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atgmail.com. [Music] Carlson Printing for all your printing needs. >> Okay. Good evening. I'm going to call to order the Town of Falma Select Board regular meeting for Monday, November
3rd, 2025. It is now 6:30 p.m. Uh, please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Please silence your cell phones and notify the chair if you are making a video or audio recording of this open session meeting. The placement and
operation of the recording equipment should not interfere with the conduct of this meeting. Uh, okay. We're going to move to recognition. And I have two. Uh, I just want to congratulate uh Jack Afarian and
the Cape Cod Marathon. Uh, they were voted the uh best marathon in Massachusetts recently by Race Ravves magazine. uh and it was a wonderful event this year and most everyone was pretty pretty happy with the event. And the other is
uh Hannah Vanderusen Shuran Vanderhuran our chair of our Falmouth task force for workforce and families uh was at the um housing to protect Cape Cod uh summit hosted by the housing uh assistance corp
and she received a housing champion award uh this year. So, uh, congratulations to Hannah for all the good work she does on the affordable housing, uh, and workforce committee. Anyone else? >> I have one.
>> Um, I was going to say I'd like to recognize the Fmouth Police Department and all of the nonprofits that they worked with over the weekend um, for their efforts to collect uh, donations for Famouth Service Center. It was going really well when I saw them at at about noon on Saturday. And it's a
>> an effort that's more needed than ever. So, >> I saw that and I think they got like 4,000 lbs of food donated and like $1,300 in cash. >> Yeah. Which is remarkable. >> That was pretty good just for one couple hours on a Saturday. >> I think everybody's feeling the the need
for it with what's going on. >> Yeah. And I'd like it. >> Doug, you got go ahead. Uh, I'd like to recognize the water quality management committee and the wastewater staff for the uh securing of $450,000 grant to
install two PRBs over at Snug Harbor. It's a leftover plume from the wastewater uh treatment plant. And they've been diligently searching for ways to remedy the problems that have been created over there. And this PRB will intercept what seems to be a
significant problem. And they're going to use uh emulsified vegetable oil in one section and they're going to use wood chips and bark mulch or whatever the the natural organic material is in the other section. So, those seem to work pretty well. They did one on Shorewood Drive a few years ago and it's
still producing good results. So, I'm hopeful that that'll be helping over there. >> Sure. >> And I just want to recognize um the Flying Bridge for their fundraising efforts uh for uh disaster relief for Hurricane Melissa and how it affected
the island of Jamaica. uh hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans uh are what you know make our economy uh work uh in the summertimes and without them we wouldn't be able to to exist as a region. So um you know thank you to the Flying Bridge
for their efforts and and you know we'll continue to support um Jamaica whenever they need. >> Uh speaking of the Flying Bridge, they'll be hosting a Veterans Day uh breakfast as they do every year for the veterans. Uh and that leads me to announce that uh we will be having a
Veterans Day ceremony as we do every year on U next Tuesday, November 11th. Uh select board will be meeting at the uh Village Green and starting a walk over around 10:45. So anyone else for
announcements? >> Uh sure. Uh this Friday, uh Fmouth Public Schools art show opens at the art center, which is always a really uh fantastic chance to see uh what both the the young and uh I guess adult artists
in our community um are up to. And uh then on Monday evening, the um Falcan Falmouth Climate Action Network is going to be hosting a workshop on what's called Enroads. It's basically an opportunity to uh play with a platform that lets you make decisions and see
what the ramifications of those decisions are. Uh and you can find information about that. You do have to register for that one. Um you can find information about that uh on the Falcan Facebook page. >> Send that software up to Washington. Be
helpful think. Okay. Uh public comment uh public comment may be made on routine matters not on the agenda this evening. Comments are limited to two minutes. Please introduce yourself. And since the matter has not been included on the agenda, the select board may not
participate in discussion of the topic. Is there anyone here who would like to speak to public comment? Mr. Murphy. >> Hi, Carrie Murphy. Um, can I approach the >> Sure. >> Can I approach the bench? >> Um, I'm representing Friends of Cape Cod Country Club and that was the letter
that's going to be sent out to all town meeting members. Um, I am not going to be a town meeting. So, it's probably my last chance to get in front of the decision makers of this town. >> You are the change makers. You facilitate success.
There's a lot of people in this town are very concerned about what's happening at Cape Cod Country Club. They're confused. They don't know what article 12 and 13 are about. You may be confused yourself. I sat on this board for nine years. I'm looking at those articles and I'm
wondering what is happening. Um, I know there's a reluctant owner of that property who we have not had a substantial conversation with, which would be good to have a one-on-one situation. Um, and I'd like you to
support article 14 to remove those solar solar overlay district designation. I know it's difficult to do that, but I think you should have a conversation about that. I'd like to see your article 12 and 13 to really think hard about what you're doing um to that level of
the community. We are the third most urbanized state in the nation. Massachusetts thmouth doesn't have a lot of impact parcels left. This is one of them. A golf course sits on it. It's a water recharge area for Kuna Meset Pond and the Kuna Messet Well. It's that
important a parcel. t people's people's property taxes are I mean people's property values are going to plummet because of this. No one is going to want to sell a house or buy going to have a difficulty selling a house or buying a house in that environment. So I I would just ask we're not anti we're not anti-
solar. Solar is a big part of the mix. We're not anti um climate change. We know climate change is happening. We have the most coastline of any town. We understand all of that. We understand it. There are plenty of places to site. solar in this community.
You know, each family has taken it a lot on the dump, the the fairgrounds, you know, different places. And here we are with the low we're going to have the largest solar ground mounted array in Massachusetts and possibly New England
in Hasheville, Massachusetts. It's an agriculturally zoned place that has enjoyed wildlife and every every other benefit to this town, including the vistas. I I would ask you as change makers and decision makers to think long and hard how this process plays out. I
would like you to support article 14 whether it go it's not going to probably smell pass the legal smell test but probably your two articles are not going to either. So this is this is your time. This is your moment. You're you're here to facilitate success for this community and to the taxpayers that voted you in.
I don't mean to make this a lecture because I know you take your job very very seriously and I applaud what you're doing, but in this case, this is an impact parcel that once it's gone, it's not going to come back. It's not going to come back. In 40 years, we're going
to have a destroyed industrial sand pit. A thousand trees will never grow there again. You can have a sledding hill. You know, you can have the power to the low-inccome companies from to low income residents of this town. You already have that a 30-year electric bill right now.
Part of that third of that electric bill goes to low-income people in the state of Massachusetts. That's a fact. We enjoy We have the We have the highest some of the highest electrical cost. There are plenty of places in this community to site solar on Thomas Lander
Road. How about how about the uh power line ements to crisscrosses? Can we put them there? >> Okay, I'm just grabbing >> over here 10 minutes. Um, but I think I think to have a conversation with the community and plan this properly, I think it's your it's incumbent upon this board to do that and I want to thank you
for your time. >> Thank you and thank you for your service, past and current, Mr. Murphy, to the town here. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Good luck at town meeting. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else for public comment? If not, we'll move to our consent agenda.
Licenses. Consider a vote to approve an application by Cape Cod Winery for a special 1-day agricultural liquor license to be executed at Mahoney's Garden Center, 958 East Falmouth Highway for an agricultural event, quote, Mary
and Bright on November 13th, 2025 from 400 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Number two, consider a vote to approve the application by Felmouth Theater Guild for two special one-day all alcoholic beverages licenses to be located at
Highfield Theater, 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth on the weekends of December 12th through 14th and 19th through 21st. Number three, consider a vote to approve a request to change the date of a special one-day wine and malt beverages
license issued to West Balmouth Library, 575 West Balmouth Highway for a wall for sorry for a fall wine tasting dated October 29th, 2025 to November 12th,
2025 due to illness of the presenter. Administrative orders. Consider a vote to approve a request for the Falmouth Cultural Council to apply to the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod AFCC
for a grant in the amount of $5,000 and to the Rotary Club of Falmouth Cape Cod for a grant in the amount of $1,000. And number two, consider a vote to approve the request by Highfield Hall and Gardens for a sign variance to place
a holiday sign at the corner of Depot Avenue and North Main Street for annual holidays at Highfield to be displayed from date of approval through December 15, 2025. That concludes the consent agenda.
>> Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing and seeing none. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. We've moved the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chair, may I ask one question of uh town manager's office. Um since we're
still approving uh one day uh wine and and liquor licenses for Highfield Hall and uh the west westmouth library. I thought I would just ask about the status of the cultural institution licenses that we recently. >> Great question. I asked the same question to staff at the front office. We're still working on some details, so
it's not quite ready for prime time yet, but we're working on we're close. >> Okay. We we don't have a date when that goes into effect. >> I don't have a date yet. >> Okay. >> Is there is there a plan to go out to all of the vendors and providers to let them know of the new procedure?
>> So, the number is relatively small. I was told by uh Phyllis in her front office. Um but she's got a good handle on it. So, she'll communicate with those businesses that she deals with, those entities, I should say, that she deals with. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, we're going to hear a report from the board of library trustees. You
have 15 minutes. >> We're doing a duet this evening. >> Okay. >> So, I'm going to be talking about what the trustees have been up to and then Brian Stokes, the director of the library, is going to fill you in on what the library itself has been up to and talk about the East Valmouth Library
Project. Um, I'm Judy Fenwick. I'm currently the chair of the board of library trustees. Um when I stepped off the school committee after 16 years, I took a year off before I reuped um to become a member of the library board of trustees and I um somebody asked me why
the change and I said because there's a whole lot less drama at the library. Um however, I think there is some drama at the library and Brian may talk about this a little bit and that's in the teen room of a theatrical nature. Um anyway, um I always start off my
print report that's um that's due once a year uh with something literary or something um tied to what libraries are. And so I have a couple of quotes this year that I just like to start this off because um I think we often just take
the word library for granted. So Carl Sean when asked um what um what was his passion he said that it was ignited when he was a child by getting his first library card and his quote we are the only species on the planet to have
invented a communal memory stored neither in our genes nor in our brains. The warehouse of that memory is called the library. So we have one of those here in town. Um so uh I I know that
several of you are fairly new to the board. So I'm going to give a little bit of the usual drill when I come talk. Um first is the governance of the three town libraries. Maine, East Falmouth, and North Falmouth are the responsibility of a seven member elected board of library trustees. Our
governance is embedded in Mass General Laws in Falmouth's home rule charter and in the board's bylaws. We also have a strategic plan that helps us operate and uh our current strategic plan is 2022 to 2027 which means next
year we'll be starting to work on the next five-year plan. Uh as part of that strategic plan which we file with the state the mass board of library commissioners um we have an annual action plan that the library director um prepares to flesh out our actions and
activities. Each year the trustees meet in open session once a month with periodic open meetings of the resource building and grounds committee and policy committee. We have seven current trustees as I've said Jennifer Eli is
the vice chair is serving her third term. Mary Fran Buckley her second term myself as chair my third term. Judith Handley the treasurer who's uh serving her first term. Donna Madison Earles, if any of you remember her, as a fourth grade teacher at Madison at um Mullen
Hall, is serving her first term. Kathy Mount is in her third term, and Camille Romano is our secretary, and she's in her first term. Um, I know that part of the annual report is supposed to talk about attendance at um, committee meetings and I don't know if anybody
ever reports them, but I just want to say that thanks to the Zoom option, we have almost 100% attendance except for one member who occasionally travels internationally where time zones per do not permit her to attend our meetings.
Um, so uh, that's u our basics on what we do. Um the trustees have um custody and care of three buildings. Maine um North Falmouth out on Chester Street and East Falmouth out on 310 um Ticket
Highway. And uh the main branch has an asset that a lot of people like to make use of and that's our library lawn. And every year the trustees are uh asked to entertain the idea of opportunities for
people to use the lawn. Um and every year we usually grant requests to use the lawn. Um some of our favorites are the summer movies under the stars that the Felmouth um business association has been putting on. Uh Arts Alive uh has a
multi-day event, a series of events there. College Light Opera does an annual summer concert. Uh this year the Felmouth Historical Society in collaboration with the Felmouth 250 committee did a revolutionary lanterns and lyrics program that involved
families, the Austin Healey Club of New England. I don't know how many Austin Healies are still left in New England. Um the Falmouth Village Association's holiday stroll, the Shining Sea Strummers, and out in North Felmouth every year the unplugged Paul White memorial race. So, this does not include
the premier event, which is the 5-day uh FTH Friends of Public Libraries um annual summer book sale. Uh and as we often say, we've been told by people who come to the library book sale from out of town that they plan their vacations around it. Um so, uh this year, um I'll
talk about the friends a little bit later. Um as a result of our monthly meetings, um a lot of our activities are based around our budget and the things that we are supporting. So, we have been supporting um and these are activities that are not funded by the town operating budget, but the trustee fund
and I'll give a little history on that in a bit. Um so, this year we supported um the following activities and I know Brian will also um give some information on these adult programs. We had 302 programs with about 46 4,200 attendees.
the young adult programs which has absolutely I I don't you like to use the word exploded but it has 134 programs this year with 2,120 attendees and that's a group that we're not used to having in the library um in the numbers that we now are um we've
been uh putting money towards professional development for the staff um we've I think tripled our money for staff development over the last three years uh this year um or the reporting year We sent uh staff, three staff to the American Library Association in
Philadelphia, one staff member to the New England Science Boot Camp for librarians at Bowden College, and two staff to the Massachusetts Library Association conference. We also support the staff in appreciating them quite often. Um we also um purchased 12 public
access desktop computers for Maine and two for East. And um the uh this is something we used to lease. Uh the trustees have supported public access computers since we started having them in the library. So this is not a cost in
the department budget, but that the trustees support. Um the East Library project, I know I'm going to leave that for Brian solely. Uh one thing I'd like to point out is that the Fmouth Public Library staff is the heartbeat of our institution. And uh as
of the writing of the report when I put this in um I just wrote very quickly that they had another busy summer but indeed it was. Um but one important thing that's happened this past year is that Brian has pulled the staff into collaborating with the policy
subcommittee. So we're as we review our policies the staff is providing input and especially into a section we have formal policies but then attached to those policies we have exhibits what are which are in effect the dos and don'ts or the rules and regulations for implementing the policy and that's where
the staff has heavily had input. Um we have two groups that support the library. The friends of the fmouth public library under the leadership this year of Mary Tamucci. Um, and this is again the group that is responsible for putting on the book sale. This summer
there were 50,000 books that were for sale and um, we grossed we I I involved myself with this group because I I like their power. Um, grossed about $80,000. Um, the things that the friends support are uh, museum passes, children's and
branch programming, digital and special collections, and the joy of learning classes. uh and uh we have two trustees who are liaison to the friends group. Then there's the Fmouth Public Library Support Fund that's been in existence since I think 2014. Uh and it's a group
that um was started as a 501c3 by several trustees um in order to accommodate um uh about $650,000 that the trustees were hoping to recoup from the former Fmouth Public Library fund after the renovation of Maine closed. Um
so the group is headed uh now by Elizabeth Abrams, a former library trustee. Um I was elected to a new position of vice president. Leonard Johnson stepped down after a decade as treasurer and uh Bob Ripley rejoined the fund and has been elected treasurer for
the coming year and trustee Camille Romano serves as the clerk. Um I think that um one of the things I just want to focus on um at about 5:30 I sent Peter Johnson STO and the finance
director of Laura Certran um a copy of the trustees budget. Well, but that's the first time I've ever sent you the budget for 2026. But um I sent a copy of the town financial report from the trustees and I just wanted to weigh in on a couple of things that have have
morphed from the time period reporting through June 2025. uh that is that um in the course of this year that I'm reporting on we had doubled um programming for adults and
young adults from previous years because we see more activity and we see the potential for pulling more people into the library through the programming. Uh we also um doubled staff development and this is not only going to conferences but um providing continuing education.
Uh and we have staff recruitment in case we need it. We um we have fairly low amounts budgeted in our capital section because the most of the designated funds that we have in our trustee fund which um as of June 30th, 2025 was running
$1.5 million. Um and the history on that is something that I wanted to share with you. How am I doing? >> Okay. >> I think you're fast approaching. Okay. Well, I I want to give him I want to give him all the time he needs. Um, but I just wanted to um let folks know the
history of the fund that we often refer to because it's what makes our wheels as trustees go around. Um, it was established in the 1890s um by Mrs. James BBE to buy books and um in 19 in um 1897 there was $332 in that
account. In 1986, the town treasurer reported the fund had grown to $23,400. In 2002, then library trustee Frank Duffy submitted an application to the IRS for the trustees of the Famouth Public Library to have their own
employer identification number. So, we have that fund now operating as an account that the trustees oversee. And in 2006, the board of trustees indicated that the BB fund, which would have originally been per used for purchasing books, was now applied to the general
betterment of the library. And if you fast forward to 2025, the trustees look forward to putting a sizable portion of that current trustee fund into action when the East Famouth library needs to be outfitted as a 21st century public library. I yield the rest of the time to
director Brian Stokes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Judy. Uh Brian Stokes, library director. I'll be very quick. I I just wanted to say I I've already spoken to you. >> We want to hear about what's going on. >> Yeah. Uh I've I've been here recently to speak with you about the East Falmouth
Library project. I will be back to speak with you about that again in the very near future. I think tonight I'd just simply like to uh focus on a few key numbers. And that is uh for fiscal year 2025, the library across its three
locations saw a 10% increase in visits. For the first time ever, we had over 200,000 people come in through the doors of our three locations, which is pretty remarkable because we're not that big of a town. Uh but people really use our spaces and these are really vital spaces
for our community. >> Do you attribute that to anything in particular, Brian? Uh I mean I think >> other than being you know the good director that you are >> I think I think we have uh inclusive and welcoming spaces and we've really tried over the last couple of years to make
sure that we're offering something for for everyone in this community. Um but I think more than ever these are are spaces that are not necessarily thought of as book repositories as maybe libraries were historically sort of regarded as. These are truly community
centers. It's a place where you can come and just be inside for a while. It's a place you can come be around other people for a while. It's a place you can pursue academic uh work. You can find something entertaining. You can just have a safe place for your kids to play
for a little while while you take a little bit of a break from, you know, full-time parenting. There's a million reasons why people come into our spaces, right? I couldn't tell you all of them, but I think that shows that in 2025 when you know there are some people in this
country and many communities in this country that are choosing not to support these institutions here. It's more vital than it's ever been. And I think that's a really important thing for us to consider and remember as we move forward and certainly something I think about every day. Um our collections continue
to be used more and more. We saw a 5% increase in collection usage with over 500,000 checkouts last year of materials both digital and physical. That was led by children's materials and uh downloadable audio. So I like to think of that as sort of the future and the
past and the present um all sort of rolled into one. Uh libraries and and parents and children have always been connected. It's a place where we really teach children how to love reading and learning. Um, but also I think uh our
downloadable audio success is reflective of the fact that we're embracing how people use our materials now and and will in the future as we pivot away from physical audio CDs uh books on CD and embrace uh providing this to folks
wherever they are and however they want to get it. Um finally, programming. We saw a 70% increase in the programs offered by the library last year um to the community which is great. We had some really nice stability at our sort of programming librarian level uh which
allowed us to really be creative and deliver on those programs I think that folks are looking for and maybe things that they didn't even know that they were looking for. Um and we also saw about a 68% increase in attendance of those programs as well. So more programs
and more people attending programs and those programs again try to appeal to everyone. We have great programs for kids, older adults. We have programs online. We have programs that are uh passive programs where you can come in and do a scavenger hunt around our
space. Uh we had a very successful uh ComicCon style program in the summer. It was our second one. We call it CapeCon. That's very appealing to young adults but also families as well. and is a really inclusive uh thing. So, uh I know that we're sort of at time. I'm happy to
answer any questions about what we do. >> As you know, I do some work over at the uh county jail as well. You want to talk a little bit about what what you do over at the county jail? >> Yes, sir. Yeah. >> Over there. >> A few years ago, we started doing um some work at the jail. The jail had not
had a librarian since the onset of CO in March 2020. Uh in 2022, we reached out to uh Sheriff Buckley's uh office and in 2023 uh we were able to actually start uh cleaning up the library out there um and
which had not been touched for a few years. Uh over the course of time, we started providing some library services in the library out there uh once a week um alternating weeks between seeing uh some men who are incarcerated out there
and then some women the next week. Uh we started doing some programming out there shortly after that. I offered a sort of modified version of a a class that I designed when I was doing some correctional uh work uh earlier in my career um post 911 American literature.
So we offered that to a group of men and a group of women uh after that um because their uh programming is sort of segregated. Uh last year was a big success. We actually now offer uh weekly library service to everybody, every
single unit in the facility um every week. So on Mondays and Fridays, myself and a few of uh the staff members um go out there and not most of the people actually at the facility don't get to go to the library out there. So we load up
a book cart and push it to each unit um that's curated by us to you know hopefully have some interesting titles and aspirational titles perhaps and we also fill uh requests as well. Um we bring that to each unit um even the you
know administrative segregation units or the solitary units and the protective custody units that certainly don't get these kinds of services very often. So, um, you know, our perspective is that these are folks who are part of our community. They're going to be coming
back into our community and having a good relationship with the library and knowing that there's a stable sort of place that you can uh come to and get um information and that you know uh can wants to help you sort of uh have
something positive in your life even during perhaps the darkest period of your life. I think that's a really important thing and and we're really happy to be able to do that. >> That's great. Anything else? >> Yep. Mr. Reed. >> Yeah, just uh two quick ones. Um we're heading into our strategic planning
session. You uh Judy mentioned that there's a five-year strategic plan and an annual action plan. >> Yeah. >> What do you need the select board's eyes on uh as we enter our strategic plan? Uh I I think you know just uh
understanding that you know the changing role of the library in our community I think is a really important thing for everybody to understand. um you know in my career I've had so many people say like I didn't even know libraries were important anymore or why I I haven't
been to a library in a decade and that there are some folks who have that experience that are in that position but there are so many people who rely on the library for so many vital things and sort of understanding the 360 sort of provision of services that we offer um
rather than um seeing us as as a sort of oneote books you know, it's so important and I I'm always happy to talk about it just to understand that we provide so much so much so many things and and the staff of our library are so smart and
resilient and resourceful um in providing those things. You know, most of these people got into library work because they love reading, right? And now we're doing so much more than that. So, I would just say um keep that in mind as you sort of think about our role in the community and and that we are
willing to and ready to step up and be what the community needs. I think >> uh Mr. Richardson, >> thank you very much. This question that I'm going to now I think Vice Chair Goldstone asked this last week, but um every department head who comes in um do
you know what percentage of your staff lives in town or on Cape? Uh, I don't know. I I know where everybody lives. Um, I'm a librarian, not a math major, so I can't do that percentage for you on the spot. Probably
need to be exact, >> but um I think that most of our staff um are are local to Falmouth. A few are over the bridge um in either Buzzard's Bay or Wearham. Um, we have had staff in
the past who are farther a field and in my personal experience, I see that they generally don't last very long. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> Mr. Brown, >> uh, have you come up with any ideas to have a temporary, uh, library in East Felmouth when the construction is
underway on the the new library? >> Yeah, I mean, that's certainly been something that's come up early and often. Um, as soon as we found out that we were going to have this opportunity to pursue a new library in East Felmouth, um, the the answer that I believe that makes the most sense is we don't even know when, uh, construction
funding will be available for certain. Um, and there's so many shifting sort of dynamics behind locating a space and outfitting it and everything else that we want to have a good idea of when that would be needed so that we can be as um
sort of targeted as to when those services would begin and when they would end. So, I think um realistically speaking, we will probably have sort of a six-month heads up uh from the state that funding is going to become available uh before we would then need
to seek local funding here. And so, I think once we have that idea of funding's coming up, that's when we'll really start to look into it. But I I know I think I speak for everybody that we want to you know continue to offer library services in the village of East Felmouth during you know uh probably an
18 to 24 month you know construction period >> right might be tough to scramble though in 6 months. >> It could be um yeah and I I think you know certainly it's in the back of our head and and we'll be as creative and sort of nimble as possible but yeah you're right we should we should probably start sooner rather than later
>> but we at least get some ideas. >> Yep. >> Thanks. >> Absolutely. Very quickly, um, just want to say thank you and and shout out a couple of your programs that you haven't mentioned that that I particularly love with the embrace of the library as more than maybe the traditional model. Um,
and one is the library of things. Yeah. >> Um, being able to got a puzzle at home right now, but um, puzzles, games, all that sort of thing, right? Um, is is just fabulous. Um, and then uh, I think we too often take for granted all of the digital offerings that you have. I mean,
I I take out library books probably three times a month without ever setting foot in the library through Libby and Clams and the network of Massachusetts libraries that is opened up to us through the the sharing between libraries of digital materials. So, thank you for that. It's it's terrific.
>> Yeah. And and we continue to even invest even more in that. Um the usage of digital materials is just going up every year and we're we understand that and we embrace that. It's not something we think is a bad thing by any stretch. and um you know movies, audio books, there's
so much that you can get digitally through the library with your clams card totally for free. I >> just think you need more than two weeks to read. >> I don't disagree with be honest with you. >> I'm a slow reader despite the professional role of it. Um but yeah, I agree. I'm always excited when I get
that renewal. >> All right. Thanks very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Judy. >> Okay, we'll now hear from the Agricultural Commission. uh standing room. So, I've been on the ACOM for a number of years and we
continue to uh take on more I don't know not responsibilities but we seem to take on more uh projects I guess. So, um, I'll start off this year. Uh, at this time of year, I usually can
come and say we had a a great cranberry harvest, but I can't do that this year. We, uh, we had good good uh, blossom set and we were out there cleaning off the brush and the grass. And then when I
went out there towards the uh middle of August to check on berry production, there was hardly anything to be found. So apparently there was a cold night that I wasn't aware of. Not that I could have done anything or anybody could have
done anything on the bug that took out most of our blossoms. So we'll uh we'll hit that again next year and hope for better growing season. Uh but the bog looks good. We're keeping up on that and
uh so we're doing that. Um we submitted a budget to the town uh for the agricultural commission. We're uh asking for a huge budget of $2,000 a year. Um
that's to cover a couple of printing projects that we've we've developed. Two trifold. One is a listing of the farms in town and the other is just a general agricultural information brochure. And so we were
looking for some funds in order to print those up on a yearly basis. And um also the work that we do on the cranberry bog is all volunteer, but we're using our own equipment. And we
thought, well, maybe it's time that we sort of got a a few dollars to pay for weed whacker cord and gasoline, and if some one of our machines goes down to get it repaired. And we also would like
to put up uh three uh signs on the main roads coming into town uh designating the town as a right to farm town. And those would be we would try to do one
per year because they're pretty expensive signs. So that's what the budget's about. >> Excuse me if I can I ask how many farms are there rough number here in Fel that you consider
>> operating farms? Uh I know of the three bigger ones and then there are a bunch of smaller ones that are uh so Kunameset Pariah Dog and Andrews Farm the town
owned farm. And then there's uh and I don't know her name on blacksmith shop road uh has a farm stand and I'm sure there's a bunch of other ones smaller operations throughout town. >> Thank you.
>> That I'm not aware of. Um we were asked uh at the beginning of the year uh Farming Felmouth, which is a nonprofit organization here in town, was looking to buy a parcel of land and they
uh asked us if we would be uh carry the conservation restriction on that land because they were going to go to the CPC for funds and put that parcel into a conservation restriction. and we said
yes, we would be happy to do that. And so that sale went through in midsummer. And so we are the um we jointly hold that conservation restriction with the
300 committee and we also monitor the uh Andrews Farm conservation restriction for the town. And so I will uh so this will be our first year walking the the perimeter of the um farming Felmouth,
the patch they call it. And uh we will also be walking around uh Andrews farm, making sure that everything is as it should be. I will say that uh Jeff Andrews continues to do a fine job
maintaining the farm. Um he helps uh uh farming Felmouth has a field there, the community garden. There's actually two community gardens now. The second one started up this spring and he has been
more than generous in helping and and guiding. So um he's been a great steward and a great friend to uh our farming there at the uh at Andrews Farm. Um,
let's see. Um, the one thing that I wanted to spend a little bit more time on is you asked how many farms are in town. Well, I can't answer that in numbers, but I will say that we continue to lose uh viable
farmland at what we consider an alarming rate. Um, and one of the reasons is that Thelmouth is a really nice town and people want to live here and developers know that. And so they when a piece of
farmland or agricultural land or any sizable piece of land that could be farmed comes up for sale, um, they're right there money on the table to to buy it up and develop it. What we would like to try to
do as an agricultural commission is to to sort of even off that playing field. Uh we've had a couple of ideas and and I want to throw these out because um it's
above our level. One of the ideas, um, you are probably all aware that the, uh, county commissioners are looking at a what, a luxury tax, uh, to help fund affordable housing on the Cape.
We would like that 2% proposed tax split between affordable housing and farmland preservation. And so if the select board would like to put some weight behind that, that would be great. What we're looking for is a
fund that we can tap into uh right there. what happens in some of the well happened at Andrew's farm and they were more than willing to take the time that it took to go to town
meeting get CPC funds and all that and fund raise. A lot of people who are selling property don't have that that ability or don't want to take that time. They want they want to put the property on the market. they want to get the
money and and go. And so what we're trying to do is figure out how do we get a fund that we can tap into at a moment's notice. Sort of like the affordable housing trust fund. Is that
true? Where the money's right there. If they need it, they can they can they can get it. What we're looking for is the town to uh to set up a fund like that for agricultural pre preservation
that when a property comes on the market that we can we can actually go and either maybe not match the uh price but at least put earnest money down I think it's called so that they know that we're
serious and then take the time to do the fundraising and whatever else we need to do in order to secure a property. That's one possibility. Um there was an article I think last week's enterprise two weeks
ago about the uh seasonal communities and that Felmouth is not automatically would not automatically be designated as a seasonal community. In that article, it it said that, you know, that funds
would be earmarked or available for permanent housing for arts and civic employees. And I thought, well, what about agricultural
workers? I mean, they're they're not on the uh upper end of the pay scale in anybody's book. And so having that them listed or included in that list would really help out if the town ever went
that that direction. Um let's see. Uh um the agricultural commission is partnering with the uh 300 committee and farming felmouth to try to brainstorm on
how to protect farmland. So we're uh 300 committee when they get a parcel, somebody comes to them with a parcel that they think might have some agricultural uh possibilities and they
contact us and possibly work together on on uh funding that. Um Mr. Murphy talked about the golf course. Uh, and I don't know where the where anybody is on on
the solar, but one of the articles that I came across and I'll just throw this out that you know as a interesting tidbit is that uh there's been a lot of
research and work done on lifting your solar panels off instead of ground mounting. they're up higher and allowing uh this article talked about raising sheep underneath them and that it was a
a win-win. Uh you got the panels. The panels uh offer a little shade for the sheep and they can graze underneath which allows them to keep the grass down so you don't have to have people in there mowing. So, uh thought, well, golf
courses got grass. just put the panels up higher if that ever comes to that and we can raise raise sheep. >> You had said that raise that issue. >> Uh and that's uh the only other thing that I would like to say while I have
the podium is that we are down one member right now have a couple of members that are on their third term. So if anybody is out there and listening in and would like to join the agricultural commission, we would love to have you.
>> Thank you. >> Any questions, >> Mr. Richardson? >> Uh, thank you so much. I have a few things. One, the seasonal communities designation comment period unfortunately ended on Halloween, but I did see people did actually mention how
>> I saw that at about 6:00 on Halloweeny >> and I I wrote it in. Yeah. So, good on you. >> Yeah. >> Uh, and I now have a future agenda item based on your request um for a potential agriculture fund. I'll put that in later, but I think that's a great idea.
Uh, I filed an earmark when I was on the uh to to the general budget of the Falmouth um housing authority when I was on that board for uh community garden space. I don't think it's gone anywhere, but that's something that uh I wanted to
know uh how if it would be possible with with the committee getting involved with. I think that there are so many properties in town. I think the housing authority is the best example of this where the community really goes there or for the housing authority's sake, you have large dense populations of people where it makes sense to build community
farm space. Do you think that's something that the committee would would be interested in and could could really help drive? We uh we actually looked at a six acre parcel
uh a week ago on Sunday and uh we looked at it and walked over it and and they asked what my feeling was and I said, "Well, you know, I think we could put a couple of these acres into permanent
conservation and uh we could take a little bit of that plan to make it into a community garden because there wasn't a community garden in that part of town right now. And then uh and use a a little bit of
that for uh a cluster affordable cluster housing totally affordable to help us maintain our safe harbor. So that's yeah that's I think that's uh whenever you
we're looking at a a parcel uh we have to look at all of those issues you know conservation affordable housing and >> and then shortterm 200 is nothing if we you know found the way to give you guys more money in the short term do you
think there's something that you would be able to do with that beyond two grand? Oh, well, yeah. And yes, I mean, you know, if you give somebody money, they're going to find a way to spend it. >> Hope so. >> But right now, that's
fine. I mean, >> that's all all we need to do at this point. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Some questions along the the same lines. I love that you're talking with the 300 committee in Farming Falmouth um and working together there. I think we've seen some really positive um
collaborations between the 300 committee and Habitat for Humanity um over the past couple of years of combining instead of trying putting housing and conservation at loggerheads of really working together to meet both of those goals when there are parcels that are large enough for that. Um, and so your
comments put me in mind of I don't know if that conversation is already going or could start to go with the the affordable housing committee pro perhaps with some of the affordable housing nonprofits in town to open up that conversation and and talk about I think to to Jack's point, right? There's been
a trend for I don't know and you would know better than I but you know 5 10 years of building housing uh communities centered around or with um shared garden and and farming space. Um would be great to see that. I think that entered the
conversation a little bit when the the Andrews farm um right was was being discussed. So so thinking about ways that we can combine and meet both of those goals really creatively I think would be great. And then the other thing is I I wonder if you've talked with um Felmouth Cultural Council at all about
collaborations there because another thing that strikes me is that a lot of our farms in addition to being vital food sources are also increasingly venues for educational cultural arts kinds of events. Um and there there
might be some some collaborations there to at least help raise the profile, right, of of the role that farms are playing in in the town. Um and yeah just >> thank you. >> Okay, very good. Thank you very much. >> Great report. >> Great report. Thank you.
>> Okay, we will now discuss the fiscal year 2027 operating budget policy. Mr. Enshaw, >> you Mr. Chairman, it's a busy time of the year to be a finance director. Laura Citroen, our finance director, is here to uh kind of lead the discussion, but as Laura's working her way up to the podium, I want to say that um this this
document that the select board approves each year, the operating policy budget operating policy document, um kind of serves as the cornerstone, if you will, um really sets the uh the priorities, uh the parameters of our operating budget for the upcoming, uh fiscal year 27. Um
as you all likely anticipate, um and we're seeing now, it's going to be a challenging year. Um, so I think uh these parameters and and and and mileposts and bumper guards, if you will, um have never been more important. Um, you know, looking at revenues um and
being conservative with our forecasting is important and and this document is very important piece of that. So, I'm going to let Laura kind of walk us through uh this document. Laura, >> hi. Um, so each year you guys approve a a a
budget policy for the next fiscal year's budget, and that's what we've given you tonight to look at and hopefully approve. Um key elements that are in the fiscal year 27 policy include um continuing to require the use of
conservative revenue estimates, no Proposition 2 and a half overrides, financial and economic challenges that may impact operations, and some information, general information on reserve funds. And I will tell you that the town
manager's recommended budget is due to the select board by January 1st. So, we're in the process of putting that together um as we speak. And I would just generally say
um we just talked about a couple of these things. So, I wanted to maybe talk about a little bit about the fact that um some of the challenges that we think that we're going to be facing this year include
increased health insurance premiums. We had an 8% increase last year. We're hoping it will not exceed that this year, but all federal and um state and local reports are that health insurance premiums could be in the double digits.
So, that's a significant cost to the town and the schools. Um, our retirement system right now, we're trying to comply um with the state law that requires that
the unfunded liabilities and pension plans be eliminated by 2040. Um, we have a plan in place, the Falmouth Retirement System has a plan in place right now to have us pay off that
unfunded liability by fiscal year 2034. Um, but that's requiring 8% increases each year. So, right now for fiscal year 27, the 8% increase is a little over a million dollars for a total of total annual contribution of $13.7 million.
that's going into the retirement system each year. Um, obviously I think most people are aware that there's elevated national and local inflation rates and that's impacting salaries and operating costs.
We expect that to continue to impact salaries and operating costs for the town, Felmouth Public Schools, um, the upper Cape Regional School District Technical School. And we also see that operating costs are still somewhat impacted, some more than
others, by tariffs and continuing supply chain interruptions. So that does impact some of our operating costs. We also expect a reduction in interest rates. So that will reduce any revenue can reduce the revenue that we're
receiving on our our cash and investments. And we think there's we just there's cautionary that national policies may impact funding sources for transportation housing social
programs, educational programs which may or may not affect Felmouth. Um the reserves I just will tell you generally the general stabilization fund balance is a little over $ 8.8 8 million
which does ex um is above or it does exceed the overall policy goal of 5%. The capital improvement and debt stabilization fund is at 19.4 million and that combined with the other um
stabilization funds in the unassigned general fund balance also meets or exceeds the town's um fiscal policy of 15%. balance in the OPED trust fund is 7.5 million. Liability
at June 30th was 142 million. Um so basically the plan is that once the town has achieved full funding of the pension liability, the um yeah, it will be a priority to increase
the annual contributions to the OPED trust fund. And I just want to reiterate some of what Mike just said. Um, I think what I'm hoping is that we can bring something within the next couple of months to the select board to sort of
look at the operating and capital costs that the town is facing over the course of the next few years, certainly in the next 5 to 10 years, and talk about possibly finding a way forward to address some of that because the there's
a there will be a significant gap between the revenues and costs um without until we unless we can figure out a way to sort of address some of that.
That's all I have >> questions. We're going to be asked to take a vote and adopt this. >> Uh traditionally, uh there's been a request of the select board to approve and adopt the uh fiscal operating policy. Well, the only concern I have is if I
could, sure. I just think we're going to be up against it with the affordable housing fund. I I think we're going to probably have to reappropriate where we're where we're headed here with this. I don't think that's going to really do it for the year. Do you think you think we'll get by?
>> Um, so you're looking at me. I'll I'm happy to respond. I can't seem like um there's just no simple answer to that question. So, as Laura is alluding to, we um there's no extra money in the
till. So, the um the town manager and ultimately the board are going to be faced with some very difficult challenges. Do I think that we have will have demands on the affordable housing fund that we um cannot meet in the
coming year? Yes, I do. Um can we find a way to find another $5 million to meet those demands? Not without a tax increase as far as I can see. Unless you know you want to significantly reduce payroll and and um you know have
reductions in force and and shrink the the headcount. >> What would we do then if we get to a point where we have a project that comes to us and wants to be funded and we just say sorry we can't help you. >> That's correct. Are there going to be any of those in
the pipeline or that I mean that are >> homegrown projects or >> so uh Kim uh and uh our community services uh development director I should say do a great job kind of monitoring that pipeline. That's what you're referring to Doug. Um, so yes, I anticipate there will be projects this
year in that pipeline that we're going to be in a position of and I and I I I I think it's indicative of our of our need as as Laura is indicating to have a better plan going forward in the absence you'll read in some of these pages about you know in the absence of additional
new revenues. You know we tried I think it was a couple of years ago right with regards to uh generating some additional revenue source right for affordable housing and that that that was unsuccessful. However, um we're going to have to get more creative and we're going to have to uh pay pay uh strict
attention to that funding uh available fund. Kim has done a great job, I think, putting together a report which we've asked her to bring to the select board so we can all as a group uh be part of that monitoring and kind of knowing where we're at at any given point in time with regards to the balance in that fund.
>> Um you all know there's two sources, right? the uh the form film of affordable housing fund and then the uh CPC monies that are available and different criteria apply. Um so we're going to have to do a better job being aware and diligent about how we're doing that money out knowing that there's
projects very worthy worthwhile projects in that pipeline that we're going to be hardressed to fund. >> Yeah, >> that's a long answer to that question but appreciate it. >> Mr. three. >> Paragraph three of the introduction talks about how in
uh fiscal year 25, we made significant strides toward hiring needed staff and establishing competitive wages. And then FY26 budget established a slightly increased baseline for municipal services offered within the sustainable operating budget.
Um what is it going to be for 2027? Is it hold tight and hold hard and not look to do anything new or you know what is that you know one sentence look like for 27? >> That's a great question. So um we're actually uh the the departments have been working hard preparing their their
their requests. We're going to be starting tomorrow actually starting to meet with those departments. Uh my answer to that question um we're going to have to be really tactical about how we apply you. We don't have, as Peter just indicated, there's not a there's not a huge surplus, right, of revenue. Uh, and so
we're going to have to be very uh tactical and strategic um both um in in applying, you know, looking at um one of the few agenda items coming up, right? It's talking about a pro an initiative that we know is going to be a multi-year kind of implementation um that's going to have an impact we believe on on the
request for FY27 to meet that timeline for implementing that that initiative. So, um just again extra diligence. Um uh uh we're going to have to be aware very much aware of the strategic plan priorities of the select board and you
hold us to meet a task making sure that we're allocating those resources to meet the objectives and goals of that of that plan. >> Jack. >> Oh, go ahead. Sorry. >> Um three things. First, thank you very much. I think this is very comprehensive
and um you know I just want to be abundantly clear this has nothing to do with mismanagement by the town but rather the reckless action actions of an administration in Washington DC that doesn't care about working people. I mean you directly mentioned that you policies like tariffs will and cuts uh
could affect social services and transportation costs and healthcare premiums are skyrocketing. There's nothing that these people in this room can do um that has let the scale of disruptions that we are facing. There's nothing that this board or previous boards or the town administration has
done. And I just want to be abundantly clear about that and it's a damn uh travesty. Pardon my language. Um second, but I think this shows the need for a regional approach on some of these larger issues. You know, we talked about the real estate transfer fee and, you know, I think it's going to be Barnesville County is really going to
have to work and us are going to have to work as as voices of of of our constituents to really advocate for some of these bold initiatives at a larger level. Um because um as the town manager just mentioned, we're going to have to get creative and I think part of that is thinking beyond the scope of of this
board within the capacity of what can we do as a board. Um so working with our state federal partners and um you know the the assembly of delegates on the one particular issue. Um one one thing that I've been interested in uh a critique I
have of of um not of uh of governments in America is I think we spend a lot on consultant fees uh rather than trusting town staff and I think this is an issue with uh around the country. Uh I was wondering if if maybe we could have an agenda item on this where we could look
at how much that we as a town have spent last 10 years or so on consultant fees and how much did that lead to either another study or to action happening. Um because I think that we have an incredibly talented, you know, led by Mike and Peter, we have an incredibly talented um town staff here and I, you
know, I I think that could be just one way where we could we could cut down on costs. Um, so I'll get off the soap box, but those are those are my three things >> on Jan. >> Yeah, I um
Mr. Reed, I really like your question in terms of that. What will the FY27 uh want and sentence look like? And I will say I think that this policy is uh with one area I'd like to discuss a
little bit. I think is is the right policy in terms of being conservative in terms of our forecasting and very responsible with our funding. Um I agree with you that we need to be, Mr. Manager, that we need to be very
creative um as a town. I think in all four areas of our revenue sources, especially going forward, we're going to be talking in a couple of agenda items um about um our our property taxes. One of those um but really making sure that
we are looking out for and understanding that right now not having a ton of federal funding um on our books is is putting us in a stronger position because we're not seeing uh large hits. But I think looking for those for every opportunity and being more um creative
and and aggressive about finding state and federal opportunities and and where possible generating um state and and federal opportunities, working with our our other elected officials to to do that. Um, and also thinking about um our other revenue sources as a town, whether
that's fees or um just because the the one part of the the the policy that I have a a really hard time with is this idea of establishing a level service budget. And I understand the realities of the year and the fact that it's quite
possibly necessary, but um I keep coming back to the really powerful mission and vision language that we've set as a town and you don't get to being a pre premier town by setting level service and and and doing you know the minimum and I
don't think that's what we're typically doing. I think we're facing a really hard situation here this year and we have a really a number of really challenging years coming up which is where I think that creativity is going to come in. But I I just I I have a really hard time saying we're going to just try to hold tight and that's the
best that we're going to try to aim for um in the coming year knowing um that if anything the town's needs, our residents needs are only going to be more and that we're going to have to get creative about how we meet the needs for our town moving forward. So the question is
assuming we have to be creative uh or think about it what's what's our timeline for for doing that and possibly you know taking some some some actions that will help us address the comments. >> Yeah. So um the timeline is tight. Um
Laura mentioned earlier that um by charter um the budget has to be the draft budget Tom manager recommended budget is presented to slight board by January 1. >> Um the finance committee is going to be anxiously awaiting that product. Um we're looking at um again the next two
weeks reviewing um the departmental requests and there's a lot in there u staff there's some staffing I know of some staffing requests we're going to weigh uh the value uh compared to the cost um there's some technology upgrades important technology upgrades. So again
um trying to balance and and and do that uh costbenefit um analysis. Um so chairman to to your point um the timeline's tight. Um we're going to I think have two cracks at this um depending upon how quickly we can put the product together after meeting with the department heads over the next
couple of weeks um in December uh to to to vet and have those discussions. Um but yeah, creativity is going to be at a premium trying to identify uh we in December we're going to be bringing uh the vice chair mentioned uh fees. Uh we're going to be bringing a couple a couple of departmental uh requests for
fee increases quite frankly. Um, we're always looking at where we're at in comparison to other communities. Um, but where are we at compared to our needs, right, in terms of funding some of some of the services um, and expanding if not holding that line steady. So, we'll be we'll be bringing that to you in
December as well. So, we're constantly looking at new revenue streams to support doing better, not status quo, but looking to enhance our service delivery in certain areas. >> Mr. Chair. >> Yeah. just to go off vice chair's gold
points. Um she said every you know challenging times ahead for the people who are living here. Everyone has increased needs but uh the money isn't there. At the same time we're seeing um home sales over $1.5 million for parts
of town that no one would ever consider to be like that. Uh rich people buying up houses here and then never even stepping foot in it. Uh, and you know, I'm really I'm really glad the residential exemption is on this um agenda for a future item. Um, because I
really really think that in whatever ways we can uh leverage off of the summer population who are not contributing to this community as much as they used to. Uh, the dream of the of of you know, you work hard as a teacher and you can have your summer house on
Cape Cod, that's not a thing anymore. It's hedge fund managers who who thinks who own houses here. Um, I have a question. I think this is for for town council on um, proposition 2 and a half. Um, can we, you know, if we raise taxes
and I would like to do it in a way where it affects the summer population, which another thing, but is there a way to do it to just say that the town of Falmouth is requesting a Proposition 2 and a half increase for uh the health of the financial budget or is that too vague
based on the language of Prop 2 and a half? Um, I don't know the answer as I sit here, but I'd be happy to look into that and report back to the board >> because that's just something that I' I I know has been floated in in certain circles, you know, with the increase of wealth in Barnesville County, if there's
a way that, you know, towns on the Cape could increase our budgets without directly impacting uh the people who live here. U but also, you know, you want to do it where like these people can pay more than 2 and a half% more. and and I just I think Proposition 2 and
a half is is handicapped towns, but you know, that's my opinion and I won't go on that tangent. Um, so I just think it's worth looking into. >> Yeah. One more thing I sure >> So did I hear you correctly that on the OPED trust fund, the other post-employment benefits, we're going to
have to come up with 13.7 million next year. >> No, the retirement plan. >> Oh, okay. >> The town's retirement plan. >> Okay. And that's on. So that's not really a new surprise to us or is that just a new state mandate?
>> That's it's just that the 8% increases from now until 2034 as our you know 8%. So in fiscal year 27 8% is a little over a million dollars and that just increases each year obviously
by the >> um increase in the contribution >> the exponential growth. Yeah. But our our obligation is to be done by 2040, but we're going to try to do it by 2034. Is that >> Well, right now we're scheduled to do it
by 2034. Um the law says 2040 but my understanding is that um PARK >> perk yeah >> perak will not allow municipalities right now to go beyond 2035
or at the most 2036 because they think it will take four to five years after the deadline to actually get to the point where there's no unfunded liability. you still have your your normal cost, but the unfunded liability
would be gone. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. Could I um add on to that discussion of the of the pension? I think it fits with the um board's request that we be creative. Uh the finance director and I met with the um
Fmouth Retirement Board a couple of weeks ago to talk about the funding schedule. So th this is what you were just talking about. What's the timeline to meet the statutory requirement? Right now it's at least one year ahead of the
required the perak required schedule. And then there's this whole thing that, you know, I think Laura and I are still trying to um really get a firm understanding on of the statutory date is 2040 when we have to be fully funded,
but Perk says back it up five years and it was explained to us by the retirement board that you know there could be a market girration that really sets you back, right? So there's there's merit in that thinking. There's also merit in the
thinking that the goal is wrong. Um that the whole idea of being fully funded for a pension system of our size, 100% forwardfunded is is not necessary. Um that and I I say that only that's
state law. We're not going to change state law and we don't want to, you know, tilt at windows nec uh windmills necessarily, but um there is at least one year that the Falmouth retire retirement board locally accelerated the schedule. So our ask to the retirement
board was give us that extra year. Every year of extra time means a little bit less annual increase. And that's a really big hit to our budget. a big chunk of our new revenues each year is going to that increased pension
contribution. And we also ask them to engage an outside um auditor to look at, you know, uh NE either through an actuarial analysis or an evaluation of
the statute and negotiation with PARK. Can we go further than a one-year extension? um that would provide some significant relief for the budget in the next couple of years. >> But we can't be the only town that's dealing with this problem. So there's must be concerted uh lobbying to to uh
to do that. >> I it's probably good to try to stay on that track as close as possible, but I imagine when it gets close to the date, there's going to be a lot of towns that are completely failing and they're going to probably push the date. >> Exactly. Right. And maybe at that point there's an opportunity for us to
organize with the MMA and other communities and say, "Hey, this whole 100% thing, you know, that's probably not the right number. Let's talk about 85 90%. What's a what's a more realistic number?" Because the whole notion is, you know, in a in the private world, if
Kodak goes bankrupt, right, how is it going to meet its pension obligations other than going to a federal fund? Kodak did go bankrupt. They didn't have enough money for their pensions. So that's a real issue. Town of Felmouth could have really, you know, difficult times for reasons we can't necessarily
predict, but we're not going to disappear. Our revenues aren't going to go to zero. >> So, do we really need to be 100% funded? >> I have to ask the lieutenant governor at the similar meeting at MMA conference. >> Yes. Well, to that point, I mean, I think
that's the kind of creativity and not only um to be clear, pushing that creativity onto town staff, but for this board to be creative and also really proactive about advocating up for what our town needs from state and federal um
colleagues, not just accepting the framework as it is. and and you know because to be conservative within the framework that we have is the right approach but we need to be proactive about making sure that that framework is the best that it can can possibly be. Um >> and I will say that the lieutenant
governor is a fantastic partner. You know having been a municipal elected official uh she really understands and is really invested in a lot of the issues. >> She takes time to meet with us every year. >> Yeah. >> More than once actually. >> Do we have consensus on a position with respect to the operating policy for this
evening? I think it's a reasonable policy and I move approval. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> I would like to offer one amendment that we uh strike the level service uh budget
language to simply say that the town of Falmouth will uh seek to establish a budget which limits increases in order to maintain or improve operations within the proposition 2 and a half levy limit. Is that language important? >> Which page?
>> Yes. Whe with the whether it's the existing language or their proposed language. Yes, it's important. >> The level service. >> Does the town have any issue with the amended language? >> No, I understand. I understand uh vice chair's uh point with this and I I have
no objections. Laura, do you have any concerns about altering that amending that language? So we're basically just taking out a level service budget. We'll seek to establish a budget which limits increases in order to maintain operations within the 2 and a half levy
limit. >> It won't necessarily be a level service budget that if we're only seeking seeking it, >> right? But I think the vice chair's language better reflects that than the current language. >> If the policy is to seek that, that's what we're most likely going to end up
with. Um, and so, um, the amendment I'm proposing is not to set that necessarily as the goal. Still saying within the Proposition 2 and a half levy limit, but setting a budget, um, that maintains or improves operations within the Proposition 2 and a half levy limit. >> And we could just one last comment on
this. So, I think it gives us a little bit more flexibility. Um, I uh I Where was I going with this? I think it's going to force us, you know, beyond creativity, we're going to have to look at how we can leverage and become more efficient. So, so not necessarily do you
have to uh increase spend, right? You can find efficiencies and become more effective at doing something through the use of technologies, right? So, I think that's part of the creativity that Peter and I working with the staff are going to have to come up with where we leverage technology to become more efficient, more effective. So, we reduce
we we provide enhanced services at a reduced cost. I mean, that's the ideal, I think. Right. That's that's what we're going to shoot for. >> That's a that's a difficult We've got a lot of work to do >> between now and January 1st. >> Maybe all stickers and things are online
only. >> So, do you accept that amendment, Mr. >> Yes, I do. I accept that amendment in the motion to approve. >> And I still second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I I >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
>> Okay. And now we will consider a vote to approve the solar carport canopy notice of lease and lease agreement with select energy development LLC for the Falcon High School lot C teacher lot at 1200 Gford
Street Extension. Mr. Renaw, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are going to be brief and I'm going to turn it over to the expert. Um, as you all know, Stephanie Madson, our sustainability specialist extraordinaire, um, has been working really hard with the schools over the year and a half. A long time, >> two years,
>> seems like two years. Um, and she's, uh, yielding, uh, terrific results. Um, you're going to hear a presentation, short presentation with regards to this uh, uh, high school uh, project uh, North Felmouth Elementary. Sorry, I got them >> two both two projects. >> Can we can we kind of combine these two
matters? I mean, we know we have separate votes, but >> as far as your presentation, they're essentially the same. >> It's combined. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And it we shouldn't need >> couple separate couple separate motions on projects, but yes, we'll >> be separate approval.
>> Great to be here. Thank you. Um I'm Stephanie Matson, the sustainability specialist for the town. I'm here with Paul Dart, the director of finance and operations for the school. And um the only slides I'm showing are the is the image of the two solar car ports that
we're asking you to approve a 25-year lease um for these two locations. This is a nice Google Earth image. I added these boxes. These are not expertly done, but it gives you some sense of where they are set back away from the
road, not visible from the road. Um, but I'm here tonight in support of approving a 25-year lease lease agreements for two solar carport canopy installations. One at Felmouth High School lot C, which is called the teacher lot, in the other in
the rare parking lot of North Felmouth Elementary. This proposal represents the culmination of a very thorough and collaborative process. We've carefully evaluated all potential school and municipal sites for solar, reviewed both ownership and power
purchase agreement models, and selected the options that provide the best long-term financial and operational benefits for the town and the school district. The school leadership executed the power purchase agreement with Select Energy in August, and the leases were
reviewed and negotiated in detail by town council. There are no capital costs to the town. Select Energy will own, install, operate, and maintain the systems over 25 years of 25-year lease
term in the ret the town retains the option to purchase the systems after seven years. The Felmouth High School Lots Canopy alone is projected to save the district more than $800,000 over the lease term while also supporting our broader commitments under
the green communities program, the town's climate action plan, and the select board's strategic plan goals for energy and sustainability. We believe these projects are well positioned to deliver both financial and environmental value to the community and we
respectfully request your approval approval of the lease agreements tonight. >> Hey everyone, my name is Paul D. I'm director of finance and operations for the school system. Um these two projects represent an evolution and the
cooperation between the town and the public school district uh on energy related projects. You know we've gone from small projects like water heaters being replaced at different buildings to now these two major solar projects. So
it's uh it's a big change in what's been uh going on in the past. Um would like to really the school system like to extend its gratitude to uh for the expertise of uh Stephanie Madson. Um she's been terrific. This is not a
project that we could have come up with on our own. Uh so having that resident expertise at the town level has really allowed us to uh to move quickly on this. And to add some more detail,
the size of the project at Famouth High School uh is around 14,000 square feet. It will produce about 15% of the electricity that's currently used at the high school. The size of the
project at North Falmouth is around 12,000 square ft. uh it will produce about 88% of the current electricity uh uh used at uh North Falmouth. Uh total savings as Stephanie mentioned for the high school
is 826,000 over the 25 years. At North Falmouth, it would be just over 1.1 million. Uh for the combined of about just under 2 million 1.939. Uh on top of that, it will save over
3,500 tons of uh CO2 at the uh high school and about 2,800 tons of CO2 at the at North Felmouth. Uh so again, with no capital cost outlay, uh you know, even in the first year, these savings
will be around $38,000. So with that, I can answer any questions. There's a much larger parking lot in the back of the high school. Can we cover that too? >> Oh, go ahead.
>> We've discussed that at length. We had several proposals, including the curved parking lot at the high school by the tennis courts. Yeah, >> the con understanding where the transformers are, what the electric capabilities are, having to trench a
conduit all the way to the high school where the service room is and make it it made it very difficult >> to um pencil out and be affordable as a power purchase agreement. >> We can do it in the future. I'm glad you asked because I will make a note to
pursue that. We do have um federal tax incentives going away >> in July. That's why we're moving forward with these um as long as we have construction underway by July 4th, 2026, >> the developer qualifies for that 40% off
tax incentive. So, we need to to move quick, but it doesn't um prohibit it from happening in the future. again when we are ready and the infrastructure in Cape Cod has really been upgraded and advanced there'll be a lot more opportunity for bigger solar projects. >> Right. Okay. Thank you.
>> Sure. >> Mr. Richardson to keep going parking lot for parking lot. What about uh Mullen Hall in the big one right there? >> We reviewed every parking lot. >> Okay. >> At every school, every rooftop. Um, we
started with the f first two easiest ones. There's no abuts. You can't see them from the road. I hopefully we won't get much push back. So, if these go through and we have a lot of success with them.
We'll see what happens with other schools. >> Great. >> This is just the beginning. >> Love it. >> Thank you. >> Understand why people don't want to see them. That's >> thrilled to be uh part of discussing these projects now on two different
boards. First as a school committee member and now to see it coming to us. So that's terrific. Um a Fmouth Public Schools student who resides in my house may have looked over my shoulder this weekend while I was reviewing my packet and had two questions that I said I would pass on. Um I think they're both
pretty easy. Um why don't the canopies cover the entire parking lot? Why are they kind of in the the middle? And this is really nothing to do with the solar project, but while we're talking renewable energy at the high school, I think we've got the right person. What about the wind turbine that sits there?
>> Is that ever coming back online >> at the high school? You have to answer that one. >> Yeah, >> but maybe we should tackle solar first. >> Yeah, >> you need to there are there are regulations and restrictions for sizing any solar array. You need to be able to
have traffic move around comfortably. There are buses and parents picking up kids. So, this was all discussed in part of the design. Fire trucks have to be able to be to get access to various locations as well. Um, this is a
carport, not a rooftop, but there are regulations now to leave a buffer so a firefighter could access the roof. So, there are a lot of things that evolve and change with requirements. It's best to leave a buffer. Also, we don't want to cut any trees down. So shading is an
issue too. When you make it a little more condensed and tight, there'll be no need to trim trees. >> Excellent. >> And also just for uh the economics of the support, it's best to have the carports built so they have two parking
spaces, go to a single aisle and it it becomes quickly uneconomical. So >> I knew there would be a good answer. I just didn't know what it was. So glad I asked. >> Yes, Mr. read. Uh just wanted to commend the lease for the removal at the end of
term. I think something that we always receive in our emails are the concerns of what it would take to remove these at end of life or when they're broken. So appreciate that it's under there uh under the lease. Uh I would like to note
that if we do exercise the purchase option, this will have ramifications I believe on future budgets if we are already tight. It's something we're going to have to monitor for uh the years in which we could make the
purchase option. But thank you for having it in there because I think that's extremely important and on the minds of our uh residents here. >> Uh with that pending no further discussion, uh I'd like to make the motion. We have to make them independently correct.
>> Yep. So, I'll start with the motion to approve notice of lease and lease agreement with Select Energy Development LLC for Falmouth High School lot C. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion hearing? Seeing none. All in
favor? >> I I >> And then just in line with that, >> keep it rolling. Mr. Reed, >> trying looking for the language. Motion to approve notice of lease and lease agreement with Select Energy Development
LLC for the North Falmouth Elementary Solar Carport Canopy at 62 Old Main Road. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? No. Hearing none. All in favor? >> All right. Thank you very much. Good job. >> Thank you.
>> Keep them coming. >> Will I might be here soon. >> Okay. And now without any more fanfare to discuss the requirements and necessary resources for implementing a residential property tax exemption. Mr.
Renure. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh so this is exciting. Uh in the two and a half years I've been here, we've talked about this kind of the 30,000 foot level a couple a few times. Um my ask of uh the finance director Laura and our new um director of assessing Melissa was to come with
some some details um so that we can kind of get a perspective on what it might take well first give an overview of what it is residential property tax exemption program uh the benefits uh and uh and then a deeper dive than perhaps we've had in the past um some illustrations of
the cost to make a successful implementation. So, with that, Laura, if you're ready to to kick off, I'm going to let Laura kind of walk us through between Laura, Melissa, Peter, and I. Hopefully, we can answer any questions you may have. >> I'm just wondering if What's that? Nope.
Um, >> no. >> Let's see. Let me open your eyes. And I think you did you email to Mike and I the final presentation? >> It's on the >> if you go to Civic Plus, you might be
able to download it from straight from there. >> All right. So, I'll get started >> if you'd like. >> I don't know if you guys know this, but I like the policy. It's going to cost some money. >> Yeah.
>> So, we were asked to put together a discussion about first of all, what is a residential tax exemption specifically or as specifically as >> well, you're going to have to move a little closer to the mic so you can get up on. >> Yeah.
So what is the tax exemption and then also what what would it take to implement a residential tax exemption in Falmouth and what would we need to consider? What kind of costs may be involved? What kind of resources might
be involved? Um and what kind of um you know what does the exemption do and what kind of benefit does it give to yearround residents are essentially residents who consider one of their properties if they have more than one
their their primary residents as defined um by state law as the residents that they claim on their tax return. And that's key because I think when we start to talk about eligibility and how to
determine whether or not somebody's eligible, it will be important to remember that that's what the the law says makes somebody eligible. >> Could I stop you one there sec for a second? Laura, did do they have to file their entire tax return or just just the
first two pages that list where it's where their residence is? Well, you have to file an entire tax return. >> I would say no, but we haven't I mean, my our our recommendation is that we
actually ask them to submit the first two pages of their tax return. >> Yeah. I mean, I would hope >> from their most recent year. >> That's what they do in MASH, >> right? >> Yeah. But we also want to be careful because we don't necessarily want to
bring a lot of personal information from people into um our systems and our storage because we have to protect all of that information. So in any case um so what is a residential tax exemption? Well, it's an
option under Mass General Law Chapter 59 section 5C. And the exemption can be from anywhere from 0 to 35% of the average assessed value of all residential property in a given year.
And it's as I said given to qualified applicants for their principal residents as determined by the address used on federal tax returns. It's not a reduction of the tax. It's a it's a reduction in the assessed value. It's an
exemption that gives you a reduction in ex in your assessed value. Saying that the town doesn't lose out on revenue um for applications received prior to setting the tax because what it does is
it shifts the tax burden to those who are not eligible for it or who did not apply for one even if they might have been eligible. So, the tax rate will increase and they have what's called a break even point.
And as we go through this, we'll start to I'm sorry, I tend to read from my my notes on my sheets and I forget to move the thing forward. So, which I assume we're just going to run this as a slideshow.
>> Yeah, I think you need to use the wheel on the mouse. There you go. Yeah. >> Okay. So, how does it work? Well, the residential property owners will need to file an application. Now, um, we put in here each year because
that's what the law requires, but, um, realistically, towns that have implemented this tend to find that it's better over maybe every other year, every third year, because it's a massive
amount of work to collect these applications, review them, and make those those determinations. Um, but the law does say each year, but when talking to other towns, that's
not really what's happening in practice. The total value of the approved applications will increase the overall tax rate for all residential properties because the total levy needs to be spread out over um less assessed value.
And that's how that works. And the state is um has given us a calculator which makes it really easy to do a rough illustration um which you have several of in your you have a couple in your packet and there
will be one in in the in this in the screen here. Um, so the eligible property owner receives the exemption assuming that they're approved for the current assessed value, their value, the tax will go up, but the value
of the exemption will lower their assessed value. So there's a break even point, but for houses that are um generally um lower to moderately priced, they'll get more of a benefit. as you as
you start to have higher valued properties, which is pretty significant higher value in the in the town of Felmouth, um they still get the exemption, but it obviously has less of an impact on their taxes.
>> So, the could you >> I mean, do we do we know what that number is or do you have an estimate about where that point is when there's really not going to be much of a benefit to the homeowner? Well, it it shows you when we get to the illustration. Let me
just That's two pages in. So, let me I'll talk to you for that. I'll talk about that in a second. I just want to give you a couple statistics first. The only ones we know we have 22 as of June 30th um or as of December 2024,
there are 22,632 residential properties in Felmouth. We have no idea how many are owned by year-round residents as would be defined under this
statute. So any illustrations that we've done are simply that they're based on okay we we use 70%. We've assumed 70% were but we don't know if that's realistic. We have no idea how many
actual people would be eligible to receive this. The average value of residential property at December 20, 2024 was um just shy of $95,000 >> million.
>> So the exemption, let's say you did a 10% exemption, >> it would be $90,500. Okay. All right. Um, let's go to the illustration. I hope you can see this. Can you see
that? >> Can you make it? It's a PDF. >> I'm looking at it. >> All right. >> Packet. >> Again, we just took a rough estimate. We assumed 70% eligible single family and condos and we assumed even less for
apartments and um >> it was in the neighborhood of 15%. >> So making this assumption this is an in illustration of a 10% exemption. Now you can go anywhere from as I said 0 to 35%.
Most towns that we've talked to do not recommend you start out with a really high exemption because it can cause um sticker shock, severe sticker shock to properties that are not eligible.
But in this case, the taxes would run would go from our tax rate, current tax rate of 587 to 627 for 10%. And you can see here there's a break even point at the $1.4 million
value of a property where so they would get no benefit in terms of a reduction in their tax and they wouldn't see an increase um even though the tax rate went up. That's called the break even point. >> How does that how does that happen? How
does that kick in? I don't understand it really. Would you mind So it's just >> no fine. >> It's shifting it's just shifting the value and as I I mean I didn't go through all the calculations
because the state is nice enough to give us a I've done it in the past with other in other municipalities. Um >> so if if I've got a property that's worth 1.2 two and you take you don't take 10% off of
it, you take a lesser percent. >> No, you take 10% off, but 10% off of $1.2 million is not nearly as much of a reduction in your taxes as 10% off of a $100,000 property
is. >> Okay? So, you're paying the same tax rate. You're getting the same exemption. But if I have a $500,000 house and you're taking $100,000 off of my property
and my taxes, so it's it's a reduction in the tax per property, right? So the lesser valued get a higher reduction in their taxes because their taxes weren't that high to begin with.
>> Oh, I get you. All right. >> Okay. So $100,000 in this example says that that person's tax would go from 5.87 to 5957 and that would be a reduction in their tax bill of $527.
>> Okay? >> Essentially when you get to 1.2 million your taxes will go down by $8743. >> Mhm. However, if you're not eligible and you
go to the other extreme, you're going to be paying an an increase in taxes with a 10% exemption of about 6 $61657. >> And could you could you just describe who that is who isn't eligible?
>> Sure. So if there if somebody's living here or has property here, there's a residential property and it's not their primary residence, they're not going to be eligible. >> Thank you. >> But but if I may, Laura, in in addition,
people with houses more than 1.4 are going to be paying more even if they are yearround residents as a result of this. >> That's correct. >> Correct. Once you start, they still get the exemption, but yes, >> but but
>> they won't have to pay if they didn't have the exemption, they'd be paying more taxes. Um, so this shows everybody that's got the exemption, right? If they don't have the exemption, they're paying $627
on their entire assessed value. These are properties that get the exemption that's showing in this illustration. So, their taxes will So, if you look at the $2.9 million valued property,
their taxes without the exemption would be $17,000. Their tax bill um with the exemption goes to 17 almost um 18,000. So, it's a $616 increase, but if we
>> But that's because the rates increasing. >> That's That's exactly right. >> So, they're paying more tax. They're getting the exemption, but they're paying higher tax because the mill rate, if you will, is is going up. >> Whereas, if we didn't do anything, they
wouldn't necessarily be paying more taxes. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Thank you. And I would also like to say that um the law does state that the taxable valuation of property after all exemptions. So having a residential
exemption doesn't mean that you're not also entitled to the veterans exemption if you're entitled to that and the senior all of those exemptions plus the residential. You can't reduce the value of the property below 10%. For purposes
of tax, they can't pay no tax. essentially. Um, any more questions on this particular slide? >> That's a good slide. Thank you. >> Mr. Does that do those numbers assume
100% participation rate? Because one of the stipulations in the original language are those who apply. And I'm guessing that there's going to be a high rate of people that don't
apply because they don't know about it. soon. >> Well, we're going to have to make every effort to get out there and get people to apply who might be eligible as much as possible because the only way that this is revenue neutral to the town is
if we get those applications in before we set the tax rate. They are still eligible if they didn't apply and they're still eligible for the exemption. They can apply during the abatement period, but that tax that's a
loss of tax money. That's a loss of revenue. >> All right. Thank you. >> Through the overlay, but it's still a loss of revenue. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, so there needs to be I've I've been through this in another community. There
needs to be significant marketing and it needs to be targeted to everybody in the community. Um, and you need to look at, we'll talk about this further on a little bit, but you need to look at people who are
disabled. Make sure you're getting to those people. People who might have language barriers of some type. You really need to push this. Needs to be very heavily pushed. >> Mr. Brown, >> I got to say I'm really discouraged by
the initial outlook of the higher income properties. in. It's not the effect I anticipated. >> Nor me may nor I'm gonna say neither did I to be honest. When you see it like that, there is a >> it's the lower value people, the lower
value properties I should say. Excuse me. >> Get a good get >> is um it's more impactful on the people who can less afford it. >> That's right. I mean, it's helpful to the people, the local residents with the lower value property, but it's extremely
hurtful to the other folks that are in that same property value. And then when you get to the higher values where you you would think that the impact would be greater, it's it's actually negatively impacting
the local residents. Counterintuitive. It's not negatively impacting them. There is still an exemption that they receive, >> right? >> But it makes their taxes go up. >> It does. >> So, it's not >> It absolutely does.
>> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. No, I mean, look, I we're in an affordability crisis and when I look across town and when I talk to people, I I think that there needs to be with where we are, uh, and I'm happy to go on record and say this, where can we
reshift our tax burden? And when we're looking at we don't have enough police officers, we don't have enough firefighters, we don't have enough teachers. These are the property values that those people will be looking to get into versus the 2 point that someone who owns a $3 million house is going to pay $600 more. I understand that there are
that could be a senior in this town and then we would have to adopt another exemption for them. I I just think that doing nothing I and I don't know if you talked to to MASHBY uh at all but they've seen tremendous success so far by implementing this and haven't seen that many complaints. Uh Haritch uh just
started v voted on this recently. Province Town's been doing it for a long time. Uh and I just think that the wealth the wealth the way wealth has changed in this town and who looking exactly at who is that 2.9 that $3 million house is really critical to look
at. is that who is actually paying more here. And it's it's I'm willing to bet, you know, we're not voting on this tonight. I understand is we can get the data to say who is that person and and that person I'm going to bet can can pay that extra money. >> Yeah. But what I'm saying is you're
increasing the tax on the local person more than you are on the person without the exemption if you look at that bottom line. Mhm. >> So yeah, >> I think it's just a different dynamic than we originally anticipated now now
that we see the uh you know the data. But I I will say in a paraphrase >> I ask a question though because I'm actually not clear on I think I understand what your interpretation is. It's different than what my interpretation of this chart
was. So this chart is only for the 70% who are residents, right? >> That's correct. This is not showing the tax bills for the 30% who are non-residents. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Oh, excuse me. I believe that >> I believe that's correct. That's the way I'm
>> So this is the So the first column without exemption is is our current tax structure essentially. >> That's what the tax bill would be under the struct for residents under the new under a system with an exemption. But that doesn't include what the tax bills
for the 30% who are non-residents. >> That's correct. >> Oh. So, I think I think that's where there's additional information that it would be good to see as we think about this. >> I see. I thought that with the exemption was local residents and without the exemption was no
>> non-residents. No. >> Okay. Totally reading it wrong. No wonder it didn't make sense. >> I wouldn't be yelled for that. Well, as I you know, further along as we get further along with looking at this, should you direct us to do that, we can
certainly come in with a bunch of different examples that actually make sense on an individual basis for for the different levels. >> Yeah, I'd like to see the resident versus non-resident impact. That would be more >> I think that's really important to look
at. >> Yeah, that's what we need to know. >> All right, we can do that. Uh, I just know that part of and I So, are you still still going? >> Wait. Oh, I just think that putting a part of this agenda item is getting a timeline on this and and what do you
>> now we have? >> Okay. >> I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves if I ask. >> All right. So, some implementation considerations. First of all, as you can imagine, implementation will require time and resources.
staffing resources. We're we know we're going to need at least one full-time administrative clerk um year round and two temporary clerks for a period of three months because what we envision is that there would be
a three to four month application process that would happen prior to like December 1st. Um there would be and that total cost of that is 117,75
per year for um salary and benefits. We know that we'll be programming costs for our um CAMA system and our ERP systems. We're estimating that at 20,000. We haven't really gotten much in the way of quotes on that yet. We have
some quotes on storage which were higher than I anticipated. That's not on here, but um and that was in the neighborhood of 20,000 a year for storage. And we know that marketing funds we're we're estimating that you'll need at least two
mailings to all residential property owners and some newspaper obviously some newspaper ads. And um the cost we're estimating for that is about 44,000. >> Can we just include a flyer with the tax
bill? >> We can, but I don't think that that's going to do it. I don't think that's going to do it by itself. And tax bills go out what in January. So um
>> orderly now. We can't even. So anyway, if let me let me think about that. >> Okay. Um, we also know that we will need some help from our IT staff and then possibly now
an outside contractor to assist with setting up an online application process that um, an electronic storage system that protects personal information because we'll have at least some information on people's tax returns.
that needs to be protected and um encrypted. And so the estimates for the storage that we just got was 20K. Um we need to develop an application
instructions and processes to handle and track the applications. We're limited in terms of space and that's something that we need to think about. That's why it's on here. So if 60% of residential properties apply,
that's just shy of 14,000 applications. So somebody there has to be a place to collect those applications. It can't all be online and it won't be all online because people will bring stuff in. There have um and the supporting
documents. Everything has to be reviewed and then it has to be stored. somehow someway. Um, and there's not a there's not a lot of storage area. I now we would probably want to try to scan everything in so
that everything could be stored in a safe in um um encrypted storage of some sort. But we'll have to figure all of that out. That that's all part of what needs to happen. And then we would
need to just so that you're aware that overlay reserve would have to increase in fiscal year 28 um starting in fiscal year 28 if we go by the timing considerations on the next page because that's when abatements would
start to come in and that's pretty s that's those are large exemptions and would have an impact on the overlay reserve by quite a bit. though because there will always be people that didn't get didn't
understand it, didn't apply, and then they find out after the fact that their neighbor their taxes went down because of this exemption and then all of a sudden they want the exemption and they're eligible and we have to give it to them. H
>> um in terms of timing. So the what we what we did is we put together a schedule with the earliest possible implementation which would be um fiscal year 2028
which means that the and the way we got to that is the tax rates would need to be set in December of 2027. That means that staff needs to be ready to go by March of 2027 because you've
got to get all of that work done. got to get the at least the full-time person in place prior to June 30th because you have to be able to do the mailings um develop the applications,
come up with the processes, go out and get the quotes, get the camera and and the um ERP system programming done. All of that stuff will have to be done so that really as of June 30th or July 1st
of 20 27 you're set to go and can start taking applications particularly in the first year or at the very least give yourself at least 3 to four months to get applications in and all of that has to be done. All the exemptions have to be
processed and approved that for people who are eligible long before we come in here in the middle of December and say these are what the tax rates need to be. So that means some of the funding needs to
go in the 2027 budget which we are obviously in the process of preparing now to get to you guys by by January 1st. Um okay. Other factors to be considered. We've talked about some of this already. The
exemption, as I said, the exemption percentage can be anywhere up to 35%. And the advice from other towns was to start with a lower percentage. Now, we just gave you examples on the two extremes. Okay? So, your packet contains
illustrations for a 10% and a 35%. We didn't go anywhere in between, but you can go anywhere in between those numbers, but we don't want to cause extreme sticker shock. And we will I can get
back to you with with examples of what will happen to people who are non-residents. Um, I want to make it clear this does not impact commercial property in any way, shape or form.
So once you implement this, you'll essentially have two separate tax rates by but just because you're implementing because your commercial tax rate is not going to be impacted. um we need to determine how we're going
to or set a policy as to how eligibility is going to be determined. And as as I said, I think the easiest, most straightforward way is um asking for the um tax return and the marketing campaign. We talked
about that briefly, but we need to think up creative ways to reach all residents um as much as we can. And the decisions that will have to be made obviously are the timeline for implementation,
the application period, the marketing campaign, and the exemption percentage. And that's all I have on the um on the actual presentation. >> Hi.
>> Thank you. I have a question about the storage. Is it possible that we could just have the person either come in and show you those two pages and you check off the box and they you certify it and then they take their paperwork home or they could send you an email and you
review it and you say, "Okay." And then don't store it. Does it have to be actually physically stored? >> So, it depends on how how they want to actually file the application. So, if
you're doing if somebody wants to come in and they just want to bring their 2025 tax return in with them, they may have to wait in line because I'm I'm expecting that we're going to see pretty
significant traffic into um town hall as a result of this if if you move forward with it. Um, but they can show us their tax return and yes, we can check it off on a box and say determined eligibility
through tax return. If they want to apply online, they can't they have to they can't just say to us, oh, by the way, I used my ad this is the address I used on my tax return. They have to prove that to us. probably could scan it and send it, but
then you just would look at it and say, "Okay." But then you don't have to actually store it. I'm just imagining if it's possible. >> It I don't I don't know. >> Okay. >> I don't know. >> Mr. Chair, if I could.
>> Yeah, please. I think um that that's an interesting question and anything that we can do to reduce um both file you know paper storage and reduce um the potential liability for storing personal information you know we need to look at
all of that very carefully one of the I you know I think the regulations we may need to consult with department of revenue in terms of an audit trail if we don't have any documentation and it's just someone's checked a box that someone was eligible for residential
exemption. Is that is that going to pass muster with department of revenue? So, good questions. We'll research it. >> And the only thing I'll just say is that, you know, I think it's worth looking at the other towns in Barnesville County, which I see you've done, you've experienced doing that, but
Barnesville does 25%, Chadam does 35% and East Ham goes as low as 3%. And Mash went from 5% to last year they they voted up to 20%. So >> is this something that's being done around the Cape and I think looking at how >> I think you know I think we've come to a
point where we have to be defined by who can afford to live here and not necessarily uh who can come here to visit on for a month or a week. Uh it's it's a crisis uh or at least a a problem that we need to u to address the
affordability. So I think we should move forward with uh with with with the um with the work and the backup to uh to get us to a point where we can decide. Uh and seasonal communities the rate would go up. >> So the seasonal communities designation
would allow towns to go as high as 50%. >> But I do think uh Miss Citroen makes a good point that uh there's going to be sticker shock as we go forward. >> Even I will not advocate for >> we want to uh maybe take it a little slowly. And Mr. Chair and town manager,
anything that we decide to go through with still has to go to town meeting for approval. Any tax change, correct or no? >> No. >> No, I don't. >> It's just I believe it's just a select board vote, Laura. Is that correct?
>> It Yes. As far as my understanding, I would want to have that double checked, but >> yeah, >> it does not specify a legislative >> vote. the seasonal communities designation would. So then if we wanted to future board wanted to go to 50 that
would but the actual policy I don't think it is. >> So Mr. Mr. Chair, what I'm looking for tonight, uh, great discussion. Looking for your guidance so I can give direction to the finance director, the chief assessor, um, to put into motion those pieces, right, assuming an FY28
implementation, which Laura said is the earliest, um, so that we can ensure that we have the resources that are going to be needed to meet that timeline loaded into this FY27 budget. That's my concern that we miss we miss a piece. So, and we're going to have an opportunity to
discuss what exactly that is. is the impact on the F FY27 budget next month when we bring that recommended budget to you. So that's the direction. This is a discussion item, but I need just some guidance um is in consensus on the board that this is something we want to move forward with. >> Could I just suggest a couple of
percents for the board to see uh what the breakdown would be um and which I think would be based on what you said and I just want to really commend you and all the work you put into this. This is fantastic. But if we could see 15 uh 20 and 25
>> um and then I guess town time town manager just to pursue that and see you know how much can we streamline some of those process like what Doug said if there's any way that we can work on you know how can we make this cheaper the initial implementation phase and what does that implement what is the actual
mailing the community form what do we do with that steps look like um and then I don't know what makes sense in terms of bringing this up again to talk about. I mean, it might not be a while, but you know, in terms of voting to pursue it, >> well, I think the consensus here is uh
is to move forward with uh with the information and get back to us. So, >> I don't think we need a I'm not not looking for a motion. This is again me it was intended to be discussion and giving uh my office some guidance in terms of the intent and direction the
board wants to take going forward. And we'll be bringing back again particulars as it rel ties back to the FY27 budget. Okay. >> In the coming weeks. >> That's good enough. >> I think the particulars but also the math behind it because I don't know that we have and I think to your point that
we don't have an I a good idea of the composition uh and ownership data. These are kind of pie in the sky right now. We know the total number of homes but we don't actually know what percentage are owner occupied versus p primary. And I don't know how we get to that, but I
think >> that's part of the homework for check-ins before we can make it. >> Yeah, this is one way to find out. >> And I think but I think it's I think it's important to find out. >> I think overall we need to have that data with respect going forward for seasonal communities and a number of
other things going forward. I think we need that data at some point >> rentals, Mr. Chair, >> and short-term rentals. >> Yes. Um, respectfully, you know, we could hire a consultant or an economist to come up with an estimate, but that
data is not available. It doesn't exist. So, we're not going to have a hard number >> to do this, >> right? So, the way we the way we actually know is after after the select board votes to um adopt a residential
exemption and then folks submit their applications because we we just don't there isn't >> then how how did they determine that uh you know the the the towns on the uh on the Cape reach that that level to give
them the seasonal community designation. I mean, there must be a way to make that determination. >> Yeah, there's a map. I'm just going to try. >> But in any event, I you know, we we just need to get this information somehow. >> Okay. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know
if it's you know, different different standards. But um >> you know, also because people can change, right? Like if you own two properties in any given year, you can change which one you declare as your primary. Um but yeah, but my
understanding from our conversation with Department of Revenue was that you know that there wasn't hard data that was available to the towns. But may maybe there's some data set somewhere that >> it looks like the Cape Cod Commission did a report on it and has a town by town breakdown that has percents.
>> I don't know how they got that >> where they got it. We don't know, but there may So we'll we'll follow up and find out where that data came from. And that probably going to be the best data we have. >> Okay. And I guess that's just last point uh my last point I guess um is just what this is where we reach out to other
towns and say how many people actually did opt in. You know Barnes school's had it for a lot longer than some of these other towns but maybe seeing what did they actually do and what happened. >> Okay. Thank you Laura. >> Anybody want to make bets on the percentage? >> You
>> I'm going to guess. >> What's the overunder? It's about 32%. My guess >> 50%. >> All right. That's because you have a vested interest in short-term rentals. That's why. >> No, I'm talking about the percentage of residential. >> Okay. >> Residential housing.
>> Uh so we will move on to uh the requirements for the requirements and potential benefits of implementing a water infrastructure improvement fund WHF. Mr. Renaw. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is Amy Oh, Amy's got the presentation loaded. Our our
wastewater superintendent is here tonight. This is a discussion item. Um, as you all know, we're shooting for um trying to group these by category or theme. And uh we feel as other communities on Cape have uh have have looked at this whiff uh water infrastructure investment fund in
combination with the residential property tax exemption. So Amy has uh several slides she wants to go through and kind of get us comfortable with what a whiff is, uh what are the benefits and uh and potentially a time a timeline for implementation. Amy,
>> sure. Amy Law, wastewater superintendent. Um, I think it's it's good to be talking about all these things at once. Uh, in uh in the same evening I heard the discussion about the operating uh budget earlier. Uh, not directly related but certainly
interrelated. Uh, so what is an inwater infrastructure investment fund or a whiff? Uh it's a special revenue fund uh that may be appropriated for maintenance improvements and investments for municipal wastewater, drinking water, and storm water
infrastructure. Uh the source of revenue for the fund is a property tax sarge. So this is a tax. It's a property tax sarge of up to 3% uh that's assessed on each parcel of taxable real estate in the
community. It's not subject to the levy limitations of Prop 2 and a half. Town meeting appropriation would be required to uh expend from the fund. So this doesn't go into the general fund. It becomes its own special fund that town meeting would need to appropriate uh
from that fund in order to spend it. Um the whiff is you can imagine it's similar to the community preservation act fund which everybody's pretty familiar with. Why establish a whiff in Felmouth? um to provide funding to implement wastewater
management projects to improve water quality uh and improve water quality in the town's ponds. And uh I probably don't need to list these for you, but the things the examples are outfall for the treated wastewater discharge,
additional phases of uh sewer expansion to meet the total maximum daily load limits for the town's coastal ponds, future treatment system expansion for later phases of the of the sewer expansion, and future sewer resiliency
and re rehabilitation projects. The town has a lot of these already on the capital plan. Um, and there's a lot of sign there's significant work to be done. The annual debt service costs for wastewater projects could average from 3 million to $7 million per year from 2030
to 2050 and beyond. That is a very preliminary number. It's uh it depends that amount per year of course depends on what projects are voted and on what schedule and with what financing. Um
the 20-year wastewater project schedule and cost will be prepared as part of the wershed management plan uh for all state designated nitrogen sensitive areas. Uh so there's a town meeting under town meeting article 3 one of the two capital projects. There's funds requ there are
funds requested to prepare a watershed management plan which will allow the town to uh put a put a more certain number to this uh second part of this slide. Um, in the past the town has funded
wastewater projects with retiring debt, those windows of opportunity, but as has been discussed uh in a number of ways lately, there are increasing other demands on the town's funding resources like the police station, fire st fire
stations schools etc. And there are very significant wastewater infrastructure needs and the town cannot afford to implement all of these wastewater management and other CIP projects with existing revenue sources. Setting up a whiff will provide
a consistent source of funding for the needed wastewater management projects and leave more funds available for other town priorities. >> Can I just put a pause quickly and not for you but for town management and others? Um, point number two is really, really
important for us to understand as a board regards to, you know, from the beginning, my first meetings here, Mr. Brown has talked about our capital improvement in the size of that list, but then we have a lot of demands that we're kind of talking about in
isolation. In a future agenda, can we actually talk about the financing of these as they relate together? because I think it's really important for us as a board to understand this especially as we go into the operating budgets and improving but looking really how they
all add together over the next 5 10 and 20 years I think is going to be really important for us because I think Miss Low points it out I mean we're looking now at a solution because it's so big how many more of these other solutions are we going to have to be creative
about in the future in addition to just the core fundamentals that we have to do a few of which are here not including outfall pipe and others right we have some big numbers in front of us >> I still think we need a joint meeting
with the finance committee to talk about the long-term capital plan >> sorry to interrupt but that was a really important point thank you for putting that in there >> anything else on that >> uh so just a preliminary idea of how
much revenue would be generated by a a whiff Uh the whiff is um the the percentage that is voted is taken as it's a that percentage is applied to the
uh the the tax rate. So the base plus the 2.5% increase plus the growth. So you take 3% 2% or 1% or whatever your percent is of that number to um to estimate your your revenue. Um, so a the
whiff revenue at 3% in FY27 would be more than $3.8 million. At a percentage at 2% it would be more than $2.5 million and at 1% it would be more than $1.2 million. Um, so just to give
you an idea of the revenue at those percentage choices, what would it take to establish a whiff in Falmouth? Uh, it's pretty straightforward. town meeting would need to vote to accept the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 40 section 39M which
is the section of the law that established this option. Um and then uh in town meeting would also need to approve the amount of the search charge up up to 3%. Uh that would then need to go to the voters. They would have to um
approve the adoption of the whiff and the percentage on the ballot. Other towns, uh, several other Cape Towns have WHIFFs, including Mashbby, which is now 2%, Sandwich, which is now 2% and Dennis Dennis, which is now 3%.
Barnstable is also seriously considering a whiff to quote stabilize their long-term funding for uh, wastewater management uh, projects. Uh in your packet I included these uh references for the department of
division of local services guidance on the whiff process and the general law and that's it. Um just wanted to provide that for discussion. >> Yes. No. Um I think the the question outstanding in
in my mind with this which first of all thank you for putting all this together and I think it is a really creative and um important um mechanism to consider the the question is my in my mind is we're establishing this
I mean I guess it would be voted as part of the tax rate or when once town meeting votes this this would be in perpetuity for how long does the the whiff last. And I think it would be important for us and town meeting and voters to be able to um evaluate what
this scenario would look like versus what anticipated Prop 2 and a half overrides would be to fund um our anticipated wastewater projects. And that's not data you had in here, so I'm not asking you to do that on the fly. I don't know if you have a sense of what
that looks like, but to kind of be able to compare like if we're just setting a levy of 1 or 2% every year for some period versus anticipating distinct Prop 2 and a half overrides for specific
projects as they come. Yeah. >> You're talking about debt debt exclusions versus Right. So the whiff would last um in as long until it was um until the town unless and until the town voted to rescend it. Uh so it's it
doesn't have a a defined uh sunset clause. Um and it so a debt exclusion a series of debt exclusions is another option. Um what it means is a debt exclusion then is you
have to vote it each time for each project which has advantages and disadvantages. One of them is that when you don't have that project um on the on the ballot that year then you're not raising that additional revenue that
year. So, this really every year consistently sets aside that money and and provides the town a more consistent and uh knowable uh funding resource. Uh yeah,
I mean I I def I see the the appeal from the town's side. I think it's it's in terms of making the case for residents who are going to have to vote for this. what does this look like in terms of their tax bill over the next say 10 years? What what should they expect under those different scenarios?
>> Mr. Chair, if if I may, I you know, I think it goes back to Mr. Reed's um request to look at all of the capital needs comprehensively and um that's something that we have done in the past and we'll do again and it you know it comes in the form of a a
debt forecast um looking at you know the entire capital plan and the debt forecast. So to your point, Miss Goldstone, I think what we can do is we can look at modeling out all of the capital needs and the extent to which
they can be met without any tax increase, the extent to which they could be met with the whiff. Um, and that will give you a frame of reference. Now, the whiff, you know, can be used for wastewater and water and storm water. So, you know, it would address a number
of those issues and it may get us closer to funding the capital plan. Um, but in terms I mean the tax impact is it's sort of the same whether it's a whiff or whether it's debt exemptions. It's really about how much of the capital plan do do we want to take on? Well, if
I could take that one step further, looking at we're previous uh topic plus this one, we're talking about changing property taxes. In my naive mind, if you were to give an
exemption of 3% and and bump this one 3%, well, if the people are applying, well, it's a zero sum game for many folks. Um, I'm not sure if that's a very simplistic and too simplistic, but I
think my bigger point is to look at what we're proposing in regards to someone's personal wallet will be very important because I think that's, you know, something that we hear quite often is, you know, we have very
good tax rates in town, but don't touch them or be very careful. And I think we just have to do it in full context. But the whiff overall, I couldn't agree more. It's an absolutely needed thing to have a guaranteed amount. In addition, I think it's just
going to help us because again, when the three of us were campaigning this last bit, a major point was water, right? And it was waste water and how we're going to continue to build that system. And so if this is one of those things we have
to do then, you know, let's do it. But I think having the data, the math will be very important. >> Mr. Chair, >> go ahead. Yes, Mr. Rich. >> So how do do you the Plymouth Nuclear Stabilization Fund? Are you familiar with that at all?
>> No. So the way theirs works, and I I I might be wrong with this, but they established a fund where they just transfer money from free cash every year, but Town Meeting is the one who actually does it. So twothirds of town meeting will vote to move X amount of money per every year. So there's no
increase on property taxes that way, but it's so what they did that they established that in 2014 because they knew that this plant would eventually go offline. The fund was a million dollars. Now it's up to $10 million and they're going to look to purchase part of the land around the the nuclear site. So that might be one way to look at doing
this. I mean, >> if I may. Yeah. So we we're doing that already. It's called the capital and debt stabilization fund. >> Okay. >> Um but it's more than just free cash. We actually put some of our recurring annual um revenues. >> So then going off that, would that then be a separate fund for this or would
that just all would that be? >> It already is. It's already part of our capital plan. So, we have a $19 million balance in our capital and debt stabilization plan. And the and the whole concept is to smooth out is is both to prepare for large capital um needs that are coming and also smooth
out some of the ups and downs capital demands >> but not water specific. >> It's unlimited, right? You can use it for any purpose. >> Gotcha. So, they they have that and the additional one which is just for nuclear nuclear related thing. >> So, just another ear mark. So the the
point the point of the whiff is, you know, we're in terms of stewarding existing revenues, we're in really good shape. >> We don't need a new tool, >> in my humble opinion, to steward existing revenues. If we want to take on more of the capital needs, then we can
without a tax increase, then we need to look at new revenues and tax increases. >> Yeah, I I got you. I was just seeing it both both ways to do it. But yeah, I think thank you for this presentation. I think this is something we should move towards. What's what's the timeline here, Mr. Reno, for us? >> So, Amy, you want to talk a little bit about this?
>> Yes. So, um I would I would recommend that we talk about including this on the April 2026 uh town meeting board, and I'd recommend a 3% number. Uh, I didn't put that in the presentation because
this is not a um this wasn't a a recommendation and vote meeting, but I based on the the um the needs uh that's that's my recommendation. >> Okay. But but that that's my question. What when do we need to make a decision
so that it can move forward in April? >> It's coming in January. >> It's a it's a town meeting. It starts with a town meeting vote and and then a ballot vote. So if you want to do it, >> we need to have this in December sometime or sooner. >> Yeah, the dece if the select board wants to have this acted upon by town meeting
in April, then we need to decide in in you know, December, >> which is right around the corner. >> Yes, it is. >> I mean, I guess it's just them finding the percent we want to propose because we'll just >> I like how this is this put up to the voters and put up to town meeting >> coming back with some potential tax implications and the impact. >> I think that's what we want to see.
>> 2% or 3%. Okay, >> for individual right for for specific bills >> and and all all properties are taxed to 3%. It's not just >> I'm sorry. All t all properties are taxed at the same >> search. This is Yes, it applies to all
properties >> commercial as well as resident. >> Yes, this is a across the board tax increase. I >> thought so. Okay. >> Yep. >> I like the fact that it's a separate account, separate fund >> stabilized. >> Would it be considered like an enterprise fund then?
>> No, >> it's a stabilization fund. >> Okay. >> Yeah. receipts reserved for appropriation accounts. So, it can only be used for those three purposes and it can only be used by a town meeting vote, but those are the there are not other restrictions
>> like enterprise. >> Does it help you in any other ways like for grant opportunities and so forth like an enterprise fund can sometimes do? >> I'm not aware of that, but that's a good question. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay.
Thank you. Thanks, Amy. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Amy. Is Is Mr. Galasso outside? >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Amy. >> Thank you. I'm going to >> All right. So, we are going to discuss and consider a vote to approve an
application to the Falmouth affordable housing fund from Michael Gasso for Sandwich Road LLC regarding project located at for Sandwich Road. Mr. Renure. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jed, did you want to uh kick off introduce Mr. Glasso or did I just want to turn the podium over
to to him for the >> I I can introduce him. Sure. Uh for the record, Jed Corn, community development director. Um as the chair mentioned, Michael Gosso is here this evening to request uh $1.5 million from the affordable housing fund for his project
at uh for Sandwich Road. And so with that, I'll uh hand the podium off. >> Morning everyone. Thank you. I'm Michael Glasso. I'm the um managing member of For Sandwich Road LLC, which will be the developer of this project um under a
long-term ground lease with uh Dunkin Donuts um who have been at that property for a number of years. I think this is a great example of um adding affordable housing to an already existing underutilized lot. Um it was a former
Eastern Bank building. It was converted to Dunkin Donuts a number of years ago. And the excess land is where we will be building the uh the 10 units. Let me pull up the site plan if I can. >> I think you can use the wheel. >> There we go.
We'll come back to the uh to the ears in a second. So the um the site plan's been approved by the um by the planning commission and also the ZBA. It shows five duplex buildings that along the uh the vacant property which is um just to the north
of the Dunkin Donuts itself. The circulation will still be the same as when you come into the Dunkin Donuts and the parking would be to the right and to the left. Um this property is located just outside the Mr. Cod district. It would be Mr.
caught if we had sewer um which is about 500 ft. Too bad Amy left um from the uh from the corner of the property. We'll have a total of 10 units. Uh they're all two-bedroom, one and a half baths, about 1,200 square ft. Two of
them will be at 80% of AMI. Two of them will be at 100% AMI and six will be at 120% AMI. And if you were to look, and I believe the rents were in your package, um the uh two units at 80% be at $2,200.
The units at 100% are at $2,800 and the ones at 120% are 3,420. You know, to me, that isn't really affordable housing. >> Yeah. >> So, that's what we've got approved. And what I do, as you know from my other projects, is that with your funding
assistance, there's an application coming up in December to apply to the state for additional funding. And with that, I can leverage our money and bring down those rents. So, I'd like to see more of them at, you know, 80 and the in the 100%. All the units will be on the
SHI. So, we'll add 10 units to the town's SHI. um a couple of of modifications we make to the building. So, I wasn't initially involved in the design of this project and the planning of this project. I came upon it a little bit later when the
Dunkin Donuts people decided that they're better off making coffee and donuts and being affordable housing developers, but they need housing for their for their employees. So, we're going to modify it. First thing we need to do is that 50% of the units have to be visitable. Right now, they're not. So we need to make some modifications with
the site plan to accomplish that. We need to simplify the roof plans. Let me go back. And so as you can see there's a number of different roof angles um which increase cost but also we we like to do our
buildings with solar. We like to make them 100% electric. and these roofs, the way that they're orientated just really aren't great for that. Um, so we're going to be simplifying the roof plans. We're going to be adding full basements. You know, our project in north crossing.
Um, we don't have any basements, but we had garages. We found that people are not putting their cars in the garages, but they're putting a lot of storage in there. So, we didn't have any basements. This project will have basement, so people have a private place to store their goods. They'll be all electric.
We're trying for net zero. Um we're going to add electric car charging stations, which is something that we added to our project in North Fmouth, too. Um the play area that's shown on the site plan, let me go back to that one second. The ZBA decided that since
we're located right across the street from a school that has a play area, that that's not necessary any longer. So, there won't be any on-site play area. And I think that's I don't want to say it's a good thing, but we found in the play area that we did in Mansa Crossing, it's very hard to pick out the right equipment because you really got to
determine the age of the kids that are going to live there. So, you can't find any equipment that really satisfies everyone. So, um them being able to go across the street and use the school, I think, is a is a great solution to that. Um, any changes that we make to the plans, we'll work with Jed and Kim and
town administration, and if they feel it's necessary to come back in front of you, we have no problem with that. So, we'll be working on those changes over the next few months because when we submit to the state in December, we'll have to have those revised plans ready to go and submit to them.
Um, I think that's about it. If you have any questions for me on the project, Okay, >> Mr. Richards. >> Thank you. My only Thank you. My only question is if you don't, for whatever reason, get the state money, would you
move forward with them at the current rates they're at? >> Um, you know, I the easy question is yes, but that's the easy question. I think you know that I don't really go the easy route and I think it's more important to sort of stick with it and find the funding. I think I found from
working on the nursing home project that you know if you keep on digging you can find the various sources. That project's going to have eight to 10 different sources. So um you know I can put some of those sources not from that project but um and you know apply for them. One important thing is now that we get a lot
of funding when we make the projects net zero and energy efficient. So that helps too. >> Thank you. So yeah, the goal would be because I I really don't want to build a project and end up having rents that are going to be competing possibly with other market rate projects. So I rather work hard and try to get the funding in
order to bring the rents down. >> Question for town council. Uh these are going to be deed restricted in perpetuity. >> Yes. >> But there's a 99-year ground lease. Do they continue beyond the expiration of the ground lease? Well, a 99-year ground
lease is kind of a >> like a a legal fallacy. Um, we will do everything to make sure that they are uh restricted in in perpetuity to the best of our ability. Um,
I I think that the ground lease isn't going to be an impediment to that. >> Okay. >> Few questions. So I appreciate you showing this and explaining because I don't think it when I was looking at the the packet I hadn't understood. So
this is the development is entirely going I'm looking sorry pointing to something that you can't see. I'm looking at the Google aerial uh map that was in our packet. So the development is actually entirely in what is shown there as the wooded area with the current
driveway and parking on either side. And then what is happening on the remainder of the the parcel? >> Um, let me see. So to the to the bottom of the slide below where the parking is and everything is where the existing building is. So the existing Dunkin
Donut stays there. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> So that's what's Yeah. to the bottom of the page. >> So you've separated the two lots. >> There's only one lot there. >> So it'll be on the actual same property. >> Be on the same one. That's why mixed
use. Yeah. Why would be Mr. Cod, right? >> Um Okay. Um hearkening back to a conversation earlier this evening. If you're not putting play area in there, is that corner designated for anything else in the current plans? >> Yes. Keep the trees there.
>> There's a lot of a lot of trees there. >> I'll go for trees over saying add gardens there. So, >> that counts. That's close enough. >> We'll we'll go for green space and trees instead of of uh shared garden space. Um, and then my last question is
making sure I understand the the amounts of restrictions that that you're proposing. So, what you're proposing right now is and and requesting approval for is two will be at 80%, two at 100, and the remainder at 120. >> Correct.
>> That puts us at 20% deed restricted as affordable by state standards. Correct. So, does it that >> No, all all of those will will go on to SHI. >> So, it does qualify because I thought it was 25% at 80% restriction to get >> originally we only had one at 80% and
then Kim asked if we could add another one because that was needed in order to to make it onto the SHI, >> right? I just wasn't sure because I then saw that a third may be needed for certain state grant funding. >> Could be. >> Okay. >> Yes. And that's was in your your report
too. It could be. And then you were saying with this funding from us, ideally you would like to increase the number. Do you have a sense with this funding from the town if you're able to get the other funding that you're looking for where you would eventually land in terms of the the
>> well a couple >> distribution of restrictions. >> Um well, we would never go any higher than what's being proposed right now. And what we would be doing is going lower. So the the six at 120 I would try
to get anything lower than that. One possibility is to get some project based section A certificates from the Bouth Housing Authority. That would allow us to have some units actually at 50%. >> So >> okay. >> Yeah. So >> I guess I'm just trying to get a sense
of like what we're what we're aiming for. Understanding that what we've got in here is a minimum that it would be two two and six, >> right? But I'm trying to get a sense of what you're aiming for in terms of end goal. If you got all the funding you wanted, what would we potentially be be ending at?
>> To have probably like four at 80 and maybe eight at 100 and possibly a couple at at 50%. >> That would be the mix. So this is sort of this is sort of the worst case scenario. >> How much would you need for that
>> from from you? >> No, from the state. Um probably uh probably about $2 million. >> Okay. >> Well, walk from different you know >> when we say from the state they have
different parts, >> right? But in total you'd need $2 million probably >> to bring those down to >> that that mix. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, yeah. I guess I would I would just say
to the to my colleagues on the board that if we're going to make this investment up front than anything else we can do to help you secure that funding to bring those numbers to to more of the the lower uh price units. I I would hope that we would do
any and all of the letters of support and anything else needed to to make sure the project is >> those those are very helpful letters of support. I'm sure I'll be back to ask for a couple of those as we start our application cycle. >> Okay. Any more dis questions? I mean,
there is a very u detailed uh recommended motion, but uh question I have for well town council. Should the motion refer to the conditions that uh that are part of what the agreement had been? Do we need
to recite those conditions as well? They were in Mr. Wrench's memo. >> I have a question about the language also. >> Yeah. >> I'm just wondering if uh if the motion should include the conditions.
>> It it can you can just say as um including proposed conditions in in the town manager's memo. >> So it needs to be in there somewhere, I think. >> Okay. >> M Mr. Brown. >> And the language uh says to be recommended motion included in the
motion. And it says to be awarded as a loan secured by a mortgage. Is it a loan or a grant? >> I think it's a loan. >> Is it a loan that becomes a grant or is it a loan that's paid back? >> Well, the what's before you is a loan.
So that my understanding when you're asked to vote on a loan that it's been negotiated as a loan and not a grant. And I also understand that um that projects like these now are are
structured as loans, not grants. >> We did that with the nursing home and correct >> and that's the way we're going to do them in the future. >> And if I could just clarify, so >> and once it's completed, >> right? >> Well, so for rental, it's different for home ownership and rental, right? So for
um the the purpose of the mortgage is to secure the ongoing purpose of the the subsidy. So there is no repayment of the loan so long as the units are constructed as and managed as affordable
units. So it's >> it's a forgivable loan. >> It's a it's a forgiv technically it's a forgivable loan. The idea is again it's you know in in some sense it's a grant that's secured with a a a mortgage or a loan in case the um the developer
defaults on the the purpose and the terms of the of the of the subsidy. Okay. And in future uh cases similar to this, I'm not suggesting we change this, but can we add language that if the
developer fails to perform, i.e. getting building permits in a timely fashion before zoning approvals uh expire. Can we then have leverage through >> it's in here two-year period? >> We have a two-year period. That's one of
the conditions that that we're referring to. That's >> two years doesn't necessarily >> cover what I'm thinking of, but >> there several >> there's an option to extend at the discretion of the select board. So, >> I think that covers what what you're
concerned about. >> Okay. >> There are various terms of default that are all tied to um making the units affordable and making the project go forward. And so, that's really the difference between the loan and the grant. Under a grant, there's there's no
default pro provisions. It's just here's the money, go build the project. with the loan. There are um there entire sections devoted to what happens if the project isn't completed the way that we've demanded it be completed
>> and that would trigger a repayment. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And the two years allows us to apply twice to the state because they have annual cycles and everything. So the two years gives us an opportunity to go in twice for funding from the state.
>> Okay. Thanks. Right. >> I'd just like to commend you for the design element given all the facts that we've seen around town and some that are not so uh welldesigned. You've done a lot wearing my co-chair of the EDIC hat.
We're we're working really hard for a small piece of property like this. So, I commend you on that design aspect and including that in the pricing here. >> It's coming back though. >> It's coming back. >> They're not going to look the same. >> It's It's coming It's coming back. It will look better. But where you're where
you're headed is much better than what we've seen in other projects. So >> um with that, I think I'm we are prepared to make a motion. >> If we Mr. Chair, if we could real quickly, um again, I'd applaud Mr. Glasso uh for for putting this together,
but I I would like to clarify a point with regards to all of these units being placed on the uh SHI. Um Jed, could you kind of >> I just want to make sure the board is clear before the motion's made. >> Yeah. So, um, for the record, Jed Corn, community development director, um, all
of the units will not actually be eligible for the SHI simply because this wasn't a 40B project. This was a, uh, special permit for multif family use through the zoning board of appeals. So, the only units that will be eligible for the SHR are those that they allowed to
be. My understanding is that that's 100% of the AMI as well as the 80% AMIs. So, the 120s would not be eligible. uh to be included as you would normally get in a 40B rental development. All of them would be eligible. But the good news is
they're all deed restricted and they're all affordable. So that's the air quotes win here. >> Okay. >> If we reduce the number of 120s, do those become eligible? >> If they go to 100, >> right?
>> If you get the mix that you want. >> Exactly. >> Then then they would all be on the SH. That's right. >> Okay. >> Thank you for the clarification. I >> think that's something the state should consider. >> The ever elusive list.
>> Yeah. >> Whatever that means. >> Okay. Who's going to go? >> Sure. Uh, I move that the select board as trustees of the Falmouth affordable housing fund award $1,500,000
to be awarded as a loan secured by a mortgage, subordination of lease, and other documents on four Sandrich Road as outlined in the town manager's documentation >> subject to conditions >> and subject to the conditions discussed
herein. >> Okay, go ahead. And you got to continue now. For the construction of >> Oh, I have >> Yeah, you got to keep going. >> I thought you raised your hand. You got to keep going. >> For the construction of 10 deedestricted units at for Sandwich Road, of which two
>> at least. Well, do we need at least language in there, >> of which at least two will be deed restricted at 80% of the area medium income. Two will be deed restricted at 100% of the median income and six will
be deed restricted at 120% of the area median income >> or less >> or less and authorize the town manager to execute the documentation setting forth the terms of the financial award for construction at four sandwich road. The
awards will be made to for sandwich road LLC as developer and will require such loan documents as town council may advise. Loan documents will be required from the developer, the owner of four Sandwich Road and any ground lessers.
>> One more at least uh at least two for the 100%. You had at least for the 80 but not for the 100. I I'm not if I may I think it might be cleaner without any of the at least at least it says will be two and two. >> Yeah, I think I I think and Jed you can
um perhaps uh confirm or correct me. I I think the notion here was we're going to set it at these particular counts for AMI and if Mr. Glasso needs to change it, he comes back for another vote. >> Correct. >> Correct. But he can't if he goes to the state and they give him more money and
he has the opportunity to go to 100 >> then he'll come back to us and we'll amend and we'll amend the award. >> Okay. >> Because these you know this this funding we you know it's a big deal what the AMI is the breakdown is of all the units and
and the way we've been doing it to this point is we nail it down and it's connected to the agreement for the funding. If something's changed we can always consider a change. this board can consider making a change, but it's not something that can just be sort of
roughly set and then the developer changes it after the fact. We want to we want to control it. >> All right. >> Okay. >> As amended. >> As amended. >> Well, as written. Actually, as written. >> As written.
>> Without the at least. >> Okay. Again. >> No. >> Yeah. Do it over. All right. Second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay.
>> Good luck. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> All right. Uh moving on to item I, presentation and discussion on the clearoint strategy strategic plan and capital project status tracking
platform. Mr. Wshaw. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is just discussion only. Uh so 2 and a half years ago approximately when I uh came to the town to become your town manager um met with Peter and we kind of discussed um a uh what I'll call a disconnect or lack of connection uh
between the departments and the select board's strategic plan. Um there's a copy of the plan in your packets along with a uh a rough draft of where we're at now with the launch of this clear point clearoint strategy platform. Um, so that was the need. A couple of years
ago, there was not a real strong connection between what the departments were doing on a day-to-day, week- toeek, month-to-month, year-to-year basis and the plan. Um, once Peter and I identified that as an issue, we started sitting down with the department heads and the division heads and we started
going over um the creation of metrics. How okay, here's the plan. Were you aware of it? Some some were, some weren't. Um, now let's take a look at developing some metrics. things that you do as a kind of a core function uh at the department or division level um and
tie those directly back to one or more of the seven key focus areas in the plan. Um it's great to have that uh mechanism and have that work underway and this all started again back in 2023 late 2023. Um what we needed the next
step to make this an actual initiative was to have a way to manage and track that date that information. Um so November 2023 town meeting um we uh requested an appropriation for funds. Um I think it was uh $25,000 in
appropriation which was approved. Uh Peter and I um set up set our our sites on interviewing and talking and discussing with a variety of different uh software platform uh vendors. We ultimately landed on um Clearpoint
Strategy um at a cost of about 13,000 per year. Um, we're currently wrapping up a long, arduous 18-month process. Um, it was a lift and and I'll just say it tonight, it was it was more of a lift than I anticipated it being. Um, and the
the work is still ongoing. Um, the uh the product that you have um is a report. One of the features that Peter and I both liked about Clear Point strategy um it's very robust. It has a lot of bells and whistles that are useful as a management tool. Um the the the sample report that you have in your
packet is a little rough around the edges. Um we're polishing that. Um so we're not complete with the implementation. A lot of the departments and divisions are still underway and working on again developing those uh key performance indicators that track back and tie back directly to uh one or more
of the key focus areas in the plan. Um the work the select board is doing um in September. We're going to follow that up with our second session, the strategic plan workshop uh with the consultant um is going to be vital to making this system work a lot better. Um but my message tonight, I wanted to give this
I've been talking about giving this update for a couple of months now. Um and I felt like we're far enough along. The um the goal, the vision, um the departments are currently entering their information on a quarterly basis. Um other places I've managed at the
department level and as a city manager, um city of Atlanta is a great example. um how they used this process. There were 27 council members, I think, and I remember as a department head in Atlanta, um going before uh uh the entire city council as the code enforcement director and explaining kind
of going through my me my metrics and explaining why we're kind of, you know, where we're at. We set a target, are we operating above expectations, our performance goals, or are we below? And we used it as a useful management tool to allocate resources. Um there's some
information in your in your report in terms of um you know some of the benefits um of of a program like this. Um uh enhanced visibility and accountability that was lacking, right? We have um people that are doing great work and we have these great goals and
objectives within the plan, but there's really no uh connection or accountability. Um now we have that because there's project owners that are listed in the in the uh in the in the platform. um continuous improvement and innovation um setting performance targets we push ourselves right through
the setting of targets and goals uh through these KPIs so we continuously try to improve um datadriven decision-m uh we've all talked about the importance of that um in particular going forward with uh scarce resources making sure that our data our decisions are based on
data and uh and again as I mentioned using this tool um ultimately in quarterly presentations to the select board where the department heads myself um present where we're at. And if it's a matter if we're falling short of our goals, our performance targets, and it's
a matter of additional resources that are needed, um having a tool like this, a management tool, allows us to better allocate um those those limited resources. If it's a priority of the select board, then we need to kind of shift and align our resource allocation and uh whether it's staffing or
something else to to better meet those uh goals of the select board. So, in essence, that's what this type of a program initiative does, performance measurement. Um, there's a great quote in here that I I love to give every time I talk about this. Um, uh, Peter Ducker was a 20th century, uh, business
consultant. Um, did a lot of great work working with corporations. Um, the actual quote he used was what gets measured, what's get measured, what gets measured gets managed. Some people have interpreted as what gets measured gets done. If you're not measuring your performance and comparing it to a
standard or a target, you're you're not making that continuous progress and you're not getting things done in effect. So again, um I'm I'm excited about the project. The report that you have was just meant to be an illustration. We're still kind of fine-tuning it. There's some missing pieces, so it's a little clunky right
now. Um I just had a conversation with the vendor uh Clear Point strategy. Um the big um in addition to the quarterly uh uh presentations to the select board that I'm hoping to start uh next uh calendar year, um having a public facing
dashboard is also important. There's an example, maybe not the best example, but it was one I could find quickly of uh the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, uh that uses this uh public facing dashboard. So, it allows the community to access this information and find out um a variety of measures that we select
um to to kind of front face and kind of show the community what we're doing, how we're doing it. Um that phase two, um right now we're doing the kind of the uh the internal backend uh build of the system. That public facing dashboard is phase two and we're looking to do that
um in uh January, February um after we clear some of the town meeting uh and things slow down if if there is such a thing in the town of Felmouth um again in in the first of the year. So we're looking to uh kind of build on what we have. I think it's a great start. It certainly is going to allow us once it
is completely built out to to better track and manage and and be more accountable to the select board as a governing body and ultimately to the community that we we all work for. >> It seems it's going to be great, but it seems like it's still going to be an
ongoing challenge to keep uploading the data to it. >> It is it's a it's a it's a commitment. Um each department division has someone assigned a user in the system author uh whatever there's a there's a term that clearoint strategy uses. So each each
department has that representative that that it's their responsibility um to to be the data entry representative for their for their department. >> I guess the amount of hours available will determine the level of detail that's available
and to be viewed. Well, so and again, this was my effort and and it's probably not my best effort to to come up. There's a lot of different boxes to check in terms of the information that you want uh shown in these uh reports. Um and I'm still learning that system myself quite honestly um working with
the consultant. So um there there is a lot more detail probably in some of these pages um uh that doesn't necessarily need to be there. Um a lot of it allows you to drill down. made copies as a PDF of those kind of different layers. There's a splash p a
landing page for for the town of Felmouth as an organization and then each department has its own landing page >> that talks about again um you know its its its um mission vision statement. Um so uh it is a it is a commitment. It's it's a lot of time that goes into putting the information in. I think the
departments and the divisions are finally starting to kind of work out through a system. there's been a lot of uh bumps down along the way in terms of making sure that we're all doing it the same way because if one department's doing it differently um that's an that becomes an issue. So, we're still kind
of learning as we go along. This again was meant to be a short presentation of kind of where we're at now. Um and I think it's going to be an excellent tool going forward for not only the select board but the management team as well. >> When do you think it would be available to be that public facing document? >> Yeah, so by spring because if we look to
Yeah. Well, no, because I that's going to kick off the implementation of that public facing dashboard and I think it's a four to six week process. Um, the lift for the public facing dashboard, I'm being told, is a lot more on the vendor side than staff, whereas this 18 months was a lot of staff input and
involvement. Um, this is going to be more uh turning it over to the consultant once we agree on kind of the look and feel. You all saw the Fort Lauderdale example. It's it's all fully customizable as far as the appearance of that public facing dashboard. Okay. Um,
two questions. One, um, town meeting approved 25 grand for the acquisition and then it was noted further down and it's 13 grand per year. So, we've clearly used those two years, but do we have that budgeted going forward? >> It is it's in the budget for that renewal. Yes.
>> Great. And then I think it's phenomenal having KPIs, having those things. Looking at the Fort Lauderdale example, um they had I think goals that we've done with our strategic plan, but they had very um pointed things like crime
rate, fire rescue times, things that were not yet at our strategic plan. So based on all that you've learned, uh, assessing the data, knowing, you know, taking your previous experience in this one, what do we need to do with you as a select board
for our five-year strategic plan to get you to these types of measures and descriptions? >> Yeah. So, that's a great question. We've we've already started back in September with the first session working with uh with uh the consultant um and that is
better uh defining um uh uh consolidating uh those goals within the uh seven key focus areas. Um so that's going to be a great help right now and that's probably one of the significant um issues or challenges that we had o
over the past couple couple of years working with not not being sure quite c quite honestly um when you look at some of the goals right now that are built into the plan which ones rose to which ones were priorities. Um so sifting through that, consolidating that, making it more concise, I should say. Um and uh
and identifying the true goals and then letting the the the people that do the day-to-day uh uh uh uh mission, right? Let them uh now that we know that these are the true goals in the focus areas, let the uh folks that do it the job on
the day in a day in dayout basis come up with those metrics because they're familiar with how they kind of track the data and what data is readily accessible. the smart >> measures. >> Thanks. >> Good job. >> Well, thanks. >> I like it. >> Anything else?
>> Okay, >> moving on to uh discuss the town of Brewers preschool family support program. This was a item I asked Mr. Renaw to put on the agenda. The former chair Taylor and I both felt this was
something to take a look at. Uh there's information in in your packet. I don't know if you want to say anything to it, Mr. Wrench. >> So, so there's a lot of great information that I literally took from the uh town of Brewster's website. They just created this program. I suggest it was last year. Um and and you can see
kind of some of the details with regards to how they funded it initially. Um and uh how they've grown the program over just a short period of time. Um, it involves a subsidy of a $3,000 payment uh for very specific uh age groups um to
uh help offset uh which we all know the uh increasing costs of child care, daycare um uh in in our community. Um this has a lot of implications, right? I mean um affordable affordability um uh economic uh uh uh implications,
economic development implications, attracting a trained workforce means you have to provide in my opinion uh those amenities and and programs that help support uh and and and actually cause uh uh uh the economic conditions to thrive. So, I
think it's a program that's worthy of exploring, but again, there's a cost. And Diane, you can see how a town a bit smaller than Falmouth um started the program small and then grew it over over just a year. Um I mean, the one thing that struck me
was that there are no income or financial eligibility requirements. It just you apply and and you get it. I mean, I would think that if we wanted to pursue it that we would be looking for some kind and I don't know if there's a problem with doing that and that's why
Brewster didn't put something in, but uh it would seem to me we would want to, you know, restricted to AMI or or some some kind of financial >> Yeah. And I'm not I'm not proposing this was this was a long saying the plan.
That's just the the thing that struck me and I would think if we wanted to pursue it, we'd look to some kind of a financial eligibility uh standard. >> Yeah. Um I think for all the right reasons because it plays out in housing,
it helps with recruitment and retainment. But a question is what are what problem are we trying to solve? Do we have a documented lack of child care in town with a child
reproduction rate much lower than years past and this is just a nice to have or I guess where did this come from in regards to like data analysis and need to fill >> you know honestly I don't think it's a data thing everybody knows how much daycare costs and it's just a a way to
try and uh you know use some tax dollars to uh to offset the cost And I bet you that need is still there despite the fact of birth birth rate. >> And some of us may be wonder worrying about daycare in the future. Mr. Reed, >> I don't know. I don't know.
>> I noticed that there is a demographic information page and it says approximate household annual income. So maybe there is some requirement that we're >> said it did say in the in the in the outline I read that there were no financial requirements that >> okay
was called. Um, I think an important piece of any conversation about this um is to to be talking with um our our school system um knowing that Superintendent Dura and the school committee have been having a lot of
conversations um as part of navigating the future. um that one of the goals there is to introduce more early childhood education and and obviously daycare if we're talking about starting from infant daycare is another beast and
I don't think that's what the school district is talking about implementing but in terms of overall cost and availability of um at least prek preschool level daycare understanding um and they do have a lot of data on what
is available and and where there there is need and and their data does indicate that there's additional need beyond um what is currently being provided by private suppliers but I think just having that whole picture and making sure that we're really in close conversation with the school district um would be really important has already
started that dialogue >> did Lori and I a year ago Lori had indicated some some some of the uh some of the programs that they were looking at and it's my understanding I talked recently with Lori um because I wanted before I had this discussion I wanted to make sure we didn't um uh cross cross up anything. Um so, as I understand it, the
school committee hasn't hasn't yet taken any kind of formal action, but they're looking at a uh a nonfeebased uh program. I the way I see this um family support model, the Brewster model, um uh working would be for those folks who uh opt for the kind of the
private daycare. You know, um the school's not proposing any fees associated with their program as I understand it. And Lori didn't see this because I wanted to make sure that we're not again um having uh competing uh programs. Lori didn't see any that this would compete
directly with what they're currently in discussions with >> different age group. >> It is. Yeah. >> And if we went with say the $250,000 with the initial appropriation, where would that come from? >> Yes. So I knew on that question. So this is
>> So we're just preliminary discussion. >> It is just just Yes. I was asked to to to to have this on the agenda for discussion and as the chair said it goes back over a year ago. The previous chair had the same kind of questions about the program. So yeah, this is just a preliminary >> gotcha
>> discussion. Something on our radar. That's >> a cool idea. >> Yeah, cool idea. >> It's a nice idea, but yeah. >> No, it has a cost but uh you know, but it also has a benefit for retention and and affordability. So, >> okay. Now, uh, last but not least, an
update on the police station site location process. Mr. Wrench. >> So, yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I know we're running late, so I'll try to keep this on point. Um, so, um, as you all know, we've had a couple of, uh, community meetings, uh, to this point. Uh, the the police
facility advisory committee, um, or police station, that's it, police station advisory committee, the PAC, um, has been working, uh, since February of this year. Um, I'm not going to go through all the different iterations and and uh and uh sites that they've looked at, but as you all recall, they
recommended uh they voted uh to recommend um 44 Brick Hill based upon um all of the feedback that we heard in the two community uh sessions, the most recent one last was it Wednesday, last week um Tuesday. Um the uh overwhelming
uh uh message that we're hearing uh from the select board members as well as members of the community is that uh there's a significant concern and that's probably an understatement uh with regards to placing the facility uh within uh uh the uh watershed protection overlay district within the Long Pond
water service area. So um with that uh my ask of the uh uh PAC was to and this is a recent ask within the past week and a half they actually started really digging in identify some additional uh options to make recommendations to the
select board. Um I've I've listed a couple of here. Uh they're actually looking at uh potentially another site. Um but the two that they're currently looking at um and Peter can help me out with this as well because he's been working uh even more closely with the PAC. Um there's a 12.3 acre site um 5
acres of which are developable um adjacent near the Hatchville Fire Station at 880 888 Sandwich Road. Um we've recently uh working with town council uh come to understand that there's some pretty significant article 97 uh restrictions with regards to that site. Um so but that's still being
discussed and vetted. Um the other site that we're currently looking at and this was as I understand it uh perhaps part of that initial review. Um you saw it recently in one of the slides show uh slide decks was uh the Augusta property um 100 Brick Kilm Road. Um as uh as it
indicated in your packet that site had previously been examined by the team um was not recommended due to concerns identified in in regards to potential deed restrictions. Um, again, town council's done a been a fabulous uh partner uh throughout this process and
most recently um putting a uh a legal lens and looking a little bit more closely at that Augusta property at 100 Brick Helm and uh um although we're still vetting um we feel like there may be a pathway forward um with regards to the Augusta property in terms of a
potential site. Uh the police department have gone out and taken a look at it. Anyway, um the PAC is meeting again uh tomorrow and uh and again on Friday of this week. Um because ultimately what I'd like to do again is bring recommendations uh to the select board.
Um and I want to make this announcement um on uh Thursday, November 13th. So next Thursday, uh we will have a called meeting um at 5:00 p.m. It's going to be held over at the senior center. We confirm with Jill Bishop that that's available because I anticipate a lot of participation in that and that's a good
thing. Um, but we're going to be presenting uh two or three additional uh options, site options uh in addition to I should say the brick kiln and the 44 brick kiln. Um, so uh did I miss anything? I don't think I did. Um yeah, the big news uh that I wanted to get out to the community tonight is that we do
have this called meeting and it's going to be my my hope and my intent well my hope um is that um we can provide enough information with regards to these additional sites um and kind of rank order these optional sites um so that select board can feel comfortable making
it making a decision based on that re those recommendations uh so that going into town meeting uh we have we have a site identified. That's my that's my hope um and my goal. Um and working with the PAC, I'm pretty confident that we can give you all of the information by next Thursday. But it's a it's been a
huge lift. And again, I want to thank town council for her involvement. Uh the director of community development, Jed Corn, for his his contributions and obviously all all the PAC members. >> Okay. Thank you, Sounds good. >> Yes. >> I just want to commend you. Um, I the
amount of work that you and and your staff have had to put in to do this turnaround and really listening to the community. I just I really really appreciate and I know this town really appreciate is your leadership on this one and and recognizing you know what the community wants and and um still getting that turnaround to get it on the town meeting warrant. So I I really thank you for
>> Well, thanks but again I said team several times and it truly has been a team effort >> and and to the PAC as well. You the tremendous amount of work and hours they put in is is phenomenal. would you be anticipating a date a vote uh on the November 13th or the November
17th meeting we have before town meeting? >> So that's a great question. Uh it's my hope and again we'll have a better idea going uh following these next two meetings with the PAC team. Um it's my it's my goal going into the November 13th is that I'd be asking for a vote.
But again, uh it's if select board if our information that we present um uh addresses concerns and and issues and and you don't have any questions following that presentation, yeah, my ask would be for a vote. Um we could take it into the 17th, the meeting before town meeting, if you will. Um but
I think, you know, we're going to learn a lot uh with the uh with the community input when we produce when we present these additional sites on the 13th um at that called meeting. Um, so hopefully all of that information plus the community input with regards to these additional new recommendations would be
enough to get that vote. >> Okay. All right. Any other questions? >> I would say I I echo what Mr. Richardson said. You're, you know, threading a very fine needle and you're doing a really good job with the team. I would say if there are other concerns identified that
you kind of outlined article 97 land purchase things that prevented other properties to be considered. I think you know based on what I've seen and heard here that you know the town is willing and therefore we are willing to um I
wouldn't say negotiate but like allow to look at some of those things that we didn't previously look at. the the parcels you identified I think are um >> are good ones. >> More to come. This is just a cursory kind of snapshot of what we're looking at right now and the work that's being done. But yeah, more to come on the 13.
>> Yeah. I don't I I guess I can't speak on behalf of my fellow members, but I would encourage you that if if something came up and there was a consideration, feel free to, you know, come to the chair or whoever. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Entra.
>> Thank you. >> So, do you have a supplemental report on top of that? I do I do have a couple of things real quickly. Um so um the first I want to report um so back in June the YMC Cape Cod YMCA representatives contacted my office and requested that the town uh be the responsible entity uh
for review of their environmental uh reports that they had a consultant prepare. Um I'm going to give you the reader digest of this. Um so between June and uh recently um uh the YMCA's consultant environmental engineer consultant had been preparing that
environmental assessment report uh or environmental review report at an EAS. Um the uh the role of the town again is to act as the responsible entity um and um in conjunction with the YMCA's uh environmental consultant come up with a
if possible a finding of no significant impact on the site in terms of well a large list of criteria and also um to ultimately release through the um HUD um community uh development and planning office uh the funds for the $45.7
million ion dollar project. Um, all of this hinges on the responsible entity, the town of Felmouth, being able to certify and declare that there was a finding of no significant impact on the site. Um, again, their engineer has has uh has determined that. I've had our uh
staff um review. Um, the process that we're undergoing right now is a uh public notice period. Uh, we published a notice in the paper uh last Friday, October 31st. It has to run according to the HUD community development and planning office for 15 days um for
public comment. Um they can come in and review that environmental review report um and all of its 375 pages um and provide comments and based upon that comment, my role as the certifying official of the responsible entity is to
ultimately sign off on that declaration that there was no there was a finding of no sufficient no significant impact. um so that they can get the funds released, the federal funding um that's that's tied to the program. So um wanted to give the select board and the community an update on that. November 18th is that
um is that cut off for public comment and once uh we've received that assuming there is no information in there to cause uh any any changes, I would sign off on that declaration and certification. Uh the other impact uh the other update I wanted to give is HR
related. Um uh I talked uh about the uh fire chief uh recruitment. Happy to announce that um Peter and I um solicited um uh proposals, quotes I should say, from qualified uh consultants that do this uh work on a regular basis. Uh we ultimately selected
um Public Safety Consultants LLC, which is the same firm that we used a couple two and a half years ago to hire the police chief um which was a successful recruitment as you all know. Um, we've uh started working with uh Public Safety Consultants LLC to uh review the job
description and get the uh recruitment advertisement posted. That posted on October 27th and as of this morning, we've had six uh really uh qualified applications submitted. Um and it closes on the 17th. So, um on town meeting uh
Monday um it closes. So, we're hopeful. Um, we've, um, as I mentioned, uh, a couple of meetings ago, cast a broad net. We're looking at the New England area, uh, going down as far south as Connecticut, um, and as far north as New Hampshire. I don't think we're looking necessarily in the main area. We're
trying to find folks that have, uh, coastal experience working in a coastal community. We think that's important, one of the important criteria. Um, and the HR director would be upset with me if I didn't also mention in addition to that important uh recruitment, we currently have um several other uh
recruitments that are underway. And I probably misplaced my list. The um uh uh uh our um deputy uh building commissioner is one of those recruitments that is currently underway. Uh we have an assistant uh assessing director as assistant director of
assessing that's currently being recruited as well. Um, so, uh, the more information we can get out to the public in terms of these opportunities, go to our website and visit the HR page because all of the job postings are on our human resources page. And that's the only updates that I have. Mr. Chair,
>> I I'd like to know at some point how the RFP for the golf course is going >> uh report on that and how it's going to, you know, who's on the scoring team and >> Sure. So the um
>> agenda >> I know I realize it's not on the agenda. That's why I said maybe. >> So um we do plan to bring that to the select board for a vote on December 3rd. >> Okay. >> Yeah. For for the lease. >> Yeah.
>> So um with regard to the YMCA, I think it would be wise in the future to offer them the sewer connection when we have the capacity given their location. Would any mention of that intent if we decide that that's what we intend later when we
have the either the outfall or some other discharge capacity would that be a helpful thing to mention in that report? >> No. So not in this not in this environmental review report. No the environment actually >> impact potential impact on the environment is kind of the focus and and
as you all know um that project is currently uh moving forward and has been approved with the uh with the septic uh system. um you know what discussions we have going down the going going down the the road I'm not sure um that's yeah so right now that's not related to this project at all
>> okay or this phase getting the funding released they're they're working me hard to get the uh to get this uh determination letter signed off so that they can go ahead and request release of the funds >> okay I don't want to complicate it or slow it down I just thought if it would be helpful
okay anybody have a report I do one one brief one. Um I was able last week uh to get a tour of uh the two uh homes that belonging to each other um
operates over the winter. Uh one of them being the new newly acquired uh Zammer house on uh Palmer A. Um both really uh terrific facilities and they've had a very high success rate um in taking
their seasonal residents who are um otherwise unhoused individuals um and and actually um helping them secure um long-term housing coming out of that that seasonal um winter housing as well. Um which is terrific. you know, as we've
had these conversations about the affordability of Felmouth, um important to recognize that we do have um a homeless population uh both in, you know, BTO is also involved with the um emergency shelter program and and unfortunately right now um there's a lot
of concern about um increased need um this winter as as we're seeing disruptions in uh things like SNAP and and federal benefits and uncertainty. Um, so just glad that we have um fabulous nonprofits in town who are who are doing this work and it was really
great to be able to actually uh see the facilities that they're they're operating. >> And the only thing I'll add, I uh I toured uh Fmouth Recovery Center uh with Rep. Mowley uh the other week and they it was a full house. We went around 10:30 in the morning. You not super busy
time, but there was a full house. uh you know they're coming up on their second anniversary. They've been in there since the 1st of December 2023. Uh and the way it's really grown into, you know, what they've done there for the community and just a space where people can go in is really cool to see. So, and they're not
dealing, you know, with any uh funding issues right now, which was a good surprise to hear. So, I'm I'm glad uh shout out them and and all the work they're doing over there. >> Right. >> I had a new update. I got a an interesting
meeting with uh the groups from Woods Hole. Uh Mark Edmonson from the SSA, the chief engineer was kind enough to offer to bring a presentation on the new ships that they bought. And you know, there's been a lot of talk in this whole
neighborhood about the smoke stacks and the, you know, polluting diesel and whatnot. and uh they've been researching a product called RD99 fuel which is completely made from vegetable oil and it's not a biodiesel. It's just a new
product and the particulates are really reduced. The smoke is reduced. It still produces CO2 apparently but less. And that's a a temporary measure that they're going to plan to use. They used it all summer and you just pour it right
in just like the diesel fuel and the ship runs great on it. nice and clean, no problems. It's a little more expensive. And they did a test run from June 1st to September 1st, and they're very happy with the results. Uh now
they're going to plan to do another series of uh runs and document the the product, but they may use this for the next coming years. And in the interim time before they can convert the vessels to be um
h you know not fully electric but hybrid with electric. So it'll be when they come into port they'll be on electric battery power so they won't be idling in port. >> And he showed how the ships were really set up in a very good way to be able to
be modified later. And he brought uh all kinds of engineering diagrams and stuff. I have some photos if you and I can share them with you board members. But it was interesting and it was a good and then the the neighbors really appreciated him coming out and explaining to them what they're working
on and it was a good little meeting. You know, different from the usual, you know, angst and anxiety. So, that was nice. >> I I didn't hear from everybody, but there are precinct meetings going on. I don't know if you're going to make an effort to try and attend some. I think
some people have said which ones they'll be able to go to, but uh I think they start uh Thursday, right? >> Thursday precinct 8 and 9. >> Does everybody have the SC schedule of those? I'll send it out. >> I have the schedule. I'm going to do five and then we'll see um if we get a
little more of a circulation of ideas of who's going to what. >> I was going to go I wasn't going to go to eight or nine, but it's my district. I'm going to probably go because I as well. Okay, >> you go. That's fine. I thought I had something going on and I don't >> I might have to be at the state house,
but if I don't let it be >> we have concerns if three or more of us have more than >> No, we just don't start a debate. You're there to answer questions. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> But uh what meetings are folks planning to cover? >> I
my schedule >> we we can we can do this offline. I feel >> let's take a look and and text everybody over the next day or so. I think >> the first one is Wednesday. >> Mhm. Oh, there's one. >> Is that one and two? >> That's precinct three. >> Three. >> Oh, >> no. Is anyone planned to cover that? Cuz
I I can do that. >> See, Wednesday is my basketball day. >> It's my old stomping ground, so I don't mind. >> Uh, waterways committee. I cannot make Wednesday. What time is it on Wednesday? They're
usually seven, but I didn't check. >> Wednesday's at 7. >> Yeah, I'm supposed to be away on Wednesday. I'm still not sure. So, >> Thursday's at 6. >> That I can do. >> I'm going to watch the ZBA at 6 on
Thursday. So, I'll skip that one. But I can do the precinct 3. >> Skip the waterways committee. just I'll be at 1 and two on Thursday at 700 p.m. >> Well, it sounds like we don't have I can do Wednesday because it sounds like we don't have anybody else.
>> You want to do that and I can still go to the waterways >> and 8 8 and 9 is Thursday. >> I can do that, Bob. >> Correct. >> Yeah. No, I've got It's at the Cape Club this year, right? It's not at the not at the Navigator. >> Switching it up.
>> Okay. >> The fairgrounds last year. Yeah, last year was >> okay. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Hold on one second. Uh, future agenda items. Can based on the conversation from earlier and Mr. Brown's suggestion
and Mr. Johnson stops, can we do can we put a debt forecast joint meeting with the finance and select board on the agenda at some point? >> Sure. Take a look at it. If it doesn't have to be a joint meeting, I just
figured a joint meeting might be good. It >> would probably be good. I'd like to discuss whether or not there's any possibility of discussing the 40B legislation with our local legislators and see if there could
be some improvements made to the way it's >> impacting towns. >> I get started on that. >> All right. >> Excellent. >> Now we have a motion. Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. All >> in favor? I
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