right yeah that's the first application all right we are ready we can open up the meeting uh so it is 5:45 first thing on our agenda is uh I will make a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to general laws 38 section 21 relating
to the teamsters local uh 653 uh library clerical administration pursuant to chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining since uh doing so in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect
uh second thing is um we'll be discussing the MBTA zoning mandate general laws under general laws 38 section 21A3 regarding uh strategy with respect to litigation which again we don't want to do in an open session so do I have a
second second uh Tom yes john yes i vote yes i have a German come back ready to roll all right we'll come back kept back into public session uh first thing will be to say the pledge of allegiance join me i pledge algiance to
the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all um I know we have are you folks are all here for the insurance yes they're here
for the appointment to the COA board oh okay live before we start too just remind we're being videotaped oh I'm sorry yep we are being videotaped and live streamed i hear y anybody who wants to say that okay so let's start with our uh discussions on insurance requirements
for the use of town green i guess that's why you're here and I'm not sure what we So you had asked to um push it to the next meeting i I was unable to get our insurance um uh company to come in but they did
reaffirm you know their stance on you know requiring again that in order to cover the town this is where they stand again it is a policy decision that's why it's before you tonight but that is their recommendation um I did speak with my counterpart in Kingston um and he
also confirmed that is the requirement in Kingston that if they have any vendors the vendors have to provide a a policy that lists the town as an additional insured for every single vendor um and again Kingston was very similar to us they um he made their
board aware of it and it was a decision you know the board the board could um go against the recommendation but it exposes the time to risk so that's again my job to make sure you're aware of that risk okay any discussion from the board
i just I just add that in my day job I did reach out to a couple people and they said that the uh the blanket insurance provided um by certain events that was kind of a thing of the past and that vendor's insurance because it was so disperate in terms of what was brought in by the vendors that they couldn't accur accurately rate it so the
blanket insurance is kind of a thing of the past and the vendor insurance getting their own is kind of the new thing yeah I'm I'm I'm torn you know it's a it's a tough spot to be in we're between a rock and a hard place um you want to help our residents and
and give them access but we also have to be responsible with the liability of the town stuff okay um anything else you want to tell us no okay so I I can tell you that our insurance company will not add
vendors to our insurance policy so um like Tom just said that's not something that they are able to do so we can't help them at all um with our has anybody lot has anybody looked into like you know your event specifically Pride is like a one correct me if I'm wrong is a
one day event in town have the vendors looked into one day insurance um so we've sort of been waiting to see what you guys were going to go down before our vendors started pursuing other avenues okay um there I was quoted through our insurance company it would
be about $200 to $300 um per insurance for one day per vendor per vendor have you checked with USLI Atlanta can you come up to the microphone thank you i I should have had you come up before it's my fault i would I would just throw out there USLI is a company
that you can get an Insta code over the phone with as a private vendor and I'm told after speaking to them I'm told they're competitive i don't know what that means but for one day event I would check with them oh US uslir United States Lability Insurance awesome thank you okay uh there's nothing else for us
to do we have a policy no one wants to change it for now so uh it'll we'll just go with that so just to confirm you want to continue or enforce the requirement that vendors have coverage
unless the town is additional insured i think so all vendors might be good to vote on that just to so everyone's clear um all right i'll make that motion as as Cody just said do I have a second i'll second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say I i i so it's
unanimous [Music] i'm trying to work it out thank you uh all right so let's take up uh the appointment of Diane Ruxton and that's why you folks are here right okay good so um I know Diane uh she's been on
numerous boards uh glad to see her still involved even though she's uh no longer on she was a wagering personnel for the longest time so um I think she'd make a nice addition council unanimously approves it yes ma'am register the health services in aging um
so um she actually did approach us in terms of the uh board itself the COA board to uh to um actually see if she wanted to be on our board and so she decided that it would be a good fit so we suggested that she come and she
wasn't able to attend tonight so I'm in lie of that and I'd like to um you know present that to the board and hopefully she'll um be a part of our board and it's a seven member board approved for
um so right now it is three oh yeah so we're down to one was ill so they couldn't anticipate any offer so okay any questions no I I too know Diane I know she's a energetic uh great volunteer has a lot history here in
Halifax and I'm glad she's stepping stepping forward she does and then she's also familiar with all the services and programs at the COA so it's been it should be a real great um you know asset for us okay all right uh I'll make a
motion to appoint Diane Ruxton to Council on Aging with a term ending June 30th 2028 second any discussion all those in favor say I opposed janis pass that [Music]
along they're there for the decision's already been made these guys were here for Oh they're in the hallway for insurance you're here for insurance come on in um so uh come on in guys sorry yeah I
apologize i thought that um Atlanta was the one that was going to do all the talking um so Cody why don't you just repeat what you thought was the first time oh sure so um our insurance um uh provider was
unable to attend the meeting but they did reaffirm their recommendation to um have policies for vendors unless the town is additional insured um I did speak with Kingston's town administrator kingston follows that same practice as
well um so it's again it's a policy decision of the board but that is the recommendation and like I said earlier it's you know my job just to bring it forward to limit the risk uh to the town and and ultimately the board's decision to um comply with those recommendations from our insurance company or um
potentially open up the town to risk um do you folks want to tell us anything um we've discussed it as a board we're fairly confident that we should follow advice of the people that we pay for that advice the insurance people but if you have anything to talk to several
insurance companies come up to the microphone and just uh identify yourself so we have it on the record i'm Linda Arnold $21 i've spoken to several insurance companies uh and their feeling is they will cover our event they will not cover the vendors but they will cover the
event even you know they whether or not they're insured okay right and that's the same position I think as the farmers market and the pride event the event is covered by the insurance in the olden days it was possible in some circumstances to get
the vendors covered under a blanket insurance policy the insurance companies are now telling some here and others that we've investigated as possibilities that's no longer possible so the vendor insurance is the recommendation from the insurance company vendor insurance as I mentioned
a few minutes ago can be fairly inexpensive depending on what you're doing one company that writes it on a consistent basis is a company called USLI and they do they provide with them okay and they provide quotes same day quickly over the phone um that's one avenue I would re I recommend looking
into not that you haven't but others who are interested perhaps feel expensive well that's that's and I said before that's you know fairly inexpensive that's to to the eye you know beholder or the eye of the beholder um I think it matters what you're doing one day of one day insurance for something like a a
town parade is about $400 to cover a parade uh speaking for one day insurance for you know a farmers market one time I can't imagine it would be nearly that much um but if you're talking about a farmers market from May to September every Saturday that's different um I
feel like we're basically being told that the challenge does not want any events on the town what we're saying at all basically can be held then right what we're telling you is that the um insurance company that uh ensures the town gives us advice on on what we
should and shouldn't do is telling us that this is the way it should be done and we're you know we're trying to follow advice and that's that's what we're supposed to do so that's that's that we're not telling you we don't at all are any idea of not opening up the
town green i mean I think that's a wonderful resource for the town but we do need to follow we do need to follow the rules and may protect the town entirely so well I think there are going to be very few if any events held down green now
anybody else have anything else they want to talk to us about um yes ma'am go right ahead just uh just tell us who you are so we have it on the record jean Clling and I'm also with the fur festival in town and we we're hoping to have vendors so if you are saying USLA
LI may insure vendors for the day do you have any idea what the vendor cost would be do you think that's Well I think it matters what the vet I don't want to speak for the insurance company but I think it matters what the vendor is i mean not all vendors are created equal i mean I think if you're not to minimize it but if you're have a a bouncy house
in trampolines that's probably has more exposure and a higher premium than somebody who's doing something different say you're a mo mobile dog groomer and all you're doing is presenting literature yep if you're just passing out literature and there's no exposure to live animals that sort of thing if you're literally just passing out
information I'd have to imagine that comes at a less lesser cost i don't know that to be true so you think there's a sliding scale on a different I I do okay and USLI is that one that'll be done or online yeah if you look up information United States Liability Insurance Group USLI you just Google it and it's called
Insta quote you can get a quote right over the phone all right thank you thank you yeah so they actually had So they actually had um the dog event two years ago and they um actually
did go out generations group uh did go out and purchase a um a policy probably was a blanket policy for all of the uh vendors i don't know how they did it but it was all the um it was all like local vendors um and simple things that
weren't really um exposure-wise so I I don't know i mean perhaps maybe I could pull that for them i think I have a lot of records that they had saved you probably have I still have the information about the insurance so I mean I don't know if someone wants to review that we've reviewed all that okay
oh you did all right so anyway but it worked out really well so it was fun yeah um Lori Costa Klein 285 South Street so I would like some clarification on what
constitutes a vendor like how is that defined by the insurance policy that's a good question we can get an insurance definition but at the service be anyone coming in providing a service or a sale of anything to add at the
event so a service could that be someone who has an information table and is just handing out paper again we'd have to get that uh information it would effectively be anyone set up at the event not covered under the event
insurance okay so can we get that clarification from the insurance company is it possible for you to email Pride or I can send you an email um cuz we really need to work with our um event to
clarify um we don't want to put the town at risk but this changes the landscape of future town events so sure okay thank you thank you okay all right so um is uh Mr king here
or did he just leave he just lost yeah all right well the uh may as well take it up if he's out in the hallway we have a a live entertainment uh request from Stephen King for the farmers market um starting May 31st and running through 18
uh October 18th acoustic uh folk music country and uh everybody has approved it so 10:00 a.m to 3 p.m on every every one of those days so uh I'll make a motion that we approve the uh live entertainment permit i'll second any
discussion all those in favor say I opposed okay that's unanimous and then uh one more town green request and that is uh from uh Janice Hayward uh Halifax Fireworks um they uh date is May 10th from uh 9:00
a.m to 2 um no live entertainment um and uh craft fair use of green and use of great hall and you've had discussions with them about well yeah we let we said we'd let them know what I
will if you guys want to approve it contingent on getting the insurance I will talk to her about that and see what she's going to end up doing okay tabled or vote contingent upon I mean because it's you can make it contingent upon insurance approval let me ask you this
though um Halifax fireworks that is a border committee underneath right but the vendors are not okay so even if the town has events our vendors still need insurance to cover the towns so it doesn't matter if it's a town event or you know or if it's someone having it as
a group we our vendors still need insurance Chris 129 street just after hearing all this keep saying the town green is this cover now all town property mhm you know like across the street i've seen events over near the playground so this is like
blanket across the town now uh well it's that's what the insurance requirement is for use of the town property so it could be any part but it's really property that's only reason that's come up is because that that's the three questions that the three events that have come up i mean
somebody wanted to use the ball fields for something which I don't as a resident it's nice seeing all the stuff at the town so no question yeah that big time i I don't want to speak for the board but we don't want to see that go away but we we also have to protect the
town which like I said puts us in a rock and a hard place yeah it would be irresponsible for us to ignore liability insurance issues that just you wouldn't you wouldn't expect the board to do that I don't think all right uh so a motion to appro I make a
motion to approve the uh use of the town green by the fireworks on May 10th um provisional that yeah provisional uh contingent on insurance contingent on that's the wording sorry the insurance issues getting more yeah I'll second
that any discussion all those in favor say I i opposed it's unanimous okay let's go back to the top and uh take up our um uh uh uh warrants and so on i move to affirm approval of the following following warrants and commitments
vendor warrant number 88 for $10,594.35 vendor warrant number 89 for $278,896.30 ambulance commitments March 17 2025 through March 23rd 2025 for $98,162.80 second any discussion all those in favor
say I opposed it's unanimous i move to approve the following warrants and commitments payroll warrant number 90 for $458,34322 vendor warrant number 91 for $93,862.32 withholding warrant number 92 for $157,162.92 96 and mobile home park fee
number four for $5,160 second any discussion all those in favor say I i unanimous okay going on to um why don't we keep the uh the special uh the warrant review for the end and then we'll deal with uh we have a road cut
for two country club way um it looks like everything's in order so uh I would uh make a motion that we approve the uh road cut request by um who is this um I don't know who it is trying to find
it on my for the size the name here is Dave Clint Sh um that's going to be Everest yeah okay yeah that's the way it's coming through now [Music] all right uh there you
go both of these no ever source is doing two country club way and um uh rigo excavation is doing the next one okay all right so dealing with the two country club way i'll make that motion to approve a curb cut we have a
second second any discussions all those in favor say I opposed it's unanimous uh now the road cut for 266 on Posit Street again um it's all been approved by the police and everybody yep so I'll make a motion to approve that second any
discussion all those in favor say I i opposed it's unanimous yes 10 Hill um are there two curb cuts on that uh there's a 10x10 on 266 Monza and
a 4x6 on two two country club roadway yeah I meant on 266 so are they doing the driveway cuts or are they doing uh energy cut is that an energy cut it's a water line thank you all right uh again let's see so
um we have authorizations to hire yeah so we have a hiring freeze in effect as you know um I'll run through each of these and explain the the reason for the request the first is the assistant town of common so as you know Lindsay Martinelli has been um our accountant
she was previously our assistant town we've had the assistance of Eric Kinchef um consulting firm yeah um I think it's time to try to get away from the consulting firm and bring in uh full staffing in the long term to save us money because we're going to pay an
assistant town accountant much less than we would the consulting firm who's been supporting uh the accounting office after Sy's retirement and bringing Lindsay up to speed so um if we begin the recruitment now the goal would be to kind of have them out of here by the end of the fiscal year but we got to begin
that recruitment um the library associate so the as part of the budget this year um one of the proposals is actually going to be to eliminate um an 18-hour a week library associate with that being said
there's an opening for a 30-hour a week library associate and so the the individual who currently holds the 18-hour a week position um is interested in the 30-hour week position so it makes sense to hire them for the 30-hour week position and then we would eliminate the 18-hour week position um and then
building commissioner unfortunately uh building commissioner uh will be resigning from his position and we need a building commissioner so it's um we need to have that position filled yes go ahead why is the building commissioner
resigning that's that's a personnel matter i can't get into personal matters okay well I didn't know if there was a issue that was public that's why I asked um and what day is he leaving um his last day with the town is April 19th uh the next
next week end of next week i do have um been in discussions with bringing in an interim building commissioner so my goal will be at your next meeting to have a contract uh for you to approve with an intern building commissioner so we don't um lose a beat while we considering all the projects we
do need one yes definitely okay any discussion from the board um yeah well I just I know there's there's a little scuttlebutt about hey we have a hiring freeze and we are listing these positions here um the first two are saving the town money so we're using
consultants to help our town accountant currently so that would be a cost savings if we were to discontinue our consultant and bring in an assistant town accountant the second one we're essentially eliminating 18 hours at the library so um I know when folks see this they say "Hey you know we're in a hiring
freeze." These first two moves I think as you said Cody are going to save the town money and then that last one a building commissioner the town needs a build functioning building commissioner so we can't I mean with uh the Halifax trails uh Thornike project going on other projects going on you have it we
need a building we're statutoily statutoily required to have a building commission correct so anything else um so you want one motion for all of them or As long as you're if you're approving all of them I don't see why you can't approve it all alone all right uh well I'll give that a try so I'll move that
we uh um authorize the hiring of an assistant town accountant library associate uh 30 hours a week in the building commissioner uh based on the way the uh town administrator has explained it second any discussion all those in favor
say I opposed all right that's unanimous okay so now we get to what oh meeting reschedule oh yes so um I asked that we could reschedule our next meeting is supposed to be 22nd 22nd to the following week and so I'll move that we
um reschedule the selections meeting to April 29th second okay any discussion all those in favor say I i all right all right so you each have copies of the draft warrant um before I
begin just kudos to the team here this was as we know a taxing budget season and also just putting together the alarm is never an easy task so it was a good team effort so I appreciate everyone's assistance um I'll go through each
article um and explain the rationale if you have any questions on them I'll do my best to answer them can I ask a question to start with is I didn't think we had a special town meeting we We do not we initially thought we were going to have to but um the item that we
initially thought we would is no longer necessary yes sir all right um article one is standard annual article to hear an enacting the reports of town officers and committees article two is the wage and personnel bylaw um proposals these are the three
items that you had previously voted on in the personnel meeting article three sets the um salaries for elected officials article four is the operating budget note these figures in here are not the updated figures those
are just in the budget that the finance committee approved i still think article one ought to be abandoned uh we could you know that's that's one of those articles in speaking with council um the initial reasoning for it was really before you had a
written annual town report and so it would be an opportunity for boards committees departments to get up and give an annual update but we have a written town report halifax has kept it in there but if it's the board's pleasure we it's it's certainly not necessary can we take it out on this one
you could you approve it so I mean so in my experience almost never is anyone make a comment about that other than once in a while likely will um but we can do that anyway and it just it seems to me it's just like an anacronism that
we don't really need so you're saying there's really no functionality to it or like like Cody says we do any I think it's actually either bylaw requirement or statuto statuto statuto requirement that we have the written report which we
have it's the warrant no our annual report oh the annual report okay letter we wrote and every every town does a report police everybody does that okay so so it's not in the bylaws this one article one is not part of No I don't
think that would not be a change of following no it's it's always been there it's been there just because because it's been there because it's been there and it has never been like I said I can't remember anyone ever any department head actually standing up saying I want to make a a comment about
um the um uh report from from the highway department or from the whatever recycling center it just never happened once in a while the board of selectman does but we don't we can do it anyway you know it's not like needed so it's just to me it's to me it's it's an anacronism it doesn't have to be there
it just is one of those things somebody moves it somebody seconds it nobody knows what to say about it it just goes through right from the perspective I didn't even know that that was supposed to happen that the boards could get up and give any
annual report or anything like that i think that maybe that would be an educational point that now maybe the town will actually know and maybe we should be doing that cuz if we have a report from the highway department that's given maybe it's written but a lot of people might not have been able
to see it but it would be a good way for us to know exactly how our town is doing as you know an example of the highway department and it and if it only takes a minute I think it would be um silly to take it off there's plenty of opportunities when their articles come
up for them to tell what's going on um and like I said in my 40 years I've never seen anyone else do it can I just ask a clarification question so is this an opportunity for a specific department to get up and read their report and or is it an opportunity for someone from
the crowd not from the department to ask for that report the the first so it's to hear and act on the report so you'd have to have a report that's given right but this is not an opportunity for someone to raise their hand from the general town public to ask a specific department
to to give their report that is this warrant article written no no okay but it could be cuz I would everybody knows why would I ask for a report it doesn't require them to do anything that's that's the point the point is it's it's the opportunity for the
the town officers and committees to do report which we already have which we have written already is a written report that's already been produced every year and it always is that that we have to do so all right so I'll make a motion that we just delete article one off the warrant i'll second that any discussion
all those in favor say I i opposed opposed all right it passes by majority okay um so I interrupted you Cody you were No that's four is just the annual operating budget which is what we had discussed at the last meeting um the
updates are effectively we cut um we cut 32,500 as uh voted by the board from the Halifax Elementary School we actually had to reduce a little bit further on the town side um just because as a result of some of the capital items that
were reduced we had to increase the operating budget for instance in the police department um we got word from our insurance company that our insurance was going to increase a little more than we had initially um proposed so um just so the board is aware um effective July 1 we will be eliminating the office
assistant in our office we will be eliminating um an 18hour a week library associate as I mentioned and also reducing another library associate 5 hours um a week and we also will be reducing one of our full-time uh staff members in the building maintenance department to 19.5 hours a week uh and
those are the the personnel cuts on the town side uh article five creates the um there's some formatting issues here so ignore those but uh article five creates so we have a bylaw uh 233
subsection 5 that lists all of our authorized revolving funds um at the request of Halifax Elementary School they've asked that we create two new revolving funds they do not anticipate on using them in fiscal 26 but they'd like them created in case they need to use them in future years so the first
one is a busing uh revolving fund so if they were to charge for busing the account's there full day kindergarten if they were to charge for full day kindergarten that account would be there and then the third one here is um we actually talked about it last year was the parks maintenance account so any fees collected by the parks is
automatically able to be utilized for to maintain the parks and again this just creates the revolving accounts which is required um under Massachusetts general law to have um our bylaw that lists them we don't fund any of these right this is just money that's collected in the whole
way exactly so in in in article seven we'll actually get to setting the maximums which is an annual article so this is an annual this is just adding those new accounts and then article 7 actually sets the limits on those accounts but again this isn't the town appropriating money to them this is just
um whatever money comes in is the money that can be spent five to six um article six is an annual article this is our reserve fund so um we did increase our reserve fund this year on the general government side to $100,000 it was historically $75,000 but given you know
the economic condition $75,000 doesn't cover much cover anymore if we have a an emergency um and then $50,000 for the water department article 7 sets the limits of our revolving funds um that's an annual article again we did not
include the ones from the schools because they're not looking to utilize them this year we did include the we did include the ones for the parks um which we set out to $20,000 uh again and just to note that's not an appropriation that's whatever is spent whatever we receive is able to be spent for that
purpose articles 8 through 12 are the acceptance of the public wages that you previously held your public hearing on you have a question yeah could you article 7 uh are we are we appropriate to talk about what those limits include uh youth and recreation advertisements what's the difference between the
programs and the advertisements um I can pull up the full summary of what each one is so these are these accounts are already created we're just setting the maximum limits i'm just Yeah that number just jumps out a little bit yep you can certainly look at it unless they do um
something in the newspaper yeah I don't know if that's $40,000 so again this is just the maximum limit that can be spent out of it so if they pull in a lot of money it allows them to to spend whatever you know whatever they spend but I can certainly look into what
exactly that that entails um articles like I said articles 8 through 12 are the acceptance of the public ways which the board had previously voted on um for Bourne Drive Christmas Tree Lane Dancing Lane Heron Road and Ryder's Way um
for the first floor did we find out on each of these whether or not there's a covenant on any of the lots that haven't been fulfilled that's very important so on the um I know Ryder has been signed off by the planning board the other four um
I wanted to make sure that there isn't a lot that's left open with a covenant meaning that the road is not finished and we don't have a bond and that by accepting these there's still a lot that is left open that should be that we
haven't been able to have the teeth to take in order to finish the roads do you are you following me cuz you look like you might have a question okay um I think that is really important to have that information at the town meeting um and um that would be so who's going to
get you well I'm thinking that since those didn't go by the planning board I think that that would be due diligence that we did send this to the planning board you did you did now we haven't handled it yet okay they were sent when we did before the public hearing really that's fine we didn't see him on
our uh agenda i sent a memo to all We sent a memo to all boards commissions department just put inside and then on it said that there are plans that there were plans there were town clerk's office to be reviewed at the town clerk's office and they sat
there until uh last meeting that morning that afternoon I went down to town clerk's office and brought them up here and get them in order to look at them thank you um we will do that research and find out if there's any lots uh still under restrictive cover yeah because we didn't receive that memo at the uh planning board meeting
i don't know why i'm I'm not blaming it on you at all so that just so you know I would have not um article 13 this cleans up the opioid settlement so in so as part of the attorney general's lawsuit against the
the pharmaceutical companies they're um the town receives these opioid settlement funds prior to fiscal 24 so fiscal 23 the first year we received these funds the state law did not allow for us to account for them separately so
basically the state law in a nutshell says any money you receive in unless there's a designated purpose under municipal finance law it has to go into the general fund so this money went into the general fund we at this at the town meeting in 2023 voted to create a stabilization fund and
fund it with this amount of money in 24 the law changed that allowed the money to just come in go into a separate account reserve for this purpose but not have to go through a whole stabilization fund um and then in addition when we did
it in 2023 we we actually did it a little bit too early the money the funds had not been certified as free cash yet so the funds had to have been certified by free cash so what we did in 2023 is effectively invalid so this cleans it up puts that money in the special purpose
account for further appropriation at a future time for opioid funds i apologize it's a little bit confusing but it's really just cleaning up accounting so the money is already and essentially once we do this Cody the process will be smooth a smoother transition going
forward yeah yep exactly and this has been I'm not sure if you've read but you you've seen uh at least there's reports that municipalities aren't using these opioid funds correct and a big part of that is because the way the law was written it was very difficult for us to do so because you had to receive them
you had to wait for them to be certified as free cash you had to go to a town meeting you had to create a stabilization fund which is a 2/3 vote you then had to deposit them into a stabilization fund and then if something came up where you wanted to utilize it which is it's very specific only can be utilized for certain purposes related to
the opioid uh crisis it then requires town meeting appropriation again and because it's from a stabilization fund another 2/3 so really was a a cumbersome process um so the new law change is just a special revenue account that allows
for further appropriation by the selectman um of a community what are we supposed to use it for uh we actually have an internal meeting later this month to start discussing that there's there's several um because I've never seen I've never seen that you've used that we haven't used any of it yet and
partially because of this kind of the accounting side of it um you know there's different programs out there my goal is in one of your May meetings to actually come forward with a proposal of how we can start utilizing some of it in Halifax based on the team's um work so
article 14 this is our capital plan um so this funds all the items recommended by the capital planning committee with the exception of those items that were removed at the last meeting um a total of 689,000 coming from free cash and then $500,000 from the water enterprise
fund retain earnings initially the water department was looking for a um basically a carport on the back of the water department but after further discussion they've decided um to hold off on that so it's just the 500,000 for the um treatment plant upgrades the
highway department annual road maintenance for 300,000 storm water management we've added in there for 80,000 um that's a requirement of our MS4 permits from the EPA the library window replacement we had previously allocated funds but it the cost came in higher than expected so this is to
supplement that so we can finish that project firearms replacement for the police department in 15 for $15,000 we've um two police vehicles were requested but that was one of the items that was reduced by the board so only one vehicle for $60,000 $70,000 in rescue tools for the
fire department $50,000 in turnout gear and then $94,000 for our cyclical inspection um through the assessing department which is a require a requirement of the Department of Revenue are we supposed to be using the term free cash mhm we can yeah
so I I had um we I had actually changed it pre um a few years ago to um unreserved undesated fund balance und designated fund balance was a term we were using i was told not to utilize that term anymore oh okay so we use free
cash um article 15 again I apologize for the um the formatting here but article 15 is what the board had approved for the um amendment to the town meeting bylaw so this is exactly what you guys had approved before it just allows the
board to change the location if necessary due to capacity issues um and then changes the rules of practice to be governed by town heating times so that's you guys had already voted on that one though article 16 is $3500 an annual article
$3,500 to the South Coastal County Legal Services they provide legal services and civil matters to elders low-income families and their children pam can we make just check with them and I think there's the other one the annual report on what they who they've assisted yeah
we'll have that just because it comes up every once in a while somebody wants to know exactly what they did article Article 17 is to um prior year bills so we anticipate at least having one prior year bill from from the school department that'll be in the motion what the actual bills are um but at this time
we're only aware of one prior year bill that needs to be paid as you know prior year bills have to get have a town meeting authorization to pay them um if it's an annual town meeting though it's just a majority it's a it's a four fifths i think it is actually I'd have to confirm it was like 9/10 i
think it's it's something it's it's not just a simple majority um article 18 is another annual article $3,500 for the Southshore Resource and Advocacy Center which supports the same thing as the other one yeah exactly domestic violence intervention and prevention but but I
want to make sure we have Yep we'll have a couple absolutely uh article 19 is $150 for the county cooperative uh extension services and allow the board to appoint a town director within 15 days u article 20 is the littering bylaw
that you guys had previously approved article 21 is the zoning bylaw um uh changes the um planning board has a public hearing on uh the end of next week um article 22 it is the town MBTA
zoning proclamation uh that you guys had previously voted on article 23 um so this we get into the petitioned articles starting with article 23 so article 23 is a petitioned article by
Alan Diaz and 13 others um to allow to authorize the board of selectman to sell lots 135 and 136 on map 20 on Vernon Street to an abutter for a sum of money no less than $500 plus legal
fees um article 27 is proposed by Kimberly Shur 24 I'm sorry 24 proposed by Kimberly Shurg and nine others to see if the town will vote to allow body art establishments as permitted use by right in the commercial zones again that's a
zoning can I go back to 23 for just a second don't we have to declare it's surplus property supposed to do um chapter 40 section 15 is a different avenue from that okay um it it if town meeting were to approve it
it does not require it to be um declared as surplus property so we're in the pro we're in the process right now going through all of our properties and tax title properties uh properties we foreclosed on and our goal would be to auction them off you know bring in an
auctioneer and and auction them off this is another method that authorizes the board um to take this this means and it doesn't have to be auctioned it does not under this under this mass general law okay who's the
ab who are the abutters I don't know who all the abuters are by Alan it's proposed by Alan Diaz and 13 others it doesn't mean 13 others in the petition it does but we don't name all 13 others and just it's it's like any petition
they might not all be a Butters it's just who signed the petition no I understand that but I was just curious anything else on 23 no okay 24 was the um zoning change it would uh they're requesting to allow body art
establishments tattoo studios um in the commercial zones so again because it's a zoning change there's a it's included in the public hearing um at the um at the planning board meeting on the 17th I believe it is um any questions on that
24 25 um is proposed by Amy Troop and 18 others um and it looks like it's requesting an audit of all town departments committees assets and liabilities and I believe Miss Troops
here if you have questions for her anybody have any questions how do we pay how do we pay for it we need to figure out something so we'll have to figure that out i guess
so um we did council um has reviewed all the petition articles again we just for legality purposes right they're not providing an opinion per se on on the articles themselves they're just providing legality um one of the concerns that came up was was that exactly Mr bruno that there's no funding
source um dedicated to this town um council did also um make note that we do undergo an annual financial audit as required um by law and we did also recently undergo a department of revenue um financial and operational audit um
but the the main concern with this was the no funding source if if we were to hire you know have to hire someone um externally uh article 26 is proposed by Van Donley and 18 others um there's a
lot of information in here but it effectively I believe is asking for the town to conduct um an economic impact study on the proposed uh on an MBTA zoning um on the mandate of the MBTA
zoning again the the concern there is um if we were to have to hire somebody there isn't a funding source or an amount identified um and also if we were to go through with a study of this nature we don't have an approved district so the scope of the study um
could be challenging to get definitive answers it does say completed internally through led through the finance committee but the thing that I have a question or or an independent study or but the thing I have a question about is uh it says this article is to prepare
all town costs to back up the state auditor finding suppose they don't find that i mean that it seems to me it's an awful uh predetermined and I'm not saying in one way or another whether they they it is or it isn't i'm just saying that the way
this is worded um it their charge so to speak seems to be find stuff when I would think an internal a uh an impact study would be done in a
more uh neutral way at least that's how I see it but I don't know so well I can speak to that a little bit um I didn't write this but I certainly back it what we need to do is be ready to send to the state that it is an unfunded
mandate and there is absolutely no way that the town of Halifax can afford 750 units of apartments to go to our schools be on our roads um and and that's just to start never mind the police the fire
so I think that what he is stating is that it would be unfunded and we need to back that up because our um view on this is that we need to tell the state I'm sorry unless you're going to fund everything that this is going to h that's going to happen then we say no
and here's our proof of why so every department should be able to put together some sort of a study to say that if 750 units with three four stories built on wetlands um we're going to start coming on our
streets need fire assistance police assistance go to our schools i mean tap on our water that already has issue um I think that that's basically what he's looking for okay um it does actually um
it gives all the um impetus uh to the finance committee and says complete internally and led by the finance committee or an independent study directed by the finance committee so I suppose it's up to them but they look like they don't recommend it but
okay I don't know if anybody has any thoughts about that but um article 27 is proposed by Amy Troop and 19 others um it effectively I believe is um requesting a mandate
against no new building permits to be issued for new housing condos rentals or apartments no more new water services or and trench permits are to be given out until the town residents vote uh the mandate of such to be
lifted um in speaking with council this is not legal um if it were approved as is um the the town does not have the legal ability to just say no more unless there is a specific issue so for instance if water were an issue um the
town could say no more interconnection permits a building you know that would need an interconnection permit until such time you know the issue were fixed i think Kingston did a moratorium on that um but without a plan or distinct facts council did say that that would
have um we have um several parts of town that have wells still so I mean it it's not public water if it's a well i mean it's part of a whack aquifer yes but Okay um article 28 is proposed by Amy Troop
and 16 others to see if the town will vote to remove the town from the regional health board and SAP act and relinquish power from the CDC and all other non-elected officials and bureaucracy back to the elected board of health of the town of Halifax and their appointed board of health agent so I
have a couple questions on this what is the regional health board and what is the saf the safe act is SAP which is the regional health board that was created with a grant a few
years ago and um I had questions on it then but there's many regional acts and the CDC overrules the elected board of health in this and that is why I would state that we remove ourselves from that
so wait before you go so is there is is the SAFact and the regional health board the same thing yes it is it is okay and this is uh something that Halifax is a member of that's correct correct host okay is this this isn't the thing that
we did with um Bridgewater right this is this this is we are the host for the Bridgewaters Rain and Middle Park oh okay all right okay and relinquished power from what is I'm not quite sure what that means the CDC
relinquished power from the what does that mean the CDC that's um No no I know what that is centers for disease control I assume but what do you mean by relinquish power i don't understand because in that safe act you give power to the C to the CDC to act and overrule
your board of health that you elect we are unaware of any circumstances where that exists in health the safe act yeah it was written in the law okay so this brings this is a grant we brought in $400,000 um this year it
effectively what it does um is it again Halifax is the host community but um along with the other communities right we have certain requirements that we have to do as a board of health right so for instance a restaurant inspection we have to do let's say two restaurant inspections a year um it allows us to go
above and beyond if we were at no cost to the town it also allows for um if there's someone so Bob Valerie is our health agent if Bob is out of town it actually allows someone to fill in we have someone in place at no at no cost to the town um mostly those inspections
are um cigar and cigarette because they um upped the age to buy cigarettes and cigars to age 21 i don't think that we remember voting on that not you know that's not really our right to get take
that away from an 18year-old just by somebody waving their hand so that's basically I've gone to their meetings and they're talking about going around to the local smoke shops and things like that and pressing upon them further inspections i don't really think that we
have any problems with our alcohol and and restaurant inspections but this is just increasing the amount of inspections so basically the story that um this regional board was talking about was going around to different like Cland
Farms so for instance they said there's a a a scanner or an ID for somebody that looks like they might be under the age of I think it's 35 somewhere in that range right um so they take it and if that establishment sells even if they've
waved the uh ID or not they they're looking to basically find these people for underage or incorrect it's it's basically for selling um mar um sorry not marijuana nicotine and cigars and
they're pressing upon the the um establishments as well to not sell any cigars under the dollar $2.50 and they think that that's going to help miners not smoke but I thought it was already illegal to not sell them
to under 21 so what are we doing here it's it's a lot of extra inspections that are really just pressing more problems upon our small businesses in town such as the uh I don't know what tokies is called now is that Halifax
market i don't really so are you saying that this regional health board makes regulations that are applicable to the town mhm through the um the the state so it's like a bureaucracy sending down
into us and then we're because I I don't I know for sure that we haven't had a vote to change in Massachusetts um the age to smoke from 18 to 21 so you see what I'm talking about now i do but I I know that this regional health board did
any such thing like it really it requires further if it allows for further enforcement of those things so it it doesn't change the laws it doesn't take any uh it doesn't take the power away from the Halifax board of health but it does allow for more enforcement
which which is a good thing we want to enfor we have our rules and laws in place for a reason they want to enforce them there is a way that the CDC can overrule your local board out it's I read it cuz if you look back a couple years ago and I think I believe you were
a selectman at the time right remember my um cautions on it at the time and then how are we going to fund this later once this goes away and that's basically what does this have to do with the CDC again I assume that's the Federal
Centers for Disease Control right what it's written in the law that they would be able to overrule i read it out loud do you recall me stating that you might not recall that specific thing but you remember me standing up with the documentation was in the documentation
okay the the other concern with that is um the town we do have a contract we have an intermunicipal agreement um that we've entered into with the other communities there could be uh you know breach of contract uh concerns you know
if if that were voted obviously we would try to work through it if that's what town meetings um choice is but again just making sure that everyone's aware of Did we So when we um joined this regional health board that wasn't a town meeting vote was it no it was not um anything else on 28 okay 29 is
proposed by Amy Troop and 15 others um the residents of Halifax would like to remove the town from the stretch code i'm assuming that's the building code um well the stretch code was adopted in 2015 by the town i Amy's here but I presume it has to do with the green communities and the fact that we're not
like we're not sure but we are likely not eligible for green communities grants anymore and that was really the driving factor behind adopting the stretch code was you were eligible for those green communities grants that's part of the building code right the stretch code is a separate um energy code that's that was adopted and we not
eligible as a result of the MBTA vote we don't know if we're not eligible we submitted an application um was a thought because of the MBTA though is that why we would not possibly be correct okay but anyway I should certainly The reason that the stretch code is an issue is because um at first it went in and it seemed like a way that
would make everything a little bit more green or energy efficient now um as of July 1st 2024 it makes it so that if you're doing a 30% renovation or building new let me separate those
because there's clarifications in that and we're dealing that with that in the real estate world with building it's a big problem so on July 1st 2024 if you're building a new house you need it to be all electric so back in the day remember we had the the baseboards
electric and that was not really the most efficient way to heat a house now they are putting in um mini split systems um in every single zone so when you go to show a new house nowadays there's a mini split system misplit
system in each zone and in a 1500 square foot house we're looking at 12 to 15 of them so that and the weight on the electric is um kind of over the top that
um the other reason is because our grid can't keep adding more and more electric the other is the 30% renovation or more is um you will not receive your building permit unless you remove your gas stove or your gas heating or your oil heat
there actually have been people in town that have gone to get um a mini split system put in by um Mass Save and they've been told that they can't do it unless they take out their oil tank so these things are really happening and it
seemed like it would be extremely funny when people are like "Oh well they're going to take away your gas stoves." Well this is the um mechanism in order to do so i think that one of the things I've been stating for years is that we have to watch out for which grants we do take because of the teeth that come with
it so just because you get a little bit of money so now in the town of Halifax we have mostly oil it is way more efficient to heat your house with oil than it is to with electric especially if you look around town and you see how many people are complaining about their
electric bills right now it's a very it's it's a very big dynamic to deal with uh $800,200 electric bills i've actually referred people to our state rep um Ken Sweezy in order to have them be helped
with their electric bill due to these issues that are arising it's um a big epidemic um so anyways the reason that um it sounds good but it's a problem there are a lot of builders that leave so last year I had a client builder do a
renov I didn't have him do it he was doing a renovation to a house and um they come with a hers test you know that is it's basically that they put a test on the front door to see how much air is coming in out of your house and it sounds good to think okay we'll block
all around the doors and the windows so that you're not you know you're not losing heat right sounds great but after they do that now they have to put in an electric fan in order to circulate air and this is all to meet a code and it
doesn't make sense because now you're actually if you're gonna fan um the ventilation to your house and you're going to pay for an electric bill to do so wouldn't it just be better to have a little bit more air going up i mean you know we all want to have tight
hoses but there's a degree of that so now we're making it green by blocking air from going out between your doors and windows but we need to have that circulation given to us by an electric so a lot of it doesn't make sense and um
it's a it's a big problem there are a lot of builders who don't want to build in Massachusetts anymore to do this where where do you find the stretch go do you find it as part of the building code or someplace separate um more more yeah it's it's part of the
building code we even have a local building inspector who is joked stating that uh he can't even read it he doesn't understand it amy do you plan on bringing like info to the meeting for folks to you or any handouts or anything like that i know that there
are people that um are going to help educate the town on the safe act um they they're definitely for helping us with that there's a major group that wants to help with that and as far as stretch coat I could um honestly most most
people know about it i could bring something to the table but um one of the avenues even if it wasn't removed this year would be to educate because most people I mean think about it i don't know did you know about it no and I mean Cody knew about it probably because of
his uh position but isn't it kind of dumbfounding to find out that all of a sudden if you had a tree fall on your house and you had over a 30% renovation you'd have to take your oil tanks out of your house that's that's scary right so
um that and like think about how these insuranceances have been coming down in 2005 I said to Mariano at Real Today on the Hill why would we be bringing these insurance companies like Geico and all these other national ones into the state and the reason that I stated that is
because it it's not necessarily that great to have a cheaper insurance right and I know why i lived in Texas i saw it they they um don't in Texas back in the 90s they did not replace windshields because it was unless it was a
searchchargeable thing um so I saw it was letting go of the standards and Tom might have the better word for me but the standards of insurance back in that time period and these little things that keep creeping in on us now see these
changes and we have issues having Pride Day and farmers markets and things like that that's why I'm I keep saying it's these things are not really just something to take lightly to change a small bit of money is affecting the town
in major major ways we need to weigh out the whole entire equation 1 + 1 equals two right we can't leave one of those out to get to two so that's the same thing that we're doing with grants that's why I was against complete
streets because you have to spend $250 to $300,000 at least of your chapter 90 money to maybe get 400 and now the mass DOT can change any of your laws why would we take that not just because it's a grant doesn't mean we want to take it
because they're giving it back to us with strings attached and that's why it's so necessary to really read these things and see if they make sense because yeah stretch code is bad
okay anything else on 2i uh 30 um 30 is proposed by Amy Troop and 14 others um any changes to zoning bylaws will require a twothirds vote of town meeting and a referendum on the annual town election ballot require that all zoning
bylaw changes be made only at annual town meeting there will not be any zoning bylaw changes or overlay change articles to be on a special town meeting warrant um in speaking with council there are some concerns um we we don't have the ability to override uh chapter
48 state law and and there's the amendment there that certain zoning changes only require a um simple majority um and and we don't have the local ability to override state law with that how about the uh fact of a
referendum on the annual town election i mean controlled by chapter 40 um council was still reviewing the the legality of that requirement the major concern initially was the the required two/irds for all um all zoning articles
but again chapter 48 allows for certain uh zoning articles now that was changed under the Baker administration for a simple majority and we we don't have the ability to overrule state law okay anybody else have any other questions for the I'll talk about that
one the reason that um that's very important and that actually could be done just by having people know that a overlay district one December of 2023 was put in front of the town and it changed our town for really bad and bad
ways and it wasn't fair and most people didn't know about it so this is a message to the town and from the town because you saw our town meeting in December of 2024 they're heated this is not something that we want we didn't want three and a half story buildings on
the peach farm we didn't want any of this and it's going to cause a really big problem and now here we are dealing with a financial inst a financial problem we don't have stability what we have is a crisis going on in town now because we're going to need so many
things because of a three and a half story building and we take high offense that the people that we elected didn't think of us and think oh wow because a 40B would have been a lot more difficult to put
through especially when they were already told at a planning board meeting that they needed a multi-million dollar water and sewer treatment plant and and hm funny it got pushed to a special town
meeting and it really really didn't do anything good for the people of the town Halifax only for a multi-million dollar corporation and it's sad all right anything else on the board no article 31 is just the election okay
that's pretty standard okay is that it from the board any questions none all right uh you would need to vote to approve the alarm so we can get it sent out uh motion with that one change that we have a second second
any discussion all those in favor say I i oldest um as far as updates uh I have several here um we are conducting uh two budget
forums in preparation for town meeting to try to educate the uh residents on the budget process and the budget proposals for the upcoming year um the first one will be a week from today um and then the next one is going to be on May 5th we have that information posted
online uh it'll be a presentation followed by a Q&A session that would allow residents to ask questions and hopefully be prepared for town meeting um we will record those and those will be available online as well there'll also be a Zoom function if you're not able to physically attend in person um
that's an option as well which one are you and the finance committee yes um the library director search is going well our search committee uh has met several times over the past couple of months and interviewed several candidates in a preliminary process um we have
recommended a candidate to the library trustees and they are going before them on Thursday for a final interview and possible appointment as the library director so that's good news there uh the library is having an author talk on April 12th at 11:00 a.m so look forward to hopefully um residents attending that
um Halifax Notify is our new alert system you may have seen some information on that it allows residents to sign up for text message and phone call alerts that we can get things out to them easily um so kudos to Caesar he has overseen that process and it seems like a great system we've had actually a
great response already uh we've posted on our website mosquito spraying from Bristol County Mosqu I mean Plymouth County mosquito control has begun um it'll occur this week uh weather dependent they will not be spraying over any residents in Halifax just um
wetlands where there's no homes um above 500 acres no precautions or anything but just ina in case you see planes flying low um that could be the reason why and then we have an upcoming hazardous waste day uh May 3rd from 9 to 12 at the highway barn for all you need to do is
show that you are a Halifax resident and no updates on the MVA hazardous waste is at the barn not at recycling correct okay anything else to come before the board no I got nothing we'll take a motion to adjourn so moved next meeting
will be April 29th second any discussion all those in favor say I opposed unanimous [Music]