##VIDEO ID:I96zSKdQU28## [Music] Tuesday January 21st 2025 at 6 pm and I'll call to order the free toown bard of suck meeting this meeting will be recorded and will be available on the town's YouTube page uh tonight we will be going to Executive session and then coming back into open session we will we will be going to Executive session for the following reasons first Master law section 30A section 21 uh sorry Master Jal Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on litigating position of the public body and the chair so declar and I do for Allen St vers Town Freetown and second for Mass General Law chapter 38 section 21 A6 to consider purchase exchange um lease or value of real estate if the chair so declares and I do that open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body so with that I'll entertain a motion to go into exective session motion made I'll second it all in favor i i selectman l yes selectman Matthews yes right we are now back in Open session from executive session uh so move on we're going to move on to agenda item three which is uh discussion on the massach board of Library Commissioners Grant we have some folks here today to discuss this grant absolutely okay hi there for chairperson for the library trustees welcome to get on your agenda today all right here you are exciting news we'll see how long the excitement last but for today exciting news yes so we wanted to share uh for you the good news that we won our grant and this is not just years in the making but decades at this point uh torches passed from one Library trustee to the next um we let some of the former trustees know tons of excitement of course with caution but also just years of work so we really just wanted to bring it here for you all uh share that and to congratulate Nicole in public because until we got Nicole uh the trustees didn't know if this would ever be a viable option um she really pushed it through at the end here uh and really delivered the timetable everything by the book so we're super proud of her yeah we appreciate it and like you know especially over the last couple years we've come uh very aware of of how difficult applying for these grants and keeping them up to date and it can be so definitely it's it's noted yeah it was definitely an important partnership between outside vendors contracted people Nicole the library COA planning committee that got together um and then the trustees throughout the whole process yes true and Deb was there the whole way so we were very very fortunate that this team came together at the moment that it did would we have loved it to come together two years ago when we had less issues to like muddy the waters um but we we get what we get when the moment arrives so we did uh our best now should we talk about those Muddy Waters I would love to do that too and we can answer any questions but really what we wanted to focus on is there's the two parts of this grant the first one being the planning and development $100,000 first installment of 90 it's ready to go this week mhm the problem with that as we all know is that we're not in compliance we are we're not compli till in July we not exactly so we have three different kind of versions of options right uh one is that we say no and the next town on the list gets it that is not what we want um it's kind of our worst case scenario because the odds of us getting it again are pretty slim we would fall to the bottom of the barrel when right now we're at the top um another option for us is to submit right now while we're technically in compliance we can test to that um and submit our action plan and then that money sits in an account for us and you know while this all plays out that first installment of money um we also have 170,000 of our own that we could work off for this first year and then leave that money untouched while the legal issues are working themselves out there are more options to this but those felt like the most viable I think our biggest fear is that we give it away and then we're forced into compliance later this year and we lose not only the M like the money fighting that compliance but then all the millions of dollars we would have had and so to have a question for you could we take that 100 Grand and put it in some kind of high yield savings account or something of that nature you know not that it really matters but as long as we don't spend it yeah right we have to give it back we have to give it back which is I think important distinction for folks to know it's not like and when we say compliance Tru about the MBTA um develop or zoning laws zoning law exactly and they're using that as the stick in the car and the stick analogy so if it's not just that they'll stop funding something it's that they claw it back and take the money back which I think is an it's a big distinction especially here important cuz I think if we didn't have that 170 ready for our own Planning and Development this would be a much easier decision can you tell me where where you're getting that 170 from the one 50 that we did at including that and then the original planning and what's left of the original planning and design Grant we got in 2001 isn't that much because you did have to pay for the um it was like it was like 30 something I think and then we spent eight so it's okay little so we still have enough to work for this six-month period to start something um or we just hold with both that separate amount of monies I just worried if we give it back back or forc a compliance then we've lost it all um I don't want to give anything I don't want to spend anything that we have to give back and penalize the town in any way but I also don't want to just give it up yet yeah I mean I that does that seems like a pretty good point to me as long as we don't spend it so we get 100,000 do we have to add our match to it so we we already ours is already in its own account the 150 that we did at the town meeting I don't know it was like two years ago two years ago I think October it was in June was it I think but it's already allotted and ready to go so let's just just talk about this part of it too so if because and I think this as long as you don't spend it right I'm thinking about if we went forward and did spend that money and then and they call it back then we probably would build a different building than we would right yeah the other piece is if we spend the phase one money we are not obligated to take the second phase so if we get through planning and design and we're like this design is not we don't not end up wanting to go we need a different design because the town doesn't want to match that whatever 6 million 7 whatever ends up being to do the shared structure we can say no to that second half the first half and the second half are their own entities so they have tiered people waiting on wait lists for each part of those in case people say no yeah so if we don't get so we're like immediately funded for for both if we move forward to the second we would immediately get the construction money once we got through that phase where the weight listed libraries have to wait until all of us kind of either fall apart or say no or the town says no right yeah I wonder how many other towns to are in the same boat we're in right now there's a couple our tier I don't know that there's any but in the medium tier which is the next one Hansen um is in the same I I don't know if they've voted but the similar um situation where they're they have to I don't know how they're gonna fund it I really don't yeah but I don't even know if they're in comp like their compliance piece I don't know if they're um but we were definitely top of the list ready to go they're ready to do what they can and it's it is a hard decision either way and that's kind of where we were like so excited and you know cautious cautious with these pieces yeah yeah like well I guess de is there any risk that I'm not seeing here so the risk is the $100,000 right I think that's really this phase one the planning and design is that I I guess it's it's twofold one it's 100,000 so we move forward we spend their 100,000 and we become non non-compliant we have to pay back the 100 so that's monetary risk I think the other risk to this project and and you've talked a little bit about it Amy is that the time right if we move forward in this direction that sort of solidifies the direction we're moving in if we get the plans all designed which is going to take a full at least I'd say a year year maybe 14 15 months and then we're not in compliance we don't get the second half we're back at square one so I think there's a little bit of um uh momentum morale that you know here we go again we're back at square one and we've been at Square One a few times around here like we can we you know five steps forward and 27 backwards so I think there's that risk is that we just waste more time moving um but monetary you're just at risk for but I think that like make sure on the same page is like that will accept the grant put 100 Grand in account and then don't touch it so if we are found actually out of compliance which more than likely will be we just give that 100 Grand back okay so what we would have to do though in order to pay for this phase is we would have to fund another 100 Grand somewhere because we can't just say Okay um we're going to we're going to sign a contract for 250 Grand okay so we still need yeah that makes sense because it's not it's going to cost more more than the 170 that we have right it's going to cost the 250 two she's saying 200 uh the consultant said 200 but I think because we have a joint building we're going to be spending more than that so um we will have to fund that so that we have it available and then sort of if we get the grant we don't spend our money kind of thing or we we put put the grant money into you know into the general fund well I think we have to acknowledge too that we're always going to spend our own money money cuz it's a joint building the the library piece will only and once we get construction that will also only go for the library components so no matter what we would always be spending some of the town's money excepting that we're getting a huge chunk of it from the state but not all understanding yeah percent or percent like give us a percentage out and there's another piece of waiting to do our action plan and see how the next couple of months go so maybe we don't go on you know immediately and spending the money that we have allotted as a town but we weighed out these components because we can see how fast the state's going to move on these pieces and what out of compliance will actually mean for the remaining towns that are all dealing with this at the end of the year uh might look something different than it is right now based on the number of legal battles that the state is up against yeah and I mean the you know she sent um the governor put out emergency regulations right away I've I've Pann through them um I haven't studied them but and I need to they they they might be a little different than the than what we have had in the past in terms of uh density numbers like you're saying less less density based on yeah it's still high but so the couple of months may give me in Town Council and Consultants an opportunity to vet that information and say okay this is what we now need to do you know we already have high density in that area it's just not as high as what what this MBTA zoning wanted so um it instead of it you know being 750 units if it's 500 units which is kind of what I was thinking it says um we're already zoned for I don't know I don't remember how many units per AC like 400 450 a lot thought was 350 so maybe then it's more palatable I don't I don't know I'm not there mentally I'm not in in that mode of that zoning because we know that the town really really uh strongly opposed the zoning and we're not the only like that's why like like the way this shakes out might be something we're not even expecting right now because there is I think every town is voting pretty strongly against it and the state might just take away the decision that they gave us I think they might and the other thing too um yeah I you don't know there was a little caveat in the court case that said said the the state had to do impact studies on all of the towns MH um and I'm not sure how the governor is going to get around that because that's very timely and very costly so there's that little caveat too that I'm not sure how they're going to handle that because I was thinking oh well if they have to do an impact study on every town that turn this down that's going to take like five years I don't know we have some breathing room here um but then she came out with the emergency rules and reg so there's still still we just got all of this in the last week so there's a little bit to pick apart here and really figure out what direction it's all going to go in um my my thought process was maybe the the governor was going to appeal the decision in Milton and and get rid of those impact studies right I I don't know like it hasn't happened yet but she just did emergency regulations and you're right she might just ultimately say sorry this is what you're doing which is what I've said all along you you're not really giving us a choice but you're giving us a choice um we're already losing yeah and the other piece I mean people's appetite for the length of how this goes might change if it's three already zoned for something but outside of the zoning piece for us uh we're going to have to make a decision in the next 30 days not to spend the money but to whether or not to accept it and hold it or to just decline it because we have to get our action plans in um and see how that goes so it's an unfortunate piece for us because the timing is in fact terrible it is um but it is I think there is a way to balance both until we know more and then we can turn we can Decline and change our mind at any point we are able to notify them and like work through that process okay it did seem that it was going to move pretty quickly though yeah like in other words I don't know from when I was on uh with Nicole but also I I listened the next day to one of the seminars it seemed to be like they're going to send out those contracts going to get them back they they I mean if if we're we're going to be done with this in a year we need to move you know it takes some time to do an OPM and hire an arch like it takes some time it's um the RFP process alone is 3 months I'd say so I'm not sure that we have downtime in built in to say okay we're going to sign the contracts and then we're going to wait and see how this plays out I don't think that will work I think you'll end up being really behind the eightball on the other end so um I mean we can certainly have more conversation about it but it's a lot to over yeah well one thing I don't want is that's not putting up a fight I want to keep pushing forward right it's been a it's been a heck of a two years to get us to where we are today well 30 plus years to get us to where we are today let's face it I was the one first thing that people told me when I I first started running was library and console of Aging I I'm I want to see both of them built someday U but here we are at the mercy of the state in a sense right um yeah yeah I think we give it a shot and you're right cuz what if they do change their minds in 6 months and then we said no then all of a sudden there's a way of for us to say to stay yes um I just for for me it feels like we're going to need to build the structure anyway at some point so having the planning and design done is is a step ahead that we might not get a shot at doing in the next couple years um but it is it is a really tough call to make this decision and it also you know we were talking it's kind of hard because these are the people that the States attempting to help our disenfranchised community members that need access to these things um and taking away that money from us is harming those same people that they're wanting to help so um you know I've had this conversation with uh our represent our Senator Rodriguez to go through this and you know these are he's offered to have some phone calls about you know troubleshooting because he's he was excited for our community to get this because he knew how big the need was and visited our sites and oh yeah he hears it too he hears it from all the constituents that that are here telling us the same thing he definitely hears it from I know he hears it from us so I can only imagine what he hears it for when he comes out to town um any other questions that our board can answer for you I guess one question is so you said decision needs to be made in 30 days I think they're going to send out the contracts yeah soon I think it's going to go to you for you to get and I think it'll come to you first and then it will go it's like automated whoever I put as the person sign contract it's usually me sign so so then it will go out and you'll get the you'll get copied on the information so I think it's just like whether or not we're going to sign yeah contract I feel like for at least I'd like to get this on the next agenda just so more time to digest think about this maybe kind of and let me pick apart that thing and um and maybe get some more input on the the MBTA zoning and what how that's all working because that just got thrown down on us too W pretty freshh is that you guys comfortable that we're not saying no yet no we're so comfortable we just as long as it's on your thoughts um and really tonight was just to like the timing couldn't be any worse huh yeah and honestly I didn't put a a vote on the agenda so really I couldn't vote anyways it's perfectly fine I think that you probably could have voted tonight but I don't have it on there no just just mul it over and um we'll keep an eye on the next agendas and if there's more questions just let us know um and in the meantime you know we're grateful for so many people's help and getting to hear to even have these options to be able to talk about it yeah I I do want to say that um I do a lot of grant writing as you all know um this was one of the most complicated uh complex Grant applications that I have seen that I have encountered and I have done federal grants and state which are much more complicated than state grants but um it was a lot lot of work and Nicole did a great job at methodically pulling it apart and getting the partner that she needed to fill each part in and doing what and and and completing the pieces that didn't get put in by somebody else she she did spend a lot of time when we I know we had some uh weekly monthly meetings trying to make sure that I did my piece um and she did that with everybody making sure that they did their piece so this this is a great accomplishment whether we end up building this library or not I am proud I think that you should be extremely proud of yourself and the trustees as a whole this was no small feat uh there's a lot of competition in that Grant I worked for Hansen they wanted it then when I worked there back uh you know five years ago um extremely competitive and so you should be extremely proud of yourself and I think one way or another you're going to get a new library just may not be it may not be Grant funded we're going to have running water bathrooms on do we just take any water any yeah all the above and so you folks know this is a great achievement from this Library Committee of trust and everything else right the coal as well it's keep your heads up high regardless of where this takes us in six months this is a milestone of Milestones we're going to keep pushing forward all right I know we have limited options but we we will figure those options out and get the best one for our town today and tomorrow right hopefully it all works out you know we'll knock on wood find one knock on it um but great job to all of you right everyone that was involved don't give up I know it's easy to give up especially with some so much so many things ahead of us or potentially in front of us keep pushing don't give up we're all proud of you I know from from this side of the table we're definitely proud I'm sure people at home listening and watching they that they're screaming let's go we need another Library one piece at a time yeah right thank you all right thank you guys very much thank you thank you all right I'm going to move on now to agenda item four discussion and vote whether to approve the rules and regulations manual for civilian employees and volunteers for the police department as presented by police chief Rose Chief yes uh where to begin so um rules and regulations are the uh backbone of the police department identifies uh to the employee basically the code of conduct um years ago uh rules and regs were set in place spefic specifically for the police sworn officers on the other side we have our civilian dispatchers and for years we were able to um govern most of those employees with those two sets of rules and regulations now that uh our department is evolving and there are changes within the department we have civilian employees that no longer are covered under the uh dispatchers rules and regulations they're more a part of the police entity and those uh positions are the uh the secretary um potentially lockup attendants who are not members of the uh dispatch traffic controllers which are fairly new within the past couple years and uh the volunteers that we take in as uh uh student interns so these um rules and regulations that I presented to the board are basically Mirror Image to the rules and regs to the other enti entities uh that I just mentioned um one of the questions you might have is you know why have another set of rules and regulations on the police side for civilians well the honest answer is this that the rules and regs that are re uh written for the police and are directed to a sworn officers only has nothing to do with civilians so it it was easier to create another set of rules and regulations specifically for civilians and those volunteers um they Mirror Image to uh dispatch identifies all the um code of conducts uh generalized in that uh close to 60 page document y um but it's something that is needed going forward that I already predicting a problem with accreditation if we don't have this in place for those employees and those volunteers so I'm getting ahead of it now um I'm hoping you guys had a chance that you take a look at it but if you had some questions about that be happy my favorite one was there's no sleeping while on duty that was my favorite it's important it's it's important um just so you know uh when I received this I send this to uh labor Council right um because my concern is overlap with Union right um so he has not had a chance to completely review it so I just want his comments back and then we'll uh if whatever if if if attorney Joe fa has any concerns I'll relay them with you and we'll we'll figure that out but I just um I think you know when you're you're talking about with the within the town There's multiple layers of employees and I need to you know we've got five unions we have bylaw employees we have elected officials we have contract employees I need to see how this fits into that um because even if there a civilian employee working within the police department they may fall under one of my unions or they may be a by our employee by so I need to make sure that it doesn't overlap um in in a in a bad way right so I did send it to Joe fa who has all of our unions and whatnot just to take a peek at it to see if we had any complicated issues that it was going to create any issues and he hasn't had a chance to look at it so should we vote just to avoid if there I think good case good chance comes back with no issues should we vote pending council's approval sure does that make sense sure I'm not in a uh crunch time I have time here um I'm already looking at my accreditation assessment to be in November okay so I got plenty of time here but uh it's definitely worthwhile to yeah having Town Council look at I can walk through those positions real quickly to say that our current Secretary is not a part of a CBA she's under the Personnel bylaw the lockup attendants under the Personnel bylaw uh traffic controllers are at will employees then not and then the volunteers volunteers so the cbas are not going to be invol but we do have Personnel bylaw so like said there's like there's pieces of this and I just we're in the process of creating um handbook for for the employees so that's another piece of this so um a lot going on there and I just I just want to make sure we're all on the same page when we and I'm fine with you approve M at subject two cuz if there's anything that Town Council comes back with I think that Chief and I and Town Council could figure it out sure yeah I don't think it's all right one question Chief like many things when it comes to like well established police procedures and everything else was this um taken from another police station or police department and you kind of retrofit it to Fe fit our own or did you just kind of write it up your on yourself um honestly this goes back to uh the former Chief and the first set of rules and regulations I think were drafted like around 2005 2006 and then they were amended in uh 2013 um then going forward looking at the situation that we're dealing with now I only took the current uh rules and regs from both those entities and created this one here for the uh civilian employees and the volunteers yeah it reads well it it it sounds like you put a lot of work into this well it reads as though you put a lot of work into this so um yeah I spent a lot of time obviously um this is my Niche this is what I've been doing for years with accreditation um I'm not really sure if you get the digital version but it's all hyperlink so if you want a specific location you want to jump to you hit it brings you to that spot like I said I think it's a 60-page document so um yeah it's pretty involved pretty it again to address all the Cod conduct issues that we expect to our employees yep ambiguity is never good in these things so I like to I'd rather have it dtic all right yeah um good yeah good okay so with that so I'll entertain a motion uh to approve the rules and regulations manual for civilian employees and volunteers for the police department um pending uh review from Council I make that motion second all in favor I all all right so you're not off the hook yet Chief I don't think okay uh thank you very much for that though so next is um this is Gen item five discussion of vote whether to declare the 2013 uh Chev Chevy Capri from uh Freetown Police Department flea as Surplus and what to do this vehicle am I saying that right Capri Capri correct classic um read up the memo so yeah like I think the big important thing here is just that this has been just the car has been disc they don't make this model anymore we're having trouble getting parts for it it's totally not at all in line with the rest of the fleet therefore it's just more of a pain to work on it um makes sense to me that we hold this one off this is the oldest car on the fleet and um we've weighed out the issues about is it worthwhile dumping more money into it being is it going to be cost effective the vehicle is only a two whe drive not a big problem you know it so it adds up um and even at that this age of this vehicle you don't know what else is lurking around the corner brake lines will start the rot you know all these other little things will appear so um I have a 2015 car and my check engine light came on this week and I have to go back to Audi not looking forward to it oh no not AI it's not going to be cheap uh yeah I get it so um I guess you know this might be putting the cart for the horse a little bit but if we say list this some unib bid uh should we discuss kind of a minimum bit on it yeah um I mean do we have any idea what this will I did not estimate the current value of the car um looks nice be honest with you it would have to go up on a lift and take a look at what it looks like underneath you might be dealing with rot you don't even see I can say that the body's in good shape shape we have some minor dents and scratches but uh other than that it's it looks good from the outside it's the the unknowns that that we're dealing with and and the uh you know the engine light and the ABS stuff that's so this like under like the white one right but the pictures in are so it's not like a regular Cruiser correct um the former Chief uh had an opportunity to purchased two of these um years ago and we he got a real good price on it and uh they were mainly for admin cars okay um but it's yeah it's it's we got our money's worth out of it and it's starting to show issues yeah and I and I talked to you about taking it for an admin car for the town hall but I think it's got too many issues I don't want it it's going to cause more grief yeah I think just put it on M bed and maybe $2,000 or we can look at Kelly Blue Book and go from there yeah so I can put that into the uh just whatever the you know if we put the quality like you know how tell you put like the condition put it fair to PO or something yeah and we could just put it listed at whatever that is because the engine lights's on which doesn't mean it's in poor condition engine light and ABS light don't know if it's sensors it could be something more major it's it's the unknown I mean we could hold on to it longer and maybe it'll be an antique and worth you're not too far from it right another s years right 20 years right so get there it's so deceiving when you look at it like that's a that's a 2013 looks like a modern car still yeah yeah my car is 2015 yeah it's crazy how it's 10 years old now we keep up with our vehicles pretty well um but like I said AG is the the factor here and the current issues with the vehicle um okay any questions or concerns let's put her off the pasture all right so with that I'll a motion to declare the 2013 Chevy Capri from the Freetown Police Department as Surplus and to list it on bid um with the minimum bid price being the low range of the Kelly Blue Book value motion made second all in favor I I that makes sense there's enough wiggle room there yes okay think you're done with us Chief thank you very much hang out but you know no that's quite all right Mrs Rose misses me all right have a good evening thank okay moving on to agenda six this is discussion of vote whether to approve um but not release the executive session minutes from 1 16 2025 I'll a motion to approve not release those those EXA session minutes I'll second all in favor I I uh agend item 7 I'll intend a motion to approve the Open Session minutes from 12 to 2024 that motion motion made I'll second all in favor I I okay and now agenda item eight is a presentation from Gman um Pon Inc GPI from potential phase two of the South Main Street side project we have Jim here this is the project that that we asked for to add sidewalk and sometimes it's better if they just present it so you can yeah I will just a heads up we do have a a scheduled open Hearing in 12 minutes so do you think it's going to take longer than that no okay should be all right great you can make it as quick as you want yeah we were asked to look at a second sidewalk on the east side of uh South Main Street between High Street and anham way um we've done that and um the sidewalks are easy to design and construct or they have a couple of issues to it um so bottom line is um the the most critical area is um in front of the pla Cemetery where the slope goes up um we did look at it trying to um build the sidewalk and then just gr up to the cemetery wall that wouldn't work on a 2 to1 um slope anything steeper at two to one we were going to have to do RIP wrap the entire slope and I don't think that would be seeing this as a you know within a national uh the register of historic places I don't think that would be uh uh appropriate way to go so we've we've done a similar wall in West Bridgewater and that was built the picture on the top of that that was built this year um earlier in the spring um l out of Fall River did the work on it and um you know they they came up with old Stones we wouldn't want anything new we want something that blends into that slope the wall itself is about the same size it's only about 2 feet high um so it's not going to be intrusive but I think you know that type of wall will fit in um you know I couldn't think of anything else there's a different type of wall that um is also historic and we were going to use this at one spot where you just use it's old railroad blocks they're about 2x two by by8 mhm but a lot of times you can't get consistency in them and you know sometimes you'll get one that's 6ot wall 6 foot long and it's not square and things like that so we looked at that um the only other issue out there is the utility poles um there's one that would have to be either braced or um they'd have to drive some sheeting in front of it and the second wall uh second utility pole is over on the corner of the cemetery as you're going north it's between the cemetery and I believe that's uh the brown property next door to it um that one would need to be moved that you know we looked at ending the wall just short of that utility pole so we didn't have to move the pole but still we have the same slope issue if you go out there you'll still see the same slope um possibly we could do some rip wrap but you know I think um the easiest well it's not the easiest because it's never easy when you move in utility poles but the best solution seem to be moving that utility pole um so other than that going further south I mean it's just everything will fit in we didn't see any other issues going all the way down on anham way um so it's just it's just in that area um we don't propose any new Crossings we would uh we would narrow down High Street a little bit because that's a very wide open flare and we'd narrow that down about 15 ft for the crossing so it's less of time to cross them there um and then yeah you have the crosswalk just north of High Street and there's one right by Simpson Lane MH right yeah I think it's one I'm nodding him as well they they started right yeah yeah yeah and we also came up with an estimate of the cost and um with everything um uh you know construction costs and the remaining of the design and procurement and construction admin it came out to be a little bit less than 300,000 on that how much um a little less than 3 295 That's not including I mean utility poles are supposed to be you know they're supposed to move them on their their own so yeah that's designed I'm just wondering if there's a grant I can get like a sh I wonder if like a shed Street grant that would help um I know they capped at about 250 how I mean I don't think it's one of the things in my complete streets um thing so I think I don't think I could get a complete Street Grant and of course all mbta's they going to Calla that back too they they're they're claing back everything so far that I've seen so they they originally said a few like big ones but now I'm seeing even the little ones like I told you the little safety Grant to the fire department they're taking so I I don't recycling Grant they took 7500 bucks yeah so I'm not sure I was just wondering if there was grants um yeah there's a shared space shared streets of spaces Grant which just Clos last just a week ago yeah but it does it open again in in the spring it might um I know there's that whole um what it one stop for one stop for growth but I don't know that there's anything that those are the big ones Mass work so I don't think it would and it would fit I can look I mean I definitely can look one of the thoughts that does come to my mind though is I do think regardless of the sidewalk which is expensive um that crosswalk on High Street I think that that closing that in would be really beneficial cuz that is real tough there and it's wide open and people come across the street from the church and they they sometimes park down there you know what I mean and that is crazy how wide open it is there mhm and I I we did look at um we think of moving that crosswalk to pretty much right across from the rec there um problem with that too is you need a wheelchair ramp there and they have that 3ft stone wall so once I put the wheelchair ramp in it exposes like two or three inches of the bottom of that wall I don't know you know it's I don't know if that wall is like right flush with the sidewalk as it is now or if it does have some sort of footing so sometimes one thing leads into another and it just you know it we just recommended just leaving the crosswalks where they were yeah well this is where this came from from watching people trying to navigate one sidewalk to the other then navigating like whether it was a mother with with stroller or somebody with a walker or wheelchair trying to go around the poles and I kept walk watching these individuals go onto the street back onto the and going around the pole around the mailbox when there's a perfectly good sidewalk on the other side that goes all the way to Far River so to me it was a a no-brainer so I'm wondering if there's a Ada Grant out there for this because would benefit a lot of people Ada our senior population um well anybody any population not just a seniors not to call them out but Ada just closed too but I mean I could apply for all of them you know you just you H once you write it it's written you can and you just tweak it for the purpose that you're writing it for um but I think that this this is probably enough for me to start a Grant application um unless it's something you want to fund at town meeting I don't have funding right now obviously but I wanted the work has been done for a bit I wanted them to uh Jim to present it to the board so that they they ask for it so you know and you can make that decision when we get closer to well we're in budget season now so it's something that if we have funding you may want to do may not want to do you may want to do parts of it not other parts of it right so yeah I mean there should be MBTA money for this really because like this main Street's going to be so much busier yeah well and that helps the grant applications right like I said we got a new MBTA station it's you know in order to walk you know to public transportation like because where the other side of the sidewalk is where the Where the Sidewalk Ends now you have to cross back over to High Street sidewalk is tough all the way up the poles are right in the middle of it it's really hard to actually walk on the sidewalk but you so you me like it's funny because our our the public hearing we have is regarding moving a pole not this poll though different po so like is it uh they should pay for that right one with they generally they do pay to if we request it yeah they they usually pay for it it's just difficult to get them to do it the um the pole that's right in front of the rectory that's the worst one of the whole stretch right there too the one reason I recall when we were out there with Chuck McCumber um there are three Rises that come out and I think they go out to the church or whatever anything dealing with the Rises of those lines would actually have to be paid for by the town the you know the the utility company is supposed to pay for moving the pole back but then the town would be responsible for having to do all the electrical work um to reconnect those wires up to the Riser so that was the reason why you know unfortunately yeah it's stuck right in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of the church it's not a great spot not a great spot at all yeah yeah well theyve been I mean everu has been working on putting a lot underground up up um South Main Street further I don't know what their plans are maybe I can ask them but the problem with anything in this town is you're dealing with Verizon Comcast and ever Source all three of them have to touch the project and that's where we get tangled up and it's not this ones it's that one and it's not that one is that one and you can just go around in circles with those three entities MH all right yeah this is very good I think uh we have some decisions to make and uh try to get some grant money there's nothing we can vote on tonight right no it was just a presentation so you knew it I really appreciate coming down and you're welcome thank you so much looks this looks awesome now we just got to figure out how to pay for it the hard part as it always is thank you quickly too thanks for solving that issue with about the stone wall that was my concern you know yeah and I I always you know having dealt with a historical you know knowing what they'd like and PR yeah keep the aesthetic and yeah yeah I get it all right I'll do abatements real quick item 9 this is discussion of vote whether approve evence abatements are right off for December 2024 in the sum of $ 22665 4380 um I will entertain motion to approve those ml abatements motion made uh second all in favor I I maybe well let's uh you have two minutes War you might want to hold hold on that one you could do yes all right J 11 we're going to come back and hold on 10 discussion of vote whether to accept the $100 donation to the Council on Aging from the pitch club and I saw on the note that the pitch Club has been using the facilities there and so they out of their gratitude they donated $100 fantastic so we appreciate that um uh maybe yeah is uh any questions or concerns any comments no so with that allent a motion to accept the $100 donation the C from the pitch Club motion made I'll second that all in favor I I maybe 13 so 13 so this is uh discussion of vote on increasing Outreach worker hours and funding increases uh using the formula grant fund spending C on Aging um pending C on Aging approval I read that in the packet as well I think that you have a really good case to increase these hours I me hard to arue yeah it seems like the work that's been done has been you know super impactful um and we appreciate that I honestly wasn't aware that there was only that many hours right now um so I totally they PID for by a grant yeah and the grant runs out in June right this something we all discussed when we first started this right it's like we got to open this up and we got to realize probably two two little of ours right so here we are very quickly she's become indispensable so and that's the word for it I just I can't keep up now yeah so um I need her this is a good problem though I see this is a good problem it is a well it's a good and a bad problem I guess depending on the way you look at it we've had some rough cases lately but um yeah it's I need her so yeah yeah well our aging population is just growing right it's becoming such a big part of our Town population so we we I think it's not unforeseeable that this is what's going to happen we're going to need more staff to help um take care of them appropriately the way the town should take care of them I think I think this is one of the first conversations we had you asked me what you thought I I would need and right away within the first month I think I said I an Outreach worker so this is where we're at and 20 months later this is definitely where we're at has it been 20 months already 20 months isn't it crazy yeah fine I know stuff done I like it I like it and so we're talking about going from So currently it's 8 hours if I remember that correctly and and like to go to up to 20 up to 20 and and with some flexibility you know what I mean so that she might work 16 one week she might work eight the next week because of course she's still doing our community program right which is awesome so we don't want to lose that either yeah um so that'll be a a discussion how we how we work that with the budget season coming up but for right now they have the money in the Formula 1 Grant um I think the town needs this I I've thought that for a while we're just sort of working it in here yeah yeah this makes a lot of sense to me I've talked to many of my board members one on one and um almost all of them six of them are in full agreement of it we didn't take a formal vote but verbally and through email and whatnot individually they're all in agreement perfect yeah as I speechless said it's um you know a lot of good points made we do have growing population that it's going to need more and more of our help and this tells them that hey we're here to help you right a lot of towns maybe not may not have this opportunity but I'm glad to say that we do and let's let's keep going all right keep doing keep doing what you're doing uh we hear a lot of great things from from both of you and from the population you serve to the people you work with we're very proud of you and if it's a good warm feeling inside knowing that you know it's still good in this world thank you so all right so that a motion to increase Outreach worker hours um from 8 to 20 hours um and funding increase using the formula grant pending the count on Aging Port approval motion made I'll second that all in favor I I thank you thank you very much thank you very much welcome so now here's one more item number 15 the van oh yeah should did that real quick I'm fine I can start the hearing a couple minutes later right it's not too early yep I made that mistake before okay item 15 so this is the um this is whether or not to approve and sign the sales order from National Van builders for the Council on Aging van I saw the plans was like was it 90,000 kind of round two huh I said this is kind kind of round two um we didn't get the first van that we were going for um so this one is I'm told is not going to get taken from us so is it just we moved too slow last time what happened was it was the chassis we were waiting for I guess they didn't get the it was a Ford Transit van and they didn't get the chassis for it long story short but um these are on we have the VIN number for this one so we know this is not going to get taken from us so and we're using um Grant monies and air mark monies and they have to be spent by a certain date so yeah we couldn't we couldn't delay anymore with waiting for the Ford Transit van which we're still waiting for one of our town vehicles that has been ordered like 18 months ago so um it's a real problem um so Rebecca went and pounded the pavement and found another van that will work for her needs and we'll be able to utilize the grant funding which I think is 50,000 in total between two toal and I I followed up with both the um Senator rodri's office and they're fine with you know the June 30th deadline now we had to prolong that and then um I followed up with mcoa and they were able to um uh agree to the change of vehicle so we're all set with that so the 50 Grand is is fine and the rest was funded at a uh a town meeting so we have the funding all right perfect that's great awesome any questionss yeah more good news so I love it yeah all right perfect so with that iend motion to approve and sign the sales order from National B builders for the Council on Aging B motion made second that all in favor I I all right anything else to these two I think that's it for you all right you get his application for uh a comic night he said he was turning it in oh really yeah that's what he told us we stay on do that's actually like one of my biggest fears I to do like five minutes elevator speeches I have totally unfounded anxiety about that terrifying okay is that that's me that's you okay that's us um think we're good all right so now we do the public hearing okay congratulations so I'm going to read the public notice town of Freetown public notice um is this what I need to read yep right correct okay uh NSTAR Electric Company DBA eversource energy request permission to locate uh poles wires cables and fixtures including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures to be owned and used by your petitioner along and across uh the following public way or ways South Main Street Freetown instelling One new uh fo stub pole with anchor to be labeled 99 SL 55- s approximately 75 ft north of existing pole 99/55 wherefore we pray that due uh after due notice and hearing as provided by law we be granted locations for permissions to erect and maintain poles wires and cables with such sustaining and protective features as we may find necessary said polls to be erected substantially in uh uh accordance with the plan filed here uh herewith marked plan number PP 02277 1113 dated November 22nd 2024 also for permission to lay and maintain underground cables conduits wires and necessary equipment in the above or intersecting public ways for the purpose of making connections with the pools and buildings as each may desire for Distributing purposes your petitioner agrees to reserve space for one crossarm at a suitable point on each each uh of said polls for the fire police Telephone and Telegraph that's interesting uh signal wires belonging to the municipality and used by it exclusively for municipal purposes a hearing to consider all the above will be held on January 21st 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at the police station community room 15 memoral Drive East retail Mass persons interested in um commenting may appear at this public hearing if unable to attend the public hearing comments may be submitted in writing no later than close the business on Wednesday January 5th 2025 two Boris Selman three North me massett signed by the board so with that I'll open the public hearing how was a lot hello are you representing NSTAR yes I am good evening of the board say your name for the record yes my name is Jessica ELO representing urce thank you for having me this evening thank you urce is requesting to install and all that a lot of that that standard stuff is is just standard on the petition it doesn't apply to this particular job yeah um so we're requesting to install one fully owned pole which is owned by urce there's no one else on the pole it's a stub pole um and it's also has an anchor so it's coming from it will be uh coming from an existing pole that's on the corner South Main Street in copicut um and that pole that's existing is 99 over 55 and we'll go on approximately 75 ft across the street to uh install that poll you know we understand the concerns of it being near the Wetland um and we did have our environmental team go out and Survey the area um and they found that um well the Wetland protection act in order to be exempt has to be within like I think it's 10 ft or more and this is actually 40 ft uh this pole will be uh right about the edge of the wet on the shoulder y the road um and uh you know probably I always say 7 to 10 days for installation but it's usually a couple of days we're in our winter season you never know what's going to what's going to happen um I'm not sure how busy the area is I know that's South Main Street um if if a detail is necessary we certainly will request one um and any disturbance to the area will be put back to the way it was if not better fantastic fun question because this just top of mind we just had a conversation right before you got here about an NSTAR poll okay uh this poll also on Ministry issue we're running into is that it's like right in the middle of a sidewalk right where so like we like mothers pushing or people pushing uh it's pain so like that's an issue we're want to talk about down the road this particular Pole where it's being moved to um I don't think there is a sidewalk right because it's if it's going up Copic cot maybe there is though be right on the shoulder of yeah and what what I'm thinking about here so that's that's it's actually going to be on self made self yeah so you know they're putting MBTA station like right down the street there there going be a lot more foot traffic than there currently is okay in this region especially like specifically here I just want to make sure that where this pole goes it doesn't um have to be moved shortly if if we end up you know improving the sidewalks okay there so I just want to I kind want to look at a Google map real quick what what is the purpose of this pool for the new Serv for the solar array the one up on cut cut C which is is that uh the Gravel Pit I think it's now in yeah probably but I mean they're putting the pole over here so they cross the street right so right now it's on the our side of South Main and they're moving it to the corner of Koba and South Main like where were the old is yeah I think right here this is the new pole I think this is no oh I'm misreading it then yeah and the St hole is usually for support and it's it is going to be able to support the the uh existing po that's there now maybe I don't know what a stub pole is I I'm confused if you look at the plan um it doesn't show an existing pole it shows a proposed St pole on the right hand side of South Main Street yep yep yeah so the the existing can you come up maybe yeah absolutely would that be helpful yeah yeah I'm looking at it now here so I have it up my computer too okay um so this is your the existing the opposite what I thought so it's going across here so right so you're this is not according to scale but so it's obviously going to be correct be so you're saying there's already a pole here mhm you need this one for support but there's no other pole around here so it's not supporting another pole no it's supporting that pole because there A lot of times especially with the uh solar uh solar array and if there's more equipment on here then it becomes too much equipment too too heavy to support and we need to put another pole so is it like intercepting between this pole say and another pole down here now you're you're making the distance shorter to so that it's not so on the pole it it doesn't make sense to me how this pole supports that pole is it is it the wires long like where is where does this run now I'm not sure if there's any slack um in the wire and they needed to put another pole to to to support it literally I I apologize I've been out for 3 or four months and just coming to theend like I don't know where this goes where does it go this is here and this is going right but where does it go now where does it go now that's where it's going to go but where does it go I got I I got a good visual here okay so we have this is the existing pole go it's going to go somehow over here right right yes so I it's going to cross the street Trevor do making any sense like the supporting does it mean structural support does it mean like holding more equipment more equipment it's not like a structural supporting pole cuz it can only the poles Can Only Hold so they're just going to put a pole there with and and they're going to hang a bunch of equipment on it and they're going to run wires back and forth to it so it's going to you know what I'm saying it is weird because you think it' be like if the rest of the of the stuff is on this side of the street like there's nothing on this side of the street there's a lot there's a lot of uh equipment so it's just going to run like a wire is going to run over or underneath I don't know in an anchor in an an there's going to be a pull in an anchor which is going to support that poll I mean I'm not an engineer but doesn't make a lot of sense to me I don't know I don't know what I'm talking well if there's too much equipment on there and that pole can't can't withstand uh the equipment then you need another pole to support yeah but why would you cross the street with that pole why wouldn't you put that pole in the same in the same line with these other poles not an engine I'm not sure um I'm honestly I don't cuz see what I'm saying like if you look on this side of the stre down you know well that's I guess there's something there's something maybe it's like this so see hair is something house yeah that's oh that's Bobby we's house Bobby Weaver's house yeah I say that is that Bobby Weaver's property Yeah well yeah it is and you're right on the property line so Bobby Reaver is right here Johanna Wilson and this is this is this is before before their house a little bit because it's on the property line they put in the pole and it's like obviously over the god Rail and yeah in the wetlands but there is yeah it's like this there is the pole here already right this this poll they probably already did the work no this is know how they do things it's not us well yes sometimes you guys put the polls in before you ask our first po there's times in my department isn't aware that and it really does reflect and yeah believe me we we lay into them because it just you know it's a yeah we've had we've had that I get it but I think it's going to be exactly like this so like on side of the street they have this pole which is like anchoring this I see it okay I this might be the first time I've brought up Google Maps as a part of a though I think it's helpful it's helpful for us to all at least understand yeah no exactly I think sometimes the plans are a little you know a little different yeah no it's yeah and it's just like things look so much different on plans they do when you look at it like you know then things start to make more sense all right any any other questions or concerns before I close the public hearing and then we can vote on this no right okay so any concerns with like weather like do they have to dig to do this and stuff or I mean I've asked that before and like I think they have the equipment to do stuff year round yeah it's not a lot to put a pole in the ground to believe it or not they just they Ram it in like it's not like they dig and they it's not like they dig they they just kind of I just I just to my house uh tree snapped the pole they came out they had the augur out dug it down by the time the augur was done they were already lifting the pole in the air when the AUG was being moved the pole being dropped in it was they were done withinin within the hour they're not digging up the road or it was a big pole yeah it was quick so I geed out watched it all and then my original concern is null and void because it's on the side of the street doesn't have a right oh right right right so that that's a good yeah it doesn't it's not it's not on the sidewalk there no side which is good okay so with that a motion to close the public hearing SEC oh motion made I'll second that all in favor I I and then I'll just jump to agenda item 21 um this is yeah Abol thanks for being here I motion to um approve the request for the um moving the poll on souban Street motion second that all in favor I I does that suffice mhm okay all right so now we will jump back to let me find my 10 7:15 10 yep okay so this is um J 10 discussion and vote whether to open approve close warrant for submissions make recommendations and close the uh 224 2025 special town meeting warrant and sent it to Town Council for review I did look at what we had so [Music] far everything looked pretty reasonable um yeah what page am I going to to start this you can I'll figure out at mine if you ' 90s and '94 which is so helpful having that by the way right I when I'm at home I have like one screen has the agenda one screen has the packet like makes it so much easier uh I place down now maybe I I like literally read this here it is here it is yeah okay anything specifically you want to talk about on here oh there's I mean this is you know a light lift in comparison to a lot of stuff we've done um a lot just housekeeping for the most part I can quickly run through them um the first one listed now we we sometimes renumber them and move them as we're uh finalizing things request for a prior year invoice you know if we don't get the invoices in by June 30th we can't pay them in the in in the next fiscal year so if something that like that pops up we have to put an article on town meeting to pay a prior year question about that is there a way for us to get around that like is there a way for us to have a bylaw change or something that nature or is it State like is it I know I don't know if there's a way we could fund put a like a 10 $5,000 like yeah $5,000 um something that could be approved by fincom if in fact um a prior year um just to be a little more efficient because I feel like there's always these on there's always one yeah I I can check into it but for this one we need to okay but this was June 30th bill that just got missed so it's not like it people weren't doing their job or anything like that just got missed understood um the police station needs an upgrade to their phone system it will no longer be supported the current phone system so they need to upgrade the system this is going to upset people just because we just built this building it's a I think it's three years right is it like four years the phone system is no longer being supported one one other question on this one I thought about is got the police confed yeah which I understand like it is what it is right but I'm just saying like we should prepare for people be like how is that possible which you know it's more software driven than it is actual physically I think the physical phones are okay it's the software that drives the whole system and it's complicated system with the police station the only other thought I have is once we if we get the fiber money yeah will there be a change that we need to do to the communication systems I think we've already wired this building for fiber okay um so I do not think so I think we're all set here okay because you see what I'm saying there right like because then like in three years once the fiber projects done we have to go back and say hey by the way we need to uh update the PO but okay in 15,000 it's not like it's I think you can explain it better to I um you know um I think it's more complicated than just the you know like our town hall phone system yeah I'm sure I mean think about it right like it's very important like uh 911 can't go down yeah so um it's $15,000 it's just a funding article um tax title payment plan bylaw change so we we enacted a bylaw that says if you're behind in your taxes you can make a payment plan but you have to put 25% down and you have up to 10 years to pay it back or or five years I forget the years um the and we base that off of Master General law the master law change and said you can you can reduce the deposit down to 10% which uh we we we there's a few of us myself and Patty and and c and we discussed we think it's um something that makes sense only because generally people don't have 25% to pay down they would have paid it anyway and they can't go into payment plan and we really don't want to take people's houses we're not in the business of taking people houses we want them to be able to pay their T back taxes so this is just the change from 25 to 10% and was there a change in master law that allows us to do that yes okay that makes a lot of sense it just sort of crossed in our last town meeting so um so I that's a great change yeah I think it'll be helpful um the oh the the Council on Aging board they want to add alternates to the Council on Aging board and it's a bylaw so that just needs to be amended to allow that to happen easy peasy the municipal fiber project which I've talked about I need funding I have grant funding in the amount of $335,000 and I'm looking to match it at $350,000 can they steal our grant money for the I don't think so because I think we we already have it sitting in our bank account and I'm going to get this thing going before July anyways it's are you signed a contract to have um somebody do the engineering and stuff so that's already underway right um just keep in mind that at this town meeting we can't raise an appropriate any funds we have to go from we we can only use uh cash funds so everything is from where we're spending is from because of the type of meeting it is yeah y all the money is from um free cash so it's so when you so just so keep that in mind this isn't going to be any tax increases or anything like that um the in increase tax credit for senior workof program I'm not sure who's suggested this one but you know we have seen that come and do work for the town in return for credit on their real estate tax bill they currently can uh work up to up and get $1,500 that this has been proposing to increase it to 2,000 I have to just vet these a little bit and make sure they've gone through the proper channels but that's a suggestion I'm sure there's got to be L about that too yeah yeah um and then there's a similar for the veterans workof program we do have veterans that um come and uh go to work the town and um in return for instead of a paycheck they get some money off their real estate taxes and so this is to increase that as well um the disposal of personal property in our bylaw it and I was just looking at this today it says that anything that is valued at greater than $5,000 technically needs to go to town meeting so that's crazy yeah I'm like 5,000 and we we just roughly penciled in 10 and I'm like I think it should be like 25 like what are we going to go to town meeting for and then it you still have to auction it off it's it it's you know I would say anything over 10,000 as long as it's auctioned off and it's it's through a fair like it's a public auction public auction you know I mean if it I can understand there's if it was through like a private kind of thing that there's opportunity there for for some from sketchy activity yeah or if you were going to send sell a building yes you need to go to town meeting for approval but I'm like I think we sold the car for 5200 so like okay I mean we didn't expect that but so we technically needed to go to town meeting to get that approv that's crazy and this is just I'm sure it's a very dated bylaw that the inflation adjusted number is probably much over $10,000 so yeah so I'm just trying to clean that up um you know there's a citizen petition that we've heard of that we don't have yet I'm expecting it to to get here before the before this is finalized and I think that's it do you have the this one the Morton Building Morton Building the Morton Building um I have spoken to Chuck while we're we're planning on bringing this one he wants to wait until the spring yeah I thought I saw the oh the citizens it's in here but it's not it's in here but it's not it's not validated yet okay and this is should we talk about what it is you can oh yeah you I me we don't have a choice whether like we don't seriously but it's it's it's the it's to allow concealed carry at municipal building buildings um because based on some new gun regulations municipal buildings were have been U prohibited buildings this is a bylaw that change or this is a change that will allow us to uh kind of carve out certain buildings to not be protected buildings or prohibited prohibited areas the terminology so that this is a petition that folks are putting together to make that change all right any concerns any issues no is we're missing anything not that I'm aware of at this moment but you know things come up every day in that fre time of free town I was like night's still early all right perfect like I said I think it's going to be a a quick meeting I'm not expecting any any big anything um so what vote do you need now close it approve I think we just want you to vote to close it and uh send it to Town Council for review okay T motion to close the uh 224 2025 special town meeting warrant and submit it to council for review motion made I'll second that all in favor I I and I I I know I gave you my dates I am going to be here for that right yes for something for some reason I thought it was a 27th and I was like pretty sure I'm do there um great so that takes care of 10 we already did 11 we now need to do 12 this is discussion vote whether to approve the agreement between the town Freetown and riverhawk environmental and this is for the I'm going to butcher this uh Wetland assessment um for a piece of property over on BL Road um any questions or concerns $5,800 a good deal it's a good price okay all right so with that I a motion to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and riverhawk environmental motion made I'll second that I'll favor I I all right we already did item 13 um item 14 acknowledge setting up Freetown Dogo email addresses for planning and zoning boards of appeals members and I like how these are all uh just set up so that they are just like board seat one board seat 2 right therefore as we know boards are constantly changing emails can be switched over to other people and we can have continuity so that makes sense to me any questions continuity the same thing this way if they come and go we still have the emails and all the records perfect and make sure they know that yeah that's an important I'm sure we have we must have a policy like there's a memo that goes out that tells them the dos and don't you have to save everything and can't delete everything can't save everything don't delete anything no personal stuff M don't write anything in email with that email that you wouldn't want to be in the newspaper I can that that is correct that is a important thing to live by all right so with that well I don't have to do anything there no vote just acknowledging it all right awesome J item 16 so we already did 15 so I'm move on to 16 uh discussion of what to approve the following policies uh so policy 16a or sorry agenda item a 16a is 6.1 motor fuel uh Vehicle Tax commitments and Billings which immediately gave me a panic today that I was like did I pay myot my motor which I still didn't check so I have to make sure I did that and then B is the Motor Vehicle Tax um Payment Processing um not the most exciting documents they all seem to be pretty standard and nothing jumped out on me as being uh I I was totally fine getting to the end of the policiy we're getting now yeah know boring is good M all right so with that all a motion to approve uh policy 6.1 and 6.2 motion made I'll second all in favor I I all right agenda item 17 discussion of vote to set the pay rate for the winter 20 24 and 2025 sander only I don't know I don't think I saw this yet I did ask um Chuck momer who suggested $130 an hour so this is just like PL plowing but just for sanding yeah they don't have a plow they would just be sanding $130 an hour and Mr Pope is here right yeah joke rather did he did he say what he's going to use that vehicle for I'm not sure where where is he going to use the sander for the snowstorms he has his own sander this be cont I think he said something about the police station did he talk about loc he he just said put in the paperwork you guys will vote on it and we'll go from there okay okay I it is the name of your company grass gone wild yes that is me I love that thank you they do go work around town lot volunteer work as well with all our facilities as far as baseball football and everything else so glad to see that you made it to the table here um I love helping you guys out and staying in town so my good buddy Brandon Zulo owns Lawn Lawn in order yeah he's a good guy yeah uh all right so first first thing so this so Chuck recommend 1 130 an hour 130 an hour that seems reasonable to me any questions or concerns with that it's in line with the all the municipalities out there so okay so with that I'll a motion uh to set the perod for the winter 2024 2025 Senter only rate at $130 an hour motion make second that all F all favor I all right and then now for Benjamin jope am I saying that right J yeah uh so with that um all paperworks in everything's good yep um so you own a sander huh yeah yeah that's a sure that's not a cheap piece of equipment to get hopefully it doesn't break we'll be good right all right great so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the snow P application for Benjamin jope for uh grass Gone Wild for the winter 2024 2025 sander motion made I'll second that all in favor I all thank you guys very welcome I wish you should have spoken up I could have got you way earlier in the agenda but you maybe you learned something I'm good I'm good here watching so all right awesome all right so now I'll kick it over to Personnel all right thank you thank you all right item agenda number 19 on the Personnel Board discussion in V to approve the updated data acquisition and infrastructure maintenance job description like many of you out there may think this was an IT position you'd be wrong this is for waterline infrastructures so this is just our continued effort to update all the job descriptions here in town so that when we do put it out there we know exactly what we're hiring and the folks applying know exactly what they're applying for so this is just uh another one uh that has been checked off U any questions concerns no there's a word I don't know in this essential oh the a word yeah the uh it's like apparatuses but it's not I throw apparatuses as well and I stayed away from it a p p u r t n a n c s perces perance I've never seen that word before like I mean I'm obviously there's a lot of words I haven't seen so I wouldn't I'm not saying it's wrong I just say I haven't seen it before other than that one word I think everything else looks pretty straightforward and um this is a vital vital job here in uh in free Town any town really to make sure that our water lines are up to up to Specs um from meters to systems to all the your Butters you name it this person does a lot of great work I was thinking about like lifting 100 lounds that's pretty yeah that's a part of the description usually you have people most job descriptions of 30 40b maybe 50b 100 lb that's it is a lot I just carried I think 40 lbs of rock salt I thought all those cast iron pipes we have on the ground that crack and break they have to lift them up a lot of heavy stuff all right with that all right Iain the motion to approve the updated data acquisition infrastructure maintenance job description I'll make that motion all in favor I second all in favor I I all right item agenda 20 discussion and vote with to approve the following appointments a Brenda Simmons a senior clerk part-time planning zba effective 127 2025 through 630 2025 B Nina Dumont as recording clerk for economic development committee building committee finance committee Council of agent Library building Community Building committee bylaw Review Committee in commission on disability zba conservation Comm and planning board effective 1:22 2025 through 6:30 2025 that was a mouthful yeah C Robert faras patrolman full-time effective 1:27 2024 through 6:30 2025 and lastly but not least D mark odet As seasonal PL snowplow driver effective 1:22 2025 through 4:30 2025 um for C this is the person that's in the academy now correct that's graduating from the Academy I think yeah that's what I thought I was I wasn't sure I wanted to make confirm was full not question but like just like like so I know we have a shortage of Clarks and like so does this these two appointments are we are we in a better position substantially we are in a better position yeah we're short of planner still um but we have a part-time clerk now in conservation and assessing combined we have a part-time clerk which will be planning in zba we have a full-time clerk in Board of Health and a full-time clerk in building so I think we're getting there and then the minutes clerk will just be available to do minutes for anybody that needs a minutes clerk to do minutes for them volunteer bird not volunte speaking of that totally side note but I saw cool app it's a physical device powered by chat GPT and it just listens to you and then gives you minutes you trans it's really cheap just something think about something to think about yeah can I just before we finalize this vote this came through from the department head with that date on it yeah but I yeah so this is what was on the um Carlos it says for Robert FAS 2024 but it should be 2025 yes you're correct January well I got the form that came over said 2024 but I keep doing that I was just like wait a minute 127 2025 yeah so if we can just fix yeah so I think we acknowledge that now so yeah c yeah instead of 127 2024 be redacted and in place will be 1 127 2025 through 630 2025 perfect uh no other concerns comments or issues will I entertain the motion to approve the appointments listed as a through D and agenda item 20 in tonight's agenda I'll make that motion all in favor I second all in favor I ick you you know switch it up all right I think that's everything for personnel uh we did the public hearing I think we covered the entire agenda I don't think we missed any yeah I think the only thing I wanted to tell you and I've kind of told you is the the grant the 911 safety Grant to the fire department was originally we did not get it because we weren't in compliance for we roughly get $15,000 $116,000 a year but the chief's able to buy miscellaneous equipment that he needs to run the department with it and we originally did not get it once they get the the court case came down and there's a little window of reprieve there we were notified that we did get it and so we will get it in the shortly but um it's just a a taste of what's going to happen if we not in compliance with MBTA which from all accounts that I can see right now we're will be in compliance till July 25 if we spend it though they can't take it back I don't I don't believe they'll take it back I don't believe that although I will tell you with the library Grant they have specifically said they will they will take it back we do know that these other ones I don't think that they will um I have no way of no I think they like there's got to be language in the grant applications that specify whether or not so I signed the D Grant knowing that um the D grant that I a few weeks ago I told you that was like 7200 for recycling that we it said when I signed it subject subject to being in comp full compliance with um the zoning at that time so I signed it because I didn't know if we were at that time I signed it we were in compliance because it was prior to before The Supreme Court right it was it was prior to December 31st where we technically went out of compliance and I was hopeful that something like this might happen so I says I'm going to put the paperwork in anyway in case so um but it did say in there so I think had we not gotten this short window reprieve they just wouldn't have sent us the money gotcha all right none of us know right we're going to keep it going back and forth going bring it on down all right we're going to sign and then we'll adjourn that's right to do you want me to sign these or you want to S me sign here land oh sorry just you I literally heard you say that and I just like went in one the otheres you me know how many policies we have left off the top of your head I think there may be one that needs a little workout Surplus thing V CL no the policies did you ever find your other sheet of yes I need that one I just got all those from the insurance company that's there's about five more policies that I'm work I have to get done okay that just came from the insurance company saying we need these policies so yeah that's good they drive that though that makes sense right that they want you to yeah have that kind of yeah you're trying to they want us to protect ourselves yeah know I think that's a good I'm sure a lot of towns you know might not protect themselves unless they are being forced toour yeah we don't want to be reactionary right but unfortunately that's that's Happ well there's so many things going on you can't do everything I know but we're getting there with the policies and at least like I said you can always change them but at least you need them in place to start and then we're going to work start with the employee handbook and yeah work work that which is digital one would be probably good fastic which is you know again you're looking at all the different unions and different whatnot so it's a little it's work it's not like you can just draft up you know this is again just you so we need this is the van so sign and initial it's the J you are official thank you 90,000 for that van actually is less than I thought I think it's more than what we originally able to pay in that's a big van that's a big van those are oh you already signed those are like like just Sprinter bands in general super expensive like well I mean a sedan is like 40 Grand I know I was looking at cars my check engine came on so I'm looking at cars it's like what year 201 mine yeah see what says M got like 30,000 miles on it though mine is or free for Audi BMWs and Mercedes we get you BL me uh all right so with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion mate I'll second it all in favor I I [Music]