[Music] What did you do after being elected? Um, so I the first thing I did was got really excited and I called my wife and my kids and told them and then a bunch
of other people. But are you referring to like the first thing that I did as far as like to help the town or just in general? Anything? Yeah. So, we'll leave it as the the the night of. Right. So, I got really excited and I started calling
everyone who ran out and supported me and made sure I gave them all the good news. I asked you to do the same thing as well. So, when I got first got elected, I looked at it going, "Oh no, I got elected." And then I realized the next morning it
was like, "Oh boy, I'm elected." So, now it became, "What can we do first?" Right? And uh it was talked to a lot of people, many of your parents, and to figure out what needs to be done first. And then uh we got to it. And it was still when I got re-elected, it was like, oh no, three more years, right, of
doing it again and make sure we do the right thing. So it's hard. Great question. How do you how do you include kids when making a decision? How do we include kids when making a
decision? Okay. Um, so I'll take this one first. Um, so a lot of our decisions have to do with kids, right? So our when I first moved to Freetown, my I remember my wife and her brothers and sisters talking about how great
Freetown was. So that played a big a big part in my decision to run for election. So when we look at things such as outdoor activities, sports, schools, we we think of the kids and what those memories are for you growing up. So when when you get my age, many many many
years from now, you start thinking about your community, your ne your neighbors, your friends, your schools, and then those play into decisions we make. Um you you are our future. Everything we do today affects what you have when you grow up. So we we take deep pride in a
lot of consideration of what we do for Freetown based on our our kids. Uh I have four kids myself. I think one of them is here in the audience. So a lot of the things I do, I think about how is this going to be beneficial to you uh 20 years from now, 15 years from now,
tomorrow. Yeah. What about you, Jared? So we all have a different part. We all work together, but we all have different parts of the board that we do. And the part that I oversee is parks and
recreation. So, um, along with what Select Lopes just said, I also get to work with all these different baseball, football, all these different people and making sure that we have the right amount of space for you all to use and
how to use it. So, um, that plays a obviously a big part in what I do and it's for a lot of kids that play sports that are, um, in the audience today. Thank you. Thank you.
What do you what do you think the schools are doing right to prepare students for the future? So I think your question is what are the schools doing right to prepare to prepare you all for the future? All right, great question. That's that's a
good question. Well, it starts here. It starts at FES, right, at Fret Elementary School. Uh then you go into grades, then the middle school and the high school. And our teachers, I know this for a fact. Our teachers love and care for all their students, right? They're they don't just come here to teach you. They
come here to show you how adults should behave and and how society is and and not just about math and coloring, but how to be yourself, right? How to express yourself in the most polite and and beautiful way, right? Your schools are preparing you for tomorrow, for the
future, right? We talk about parks and wrecks 15, 20 years from now. Well, guess what? 15, 20 years, you got to be an adult. And when you become an adult, it starts, it starts here in school. You're role models, right? These are the people that are showing you not just
like moms and dads, your eyes and pepes, grandmas and grandpas. They're showing you how to be an adult, right? You can't be a kid forever. I know it stinks. I wish I was still a kid in so many ways. I know. I see you out there. But at the same time, it's uh it's about when you become an adult. And they're teaching
you that. They teach you how to be an adult, how to be a person, a good person, right, teachers. That's right. I I agree 100% with what Selectman Lopes just said. Um, it's not just educationbased. I think that your
schools are teaching you a lot of other fundamentals about growing up in the real world and um all while still being a kid and being able to enjoy your classmates all while doing the the real fun stuff like math and science. And so yeah,
that's right. Thank you. Great question. Thank you. What is one thing you would improve in Freetown? Great question, Lincoln. Let's see. One thing I will improve in Freetown. Huh. Well, we've been improving Freetown
little by little for years and years and years since the beginning of time. Uh, if I were to change anything in Freetown, anything at all, maybe some some noise barriers around town, a little quieter, so that the animals can enjoy themselves and we can
sleep in peace. Tough one. It is a tough one. That's a hard-hitting question, buddy. Um, what is one thing you've accomplished as a selectman that you're most proud of? All right. So, this isn't really all
that exciting to you guys, but um we we I think you all might know the police officer that's sitting in the back of the room right now. Um and he'll tell you that they had a big problem with communication and they were trying to
use their radios and they couldn't use their radios. Imagine being out on a call and they were trying to talk back and and no one could hear them. Um, so we worked on something and we got them new towers that were able to make it so that they can communicate. Um, sounds
pretty simple, but very important for their jobs. So, that's something that, um, like I said, might not be the most exciting thing, but I'm very proud of that we were able to do it. I agree with Select Celebrity Zerger on this one because that was one of the things that we heard about um, from a lot of people
is communication. So, while he took the communication road, which is I would I was going to say the same exact thing. One of the things that we all I'm proud of is the communication we have with other towns, right? For instance, next year you're all going to Grace, right? You got to start meeting some of your friends from Lakeville. So, that was one
thing that communication between both towns um vastly improved. So, that's one of the things that I'm very proud of that now we know what's going on for them and vice versa. That way we're all on the same page because we we're so so entwined and so connected with Lakeville
that it's very important to know how they're feeling and doing as well. So, uh being friends and being good neighbors. Great question. Thank you. Why are the street signs different colors in different areas?
Oh, good question. So, are you talking about when you say street signs? What are you talking about? speed signs, the the the like the name signs. Oh, the name signs. Yeah. So, one of the jobs we have as select, we're also the road commissioners. So, we work with the
police and fire and in different people in town, um especially businesses to make sure that the signs we put out there are appropriate. So, for instance, you have the new stop signs around town with the little flashing lights, right? We did that because people were concerned about speeding and traffic and
intersections. So we made it more aware. Made you more aware. Can you see them far away? Yes. Then you have the yellow signs around like fire station, police stations, intersections like, hey, there's a yield coming, which means slow down, not speed up like some people in mass like to think. Um, so when you
start driving, it's to help you know where you're going, right? Uh, no parking signs is another good one. We we that came up recently. No parking signs around town. Why do we put parking signs? Well, like let's like say you're leaving fees and there's a very tight turn. Well, we put a no parking sign there so that there's no cars in the way
so that way the buses can get out safely and everything else. That make sense? Yeah. Did I miss any of them? No. But I mean, are you referring to like street names? Yeah. Yeah. Um I think and I'm I'm not 100% sure on that. I think it
might have to do with if it's a private road. um as to we so we're not in charge of uh the colors and stuff, but we are um you know, we do have to help make guidance a lot of times through through the police department um and the highway department
as to what signs need to go where. But um as far as you know, most of the street signs are green, right, that say the street that you all live on. Some of them I think are blue and red and red. Yeah, I don't I don't recall any of the
red ones, but the um I'm I'm not sure. I think we have to look into that and see if we can get an answer for you. I apologize. Yeah, thank you for clarifying. I got your question completely wrong, but so thank you. Uh yeah, I'm with Sleman
Zagger is um we'll look into that. I'm curious now, too. Yeah, because you're right. I have seen blue and green signs. Oados, any any uh insight on that? Not specifically. I think the red signs used to be used just for private ways. I I don't see those anymore. As far as the
green or the blue, greens, I think it's really what the city or the town selects, but I'm sure there's some national regulations, right? Every every street sign that's out there has
to go. Yeah. Good question. You got a stump. That was a good one. Have to write that one down and get the real answer. Is it hard for you to make decisions that everyone might not agree with? Yes. Uh so his question is, is it hard to
make decisions that not everyone might agree with? And that's probably the hardest thing about this job, right? We we're not we have families. We we Jared grew up in the community. I live here. I have children that go to the schools here. I I coach here. So every decision
you make, it's not going to be popular with every single person, right? And that's and that's and you can't really lead by example by doing that because there's so many opinions and everyone's right entitled to their opinion. What I try to do, I speak for myself, is trying to what's the most
common sense thing to do. What's you know, not about right or wrong. I really can't think about everyone loving me or hating me. It's with anything, not just being a selectman and just being a person. you have to worry about what what what you're dealing with, right?
So, common sense plays a a very big big play in how I make decisions. Uh what makes sense and what doesn't make sense. If you're telling me that I need to paint every building green, I'm going to ask you why. Why just green and not just not blue, right? And people are like,
"Well, I like blue better or I like green better." What makes sense for the whole town, right? What makes sense for the town as a whole? That's how we make decisions. what's better for the town, right? Do we need 50 baseball fields or do we need buildings and businesses and schools? A little mix of everything,
right? And that's the hardest decision. It really is. Even answering this question is hard. Um because you have to make a decision. Everyone's listening to you and some people might might not love the answer. Um those sometimes those are things that come in your head at that exact moment. So, you got to make the best decisions possible and it really
comes down to that. Absolutely. I think that I like to make my decisions based on things that I've observed and and as well as life experiences, right? And not try and let someone influence my
decision and just do what I feel is right. I like to listen to everyone and formulate my own opinion and go based on that, not who's going to be the loudest person in my decision. And you know what? In life, we'll all make right and
wrong decisions. But long as we learn from them, then you know, I feel like most of the time we can make good decisions based on just doing what we think is right. Thank you. It's a hard question. It's a very hard question, boys and girls. Like, like, right, watch this. Show a
hands. Who wants chicken nuggets every single day this week? Okay, look around. Right. Show a hands. Who wants pizza all day this week? So, who won? So, who won that discussion? Right. So, now it's up to us
to figure out who had more votes. Tough, right? Yeah. Fine. Chicken nuggets and pizza are weak. Perfect. Donuts. Donuts. Now we're talking. All right, let's see who our question is.
How do you make our town safer each year? How do we make our town safer each year? Another hard question. So, we work a lot with our police and fire and as well as uh department of highway, the public public works highway
to make sure that our roads are clean, make sure our police have everything they have they can get as far as training, visibility, same thing with our fire department, make sure they have the right equipment um and keep them safe to make sure that you're safe. Um, we do have to every so often we have to
make rules and regulations or laws or to make sure that what we see we fix, right? And that's we chip away at it. Are we perfect? No, I don't think we're perfect, but perfect's very hard to get to, right? Are we safe? Yeah, we we're safe. We have a very good police
department, a very a very fantastic fire department as well. And you got to trust them. You got to trust you got to trust them to do their job, right? and give them and listen to what they have to say as far as equipment they need, uh, new uniforms, new training, uh, especially
for schools and everything else. It's a team effort. It really is. And then it really is a team effort and working with school committees and and schools and and other selectmen. And it's a it's a really big team effort. It really is. Absolutely. Um I I think
Select Malopes nailed it that um there there's a there's a lot of different things that we do, but um it's really working with other departments like the police and the fire and stuff. Those are really what we do to help make
the town safer because we're not here daytoday, right? we this is well we are in the sense that we live in the town but meaning you know we have jobs um that we're out involved in. So it's really working with them and taking the guidance um from all our first
responders uh that really as well as our office um making sure that we help make the right decisions to get the the right equipment or people in place to be able to help to make sure that you know this town stays as safe as possible.
Thank you. How do you become a selectman? So, you have to go out and you get 40 signatures um from different people who are registered voters in town and then you get put on the ballot.
Then the fund begins and you have to start campaigning and get all your moms and dads and teachers that live in town to come out and vote for us. Um and then basically whoever gets the most votes
wins and then you're in for three years. So selectman Lopes this year and me the year before we were both reelected for another three years. So, um, yeah, and then it it rotates. The the other selectman that's here is going to be the next one that's not here, I'm sorry.
He'll be the next one up for reelection. Um, and then that's how it goes. So, yeah. So, some some years some people are fortunate enough that they don't have anyone running against them. Other years there's multiple people running. So, uh, it all depends. But, yeah. Be
But you're absolutely correct. Suck me zigger. Um, and right before you put your name on the ballot, you you ask yourself, you ask your family, your friends, hey, I'm going to run. What do you think I should do when I run? Right? Before that, you have to have the passion for it because like like the questions we just had, sometimes it can
get a little tough making decisions. So, you have to make sure you're prepared for that. Um, the best way to do that is to ask questions. A lot a lot of questions. I'm still asking questions. Even though I have three more years, I still have questions that I need answered, right? So, it starts with the the curiosity, right? Just like when when you're reading a book, you want to
know what's on the next page and you kind of you look ahead. You have to look at that when you're you're writing and some days they're good stories, other days they're not so great stories and you have to kind of balance those two together. U but passion, it'll it'll lead you the right way. So that's my
answer. Passion. Great question. Tough question this year. What do you think you What do you think are the town's biggest issues in the next five years? How will you take care
of them? I like it, Logan. I like it. Wow. Great question. So, his question is, what are the what do we what do we think our town's biggest issues are coming up for the next five years? Wow. Five years. Five years is a long time. You guys would be like what? Graduating high
school by then? No. All right. Pretty close. Pretty close. So, five years. Um gosh, five years. There's So, good thing we live in Massachusetts, right? We're we're very well insulated
in so many ways from the national world, right? The the rest of the rest of the United States in in so many ways. Um over the next five years, it's it's usually the same things that happened the previous five years, right? We're always struggling to keep up. I think
the next five years to keep up with everything going on in the world is going to be the toughest things we got to face. It could mean anything from finding more money, building more buildings, um figuring out how to cut the grass or making sure the lights stay on. Over the next five years, we have
new people coming in, new people moving out. And then their their wants and needs are going to change. So over the next five years, I look at it like when I look at my grandma, all right, my what my wife's grandma, she's 90 years old. Her needs are going to change. So how do I protect her needs and her friend's
needs and the same age? Then we look at uh how many bridges we might have to replace or what new buildings we have to put up because of that. Are the schools going to get bigger? So those are things that are always coming up. to put your finger on just
one. Oh gosh, I don't know. There isn't just one. There's they they all at the end of the day, they all come together like a big circle. It starts and ends at the same place. What do we need? What do we want? How do we get there? It's tough one, Logan. I think that we all sit up
here and I think most of you like Freetown, right? Love Freetown, right? Yeah. As do we. So, um, you know, the town I think is growing and what we have to think about is how to make it stay
the place that we all know and love while making it available for other people. Um, and it's tough, right? Because these schools, you know, we need to make sure that we have enough space for our students. Um, we want to make
sure that we have enough place for our town hall for for everything else. Um, all without spending too much money, right? Because we don't your parents all don't want us to spend too much money because it affects them. So, uh, there's
a very it's a it's a balance. Um, so it's it's a tough thing and that I don't know that that'll change ever, right? It's something that's always going to continue on, but to me that's the biggest challenge over the next five years. Um, and then it'll probably be
the next five years after that as well. Yeah, that's the end of it. That's the really the answer is it's it doesn't change whether it's next five, the past five, the next 10 or 15. There's always a need and a want, right? And we and it's our job to kind of in so many ways
read the tea leaves, right? Figure out what the needs and wants and figure out that balance. Like Select Zagger said, it's you can't do too much on one side because you upset the other side. So, you have to really find that like that, yeah, the middle of the road, the balance to make sure that we're doing the right thing for everybody. Everyone
gets a little piece versus one person or one group getting a big chunk of things. How about we spread it out, right? Um, and that's probably the hardest thing it is is really making sure we're doing that evenly. So, tough question. Good job.
Do you make decisions with other people or by yourself? So, we're a board, right? And we have to make decisions based on if we're making a decision that requires a vote in order
to get it to pass. Right? If I wanted to rename Freetown Elementary School, I would need to convince either the other selectman that's not here or selecting Lopes to do it with me. Right. So, well, I can't make a decision like that. And I
never would. I love this school. But the the um that question that thing would that decision would be would have to get at least two out of the three of us to do that. and and and believe me, we don't always agree to each other,
right? Not that we disagree often, but we do sometimes have a lot of questions of things we might be saying. Uh, Sleman Zagger and I, we only can discuss things on camera on front of the microphone. So, when we make decisions, a lot of times we're talking about it for the first time. Actually, I would say 99.99
point of the time we're talking about for the first time live in person. So, it's always good to hear a different opinion, right? Well, my opinion might be one thing. I I like apples. It's like Merger likes bananas, right? So, how do we get to the perfect smoothie or the
perfect salad, fruit salad? Well, we have to work together and mix and match, right? And sometimes when I ask questions, he answers them. He may look at it completely different than I do, but but his opinion matters to me. So, I look at that with sometimes with his glasses on going, hm, that makes sense.
How I never thought of that that way. So, by being a board, we work as a team, right? Something we all know something about, right? As a team, we make decisions together, right? Does it mean if if they make a decision, I said no and they said yes, I'm upset with them. No, it happens all the time. There are
decisions that are two to one very often and then it's one of those things you have to either learn more about it or you kind of have to get get through it and then move on. You you can't we make hundreds of decisions every week, right? Especially on camera. And those decisions, you have to live with them at
the end of the day. But they're okay because we did it as a team. What's better for the town? More makes sense. All right. Awesome. Are there any new events or celebrations happening in town for kids?
Well, off the top of our heads, Lake Lakeside Festival is coming up uh this weekend. Is it this weekend? Uh no, it's the end of the month. End of the month. Are you guys going? Yeah. All right. Uh, we also have, let's see, the Fourth of July celebration coming up. I I believe
many of you drew some pictures for us. All right. So, you should be hearing who the winner is soon. All right. So, I looked at them. Good job, everybody. Those that participated. What else is coming up? I know there's some yoga coming up at the park. Uh there's there's also uh the concerts this summer like we had last summer.
Anybody go to those? All right. Yeah. And there's plenty of uh sports going around town. I know there's uh softball's full swing. Football's starting up. Baseball's is happening. Uh what else is out there? Gosh, there's there's some races coming up in town,
right? So, you guys are almost out of school. That's a big one, right? What else is going on in town? There's so many things. Did I miss any? Not that I can think of. I'm going to ask you a question. How about that? Is there anything that you want to see? Oh, great
question. I can't think of. No, it's okay. I put you on the spot, but I I just wanted to ask because I like to hear it from you guys, right? So, if you had something that you know you wanted to do, then maybe we could try and work on it. So, because we try to keep it in mind when
we have people coming up with events, it's not just for one group or whatever, but trying to do stuff that as many people want to get involved as possible. So that's why I'm asking. Tell you what, if you think of it, let your teacher know. They know how to get a hold of us.
Okay? And then we'll get something done. Especially if there's a big class vote. We like those. All right. How do you decide where the town's money is spent?
So, um, so we have a defined amount of money and then all the departments ask us for a certain amount of money. Right? So then we have to look at it and a department might come in front of us and say I need
$150. Right? But we look and say we only have $125. And we try to work back and forth with them on what makes sense. Where can we cut from? Maybe it's that we need to look at it and add to it because we think that something else is
needed within that department based on other things that we know. So there's no defined formula that says this is how we're going to spend the money. Um it's really based on the wants and needs um by each department,
right? Yeah. So look at it like this, boys and girls. So in this room right now, we have about 75 kids, right? If every one of you paid me one penny, I would have 75 pennies. Right now you guys all took a vote and you wanted and
needed say let's say you needed a place to live that cost 10 pennies. We have 65 left. You wanted a school. That's another 15 pennies. Right now we how many pennies we have left? 50 pennies. Right. So what happens next? How now we got to pay the bills on those pennies on those buildings. Right? So those are how
we divide things up. We we like Zagger said every house you see essentially Freetown has to pay X amount of dollars per month. So it's their hard-earned dollars. So, we have to make sure we're very careful how we spend them. Some people want us to spend more. Someone wants us to spend less. We have to find
that again that balance of making sure we have money left over in case something happens like say it snowed, we have to now we have to clean the streets or there's too much sand on the streets now have to clean the sand off the streets. All that costs extra that you really plan for. So, we have to be very careful how that money is spent. Um, and
it's it's very hard to do. But, we have finance committees that help us. We have other boards and committees that give us information to make those decisions. So basically, we ask you what you need and then we figure out how to get it or sometimes we have to wait. So some
people love it, others don't. It's it's a balancing act. It's tough. Get get into politics. You'll be all for it. We could use your help, too. If you have ideas, let us know. All right. How can we get the town to clean up the
littered roads and sidewalks? How do we get the towns to clean up the littered roads and sidewalks? So, so recently we had the Earth Day, right, where a bunch of people, myself included, went out and picked up a crazy amount of litter on
the side of the road. Um, I think the biggest and easiest way is for all of us to get out there and if we see something in front of our houses to pick it up, right? Um, but beyond that, we have talked about trying to do
that event more as well as, you know, having uh town employees go out and help with it. But we just talked about money, right? and we have things that need to be fixed and we only have so much money to be able to give these departments.
So, it's tough for us to be able to get them out there. But, I agree that I think we need to get we need to try and figure out a way. And I think that one of our easier solutions might be for us to all just if we see it out in front of our houses, help by picking up what we
see as well as, you know, maybe if we do more events around it. Yeah. No, it's you're absolutely correct. So we had Earth Day recently. Uh we have innovation way that the town the city of forever helps us clean up in that area.
Um so to the using Son Zerger's answer I I'll make it a little bit more simple. So ever heard the expression doing the right thing even when no one's looking. Ever heard that before? Yes. So that what that means is this. So let's say you're at a baseball field Daniel, right? And you see a rapper blowing in
the wind. Do you a watch it blow in the wind or do or do you b pick it up and throw it out? Pick it up and throw it out. Yeah, it could sometimes it's as simple as that. If you see it, pick it up and throw it out, right? A lot of us kind of fall into the the the daily trap of, "Oh, it's not my problem." Well, if
you care about it, it becomes your problem. So, if you see it, pick it up. Now, is it frustrating when you keep picking it up? Sure. But the moral is keep keep going. Don't give up on mother earth, right? Uh we have people that forget that there are other people out there that don't like the trash blowing
in the wind. So if you see it, pick it up. At the same time, if you if you have trash, don't just throw it anywhere, especially near the oceans. It all starts with you, your age, your your generation. Yeah. Keep pushing it forward. Make sure you're doing the right thing even when no one's looking. It really is as simple as that. Uh but
if not, we'll create different parties and different or different events to make sure that we get the adults out there to help us out. All right, guys. Good question, Daniel. What can kids do to make our town better?
Hardest question of the day. What can the kids do? Huh? Well, one of the things that we just talked about is something, right? Picking things up. Um, that's definitely something. I'm going to say, um, take pride in your town in
general, right? Um, get involved. Um, be good students. Um, yeah. Yeah. Don't stop caring. That's the hardest thing we sometimes we forget about is care about your town. Care about your neighbors, your friends, your
family, and help them. Help as much as you can. Your town, your neighbors, everybody. Um, just be the perfect person you can be. It doesn't have to be every single day, but if it's 51% of your day, that's good enough. All right? Never stop caring, and your town will love you for it.
How long are you selecting for? How often are elections? So, we're usually we're selected for three years and elections are every So, elections are every single year, but when you once you're elected, you have to wait three years. So, there's three of us on the board. So, every three
years, we have to go through an election cycle, but every single year, we may get a new selectment. So, like Select Zerger said earlier, we're I was just re-elected for another three years. He was elected last year, so he has another two years to go. Uh, and Selectman Matthews, he's got one more year or uh
this time next year. So, it's every three years for each individual person, but every single year we have an election. So, every time we take your school over and you get a half a day off, you're welcome. All right. It's because we're having elections on in the gymnasium. Um, and and we have to make sure that the schools are safe. So, we
kick you guys out. You guys get to go home and we get the adults. I know. You're welcome. And then we get the adults in here and we vote for what the town needs. It's a great great process. Good job. Is the town getting a new library soon?
We really want to get you one. Um, we were very fortunate that we got a grant and hopefully that it will happen, but we unfortunately at this point have a lot of unanswered questions, but um I
I think What do you think? You think we need a new one? No. You're not sure? I think we do. I I love our two little libraries, but I think we can do a lot more for you guys if we had another new library, but we need to make sure that
we do it in the right way. Correct. Uh so I'm actually the chairman of the library and the council of agent subcommittee and we're talking about those things as we speak. So, like Select Zerger said, we did get a a federal grant that says, "Hey, you guys should build a library because your
libraries are great, but they're small and there's no running water. You can't go to the bathroom there. Um, you can't have big events." You know, I'll be honest with you. When I first started thinking about libraries, I started going, "Who uses libraries still?" Then I started realizing, I do, my children
do. All you do. Who here has been in a library in the past year? Right. couple days ago. A couple days ago, right? Libraries are important because it's like almost like another way to learn, right? Read. Reading is the best thing in the world. You get to stretch your imagination. You get to be
in different worldles sometimes, different planets, different fairy tales. Libraries, but isn't just about books though. It's about your community, right? And teaching you different things and and being together. And the more activities they do, it's um benefits you
folks, you you guys, right? Um show hands. So, so that I know if you guys would to be able to vote on a library, would you guys want a library? Yeah. Is that a Is that a big yes? Ice cream. Oh, ice rink. I thought you said ice cream. I was like, ice cream is very
important. Uh, we'll see what we can do with the ice rink. Gymnasium. Yeah. So, a great thing about libraries, they can the the walls sometimes move and you can do different events in there, which is pretty cool. So library is something that like sagger said uh we in the beginning stages of that process the
cons uh library and conservation one big building and we'll see where that goes but let's let's keep our fingers crossed that it happens that way we have a place to uh sit down and read when we're not in school. Good idea. Yeah. I'll look on the ice rink for
you because at first I thought it said ice cream which I was even more excited about. What made you want to be a selectman? Oh gosh. Uh, great question. What made me want to be a selectman? Well, I had a great opportunity of being around the community quite a bit from sports to
events and everything else. And fortunately, a lot of your parents, um, many of your parents came up to me and started talking to me about things. And I decided that let me go to more meetings. Let me watch more meetings on YouTube and and go to some inerson meetings and get involved to see what
the town needed. And what I just what I realized was the Talo needed someone they can listen to and talk to, right? Not that they didn't have that because they did, but sometimes you feel as though you can step in and and do as good of a job as the NE as a person there or hopefully better, right?
Because we always want to leave the better than we found it. And that's that's how I came to wanted to be a selectman. I realized our town, I loved it as much as everybody else. and I had the the time and energy to make decisions for our town to make sure that we're here and have all the great
memories that my kids are are experiencing now. I want those to experience in the future as well. So, that's why I wanted to be a selectman. Um, love my town. Yeah. Mine was a love for the community. Um, and I have two kids that are a little bit older than
you guys, but um, they're in the schools. And one thing I've always told my kids is that if don't complain about a problem, try and do something about the problem. And I found myself complaining about a couple of things. So
I decided that it was my time to run. And I I don't regret my decision. I love my decision. Likewise. I think we've made some good decisions doing that. Let us know for now. Okay.
You're up, bud. You're going to be just fine. Perfect. Is Freetown ever going to be a city? I don't I don't think so. Um the the reason why is because and there's probably if we had the town clerk here, she would probably give me a whole
different reasoning. um based on the size of the lots that are in this town and the amount of space. The space is defined and the size of the lots need to be defined. So, I don't know that we could ever have enough population that it would ever become a city. No, we
don't I don't think anyone in here wants it to become a city. I love cities, but I don't want it to become a city. Yeah. Oh, I I like it. I like I like So So, no, I agree with you guys. I I think our
town should should stay as small as possible and stay a town for as long as we can. Uh though I think it'll ever be a city. I don't think so because it was Suck Zagger said. And um and you're right, it has a lot to do with the population of our town. But I like a town with no stop lightss. Right. Don't
you guys like a town with no stop lightss? No. No stop lightss. They're bad for us, right? No stop lights. That's right. But follow the traffic laws, but no stop lightss. No, I I think we're going to in We're two We're about 9,200 people in
town. That's good for now. 15 about 9,000 people. A little over 9,000 people. 9,000. So, that's enough for now. What do you think? Yeah. I I don't think uh we're going to be a city anytime soon. Uh not in my generation. Probably not in your lifetime. Um more
than likely never, ever, ever. But you never know. Sometimes rules are changed for some reason. And but like Sele said, you know, our some of our lot sizes are too big and for us to be a city, you have to have a lot of a lot of bigger buildings and more space and I don't
think we're going to expand anytime soon. What do you think? Should we stay a town? Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you. Free City. Free City. Sounds like a movie. It is in a movie. The movie Free Guy said about a game called Free City.
I watch Free Guy. You're right. Yeah, you're right. So, we'll make sure we keep it in town, right? If that changes, let us know. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Byebye. Bye, buddy. Selectment guy. That's catchy. Mr. Lucas, how many businesses are in
town or and are there any more coming? I I have no idea how many are in town. Um, and there's always businesses who are looking for the right places, but we don't we don't even always get to hear about them right away. Only certain
businesses come before us, but um, yeah, I have a hard time answering that one because I don't have a a specific number. Right. So, yeah, it's tough. It's a tough one. Uh, so Freetown, lucky for us, we have some big businesses like Stop and Shop, Amazon in town, right?
Then we have some small businesses like the moms and pops like um like Memphis Cupboard, right? Small business, right? But they do delicious things. So we as far as what's coming, I don't know. Uh are you looking for a restaurant? Are you looking for a game arcade area, mini
golf? What What kind of businesses do you want? Um I would say like either I don't know. Um, probably any kind. Any kind. Okay. Like round it to the nearest 100 or thousand. How many businesses? How many
businesses? I would say probably around a hundred. Yeah, maybe because Yeah, give or take a 100. Yeah, I would I would agree with that. Again, we have big and small. Good mix. Yeah, but I don't know. Are you looking
for if you're looking for a specific restaurant or or gaming arcades, I don't know. Those are things that people have to decide on their own. Then they come or different boards to make sure one, it's zoned for it, which is a big word, is am I allowed to build it here, right? So, you don't want to build a race car
place in your neighborhood, right? Well, maybe you do. All right? But maybe your moms and dads don't, right? So, you have to make sure you're it's zoned correctly or in the right area to build such a thing. And then you take it from there. If you're looking for ice cream place or
I would, again, I love ice cream, so I would agree with that as well. Same, right? Maybe a video games plot, right? Like GameStop or something, that'd be awesome. Uh, but I don't want but I definitely do not want a McDonald's or something like that. Not that I discourage McDonald's. Of course, you can come here if you want and buy your
property, but you know, when you hear McDonald's, you think of a city, right? And I like I like a little small town. Don't say that in front of my brother. He loves McDonald's. I don't blame him. McDonald's is delicious. So, but if there's any suggestions as
far as what businesses they come to town, it's at the end of the day, it's the business that decides where they want to open up shop, right? Sometimes a smaller town is probably not the best location for a small business, but if they come here, we'll certainly listen and it's the right fit, we'll certainly
let them in because we're pro business. We want businesses to come to town. So, but we don't know what business are out there. There are many many many many businesses out there that not all of them fit in our small town. Yeah. As we were just speaking I um I made my
decision like how many businesses as like restaurants? What do you got? Um like like um how many restaurants like in town or oh oh how many restaurants are currently in town or like Massachusetts? Well, in Freetown, I
think we have about four Dunkin Donuts in Mass in Freetown. Four Dunkin Donuts. Let's see. We have a couple of restaurants. We have barber shops. Two restaurants, two big restaurants. One the the ledge in the tavern opposite ends of town. Uh you have Rosen Nelly's,
too. There's a breakfast place. Smokey Bones. Smoky Bone. That's in Toronto. No, that's not in our town. Sushi Place. Sushi Place. Yeah. The one in East Freetown. So, there's plenty of things out there. You just got to figure out which ones you like the most. Yeah.
Yeah. Good job. Thank you. You're welcome, bud. All right, come on down. Are there any town events coming up? Yeah, town events. So, great question. Uh, so town events coming up. You know,
we have the best Fourth of July parade coming up in fireworks display. That's in July fourth, 3rd, and fourth. Let's see. We have some yoga in case you want to do some stretching. We have uh bands, uh summer concerts that are going to beginning in August, uh instead of uh
September, October like last year. So, we have about six or seven events for that. Yoga in case you like stretching, things like that. Uh boat ramps is is opened up. You know, we can get your boat out there if you have one. Let's see. Uh we also have the beach opening up soon. Um, and there should be some
events there coming up, hopefully sooner than later. Sports are always there, right? We have plenty of baseball games and I know the police and fire games coming up in a couple months. They're probably practicing already. What else? You getting out of school soon? I think July 20th, right? Extra month. July.
July. Yeah. Extra month for you guys. No. Is it June instead? June better for you. Okay. Let's see. I think that's it. Yeah, I think those I'm sure I'm missing a lot of events and those out there. Lakeside Festival. Lakeside Festival. That's the one I was thinking about. Thank you. That's either this weekend or
next weekend. I want to say it's the 20th. Yeah, it's the end of the month. End of the month. So, yeah. Is there any events we missed? Uh, Cranberry Festival. Is that what we said? There's a road races coming up as well. Do you guys Are you guys subscribed to our newsletter? Just
kidding. That's my joke of the day. Great. Yeah, we definitely have plenty of events coming up that we like to put out there and like notify individuals. Uh there's also called the free town flash that we send out uh messages letting you the parents know what's coming up. So hopefully they're getting those. If not, let us know. We'll get
more information to you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Hold on. We'll open up the questions after. What education and qualifications do you need to become a selectman?
Zero. Absolutely zero. Um, so a lot of people think that you must have a master's degree or a doctorate or a bachelor's or associates to be an elected official. Their answer is passion. you don't as long as you're an adult 18 years or older and actually in
some areas some younger people than seven 18 have been elected to uh public offices. Um but for us, you know, if you're an adult, you want to run for something, you can. That's all you need is you need the time, the energy, and the passion to run for it because some days are easy, some days are not. And
they're mostly not easy. Um there's some good days you can smile. When I say easy, you can go home and smile that day. uh most of the time I would say 90 plus percent of the time you go home going I hope I made the right decision right because it's very hard but you
don't need anything as long as you does it help you have an education more education as a doctorred masters like I think I've mentioned sure I guess it could make it easy but you don't need it as long as you have the right attitude and the passion for it and you want to step up and say you know what I'll run
for that office that's all you need that's all you need in in Freetown, you have to be a a registered voter um that lives in town. That's all that Selectman Lopes or I needed in order to run. Um
yeah. Yeah. Forgot about that important step. Yeah. All good. Can we have any supermarkets in Freetown? Supermarkets a free town. Yeah. Um, that's not not the first
time I've heard that question to be honest with you. So, supermarket, how big we talking? Like a stop and shop like a Rojax or a Road Jacks that that dates me. Gosh, are you talking about a big one or a little mom's and pop one? It doesn't really
matter. Doesn't matter. No. Uh, we've we've heard that question come up to us many times. How can we get more things like supermarkets so that the folks in town can stay in town and not have to go to, let's say, Fall River or Somerset or something like that or torn to go to a
supermarket to buy some groceries. And it comes down to the business wanted to come here and ask for that, right? Would we say no to a supermarket? No, I wouldn't necessarily say no or yes. We would listen and see make sure it's the right fit. Um, at the end of the day,
town wants to be small. bringing a big supermarket in, it's a lot of space. So, we have to make sure it's the right balance, right, for the residents in town. You know, would it be beneficial to our to us to have something in town? Sure. But then that also means that other people can come here as well, like we go to their towns and cities, they
can come to our towns and cities. So, you got to think about that, right? Traffic and then maybe we need a stop sign or a stoplight. So, those are things we we'd have to talk about with the community because that'd be a big decision and would shape reshape that part of town wherever it's in. And so we'd have to bring that to town vote and
have the the residents vote on do you want a supermarket, a big supermarket like a stop and shop in town, right? And that would be up to you folks. So if enough votes say yes, we'll say we're we're all for it. A lot of you say no, we don't then we don't want it. Did I
miss any anything on that one? It's Yeah, I think Select Lopes did a good job of answering it. It's really a lot of supermarkets or even other big businesses look at it and say, "Do they have enough people in their
town that are going to want to shop at my location?" And at this point, I think most of the time the answer is going to be no. And that's good as far as to keep the town small so we don't turn into a
bigger place where we all love and our the feel of our town that we keep talking about. So um I think at this point you won't see one but you never know what's going to change in five years from now. So yeah.
Yeah. Perfect. Can we start a community garden with rentable plots for people who don't have access to land of their own? I like that idea. So, what we're going to have to do is we would have to come
up with an area that the town owns and then get some stuff around it. So, we we have someone who's in charge of community programming and she's the one who's like put on the events that we were talk some
of the events that we were talking about before. So, I like that idea. So, let me see if I can ask Kylie if maybe if she's already started doing anything or knows of anything and then maybe we can work with her because I do think that's a good idea. Yeah. I I like where you're
going with it. you know, you're creating a community space, growing vegetables and and plants and fruits and everything else for those that don't have the space for it. That's a great idea. I like that. Um, next step is where do we put it, right? So, one of our one of the hardest parts about being a selectman is
great ideas come up and then we we like the idea and now we got to add more thought to it is where do we put it? How is it maintained? If no one shows up that that week, that month, who who takes the vegetables, who pulls the weeds, who mole who mows it, who tills
it. So, as the as we it gets it gets difficult. Uh, but I do like the idea. You know, you're giving back to your community. That's what I hear, you know. H, great question. We'll get back to you. We'll have to ask the questions. Yeah. Yeah.
What's Kyle's last name? Kylie. Um, just potato. Potato. Yeah. Yeah. Do you still think the train is a good idea? [Laughter] I knew it was coming at some point. So,
here we are. Uh, okay. Well, we'll Is the train a good idea? All right. Show of hands again. Who can hear the train at night? [Music] Okay. Okay. Let's All right. So, her
question is, "Do we think the train is a good idea?" All right. So, All right. So, here the train. So, you hear the train noise. All right. We don't love it so much because we love a peaceful community. I'd rather hear the birds and insects in the middle of the night than the train go by. That we can
all agree on. Now, do envy parents or grandparents, aunts and uncles, uh, work, let's say, Boston. Do they work in a city up north? Show hands. Anybody work up north? Okay. Are they taking the train or are they driving?
So, and that's where it is, right? So, the train, we didn't really have much of a choice in town about where the the train the train tracks were already here for many years. They built a train station. That was the our state government decided it was a good idea. So, now our our job is to kind of figure
out how do we work with the train? It's here to stay. We have very little say. Did we want it? I I don't think the vote would have been yes to that. So, but now it's here. Now it's noisy. It's all we hear. So, now we're getting more frustrated. So, as the selectman,
we we we're doing everything we can working with our lo our state government. All right. The the Healey administration, our our governor, and all our representatives in town to figure out how do we move forward? How do we have a balanced equal life, right?
Because right now it's a lot of give and take and mostly they're just taking versus giving us peace of mind. So, our quality of life is something that we're looking at. So, we're working with them to figure out how do we move forward with this because we can't live like this forever, right? We all need our sleep, right?
Answer is yes. Sleep is important, right? But also, summer's coming up and do you want to hear the train all day? No, I don't want to hear the train all day either. So, we're we're working hard to get the right the right balance right now. It seems one-sided because it is, but we'll get there. We'll work together
and we'll figure out a solution. It's a tough one. That was a tough question. You're welcome. Thank you. You welcome everybody. I appreciate it, guys. You guys did a great job today. Yes, we did.
You guys have questions? All right. What's your question, Daniel? Did you guys know what the old Duncan is going to get turned into? Do we know what the old Duncan is going to get turned into? I I don't Do you? No. No, there's been a a lot of different
things that have been that have come forth, but once again, it's a business wanting to go there and being the right place for the business. But I can think of a lot of good things that could hopefully go there, but I've heard a couple of rumors, but at this point, it's just that. So, and yes, we do love
donuts as well. What question you got? Yeah. Daniel Would you like anybody? So then they can help pick up and they can
So are you talking about finding people or people? So we do we do have that already in place. So if he finds someone littering, right, it is against the law, right? Not only being mean to the earth, it's mean against the law. So if we do find you littering, we will issue you a ticket.
The police will. So absolutely. And then is there a way to turn people in? Uh yeah, it's a tough one. Um but yes, we we'll know something's happening. We'll go clean it up and it takes time. Thanks everybody. Thank you guys. I
appreciate it. What's up, Logan? Yep. [Music]