Okay, welcome to our January 27th meeting 20ou 2026. We'll start with our public participation at town of Hatfield Select Board meetings. The Hatfield Select Board welcomes everyone to the meetings and all of the 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 confirm 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 an important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the 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
uh hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield Select Board. For the public's information, this meeting is being recorded. I would like to start with announcements. I'd like to thank our DPW and I know they were two people
short and Alan Belden helped the DPW as long as our first responders and our police and fire who who worked through the storm and I I want to thank all of them for being there. It was a tough storm and I think the town did very well
with the DPW uh and they did a good job. And the other announcement is I I want to again remind people you got to stop for flashing lights on school buses. I mean I I never thought I would witness it
myself, but I did witness this on Elm Street the other week where a car did pass the bus as it was stopping with its lights flashing. Luckily the the bus driver was smart and didn't open the door yet, but I never thought I'd see that in this town. So, please, please
get off your cell phones, watch the road, watch for blinking lights. Those are my announcements. Do my colleagues, Do you have any announcements? >> Just want to reiterate how good of a job the DPW did at clearing the roads and getting the sidewalks open. Um, the only
other thing that I have to add to it is if you have a fire hydrant in your area, um, shovel a path to it in a three-foot circle all the way around it. It greatly helps the fire department out. Um, but other than that, that's all I've got. >> No, I'm good.
>> Okay, with that, uh, anybody here for public forum? Chief, come right up to the microphone if you can and and, uh, >> uh, so, just a couple couple of public safety announcements. Uh, so Luke
already covered, I was going to talk about making sure that you clear your hydrants. Uh, it's definitely going to help us get to them. It's going to help you in the event of emergency. Also, making sure that your boiler vents or water heater vents are also cleared on the side of the house. There was a lot of blowing snow over the last couple of days. And we want to make sure that
those are free so we do not end up with any extra CO calls um because obviously we know that it's a colorless, odless, tasteless gas, but it can be very deadly. So, we want to make sure that we're protecting everybody. And then the last one is just for anybody else. Um, I just want the residents to know that
currently, uh, the fire department is struggling with some staffing. Um, we have limited number of folks that are available in town to respond to calls. You know, a bunch of our folks were out this weekend plowing and it left a few calls that were uncovered, so we had to have some mutual aid coming in. So, we're we're kind of struggling right
now. Everybody's kind of got a lot going on. Um, so don't be surprised if there is an extreme delay. We had one this morning about 3:00 a.m. Uh, Northampton Fire had to come in and it was almost a 45 minutes before an engine got on scene because there's just lack of responders that are available in town right now.
So, somebody will come, but I just want residents to understand that it it is going to be a delay if we cannot get a crew here from Hatfield. So, that was my couple of messages. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Anybody else here for public forum? If
not, we'll move with our unless you have anything, Andrew, for uh announcements or public form. Okay. >> Uh we'll move with our consent agenda. Uh do I have a motion on the >> We'll make a motion to approve the January 13th, 2026 meeting minutes.
>> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Motion carries. Uh we'll move to posted business. Uh, topic one is an alcohol license conversion fee. If I recall,
there was a state new law where if you have a wine and m malt license, you can convert to an all alcoholic license. Of course, you can't pass that on, but uh that was established by and I think we
voted that in. Andrew, do you have any comments on the fee? Yeah, I'll I'll start and then Karen's the one who's works mostly with this, but but uh when we approved this, we didn't actually set what the fee would be should you wish to to convert from one license to the other. Uh Karen and I thought about this
and we really thought that that the fairest way to do it uh with the board's approval would just be the fee would be the difference between having the um the the wine and malt and then having the the full alcohol. Just pay the difference between those two licenses in the first place. So, uh, we think that's
the fairest way to to take care of that. >> Okay. I like that. >> There any other admin? Is there any other like administrative things that have to happen to for that to license the change? >> It's a good question. I It has to be approved by this group, has to be
reviewed by um the executive assistant. You could make the argument that there's some work that goes into it, but we don't typically charge for any of that for other licenses. We're just basically charging for license itself. I think it's it's um I'm trying to think if there's any
inspections uh other inspections or anything else would occur. It's minimal. So I I don't think you'd necessarily need to recoup other expenses, but you you could consider that and add a little something. >> Any comments? >> No, sounds good.
So, do you would you like to entertain a motion to accept uh what was presented for >> I'll make a motion to approve alcohol license conversion fee and the fee shall be the difference between the previous and the new annual license fee paid by the business. >> Second.
>> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Motion carries. Okay. Uh topic two. This was something that we did approve, but it it appears that there was a snafu in the paperwork. So, it came back and
because of the snafu in the paperwork, we we just have to reapprove it again. I believe Karen, that's what we have to do. And that's an application for change of officers directors for reconsider for tasmir watch 1965 or as we know it as the
hackfield polish book. So, uh, I'll entertain a motion on that unless there's some discussion. >> There go discussion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the application for change of officers directors for reconsideration for tow
kasamea GP1965 ZNP. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Okay. we go to topic three which will be the presentation on
DF Riley Grismill dam removal feasibility studies. So I do ask you to come forward sort of state your name what you're doing and and what's happening here. So go right ahead and welcome to welcome to Hatfield.
Thank you for coming forward. I know there's a lot of residents have a lot of questions on this and I I do appreciate that you keep us in the loop uh periodically with updates on what's happening because there is a lot of uh
concern in community as to what's happening with this particular project. I'll leave it up to you now. >> I'll start. I'm Becky Bud. I'm the restoration program manager at Connecticut River Conservancy and I've been working with the dam owners since
2023. My name is Candace Constantine. I'm a senior project manager and an engineer with Thai and Bond and we are the engineering firm that CRC enlisted to help with the effort of putting together the feasibility and doing the technical
side of things. Um, and yeah, I'm managing that project on behalf of Tai and Bond with and we have a team and I've got one of the team members here with me tonight to help with questions. >> Hello, my name is Isabelle Arth Long. I'm a project environmental scientist
with Ty and Bond perform the wetland delineation and I'm supporting environmental permitting. >> Great. So, we thought we'd just give you an update on where we are with the project and um I'm going to give a little background too for folks who haven't heard about it yet just to
understand here where we're coming from and where we intend to go with this phase of the project. So, um so for today I was going to give you a little introduction to to the project and talk a little bit about some of the
specific concerns with the site. tell you a little bit about the history and why we're here talking about dam removal at this site, then describe what we've done so far to date. Um, show you the design plans. We're just at the concept
level right now. So, we'll show you kind of where we've come in terms of what measures we think need to need to be um implemented in order to remove the spillway and then present a schedule um that if the owners pursue dam removal,
this would be along the lines of, you know, the the schedule for that whole implementation of the project. So, just to tell you who's who and who's involved with the project, the the project owners, um, as you all probably know, are the Oldmill Enterprises and
Mil River Storage. So, um, the Old Mill is on the what what I'll call the left abutment of the spillway, and then Mil River Storage is on the right abupment of the spillway, the storage garage up there. Um, and we have a lot of partners
that are working on the project. So, um, Connecticut River Conservancy is overall the project manager for this phase of the project and they came on board at the request of the dam owners to help them with this phase of the design. And
then the other partners are the town of Hatfield as a stakeholder. Andrew's been attending our meetings um and kept a breast of all the progress that we've been making. Mass Wildlife um the Mass EA and US Fish and Wildlife
Service as well as the Nature Conservancy have provided funding for the work and um that is moving through the Connecticut River Conservancy. They've been taking the lead on grant applications and then we have been contracted by
Connecticut River Conservancy to carry out the technical piece of the work. And I'm sure everyone's familiar with where we're at, but I thought I'd just present a couple of the things that we've taken into consideration broadly at the site. And those would be that um
the the dam itself is an intermediate sized significant hazard dam. Significant hazard means that there there is a risk to properties um risk of damages, potential risk to public safety if the dam were to fail. And that's a
classification um that is based on flood modeling studies and has been determined by the office of dam safety. And as you all know the site has a lot of historical importance for the town.
Um it is on the national register of historic places. So the the buildings and the dam itself are listed and they are both within the old mill site historic district and the mill prospect street historic district. The river is an important natural
resources too. It's a tributary to the Connecticut River. It's a cold water fishery resource and there is priority to habitat for rare species mapped along the river course. So if we um zoom in a little bit to the
dam itself, I just thought I'd give you a little bit of the history of how we ended up at the dam removal alternative. Um and it is based on the fact that the current condition rating for the dam is unsafe. And that is because engineers
have noticed substantial deficiencies and have been documenting documenting them since at least 2019. And to show you a little sketch. I know you won't be able to read this very well, but I'll kind of give you the highlights of this. This is a sketch
that was in the latest um dam inspection report. And there's some notes on here that note down all the different deficiencies. So, this is a a report that's accessible to the public through the Office of Dam Safety. Um, we also
have a copy, so if the board would like a copy of this, we can provide that. Um, in summary, the the spillway is missing some concrete. There's been some concrete spalling um off the spillway.
There are some cracking on the spillway. Also, there is some seepage and some loss of masonry on the abutments. Um, and some leakage discharge through the former Slleway underneath the old
mill building and also some leakage coming through underneath um the mill mil storage uh building on the right hand abutment as well. And so all of those things put together
um you know indicate that the dam is in a deteriorating condition. And so the dam owners as a result of documentation of these deficiencies received a certificate of non-compliance and a dam safety order. And that dam
safety order said that the owners had to resolve these these condition issues by either repairing the dam or breaching it or removing it. And those were their choices. So the dam owners have considered a lot of different options. So they have looked at hydropower
um and were told by a provider that it's not technically feasible at the site because um or economically feasible at the site. they could put something could put something in um but it wouldn't generate enough power to offset the cost
um and then um there's also the considerations with the um the grid the electrical grid um through town and if it can handle the loading. So there's some considerations there. They also considered or approached the town at one
point about um selling or giving the dam to the town. At the time the town wasn't interested and they did consider rehabilitation but again it's an economic feasibility issue because it would be a very costly project and then
addition to in addition to that they'd have to keep inspecting the dam and maintaining the dam um into the future. So it's quite a heavy cost burden for the owners. So after they went through this process and decided that removal was really the best option for them as
owners, then they started working with Connecticut River Conservancy on that. Um and so on this slide I've just summarized some of the project goals. Um over on the left, the some of the primary goals from um the owner's
perspective, their primary goal is to reduce their liability and their cost. um they're trying you know especially the old millin they're trying he's they're trying to run a business there and it's quite a heavy cost burden for them and then Connecticut River Conservancy is interested in the project
for improving stream connectivity and the natural resource that is uh the Mill River and then there's some other goals of the project um in terms of improving public safety so reducing the risk to all the surrounding properties upstream
and downstream um that's that could um be incurred if there's an uncontrolled failure or breach of the dam. And then on the ecology uh front, one of the goals of the project is to maintain or enhance
ecosystem function. We recognize that it's a very important natural resource for the town and that a lot of people really enjoy the natural environment of the empoundment. So, one of our goals is to make sure we maintain that ecologic e
ecological diversity um in the river. And then from the historical and cultural resources perspective, we want to honor the historical and community importance of the site. So, you know, that's everything from recording what was there and um making sure that we
document that. Um but also just making sure the final product like the aesthetics of the site fit in with the historic character of the of the area. So to date we have done quite a bit of
work toward this goal of this feasibility study and conceptual design. We've done some data review and collection. So starting with existing information. So all the dam safety records and FEMA mapping and anecdotal information from the dam owners and other things like that. We've collected
all of that and reviewed it. We've done a wetland delineation. We had a topo survey commissioned. We did baometric survey and sediment probing in the empoundment to determine how much sediment is present in the empoundment and how we might need to handle that if
we were to remove the dam spillway. And then we've done sediment sampling and testing to look for potential contamination. Um, and then some of the studies that we've done as a part of that work or in addition to it are by some different teams. We had our
structural team come out and do an structural assessment of the dam and the abutments to look at the feasibility of removing the spillway while leaving the abutments in place and what kinds of strengthening work or improvements would need to take place at the abutments if
we were to do that so that we wouldn't put the buildings at risk. We also had a cultural resources assessment done by a subconsultant, an archaeological subconultant um that will be engaged throughout the project to help us um with better
understanding the resources that were there, how we can protect them and then how we can incorporate some of the historic nature um into the design. And then from the design standpoint, we've been working on the hydraology. So that's like figuring out what sort of
flood flows are coming into the system, hydraulic modeling. So um figuring out you know what the stream um might look like once the dam is removed and then um working toward a conceptual design. So for today um I did not I didn't want
to get too far into some of the technical stuff. So the modeling results and things but those reports will become available so we can send we'll send those to Andrew as we have them and those can be made available. I thought today I would just kind of touch on
touch broadly on the design and then we could answer any questions folks have. Um so some of the specific challenges with the site and on the next slides I've got the design um are construction access. You all know it's tight out there and the abutments are not
necessarily safe. So we can't be sighting heavy equipment on top of those abutments. Um so that that's a challenge for a dam removal project. We've got historical buildings that are sensitive and in some cases um not in great shape in places. There are historical cultural
resources. our um archaeologists mapped some of this area as having like high potential for cultural resources. There are known um and that has to do with both the industrial history so industrial artifacts but also potentially Native American artifacts.
Um so those we have to be sensitive to that in the design. Um the inn as I mentioned you know you know it's an important business in the area so there are in operations also that we have to take into consideration. Um and then another environmental um concern that
was discussed at the public meeting and that has come up a few times that there are um there are listed species in the empoundment specifically a freshwater muscle species that is a concern. And so that is something that we've um been investigating and are um continuing to
work on um as we head into the next phases. This is an overview. I've got it zoomed in in places so you can see, but this is just to show you kind of the footprint of the work and actually um we've tried to keep it relatively tight to the dam
location. So on this map um uh north north is up in the page and um you'll see the old Milton is labeled toward the top of the page. Um the shaded rectangles are the parking existing parking lots and then um the darker gray
area bel and the parking lots that's sort of the working area within the river channel. Um and you can see the former Prospect Court Bridge there and then the dam spillway is right adjacent to the old mill in stretching across the river
between the inn and the mill building on the southern side. And so now I'm going to zoom in a little closer to each one of the banks so you can see um and so you can see what we're planning. And we can also provide these
drawings. They haven't been finalized yet, but when they are um Andrew will have copies of those if anyone wants to take a closer look. Um so we are um proposing to access the
site um and stage the project from the parking lots. Um we did investigate a lot of different other areas like the lawn area behind the millin or maybe um the town property at the intersection of school and bridge streets for staging.
But um we learned there's a sewer siphon underneath or sewer pump station there on the the corner. Um and then the lawn area of the old mill inn is considered um to have a high probability of um industrial artifacts or archaeological
artifacts. So we're trying to minimize the impacts of the project on all these different resources. So, we've decided to um stage the project on the existing parking lots and then um the dark gray line is the proposed access route to the
downstream channel downstream of the dam. And there's one spot that will access the stream um from upstream of the dam because we're going to have to get to it from both sides. So, the proposal is to remove the spillway
itself. So that's just the central portion, the central concrete portion, leaving the masonry and concrete works at the ab on the abutment side. So leaving the abupment under the old mill in and then leaving the abupment under the storage building and just removing
the spillway. And then what we would have to do um to do that is on the left hand side, you can imagine as water levels um reduce that bank becomes exposed and it's um quite a steep bank over there if you've been out to see it.
So we would we would do a bit of bank reconstruction there with some rock probably at the bottom of the bank and then build the bank up with what we call fabric encapsulated soil lifts. It's just a way to place soil in a stream bank um and contain it in some
biodegradable fabrics until plants have a chance to grow. So, I put some inset photos here that show you kind of what what the bank looks like when you first build it. And then after vegetation grows, um you don't really see the koer fabrics anymore. And so that would be how we would
strengthen the bank there. Then then to um help with the old mill in abutments, we would fill the existing intake that's currently leaking um under the through the slleway there. We'd fill that intake with controlled density fill and then do some work on the outside masonry wall of
the abupment at the old mill in to fill the some of the voids with masonry and grout and repair the grout. And there's some brick work up underneath the old mill in that has come dislodged. So we would have that repaired too. Um and
then the next slide is the southern abupman or the right-hand abutment. Um and so this again the spillway would be removed up to the abupment. Um but prior to doing that we would face the interior
sides of the north and east walls with concrete. the the walls um at this side of the the storage facility are in pretty poor condition and so we would work on the inside of the walls. You can get into the void underneath the building um or at least it should be
possible. Um, so the the intention would be to face the insides of those walls to strengthen them um ahead of removing the spillway and then repairing the exterior stone and masonry on the downstream side of that abutment. Um you've probably all
seen where that's kind of falling apart. So we would we would fix that. that that's more of an aesthetic fix um than necessarily a um a structural fix, but it would certainly kind of bring things together um in the spirit of restoring the historical nature of the site. And
then um and then in addition to removing the spillway, we have a couple of optional tasks here that um we'll continue to discuss with Andrew um and you know the town can feed into these, but one is um the potential to remove the bridge
superructure that's there. Um it is you know very deteriorated. Um so we could while we're out there um you know have a contractor remove that as a part of the project and save the town that effort um in the future. And then also um potentially removing and disposing of
the stonemasonry pier in the center of the river channel that's going to become exposed to higher velocity flows and things um and will probably deteriorate further once the dam is removed. Um, we did have a a bridge engineer um take a
look at this when we thought we might be looking at um replacing the pedestrian bridge as part of the project. And um they did say that they would if we were to if you were to decide to replace a pedestrian bridge there, you'd likely need um new pile foundations set back
from the original masonry butments anyway. So that central pier wouldn't um serve a purpose in the future. And it and it has deteriorated. but it's got missing masonry and um things like that. So um >> are you saying that if there was a walkway put in there, the existing uh
infrastructure would have to be removed anyways? >> No, our thought is that um that we we would leave it. The central pier is is not usable in its current form. It would have to be repaired or removed. Um, but if you wanted a clear span bridge, one
could be put in there and you wouldn't have to remove the existing abutments, but you would probably want something like a piled foundation behind to support the bridge structure unless you did unless you wanted to do a lot of repair work to those abupments. But you'd have to have a separate, she
looked at it a very high level. You'd have to have a separate kind of investigation by a bridge engineer to to design, you know, new abutments or or foundations for that. Well, we did have one design a few years ago. >> Okay. >> To to do a walkway, which >> yeah,
>> it did involve using the existing structure and building on top of it, but >> it's it's been a while, so it may have changed. I wasn't sure whether your bridgeer engineer was trying to bring it back to where cars could go across it or
whether just a walkway would be across it. Yeah, we had heard in talking with Andrew that um that a walkway was the thing that the town was considering there. So, we did look into it early on. Um and but like I said, she hasn't done
any um calculations on it. And I think the other thing is um if the dam's removed, it does change the nature of the flow behind, you know, in through that cross-section. So, I think it's probably something that would that would be a new condition that a bridge engineer would have to take into
account. that would be different from what they were probably thinking before. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um so just in terms of next steps, so as a part of our current contract, we are progressing through permit level design.
So, we are now in the process of planning some pre-permitting meetings with regulators um to talk about the permits that are going to be required for the project and to go over our design proposal and see if there are any issues we need to resolve before we head
into permitting. And then um Becky and I have talked about holding another meeting um to just bring people along on the the progress and sort of report back as and demonstrate that we did hear folks when they were talking at the
initial public meeting and and talk about the ways that we've taken the concerns into consideration and then kind of talking through the design work to date and then producing permit level designs in summer 2026. um permit then this then the schedule.
This is tentative. It dep depends on funding and how things go with permitting and things like that and you know and decisions by the dam owners obviously. So, but if we were to kind of continue on at the pl pace we are that would mean um permits being received
sometime around the fall of 2027 then um producing final designs by spring of 2028. um bidding in the fall of 2028 and then construction around the win in the winter of 2028 29.
Um have anything to add? A lot >> that's a lot. It's a lot of information. So, >> but we're happy to answer questions >> from the residents. There were two two questions. So, I'm going to present you the two questions. One was a concern
from the farming side of irrigation using the water upstream to irrigate their fields. Yep. >> How they would be impacted. And the other question was if the fish now can move upstream once the dam is removed.
>> Was it is there a rare species that would be impacted or are harmed by that? And there was there was that question also. So >> yeah, >> I don't know if you've been able to look at those two questions in any respect or you're still waiting for studies or
>> Yeah. So we have done an initial investigation of the wells um specifically the ones on sort of Jericho Road and the farming properties there. And what we've discovered is a a lot of the wells are deep. So the deeper wells
are not expected. They're and by by deep I mean hundreds of feet. They're in they're bedrock wells. Bedrock groundwater levels will not be affected by the project. Um so those wells will operate just as they are or expected to operate just as they are today. Um if
there are shallow wells, we haven't like fully received information from folks on Jericho Road. We have reached out. So, if there is anyone who has a shallow well um or who um exercises surface
extraction, we would need them to get in touch with us. And like I said, we've sent letters out and Becky's done some calling and we've checked town records and things, but so we've done what we can without folks engaging with us around their needs.
Yeah. Um and then the other question about the rare species. Um so that is a concern um at the state and federal levels as well with potential predators getting upstream um because there is a listed
freshwater muscle species. So we are looking at the feasibility of that right now. The what the site has working for it is that there is bedrock there. There's ledge there that will remain um a bedrock cascade. We we're not
proposing to um chip away at any bedrock or anything like that. So that barrier will still remain. Um and what we've the question that we have is how how often can fish get up past that and um it
really I think what it has come down to is sort of um a combination of what are you know what are the flows and what's that drop across because right now it's quite it's quite big and the predators are not particularly great jumpers. So, um, but what we don't know is how often
does the Connecticut River back up enough that, um, that, you know, poorer swimmers can get upstream. So, we are doing some water level monitoring, um, of the Mill River downstream of the bedrock. We did it in the fall and we
didn't have any events that were controlled by Connecticut River water levels um, but we didn't capture spring floods yet. So once the ice melts, we're going to put the sensors back in and hopefully capture the spring floods and see if you know how high the water
levels come up at the base of that bedrock. So that's that's an ongoing um area of investigation. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Do you have anything to add to that? because Becky's had a lot of conversations with with regulators about this
>> only that everyone is very carefully considering it and we will continue to talk to state biologists and such and make sure we have the best information, best plan to go forward.
>> And that dam is how old? 340 years old. How old is it? Do you know how how old that dam is? Well, the current dam is closer to turn of the century, but I I don't know. I can't remember from the documents how old >> I can't either.
>> Yeah. Few hundred years. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> We do have the cultural resources report. I just don't have the date in my head right now. Yeah. >> Um, so you said that in one of the early slides that it has a significant hazard rating. >> Yeah.
>> Is there different levels to that that are associated with it? um like a one through 10 ranking or different terminology like where does this fall in terms of imminent failure, >> right? Um it's it's more of a ranking in
terms of if it failed um what would be at risk. So it's it's apart from condition. You can have a dam that's newly built and in great condition with a significant hazard rating. >> Okay. >> Um and it has >> different than the structural integrity. >> Yes. Yes, it is. It has to do with
what's at risk if it were to fail. >> Right. So is there a rating that >> assesses the structural stability of the dam? >> Yeah. So that's the unsafe rating that um the dam safety office has given it.
>> And how does that compare to you know it's probability for failure because I mean every bridge in the area is rated unsafe just about. So and we all still drive over them every day. Yeah, there's no there's no probability associated
with that. Um I think you know it has to do with the level of deterioration and um you know I think once you get to sort of leaking and spalling and missing concrete and missing masonry then then that's where you know that kind of comes
into question for this type of dam. But um yeah, there's no probability because it's a combination, isn't it, of of like the physical factors that cause the deterioration plus like what kind of flood events are we going to be getting? Because you can imagine in a more
catastrophic flood you might expect more damage and how often are we going to get those. Um so we don't have an assigned there's no like you know it has a such and such percent chance of failure in any given year. We don't we don't have that more of a qualitative um assessment
than it is a quantitative assessment. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I I get so if you had the choice between three dams to remove, how would you and there you were trying to risk like evaluate safety ratings or risk factors.
if you're not going to perform a a structural analysis or give it some sort of rating, how would you go about making that decision? >> Um, well, the way I mean the way the dam removals come to be, it has to do with the dam owners. So, I mean, I suppose if
a if if a municipality owned three dams, they would probably look at the one that was in the worst condition or put the most people at risk or something like that. And then for other agencies, their priorities have to do with, you know, stream restoration or fish passage. So,
um, you know, from, so, so I'm not sure like I guess in the real world application, it just kind of depends on all these different factors. There's no, um, designated way to figure out like which dam comes out and which one doesn't. I think this specific site has
to do with the fact that the dam owners have been told by dam safety that they have to do something and they face, you know, consequences if they don't. So, they're making progress now on trying something. They tried all these other options and figured out that they were
going to be too expensive or um you know, not feasible. Um so they've landed on dam removal as the option because in part because there's grant funding for dam removal um both from um federal agencies and state agencies. Uh there is
not the same type of funding or level of funding for dam repair unless the dam is serving a a function um like it's a water supply dam or something like that. So they have money available for a removal option.
>> It I'm it just seems that there's a lot of negatives to this between the freshwater muscles. Um keep touching on the restoration of the fishery, but on the same in the same breath we're saying that we don't necessarily know if the fish will make
it over the bedrock that's cascade that's already existing. We also don't know that if the fish going upstream are going to affect the listed species that are already there along with the absolutely massive wetland and repairarian zone that's
already there. Um, it just seems there's a lot of negatives to this for a dam that could be repaired. And it I mean it's affecting the dam itself, you could say, is affecting two
properties for the abutments essentially. um versus the entire ecosystem that's upstream of it affects, you know, 50 60 70 properties plus everything that's upstream of it continuing all the way through into
Weightley and Haydenville. Um so while removal might seem like an option, it just it also seems like there's a whole lot of negatives that also that are screaming to be addressed that I feel like we're kind of being overlooked. This hasn't even come across
conservation yet um for any, you know, feedback from the conservation commission or from D from what I've been told. So, it just it seems that there's like we're moving too fast towards removal instead of getting all a well-rounded view of all of the
different factors and the stakeholders here. >> Yeah. So, we haven't um we will be engaging with the regulatory agencies going forward. A lot of times they want to see something on on a plan as to and they want to understand why we've reached the conclusion of um dam removal
and then they want to see something on a plan that they can comment on. Um and then they do want to see an assess an assessment of impacts. So one thing we're currently working on um so there are two two things that you mentioned that I wanted to point out. Um one is on the impacts to the wetlands. Um so we
are working on you know how much is the water level going to drop during diff different um flow events and then what are the likely impacts. We know the wetland extents and types will change um
but the the um the area is so flat for so so many miles that we're expecting that there will still be wetlands. It might just be in a different configuration. So, but we are looking at analyzing that in more detail and that obviously is something that we'll talk
about with D and the concom. Um, and then in terms of the fish passage question, so there are different species. So, the the species that are targets for migration are not necessarily the freshwater muscle predators. So, it's other fish that
might get up. So, like American eel, for example, is one that can make it past the bedrock with the dam removed. and that's not a not a predator. Um, do you have anything else about fish or muscles? >> It's a it's a outstanding question whether that there is a population of
those predators already upstream. Um, and so we're we're digging into that as well. Um yeah and just you know coordination uh with the conservation commission and DP uh we could do some informal but but in terms of filing that
usually comes towards the end of the permitting process rather than at the beginning. Um, >> I just also know, well, we had a project in town maybe 15, 20 years ago, um, that got completely halted because of the
freshwater muscle problem. So, I'm curious how that project could be completely stopped by it. It seems like this one is barely touching on it so far, at least. Well, we're very this is very early in the process. So, I don't know how far
along your project got if you were looking for permits at that point or you were but we're still very early on in the process. So, I think because we haven't actually entered the permitting process then you know maybe some things will will come to light. So, I I think
it's probably good to just remember how how early we are you know in the process of this. So, yeah. I just wanted to build on the select board member's question kind of around um how much repair was looked at as one
of the options. I think you did go through what the owners have looked at as far as hydrop power and a few other things that that they've tried to address. The site board member said, you know, repair could be an option here. Did you want to just address a little more about how how that would play out and how there might be some barriers to
actual repair of this dam rather than removal? >> Sure. Um, I don't have the the estimates in front of me for what the construction costs would be. Um, a lot of the cost for dam repair um has to do with the water management and flow management
while you're trying to do the repairs and and get yourself enough time in the dry to place new concrete and stuff like that. So um so a lot of the a lot of the mobilization costs and the managing the water costs and the big costs that come into a dam removal construction project
also exist for a dam repair construction project. So a lot of times the the costs are not that different u for dam repair um and and dam rehabilitation. Um, they could be it. It depends, right? This site probably not as much because you'd probably be repairing what's there
versus building a brand new dam, which would obviously be more expensive. Um, but what's different then is that a um there's no like grant funding to pay for that for the dam repair option. And then
also the dam owners would remain the owners and then would be responsible for the periodic inspections that they have. they currently have to hire an engineer to do periodic inspections. And this is all dam safety regulations. So, it's not optional. Um, and then they would be
responsible for ongoing maintenance um, and further repairs if there are any other deficiencies noted in the future. So, I think it's the it's the costs over the lifetime um, for the dam owners that are also a consideration.
>> Thank you. >> Well, I do thank you for coming here. We appreciate you presenting this. I know it it's in the preliminary stages and hopefully you come back in the future and give another update because I know the town will appreciate hearing about
this whether they're happy with it or not. They still appreciate what's going on. And so, thank you again for coming and presenting a a wonderful presentation. >> Thanks for having us. >> Thank you.
Okay. Uh I believe we have another uh Colonial Power Group presentation on proposed aggregate energy rate change. Are they here or? >> Uh yes, they're here uh remotely. Uh so they'll pop up at your screen in a moment. It'll be Mark Capidonna from
Colonial Power Group um talking about the aggregate uh rate that we receive for our energy costs. This should not be a long presentation compared to what we just bought. So, um but but we do have some action steps that we will need to consider. Um so, we'll have Mark and
we'll also have Denise Allard from joining us. >> Good afternoon, Andrew. Good evening. Can you see me? I I didn't I didn't know later. >> I can see you and I can hear you. I think we're just fixing one thing quickly to make sure that uh folks at
home can as well. So, I'm just looking quickly at John Novak. >> Are we looking? >> We're great. So, Mark and Denise, if you want to introduce yourselves and say why you're here and and uh we'll we'll get going.
>> Excellent. Andrew, thank you very much. Mark Capona, Colonial Power >> and Denise Allard, also from Colonial Power Group. We're in front of you tonight to discuss a u a cost that ISO New England um has been
passed along uh to all uh how I want to say this to all participants whether you're on basic service third party supply or an aggregation in the current contract that we have um with first point power your current uh supplier of
electricity is a pass through cost and the guidance that we received I Just want to make sure that I can I can level set this cost is uh it's called the day ahead ancillary services initiative. Um
and and that this new cost that they made they created a a cost for generation. So, ISO New England calls on Generation to run. And for the last 20 years, when Generation ran and they
weren't told to actually um electrify or put uh electricity on the grid, they were eating that cost. And these these charges are to help um pay for that. So, I just want to give you a little background. So, I I'm part of the
generation. I say, "I'm ready to run." They say, "Yep, we're at your point in the stack. Please turn on." I take 15 minutes to start up and I've I've begun to run. Burning a burn burning gas or oil or something of that nature.
Now it comes time and they said, "We don't need you right now. Stay at the ready." And all of those cost on and m you know actual gas and those kind of things. All those costs I was I was actually eating for those 15 minutes I was waiting before by the generator.
They had been pressing ISO New England to be reimbured for those costs because they were performing. So this Daisy cost is to um to reimburse gener reimburse the generators for for that for that performance. Well, ISO New England went
down to the FK and they said, "Hey, listen. We think these costs will cost us about $125 million all over all of ISO New England. That's all of New England, Rhode Island, Connecticut, uh Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire,
everywhere. So what happened is the program started up in um in March and through December the costs so far have been $616 million to the generators which is not
even close. So at $125 million spread over a year's worth of total generation. It works out to about 0.00125. That's the guidance we got from ISO. with the supplier. We wanted to make sure that the the town was protected.
So, we put four, you know, like 4.3 mills on this or two and a half times the cost to make sure we were covered because what we were hoping is, okay, we're not going to pay more than cost, right? Hopefully, at the end of it, we're covered. If if it went up slightly, we wouldn't have to do a rate
change. Right? There is the the problem. It hasn't gone up slightly. And Andrew, I don't know if you were able to show that uh the chart that I had I don't know if that's in the select boards packet at all. The chart that I had um I had provided you.
>> You know, I don't believe it is. Um if if you you could share your screen and show it if you have it easily accessible. Um otherwise, I can get that around. >> I do. I'm going to try this. My um just want you to know my technical skills are
questionable. Um, but right now it says screens and I see it. And please tell me. >> That's great. >> Well, there's one for Mark right now. So, um, >> and if you want to zoom in a little more, that that would that would help. Um,
>> uh, >> down in the bottom right. >> I I think I can zoom. >> Oh, that's my fault. >> Uh, I don't know if it will allow me. >> Forget it. You're you're totally fine anymore. I I apologize for that. I don't know if I can. um here. And I apologize
for not having it zoomed in, but the bottom line is in orange, and that's about one mil. We put in slightly less than this green line. I just want you to know that this is at six mills. We put in about four and a half on the contract. Slightly less than this green
line. The blue is what has happened so far in the in the in the program. And here's what's happened since December. If it's actually November, things started to get what I'm going to call ugly. The bad news is what is
happening moving forward only for the winter. So, I just want everyone to think about this. Believe it or not, the February contract, a futures contract for natural gas is trading at $37 per MMBTU.
In March, the contract is $6. In July, it's $3. So, I just want the blow it is blown out because of the polar vortex. That being said, all of the charges we're going to see right now in February
are going to become more expensive from Daisy. Meaning, for the generator to get these the natural gas, it's that much more expensive. It's going to cost them that much more for Daisy. The reason I'm in front of you today is we just want to
make you aware when we sign the contract. And honestly, I think you're going to be very happy long term. I'm talking about raising rates by about $3 a month, maybe four, somewhere in that range per customer. But basic service, I
fully believe, is behind the curve. They buy out in front of you 12 months. You have not seen it yet. basic service is right around our rate right now around 134. Starting in February, it's going to 136. That's their summer rate
and it's increased because of Daisy. But what I want you to know is it's not fully baked yet. When you see their next purchase, the the the suppliers had not seen this when they had bid on this. So,
they're going to be baking in some cost starting in August. I expect rates basic service rates to I don't want to use the word explode but clearly climb from here clearly climb from here be because of
these costs even the people that serve basic service those wholesalers are subject to these costs. So, we're here to say, "Hey, listen. The sooner we make an adjustment to these costs, we're only paying the cost." The better off we are
because we have the next three years to spread this over. The longer we There's no emergency. I just want to say this, there's no emergency and certainly things can settle down, but we don't see any um change in the dynamics. ISO New
England has said in May I will in May we will we will file a report but that doesn't mean they're ready to change the market dynamic i.e. this program in any way. So what do we do? meaning
I don't think anything changes until someone ends up taking ISO New England to the FK and saying these rates are um are not just and reasonable. So what we're here to do today is we'd
like to go to the um aggregation. It's about fixed price and stability, right? Stability and savings. And this charge now does not appear to have any stability as you can see from the lines. So we are going to we're going to
request that the supplier give us hey what if we continue to play this g the the game of hey we're only going to pay cost and also give us a fixed price for the rest of the contract. The risk is on
you. We'll put it on you. Okay. F full disclosure at this time asking for that. That's fully baked. I fully expect that the supplier will more than cover their costs. That's what has me nervous about
that road today. But it does say we can fet uh set it and forget it, if you will. I'm here to make sure I can answer any questions. And make no mistake, I fully understand this is not kind of
run-of-the-mill. This is deep in the weeds energy stuff. So, I'm happy to explain anything that I've discussed here. But what's in front of us is we have to we have to um adjust to the marketplace because of the contract. We
had a pass through that we thought we had more than covered two and a half times that, but that has not been the case. So, we need to at some point here doesn't this is not an emergency. We just need to address a rate change.
>> So, I'll I'll back up real quick just to try to get us at a at a high level view quickly and then I want to leave lots of room for the select board to ask questions on this and and Mark will answer it. So what we're talking about here is the the aggregate service that we provide that we are part of a community power choice agreement in
which residents of Hatfield so this is about residents not the town's uh energy supply necessarily although we are part of it for for several of our buildings we can talk about that more later but this is for residents uh the the energy uh supply that they receive and the
rates that they're paying um for uh uh are are set by this contract that the town has signed. Now they have the choice to opt out of that program and instead be under Eversource's basic service instead. Uh what we offer over the life of the
program is the argument that you will pay the same rate and it's generally over over time going to beat Eversource's basic service rate. So because we have the ability as a town to negotiate this and to go out to bid for good rates, it's a service to the to our
residents that they generally end up ahead. um they have the ability again to opt out and opt back in at any time. So if they are checking, you know, the rates daytoday and are seeing is the town's uh uh aggregation plan beating basic service from Eversource, I'll stay
in. If it's not, I'll get out and then can come back in at any time. That's something that they can do. What we try to offer again is is over the lifetime a better rate than than the basic service. What I believe Mark is saying now is that based on some changes in the service fees and and everything else,
the rate that we have set isn't going to be sustainable uh for the supplier and that they'll be looking to make a change to recoup their costs. If we do that now and make this change that's being recommended, we can lock in at a pretty good rate still. It's going to be slightly above basic service from
Eversource in the in the spring and summer, which would mean that residents are paying about $3 a month. Now, if they stay on the town's plan, then they would under under basic service. $3 a month. Most people aren't going to be too concerned about that. But if they are, and if you are a resident at home,
please you can switch to basic service and then come back into our plan at any time if you want to. But what we have tried to do is provide both stability and then a a better, you know, value the basic service through being a part of this plan. And what Mark is recommending is that we make these changes so that
the stability stays in and that over the long term we'll have a better plan than than the basic service most likely. Um does that make any sense? >> Yeah. So I guess my question would be what was the point of signing the contract months or years ago for the
rate that we currently have? What if why why wouldn't we just keep that rate? It's if the supplier is unable on their end to meet that rate supply, that's not the town of Hatfield's problem. >> So, I I would imagine Mark's gonna say that there are uh there's something in
the contract in in the program that means that if if there's um if if the supplier isn't meeting certain levels or or they can take on these certain charges, then that does end up meaning they can change it. But, but Mark, you you explain this because you'll you'll know and I don't
>> 100%. So inside the contract when we went about it we chose the low supplier. The low supplier said hey listen we want to make sure we're protecting and this is important that you know the a rate. So we put on over the charge two and a half times more than the guidance we
received but it was a pass through so we never paid more than cost. The issue is the cost have blown out. Not that we couldn't have. It would have been a little bit more, don't get me wrong, but it would it could we weren't sure at the time. It's a brand new charge. We said,
uh, with the guidance the ISO was given, we've more than protected this. We should be able to deliver a discount. That didn't happen. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that didn't happen. So, what we're up against now is, hey, we said that we would we would share in the costs, only pay costs,
nothing more than what's being charged. Here's the bad news is what's being charged is a factor of eight or nine times what ISO New England has told us prior with their guidance. And that's where that's where it fell apart, if you
will. That's why we're back to you saying we never thought we would be here because we put in a buffer more expense than there was needed. It didn't cover it though. >> So why are we doing this at all? >> Why? >> I'm sorry I missed it. Why are we part
of this program at all? If if the whole purpose of it was to try to save money and get a better rate, but now you just said that that never happened. Why? What's the advantage? >> This contract in I should state this in
this contract um in this contract we're going to have to be slightly above for say 6 months or so. By slightly above, I'm talking about three, four mills, which turns out, and just so that everyone gets it, it's about 60 cents a mill, 240, maybe it's five, so it would
be three, you know, two and a half dollars, three $3 over, but since we started doing the program, and Denise, I don't know if you happen to have the quarterly available. I don't, but we've saved money over time. I fully expect this rate will be way under basic
service come August when you see the new basic service rate >> and in order to save that money in kind of the the winter terms you often are taking a a slight loss during the summer because whatever source will do is they'll they'll set these lower rates
during the summer the higher ones in the winter. We're providing stability by by being kind of in the middle and that's that's usually going to save you it is going to save you money in the winter and it often saves you money in the summer as well. I I I think that's that's typically how it ends up working. Right. Right Mark. >> That that was certainly it's it's much
less but prior to the change in basic service that is spot on. It used to be a summer rate much lower than the winter rate. Now they've kind of split it up. So as you can see it was now you would expect it was 134. it changes to 136 for their summer rate. Their summer rate is
above their winter rate. >> So that shows you the impact of daisy, but not the full impact of daisy at that time. But to your point, Andrew, that's the way it always worked. I'm going to make up the numbers right now. 13 cents in the winter, 10 cents in the summer.
That's that's how it used to work. Aggregation rate around 11. So I I think the select members question does still stand though because there's a question about know if we signed this contract how why are we making a change to it now and and what is it about the
contract? I'm still having a little bit of trouble understanding it that left us vulnerable to changes being asked for by the supplier. Is that is that what's happening? So when when we spoke about Daisy, we said, "Listen, this is a brand new cost.
We don't know what what it's going to be." >> Yeah. >> So the way it was posed was, "Hey, we'll give you a fixed price and that's much higher or we'll put 4 whatever mills on. 04 something. We believe it more than it
should be more than cover the cost." The unfortunate nature of this program was it blew up. It's more than it looks like it's going to be around a penny or so. I don't know exactly. >> So those bill those bills th those prices for that new fee are still due to
us and we could have set the contract in a way that prevent that that that um yes >> paid for it entirely or we could have done it with an estimate of where we thought it was going to land and that estimate was off essentially. That that's correct. That the guidance we got
from the people that uh created the program told us one and a quarter. We tripled it. Right. We went to foreign change. >> Yeah. >> And it did it did not happen and now we're here and it allows in the contract for a pass through. So the costs have to
have to be borne by the end user. We we we fully expected that these costs would be over the way we currently given the guidance and what we did, we expected we wouldn't never be back to the town. Dead wrong.
>> So again, what what what is the point of this program? If we already budgeted for three times what was recommended and that still was wrong, how do we have any sort of confidence that a the rates are going to come back down to an area that
could be even remotely close to that and then also what's the difference or the delta between what we could have been paying had we just let the lower rate ride the lower rate the basic service rate versus
and then up to what it is now. Yeah. I I think and and we can get info from from Mark and Denise on this. Overall, we have saved money. Residents have saved money by being a part of this program. And that's that's generally been the case. I think it's overwhelmingly been the case across municipalities. When you look at this, I think what we're dealing
with here is just a new fee, a new um change that's come about that we were trying to figure out how to how to balance and we're all learning together, you know, how we set this in the future. And at the same time, that's going to affect Eversourc's rates, too. I I think it's it's pretty certain that even if we
make these changes tonight, we still will be in better shape compared to what Eversource's basic service is going to look like come next fall. But again, we can't guarantee that. Um but it's >> what's the ramifications if we say no?
>> If we don't change the contract tonight. >> Yeah. >> Mark, do you want to take that? What happens if we if we don't make a change? At some point, I assume just there could be bills due. We'll have to make a bigger change later. Yeah. So, no change has to happen tonight. This is not an
emergency. As I mentioned, ju just changed this last year and I fully expect your contract to be fantastic giving what's going on in the energy markets. The reason is locked in through 2028. The the pain that is coming next winter
because of this winter is is going to be astronomical. I I can already tell you that next winter just went up to $20 a me there's no way to buy energy out out there at the current rate. Eversource doesn't have it. They're not allowed to buy it.
So So make no mistake when they buy an when they buy in August it's it's going to be painful. And I I mean pain they won't be buying in August be June but >> I guess that further >> reacts this year. So >> that further goes to my question that if
we're already locked in with a rate >> through now 2028 like you're saying, >> why why would we aggregate it higher? So why would we change, you know, our rate now if we're already locked in at something? And I I think the answer is
because we that the supplier is going to ask for for more money because we we're not covering our costs right now. Is that the issue >> on the daisy only? Yeah, >> only on the daisy. So, think of it as layers. So, the energy piece of it is locked >> and then there are other costs, right?
There's that there's capacity, RPS, ancillaries. This is a piece of the ancillaries on this single cost. There's a larger expense and that's what they're saying we need to cover. Now, does it have to happen tonight? No. We can watch and see what happens um in February.
Make no mistake, I don't even have final numbers from the supplier. Our goal here was to make sure that we're fully transparent with the community, let them know what's happening. So, right now, I'm making up that we got 34 months left in the contract or what have you. That
being said, we have 34 months to spread this out over. The more time that we continue to acrue at a rate that's below that, the the more impactful that change is going to be. So, right now, we have 34 months to advertise these costs over.
It might be a three or four or four mil increase, if you will. That being the case, if you waited a year, it might be a full penny increase that you now need to advertise over the last 24 months of the contract. So, the only reason for us
getting out in front of it is a small step. And >> is there only I mean, I think I I hear what you're saying. >> Hold on just one second. disappeared. >> They're all coming back. We scared them away. >> It's been an hour. Yeah.
>> Every couple hours. >> Cost must have went up. We lost them. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. Can we keep talking about this without him? Um, yeah. I I guess my question is is
what's the advant why would the town why what's the advantage to the town signing a contract to guarantee a low steady rate if you're going to going to try to change it in the winter time? It just see it's a cost that
whether it's Colonial Power or the supplier or somebody didn't account for and they're trying to pass it back down through the contract back to us. But what's the point of even signing a contract if >> Yeah, I I I I
like the municipal uh energy aggregation program. I think overall I this is community power choice, not municipal aggregation. this the community power choice program is good because overall you're you're playing a game with the markets which you know you're trying to
figure out but you're you're generally going to get better rates for residents than they would get you know on their own. It offers them something. It offers them an alternative to just the Eversource basic service. the other alternatives they have out there are all through third parties which can be somewhat
>> can be very confusing and often quite predatory to to be fair >> um it may be unfair to them but but but can be very difficult this offers them Oh great hey you guys can hear us okay >> maybe let's see
Mark and Denise do we still have you >> we're back >> I can now hear you I apologize couldn't before >> I don't I think it was on you. I think we just had a quick outage here in town hall, but we're all back. John, are you okay uh for YouTube? >> Excellent. Great. So, um I I think just
just to be fair, you want to ask your question again for these folks? >> Yeah. I I I guess I keep coming back to the question of >> Well, we're out. >> They're gone. >> Must be your voice. >> Really? It's been
>> some tone. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Well, I'm I'll say I'm certainly not >> Keep talking. It's fine. >> I'm not inclined to make any sort of decision tonight. So, rather than battling this for another 20 minutes trying to get back on, let's just table this.
>> I I agree with tableabling it. I wish I mean, I'm hearing what he's saying, but I can't see it. If I could see something on paper, some kind of stats, some kind of statistics, how what we've saved, why why they have to change it. Y
>> I I'm not saying I I need to see something. >> Yep. I think that's fine. Um >> Mark, can you hear me? All right. >> We can. Yes. >> Can you just say are there any repercussions? Are there any potential consequences from not acting tonight? Have Have you secured like a certain rate for us or something that we can
only act on tonight? Is there anything going on there? No, no. So, all we wanted to do is be in front of the board so that if they decided, yeah, let's take a look at some numbers so that you could sign off, Andrew, at some point in the future here when when the uh supplier has some final
numbers for hey, this is what the pass through is or this is what the, you know, a fully fixed for the rest of the term is, we could get you those numbers. >> Yeah, >> that's all. We just wanted not certain what everyone wanted to see. That's the biggest um concern for us. >> Yeah. So, I think um it would help this
board to have just more information about what the program looks like, what the savings have been over time. Um what these new fees are and and h how we're going to need to make them up and just kind of why, you know, the biggest barrier for me was just kind of understanding when we sign a what's
supposed to be basically a fixed cost contract, how we end up uh needing to make adjustments to that and and why we make those adjustments and and how we'll need to to adjust for for this new fee that we're figuring out. Um, what else would this board like to to know? >> No, I mean that's
>> I'd like to see it on paper somehow. >> Yeah, I think we can get all >> digest. Yeah, >> I can I can work with uh Colonial Power Group and to to get get that before you. Um, no, I understand why this is frustrating. I would say overall I think that these programs have a very good track record and it provides a good
alternative for our our residents um considering energy costs are one of the things that they end up spending a lot of money on. But I'd like to also see in their contract where they can change it midstream >> since we're locked into it. >> Yeah. >> Why is how is that possible?
>> How are we allowed to change it? Yep. That that's a good point and we need to make sure that that's understood by everybody. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Andrew, I just want to let you know I did send you over in my email. We have that amendment that has those daisy costs. It's all right there for you.
>> Great. Great. All right. I I will I will share that. Um, and we can talk about what other information would be helpful for for everyone to have. >> Good. Anything else? >> No, it's just good. I think it's just good that the residents know that they can switch in and out of this colonial if they don't like it or they do like it
and go back and forth. It's helped me quite a bit, but but in the future, maybe it won't help me. I don't know. >> Yep. Y >> could go either way, but I have control over it as a resident. >> Yeah, it's a really difficult business and I appreciate that Mark and Denise are doing the work in in this business. Um, there's a lot of calls I get from
folks, you know, trying to get the talent to switch to other contracts and and I and those are not things that uh are often really above board. So, I I like the work that they're doing and I think we'll figure out a way to make sure this is fair for everybody and that we feel good about the program. So,
we'll uh go from there. Okay. Thank you again, Mark and Dec. >> Thank you. As soon as I have those numbers for you, I'll get them over. Thank you so much. >> Thank the board. Appreciate >> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay, we'll move on to topic five.
So, we're back to an abatement request on behalf of Cecilia Harvey. We had some discussion about this previously and we asked for some more information. Y >> I don't have much for you tonight beyond the question of why wasn't this resolved
when the property was sold? Uh because typically if there's a lean or or um a bill not sold bill not paid on a property that would have to be resolved at the closing point, right? What we've learned is that uh when a trailer is sold um there's no municipal lean
certificate that is required. So um it basically bypasses that process. Um so the trailer sale did not mean that they needed to first meet any of these obligations from the town. So that's just the reality we're we're living with on that and it's probably regulation
that should change but but that's that's where we're at. So that's why nothing happened from the treasurer's office. Um, so we still are left with this unpaid bill. Um, I don't think we have to discuss it too much more tonight since I don't really have much more information for you, but if you have any
other thoughts on how to pursue it beyond me just contacting the um the the applicant again and really asking what can they pay us, I'm happy to entertain other any other ideas >> or or why didn't they pay us when they
sold it without a lean knowing that there's a bill here. Yeah, I mean they didn't pay it because they they had applied for the abatement and they were looking to have the whole thing uh resolved uh because of the hardship and because of the the lack of funds available. That that's that's their
argument and they're they're asking for this board for for the abatement. >> Okay. Okay. I guess we'll >> I think we need to make a decision on this. We've tabled it three times, but one way or the other. Let's put it to bed.
Okay. What would you like to do? >> I'm in favor. I the most I am willing to abate it would be by 50%. >> Of the 3,000. So the remaining bill would still be the difference of that. >> Okay. You want to make a motion then?
>> Need the number. Hold on. >> The total is this 3,132. >> Yep. >> 93 cents. Before I make the motion, do you guys feel differently on that? >> I'm not really I don't
>> I'm not in favor of abating this at all, but >> I could also go that way. I'm >> honestly >> I just We need to do something with it. We It's been a while. >> Did we actually contact them and ask them if they could pay some of it? >> Yes. And >> their argument was they didn't have any
any funds available. When this woman died, the sale of the trailer went to know didn't die. I apologize. When the trailer was sold, that the funds went to uh nursing home uh where she continues to live. Uh there really isn't much money left in her account. That's what I
heard from the conservator. But we can issue a final bill. Let's see what we can get. >> I mean, I hate to be a jerk, but I mean, this happens to everybody. And they they come to us and if it's not our fault, we make them pay it. Just
I I feel for this person. I really do. But I I just we have rules and well the thing is on the other hand this person doesn't have any money then what
other option do we have? We send it to a collection agency and they won't be able to get anything either. I mean, I don't know if they have no funds. >> I I And they're saying they have no funds. That's what they're
>> they were they they told us they couldn't pay it when I said what the full amount was. Now, if you come back and say board has decided to reduce this by 50%, but we really do need a payment because water was used and was living here. you can see what happens.
>> What if we tried if they could make some partial payments uh over period of time like >> a payment plan? >> Yeah, payment plan. Could you could we ask if they have >> We can certainly >> if they're open to a payment plan, maybe
we could at least get some of the money back. like whether it's $50 a month, $100 a month, or whatever, it's it's something more than what we're getting now, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah, >> it'll be more.
>> How's that sound? Then we can then we'll put it to rest. We'll ask the payment plan and our next meeting, we'll finally put this to rest one way or the other. How's that sound? >> Sounds good. I would like to see 50% payment up front though and then the remaining 50% they could put into a
payment plan. We should try to collect as much as we can. >> Yeah. If they have they may not have those kind of funds. They may I don't know what their funding is. >> Can can we do that? Is that is that something for >> Well, ask for that >> payment plan. I mean ask is that
something that >> our collectors are capable of doing too? Yes. Yeah. So, you'd like a a 50% upfront and then remaining on a payment plan is what you'd like me to ask about. >> Sounds great. >> I think that would be I think that would be fair. And
>> Okay. Do we have to have a motion or anything? >> No, because I think you're just asking me to to get in touch with them and see what what's possible. >> Okay. >> We'll come back and vote on it. I think that's that was the chair's intention. >> Okay. Okay. >> I'm comfortable with that.
>> Great. Good. Okay. Topic six, appointments and resignations. Uh looking for a motion on appointment of Austin Wheeler to recreation committee. >> I will make a motion to appoint Austin
Wheeler to the recreation committee. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. U. Appointment of Walter A. L. Marik III as alternate building inspector. I'll make a motion to appoint Walter L.
Merrick III as alternate building inspector. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in fa. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Appointment of Joshua Brunell as
assistant water superintendent. >> Would you like a little background on this one since DPW director here? >> Yeah. Um, so we obviously approved the job description last month. We got the ad out. Um, we had three applicants. Uh, I
interviewed all three. Um, going through the questions through the licensing. Um, knowing a smaller plant like ours, wastewater plant, so on and so forth, there was many variables. Um, uh, Mr. Bernell uh basically came to
raise to the top out of the three interviews. Uh he he currently to explain the licensing he currently uh holds a full 2T and a threeit that's operator and training to run our plant
as the superintendent you need what they call a four municipal. He's due to he he's already met all the requirements for the 4M. he's just going to meet the requirements, finish the requirements in time and current license. All he has to do in July is fill out the paperwork and
he'll have um the full 4mm. >> What's what's required by an assistant to cover for the the superintendent when they're out um they can be one one license below. He has a 30. So, as we if we bring him aboard and get him trained
up, he he he's allowed to cover the plant in the case the superintendent's out on vacation, so on and so forth. So, um >> go ahead. Just a point of clarification. The agenda says this is for an assistant
water superintendent. Is it supposed to be waste water? >> Waste water. Okay. >> All right. >> Sorry about that. >> No problem. >> Um so that covers the licensing piece. Um he also it's not required for the job. He he uh holds a class A CDL uh
OSHA 10 and he's CPR certified. Um he's got three full years under his belt uh by one of our former superintendent here. Trained him from day one. Uh I relied on that as as a
reference. Um I guess he he it's to my understanding he's a go-getter. um he doesn't shy away from the administrative work. He wants to learn. Um and to speak to the other two candidates, they they have a much higher grade license and they they they come from much larger
plant which there's a lot less hands-on. Our small plant, we take care of the pump stations, the pumps, any repairs. A lot of hands-on, a lot of mechanical. Um and and this gentleman, Mr. Bernell, has that. Um I I highly recommend him. I I
think he's a great fit for the team. Um, and we talk about successive planning of the wastewater treatment plant. Um, I was pretty impressed by his interview and how he carried himself. >> I will make a motion to appoint Joshua Brunell as assistant wastewater
superintendent. Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Welcome Joshua to the town of Half. >> Thank you. these days you're going to have him, you know, say hi to him. Okay. >> I'm sure Brenda's Brenda is going to get
right on it, but he he wants to start uh this coming Monday. So, >> perfect. >> I'll let him know that he got approved tonight. And uh Brenda's excited to get going with him. I had mentioned it to her. So, thank you. >> You have a uh a form in your packet for
or in the uh signing folder for w uh wage salary rate adjustment. So, sign that. You'll be good to go. >> Okay. uh resignation of Adam Sullivan from elected position on school committee. There's a a few things that
are involved with this. Correct. >> Yeah. So so Mr. Sullivan has has decided uh to to resign his seat. He would like to do that. Um basically right before the the election so he can serve until then. His position is not up until 2028.
Uh so what this board needs to decide is would you rather have a special election, which basically just means that his position would go onto the ballot this year. We wouldn't have to do a special election. It would just be beyond the same ballot as everything else. So, there would be three school committee uh positions up for election
rather than two. Um or would you like to follow the alternative procedure uh which is set uh so that the board the select board and the uh current members of the school committee would interview uh candidates and then vote on them.
>> All right. Now his special >> his resignation is effective on May 18th according to this. >> That's correct. So, >> so he's there till May 18th and our elections are on >> May 19th >> and because of the you have the ability
because you know the resignation is coming uh the town clerk allows you to put that position on the ballot should you wish correct >> to put it on the ballot. So he will serve until that election there's then a vacancy and he can be elected at that
election or you can do it through this other mechanism but because he's doing it now we have the opportunity to put it on the ballot which is probably >> makes sense to put it on the ballot to me I don't know >> I think that makes a sense to to seeing how he's going to stay on so there's not
going to be they're not going to be down a member >> break in service >> everything will be fine and that way it can go back to the voters >> yeah you'll let the voters make the decision So, uh, >> right. I'll make a motion then. >> I'll make a motion to move to have the election for the remaining term of the vacated school committee seat on on the
warrant >> for it >> for the annual town election of May 19th, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries.
Okay. Topic seven, DPW report. Okay. Um, well, we we hit part of what I had to report to you from from what I've been working on directly. Um, we we did it has changed a little bit since
Thursday when I submitted the report. Um, so currently we have three uh candidates for the highway labor position. One's been added. I received another application about 10 minutes after I hit send on the report. And uh certainly uh I I I would like to
interview them. We've had one interview. Um I had some scheduled for yesterday, but I thought it would have been prudent for us to uh push them out, change them. So I I have one tomorrow 1:00 and then Friday we we have the third candidate.
So um the first the first candidate interviewed well. Um I'm hoping to have something by the end of the week or the latest Monday for you for approval on that if we can get through the the three interviews and have a successful candidate.
Um, so we had 13 snow events when I did the report and obviously we just had a very large one. Uh, again I I would like to to to let the public know um that we have a very dedicated crew and they did a wonderful job. Um, it means a lot to
them to have they challenge themselves. We're going to have the best roads around period in the winter. Um, I think it's it's pretty impressive. They work some long hours. all smiles. Um, and I wanted to personally thank them publicly. Um, we gota we gota and it was
a DPW effort. Water, sewer, everyone had was behind a wheel. So, um, >> you included. >> Yeah, I uh I got to have a little fun and go back to my roots. I got to work all night. All right. >> The day. So, uh, no problem. I enjoyed
it. Um, I enjoy working with the rest of the staff and the DPW. Um, it's great. Uh so on to projects. Um well we are to back up to the snow and ice. I did put in here we we uh went into deficit spending probably about the time that I
requested it. Um so with and and again I I just want to reiterate um so far out of the 14 storms I'm going to say at least nine or 10 of them have been on on at the night in at night or on weekends. So, um, you know, obviously, uh, well,
well earned, but we we hit the overtime budget pretty hard in snow and ice this year, just, uh, the way mother nature has created our storm events. Um, >> nature is a beast. >> Yeah. Um, we're we're trying to control cost the best we can. Um, but we can't
control what happens to us. So, um, we're we're doing our best on that. Um, on to projects. the day pond uh the day pond project. We had a walk through on Friday uh with Concom just to check uh that everything was in place to start
that project. The erosion control, the fencing um the layown area um in the decant area. Um and they were they were going to start yesterday. Uh by the way, the inspection went fine. Uh just reviewing the plan and and everything.
Um they were supposed to start yesterday. Um I was over there today. There's been no sign signs of them. I'm sure they may have been a little busy with snow removal, too. Um, so I'll reach out tomorrow and and see what their plan is, but they their whole intent was to get this done in the
winter months to to um to help them out as far as uh putting the the whole area back in place um so we don't tear the fields up and everything else trying to get getting out trucks. So, um like I said, I'll check with them tomorrow on
that. Um the Hat Hatfield Elementary school boilers um we're moving ahead with that. Uh we had a walk through uh last Tuesday. Uh they would Adams Adams Plumbing wants to come in and install install an isolation valve so that when
they start on the new boiler system, they can switch over when they're complete. So they want to come in on February vacation. Uh weather permitting, they got to they got to shut the system down for a certain amount of time. I don't think it's a real long time and drain it, but um they'll be working on that. Now, something that
that's come up uh real recent um we lost a burner in one of the in in one of the um uh boilers and it's it's 6 weeks out. Um they don't stock them for that
particular boiler. Uh I I had them order it immediately. They called and unfortunately the company is in Tennessee and they're out out of power for at least a week from the ice storm. >> Yeah. >> So, we're working on a few other alternatives in case we have to if the
other boiler has an issue to um go to uh portable portable heat if we have to. I don't have a lot of specifics on it. Um I got to get some more information also um from Adam. Adams did get us some costs, but I think we got to shop around
a little bit there. It was pretty steep for for the first month. But we really want to try and avoid that. The reason it's an issue is there wasn't an issue with the boilers when we we first went through the procurement process and whatnot. They were pretty
available. Um, and now when Adams went to order it, they said it was six weeks out. Now, can be a a whole bunch of different things. Obviously, it's been a heck of a winter in the Northeast that things are probably flying off the racks, if you will. So, that could be
part of the issue. Um, so we didn't expect it. It was a curveball that came at us on this. So, but we're working on it and I I'll surely keep everyone informed. I've been in touch with the school superintendent. So, um, the pavement management's moving
along. We got our, uh, the first bill on that. We got the GIS system in place. Um, now Dwayne and I will work with um with Beta to start putting thing together. You know, they've been out on the roads. They've been doing a lot of uh locate locating and stuff like that.
Um, asset management really hasn't changed. I just left it in here for now. Uh, unpaid roads grant. Uh, thank you Dwayne. He did a lot of he did a lot of um leg work on this getting this grant in and I truly appreciated it. Um,
so at first it came out to $250, $300,000. Um, the grant awards up to a million dollars. So Dwayne and I had a talk and all the projects we have on our plate coming up this summer. You know, a few projects got backed up before I came
aboard and so on and so forth. Uh, we decided to go in another direction. Uh, working with Mass DOT to get the application in and we decided it's basically going to be all contracted out. So, it comes up to $670,440. And like I said, we can be awarded up to
1 million. Um, I did put uh some information in your packet, just a very quick narrative. It wasn't all of it. And then just a quick cost on one of the mass DOT forms if you have any questions on it. Um,
I don't think I need to read through it all, but if you have any questions, let me know on that. Um so the the water truck has now been pushed out to early spring. Um supply chain issue on the toolboxes on the back. Um and the over over the guardrail
mower is still sitting and dump truck are due sometime late spring. Um so I'll keep you up to date on that. We had a a little issue downstairs uh in in the ladies room. We had a pipe start leaking on a Friday afternoon uh to the to the
boiler uh steam boiler. That's all been repaired. It's all all set to go. Um overall, considering the cold snap and whatnot, we've been we we've done really well with the facilities. We're having a little hiccup with the uh gas burners and the highway garage. We think we may
we may have found the issue today. If not, then I'll have to call someone in to take a peek at them. They're not dead, but the we have to reset them uh two or three times a day out in the shop, but everything else is protected. Our water is protected and everything.
So, uh other there's there's many more things, but um that's basically the highlights for now. >> Oh, thank you. Congratulations. Your probationary period is over with. >> Yeah. >> Well, I have to say I I really enjoy
working for Hatfield. I really do. The staff's been great since I come aboard. The the select board's been very supportive. Uh Andrew and I uh have worked a lot together. Um all all the the the town hall staff, all the department heads, everything's been
really good. So, uh I truly appreciate that. >> Any questions on DPW? >> Nope. Nope. I'm good with that. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> We have a good team. >> Yes, DPW. and and thank your crew again for all the hard work they did on the
storm. And we'll move to the town administrator report. >> Excellent. Well, you took the first things on my report, but I I think that's that's great. Um excited to have Marlo here officially uh as our director. Um
um typically we have the option for a video review, but I think we could also just do that the the annual review as well. So that's that's up to this board, but I can I can uh circulate that if that's helpful. Um budget. So we'll have that uh we'll have
all of our numbers in by the end of this week. So you'll have those binders for you ready to go and then we'll do our first conversations on that at your next select board meeting. I'm recommending uh the schedule that's in front of you is a handout that we do TA budgets and
then some of the treasurer budgets at the February 10th meeting as well as budget overview. I would like to invite the finance committee to that if they can attend. February 24th, we talk about police, fire, EMS, council on aging, building inspector, and accountant. March 10th, DPW, wreck, historical, and
conservation. March 24th, uh, last year we had the schools come in. I think it's a good idea to do that again if that sounds good to you. And then the 14th, we crunch our numbers, get everything together so that we can on the 21st um, do a final approval. So that that's my
recommendation for calendar. um finance committee would meet with town clerk, assessors, board of health, planning board, library, uh all the elected bodies. Uh if that looks okay to you, I'll just make sure I have sent this to departments to make sure that looks good to them, but I'll follow up and if we
need to move any around, then we can. But um just wanted to put that out there for your feedback. >> Any concerns on the schedule? >> Looks good. Thank you. Great. >> Okay. um electronic time sheets. Uh the
treasur's office and I are are getting uh our we're taking the online training that's been sent to us so that we can hit go on electronic time sheets. It's all been set up for the um beta group that that we're working with, the the the uh the testing group. Uh so that's town hall staff that we're piling it
with. And then we um are a month away from launching the new website. It's starting to look really good. Um I can send it around to you if you'd like to see. We got really great pictures from residents. So, thanks to everybody who sent in just some amazing pictures. We're having a hard time choosing, but got some folks here who are going
through them. Any of you want to be involved in picking picking pictures? Can if you want to, but I can I can send you our finalists if you if you want to see. Okay, that's perfect. But they're all they're all really good. We've got a pretty town, so we're in good shape. >> I would like to see them, though. >> Yeah. All right, I'll send them around
because they're really good. Um, so I had an interesting conversation last week with two consultants who are working with the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools. So they're meeting with the towns around here who are uh served by Smith Voke and
they are looking at the viability of and interest from the towns in creating a regional school district. So Smith Vocational Agricultural School is different from almost any other vote school in the state uh because they don't have their own district. they're serving Northampton and then the other towns around them through a tuition
model and it's funded by that tuition and also by the the will of Oliver Smith which is fascinating. Um but because they don't have this district setup uh that that the towns who are members aren't paying uh assessments uh and they
they just don't have that model. They're not eligible to the from the state for Massachusetts school building authority money and they are eyeing a future renovation. So one option available to them is to try to get MSBA funding by creating a regional school district. Uh
and this this would be and just for the vocational regional school. They are doing this early asking now for interest and would be interested in coming to a future select board meeting if you would like to talk to them. They were very frank with me which I appreciated. Um, I have a little bit of
experience in these dealing with regional school agreements, uh, from the last community I was in. They're really difficult to work with once they're signed. They can be difficult to to sign. This could be a two to threeear process just to get in there. And then once you do have an agreement, typically
the the schools who are a part of it, districts that are part of it end up signing an agreement to to pay not just for the operational costs, but for capital as well. the current model that we have, we're not responsible for any of the capital costs of the building. So, if they're eyeing, you know, a future renovation, it could be
incredibly costly. Uh the school that that I was involved in um my last position was upwards of 400 million. I don't think it will be that, but a lot of vocational schools end up being quite expensive and then the town would be on the hook for for some of that spending
should we join some kind of district. Yeah, I guess we need some pros and cons on this. >> And I think that consultants would be willing to to talk about that. I also can put together a list of pros and cons. The pros are you get to be a little more involved in the the the operation. Uh you get a a representative
on the school committee. You get a certain number of seats that would go towards Hatfield residents. Uh but the cons is this funding model. it's you would be on the hook for capital spending and you instead of having a tuitionbased model uh you would have an assessment that comes to you directly.
Um that's that would be calculated based on whatever you agree to in the regional agreement. Um but then you you would be you would work off this regional agreement probably forever because they're very hard to change. It requires uh unanimous vote of all of the towns
that are in the agreement. I mean there's been some conversation of whether to have a outside consultant or somebody look at our school system to see if there's options available because our population is going smaller and
smaller and people are wondering if it's time to think about other avenues of regionalization or combining with somebody. And this sort of sounds like that might be another option for us, I
guess. So, >> well, this is just on the vocational side, >> right? And this is on the vocational side. So certainly if we were interested >> since we're bringing this up for discussion I figure well >> maybe this a good time to have that discussion or bring it on our agenda
next meeting to discuss whether we should be looking at some kind of survey or outside consultant because and the reason I'm I'm saying that is because there is some mistrust if a school committee does it they'll favor the
school in a way they may not but I'm You know, I'm just saying I'm just throwing that out there. That's all since we're >> under this topic. >> Yeah. >> So, maybe on the next next meeting we have it on our agenda to discuss uh and
maybe could have Connor here or somebody from the school committee to see if we should be looking at other avenues or other options for the future. I know this is not something that happens overnight, but this would be something
that may or may not happen in the future for the for the town. That's all. >> Well, I'm I'm happy to set that up and have them at a future meeting next one if if possible. They'll also be here the 24th if we want to have that conversation with them then. Um and then
there are some resources available to have that kind of study or survey. So, I'm happy to set that up. Whether you want to do both the same night, that's fine. Or or split it up. We do the 24th and do the the school stuff afterwards. Whatever whatever you think works the best for us.
>> It's at the at the decision of the board. Do whatever you like. >> Okay. >> Would you like to speak to those folks um about the Smith Vocational School? Um or do you think there's less interest in >> Oh, I mean I I don't have a problem hearing what they have to say. I mean,
we don't have to make any agreements or agree to anything. We can at least hear what they have to say and and then because that's more of a townwide discussion. That' be something that the town would have to decide and in order
for us to bring it to the town, we we have to try to get as much information that we possibly can. That is the pros and cons of it. That's all. Would would something like this be a town vote seeing how it's going to be such a >> big change? >> It it would have to go through town
meeting to join a district agreement requires a vote of town meeting. >> So it would have to be Yeah. So everybody would have to know. So it makes sense to get more as much information as we can. >> And we're not looking at this for this year's town meeting or probably the one after that. Maybe the one after that. It's a long the study process can be
three years. Start kicking it around now. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. For sure. Okay. >> Great. Well, we bring it up now, then in three years we'll forget, I guess. >> I don't know. No. Okay. Well, thank you. >> So, this is kind of fun. Uh, affordable
housing support. Uh, I had applied to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, statewide organization that that works to support towns and their affordable housing goals, um, for uh, intensive technical assistance on forming an affordable housing trust. This is something that was flagged as a goal in
the 2040 plan. We don't currently have one of these, but it can be a really effective tool for working outside of uh uh working throughout the year in uh using funds that can be allocated through uh CPA or or other other forms.
Um and there were 20 municipalities that applied for this and they had room for maybe three or four to receive this funding and we were selected. So nice town Hatfield will get to work with them. uh we'll work with the planning board, work with uh other folks interested in uh affordable housing and
it'll be a great thing to get to to advance. So, we're excited for that. It'll be nice. >> Thank you. >> Um we'll discuss uh this more in the future, but just there's a lot of residents understandably who have questions about the Giler project and I just wanted to get quick update out
there for folks. We did um Giler and CI in January 21st. uh Giler was on site on Friday um January 23rd to look at some of the findings that were in the CI report and try to assess some of the things that that were reported there uh and figure out you
know what their interventions might look like. Um by the end of this week we will be meeting well we we will be discussing with them their findings and their their proposals for moving forward. Uh and we owe them a a final list of what we view
as our punch list at this time, understanding of all evolves based on their choices for dealing with the um report that was presented last week showing some some real issues in the system. And uh have elementary school roof um documents are available starting
tomorrow. So, we had a great meeting with uh uh Connor and Melissa from from schools to discuss a schedule and how we'll manage uh working on that project. We want to get this as done as fast as possible, which will mean some working on the building uh while school is in
session. We'll get as much communication out as possible, but the way it will work is that they're working just a shingle portion. They'll start it during school vacation, so they'll get some priority areas done when kids aren't in the building. Once they're back in the building, um it works so that they're moving pretty quickly around the
building. So, it's not like you'll go two weeks with hearing hammering on the roof uh um above you. It'll be maybe a day or two. So, I think it's going to you not too much of a distraction for kids. It will be done very safely and uh we're excited to get this project done. >> Nice.
>> So, we'll have bids in uh not the next time we talk, but the time after that. So, very soon progress. Yeah, it's looking good. Okay, moving right along. Uh, topic nine is change of officer manager for Sisters
Convenience Store and Deli Corp DBA Sisters Convenience Store liquor license. So, there's a request to change uh the manager at sister's convenience store in front of us
and a manager's name if I have it correctly at Haraban Patel. Okay, good. So, I would need a motion on that unless we have any questions. >> I'll make a motion to approve the change of officers managers for Sisters
Convenience Store and Deli Corp. DBA sister sisters convenience store liquor license. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Okay. Topic 10 is approval of water and
sewer FY26 commitment number two. As you know, we're having a change in billing, right? So, this is commitment number two. And the FY total commitment
for the water sewer is 660,000 670,971.97. So I would need a motion on that. We also have uh commitment one.
She's just asking for commitment one or commitment two. >> This is for commitment two. >> Yeah, commitment two. So, commitment one, uh, it looks like the the the results are on the back for commitment one, >> but we've already done that. >> The commitment two is the one that we're doing right now.
>> I think it's just mislabeled on the front chart. >> It is. The front chart says total of FY26 commitment one. That should say two. >> Um, I'll make a motion to approve the water and sewer FY26 commitment number two. >> Second.
>> Motion made. Motion seconded. Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. All right. So, moving right along.
Uh unless we have any discussion, we're going to be moving into executive session and we will not be returning. So, is there any other items that we need for discussion this evening? >> No, there are not. >> Okay. Uh unless uh board of >> good.
>> No, I was just going to make a motion. Good. Uh I'll make a motion to go into the executive session pursuant to master law chapter 38 section 21A 3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and we will not be returning to open session.
>> Second. >> Um Joriski I >> Long Street I uh we will not be returning. So, John, thank you and have a good night.