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your communications network up and running and allow you to focus on growing your business 877-6342638 or meganet.net good evening i'd like to open the meeting of the Falmouth Select Board it is Monday March 10th 2025 it is exactly
6:30 i would ask that you please silence your cell phones and please double check that they are indeed silenced and notify me as the chair if you are making a video or audio recording of this open session meeting and the placement and operation of the recording equipment
must not interfere with the conduct of this meeting thank you present arms order arms how about forward watch
please stand and pause detail officers present arms i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all we have a very special evening tonight and I would like to turn over recognition to Chief Lori thank you very much Madam Chair and thank you all for attending today uh these are very exciting times for the Felmouth Police
Department um I believe to date you know we've hired uh 27 police officers made nine promotions and you're going to see 13 people get sworn in today as well as the current staff uh we're going to all reaffirm our oath today what makes today very special um is a couple of things
one we have two seasoned officers uh coming to the ranks because we have a lot of uh younger officers here and I refer to them uh as the Lynfield Nine we sent nine officers to the Lynfield Police Academy again to my knowledge the Felmouth Police Department has never
sent nine police officers to the academy and to graduate all nine is an absolute anomaly it's a true testament um to being able to hire the very best um and being out of civil service where we were hampered um you know I'll tell you the last civil service hire that we had uh
the opening came up uh in his uh town on the other side of the bridge and he he left us just off probation now while now we were able to hire people that want to be here in Felmouth that want to stay in Felmouth uh we're making an investment in them and they're making an investment in us and you so our goal is to help
them reach their full potential and tonight is just a way to honor them and you the families uh for the sacrifices you're all making uh to be involved in law enforcement so I'm going to start off by calling up Officer Caleb
Basy officer Cayla Bassy was born and raised in Felmouth and graduated from Felmouth High School in 2017 he pursued a career in the automotive industry before starting his law enforcement journey at the Lynfield Police Academy now he's proud to serve in his hometown with the Falmouth Police
Department officer Bassy will be pinned by his mother Mariah Thatcher officer Shaun Canestrao officer Canestrao was born and raised in conquered Massachusetts and graduated from Conquered Carile High School in 2020 after attending college
he joined Falmouth police in 2024 as a resident of Falmouth he looks forward to serving his community for many years to come officer Kenra will be pinned by his mother Susan officer Curtis Demetrius officer Demetrius was born and raised in the
neighborhood neighboring town of Sandwich and graduated from upper Cape Cod Regional Techn Technology School High School in 2020 he attended the 74th MPT Plymouth Academy and started his career as a patrol officer in 2023 with the Toro Police Department officer
Demetrius transferred to Felman Police Department in September of 2024 and is currently assigned to the midnight shift officer Demetrius will be pinned by his father Officer John Demetrius of the Mashby Police Department kevin Fry please come forward was born in Felmouth and grew up in Mashby
graduated from Mashby High School he's a proud member of the Mashby Wanog tribe for the past six and a half years he was a correctional officer and deputy chief at the Bonso County Sheriff's Department until joining the Fmouth Police Department in February of 2024 he is a dad to his beautiful four-year-old
daughter Sky River officer Fry will be pinned by his father Chief Kevin Fry and daughter Sky Fry officer Cardo Cody Garcia please come forward officer Garcia was born and raised in Falmouth there's a theme
here graduated from Falmouth High School he was an avid hockey and lacrosse player with a love for competition his passion drive and courage have now been channeled into his new career with the Felmouth Police Department officer Garcia is proud to be a part of the organization he's looking forward to reaching his full potential with the
Felmouth Police Department officer Garcia will be pinned by his wife Livia Garcia officer Michael Gilboy officer Michael Gilboy was born and raised in Boston he's a graduate of Xavier Brothers High School he holds a bachelor's degree from Suffach
University and is currently enrolled in a mast's program at Coastal California University officer Gilboy has four years of campus law enforcement experience he has spent the last 26 years with the Franklin Police Department where there he served in multiple duties such as
honor guard field training officer narcotics officer he was assigned to the special task force with DEA ATF US customs US marshals office and the mass state police he was also an 8-year member of the Metro Law Enforcement Council SWAT team and spent 25 years as a K9 handler um the backstory that by
this he's going to be pinned by his wife Heidi um his wife Heidi uh was a traveling nurse fell in love with the Cape and as we all know uh happy wife happy life so so Heidi I want to thank you very much uh he's an awesome addition to the staff and uh and welcome
aboard i'm not I'm going to now turn it over to my illustrious deputy chief Brian all right joseph Girtton officer Joseph Girtton was raised in Weaimoth graduated from Weimouth High School in
1998 he earned his associates degree from Massoya Community College where he's captain of the basketball team and academic athlete of the year he go on to earn his bachelor's degree from UMass Boston where he also played basketball officer Girtton was a season officer in Hull for a few years after graduating from UMass most importantly Officer
Girtton is a father to three daughters he enjoys being on the community engagement team as well as joining the mountain bike team he looks forward to starting his master's degree uh studies in the fall excuse me officer Girtton will be pinned by his wife Sarah Girtton officer Kobe How officer Kobe How was
born and raised in the town of Bonstable graduated from Bonsible High School in 2018 holds an associates degree in criminal justice from Cape Cod Community College officer How enjoys playing hockey in his free time officer How be pinned by his mother Christine How
officer Jake Mun officer Jake Muno was born and raised in Lakeville Mass graduated from Apotquit Regional High School joined the Fmouth Police Department in the summer of 2024 as a patrolman he serves on the Cape Cod Regional Law Enforcement Council Search and Rescue Team and as a member of the community engagement team officer Mun
would be pinned by his mother Priscilla Munir officer Spencer Rose Troman Ro Spencer Rose was born and raised born graduated from Bourne High School he attended St ansom College graduating in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice he is currently
enrolled at Boston University working towards completing his master's degree in criminal justice crime analysis with Roman Spencer Roseby pinned by his mother Kim officer Dominic Viola Dominic Viola began his career in the fitness industry in 2001 he started serving as a
reserve officer for the Fmouth Police Department a role he held for eight years for the past 15 years he's worked in the healthcare industry dominic's committed to serving the town of Fmouth and is part of the community engagement team he's married to his wife of 20 years Jen together they are proud parents with two daughters Alexis and
Giana they enjoy being grandparents their granddaughter Laney also Viola will be pinned by his granddaughter Laney assisted by his daughter Alexis sergeant John Deont sergeant John Deont was born and raised in Falmouth graduated from Falmouth High School he joined the
Falmouth Police Department in 2015 as an officer he served as field training officer defensive tactics instructor master taser instructor bowler instructor and rad instructor sergeant Deont pulls a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Nichols College and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire
University sergeant Deont will be pinned by his girlfriend Jill King lieutenant James Cummings lieutenant James C was born and raised in Felmouth Massachusetts graduated from Falmouth High School he joined the
family police department in 2006 promot Sergeant in 2014 as a sergeant he served as the department's field training supervisor and citizens police academy coordinator lieutenant Cummings holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Boston University is nearing the completion of his master's degree in criminal justice and public
administration lieutenant Cummings will be pinned by his parents Rose and Jim Cummings clerk the clerk would please come forward and swear in our officers our other officers attendant if you could also rise and join us while we all
reaffirm our oath okay could you all raise your right hand and repeat after me i state your name i for to solemnly swear and affirm to solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully and impartially I will
faithfully and partially perform all duties incumbent upon me perform all duties incumbent upon me as a member of the found police department as a member of the police department according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and understanding and
understanding I will support the constitution and laws I will support the constitutional laws of the United States of America of the United States of America the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the bylaw and charter of the town of and by law and charter of
the town of so I'll be so be congratulations If those pinning our officers could please come forward pinning our our officers and supervisors could come forward to pin them please come forward there was nothing
you have command detail offices sworn detail offices present arms sworn present arms department officers order arms sworn retire to the rear of the
rope watch so in in closing again I want to thank uh all of you uh for attending i'd like to thank thank the board the town manager and the assistant town manager for their support and for allowing us to do this i think it's very important um
and and lastly uh and I mean this genuinely um this will be the last meeting that Scott Solinsky and Nancy Taylor uh participates as their role as chair and vice chair as they're not seeking re-election uh I want to thank them from the bottom of their my heart for your support um and the faith that
you have in us and on behalf of the entire region we thank you for the opportunity to serve and on a personal level for affirming me as your chief and I promise I will continue to advocate for the community and our staff our most precious resource good night everybody thank you very much Chief
this congratulations very nice unexpected okay the board will continue with its business and we will go right to announcements are there any announcements from the board
Miss Goldstone okay just just a couple just to uh turn your mic on Mr msg thank you thank you to uh remind the community that there will be a showing of the Katherine Bates documentary film this Thursday at the U Falmouth Public
Library at 700 p.m and also at the museums on the Green at 300 PM uh pre-registration for the event at the museums is uh is required uh and uh we received a note from uh Max John's uh
with respect to a meeting of the workers and families group which will be this Saturday at 10:30 in the Herman room at the public library thank you thank you mr rafferty could you open that door we
have to keep the the door open because it's a public meeting i understand the noise i got it i've been correct with my actions before thank you sir other announcements Miss Goldstone and then Mr brown um well recognition
slannouncement um would like to recognize uh Dr chris Neil uh whose name many people may recognize from his frequent columns in the enterprise um has been a scientist in our community uh for decades and was recently recognized uh with a an outstanding public service award from the Massachusetts Association
of Conservation Commissions um for his long track record of highly collaborative work in the interests of uh communities including things like uh the restoration of the the Kunameset River so congratulations to to Dr neil for that um I also uh wanted to uh
announce uh that there will be a meeting tomorrow evening uh at the rec center uh regarding a proposed uh amendment to the state obscenity law i know this is um an issue that is uh evoking a lot of strong
sentiments both uh for and against and would just like to encourage all in our community um to come out in the spirit of civil discourse falmouth citizens are engaged and passionate and that's great and I hope everybody comes out ready for civil and respectful dialogue tomorrow as well thank you Mr brown i just
mentioned that the uh League of Women Voters is meeting next Thursday at 7 p.m at the Herman room with the December bulletin meeting thank you any other announcements from the board okay we'll move into public
comment 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 will not participate in any discussion or debate
of your topic mr hanley you're up thank you Madam Chair i'm Matthew Hanley from 710 Thomas Landers Road um many of you may have heard me speak at numerous meetings um I'm here tonight unfortunately
um to to address an issue I hope the board will take serious but also a very important public issue about freedom of speech and the right to speak in a public meeting recently I was um discouraged from speaking at a water quality management committee meeting and
I was not allowed to speak on a public meeting about betterments i would like to speak about that wa water quality in this town the the ability to to speak or gather information is being limited this
is one of the biggest issues in our town and it's a very important issue homeowners in this new section of sewering don't even know that their house is going to be sewered or their house is going to be perfected homeowners don't know there's going to be grinder pumps on their property
there's going to be a raw sewage pumping station across from their house or next to their house the the public needs to be brought in notified and there needs to be public hearings on those issues so those neighbors and residents and
taxpayers of this town can properly be um heard and those issues can be addressed i know all well I'm a direct butter to the wastewater treatment facility and my concerns and my my input
has been ignored i've had to go to mass D numerous times to get my my get my voice heard and my concerns you know so I don't I'm speaking for this taxpayers and homeowners that are going to be affected that don't have the time or
don't want to put their family in jeopardy and and fear of retaliation against their families so I am taking the the stand to protect those people's right of free of speech thank you thank
you anyone else here for public comment okay if not we will move into our public hearings and our first public hearing is I'm sorry oh I did it again i skipped right
over public uh community interviews um our first interview is interview and consider a vote to appoint a representative to the environmental advisory council's joint base Cape Cod Advisory Council is Robert Crevy here
come on up thank you Mr zalinsky you're welcome maybe the only thing I get right Mr crevy is there anything in your application um or that isn't in your application that you would like the uh
select board to know about you uh no ma'am i believe the uh the application is comprehensive okay questions or comments from the board miss Goldstone one uh one question i your resume um and application very impressive and your
extensive experience with the base I think a a real asset um in advising um on an ongoing basis i'm curious though if you think that that experience um would in any way in this role um representing the town of Falma
specifically and the town's interests um with regard to the base would be um difficult for you in any way sure I understand what you're saying um first and foremost I've been living in Falmouth for uh almost 11 years and given my education I regard myself as as a scientist i have a graduate degree in
environmental science so although I'm involved in the base and I'm unusually well informed on matters in the base um I regard myself as a scientist and I'm going to follow where the evidence leads and um I don't necessarily 100% agree with everything that happens on the base
so no I think I can be impartial thank you thank you any other questions mr brown just a similar question mr crevy so you clearly Yeah you're saying that it won't be a conflict for you when you're working in this same realm but you're on
the advisory council you're kind of it's almost like the fox in the hen house right i understand where you might have that concern i will say that during my tenure uh with with military division I've attended SAC meetings and CAC meetings this whole time
um and I just based on my experience in those meetings and knowing the people involved I just I don't feel concerned on my behalf great certainly feel like you're definitely the right person for the job as long as we can sure that's not it's a reasonable concern i
understand thank you Miss Goldstone yeah uh I guess related question but I'm curious what you think um from the town of family's perspective um is the top issue or some of the top issues that we need to be thinking about in terms of of uh the base i mean I think the ongoing
issue would be the groundwater monitoring program and I happen to know a lot of the principles involved um and I'll tell you now they're very dedicated um they've done the science they've been doing this for a long time and they're doing an excellent job um but that's an ongoing issue and they're still going to
be presenting new things over the years so I'll be interested to to see that from this new perspective thank you Mr mscali just just a question with respect to both applicants there's a position that's found resident and there's also at large uh uh positions
did the applicants you know apply for one or the other or did we kind of take that on to say who was going to be the Falmouth and what was going to be at large great question Madam Chair select board member Moscali uh it's my understanding neither applicant indicated a preference although u Mr
cravy is it Cravy cre sorry indicated that um he uh he he had no no preference one way or the other the other applicant did not uh did not thank you so there is one Felmouth representative and four at large positions available any other questions or comments
thank you thank you okay is Dr shriber here yes and I'll ask you the same question is there anything that you would like the board to know about you that is not in your application no i felt it was comprehensive okay
questions from the board dr m goldstone yeah same question I asked Mr prey um what do you think from the town's perspective are some of the biggest issues that you would be looking to engage on with with this committee i have been following this through
newsletters from the Association to Preserve Cape Cod APCC and I know that there has been a lack of transparency um during this time so that's certainly something that I would be looking to I would hope to support is that Felmouth is getting the information that we need
about how things are affecting us here in Felmouth any other questions mr brown yes could you please explain uh or just describe your current is there some current involvement you have with the programs at the military installation now not at all okay thank you
any other questions or comments thank you any other conversation or would anyone like to um make a motion yeah go ahead um I make a motion to uh recommend the
appointment of Dr k shriber to the governor's office for the position of at large member of the environmental advisory council joint base Cape Cod Community Advisory Council second that okay i have a motion and a
second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i I unanimous thank you and madam chair I would uh move we nominate Robert Crevy um to the Felmouth Representative uh of the Environmental
Advisory Council joint base Cape Cod Community Advisory Council i'll second that Madam Chair okay I have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i and thank you both for your willingness to serve thank you okay now we'll move into public hearings
and I will go to Mr zillinsky for the notice please thank you Madam Chair uh notice is hereby given under chapter 138 of general laws as amended that Quick Cohole Tak Quickshole Takaria LLC doing business as Quickshole Takaria has
applied for a transfer of all alcohol beverage restaurant license located at 28 Water Street Unit C Woodshole Mass an application for a common vicurous license has also been submitted a hearing on the above application will be
held at the Falma Senior Center in the Old Silver Surf Drive programs room at 780 Main Street on Monday March 10th 2025 at 6:45 p.m comments may be sent to select
boardfa.gov per order of the select board thank you Mr zinsky for the notice is the applicant here come on up and Mr wrench do you have any comments before we speak to the applicant no no Madam Chair I do not
thank you questions on the application from the board seems in order to Yeah I don't have any questions yeah just just clarifying that this is essentially just a a name change of the business and and transferring the
license over is that the Yes yeah new ownership yeah any public comment regarding this application okay seeing none I will entertain a motion to close the hearing second okay I have a motion and a second
just to close the hearing any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i discussion amongst the board in order okay a motion to approve the application for the transfer of the all alcoholic beverages restaurant license Quickshole
Takaria LLC doing business as Quickshole Takaria 28 Water Street Unit C as presented is that your motion Mr brown second okay I have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i unanimous thank you thank you one
question to the second one more question i'm on um quicks hole for the common victer later in the agenda is that something that we need to stay for or was that taken care of already that's on the consent agenda so unless anyone's
I don't believe so okay thank you okay let's go to public hearing number two mr zinsky thank you Madam Chair notice is hereby given under chapter 140 section 183 alpha of the general laws as amended by chapter 299 of the acts of 1926 and
amendments there too that New England Festivals Inc north Falmouth Mass has applied for an entertainment license for the Harbor Light illumination concert series and night market to be held at the Lyn Whitehead Van Lynn Whitehead
Vans Shell at Marine Park 180 Scrantav Falmouth on the following Saturdays July 5th 12th 19th and August 9th 16th 23rd 2025 between the hours of 5:00 p.m and
9:30 p.m a hearing on the above application will be held in the Old Silver Surf Drive program at the Falma Senior Center 780 Main Street Falmouth of Falmouth on Monday March 10th 2025 at
6:45 p.m comments may be sent to select board at falmouth ma.gov per order of the select board madam Chair thank you mr zinski is the applicant here if you'd come up please thank you and Mr wrench do you have any comments before we speak to the applicant yes
Madam Chair I do have a couple of comments uh the applicant filed the one-day entertainment license application on January 6th 2025 madam Chair and Select Board as you uh may recall um in accordance with entertainment regulations which were adopted by the select board on July 15th
of last year copy of those are attached this special event now is required to obtain an entertainment license via this public hearing process i wanted to point out to the board and you likely already know this uh this would be the fourth annual Harbor Light illumination concert series and night market and those are
the only comments that I have for this at this time I'm sure thank you Mr renshaw questions of the applicant from the board um I just a quick question uh it will be our fifth annual this coming season should you move to approve meth
um I don't have questions per se i I was asking the board if they have questions of the applicant sorry go ahead Mr mscali the question of the applicant and also Mr renure Mr johnson are we aware
of any complaints or issues with the past experience of the applicant over the past four years so Madam Chair and select board member Mscali I am not aware of any complaints over the past four years however as as the board may know uh over the past 48 hours there
have been several emails that have been sent to the select board in response or uh on behalf of neighbors in the area uh of butters of the of the park concerned about noise and trash pickup and that sort of thing but I'm not aware of any complaints specific to the event the
concert over the past four years mr around i I wasn't sure but I think that was a couple of emails from the same person and also I got the impression that that person who sent the email thought this this was something new that there was concern about so I
wonder if that person is aware of these this going on for four years already because I didn't see any complaint about it just that there was a concert at the end of the year that was very loud and that might have been another show i believe there there there there there may be some confusion there are as you
all know uh multiple events at Marine Park so there may be some confusion uh as far as which events which special events generated those concerns right has it always been at 9:30 has that
always No so I apply for the event time to run until 9:30 i generally cut off sound at 9:00 so I'm copying in essence what Townband does so the live sound is cut off at 9:00 i ask for 9:30 in the event there should be any issue or we
start late or they run over a little bit and then it also allows for the ambient noise of people exiting to take place as well but I have no intention of disturbing our town or neighbors or any of the residents and I'm happy to adjust
sound um as need be as well could you introduce yourself oh sure my name is Lillian Kazanis and I am a lifelong resident of Felmouth i grew up here i went to school here um
I did prepare something to say if if we have time if that's all right um so some of you in this room might know why I started this event and others might not um but I didn't just start this event because I thought oh well this would be fun um I started this series because I
recognized that there was a need in our community and in 2019 some dear friends of mine they were grappling with the reality that they were not going to be able to afford to send their daughter to college um and at that point she had already been admitted to a very
prestigious music school and the heartbreaking reality of that situation that she was not able to attend so it really it struck me it struck a chord with me um specifically because she reminded me so much of myself and
unlike her I was afforded opportunities to continue my education and I was able to do so because of the people who make up this town um there were just countless adults who helped me on my path to get to where I am such as um for instance
and really and truly the whole path I was led on was shown to me by Lynn Whitehead who we just honored last year by renaming the band shell after her she was the one that taught me to read music leva Studley taught me to feel music uh
Mary Schulovitz Ira Schaefer Ela Muing they taught me to communicate through music thomas Boring taught me to lead through music and now I'm here leading this new precedence and process i think I'm the first event to go through this and
um you know I just want to ask that you you truly broaden the scope of your your decision making for all events not just mine but for all events in our town and I know you have a very difficult and heavy responsibility of
balancing the life of our town and all the facets of that and um I just want to just be sure that you know and I I don't envy your positions i just want to be sure that cultural and creative sectors are considered one of those
facets uh because those sectors and specifically events they are direct injections into our economic health and vitality uh in addition the arts industries they draw
tourism to our town uh and events are a large part of what make Felmouth a sought-after place to come to in the summer um they also provide jobs economic growth they help attract and retain business uh and these events uh that you're considering in this new
process really do play an important role in our town's vibrancy and vitality and I I do hope that the connection between the town and arts revenues is recognized because the loss of any of our events would be would be detrimental
um can we questions from the board now sure there questions or comments that Mr brown so I want you to take note of the new entertainment regulations we have very strict they're hard to achieve it's going to have to be a much quieter event
or I don't know how quiet it was last year so I shouldn't say much quieter but it's going to have to be more we're gonna be more careful how we manage the marine park because uh you know when we did put the entertainment regulations people were like you know what's good for the goose good for the gander you're having being very strict with
restaurants you should be strict with the public spaces as well so I think that was good comments that we should take to heart any other questions or comments from the board any comments from the public regarding
this application yes sir i'll start with you okay come up to the podium please stand you need to come up and stand here uh my name is Joe Sedlock i'm the property manager for the Admiral T Apartments which is right across from uh
the venue and um just as a quick rundown of the demographics of the building which I I represent the uh people there uh we have 41 apartments 64 residents uh 20 of those apartments are harbor facing uh 28
residents are in those harbor facing apartments our age ranges from um uh of of harbor facing people uh there's 16 of them uh that are older than 60 12 others are uh adults but there's no children
anecdotally uh the noise level not a problem my uh my people love it you know they uh they love uh when the u the big concert which um um I can't can't remember the name of it uh but Coastfest thank you uh you know and
you think about it people my age I'm 62 and I have the people that range uh all the way up to 93 uh they're people from the 40s 50s and 60s where rock and roll was just beginning so they love the fact that they can sit on their uh balconies
my people in back can come out to the front not even cross the street and enjoy the music so uh in a in a nutshell um you know we are fully in support of this and we probably are the biggest property to be impacted by the noise it
had actually come up in conversations uh among the uh residents of uh how this new noise ordinance would be able to be achieved and uh one of the thing I read as I was that uh there
was my interpretation was that if it was alcoholrelated that the noise ordinance was uh was um in place but not for uh venues like or uh um presentations like uh like this one i
don't know if that's true or not that's just the way I read it when it came out uh so I thought that it wouldn't affect too much of the people that went uh to the uh you know to the um uh to the band shell you know we we were concerned that the town uh band wouldn't uh be able to
play like they were uh doing and uh you know Coastfest obviously is very loud but you know it's lovely you know and uh so all that being said I guess the only other notes that I have is uh I witness because I sit out in front and I witness
people walking from all over to support the economic uh uh point that u young lady was making and when it comes to cleanup Coastfest everybody does a tremendous job so there's no environmental impact like that i may have six pieces of uh paper to pick up
uh the next morning so anyway uh Joe Sedlock uh property manager at the Aberly thank you sir any other public comment thank you i'm Alice Cochima the current chair of the Felmouth Cultural Council and the Harbor Lights Illumination
Concert Series received a grant from the Felmouth Cultural Council specifically to um support um having more uh fun venues for a range of uh people in Felmouth the um um things that were in
the application that impressed me was there was also a local artisans market for our artists as well as the music and it was a pick your price the way that Katouit Center for the Arts does it so it was inclusive in terms of people's economics and we had the deepest pool of
applications that we've ever had and we certainly support this program and um what she said about the economics it drives um it drives us in the right direction so thank you thank you any other public comment yes
barbara Schneider precinct 4 town meeting member i would be remiss not to say something that involves sound in this town and uh Mr brown brought up the rules and I would just say to all of you
if we stop supporting events like this every one of us who live near the water if we are in our second floor of our homes hear everything including an old uncle singing to somebody at a wedding or a an acoustic guitar or my neighbor
practicing the saxophone with his sliding door open this is what we're about and we should want this and it should be a pleasure and if somebody's complaining because they're hearing music I am sorry for them i hope you
will not get so tight on these things that we cannot function and enjoy these beautiful things that are offered to us thank you thank you any other any other comments we've got two
more okay oh no i'm gonna take sir and then I'll take you and then there's one in the back which one good evening everyone how's it going my name is John Benninghoff i'm a Fmouth resident and uh for the better part of my adult life I've made a lack
of a living playing music in this town pull that microphone up just a little bit so everybody can hear you thank you i made a lack of a living playing music my entire life and uh it's taken me in an insane amount of different directions and but
what I will say is it's it's so ingrained in this town and it's such a beautiful part of this town that it would be a shame if someone like Lillian who's doing it out of like genuinely her heart and love of music uh to prevent that for one person or even a group of
people to take that away from the town as a whole is a I've had it done many times but I I really hope in this instance specifically in Coastfest I mean I took my daughter we got off the ferry one day and walked over and the the symphony was playing all John Williams music and I sat there
with her and just geeked out i was like "This is the coolest thing ever." It wasn't much softer than anything else I saw there all her concerts Coast Fest i get you have to accommodate the people that live there but they also
live next to a you know a communal space where I think music is a huge part of and uh like like young lady was saying that the harbor is noisy i also work on boats they're they're loud there's things you can complain about all day
but music I don't know i just felt compelled to come here and say please don't please don't ruin what is one of the best things about this town and the shining sea bikeway so thank you thank you okay I'm going to take this woman here and then
there's man there and then I was told that you've been trying to get my attention as well so I'll take three more comments yes your help yes thank you you're shorter yeah my name's Roseanne Amaru i've lived in this town since
1962 i ran the Montasauri Academy of Cape Cod for 30 years in North Falmouth and I can honestly say this event and the other events that happen in this town are so good for the families it gives them something to do it gives them
pleasure it's it's wonderful now the other things that really didn't come up tonight were first this is a donationbased event you give what you can if you can't it's okay you come you
enjoy whatever money comes in gets put right back into the town into different um entities that support the arts and well-being programs for children now you might say well if they give it all how
do they pay for the bands they do that through sponsorship so I mean there's Toyota there's WMVY there's um the ferry um so there's a number of different ways that money comes in to
pay for the entertainment um but the fact that it's a free donationbased event that benefits the children of this town because Lillian grew up here and knows this town
and wants to support the children in it i just think it's it's such a wonderful fun event and it really has been here this is going into its fifth year and there have virtually been no
complaints i mean the artisan fair has been there the music has been there and she's very very you know aware of making sure that you know people are accepting and and having a good time and I just
think it should continue thank you sir come on up i I know you hello thank you i most of what I have to say is a little bit redundant I'm afraid introduce yourself because other people may not know i I I will thank you very
much pat Ryan i've been here since 1989 um taught a lot of music to a lot of people and public schools and Felmouth schools private lessons um for years and played at hundreds of weddings
and festivals not festivals but some festivals not hundreds of festivals but events and uh restaurants and bars and even back in the day before even back in the day when I had to you know make sure there's no policemen on my street when I got home after a gig because I'd have to
take my clothes off because I smelled like an ashtray you know so that's how long ago I was playing in bars um um I'm glad that law changed but you know and at the band show um I was uh part of the Jazzfest Almouth
group for the first couple of years that we had Jazzfest there at the harbor 2008 2009 we had Espanza Spalding and John Batist before they were Grammy award-winning artists and you know I just think that um I'm I'm in full support of having this event go forward
and uh for for all the reasons that's been said the local economy and business and culture and I think young people especially and all people we we need context to go out and hear and experience live music um and I'm I'm a little bit ignorant about what's what
the new rules are in other facets of the town and music but I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I hope that all we're saying about the Coastfest can sort of bleed over a little bit because I think when it comes to
live music any anywhere I play all over the Cape um if it does have to come down to some rule or law about amplified versus non-amplified which often doesn't correspond to
volume um it should be about decibb and it shouldn't be about uh amplified or non-amplified and even better I'd rather leave it to civility and to have people have dialogue and talk with one another and um and not have just indiscriminate
policies and laws and rules you know which can sometimes be subjectively misapplied you know be the rule of the land because we need we need people need to have music and the economy needs it artists need it our culture needs it and if we let
the squeaky wheel I'm not saying that that that people should tolerate loud crazy music any more than you know I've been playing outside sometimes and some car will come by with a boom box or no muffler and it drowns out the music completely but nobody's complaining
about that but you know of course there should be basic protocol but we should leave it to human interaction and decency and and the community and not have it be laws um you know if we let the squeaky wheel always get the grease without dialogue
um we're doing a disservice to the community so we have to think about all the stakeholders so that Sorry about getting off track a little but thank you all thank you we have one more comment go ahead sir uh good evening my name is Rick Maple i
live at 174 Queen Street actually on the uh Scranton side of Queen Street i've been here 21 years and I hate to go against what everybody's saying but I fully understand that it's not that I'm not in support of entertainment across the street because I enjoy it myself whether it's on the water program that
takes place or um Thursday night uh shows but my unit um condominium is located about 30 yards away from the band stand itself and um yes in the past years I had no issue at all on the one night that they actually did it my
concern is more that almost every Saturday night in July and August which is the primary season that there'll be that form of entertainment taking place uh almost every Saturday night um we have young families i got grandkids that
go to bed at 7 o'clock at night and um we are so close to that area and that's my concern not the entertainment in the town like I say I I enjoy it personally my family does it's the amount of times that they're requesting to do it and it
looks like it's three in July uh three in August that's pretty much every Saturday night when we when we have our family members uh come down and we like I said we I sent um the selectman a picture from our home where the bedrooms
are located um you could see how close we are um I'm not saying don't do it i'm saying maybe we should limit the number of times that we do it and I appreciate any any um support that you could give that way thank you thank you Madam Chair
yes um could I just perhaps offer a clarification so this um request from this applicant for six events this year matches last year they had six events last year not one so I think you may be thinking of a different event that may
have been loud last year it was not this um series of concerts there were six six Saturday nights that's correct yes they were um July 6 13 27 August 10 17 and 24 of last year for this series this is the
fifth year yeah that they've done it so it's a different thing i think you might be thinking of the co may have been louder we're not doing that every week any other public comment okay seeing
none I'll entertain a motion to close the hearing okay I have a motion and a second just to close the hearing any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i Okay discussion amongst the board um well first of all first of all I'm
I'm um grateful to everyone who came out tonight to participate in the public hearing and and contribute your opinions um I'm strongly of the opinion that we need to support events like this our town needs joy um and and music um it's
a it's something to look forward to every summer and Mr brown I was frankly a little surprised by your comment if I'm not mistaken i saw you at Coastfest last year it's right i mean they're they're they're fun
they're fun events and this is say I don't like it this is this has been going on for five years there haven't been complaints i don't know why we would ask this event to be different this year to to try to meet an impossible standard and I don't know what standard we would be holding them
to if we were to say be be quieter right um and so I guess I I'm fully in support of approving this entertainment license and and would like to find a way to ensure that these events are are actually able to to go forward in the way that they have for the for the past
four years are you making a motion uh yes motion to approve okay I have a motion do I have a second i'll second and I just wanted to clarify i'm just wanted to let them know that we have this new entertainment regulation i'm just saying and and if we need to do
something to ensure that that regulation doesn't impede this event I think we should we should talk about that and they need to be aware of what what that um what it says what it regulates go ahead yeah if if I may I you know certainly when we uh adopted this policy
back in July of 2024 there was some discussion and some concerns that that were raised uh and I think that this is going to be this whole issue uh is going to be one that the select board is going to have to deal with over the next year
or two to see how we can uh keep Felmouth a place to live and enjoy and at the same time uh respect other people's uh positions as well so this was I think the first application we've had since we adopted this policy uh I
support this particular application and I think it is going to be a learning process on the part of the select board as we go forward with applications that will come before us in the future thank you okay so Miss Goldstone made a motion
did I hear a second i'll second okay i have a motion in a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i unanimous thank you okay we're going to move into business presentation from the KPI commission's
year review uh Christy Senator is with us thank you thank you Madam Chair select board members Mr renaw Mr johnson Stab nice to see you all um I appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening um
what I've handed out is our 2024 year in review um it's not a comprehensive overview of all the work that we did last year um but it does provide a high level um overview of some of our major initiatives so I'm Christy Senator i'm the executive director at the Cape Cod Commission and so I know you still have
a quite a few items on your agenda tonight so I'll try to be as brief and concise as possible um but wanted to provide you with a little bit of uh highlights of our work from last year and then talk about some of our um major initiatives for next year i also did just want to take a moment to recognize
John Julie who is the Cape Cod Commission representative from the town of Felmouth thank you for appointing him he's one of our newer members but I would say got up to speed pretty quickly um so certainly through the chair if it's uh okay I'd love to give him a few moments at the end of my remarks um to
just make a few comments and address the board um so I wanted to just emphasize a few of our major initiatives um and then also have a chance for a dialogue um to uh recognize some of those opportunities for us to be able to work more collaboratively and partner with the
town of Falmouth um and I try to use this as an opportunity to keep the lines of communication open i do visit all U 14 select boards as well as the Barnesville Town Council from time to time in an attempt to do that um so one of our major initiatives last year was the development of our regional housing
strategy we released that document after about a year's uh worth of work and research and um work with the stakeholders um and we released that in May of last year it includes a number of local zoning recommendations where we worked with the local community stakeholders as well as staff within
each of the towns it also contains a number of regional recommendations and these include new funding mechanisms and programs zoning reform opportunities streamline permitting and uh potential formation of new entities to support affordable and attainable housing um it
also includes a number of resources to support implementation such as multif family design guidelines and a series of model bylaws that can be implemented locally we also developed housing profiles for all 15 towns across the Cape as well as a regional housing profile and we are updating those we
actually just recently updated those so that they contain the best available um information and it's the most uh up-to-date information as well we're moving forward with a few of the implementation um uh recommendations within that plan now looking at a pre-approved plans project so we'll soon
have a series of model housing plans for different types of uh housing um including small-cale housing accessory dwelling units duplexes triplexes and we anticipate um working collaboratively with local communities to implement um and pilot some of those um pre-approved
plans in some discrete locations so certainly if it makes sense and there's opportunities we'd love to work with the town of Felmouth um we're also looking at exploring community housing trust and housing bank we're working with a consultant to do some research and identify opportunities for these types of entities that can more swiftly
acquire and develop or redevelop property for the purpose of affordable and attainable housing so um certainly this will we'll be developing a framework it will take many stakeholders and other organizations to make sure that um uh those conversations can continue this would certainly be outside
yes john could you do me a favor and open that door please sorry sorry to interrupt you no worries um so this is obviously something that would be outside of the commission but we're looking forward to working with um stakeholders to implement that thank you
one of our other major initiatives last year um recognizing the water quality challenges that the Cape faces we've been spending much of our time obviously working on coastal um water quality and we uh recently just completed the Cape Cod freshwater strategy so looking at
all 890 ponds and lakes across the region um that comment that um plan is actually out for public comment currently it's on our website and uh comments are due on that draft on m March 17th so certainly if anyone has any comments on that draft we'd welcome
um any uh suggestions there are also a number of resources to accompany that plan and um support the protection and restoration of our freshwater ponds and these include pond buffer guidance so an opportunity um for homeowners and um
municipalities to preserve and protect ponds through responsible landscape management it also includes a water quality data portal and this has been um uh in the works for quite some time and it's an interactive map-based online tool that allows users to explore water
quality data so this is an expansion of the coastal water quality data portal that we developed and it now includes data that's um collected by local pond groups and towns uh other regional partners and it also includes the data that we've been collecting as part of the regional pond monitoring program um
and that program will begin its third year of uh collection data collection across the region um in March um I know that some of the Felmouth ponds that are monitored are the Kunameset pond Jenkins Pond Shiver Pond Wing Pond there's probably a couple of others I'm missing
there um and I'm also very pleased uh to identify that the regional pond monitoring program now also has funding to continue past this year uh the Cape Islands Water Protection Fund Management Board recently voted to provide funds for freshwater monitoring in addition to
some of the funds that they've been providing for coastal monitoring um so certainly that is a a great opportunity to see that program uh continue into the future um so pivoting a little bit from freshwater to um looking at wastewater and I know that's already come up a
little bit tonight but um I wanted to certainly thank uh Peter Johnson Stop for his um efforts on the water quality uh our water protection fund management board um we provided administrative and technical support to that board and just last year alone they awarded nearly $65 million in subsidies to projects across
the Cape um certainly we know that the draft 2025 intended use plan has been released it includes about $372 million in projects across the Cape um I think there are some challenges facing that draft IUP currently um so certainly
we'll be monitoring that as it moves forward um but again I wanted to to just thank um Mr johnson Sapper's participation on the management board so um you know we've touched uh housing water quality i do want to talk a bit about transportation as that has been kind of a focus area of the Cape Cod
Commission for some time um we do have a number of initiatives going on in transportation i'm not going to touch all of them um but certainly one of the uh priority areas of the commission currently is our vision zero action plan so um we are developing a vision zero action plan which is an initiative
designed to improve road safety and address traffic fatalities this is a nationwide program so we're pleased to be bringing this um to the to the regional scale and even more uh at the subreional and more local scale um completing this action plan will actually make all 15 of our towns
eligible for safe streets for all state safe streets and roads for all um implementation grants so um we can certainly look to leverage funding where it's appropriate to bring some of those additional funds to our region um we have adopted uh the Metropolitan
Planning Organization and the Barsville County Board of Regional Commissioners have adopted a vision zero goal of uh zero fatalities and injuries by the year 2050 um and then they have an interim goal of 50% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries by the year 2035 i know
there have been uh some participants from the town of Felmouth on our advisory committee so certainly um want to thank them for their participation and and really thank the town of Felmouth for engaging that in this process there are a number of vision zero public meetings that are going to be coming up those are on our website so
certainly we'd welcome um that uh attendance or participation um and as I think you know we have been working um with the town of Felmouth to create a municipal digital equity plan so this is um really assessing the digital divide and
identifying opportunities to advance digital equity in the town of Falmouth um the plan will consider affordability of internet service access to technology that's really kind of necessary for participation in civic and social economic engagement economic life um and
the skills that might be required for meaningful digital engagement um the goal is really to prepare the town for funding opportunities that um could be made possible uh that could guide decision-making and investment um and implementation so I anticipate that draft plan will be available for um
review and public comment very soon um I was hoping it was going to be ready for today but I think it'll be hopefully within the next few days um and then another one of our focus areas um which I uh anticipate um you know is something that the town of Felmouth is also very much engaged in
is our climate and coastal resiliency work so um we have recently completed the development of model bylaws and regulations to promote resiliency in the flood plane not only today but into the future um and we look forward to collaborating with towns as they may be
interested in implementing um these model bylaws um and I think you're familiar with our low-lying roads project that we have now um worked in all 15 towns all 15 towns participated in that process and each town now has a few conceptual plans for vulnerable roadway segments within each of the
communities and so um we are interested in um assisting any towns that may want to pursue implementation funds or um funding for additional designs for additional roadways so I'm trying to keep that uh certainly um at the forefront of a lot of our discussions
and then just a couple more highlights of some of our work last year and moving into next year this year um we also completed our comprehensive economic development strategy so this was completed by the commission approved through the commission and the Barnesville County Economic Development Council and was submitted to the Federal
Economic Development Administration it was approved by that board or that body um and this year we'll be focusing on advancing many of the priority actions that are contained within uh the economic development strategy so this includes efforts to incentivize year-round housing um simplifying
appropriate housing development in the right locations advancing the replacement of the canal bridges um I didn't mention that tonight that is one of our transportation priorities i'm sure that we could take hours talking about that program uh certainly another time um amongst another a variety of
other priorities um having this document approved through the Federal Economic Development Administration and being an economic development district makes us eligible as a region for um funding through the Economic Development Administration as well so as uh grant opportunities become available certainly
we're able to take advantage of and applying for those for those grants as as they may be available um and then finally uh the one additional major initiative I wanted to mention is our regional policy plan so um as you may know we update this plan from time to
time typically about 5 years and we recently in the fall launched the update to that plan um the areas of focus really are encouraging housing in the right places promoting reuse and redevelopment preserving our natural areas economic resiliency climate action
and um infrastructure uh we completed a resident survey which will help to inform the update um really looking at preferences and concerns um of our stakeholders across the region um we we are engaging stakeholders currently in a series of focus groups on transportation
and open space and a number of other topic areas including uh working with the municipal staff so we certainly appreciate municipal staff engagement in this process um there will be an opportunity for um stakeholder and public comment as the draft is developed
and uh we're hoping to have that um by late this spring and early or early this summer so um I think this is a great opportunity for us to really take a broad look at the regulations that we have in place um and identify opportunities to um really tailor those those goals and objectives more
appropriately to meet the needs of the community today um so I also I know some of you were at our one cape summit last year we appreciate you coming to that we um had a successful event where we had about 400 or so attendees uh and we're already starting to think about planning
for this year so we'll be back in touch um certainly as we have more information there um and then again I just did want to thank John Julie for his service on the commission um and through the chair uh offer him a few moments of uh to make a remark if that's if that's okay with you perfect
uh thank you and good evening uh I want to thank the board for having the faith in me and appointing me to the Cape Cod Commission to represent the town of Falmouth and I I'm an alternate on the regional policy plan that we've been working on uh recently I participated in
um redevelopment idea for the town of Wellfleet uh a formbbased code etc is really going to be a multi-year project and uh I worked on a uh voted on a 300 apartment units in the town of
Barnstable worked on the sewer plan in town of Barnstable um I'm going to be doing um hearing with Plymouth I mean uh Province Town at the end of this month i think it's a 14 unit uh project and I
also um participated in the Fmouth YMCA and which is near and dear to all of our hearts so thank you again and um it's a lot of work a lot of time but it's a lot of learning too so thank you for your service thanks John and thanks to
Christie too any comments i have one question christie thank you uh appreciate all the work you've been doing i'm curious if you are being invited to the um big planning initiative out at the
base is there any room for the Cape Cod Commission out there uh so thank you for the question i'm happy to respond um and yes I think that uh we can play a pivotal role in doing some of the outreach um as it relates to the master
planning effort that's being undertaken by mass development so um we have been engaged um with base leadership as well as leadership at Mass Development and I think that um there's an opportunity for the commission and the county to play a role there and we look forward to um assisting and participating where it makes sense good thank you i'm glad to
hear that you're in involved with that any other comments or questions i just have a quick one um in your regional housing planning I didn't see that uh the Falmouth Housing Authority or the Falmouth Housing Trust was involved we have several different pockets in
Falmouth and I didn't see that either of those were involved in that planning process that was disappointing so I am happy to respond to that um we did reach out to a num a variety of different groups and organizations as we developed the plan and a variety of different stakeholders and certainly staff within
each of the communities and we appreciate that Felma staff um and other members were engaged um certainly there will be more opportunities and we'd be happy to incorporate and include more boards and organizations in the outreach as we move forward with some of the
implementation so happy to engage as um as that makes sense i think it it's really important since they do a lot of of housing great thank you very much thank you Madam Chair okay Mr mscali yeah i just I just wanted to uh uh to to to mention I had the honor of
representing Falmouth on the Cape Cod Commission uh before I became a selectman and I I was able to see on a day-to-day basis the good work that uh Christie does and and her staff do uh here uh on the Cape um and um I want to
especially thank you uh and John and and the whole commission as how quickly you handled the YMCA application and and moved it forward uh it shows how uh how well the the commission can work with local uh local bodies to move good
projects uh forward i do have one question though and that is on the permitting process and I appreciate uh the comments with respect to model plans and so forth do you have any other recommendations or thoughts about how to
speed up the permitting process for the localities to move some of these affordable housing projects forward so it's a great question and it is um not as straightforward as it might sound and all 15 of our towns are kind of
addressing it a little bit differently so um as part of the development of the regional housing strategy we put together with the local staff um a series of zoning recommendations so that is a first step that potentially could be um identified and and some of those
that could be put forward we also identified a number of recommendations in looking at streamlining permitting in the right places and so the pre-approved plans program I do think is something that could um assist in kind of making that process a little bit simpler and streamlined um much of this is outside
of the commission's jurisdiction but where it makes sense for those larger um housing developments we're also looking internally at our own regulations to identify if there's opportunities um to streamline in the right places and potentially um uh change our own regulations and so I think it's a
multiaceted answer and um it's different in every community but we look forward to having those local conversations so that we can um try to you know advance housing in the right places the right types of housing that we need thank you just one more thing i want to commend Mr
brent and Mr johnson Stop i think uh over the past couple of years uh there's been more collaboration between the town of Falmouth and and the Cape Cod Commission uh all to the better betterment of uh of the town of Felmouth so thank you for being available to uh
to the town staff for uh answering a number of questions thank you thank you thank you okay we're going to move on to um hear a presentation on the draft single-use plastics rules and regulation for food establishments i'm going send that over
to you Mr renshaw and I'm going to ask that you um we're way behind thank you Madam Chair we'll uh we have a representative here tonight that is going to uh we have a 10 or 11 slide presentation that we're going to give tonight to kind of get the board
updated the purpose is just that uh the uh the committee has recently uh formalized the draft regulations i've just invited a committee member tonight to give an update to the board and provide any input comments that you may have great thank you
so my name is Philip Gesson i'm a lifelong resident of Felmouth and yeah I'm here to provide an update on the single-use plastic rules and regulations for food establishments so the uh the order of this presentation is going to be uh we'll talk about the
motivation quickly then the plastic reduction advisory committee and how it was formed then the process that we went through in order to construct this regulation we'll go over a highle overview of the draft kind of the lessons learned as a as a committee as
we were constructing that draft and the path forward that we hope to see within the next year so uh the motivation really lies behind the over production of and over reliance of plastic that we have in 1972 our very
own hoie published a study uh called plastics on in the plastics in the Sarraosa sea surface and what they found was that plastic particles were widespread in the western Sarraosa Sea and that was in
1972 and if uh you're able to see the graph in 1972 plastic production was around 50 million uh tons every year so at that year 50 million tons of plastic was produced march 2018 a recent study
calculated and estimated that um within a different sea in the Pacific Ocean the Pacific Garbage Patch there's a 1.6 6 million square kilometer patch of plastic that has over 79 million kilograms of plastic within it and the big issue of plastic is once you create
the material it doesn't biodegrade which means that if it ends up in the environment it can only really break down into smaller chunks of plastic so the more material material you create uh the more you just have and it doesn't go away and so at this point so from 1972
over 50 years there's obvious kind of largecale manifestations of this in the environment but it's also those microplastics are everywhere and this is a study from 2025 uh in February that was published that was studying the microplastic concentrations within the
body and they found that within all the subjects that they uh looked into that everybody had micro microplastics within them since 2016 to 2024 the concentrations of microplastics actually increased by 50% within our brains and
our brains are one of the for some reason that it's still a growing field of research but our brains are what this study found was that the microplastics accumulate in the brain a lot more than any other organ and they did find uh that microplastics and nanoplastic
concentrations in normal decadent brain samples were 7 to 30 times greater than the concentration seen in the liver or kidneys and that so it's the microplastics are within us they're in the environment and we're have an
overreiance on this material um when there are many cases where we can use something other than plastic and so in 2023 um a petitioner's article which was pushed by me was presented to the April town meeting to uh completely ban the use of single-use
plastic in the food industry uh that was deemed too strict at that point and so instead town meeting directed the select board to construct the plastic reduction advisory committee to instead solicit input from food establishment owners and
from advocates of plastic waste reduction in developing regulations to reduce or eliminate the use of disposable plastic containers and utensils by food establishments in Falmouth and so that was a mission statement that we went with and so the plastic reduction
advisory committee was created in May 2023 there were seven of us um there were two food establishment owners Steve Vanners and Mike Lewis from the Bean and Cod and Seafood Sams i was on the committee uh Stephanie Murphy Lynshad uh
Christine CPPley Amy Roth was a representative from the board of health and Scott Mcan served as an adviser and kind of the enforcement authority and provided a lot of insight and so the eight of us met over 30 times over the
course of 18 months and we constructed a draft regulation 11 sections six pages and so our process sort of looked our process really began with looking at what exists in other communities we found that there didn't exist something that we could just directly apply to
Falmouth and so we did our research we deliberated came up with a draft then we presented the draft to the public and had a listening session we took a lot of feedback refined the regulation and then we worked with town council to solidify
and make sure that it was legally sound and then we presented it to the board of health and so that we presented it to the board of health February 2025 so last month and now we're here and so the uh regulation draft is goes as follows
the essentially food establishments must use reusable foodear in any use case however if they're unable to do so they have to demonstrate that to a board of health agent who can then upon seeing
that they have a legitimate reason that that they can't use reusables they can allow the restaurant to use single-use non-plastic foodear if the restaurant for some reason has to use plastic foodear they have to fill
out a a waiver form that pretty much explains the due diligence that they conducted looking for compliant materials and upon an annual inspection they show this waiver form to the food inspector and the food inspector looks at it and tells them they're good to go
and they make that form uh public record and so the valid reasons for a waiver are either there's no suitable alternative period for a specific use case like for hot liquids um or there exists an alternative but it's not available in the area in Falmouth
because of supply chain issues or the cumulative cost of switching to a non-plastic alternative is causes a financial hardship and so the um health inspector can make that judgment and allow for that waiver for a temporary waiver that lasts until the next inspect
action year where it gets re-evaluated and so really the idea behind that is to make it flexible enough so that if the market changes maybe new materials come in new products are created and uh we grow as a community get educated as a community but still reasonably let
people use plastic in places where they really need it um and so the food inspectors can only grant waiverss for number one two and five plastic because that's really the only type of plastic that's recyclable in Massachusetts and that's the only type of plastic that
generally you would need however if a food establishment does need to use a plastic outside of 1 two or five they can appeal to the board of health and request a variance and so it's a little bit of a longer process but if they have a legitimate use case they can get that variance from the board of health and if
that variance is granted for PLA's specifically which are um compostable plastics the one of the big issues that we ran into was even though plastics can be marketed as compostable and they are they're only compostable within industrial facilities and so they're
actually um if you don't have an industrial facility to send the compostable plastic to it's going to remain a plastic if you just throw it in your backyard and so it's non-recyclable it looks like number one two and five plastic it may end up in the plastic waist stream and contaminate it but we
don't have the infrastructure to support industrial composting and so it's actually a non-recyclable plastic even though it's marketed generally as eco-friendly and so there's a blanket disallowance on that but if you do have a use case where you do need to use PLA and you're able to convince the board of
health that then you also have to provide industrial composting access to an industrial composting waist stream aka just a compost bin that goes off to an industrial facility um and you have to have a contract with an industrial composter that who picks it up and takes
it there so that's the overview of the regulation um main kind of the meat of it there's a blanket disallowance on plastic and then different um progressively harder ways of getting materials that are less and less eco-friendly um and then for a couple
other points in the regulation that were just common sense bans that um actually uh some common sense plastic use cases that we we limited for accessory items they're only provided upon request so if you don't need a plastic fork you don't
get a plastic fork unless you request one there's they're not bundled together um and they can only be prepackaged in paper for condiments they'll be in bottles or in self-s served cups if it's a dining facility and if it's a takeout then the condiments will only be
provided upon request and then for leftover containers so if you sat down at a restaurant to eat and then you want to take it home you uh are not allowed to give out leftover containers that are plastic because the really the use case of that is to carry food back home and
generally non-plastic containers are able to do that because plastic uh the use cases that we found that necessitate plastic are for long-term storage and a leftover container is short-term so really for leftover containers you're only able to go down until the second
compliant item in our regulation um so that's an high level overview the actual regulation has 11 sections and goes deeper into the nuance of it all um we spent a lot of time really hammering down and looking at every section and I think um really some of the key
takeaways here were uh there doesn't exist something like this yet um anywhere else because I mean we're a pretty uh like we have a unique community we worked closely with the enforcement authority to understand what's feasible and what works based on
the resources the town resources we're working with and so it's really catered towards Falmouth but at the same time there were communities that passed the original bylaw in 2023 that are looking at Falmouth right now to see what we do and are really uh seeing how this plays
out and seeing if we they can use it as a model so even though um there this is catered towards Falmouth we believe that it's a pretty general uh regulation and uh so we're setting an example for these towns that are looking at us and they're actively reaching out and asking us and
kind of uh we we actually just had a conversation with somebody from Yarmouth to walk them through the process of what we did here so um there it's it's exciting because we are creating something new and it's it may have a potential to have an impact outside of this community but also uh one of the
big things um I think that makes this special is that there was a lot of input from every single stakeholder involved in the construction of this and that's not necessarily unique to this regulation but I can tell you for a fact that um and uh I think one of our
uh Mike Lewis one of our business owners uh who was on the committee likes to say that initially um we all thought it was going to be somewhat contentious nobody knew what it was going to be like going into it but at the end of it uh it would be difficult to tell who was initially
the anti-plastic person who was a business owner because we really got together collaborated and built out a framework that's common sense makes sense it's flexible enough to be feasibly implemented um and not cause a lot of hardship but still really target
those common sense over consumption use cases of plastic so um we we believe in it the committee is pretty uh pretty invested in it and convicted in it and um we're hoping that if we set the stage here and have this implemented
successfully we can uh set the example for other communities to to do the same and so the path forward really May 2025 sorry March 2025 March 24th we have a public hearing set so it's actually the
board of health we've submitted the regulation to the board of health and the our committee has disbanded because our mission is complete but the board of health is now hosting this public hearing to hear what the public has to say they may amend the regulation they'll adopt it there's going to be a
rollout period that restaurants have to get in compliance with it and then the goal is to have the regulation be active by November of this year and yeah that's about where we started and where we're at so I'm happy to answer any questions
questions from the board it's a lot of work you've done a lot of meetings there is a lot of meetings and Go ahead Mr brown i don't have a question i just think uh it was very well done and I appreciate the work that goes uh out to all the committee
members here as well it's really a combined effort thank you very much Mr guess well done thank you yes quickly come right up please um I'm Stephanie Murphy i'm a
member of this committee um and it just occurred to me listening to the Cape the um Cape Cod Commission presentation that there may be an opportunity if Felmouth asked for it to try and get more
regional um regulation or sponsorship or some sort of support regionally for this type of initiative you know we found um in our work that it's hard uh it would have been much hard easier if the state had a regulation you know you get the
buying power of a state and here we're just dealing with one town and you have towns sort of being pitted against each other you know a water ban in Falmouth not a water ban in MASH piece so you hear those kinds of arguments or issues come up and so I just wanted to plant
that seed if there is any opportunity for this board to encourage the commission to look at this issue on a regional level it would be great it's a great idea also I will say thank you for not letting that hold you back and doing it here in Falmouth
okay we're going to move on discuss the establishment of a green dog program i'm going to send that over to you um Mr renshaw thank you Madam Chair uh tonight's uh agenda item is for discussion purposes only a few months ago I had an opportunity to sit down and
meet and discuss this initiative with resident Sally Climber madam Chair members of the board Green Dog Program is a registration and permit fee based program it allows dogs to be off leash during specified days and hours um it's specific municipal parks and facilities i don't want to steal too much of Mrs
climber's uh thunder with regards to the presentation she's going to give i want to say that the town of Brooklyn is an example in in your packets you have a brochure from the town of Brooklyn and again uh I in asked um the chair if Miss Climber could give this presentation
tonight to just kind of have a discussion and see what interest there might be on behalf of select board to perhaps at some time implement a a program similar to what the town of Brooklyn has done i have not had any discussions at this point with officials from the town of Brooklyn to learn kind
of what's worked and what has not um that is to my knowledge the only example of a program like this in the Commonwealth and with that Madam Chair I'll turn it over to Mrs climber thank you welcome hi good evening um Sally Climber i'm a resident of Felmouth i've
been here for about 25 years um and I am proud owner of two wonderful Labrador Retrievers who are very cute and wonderful so um I know this can sometimes be a hot button issue dogs um but excuse me
oh pull pull the mic closer can you hear me now oh god okay so um anyway so I'm here to talk about dogs and um I'm hoping that the board will consider creating what's called a green
dog program which with um Mr wrenchaw had just uh talked about um I don't know if if you're aware if if any of you are dog owners but right now in the town of Felmouth we've got one of the most strictest
leash laws on the Cape and there is we've got about a hundred conservation areas that people can walk their dogs on most of of most of the time it's on leashes but there's a big
part of the community that you know likes to go off leash and there there's only one property that I know of that you can go off leash and so what we have right now is a lot of
people breaking the rules and a lot of people being you know upset about that so if you're a person who has a dog on leash or you're afraid of dogs or or whatever then you run into these people who don't have their dogs on leashes and it it it leads to a lot of um angry
people and and upset and I understand that there's a lot of complaints that come into the town hall about that but so the solution I think would be to kind of look at the Brooklyn green dog program and where you would have
properties where at certain times you would there would be a times when you would have unleashed hours and then leashed hours and it's pretty simple you can look into that that's why I printed that out for you i will say that it's printed off of a um website so it's it's
not exactly as it's be better to look at the website if my kids had been home they would have done it for me but I couldn't seem to do it the way I wanted it to be done but um I did speak to uh Kiara Huntress who oversees the green
dog program in Brookline and it's been there for about a decade said they have um they've had a pretty good response to it in the community what it would according to the Brookline program they would charge people you
would be able to just like licensing your dog you would be able to um you would charge people they would have to certify their dog as far as that your dog was maybe like the good citizen can so that your dog is not aggressive that your dog has voice control and things
like that but so it would generate some revenue for for maybe putting up signage for getting bags and waste receptacles at these properties there is no you know I don't think there's not
going to be enough revenue to get enforcement to have on which is the biggest problem here as far as enforcing the hours that people there on and off leash the big uh problem of poop people
you know using the bags and putting them away but that's what we have now i mean right now we have these leash laws we have you know clean up after yourself and it's just impossible to enforce them i mean there's not enough resources um
to do that and I believe that if you were to bring this program it's certainly not going to wipe it wipe it away you're always going to have people who break the rules you're always going to have people who don't pick up their poop all of those things but I think it would mitigate it i think
you you would have people like myself and I did um I don't didn't present it to you because it was a lot of paper but I have did a petition over over 400 signatures and there's a ton more than I
know that I could I could get but um Oh I'm sorry sorry I keep doing that um so I think that for those people who are interested they would follow the rules i know that certainly um if you have an
alternative some of us have big big dogs they need to run they they need the dog park that we have is a wonderful wonderful place but you have big big dogs and they want to they need to run and I mean and we have these beautiful
resources here as a resident I like to enjoy them i like to enjoy them with the dogs um so I think that there's room for everybody in in um in the dog community to have some off
leash time and on leash time the other problem is that we see is the beaches now from the get-go I'm not suggesting that dogs should be on the beaches in the summer that's just not going to happen and that wouldn't even be something I
would ask i would say that if um the green dog program could include maybe on offseason off leash hours at some of the beaches in particular I don't know if you're aware Chapoy Beach is basically on known as the dog beach everybody
takes their dogs and lets them go off leash at Chapoy Beach that causes friction a lot of times and there is there is a fine there's a law but like I said it's very difficult to enforce there's just not enough resources so if
you had some times when there was a time when you could be off leash then people who could expect that they would know what to expect when they went if they um wanted to not be around unleashed dogs
so there's a lot to the program I think that you know that you'd have some specifics maybe you'd get a committee i'd certainly be happy to help with anything I could um to find out what what partials are appropriate and then the the times that it would that we
could do i think it's pretty simple um like I said Brookline said that they really um that it's been a success for them and the other thing you'll see in the packet that I got is there is an organization called um Better Cities for Pets you can
get grants through that program and it helps communities build a dog friendlier place and again I printed that off of the internet so it'd be better if you're interested to go to the site um there's
they certify towns as dog friendly and there is um all over the United States there's a lot of them and so they could provide resources as well um so that's about all I have like I said I think that there's there's great
support for it in the community and I would just hope that you would at least just consider that moving forward thank you very much any questions i just have comments from the board i'll go to Mr zinsky and then down to um Miss Goldstone thank you for
your presentation i have two dogs in my um is there any can you direct me towards the the uh the website was there any mention of how this is insured how who who is responsible for insurance in a program
like is it the city of the town of Brooklyn um you know I'm not sure i can certainly be happy to try to find that answer out for you i didn't um I don't know the answer to that because we're we're talking about town owned properties right yes we would so
with town owned properties if there is no regulation in place or any kind of language to that effect it automatically goes back to the town for liability i just I'd be curious how they circumvented or navigated that question
i can I can find that out i can talk to Miss Huntress about that and I'm assuming I'm not sure what we do with the dog park here i'm not sure i would assume it would be something something similar i don't know the answer to how we do we're going to go to Miss Goldstone for your question and then we
may get an answer go ahead excuse me miss Goldstone is going to ask her question and we have we might have an answer about liability in the dog park but I'm going to go with uh Miss Goldstone first go ahead yeah you had mentioned um conservation parcels and obviously there are town owned
conservation parcels there are plenty that are not have you reached out to any of those other land owners or organizations to see if they would be amendable to to something like this or if those would be spaces where um for like the 300 committee you mean or something i have not spoken to anybody
in the the 300 committee yet what I wanted to start here um I'm not you know I've never done anything like this before with with a town program i originally was thought I was going to have to go to town meeting and and bring this myself because there would be
several um bylaws that would have to be amended um as with brief regard to restraining dogs exceptions and that you just have to amend them but um then through the various people said you know you really need the support of
selectman so I kind of reversed and decided that I would come to you first to see if I had any support at all and then I would um thought that I might go to the 300 committee i mean they're the ones that if I understand it correctly they
administer these the town of Felmouth owns them but they are administrate run the run the programs right question uh wait a minute Mr miss Gally's ahead of you uh just a question from from Mr renure have you had any
discussions with uh staff uh that's involved with dog control pet control with respect to this uh idea no I have not had any discussions with uh Marine and Environmental Services who basically regulates and oversees our dog control
okay i'd like to speak in favor of this i think it's a great idea and we should look into how we can apply it as far as uh 300 committee I think a lot of the parcels are different sometimes the 300 committee will purchase an open space uh
condition on a property the owner still owns it but it becomes open space those are not as accessible as town property and we had a question about the dog park did you want to answer that question Dr schneider so I I asked Molly Mason to
come up with me since she's animal control for the town of Felmouth we both are the people that for the last number of years me especially for over 20 years now have been working with the dogs in this town and Mr brown I would invite
you to come and serve as a steward at the dog park and you would observe what lack of control there is even in a contained area where people
leave feces and then we have a person every day assigned to go and pick those pieces of feces up and dispose of them and to keep the garbage changed and so on so that it is not a burden on the
town but it provides free running area for dogs so what I would tell you is on a daily basis the stewards will frequently and this is just the one person who goes once a day pick up a dozen to 20 piles
of poop that's with people who are dog people who are glad to have an area for their dogs to run what happens is people start to talk they chat they don't on
purpose not see their dog do something but that's what they do so that's a problem molly and I have talked many times about people that are leaving letting dogs just on the beaches leave feces
so I that's that's the first thing that comes to mind is that when you let dogs run off leash you are always going to have piles of poop all over the place that no one's
seen until they see them the second thing you're going to always have is you're going to have people who have their dog so far ahead of them that they cannot stop their dogs from having either an interaction with another dog
or in many cases what we have on the beaches interaction with a human we have had a number of calls molly has had to come on calls police have had to come on calls i'm the senior animal control officer for this town yes thank you yes and I
talked to Marley when I saw this was on the agenda we realized neither one of us had been asked anything about this and it seemed odd since we're the ones that deal with the dogs in the town every day when did you hear it i read it on Friday
did you call town manager i did not i called Molly and said "Did he ask you anything?" And then we both said "Well we better go to the meeting." This was an idea that wanted to come in front of the I get that and that's great and we're just telling you forget forget all
this about people being knocked over feces being left people are not on purpose all the time leaving things but they do people having dogs that knock people over and people have gotten seriously injured we But even then on just the
idea of the beach just chappy I have begged people in this town we have marine mammals on our beaches all winter we have six-w weekek old pups that have just been gotten away from their mothers and don't know how to eat properly as
seals if a dog runs off leash up to that animal and scares that animal it will turn like a possum that you think is dead and go so fast and bite an animal
that they will and it's full of bacteria in their mouth it also stresses the animal out so I personally as a chair of the beach committee could never support beach a beach where we have our animals running in the winter because that's what we're trying to protect and I would
hope we always do that and as far as everything else I I run the dog park i supervise it so it's clean and healthy and I know what it takes i invite Sally I invite Mr brown i invite any of you come and do what we do at the dog park
for one week and follow us and see what it takes to keep things clean when you have dogs running and come and watch what large dogs do at the dog park because most of the time they're on a bench or laying down while all the
little dogs are running like crazy and that is the truth so there's my two cents that was 20 cents 20 seconds you always get but I wonder do Dr schneider could could you answer the question about insurance however Mr duffy who who
guided me through the all the last 15 years told me in no uncertain terms you are not ever to allowed to charge a penny for someone to go on town land because the minute you do the town is
liable in fact when if you all remember a group came and wanted to start paddle tennis they looked very seriously at putting paddle tennis on the back of our nine acres of the dog park and Mr duffy
told them even there just because it's still the same one 9 acre parcel you are not allowed to charge for people to play paddle it would make a liability for the dog heart how's that for an answer okay thank you thank you for your
presentation um we we're way over time on this issue and this if you want to quickly and I need to move on okay just um among many things I've done in my career I was the pet hotel come up to the I'm sorry among
many things I've done in my career i was the pets hotel manager for PetSmart in Maryland where I was uh basically their fixer for uh bringing the hotels up to up to snuff but everything the uh doctor was saying is absolutely true people in
general do not have a decent control of their animals and so it's uh you have to be very careful we we um you know I we we did probably 5,000 pet visits a year in one of my uh in one of my pets hotels
and routinely if uh if you all could see my hands I would be bitten by small dogs that people had never trained and they would just hand them over and say here's your dog but uh anecdotally you know that's you know it it's a problem and when we have our day c camps cleaning up
after the dogs routinely we'd have 20 dogs into a day camp and you you have a barrel full of of feces by the time you're done for the day but uh on that note uh if you guys decide to move forward I would like to
volunteer my uh myself uh to a committee that if you're going to you know look at things like that at this point we're going to take it on this whole adisement and it's the first we've heard of it so thank you okay we are going to move on to consider a vote to approve the
proposed updated water quality management committee WQMC charge document and I'm going to send that over to Mr johnson thank you Madam Chair um as you see we have Steve Rafferty who is the chair of the water quality management committee
with us this evening the update to this charge was requested by the water quality management committee um we exchanged drafts and the draft that is before you was a a joint effort on the part of staff and the committee um and
to our knowledge this is this update to the charge does not represent and and I will ask Mr rafferty to either correct me or confirm uh that the the update in the charge does not represent a substantial change in the uh in the mission or the operation of the
committee but rather an update and clarification and with that Madam Chair through you if you want to allow Mr rafferty to say a few words i would say that everything he just said is true um this is this is a fairly fairly
simple item I hope for you tonight um back when the pond com folks started to get concerned the question sort of arose was the water quality management committee estuaries or estuaries and
ponds and it forced me didn't force me I went back to the original charging document and realized that the original charging document was heavily focused on looking at innovative techniques and their ability to help reduce
nitrogen and I realize that the committee that I chair that advises your board was really doing a lot more having to do with estuaries nitrogen reduction DP um various things being a public forum
and I I sort of use the opportunity to with the committee make them almost do what I would call a visioning session of you know what do we do what do you know what is our focus what are we doing and then um through Peter's office a couple of back and forths got us to the document in front of you today which um
everybody on the committee feels makes a good representation of what we're doing to try to learn things to come back and advise your board about making decisions down the road and I just sometimes like to be a little bit more clear about what we're doing and not working under a
charging document that was kind of out of date so do any board members have questions on this uh proposed statement any questions or comments miss Goldstone thank you um a comment more than a a
question i guess I would live to see love to see point five the engage in dialogue with other town committees and boards on matters relevant to the ecosystem health of coastal waterways um maybe expanded a bit so that I know the select board's role is coordination
across committees but it would be great if there was conversation between the ponds and the estuaries and I that language seems to suggest only when it's kind of relevant to the the estuary mission that that dialogue would be happening and and maybe there could some
some expansion there to engage in dialogue with other town committees and boards um to I don't know to ensure coordination on matters relevant to uh water water health more broadly or something i'll defer to Peter on the
wordsmith in that last sentence a little bit we engage with the pond committee we engage with the board of health we engage with other people i I think the the question is whether we somebody's got to declare it to be relevant for us to engage we're engaged okay so
um any other questions or comments i'd entertain a motion oh I got another 10 minutes nancy you still want to talk see go ahead we're good would anyone like to make a motion
i'll make a motion uh that we approve the charge of the water quality manage management committee as presented i'll second Mr motion okay i have a motion and a second to accept as presented any further discussion amongst the board
seeing none all those in favor i unanimous thank you thank you so much okay we're going to move to consider a vote to send the petition to stop hold from evaporating nuclear waste to the town clerk to be placed on the May
2025 annual town election ballot mr wshaw thank you Madam Chair last week Monday resident Rosemary Kerry submitted a written request uh via email to the select board you all should have copies of that um as stated in Miss K's
attached email the environmental groups Cape Town Winders and Save Our Bay have initiated a non-binding public advisory question for Springtown ballots in an effort to stop the evaporation of radioactive coolant water at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant madam Chair Select
Board has stated in the sample nonbinding advisory question which is attached to your packet and was submitted by Miss Carrie in the email since February 2023 has used submersible heaters in the radioactive industrial wastewater under the guise of heating the building for worker comfort and
evaporated approximately 200,000 gallons of waste water in one year as you all know is the owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station which is located in Plymouth madam chair select board the advisory further states that quote aerosol particles from the boat heating process releasing out the vent
transport high releases out of the vent transport highly radioactive particles into our atmosphere end quote and that quote prevailing winds ensure that the majority of these radioactive pollutants will inevitably fall into the Cape Cod Bay threatening public health environments and the region's
marine-based economy i did speak with uh the town clerk and Mr palmer has advised that select board has until 35 days prior to the May 20th election to deliver to the town clerk a question that they have voted to be placed on the ballot and madam chair select board
members I know the resident uh Rosemary is here tonight to answer any questions you do have a copy of the suggested uh ballot question included in your package this evening and it's my recommendation that select board consider sending this non-binding public advisory question
concerning whole text evaporation of nuclear waste to the town clerk to be placed on the May 20th 2025 annual town election ballot questions from the board of comments miss Goldstone a question I believe for for Miss Carrie
um if that's um scary would you step up please um go ahead and I'm I'm just curious um why you would go the route of asking us to put this on the town ballot for it to then come back for us to communicate with the governor um given
that that's a process that you know it'll be into June before we're actually doing that communication with the governor rather than simply requesting that this board consider the issue and communicate with the governor more immediately thank you for that question thank you for that question uh I would
like to defer introduce myself oh introduce myself rosemary Kerry precinct 5 Thalmouth i would like to defer to uh Diane Turo of uh she's the director of Cape Towners to answer that procedural
question hi Diane Turgo Cape Downwinders um the reason we're doing this is because we are getting the opinion of the public to send to the governor we're asking them to enforce the state laws that would prohibit this um evaporation um but it's
also a great idea if the board wants to on their own send a message to the governor that's a great idea but this is going to be on we're hoping on the ballots on every town on Cape Cod so Famouth for join mr msai if if I may uh
thank you for for the for the work and bringing it to our attention i think we're all concerned about what's going on at at Holtech and while I have no reason to doubt any of the statements and facts that are contained in in the
draft non non-binding advisory uh I I'd ask the chair to uh to hold this matter and put it on for another uh another meeting where so that we could have an opportunity to uh to just think a little bit more about this there's some time we
have 35 days before the uh before it needs to be uh be forwarded and I I think I personally would appreciate having a little more opportunity to just think through the implications of this board taking this position at this point
okay consensus from the board um Mr brown and then I'll go back down to um Miss Goldstone i'm curious u not sure why we'd want to delay it seems like a simple matter they're trying to subvert the process of transporting the
waste by evaporating it i mean with with all due respect and as I say I mean I think we're all concerned about what Holtech is doing and how long it's taking but um you know I'm I would prefer to be more educated
on the subversion as as a you know I think that's a pretty strong term i'm sure it's verifiable i'm not saying that it's not i just would like to have an opportunity to look a little bit more deeply into it uh that's all I'm saying i'm certainly not opposed to it i'm just
asking that we since there is no urgency I'm just asking that we hold it for another matter or before we decide as a board to uh to put it on the put it on the ballot mr i do think there is urgency if they're doing it now every day there is
a sense of urgency not with respect to the 35 days but it's not going to get any better if we if we wait on it um I would find myself agreeing with Mr brown on this one yes i guess
um I guess I would not see us uh voting to send this question to the ballot as our board taking a statement but as us allowing um allowing for there to be a a gauging
of of public opinion through the ballot process so I I guess I'm less concerned about us taking a stance in doing this mr zillinsky to your point if this board is concerned about what Holtech is doing and would like to learn more about
uh those activities or the potential ramifications and feels that there is an urgency to do that as I noted this process will get us an an answer from the ballot box in May which would result then in us communicating to the governor
in in May or June right but what I'm saying is if we feel that there's an urgency to actually take a stand on this issue and do something about it before May or June then that would need to be us deciding to actually come back to this and discuss communicating in in advance of in advance of this ballot so
I think there's a couple of different things there and you know to to Mr mr mscali's point in terms of considering this particular whether we put this on the ballot it it doesn't particularly matter if we talk about it tonight or in two weeks because all of that's well more than 35 days before the
election right um and that process doesn't speed up by us voting it tonight um but if if we want to take up the issue we have scientists in town who have been engaged in actually studying um the the potential ramifications of
the release of nuclear um waste from from Holtech um that that could come and and provide information to the board um you know if if we want to take up this issue I think there are ways to do that and and act in a more urgent manner but it wouldn't prevent it us from putting
it right it wouldn't prevent us from sending it to the town clerk i mean go ahead Mr mskelli you know to that point I'd be very uh very anxious to have the board consider a letter from the board to the governor as we've done on a
number of of matters regardless of the decision with respect to to forwarding it to the ballot but I still you know I still register my my my feeling that uh that we should just uh take it take a
little time before we make a decision since we are not uh in any urgency with respect to getting it on the ballot that was my point we all are aware of what's we're what we understand is going on there we're all concerned about it that's not my point uh I just want to
make sure we have all of the facts before we we act thank you Mr brown i I would like to consider at a future meeting a letter to the governor from this board i would agree with that as well did you want to make a comment i just wanted to uh let the board know that the town of
Plymouth has voted to put this on their ballot and and I saw we know that yes and did it yes other towns are taking this up now thank I think it'll certainly send a message to health to the sure they're
changing do you want to no so how would the board like to move well I mean if if Mr mscali wants to wait till we talk about the letter to go with this I'm not really opposed if he
feels like he needs more time so would you like to put a motion for move to would that be to table this uh to a future meeting and and to accompany it with a letter it would be to not vote to not take a vote
tonight excuse me Madam Chair uh just as a point of order we did have 15 minutes on the agenda to speak to this and uh I would like to just add a brief comment before
you make your decision go ahead so when uh I did bring this petition uh before I brought the petition to town I first learned that Plymouth uh has already approved this and that all Cape Towns are considering it when I asked people
to cons uh consider to support it I got questions like go no further fine very fast and I was also important uh it was important to me to collect names of people from from different points of
view uh so that uh just instinctively I knew this was something that our town would support i just wanted to say that tonight so I hope you support it too and I would urge you to make a decision
tonight to support it thank you i don't hear any opposition well the opposition is to not vote it tonight so delay right well I'm going to uh second uh Miss Goldstone's motion to
table it okay so we have a motion and a second to table this from this board sending this to the town clerk to be included on the May 2025 ballot is that your motion
can we do that with a specification of when we're going to come back to that to it so that it's not an indefinite I I don't think we can do a date but we can do it within the 35 days to make sure we don't miss it can I amend my motion to table this and take up at the first opportunity
possible a letter the drafting of a letter to the governor on this issue okay so now we have a new motion do we have a second i'll second that as well okay we have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor of the
amended motion i I guess no no okay the eyes have it it the uh issue is tabled okay we're going to move on to the consent agenda consider um just let me know if anyone wants to hold any item on the
consent agenda consider a vote to approve an application for a common vectoral license Takaria LLC doing business as Quickshole Takaria 28 Water Street Unit C consider a vote to approve an application for six special one-day all
alcohol liquor licenses New England Festivals Inc harbor Lights illumination concert series and night markets Lynn Whitehead Banssheld Marine Park 180 Scranton AF Saturdays July 5th 12th 19th August 91
1623 2025 from 5:00 p.m to 9:30 under administrative orders consider a vote to adopt meal and travel policies okay I'll entertain a motion to move the consent agenda i'll second okay I have a motion and a
second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i I Okay we're going to review and vote to approve the minutes of meetings public session October 25 2021 we we had this before us previously and I was uh
notified by town council that you do not need to be on the board to vote for the minutes it's about the process and procedure so I'll entertain a motion to approve the um minutes of October 25th
2021 madam Chair I'll I'll move the uh the minutes of public session October 25th 2021 and February 24th 2025 i second that everyone's had an opportunity to look at them okay i have
a motion and a second to approve all those in favor i unanimous okay executive session have you all had an opportunity to read them yes okay i will entertain a
motion to approve the executive session minutes from July 15 2024 and not release them so move i'll second Mr brown's motion Madam Chair okay i have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor
i I Okay uh motion to approve the August 12th 2024 executive session minutes and not release them so moved second okay i have a motion in a second any further discussion amongst the board madam Chair
in those minutes um there is uh a statement that the same board member uh moved and seconded uh the action uh which I think needs to be reviewed before approval okay can we go back and amend those okay
so can we move them as amended as amended yes thank you for that catch and not release the minutes of August 12th i'll um I'll I'll amend that motion Madam Chair to Miss Skullstone's uh comment okay thank you so we have a motion and a second any further
discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i unanimous okay december 16th do I have a motion to approve those executive session minutes so move i'll second okay i have a motion and a second
to approve them all those in favor i i unanimous and they are not to be released until they're redacted for December 16th January 6 2025 do I have a motion to approve the executive session minutes so move second okay I have a
motion and a second to approve any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor i and they are not to be released without being redacted thank you very much uh town manager supplemental report thank you Madam Chair i have two quick updates to
provide um as you all recall back on January 27th the board uh held a public hearing in regards to potential uh violations of an entertainment license issued to Bad Martha's Brewery had an opportunity last week on March 5th uh to do a scheduled site visit to meet with
uh managers Ralph Younger and Mia Benedetto um spent about an hour uh tour the entire property looking specifically at what um renovations and improvements they're planning on making to address some of the concerns that they heard back during the public hearing on the
27th of January wanted to list three of those um they are looking to they they currently have a Sonos SOS sound system they're looking to implement within this system a way to monitor sound levels and volumes throughout the building more
effectively uh in essence uh as it stands now musicians bring their own sound equipment into the building and uh through this uh Sonos system and implementing this u way to monitor sound levels through the system they're hoping that they're going to be able to reduce
complaints from a butters um they also showed me several uh areas of the interior of the business that they've uh applied acoustic carpeting and quite honestly I did not know there was such a thing as acoustic carpeting um but they did do some investigation and research
on their own and uh and took it upon themselves to implement in several areas of the business strategically where the bands are playing uh this sound absor absorption carpeting and lastly they're looking to purchase um several sound limiting boards acoustic panels I'll
call them uh that they're looking to place strategically around the uh performance area to better control volume levels um I say planning because they're waiting on over the next couple of weeks uh they have they've retained the services of an acoustical engineer and they're waiting on kind of a final report before they go that next step um
but quite honestly during the hour that I spent with both managers I was impressed uh those three items in particular are things that they've done since uh the January 27th meeting and are planning to implement and as you all know um last year and over the years uh they've moved speakers around the
outside of the area to position them so that they're not as much of a uh an issue with the butters neighboring residences uh next scheduled inspection or visit I should say um is the week of April 21st so every six to seven weeks I plan on going over and visiting uh with
the managers and they'll give me updates and I'll provide those updates to select board second uh update I want to provide and this is really exciting um coastal resiliency specialist recruitment as you all know this is our second uh recruitment uh we um went back and
tweaked um a couple of elements within the recruitment to make it more I think attractive um I want to thank the HR director uh Susan Lumping um she personally um had a much more focused direct outreach to a lot of different agencies um in Massachusetts and outside
the Commonwealth um so I think that went a long way we also added a potential for a relocation bonus um that made it more attractive perhaps and we also uh increased the step of the anticipated hiring range one step so I think that
those three things all all led to um the exciting part so um we had 67 uh total applications that were submitted uh the position the preferred closing the preferred application date was February 24th I believe um and 67 applications
were submitted last week um they uh conducted first round interviews you said 67 67 candidates i think there were 20ome applications the first round so again I I want to commend um the HR office and the director specifically i think those individual outreach efforts
to different agencies across the Commonwealth and beyond uh have had a huge impact um of the 67 applications they they chose I want to commend uh the assistant town manager and again the HR director for uh going through all 67 selecting eight of what we consider the
most highly qualified candidates conducted first round interviews last week of those eight and I'm happy to announce that um sometime next week we're sk we're in the process of scheduling uh five second round interviews with the most highly qualified candidates from that first
round so uh we're very close i feel I'm going to keep my fingers crossed be able to report a successful recruitment and filling of that coastal resiliency specialist position hopefully very soon and with that that concludes my report
good news thank you select board reports uh I was uh pleased to attend the stand up for science rally uh in Woods Hole uh last Friday uh reports are somewhere between four and 600 people who showed up to support um the cutting edge
science that happens here in our town uh fabulous speaker list including John Holddron who was President Obama's uh science adviser um Representative Bill Keing State Representative Tom Mowley um so it was a a really um I think really
uplifting and and energizing event um and was thrilled to to be a part of that and we did have a slug board member speak as well yes thank you Dr goldstone yeah I I don't have a a report but I would remind the board that I will not be uh present for
the meeting on uh March 24th thank you Mr mscali mr brown that won't still be a problem for the old tech letter right march 24th that won't be a problem right 35 days so uh we looked at the calendar the
35day mark puts it right around on or about April 15th we do have the March 24th meeting um and uh we have the meeting before town meeting on April 7th if we wanted to consider consider that meeting as well so we have a couple of opportunities
okay so we'll save it for April yeah if you can make sense sure anything else uh just Cape Island's municipal leaders meeting is this Friday at the uh center for senior center sandwich I'm not sure center for active
living I think they call it in sandwich we're going to be have an update on the uh bridge construction the funding and so forth thank you Mr around was anyone able to attend the um food systems assessment today farming found that they meant to
go but I something I wanted to go to i registered and I sent an email saying I can't go too busy there are a couple of other programs that they have over the next month i think try and get to one of them okay anything else from the board
i'll entertain a motion to adjurnn so move second okay i have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor unanimous thank you the Steamship Authority is a proud partner in many Fountain of Community events including town meeting coverage
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