Good evening and welcome to the select board and board of health meeting for September 29th, 2025 being held in a townhouse auditorium. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So the cameras came from the ground tonight. You love us. You keep telling yourself that, Don. Uh,
so this meeting is being held in the townhouse auditorium. We are also broadcasting over Zoom and recording for the millions of fans that like to watch it in the weeks following, many of which I see here. Is there anyone else recording the meeting besides Kristen Rivers from the Ham the Warhams? Hello,
Kristen. And that's it. Okay. So, first order of business, we have minutes from September 15th. Like board member Davenport wasn't here that day.
Neither was Brian. Eric and I handled it well. I think the meeting took 15 minutes, right, without them? It was a quick one. Yeah, it was a quick one. Any comment? Select board member uh Eric. I have no comment. They look like it's good to me. Make a motion to approve minutes from
I'll second that motion. All in favor? I. The meeting of September 22nd last week. Wow. What do we have to date, huh? Yeah. And new auto license. Uh gentleman came in talked about his motorcycle business. Uh going to be on Main Street
in the old hardware store. Again, reviewing the special town meeting warrant. that will be a focus of our meetings obviously for the foreseeable future until the special town come meeting. We voted to close the warrant. The administrator came up with a surplus
property policy and we talked about obviously updating you know the new town hall and where we stand with that. Entertain a motion. So move second. I'm sorry. Approve minutes.
20 seconds. I'm sorry. Second. Okay. All in favor? I Thank you. Thank you. Motion to adjurnn, Don. Is that what you said? So, first on the agenda, we have the fire department. They have a couple of new candidates to present. Chief
Polland, want a cookie yet? I'm all set. All right. Um we have a new cadet program leader in our department is John Cner. He's taken over the cadet program because previously it was done by Nicholas
Bertran. Um he has graciously accepted the role and he I'm going to turn over to him. He's actually interviewed these two gentlemen, new cadets from Minich High School and I'll let him um talk about him briefly. So, uh, as Chief said, I took over the
program. Uh, interviewed, uh, Full Stone and Anthony Powers, uh, both from Minichog, both juniors, uh, want to pursue and join our cadet program, making that a total of four cadets now.
They're very interested. um want to pursue fire science for Anthony and Coulstone wants to get into helping people and pursuing it. Excellent. So you said we presently have two cadets. Did you tell me add that one
cadet got taken by another town? Um Bowen Howard left um his parents moved to Florida. His father accept another job. Okay. So obviously it's kind of a long commute. Yeah, it's a heck of a commute. I didn't leave him behind.
Home alone. Home alone. Okay. Okay. So, congratulations on your new role. I'm sure you'll do fine. Uh tell us about the cadets. I guess you have uh Anthony Powers, if you could stand up. Um from Minog 16.
Um wants to go to fire wants to go to school for fire science. uh join the program or look to join the program. And then you have Cole Stone, also a junior at Machog wants to get
into the fire program and pursue it and help people in the community. Excellent. Thank you both. Uh there's no active fire. They won't be involved in any of that. They'll just be exploring the equipment in our
operations and you know be training alongside of us. Excellent. Be able to assist us in some some emergency capacities but not you know obviously not fire. Right. How often do they attend meetings? Is it are they expected to come weekly to the training as well? Okay. Yeah,
we're going to start them um slightly earlier than the than the other members so they can have one-on-one time with John and and some other firefighters on how to um present gear, get it out, get it on correctly and do some easier tasks, you know, catch them up.
Excellent. Cole or Anthony, do you want to say anything? You're good. Go. Thank you. Silent. Boy, that's a it's a hallmark of
the fire department time, right? I'm not sure I could ask their parents like you. Did you expect them to say nothing? Yes. Okay. Well, congratulations both of you stepping up. Uh, does the board have any questions for them? But I wish you luck with that.
Question. I do have a question about one of the grades, but I'll let that go because Paris, what do you accept a motion? So, I move that the appointment of cadetses under the leadership of John Cadger. Cadet
second. All right. Motion to Anthony Powers and Cole Stone to be cadets under the Hamilton Fire Volunteer Fire Department. All in favor? I I congratulations. Thank you for stepping up. really this is a it's a big thing for the community when we see the youth and believe it or
not one time we were all youth and I'm not sure we would have done it back then but we really appreciate you doing this so thank you and thank you to your parents if you're all here like you know this is a big step and we're proud you should be proud of your kids for doing that
you know because we are so thank you all right chief you got more uh safety night out Um the police department I obviously I think the subport knows that we were not going to do it this year. We believe it's a great
community event. Um the fire department would like to succeed in putting on the event. We might have to change the date to um 17th or 24th. We're going to try for the 17th. It's kind of close. Um but we have a lot to uh material or
information to transer from the police department to us. And um but it like I said it's a great community event. A lot of people come out. A lot of people enjoy it. Just to engage with the public is is huge. So we'd like to continue it. And what date we're looking I'm sorry
the the 17th or 24th. Um I guess we're just looking for permission from the board. One to have it at TWWB and two to uh have the ability permits needed. I can't see what any reason why the
board would be against that type of thing. I think u based on what's happened before and done your chair of the board of health, you know, we have typically requests for food trucks and stuff like that. So that might take a little more time getting that out and maybe go for the 24th,
you know, again to give enough time for the last event had three or four food trucks done perhaps. Yeah. you know, just these other community people that want to participate. For instance, the even the board of health, the senior center as well, they have a table, you know, they more time to get that
together. Yeah, they were given they were giving flu shots out then, too. I think that they were big. Okay. Thank you. You think Bay State have a big presence there that want to come? I can ask. All right. Let's bring an MRI machine
accelerator. Okay. Great. Thanks. All right, chief. Good call. We're good for the 24th. And thank you. And now we have the fire department building committee. Welcome, Chief. Mark, I'll bring Mark, the chairman of
the building committee down. Um, I I can start first. Um, Greg Rivas has been on the building committee. um as you know he stepped down as a select person um last year and Eric E very graciously um ran
solidify his spot but um we would like to replace Greg Rivous with he's been a alter me member for the building committee Eric Madison he's retired um Long Meadow Fire Chief um he's interested you know hasn't ran
away from me every time I've asked him questions Well, we'd like to bring them on board if uh to make the All right. Do you have alternates? I mean, would Craig stepped down to be basically an alternate at that point. So, you're swapping people basically. Craig still wanted to be involved, but
as an alternative, Eric could be the fifth member. I remember Eric, you know, from East Law Meadow as well. Good resume and certainly good background in this and uh think a welcome addition to, you know, this expertise. Absolutely. Uh we prepare prepared a
54page, you know, questionnaire for you, Eric. Uh true false is most of it. Okay. I I wasn't aware that running away from the chief was an option. Now, any questions? Think we're good with that. So, I'm going to make a motion to uh basically
not demote uh assign Craig Revest as an altered member of the fire department building committee and sign Eric Matson as a full-time member of the building committee. I He's making a motion. No, not making He's making a motion. Yeah. Second. All in favor?
I congratulations. You'll get the uh t-shirt, the badge, everything later after the questionnaire. After the questionire scoring. So, what's happening with the uh give us a quick overview? Sure. So, we as you guys may or may not
be aware, we got five respondents back for the OPM, five firms. We call them back committee met. Um of those five, we basically narrowed it down to say three. Mhm. Um then we spent some time went through the you know the RFQ the qualifications
ranked the three firms um and then we came up from that with one firm that rose to the top for us and that firm is CMS um out of Maro Mass firm that we felt that we want to bring forward and hire as the OPM and
and the funding for that for the OPM part is already in the number. Yes. Yeah. the soft cost number of the project. Um the OPM is comes out of that number along with other other things. But yeah, that OPM fee is built into the soft cost which is part of the project.
[Music] All right. The RF percentage percentage it's going to be a negotiated contract. So that's that was the way the RFQ was written. Do they get do they get paid uh for the total cost of the project?
And what I'm asking is if the contingency fees, let's say we have to go into the contingency fees and we spend those, does he get a percentage of that, too? Now, it's typically the construction of the of the because there would be no there would be no incentive for them to keep the
contingency fees down if they were getting a percentage of it. Correct. Correct. So, Correct. Yeah. I'm sure that'll be written into the contract as well. And who who gets to decide on the contingency fees? Like for instance, they say, "Gee, we found this. We're going to need an extra
$100,000." Does the board select board on that or is the or does he decide or they decide or she decide or again part of the whole project is we've got a number to work with. So, you know, you know, there is some contingency already built into the project. Um, but again, the whole, you know,
we've got that I just always think if there's a contingency, that's where it's going to go. Atypically that can involve when we get to a semi impass. The OPM works for you and us. Allegedly,
they their job is to make sure that we don't have change orders and we don't go into the contingency. So, they're going to look at the design and any issues before and kind of double check them. the electrical, the HBAC, all the the
components and they do their own independent estimate before we put it on the street track. They do an independent estimate. Correct. Part of their what what is their uh do you know if you know what their uh success rate is on
getting it in under on budget or under budget and on time? They were they probably had the highest success rate that are the RFQ in there of firms coming on budget. They probably had the highest on time on budget. Um, this firm had
probably the most uh experience in municipal projects. Fire stations was one which was of interest to us. Projects that were equal size in scope. So yeah, that that basically is the next step is for us to negotiate with them um
the fee and the actual contract that the service they'll provide. minimum it would be what's in the RFQ then I think originally in your one of your estimates you get it was a 7% fee typically lower than that the industry standard is lower than that
like like two they pay us um what's the question on the RFQ um that relates to hiring of the uh the the company to do the final sign. Okay. So, before we can do that, we need to
hire the OPM. The OPM. No, but I meant the what was it? The advertising part you mentioned before there was a question or the the the original advertising two 3 years ago, right? Um yeah, we think there was a procedural
flaw on that. So it doesn't allow us to extend the contract with the um original with the existing architecture very specific in D designer projects that it's in the correct newspapers and state publications
and it wasn't right but it doesn't affect us at this point because we're doing this different than the OPM different than the OPM it will be probably the first thing the OPM will need to be working on with us their one of the first tasks is to get that designer final designer on board. So we are going to have to do another
RFQ for the designer final designer. All right. So that's a delay, right? It's Yes. Yes, that is a delay. That is a delay that we didn't anticipate. Correct. All right. So Brian, we need a motion to authorize the
uh hiring of CMS, basically OPM, but yeah, to enter into contract negotiations with uh with CMS. If they're not successful with CMS, is there a a a second company that you're comfortable recommending or do you want to go back to the board at that point? No, no, we do. We we ranked them one,
two, three. So, the number two our number two selection we'd be comfortable and that's if if the negotiations are not successful with CMS. Okay. Why don't we handle that? Now, who was the second one? Collars. Collers. Callers. All right. Enter
enter entertain a motion to authorize the building committee uh with the town ministry or by would town minister enter in negotiations with CMS for a contract as OPM failing agreeing to a contract
they can go to negotiations with Kier at that point move second all in favor I hopefully we don't need the name of the third place company right okay we don't go that far? We don't. So, what time ballpark, Brian, you think
this will take a couple weeks or we should reach out to them immediately. Let them know, get them on get them on board and I can work. We can every day is important. If we can get it in by Thursday of this week, uh then we can be publicized next
Wednesday. Mhm. Cut that process. No, I meant the negotiation part. I mean, this like you say, it's pretty cut and dried. It's fairly right. Shouldn't take a heck of a lot. Should should should not take long. Okay. Right. Right. And we could put it on the next agenda
and if if if we're ready, we're ready. If not, then Right. Is there a need for something like this to be reviewed by town council or um depending on the complexity of the agreement? Yes. Okay. Okay.
Is there anything else? Chief, are you going to take say here the whole meeting? Sounds good. What? Any good news? It's all good news. Statement's done. How's that truck? How's the truck? The floor has been abated. That's all
set. Um that has been completed. Um and I had an email a couple weeks ago that the truck has pushed one more month December. So this year this year ready for Christmas. How about how about Murphus
transition? Um there's we're just waiting for them to build the software and install. And is there a drop dead date for that transfer? Is it uh for that update? Has to be done by such and such. They want it done by January, but they want it installed either on like October
1st, November, you know, first of the month. Done by January. Okay. But we're waiting on them. Waiting on our software company. Yeah. Are those real fire hydrants on Glendale Road? They're they're real fire hydrants. You can touch them, but you
cannot use them for fire suppression. They're only for purging the line. Take suck that tank dry. How quickly? In 5 seconds. Oh, there. I thought there was a fake one in front of Lenny's house, too. Right. Yeah. Yeah, he did have a fake. He did have a fake one there. Yeah, right. But he stole that from Springfield. I
think he borrowed. I think it was his retirement gift. He told me once he got a hydra. Yeah. Got a lot of people calling about that. Hey, how come that guy has a hydrant? We don't. Put a hydrant out there if they want. Right. Exactly.
It checks that box off. You know, is there a fire house? That's true. They never asked the question, is there a working hydrant? It's just, is there a hydrant? Right. Um Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John. Would it be out of order for me to
ask a question before he leaves? She wants a hydrant. Hydro for everyone. Oh, thank you. So, you me you mentioned um 10:24 for um an event and I I couldn't hear you were talking
so softly I couldn't hear what it was all about. It's a public safety night out. Oh, good. Mhm. Yes. That that would be the date for that. And that would be October 24th. Yeah. Okay. Well, behind Dorne Burgess. Yep. Y Darn Burgess. Right. Okay. Thank you.
welcome. And that dubtails right into we have the friends of the hand senior citizens here. Yeah, you do. So, yes, Ted. Yes, Bobby.
I'm Ted executive board member of the friends of the Hampton Senior Center and we would like to make a donation to the infrastructure of a town building i.e. the senior center i.e. the restroom
upgrades. Mhm. Um, as you know, past 6 years or so, wherever we started on the supposed expansion of the senior center, there have been some naysayers. This being on the back of our mind when
the sector came up that we were going to be a little bit short on the bathroom upgrades on money and they were looking for us to do it, we hired, contracted, whatever the word you want to use, with Fitzgerald Law out of Beast Long Meadow. Mhm. We had them go through our bylaws,
our state articles of organization, our attorney uh general papers that we have to do and the state statues and they deemed that we can make the donation to the town. Up to now, we've bought TV sets, we
bought refrigerators, we bought furniture, we pay for speakers, we pay for all kinds of things, but not brick and mortar. Mhm. And that was a sticking point. If anybody cares to read it, there's a little summation.
Could you could you have bought, for instance, the bathroom renovations include, you know, new partitions, toilets, urinal? Could you have bought those parts, but not the labor? basically you couldn't because once we inst paid for a toilet
which gets installed they're incorporated into the if you decided to move the senior center to to Burgess that toilet's not going to move it's going to stay there that means you sell the building we've lost our investment so it's loose stuff it's stuff that's attached if if we buy a TV and you moved us to
that's mean before the TV right yeah that's the big sticking point and that's why we got a legal opinion so we have been cleared to make the donation. Okay. Will that donation then are you making the donation to the town
for the purpose of using it for the bathroom upgrades at the Hamlin Senior Center? Yes. Okay. There is a letter and you don't have legal here so I don't know if you're going to want to sign it. The intent was to have it signed tonight. Um the letter
is drawn up by legal and me together. So, if you want to scan this, it basically says the friends on the behalf of the friends of the senior center hereafter call the friends, we are pleased to provide a donation of $17,100 to the town of Hampton Mass here after
called the town. Contribution is made to support the town's work for the sole purpose of the renovations of the restrooms at the Hammond Senior Center, 104 Allen Street, Hampton Mass. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the town to support the I can read all that. The above set amount must be
used only for the intended project. There's these are the qualifications. The project is canceled for any reason. If there's any unexpended funds, the funds must be returned to the friends. If additional funds are needed, it would be an additional request which would
have to be renegotiated. Additionally, a general accounting of the expenditures said funds is appreciated. Keep this for your records, etc., etc. said then we go on to explain who we are. If additional documentation is needed, please hesitate don't hesitate
to contact us. The friends is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation operating under Mass General Laws 180 signed. We are approved by federal government part number commonwealth of Massachusetts attorney general's office number. The legality of the friends to donate to a
town infrastructure project has been researched by the firm of Fitzger and is so deemed legal. The donation amount was approved by the friends board of directors on September 23rd, 2025 and is authorized the
undersigned me to provide this letter and to release the donated funds to the town. I had the check here. If you concur and don't need legal and sign, I'll give it a check today. If you need legal to reboo, we'll have to give you a check after review. I don't see an issue. The uh just quick
recap of those. So, originally when we looked at senior center renovations last year, uh there was a budget for the bathroom renovations at 15,000. By the time it went out to get some quotes, we had three quotes, two I think
around 80 something thousand and one at 47. Um the 47 obviously were the lowest. Becky went out and got a grant from the state for an additional 15,000 to go on top of the appropriate 15,000. The friends are gracious enough to make up
the difference and I've heard there's actually another citizen who has kicked in funds as well and I think the town is extremely grateful for that person. The 171 only 141 is actually coming out of our general coffers. We had a very generous $5,000 donation. Correct. And is it appropriate?
But now I have another subgroup to keep track of in case. Okay. Is it appropriate to say who kicked in that money? I'm sorry. Is it appropriate to say who donated that money? If you'd like. I'd like to I'd like to recognize John Matthews for making that donation. We
normally do not. It's It is public record, but we normally don't. But Well, that's why I wanted to make sure it was okay. If he's fine with it, that's fine. Okay. But I think we want to thank the the friends as well for stepping up and we've had that conversation. I mean, you know, it's a town building. Yes.
You know, but sometimes you come up with a pencil estimate and you find out that's why pencils come with the racers. Yeah. Because it wasn't even close. And we need this done and we need it done now. And thank you for getting us getting us to the finish line with this. Everybody here
supported this. That's why we're here. That's why that's why we're incorporated. It just got to that sticky point of it's now not something it's now well it's very appreciate everybody getting us like I say to the finish line. Uh Don Brian just Brian I don't if
you looked at that you see anything issue any issue with it? Not if it's for a stated purpose. No no. Okay. So I'll entertain a motion two copies sign them both. I Okay. Why don't we entertain a motion to have the town administrator sign on behalf of the town.
Second. All in favor? I Thank you. So, if he signs them, then I'll hand them the check. Can I just say one thing? We just want everybody to know how hard we work for that money. Um the seniors, we have a great group of people, volunteers that really help us
and and it it's a lot of hard work. Thank you. But this is something we feel very strongly about. So, we have a lot of people that are not in the best of shape that come there and the bathroom renovation is going to make a big difference for them. So, trip. And well, you run some great programs.
Sell some calendars. Word. Yes. Yes. Got some great prizes. Great prizes on there. I know. I hate the pie sale. The pie sales coming. It's a lot of stuff. Boy, there you are again. Boy, I tell you, Don loves being chair of the board
of health. He signs every food permit. He samples everything. It's incredible. All right. And thank you, Ted. He did an awful lot of work getting us to this point because we two and two is four. I can handle doing all this illegal stuff.
I have to be anybody from Fitzgerald a day who are fabulous. Absolutely fabulous working with me. No, I know John D. He's a a good guy. He's a good man. John spec specifically. Yes. It wasn't a mention. It wasn't a
reason we had them do this wasn't because we didn't support it. We just wanted to make sure that everything tees were crossed and the eyes were dotted and you could come back now and that's why I wanted you all to come in. You should be recognized. You should be recognized for this and there's no delay and we can move on with this quickly.
That's the key part. That's my question. Yes. Will the um notification contract made out to you? I don't know if that's uh Gary doing that or Brian doing that, but we'll check right into that whether it was
Brian. Yes. Would that be you or Gary notifying the uh the hype the bidder which I think we voted to award that last week anyhow. Yeah. I'll contact them in the morning. Okay. Right. We did. Mhm. Thank you.
Thank you all of your efforts. Right on time. I'm sorry. Snappies are still over. You get another ice cream. Oh. Hey, we cheated once. No, no. Have a cookie. Come on for you. Come on. They're fresh from town. Well, I can't. I just can't remember. I took a picture and sent it to your
doctor. Here, take one off camera. She'll never see it. My daughter will go review it later and yell. He's bringing it to a friend. That's right. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Okay, so um
I'm not sure any questions. My email there. Okay, got it. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Um, are they logged in or we just talking about this? What? He's on. He's on. Okay, great.
I don't see him. Yeah, we got to change our view. I see him. Can you change it to gallery view first? real gallery. Gallery. There you go.
It's not a lot to look at. Hey, Russ. How you doing? Good tonight. I appreciate you having me. That's okay. Thank you for the work you did. I think uh last week uh last week Don I met with Herb and um Brian over at
the the uh Baron Burgess Middle School and we walked by I think some of the interviews going on in place did not stick our head in but uh certainly looked like you were busy there so we appreciate your quickness and getting back to us. Um, obviously at
this point we're not going to get into specifics of your report, but the reason I asked you to step in and just and more for the public, just give us a quick overview and you talked about there were four or five scenarios you run through and obviously you've done this in many
communities. Give us a quick overview of them if you will. Sure. So on Tuesday, September 23rd, we had the police chief level assessment centers for the four candidates selected by the town and we created exercises. And when we create the exercises, we
look for various first we got to look at the town and see the size of the town. Is it a working chief? And what I mean by that is a chief that's subject to go out on calls. Um size of your town, size of your police department. Your chief is subject to go on calls. not every day, but they could be providing backup,
could be covering covering the general officer in court. So, we kind of look at the the town itself. We look at the population, the size of the police department. We look at what what type of resources you have, internal resources to the police department, external resources, if you're part of a law enforcement council, where you get your
backup from. So, we took a we take a a look at a lot of different areas. And then we develop exercises that are kind of specific to your town. So, we develop five exercises. One exercise was a critical incident. The sec the second exercise was a citizen complaint. The
third exercise was a staff meeting. The fourth exercise was an employee complaint. And the last exercise what we call a panel questions or or rapid fire questions. And those are questions, short questions requiring short answers. Some are tactical questions, some are operational questions, and some
administrative questions. And what we look for as assessors are what we call cases. knowledge, skills, ability, and personal traits to perform the function of a police chief, specifically a function of a police chief in Yorktown. So on the 23rd, we had our all day assessment center with the four
candidates. Um the assessment center is one of those many one of the tools that we use to assess a candidate's abilities to perform their function, a function as a police chief. So each one of these five different exercises has three
different assessors who assess the candidates. These are all police chiefs who are trained to do assessing and depending on what the exercise is will depend on what different cases or what different dimensions we're looking at. Oral communications, adaptability, interpersonal relations, delegation and
control, police ethics. So there are several different dimensions per exercise that we look at. Each candidate gets scored approximately 125 times before the day is over. So each one of them gets scored individually by the assessors and then there's the scoring
report which I produced. Um the next step is for and I would definitely suggest this and this is very this is normal and this is what we do and we suggest in all towns is at this point you being the appointing body is to hold your interviews. You hold your
interviews with the candidates. So you've already done the resumes reviews. So, you have the resume. Now, you have your assessment set up done, complete, and a scoring report. And now you hold your oral interviews. And then you're going to look at all three of those phases, those three different areas, and
and come up with your how you want your what you want your next police chief to be or to what what you want your next police chief to be and the functions and the skill sets that you want them to have. Now the it's equally important the skills and the talents of the individual
is equally as important as the fit. The fit's very important for your town too. It's you're in your size town. Um you have to have an individual that interacts with the town's people. An individual that uh is not it's not like this is the chief of police of a
commissioner of Springfield. This is someone that's going out in the public more so on calls, can be out in the public doing different functions. It's a different role being a working a large department and I worked at a department of 1800 and I worked at a department of eight and I fully realized being a
police chief in New York town is a different role in functioning and you as a select as a select member uh need to take that in consideration as well. So the assessment center was done completed scoring reports done. Um the next phase is for you to do your interview. Uh you
have talented candidates that that's given. Um and I always tell I mean any one of the candidates can do the job. It's just at what level um can we do the job? Okay. So you say any one of the candidates can do the job. So you
suggest that we interview all four or I think I think you should take a look at all four. Um it's I think you should bring all four in. You know, my my opinion would be you only have four. It's not like you learn five or six. Uh my suggestion would be you hold a
special meeting. Nothing else on the agenda but select board interviews. Uh you have questions that are written and given to each of you ask the same questions of each candidate. You bring in a candidate, you ask the same questions of each candidate. Any one of you are allowed to ask a follow-up
question to the answers they give. You have a scoring rubrics or a waiting uh a weighted scoring table that you score each one of the communities on your oral questions and your question should be gerine for your town the function of the police chief what you're expecting what you're looking for I mean we already
asked the technical questions we already asked the questions um if they can do the job and and all of them can do the job to what level is a different story uh to what capacity is a different story so you hold your interviews and then now you take consideration each candidate's
resume, the assessment center scores, and your interviews. And then you looked at the whole package, and then you come up with your selection that way. The interviews have to be conducted in public right now because they're considered finalists. If if we do all four, they're considered finalists
and you're all you're the um select board. So, yes, we're the appointing authority. So, they have to be Okay. Would it you said that you ask everyone the same question but some of them are from different backgrounds. So
would it be inappropriate to ask a different question? I want to just or No, but if you were if you were asking a question of okay can you tell tell us as the board tell us about yourself tell us about your background. Well each one's going to give you a different answer
because they have four of them have four different backgrounds. That's not a problem. You can now depending on what the person is. So you say, "Okay, tell me about you work at such and such a police department. Tell me about your role and function at that police department where you work now." That's like a follow-up. It's like a
follow-up question to the Okay. All right. Now, depending on what their answers are, you're going to you may follow up on an answer that they give. That's acceptable because each candidate may give you a different answer, which you could you're allowed to follow up on those answers, but the basic premise of the initial question should be the same
for all candidates. for the treated off field. Right. Okay. All right. So, it sounds like uh the ball's in our court. We need to obviously we need to pick a date that's good for the three of us, four of us if you will, Bren the plus a date
that's good for these four candidates. U as I think Russ and I spoke before, this is a public meeting that is broadcast on Zoom. The three candidates that are not being spoken to at that time would be in another room
and probably somebody in with them. Uh it is an honor system, but we would expect them to not be watching what the candidate in front of them is giving for an answer. I think that's appropriate. The worst thing that could happen was that we might have two people not
available for one night. We'd have to schedule four interviews over two nights and just hold back the publishing of the recording at that point. However, that doesn't mean somebody else couldn't have watched it and tipped an answer. Uh to think the worst of it,
Don, but sometimes you do. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'd like to keep all four in one night if we can. Um is it reasonable? And Brian, you did share that, you know, we're coming down to a little longer than we told Scott we'd be hanging on to
him for, right? Um and we need to wrap it up. It's probably unreasonable to make that this week short notice for these four candidates. Although I'm sure Russ they kind of had a sense is this would be happening next anyhow. I'm sure
they understand that that an oral board is coming that they're and they they're applying for the position of police chief. They're going to do the best they can to make themselves available. It's actually not a bad time. School it's not summertime. School's back in session. Um, I'm sure that they'll be immunable
to making themselves available so you can get it done in one night or even I'd say even a Saturday. Um, Brian, you said Friday nights are bad for you, right? Yes. Friday evenings. The next What's What's the other evening that was bad for you besides Monday?
Uh, Wednesday the 8th. No, I'm more even thinking this week of even if we advertised. Do you think it's unreasonable for the second? We got to post right there. But we have enough time. If we post tomorrow, we have enough time. No time.
Monday, Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday. Yeah, we could post for if it's in the evening. We can post. And like you said, Eric, four would be the absolute earliest typically. Uh, yes. 4:30 be better. Uh, 4:30 would be better, but I can do four. It would just be kind of like this. Okay. So,
I'll be zipping on. This is Thursday. You're talking I'm talking Thursday at 4. I mean, I'm I'm three. I mean, we don't want to keep dragging this out. At 2 4:30 would be good. 4:30. On the second. We're talking the second.
On the second. Yeah. 4:30. Yeah. Okay. All right. Why don't we tentatively say that uh and Russ you you agree we got to keep keep it moving. So, we can't be dragging out here. Let's let's start for this Thursday 4:30 if possible.
Set them up for half hour sessions. Okay. Um, is it appropriate at that point that you think, Russ, that the board would make their decision that night? So, there's two options. You could I've seen boards make it that after the
meeting's over, boards go into executive session and then they come out and they make a decision. Um, I've seen boards that say, you know what, we'll put a pin in it tonight and we'll meet at our next meeting or we'll make another special meeting and we'll come in and just have a vote. It's really about you guys. It's
the board's decision on that one. It's It's Mr. Chairman. We've done it. It's been done so many different ways. So, you can't Yeah. No, I only I only question. You mentioned going to executive session. What would be the rationale for an executive session? I strike that. You're not going to executive session public meeting. Just
make it a desert. You're not. So, you could put a pin in it and meet at another date. If you're going to do that, you should set your date up now. That just requires the board or you can make a decision afterwards. You know what? We change it to five.
Okay. Late tea time. Okay. Fine. Yeah. Five. Five. Five. Even better for you. Just in case I get tied up. That's fine. Um I would say that the 19th hole. You know, we could right now plan on making a decision that night. We also would have the option to put a pin in it
and touch on the sixth as well because we're already meeting on the following Monday. Just add it as an agenda. So, you know, either the agenda we publish on the second says make a decision or we pass that and we put it on the agenda for Monday as well. Please be firing.
Then if it's already happened on the second, there's no action on the sixth. Yeah, we can defer this. We can defer and it's only deferring one day basically. So we're not hanging them out the drive. That sound reasonable, Russ. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So, is the board in favor of therefore have any uh who would
reach out to these four candidates? Russ, is that something you would do or Brian? Brian would. Okay. The time minister will reach out to the four candidates, check their availability for the second starting at 5:00. No particular order. Obviously, he can make, you know, if one candidate
says, "Look, I can't be there till 6:00," then they can be, you know, we're not unreasonable. You know, put them in order, they work out in half hour segments. You don't want to be unreasonable. We're not unreasonable. Not in public. Oh, yes. I think in fairness to the other candidates, so they really should be all four at the same time because that's a
good point. Like you said, if one of them's an hour late and they're on Zoom and they're watching this right now, they're going to be on Zoom watching the questions. They could prepare in a half hour for you. I'm not saying I think they all should be here at the same time. Mr. Mr. Chair, have all four candidates
report to the meeting area and meet someone at at the start time. They're going to be requested, if you will. Um and and the uh TA is going to tell them uh leave your kindly leave your cell phones in the car and any other electronics. Um and he's going to tell
them they're going to there's going to be the royal interview. It'll be approximately a half an hour a piece and they're going to be put in a room. They'll have no access to the interviews and then they'll be brought in one at a time and when it's done they'll be done.
All right. Let me ask the board this and this is just you know I don't want to be talking about this for the next three days. If a candidate comes back to Brian look I I can't be there on Thursday. I've got something already scheduled and are we rescheduling everybody or what
are we doing? We can't be dragging this out for weeks. Russ, you were just about to say something. It's like I mean, I'm fine to say if a candidate says, "Look, I can't beat it at six." Fine, we'll start them all at 6. I mean, that's not an unreasonable thing. I can, you know, but
we're not starting everybody 8:00 for crying out loud. But if one person can't make it Thursday, we like basically saying fine, everybody report next Monday or we're making it Monday. If that's the only it'd be best if you can get them all there at one time instead
of that way everyone's treated the same on the same. I agree. I'm saying that's why I'm saying if one can't make it Thursday for you know I'm taking my wife to the hospital. Okay. Pretty good reason. We should then say nobody's coming
Thursday and we're picking a different day. That's what I'm saying. If you can do that, Mr. Chairman, that would be the best thing to do. But if they're saying, you know, I'm going to watch my son play soccer. Well, then I guess you're not really serious about applying for this job. All your candidates have are there.
They'll be interested. They're not going to if unless it's a drop dead thing where, you know, to your point, you're bringing your wife to the doctor's appointment or child, they'll be there. Okay. Appreciate that. All right. So, that's where we're going. Okay. Right. Good. Yes. Russ, great job. Thank you.
Russ, can you give us the Russ, could you give us the address of the chiefs so we can send them a thank you for their participation? I absolutely will. I'll send it to I'll send it to the TA. Great. Thank you. And we won't thank you. We'll just send you No, no, no. There's There's extra
cookies here. We're sending those. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You can put us down your references. Great job. Thank you very much. Take care. Now, okay. Um
and now the warrant. So, several things happening with the warrant. Not the least is Look, hang on a sec. I think this is the audio not working. Is that what I No, it is. Oh, it is. I'm sorry. Okay. So, sorry. Although, somebody commented there. I'm
not sure. Okay. register. So due to personnel changes etc. both at our level and at the state I think as well we may not have the free cash number as quickly as we have seen in other years.
Don and I remember seeing sometimes this number gosh in August, you know, and having a sense of it with the accountant change, uh, with the state change of the person that works with it as well with sometimes the complexity of the numbers
that have to be worked, uh, with reimbursements from the state coming in late, which can still be counted against obligations, which is important to have that done there. and the fact that we need to give the advisory committee a good number that
they can work with to provide recommendations for the warrant articles for appropriations. I'm wondering if the board would be amendable to making the date of the special town meeting October 3rd. November November 3rd, excuse me.
And I won't I'm not even saying if you want to say we're going to have this conversation 3rd or 10th. We could Brian's feeling decent about the third. Yeah, you feel a lot more rock solid about the 10th, but that would be putting a bit of
onus on the assessors then for the next part. Get for the tax rate. They got to get to the tax rate. Exactly. And they have a bit of a change in their department as well. You know, new person, you know, doing that work. So,
so if we do the third, Brian has checked with the AV company. They're available that day. Yep. We're pretty sure the school's available. I'll check. Yep. Okay, great. Thank you, Brian. Mth check. What a check. Nice. Nice. Um,
so it doesn't really Well, we did make a motion to set the special town meeting at that date. That's the only publishing we've done of it basically, right? Yeah. So, we would actually just make a motion to change the date of the 2025
special town meeting to November 3rd at 6:30 at 85 Warham Road at the TWWB/Nth. So, moved. Second. All in favor? I. All right. So, and Brian is going to be
continuing to work with everybody involved and see if we can get those those numbers back. And I did we did talk to Doug as well. uh Doug Boyd and he felt that that was the way to go and you know he would work with this committee on setting up the schedule for
the hearing typically the Monday before and obviously they would feel much better having numbers to work with than just guessing if you will. All right. So, uh, a special time meeting warrant is in pretty good shape.
Although, we did have Brian did get a request from, uh, the superintendent about adding a placeholder for a potential orange article for the school district, which, and Brian, correct me if I'm
wrong, is probably related to the bleachers. No, it's not. It's going to be the regional agreement. Yeah. Okay. I thought they were nowhere close on the regional agreement. And I mean, my conversation with uh Mike
Schwidow was that they didn't set it in stone, but at point in August, they did not see a need for a fall town meeting. They did not say no, but they saw no need for a fall town meeting at that point. And probably Mark echoed the same thing. They didn't make a negative
vote, right, but they made no positive vote. Yeah. But that may be resolved at that October 9th meeting. And it could be. It could be. So is the board willing to just put a placeholder and we could take no action on? Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me. But I think the
superintendent also is of the of the mind that it should be put on to keep the process going somehow, you know, and see how we vote on it. I don't know. I don't know what their amendment is going to be, but all the amendments that we talked about, I don't know what
they're going to finally do with what their final thing is going to be on the There's a lot. There's a lot. All right. Is the So, is the board willing to vote to open the warrant insert a placeholder for
a language to be given to us from the Him Warhammer School Committee for a warrant article and then close the warrant again. Yeah. So moved. Second. All in favor? I went Per I thought. [Laughter]
Did you ask you you see you understand my question about that about the procedure? Yeah. The procedure says that we shall put it on the if they present a if they present a an amendment to the regional agreement, it shall be on the annual
town meeting and it says or special town meeting for the purpose. So does the purpose mean just for the amendment or does it mean you're having a special town meeting for a purpose so you can put it on there? Yeah, I always interpreted that special
nominee was for that purpose. Like we've had a couple special mean just for like voting debt for a school thing or something. Yeah. That the special nominee was called for that purpose. Yeah. Let's say you I believe it's [Music]
it is very vague and ambiguous. a big leeway. I read it as as a special time meeting called for the purpose of of the article, but I think but I also think special town meetings could have multiple purposes. So is it move?
So we can have special town meeting within the special town meeting. Oh yeah, here. Oh yeah, that'll make Rick happy. He'll earn twice the money. I think if you voluntarily place it on the warrant, I don't I don't think it's an issue. Okay. I think it relates back.
But can I just ask a question? Um, looking at the calendar here, if we're going to do November 3rd, then we're signing the warrants. Are we still signing the warrants? October 6th, but we're going to do it the 14th. You just want to push it back.
Well, I think we have to wait for, as Don said, the 9th is going to provide some clarity here. That's what I That's what I was wondering. So, I think 14th is we can't sign it on this. We can't close it. sign it and post it on the 6th if something's going to happen on the 9th. But if we push it back a week, we'll have the meeting on the 9th. We'll have
more clarity on the fourth for the 14th. The 14th. So, we want to plan on signing on the signing posting after the 14th. Yes. Okay. Which now actually helps us out because the extra week helps us out. That's 14th. 14th. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. Job description of the con agent. So, I I drafted up a John. Thank you again. Dad,
you go back. Have a great second trip. So, there's a draft conservation agent job description that I created. I there was one for a shared conservation agent that I found in the
files between Hamden and uh Graanby I believe. Um so I took that modified that to make it ours in our format. Um I sent this over to Bonnie at conservation. She provided some
feedback. Um the job description is a little bit more expensive than what I think conservation does now. Um but but I think it's something that if they could if they could incorporate or expand what they do when they have the resources, I
think that would be good. And what I'm referring to is a lot of what they do right now is wetlands protection. Uh but there's also a role for conservation commissions for open space protection, open space management. Uh the law allows conservation commissions to oversee oversee conservation
restrictions on property. Um, so I think that would be once they have the resources and somebody on staff to expand into that. Um, and there was also talk about um the resources are available for that person to help out with some of the storm water
stuff that's that the town is required to do. Um, so those are those are in here now. Um, so I think that would be a good place for them to expand if they have if they have the resources. Um, I talked to
Bonnie about the budget and what they currently have and how that what that would translate into in terms of hours. Again, that this that depends on the that depends on the pay and our pay scale. I had recommended to the board
that this be a uh grade four position. Um, and there's obviously certain uh, so it would be grade four, step one is what it would be offered at, and that would translate to what they would have in their budget would be enough for a 15 hour a week position
based on that pay rate. Okay. Well, is it great for step one? Yeah. Okay. So, are we authorizing Brian to publish this or add it to the basically the uh job description book?
Yes, it would be approval of the job description and then just uh if you're okay with putting out the the job advertise, we really should put out the job advertisement. I know there's a couple people who might be interested in it, but I think we should put out the posting as well.
Okay. Okay. So, move second. One second. I blow your thunder, Eric. Sorry. While we're on the while we're on the conservation commission budget thing. Okay. They have an issue on up on South
Road and they're proposing paying for it, but I don't know what they could possibly pay it out of. Could they pay it out of their revolving account? I don't think so because it says that's for fees collected for a specific purpose. Is this is this on private property or
public property? Private property. I don't think we can typically can't spend public Mhm. funds on private property. I agree. So there was there was a there was a uh a development
and they had to put set aside some land for conservation. brought it up in our meeting with them as well. We we said we didn't think it was possible. Right. Yeah. I don't think that's an appropriate use of public funds. Okay. So, can you talk to them about that? Yes. All right.
All right. What else we got? Chief, keep talking. Come on, John. Keep talking. Okay. Seasonal decor discussion. Seasonal decor discussion. What? What's the What's that about?
It's a decor. So, this is came up in the context of two things. All right. Thank you. Paul about it. Thank you. Paul McNell and Paul Marceline came to see us about the uh potential for having a holiday display
in town. Well, that that was very nice. However, the board expressed some concerns about having it at the intersection because, as we know, people are concerned about maybe the intersection on its own is confusing and the potential distraction of having a
nice lighted display there might not help. So, I did speak to Mr. Marcelina and said, "Hey, what if we have that in front of, you know, the new town hall? You know, we expect quite a bit of traffic there with everything moving
there. Obviously, quite a bit with these sports programs going on at that time as well. Cons library and not busy enough, but again, not the intersection busy that we're concerned about. Uh he said some gun, we were
thinking the same thing. So, there you go. So, they're fine with that. He even mentioned possibly even reaching out to the country club and see if they would put some type of scenery up across the street and maybe make it, you know, gosh, almost like bright nights there
down tickets. Do something on Raymond Drive' be really nice. Thank you. Yeah. Right. Um, people from Green Leaf will be in front of us going, "Hey, stealing our thunder." Is that um so we'd like to proceed with that. He
actually talked about uh lighting the green the gazebo as well. However, we do know that the garden club and I think even parks and wreck has been talked about doing things there as well. So I think if we get all these players together, you did talk about actually providing the town with a new Christmas
tree there so we don't have to transplant the deer tree from out front. Um, so I think this is and certainly it's only, you know, September, so even though uh Rocky's and most stores been
selling Christmas stuff for a while, we still have some time before we have to get it together. I think it's it's good. They're they're on the same plan. We are stay away from the danger. It's an excellent thing to do. Um, if we flesh
it out, I don't know if they're going to put lights on the building or just do something at the entrance. I think they're really just talking things at the entrance and along the street at this point. Yep. So, we're going to keep in conversation
from there. Yeah. All right. All right. That's what I have. um meeting schedule going forward. I know we had a request for a meeting on the 7th. Uh park and rec want to know if we wanted to attend their meeting and you
know I checked the calendar they don't even have a meeting scheduled on the on the 7th. I'll be unavailable. Thank you Tiger. So, but we do have a meeting on the 6th and I would encourage um Brian to reach out to them and say, "Hey, look, you know, we got I think at this point a
pretty open agenda and we're happy to give you as much time and we will we'd love talking to other boards. I did mention to Brian and Don, you recall this, we like we talked about bringing other boards in on a Brooking basis and there's probably a couple others we need to bring in just go with I was thinking
talking to Brian historical commission see where they stand memberships things like that. Uh board of appeals I thought our conversation with Concom was good. It would have been nice if we had more members there. Yeah. But um I think you know so we're all on
the same page going forward. you know, we go into December and Don and I have had this State of the Union thing in December for a number of years that goes back to my father's time. I did get feedback that
could it be January going forward and I think that's not a bad idea. They have more they have six months and also more of a sense of what next year really which is within the purpose. So other than that, I have uh we did have a meeting with the senior center building committee this morning. I was not able
to attend, but Brian did attend and Brian did report. It went well. They you read them in on uh what we're planning for a the HBAC in the roof article and I believe you said they supported it and we'll be there for in support at the
fall town meeting about October, November, December, whenever it is. We're next. We're next. Thank you, Don. Uh, other than that, nothing else to report. Eric, nothing to report on that. How about the fiber cable committee?
Fiber cable committee. Well, nothing really overly new with that because um I'm just kind of waiting to see what happens with this charter announcement. Okay. We're potentially on revitalizing this and charter is going to say, "Hey, we're going to run fiber um throughout the whole town." It's kind of a a moot
point to bring everybody and get hopes up just yet. So, I got to wait till their public announcement. I think it's I think it's the 7th of October to the public. Oh, wow. At the Scantic Valley YMCA, there's some kind of press. That's right. We saw that thing. Yeah. So, um they're going to kind of announce
that they're investing 50 local town. So, hopefully um we'll hear more from that. Oh, is that the one with Is that your comment about the Cider Donuts? Uh yes. Well, gosh, maybe certainly a good reason to go. Were you thinking of going anyhow, Brian, or no? I was I was
planning on going. What time is it? I was planning on going. 11. Okay. All right. As it gets clo Well, remind us on uh Monday night next meeting, please. Okay. Done.
Report. T administrator. Um a lot of time working on getting uh Thoren Burgess ready. Nth Um that's taking up a lot of time. Um other things not uh Thornton Burgess
related. U Mark's working with the engineers on the bid docks for the South Road Bridge so that can go out to bid. Um we'll likely be having a a contract presented to the board from VHB to do
the construction administration when that happens. Uh we have a proposal for them now. Uh annual storm water report was submitted today. It was due today. Um so that was submitted by Tai and Bond. Um
I just What's up? What was that? The annual storm water report. Oh yeah. Okay. Submitted to Yeah. Yep. Um we had our internal meeting about um uh uh septic system and wells at TWWB. Um
oh we need to reach out to mass DP uh to set up that meeting to talk about the uh talk about that their concerns with that. Did her back to the hooking up the Yes. Okay. Yep.
they can do it for the for the boiler alone. That was the plan. Uh their answer was yes, they could yes they could do it. Um but they had they had some some concerns about that. Um but they we could definitely disconnect it. Okay.
Or or uh have it available for irrigation. Okay. Um so we can satisfy Mass DP's concern about the about the well and its proximity to the the septic. stormwater report VHB. Um, I received
hopefully what is the final draft of the cable agreement which is keeps dragging on and on and on. I didn't get a chance to look at it, but I received that from our uh cable council today. So hopefully we can wrap that up in the next goodness gracious 3 months or something.
That's way beyond uh way beyond two. So that's about it. [Music] Um, Lauren, anything? I have nothing. All hearings.
Thank you. Sure. I think something else. Better say it fast. Motion to wire. Second. Really? All in favor? I I thank you. Thank you. Have a good week.