Okay. >> Good evening and welcome to the October 14th, 2025 meeting of the East Long Meadow Town Council. I'll call the meeting to order and ask that we stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> Then I would ask that we take a brief moment of silence to reflect on the events going on both here and around the
world. Thank you. In accordance with Mass General Law, this meeting is being recorded by LCAT. And if there's anyone else in the audience recording, if you could identify yourself. >> Sarah Henan in Reminder Publishing. >> Thank you, Sarah. Uh, next public comments. Is there
anyone in the audience that wishes a public comment this evening? See no one in the physical audience and no one with their hand online. So, council comments. >> No, Ralph. >> Yes, I'm back.
Sorry I missed the last meeting. Um, I do have two um concerns or thoughts um for Tom. One is uh we passed the transparency bylaw and I'm just wondering if we have a time frame going
forwards when some of that will be rolled out. Um I notice under our transparency tab there's nothing yet. So um that's one. The second is and this goes back quite a while ago at the
transfer station we approved funding for a holding tank for the waste oil. >> Mhm. And to my knowledge, as at least as of the last time I was there, um they're not accepting waste oil. Nothing's been done. And I want to say we're looking
at least a year, year and a half since those funds were approved. And I'd like to just an update on it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That for you shortly. >> Great. Thank you, Ralph. Anyone else have a comment this evening? Okay. Seeing none, we will move to the
town manager report. Hi Tom. >> Hey, good evening. >> Uh okay. Uh hi. Hi. Good evening. >> All right. Uh so uh as usual, we uh the first uh part of the report here is the
uh project reports for the weeks of September 15th, 22nd and 29th uh for the high school and nitorium. Uh, you know, the the project continues to move along in an orderly fashion. Uh, I say that every time, not just because you're
here. Uh, the school building committee, uh, recently voted on a change order to address some, uh, fire, sprinkler, water pressure issues, which I think we had talked about previously. Um, but our contingency is still in very good shape and project is still on time and on
budget. Um the town uh welcomed author Jeff Speck to the senior center on September 30th to share his vision on a redesign of the Islam Rotary. Uh for those that were unable to attend in person, the video of the presentation
is uh posted on LCAT. Thank you, Jamie. Um special thanks to Rebecca's tireless efforts to uh get uh Jeff to come to town. um and and his team at Spect Specty for
sort of providing a glimpse on what the future of ESL Meto could look like. Uh I it was a great presentation. Uh very enjoyable, a lot of cool information. Uh and and sort of a a pretty cool look at what the center could look like. Uh we
we'll get to that later, right? Um, a few weeks back we filed an application for assistance from Mass E for the soil stockpile located inside of 70 Maple Street. That's the Carllet combustion building. Um, we received word this week that the state brownfields will be
funding and performing all of that work to remove the soil from the building uh at an estimated value of nearly $300,000. Uh there is some room uh to go above that if if the estimate falls a little short. uh I think up to 500,000. So um
hopefully the estimate is good and we can get rid of that soil. It's a good first step for for the property anyway to get rid of that contaminated soil. Um so again, thanks to Massie D for their assistance uh with this first portion of the site cleanup. Um, we're also working
with representatives from DP, PVPC, uh, and Yukon TAB to prepare to submit our EPA brownfields application this fall, uh, for a total site cleanup. Um, still waiting for those final guidelines to be published. Uh, but we'll have 60 days
once they post those on the website. Uh, historically, they've been out already. Uh I don't know if the the government shutdown has anything to do with um the the timeline change, but again once those uh guidelines come out. Uh we'll that's going to be kind of a a quick
hitter in that we'll have to have uh some sort of public presentation which I'll have to interject into one of the council meetings uh just for uh time frame purposes. Um but uh we we've we're sort of looking at that from all angles
and doing a bunch of preliminary work right now. So, um, we're we're excited to get that out. Uh, paving operations began this week on, uh, Avery Street, Kulie Avenue, Harkness A, Anthony Drive, and West Allen Ridge. That's sort of a a broad statement. I don't know exactly which
street they started on, but they're starting on that project. Uh, Palmer Paving uh, will be doing this work obviously under the supervision of the DPW. Uh, so use caution in these areas. If you're traveling, expect delays. uh mind your details, cones, signs, all the
things. Um so that's probably going to take, you know, six six weeks or so. Um but I don't get to say it anymore because I'm not in DPW, but uh that's weather permitting and subject to change. Um the sidewalk project on Westwood and Maple
Street uh went about as good as expected uh is nearing completion of the original scope. Uh however, thanks to some uh pricing being slightly below what our estimate was, uh Bruce suggested extending the project uh northeasternly on Westwood up to James Street. Uh which
James Street is a rather the beginning of a rather large neighborhood there that could get some people some access to Westwood. So uh we applied to uh the complete streets mass DOT complete streets. they agreed uh and and granted additional funding for that portion of
the project uh to try to keep everybody on on a sidewalk on that side of Westwood rather than trying to cross at the curve in the hill there. Um the town uh received our zoning diagnostic report from Barrett Planning
Group. Uh I attached it to the report here. Uh we received grant funding to hire this consultant to perform a comprehensive review of the zoning bylaw as part of the uh bylaw review process currently ongoing uh laid out by the charter. Uh a Barrett planning group
will be presenting their findings to bylaw review committee I want to say Thursday night. >> Um so we look forward to sort of an unveiling. Um, I've attached uh an article also that was recently posted by the Mass
Municipal Association. Um, sort of sum summarizing some of the difficulties facing municipalities in Massachusetts. Um, in addition to highlighting those those challenges statewide, uh, it also, I think, provides some foundational uh,
municipal finance 101 type narrative that I thought uh, would be interesting and informative for everyone. Um, I also want to uh it didn't make it into the written report. Uh, I tried to put as many notes to remind myself to to bring this up and I didn't put it in my
report, but uh we uh Danell TLA of the Council on Aging, her last day is Friday. Uh she's been with the Senior Center for 18 years. Um provided uh invaluable service to our community and the members of this community. Uh, so
her last day is Friday if you get a chance to to get over to the COA. Um, wish her well. Um, upcoming events, uh, big October Fest on Saturday at noon at Brown Farm. Uh, always well attended.
Um, so, uh, see you there. Uh, and that's it for the report this evening. >> Thank you, Tom. >> Yep. >> Does anyone have any questions? >> Just quick question. >> Sure. I know you're not DPW,
>> but um Summers Road. >> I know. Summers Road. Do we have any timeline? >> Thank you for bringing that up. >> You're welcome. >> We do not. Uh we we've we've had um limited uh we'll call it limited poking
of mass DOT to provide us a timeline. Uh given that um they're generously paving both of those roadways in their entirety. So, we have elected not to bug them too much. Uh, it would appear at this point that that's going to happen in the spring. >> Yeah, I would think so.
>> Um, but again, when we do get an update, I will obviously share it with you. I mean, it's obviously going to cause some serious traffic delays for a while uh on both of those roads. So, uh when we do find out, I I'll I'll report to the council certainly. >> Okay,
>> you got it. Thanks. >> Great. I'm going to grab a comment quick. uh Westwood uh between the paving and the sidewalks looks fantastic. Great job. >> I agree. Yes. Thanks to all involved. It looks amazing. >> Absolutely.
>> I Steve Manning, who is a former selectman, um had a conversation with me a couple of weeks ago and he's amazed at what we've done with sidewalks. I mean, that whole project started back when he was a selectman here >> really >> and I was working with him. So, um, it's
come a long way, but it's it's really coming together. It's great. >> It is great. Yep. Thanks to DPW. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Okay, seeing none, we will move to communications, correspondence, and announcements. Uh the two that I have
this evening uh we received uh notice from the board of directors of Brownstone Gardens that having a 50th anniversary celebration of Brownstone Gardens on Saturday, November 1st is a wonderful accomplishment for them.
Then secondly, flip to the next one. Um, the clutter doctor incorporated is also having a 25th anniversary for conducting business in East Long Meadow number 5th. So, it's nice to see two long tenur institutions
in town celebrating anniversaries. Uh, those are the only announcements that I had this evening unless anyone had anything else. Okay, seeing none, let's see. >> 6:15. >> Good timing. Yeah, we we talked enough
to get there. >> This is a public hearing for a flammable storage license application for Deo Gas Company to store temporary propane tanks at the construction site of the new high school. The council members are Jim Leiden, Anna Jones, myself, Connor
O'Shea, Marilyn Richards, Ralph Paige, John Torsche, and Kathy Hill. And I would ask the clerk to read the legal notice into the record. The East Long Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on October 14, 2025 at 6:15 p.m. in the media room of the Council on
Aging located at 320 North Main Street to address an application for a flammable storage license for DeLo Gas of 630 Sunderland Road, Worcester to install a temporary propane storage tank, actually it's storage tanks at 180
Maple Street, East Long Meadow, which is the construction site of the new high school. Information relating to this application is available for review by the public in the town clerk's office and on the town's website. The public hearing may also be attended via uh Zoom webinar for the council. Gina Quagleti, town clerk, clerk of the council.
>> Great. Thank you, Genie. I know we have the applicant on Zoom as well. >> Yes. >> Good afternoon. >> Good evening. How are you? Hey Paul, >> um if I'm >> Marco with Fontain Brothers. So I just
want to come up here to introduce myself and then I'll let Paul talk and what we talked about and what I went over with fire chief about what we're going to planning on doing and how we're going to heat the building for the winter. So >> great. Perfect. >> You have any questions? Paul, I'll let you start and we'll go from there. Plans go from there. >> Absolutely. Can you guys hear me loud
and clear? >> Yes. >> All right. Good evening. Uh my name is Paul Dio from Dio Gas. Uh we're a propane company out of Worcester, Massachusetts. Um, we've been contracted with Fontaine Brothers for the uh temporary propane uh heat for this uh
upcoming winter for the Long Meadow High School. Um so the the tanks that we're proposing are for >> you froze Paul >> uh to maintain a temperature um not only that's comfortable for the for the workers that are there but also the
materials that are getting installed uh to stay on timeline. Um the fire department has been on site uh with Mark Hogan who's in front of me right now. Um, we went over the the tank locations and how they're going to be, um, the certain setbacks that need to be
required off of the house, uh, sorry, off of the building and off of the property lines. Um, we've done multiple projects with Fontaine Brothers, um, with the numerous schools that they've done throughout Massachusetts. So, uh, this is, uh, fairly common uh, for winter conditions. Um the propane tanks
that are going to be on site will be protected with jersey barriers uh because it'll be construction equipment moving around the site. Um and everything will be permitted through the fire department and uh local gas inspector in terms of the heaters and all the gas piping.
But if there was any specific questions uh in regards to the install or the propane side of things, I'll be more than happy to answer any question. And uh obviously Mark is here to answer any questions also. >> Thank you. Um before we get to that, since it is a public hearing, this is an
opportunity for anyone in the public audience to make a comment or question. Okay. I see no one online or physically. So I will close the public input portion of the public hearing. Does any counselor have any comments or questions?
I understand that Chris Beecher has looked at this. Do we have anything written from him? >> So, I do have an approved form with Chris's signature on it, but I did not have it when I sent you the packet last week, but I have it now with me. >> As long as we have it, >> the application we do. >> Yep.
>> Okay. Thank you, Marilyn. Ralph, >> just curious, is there a reason to do 12,000galon tanks? Is a thousand gallon the largest? >> Yeah. 1,000 gallons the largest. And we do two tanks per heater because the with the schedule and the size of the project, we need to heat the whole entire building. So we I have actually a
layout here which Paul we produced this went over with um with a fire chief showing locations and where we'll put jersey barriers and protection. Our lines will be underground of the tanks. But the reason with that we do two tanks per heater because we want to draw as much propane to make it as much efficient as possible. And so doesn't
one you don't use half a tank versus a whole tank. So it kind of works together. But that's kind of why each heater will use two tanks. and it's separated around the building. >> You already answered my other question is if the lines were going to be underground or >> underground and then like Paul had mentioned before, we will once the tanks
are set, we set them, we run our lines. We hook everything up. Uh the plumbing inspector will have a chance to look at that. We won't fill any tanks. We get signoffs in the fire department. I've talked to, you know, um Paul also who is a fire prevention officer. We've kind of met together and so everything will be kind of signed off and clear before we
fill any tanks and anybody says anything. >> Great. Okay. >> Somebody online with their hand up. >> Oh, sure. We can >> Where are the tanks going to be stored? >> Could you state your name and address for the record as well, please? >> Sorry. My name is Colin Temple. I live
at 8 Susan Street in East Long Meadow. I just wondered where the tanks are going to be stored. >> So, Colin, the tanks will be stored within 25 uh ft of the building itself surrounding by the high school. >> Okay, great. >> Yeah. Away from Susan Street over by the
the new school. And I do have a plan. >> Actually, 99% of my questions have been answered just by listening. So, I which was a good thing. Um I appreciate it. Thank you. That was my only concern, believe it or not.
>> Thank you. >> Anything else from the council? If not, then I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded to close the public hearing. Any further discussion? Seeing none, a roll call vote. Jim, >> yes. >> Hannah, >> yes.
>> I'm a yes. Marilyn, >> yes. >> Elf, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> And Kathy, >> yes. And then a motion to approve. >> Make a motion to approve the flammable storage license application for Deo Gas
Company, 630 Sunderland Road, Worcester, for temporary propane tanks at the construction site of the new high school, 180 Maple Street. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Jim?
>> Yes. >> Anna, >> yes. >> Emmy, yes. Marilyn, >> yes. >> Ralph, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> And Kathy, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you very much. >> Thanks, Mark. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thanks. >> Thanks, Paul.
>> Be warm. >> Okay. Next, we have orders of the day, licensing matters. We have approval of a one-day liquor license for St. Paul the Apostle Church for a first year death anniversary reception. Is there a motion?
>> I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license application for St. Paul the Apostles's Church, 235 Dwight Road for a first year death anniversary reception on November 9th, 2025 from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Is
there any further discussion? Seeing none, Jim? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Marilyn, >> yes. Ralph, >> yes. John, >> yes. >> And Kathy, >> yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Next under financial matters, we have
the fiscal year 2026 first quarter budget update. >> Hi Tom. >> Hey. Uh first of all, uh apologies again. Uh the the water and sewer and storm water
and ambulance funds came over a couple hours ago. So I apologize for that. I realize that that's not enough time to look through anything, but um the >> look good to me. >> Yeah. Uh everything uh nothing uh
glaring uh for for the quarterly report. Um the only uh issue that um has been brought to my attention that uh we're keeping an eye on because it I think is historically uh been say over the 25% threshold at a quarter uh was the uh
fire department's overtime budget. Um this was due to uh two of our uh firefighters being out on injured on duty. Um which obviously their shifts need to be backfilled. Um and uh the
reason that um I guess it obviously it's concerning and and obviously we wish everyone the best that's out on duty or injured on duty, but uh you know the summertime is a big vacation time too. So, I think we're usually over the 25%
anyway uh for this department at this time, but uh uh Chief Beecher brought it to my attention a couple weeks ago uh and uh we'll just keep an eye on it. Uh and if we need to sort of uh watch our spending in other areas as as the
halfway point comes, we'll do that. But uh nothing really uh else to that's been brought to my attention or sticks out to me as uh alarming in any way. >> Yeah, I tend to agree. I mean, of course, it's a lot of information that,
but so far nothing really seemed to be out of the ordinary only a couple months in anyway. >> Yeah. Right. Yep. >> Does anyone have any comments or questions so far? I think some of this um as you go
through the numbers and all because I've been looking at them so long um you realize that certain things get paid once during the year. So So yeah, they're at 100% but that's because the whole year is covered. So it's going through and nitpicking and I didn't see
anything that really jumped out. >> Great. Right. That's good news. So if there's nothing else we'll move to the second topic under financial matters which was free cash certification. As usual we uh you know in a random
afternoon got our email from free cash was certified which was great. Uh so our free cash calculation for 2025 is a total of 13,341,756. But then there are of course different
balances for each of the enterprise funds as well. >> You looking at a different document than we have. >> I was looking at the um >> you said 13 because it's 14 >> the total. Oh yeah. >> Yep. There it is.
>> Oh, thank you. Okay. >> I don't know if there's anything else you want to add, Kim, but >> I can just >> Good job, Kim. you can just kind of talk to what's driving um the increases in free cash. >> Sure.
>> Uh last year it was certified at 10.9 Well, I'm going to use I'm not giving you exact numbers, 10.9 million. This year it's up to 13.3 and that's with you using 5.6 million of free cash in fiscal 25 and that was primarily um for the building. The the
reason is we've been investing all of our bond funds. So, we saw 3.8 um million in excess revenue and of that 3.1 million was investment income. So, normally we see 400 to 500,000 in a year um for investment income, but because
we've been investing those bond funds, we're able to throw that back into free cash. Um, every year we do a really good job of reviewing all the capital funds, the revolving funds. About half a million gets rolled back into the general fund for um, funds that haven't been used and then uh, that rolls to
free cash. The other thing is turnbacks. There's about two and a half million in budget turnbacks, which seems a little bit high, but 1.2 million of that is health insurance. And one of the issues we're seeing and one of the biggest issues that Tom had mentioned earlier
that's affecting Massachusetts is um the high increases in insurance rates. So over the past 2 to three years, Scantic Valley um our trust for health insurance has given us 0% 4% increases and they've used reserves to fund those differences
because they should have been 10% or 12% but they've used reserves to fund those. What we've done over the past couple years is we've still increased our budget for health insurance to cover what should have been those increases. So now when you're looking at other people and some of the other trusts,
they're looking at 40% increases, 30% increases. It's because all of a sudden they have to pick up that whole impact. So we're turning back 1.2 million. uh come this year when we may see increases of 10% 12% even more we won't see such a
big increase on our budget side because we've already got that amount um kind of set aside in the budget >> right because we're used to having allocated it >> um I think that's pretty much it for free cash uh for all the retained earnings and all of the enterprise funds
they're all up um from last year so we're looking pretty good there and um we'll be looking at all of our current ban funds that come due in December and we'll be looking to use some of that retained earnings to cover some of those that we don't have permanently borrow
those within the enterprise. >> Great. Yeah, thank you for that level of detail. I think it's probably worth calling out um the excess interest that we've received from um the bonds that you were mentioning there. That's helped
because we haven't like utilized all of that. But that's not something that we're going to count on in years. Of course, it's been nice so far, but just so the public understands that's not going to continue on where we're going to receive that level of revenue in perpetuity. >> Yeah.
>> Great. Does anyone have any questions or comments? >> No. All right. Thank you, Kim. >> Thanks, Kim. >> Thanks, with 13 million. Nobody's got much to say. Good job. >> Thank you, Kim.
>> At a future council meeting, I'm sure we'll have some discussion, but since it was uh more recent than the uh planned agenda in terms of the free cash certification, we haven't figured out a plan and budget strategy for the upcoming year. Develop
some more details of that. We'll have some more talks at a later date. Yeah, we we had and and if you don't mind, I I we we we started to have a conversation and I think I've brought this up to you about um every time you use free cash
from when it's certified until the the tax classification hearing, there's like this whole accounting function that has to happen. And so we're trying to we're trying to or talking about walking back that tax classification hearing date closer to the free cashert so that we
don't have to do all these functions and then in November we can allocate some of that money if if we want to do that without having to do all that extra accounting work. Um and again I said this to you when we talked the other night. I I love how we have a schedule and there's no surprises. Um, but I
think as we work through this, some of the historical dates of that tax classification hearing was always November because maybe we weren't as efficient and and certainly before that because of an October late October town meeting, right? even even more
appropriately. I think we can start walking that back a little bit so that we can get into a little more functional conversation with the free cash uh a little earlier in the year um prior to Thanksgiving even. Um and again, if if
something comes up that we need to spend money on, we will and we'll do the accounting and that'll be the end of it. But if we can sort of continue to be efficient and and squeeze these dates together a little bit more, it kind of gets us our functionality uh that much
quicker. So, um, but yes, we we do have some thoughts, uh, and and obviously I'd love to to have that conversation at at this level on what, uh, priorities are, um, across the
>> because it is it is, um, quite an increase in free cash and and, uh, prudent investment again with that money uh, wins the day. So, um, thank you. >> Thank you, Tom. Okay. Next under financial matters we
having approve a prior year bill for a ask municipal association workshop. >> Make a motion to approve the prior year bill from Massachusetts Municipal Association performance management BMLA workshop in the amount of $45 to be paid
from the account 1522-5302. Second motion's been made. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. Jim, >> yes. >> Hannah, >> yes. I'm a yes. Marilyn, >> yes. Ralph, >> yes. >> John, yes. >> And Kathy,
>> yes. >> Motion passes. >> And we have approving a prior prior year bill for the Department of Unemployment Assistance. I make a motion to approve a prior year bill for the Department of Unemployment Assistance in the amount
$50 due to a billing error to be paid from account 0199451-5181. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Jim, >> yes. >> Anna, yes. Emmy, yes. Marilyn, >> yes. D, >> yes. John, >> yes. And Kathy,
>> yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. >> Next, we have approval of minutes for our September 23rd meeting. >> Make a motion to approve this September
23rd, 2025 uh regular meeting minutes. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Jim, >> yes. Anna, >> yes. Emmy, yes. Marilyn, >> yes. Ralph, >> abstain. John, I'm yes. >> And Kathy,
>> yes. Passes. Thank you. Okay, next we have no old business. So under new business, we have first discussing the Rotary design plan and next steps. So I think as Tom mentioned in his town manager report, we had that
credible presentation uh back at the end of September with a you know conceptual idea of what the Rotary could look like. Of course, that's just a concept. It's not for anyone watching in the public. That's not saying this is exactly what it's going to look like and turn out to
be. Um, but I think the question now and I'm sure Tom can add some more commentary to it is where do we go from from here? It was a great presentation. Um, but of course if we actually want to the council even want to see something
like that move forward and if we do of course what the next steps we might need to take to uh make something like that a reality. I don't know if there's anything else you want to add to that or if that's a good summary, Tom. >> Yeah, I mean, uh, it is a good summary. Uh,
yeah. Um, we actually had a follow-up meeting, uh, Rebecca and I, with Jeff, uh, Spec and some of the other members of the team at at Spec Dempsey on Friday. Um and the thought was to um provide another option uh sort of
similar but um you know just sort of a different maybe look layout. Um again there was a lot of pieces to this. One was uh sort of the redesign of the intersection, but the
other piece was freeing up a lot of space which is currently pavement for potential other uses as in uh buildings, development, parks, uh pretty much anything we want, right? I mean, this is we say this a lot when we talk about these ideas and initiatives. It's
whatever the town of Isaba wants. Uh essentially, it's free land. uh which is a liability at this point because all we have to do is maintain the pavement. Uh but if in this like in this layout for instance um we're creating all this
space that doesn't exist right now. So uh it's kind of cool on a a bunch of different levels. Uh say nothing of the fact that um you know I don't want to pick our on our rotary too too much. Um, but I think at a fundamental level, uh,
even those of us that have been doing it their entire lives know that, uh, most traffic rules don't apply, uh, um, to to put it mildly. Um, and so
again, uh, I think Jeff alluded to it a couple times during it. This is not a tomorrow solution. uh anything that we decide as a as a group uh is going to take time. Uh it's there's a lot of design, there's a lot
of public input, no doubt. Um and then obviously a lot of funding that um you know and but until we get to is this something that we're going to seriously explore um you know we need to have that
conversation first. And I think that was sort of our idea of what does every, you know, what does everybody think? What what obviously you you you know that the the intersection is inefficient and that there is a solution out there. Uh do we like this
one? Uh do we want to see another one? Uh I think Jeff joked in our meeting on that Friday, uh people like choices, right? You you you even made like this isn't it like this isn't what we're doing. like this is just an option. Um,
but I think maybe seeing another one uh could help. What what what's another option? What's something else look like? The first thing that popped into my head was uh you know we left Prospect Street which is probably has the lowest count of traffic of any of the streets on the
Rotary. Um does it make sense to leave that as one of the legs one of the spokes of the four? I I don't know. Uh, is there is there a layout that keeps Shaker and Maple with their own entrance on the Rotary since there's so much traffic on both those streets? Uh,
again, mostly just to have a conversation about uh what are people's thoughts of what this looks like? Um, and if we were going to point uh a direction for another option,
maybe we could shape that other option into something else. uh that is similar andor totally different. Um and that's sort of the basis for for the whole discussion. >> I'll start with my thoughts if >> Oh, I would be if you
>> um again I think just echoing a lot of the sentiments from what Tom said and I mean of course thanks to everyone that was involved in putting together this first thing and even Rebecca for coordinating a lot of it. It was great to see how much effort went into
>> seeing what could be a possibility. I mean, of course, I think personally there's always some nitpicks you might have with any of these designs and plans, but a lot of that stuff would get ironed out with, you know, actual engineering and design beyond the the conceptual phase. They're not even worth
bringing up at this point. But I do think it is worth moving forward, even if it's not with this exact one, but seeing what a second option could look like, and then we could compare and contrast and and move forward from there. But I do think we need to do something because, you know, our Rotary
has been fine, you might say. It's gotten to gotten us where we are today as a community, but it's definitely not something I think is a long-term safe and sustainable path forward for the town, especially just from a walkability
standpoint. And even when we look towards uh one of our next meeting agenda items talking about a center town district, if we're trying to do something about the center of town broadly, I don't think you can do something with that and ignore the rotary component.
That's that. And I also think a lot of the principles you might find in a plan like this could could end up broadening beyond the rotary, even if not immediately. But u something that Jeff brought up was interesting to me that you know the Mass
Pike has a lane width of 11 ft of pavement and some of these roads in town that we have around the Rotary or in excess of 14 ft per lane which is a lot of pavement both to plow and maintain and spend money on capital projects
wise. So something like that as a standard could be revisited even townwide which is intriguing to me. And then I also think even when we look at um what's currently the town hall building knowing that you know the
future plan in the next 10 years is for that not to be the town hall building given 382 North Main Street. So, if a future design freed up space in front of it, whether there's buildings there or not, there could be some interesting use of the old building and green space in
front of it, whether it's a public market or art exhibition or something. I mean, community events there instead of center field, there's a lot of opportunities there. But those are my broad thoughts, but I
think it's a good idea to move forward with exploration. I agree with Connor. Um I've looked at a number of these over the years and I said this at the the night of the presentation. I mean it was
an amazing um exercise that we all went through. But this plan has potential whereas there we had other plans that had drop deadad parts to it that we could never move forward. Um, I know you
talk about perhaps doing another plan to think about. I can't tell from this plan what kind of an impact the changes are going to have on the people that live in these areas. And that's always important to me um to
to not um do something to, you know, impact someone's quality of life. So, I realize it's, you know, I don't know how we're going to do it and I can't tell looking at this um where the cutthroughs are going to take place. So, um
before we look at another plan, I'd like to see what this plan would do, you know, in that regard because that's a concern. That's that's really the only concern I have right now. >> So, that's what I have to say. And I think he he he sort of touched on that a
little bit and I think he said there was a sliver here or there that that we were going to have to figure out and and I agree with you. I I I don't want to go forward with an option if we if we could get away from sort of taking property. >> Yes.
>> Uh that would be great ideal even. Um and again but I I feel like a lot of this uh stayed out of that again in his own admission. He's not doing engineering. He didn't do surveying on the ground. We don't know where these lines are. Uh we can find the maps now
because they're digitized, which is really nice. Um but I I agree. I I I don't want to I don't want to start taking property away to to get an idea when there's certainly an idea here that's pretty close to not touching
anything. Um but um there there's a there's another interesting point about sort of the geography of our town in that we have this whole other ring that that circles the center that you can get to everywhere you want to get to without going to the center. Right. So now
you're talking about bringing people in the center that actually want to go to the center like for commerce like to stay in the center to go to a restaurant to go shopping something like that where if we can in conjunction with this get some signs up to say if I'm on Route 83
coming into the center I can take a left on Chestnut and get to 91 just as easily as I can going down the hill. Right. we can we can do some more of this in conjunction with this intersection to let people know that they can go another way. You don't have to use Pleasant. Use
Maple Shade and Westwood and Maple and you're out, right? You don't have to do that. Um so I think it's sort of talking about the intersection and outside of it to sort of let people know there's other ways to go if you don't want to go down there, right? Uh there was some there
was some other interesting uh data points about you know how much traffic and again we estimated we extrapolated a five minute count over 60 minutes over however many right and uh once we get those actual numbers which we we do have
a grant for some more sort of engineering work in this area um you know we can start figuring out how much I think he said what 20 2400 cars per leg for this rotary, which is way more
than we put in there now. But the traffic's only going to increase, right? This is what traffic does. Um, and so the question becomes, do we want to design something that can handle all that traffic and invite everybody to cut through our town, or do we want to have
a smaller option like this that keeps everybody in the center and lets everybody sort of loop around if they don't want to come downtown? So, I think that was another thing he brought up Friday is do you go to like a double a double lane
>> rotary that handles all that traffic? it could actually pick up all the traffic that this circle sees now, right? Without without disrupting the throughput. That just means whoever cuts through our town now will continue to cut through our town.
So, that's something else to think about in terms of what we want to see um in terms of traffic. Do we want that circle to to keep handling increases in traffic and we'll take everybody else's traffic? Um, or do we want to sort of advertise
that this is a little circle in the center of town and we'll we'll handle which traffic we think is uh good for us and here's another way around if you'd like. So, there's a lot of sort of a lot of theory around designing an intersection
like this. Uh and again uh I probably butchered Jeff's explanation of it, but um you know >> there there is that other option to support all this traffic in a better way, but we don't have to.
It's just something to think about. >> Other thoughts, Ralph? Um, so I recently drove through six corners in Springfield, which has six roads coming into a rotary. >> And it is amazing how efficient it can
be. Um, when the rules of the road are are normal and know the people in the Rotary have the right away to go around, um, traffic travels through there very smoothly. And I think I think a a true
Rotary would actually handle more traffic than what you would think. Um because people know when they enter, that's it. You go through and you're done. Um I do have a few concerns with dropping this all the way down to four roads, bringing Prospect Street into it.
Like you said, I think uh Shaker Road coming in would make more sense considering Prospect has a lot less traffic on it than uh than some of the other ones. Um but I do think it's worth looking into. Uh maybe coming up with
another option. Um I I do like the idea of like I said um basically making like Connor said the roads narrower. Um, I mean, we've always known that it just feels like a freeway coming in. And I
think a little bit later you'll see some data that we have that supports um certain speeds coming into the rotary. So, >> yeah. >> But I will say he did a fantastic job. Um, it got a lot of people talking, a
lot of people thinking. Um, and I think there's a better way to handle the center. So, >> yes. Do you have any do you have anything you want to sort of add? Did I Did I miss anything from our Friday meeting, I guess, and or not butcher anything too much?
>> Um I might just clarify with one point. >> Sure. >> Uh >> that makes sense. So I think with the design that you have the one lane rotary um around roundabout um he had pro bono asked a engineer to
give like an estimate of what the throughput would be and it looks like the design that we have would create a reduction in throughput. So less cars would be able to move through than what's presently moving each day. So that's the point that Tom's making about, you know, maybe there's a way to
have cars move around to these arterial roads and, you know, keep people that want to go to the center in the center. And the points the other points that Jeff was making that was if you want to have Mass DOT come down in the future
and help fund this, they may not want to um support a reduction in service. And we also have potential new development happening in the indust in the industrial garden park. So maybe you do need a design that's going to at least
maintain the throughput. And at a minimum you it seems like it's worthwhile to have two different designs. One that maintains, one that accommodates. Um, and then we could use one of these other grants that we have to do the traffic analysis for both
designs alongside of the arterial roads. So, it's not just, oh, this this rotary and roundabout can handle this, but what can the town handle in a more comprehensive view? And I think you need to do the sidebyside with the arterial.
That's just me and and really what I pulled from Jeff, I should say. That's what you >> Thank you. Can I follow up real quick? Of course. Um, being on the planning board, I do believe a traffic study had been done of
the Rotary. I'm not sure if it was by Pride. Um, uh, Mr. Bullduck when he was looking to expand that, um, one of the businesses had done it because I know he had delayed because he was going to try and grab theirs so that he didn't have
to pay it for it. Um, but I'm pretty sure through planning we may already have, again, it's a few years old. >> Yeah. >> But it'll get us a general idea of uh the amount of traffic. >> Okay. >> I don't mind taking from someone else.
>> Well, yeah. No, that's uh we might have to go in the basement for that one. Thanks. Uh >> it's fully organized now. Uh, so did you say that Pride did or didn't when they were when they were doing remember we had that
like preliminary meeting with them for the building? >> I'm not sure if they did. I I'm again I know >> I know there was a couple different project. >> There's a file because they had a plan they submitted. Uh, >> right. Oh, okay. I had forgotten that
they submitted that because it had been so long ago. I I'll take a peek. Anyone else have any other thoughts? >> Anything, Kathy? >> Um, I'm listening to what Tom was just speaking about uh the the traffic study
and something in the back of my mind uh just popped up and that was when the MGM casino was coming online back in, help me out here, 2018. Um, I think the I I don't believe the
town paid for this, but I think a traffic study was done >> so that uh we as a town might be eligible for that impact mitigation grant, which ultimately we we did get
funds from. Um, but I can't say with certainty, but it just strikes my memory that there was one done to determine was there a fair amount of traffic coming out of Connecticut going through the Rotary
uh heading to Springfield for the um casino. >> Yeah. So, uh, that was the reason that we got and continue to get the mitigation funds, uh, was the increase in traffic on North Main. >> The traffic study itself, uh, is sort of
lacking. Um, we actually had to make a case last year that more people used Maple Street than North Main Street to get to the casino, which puzzled me because I don't
know why we only they only looked at the increase in traffic on North Main Street, if you can believe that. >> Uh, so I I don't think they actually did it on summer >> business comprehensive. >> Correct. >> Right. Uh we do have uh some data on
North Main, but um I I don't know how much good that would do us, but you're right, we do have that and um that certainly can be given to whoever is going to collect this data for us moving forward. So I think in in summary to me it sounds
like some good next steps would be whatever the second plan option might look like so we can compare and contrast things. Um it sounds like either way whether we have some of this historical traffic study data or not. We probably still would be best served by having
some new and even some more comprehensive looking around. And if the old stuff that we find does exist, it would at least serve to help compare and contrast. You know, has there been increases or staying the same? And then
>> uh like you mentioned as well, some signage improvements both around the Rotary but also around some of those auxiliary roads. And then I think it would also help with beautifification too. you know, something we've talked a little bit about in the past, but if you, you know,
could add more trees and make things look nicer and more inviting, that would be helpful. >> Sure. >> One other comment. As I'm looking here at the the new conceptual plan and then the aerial view of the town center,
>> I'm amazed at that parking lot. All of that asphalt, you know, >> that's all it is. we were all responsible for, you know, approving it because our our parking bylaws are such that you need so many based on, you
know, the use. And when he spoke about um getting rid of some of that and encouraging street parking, which would make it more um walkable or just user friendly and actually slow traffic down down so
you're not having speeders coming through. Um, I'd like to see something done in that area because as as a it's terrible when I look down at it. I I'm embarrassed that we were actually responsible for making a lot of these decisions, but um it's all asphalt and
uh I understand why, but um maybe we can do better. >> Yeah. Well, again, I I I guess I would say um don't be too hard on yourself. Uh, I think >> No, I mean I I think Center Square was a real sort of catalyst for the town at
the time, right? Um, and and like >> adjusted that parking formula after we got into it and realized we didn't need as as the uses grew and needed more parking, we realized we didn't need the parking formula that we had. So, we backed we backed away from it a little
bit. So, >> yeah. And even uh you know Jeff alluded to it again that planning and zoning has been done so in such a way for so long and now we're realizing well maybe maybe that's not the best way to do things and you know put all your stuff over here
and all your stuff over here and you got to drive to get to everything because nothing's near each other near it near each other. So, um, you know, it's it's again that that was perfect in 2000, right? >> Okay. >> You know what I mean? Like that that's what the town needed,
>> right? >> Um, and so this is why we continuously look at all this stuff. This is why we look at the charter every 10 years and the bylaws every 10 years. And you got to you got to keep moving. You can't you can't give yourself a hard time for what
you did 40 years ago. That doesn't make sense, right? You just have to keep getting better and and changing with the times and um >> but a picture speaks a thousand words, doesn't it? >> It is a lot of it is >> I when I got I didn't go to the meeting.
So when I got the uh reminder on Thursday and I looked at this and I'm like there is no way that this can match that. So, I literally took both and put them had them side by side and it was amazing job they did on the uh proposal or not the proposal but the kind of
>> schematic. Yeah. >> Yeah. Concept. And um I mean I think I would be sad to see the Rotary with all six roads go. But I mean I think like if it makes sense, you know, >> there was there was the woman who was concerned that we would lose our
>> identification world. I know. I know. >> That's the police. >> Yeah. >> Our ripples, believe it or not, which my joke has now been to say that ripples, believe it or not, is just a list of things that shouldn't exist in nature.
>> Just overall, um I don't know where we're going with this, but this is like a very exciting first step, I think. >> Yeah, I agree. >> So, just one last footnote. Um, I did see, um, I'm not sure if they were a resident of our town, but I guess they
took it to heart, um, that Shaker Road you could now take a left onto Maple Street because as I was coming up to the intersection, he put his directional on on Shaker and turned on to Maple Street without going through the rotary. Um, I'm not sure if he saw this diagram and
went, I can turn right now. >> Ready? It just shows though how confusing it is when you've used it so many times you don't think twice about it when you're coming in from out of town and you see that >> it's a shock. And I think like you've
alluded to, you know, when we were one of the only or one of the few Rotaries, roundabouts, whatever you call our contraption, >> Rotary Plus, >> um, >> that's what we used to call.
I mean, it was pretty uncommon statewide, but now I think we've seen so many of them be designed and implemented around the rest of the state that the overall rotary design at a state level is improved leaps and bounds over the last 20 years. So, there's a lot of
different ways to do things. >> They just did one in West Springfield. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And I was like, "Oh god, what all this construction?" And now it's like so beautiful. Like it's perfect, so easy. Yep. Great. There's no other comments. We
will move on to our next queue. Thank you, Tom. >> Next, we have our fiscal year 25 metrics from the building and planning departments. >> Okay, >> building. >> Here he comes. George, >> you're on. >> Hi everybody. I'm Will Kane, the
building commissioner here in East Long Meadow. Good evening. Relatively new here. Um, I prepared a couple notes. Uh if everyone has it, I'll just talk through kind of what I have. Um so at the building department, we administer
the state building code and enforce the zoning uh bylaws of East Long Meadow. So we work with a lot of different departments like planning, fire, um health department. You know, we're kind of constantly coordinating with other town departments. Um, I just want to
give a quick shout out to our our team, Michelle, Caitlyn, um, Heath, Dion, and our our new electrical inspector, Corey, who just started today. So, um, we have a great team and everyone's really responsive. Um, we have a couple goals at the building department every day. We want
to be efficient and fair and most importantly available to our residents and our contractors that we work with. Um, and those kind of all tie together. Um, I'm turning to the second page. I'm going to spend a little little time giving you an update on our code
enforcement efforts. So, code enforcement is split between enforcing our state building code, but also our East Long Meadow zoning bylaws. Um, something that I'm really excited about that we've implemented in February is now we have a centralized database. So,
we're we're moving everything digital now. Um, now we have an online form that residents or anyone who feels they need to report a complaint or a code violation can do so online. We also use that tool internally just to intake any
um sort of complaint or report of a violation that we get either in person or over the phone or via email. So just kind of like an intake um tool for us. Now any report of a code violation gets
built into a database. It gets a case number assigned and the whole process we're trying to move to a digital world and that helps us in a few ways. Um, the biggest thing I've seen is when I'm talking to a resident or a contractor or someone in town and they, you know, want
to report a code violation either verbally or over the phone, we're able to do a quick search, you know, whether I'm in my car or on my phone or in the office and our staff can as well and say like, is this something we're aware of or we've already kind of been told about it and we can also provide an update on
where that is. So, that's kind of new. Um, since I've started, we everything was kind of on paper. Um, and that's really been helping us a lot just, you know, when I think when you report a code violation to the town, you want to know that it's getting logged, it's
getting timestamped, you know, and and we're also tracking it. So, it definitely helps us track it as a living database. Um, and we track zoning bylaw violations and building code violations. So, it kind of helps, you know, everything together um
just stay more organized with that. We're also gathering some data so we can actually have something to look back on and analyze. Um not that the town wasn't before, but it's just a little quicker now. And you know, now it's all digital. We can, you know, it's just an Excel
database basically. So, we can kind of use those tools to our advantage and and just help everybody's life along. >> And I can look at it. >> Yeah, everybody can look at it. It's really helped with foyer requests. You know, some folks we get foyer requests, so they want to see what's what's going
on. Now that's like a 15-minute process, whereas before I think you just go through and make copies of everything. Um, so it it just helps our our response time, and that's important, too. Like you don't we don't want anything to go
on. Um, I'm turning a page to the violations received page. So we we kind of went digital in February. Um so since then we've received 71 zoning violations or or logged, excuse me. So these are a mix of proactive and and internal
complaints in taken. Um and then we've also received 25 building code violations for a total of 96. So about, you know, 10 a month or so. Um you know, we have some common code violations. That's also something that
helps us track is like what's the trends, you know, like what what do we see a lot of, you know, what um I think that's just helpful, you know, even on the building code end of things as well because those problems can be kind of more complex than just seeing just a
small, you know, issue. Um, it just helps us stay organized. Um, next page is the status of the violation. So, we're also assigning a status to everyone. Um, and I'll start what it what it means for uh a closed
violation, which is currently as of last week 51% of them are closed. That means that we've done multiple follow-ups to the situation. We've worked with the residents or the contractors or property owners to work through that violation and and we're tracking it as, you know,
a closed issue for now. Um, obviously we still have that data if the issue pops up again. Um, so that that's what we're defining as closed. Um, and then you'll see a lot of our inspections, 34% of
them are in reinspection status. That means that we feel it requires further followup or, you know, a an inspection or we're taking an active enforcement action with that property owner. So, we're either trying to work through a
solution or we need more, you know, property owners need more time. um they all kind of live in that and those are probably our you know larger priority just because um you know we've already made an effort to kind of work through those. We do have 10% of our comp
complaints are labeled as new. So that means they're either in our pipeline to be scheduled with inspection or we've recently taken it. So we're just kind of looking at it before we go out. Um and then a small percentage of them, uh less than 5% is in the draft stage. So that
means we've already reviewed it the initial intake of the complaint or initial report. And it's kind of a work in progress. You know, we we're not necessarily closing it. We're not necessarily reinspecting it, but we're just kind of keeping it there until we
assign. Um the long-term goal with all that information is just just so we have some data to track. we can identify, you know, our mistakes, see how we can improve, you know, getting any of those complaints closed out and addressed
efficiently. Um, and then switching gears to kind of the pure building code administration and zoning enforcement. So on the pure building department end um we're up to
as of last week we're up to 570 building permits which is seems to be on track for a similar number to what you know we did year end from last year. Um you can see there's a lot of plumbing and electrical and gas permits that are kind
of constantly going out. Some of them are bigger, more complicated projects. A lot of them are smaller, you know, residential type stuff. um >> spend any time at the high school? >> Yes, we've been >> um yeah, our our whole team's at the
high school several times a week, >> which is cool to see. I mean, there's, you know, 180 people are working every day, so it's it's pretty neat. We get to see it, you know, a couple times a week or so. So, that's that's really cool. Um,
and I think the only thing, yeah, we're we're on the building department and purely building department end, we're we're tracking for a similar year. Um, I think that's great because there's been a lot of material, you know, uh, issues with with the
economy. So, it's it's good to see that everything's kind of moving. So, projects are still starting and that definitely keeps us very busy. That kind of goes back to my what our team wants with the code enforcement end is that we can just be as efficient as possible with that and then still make sure that
we're accessible to builders and residents on the the building department end because those are very timesensitive projects and we need to give them answers. So, um that's about it. I think that's all I have. >> Great. Well, thank you.
>> Any questions? I'll just I I know Ralph will have some comments, but I just want to say I love the format of these slides in the presentation. It was definitely very easy to follow and informative. So, thank you for putting that together.
>> Let Michelle in our office. >> He's got a good design touch. >> Ralph, I only have two. Um am I assuming the gas permits um when they come in for an inspection that's done by the plumbing inspector also? >> That is. Yeah,
>> he's basically doing over 300 310 between plumbing and gas. >> Correct. Some of those are kind of all together, you know, like a water heater is is like a quick plumbing, gas, and electric. Um, but that's correct. In Massachusetts, plumbing and gas is their
own inspector licensing. And then same deal with electrical. Y >> um other states are different. Um, but Massachusetts, like I have my building inspection license, so we kind of all have our different um areas of expertise.
>> Um, the second is I've got a question with regards to um illegal signage. >> Yes. >> And I'll use one only because I saw it recently like John's gutter cleaning. Yeah. >> That he puts on any town property he can
find. He thinks a car is going by. Do we actually contact who's ever putting the sign out as far as the company and saying, "Hey, these are illegal. Uh, you shouldn't be installing them here. We're going to >> We do. And and I've got about 10 Mr.
Gutter signs in my car right now." Um, yeah, we do. And And I think something that um, you know, they just you take them up on Thursday and they're back by Monday. So, I I think um it would be great if we had
some sort of action. You know, like we call, we reach out and we say, "Hey, please do not put this on town property. It we can't just spend your a time in our day picking them up." But I think there'd be um that could be good to have some sort of other repercussion that,
you know, kind of discourages that. Um >> and I guess that was my next question. Do we ticket them for consistent illegal? Yeah, I don't I don't know that we have a currently have a mechanism to do that, but I think that would be that would be great if we could.
>> Just vi bylaw >> just violating a bylaw, I guess, right? >> General bylaw violation. >> No, our our um I think we need to improve that. And some of them like our our general tickets go to the property owner and a lot of those cases the property owner is us.
>> Oh yeah. >> And >> yeah, don't do that. And and some of them they're really hard to find a name like I know there's one that's like seamless gutter or like um you know not to name any but just you know general
clean up and then there's a phone number and it's it's it's tough. So we need some improvement on that for sure. >> Yeah. I just know like you said um I think you pick it up and by the time you hit the end of the street there's another one replacing it. Sometimes it
actually opens up a space for another I found. Um, some some people are really great though that we prospect corners. >> Some people have been really great though like we reach out and we just explain like, "Hey, this is town property. It's it violates our zoning
bylaw." And they run out there and pick it up like, you know, within a day or so. >> So, I will say the people we do get in touch with that maybe they just didn't know. >> Yeah. because you see it kind of everywhere. >> Um, they've been really helpful. Um, and
they don't, you know, litter our town with it again later. So, >> Marilyn, >> I don't know if I should admit to this, >> but um, in CVS parking lot was a large
truck with a huge sign. >> Yes. >> Um, Fred Smith Jewelers was closing. >> Yes. So, I pulled in and I looked at the sign and I went and I asked to speak to the manager. He had no idea that that was parking lot and I said, "Well, you know, it's against our zoning bylaws and
you're the one that's going to get in trouble." I have >> and it's huge. It's massive, >> right? So, he went out and the fellow moved it, but I guess he just moved it to someplace else in town from what I understand. >> Yes. And he's I it was a part of some jewelry store that was closing actually
in Springfield. Uh I have not seen him in a few weeks, but at one point he was, you know, grabbing lunch in 60 Center Square parking lot. So we have seen that and it's pretty hard to not see. It's massive.
>> Some zoning enforcement has always been difficult. you know, it's it's hard um when you know the bylaws and you're driving through town and you just, you know, count them in a very So then I started saying, "Okay, we need
to look at the impact of what's wrong here." I mean, I started to rationalize, you know, do I get involved? Do I say something to you? Um do you require um a signed written complaint? >> We do not. No, we the way our bylaw is
written is if if we have their information, I'm required to follow up with you. So, that is helpful. But a lot of our >> in the practice, >> a lot of our, you know, folks that utilize the online form or even come in, we we don't require them um to provide
that. The downside is we can't follow up with them. So, if we don't, you know, we can't have that two-way communication, >> but we don't um require that, you know, name and email and address and all that. >> I also wondered about our fence companies and do they know what our
bylaws are? >> Some of them I I have been having more I mean, again, I've only been here for months or so, but I have been having more conversations with folks about where they can and can't put their fences. Um, so I >> on a corner lot,
>> especially on a corner lot. So I I think that's improving, but um, we've been talking about maybe trying to do some more kind of educational pieces like a handout or something like that where we can, you know, offense is a very common question. We probably get that three
times a day. So if we had some sort of educational piece that could kind of help that, that could help educate the contractors as well. We used I don't know if we do we I don't think we have fence viewers anymore. We used to have Do we still have fence viewers? Do you think so?
>> No. There were individuals that somehow went out and looked at at fences and then gave a report to the building department or >> Oh, really? >> Um and it's >> not in your budget. >> I honestly think it was a community
service project and it wasn't paid. It wasn't a paper, >> but we had a situation where the fence was illegal and so the homeowner just planted arborites in the front of the fence, right? >> You don't see the fence anymore, >> but you still have the problem because
obstructive, you know, on the roadway. So, >> of course, >> it's an issue. >> Yeah. And I think that's something in the the zoning bylaw review would be good to look at as well, you know. >> Great. >> I think the uh I think the the metrics here are great, too. Uh we've talked
about it for a couple years in a row about a zoning enforcement officer uh and you can sort of see >> how much zoning takes up the building commissioner's time just in that one slide, right? So, um, you know, obviously we'll see we've we're getting
some data points here, which is great, but I think it's probably going to go a long way to justifying uh uh adding a position for even if it's just part-time zoning enforcement officer at some point uh either this year or next or or
shortly down the road. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Well, appreciate it. Um, >> and next we have Rob for the planning. >> Yeah. >> Hi. Can everybody hear me? Okay, >> we can.
>> Perfect. Um, so it's good to see everybody again. Uh, Rob Lillilla, director of planning. So, I'm just going to give a brief overview of, you know, permits and how they relate to my department. Um, so typically for the permitting side of things, we usually permit for three of the land use boards
in town, which includes the zoning board of appeals, uh, the planning board, and the conservation commission. So, I'm just going to go through each board individually. And mind you, the period that we um, measured for the number of permits was fiscal year 25. So, that's
July 1st of 24 to June 30th of 2025. Typically the way we do permits in our department is that we label um a calendar year next to them versus a fiscal year. So in order for us to kind of measure how many permits we had for each fiscal year, we kind of had to look
through our folders and and splice them out individually. So first I'm going to start with the zoning board of appeals. Um usually for zoning board of appeals in most towns, including ours, they meet on an as needed basis and typically they approve two permits. So you have what's
the called the administrative appeal. Uh typically administrative appeal is when you appeal a zoning related decision of the billing commissioner. Um and then we have what are called variances which is essentially um a justifiable uh deviation away from literal enforcement
of the town's zoning rags for a specific number of reasons. As you can see for FY25, we had two administrative appeals that were filed with the zoning board of appeals and three variances. That's about consistent with what you've seen over the past fiscal year or two.
Um nothing out of the ordinary with that board. Um they've met about I would say in calendar year 2025 they've met three times so far. Uh so typically not much activity going on there. Next, I want to move on to the planning board. And obviously, the
planning board is the special permit granting authority, and they also handle most of the town's land use permits. So, they have a lot more activity than the zoning board. Um, so numbers are also very consistent for the planning board as well across fiscal years. Um, the
only difference I noticed between this year and the previous fiscal year was the number of special permits being more the number of ANRS. So typically you would have your approval not required otherwise known as an ANR be more in
quantity or number of permits filed versus special permits. And a big reason why special permits were so for FY25 we had 10 of them. The reason why they were so high for this year was because we permitted about three massage therapist
facilities and about two to three restaurants in that entire time span. Since then, we have enacted a zoning change in which now we allow for massage therapists to be to go there by rights in the districts where they're allowed versus allowing them through special permit. So, you're going to see that
number most likely go down next fiscal year just because of that zoning change alone. And for the other permits, and I'll give some quick background on what each of these are. So, special permit, just for folks who aren't familiar with what that is, special permits are when a certain land use or certain type of use
of land has to be um authorized by the planning board. They call that discretionary approval. uh you have what's called site plan review in which a development or a project is allowed by right which means the town can't technically deny it unless they don't
meet the upfront requirements of what we're looking for. Uh we only had two of those in fiscal year 25 and I believe the high school it was in 2024 but occurred in FY24 because the public hearings were in the spring that just missed the cut off point for when the
fiscal years changed. Um so that was a pretty low number. Um the number for this fiscal year has already exceeded this number in terms of what was filed. So we're already seeing shifts in the opposite direction. Approval not required is a subdivision control
uh law permit. So it's not really something that's regulated by zoning. It's when a property owner takes a piece of land and they have a surveyor either divide the land or combine two parcels or more into one bigger parcel. So typically with that one you would see
that exceed the number of special permits but because FY25 you had those changes going to effect for special permit you had more special permits than approval not required. Um lastly for the planning board I just
want to say zoning changes was five in total for FY2025. Uh some of those changes included the uh recently, well not so recent now, but uh adopted accessory dwelling unit bylaw, which was a very big effort on the
town's part to promote more um affordable housing and housing options for folks in East Law Meadow. We also had other changes including uh commercial kenneling. We had uh the change for m massage therapist facilities and other amendments which
are escaping my mind but uh that was actually an all-time high over the past few years uh for zoning amendments. So fiscal year 25 is definitely anonym sorry my English isn't so good today anomaly for the number of zoning
amendments we've seen gone through. And I know I just said a lot to you guys, so I'm just going to take a quick second and just kind of transition from the planning board to the conservation commission. So the conservation commission is the last of the three boards that we provide um assistance to
and they also had a pretty busy year as well, but certain numbers do um coincide or are consistent with previous fiscal years as well. Um the number of notice of intents uh has been steady at around
five for 2025. Um so a notice of intent is when a developer who is within either 100 ft of a wetlands or they're within 200 feet of a stream or river has to get approval from the conservation commission to build anything or disturb
anything. Next you have what's called a request determination of applicability. They call that an RDA. Typically, you have those issued when you're kind of in a gray area to determine whether or not a project may or may not need approval from the Conservation Commission.
Usually, those are issued one of two ways. They either do what's called a negative determination, which means you don't have to get any further approvals from the Conservation Commission. You can go ahead and build and get the building permit. or they have what's called a positive determination, which means you do have to file the notice of
intent next. So, you're going to see there's a there's a big skew for RDAs in FY2025. That was because we had um a high number of RDAs surrounding the Happy Acres development in which they had a notice
of intent that was awarded to the entire property for the whole subdivision. But they put this condition in there where they required every single house to be built, every single property owner to get a notice of intent issued by the conservation commission. You don't
typically see stuff like that. Um especially since only three or four of the properties out of the 15 or so lots there that actually are within jurisdiction of the conservation commission. So, per the advice of our
legal counsel and and D, they recommend just making everybody on the site, whether or not they're within jurisdiction of a wetland or even a stream, to just file an RDA anyways. So, that 18 number you see there is definitely way above the average you
would see for that type of permit. Um, typically it's about half that at the most. Um, another thing I wanted to point out too is that the town did adopt a has a tree policy around last year. Um, so what that does
is that allows for folks who have a tree that's within a wetlands jurisdictional area, which means they're either in the wetland or within that 100 ft area. Um, they can have the trees removed in an emergency situation without having to wait for the conservation commission's
approval. So, under state law, under the Wetlands Protection Act, um the Conservation Commission has to approve trees that can be cut down in that area, including ones that present immediate hazard and safety to people in the area.
And the way that works is the homeowner has to first get a certified arborist to deem a tree a hazard, that it needs to come down right away. Because we adopted this policy, Alex from my office, Alex Gregorov, who's our uh planning conservation coordinator, can go to the
site and after the person had an arborist check the tree out, um sometimes they'll go to the site and and meet with the arborist who's already there. They can have that tree removed a lot more quickly than it has been previously. And because of that new policy adoption, we've noticed the
number of hazard tree filings go up more than what they usually are. Um, and I guess just a final food for thought just to take away from everything that I've discussed today amongst the three boards. So, we did implement open gov uh
early on in fiscal year 25. Uh, I think we had to go online for planning board and zoning board in August of last year and then conservation didn't catch on until about the spring of this year. We've noticed it actually improve um
willingness to apply for a permit. And what I mean by that is is so say if a business owner calls, right, it could be a person who needs to get a special permit with the town, whether it's for a restaurant, whether it's for retail, anything that requires it. Um, typically special permits take about a month and a
half, two months to get awarded to you because there's a three-w weekek um, advertising requirements. You can you have to advertise a public hearing for special permits within either 2 weeks or one week before the hearing. It's requirement under state law. And then afterwards, there's a 20-day appeal
period. So, you're taking this process that's pretty long. Because we implemented open gov, the process is now more streamlined. Town departments can weigh in. They can look at the progress of the special permit or any of the other land use permits that we have.
They can easily comment. Everything's transparent. Um, applicants have access to all this stuff. So, they're more confident and comfortable now with applying for these permits because everything is right there. They can read it. They can kind of learn the stuff as
they go. It's userfriendly. So, I've noticed that there's a slight uptick in the number of permits that we've received versus last fiscal year because of open gov alone in conservation. It's too early to kind of tell the impact, but it's definitely impacted the
planning board in terms of people coming in more willing to apply for a special permit for a new business. They're not um scared away because the process might be too confusing. It might be too vague. It might be something they can't do. Too much time, too much effort. because of
OpenGV, it's made that process so much more user friendly for folks in town. So, uh, I know I said a lot of words and I'm I'm definitely open and ready for questions if folks have them in in the audience. >> Ros, >> Rob, I only have one quick question. Um,
do you know if the DPW has a standing uh notice of intent uh through conservation to do um the cleanup along the streets and all? I know uh I know it's available. I know they can do it so that uh if there's an issue or whatever, they
already have one in place. Um and they don't have to go in front of the board. I know they've done it once in the past that I know of. I know Wilberham has one. uh their DPW does it every single year and that way they're if a tree falls it's in the wetlands or if they
have to go into the wetlands to accommodate something they don't have to constantly go in front of the the conservation. >> So Alex could definitely speak to that better than I can, but I know yes, they do have a blanket notice of intent order
of conditions. They've gotten to the point where it was approved a certain time ago. I don't know when that was and when the expiration for that order of conditions is. So basically the order of conditions is the set of conditions that are agreed upon between the applicant and the conservation commission.
>> So kind of like how when with the special permit you have a set of conditions that are applied to a property. Order of conditions the same deal but they have a timeline in which you have to complete every single one of those conditions before you can fully close out the permit. In the DPW's case, I believe they have that order of
conditions active in perpetuity. Alex told me there's a deadline coming up. I don't know when it is, but I'm sure we can find out. Um, it allows for DPW to do work in town owned properties. And I don't know if that includes the right of way because typically the right
of way is not in the jurisdiction of Kong unless it goes over a wetland um for any reason. But yes, Ralph to answer your question, there there is suchations. >> I think I honestly since I applied for the first one, uh
>> I knew that. >> I know you did. Uh I thought we had a five-year uh which would have been like 19 to 24 >> I feel like or 23 maybe it was 18 to 20 something like that. So I think
>> we have a couple more years on that one. But again, it's only as good as it's written and followed. Uh there are certain thresholds that the DPW just can't drive a backhoe into a brook, right? Uh they can walk into a brook and
remove a branch that or use a shovel or some not a mechanical, but yes, we do have one on file. There's a whole bunch of things, most of which when you get to a point, they're at least notifying the conservation commission that they're out there. Okay. Um, and utilizing their
existing permit. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Good job. >> Yeah. Thank you for the information. >> Thanks, Rob. >> Yeah, you guys made that easy for me. I appreciate it. >> Thank you, Rob.
>> Okay. Next under new business, we have the speed limit radar detector sign data. Hey, chief. Chief, >> get anything counselors? >> Chief. >> Oh, my uh fellow department had set a
high bar. So, uh but I will try to uh at least meet them. Um so hopefully everybody got a copy of the report um that I uh that uh was prepared I should say um regarding this. I I did it with
some assistance as I noted from artificial intelligence um which uh produced those those charts to make this a little bit easier to understand the uh the data that comes out of these signs. It gives a lot more and I really just wanted to condense it down to what
seemed to be the most logical thing to pay attention to. Um, so just a little history on these signs for uh for uh to re recall uh for everybody here to recall or for the public's information. Uh these were purchased uh
10 signs were purchased with the casino mitigation fund money from FY25 I believe. uh total of $45,820 um at uh again no cost to the town uh through the casino mitigation grant that
that funding included the signs themselves, the hardware of the solar panels, uh the initial set of batteries that are in them. Um and the uh I guess subscription service we need to extract
the data out of them. Um the uh signs were uh posted at various locations. Uh Lieutenant Manning and I um uh decided kind of a mix of initial place to put these kind of thinking um where traffic
volume is. Uh where we thought uh you know we suspected speed violations may be higher. um and certainly sensitive uh more sensitive areas to speed like especially near schools and things like that. So that's what it went into our initial kind of decision making around
where to put the signs initially. Uh the data that came out of them and and it produced over two separate reports. So there's 10 signs total. Um each page has five of the signs. Uh and uh I would say the data is um
somewhat mixed right now. um in terms of uh uh the results in terms of not reliability is not the right word I want to use but um I think we learned some things in pulling the data out of these signs. One we had uh some problems
pulling the data out. Um which admittedly was probably more user error than technical error. Um so it has been a learning lesson um and and how to get the data out. So, these signs will store data for about 6 months before they
start overwriting. Um, and they were installed, I believe, in like March or early April. Then, it took us a little bit of time to go around and program them uh to set them the way we wanted. They default at to be programmed at 25 mph speed limit. They just had turn them on and they they just assume the speed
limit is 25. So, any area that wasn't a 25 zone, we had to go around and reprogram it. And and we can and the settings are customized where we can uh we can set when do we want the numbers to start flashing? When do we want that strobe light that you see? Um admit it. We all see it. Don't say that you've
never seen the strobe light. I see it all the time. Uh at what point does that activate and say, "Hey, pay attention. You're going you're going too fast." So, um I think what I've learned uh again I'm trying to be brief um in this data. I was initially like, "Wow, the the some
of these speeds are are actually lower than I expected." Um, and but what we've discovered is I think some of this has to do with placement of the sign. Uh, best example of that is probably Maple at Fair Haven. Um, where that sign is
placed uh catches the traffic slowing down to turn onto Westwood. So, I think that artificially lowered that number quite a bit. Um whereas you see then down the street Maple and Norwood, you see a much different result in terms of the speed measurement compared to the
speed limit. Um, I think Prospect Street, uh, the sign there as well, I think is a little closer to the intersection of Chestnut, um, to the point where I don't think traffic is necessarily at full, you know, normal
full acceleration where maybe I I think if it was, uh, placed in a slightly different spot there, there would probably be some higher readings there. Maybe not significant, but um um some um and
uh Kibby Road as well. Uh Kibby Road, we we actually have access to some data from a different provider that indicated Kibby Road in terms of proportion of cars going over the speed limit and and the um uh you know that that was one of
the highest spots in town. So, we did want to put a sign there. Um, I I do think uh again the Kibby Road one maybe if we try relocating it may we may see a different result. Of course, it's certainly possible that these signs are doing their job. And so, I don't want to
discount that and that maybe they are actually drivers are seeing numbers and and slowing down. So, I I don't want to discount that. Um, but uh having said that, I I I am going to re-evaluate where some of these signs are and and and also maybe and totally move them to
different streets because it was never the intent to just plant these all of them anyway in one spot and never move them again. Certainly Elm Street, I think, you know, arguably given the schools, you know, and the and the little kids walking there and things that that's probably a spot I'm we're probably always going to keep, I would say. But there some of these other
locations I I I certainly think are open to be moved. Of course, there's a lot of considerations that go into where you put these. Um not in just where do you think they would be most effective, but also, you know, what's underground when you're driving a signpost into the
ground. Um not every resident wants a sign with flashing lights out in front of their house or another object to mow around. Uh I can certainly appreciate that. So, as somebody who does not enjoy mowing a lawn, so um there there's a lot
of things to look at. Um but I am thankful for uh getting these. I I think um uh I think as we continue to hopefully um you know evaluate where these are, uh I want to my my initial
thought here going forward is wait another two or three months and then maybe pull data again. this time we'll pull it the right way. We we we've figured out how to do it without, you know, we we lost some data on one side on one side. Uh you know, North Main at
Brookke that I noted that we only had, I think, three days of data is factored into this there versus the others. Um hopefully we've learned our lessons and the and the next the next data poll will I think produce um more consistent data
and then we can look at also moving these. Um and lastly, just to explain what the numbers mean, um the uh the 50 50 uh percents you see 50th percent and 85th percent uh those are percentiles,
which means uh the the vehicles measured were traveling at or below. So 50% at or below that speed, 85% of the vehicles at or below that speed. And pace range uh is actually a more valuable statistic.
uh the uh traffic engineers tell me uh than than average speeds. Uh pace range is a the 10 mile per hour range that most vehicles are traveling. So that is less sensitive to congestion and other things which may period which you know
slows traffic down of course um and tends to uh you know produce more a better picture of what's really going on. Any questions? Would you consider putting one on Peas Road?
>> Peas Road. Yes, that's on my very short list of places to >> There's a rightway to >> go right away there. >> Right on volunteers. >> Yes, >> right away there. >> Um, no. Peas Road is definitely that is
another spot that I know could use it. Um, and I uh want to do definitely do something there. We do also have a device now, but it's I think it's inoperable, so I'm going to be looking to replace it. But we do have a speed measurement device that is uh stealthy
uh that we you know, I call it like the secret squirrel. It just it mounts on a pole and and drivers can't tell what it is. I can't even tell what it is cuz um and and it just it just measures speed and then we can pull data off of that. And that's a really good tool to use,
you know, in in places where we're getting complaints because then it kind of validates or maybe sometimes challenges uh the observations of people, but because drivers can't see it, you know, it's not likely to affect their behavior. So, I think it gives you
a truer sense of of what's going on. >> So, there's a squirrel in the capital plan. Is that >> Oh, it's it's it's not even a capital item. It's actually uh not not terribly expensive. So, get a couple.
>> I will say the data was very intriguing. Um, like I said, going through um because I know in some areas you hear the neighbors say, you know, everyone speeds down the street and at least seeing some of the data, you realize that it's probably the ones that are
speeding are really doing excessive and the general consensus looks like it's pretty close. Um, I mean, obviously there's a few areas where the speed limit's 25 and if you're doing 40, guess what? seems like you're flying. So,
>> Right. Right. And and and I mean, you all know Elm Street and Maple Street, both, you know, where their 25 zones are. um you know they're they're straight roads and and I I think a lot of drivers uh not every driver pays
attention to speed limits and a lot of people just drive what they feel is comfortable and reasonable and sometimes just kind of to the conversation earlier around uh the rotary design and and narrowing of streets and things. Sometimes just the design of the road uh invites people who aren't necessarily
watching uh their speed intently uh to drive certain ways. So that was actually exactly what I was going to say because I mean I think as Ralph pointed out a lot of them are actually pretty close and near the range you know plus or minus a couple. So, you know, while some
people might be speeding excessively, the data doesn't really show that most people are doing that. But I think to your point, it does kind of show that in some of these areas where there is a variance, it's because unless you're avidly paying attention to the sign, the
road design, like we saw in that uh rotary presentation, makes no indication that the speed limit is changing because it's the exact same straight road, just a different speed all of a sudden. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I suspect the North Main at Brook sign I'll be happy to see
more than a three-day spread on that. Um I suspect that that one will probably yield some of the highest. >> I see that strobe. Absolutely. >> I've seen that. >> Oh yeah. I I see it. I see it occasionally myself. >> So, >> Chief, has this influenced any other like enforcement mechanisms or
>> uh Certainly. Yeah, I mean um I this we can definitely look at these and and make decisions on where we want to officers to be enforcing more. We we've or with this year's casino mitigation grant money. Uh we have ordered more uh
radar units for our cruisers. Um uh we didn't have enough. So uh those are on order right now. Hoping they come in. Um I think the ship date right now is early December. So before long, all of our front line cru cruisers will have that equipment
and >> hopefully enforcement will be able to happen more consistently when we're better equipped. >> Looking at the data, you better just tell Kathy because Kippy Road's really up there. >> I take no part in those statistics.
I think the last thing that I saw too which was nice um was that it also had traffic volume. So as we were also just talking about wanting to know some traffic obviously it's not super sophisticated like a might have but at least it gives
us some better idea of how many vehicles are traveling on these roads whereas before it was just kind of anybody's guess. >> Yes. which would also help to your point if we put them in some different places and moved them around town. Start to get a better picture of what each of the roads
look like. >> Good point. >> Yeah. >> Any other comments, questions, thoughts? No. Thank you for putting it, Chief. >> Thank you. Thanks, Chief. >> Okay. Next on the agenda, we had
discussing the municipal empowerment act support. Uh this was something I put on there. So as Tom um included in previous council packets for us in his report um information about the
municipal empowerment act. Um I had also seen from the Mass Municipal Association that there's upcoming um public hearings from the joint committee municipalities and regional government on the municipal empowerment
act and they're accepting both written and oral testimony uh before them. And so I was mostly interested if the council thought that the municipal empowerment act had good components to it if we wished to submit some written support in
favor of it. um for the public's benefit. There's a whole bunch in there, so I'm not going to read all of it, but there's uh some changes to procurement, uh kind of not eliminating the rules, but relaxing some
of the thresholds to easier to make purchases. Um it would also permanently support the remote public meetings and hearings. So, it's kind of been something that ever since CO has happened has just been
extended and extended, but rather than it expiring in 2027, this would make it permanent, which I think has been beneficial to us. I know each of us at some point has zoomed in and rather than just having to miss the meeting, we're
all able to continue to participate and >> help support the town. Um, looks like there's some stuff in there for double poles when, you know, utilities are replacing utility poles and then the cable companies don't come
along and do their part after the fact. Um, and then there's some additional uh local option revenue taxes, whether it's increasing meals, lodging, or vehicle excise. Um, I mean, we're a
little too late for this, but it would also allow longer borrowing terms for school projects. I think it I don't know what the final act said, but before it was extending it from like 30 to 40 years or something like the same. >> And I think there's even more to it, but
that's just a quick summary of things that are included in there. So just leave it open to your thoughts if there was any interest in us um submitting any support. >> It's a good idea. I mean it has a lot of
red tape cutting regionalizing things kind of loose loosening those rules. Um I mean the only maybe concern would be the taxes but it's not like we would be forced to add those on. it would be sort of a maybe a break the glass
um you know if we ever needed them in the future. Um so I think yeah I I think all the components and especially codifying public meeting not only for our board but all the other boards we have in town to be able to have you know
folks continue to participate in kind of a more flexible way. >> Any other comments or thoughts? I'm just curious, is this like an all or nothing the municipal empowerment act? So, in other words, um if it passes, all of
these are passing or are they looking at still adjustments to it and um like certain pieces of it would be approved where others may not? >> Um it's hard to know. So far they've said that the public hearing will be on
sections 1 through 17, 20- 44, 73 through 82, and 87. So it seems like they might be trying to cherrypick the parts that they like, but I think it's being presented as the whole thing. And then they may, the legislature may not go forward with some things. They may
keep some things. >> Yeah. They're looking for specific testimony on on this stuff, >> on what you like and what you don't. >> Yeah. Well, I I think on those sections that that they mentioned that they're looking for Ted, so I don't know what 18 and 19 are. That's not
>> Maybe they don't want your testimony, Ralph. Uh no, I mean, maybe maybe testimony is not appropriate. >> Yeah, >> I don't know what it I don't know what it is. >> Um but I mean I I don't know from from an operational standpoint, most of these
are uh you know, more pros than cons for sure. And again, I don't know a a piece of legislation like this anywhere in the world that's not going to have things you like and don't like. That seems to be the flavor of the day. Uh but there
are a lot of things operationally that could help out and like John said, some of the things that maybe you don't like are just local options anyway. Um so, um it'd be interesting to see if it, you know, that when that does become general
law, do we have to accept the whole thing? Right. If we don't want to accept the section, then we won't. >> If that's an option, >> if that's an option, you're going to go >> and I guess that's part of my concern is
to send in an agreement and say yes, we agree with it when then there's certain parts that we're not in full agreement with. Um, >> if we do, we could make it very specific about the parts that we are in support of, but make it clear that we're not in
broad support of any other unnamed section. >> And we each um individually we can each do it also. Correct. >> Yeah, we could individually do it or if you wanted I could do it on our behalf. But I just figured I would put it out there in case.
>> Yeah. These are the things that like, you know, maybe in the past you thought that, you know, your opinion wasn't heard or not counted. Like they listen to the comments of these things and they maybe they don't go into every decision, but >> right >> that's now in the public record that
some people didn't like this so much and it went in anyway. Um, which is functional. I think from a data standpoint >> there's strength in numbers. I mean if there's you know only a few towns that endorse it or if it's majority of
communities that might make a pretty big impact on probably what they're considering or if there's a particular area that a lot of communities are like let's pump the brakes on. Maybe it is the taxes. >> Yeah. Local options >> like the 30b from 50 to 100,000. the
schools are already allowed to do that by state law and so it would just be letting the rest of the municip follow the same rule. So you know like there's not really much argument against that I don't think but nothing you can't get anything for 50,000 these days.
>> So is it the what's the pleasure of the council? Do we want to submit anything individually if we feel so inclined or do we want to do anything from a overall council perspective? >> My thoughts on some of this is probably
completely different than the rest of the members of the board. I will be submitting some on my own. Um but if the board wishes to do something, I I'm fine with that also. Any
other thoughts? >> And a lot of this is very good by the way. Um, a lot of things make sense. >> Oh, that's the best fold of 100,000 >> um >> individual. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Only also because I mean obviously
there >> Oh, of course. >> that you know need to look over before we're >> Yeah. >> sending our support. Sounds good. Thank you. So, next um action items for our next
meeting. Uh we can follow up on the transparency with the website. The next meeting will be October 28th. Um so, we already did the stuff for the
14th. I know we have upcoming the um first reading of our center town district bylaw to then send to the planning board for their uh process and review. And I think that's the only thing that
I'm aware of that we have scheduled for the 28th. Am I missing something? >> Um BPW metrics. >> Oh, that's right. Yes. since they didn't make the cut off for this meeting, we'll talk about next and then at that point we're way through
all the town departments on getting an update. >> Yeah, thanks for uh allowing that to happen. I I keep stressing to them that uh it seems like all we talk about is sort of budget and when things go wrong, but um a lot of great people do a lot of great work for the town of East S and I
just want to kind of keep showcasing that. >> Yes, I agree. >> I know you do. Great. There's no other action items. We have no executive session and I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Made and seconded. Any further
discussion? Seeing none. Jim, >> yes. >> Shannon, >> yes. >> Yes. Marilyn, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And Kathy, >> yes. >> Motion passes and we are adjourned at 7:56. Thank you. >> Thanks all. Bye, Cath. >> Good night. site.