Evening and welcome to the April 22nd, 2025 meeting of the Isome 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. Sorry, I think you're laying there. That was good. ask that we take a moment of silence to reflect on all of the events going on. Thank you. In accordance with Mass
General Law, this meeting is being recorded by LCAT. If there's anyone else in the audience, if you could identify yourself. Sarah Haynen, reminder publishing. Thank you, Sarah. Seeing no one else, we can move on to public comments. there's anyone in the public that would like to make a comment this
evening. Okay, I don't see anyone online or in person. Council comments. Is there any counselor with a comment this evening? I just wanted to say I haven't been able to come to the financial oversight committee meetings, but it has been very helpful having them all be televised. Um, so that has been really convenient. So, I appreciate that
effort. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. That's been helpful. Um, I would also, as my council comment, I would add we had the uh 250th shot heard around the world
ceremony on this past Saturday. That was a pretty well attended event. So, it was interesting hearing some of the backstory, especially the amount of work that the historical commission put into researching backgrounds of people that were from or lived at some point in
their life in East Meadow was something I you never would have found elsewhere. So, it was really cool. And you wonder where they found the information. Oh, I know. Yeah. I would have thought it would have been on a piece of paper disintegrated, lost to history or something. A lot of good effort. So,
thank you to all of them counselors. None manager report. Hi, Tom. Hi. Good evening. So, uh, attached is the, uh, project reports for the weeks of March 31st and
April 7th, uh, at the high school. Um, had a little bit of a hiccup last week, the week before, uh, we have to replace a portion of the town's water man. Uh, so we we had to work to come up with a little bit
of solution there, uh, over by the proposed tennis court. Um, so, uh, obviously there's a little unforeseen cost there, but well within our contingency numbers and, uh, site work won't really, uh, alter the schedule of
the building too much. So, um, still still on time on budget. We could keep saying that. Um, I also, uh, want to announce that, um, we have to, we're saying goodbye to our Council on Aging Director, Aaron
Coobbler. Um, she'll be leaving us at the end of the month. Um, obviously, we all know and love Aaron. We'll miss her. Um, it's really impossible to quantify how much she's brought to the community and how many lives she has touched in this building.
um attitude, talent, leadership, uh really transformed this building into a welcoming and and really wonderful, fun place to be. So, um all the programming and initiatives she's put into place will will continue to serve our residents well for years to come. So, we
wish Aaron the best uh in all her future endeavors, and obviously, we will miss her very much. Um uh this year's chapter 90 projects were recently approved by Mass DOT and are set to go out to bid.
Um projects are include a rebuild and pave of Westwood Avenue from Maple to Voyer. Uh crack sealing and fog ceiling on Maple Street and crack sealing on Maple Shade A, Porter Road, Parker Street and Westwood. Uh the the rest of
it. Uh we're also doing road cings and mix mix design for Pleasant Street. Uh that will be anticipation of a road construction project in FY27. Uh Westcom uh Regional Dispatch welcomed Penny Ryan as our new interim
executive director on March 31st. Uh Penny comes to us with a wealth of knowledge in the industry including uh emergency communications director for the town of Auburn public safety dispatch. Uh Penny uh hit the ground running. We have a lot of things underway. Obviously, uh the new building
is a big one. Uh we still uh expect to occupy this summer. So, welcome Penny. Uh uh so, West, speaking of Westcom, um I said this week in here, but last week uh was National Public
Safety Telecommunicators Week. Uh it's observed annually the second week of April. um weeks is the week is dedicated to celebrating the vital role of public safety telecommunicators who serve as the first point of contact for emergency services. Um I just want to take time to
thank all of our dispatchers at Westcom and everywhere to just let them know how appreciative we are for their contribution to uh realizing a safer community. Uh the health department uh is applying as the lead community for the expansion
of public health excellent grant for shared services um to begin a shared services arrangement with the uh health departments of AWAM, Westfield and West Springfield. Um the public health excellent grant program uh funds and
supports cross juris jurisdictional sharing of public health services. Um the funding provides the communities an opportunity to collaborate and share public health services. Uh does not require the sharing of locally funded
resources or staff. Um parties of the grant are estimated to receive up to 75,000 for the remainder of FY25 uh and up to 300,000 for FY26 uh with I guess two options to renew for three years each. Um, and the lead
community uh is also allowed up to 15% of the grant total uh for agency administrative support, which could add up to an additional $45,000. Uh, so I'll keep you updated on that. Uh, I think that RFP just went
out. Uh, upcoming events, uh, coffee with the town manager, May 7th at 10:30, uh, at the COA. Uh, also I guess I'll just echo um President O'Shea's comments. The the ceremony was very well
attended. Uh, you know, for for being sort of a one-off. Obviously, our Veterans Day ceremonies and Memorial Day ceremonies are sort of well known in the community and they're usually well well attended, but this one for being uh sort of uh a new one uh was was very well
attended. And thanks to all the counselors who showed up, uh, our legislators, Boy Scouts of America, uh, Conservation, uh, excuse me, historical commission, getting my commissions mixed up there. Um, and so all the research,
uh, provided by, uh, Ken Hancock was absolutely fabulous. Uh, we're we're I don't know if anybody saw it out front, there was an ESIL that sort of had that information all set out. We're going to look for a spot to to sort of display that so more people can get a look at
it. It it's amazing how much work can put into finding all that information and and with the help of George Kingston to kind of put it all together and narrate it up. So, um, thanks everybody for that. It was really it was really a nice day on Saturday. So, very nice.
That's it for the report. I will answer questions if you have them. [Laughter] Do you want me to start saying Ralph? I can do that. Um, my first question is on
the water main with the school. So, I'm assuming that was on school grounds. So, it's 100% part of the new construction and under those costs and it's not separate under the water department, right? it uh the
the existing main is uh has to be replaced for from whatever they found when they were out there. Exactly. It's just a portion of it to it. Yeah. It's it's uh it wasn't scheduled to be replaced and now it's I guess my concern
was do we have to dig up Maple Street? No. No. No. Okay. That's a good that's a good thing. Um, I'd like to uh just reiterate on um the National Public Safety, the telecommunications
um they do a phenomenal job. I have heard nothing but praise for every aspect of not only um the dispatch center but also the our emergency services. Um, and it's nice once in a while when we can just give them a shout
out and say thank you for everything. And I appreciate you doing that here. Um, and then the last, um, I had a chance to talk with, uh, Tammy today. I was a little concerned when I saw this application for the health department
grant. Um, considering um, not too far in the past, uh, we had chosen not to go with Long Meadow with a shared regional service. um she explained to me exactly what they were looking for uh with the
grant. And it's not um it's not to share any of the services that we already have, right? It's certain things like um like she explained, maybe um a backup nurse for the four towns. So if one goes on vacation, there's a floating nurse that
can step in and back up. Um I mean, and that was just one little thing I didn't realize. um through the state how much the health department is now being asked to do and their overall requirements.
Um it like she said, it's probably more than what one town could afford to do all on their own and this gives the opportunity through a grant to be able to help multiple communities. and she did say that we're one of the last few
towns that has not gotten into some type of a regionalization. I think she said there's four communities and these are that. So, um, with that being said, it really eased my thoughts knowing that we had already said, you know, hey, we don't want to do this and all of a
sudden seeing it pop up. Yeah. It was concerning, but again, Tammy's fantastic. uh she took a half an hour or so today just to walk me through and um what they're hoping to accomplish with it and I'm hoping that we're successful
in getting it. Thanks. Thank you. I guess I should have talked to Ralph because that's what I was going to ask you. What are we, you know, what are we sharing? He answered. Yeah. Yeah.
There there's a lot of details obviously still to come and I'll keep you updated and obviously I don't want to say it's a foregone conclusion because we have to wait to make sure we're approved, but um yeah, it seems like there's more benefit and we're not losing anything by merging
anything, right? We we have what we have and then this will augment the services we already provide. Thank you. The only question I had was um when you were talking about the uh the road projects. I mean crack sealing is
obvious, but what is fog ceiling? The fog similar treatment just sort of rejuvenates what? So it's on Maple Street. So obviously we did that like three years ago. So Mark's been doing a a good job of trying to make sure we take care of what we have to while we're
fixing what's broken. Um, and so that's a uh sort of rejuvenates the the asphalt to extend its life. And then the other piece is the crack sealing. So when it gets a little further down, you start filling in cracks to prevent water from getting
in and damaging the not only the pavement, but the substrate kind of thing, too. While we're on the subject, what are road coreings? So, they take a core sample of all right the pavement and then the the structure
underneath the pavement, which I'm sorry to say in our town is usually red pan like you find in your yard and we didn't build the road correctly. Not everywhere, but um so they they take a core sample to figure out what what the correct
treatment is when they do Pleasant Street over so they can Why didn't they just say core samples? I got it. Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none, we can
move on. I have no communications correspondence or announcements. There are no scheduled public hearings, so we can move to orders of the day. Licensing matters. First up, we have approving a change of manager application for AMG Retail Undoing Businesses Atlantis Fresh
Market, 227 Shaker Road to Stacy for Good evening. Hi, good evening council, Mr. Manager, and Town Clerk. I'm Alexandra Hogan representing AMG Retail 1 DBA Atlantis
um Fresh Market at 227 Shaker Road. Uh this is an application for change of manager. This is Miss Stacy Foron present with me. Um she has been working with this entity for about five years uh at a different location. Started at the one in East Long Meadow and has moved
back since they've um lost their previous manager. She works a minimum of 55 hours a week and has ample experience at the the register sales of alcohol and is tip certified. Um we'll um we're
available for any questions but simply asking for the approval of this application. Questions from any counselors? Good. Yeah, seems like a pretty straightforward thing. Very straightforward. If there's no
questions, I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion to approve a change of manager application for AMG retail doing business as Atlantis Fresh Market 227 Road. Stacy Horton, second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Since we are on
Zoom, it is a roll call vote. So, Jim, yes. Anna, yes. I'm a yes. Marilyn, yes. Ralph, yes. John, yes. And Kathy, yes. Hello. We couldn't hear you, Kathy. You may be muted. No, I'm not. Um, Jamie
muted you. Messing with you, Jamie. Okay. Thank you, Kathy. You are approved. Thank you. Have a great evening. Thanks, Alex. Bye. Next, we have approved the one day liquor license for the Masonic Temple
for a spring festival. Is there a motion? Make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license application for the Masonic Temple, 433 Chestnut Street for a spring festival on April 26th, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Second.
Motion's been made and seconded. I think it's 43 Chestnut. I think you said 433. Oh, 43. Oh, yes. I will. So, as written. Okay. Motion's been made and seconded. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Jim, yes. Anna, yes. Yes. Marilyn, yes.
Ralph, yes. John, yes. Kathy, yes. Great. The motion passes. Next, we have approving the hours for East Village Tavern uh to extend hours to 1:00 a.m. Sundays through Wednesdays. I make a motion to approve a change of
hours application for East Village Tavern 53 North Main Street to extend their hours from to 1:00 a.m. Sundays through Wednesdays. I'll second it for discussion, right?
Good evening. So, you're good discussion. We're not going to um we just want it for use. We're not going to exercise them um Sunday through Wednesday. We're very happy with 11:30 last call and um everybody going home to their families and most of our employees
have jobs Monday morning, but we do want it when um surrounding businesses and towns and everything when it comes to New Year's Eve and um certain events where I mean we we have to close, you know, we we can't stay open. Um, examples are Lacuina, um, you know,
advertise certain days till 1 2 a.m. and, um, the same thing. They don't use it every single night, but they have it in their back pocket for special occasions. And that's all we're asking is just stay level across the board um, Sunday through Monday with that.
So through the chair. Sure. Um, so I don't have any problems with the extended hours. Um but the procedure is that the planning board has to approve it because under their special permit their hours of operation are only to uh
12. So the planning board would have to extend their hours of operation before we could authorize the liquor license because you can't say a liquor license you can serve to one if their hours of operation the planning board close at midnight.
It is a little bit different. Other towns like Springfield, the liquor license authority sets their hours, their business hours. In our town, the planning board sets the business hours. And I think that's mainly because the planning board with a restaurant under a
special permit holds a public hearing for the hours of operation where the town council doesn't have to hold a public hearing. So, we've allowed the planning board to do that so that all the neighbors can speak. Um, I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to us
um authorizing this if we so choose contingent upon them getting their special permit hours changed. Um I don't know if that's something that normal and acceptable or is it easier to
I'm just curious as in the past used to approve contingent upon planning board but then I think you stopped doing that but it's up to the board. I mean um I don't know how quickly they could do that uh to amend the special permit but you could certainly make a contingency
motion out of good faith. So we we used to do it that way but we don't do that big contingency motions. Oh, got it. And the reason being is a lot of times it tends to put pressure on the other board. Um and that's the last thing you want to do is you want them to be free
to listen to the public and set their own discretionary. Yeah, it is an interesting I believe we had to do the same process what Mr. page is referring to with the patio. Exactly. Familiar with it and um has to collaborate with Yeah. I have no
problem with working with attorney Kelly and Genie with the process as we're familiar with it. Yeah. I mean, I I have no problem with changing the hours as long as we follow the appropriate process. I do think maybe in the future we should re-evaluate that process at least for
license holders because it is kind of convoluted that someone has to go back and forth and hope that they get both approvals in order to continue to operate. Well, so typically they planning board the special permit, make that adjustment and then come to the
council assuming they do that. I do have a comment. Um years back there was an attempt to try to once the special permit was established that the board of selectmen if there were changes in hours or changes in the licensing
which they had responsibility for they would do it but the board of selectman is not the special permit granting authority. So I know it's cumbersome but maybe we can try harder to head it off at the beginning before you get here. Now, is this the same process if we were
to do a change of manager like the person that was just before us or I mean No, change of manager is only um the either liquor license or I couldn't remember when we took myself off and then Maddie went on that was just
through this board. Okay. Yeah, like you said, I guess what's the wishes of the board as far as I could add another variable too. If you make the motion contingent upon approval of planning board, that means you would approve this application and I could
send it to the ABCC tomorrow like we usually do because they take a little while to approve. And then if they approve it, we could just hold that um changing in the license until that. Yeah, I don't want to do that. Okay. So then we'd have to rehear because if
they've approved it and all of a sudden the planning board says no. Um it makes it more difficult. Is there something that's out there that you want? I'm in no rush. We just want it in our back pocket so we don't got to close on New Year's Eve. Um Thanksgiving Eve
on a Wednesday. I mean, there's a high demand for this establishment in town and uh I mean, just we don't lose the business in our other restaurants, but um a lot of people want to stay local in town and uh
we've heard that for I mean two years now of uh the complaints of having to close early and uh like I said, my staff um myself personally, managers, anybody, I mean, we don't want to be there past 12, but you know, the probably four or five times that we will use it. We just want
it so I don't got to genie with filling one day applications in for, you know, any single time we want to do something. I suppose it's possible. I mean, we could either approve it contingent upon it or I mean, we still could approve it.
They just couldn't technically use it because overall the business, not just alcohol, but just any service wouldn't be allowed by theirmended by the Yeah, we're not going to change anything on our website, uh,
social media, anything. We're not going to advertise it. We just want to do what's legal for when the holidays come around. So, through the chair, sorry, Marilyn jump. Um so my thought is is if there's
nothing coming up um that I'd rather continue with our practice um we can table this until such time that the planning board makes a decision um and then just bring it right back up so they make a decision on the Tuesday in
between the very next meeting we can do it. Um well there there's any any I mean no rush but that we now that I do recall um you know we the East Summit uh Rotary Club concert series which we operate the beer tent we close at 10:00 you know
like we have a a lot of people that come you know afterwards too. So, I would say that's probably the only thing in the near future where I see say like um I don't think the fireworks or there are no fireworks this year. June. Yeah, nice start. That's the only thing kind of in
my radar, but other than that, um New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving Eve, those are the only two dates. And again, even if we approved it contingent upon it, if they haven't held their meeting, they still
Yeah. So, John doesn't mind waiting. No, I mean, like I said, I think it's just like cleaner that way. Yeah, we're used to the process and we have no no problem waiting and uh following up uh tomorrow with Attorney Kelly and um Jeie as long
as we can just get the ball rolling. So, got to get rolling. Got call planning tomorrow and get on the agenda. Yeah. Then I can work with you to update the application so dates are current. Yeah. Thank you. I forgot about that. Look at us. It's just a Sunday through Wednesday,
even one o'clock across the board. Okay. So, we did have a motion on the floor and this was all discussion. Is there a motion to or willingness to resend the motion? I'll resend my second. I'll resend. Okay. The motion
has been rescended. So, make a motion that we table this until we uh hear from the planning board for the change of hours under their special permit. Second. Motion's been made and seconded to table from the pling board. Is there any further
discussion? Jim, yes. Kathy, I mean, yes. Anna, yes. Kathy, yes. Myself, I'm a yes. Marilyn, I'm a yes. Ralph, yes. And John, yes. See, I'm so used to the the normal order that I'm
Okay, thank you for coming and explaining Oh, yeah. There's a couple giving them a heads up. And we have been planning a heads up, right? Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Uh for a liquor license application for the 4th of July
carnival beer tent. Motion. Make a motion to approve the 1day liquor license applications for the East Village Tavern for East Song Metal Rotary Club 4th of July Carnival Beer Tent June 22nd to July 3rd, 2025 6 to 11 and July 4th to 2025 11:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. I'll second that. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Discussion. I know. Is that going to matter now? No, this is your separate. Um, but Jeie, I I had a question. Usually up in the
top right corner there's all check marks and it's completely blank. Those have been all taken care of. John got this in super early. Okay. So, yeah, but usually check there. We're going to Ireland next month. So, I didn't see like I'm assuming they were
all done otherwise it wouldn't be in front of us, but I didn't I wanted to verify it. Um, but the second thing I'd like to say, I'm assuming it was done online and that's why it's all typed, which is fantastic, very easy to read. Um, I like
that. It makes it so much easier. And with that, I'll be quiet. Yeah. The only comment that I would have is it was seemed to be wellrun last year. So, thank you for continuing on smoothly. I mean, um, you know, especially with no fireworks and having to relocate and do the laser light show.
Uh, I am a Rotarian. and I work closely with the Rotary Club. Uh we've been planning and I've been part of the meetings which were out there for it and um they've worked very hard to um pivot and throw this event at Maple Shade with Trailer Trash and we're you
know like um they're leaning on us a lot you know at home base with the carnival this year and um there's a lot of negative publicity and we're fighting it and we're looking forward to um throwing the spear tent again this year. Great. Thank you. Any other discussion? Okay,
seeing none. Jim, yes. Anna, yes. I'm a yes. Marilyn, yes. Ralph, yes. John, yes. And Kathy, yes. Thank you. That is approved. And then there was one thing that Genie did uh want to bring up about the summer concert series. Sure, you can
bring that. And just uh notify we're going to be and then they kind of approached us last minute with the Rotary Club. um kind of uh taking the beer tent, leaving it there, but uh breaking it down a little and same copy and paste setup and u
um catering to the Thursday summer concert series at Centerfield this year. And I was asked in uh uh by the Rotary Club to um run our same concessions with them uh until the end of August for their Thursday summer concert series. So
that application I think I got to do separate. It will be coming in. That's great. But it's the same copy and paste of what we do with the beer tent. Um just not as big as a setup and uh you know more family friendly where we are very strict with the beer tent with 21
plus um as the carnival with the attendees. But you know this is a gauge more towards family and kids with you know like the setup. So it's going to be tweaked a little but I'll explain it during the application. Great. Sounds great. I know
the Rotary always does a wonderful job with the summer concerts. They're the best to work with. Yeah. And they work they work very hard, you know, behind the scenes all year long on these. And we're excited to be a part of that, too. Great. Sounds like a great idea to expand. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you
so much. Thank you everyone. I'll contact you tomorrow. I'm going to be gone until next Wednesday. I get back. Cool. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Next under orders of the day we have financial matters. The item under there
was to discuss chapter 500 fees, fines and penalties. I know this was something I was interested in uh bringing up for discussion. I don't know if you want to the topic. So I think um yes through the chair. So this
time of year we usually um start considering all the fees, fines, penalties. Um we actually um put this into a bylaw and this is basically the first year that it'll be coming up. Um I
wasn't sure the process that we want to follow. Do we want to reach out to the departments that are affected and see if they have any suggestions um adjustments of the fees? I know um I believe it's the ambulance fee uh
usually changes the water rate, the sewer rate. Um those are tied in with the budget. Um I'm trying to think of others that are just I know the health department had talked about mattresses. Um and I think this is
something that we try and compile together. Um it's oh it's got to be done what? By the end of we were planning on both uh both meetings in June. And being general bylaw, it should also
go in front of the general bylaw committee. Um so do we want to reach out to the departments and ask their thoughts on their particular sections? Yeah, if Tom's okay with that, I'm open to Yeah, it's an interesting
conversation because most of or some of them will be tied to the budget which is already approved and further discussion about just changing the bylaw. There's can't there can't be like we can't the bylaw subcommittee can't
say, "Oh, I want to change the water rate back because we've already approved the budget." So, I understand what you're We won't we won't have approved the budget until May 27th. We got to hurry. No, no. But again, it's
the same board approving both. Yeah, of course. No, no, that but I think it's more like the health department. There shouldn't be too many this year be, you know, with a aside from the big ones you met, you know, ambulance, water, sewer, storm water. Uh, you know, a lot of them
I don't think have changed much. We just did a total overhaul of building. I'm not sure transfer station if there's any I don't think anything has changed except for the affformentioned uh mattress y uh which would have been built into the the revolving account for
the health department uh or the uh transfer station and I think this gives them the opportunity to at least once a year address the situation and say geez we've had a shortfall on this or that we'd like to increase instead of in the past it's
been sporadic you know every few months it'll be, you know, this or that and you never know when it's coming. At least this way here combines it all into one. I think it's a good idea. I think the to your point, the big ones, yeah, have already been thought about by the
department heads in order to submit their budget. But maybe I'll send out uh a department head email to those that maybe that didn't think about those fees uh that maybe they it doesn't impact their budget as much as a water rate would um to see if it's still sort of in
line with what everyone else is charging or or sort of an industry standard kind of thing. And just a reminder to the departments that if they haven't submitted their fees, fines, or penalties that they should probably
um I'm thinking of one in particular, but I'll let you know after. All right. Thank you. The only other one that I could think of with that was I know in the past um quite a few years ago we had
increased the liquor license fees. Yeah. But then we sort of paused co committee had wanted to increase them but there was that timing cut off that we missed between the calendar year and my fiscal year. So if we had Oh sure
Kathy I'm sorry through the chair. Um you're correct. Uh we also agreed that we would revisit the license fees um every other year and this is the off year. So they they need to stay put for
till a year from now and we can revisit. So through the chair. Sure. I think it's been four years since we looked at them because of COVID. That might be might be because we got into it with with COVID and then we we
said let's not even consider this because of all the issues with COVID. Um when you come back, you could double check that, right? Well, I think we talked about doing it in July of every year, but we've got this bylaw review
coming at the same time, too. And I think we talked about all the town department heads looking at their um their fees around May one of every year because I had a note on my calendar to do that too. So um just do it on the
annual basis to align with the budget. I mean, if we could just get a rough idea when no rush obviously that when the last time the fees were adjusted um and at least because I know um through the chair Kathy I know when
you guys did up them the last time they were still low but there was no way to bring them all the way up um because it had been 25 years since they adjusted before um which the same uh same permit
cost for 25 years is pretty good. I don't think any like our old building department fee. And the other one that you recently mentioned was the permit for dumping. Oh, right. I forgot about that one. Yeah. Which is something that I mean I
wouldn't say double it or anything like that, but I think it's a good time to take a look at it to see the transfer station permit whether or not we go up a little bit or anything. So yeah, it doesn't hurt to consider them all even if they end up staying the
same. Exactly. Would you be I'm available for any discuss. I have I purposely didn't make eye contact with Just kidding. I don't know. I'm just thinking like that would be it
might actually be beneficial for me to get some information and maybe even meet with the subcommittee before that first meeting in June if if that was okay with the council. Uh you know in case we've had these conversations before or you guys come up
with something I didn't think of. I'm open to that if the the rest of the just so there's not that time crunch if if if we do the first meeting in June and then there's only the week and then the second meeting in June and then it's July one. So
I I'm willing to do that too just for a just to have a conversation. So we have a May 5th bylaw meeting. Um, we want to just add a little bit on
there. Just a quick discussion. Doesn't have to be that we said it or anything. Um, so you're talking about the town council bylaw committee, not the bylaw by bylaw committee. Correct. Yes. What time does that committee meet? 2. I think it's at
two on that day. The fifth. Yeah. Because we have Was that when financial oversight got moved to? Was the fifth? At four. At four. At four. All right. Perfect. So, we got you for the day. Pencled in. No. Pencled in. All you have to do is get on my calendar and you're
good. Those get filmed. Typically, no. I think there are some outstanding questions for the manager anyway. So, I can be if you'd like to be there. Okay. That sounds like a Thank
you. Yeah. Great. Okay. Next, we have approval of minutes. We have our April 8th open session minutes. I make a motion to approve the April 8th, 2025 open session minutes. Second. Motion's been made, seconded,
and thirded. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Jim, yes. Anna, yes. I'm a yes. Ralph, yes. John, yes. And Kathy, I'm a yes. Thank you. Then the next two that we had just for clarity sake um
since we had primarily the financial oversight committee but a special town council meeting for counselors to be able to participate. The minutes were already approved by the financial oversight committee but this is just approving them on behalf of the council as well for our portion of the meeting.
So we have the April 2nd special town council meeting. So I make a motion to approve the April 2nd, 2025 special town council financial oversight committee meeting minutes. Second motion made and seconded. Any further discussion? Say
none. Jim, yes. Anna, yes. I'm a yes. Marilyn, yes. Yes. John and Kathy, yes. Motion passes. And we have the April 9th special capsule meeting minutes. I make a motion to approve the April 9,
2025 special town council/financial oversight committee meeting minutes. Motion's been made and seconded. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Jim, yes. Hannah, yes. I'm a yes. Marilyn, yes. Ralph, yes. Don, and Kathy, yes. Motion
passes. Thank you. Old business. We have discussion of the town manager's self-evaluation. for the public benefit. Tom, would you mind giving a brief overview of the selfie val that you provided?
Sure. 22 pages is quite a bit. Uh, sure. Uh, I don't know if I can be as sappy or less sappy or what? I don't know. Um, okay. In the middle in the middle
there somewhere. Uh, so I I sort of um again very happy uh with with how year two went uh or is going since it's only April. But um I feel like
uh again with a sense of purpose uh have really embraced this job and where I'm at in it. Um I want to just read the whole letter, but I'm not going to. Uh I think uh for all the all of my shortcomings in
year one have all but sort of disappeared. And that sort of came with uh well uh support from the council uh some um most a lot of staff uh
reliance um and just uh an overall love of this job and what I can bring to it. Um, obviously I'm not perfect. Um, but I'm
better than I was last year. Uh, and and that's very apparent to at least myself. Uh, which is, uh, comforting. Uh, when I know how important this job is and how well I want to be at it, uh, how well I
want to do it. Uh I am sort of uh happy with how the second year went uh in in more areas than the first year. Uh I I I'll I'll go through our goals here that that we sort of put together
with with my caveat that I added that I still have a couple months to finish. Uh but uh the the number one was the building space usage and and needs assessment plan. Um, this was like a chessboard moving
around the last six months. Uh, there's a lot of, um, a lot of moving pieces, a lot of moving parts. The biggest of which was was, you know, figuring out how to fold 382 into our operation. Uh, and then
sort of figuring out the right time to sort of execute that plan. and and with some budget constraints this year, it seems uh more likely that uh you know, capitalizing on that
revenue to pay down the building. Um rather than than put that note into the general fund is probably the the most uh advantageous option on on in a couple levels. And not just the money, but to I
really am envisioning ever since we looked at that building of a new town hall. And I think to do it right, we got to do it right in terms of just doing it once and making the right decisions and putting that our
organization in that building, not putting that building around our organization moving in here and there one by one uh piece by piece. I think um we we we let our tenants um continue
operating um and then make a complete and solid plan for the town to move into that building. Um again, the the there's a lot of um things on the capital plan. Like I said, I I'll have some sort of
deliverable for you in terms of um you know, a more robust uh as you enumerated in the goal itself uh a more robust list of all the buildings,
what what they have to be done, the timeline in which they have to do and then uh you know sort of that 10 20 30 year outlook. Um the road improvement plan. Again, this is this is the one that um it seems like this is the comment
that everybody has from the general public. Um and of course March and April are not the best time to talk about the conditions of the roadways because all the pavement just got ripped up. But uh you know this is this has been a struggle for almost every community in
Massachusetts for a decade. uh we we've well we as a community uh can't just rely on our help from the state and that's going to that's going to require a commitment
from us and and some strong planning and like like Mark's plan this year uh a lot of um different treatments to make our roads last longer than they ever did. And this is rebuilding Maple Street when it it as it's happening, you know,
it's the right move, but you have to wait two years for that money to build up to do a project like Maple Street. It's still the right decision. That road needed to be rebuilt. If we spent all that money to just put pavement on top of it,
well, we'd end up doing Westwood again in 10 years like we're doing this year. uh these things have to be done correctly. Um so again we we I I thank you for
uh for approving that money to update all our data in the field. Uh I don't have it in hand yet. It was we were supposed to have it late March, early April. uh we don't have that updated data yet, but when we do um then we can
sort of put a plan an action list together in terms of uh FY27 and beyond for which roads are in the worst shape, which ones can we hold on to and you know which ones are are going to require a major investment.
Um, so, uh, again, just waiting for that data so we can update our GIS software thing SAM is or whatever the guys use. Uh, and see, I've been out of DPW for two years. I
forget what program we use. Um, so, um, that'll be that'll be forthcoming as well as soon as we get that updated data. Um, capital stabilization fund. Uh, thank you for that goal. Uh that was uh that was easy. We had a few
conversations uh but uh I think that this fund in particular uh is going to serve us well uh not only probably in the nearer future but forever. Uh this will continuously be one of
those things that uh you know our largest capital projects are going to end up being uh our are our municipal buildings and the the projects that we're not going to get uh uh debt exclusion vote on or uh
things of that nature. So, um I think that that decision uh to create that account and then fund that account uh is only going to help us in the future. Um and then the last one was the the
um the car breakins and theft strategy. Um again, this is that crime of opportunity thing that is very difficult to um eliminate. I'll say I think uh this plan to get out in the community
and sort of educate people about what they can do um you know to prevent these things on their own but also um sort of I I forgot what word I used. We were calling it some sort of we keep we keep
using our casino fund money to update our number of cameras we have in town. Um, and I think we want to get some sort of Ring doorbell registry. Uh, and again, this isn't necessarily preventative except for, uh, you know,
when you know you're in a place with a lot of cameras and a lot of eyes, sometimes that sort of curbs the criminal activity, which is, uh, a good thing. But we'd like to get uh a registry together of cameras in town that aren't town owned that we could
have access to at one point or another that people could sign up for. Not not like uh us hooking into your house doorbell and checking out what time you got home. Uh nothing like that, but it's sort of after the fact to to aid an
investigation. But um starting this year at National Night Out, um I want to try to get some of these um initiatives put together. We got to polish a lot of them. We we started a little bit of that. Almost everybody I've talked to in the police department wants to get out
in the public a little more. Uh I think a few months ago they did the um pizza with the detectives, right? We had uh Anthony, Detective Deiani, and one of the detectives from Long Meadow uh sort of, you know, providing information and
and you know, letting letting folks know how they can uh you know, stay safe, be safe, uh help the community be safe. [Music] Um again uh my my myself my myself my myself my myself my myself my myself my myself my myself
my myself my myself my myself eval uh which you know most people will tell you that these are not fun to write uh I don't uh it's hard to talk about yourself in an objective sort of way which is all I try to be and all I can be in
my chair is objective uh it saves everyone from a lot of headache this is uh as as as objective as I could get. Uh so if it wasn't at times, I apologize, but um I I do need to keep uh letting you
know and stressing how committed I am to this job, how committed I am to our community and making it better. And it's not lost on me uh how important it is that I make the right decision every single time I make a decision. Um that
uh that is my my one thing that I want to stress is that I am giving my all every single day that I come to work and it's because I love my job and it's because I love working with the people I love to work with uh your support uh your
conversation uh the ideas the initiatives that are happening. We have so many exciting things happening right now. um the high school fiber uh center town district. if if we can get an idea that we all like. Uh I just feel
like there's so many things happening for our town right now and we're all doing them together and I'm so happy to be where I'm at because uh I really do feel like uh this is where I'm supposed to be and I and I I feel like I'm I'm
I'm doing a good job and I want to continue to do a good good job for, you know, as long as you can put up with me. Uh I I'm I'm just really happy to be here and and again uh I'll I'll I'll I'll feed the floor.
Thank you, Tom. Does anyone have any questions? Um you know, the self vows are hard. I've done them a lot in my, you know, when I was employed and but I think there are things that you do that we
don't see. Um, and it's important for us to know. You know, maybe Ralph may see them, but the rest of us are somewhere else. But I think it's important for us to to to hear what you've done so that when we're in at home going through and
checking off the box and, you know, writing things that we have the right information. So, I appreciate the effort that you put into it. Great. So I will say through the chair as past president and now yourself as president I am certain that you see
things that Tom does that is not broadcast out to the public and um this is not a 37h hour a week job. Um although that may be what the contract says. Um I would say 247 I I would
pretty much say by Wednesday you've hit 37. So, um, so I just want to reiterate that, um, you know, whenever I've sent him a message or asked him if he had a minute to talk, he's responded, um, very
quickly, even when he's in the meeting. Um, he'll respond and maybe can't talk right now. I'll call you when I'm done. And I'm sure you see the same thing. So, um, I think it's just important for us to realize that. Um it's a difficult job
and uh we appreciate uh your second year so far is going good but I do expect the rest of those. Oh, that is a good point, Ralph. And I mean, when you kind of put it in perspective, you know, we say town manager as a community, but you know, when you're managing an almost $80
million a year budget, you're essentially the CEO of 17,000 people, which is a lot when you phrase it that way, as you would assume. And as you said, it's not something that ends at 4:00 every night, and I never think about the job again. There's definitely
a lot of communication that's happening after hours, too. So, I appreciate that. Well, thank you guys for answering the phone when I call after hours as well. Appreciate that. That goes for you too, Genie. Week and I'm like, don't answer.
It's hard to turn it off. Just so I don't forget. No, great job putting that together. I think as part of the process we outlined next um as counselors we'll have two weeks to return back our council evaluation of
Tom now that we have his selfie val to make consideration and then from there we'll have the council's performance evaluation committee to compile all of that stuff together in one condensed form and then we'll go from there. Do we
know who's on that committee last time? Uh oh. Oh boy. Somehow we're out. Oh, Jamie. Kathy. Television. Television. Television. Kathy, change a channel. Jeez, Kathy. I didn't think I was that
bad. Lord, changing the channel. Only happened when I was president. Yeah, that could have been bad or worse. That could have been worse. There's a lot of still on here. Okay. Yeah, but maybe
it's not mirroring or something. Yeah, yeah, I'd like to see that show. I can fix it while you guys continue. Okay, I've lost my train of thought. Little little TVMA. All of a sudden, everybody's lost performance evaluation.
Oh, right. Um committee. I forget. I know you were on it last time. I was I was it was actually it was the last time it was Kathy and Ralph and myself that co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co coll co
collated the the um all the the goal suggestions that's what I remember that's what I did we sat together and you know if each one of us gives four right and and we tried to figure out which you know which one is most
important based on the numbers and then we just made a list that's that's the only part that I remember we participated in prior years. There were other things going on but I So once we did that though, didn't that go to a
separate committee to take that and then make a recommendation? I sent it I sent it to Jeie in an email. I just looked at it today. I sent it to Jeie in an email saying this is this is what the committee um you know we just took the numbers. It
was strictly um four people said this, five people said this, only one person said this. So we we chose the goals that the most um counselors were interested in and made them on a list. We didn't prioritize them and then that was well
that was the goals. That's the goals, but that's different than collating the results. I don't recall that. I think Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think we did that because we did I was on it as exeicioia as president because we didn't do it
until like July of last year because I think we were late with the the last one and I know you were on at Maryland and we we compiled the goals but we also did add up the average of each of the 10 categories that right were scored but I can't for the life of me remember who
was part compiling I thought I with you we compiled the goals in the room next door last year the three of us. I think that was the goals. But then but then the evaluation evaluation and I think maybe it was 10 years ago that it was you, Kathy, and myself maybe that did
that. It also blends together. I guess since we can't fully remember who did iteers that want to be part of that process, do it. Don't ever if you want me on it, I would be happy to do it. Um, if someone else
wants to be on it, that's John was saying me, Ralph, putting that direction, but I'm just saying in general. Um, so John for sure. Anybody else that really has a
passion? Do you want to do it again? You know, I'm I'm happy to serve on it. I'm happy to serve on it. So, who was the other one? There were three of us and then we can meet it off here on
teams. Do you have a preference or do you want to do it, Ralph? I'll do it. I don't know. I mean, once we get them, it goes extremely. Do you have time? I have time for everything. A busy man. Must be nice, Ralph. Must be nice. I mean, I'm hoping in the past we've only really
needed one. Oh, I didn't mean to forget about you, too. If you were interested in on Zoom, Kathy, no, I'm good. Okay. You're so good at it, Kathy. We'll share the wealth.
[Music] Sounds good. All right. All right. That was the last old business that we had. We have no new business action items for our next meeting. Let's see on our
calendar. We [Music] have May 13th. So, we will start the public hearing process for the budget. So, that'll probably be our biggest thing. I know we'll probably have
So, you have a public hearing for the massage therapist by law, right? Second reading I think it's 6:15 and the budget. Can you revisit the Hero Act? Yep. And I have the results of the time manager evaluation too at that time on May 13.
Which date is that? Uh, tentative. May 13. Okay. May 13th. Yeah. which I would imagine because I think I said two weeks so that would be by the 6th we would have all the evaluations back so if we can meet as a subcommittee
between 13th we'd have a full week to get that done make that happen a week okay great no other action items and I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn I move we adjourn second motion been
seconded. Any other discussion? See none. Jim, yes. Marilyn, yes. Yes. John, yes. Kathy, yes. We returned at 7:02. Thank you. Hi, Kathy. Good night. Hi, Kathy. acid.