Uh hello and welcome to the July 21st, 2026 select board meeting for the town of Hatfield. It's 5:31. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Um first thing for announcements, uh the paving is underway at Smith Academy and Hatfield
Elementary. Um, so we appreciate everyone's patience while there's trucks navigating and some increased traffic. Um, along with some vibrations and other sorts of things that are normal for this type of construction. Um, today we had a
wonderful ceremony out on Straits Road for the unpaved road grants that the town received for $670,000. And we had some great um representatives from the state both from Mass DOT as
well as um both uh Rep. Sabadosa and Senator um >> Commer. Yes, thank you. Um um also we have several residents that did not seek reelection this year. Um
the following boards and committees have some vacancies including conservation commission, uh the local cultural council and the zoning board of appeals. Um so if anyone has any interest in serving on any of those committees, you can contact the town clerk um for more
information. um announcements. >> Yeah, I just want to thank uh my colleague Luke for his presentation at this this morning afternoon meeting with DO. I I like to point out also that it
was Dwayne and Marlo from the DPW that started this process and Andrew sort of jumped on there monitoring it and it was our legislatures that helped uh with getting us a grant. So there's been a lot of people involved to get that grant. I I don't know if people
realizing how how many people it takes to get a grant, but usually there's there's quite a few. So there's a lot of people pulling together. So I want to thank all the people that were involved with that. And that's the only thing I have to say. I don't know if you care for this. >> Yeah, I'll read this.
>> Do you have any other announcements? >> I do not. >> Okay. So before we get any further, uh the Hatfield Select Board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield. All regular and special meetings of the boards and committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and
shall conform to the open meeting law. Executive sessions are closed to the public and it and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not
necessarily participate. During meetings of the select board, an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from the members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield Select Board. For the public's information, this meeting is being recorded.
Um so with that, um is anyone here for public forum? Okay, moving on. Uh, we have our meeting minutes from June 30th. >> I make a motion to approve June 30th, 2026 meeting minutes. >> I will second.
>> Motion made. Motion seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> All right, moving right along to topic one. We have Risley Dudley from the Food Bank of Western Mass to request the use of town hall parking lot for Will Bike for Food event on Sunday, September
20th, 2026. >> Yeah, come on up. >> I don't know who I should look at, but hi you. >> Hello. >> Hi, I'm Riley. Um I work at the food bank as the event coordinator and every
year we have it will be our 16th annual bike for food. Um last year we had record-breaking numbers in general and we had over 500 riders in attendance. Um so that is why we are requesting some
additional parking um to help with our overflow parking at that point this year. >> I I appreciate all the work you guys have done over the years with the food bank. I know this is a bigger event and I know in the past we have no problems
that I'm aware of. So I think it's I think it's a good thing and I have no issue with this. >> I didn't realize it was has been going on for 16 years. That's fantastic. Um I don't I also didn't have a problem with this either. So I'd entertain a
motion. >> All right. Motion to approve food bank of Western Mass to use Town Hall parking lot for Will Bank for food event on Sunday, September 20th, 26. >> Motion made, motion seconded. All in favor? >> I
um only comment being that we need to make sure that the apparatus stay open for police and fire to be able to get in and out of parking. >> It would just be the normal space. >> Yeah, perfect. Um topic two also Risley Dudley of the food bank. um requesting a
one-day liquor license for the will bike for food event on Sunday, September 20th, 2026 at the Lions Club Pavilion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the one-day liquor license for Will for food event on Sunday, September 20th, 2026 to
be held on 15 million. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. All in favor? I Fantastic. Thank you. >> Thank you for a nice night. >> We will get you a signed copy of this
shortly. >> All right. Topic three. Uh Chris Per Cruz of Cantina Restaurant. The intentions with the liquor license at 127 Elm Street. Um
there's been an email chain back and forth about what the intent is. Um, Andrew, do you want to talk to this a little? >> Yeah, I'm happy to address this briefly. Um, essentially, uh, this license was held for Cantina restaurant. Um, as you
probably know, Cantina restaurant, uh, ceased operations here in Hatfield, uh, has moved to a new location in Hadley, uh, and Best, all is well there. Uh, they still had their liquor license and the liquor license is attached to the location and to the the business really.
So, um, we contacted the owner to to see, you know, what their intentions were in case they had any plans to try to bring back the business or or anything else in some way. Uh, and haven't heard anything back from them. Uh, so we have asked council about how best to approach this, uh, they said,
you know, after contacting the the owner, um, then it probably could work best just to, uh, withdraw, revoke the license, cancel it since the business is closed down. We have extra licenses in town. So, if anybody did, you know, intend to use that space or or anything
else, they would be able to uh to pursue a license separately. So, it's not like they would have to contact this property in order to to buy license, which makes itself a little less valuable. And plus, it would need to be renewed in November anyway. So, I I think there's there's limited Can you
>> have more than one license attached to the same property? >> I don't believe you. >> No, you can't. would. No. No. >> So, for someone else to be able to operate a restaurant there, they either need to purchase >> uh purchase or or
>> restaurantist for an existing license. >> And we would probably if someone else came in, they' either have to purchase that or we'd have to revoke that one so someone else could purchase from the same location. >> Does that seem right? >> Yes. Yes. That's correct.
I'm and Tom's comments uh is his comments sort of saying it's best to hold up or is his comments sort of saying it's best to move ahead with this? >> I was actually more confus I was more confused by the thread than anything
else. Yeah, the council is essentially trying to say that we should give a reasonable amount of time um for the property owner or for for the uh license owner to to sell that license or at least to let us know what what they're thinking. Um
it's if if they are trying to sell it, then you'd want to give them some some time to do that, but we haven't really heard either way. Um it's probably likely that if we immediately cancel the license, so if we done it, you know, right when they had
given up the license, it wouldn't look great for the board. Um so we have the opportunity to, you know, hold on a little longer if we want to give that reasonable time, but at the same time, we haven't heard anything and and um there are licenses available for folks to so apply for without having to buy
one. >> Yeah. So we we hold off. That doesn't hurt anybody else that wants to apply for a license because how many license do we do we have left? >> I think we have at least two. Is that right? Just one. >> Yeah. If not even three.
>> So is this like example in here somewhere where there are no liquor licenses? They want to make sure that there's one attached to the business. I think it' be something similar to like what's happened in Northampton where you have long-standing business that has been ceased operations but one person
holding >> the licenses. >> Yeah. >> Um I do have a pretty good relationship with the manager at Pada and kind of a direct line to Chris. I'd be more than happy to reach out and see if we can get a at least a line of communication
going. >> Yeah. So >> may we hold on to this >> hold on to this till next meeting and then >> it doesn't hurt us to to show that we're giving a little more time and then revisit in August. >> Yeah, I can I certainly can reach out to them >> because my understanding is even if they found a new buyer tomorrow the license
would transfer with the location. >> I think the license goes with the business. >> I think the license is held by Inc. Chris. It is attached to 127 Helm as its place of business. >> Yeah.
>> So even if the building sells, Chris still would own the license. >> Yeah. And then they could sell it or they can apply for a new one, but but they wouldn't be able to hold it and get a new license for that location if there's still one that can sell. Yeah. would have to remove that. >> So, I can re I can certainly reach out
to them and see if I can maybe get this squared up for us and maybe we keep this on the agenda for next meeting and then we can move forward with cancellation if we feel like that's what's necessary. >> I agree with Ken, get some more information.
>> We're not hurting anybody. >> Is that okay, Karen? Thank you for >> Perfect. I would just say um since uh we have a pretty uh thorough presentation coming up next for item four, it might be nice
to uh cover topic seven since chair is here um we can do this proclamation. Um and then get into items after that. That sounds good. >> Sounds good. Great. All right, chair. So topic seven, we have the Betty Allen
chapter of the NSD for Constitution Week 20126 approve and signing of this proclamation. Um Sher, do you have anything you want to come up and say about this? >> No, just thank you very much for the confirmation.
>> Fantastic. Do you need >> Well, with that being said, I'll make a motion to approve the proclamation for Constitution 2026. Seconded. >> Motion made. Motion seconded. All in favor? >> Fantastic. >> And then do you want to read it tonight
or do you want to read it closer to constitutionally that the best way to do it? >> Up to you. >> Let's read it. Um we'll we'll keep this and and read it in the September meeting, >> right? Yeah. Because I'm sure we'll read it again.
>> Yeah, it should be great. Sound good? >> Thank you very much. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Okay. signaturial. >> All right. Uh, is there anything else that you'd like to take out of order after Okay.
>> All right. To topic four, the ADA self-evaluation and transition plan presentation. >> What works for you? roll us up here in the middle on the table. What? >> What do you get? What do you got? I think if you're willing to come over to the table here, get you on the camera.
>> Okay. >> And then I will also turn this on so that we get mic. >> Good. >> Yeah. >> Oh, you got it. Hello. Hello, Jim. >> Hey, Mike. How are you? >> Good.
Good. And u uh town of Hatfield, thank you for uh having uh the Zoom auction because u it would not have been a uh fun drive uh in the rain uh today. >> Especially right now. Yeah, Milberry is uh located uh just
south of uh Worcester or how we say it here. Wor >> folks here. All right. >> Yeah, I think that's pretty good. >> That's much better than >> How's the video looking? >> Yeah. Great. >> All right, we're ready to wrap.
um maybe start with introductions and Mike I'll let you start first then I'll uh do my little spiel and uh then get on with presentation before we start so um so I emailed Andrew I said these presentations last about 45 minutes to
an hour actually was in the maldor last night similar one and I was went a little over an hour uh andrew that's too much time you can't so basically >> it's a slash yeah it was a delicate I'm just kidding Um it's a slash condensed presentation trying to get down about 25
minutes but there's a lot of information here but uh you know you know anyway so Mike I'll I'll turn it over to you introductions and I'll proceed. >> Great. Um so uh hello everybody uh Mike Kennedy from uh your access advocates uh
formerly known as center for living and working and you know just on uh behalf of uh your access advocates the uh contracting agency uh in partnership with Jim Nasik uh just want to say thank
you to the town of uh Hatfield for uh uh choosing us to administer your ADA self-evaluation transition plan. And I just want to thank um all the uh town staff who u um um answered our
questions, opened up uh you know uh doors that we didn't have access to and you know just for their uh general uh you know guidelines. So, that being said, I'll uh pass it uh back over to
Jim and uh you'll uh see me again shortly to do uh the self-evaluation uh portion. Thanks, Mike. Um so, again, I'm Jim. Um you know, 40 plus years as certified professional planner. Actually, it was 33 years at PR Valley Planning
Commission. Prior to my retirement in 2020, I was deputy director there. also saw community development department which we did hundreds of million dollars of of construction work in central western mass some work here in Hatfield we did some work when uh Jim Reed was the highway uh super uh some
construction oversight uh infrastructure work I do a CVG fund on Route 5 and then involved with the uh reuse um feasibility study on the school across the street and some other projects as well. Um I was doing PE work oh dating back about 20 30 years ago on my own
independently in eastern and central mass supporting conflict and black communities in western mass. Uh Mike Kenny and I uh developed partnership about 20 years ago with his agency center for living working in now your access advocates inc. and we've done
about 60 plans collectively together and just in the past uh six years since 2020 uh we've done 40 ADA plans or related you know reports and documents and whatnot. So um that being said the
American Disabilities Act was signed into law uh back in 1990 by President George HW Bush. So it's over 35 years old. It's it's a civil rights law. It's intended to provide um equal access to all persons uh pro all programs and
services to persons regardless of physical or mental impairments. There are five titles under the ADA. two titles uh Patton would be responsible under um title one is employment equal employment opportunity and title two is
state and local government's program accessibility and under that title is requirement for all uh jurisdiction to have a self- evaluation and transition plan prepared so it's a federal requirement Massachusetts also has um a specialized section under the mass state
building code accessibility that's 521 CMR but is solely a building code. Um and is solely only triggered by actual construction. And basically the accessibility compliance depends on the um the amount of the value of the work
being done versus the value of of the building. Um this is a much more detail in in the report. We spell it out. It's very specific what the thresholds are. So when we do these these plans, we look at both white NCMR and the ADA and
whichever is the higher standard of two is what we include in the report in terms of what would need to be done to satisfy that requirement. So the plan that you have in front of you uh is about 221 pages. Um we have four uh sections to that uh
areas. Um the first is the front end um and I'll get back briefly in a second and then the second part is a self evaluation which Mike will talk about and that's going to that deals with any policies procedures and practices and um and the third part is the actual
transition plans the individual build building and facility assessments and the fourth part is the appendices which includes any sample um documents any notices sample policies and then also some funding sources that are available on the front piece. I'm not going to go
into detail on this, but we do have things which basically be your one-stop shopping center for accessibility issues. So, we have some chapters on other federal regulations, um EV charging station guidance, um emergency preparedness, service animals versus
emotional support, and a and a whole number of things. So, that's all very much detail in there. Um and then again on the self-evaluation part, um we looked at 11 different areas. only five are required under the under the feds. Um Mike's going to hit upon some of the
areas we found which you know recommendations do not all of them. Um and with that I'll I'll turn it over to him to uh talk about the self piece and after that I'll go into some more specifics on the actual assessment in the plan. So
>> all right thank you Jim. >> All right. So, um, so just bear with me, uh, uh, in the for the sake of, uh, saving time, I'm going to try to, uh, um, you know, uh, zip, uh, through, uh, you know, my, uh, recommendations. Uh,
but again, just bear with me because an auctioneer I would I will never be. Um so with that being said um first um you know uh in light of the fact that the o only uh member of the disability
commission uh resigned um you know recommend that we that you uh reactivate the disability commission and uh seek new uh members to serve on it. Um, next, uh, post the, uh, name and contact, uh,
information of the ADA coordinator on the town's website and in the town hall. And, uh, looking through my notes, uh, Marlo Warner, uh, Warner, uh, serves as the, uh, ADA coordinator. Um, next is
post the uh public notice of non-discrimination on the town's website in the uh town town's uh ADA uh coordinator's uh web page and in the uh town hall and just
replace the word handicap with uh disability in the uh town's uh employment application. Uh the word handicap is just uh um old and outdated. So uh that's why I replace it with
disability. Post the ADA uh grievance procedure on the town's website and in the town hall to uh make it more available to all staff, departments, committees, and boards. adopt a formal reasonable accommodation policy and
develop a reasonable accommodation request form. Post the uh post these uh policies and uh request forms on the town's website and in the town hall. Incorporate uh non-discrimination
uh language, essential functions requirements, reasonable accommodation language, and physical requirements. and employment postings and job descriptions. Regularly uh inspect the facilities to
ensure compliance with the uh program accessibility and initiate uh repairs and u actions as uh required. Uh you know so for example if uh automatic uh door opener button is not uh working you
want to try to get that fixed as uh soon as possible. um adopt uh auxiliary aids and/or accommodation request language and all meeting notice uh postings. Um consideration should be given to um uh
purchasing a um assistive uh listening device uh preferably a portable one that can uh you know uh be used in uh different buildings for uh uh for uh meeting participants that uh that need
them. Um it's also uh recommended Oh, I already said that. Um but you know just be uh uh ready to be able to uh post uh um you
know uh meeting notices and um other documents and other other uh language besid and other uh media like uh you know uh CDs, large print um audio recordings
you know uh you know whatnot uh for uh folks uh can't uh you know read the uh written word and incorporate uh the guidance provided in chapter 7 of the uh Hatfield uh 2026 ADA self-evaluation
plan when developing uh an emergency management plan and more specifically that notice and assistance to persons with disabilities be included in the emergency uh management plan. Also, uh
the code red um sign up link should be corrected so uh residents could be uh notified of emergency alerts. Uh what I'm saying there is that um at least when I uh checked it out, it uh wasn't
uh functioning. So that is the um very short readers digest uh version of uh the uh self-evaluation uh recommendations and if questions come up um you can
certainly uh contact me uh anytime because you have my uh contact information even u after this meeting. So that is uh my piece and I can send you send it uh back over to Jim and
thank you for uh uh having me. >> Thanks Mike. Yeah, if you look at the plan again what Mike just went over is really 20 25 pages in detail and much more. So I mean just to s time we're just going a really quick you know paintbrush like one stroke to that. Um
so the transition plans itself individual building assessments or facility assessments. Um the format we like to do is I'm going to hold this up. You can see this and this is the same for all the facilities. We like to do a a very brief description of the
facility. Basically saying what it is uh is a twotory when it was constructed what's in the building that sort of thing. And then a representative photograph from the front. Um we then like to provide and this this is a town hall obviously. Uh in this case here we have three pages of of narrative. This
is the narrative description of what everything that that we found. We find this is very useful because for you as a board of select maybe uh you know Marlo he might they'll probably go into the weeds but maybe others might go just want a quick overview. Um they can read this and know generally what the issues
are. They don't go into the very specifics and details. that's something that's not in your area but it might be for others. So then we follow that in with the actual this is the meat and the crux um we have identification of you know what the area of non-compliance is
we have what the federal uh regulation is citation what the state regulation or 58 CMR regulation is what the specific action needs to be taken we give a priority rating and that that's described in the report a feasibility
rating also described in the report then a time frame and a very rough processing. So that is provided for for each you know facility um in the time that we looked at. So um with that I am
just going to go a quick overview of the general things that we found um and looking at the the um miss buildings uh looking at the two schools and recck areas and sidewalk programs. So um what
do we got here? looking at. >> Take take your time. This is great. >> I promise. >> No, you're doing great. >> So, for general buildings, uh, again, this is a broad brush. Um, and these are typically the things we found. So,
parking. So, we typically found there is no designated accessible parking in many areas. In some cases, signage was too low. Signage must be at least 60 in the bottom of of the sign and no more than 96 in top. So, too high or too low. Um in some case the uh the running slopes
were excessive um must be level no greater than 2% in the parking spaces and in some cases there are no van accessible spaces and some cases there are no access aisles. Uh exterior routes of travel to some of the buildings had abrupt changes of level service of more
than one quart one quarter inch unveled or more than one half inch beveled. So, uh that's that would be u kind of a tripping hazard. Also a difficulty for a wheelchair doors. Most of the doors have excessive uh operating forces. 15 pounds for an
exterior door, 5 lbs for an interior door. And in many cases, the doors closed too fast. They must take at least six seconds to close. Um stair railings were typically not round or oval in shape. Um most of many of them were
rectangular. Uh some were too wide. The maximum is two inches uh exterior um distance exterior diameter. Um in many cases the uh railings lacked top and bottom extensions. So top extensions 12 in parallel to the to the floor of the
ground and bottom the slope distance of one tread and then 12 in parallel to the floor of the ground. Um in many cases the steel buildings are not at the correct height. So, um there's a range of 34 to 38 in above finish floor to the top of the gripping
surface. That's what's allowed. If you're below that 34, above the 38, you're not in compliance. Um in many cases, we saw uh some of the buildings non-compliant knob style hardware. Uh a knob style hardware requires pinching
and twisting of the wrist. Um you it should be lever style if you have pretty much I think in all of this building. I might have one whether it's not I can't recall off top of my head. which then you can operate with a loose grip or closed fits. You're just doing this. Um in many cases there is a lack of
compliant tactile designation signage braille and in those cases some cases where it was in place um was at the improper height should be 60 in on center typically within an 18 inch um range from the door frame um to the
opposite side and on the left side of the door. by some not in the last slide not the right height. Um reach range in many cases uh for adult which is 48 in under 529 CMR uh was too high typically light switches cold hooks dispensers
defibrillators drop boxes airphone buzzers to get access into a building you know or higher 54 58 in or whatnot. Uh in many cases um officer staff sinks didn't have the required uh 27 inch knee
height or lacked entirely knee or toe depth. Casey follow could roll under um drinking fountains. There's one here in this building and there were eight uh in academy um they were not high low. This
is a low only drinking fountain. Drinking fountain must be high and low high for standing and low for bending. So, I get a bad back and it's a low, you know, fountain. I'm going to have a problem trying to reach some low fountain grip wheelchair, but not for a standing person. Um, and not all low fountains that I'll talk about this when
I get to Smith Academy have required 27 inch knee height up there. Protruding objects in buildings there are protruding objects. A protruding object is anything that goes more than 4 in from the wall into the accessible route of travel at a height of 27 in and 80
in. So if I'm sight appeared um my cane is not going to kept well I have a cane it's not going to have picked it up or if I'm just sight appeared I might have picked it up and that would include such things as again uh dispensers uh defibrillators um
those sorts of things typically we see in that regard um first aid kits possibly. So uh typically the one where we put a fixed object below that item for cane detection or in some case put it if you can relocate to a place where it's not you know in
travel and again it's all identified in report specifically where those are. Um the library although it's not accessible if it were accessible there are two areas but it also have has reduced headroom. When you go into the hallway, which leads to the bathroom, then down to the basement, the headroom at the
doorway is less than 80 inches. So 80 inches is the minimum requirement uh for headroom. Then also down in the basement. Um and there's activities being done down there. If you could get access down there, there's also some piping that has reduced headroom, which is I think I forget maybe in the 70
something height range. >> Now, do those buildings fall under the historical buildings? There are historic there are historical exceptions and in that front end piece I talked about we have a chapter on on that. So it doesn't say so it doesn't exempt you from not having access but it does exempt you
from things which might be the door widths. It might be the things are changing out maybe some of the um the stair railings. Um I know that the railing going up into the museum area is very um ornate and it's but there's an opposite site which one could put in a compliant railing because there's only
on one side I believe uh going up there. So yes there are things you are exempt from or you get variances from but it doesn't give you variance to not provide access into the building or whether services being provided. I was surprised in this building because we spent money in the end of dollars to bring that up
to ADA compliance and we were told that it was ADA compliant with all the work that was done on a lot of issues that that we were under the impression after all the money we spent that we were in compliance with
ADA standards. So a common thing that we see and again I had the same discussion last night um and Mike and I had a discussion what actually yeah the messenger we had one city in this in in this area which um so the brand new
schools we've been in some brand new school buildings and and one is a city that's that's fairly close here um elementary school and we identified probably well over $100,000 of non-compliant work. a lot of things which and this is one of the things which identified here where in the
classroom sinks for the elementary school. So they had sink bubblers and bubblers fall in the same thing as drinking fountains. So the drink the bubbler can be no more than 5 in from the leading edge of that sink and then the water flow um at least 3 in
projected to the front. So if I'm in a wheelchair, if I'm a student, I can easily get into that and reach that um the bubble, the drink bucket, the water. So typically what you see is when you buy these sink
stainless steel sinks. So they're all pre-done and you have a cutout here for your bubble in the front and then you go in, you just plop it in. All right. So, if you install that right at the edge, pretty much at the edge, getting something quarter inch or so of that of that, you know, countertop, you'd be in
compliance. But we we typically will see that they're installed four or five inches or so back. So, now you're anywhere 8 to 9 in and it's physically impossible for some actually Mike as an adult uh we he could not
reach those. Imagine if you're a student, you know, prek, K four, five, six. So, we find that a lot. Brand new buildings. Brand new buildings. Also, brand new buildings in the bathrooms. Bathroom standards for children. And I'm just going to touch a little bit about this. Bathroom stands for children are
different than they are for um adults. The standards are different for feds and for um 54 NCMR. And they also vary by age or grade. So if you if you do it by grade, it's simply a standard difference for preK, K to 3, 4 to 6, and 7 to 12.
So what we would see in bathrooms and some of this is in here too, that um the new buildings were mixing adult standards with children standards in the bathrooms. Um in some cases, the grab bars were improperly located. You get a brand new building on the tile, you shouldn't have to rip out the grab bars
and have replacing have holes in the tile. It should be responsibility of either the architect, the contract or whomever. So we see in brand new buildings a lot of stuff that's not it's just it's not unfortunately followed up. >> It is interesting to see in in the chart that you've provided that a lot of the
specifically in the bathrooms towel dispensers things like that are all consistently 8 to 10 inches too high almost makes you wonder if the code had changed. See, a lot a lot of that we we have found out is done after the fact because they think the town sees we'll
just do our own and we'll just have our maintenance or whatever install them and um and you know it's not I'm assuming they don't know essentially what that code should be just this looks like a good height. We were in one building. Um I think this might have been in in in North Bridge Reampton and again elementary
schools and you can see they had the they were doing their their tactile designation signs in rooms and they must had one person doing who knew what he was doing or she and it was right at the right height location and then we went to another hallway and another part of the building and they were about six
inches too high. So, it must been another person putting it in and didn't know it and just, you know, I'll just put it here. Um, and that's where it should be. Your owner's project manager, your architect, your clerk of the works, or your building commissioner should be on top of. But again, some stuff is done after the fact.
>> Well, we did the elementary school. We thought that was all ADA compliant and also and it was built to specification because I know the playground was we had to get special kind of stuff that they put down even on the floor and and do all kinds of specific
things. So, uh, I mean they I can see the points you're making on the mountain, but I mean that building was at the time was built to existing codes and ADA compliance just like this building. I guess I guess what you're saying you can go to any building after
it's built and find stuff. >> You can Well, I'm going to get to the school because some of things they were in effect at that time. So just you know things aren't necessarily or oh actually one case it was something that is a very simple fix it was compliant but after the fact people will put things certain
areas which now cause problems and I'll get that when we get the other preschool so and a lot of them easy fixes a lot of them are are not major major things um head room oh so one thing I don't know
if this is I think this might have been one here too so some of the uh tables and desk lack required 27 inch uh knee clearance for a wheelchair. I think this table is one, but again you have a table right there. So if you had to, you could, you know, put a table here for someone or bring a table up for someone
to use. A lot of easy easy fixes. Um doorway thresholds again similar with um many of them exceeded the um one quarter inch unbevelled uh change of level surface or half inch um bevel change level surface. again placement of items
in throughout some of the buildings reduced the clear width the required 36 in um and I mentioned that policy the library of an issue with access into the building and now vertical access throughout um bathrooms adult bathrooms um typically found the code were too
high 48 in above the floor is a standard for codex for um adults dispensers the it's a different height it's 42 in and that's the operating mechanism um whether it be a paper towel or or a soap dispenser. In many cases, we found that sink piping was not wrapped, guard, or
insulated. Now, maybe at the time it was, but if they completely fall off, people don't replace or repair. Um, grab bars. Grab bars are typically a little bit too high. So, the grab bars should be 33 to 36 in above finish to the top of the gripping surface. Um,
technically, we have to write it up. If it's 1/2 inch or one quarter inch too high, we have to write it up. Are you going to really change it? system notice that following you know but technically that your tolerance is at 33 to 36 but some cases were a little bit too high.
Some of the toilets and water closets lack grabb wires in entirety. Um typically find that the toilet paper dispensers are too far or too close to the water closet in front of it. These should be 79 7 to 9 in on center in front of the water closet. Have at least
24 in above the next floor. So that means it's easy to reach at if you're out 15 16 inches, you know, it's more problematic to reach that toilet paper dispenser. Um, some towel and and and toilet paper dispensers were located over the grab
bars. Under 521 CMR, nothing is supposed to be located over the grab bars. ADA does allow it up to if it's at a certain height, but 520 5 CMR says nothing is allowed um over the grab bars. and and and in many cases um there was
sufficient water closet clearances. It should be 18 on center uh to the near wall and then 42 in firewall and in front. So you have maneuverability for a wheelchair and also ability to transfer on the far side to the water closet. Some of those are easy fixes because maybe someone put a foul cabinet, maybe
someone put a table or desk or a chair, but some cases it was a little more involved because it may might require being a a a partition uh um in a stall um the elementary school. So, one of the things uh in number of the rooms in the
hallways um there should be 18 in of maneuver clearance on on the latch pull side of the door. So if I'm right here, 18 inches of clearance so I can get my wheelchair and it's in this one out to pull here and get in. Most that was because people face desks, cabinets,
chairs, tables. So um you know if there was going to be someone in a wheelchair using those rooms, then in that case they'd have to move those items that were placed there. Um the hallway lockers and and and the shelves are all too high. I mentioned there are
different standards for prek, K to 3, four to six. Um, so the range uh is going to be typically I think it's 40 in for the majority was K to three. Um, and and these were uh
up to 54 inches in height. So a simple fix because those shells are all adjustable and all you need is uh no more than 5%. Just lower some of those shelving. Um, and again I I admit it's going to be as on a case needed basis. Um,
under the ADA, uh, glass cans can be no more than 43 inches above finish floor. So, if I'm in a wheelchair, I can view through those. So, some of the classrooms, but also some of the, um, hallway doors, I believe. Um, in many case, the hallway doors are open. So, I mean, that's not an issue. And if you
need to to block or frost some of those windows, and most of teachers block their windows, they put something shading or something there. We found that typically items were stored under the sink. So reduced uh and they were accessible sinks reduced kind of knee and toe clearance. I mentioned the sink bubblers. Um the bathrooms were
were mentioned at different grade levels and standards. Uh none of the bathrooms were were fully compliant um both adult and for children. The children's bathrooms in the hallways had a combination of both adult and children's standards. So you might have a toilet
that's 14 in high and then grab bars that are 36. So you know a little little ones I'm trying to get the grab bar up here. So that doesn't quite work. Um and also the dispenses were pretty much at an adult he pipe too high for students. Um the all gender bathrooms which is
tended to be for all anyone students and adults throughout the school for all just adult standards. So we have a recommendation and how that could be addressed. Um and then the hallway bathrooms which had accessible stalls um
typically the doors opened in and not out. They lack pull devices in both sides of the door code too high and the doors didn't self close. So if I have a door to self close and no pull devices and I'm in a wheelchair, I've got to reach down below the door like this to
close it and then reach up here to latch it. And if I had my pole devices or self pose, you know, that would be a problem. So it can be inconvenience for some for some people. Um I give me another two, three minutes, I'm done. Uh Smith Academy, similar with
the maneuvering clearance on the latch side of the doors, similar with the hallway loops and shelves, similar with the glass panes. Um of the drinking fountains, three were high uh high only, five were low only. And of those five
low only one had the required minimum 27 inch knee corners. Um there office counters were typically too high and again the sinks were typically too high and they lack knee height and toe depth. Um there is a portable stage and I was
talking with one of the maintenance people there that I guess is brought out uh when needed for whatever events they have there. I was told it's going to be replaced, but I was informed that that portable stage had steers only to access the stage. So, if there is a stage that's going to be uh purchase to
replace that, it would need to have a ramp to that stage. And if you're in an auditorium, it must be um accessible travel from the assembly area to the stage. Uh there are some problems with the bathrooms and don't let me get into
that board. Um I mean locker rooms rather locker rooms and then bathrooms the the the adult one is similar to the one they're talking about municipal um wreck areas typically there is the lack of supple travels um fully to and around and within
facilities um there needs to be level areas for wheelchairs at benches and bleach seating wasn't the case tables need depth wasn't the case at the elementary school. There's a there's a chain at
least one chain of key. It could be two at the playground. So, under the ADA, there needs to be a smooth service um from the from the ground level to 10 in up on the push side of the gate. So, presumably, if I'm in a wheelchair, then if I would be probably pushing to get
in, my clothing or my chair is not going to get caught in that chain link gate. That that I believe is the rationale behind it. Um portable toilets. Uh you I believe you have a portable toilet, but it's not uh accessible
uh at the elementary school fields. You have one portable toilet not accessible at the girls softball field at Smith Academy and you have a portable toilet accessible at the boys um baseball field. However, the baseball field one
which is fully accessible is not ADA compliant. Um and Mike and I find this all the time. The dispensers are all too high. They're more than 42 in. Dispensers are actually located over the grab bar. It's not allowed to 5.1. The toilet is too high. I think it's by about an inch or so. And um and then the
setbacks are not met in the front and on the side of the of the toilet. So in that in the front end piece I mentioned, we have a section on portable PD compliant toilets. You can look at that. We have a couple of photos of what they should look like with all the descriptions. Play playgrounds. the equipment was um there was no accessible
play equipment and and the playground services was predominantly wood chips. Uh wood chips might be maybe okay in the fall zone if it meets certain ASDM standards um if it's you know relatively newer material but it's not accessible
uh surface material for route of travel because there's too much drag and wheelchair arm braces you know whatever it may be walker if you're an adult um and then both the Smith Academy baseball softball dugouts have four to six inches of changes level surface access into
those dugouts. I could be a coach softball in a wheelchair and but I can't get into my dog because it starts raining. Um so you know that's that's a you know issue. Four more bullets sidewalks and curb ramps. So we focused pretty much on the town center. Uh we
did Smith Academy entrance. We did um Main Street uh Maple Street and Elm Street. Um overall, you know, decent. I mean, you're relatively you are relatively flat and paving is good. There are a couple of areas with
exceptions. Um the Smith Academy crosswalks and the school and main street area, those crosswalk curb ramps lack detectable warning strips. Um there are some areas on Main Street and Maple Street. Um and this is due to trees and and I'm sure Marlo's aware of this.
You've seen that the trees and the tree roots very common which has caused abrupt change of local surface excessive running slopes um gaps little deterioration and that sort uh on Maple Street Maple Street Bridge uh there's very and you probably are aware of this
too very severe concrete deterioration resulting in um abrupt change in level service and deteriorated surfaces and there's also a 2-in abrupt change in level surface from the transition of the asphalt to the concrete. So that's not only a tripping hazard, it's also a
problem with, you know, a wheelchair trying to get up with that two inch, which you know, you know, I don't think it's nothing, but it actually is quite a big chair. Uh, and the final item on Elm Street. Um, and this when Mike talk about maintenance of items, this will fall into that category. Uh, on Elm
Street, I can't exactly call where it's I think somewhere near the bridge, but there's a vegetative o overgrowth into the uh sidewalk. And that's reduced the clear width to I think maybe 28 30 inches. That's at least 36 inches. That
is a very quick overview and summary of everything is you know very much detail in here but that's just kind of just very you know broad brush of what we found in our findings.
There's certainly a lot of information any questions that we have for Mike or for it if we formulated we had like a bunch and then we could see which items are possibly we could work on in the future
and which items might be capital planning items capital planning etc etc that's all I'm saying that seems to make more sense to me to have a whole list of items on a separate data sheet and see
uh what it is that we can do, what it is we can't do. And of course, the bottom line would be funding in the future, how to fund some of these changes because I know we've we've tried over the years to be very uh on top of ADA compliant with
new buildings and and and I know some of the existing buildings like the library is a challenge, but it would cost a lot of money and that's why the the town has sort of been let's let's wait on them. But uh if it's if it's quick fixes like
you say like for the schools or something that's helpful for those and we'll care something that we either contract out or do in house. We just need a list and then maybe within a year or two we can get some of that stuff done. You have to realize too we're not
a city. We don't have you know big departments that do all this stuff. We're we're very small. We have small resources. So how we tackle things, we have to be sort of creative about it and and sort of it's more of a long range
type of fix instead of a short term fix. We always we always get asked question what you do. We tell it's really your choice but what what are the areas buildings facilities that get the most activity or that serve the
um phrase it guess population need. So typically like would be your library but your library is a whole big issue itself because of um it's not accessible period a senior center or even town hall where there's a wreck area so or in the sidewalk. So you know one thing you know
trees roots issues that's a bigger thing that's that's that's a bigger issue because you cut the roots you kill the tree you don't want to kill the trees. Um but there are a couple areas maybe uh like I mentioned the bridge so it's probably not your you probably don't own the bridge the town. No. But um the but
that maybe that transition asphalt to you know concrete you know just a little bit of a a patch in there to maybe smooth that so you can actually now get that and not just have that 2 in up there things like that. Um if there was something where I can't talk in the senior center, we had one um senior
center which one it was in where in the bathrooms um I think it was West Springfield. Um we just finished up their plan. So they changed out they in their accessible bathroom stalls. They took out the required grab bars which
are behind and on the side for a wheelchair the transfer and they put in ones which be for an alternate accessible assault. Basically you mount it to the floor. So basically assist you getting up and sitting down for a person who's not in a wheelchair. Well you can't do that um because now in
wheelchair I can't use that accessible. So what we you know said them make perfect sense. Okay, take those out, get your new grab bars, couple of modifications needed, and then they have like five other stalls in here. Just buy a couple of sets of those grab bars and put them in the other stalls. Now you've
got both and it probably cost you, I don't know, maybe $700, $700 for the grab bar. And you can do that with your with your house people do that. So something like that was an easy fix and that would basically help folks. Um, so things like that. See where is it that
you know you get the most activity. um and then take it from there. >> Well, thank you very much for the report and uh yeah, there's certainly lots to go through. So, >> we'll start digesting like make sure that we find a new ADA
commission member, right? >> That's huge. Yeah, >> that's a big part of it for the checklist on the back. And then also, I think making sure the school has this a lot of it. A lot of it is the school. So what we So we did find um after finish
it down we went through things we found you know you know a few typos and and um corrections on some of the links and that sort of thing. So I made those um and then you know Mike had a couple of things he found too. So we we've done those. I haven't sent them corrections I
don't think I have back to you on those. Um, so we typically would ask maybe hold out a couple weeks if you have any more if you go through any more comments, let us know through Andrew and then once you get the the clear um then we can get the
revised final electronic copy and then I forget how many hard copies are required, you know, the printing costs to run up. So they want to print them and have to reprint them again. So and then we'll get all those to you. And the final thing that both Mike and I I mean we're available um for followup um on
things that come up. I mean we we do it all the time. We challenge we've done work five six years but we get phone calls from and um technical assistance on it. just if we can do it over the phone or by an email, send us a photo and this kind of thing and you know no charge just will you know uh if it's something I mean I don't live far from
here if it's something you know full days worth of work or something else but it's something you know an hour here an hour there you know that's you know don't hesitate to contact one of those >> thank you thank you very much any questions
>> all right >> thank you Mike >> all right yep thank thank you and uh have a great uh rest of your evening. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to topic five, which is the
Western Earth Works letter of support to Mass DOT for new property entrance. I believe we have a couple people in the audience to come on up and talk about it. >> Sure. >> Yeah. There. There is good. We're getting on
camera. >> Go ahead. Just uh tell us a little about what you're looking for and and what the uh change to property look like and everything else. >> Yeah. Um, I think it started originally over uh about a year and a half ago uh when we were going through permitting
for our septic um and our water separating design with the state and our engineers and then talking with the board of health as we talked and and moved in to discussing actually going prior to that when we purchased the
property. want to understand a little bit about the home that was existing and then also that little red cape there on the corner on West Street. And um that house had quite a history and then it had been uh foreclosed on and had kind
of fallen state repair and it was something that we over the past two years basically turned over every stone that came our way to get a hold of the bank that was in charge of the foreclosure. Um the property
pretty much it's a hazard with anyone going inside and it was something that needed to come down. Um also for our line of work for our location um our mobilization to and from projects involve
um 18 wheelers and uh combination vehicles. So that heavier permanent trucks and trailers can be anywhere from 72 feet long and getting into the current driveway as as it sits now. It
works fine, but there's a few hiccups to that. And and the dream was that it would be ideal to just be able to come out square to route five and then have a clean line of sight south and north. Um
so our intent would be to uh remove and dispose of the existing property and then working with DOT and virtual design group is design a uh permanent and permanent access onto
roof pipe and we've gone through a survey with um DOT we've gone through survey with Bure Design Group um it was probably a little preemptive uh before coming to speak with you, but I had mentioned you know
spoke with the DW about it briefly is what were the the chances of that um and you know where that sits but the design right now is just more or less open for discussion on how we proceed with. >> So your design is taking property and making into an entrance and exit.
>> Correct. >> That's that's what you're doing. >> Yeah. Our intent would be um there's a utility pole that would be relocated approximately 25 ft to the south. Uh the entrance would go square out to route
five with clean sight north south. Um apron approximately 72 feet wide at the mouth at Route Five and then coming square in. Um we would be reclaiming or propose to reclaim the
um existing access way there and move the property completely saving some of the trees that might be there a little bit more. >> So the existing entrance and exit would be necessary.
So, um, our which we would be proposing ideally to curb cut here on the street on North Hatfield Road. This would be reclaimed and loaned and seated. The fence, the
building, the car access court and everything will be removed. Uh, there's a utility pole here that would be relocated um, just south of the proposed entrance. And then this entrance is going to come
square out to route five and and the be direct access from route five. >> Yeah. >> So what is the north road? Is that going away? That's not going to be >> we would uh propose to remove all the asphalt and then from
>> the curb line and see this. So this would all be green green space. >> Yeah, >> there's going to be some any open space now is kind of re situating some of where we're keeping some of our our implements, you know, there. But this
>> So does this have to go in front of the planning board? >> The planning board already does this have to go in front of the planning board? Question. I'd have to check on that because I would I would think so. and and then the building inspector has to review the plan to
demolish >> property, right? I don't know if it does or doesn't because now that property no longer is like a residential property and now becomes a roadway or the hope is to re make that into a roadway. So I
don't know if that's a change if that's a change of use or not. Yeah, I'm not a planning board person, so the the first thing that that the town would have to decide on is we do still have essentially an accepted road right
there. That was former town road. I don't think we have any record of that ever being abandoned. >> We checked it's still on the register. >> That is a road that we own. So the town would have two options. that's this has been sent to you about presuming your packet about what approaches the town
can take. So the town would either have to discontinue that roadway there um or would need to uh abandon it. Um basically say that we give up our right to maintain it. Uh the the giving up the right to maintain it is something that a select board could do after public
hearing. it would not require town meeting uh approval but abandon but uh discontinuing the road which is really the cleaner solution because um in abandonment you're still essentially saying that it is a road in this case we really are trying to say that we don't
want it to be a public way anymore in that case it would uh ownership would then go to the abutters on either side which in this case would be the same person >> so basically we just say we're we're not maintaining that road more abandoning in
it, then we don't have to go to town meeting. >> That's correct. >> But if we discontinue that as a road, then we have to go to town meeting. >> That's right. >> They essentially kind of do the same thing, but if you just say we're not maintaining anymore, it still kind of exists in the record as a road that
folks could try to cross. Doesn't necessarily um make it no longer a road that's been owned by the owners on each side. It's more important. >> So, he would be they would be crossing it at their own risk because new grow. That's exactly right.
>> Interesting. So, um Jack, what's your timeline for looking for support at from Mass? >> Um I think being familiar working for Mass knowing the time, but it's just something that we wanted to get started
on now. >> Okay. Um the home as far as demo going through demo permit and seeing if there's any pavement in the property. Um the design survey knowing it's a process
for us. This is something that um we like to clean that quarter up. Um but knowing that that takes time, I guess I don't have anything on my calendar at the moment. That's it. >> So my my next question is where the old
road is. I mean that used to be the road that went over five and 10. So the road where the grass is in now. Uh that now is whose property is that still part of the old road or is that just
>> if we were to discontinue the road? >> No, I mean right now I mean is that still where >> the town road? road of the town I'm selling. >> Yes. >> So where the grass is the town still is considered part of the town
>> exists on on the record on paper as being road town. We discontinue it. It'll become taxable land. >> It I need to check on that. I would think it it would but yeah I need to check on
that. >> Are there any plans for beautifification? obviously that um it's an interesting thing to drive by every day. Um is there plans for some way of you know making it more appealing for us
as a town coming into our town? Yeah, I I mean I we've barely just survived a move um where we have been moved in about two weeks fully completely and we're open to discussions on what that
is. Um so I got to ask where the grassy part is that a bucks north have road on the curb there. You're you want an entrance exit past that where the house is or >> right here
just to come straight? >> Yes. >> And how close is that to your >> uh I I don't know because I I haven't measured that but that would be easy to do. But whether you wherever you pass is
still considered part of the town road anyway. >> Yeah. >> This was a thing you could do >> right give or take. I mean this is I chose arbitrary.
>> It's close. There's been two things we've noticed currently that um have actually been a topic. This picture was taken when we had our uh annual safety meeting with all of our employees and they actually
discussed this topic. Do you mind moving out for a second? Um, one of the concerns in one of our safety topics was when we have employees or vehicles entering on the North Hatfield Road,
the Hatfield Pub actually creates a blind spot. So, as you pull in and you're pulling in North Hatfield Road, when you're cutting across the peak of the Apex, you can't see who and any oncoming traffic. That was hazard
number one. Hazard number two is when we're bringing in um our equipment to, you know, mobilizations or for repairs. The combination vehicles when they come in to to make this turn, they have to
swing into the opposing lane and then take this lane to make this turn. when they come in to swing wide, if they catch an oncoming vehicle, it leaves the trailer out in route five, which is 55 miles an hour. And then I've come in
early in the morning on occasion and there have been um referred trucks from the produce areas that are parked there. And then with that being discontinued prior to the building going up, I had guys coming out
um with people parking next to that condemned house after hours that were doing suspicious things of which I've called the police about. So access wise in that blind corner you brought up that it is
>> definitely a tight chicane to maneuver especially actually doing an S turn in a short distance. >> Yeah. >> So um Jack you're still working on like the actual design of it, right? that that will be provided at some point by
virtue design. >> Yeah, virtue design. I can have them submit that to you. Um I know DT has been out and they set survey uh which more or less I think they have to take back to their design department for line of sight for access
to those. >> Great. >> And then obviously I need to check on that planning board question because that's that's important. And then the question about the taxable land is good for us to know. But um I guess I just ask you more questions for Jack.
>> Yeah. I mean, I get I think the thing that's gonna I'm more than certain will come up is that that portion of existing North Halffield Road that even if we abandon it, people are going to see an inherent value in that. So, there might
be further conversation of if there's compensation that's owed to the town for that or not. So, I wouldn't be surprised if that conversation comes up. Um, the other thing being, yeah, of course, Mass D's comments coming back on line of
sight and if a a new curb cut apron of that size is allowed that close to the entrance, don't have to be able to own or not would be the big hurdle that I would see happening. And then of course, you know, transfer of butter comment and
stuff like that as well. Um, I certainly can understand the the the need for the access and how it would make your entrance exit safer, but also the entrance by moving your entrance, it would also make it safer for everybody else
navigating North Halffield Road, especially busier times of day. Um, so I I I can sympathize with the need to do this for sure. You guys have anything else? I think probably I would suggest that
once we have the actual printed design that we can put up from Bergkshire Design and everything probably hearing of some sort in you know letters to the abutters to be able to come to it and discuss uh any questions or comments they might have for a chance for review
and by then we should be able to get some more clarity on what does abandonment of that road bed look like? um you know any land use questions that planning board might have or or ZVA
um because that essentially that hunk of roaded would have to if it's going to become yours I think would have to go to a town boat. >> Yeah. To proper notice I I believe the bounds come in to
where um 320 here owns this space. Yes, you. Yes, exactly. It's >> But it's maintained. The town has been maintaining and blowing this, but this has not been plowed. So, I don't know whether that if there is like a use here
because there's a lot of signage that goes up and communication in town. >> The reason the town was mowing it was largely because of the previous owner just didn't and it was >> it was difficult to see around that fence. >> Y >> So, I think it became the kind of thing
where it was better for the town to maintain it for uh you know line of sightes and stuff like that. So >> on part 24 years there was always issues with the property owner. I mean I know there help was involved and it went on for years.
>> I don't know when that new uh exit and entrance went in. But I do know that the DPW has not maintained that section since that happened. >> We've done nothing in there. I've poked around and asked people would have been here and um so we haven't been
maintaining it regardless since that. >> But I I do agree that if we come back from with design and we allow a hearing on it to give the abunders the opportunity to voice their opinions and everybody has a
say in it. >> Just think about what what is in it for the town, what's in it for the letters and From that perspective, I think we'll go a little >> I'd say we offer things like trees and walls, but I don't know if that works on
>> I'd also say um we've forgotten the cost for any sort of abatement and demo of the existing building. Something that sounds like it's benefit. >> We definitely need a couple more. if we abandon a couple more of the uh sharp
turn chevrons too. So I think there's only one there to the right. >> Oh yeah, >> we have to add a couple more at least three I think. >> Um one other thing came to mind. Um is the water service still hooked to that
that house? Um the water service I believe has been shut off but has not been terminated. >> So that that'll be another thing part of the demo is it should be retired at the main which is on the other side in the
pavement the new pavement. So um we can work when you get to we get to that point we can work with you and do on that. Yeah, I think that might be something where with that there
would be I mean this is a discussion along the way about leaving that service open and using that for things like filling our hydro seed or water trucks um because we're using water regularly on other projects for watering trees and
so on. So I before terminating that I'd almost be curious to see town's open to having us keep that open for you know frost free hydrating just another alter meter >> a meter pit >> yeah protected >> which we'd be fine with and the other
part and why I'd like to keep that open is we frequently in the spring fall are bring in nursery stock then being able to keep stuff watered and irrigated for as we hold it over until project started complete Yeah,
makes sense. I would imagine there's a curb stop still on this side of the road. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, it could be shut down relatively easily until all that place. >> I haven't done a whole lot of venturing
in between the building where that curb stop is given the speed of the traffic, but yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Um, and yeah, we'll work on continuing to investigate some stuff. I think
>> Yeah. Yeah. If you'd like to to speak on the north side of the property there, if you like Um, thank you for letting me come forward. I have a couple of concerns and questions being raised about this performance
access point. as a person who abuts to the north. First of all, one of the things that was brought up is what is the condition and status of North Hatfield Road and the fact that it is operating as a private driveway at this point and it has a gate across it and I
I can understand why, but it's still a public right away with public access rights. So moving forward with this, the considerations for that is whether or not you guys are going to abandon it, if it has to go to town vote, and then if there is compensation for
getting rid of that town road, where exactly are those funds going to go to? Are they going to go towards other road projects in town that are on public records? I would like to know or expect that that would be a transparent process in evaluation of this.
A few administrative questions that came up as well is this project appears by the regulations to need a new site plan approval. It seems to be an existing uh significant change in the existing use as well as some of the other site
conditions that were not built to the site plan that was approved in 2024. So those things seem to warrant an additional approval by the town or at least an investigation into those approvals by the town.
I understand the benefit and the need for it, but you guys are proposing to take all of your traffic that you generated here and put it on my doorstep. And I'm not very
pleased with that. a 72 foot apron. My driveway is 100 ft. I have measured it. So now what does that put? 50 ft next to my driveway. Taking all of the loading equipment, the heavy use machinery, the trucks, the equipment, the 18 wheelers,
the soil, the gravel, all of the stuff that comes in and out every single day. And I know because I live there and I see it and I hear it in front of my house. Additionally, it according to the town
bylaws, businesses, and they know this isn't business because it's an industrial zone lot are only supposed to have one curb cut access to roads. This I guess now that you've explained receiving this
will only be a single curb cut access, a very big curb cut access next to the property. So, I have some concerns with that. Additionally, these weighted vehicles 10,000 to 100,000 pounds with their payload on them. Is this driveway going to be designed to the standards to
uphold that weight? Does there need to be new drainage put in because it's going to be impervious surface. There's not a catch basin right now. And right now, there doesn't there is no existing drainage. So, what are the drainage plans for accommodating this newly added
and surface area? And one of the other things we did want to mention is that during the initial site plan hearings for traffic considerations in this is that the vehicle access was estimated to be at three 18 wheelers a month dropping off
of the foot. That's that's not a real thing that's been seen honestly. And then the last sentence or last paragraph or so of the uh letter sent with the site plan said that there is no
turning turning movements can be accommodated as existing without any off-site improvements. So that indicates that during the initial permitting process of this this access was fine to begin with. So, what has changed since then that
would warrant them to want to propose a new access at this location? Just some of the concerns I have is in direct. Honestly, I'm sure you've all uh seen paperwork for me that this has not been an easy thing for us to deal with
on the north side of the of the road. So, I just want to make sure that the town is looking at this not just from a profit standpoint, what can the town make off of it, but the rest of the neighborhood as well. One of the last things I want to bring
up is that during this process, I would like to know if the historical commission has been contacted, a historic building was demolished, a second historic building is proposing to be demolished, and there are also state standards and federal standards that go
along with how do you demolish historic properties? Where's the due diligence? I'd like to know that there are many permit approvals and projects that get applied to work and I'd like to know that the due diligence was done both on the applicants side and their
consultants and then on the town boards as well because it honestly feels like a lot of things are just getting pushed through. Well, actually some of the stuff you bring up is with other forwards, meaning if they request a demolition permit, then I believe our
zoning officer or building inspector is supposed to know whether or not he notifies the historical commission. So that's what on their part as far as some of the other issues. Uh if if any of the
violations have been with the uh rules and regulations and and commitments that were made prior, that again goes to our zoning officer to look at and that kind of stuff. So, I don't know if you've talked to our zoning officer, which is
our building uh commissioner, or the planning board, which is our assistant planner, on some of the issues that you feel that are uh in violation of what the original agreement was to what the property was. So, those are places to go
to. I mean, uh everybody has sort of their job to do their little things. >> Virginia, you've written a very thorough letter on all this. We owe you a response on that. We've been working on that. So that will be becoming and I think you know all these things that you're flagging with this project are
all noted and and need to go either through this board through town meeting or through planning or zoning. So that all needs to happen and all the things you've asked for need to be responded to as well. That's another reason that if if this is required of the planning board or even if it's not, we would
still have a hearing and then we would be responsible for addressing the concerns and find out whether those concerns are are valid or invalid or whatever. >> No, I I agree. I agree and I see that. I just wanted to flag the fact that
nothing in town is very transparent when it comes to permitting and approvals and things like that. I don't know that these things have happened. So now I have to come to everybody else and say did you do good jobs or not? If there are things like public boards, public
forums, town websites where things like notice of intent can get posted, site plans, a butter notifications. I mean without a site plan review, this access way and driveway would go in without an abut notification. >> All right. Now, this this basically is
just to >> uh say what they want to do >> and they hope to do, but they haven't started the process yet. I mean, they have their architect on their own doing their thing, but again, if if a demolition permit is requested, then
that kicks in some other stuff that have to be reviewed. And and the other thing is if if you think there's some violations from the original agreement, then you sent the letter, which now Andrew has, which I'm sure goes to the planning board and to the building
inspector, which is the zoning officer to to review. So there's there's other things that happen, but some things don't happen until somebody says, "Okay, we're demolitioning the building." It can't sort of do anything until the
person says, "I want a demolition report." It can't really do anything until the person says, "I want to dig or take out a permit." You know what I'm saying? I mean, >> no, I I completely understand. I don't know if you know, but this is what I do every day, all day. >> I am a consultant. We're building
environmental permits, regulations, and things. I understand the processes and I just think that there's a little lack of clarity when it comes to things in town that leads to questions. So >> I think that's something we want to do better on. I think if we can be transparent, there's ways that we can
improve that. I'm happy to talk to if you see towns that are good at doing this, whether it's using, you know, online systems, anything else. Want to do more of that. I found our planning board to be pretty transparent in what they do. I think we we have a new zoning enforcement officer and I think working to make sure that he's being transparent
in a way that works for residents is important. So all of that is the things that we care about. Not to speak to the board, but >> I'm not saying you don't. I'm just saying >> no if if there's nobody talks about it. So um and in bringing these these issues
um up and to light is the fact that during the first approval process for the work there was one public hearing about it and that was it. The permit was approved at that public hearing and all the things said at that public hearing were not taken into consideration. many
of the things that I reiterated in the letter that we said and honestly it's it seems a little sketchy to be so I have to look out for my best interest
because at the point it doesn't seem like cumulative impacts are being considered when we do permitting like this. the pickle ball court up on Route Five, Al Massa landscaping on North Hatfield Road. Um the the I don't even know what it is over near eight or nine
North Hatfield Road. All of these are large large industrialsized projects that went through. So when we're talking about traffic patterns, then they might have a study that only considers the traffic pattern in and out of their
driveway, but what about the cumulative impacts of everything else? Moving an apron closer to my house is going to put all of the traffic stopping and starting and idling in front of my house instead of at the already designated
intersection that has a stop sign and allows people to go to and from. So I feel like there are some some things in there that if they don't get brought up, it's not exactly in a regulation itself, but those are things to consider for the
town people. Do you think it'll be interesting to see what planning has to say? I think this is in our industrial area of town. I know >> where we do need to encourage new business but I also very much feel free um and I would also ask that design
plans do you consider anything that can be taken into consideration. Is there another way to look at the entrance >> that is everything I have >> would love to find a mutually agreeable solution do appreciate your letter
>> and thank you for having me. Thank you for letting me comment. Um, and appreciate your time. Thank you. >> I think that uh yeah, we've heard on both sides briefly. Um, more to come. >> There is more to come. Yes, I I do think
having a full hearing on it would be something once we have more documentation, design, and stuff like that would be largely. And I do appreciate your invention to figure out ways to better increase the transparency how other
towns are doing this. >> Yeah, I mean there are things that can work but >> point we are a small we're mostly volunteer tiny little town. >> It is a small town and and also to make the point that all of the meetings where these things are discussed are public
meetings and are open to the public. Many of them are largely recorded. So >> the it is accessible. Um is it always convenient? No. But um >> and just a plug, everyone can go and sign up for every single minute town
meeting minute and meeting notes on the town website. >> All right. Good. >> Yeah. I mean, I think we haven't formally met. I think this is a terrible place for us to formally meet. Um Marielle and I run the business together.
her actually pond >> and I think >> I think where you work with your environmental regulation we cross paths I'm familiar with your employer we're we're here to do right and um I just on behalf of being here in front of the
town and with you here you know like I I would want to know if there problems and we're approachable people and we want to be good neighbors so if they're neighbors there I'm from a small town I was born and raised in Nashville and I'm here to be a neighbor and not be
a burden. So, I apologize if that ends taking place, but we come with the best intention. >> Well, you guys all seem smart and rational. Maybe work things out together, you know, as neighbors. Maybe there's something you can discuss and
and get together on and and figure things out. So, I'm just that's another option. >> Yeah. I I mean I'm however you like to do it to sit down and talk, we're open to that. I think um seeing your your
letter and reading through it um I I will admit that there was a level of guilt uh I had the day that you took some of these pictures regarding noise and dust because we were frantically trying to move an entire business and
function a company and build a shop all at the same time there for a period of weeks which was just absolute chaos. I I felt like I had been very patient with everything going on and then it it it just kind of hit a level. I had been two years of work and stuff. So, and there
was there's just >> and we had some setbacks with >> stuff happening >> was on our own with the construction of it. So, I think um as of July 1st, we were officially moved in full time and if there's things that we can do move to help your quality life, please feel free
to talk to Mario sit next to us. Awesome. >> Thank you. Fantastic. >> Um, moving on. Topic six, we have the accept >> Oh, yeah. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Uh, we have the acceptance of the
donation from the state of Robert L. Heert. Uh, the donation of the bench. We discussed this last meeting. Um, and we were looking for some clarification if I recall correctly. >> Yeah, there are a couple things we need to try to figure out. Um, one was just uh making sure we checked the language
on what was being asked for for the bench for correcting a bench. Doesn't necessarily have to be a new one, which is nice. So, if we have anything existing, we can potentially use that. Um, and then we have um the big questions are it's $2,000, which is the
donation amount, enough to quote buy a bench and plaque, and the question of uh where would it go if you were to buy one? You don't want to completely benchify town. And then a longer question of um do we have some kind of policy we want to pass for the future
versus how we uh come up with with donations and that policy hasn't been written yet but um I do think it can draw from from previous working um we feel pretty good about having the funds available should be enough to provoke
pension plaque and then Carlo suggestion I'll let you share it before you're taking the location. Well, I was just thinking there was a bench bought for the one school street park. Um, yeah, the playground is pretty it's pretty small. Uh, and I was just
thinking, uh, it was my understanding a lot of donations went to police and fire in the past. >> Perhaps we purchase a bench in front of the new playground and put that in where when we're done with it. >> Sounds like a great idea. Um, I did look
at a lot of benches in town. I didn't realize we had so many until I was looking for them, honestly. Um, you know, as far as, you know, putting together, um, how we want our benches in the future, you know, and whatnot, but like the ones, there's three or four
against the building here, just outside. I really like them personally. They're pretty uniform. They look nice. You can put a plaque on them. Uh we got quite a few uh backless benches in town. Um I'm not a big fan of them. Um but so and I
did do some poking around on costs. I mean at the end of the day, previous communities, um if they're, you know, a memorial bench or anything like that, the DPW would always pour the pad, install it, lag it. Um, so I I think I'm
doing some more research trying to find out what those benches are out there. Um, I I think we we can do it for the $2,000. >> I think it is important to also recognize that we we very much appreciate the donation from both the
>> the donations to police, fire, and for the bench. Um, so I think it's important, in my own opinion, that we can accept this donation and be able to get this bench memorialized and then be able to put together a more informed
policy moving forward. Is there x amount of dollars for just a plaque if there's a bench already available? And is there x amount of dollars for a new erection of a bench with plaque? you know, maybe it's 2,000 for if there's one that we can just placard and 5,000 or something
like that if it's something like it's a new new outfit. Um, and then that puts us a little bit more in line with what was asked for for the memorial benches out of the park and maybe that's our new standard moving forward. >> I agree with that. Especially if I think some of them have a base also concrete
base for some >> Yeah, they should be lagged down flagged down. But I I kind of like the idea of, you know, if we're going to accept this $2,000 donation, which I again think we should, um, you know, maybe we include a
a a a line, a $2,000 line, so it's similar that if there is a bench already available, it's a little bit more of affordable option for someone to be able to memorialize um someone in town. and you know having a black plate and anchoring it to an existing bench should
be a pretty easy for us or a donation of that size. So >> I agree and I think we should also look for other places that we would want benches around town that so that we have a plan for for that. >> Yeah, I completely forgot there's like a couple on the entrance to the elementary
school on that long sidewalk. There's two or three while we were there today. >> They don't have flex. >> I don't believe so. No. And then with that being said, I'll make a motion to accept the donation from the estate of Robert L. Heert for a batch. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion second. All in
favor? >> Um, just one more thing about that. When we are doing that, think about other ways that we can create donation production. >> Yeah. >> Donation. >> Um, we covered topic seven already. So, moving on, topic eight is uh Robert
Flity's request for comp time use. >> Excellent. And I would say um we do have executive session on the agenda tonight um discussing essentially contract negotiations and I I believe this would be um something that we can discuss in executive session if that would be
preferred because um it really is a provision of this contract that we're we're settling if that's something that you'd be willing to discuss tonight. Executive session. I was actually wondering why this wasn't an executive session. >> We can we can certainly do that. >> I I was actually the option with a new
notice from legal. >> Um we could go either way. We could discuss you know that update from legal if we'd like to. We could also discuss it in executive session like to >> sound a good idea. >> Executive. Okay. So we'll just table
that for now and take it up executive session. That's is that right? I heard the chair. >> Um, yeah, I think this it this does seemingly read contract negotiation
to me in some ways. >> I think I'm I guess my biggest hurdle is that it's been entered this way for years. Why are we just Why is this coming to light now versus previous when it was
approved? So, >> yep. I don't know if it's a misunderstanding within the contract, the way it was written or the way that it was interpreted, but yeah, to me it seems contract. >> Yeah, we can talk about it. >> Yeah, sounds good.
Uh, so then that brings us to topic nine, which is the fire department staffing update. So, we have a report here from the fire chief. Um, We have a couple different things
actually here. Um there's some correspondence here with both uh Chief Drumul from South County EMS um about recognizing the request that is in to be able to provide staffing for
fire as well as a letter that went to the Northampton mayor and fire chief as well. >> So these are letters that we drafted that I want to review with you tonight. Just make sure you're comfortable with this path moving forward. Um these are letters that that would go to uh Northampton and to South County. Um as
as this board knows um we did have a resignation from our full-time firefighter Thornton who will be um working for a tough county. Uh wishing the absolute best moving forward. Uh but this does put us in a position where we don't have any full-time staff uh now.
So the first part of the update is that we are posting those positions. Uh been working with the chief to get that done and that that will be posted. so we can see if we can potentially make a higher. Um but this puts us now at a position where we just are not covering very many shifts with our pdiums and call folks.
So the um request that would be sent to both Northampton and uh and South County would be asking them if they have um at least the ability and interest in speaking with us about becoming our
designated primary angle service provider. And if Northampton would also like to talk about being their primary fire service provider, um, this doesn't obligate us to anything. This would open potential discussions and give them a respond to us so we can know if this is
a possibility both for this year and then potentially for future years as well uh about outsourcing our fire and EMS to to these departments. So, uh, this obviously is not something we do lightly, but we want to at least begin the conversation and see if they're willing to to have us, uh, talk with us
about potentially filling that goal. So, this is something the chief and and the deputy support and we'd like to send these letters and want to make sure that that we're on the same page and it makes sense to be proceeding this way. It doesn't obligate us to anything, but at least get the letters open the door and
start talking. So, are you posting this role for the fire chief and sending these letters and sort of >> So, we will be posting for the full-time firefighter EMT positions. We have not yet done anything with the fire chief um
position. >> You think just post >> as a as a position? >> Yeah, there's no need to prolong it. >> Yeah. >> Are there any um this is the job description? or any changes that we want to make um this job description just post it as is.
>> I would post it as is. Uh it was reviewed numerous times upon the last fire chief's hire. >> Y uh we have a few different decent applicants for it that went through review. Um but I I would not waste any more time posting it. Just do it. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's Yeah, that sounds fine. When's the expected time table for posting everything? >> I'll get it posted um posting to the town clerk's office will be on Thursday.
So, >> good. All right, we'll get started. >> Awesome. And the letters will go out first thing tomorrow. >> Okay. Um, topic 10, approval of the warrant for
the state primary in September 2026. So, Do we Yeah. Do we have to discuss anything or just >> No, I'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve warrant for state primary in September 2026. >> Second. >> Uh motion made, motion seconded. All in
favor? >> I topic 11, first quarter commitment for water sewer bills. Um just a note that the um this will all be build at last year's rate, not this
new rate because the water was used while we still have the old rate approved and it would be >> wrong to bill at the higher rate when people were using at a rate they weren't afforded. So >> when does the higher rate start though? >> That will so it starts for use uh of July one. So in their second quarter
bills they'll get the higher rate. >> Yep. I will entertain a motion if there's no discussion >> to approve first quarter water sewer commitment as presented. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Uh motion made motion second. All in
favor? >> I right. We have some appointments and some resignations. So first would be the reappoint of our election workers which we have here.
>> Motion to reappoint election workers as presented. >> Second >> motion made motion second. All in favor. >> Um next is the appointment of Brian Nicholas to the deficit reduction committee. >> Move to appoint Brian Nicholas to the
deficit reduction committee. All in favor? >> I. >> And finally is the resignation of Holly Brandon from the disability commission. >> Motion to accept resignation of Holly Brennan from disability commission. >> Second motion made motion. Second. All
in favor. >> I send him a letter of thank you for his service. >> She did a lot. She did. >> We will be looking for someone to fill that. >> Yes. Uh topic 13
data center location policy Jake. >> Yeah. Um yeah I so I'll definitely give an abbreviated version of all this but uh essentially uh one of the projects
that I had was looking into some research on data centers. As I'm sure you all know this is a growing topic of conversation. Um, and so Andrew just wanted me to do some initial research just to get an understanding of what's going on, how it kind of connects the Hatfield, and maybe some best practices.
Um, so in short, um, what I would recommend for the town, which I'll go into details for, is considering regulation through some form of public benefit agreement if ever approached by a data center developer. This approach will allow Hatfield to leverage potential proposals in favor of the town
while also working with developers to consider community needs um and not just outright eliminating potential economic development opportunities. Um essentially data centers are you know physical homes of the internet with AI
and various other things that are going on. They're booming. Um as development has expanded, a lot of communities are pushing against these data centers uh for societal, environmental, economic reasons. Um primary concerns are around
environmental impact and utility cost increases. Um and so communities around across Massachusetts are reacting by implementing bans and um on these centers and the movement is also just
nationwide with more activist groups going around and slowing down or stopping these development and you know in a lot of ways residents are not wrong um to worry about these possible changes and costs to that would be brought to their community. Um,
in addition to that, when I was looking through and kind of digging deeper into this, you know, there are some benefits, you know, and so, for example, the Northern Virginia Technology Council um, released a paper where they've estimated
about $40 billion in total economic impact statewide for Virginia, over 100,000 jobs, $1.5 billion in tax revenue. looking at the county level. Um I took one county for example that hasn't had to increase their property
tax rate since 2016 because of added revenue from these centers. Um and yet you know the other layer to it as well is that you know the importance of good regulation can't be stressed enough because another countering article came out that actually Virginia
taxpayers have lost $1.6 6 billion in sales and tax revenue from data centers because of use tax exemptions, automated sales, and various other things that get kind of baked into these agreements. Um, so, uh, what I would say, you know, it's
therefore necessary for local government to leverage their position before accepting deals with these developers, making sure that Hatfield accepts a proposal that guarantees safety and prosperity of its residents. Um, and so the best way that I saw, and there's a
lot of ways that this can be done, but something that I really thought would be of interest, is using what's called this public benefit agreement, also known as community benefit agreement, so CBAs or PBAs. Um, and so essentially this ensures the developers align with local priorities. These are legally binding
agreements negotiated between a developer and a local government with meaningful representation and input from a coalition of residents that would be put together. Um PDAs can maximize community benefits and ensure the local localities aren't
holding the bag while data centers developers reap all the benefits. Um, so I recommend requiring that a PDA be created with Hatfield residents if and when a data center approaches the town. Um, and I'm not going to go into any of
the, you know, all the details here, but I have a full write up of kind of how that process would look. Um, kind of the the legal framing of how these agreements are organized. Um, but the bottom line is that these uh agreements are great ways for Hatfield to determine
what matters most to them, what to negotiate for, and then what leverage Hatfield has available. Um, I also have a chart where it kind of goes into based on from what I see of what uh data centers are looking for and then Hatfield's relative advantage or disadvantage in those areas. Just more
things that can be leveraged and brought to the table so that we're not kind of empty-handed or, you know, exposing cards without knowing. Um and then the last part is there's also many other avenues to go and so there's organizations like Energy Star that I found that will evaluate these data
centers to see their uh energy usage which can then um be baked into the requirements here of having only groups come in that are you know of a certain certain threshold of efficiency. Um also another thing inspired from California
state law uh essentially they have this uh commission called California public utilities commission that evaluates the environmental impact. I know um also in the local level Holio they recently just brought together a task force to determine the environmental impact of
these data centers. And so essentially having some type of requirement as well, you know, you can have these studies uh at the cost of the developer to go in and kind of better evaluate before they go in and just, you know, start changing uh the area. Um
and then also just watching other neighboring communities. Uh, Everett, Massachusetts is interesting where they recently developed um a new district which is around the data centers and so they have restrictions on their capacity
um their square feet um they have to get special permits and so it's all these just different regulations that can go about mitigating mitigating and controlling the impact that these data centers have on a community. And then the last thing I have in there, if we decide, you know, if and when this
situation comes up and we just want a blanket banning, it's pretty simple to do that as well. Using the Holio example, they did a simple process of defining what a data center center is, redefining certain other industry so that it wouldn't overlap and then just
omitting it. So >> the zoning code >> and they did that to the zoning code. So this contracts from the battery energy storage where we had to create a guideline because that we couldn't outright ban these we had outright. >> The state was looking for um battery
energy storage systems to be approved everywhere and when all we could do was limit um >> restrict the use. >> Yeah, some of the uses this you can ban polio just >> these can be fully banned. >> There's mortoriia that are going on across the state. There's there's all sorts of things that are happening. But I think Jake's, you know, suggestion is
rather than ban it, make it so that, you know, if someone made you a really good offer, then maybe you could have allowed for it. But otherwise, it has to be a really good offer. >> I think that's the bottom line. If >> I mean, >> yes, maybe in the future if there's if they come up with a way where they don't need to have an environmental impact and
drain out of water. But >> yeah, >> I totally get with the angle that you're looking at. I just don't think there's enough long-term data that's been out for a decade, two decades of what is that you especially since we are largely
operating off of wells and you know high groundwater tables. We don't know what that data center coming into town what the long-term draw down of that looks like not only for the town of Atom but also the impacts it has on the surrounding community as well. Yeah, I think we just saw the impact of building
a a small industrial business that actually is probably going to burn down financially. >> Yeah. >> Versus 247 noise and the cost of >> the planning board put in something on the battery service. Should this be
something that the planning board should be looking at also? I think it would probably be wise for them to at least define it as a use and and know whether it's allowed or not >> because we're just trying to do something in case it was to ever happen because there's no interest right now of
anybody wanted to come in to do a data storage >> right >> because we may not have enough of power here anyways >> but it might be it would be something good to have either >> in place >> right outlined or that's why I'm bringing up the plan
the future works on bylaws and stuff. >> I would make sure the planning board has this and I would not object to putting into motion policy the answer really. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean >> the bottom line for this is that's totally fine and you know I tried to
outline as the action for that as well. Um but at least all I'll say is you know have the step by steps there if there's ever a space where Hatfield wants to consider to find some mutually beneficial agreement for it. Um but yeah, I mean the decisions ultimately
>> I commend you for being proactive. >> Great. And this is the abbreviated one. I have a bigger fuller thing that >> said 100 million years. >> Jake kind of jumped over this, but this grid that he made I think is is important on here too in page. >> Kind of giving you an idea of what are
Yeah. Go ahead. You got >> No, no, no. Just what they're looking for is I think incredibly important. So then we know if it got to the point in some form of negotiation noting knowing what Hatfield has to offer, you know, and then knowing what can ask for and >> we're not at the top of the list. I
think >> definitely not. >> Tens of acres are available. >> Yeah, >> they're looking for hundreds, but 10. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. I'll take that. >> Yep. >> Um, moving on. Topic 14 is the town of
Hatfield guidelines on the best use of AI. >> This is another Jake pressure. >> Okay. >> Am I talking? >> Uh yeah, if you don't mind or >> Sure. I don't I got to pull it up. >> This is a draft. This is something for us to think about. Um
>> I don't um can you just before we get I mean I think we all know well anyone who's in an office in 2026 uh is fairly familiar with these tools and you know general is this just to help guide
town employees who might need to be like and if so might you need training beyond this because I know that I've had to sit through >> many many hours yeah I mean just and I if there's anything that you want to add and just you know feel free to jump in Andrew but
I think the bottom line with this is there definitely could be an expanded version of it is what you're saying, you know, training and kind of really getting to the nitty-gritty of what different use cases are. I'd say overall this guideline is supposed to just be kind of a general purpose a if you don't know what's going on,
here's what's going on, but then also what are the kind of highlevel important things that everyone should be aware of. One of the things that Andrew and I talked a lot about that just jumps to my mind is, you know, the confidential confidential confidentiality >> confidentiality. >> Yeah, there we go.
>> We got there. Easy. >> We got there. But you know making sure that people are aware that the uh information shared with these uh tools you know it's not like uh let's say a Google doc or something and how we need to be aware of uh the information that
we're sharing with them you know considering a different degree um with various other things um and so then and then there's also other use cases outlined here that can encourage people to test it out um but I think you know these tools are changing And it's
ultimately really just supposed to kind of give some guard rails and some ideas of where people can start to use it. But ultimately, it's going to come down to how interested people are in using AI and then also, you know, where it specifically helps them with their line of work. >> I think it's no secret that AI is being
used by just about everybody in some capacity or another, whether you even realize it or not. With predictive text that comes up >> when you're Google searching things is AI generated. the blurb that comes up at the top of the Google search that summarizes the first four or five
entries is is all AI generated and people are pulling a lot of data out of that. One thing I would like to see is uh if there is a confidentiality breach or information that is shared by an
employee using an AI tool rather than generating a document organically, what is the punishment, for lack of a better word for um I've read a couple reports from other companies where there's been some pretty
serious data breaches because of those types of things. And I think that especially given some of the situations in town that we're currently facing that if an AI tool was used to generate a report and there was a significant data or confidentiality breach um that there
should be some ramification out of the employee for that. >> Well, yeah. I mean I think and I don't know exactly where it is in this but you know I think one of the things that we in addressing that is at the end of the day it should be seen as a tool and
not just a production of content and so >> when one uses a tool you know if you write something and it autocorrects into a different word that's still your responsibility you know and so I think addressing the fact that just because these generative AI tools are producing the content you're still responsible for
what you're pushing out, what you're providing it. You know, >> I do think and like I find myself too when I'm drafting things that you know AI can auto, you know, change the formatting of things, you skim through it quickly. You were the one who typed
it, so you sometimes overlook that word that got changed and the email still gets sent, you know. Um, and I think that it's I agree that it is a tool and just like we need to, you know, change with the times and accept new tools that are available to our employees, I do
think that there needs to be a framework that does hold them accountable in some sense for what is then produced because if it produces uh, you know, physical harm to another employee in terms of a data breach or
something like that or uh, risks the town's legal positioning on something based off of negotiations or conversations that are had, then there needs to be a ramification for that. You know, not to turn it into a bluecollar example, but if you're running an excavator and you rip a water line out
of the ground, you're going to get fined for it, right? There's a there's a ramification for that. there's a a consequence and I don't think it should be any different with >> any and that's exactly what I was getting at where I think whatever the current ramifications punishment whatever it is you know whatever the
current things are you know it it's the same thing just you know >> I I very recently read the employee handbook uh for for this position um and I didn't see anything so and and I actually had the question
because when I was given my my Microsoft 360 login. I can get to co you can get to co-pilot but then I was like is this an enterprise license? Also, are there credits? >> Am I burning through the town? Is the town going to get a million dollar bill
for me like trying to look and research something through my town email like email address maybe. So I do think there needs to be a little bit like one level deeper if this is going to be added to like the town handbook just to make sure that we're because I don't from an IT
perspective I know we have our own IT person like there I have a lot I did have a lot of questions because I started going down that path and was like I got nervous myself. >> Yeah. >> I mean I think it is something that we are going to have to adopt at some point. So this is like a really good jumping off point. Um, I just think, you
know, diving into a couple of those little things that we just discussed briefly would be very beneficial. >> It's not like we have a limited credits now, probably. >> Yeah, I we'll have to to to figure out how our co-pilot access works like that. So, this was um heavily adapted from
Boston's guidelines. They passed these a few years ago. I think they they still are pretty strong. There's not a ton of other towns that have adopted them. Um, page three has what I think of as just the three principles that really, really matter. So, it's one, fact check. If you are using gender AI for anything, make
sure that you are fact-checking it. So, make sure that it's it's accurate. Number two, be transparent, disclose that you've used it. Uh, this, I think, should be the policy for anything that goes out to the public. If it's a report, if it's a social media post, if it's an email that that goes to, you
know, the public at large, I think you should be disclosing it. Um that's you know somewhat controversial to suppose people aren't disclosing it in their their daily lives but I think it's important as a public body because people are going to have questions you know both ways you know are you using AI u because that I have questions about the work but also they want to know are
you using AI because that's a good use of my taxpayer money if you're getting through things faster and you're using this tool. I think a lot of people like that. >> So just transparency in every way is important. Then number three >> is the biggest one. No sharing of sensitive or private informations. So, those are the three things I just want
everyone to know always uh for AI use. And then, you know, I'm interested in people trying it out, looking for ways that they can use it to improve their work. I've certainly used it. Jake's used it. I think it's a it's a helpful thing to have. Um just as long as you're doing those three things, I think we'll be in decent shape.
>> I really think AI policy is going to be a work in progress for years to come. And >> and and yes, we have to have something to put into HR policy. It has to be part of our HR policy. We still have to determine what we're going to put in. If
we start with those three things, maybe that's a good start. And then we also have to have something associated with if you abuse this, >> you know, what kind of punishment, but that's it's a work in progress. This is a AI is going to be constant now trying
to determine what to do and how to deal with violations or what's what's good, what's bad. It's it's going to be ongoing for I think for quite a while on on policy. >> Yeah, >> that's I don't know that this was
intended to be policy as much as guidelines. This is >> to be guidelines, but I I think the more you talk about this, the reference it. >> Thank you for that as well, Jake. >> Um, and by the way, this is Jake's last
meeting with us. So, it's uh he's done at the end of July, so I'll start doing work again, which is really a shame. Jake, >> he's had a great vacation. >> Take a vacation. No, Jake's been great. >> Thank you for putting up with us.
>> Yeah, it was easy to put up with you. This was great. >> So, you know, Jake's interest in being here this summer was to learn both more about local government and develop some real real world skills and also get a sense for Hatfield and the Biner Valley at large and see if there's a place where he wants to live his life. And he
I think it's gotten pretty good reviews as is local government somehow. So, I don't know what his taste is like, but uh but no, it's going very well. >> Yeah. Thank you. And in 20 years, somebody will say happy, I remember that. >> Yeah. Never forget our our tour around the town, you know.
>> There you go. >> Awesome. >> All right. Um, Marlo, DPW director report. >> Okay. Uh, I guess I'll start with my my projects update. Quite a bit has changed since I submitted this report Thursday. A lot of moving parts, a lot of projects
going on. Um, so 15 Elm Court is essentially complete. It's just waiting for a concrete apron outside the building. Um, and then of course inhouse DPW are going to dress the area up a little bit, but electrical is all set. It's in. We're just waiting for the uh
the the building to get energized. Uh we assisted in the digging the trench. The electric electrical is buried. Um so that that project's essentially complete. um potentially within the next week. It's just a matter of when the uh concrete company can come back. Uh
Apparatus Bay roof, I haven't had much response from the the low quote, low bidder. Um I know they're very very busy, so right now I'm still waiting for a start date. I just assume wait till fall now. Anyways, um School Street
Park, uh the build crew, if you will, was supposed to arrive Wednesday. They arrived this morning. uh got word late yesterday, unloaded all their equipment, got set up to start um drilling the holes for for setting the um the peers for the new equipment and started
pouring. So, they didn't want to pour cement, so they called it a day, but everything's over here ready to go. Uh they expect to pour and build Thursday, Friday, and be done on potentially on Monday. They should be done on Monday.
Uh our wood chips are being delivered uh Monday also. Uh, and the DPW will be installing the wood chips uh for the final piece. Uh, just for everybody's knowledge, we got the whole area coned off in front of the park because there's
a large dump trailer coming in with the wood chips and we wanted them close to the job. Um, Hatfield Elementary School boilers. Um, they haven't been fired yet. Obviously, it's been too hot. We're scheduled somewhere. I'm waiting to hear back from
Adam's Plumbing early early August is probably going to be the fire point for that because now we got the paving going on and everything else. I had to push that out. The elementary school roof I found out this afternoon. Um they will be there will be finished tomorrow with the
project. Um so um we've had a few little hiccups, but we're working on them. Um we had a a situation a couple weeks ago for full transparency. um the plumbers that which was a sub to the roofing company for the roof drains pulled a
bunch of drains, two or three drains off and they got caught in a rainstorm at the end of late in the day. Um so there was some water that got on the gym floor. Um it was cleaned up the next morning they approached the custodian. Uh about a week went by and we started
having some boards starting to cup cup a little bit in the gym. >> Edges were raised. I mean, not cupped like, you know, coming right out out of the rest of the floor. So, there's three separate areas. And it just so happened that morning, uh, it was due, um, the flooring company was due to come in to
put another coat of sealer on it because they were all redone last year. Um, I've been looking at it more and more and I I think that they're starting to lay down a little bit and we had a meeting today with the flooring company and the the um, roofing company. Um,
the guy's been in business a real long time and done a lot of hardwood. He he feel he feels in his opinion that these things are going to lay back down, but they're going to it's going to take some time. Uh, and the the the gym floor is usable as is. So, like I said, the cupping isn't bad. Uh, but we got to
give it the time give it some time until we start using heat in the building and whatever. He's thinking October, November, we take another look at it. There is still moisture under there and really to get at it they can't really remove boards or anything that nothing will match putting back together. So
>> what do you mean before using the heat? Why does that saying that once the heat goes on that actually help? >> It'll it'll help dry out. Okay. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Yeah. We've been in heat all summer. I know that was I I said that wrong. Um,
but to be transparent that that um that's kind of an ongoing thing and we'll we'll have an agreement uh Andrew and I will work with the consultant firm and the roofing company to make sure we're covered going forward. Um worst case scenario to have to be completely
sanded, repainted, and resealed. Worst case scenario. So, uh we'll we'll responsibility of the contractor all so and we'll have that in writing. But, um, it's just kind of the waiting game right now to see if things lay down a
little bit and we'll be okay with those boards. Um, so, uh, school's paving. Uh, we're moving right along. Um, the latest update, I sent an email and I I did start including the board in the latest email. I think there's 36 people folks
in that now, contacts. Um, we closed off the upper parking lot, the Smith Academy today. um the the uh paving contractor wants to come in and to start the fine grading and they want to potentially put the binder down,
meaning the the bottom course of the black top on Friday and potentially the top on Monday. So, uh that's moving right along. Uh but again, weather dependent. We not we're not sure what's going to happen with the weather tomorrow for the fine grading and whatnot. Um HS uh that's moving
right along. that was a little bit more of a challenge for the for the milling all the ins and outs and parking stalls and whatnot. Uh the only thing that's left is one very I think six parking stalls uh in Billings Way the full length of Billings Way. So tomorrow
Billings way will be closed for the for pretty much the full day. Um that's what I put out in the email. Um you never know what they can run into a minor breakdown, lose a few hours or whatever. Um, so the paving schedule for for the
elementary school is is to to be determined moving forward depending on the weather. So, um, but on days we pave, um, there'll probably be no access, especially on the Billings Road section. And I just want to say you guys have done such a good job not only
communicating internally with all the different people and schools and camps and everything but also with the community posting it and like sharing getting that message out to the town. I think >> well it's important part important part of any project espec especially a high
impact project like this you know >> every email I had oh can you please add this person they they reply only to me next you know it's growing and growing which is good because everybody's getting the information so >> are you I'm just curious are you guys leaving the library at the same time?
>> Uh no no that's in pretty good shape. We're going to go straight straight by it. Um, and then also the farm museum is looks like fairly new pavement in front of that. So, uh, I think we're in pretty good shape. >> Um, and also the the line striping will
be done on both schools before school reopens. We're going to make sure everything comes comes into code from what was there and so on and so forth. Um, grants, the unpaid roads grant, uh, Luke brought that up in the opening
comments. Um, you have a a a contract from Mass EOT that to to view. Um, and Andrew, correct me if I'm wrong, but the the board needs to take a vote to accept that. >> Yes. >> So, that's why we provided this. Um, we're waiting for the final copy back
from Mass DOT. Um, but I wanted to bring it to your attention obviously. Um, and then also to get the vote to accept it. Um, we can do that after. Right now, >> it's up to you. >> Yeah, >> I'll entertain a motion. >> A motion to approve gravel grants grant
in the amount of $670,440. >> Doesn't matter if gravel roads grant. >> Yeah. >> Second. >> Motion made. Motion second. All in favor? >> I >> Okay, thank you. Um, now the the real
work begins on that project, preparing it. Um, and and just in in case the public asked, we have until December of 2027 to complete that project. I'm guessing by the time we put a scope together, procure it and everything
going into fall. I wouldn't want to have that an incomplete project for the winter. Um potentially I I got to talk with Andrew, but potentially bidding that out this winter going into spring for best pricing too. That would help us. Great. >> Um and do it next construction season
>> project for someone in the spring. >> Yeah. Well, your larger contractors, most contractors are developing their schedule um after January going into March, April. So, uh you bid in the middle of the summer, more than likely you're not going to get good pricing because their schedules are set. So,
um, vehicles, I did get an update. The our new hook truck, uh, it's been on order for well, 13 months now. Uh, it's due to be delivered this week. We're just waiting for the word. It was it was held up in the paint shop for paint chips and coating and all that. So, uh,
we expect to see it this week. Um, and the over the guardrail mower, which was ordered at the same time, we're expecting delivery uh, late July. Um, and the company we purchased it from, it was part of the pricing. They're going to retrofit it to our our loader. They're going to get the loader down
there and have it retrofitted. Um, so a couple things they didn't have on here. The chapter 90 paving, we put that together. Um, superintendent Mi put together the list. Um, I can send
it to you all, but Cronin Hill is is a Milanville, King Street, Milanville, Maple Street down to Maine, a Millanfill. Uh, to complete that road from Elm down. Um, currently our Chapter
90 balance is $583,746.77. We also have an additional 87,869 in there for fair shares, which can be used for the roads also. So that brings it to 6 67116. Uh the current project uh that that
Dwayne put in for uh is 423 34930. Um so we're waiting to hear back on the project request. The the other good news about chapter 90 is I'm hearing that we're potentially going to get another 132,000 for fair share. Just haven't
received it yet to add to that. >> Kind of the murmurings that I was hearing today too. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, but that we've got to use that that um that 80 87,000 up because that was last year's aotment. Um so, um we want them to keep sharing
money with us that we've been behind for years. So, we want to use it problem. >> Well, no, we're going to use it on the paving program this year and then also to go to go along with chapter 90. Um Dwayne's getting uh the the line painting company lined up because that
was just bid out through the fur too to get our center lines and edge lines done on the roads. Um >> is there any opportunity for efficiency combining with the work that's being probably done from a time perspective >> which which work >> the paving work that's already being
done out and then like the lines you said would be done before school. >> So parking lots are separate. They don't fall under chapter 90. Yeah, that was a whole separate bid I did. >> Yeah, Billings Way could, but that's not I don't believe that's line. It's too narrow. >> All right, never mind.
>> So, no, that's good question. >> Um, our summer help is is moving right along on crosswalks and uh stop bars, freshening them up out there. I don't know if you seen them out there, but they're moving right along. Um, it was funny the Maple Street Bridge came up tonight. I received a report from Mass
D. Um, and Luke, I'll look into this, but it says that it's a townowned bridge, the Maple Street Bridge, right where Elm meets Maple. >> Okay. >> Uh, but I'll I'll double check, but I did get a report on that and that that needs some work coming up. And in fact,
the the sidewalks that the the gentleman from uh the presentation tonight, it was showed up in the the bridge report, too. So, I was going to save that till next month, but since it was brought up tonight, I figured I would let you know I received that. Um, that's about it on
my projects report. Um, if you have any questions, >> a statement, you're doing a wonderful job and I really appreciate everything you're doing to keep on track of this and supportable. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's uh I'm starting to lose
track of uh, you know, other things I wanted to work on because we got a real hard focus on these larger projects and we want to make sure you know they're done right. Yeah. Yeah. Um so the other part of the um report
tonight is an update on the asset management plan uh grants. So I went to a meeting oh last Tuesday an online meeting with for an update on the very packet you were given from DPC.
Uh we received three grants sewer, storm water and drinking water uh for asset management. Um, so I can give you a real high level and Andrew can jump in where he'd like, but so there was a deadline on on completing the asset management
plans and and they're coming due. So um, having a public discussion on on this tonight and having the material will help close out the water portion, the water uh, uh, grant which clo which the deadline is closest to us. So
>> that deadline is before your next board meeting, but right we'll give the update tonight. It'll allow them close to grant at the next meeting. We'll have a thorough presentation from DPC engineering all about uh everything they found and you know their high level findings are in this packet for you here. But they'll give you
>> room for questions >> big monitors. >> Oh man, that's great. >> Yeah, we'll see. Well, I think the big takeaway here is is uh coming up to speed with having everything in GIS and whatnot, all our infrastructure. Um, and I think they did a really good
job on the storm water because storm water was kind of like the missing piece. Uh, water and sewer is so regulated, you kind of know where your infrastructure is. You know what it's about. Um, so on and so forth. the uh drainage and storm water. It was a
little a miss, but they did a good job of finding everything they could find. Um, and again, what these included was for a sewer and whatnot inspecting in manholes, uh, so on and so forth, trying to get age of pipe, size of pipe. Um, an
asset management plan is a very good tool for myself uh as the DPW director when I'm formulating capital, formulating the future of our water system, sewer system, um, so on and so forth. It gives you a really good guide
um, where to go first after these inspections are done and so on and so forth. And, you know, we talked about water and sewer rates last week. you know, what's what what's the best way to tackle this thing going forward and and controlling our water and sewer rates too. It assists in everything water,
sewer, storm water. Um, it's a very very useful tool. Um, so if there's any real direct questions, um, >> we'll get the full presentation next time, but this this counts as a good
high level. question. >> We can wait for >> um all right report. >> Yeah, I'll keep it very brief just packed enough agenda tonight. So, I just had two quick announcements. Um, and I looked through last month basically
everything else I update you on. You've already heard from me on what's going on there. So, um, we were awarded today a uh, hazard mitigation plan uh, grant. Uh, this is from the state, $30,000 that will be able to use to update our hazard mitigation plan. This is a state
requirement. Has to be updated every 5 years. Um, a lot of overlap with some of the other plans we do around emergency management and other things, but uh, particularly helpful when we think about flooding and other issues. And part of it actually is uh doing a thorough um understanding of our assets and what is
in the flood plane. So I think that'll be a useful thing for us to do and work on um and can help us think about you know next steps for uh strength of the town there. So we'll work with PBPC on that. They're well aware of where our challenges are. So they should be great to work with there and get that plan
updated. Other item is um last uh meeting I talked a little bit about a potential fall festival. That was an idea of the OPO community and others. Uh there'll be a planning meeting for that on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Uh if anyone wants to come, it's open to the public to help us start thinking about what
this is and what it is not and and what's reasonable to plan in two months because the idea is we're going to do everything we can to make uh this happen on September 26th, um the end of September. It's a Saturday. Um, so it might be a smaller version this year and
and try to build for a future larger festival, but I think uh there's a lot we still be able to do. We've already had a lot of folks say they want to help, they want to volunteer. So really exciting. So if you're interested, Monday right here at town hall 5:30 p.m. I'm talking as if it's on live TV. It's not, but but uh this will still be
posted online and and uh people watch. So looking forward to seeing folks there. >> Andrew, I would say one if we could just reach out to the original comprehensive plan committee crew. there's probably a lot of people who even though they don't have the time to invest in that board
still care and would like to be included and part of it. Yep. >> Um, and then second, it might be a good idea to create just a temporary like event like a Facebook, I don't know, some sort of social figure out, I don't know what the right answer is. figure
out some sort of social media place that we can advertise for it, but also get people to know that we're having these meetings and kind of follow along what's like, oh, this board will be there presenting or whatever. We can start using it as a
way to >> I'll check in with you on Facebook. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. >> Okay, cool. That's all I got. All right. With that, I will make a motion to go into executive session with special counsel pursuant to general law chapter
30A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy respect of potential litigation arising from the Route 5 infrastructure project and pursuant to general law chapter 30A section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or
special law or federal grant and aid requirements. specifically the public records law general law chapter 4 section 726 discuss privilege communication from special counsel as well as a motion to go into executive session pursuant to
general law chapter 3A section 21 A2 to discuss strategy discuss strategy for negotiations with non-UN personnel for the fire chief and the director of public works and we will not be returning law street I Second
that I >> All right. >> Thank you all very much. >> Thanks Jay. Concludes our meeting.