be set aside um is that a legal requirement is that a requirement that we set as an amount to set aside um that's just a the policy Town policy that's Tom would include in the budget but could potentially happen this upcoming year we don't necessarily have to adhere to the the policy if we determine that so we put 100,000 in in the regular stabilization Fund in the budget same with opab 75,000 so it's a policy and not a requirement based on how we set up the fund right I don't remember the specific vote but I don't think you set it up like that okay I just required it's just it's just our policy which we try to adhere to right could change it so that it does not say at a minimum so that you're not required to put 100,000 in it based on the policies it's really policy is up to us it's not required I mean I yes we should have a goal of putting something aside um but it's sort of like the sidewalk fund um there were some years that you just there was no money there and I'm concerned going forwards that we're going to have a few tight years um especially after listening to uh earlier right this evening um so I would suggest that we consider either removing the 100,000 as a whole or lowering it and saying you know 25 or 50,000 um that would be my first suggestion my second suggestion would be that we have a stabilization fund um maybe adjust some of the language so my idea on the capital stabilization was to have a little kitty set aside for municipal structures the municipal structure part being that we know the police department's going to need it we know the fire department's gonna we can tell the DPW is going to and if we have extra funds to be able to set a little bit aside I'm not saying it's going to pay for the building because it's not we'll never get to that point but what it may do is we may have you know 100,000 two 300,000 in there to help offset the initial cost to do like the engineering or something like that um and and that's what I was hoping would be the capital stabilization now under stabilization we could adjust the wording a little bit um right now it's for um to mitigate emergencies or other uh unanticipated events um that cannot be supported by the current general fund I mean we can remove like that so that the regular stabilization fund again we want to keep at least 8% in it but if we go above it that that could be used to offset um any Capital needs that we have and keep this Capital stabilization fund for municipal buildings and by buildings I mean Renovations major Renovations additions new construction anything like that that was my thought yeah and I think we put the hundred in there because that was sort of what we had on the other ones and and in the event that say we couldn't fund that this year uh I guess I'll go as far far as to say it wouldn't be the first time the town of Esa meow was outside of their Esau metal policy uh we don't like to be to shoot no of course again and I see that the that the wording makes it seem like we really have to do this and if we don't like right right um and again this is there were no really suggestions from me uh following the conversation on the 10th um I I I guess we kind of left it again to your pleasure right um everything that comes out of there is going to require your vote so if you don't like what we're asking then you say no um whether that's buildings or you know some some other Capital item that that came up that we didn't necessarily know about or we didn't put we had more more need than we thought we were going to need for a certain year uh in a capital year yeah um again that's why I thought hey we'll just have a little separate bank account knowing we have the stabilization and knowing that I I've seen the list of capital projects they're never ending so they willon never end instead of you know putting the money aside for a regular Capital project it seems you can use it that year I mean there's always a list of 50 100 of them um whereas something like this may only come up hopefully once every 20 30 years but um chances are looking at our infrastructure we'll probably need more um and again I don't know the thoughts and concerns of the rest of the board Kim I know you had a um so on the the question about the 100,000 I mean I think some of the policies actually read the town will strive to annually raise and appropriate rather than saying that we will minimum and then, but if we can't afford it that year then we don't do it that yeah adding strive in Works strive it's a good work that's a good strive to annually put in yeah that great any other comments or questions Cath um yes I would um Echo uh Ralph's uh comment about uh using this fund to um focus on municipal buildings as the need might arise um I I think if we don't isolate the that definition then we allow the fund to just be a backup up for um the regular the annual Capital Improvement plan and if we adjust the wording slightly under the stabilization that could be the backup plan for regular right so so would you like I we'll revise this then for the 28th maybe and and see if you like the language better and leave it just for building just for municipal building Capital outlay yes Capital outway um Municipal Building Capital outlay regarding construction renovation because I don't want like the Council of Aging to come and say we need new furniture for this room no no no of course of course well so maybe capital is not appropriate because that's 25,000 so you're talking about a certain amount of an expenditure right and again I don't want to set that just only because I'm thinking um engineering or whatever although engineering I've seen the cost just Heritage 10% was bad and they're at 15% now um all right we can maybe just saying building projects because we kind of use that terminology with the high school it's a high school building project as opposed to Furniture yeah adornments again I'm not an English major not even close we'll see what we can do yes I'm because we I mean Rebecca either okay any other comments or questions no okay moving on action items for our next meeting so we have have two public hearings of continuation of the solar we have now the continuation of adus we also now have the charter amendment that we'll discuss again and that's as far as I know at the moment Motorola contract oh right Motorola Genie and then review the revised Capital um stabilization fund Poli so Connor as far as the charter language um do you want me to try to put something together based on instead of one item multiple items or I'll reach out to you yeah that's fine because search that was just a cursory but I didn't have any words behind it yeah no that that's fine like I said that way they will come back with something and instead of just handing out Charters to everyone saying okay let's word Smith yeah that's a good idea okay and next we do have an executive session I was just oh sure potential action item to maybe consider once we start sort of going into the offal budget seon with sort of conversations with the schools and looking at maybe potentially looking at our Revenue side of things it might not be a bad idea for maybe the seven of us to have some type of I know maybe if it's a primer or a workshop or something like this to maybe go over the structure of the budget and just kind of give more information on how the budget Works where we could kind of look at things especially with revenue or expenses it might not be a bad idea to have some type of I don't know maybe it could just fit into a regular meeting schedule something I don't know what the logistics would necessarily look like but maybe something to you know before we sort of open into the financial oversight committee so yeah we definitely are going to dive into that come February February is going to be I see it we were talking about the uh the budget till June so just swing by is that an open invitation for most okay so we do have an executive sessions I move that we enter into executive session under Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 A3 for the following purpose to discuss strategy with respect to pending litigation with Gianna Driscoll versus the town of East Long Meadow at all if the chair declares that an an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the board or Town's litigating position and iare that there may and we will return to open session afterwards second toj or are you returning returning to open session to adjourn or um we be taking I don't think we know enough to say that we canj this time is there a second discussion yes so I just want to disclose um for the public that I have had a past uh business relationship I own a landscape company I have done work um for this family um a few years ago um but at this time I don't think that would affect any of my decisions and in executive session thank you for the disclosure okay to move into executive session Jim yes Anna yes I'm a yes Marilyn yes Ralph yes John yes and Kathy yes