##VIDEO ID:uFFKufXZ5zc## all right good evening and welcome to the September 24th 2024 meeting of the East Town Council I'll call the meeting to order we have uh Marilyn absent tonight and John is participating on Zoom so we'll do roll call votes for everything this we could stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge flag of the United States of America and to the Republic and I'd ask that we take a moment of silence to reflect on all the events going on both near and abroad thank you in accordance with Mass General law I have to announce that this meeting is being uh video recorded by elcat and if there's anyone else in the audience if you could identify yourself seeing none we can continue so public comments we had someone signed up Christina Brooks regarding uh our proh our prohibition um marijuana inam is she in the audience or on the zoom I spoke with her last week and she was going to come so well if she happens to show up we could always Circle back to that but we do have the letter in our packets that she had sent to Genie and I so have that a supporting reference is there anyone else in the audience that would like to make a public comment I seeing none Town manager comments is there any counselor with a comment all right seeing n to manager report hi Tom hi how are you good how are you uh so we'll start by uh thanking the Islam fire department for hosting another uh September 11th ceremony once again uh well attended uh providing a a a sort of a great tribute to um everybody we lost that day um uh it always makes me think of how much I'm appreciative of our uh service men and women uh both the Armed Forces but also fire police EMS um keeping us all safe every day um and again uh there were many in attendance uh many people here were in attendance uh some of our uh legislators obviously were there as well so thanks to everybody um the the comments were we're moving um and just a good reminder of uh uh that we can't forget what happened that day uh still emotional sorry uh attached um I had put some more of the uh weekly reports from the school uh just two since the last time that we I gave a report but um it looks like they're still moving around along very well we've had the weather's cooperated greatly obviously that's helped um so everything's looking good the the the School site is is pretty flat and clear and ready for uh concrete and steel and uh sort of that first package that uh um really we'll we'll see things starting to take shape out there in terms of the new building so that's very exciting um that's looking like uh mid to late October or something like that so um we started getting uh the or spending our the gaming uh funds that we got the grant um chief Williams got a bunch of the radar speed signs um DPW is getting ready to to install those um we also got some money uh for a feasibility study to connect the sidewalk from right in front of the high school down Maple and to connect at Westwood which I believe stops at Palm Street uh and uh which you know we spent so much time talking about that CR that crosswalk and the sidewalks on Maple this this year starting school so um that would actually be a tremendous Loop uh to close um and and I mean you you can get anywhere you want at that point basically in the downtown area so that'll be nice and then the uh the rail trail get right into it so um the uh later this month we'll Begin work on our uh digital Equity planning Grant uh through the uh MBI Mass Broadband initiative um we actually had the first meeting at 3:30 today uh kimley horn is helping us out with that uh the consultant uh to try to see uh identify local digit digital Equity targets populations and uh resources to uh address the needs of the populations in town so um should be valuable prepwork uh that supports the town's transition to fiber so um we're we're excited about that thank you to kimley Horn as well um couple CPC project updates um the front portion of the barn at brown farm has been uh demolished and removed uh thanks to DPW for getting that done uh and their contractor MJ mccurnin Enterprises of Foxboro uh they were out there Wednesday last week and it was done by Friday I think they just got their equipment out of there so I mean they were there for for three days um we also signed a contract with birkshire Design Group uh for the sports field study uh on that property on Chestnut Street uh we have a kickoff meeting scheduled for next week um to get a timeline uh once the leaves start falling it'll be easy to do some some survey work and uh kind of get a lay of the land out there um CPC deadline November 1st for applications for this round um it's typically October and April but um there was sort of a change order in uh they had a reorganization of the board and I think they were trying to get all the existing products projects sort of in line uh and so they bumped it out a month which uh should give us a little time to to get some things together um there's a lot of interest on on those on those funds as well um joint meeting with West Mass development and mass d uh to discuss 70 Street last week um it was sort of a preliminary meeting for uh D to sort of let us know what their expectations are uh sort of what we plan to and can do uh and what that schedule might look like um and again like I said we we're working on the Brownfield Grant that's due in November at some point so um that that'll be nice to to at least get a plan together to clean up that site um for now uh upcoming events cof with the town manager October 2nd uh 10:30 at the COA the rotary clubs uh celebrate elel October 12th that's from 11 to 4 at center field that's always well very very well attended so um mark your calendars uh third annual October Fest uh put on by the rec commission that's October 19th 12 to4 at the A4 mentioned brown farm uh little more open up there now um and a center Town District um this is the public engagement meeting uh October 21st from 600 to 8 here at the COA um we expect that to be well attended again uh we'll have all the data from the surveys done um and and I think the the goal there is to really map out the location that we want this own to to H be housed um and then sort of keep pushing forward on what do people want what do they don't want what makes sense what doesn't make sense so uh we expect that to be another Well attended uh event um that's all I got for tonight we we uh we got some some good news uh good news we uh we'll I have some action items I guess I'll I'll let you in on later for our October 8th meeting we got a ton of things to go over from uh free cash certification schedule a was also so uh was also approved um by DLS today um we'll have all we were planning on having a report for all that on the eth we got it way earlier than we thought we were going to so but that came in today I I know most of you saw that email um so that's uh that's it for tonight right good thank you any questions for Tom yeah through the chair sure um just curious how the pricing came in up at the brown farm for the down was it better than what we expected it was much better than what we expected yes great thank you yep right saying nothing else we'll move on to Communications correspondence and announcements uh the first item there was a letter of support for PPC for a HUD housing Grant in my error I was going to bring this before you before I submitted myself as uh you know signing on to the letter but I misread the deadline of the letter and I thought it was before our next October meeting um but that said it was you know fairly straight forward uh request that they were just seeking some Federal grant funds which would hopefully help out both not only pvpc but potentially our town so seems like it would be the more the better I thought I was gonna do that quick too and to it but it's okay we we the manager's office is in support as well and then the second thing as Tom mentioned uh you know off the press today was the certification of free cash so we'll have more upcoming on that but it was a good thing it came in sooner than expected yes sooner than we were prepared I have nothing else under that and we have no public hearings so we'll move on to orders of the day licensing matters the first matter is approve a change of dbaa application from Barrera Incorporated to barera Incorporated doing business M laon from previously doing business as toito at 621 North Lane Street so we have the application for that for us which was originally submitted to Genie and then at 4 o'clock this afternoon I believe you said we received an updated version of that with some differences given that new information and the fact that none of us have had a chance to bet it and make sure that it's all appropriate in an order I'm personally am not in favor of approving the change of DBA at this point but I'll certainly leave that up to all of you on how we should proceed with that item on the agenda the chair what are some of the changes J can you elaborate so the original application that came in in September September 9 had the manager signing the application with the corporate vote for the manager and the new papers they submitted was the president signing the application with a new corporate vote I I just like to review it and make sure the president is listed on the corporate structure that the Secretary of State office has and go through it before I even give it to you guys for review so that's why I'd have I'd like more time and I told the applicant that that we might not be able to approve it tonight because of that so okay so if we're favor we will move that to our next meeting on October 8th for considering approving the change of DBA the motion continue it I move that we continue um approval of the DBA application from Barrera Inc to our next meeting which is on October 8th yes second motion's been made in second in is there any further discussion seeing none we'll do a roll call vote Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John yes okay we will continue that on October 8th next item is approval of a one-day liquor license for St Paul the apostles church for fundraising for Seminary and is their a motion I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for St Paul the apostles Church 235 Dwight Road for fundraising for seminarians event on October 12th 2024 from 6: to 11:00 p.m. second it motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion none yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John yes and we have item number three another one day liquor fil for Vietnamese new yor celebration fundraising I make a motion to approve a one-day lequer license for St Paul the apostles Church 235 Dwight Road for a Vietnamese New Year celebration fundraiser event on October 13 2024 6 to 11m either me or John motion's been made second and thirded is there any further discussion all right Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes yes and John yes great and item four we have two one-day liquor licenses for St Luke's gree orod Orthodox church for the taste of Greece I make a motion to approve the two one-day liquor licenses for St Luke Greek Orthodox Church on 400 Prospect Street for the taste of Greece Greece on October 18th 2024 from 2: to 8:00 p.m. and October 19th 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I'll second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John I'm a yes great and then one more one-day liquor license for oneway brewing for the brown farm October Fest uh I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for oneway brewing for the brown farm October Fest 64 hamen Road October 19 19 2024 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. second motion's been made and seconded any further discussion Jen yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John I'm a yes great then uh financial matters we have approval of a bill from a prior year for the clerk's office uh for an invoice from the reminder publishing is there a motion I make a motion to approve a bill from a prior year for the clerk's office for a $390 invoice from the reminder to public publish the fy2 capital projects second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Kathy yes M yes R yes Anna yes and John I'm a yes great approval of minutes we have approving the September 10 2024 special meeting minutes uh I will make a motion to approve the September 10th 2024 special meeting minutes second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion say none Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna I I okay one exstension and John I'm a yes the approval of the September 10th Open Session minutes approve the September 10 2024 Open Session minutes second motions seconded any further discussion Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna same and John I'm a yes then moving under old business we have a proposed p Amendment relating to commercial kenneling this is article 11 definitions article 8 special permits and table 3-1 the schedule of use regulations for first reading this was under old business because this was something that had previously [Music] come before us many months ago but language hadn't really been crafted at that point it was more of a discussion point but since then the planning board has gone through and submitted a recommendation to us and so we're starting the official reading process at this point so included we have the memo from the planning department which I can read so that to us and Janie the CL from Rob the director of planning on September 18th 2024 at the September 7 2024 meeting of the Isam planning board the board reviewed proposed amendments to the town of Isam zoning bylaws article 8 special permits article 11 definitions and table 3-1 schedule of use regulations see attached the board voted unanimously to recommend that the Town Council rece and adopt the Amendments as presented the text in blue indicates language to include while red stried through text indicates language to be deleted the advertised public hearing and the board's decision on this vote is duly noted in the minutes in the recording of their September 17th 2024 meeting respectfully submitted Robert waill the director of planning through the chair before we go any further I need to abstain from uh this article um I have a financial interest I've done work there and so I don't think it would be appropriate thank you Ralph so at this time is there someone that would like to read in the proposed amendment I can do that okay article 11 definitions we have subsection [Music] 450-1201 36a and 170 um I don't read I don't to read the red part that we've have to say oh we do okay reming um any structure or pre premises in which dogs Andor cats are kept boarded breed or trained for commercial gain instead we are um adding an establish an establishment used for the boarding or overnight stays of cats and dogs that are not the property of the owner of the establishment at which such services are rendered in exchange for consideration and in the absence of the owner of any such cat or dog provided however that commercial kennel or boarding shall not include an animal shelter or animal control facility nuisance dog a dog that won by excessive barking or other disturbance is a source of annoyance to a sick person residing in the vicinity or two by excess excessive barking causing damage or other interference a reasonable person would find such Behavior disruptive to one's quiet and peaceful enjoyment or three has threatened or attacked livestock a domestic animal or a person but such threat or attack was not a grossly disproportionate re reaction under all circumstances and pet daycare and grooming is the same relieving yeah that's the same okay the caring for maintaining grooming training and safekeeping of pets of a domestic nature during normal daytime business hours this does not include overnight kennel services okay article 18 you said is that eight special permits subsection 450-8627 relevant local state and federal regulations three in regards to this section subsection such crat crates slash enclosure cell have a raised floor or bedding to keep animals off of the bare floor and or the bottom of a wire crate B floor shall be non-slip and easy to clean C the facility facility shall have adequate ventilation and administration as to prevent humidity and odors from building up while allowing for air circulation D proper drainage to prevent still or standing water from collecting in any enclosure floor and play areas e facility shall have climate control and be habitable all year long F crates enclosures shall have safety features including latches locks Etc to prevent accidental escape and injury G appropriate facility shall be on site for the cleaning of animals H the facil facility shall have a source of fresh drinking water I outdoor areas dedicated ated to the free roaming of animals or outdoor play areas shall be fenced in at all times J no features of the facility shall present any harm both immediate or longterm and longterm to animals that are boarded and kept overnight at the facility five if the commercial kennel includes the boarding of dogs bu follow follow shell also Following also apply maybe um a solid walls partitions covers must be erected in between crates closures in order to ensure separation both physical and visual between dogs B staff to dog ratios should be one staff for every 10 dogs C play groups shall exceed no more than 10 dogs and shall consist of dogs that are in the same size Group D same size oh size groups also be same size groups shall be categorized as shown below one small dogs up to 25 PBS two medium dogs 26 to 60 PBS three large dogs 61 pounds and above e there shall be separate play areas for each size group F no toys besides toy balls are allowed within play groups G no shared feeding area shall exist and dogs must eat separately in order to prevent resource guarding and potential dog fights H facilities shall have exterior Green Space to allow for dog potty braks I outdoor play areas shall have the following fence sites I or one at least four feet in height for play groups consisting of small dogs two at least six feet in height for play groups consisting of medium and large dogs J aggressive reactive and or nuisance dogs shall be isolated from other dogs at all times six the planning board may include the following conditions a hours of operation B pickup and drop off times these can also be staggered C frequency of animal control inspections D total number of animals allowed at the facility e sound proofing of the facility all right now we have changed the table 31 schedule abuse regulations so bylaw number four land use classification commercial kennel and we went for special permit and I industrial yes and then under standards and conditions C article 8 okay yeah but changed good right readings probably water so then at last time how would I mean we would still have to take a second reading at some point but it's up to the council whether we would like to refer to a subcommittee or take different action at this point so through the chair um just a note usually anything to do with um zoning is referred to the planning matter subcommittee um anything to do with just a general byw goes to the general bylaw committee um it does say in our rules and regulations that it shall will be submitted to them so we should do that before the second reading yes okay so is there a motion we need to make a motion that's submitted to the we should byw committee yeah I'll make a motion to submit matters matters and planning matters yes I make a motion to submit recommendation this recommendation to planning and BW committees just the planning matter sub planning matter subcommittee say okay motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes yes and John I yes great you oh okay okay do you want to read that wanted to make sure we gave you like everything you're all good we are for now thank you you all right so new business our first item was to discuss the Health Department's recommendation of an increase to the disposal fee from $15 to $30 so they had submitted back on September 19th uh memo to us stating that on September 4th the Board of Health met inv voted to recommend to the council that we increased the mattress disposal fee from $15 to $30 of course it's the council's um Authority given the Fe fine and penalty scheduled that we approved and that big long one that we've read multiple times lately um as to whether we make any sort of change my thought on the matter is I I don't love having to go through outside of the normal budget process since we're already going to be doing this annually and the town manager ideally is recommending in his budget any increases or decreases in Revenue um and it would be an additional cost to us doing this out of band having to advertise public hearings and so forth to change the bylaw to increase it um overall I don't necessarily have a problem with changing the fee but I don't know that it's appropriate at this time outside of the the budget cycle but certainly open to if we didn't do it now when would it it could be included in the upcoming budget cycle that'll probably kick off in the next month or two but it wouldn't that part of the budget was approved it would whatever that second reading of the fee schedule before July 1st so that everything would kick in in July 1 so it would be really the next fiscal year that it would take effect yeah yeah I think that's the only the only shortcoming would be that this price is changed because the price of moving mattresses has changed and if we need to supplement that budget at some point I I don't know that it's going to be that big of a deal we can't wait um but that that could be something that have to move some money over to get rid of mattresses at some point so one way or another we're spending money right Genie do you know how much it on average cost us to advertise something uh let's see this is probably between 15 and like that we'd have to recycle a lot of mattresses make up that difference in the mean yeah I do agree I think it's cleaner to do it all at once the fee table so just um I had a discussion with beny today with regards to this um she said we've been averaging about 45 um at least 45 mattresses every month oh and oh yeah which surprised me because I was thinking it was three or four yeah and I would have been agreeing with you on that um except for the fact that at $15 times 45 a month the 675 times going forwards would be looking what six or seven months um it'll add up to quite a few thousand which like I said completely and totally took me by shock yeah which they've already budgeted for the majority of that I think the price only went up to 17 or 18 but we've never factored in the $250 fee it takes to get rid of the can and she's been saying now is that $250 they've been doing it twice a month so you're looking at the $500 plus the cost of the mattresses and that's why they were looking to go to the 30 um again my initial thought was just like yours can we just subsidize this until we get through um I mean the other option would be to send a quick email around the Departments and see if there was any other fees that needed to be adjusted based on this year um and then do them all at one time I'm certainly open to Andor in that uh memo to the department heads uh explain that uh going forward if they uh if times are such that they anticipate uh fee changes they need to get them annually to you you know in the spring so that's usually most of the budgets are based on that and and it's always gonna happen that way I think this you know they changed their hauling fee no we understand you know what I mean so but um yeah now I'm struggling to think of anybody that would have changed their fees mid year or or wants to but um what if we can get a better number you know what I mean like crunch all those numbers out figure out how much we actually budgeted for because it's not 45 mattresses times it's no but I mean we already budgeted for a whole Year's worth of mattresses just only went up a little bit yes I'm saying it's not 45 times the difference 15 it's 45 times like would you say $3 yeah something like that did did Tammy mention um other than you know 45 a month the actual amount from last year did she get into that conversation so maybe that hway and she was like the questions never guess that yeah mattress there's really nowhere else to get rid of your mattresses I don't know if tried to get rid of one but I'm just kidding they just give you a new one no problem they Pi the old one uh they assume you're returning it they have the best policy in America um they give you a new one no uh do would you feel more comfortable if we act got an actual number there so I mean I I would like to chair get more accurate numbers um she did send me um uh an email after I uh talked um just showing me some Municipal drop off charges yeah and Long Meadow is $30 they're the cheapest and for municipals like Hampshire's 40 to 50 uh Franklin County's 35 Rockport glester both 40 but if you go to private pickup cassella waste management is a $100 cassella is 100 Waste Management's 100 USA recyc L's $100 Republic's $ 150 so so at $115 was really really on the low side right um the 30 fall within but again like you said um I think if we get better numbers and then find out from there if it's if it makes sense to even do it at this time yeah that's not a problem we can certainly get we could make the plan that we'll get better numbers than we could always put a first reading of the change for October 8th so that we can get the ball rolling if everyone feels appropriate with that and if not we can always not do that at the next meeting action item yeah we got one yeah we can do that done right any other discussion on the okay second one is discussion of chapter 250 planning board for bylaw amendment to allow for associate members I don't want to steal your thunder time I don't know if you wanted to provide the uh yeah uh there wasn't obviously there wasn't much change um to the bylaw itself I mean every everything kind of got moved down one item and we added number two in and I only added uh 2502 in because the zoning uh the board of appeals by LW their second line was uh associate members so I wanted to we've been trying to keep everything sort of in the same format uh this was simply um because of sometimes the schedule and how special permits are uh advertised if we don't have uh well you you need a super majority for a SP for a special permit so if there's only four planning board members in attendance and there's a special permit on the docket it has to be unanimous so and even worse if there's only three we have to postpone the special permit hearing so this was just to add an associate member for these things that require super majority votes they're not on the planning board uh other than they're sort of waiting in the wings for uh Rob or Alex or whoever to say Hey listen two people aren't showing up tonight are you available um like I said board of appeals has two um we we kicked it around a little bit for conservation which we've been trying to fill and we actually kicked around knocking that to five and adding Associates but uh you know obviously these are volunteers uh people have things people go on vacation this is how it goes right um so this is just so uh we're not uh the thought was to just not penalize an applicant because we didn't have enough people at the meeting um that we'd have somebody there just in case that could that could hear the the agenda item and it was based on not just that just in case for a hypothetical situation but knowing that there's been situations that's happened over the past year in the last month or so yeah um it's you know it's things are on a five person board I mean only one person has to be out and then you're asking the applicant if they want to go through with it because you're going to need all of us to say yes so most of them get get kicked um but um yeah just an idea we were floating around just wanted to hear everybody's thoughts through the chair sure sure you want to hear my thoughts no of course no that's why I that's why we're here this is why this is our process so I'm in I'm totally against an associate member an associate member um is just someone basically to fill in to vote and on the planning board you really it takes you at least a full year of being on the planning board to bring yourself up to speed with our zoning bylaws um and that's really if you're putting the time in to do it um they're a lot more complicated than than what people think and it's not like you're just sitting down uh crafting a quick vote on something should we shouldn't we um if if if extra members are needed I would rather see you increase the board from five permanent members to seven permanent members um and fill the positions that way and that way there you would have seven members four would be the Super majority um five yeah twoth thirds yeah five um but it still gives you the ability to have a couple people out instead of just one um I I just uh I I being someone that sat on it and uh being the chair of the board I think it's more important um to encourage the members and set up a specific date hey the first uh Monday or Tuesday whatever it is of the month or the third you have to be there on that I mean if you can't make it you know what um especially if you're missing multiple meetings then maybe this really isn't the board for you okay that's my thought any other thoughts through the chair sure yes kind along the lines my my question was going to be will the associate member have an expectation to be at all the meetings so that's how it is uh for zba they have two associate members and they're one of them might not be full right now but they're they were always at all the meetings um and that's something that we can require um that the other sneaky part of this is five members of the planning board get a stien for being on the planning board and does that associate member does that so there's sort of a budget implication as well um but I would expect if we were giving someone a stien to show up that they would show up um but to Ralph's Point yeah I mean planning board is first and third Tuesday of the month like every every month that that that you should be able to follow but again you know we're we got two shairs empty tonight and we have the same schedule too and it there's like things happen and um like I said I I feel bad when people call and they're like hey uh you know we're we're unable to do this for this long because you guys had to move the special permit hearing um because there wasn't enough people there um and again we were just reading off the the special permit like there's a whole section in our bylaw that's special permit so um it would be limited to what that person would do um but yeah I I would expect I I I guess I always expect attendance but do you have somebody in mind for as an uh I have I have at least two on file from the last time we had to fill the the position uh we keep them on file so that if there is an opening or an emergency or something we can just reach out instead of having to advertise again uh since we just heard how expensive advertising is um so uh yes and no um yes I have somebody on file but that person may say I don't want to be an associate member I want to be on the planning board move it to seven right I mean mgl allows up to nine so if we wanted to go that route that's fine um or we or we just stay the way it is and so be it if somebody's not there and you know there's a certain expectation with everybody during the summer with vacations that you know the meeting schedule gets a little little wonky um but um it was just my my thought to just have somebody that that could be around more than just hey we need you you know and they don't know what's going on and they just vote Yes or no like that I I that that's a very good point like there there's no that's not what I want I don't want somebody that's not paying attention to just show up and vote because we need another vote um one way or the other really right so um and I guess that would be if the if the if the thought was that we could tweak the bylaw like that that we could add other parameters to the language um yeah attendance yeah for sure I wouldn't be necessarily opposed to it as long as it's kind of like I think what you just spelled out that that person be engaged and attending and knowing what's going on Fair no so through the chair if the person was supposed to attend all the meetings anyways why would you just make them a fulltime I'm open to either give them $1,000 and to be there to me that's cleaner yeah just expand the size of the board because then the expectation is obvious you have to attend you have to do your homework and at some point as Ralph has said um it takes a while that that's the one board that really takes a while to come up to speed on yeah no yeah I get it and it does have a big implication on the town exactly I we just had one the medical marijuana I mean that took months and months of going through um tons of reading on it and uh just hammering it out and like I said if the board's not fully engaged it doesn't happen or you're constantly coming back to adjust and change because well we didn't get it quite right the first time so so do I hear here the appetite would be for a seveners board instead of alternate members of the planning board is that would there be more of an appetite to have that conversation if I were to bring that one back next time yeah yes I have a I mean I no no yeah yeah we Hur for maryn so yeah I'll just say I'm slightly different in that and that I understand the concerns about and I wouldn't want it to just be someone you call up last second and hey know on this thing bring in the Lefty but I don't know that expanding the board really gets around the problem of lack of consistent attendance though because at least the alternate member you're filling a spot that you know is going to be vacant just for that evening whereas you could expand the board to seven members but if two still don't show up you're still at the same problem of hopefully all of you are voting yes otherwise you're getting denied no but I also see that if we currently allow it for the zoning Board of Appeals which is arguably just as important as the planning board why not be consistent in both so go ahead that was gonna be my question what are the other boards that have the associate members uh just the zba at this point and I think again you could make that argument that that that board is is you know I don't want to I don't put ranks on everybody but they're actually setting precedent in town with their decisions so that's why they have backup so that they're they're they're basically setting like a court hearing okay in the library or in the COA wherever they are and so they make sure that they're always full to hear the case because they're looking at it again they're not necessarily looking at it at our zoning bylaws only they're looking at like case law which they're all sort of burs in so it's it's like apples and oranges a little bit uh but uh that's why I'm pretty sure and and I looked for it a little bit and I have to do a little more research but uh they specifically call out associate members in mgl for for Board of appeal for Boards of appeal um it doesn't say it's allowed or not allowed for planning board in mgl so that's again I think the thought was to be consistent with the the zba um again all good points I mean there's really no wrong answer there was a problem that we identified that I'm trying to fix and whether that's with uh uh associate members like the zba or we make our planning board bigger so that you know it is the one that we get the most applicants for planning whenever there's an opening on planning board that's the one everybody wants to be on um so that's a little more no that's what I mean and I think if we went to seven it would fill it would get full um with with people that are engaged that would be there almost every night and again I it sounds like I'm picking on the planning board and I'm not I know they are human beings who have things that are going on in their life just like the rest of us it was just a we just had a few issues recently with attendance and um some applicants were less than pleased about having to be continued which is a you know it's a long process anyway when you make that first phone call to get on an agenda um with with a Butters not ifications and and uh you know advertising and all this stuff so um again I think both both sort of Opp uh opportunities provide a solution um you know again it's up to it's up to you and the bylaw subcommittee or whoever to to decide what's the better option maybe planning board has some thoughts on the matter too um this was like an administrative idea so one more question did I hear you correct that you weren't sure under Mass General law whether associate members are even allowed on the planning board no no it doesn't say they're not allowed but it doesn't say that they are allowed correct so it says yes they are allowed or it just is quiet it doesn't it doesn't say there's less about planning than anything else which is weird not even sure if they're well we can have up to nine members and whether or not they allow associate it if if Mass General a typically doesn't say you can't have it you're probably good yeah today you got it bring in the left well again before we uh before we do anything we'll have all these conversations and like I said I do have to I did want to dig in a little further into General law but that was a rabbit hole I didn't want to get into last week so um I figured we could just have the conversation did it help yeah no Hey listen I I I I like the discourse this is the point of the process is somebody has an idea and then everybody else talks about it and then we come up with the actually the right idea right so sure I just had some quick thoughts um as also another former planning member I agree with Ralph I think like it took solidly a year maybe maybe more but still was even learning a couple years in um you know the tricks and the trait of being a planning board member I think I I sort of though agreed with Connor's point that if we were to expand it to seven you would still run into those you know statutory issues where if instead of one person being out could conceivably being two people out so then you'd run into those super majority things I i' maybe love to see if we could get a number on how many I guess cases have been affected or how often happens is this you know just a handful you know and it was just one time so then maybe we don't necessarily need to do anything long term or has this been a chronic issue I know this occasionally came up when I was on um I'm definitely open to Alternatives but I did um I do sort of understand where Ralph is coming from as well so I just would maybe want to know before going forward just to see maybe what the actual scope of it is of of the problem um if there's seven and two are absent can they go forward yeah but again it's a super majority would be five out of seven so it's still got to be so you would need more than two people to be absent which I don't know if it's like like I feel like it's more likely to have one person absent makes more right but to have more than two I don't know I feel like the seven I feel like seven makes more sense because then you can have two people absent and still go forward or if you just have one but you also have if the five will satisfy super majority if they all vote the same correct they typically would ask the applicant at that point okay say listen we we've got some we've only gotten exactly enough votes here that you need to to get yes yes okay do you wanna do you want us to just continue you right which they always say yes because I mean no no nothing's unanimous usually hence the discourse any other discussion I guess to be continued awaiting some other yeah yeah yeah absolutely next up was to discuss the holiday meeting schedule so the first part of that is our next meeting was October 8 but then as a newer development we won't have a meeting in October uh for a couple reasons one I'm on vacation one of those last weeks in October but then also I was invited uh by our state senator Jake olera to attend the citizens legislative Summit at the state house for a couple days and so that'll take me away from town and being able to run that second meeting which would be October 29th you're talking about yeah it'll be the 29th so no matter which of the two move the meeting too I wouldn't be I think we should take the week off yeah I think we're I think we're gonna have enough for that agenda but then the the next one would be normally November 12th which is fine that doesn't conflict with anything the following one when I was just building the placeholder calendar is the week of Thanksgiving but I wanted to discuss if that was okay since it's two days before Thanksgiving or if people wanted to move that to a different week or day I'm single I'm good with it meeting at the same time they meet on days it's it's mostly for you yeah the only one that we usually have to by our rules in charter is have the second Tuesday of the month but the the second meeting can be any time we want that's our Zoom only has one only has one out is everyone okay with the Tuesday the 26th that was normally scheduled yeah so we'll still proceed with that one then the December one of course would be um the 24th Christmas Eve which I don't think any of us have that so that could be up in the air because who knows how much we'll have in December around the holidays but but we'd have the 10th as our regular yes we'd have the 10th as our regular one it's just if we were to have a second one we'd probably have to pick much different time to meet there usually around the holidays it's pretty thin yeah yeah and and historically we've just done the one in in um December yeah and I think we'd get back to normal in January since y things would be clear so we can probably unless something crazy comes up plan to not have the second one in December in December and we'll just have the two in November and the one in October that's good okay so October 8th October 8th November 12th the 26th and then December 10th okay great all right all right so that's it for holiday schedule action items the two things I had will come up with answers to some other questions and potentially language for the first reading for the mattress fee change if you have any questions for the legislative update which will be at our next meeting on October 8th you can send those along to and she'll forward those off for us does anyone have any other action items that I'm forgetting no I just have a lot of things for this agenda yay should be a longer meeting is what you're saying we'll have them coming back the DB who's coming for legislators all three of them oh yeah plan yeah popor all right that's mostly good things yes yes Christina had the dates mixed up so I'd emailed her early on and she's on her way here so I don't know what that means with how many minutes it takes for her to get here would you entertain a short recess minutes to get here sure okay I will CH you just call one I will call a recess for five minutes and we will return at 7:05 than welcome back at this time the next item on our agenda is an executive session so I move to enter into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to pending litigation if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of the public body and the chair so declares and I do and then will return to open session thank you motion's been made in second any further discussion Jim yes Kathy yes I am a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John I am a yes great hey welcome back we are returning to open session at 7:55 and I will entertain a motion to return to public comments on the agenda so Mo second motion's been made and seconded further discussion Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John I'm a yes great thank you so under the public comment portion uh we have a speaker before us so if you could state your name and address for the record yes absolutely my name is Christina Brooks and I live at 56 Woodbridge drive or Road depending on how you uh in eong Meadow half the time as aad Road sometimes it's a drive but under the really cool nice little Bridge um not too far from here I've been there for almost three years great and welcome to speak for a couple minutes thank you um so I just wrote a couple things um down um so for my background I've been working in the health insurance and Hospital fields for the last 15 years um for the last 5 years I've been in the Cannabis industry as a director of wholesale um out of Kingston Massachusetts um where I wholesale cannabis to other dispensaries throughout the state um and I wanted to come to you guys today because there is currently a ban in E Meadow for delivery and for dispensary um I know that originated in 2016 when the state was letting it open back up to um you know to for sale um so in 2017 the very first dispensaries opened up in Massachusetts since then we've surpassed about a billion dollars in sales um the tax for Massachusetts between the state and the city comes to about 20% which means that 200 million $200 million has been collected since 2017 um so I just wanted to bring it up to you guys today because my thought is that you know there's a lot of Revenue that the town can make um based on taxes um for cannabis the closest cannabis dispensary is in Springfield and West Springfield about 20 to 22 minutes away um our median income in East Long Meadow is $101,000 with about 177,000 people living in um our town and I just thought um it would be a great time to bring this up now that you know it's been legalized in the state of Massachusetts it's surpassed cranberry sales we see it's a big cash crop in the state um and it's a good time to possibly you know bring up the motion where you'd be interested in you know thinking about open a small boutique like dispensary in you know the town of East Long Meadow now that we know you know it's it's strong um field it's open to you know stay and wanted to just kind of bring it up to the town and see what you guys's thoughts were on possibly you know overturning or getting more information on you know what that would mean for you soow great thank you thank you do anyone normally it's public comment there any question while she's here here that anyone has like to ask so is there anything in particular you would be interested in so I know um right now through the zoning bylaws we don't allow the growing of it we don't allow basically any portion of it um I mean is your thoughts to open it all up or is it it would just be a retail dispensary at this point so there's enough grows in Massachusetts where there is an abundance of cannabis flour out there so I don't want to be part of dry down the cost of cannabis because there's just so much in the state that you can grow being such a small state but because we don't have a dispensary in our town there are a lot of people who are going out to Springfield West Springfield to mson or people that are passing by from Connecticut you know either in the roundabout that um are looking to purchase and are surpassing our town um which interests me in opening a smaller Boutique dispensary in the town since it's not oversaturated like other locations at this time we'll take it under advisement all right perfect thank you for ask for some followups in a future meeting or why don't you reach out to the manager's office and if you'd like to try to propose a bylaw change um we can sort of put you on the right path how's that all right sounds great I appreciate you guys time thank you thank you so much thank you seeing no other business I will entertain a motion to adjourn so move second any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Ralph yes Anna yes and John I'm a yes we areour at 7:59