Okay, welcome to our SLE SLE board September 30th meeting. Uh, and as always, the first item we do is public participation announcement. The Hatfield Select Board welcomes everyone to its meetings and to all public meetings of
the town of Hatfield. All regular and special meetings of the boards and committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting law. Executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the
statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the ability opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate. During meetings of the select board, an attempt will be
made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield Swack board. For the public's information, this meeting is being recorded and I open that with announcements. Uh first we we send our
condolences to the family of Richard Oday. Uh he was an election worker, Smith Academy trustee, and he served the town in other capacities and we regret his passing. Uh under announcements,
uh October, I always announce smoke detector month. Uh please check your smoke detectors, your batteries, and make sure everything's working. I Those are my announcements. I don't know if my colleagues have any other announcements.
>> No sir. >> Uh is anybody here for public forum? If not, we will move to uh our consent agenda which would be approval of September 9th, 2025 meeting minutes.
>> I'll make a motion to approve the September 9th, 2025 meeting minutes. >> Second. >> Uh motion made. Motion seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Under posted business, uh, topic one, we have our fire chief is
here with our new full-time firefighter EMT effective September 22nd. I'll leave it to you, Chief. >> So, this is Christian LOL. He comes to us from the town of Gilbertville. He's been on Hardwick Fire for just about
seven years now. Uh, got his EMT earlier this year. He had worked for a private ambulance company out of central Mass earlier this year. Uh and then he is in uh started his week two today. So he's doing his orientation getting familiar with all of our equipment, the
apparatus, the ambulance, and we were fortunate last week we were steady enough on the ambulance. So he got a few ambulance calls under his belt and he's hit the ground running. He was doing very well on his own. So >> Oh, welcome to the town of Hatfield. We're happy to have you.
>> Thank you very much. Happy to be here. Okay, that was painless, right? So, >> under topic two, the Hatfield Firefighters Association request for ceremonial bonfire per minute permit for
October 12th, 2024. So you want to speak to that or Carrie or >> So under the law, it is actually the fire department that is requesting the the ceremonial bonfire uh just because of the way the law is written. So it is for the bonfire event hosted by the
Hatfield Firefighters Association, but it is officially under the fire department that oversees the the bonfire portion itself. >> Okay. >> Same as every other year. I believe we're on year 14. So, >> I'll make a motion to approve the
ceremonial bonfire permit for October 12th, 2025. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? >> Um, all in favor? >> Motion carries? >> Okay. Under >> Karen, just a quick correction on the posting on topic two. It says October
12th. It's just supposed to be the 11th. >> Okay. Topic three carries here once again. Request for the one-day liquor license for the Hatfield Firefighters Association bonfire on October 11th, 2025 from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at
Bowling's Wayfield, Mass and to request a two-wave liquor license fee. >> Yep. So, um I spoken with Chief Doak. He already submitted his letter supporting this. We'll have three officers on per the requirement of a one-day liquor license for the amount of people that we
could potentially have at the site. Um, our max is 3,000 people. We've never hit 3,000, but we've always staffed to make sure that we have enough officers there. So, he's already signed off on it and sent his letter of support. Um, Fishtails
uh will be running our bars for us like they did last year, I believe the year before, but definitely last year. It's been run very smoothly. she t all of her bartenders are tip certified and and under the right rules and regulations. Um so we've had no issues there and um
we do have additional security for our event like always and um and then the fire department being there. So we're just looking for approval um for the first time in a long time. I had the insurance here weeks ago which I'm really excited about because we got it filled out and got it back quicker than we've been able to in the past. So
insurance is in. It's all set. It's paid for. So, we're ready other than just waiting for all of your approval tonight hopefully. >> Well, you and your crew have always done a fantastic job on this. I want to thank you for doing it each year. I I think it's great for the town. It's great for the fire department association, and it
benefits uh other other people besides the association. >> Absolutely. Helps the association and the department, but also helps other parts of the town that we try to support and send donations to also. >> Yeah. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve one day liquor license for the
Hatfield Firefighters Association bonfire on October 11th, 2025 from 3 p.m. till 11:00 p.m. at Pavilion Billings Way Hatfield Mass and approve the waiver of the liquor license fee. >> Second motion made, motion seconded. Any
discussion? All in favor? I >> I motion carries. Okay, there you go. >> I appreciate you all tomorrow. Thanks. >> Have a great night. You too. >> Okay, I guess you guys in the back up front, I guess, and you can come up and
introduce yourself. Topic four will be approval for Zephr Behavioral Health to use Townfields behind 58 Main Street on Friday, October 17th from 1 to 2:30 p.m. So maybe you can introduce yourself,
tell the town a little about about the organization and what the purpose of the events are. >> Yeah, of course. Well, hi everyone. My name is Rachel Paul. I'm Oriana Rosittolo. Um, and we're the care coordinators at Zephyr Behavioral Healthcare, right across the street here. Um, at Zephyr, we work with
children with autism, ages two to six. Um, we love what we do there. It's it's so exciting. Um, but what we do mainly is we have like our our private um, field days that we have. Um, and that provides just like fun novel activities for the kids and for the clients and for
the families each season. This year we're really working a lot on outreach and connecting with the community. So, we made a connection with Prospect Metal Farms, also located in H Hotfield. Um, they offered us the opportunity to bring doe's over to our field day for the kiddos to check out. Um, and we're very excited to build that connection with
them. So, we're just hoping to get permission from you guys today to use the public field behind our center for that. >> The public fields, they technically could just show up, but we thought since, you know, they're animals, everything else, probably made sense just to clear the select board since you have ownership over town facilities. Um,
and if you had any concerns, we can make sure those are taken care of in advance. But it sounds like something that that would be absolutely fine and they've figured out parking everything else. So, should be all right. >> I do notice that there they would take care of any uh problems that occurred
and any I believe they also mentioned taking care of any uh damage or anything like that that should occur. So, I I I personally don't have a problem with this application. I'll wait. I think it's great.
>> I'll uh I'll make a motion to approve Zephr Behavioral Health to use Town Field behind 58 Main Street on Friday, October 17th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. >> Motion made. Motion >> second. >> Seconded. Uh any discussion?
>> All in favor? >> Motion carries. Okay. Uh good luck with your event. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Topic five will be approval of Bardwell Farms license for use of property
Billingsway Hatfield. Uh this is something we've been doing every year. Uh so uh with with Mr. Bardwell and it's it's it's always worked out well. I I've never had an issue with this. I don't know if you guys have any questions on
this. Oh >> um I this I'm sorry Karen. this is this isn't the right license. Um we had an updated version for a fee of $150. Um so we'll get you the the proper version with that with that scrier's error fixed and we also had
looked at doing this for two growing seasons rather than for one. Um which which is an option. So um if if we send you the updated version, would you be comfortable with those changes? That would be last for two growing seasons and it's a sum of $150 which is what was in the RFP. Um, so we can get that
around to you, the updated version. That's that's my uh my mistake there. >> I don't have an issue with it. I don't know my colleagues. So, >> changing it for two years is good. >> Great. Perfect. I can I can get you the updated version. >> Good. Thank you. >> Great. >> With that, I will entertain a motion.
>> I'll make a motion to approve Bardau Farm's license for use of property Billings Way Hatfield. >> A second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> motion carries.
>> Topic six, uh you guys can come up and m state your name even though you probably don't need to, but state your name. And also, uh this is part of the uh bylaw review committee update. >> Um Nancy Shay, live on Main Street in
town for only about 45 years. Um and uh my husband, Bill Shay, is fifth generation or fourth generation. Our kids are fifth generation in town. We've been around and invested a little bit in this town. Um, so we're here to talk
about updating on the bylaws committee and where we're at with the with revising it and um and kind of looking towards the future of where it's going to end up being. Um, one of I just wanted to bring up um my
background as a nurse uh for I held a license for 50 years. The last 20 of those were in management and my responsibility was writing policies and procedures, putting them through governing body, getting approval all in accordance with
mass DPH department of public health and um best practice in a dialysis clinic. So um when I came into the bylaws committee I brought sort of that clinical eye to it because um it's it's
critical obviously in a um diialysis unit to have things that are very clear and very understandable so that you can not only present this for approval but then also to be able to educate your
staff and keep everyone compliant with all the rules and regs so when DPH does come around you're in compliance. Um so as we looked into uh the bylaws uh some of them date back many many
years and um even the indexing is is not as clear as maybe it could be. Um and uh one of the important things is to just ensure that any town's people who are seeking information
uh is easily accessible. Everything's online now. So you would like something easily indexed and and that you're able to read. The bylaws currently are written in a script and there's been many many changes. there's been
additions, subtractions, and um it doesn't flow probably as easily as could be. So as we were trying to go in and we met with the department heads, many of them and um as as we tried to introduce the changes um offered by the department
heads and committee members um it became clear that um it wasn't as easily accessible as you could for various categories. And so Elena and I sat down and we were comparing notes trying to make the
revisions into the actual document. well, a sideline document that would include revisions as as described. So, um, one day we were going through this process and said, well, you know, why don't we look at other towns and see how
they addressed certain things like animals and we so we pulled up Hadley, Sunderland, a few towns around and noticed that their documents had kind of the old outline formatting. So there was an index that
was clearly done with Roman numerals and capital A lowercase A one two three and the um and the groupings were say anything from police department was all under the police department all under police and anything relating to animals
whereas ours sort of were updated as the pages went along. So, um, we said, "Oh my, this is very interesting." And, um, actually Ela Elena, um, noticed that that up in the corner it said, "E-code 360." And we I was like, she went, "Oh,
that's what that is." And I said, "What is that?" Not in my vocabulary. And um so she said, "Well, it's" she goes, "I don't know exactly, but we start we Googled it and looked it up." And what it is is an indexing system for bylaws
for towns. And um and so we as we explored it, it was very crisp, very clean, very concise, and um it seemed like a great way to move forward into being able to really set forth a
document that town's people could use that personnel employed by the town could easily look for something and find and um just in general a user friendly document. So, um, I'm now going to turn
this over to Joe and he's going to expand on that. >> Well, Elena gives her apologies. She was going to show up, but she had a conflict that happened here. Um, but Marlene asked us about a year and a half ago to get together as a group to try to look
over our bylaws and review them. I mean, they haven't been touched in maybe 50 years. They've just been bandated together. Andrew took over on this. So working with Andrew, Greg Ganon, Elena Wilcox, Kyle, building inspector, Nancy, and myself
in taking a look at those, you know, you you look through these, there's 53 pages of our bylaws. Not many people have ever really read them or they only look at them when there's a problem that comes up. Then you add the zoning bylaws. So now you're
up to about 110 pages or more. So there's some examples in there. Some some of these things are so redundant and not so easy to understand, but like for example, they refer to the word awful, OFF fa. And I even had to look it
up. I'm like, you know, farmers know what it means. I get it. But it's the endrails and internal organs of of animals not being allowed to spread it on a field or a stream. Well, okay. That and some other examples are so outdated. We So, there's things that need to be
fixed in the vocabulary, in some of the descriptions. Uh, some of them are even outdated, like we have a bylaw that says you can't walk naked on the sidewalks. Well, state law and laws take over that. I mean, we we have some things that are just so old they're they're ridiculous.
So, in going over, as Nancy said, with the departments, uh, there's a lot of things that they know could be corrected and updated. the state oversees some of these laws that negate ours. Um, so our our step is our next step is to try to
put order to a mess by looking at these other towns. This this Ecode 360 is a business that helps so many do it. They probably do half the towns in the state. They do maybe 20 plus other states with theirs.
It's accessible online with the ease of entering a search word and finding all the areas. So, if you go to Hatfield's site, if this was in, you can type in a search word and it will show you through 110 pages, all the areas you're looking for with that search word instead of
coming to see Elena and saying, "Print me out 53 pages, not even including zoning, and I'm going to sit home and read through it." Um, so we're planning our first steps are we need we we spoke with town council about
this and we're planning to ask at town meeting coming up this year just for the okay to put our exact bylaws as they exist right now into this format to see what we have currently and clearly
because the action of just putting it in a new format word for word is a change to the bylaws. So, we need town people's approval to do that. So, it it gives us time to put it together
and say, "All right, we can put together a sample for them and we can see what it looks like and we'll share it with you when we do for ourselves." But then to go to town meeting to be able to show people not in a big presentation but you know here's our 53 or 100 pages with
zoning of what we have and here's this format that's much more concise and simple. What we propose to do or we need to do after that permission is to using that format they have an attorney on their staff so we don't have to use
ours. It's all part of the price and they will compare all like kind towns like ours, state laws that we are not aware of or we don't have written down and be able to say here's our bylaws the way they should be legally worded today.
And that would be in the 2026 town meeting to present it to towns people for approval. But we would have three or four um public meetings for people to have questions or to ask. So at least that way we would have the old bylaws in
that format and the new wording of it in the exact same format so you can compare one to one. Our goal that we talked with every department that we spoke to in committee, we're not here to create a police state. We're not here to create more bylaws. You guys work on changing
proposals for bylaws. We're just looking to get the wording up to-date and clear and concise where people can understand them. Um, I did want to point out that if there's any bylaws or articles from your board of selectmen or any committees that is standard stuff that
comes up annually for annual town meeting, that's not part of this process. That's so if somebody goes to town meeting and says, "Oh, there's a bylaw change." All we're looking to do is change the format for next year's consideration as we go through the year.
Um, I did take a look at this e-code 360 a little bit who they are. And when you have this written up with them and you decide to leave, it's not in the cloud. It's ours. We download it and we keep it exactly however we do. So in future
years, we can just walk away from if we wanted to. But Ecode 360 is a nonprofit and they are the same people that they're an online municipal code platform. So they're the same people
that put together the initial international building codes, the international residential codes, the international fire code, the energy conservation code, and the plumbing code. So they do it for all these organizations nationally and and they
currently do it or they do do it for cities and towns across the country. So for Elena, for you guys, for Andrew, once it's in the format, if you when you come up with some change to a bylaw you want to look at, they can
go in and see what do other towns like ours similar, what do they use for wording? So we don't have to have town council come up and reword the whole thing and put it together. So the idea is to come up with something much more easy for people to use, easier for you
people to reference, but for boards and committees who when they look through these, they haven't even really read the 53 pages. So we're trying to bring it up to the year 2025 2026 for ease. the the basic layout of it um for them to do it
with all attorneys, fees, software, everything is about $10 to $12,000 for a town our size. After that, it's about $1,000 to $1,500 a year because what they do is they will either yearly
maintenance update any changes we have or notify us of any state or federal laws that affect us and our bylaws. So they monitor it for us without having us to use our attorney every single time. So that's where we're at and we just
want to assure people we're using this to explain to people what it's about. But this year coming to town meeting there's not a single change. It's just to do it in a different format. No changing of wording or bylaws on our part. Next year is where we would try to
say here's the changes in the wording and we would have to certainly go by you guys first before any of that passes muster. >> But would I mean if they vote for this uh would there be a need for a funding article also for that $12,000?
>> I think part of it we were talking with Andrew about something can it's it's the 10 to$12,000 range to get this in that format. Um, and I I think we're we should be able to do it within our our existing operating budgets. Um,
>> that's the plan is that we do have some some consult consulting services and materials budgets and other things that can probably be used to make this work, but we do need to ask for a funding article. Still, >> I think we could keep it smaller than that $12,000. >> I just want to make sure we can if it's
approved, we can fund it. That's all right. because I hate to approve it and then they have to go back to town meeting for funding. Right. >> And at first when we when I we Elena, myself and Nancy with you know we we did an online tutorial with this guy who was
very very helpful and we didn't do any deliberating so there was no no problem there but it was just asking them how it works. I didn't know if it was 70,000, 100,000, or 30,000. And then they came back and said it's about 10 to 12,000 for the town our size to do all of our
bylaws, all of our zoning bylaws, all of that. And then we have somebody that can monitor it for us during the year's future, what's legal, what do we have to change, and what's not working. >> Okay. Now I I hate to do this but I do want to throw a wrench into the works
very quickly um just so we can set expectations properly. This was our expectation was to be able to go along in this path do the first step in this year and then do any substantive changes in later years. Eode 360 doesn't typically work like that. U we just found this out today which is why I'm
surprising you. We just got an email this afternoon and I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to talk to you about this uh before stepping in here tonight. Um, so we may need to slightly adjust that path. I think we can probably do it so that any changes are the ones that we've talked about, the more bureaucratic ones
about, you know, uh, updating for, uh, state law. Anything else that's still not really anything that we are weighing in on, they're not really town decisions. They're still things that just make sense for general cleanup. If we can keep it at that level, I think we can get on board with that and we can work with council to make sure. But, um,
we're still figuring out exactly how that will work. Um, and so we'll be back with with more updates on that. I I apologize for change. >> We've had like maybe 10 meetings already and um you know when we see the amount of work would be needed for us to
rewrite bylaws to make them fit, it would be daunting. Um so when we found out about this and how easy it hopefully could be and we've talked to other towns and it really is a godsend to them, um we decided let's hold off until we can
explain it and talk to you guys about it. and um you know we're still moving forward but in with town council we just need towns people's permission to put our bylaws the same words but in a different format which I guess we didn't
know that's part of it so that's where >> it makes sense if if there's professional organization that does this to to handle it I mean >> I was I was concerned that it would be a for-profit corporation and you know what's what's what we don't know but
seeing that they're doing it, you know, as a nonprofit, but they're doing all the building codes, residential codes, fire codes, energy and plumbing codes. We all work with those and they seem to do >> well. The codes change all the time, too. People aren't aware of that, but
every every cycle, three years or four years, the codes are updated. They're changed >> and these are the people that do that >> and then these bylaws and stuff have been on the books for years and time to get it updated. So, I I do thank you for all the work you put in this. It sounds
like it's a work in progress to continue and hopefully we'll see what town meeting says and hopefully it's if it's like 10 or 12,000 we can figure out some kind of funding. If that's from my perspective, I'll leave it. I don't know. My colleagues have any questions
or concerns. >> I I I agree. I mean, having something that's searchable and also legible and you're able to read it, it would definitely be beneficial, especially um you know, as the town continues to grow
and maintain and things change. So, um yeah, I think what you guys are doing is great and glad it's getting done and uh yeah, we'll figure out funding somewhere. >> Okay. Thank you. And I'll say the bylaw committee review committee has been really you guys are just amazing doing
so much work and putting a lot of time what you said 10 meetings already and coordinating meeting with town town people uh workers or what whatever we're meeting with trying to get advice and then looking at the bylaws and seeing this is wrong or this isn't
making sense or it's too vague or it's >> well it's great because >> the unusual words >> all of us including every board committee police fire everybody body, you know, they're looking at like, geez, I didn't know this was there and I didn't know that was there. And >> they could easily say, well, this one's ridiculous. It's like, you know,
>> yeah. So, while we're doing it, we >> Yeah, we're making people aware of what's going on here. >> Well, in addition to that, it's moving forward because we're just a bunch of volunteers who just who said, "Sure, you know, we'll work with this thinking it, you know, a little tweak here and there.
It's a much bigger project than it looked like." And down the road, we all know how mass laws change and and how rules, regulations change and there really is no one who just focuses on the
bylaws. So, they kind of burble up from somewhere. I don't I don't know what notifications you guys get or whatever, but um it's it's it's kind of it's sort of a little safety valve knowing that there's a somebody else monitoring all these changes and can give you a a a
what's up and oh by the way this is how to format the whole thing and just and then you bring that to to town meeting and it it keeps it living I guess is is what >> I think we're also as what Marleene and and Andrew are aware of having the years
in this town and growing up in this town. You know, people come from out of town, new people coming in and oh, we should have this and this and this and that law. You know, we look at it like, look, let's let's not change Hotfield too quick. We have a wonderful little place. We all know the little caveats
and we're not here to change. So procedurally it you reformat the ones the current bylaws and then go through have your a couple three four different meetings and I would suggest a couple different time
slots as well so people who are working off schedules have the opportunity to attend one if they would like. Um, and then like a draft redline version, >> right? And then we can kind of >> hone in on exactly what we're looking for.
>> I think we would probably show your your board the draft red line one first to see what it is we're proposing because when people hit you up on the street or something, you're at least aware of of what's in it. >> Yeah. Because I mean, there's no way we're going to be familiar with what was on page three and now what's on the new
page. That's why if we have the before and after, you can compare them exactly. >> The side by side is >> Yeah. A true red line. Absolutely. Excellent for us. >> Absolutely. >> So, thank you. I thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Appreciate what you're doing. >> Okay. Topic seven, uh, contracts with engineer and architect for Hatfield Elementary School Boiler and roof project. >> Excellent. So, first of all, you'll notice there are no contracts in your packet. You're not missing anything. Okay. Um I was hoping we'd have them for
tonight. We do not yet. These are form contracts that are following the the state's MSBA um uh form contract. Even though these aren't MSBA projects, it's easiest for both us, for the for the contractors,
for our OPM to use that. Um they're obviously been reviewed by council, so those are pretty good to use. Um, I'm going to give you an update on where we're at with both those processes. And then at the end of that, I'm hoping that we can get a um tentative acceptance uh
to sign those contracts pending your actual review of them once we have them. I anticipate we'll have them for the next meeting. I'd love to get the projects moving faster uh than waiting for the next meeting. Um so, as soon as they're ready, I'd love to have you be able to sign them. So, um want you to be
able to review them and then sign them. And so if we take a a provisional vote tonight, that should put us in good shape to do that. So we held two requests for services uh in accordance with state procurement law uh for uh the design of the boiler project and design for the roof project. The boiler design
will be pretty straightforward, but it's great to have uh an engineering firm on board that will be able to to handle this. Uh we had uh six different firms apply uh for the boiler work. We um interviewed uh three of them. Actually, we we interviewed two of them, the top
two. Um because there was one that was far and away the highest scoring one. Uh we uh scored them. Uh myself and Marlo along with our um OPM uh owners project manager PCA 360 scored all the proposals
and there were two that were uh right at the top. They actually both had excellent interviews, but the the one that was was uh our highest in scores and really did quite well is BLW engineers out of Littleton, Mass. So, a great looking firm. They've done a lot
of projects like this. Uh and they really understood that we're on a tight timeline that we want to try to get this done. So, they uh have done some work in the past week to find out if it's worth expediting the project. They believe it is. Uh so they are preparing a contract
that has an expedited version so that we can try to get boilers installed this winter that we're ready to go in case the system does fail, which I think is what we need. Um so that's BLW engineers. They'll be our
um contractor to to design the uh boiler project. Again, that should be a quick scope of work and we'll be able to manage that and get that out the door quickly for for bids and construction. roof project is a little bit more challenging of a design um and we really do want a firm that that understands
what it is that we're looking for. Um and can also still work on a pretty expedited timeline is we want to get this done again as fast as possible uh with construction hopefully starting uh either right when school is out or a little bit before if it can be done safely and with limited disruption to the school which we just want to get
this done. Uh we again scored all of the uh of the seven um applications that we had. We interviewed three firms, three very good firms. Uh, and our our highest scoring and best interviewing firm was so sooch. So is based in Charles Town,
Mass. Again, a lot of experience doing projects near us, projects of this size. Um, and they really get kind of the integration of roof systems with everything else that that uh makes up a school building. Um, and we anticipate they'll need to be working with the folks doing the more the repair and everything else just for looking at
overall systems. So, uh, we recommend them for the contract. Uh, we'll have that contract for your review shortly, but we're hoping to have your approval of these form contracts, uh, so that you can sign them, uh, as soon as we have them prepared, which should be before your next meeting and hopefully really by the end of this week. >> Well, I want to thank you and Marlo for
your work on this because I know you both were involved and >> the school department was closely involved as well. Connor uh, read all of the the roof ones and uh, Chrissy from the school committee reviewed the boiler ones. So, it's great to to have uh, their help on us. Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense to get the parking
lots done this year, but it makes more sense to do last next year's >> parking lots as soon as these projects are done, which is why the expedited timeline for the roof because as long as we can get the roof done um mid uh early summer, we'll come right in and do the parking lots, get everything done. >> Correct.
>> You guys have any questions on that? >> No. >> Nope. >> No. So, do we need to do a motion for tonight or anything? Yeah, if you can make a motion to approve the contracts pending review by the select board um or or pending any um Yeah, pending review
by the select board. That that should be fine for BLW and SOCK. >> Yes, please. >> Okay, I'll make a motion that we uh approve contract with BLW and >> so
pending approval and review by the select board. Pending review by select board. There we go. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Okay. >> Obviously, if you catch any issues of the contract, then we'll discuss it at
your next meeting. If there's no issues, we'll sign. It'll be good. >> Definitely. >> Okay. Before I read topic eight, uh I think the town needs a little understanding of what's going on at topic eight. I don't know whether Marlo wants to speak on this or whether you want to speak on topic. give the
background and then if Carlo wants to jump in and I think it's fine with me. >> Topic eight is a license agreement with our neighborhood LLC. That's a company that owns a shell company which owned by Peter Grandonico, our neighbor uh downtown
resident. Um the in the past the town has uh stored snow on his property right next to town hall. Um and it's been very graciously offered. Um but we have in the past tried to come up with some kind of contract uh to memorialize the fact
that we've been doing this. Um it is a s depending on the season it it can be extremely helpful for us to be able to leave the snow there. Um and you know we appreciate Mr. Grandonico allowing us to do this in the past. Um they entered into early negotiations for a license
fee in the past but it never really went anywhere. So, we had some good conversations with him this year and uh we we did come to an agreement that's uh in this uh document in front of you. Um it would be for um $4,750 for the
season. Um whenever you you do this with snow and you don't know how much snow you're going to get it, you don't know who's going to end up getting a better deal, but this is a fair price based on how much it could easily cost us. Um if we had to uh remove that snow, it would
cost us a great deal. So, um it seems like a good fair fair deal for the two of us. Um we also um in recognition uh of of the um of the the value to us of storing the snow, um it's somewhat decreased because we are helping to plow
uh his driveway as well uh that leads up to his two bars um as long as it were held harmless for any damage. So, this was something that our town council reviewed, was comfortable with. Uh, and it's a exchange of services that decreases the overall cost of the contract. >> Do you have any comments on that, Marlo,
or >> No. >> Okay. I I understand that something like this is not uncommon. Um, people do get money for if if a town has to dump snow or store it on their
property. I also understand that for the cost to truck it would be if we had a bunch of large snowstorms would be a lot more money than what the contract is. So I mean I I did I was part of the
conversation with the uh Randonicles and it seems that this is something that they were promised by the prior DPW director but nothing came out of it. So, and now they're saying, "Okay, let's
have a contract." So, now we have one. So, I don't know if you want to express yourself on on this topic at all. >> Yeah, I think um I think you you got a lot of the points in. Um we'd have to remove the snow on overtime, which is an
overtime cost. Uh fuel, uh trucks, loaders, maintenance. Um, and I think the biggest thing is the timely fashion to try and get that done if we've been here in a very long storm and then to send us over here before town hall opens
to try and get the back cleared. The other piece of it is where do we pile the snow if we don't continue putting it there as we have uh public safety getting out of their buildings there also. So, um that's the only other thing I really >> but I mean it's an it's an important
driveway because we have our fire department needs in case they need to use it or ambulance needs to use it that has to be plowed. It has to be the quicker that's done and it's accessible to our public safety folks and our and
our police. So, uh it's like I don't see any other options but to move forward with with this contract, but that's my opinion. And I don't know if my colleagues have any comments. >> No, I I just I'm just I can't find like
the timeline of this >> uh the term. >> Yeah, >> on the first page there's term of license. So, uh commencing November 1st, 2025, expiring April 30th, 2026. So, be for just this year. >> Okay. >> And we can renegotiate for next year. >> Okay. >> And is it transferable if the property
was to be sold? >> Um >> time frame >> within that time frame. the agreement is That's a great question. >> It would need to be. >> It would need to be. Um, let me check with council to see if that if if uh if there'd be an issue
with it the way it's currently written. Um, I would think we'd be covered, but I'll check with council. >> So, we'll have to do this every year. >> Yeah, >> roughly. Okay. >> Yeah. If we >> timeline, >> and honestly, that gives us a chance to see how much snow there is. Is it really worth the cost for us? is worth the cost
for the for the owner. >> Okay. >> In my mind, it's we've never done this before. I think just a one-year term for a first time probably makes sense. >> I mean, all the years we did dump snow over there. So,
>> I guess my other question is the plowing of the driveway to the barns. We had discussed that at >> we had discussed discontinuing that. Uh we were concerned about the legality of it. that we were concerned about would it be an improper exchange for services and is this just something that we want
to do for a private land owner. Um council was comfortable with it in the case of an exchange of services. So it's a um we are storing snow and then that's something that we're getting from the the land owner and in exchange we're
plowing as well and then making a financial contribution. So in that sense it could be considered appropriate. Um, is it something the town wants to take the liability of? The landowner has agreed to uh hold us harmless should anything happen for damage. Um, so it's
legally it it's acceptable. It's a policy question of if it's something you're not comfortable with. That is your your call in the end. Um, I know we had talked about discontinuing that. Um, and that's something that the sport needs to decide. I guess if we're paying for it now, then
>> yeah, I'm still I'm still not in favor of the additional plowing. >> We shouldn't be plowing it now. >> Yeah. I mean, it not for not for this number that's listed in this contract, >> right? It was told to me that it probably doesn't cost us very much to plow. Um it's it's a it's a quick one
pass over and we're already in the the lot, so it didn't make sense to me to decrease the amount uh further. But um but we certainly could. We could bring we could open this up for negotiation. Again, it's just
it is a decision of the the land owner if if he wants to let us uh keep the snow there. So, we set a price and it's been difficult to come down from that price. There also is no hold harmless clause in here for that.
There should be something that Um the licenser will hold the licency harmless for any damage that occurs in normal course of this plowing >> and that that qualifies as a hold harmless. >> The the C council was comfortable with that.
>> Wow. Yeah. >> Well, I don't know. I mean, in the interest of the town to make sure that that does get plowed. uh and the interest that we ensure that the public safety complex is is free of
uh snow in the event of an emergency and the also with the cost it would cost us to truck the stuff out of there. >> Yeah. >> I mean I I also feel uncomfortable with the plowing but if it's part of the deal
we try it for one year. This is only a one-year contract. Uh maybe we see what happens. I mean I don't know if there's any other options. Do you have any other options? >> The options to come back and say you
know this is too much. Can we we need to come down? That's that's really up to this board. If you're not comfortable with this for for the um either for legally or just as a matter of policy or >> are you comfortable with it or you want to come back? >> I I I think like you said we're kind of
cornered. We kind of got to get this done, but I I still don't like the idea of us plowing on and paying for it, but I'm torn on that. I mean, I racking my brain to try to
think of any other example in town where we plow a the DPW plows a publicly held piece of property >> or privately held >> privately held piece of property. >> It's not something we do. >> No. >> Now, we could argue we're doing it in consideration for
>> Yeah. I think that >> using the private property >> in terms of holding things even across the board, you know, townwide, I don't think that's something that we should enter into. >> I think that >> want to hold off to the next meeting. >> I think the monetary value that is
outlined in this is is fair, especially having fairly heavy extensive background in snow removal. I think um you know the benefit there's a benefit both to the town as well as the private land owner in that aspect. I'm just I'm not comfortable with plowing private
property with with public. >> Well, if you guys are uncomfortable, we can bring this back at the next meeting. >> Certainly. Yeah. >> Yeah. Hopefully, we don't have a snowstorm. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, uh I'll make a motion to table this to the next meeting.
>> We can check on those legal issues. >> Sounds good. I'll second the table. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. I >> Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Motion is tabled. Let's see.
Okay, DPW report. I notice we have a bunch of meter readings that were off and some full stuff. So, uh, do we want to take these probably one at a time? So, I I'll go with the first one, then we can discuss it. There's a request for
a su baitman at 15 Valley Street in the amount of $46351 for pole liner repair. And the applicant does include uh information about the pole liner that was installed by a pole
company. So it appears that he did pay for a new pole liner. So it does appear to he had to fill it used our water. He's not looking for the water cost. He's just looking for the sewer cost. Correct.
>> Yes. >> So does any of my colleagues have any issue with this? >> No, I understand this. >> That's part of the policy of our of the water department to do this kind of stuff. >> That's been part of the policy. If if somebody replaces their liner, then they
can uh request an abatement for the sewer portion. and they're still paying for the water portion. They just don't want to pay for the sewer part if they have to pump in 10 g,000 gallons or 15,000 gallons or whatever.
>> Yeah. you know, if whatever the size of the liner or the pool is, we figure the gallons that goes through Tammy's office, I review, uh Tony reviews, um and if they have the backup, the receipts, so on and so forth, and all four of these do for the pool liners or
pools. Um then I I went ahead and I signed off on them to to send them to you. >> Okay. So, do I have a motion on this one? I'll make a motion to approve the sewer abatement for 15 Valley Street in the amount of $46351 resulting from a pool liner repair.
>> Motion made. >> Second. >> And motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Uh motion carries. Um >> and this is the same >> sewer abatement for 32 present view and
the amount of 5.54.80 80 cents for pull line or repair. And the uh the person did submit um information about or did he not? Yes,
pleasant. >> You got one on what do you got on 32 pleasant for the uh applicant? Um, as far as the abatement, >> yeah, I mean,
>> I say it says it's for the uh a pole liner repair. So, I I didn't see anything from the pole company that indicated that repair. That's a >> Oh, there's receipts in mine. Yeah, they uh
>> they were actually kind enough to Google >> I got it. I got it. >> They actually googled it and verified the numbers and they were right. So on this >> Okay, so this one seems to be in order. >> Yes, >> I got it. >> Okay. Make a motion to approve the sewer payment for 32 Pleasant View Drive in the amount of $554.80
resulting from a pool liner repair. >> Motion made. >> Second. >> And seconded. Uh any discussion? >> All in favor? Hi. >> Motion carries. Let's see.
There's a request for a sewer abatement for 101 Bridge Street in the amount of $141.75 for a new pole installed. And this one does indicate uh order of a new pole.
>> I have any questions on that? >> Nope. Make a motion to approve the sewer payment for 101 Bridge Street in the amount of $141.75 resulting from the installation of a new pool. >> Motion made. >> Second. >> Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in
favor? Motion carries. Okay. Sewer baitman for for North Hatfield in the amount of $8320 for a new pool installed. I don't
have anything except meter reading on this one. I don't have anything about a new new poll. Do you have something on? >> Um I thought we had further backup with
this. I could be wrong. Um I'm pretty sure this may be one that um the water superintendent had verified that gone up or had seen it going up. Um if my memory serves me right. Um but this this >> second page they they have the
information at least. There's just no documentation. >> Yeah. bottom right >> says credit for pool water not sure >> but you are correct I don't see a
receipt for the the actual um pool or pool liner >> here the the other uh requests usually show the bills over the last few years this one only shows like
4 20 25. >> Yeah, >> we'll have to get the extra information that >> Yeah, >> on that one. I mean, there's a verification you said from the water superintendent that a new pool was
installed, right? >> Yeah, I will double check on that to make sure we're talking about the same address. >> This one can come back, right? So, we'll hold off on this one. >> Yes. >> Uh, is that okay with my colleagues >> for further information? All right.
>> I mean, we should hit the policy. There should be a receipt of some sort. >> Absolutely. uh silver baitman for 811 North Street Northampton in the amount of 35,586434 because of a misread. Now this is the
mass dop building. Is that what this one is? >> Yes. >> Okay. So mass dop uh the meter misread somehow. So the um it's a little tricky when we change out meters
um and and when we read them and how they transcribe to Vadar, our accounting system, because everything's been loaded into Vadar. Um you'll see on the second page here after the application there was a zero pencled
in. It was missing a zero. So um it it made the meter it made the software think that we went beyond 999 999 999,000 uh back to zero
>> because the zero was missing. >> So it automatically calculated the bill for that much water >> from 79 uh 793,800 all the way to uh 80,200. So, it's kind of like a a speedometer hits 100,000, it
starts at zero zero again. So, that's kind of what happened here. The zero's pencled in and and uh again, it's it's a software thing. Um which I I can talk about when we're kind of done with these where we're at with a bunch of them that happened last read. >> Okay.
>> Uh for you. >> And this all been verified. It a misread. It's been mistake. And >> yeah, if you look at the previous reads, the history is pretty consistent. And then it and then it jumps, you know, that amount.
>> Yeah. I don't have a I don't have any more issues with that one. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the sewer payment for 811 North King Street, Northampton in the amount of 38,586.34 resulting from a misread.
>> Motion made. >> Second. >> Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Uh motion carries. Okay. Let's see. Water abatement for seven bridge street in the amount of
$4,49355 because of a misread. Same thing happened again. >> Yeah, it's I guess mi misread is is the appropriate way of saying it, but it sounds uh different. Um, if you look on the second page, you'll see where it's a
smaller meter meter and and the software when it crossed over didn't pick up the other three zeros. So, it's pencled in there. >> So, the usage between 35 and 86 is that 24,000. So, >> yes. >> And then that's what would be built.
>> Yeah. >> Gotcha. Any concerns on this one? Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the water abatement for seven bridge street in the amount of $4,49355 resulting from the mystery.
>> Second. The motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Water abatement for 501 Main Street in the amount of $56730. And it says it should be a minimum bill.
Yes. Okay. So, on the second page on this one here, you'll see um the water superintendent's notes. Um when he changed out the meter um it reset the zero, so it threw everything off. >> Okay.
>> So, it was our mistake. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, any questions? Nope. Do >> I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the water abatement for 501 Main Street in the amount of $567.30
as the billing should be the minimum bill. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Motion carries. Okay. water and sewer baitment for 10 Valley Street in the amount of $4,188
because of a misread. And then on this one here, the on the second page, um it locked in at uh 22,000, 22 and three zeros, if you will. Um and it should have been 2,200 technically because of the size of the
meter. Again, it's just a cross in the software that added the the extra zeros. Thus, uh the bill came through much larger than what it should have been. >> These are just read by driving by, right? Or something. >> What's that? >> How do they get read?
>> Uh >> the meters get red. Does somebody actually >> So, it is it is a driving by, but but in this case, it's it's more >> we saying misread, but it's the way it's feeding into the the radar system. Right, Marlo? That's the Yeah. Okay.
>> And we are working on more drivebys. That's the the intent of the whole program. So, um, any more questions? I'll make a motion to approve the water and sewer payment from 10 Valley Street in the amount of $4,188.99.
Water is $1,414 and sewer is 27. >> Motion made for Well done. 7774 >> from a misread. >> Motion made. >> Second.
>> Seconded. Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Silver baitment for 23 primrose path in the amount of $513.19 new pull wire installed. U.
That one does come with information of a new pole liner and the company that installed it. So that appears to be an order along with uh previous readings. Questions on that one?
No. I'll make a motion to approve the sewer abatement in the amount of $513.19 for 23 per path resulting in the installation of a pool liner. Motion >> made second and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor?
>> I motion carries. Uh and now we get into Okay, that's it for the abatements. Yeah, I um I think previous before I came here, there was uh the last time we had read, there was
an excessive amount of uh misreads or inaccurate information with the bills. So, um I checked with the water super with Tony today. Um and we're down to just a few this time around, zero reads and whatnot. and and what has happened
is the Neptune 360 company has worked with Vadar to try and straighten out, you know, and we download these reads into the system trying to correct so we don't have added zeros and deducted zeros and all that. So, um I took a quick look at the um the the sheets
today and and it it looks like it's come down to a very minuscule amount compared to the mid50s we had last time around. So, um, and the an update, um, the door tags have been very effective. Tony tells me he's hearing from a lot of people to get their meters changed.
>> So, Neptune's is going to send an update for the software or >> Neptune is working with their accounting system to straighten these glitches out. So, >> iron them out. >> One or the other have Well, Vader might have to do the software once they figure
out what they got to do, right? So, >> yeah. working with each other to >> all right so that'll be a work in progress. Now we have a uh you can actually discuss this uh the
wastewater treatment plant project. There is a request for approval of a change order at the wastewater treatment plant and you can explain what that's that's all about. Uh I think the change order um basically has a lot to do with
the electrical changes from the moving the electrical cabinet through every source requesting it. Moving the electrical cabinet from inside to outside is a a great a big portion of this. Um >> that's that's what this is for. Yeah.
And this is something that it's been our our our contractor and our um engineers have been on top of this for months trying to get through to anybody at Eversource to come and inspect this because they flagged it originally. Uh Eversource had said that um they would
need a change that it couldn't be installed indoors which didn't make sense to our team but that's fine. Wing Griffin Electric has been excellent on this as well. Um, Eversource took months just to to uh get back to us on anything. Um, a couple months ago, um, I
was asked, uh, to conditionally approve, um, installing the outdoor cabinet, so at least they could, uh, order it and get started, but they couldn't actually process the change order until we heard anything from Eversource. So, that's finally happened, but we were warned about this that this could set the the project back, at least by the official
completion date. Um and that you will notice that the completion date has been moved back. It functionally doesn't mean anything because um we are still um we we still are going to end up right now above budget and we will have room to do
additional work. Um one of the we'll probably add one of the adults onto the project which will be great. Um but this this was a major setback from Eversource and all of our our contractors have done a great job rolling with this. Uh but this is for our approval now is for this
additional cost for the outdoor cabinet and associated work. >> Yeah. Because when you go outside the cabinet has to be rain tight and it's got to be like what they call three R and it has to be a lot of changes. But the the good news is I think we talked
about this Andrew that we're still within the budget of the uh the contract. We're within the budget and uh because of the the financial structure once we hit our original budget amount there is a additional that is paid
through grant funds from USDA. So we end up actually having an incentive to spend more than the original. We still want to spend it on things that matter. So we don't want just approve every change order that comes in >> but uh we will have extra funds essentially to be able to uh complete this work and anything else that comes
up. So we're in a strong financial position on this. the project's been managed well. Um, this is a bummer that it's occurred this way, but I think, uh, fortunately, everyone's been on top of it, so it's hitting us the best way we can >> and there's a possibility of another
option being added because we're underneath. So, that's actually good news. So, >> uh, those are my my questions. I don't know if you guys have any questions on this. >> Please dive into this and if you catch anything that that needs to be fixed, you know, appreciate it, but this looks
fine. Thank you. I'll make a motion to approve the change order number three for the wastewater treatment plant project. >> Motion made. >> Second. >> Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries.
Okay. Um let's see. M court and town facilities. I know we had a committee that was formed. I believe it was Luke, Marlo, Andrew. I don't know if anybody else was on there. The chief was on there. two chiefs if both chiefs are on there and you guys have I'll let you
guys speak to that because you've had your meetings. >> I'm happy to do it just as a very high level update and if Luke or Marlo want to add anything as well. Uh so we had a great meeting with a local architect named Mark Sternick. Mark worked on the um the Smith Academy Pavilion project uh
and he uh came highly recommended by uh Mark Gelad who we've worked with a lot in the past. Um, and you know, Mark took a look at the building with us and, you know, was was really good about kind of talking through, right, what is it that you'd want to do with it? Um, and as we
kept going with the conversation, you know, where we landed was if we'd like, we could continue with some kind of feasibility study and he could look at the work that would be needed to to be done uh to convert the building into some kind of um uh vital records
storage, police facility, uh emergency facility and and and storage, whatever else he wanted. But the more we thought about it and the the number of things that would need to be done to upgrade that space, he doesn't think there would be considerable savings compared to
starting from scratch. Um, as much as we'd like to retrofit that building to to get something, you know, really good out of it that we know we have an immediate need for, it doesn't feel like that's necessarily the best way to move forward. Uh, he's happy to still do a feasibility study if we're interested in that to look at what the savings would
be. However, those studies cost money. the savings at best would be marginal. The committee talked and and we feel like we don't want to move forward with some kind of retrofit of that building. We feel like it's probably not going to be the best use. That >> summarize it right. >> We just Yeah, for the most part, yeah,
we kicked around a couple other ideas of potential uses that we're investigating further. >> Yeah. >> So, it's probably going to be more in line with the storage and and garage facility. >> Yes, the garage storage facility. I mean, it was a great idea, but if it I guess it just didn't work out. I do
thank the committee for putting the time in to investigate it. So, not everything works out sometimes. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. >> And our plan is to keep meeting because we'd like to find a proper use for that building and then keep the conversation going about site selection and what a
public safety complex uh could look like and what our other needs are. So, we want to keep that conversation going about uh town facilities and the best use of some of the assets we have and potential site selection for if we need another uh facility. >> Okay. So, we'll I guess we'll put that
on the back burner for now and >> and see if something in the future comes up and we'll use it that way. But, thank you for the work you guys put in on that. >> You bet. >> Okay. a uh driveway and curb cut policy
application. I have it drafted. Um I I wanted to review it and compare it, make sure the the zoning bylaws are covered in there, so on and so forth. So, um when I give my DPW update in the next meeting, I'll I'll have a draft for you or uh
something to discuss or even even approve. Uh it it's 99% done. I just everything else going on. I didn't I didn't get to get it pushed out the door to you all uh this week. So, >> this is a big credit to Marlo. This is something that, you know, he's caught that we probably should have had this
for a while. It's pretty standard policy than any town. The DPW is approving of new curb cuts, new driveways, uh for any kind of development. So, he's been working with our building inspector and others to make sure that that we we get this done. There's already provisions in the zoning code that say what the design
standards are. We just didn't have an actual permit signing off on it. So, appreciate Marlo, you know, taking that one on. We'll get that done soon so we can be approving these properly. >> And I'm going to working on a suggested fee on it, too. Um because it varies from city to town to town. A big
variance. So, >> a work in progress. >> Yeah, I'm thinking somewhere in the middle. >> Well, since we're under DPW report, do you have anything else that you want to add? >> Uh, no. I uh I don't want to spoil all
the fun from my official update next month. No, it's been a very busy two or three weeks. It's been a good experience working with uh the boiler uh groups uh and the roofing groups. Um uh another small piece of that is I'm I'm meeting
with a designer tomorrow to get a better uh fix on the boilers from uh BLW. So, like I said, that's going to move right along. Um, >> I do want to thank you for getting rid of that big truck and getting something that's more economical and gas efficient. >> Yes.
>> For you to use. So, yeah, >> it's been working wonders in slowing traffic because everyone thinks he's a state trooper. So, it's really been working out great. >> I think I think we've got a good solution here. >> I will quote the police chief said thank you.
>> Um, yeah, 12 12 miles more per gallon is pretty good thing. >> Absolutely. Nice. Okay, I guess >> thank you for the approval. >> Yeah, >> moving the town administrator's report. >> All right. Um,
so I've got some great news and I'm going to close with it. I'll share it at the end. Um, so stay tuned if you want some great news viewing public. Um, so, uh, health insurance, let's start with with that. Um Tammy and I participated in an information session with the state's GIC, the group insurance
commission, uh to learn more about how this option would potentially work for the town, what it would be like to to move from our Hampshire County group insurance trust to instead uh be under the state's insurance, which is an option for municipalities. They have a pretty um pretty structured uh path for
how you end up on it. And it's a very tight timeline. Um, and I there will be an ask from you in a moment. Uh, because if we want to consider moving to that GIC, we do that while working working with our um collective bargaining units.
And in order to start working with the collective bargaining units, they need to be notified at least 7 days in advance of a potential select board vote. Um, that would open that process. So, I would like to have a vote at your next meeting or at least allow for a vote at the next meeting uh to begin
that process. Uh so, in order to do so, I'd need a vote from you tonight to say that we want to notify uh the the the bargaining units that will be having that vote at your next meeting. >> I think it's important to have options and I think it's important to uh move forward if we can find something cheaper
for our employees. So, I myself have no objection to that. I don't know if my colleagues feel the same way. >> No, >> I agree. We're not changing it. We're just looking at we're just getting permission to look at other options. >> That's exactly right. And we would do that by working with our collective bargaining units. We would uh put
together some cost estimates of what it would look like to move to GIC or to move to another option. The really only other option out there is Maya's uh group trust uh which is insurance for Blue Cross Blue Shield, but it's uh Maya's has the trust and serves as the
broker for that uh rather than working with the the group insurance trust. Um the group insurance trust, I had a good call with Rep. Sabadosa today. She and the other legislators are continuing to work with them on what a potential either state bailout or or other set of
policies might look like. It's still looking um for potentially tenuous for them about if they might need a further rate increase this year or certainly for next fiscal year. So whereas we had hoped that the 20% increase this year would bridge them
into next year, uh claims still came back higher than they were expecting in August, we're waiting to see what September data looks like. Um so we'll see what happens there. So all more important to have options. Um I attended today a conference that uh Mass Municipal Association had on health care
costs uh with a an outlook from uh number of state policy experts and some of the folks running some of the larger trusts across the state. So, it was a very useful conversation. Was able to connect with some other folks in in Western Mass, uh some other Hampshire uh county group insurance trust members.
Had some really good conversations and uh we're going to set up some additional calls with with them to at least make sure that we're working on this together so that you know no one gets the rug pulled out from them if multiple folks do end up leaving the trust. So, uh, continuing that process. It's going to be probably my my primary use of time
over the next six weeks because if we do want to try to make a change, um, the GIC needs to know by December 1st that we're interested in or to get on for next July. So, if we are serious about it, we'll need to move very quickly. Um, but we can hopefully get the information
we need to be able to move that. So, at least to have options, we'll make those conversations happen. >> Okay. Um if you in your packet agenda there is a motion. Um if someone would like to make it I do have an amendment to it. It would be um interest in
transferring subscribers to GIC and or making other plan changes. And then where I wrote section 23 say section 21 through 23 because state law is complicated. >> All right let me see if I can get this
right. I'll make a motion to inform the collective bargaining units of interest in transferring subscribers to GIC and or making other plan changes under Mass General Law Chapter 32B section 21 through 23. >> Perfect. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any
discussion? >> No. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. >> So, this will show up on your agenda at the next meeting and we'll give the collective bargaining units uh at least seven days of notice that you'll be discussing that at the next meeting. um they probably won't show up, but we
need to follow law. All right, so um electronic time sheets, uh we are planning to move forward with Harpers, uh for electronic time sheets. They have the best prices. We're already using them for our current time sheets. Um we believe we we have the the money to be
able to do this this year. Um but we're going to start um discussions uh continue those discussions about how to roll it out with a couple of departments to to begin with. So head in the right direction. Uh we're excited to to make this happen for electronic time sheets. >> I asked for that when I first got on the
board. >> Look how fast we moved. >> Better things in life take time, I guess. >> Yeah, I suppose this this feels like it should be a slam. >> It's happening. >> Uh another item I'm just trying to button up. Um I I uh talked to a couple
of our department heads about the last time that they had staff evaluations. Those are built into their contract. Um they're not necessarily about merit or a contract or anything else, but they are in there and um it does say they shall receive a performance uh evaluation. So
feels important that we should take care of that. I laid out a potential schedule of when these could take place based on our availability as a board and when um when folks uh seem to have had their either higher date or last valuation.
I'm recommending that uh the way we do this is that each of you would fill out an evaluation. You can send them to me. I would prepare a a joint evaluation evaluation kind of with all of your comments. So that would be a new document. So um it can be discussed with
one of you and the employee and we can do that without having to do it in open session. Um that's consistent with the open meeting law because no one's having a serial discussion about the same document. So that's allowed if that sounds good to you as as a way of evaluation.
>> I mean, we've done it that way in the past where we've done the evaluations and we've sent them to Marleene and then Marlene uh gave them out to the department heads and then if the department heads had any concerns or questions on any of the evaluations,
then they contacted us. But I guess the only thing different this time would be if we go this way, we would actually having one representative of the board to go over the evaluations with that department. >> And you could also just do it as as a document sent to them. You don't have to
do a a conversation with them. Um that's just some that's up to you. Uh if you'd rather just have me complete the form, check it with the chair, and then send it to them, that's fine, too. That's certainly >> and then and they could have the option of discussing anything that they had a
concern with if they wanted. That's one way, but that's that's up to my colleagues. I I don't have a problem either way. >> I think it sounds >> I I like the plan we got. >> Great. The um evaluation form is in your
packet. Uh this is the last one we had. We use this for all employees. I've I've reviewed folks with this. If you have any um changes you want to make to it, we can either discuss it tonight or at your next meeting. Um I don't think we're planning to start any evaluations until the end of next month. We start
with the police chief. So if you have any uh >> Yeah, we can get uh all the evaluation forms to the board within next week and then we can actually sit down ourselves and start if you want unless you want to do it one at a time. you you can start
evaluating whatever you want unless you want to make any changes to the evaluation form. >> Yeah. >> Um if you think the form is good, which I think certainly fine. Um certainly plays up important things about um your professionalism and everything else. Uh so it's up to this group.
>> Well, while we're in evaluation forms, I do want to say the town has submitted a lot of good comments about our new town administrator and our new DPW director. So, I do want to thank you. You guys are making a great impression to the town.
I'm getting a lot of good feedback. So, thank you for whatever you're doing it. Keep doing it, I guess. >> Thank you. We We've got a Yeah, we've got a good team here. So, >> I do I have a good team place. >> Sure. >> Okay. Next, you got your uh
>> Yeah. DF Riley, Grismill, Dam. I don't have much on this. I just like keeping this on the agenda so that folks know that uh work is uh continuing on this. It is not a town project. Um but it does obviously concern the town. Um it's in a
historic district. Um it's a landmark of sorts in town. Uh we are working with the consultant just to help them deliver some further information about wells and infrastructure in the area. So that's factored in properly. They also were looking for help and connecting some area farmers who are using the river for irrigation. So we're making sure that
that that happens. Um they also as part of the project were required to hold a uh cultural assessment which basically looks at the cultural and historic importance of the asset and the report is is very interesting and it yields the
fact that this is a historic district that's built around this dam. So removing that would in in a lot of ways uh decrease the uh the effectiveness the the importance of that cultural district. So it's it's hard. The cultural asset um study basically said
that this is an important cultural asset would be a difficult thing to lose. So that's something that will be factored into their design and their considerations because if they were to remove the dam, they would need to figure out ways to um to to either replicate or to um supplement their work
through that. So just wanted to flag that for this board because it at least is in the conversation. I don't want to get that to get lost. I know the grismail is private. So I mean it's but there is like a five to sevenyear process. They have to go
through evaluations and surveys and all kinds of stuff. But yeah, we don't own it and what's what they end up doing is nothing we can do about it. >> Well, I mean there will be things we can
do about it. But I think that's >> we can we can discuss it bring up stuff but >> the final decision will >> be based on >> individual property owners. >> Yeah. >> So that's >> whatever they do it's going to be big money. >> It would be an extremely large
investment. >> So they would be looking for state money other things to supplement that. >> Not just so easy as saying yeah keep it or don't keep it. >> Yeah. >> It's a long process. >> Yeah. >> 100 340 something years old now. I guess. >> Wow.
>> I forget how old that dam is. >> I should know that from reading the cultural assessment, but there you go. Great. All right. Um, what do I have next? So, on my report next, I have this um Oh, I have this
last on here. That's fine. Uh, pickle ball storage donation. Um, a local resident, Kristen Marie, has has donated a new storage container for the pickle ball equipment that's kept near the school street courts. uh DPW hopefully assisted in removing the old box which is broken. Um this new equipment would
essentially be considered a gift to the town. So I recommend you know accepting it as a gift and and might be nice to send Kristen a thanks for for this. Um if that's something that uh would like to do.
>> I guess I didn't know they kept they kept pickle ball up there. >> They have a storage box right there. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'll make a motion to accept the donation of pickleball storage container with gratitude. >> A second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any
discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Great. Uh, this you're all aware of, but for residents paving uh at Elm and Maple Street was completed September 19th. Striping was completed September 22nd. Really do want to thank DPW for all their work managing this. Um, our
contractors did a great job and uh, Superintendent Dwayne Mian got through his first paving season as highway superintendent. Did an excellent job managing that. So, we appreciate it. I also appreciate Dwayne's work in uh, helping to make sure that the uh, Purple Heart community signs were installed in
town. You probably seen them in different parts around town. There's one more that still needs to go up with MASDOT's uh, approval. Um, but uh, at most of the entrances into town, you'll see those Purple Heart community signs. I know I saw one the other day coming into town on Pantry Road. So, looks
really good. Yeah. So, thanks of course to uh Tomataro from the American Legion for pushing that forward and to this board for uh helping with that initiative. >> Yes. Uh real quick, this is important. Um okay, this is important. So, Route 5
and 10. Um we had a conversation with CI last week. Um the engineers in this project, we had submitted to them some uh camera work that was done um through another project uh through another
engineering firm just as a courtesy. Um and uh we reviewed that footage with them and they agreed uh with a number of issues that were present. Uh there was sagging in the pipes. It's very hard to tell just how serious that sagging is
because of the amount of debris in the pipes, but there certainly shouldn't be that amount of debris or sagging. Um there's also uh water that's that's infiltrating the manhole lines. And then there was um what was the other issue, Marlo? Am I forgetting? This is
important. Uh the rolled gaskets. >> Rolled gaskets. >> Significant number of rolled gaskets, which also shouldn't be occurring in a brand new pipe. Uh CI is uh reaching out to Giler. Um they're going to demand
that they uh complete a flushing of the system and then a reammering so that we can then see again what the the the systems look like so we can judge just uh the degree of the sagging of the pipes. At that point we'll better know what the plan of attack is and CI is
going to help us in coming up with what we're going to ask from Gilaher. CI believes that the the work that needs to be done to rectify this can be accomplished within the remaining budget from Giler. Don't know if that's truly the case, but they believe there's enough budget remaining. So, we're going
to have to to see if that's the case. So, we're working with them to come up with a list, but obviously, um, I'm going to keep Marlo, Luke, um, and others in the loop on this. are going to be pushing CI hard and then Gil her hard to make sure this is >> I'd like to see some timelines from both
CI and Gil or her on what they're going to do. >> CI's timeline is that Giler needs to come back uh within two weeks from last Friday. So within a week from Friday to take care of the um the camera and of course the flushing before that.
>> Okay. Well, I I hope this happens. Otherwise, we may have to start thinking of other options, but I don't want to get to that point yet because they have the right to correct their mistakes. But
>> that's right. >> So, >> keep it keep it there for now, I suppose. >> So, it looks like this is I know people ain't going to want to hear it, but looks like this is going to get pushed up to next year, >> right? We we can't tie into the system right now. So I for res >> in October already. So I mean just
>> and completion was supposed to happen in at Memorial Day. So want to apologize to residents that tie in is further delayed. >> I mean they should have no problem being able at this time to flush the pipes and run a camera and and identify areas that need correction and actually come up
with a way they're going to correct it. But I mean, next year they also would need a timeline of how they're going to finish it and and how much time they're going to take cuz uh I guess I I I won't make any more
comments because >> I think you've summarized it well. >> Okay. So, thank you for that. Thank you for staying on top of it with those guys because >> we Yeah. Yeah. We don't have another option right now. It's been a long project to trying to get this thing accomplish.
>> We're coming in on the tail end. So, you know, we're happy to, you know, keep pushing this forward, but we know it's a real frustration for everyone here and for >> I know it'll eventually all work out. I just never know how. That's all. >> I don't know. This this one tests your theory. Anyway, um Community
Preservation Act. Uh just want to say quickly for folks who are watching and for folks here. Um applications are always open but the cuto off for consideration at next town meeting in May is November 1st. So if you've got any projects for community preservation
act uh please do submit those to the committee. Uh happy to help anyone from the community who has something that they they want to work on. Um we're looking at a couple uh DPW town facilities projects that could potentially fit for that and historic preservation. Uh we just have a lot of
projects to manage right now too. is we might not submit that many new ones, but we've got a couple things that would be good to to work on. So, if you've got any ideas, let me know. Um, comp plan committee met again. Uh, things are going along well with them. And then planning board will meet uh October 1st.
That's tomorrow. Uh, and they will be talking about the the zoning island piece again and just kind of doing a debrief of the the the proposals that they did shelf before and talk about maybe some ways to move forward with that and make sure they're uh involving folks who who are interested in this because I know there's a lot of
community interest and making sure that's done right. So, they will be talking about that. Um, great. That's all I have. >> Oh, wait. No, that's true. I promised good news. >> Oh, yeah. Uh today we got um a call from Anne Gobi in region in rural affairs for
the state uh to let us know that uh the town was awarded $96,000 for uh planning assistance through the state's rural development fund as a part of the onetop for economic and community development. Uh so this a this is great news. Uh when we've been talking about this
comprehensive uh zoning review and and work that we need to do, we really need some extra capacity for that. And so I I was banking on getting a state grant. It's $96,000 to be able to do that. So that's a lot of time from planning planning consultants and other folks. Um I know a number of good planning
consultants that I'll I'll see if if they have the time to put into this. But uh that'll be really exciting to be able to manage that process and get some extra help making it happen. So we've got a a great planning board and a great planning assistant. Um but to have this extra help from uh some professional planners would be really great.
>> That's good news. >> Good news. $96,000. It's great. >> Okay. Thank you, Marlo. Uh, topic. Thank you, John. Topic 11, executive session. Make a motion to go in executive session pursuant to match general laws chapter
38 12A section 12 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or to to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. treasure collector contract
and we will not be coming back into open session by roll call vote. Jorski I >> I >> Okay. So thank [Applause]