okay um good evening Hatfield welcome to the February 11th 2025 meeting of the Hatfield select board um I'm going to um call the meeting to order and as usual I'll open by reading our public participation policy 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 lack executive sessions are closed to the public 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 members of the community and
conducting the required business of the Hatfield select board so for announcements I know Ed you mentioned you had are you ready are you good to do an announcement right now you said you have an announcement no I didn't I I don't have an announcement I'm sorry oh okay I just I don't know I
forgot if we recognized the passing of Adam Bonas who was on the department and we should yeah let's let's uh go ahead we're we're with much regret Adam bonus passed away he was a on the fire department for many a years and served
this town in many capacities and his passing will be uh sadly missed a farmer who's a farmer and a and a really really great guy yeah yeah may his memory be a blessing yes and so our our um
sympathies to his family um also many of whom were involved in town thing so um okay so we do you don't you do not have any I don't think I do either have any other announcements but um I'm going to turn it over to Andrew for two bits of good news sure yep these are two
Grant announcements um these are both lower lift grants from us but one of which uh came from uh fire department this is the Massachusetts Department fire Services Grants they do these grants each year for um equipment uh it can be used for uh reimbursement for
fire departments for purchase of essential firefighter turnout gear such as hoses nozzles and Communications equipment as well um hand tools uh and Hatfield receiving $110,100 through that um and uh it's reimbursable so we'll be
able to use it for any gear that's already been purchased or is planning on being purchased so that'll be good um I think we typically uh know that those are coming each year but fire chief is still happy to receive it and we thank him for making sure that that happened yeah he's Bob is really good about um
pursuing grant opportunities so congrats to the fire department and the other Grant is the chief sorry thanks to the chief that's all excellent the other Grant is through the um Massachusetts Broadband Institute um which um made
these large grants really directly to um service providers this was directly to Cable uh to Comcast cable communications management um but it's to expand access in communities across the state and Hatfield is one of the communities that
that they will be uh planning on serving um so we're we'll wait to hear more from our Comcast rep about if there's anything that that comes on on us to to make sure that happens but uh we are one of the communities that they'll be be helping and uh I know that that would have uh required a letter of support
from us to to make that happen so uh great to see that uh were're part of the award EES also good news thank you so much Andrew and thank you to Comcast and John I don't know did you have any involvement in that no okay well I would have thanked you I would
have thanked you if you did but um okay is anyone here for public forum no um so we'll go ahead and move right to our consent agenda which is the approval of the January 28th 2025 minutes I'll make a motion to approve of
the January 28th 2025 minute second a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I topic one is um we are joined by some members of our local cultural Council thank you for being here um um to talk about
concerts coming up in the summer because it's a great time to think about summer right I think we're all missing summer a little bit these days so if you could just introduce yourselves and then is it best to talk into the microph it'll you up it'll pick you up right John yeah I'm
dor major and I've been on the Hatfield cultural Council for three years my name is Betty snow and I recently joined the cultural Council uh last year well welcome to both of you and thanks for
serving in that capacity uh I've known Betty for about 20 plus years and when she moved to Hatfield I was delighted and it was so wonderful to hear her say yes to be part of the cultural Council excellent yeah um I'm here to give three uh two
dates um that are on the calendar the Hatfield calendar for concerts to happen at the Smith Academy Park and I wanted to say that um it's a pleasure being on the council because we uh fund events with the Council on Aging
and the Hatfield Library which includes the summer camp program so we fund wonderful events for um the constituents of the library and and um Council on Aging and recently was able to say yes to a Grant application from the
Historical Society so we're excited about that the concert that we're one concert that we're talking about is for the Boomers because it's really fun to um see the community come out this was done this concert was done in
2023 and it had a tremendous I mean I can't even believe the turnout it was so lovely and I brought a photo because because I don't know if anybody's seen this many people sitting in the park for one concert this
was taken here yes in 2023 oh yeah the concerts are so great here they're so great so um they played in 2023 I was there you were there and anyway as I was coming here a neighbor of mine that lives at Kon said oh they're coming back I'm so
excited she said my neighbor who doesn't come out for anything came out for that concert so I realized wow we're reaching an audience so what is it called so the band is called Harvest and rust this is the um promo material for the upcoming
2025 again okay so I print oh so it's Friday July 11th um at 7 and and there so it's a Neil Young tribute band nice I actually saw the real Neil Young one all right yeah um so
that's really that's Great Harvest and rust okay and I assume this will be promoted in various ways as it gets closer like on social media on the you know absolutely that's why the turnout was so great in 2023 because it was well
promoted both Lo locally and I don't know their Facebook page and um the calendar the town calendar then Town Town Facebook so um regarding that the question I need answered at some point is what kind of power is available to
the band for that concert um last time the Pavilion was not up and they brought in a generator so whatever power questions I have I need to be directed okaylet out there there's Outlets
there's power out there okay so just I mean I know there's been a lot of concerts so there's got to be is there something technical about what kind of power is out there for them that I could share I 110 a regular household receptical
power just like you have here these receptacles here it's 110 volts and how many are out there uh there's a few I don't know exact location but there's get that information we'll coordinate getting that information for you and how
should I follow up with you directly okay great um so the other question about the concert is restroom and um last time we um paid for a
um detail from the fire department to allow people to get into the restroom now I got in touch with our Treasurer but I don't have an answer if the Hatfield cultural Council has a budget to be able to pay for that because the mass cultural Council doesn't include
outside of the performers and the um applicant so is there a budget somewhere to tap into to be able to allow a restroom to be used when the Smith Academy Park is no being used
oh but that's the fire station right the fire fire station has done that in the past yeah um I mean I think we'd have to consult with some various department heads to see uh but it's not it's it is not something we typically just cover the finances for because there's a lot
of things that happen in the park so we can't absor you know so it's been you know it's been something that's been a bit of a stumbling block for us I imagine with the celebration committee also and I just got the contact person so I'm going to ask them what they do because they have concerts May through
September um and did you check with them Porter parties they bring in some Porter parties for the concerts so that's yeah that was going to be more expensive than actually paying for the detail at the fire department uh is what we I mean if you if you use like Town Hall we'd have
to have a city in to make sure everything got cleaned up and you got that many people it would be could be a mess you know I mean uh porter potties is one it's also quite a walk yeah from you know honestly from there to go up
around because you have to come to this side of the building yeah the fire station worked out beautifully so hopefully the treasur of the culture culture Council was say actually there is this account cuz we talked about opening a new account and May and soliciting uh donations so it's a little
something that needs to um I think it has been a paid there's been somebody in the fire station that was paid to to be there yeah the detail I think it worked out to like $75 so it was very reasonable and I said I'll pay for it if we don't have the budget but it ended up actually being covered so I have to
figure out how to do that again but twice you could help put her with Bob here's the second concert oh that we um funded for oh this one so this is actually first on June 28th yeah I was
so excited about so this is the New England Swing Orchestra which is the concert of big band swing 10piece group um featuring vocal brass read and Rhythm sections that's Saturday June 28th from 6 to 8 p.m. that's so nice that sounds
great yeah that sounds great too the fellow who got in touch with me had been he participated in the bad news blues that has performed there so anyway people come back and so have you cleared these dates with the celebration committee that they they aren't also
planning there's no conflict with the dates the celebration committee's um MO is to have a concert the third Friday from May until September okay so so that neither of those would be yeah
there's no conflict there and our dates are now on the town calendar I now have the current communication person for the celebration committee so I'm going to get in touch with them and ask some questions and let them know what we're doing too another nice thing that has happened on the concerts is some of our
restaurants have provided like little packages for people going to the concert like a little pickup of sandwiches or something like that so you could contact like Fish Tales or spian and see if if they're interested in sponsoring away or
or just providing something for concert goers so they have some food it's not provided for them but what they do is they they on that evening they'll have special things you can order I think you have to pre-order them but they put it out that if you're going to the concert
you can order you know like a some type of what am I trying to say it's not a picnic yeah like a box like a to-go box that you can take over to the concert it's really great uh you know wait way to um but that brings up the problem of
who picks up the trash you know that's always who cleans the what did we do I think I brought over pales last time and uh the cultural Council took responsibility for cleaning up trash and there really wasn't any but um it was an
agreement that we had made I would talk to the Celebration committee about what they do for their concerts for trash because I know they make Provisions for that yeah and they doing it over and over again yeah good all good idea let me write that down um last time I actually had talked to ice cream
emergency about bringing their big red truck and she said I'll see I'll see I'll see and it finally just sort of fell through but that is a great idea I know I love ice cream emergency have you been to that no I haven't been yet it's great many times at different functions
and it it's like a emergency vehicle and it says it's painted up almost like like an ambulance and you walk through and you can order whatever whatever it might be just scooped ice cream it might be Sundays whatever they I think it depends on what you order and they wear like
Scrubs and everything and they serve you the ice cream and they're based in Hatfield that's great yeah they're based right here in Hatfield I mean of course we couldn't say yes we'll cover $800 worth of ice cream feed like we couldn't do it that way it was more like a retail situation so she wasn't that excited but do you think I should reach out to her
again why not okay all right so I think it's always worth it I mean Friday Saturday nights might be kind of busy for them but I would reach out and ask because people would just pay right they would buy their own ice cream yeah it's a little off the menu of what she does
she'd prefer to like be prepaid yeah and usually like you're you have them there for an event where you pay yeah okay anything else any other ideas to make this great no but if you do get them I would promote that they're going to be
there so people know so people you know know to bring money or whatever I'm hungry yes ice cream good well that's everything I have all right okay how nice cool how nice another reason to look forward to Summer great thanks for
your time and thanks for the um everything it takes to be on this committee oh thanks than thanks for doing that thanks thanks to you too thank you we have new members so it's really a nice time for the cultural Council um because I will be ending my term so it was a pleasure to have Betty
be able to see this process excellent cool excellent thank you very much okay our next topic is we're going to review a couple of um budget presentations we're going to ask um Mickey to come up first from the historical
commission and so let's see we do have your submission um [Music] which for the most part is is the same is the same except
one big difference exactly right yep um would you like me to go through there are only eight line items and I just I guess I should say to the public that um we're requesting uh total of uh 20 2,350 it's the same uh from the 25 budget that was
approved um and it's kind of just for nitty-gritty things um electricity for the Farm Museum uh the Farm Museum some Farm Museum repairs um equipment maintenance vehicles of that sort for there some tech services and then uh professional development we support
actually a lot of these are we're supporting the society so they can go on a conf one of those that big one is a is a conference that Meg likes to go to um and then some software licensing and the good old admin and office supplies for
$100 so those are the oh I missed one sorry dues in membership is $100 so the conference it who goes to the conference we support the society to go to I can't remember the name of the specific
conference there also was a time um when I first joined that a member from the commission attended uh conference in Boston for Mass historical so we'd like to have it in the budget because it it it's it's used it's an instate conference yes absolutely yeah there's
no lodging this is somebody driving you know to field the memorial or or of Boston okay yeah um but then there is another significant request yes uh and it's easy to explain because I think everybody
here has has a knowledge of eBay and what that entails as well as other uh even Facebook Marketplace which shockingly some artifacts pop up in the face book Marketplace that you'd never believe would would end up there um and we're requesting for $4,000
um for what we're calling an artifact artifact acquisition fee or fund and that would be an opportunity in these fast moving times whether it was something identified by the commission or the society to move on a very
important artifact that the town should have and bring to the collection um the most profound example I can think of is an opportunity that could have Miss cuz you know we just adopted this quite extraordinary trunk that had had hadly
chest um it's in it's it's truly one of our most remarkable pieces and kept under lock and key and very very secure uh by the society uh thankfully so um but the story for people that don't know is that it's a 1694 chest it's rare one
of the few that EX in is in existence and it was given by Richard Morton to his son Abraham as a wedding gift um it langu PED in somebody's basement for 15 years in North Carolina um probably descended from Morton's and then Kelloggs and then it ended up in their
in their Cellar they were moving to Florida and as I understand it um the Irvin they were moving to Florida and we emptying and and and and oh what do we do with this trunk and then thankfully Paul Irvin decided to do some research
and lo and behold it's a 330 year chest that was is from Hatfield madeen Hadley I don't know think people have put together getting a little off topic but I like this stuff I don't think people have put together who built it but they're working on that anyway if
that wasn't donated graciously that actually drove up from from the Carolinas and donated that we may have been a POS in a position where they might have wanted money for it and there was there's no money for that kind of acquisition and they could it could have been sold privately which is probably
what it would have H what would have happened um there's a good representation of these chess also up in Deerfield in their Museum but we'd like the opportunity to vote as a commission to ascend a certain piece to buy a certain
piece and we have a cap it's not as if there's a blank checkbook and we see something for $28,000 and it's a silver spoon we're putting that in the collection this would be agreed upon by the commission we have an sessions commission uh sorry committee made up of one member from each the commission society and they would decide on if this
is something we should purchase or not and this could be done quickly and efficiently without losing the opportunity um and I actually jumped on eBay this afternoon to see if there's anything because I do that sometimes and there are a couple very interesting pieces there's actually a an envelope
um that um was from a Dr Kaufman from the Shanghai ghetto um Jewish ghetto during World War II and it was a letter written to Bernard swii on Elm
Street and what a connection like that's just that's just kind of cool and great history to know like beyond that I don't know what the letter said I don't know anything else but that's on eBay for $250 so if the society had an interest or if they wanted to you know bolster their
certain artifact I don't know genre is a is a word that pop in my mind then I think that's that's what we should be doing and in this day when things are on the internet I think it's important to have this fund there's nothing like it in town we don't have an opportunity aside
from from an individual going and writing a personal check um or or you know PayPal we don't have an opportunity to acquire these things and the last thing I'll say is we are also taking things out as to as two entities working
together the commission and the society we are taking items out of the collection that are I think Megan speak spoken to this very well that are redundant or kind of obsolete or maybe not so historical what are you do with that
stuff that's a society question actually don't know so right now the society owns all the everything no no no no no the the town owns everything the town owns the collection right the commission oversees
the collection the society does all the great and fun stuff with the collection but you're giving stuff on by the town to the society no no no the society never owns a collection but the Redundant stuff that we have a we have a an agreement
there who has an agreement the the commission the society on how these things are handled what take what's taken out of the the the art but you make a good point if it is Town property right yeah yes and as the committee the I'm sorry the historical
commission charged by you and Massachusetts we we have to make decision decisions on some things but we are guided also by the society in other words we work together to determine what what but there's still a procedure for disposing of town owned things
yeah I don't know if the word disposed is even a thing if you make decision it's no longer Town property is that that the argument that don't they don't they don't think it needs to be part of the collection for a couple of different reasons it could be deemed that like I
get it yeah the one example I can think of is they had four or five programs the same program from something that happened in in like the 30s so Apple they decided they shouldn't keep they kept the best one the best conditioned one and then I don't know what happened to the others but there's a there's this
is very very common all towns and municipalities do this all the time it's impossible to to keep it's impossible to to take everything in over the years especially if previous entities just took everything and that was for my
understanding that was what did happen during a certain stretch of years everything was just taken in which is part of the reason is John here no um part of the reason why the barn was chock full of stuff um and had to be you know coordinated and cleaned and and and
taken care of properly but do you get what I'm saying I do I just don't have the answer it is you know we like we if if Chief flarity decides he doesn't need certain things or the police chief or they you don't
just there kind of a procedure right for getting rid of things I think the procedure yeah I think the procedure quite honestly is a is a everybody we have a discussion and there's a there's a it's more what happens after you
decide where it goes like that's my it's not how you decide it's after you decide I thought you said procedure so that's a procedure but other than the procedure to to where it goes after you make the decision that's kind of because it is some type of artifact if it's in our
possession yeah and I don't have the answer to that I mean if you guys decide you don't want an item in the collection anymore then after you determine that whichever that is then the town has a process to remove that item there's a we
have to actually vote on it and and there's a process you just can't take a piece of property from the town and say we don't want it anymore and oh somebody else will take it or whatever you just don't that is actually what you guys signed with the agreement that's in the
agreement the sessions commission and the de assessing of artifacts and who does that and why and that was signed by the select board that you we're not talking about the decision process to decide that this cup is no longer Worthy being in the collection for whatever
it's you make that decision then where does the cup go you it's t it is Town property yeah no I I agree with that follow the same Surplus process and maybe something that needs to be added to the agreement then and then and then signed by everybody because that that was not part of the agreement and I
don't think it was kind of it wasn't brought up when we were having the discussions on how to handle the DS I mean part of my so getting back so we do need to look into that you know because y I mean some things are small like a program from something and you know they
might be of significance to other people but then you could have a piece of furniture you could have something like that that was also an piece of redundant farm equipment or something so could be larger pieces okay yeah once the department determines they don't want
something then it becomes a surplus item and then there's a process that the town goes through in order to remove it or get rid of it and I'm not sure if there's an exemption of that for historical artifacts of which there's duplicates anything else but that's something it's almost more it's almost more concerning where
it goes afterwards because it has historical significance than if it's like a you know an old chainsaw that DPW doesn't want anymore yeah do you know what I mean do get we need to know where things go let uh let's clean that up and
tie tie that off and um but on the on the $4,000 um I mean I I totally understand and you've given some good examples of of why you're coming I guess I have a couple of concerns that we don't really have budgets that have just sort of this open-ended we don't really know what the
money is going to be for kind of line in them and the other problem is if anything our problem has been the collection's too large so I'm I'm I'm not sure what to do about this I mean I think it's a good conversation to have with the full budget team but that's
just my you know some of my concerns with it and just that we you know how do you know it's authentic when you see it on eBay like there's a lot of things that come into question with that for me it could actually be something that's also in a local antique store I I inherited by almost accident my family
bible somebody contacted me from from Connecticut and there was the Sanderson Family Bible my families and I had to pay 150 bucks for it but I was I'm very happy to do so so these are the things that can happen um I think that it's important to know that if if the money is not spent it's just not
spent and we we'd ask for it again next year um so just just trying to cover all bases especially in these times when people are using these online platforms auction platforms you know when somebody
from Minnesota who finds something and on B's adct that says Hatfield on it doesn't care about really contacting Hatfield they're going to put it on and see how much money they can get so I'm just trying to protect something that and it's it's unlikely but I'm trying to or we are trying to build something that
there kind of a safety net for something really important and that's why I mentioned the trunk um the Hadley chest rather I I mean we we've had committees come in front of us before and and want money just in case and it sort of said
we just can't do it because I mean we can talk to the finance committee but it's like if all the Departments come up and say we want money on the side just just if then I mean I think there's a budgetary concerned with that too it's
just I I understand your intent I understand what you want to do I think it's fantastic but I I think we have to check with Finance on if we can actually right take money put it on the side just for an if I mean I mean right when we're
we're asking other departments to really absolutely nickel and dime down to you know I mean it just seems it it would be just a it would be completely different I agree it's completely different but it's it's a it's kind of a we have a different mission in a way though than a
lot of and we we understand the mission I think you've made a good case for this I'm just saying it's first of all it's a lot of money that we we we're g to have to struggle to find because we you know this is not the best budget year but fair enough um and it's you
know it's also I guess it's also strange to have Town Money be able to be used for something that's really so sub Ive right because what might be you know something you think is extremely valuable to the collection someone else might not think is worth that to the
collection you know it's very sub I mean it sounds like you've got two people who would coordinate on it but it's I yeah and and truly you'd have to the town would have to trust the experts and I'm not saying that's me I like houses um you know I'm into the the
historic fabric of the community the Landscapes the architecture things like that we have Specialists um we have people that really know their stuff in town and yeah there would have to be kind of some faith and some trust given to some of those decision makers that's true but the bottom line is it's a
taxpayers money so it is taxpayer L and I don't think there's been any time where if a department wants to purchase something and we brought it in front of town meeting it the town decides whether they want to pay for it or not I mean I I don't know if there can be any kind of
fund set up so that if you see an opportunity where we can just purch it without having any kind of Prior approval by the taxpayers that pay the bills okay that's that's the bill that's the other thing is the you
know um yeah okay any other questions on that I know you're looking to be more Nimble than waiting for town meeting to purchase a an envelope I understand the processes and but I and I would understand actually if this wasn't approved for the reasons you're stating
I'm just trying to find some way to make it work just in case something happens so we don't have regret we don't have remorse about you know something that could have been added that's quite wonderful understood all right yeah thank you for
your time thank you good night thank you next up is our building inspector Kyle welcome how's it going good you it's going good so we'll give you the floor to sort
of run through um these line items so um basically you have the salaries on the first page uh there's not a lot to this budget it's pretty much the same as it is every year um
salaries have changed a little bit um just due to contract my contract changed last year and um adding on the other inspectors for the current year so okay
so what it what what does I mean I understand yours is contractual but the other inspectors there is a slight increase yeah is that a is that that you added a cola or is that there's extra extra things that are going to be happening with the amount of commercial
inspections that we've got so it's very slight that um they would have extra inspections hasn't increase much at all that's what you're projecting it's so it's just more work more work okay it's more work um pickle ball for instance
that's a lot of uh right lot of inspections over there uh which we took in large fees for so it should offset with the budgets but uh then on the second page um we have a line item uh for
$5,400 in 2025 that's for the online permitting uh subscription fee uh so that's the annual contract amount and um that's not that's not fluffed up at all that's the actual
amount so that goes up almost 10% a year it looks like yeah yeah okay how's the online stuff going pretty much levels off how's the online stuff going oh it's awesome it's awesome people love it yeah and it what it does too is it cuts down
all your document retention and paperwork right so you instead of having massive ruls of plans that pickle ball is all on a little symbol like a paper clip uh that big building and you just click the clip and you can see multiple
pages of documents oh nice engineering reports on its construction every time I get an engineering report on the concrete you know the the test reports said I have uh Lori scan them in so that's all one document so if they ever
want to check their file it's all right there and it's all that's all on like backed up on the server or we're using the cloud how are we doing that using the cloud all through a platform yeah yeah yeah so that's all just great retention of some massive documents that would I mean still fairly reason less
than $6,000 a year take up a filing cabinet you know so um then the rest are just the small normal items the office supplies with no no increases flat year after year so that's
it that sounds good any um what's your projection for like um inspection Revenue oh did she leave these here by mistake do you think oh I'll make sure okay um I I see it going up if uh If the Fed
lower starts lowering the rate I I think we're going to have more and more construction of of uh residential again and probably even some uh multifamilies and then this a Adu program that the governor started I've got a meeting
tomorrow night because I have my Wednesday office hours with a local contractor that knew me and he's got a customer for one in town and I had a fellow that works for our AR miles that's going to interest in building one so there's going to be quite a few of
those I think popping up here and there and then just our commercial projects Ed mentioned the hotel I do still think that will happen I've talked to them periodically and I know they were meeting with uh different builders and contractors um so we have that we have
the pickle ball underway stable elron had the death of their founder um so you know that kind of put a little slow down on on their construction but they are finishing up uh the big phase where their current
headquarters is on the lower end of West 17 West before they go up the road so is there still a plan to do something plans to do that yes and um uh Scapes Builders up the road by Chestnut that's underway
yep um there's there's quite a bit of stuff going on and there's scattered residential all over the place even uh Tammy's son the tax collector her son's building one on Plane Road a new house and there's houses just you don't tend
to think of it or see it so now the new state regulations I just read on the adus how does that uh Howes n can be up to 900 square F feet either attached to the dwelling or detached um and then Min uh those zoning
restrictions are minim side yard and whatever the restrictions are um for zoning the town of Hatfield I talked to Stephanie on the planning board we're talking about having planning Board review of of the Adu if it's in the
historic uh area just for a review of its architectural aspects just so it doesn't Clash uh with the Aesthetics of what the houses are around it and you know you don't want something gross uh so to see speak put in there you know and if I
there's a provision that it can't be for airbnbs right correct right yeah so it it is a that is a issue in every single Town though right and uh so Adu just for people who it it stands for accessory dwelling unit so sort of like an in-law
apartment or in-law it could be detached did have that and 900 square ft's pretty good size I mean well another thing too is they're not even 900 square ft is not cheap to build today so oh gosh no yeah so I mean uh when you have an investment
like that you're not so apt to beat it up uh pay all that money or have a loan on something and then uh not treat it well right so um and in in many cases it would require like an upgrade of a septic system too no that's correct yeah
that's correct are a lot of cases the health agent requires two systems um a lot of times on a two family you do see two two systems at least two tanks or they might sometimes share a field um two Wells if they have uh you
know they not usually shared so so it's there's a lot to it so it uh that would be more Revenue also but our Revenue in the building department seems like over the years it's actually for a town of this size it's always been pretty
solid you know it's not uh it's and you don't look at it and go wow that fell off a lot so pretty precy consistent I watch my numbers I look at it as you're running a business working for the town or municipality you're
running a business that's why I always look at my fees I charge if I'm competitive if they should be tweaked or adjusted with other towns I have noticed other towns are going up on some of their fees and that might be something I'll tackle again so
well I I I appreciate um first of all the budgets held um you know yeah you hold that pretty close but I always appreciate when you come in and give us a little bit of an update on what's going on in town because people think we know I don't know about you two but I never know what's going on sure sure I
never know oh mastera Landscaping too I did talk to Mr mastera in the past couple weeks he's going to be starting that up so his special permit will kick in um that's another big project in town here that's gone on as you know for yep long time went to town meeting and
everything so that's kicking in too and I'm sure he'll do a nice job right next to his proper family has excellent taste yeah they do they do a nice job they did a nice job on that house right yeah right yeah so there's a there's a lot cooking and when something major comes
along a lot of times I'll email it or something or one of you if by yourself so it's not having a meeting online or I'll be telling Andrew now so instead of bugging Marlene I have Andrew the [Laughter]
downgrade that's really great well I I mean I don't have any more questions about you know the budget or anything so anytime just call me as always okay excellent than than thanks thanks Kyle appreciate it okay so the next item is the approval
of the survey and White Rock Trail this is Town property on Mountain Road um and this is from Northeast survey so the quote is $2,400 it's been a little bit of a saga trying to to Wrangle somebody to do this we've had a
couple times when folks have said that they'll come out and do it and then it just has fallen through so this was started quite a while ago but Karen's been diligent and falling through with folks so we have got a good quote and hoping to move forward with this and this is coming out of what
budget it's an excellent question you remember check where because we have been approved before right approved before and I think the amount was the same amount I'm just not sure which count was coming out of if
it's conservation or is it water I think it was water it's not water no and I don't even think it was conservation I I really have to go back into the minutes to check because this
goes back probably the was already was already approved this is just approving the actual contract awarding the contract okay I don't have any questions other than that
oh I know this goes back a few years anyways there's been a lot of discussion over the years on that property and where the lines are and where the marks are and and we had one company that was been to do it and for a year and a half they just drug us
along and um I finally picked it up again and found this company who will to do it I'm sure we probably approved it a while back but we don't remember where it was okay so do you need us to approve this I think because of the the contract
amount because it's already been budgeted and just knowing that you're on board is probably enough me to vote on a contract should be okay great thank you okay topic four is the um a discussion around the vacancy of the DPW
director position both short and long-term decisions this is you know I I really give this I've been giving this a lot of thought because there's I in you know there's so many options um
and I I mean I said last time and I still I feel the same that I in my opinion everything's on the table that I I'm open to considering you know any any options for moving forward on this so I'm curious if anybody else has
devel express myself I've done research too and and what I've I've seen is over the years Phil has provided uh more responsibility and sort of dumped his stuff onto the superintendent to do the
job so I mean at this time I mean other towns don't have a DPW or they have superintendence and the superintendents that we have are special specialized for their specific Fields meaning water treatments for water treatment uh
Wastewater to Wastewater and in the roads they're all they're all experts in those fields so if we had a DPW director I'm saying what what would we get for our money if we continue to pay a
hundred over a 100 Grand when these guys are already doing their job and if there's anything that maybe they need help with would be paperwork it seems more logical to me to say okay let's increase secretarial staff from that
from his uh fees to assist the superintendent or use that fund if if there's a particular Grant we need to chase pay somebody to go after that particular Grant or other options I mean
I I don't see presently after discussing things with people and working with other people if we're losing out by not having a DPW director other other places DPW director they on the snowstorm they would be here they would oversee snow
operations etc etc that hasn't even happened I mean he he's never here for the snow operations it's always been taken care of in house I'm just saying so at this time in my mind I'd say let's let's find out there was a what Ada
director in tree Ward and so those were the and and and the other last thing that was needed was probably facilities the schools actually in discussion talking about having taking that stipid that they gave Phil and in
adding a little bit to it and and having somebody as a go-to person or a a handy person that can do some small repairs and and call the contractors when needed as long as they have approval from the superintendent so I mean those are the
things I'm thinking about I think it's it's it's just facilities the big one but actually when you look at what was being done was it was just phone calls to the contractors it wasn't actually direction to say do this or that was Connor says we need a HVAC unit fixed
okay C come in and take care of it I mean that's that's basically that was being done I I mean I sorry oh no I I totally agree with all those points and yeah I I I think everybody's been doing all the leg work on everything and
you know I I've talked to Andrew about looking at some job descriptions that would need some updating or maybe even creating it some points to to maneuver that I me one way to help manage those position and we'll be discussing it
shortly as GPS will would help us uh as far as the managerial side of that because we're not a big we're we're a small town we're not like a big department I mean we don't have like a Director of Finance that overseas our treasure and accountant we don't have a
director of emergency managements that oversee our fire chief and our Police Department right I mean so if we had a DP director what would we get for our money what would that person do that's not being done right
now right and but I I do think that there was there we there were times when it was difficult to get things done would like to see us have be a little bit more um you know proactive about getting things done so I totally agree
about the competence of our three um superintendents um to to run those departments I guess I do Wonder though if there's there is that added layer of that strategic thinking around the management of those three departments um
particularly particularly around grants I mean I know I bring grants up a lot but you know the town's done very well with grant money you know I I just I know that the superintendant are just so busy with the day-to-day operations that pursuing something as large as a massw
Works Grant um how involved do we know Karen do you know only because you weren't here yet like how involved was Phil with preparing the massworks grant or was that really just through CI supported by
marleene it was supported by Marlene really think Phil had his hand in it at all I mean interesting Marlin actually did a lot of stuff that after doing some research that Phil had dropped the ball
on MAR it up to make sure it got I mean so maybe we should review the possibility we have a part-time secretary secretary and Jenny whether that position should be more full-time to help with any paperwork or assisting
with things I don't know if that's needed or not but that should be that's a question I have if if you want to help the superintendent so they don't fail do they need more secretarial support or should we also administrative support
to look at certain grants or something like that or whether Andrew needs another uh secretary to support to help assist with with paperwork I know eventually we're going to electronic payrolls so that should help with some
of the paperwork according to the superintendent they don't seem to have a lot of paperwork I mean Garrett's always been the one with the uh chapter 90 yeah the chapter 90 money grants he takes care of that and and Tony takes care of anything with the water treatment plant
and uh Phil just sort of made sure that their budgets are up to enough but they're they're putting their budget together and for the wastewater treatment plant you have miles assisting with Kenny because he has the license that's needed that's required by the uh
state and federal government to operate that plant oh Eric Mills Eric okay Mills my I said miles my mistake meals yeah spelled the same right I guess I don't know anyway um like a I know who you mean now I just didn't know
who you meant um yeah I mean I do we but do did I understand correctly we actually have to have a DPW director an an actual position as identified by the legislation the legislation created it um and it said
the select board shall appoint it from the review of our uh town Council he read it more as saying this is the procedure you'd follow to to hire one that it's you may appoint less of a a sh um he there's there wouldn't be
anything to enforce that you'd have to hire somebody for that position there wouldn't have to be a designated DPW director wouldn't have to hire a DPW director based on his reading of it um first of all that's not really enforcable in any way and second uh
anything for for a position like this would would be subject to appropriation and if you decided not to appropriate for having that position then you wouldn't have to have it I I guess my concern is we could we could easily say we it's
been work we've been doing this basically you know but maybe it could be done better like very my intention was to leave those fers oh great somewhere within the
oh great okay very good thank you thank you thank you I mean it doesn't mean that we couldn't have more effective um you know interdepartmental planning and things running smoother and
being more proactive about a lot of things and more strategic yeah so a Department of Public Works it it manages most of the things that the town does so I'm sure that the work could be
filled by having a person in that position um the right person also could contribute on some of the things that are in the job description around engineering around uh Facilities Management Energy Management right uh kind of taking us to the next stage and a lot of things that we're doing at the
same time I'm looking at our budget and having 120 $130,000 to to play with could help us out of a real hole I mean I I think In fairness if we do divide up some of those things then we we need to seriously look at the pay for the you
know particularly on Garretts because I think a lot of the the duties would fall to Garrett um you know so we'd have to have to look at that I'm open to anything I'm open to not having one I'm open to having having one and I'm open to a a you know a halftime one or
something you know maybe somebody retired or something who wants to come and be that more that strategic you know I don't know I I just want to make sure that we are you know maintaining that sort of or getting back to that
proactive strategic planning um well nothing prevents us from periodically having a meeting with supervisors sit down and see how things are going and and how things are going about or have have them meet with somebody and give us
a report etc etc so I I would encourage that that happens every couple months we or month or two we actually you know sit with a superintendent one of us anyways or with the Town Administrator and and
get an up to-date report of what their needs are what's not working and how we're communicating because I think it's a lot of it is this position too was communication and we had problems in communication and in the DPW director's
position we we hired a part-time Jenny got picked up hours to help communicate better to the town and maybe that's that's where we move forward with more hours to help um with phone calls and
stuff from the residents to see what the issues are because actually phone calls from residents if we get an up to-date report periodically that gives us an idea if we're falling short short anywhere if we're not getting things done for the people in town or where our
fallings are right so uh maybe that's another another thing I mean there's a lot of components really to it there's there's overseeing the the vehicles the fleet who you know what needs to be replaced what you know there there really is a lot of um you know moving
pieces to this um this building right so any projects that are happening here have been I don't know maybe was really doing it but it but as far as projects if if the school's pushing more for somebody
too no I know that I'm talking more our buildings well the DPW garage rythm saying okay there a a joint position where it's a handy position that overseas the school buildings plus this building plus the library
right see I'm not I'm not thinking of the facilities manager as a handy person I'm thinking of the facilities manager as making sure that you know we're you know going out to bid on things that we're looking at the overall system of you know heating air conditioning
lighting Energy Efficiency like I'm not thinking about the person who's going to you know repair a door knob I'm talking about actually managing the facilities okay well I can but that's what I'm saying if if the school wants
to increase if you want to increase that position I mean it could be a facilities manager that now instead of a dpdb director you have a facilities manager to oversee the schools and these buildings that's another possibility too that's what you're sort of saying I no I
I'm I'm just I I think that the school is going to do theirs in-house from what I understand they have somebody that they're considering so all we have and so it would be our buildings the non-school buildings would still fall under the perview of The Bu in in the library then basically the DPW building
the fire station the all of those yeah if it's a heating call we have a contractor that they call if there for projects we have contract s that we call so we we already have established contractors that respond to our needs
and in these buildings now no and I that's not what I'm talking about though I'm talking about the more the bigger picture strategic stuff about you know deciding a a building may need a larger repair that that type of thing so I think that's overall what might be lost about a director is anything that feels
bigger picture bigger picture and either that would need to be taken over by this body select board um by extension potentially me and assisting with that or you would probably contract out for it you could see if you could could have you know every five years you'd have a
capital facilities master plan created by a contractor by by by some architect or someone who can help you think of these things you'd have Fleet Management potentially managed by an outside uh entity they can help with sorts of things like this and that would be less expensive and potentially a higher level professionalism for some of these things
it's an option yeah I mean that do that companies but that's a little that's more money too it could be pricey it could be pricey I mean I first of all I think I love the suggestion about meeting with the um I and I've I've talked with Tony I've talked with
Garrett I have not talked with Kenny um but I think a a regular communication so back in the olden days when I was on the select board the first time when Jim Rey was here he came to every select board
meeting and he gave a a full DPW report at every meeting and I used to ask Phil to do that and and Phil wouldn't do it he would come in sometimes when he had something but I think it was it was so good for towns people too because you know they hey we're going to put out the snow sticks or you know whatever I mean
he just was always updating people on what was happening in the department whether it was sort of that nitty-gritty like you know we might be doing a little project on a road or the the bigger picture stuff we're looking at some you know I don't know he was always water conservation areas and so that that
bigger picture so I think communication is key um yeah I mean I'd like to look at this as an opportunity to streamline things um create some efficiencies but make sure that we're not letting anything
fall through the cracks and that we're not missing out that we're we're so laser focused on the day-to-day and operating buildings like you're talking about or taking care of Roads or operating water systems that were not also thinking more strategically that
that's that's a really important piece of managing this department correctly if I could make maybe one suggestion of a next step in all of this is to look at the current job descriptions that we have for the superintendence I don't know if there is
one for some of the phans I don't have it in my files for the highway superintendent I think crafting that or at least seeing what we have for that would be important I have a I have one for Wastewater superintendent that seems to be essentially an old draft but um
starting there and then matching it with the responsibilities that I've outlined before to try to see where there might be some cracks for things to fall through that could be a place to start uh and then from there we could try to determine you know is that a job description for a director that comes out of that for the things that aren't
aren't uh aren't filled or potentially something else that might beide yeah I like I think that's an excellent idea and you know um honestly like the the whole vehicle program the lease program sort of our Fleet Management I mean
really we have a a mechanic so you you you know I know when when my husband years ago was in that role he was doing that um management that Fleet Management and recommending vehicles for replacement recommending when it was time to pull them off the road you know
so some of that stuff there might be obvious places that some of those extra duties can be um distributed to people qualified to do them correct yeah so I like that idea yes that' be
appropriate I like that s consider us a work in progress what can I do to facilitate next steps on that do your job descriptions recent JW descriptions for you oh look at that you can take these these home start working with them but I
have a job description for the lead position uh equipment operator and labor and from the best I can tell there was never a change in this to turn it into the highway superintendent this was the position that Garrett was in before he was promoted to Highway superintendent I
have the job description from 2013 of water Highway superintendent uh Tony at one point was in the position of water Highway superintendent for becoming water superintendent but this is the job description that I have and I do have a Wastewater superintendent position
description now have you sat down with any of them and looked over those job descriptions with when I spoke with Garrett he told me he didn't have a job description good Lord that's concerning I have not talked to Tony or to um Kenny Kenny we might this might be the
description it was saved in Marlene's files as draft but it's in the department files as a job description and then no I've not I should have asked Tony about that but I I certainly can't okay so I mean for the three of us to
sit down you know we it we'd have we it would be a a public meeting which is totally fine but I wonder if it would be faster um you know if we talked with them individually I mean like I say I've talked talked briefly
with Tony and briefly with Garrett um although Garrett stays in touch you know pretty good about communicating things um so I don't know what you want to do do you want to do it as a board or doesn't matter to me if you want to take turns or if you want to do it as a board
or you know maybe as a board Mak sense because um then we're all hearing the same thing at the same time exactly and we're not also wasting their time because they're busy um we do it once could be like a working meeting kind of
thing even have an I don't know if you want an afternoon meeting or regular at our regular meeting mhm okay if you want um I'm happy to work with you to set something up and can I
can get in touch with the three superintendents make sure we have the most recent versions of their job descriptions right do we want to give them an assignment first read it through mark it up yeah um yes I would was not accurate I would like them to review it and then come to us with what's what's
already out of date in there or what they think you know how they can how they are willing to um change that if there was no DPW
director right but I I guess I would just end by saying I I think that these duties could be divided up I think that they're all capable um and hardworking I'm just worried about that strategic piece
um not that I don't think they're capable of that I think that it's a bit it's a it's it's a lot onp functioning and you know being working superintendents for their strategic pie and then there's another layer of management yes it it is difficult for a
a board to potentially be there as much as a director can not that you can right certainly yeah we'd have to make sure all these things are covered that you like had listed out as the yeah I can't wait to read these is the vehicle or the mechanic one
in here I mean I I realize that's not a like a superintendent but I'm curious if there's a job description for that I started with what I had for superintendent I'm sure there must be a job description yeah I'd like to take a look at the mechanic um position too because I think that it's in play it's
in play with this decision would you agree with that I would agree with that I may maybe it's time to tweak some of the job descriptions too to see make sure they meet what's or if if we have to increase them
whether that means an increase in pay for certain positions or whatever right if there's an if there's an escalation of Duties then it certainly needs to just as an observation all three positions are not salary they're all
titled overtime right now that's something to consider as well if they end up with significant more duties that end up being more like management positions that might be something to consider I wouldn't necessarily go that route but it's something consider right right or maybe it's a matter of freeing
up their time by creating a different position in the DPW that you know if if they're feeling like they they want to assume those extra responsibilities um then maybe you create another um I need another labor or Foreman foran position labor or
Foreman so that and that would be a savings to the town by doing it that way correct with potentially getting more for the money you're spending yeah exactly yeah I guess that's what I'm that's what I mean when I say everything's on the table right there's
there's a there's probably a number of different ways we could well we're always looking bigger bang for your book absolutely I mean that's the way it is absolutely that's great um but I'm you you you both have really good input on
this Ed and I I appreciated you know your the thought you put into this okay we're just we're doing I think we're we're following the right process we're looking at everything making sure that every all the pieces fit and do we
are we short Falls any place and then whether it's Justified for that position or not and then if it's Justified what should it really be what should that person be doing and if it's not then what should the other people be doing right I mean basically and really time
is of the essence because it's budget season and In fairness to the the the the people that are stepping into this role and you know we should but their money's on the budget not being spent so good thing that's true but
okay are we good on that for now I think I think we have an idea from we've arranging okay topic five is the proposed use of GPS devices on Town non-emergency vehicles um which would include the
DPW um would that include School Vans well well see I you know it says non emergency but I've been thinking about this it's it's how we're going to you if if the board decides to get pricing and stuff how would we use GPS because
there's a lot of other possibilities we could not only just know where our vehicles are we could actually use that for a maintenance perspective of of letting us know exactly when Vehicles need an oil change how much gas is being
used the mileage whether it's time for a tire change I mean all these other things so GPS devic do that GPS companies do do that so the more I looked into this I said hm maybe all of
vehicle should have a g I was going to say why not on non-emergency I mean why not on emergency as well we would need prices right basically from of a company I would say if we had a company that gives us a report like on a once a month
or something and and also can set up for the Town garage a report of when in know oil changes are due or they they even report low tire pressure on some of these devices I don't know what the prices are so I think the next step is
actually trying to get a couple companies to give us some information on what they provide and what the cost is before we move forward but there's a lot that the GPS can do and with the prior
uh history as far as things that have happened I think this is a a good way to go to bring a little bit more confidence to the town and this is another way of managing our departments by GPS is another management tool basically and
then I think the other thing we might have to do is determine where are our vehicles allowed so I sometimes don't have a problem if a department needs supplies to go to like Big Y and pick up stuff that seems as
long as it's the department heads okay I I that's not a problem but if if somebody's going to South Airfield to have lunch with a town vehicle then that might be a problem right so I mean if we move ahead with GPS if we first get pricing see what's available then we can
determine whether we want the whole Fleet to have it or just nonemergency Vehicles you know what I'm saying we also need a list of how many vehicles we have and what we have I'm I'm not even sure where that list is yeah we have a list for you know
insurance purposes that's that's one of the easiest places to find that lives there but we I mean if if the GPS is monitoring things like you're saying like oil changes and tires and everything then it would seem like all vehicles should be on that even
emergency vehicles and right and there should be accountability if we're going to ask for accountability on some Vehicles there should be accountability on all vehicles exactly in terms of you know location it's funny I would say over the years the most common I get from residen is why would I see this
particular vehicle in Hadley at 9:30 in the morning or whatever and I'm like you know to go to businesses and pick things up I mean I don't always know why people were actually but people see uh Town Vehicles out of town and it you know residents don't really like that um it's
definitely something I've gotten calls about over the years and and from from all different um so I mean I guess it's worth looking into I mean if my colleagues are in agreement I think the next step is actually getting pricing
and see what's available and If it provides what I've been saying it provides you know if it can provide a a wide range of uh services like the you know letting us know if there's oil changes mileage gas etc etc doesn't our
don't our gas pumps monitor who uses who's getting gas that would that I think it used to I mean it used to we do it has to to know which department that yeah it gets charged to so they so that is it's usually monit I I think it's by
vehicle so you have when you fill up a certain vehicle there's a way that it's monitored which vehicle is being they should have a card or they have a little fob for that it's a fob right yeah and then there's that like vout or whatever and it prints out a report yeah I mean
that's been there for a long time but I I suppose we would have to look at what we're going to do with the information what are we going to do with if we have GPS are we going to be like staring at it every day and watching where all the trucks go and cars or or we're only going to pull it up if there's something
in question or if something gets stolen how can we get at it so that the police can track it down and some of these companies also have the you can get a dash cam so you can actually see where your vehicles are and and it I don't want to be too intrusive no but you know
oh yeah but there but but in in all reality most um you know I I I believe that most private companies that have fleets or or at least a certain amount of vehicles they're monitored by GPS I think in the private sector this is
extremely common I think it's something common now in a lot of mpali municipalities as well especially larger ones that just have you know giant fleets that they're dealing with you know the decisions that you can change based on the GPS data that means a lot you know you're you're checking to see if plowing roots are being done in
certain ways you're checking to see some places make it you know uh available to the public too they can see when there's school buses coming or other things like that which is really interesting but there's lots of of opportunities it's a question for us and when we don't have a ton of assets a ton of of resources
would it change any of the decisions that we're making would it give us that much more value uh to have that information is something you can do with the data the answer might be yes um I my my hunch is that it wouldn't lead to say a cost savings for us some of these larger municipalities MH you know it's
you're you're saving money by doing it I don't think we would but I think it's worthwhile to look at it and I think the the management and and other um boost that you might get from doing this could be very helpful I think it be very helpful as far as the management side of
it and also if if we're getting the information that it says online it can do it it's a tool for us I mean even Verizon has a Fleet Service uh I mean there's a couple companies out there trying to find out what they have
available who can give us the best deal for the best bang for buck as I mention right yeah I'll probably always comes back to that I can set up some uh some demos would any of you be interested in joining me for those yeah depending on the time yeah let me know
and I can let probably like an online I set it up and yeah do it if I can be there I would like to at least see one of them you know sounds great what it's capable of yeah I'm curious what they can do and and again what are we going to do with this information that's a really good question is it going to be worth I don't
know how many thousands of dollars is going to cost us but I know how that is that going to help us like the um some of the information you're talking about like oil changes entire I mean I would assume our mechanic is tracking that stuff when a vehicle needs an oil change and that you know people who are driving
these vehicles are communicating to Donnie hey I you know I've got a low tire I've got right you know something like that so I would there be a to your point is there really a benefit in that I mean if yeah you know for vehicle
maintenance like I assume just getting gas it gets the mileage into that so that's how they can keep track of how many miles are on every car and I do know that accountability in terms of how vehicles are being used is is top of
mind for residents and and not just recently but even be before it's it's like they tell me wax are keep honest people honest GPS keeps her on his people on us to I mean it's more of a keeping everybody in check and saying
okay you know the town people just want accountability and this is one way to do it it's like paying for insurance you hope you don't have to use it but it's there in case you need it that could be another thing maybe it
would help with our insurance because we have those things on there I don't know I can check on that that's interesting well and even there's information available if there's ever a motor vehicle accident too you've got that GPS Avail information available I mean luckily we haven't had problems with our
vehicles being in accidents but um something to it's it's it's worthwhile looking at cost and prices and seeing and and the capabilities right you know and accountability
so I think I've seen even stickers on on fleet vehicles that say that it's like a GPS monitored oh yeah vehicle that's them have that yeah um so okay uh are we good with that we're g to look into that I think that's great we've got next
steps um topic six is a notice of intent fees collected um to be transferred from general fund to conservation revolving fund so we have a can hear of some funds that have been collected over the last handful of years
actually um so can you tell me what these are just there there fees required when they file a notice of intent that's correct so there's fees that go uh half of it goes to the state half of it goes to the local Conservation Commission and those
fees are supposed to be used for conservation purposes we do have a fund that's set up uh in order to uh spend on different conservation purposes that can be staff that can be you know advertisements anything else that it's in the basic running of the Conservation Commission uh due to some accounting
issues those funds were instead going to the general fund so uh this is a very simple act we just need to transfer those funds to our Wetlands protection fund instead it's $1,917 yeah I don't have a problem with that but in the past when we transferred
funds we I thought we always had to do it with the finance committee uh well also these are prior fiscal years this doesn't require a town meeting vote so I expected it would the town accountant said that this could be done by an act as the select board so I can double check to to see if that's
true but this was the town accountant said that this is something that the select board can handle which surprised me it does surprise me because it is previous fiscal year so how can we do that but I mean I don't have a problem with it it's
something we it should have happened in 2019 but I just want to make sure that it is completely within our purview to make this decision and make this transfer I'm happy to double check with uh Town Council and with the accountant and it's something that the select board
can't do we'll take it to town meeting yeah yeah and this is good timing to figure out if that's what needs to happen because we could throw an article on Town Town warrant so we don't have to vote on this it would require a vote
um and if if you like you can take the vote so that that's done and if it turns out it's not your Authority I can make sure that this goes we can do it that but that's yeah that's up to you that I'll clean it up quicker yeah I'll make a motion that we um transfer these fees
as recommended by the town accountant um in the total of $1,975 so those would be transferred from the general fund to the Conservation Commission fund um with the stipulation that it will be checked to make sure that it is within
our authority to do so second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I um proposed traffic and parking improvements No Parking On Main Street
at Billings way an angled parking on Main Street outside Town Hall so no decisions are going to be made tonight I don't want to just br this initial conversation because this is something that the uh police chief uh was interested in talking about this came from two separate but uh separate
incidents one was just a day when we basically ran out of parking here at at Town Hall which is a a good thing to see happen it's in park just because of the amount of programming that we have and then number of visitors who who come in at the time we did have those pods set up as well which are now gone uh but we
we don't have unlimited parking here uh and there was an idea floated by the the police chief that would both help slow down some of our traffic on Main Street front of the building and create more parking which would be to take those parallel parking spaces and turn into angled parking so we could potentially
create more spots that way he believes it's something that that um could be done uh with the width of the road the way it is uh so I want to at least Broach that conversation here um certainly a lot more research that would have to be done to make sure that we we we can do it but wanted to see if it was
something that would be of interest here the other issue of course that's also related to the issue of um need to keep that fire lane clear outside the building which uh is one of the first places where where people do Park often and we did have an incident last week where someone parked there and needed to be ticketed which we'll get to later in
this conversation too because it led to another another issue um Billings way um that was flagged as well for uh I think entrance from emergency vehicles is necessary but um we've had issues with just because of the the the shape of
that intersection um it could be helpful to put out signs saying where Parts would be restricted to at at that there so again that's early going with that Billings way comes right out onto Main Street that part of billing that's my
understanding so we would I would uh talk to Chief uh and bring bring a plan for for you to to look at but just wanted to see if any either of those are non-starters before we start looking more seriously at it I mean I guess I'd want to see some typ type of mockup of
what the chief has in mind I'm a little concerned um about if you have um the angled parking on Main Street which you could certainly Park a lot more cars now you have some you have to back out onto Main Street to be able to leave the
parking spot um so I'm obviously concerned about that it's a place where a lot of people walk you know kids are getting out of the schools and walking both schools you know kids who are walking home walking that area I don't know I I I would have to see some um
plans Y and um and you know the intersection down by Billings way has always been a little wonky that's why we put that extra stop sign in so there's a stop sign as you're leaving the school there's a stop sign before you actually get to where it
forks and then there's another stop sign um but um yeah I mean I guess I'd be interested in like some kind of mockup of what he's thinking at both locations right that's my yeah if I I know the new thing is
backin parking spaces you're back in so you're facing out when you get to go yeah when you do that's if you're good at backing up yeah well I'm not going to I'm not going to say that I'm not good at backing up but I would not Park in one of those spots
that's all I'm going to say and I I've you know doing doing the the road jobs and stuff that I do when I'm out there I I watch the traffic a lot and it's like out in by Billings way I've I've thought about it before and I guess now is a good time it's like
why don't we just move that pole that's in the middle of the intersection and make it just one lane coming out yeah just simplify it just yeah just making an easier way I don't know what it would cost or what it would take to get that pole so it's not in the middle of the
driveway just and I think it seems simple we you know this the parking lot Outback is fairly big but I think what limits the parking is the um the exiting of the fire trucks right so so we have so we could really have a lot more
spaces back there but we really can't because if they're um you know if all the vehicles are coming out they need ample room to be able to make those corners or backing back into the station yeah you know because it is a big space it's a big parking space but much of it
isn't used for parking used y yeah I just wonder if there's a different design for back there that would not you know impede um on the on the the um apparatus coming and going
but I don't know it's a good question I mean it it's worth a a look because maybe we could fit 10 more spots back there somehow I don't know yeah that's a good
idea great this is some but you know we'd obviously have to in conjunction with you know with the fire department and and the police department their vehicles are responding from back there too yeah and all the other ones that are the Council on Aging van comes outside too that's that's a lot of spots that
are right needed you know maybe there isn't a way to add more but maybe there is maybe a little redesign or something back there would add some spots yeah definitely great I just wanted to launch that as a discussion tonight I mean if
you did angle parking you you'd you'd be able to add a lot of spots there that's interesting don't you think out front I mean out front oh it be oh yeah so many more spots because you could probably angle in on both sides M would it be
across the street because it's very wide yep the shoulders are very wide there yeah it's not really marked now so yeah people just park wherever you want to yeah you would be able to fit in a lot you just have to be as as you were saying concerned about the backing out of a space yeah I mean don't forget
that's a residence across the street and you know that so there's a lot I think we'd have to be mindful of you know we just were talking about I know in the past we've had this discussion actually quite a few years ago we had a
discussion here on parallel parking in the front and there was some disc discussion of it would take away it give us a Northampton look and take away from the historic look that the town has so there's that that was the concern
yeah that's that's a good point that is a good and I was just mentioning you know we have such a big parking lot but so few spaces because of the space we need for the apparatus but maybe there is a a way to look at a little bit of a redesign of that that where you could add some spots without um you know
creating problem for the the police ambulance or Fire coming in and out of those um buildings back there so I think that's worth looking at too because a lot of times people who are coming to the town hall are going in the back door because they're using the
Council on Aging you know we know that visits to the Council on Aging are increasing so the the best parking for those um people would be in the back of the building this was always set up for shortterm parking
sometimes people use it for long-term parking that causes the problems right okay so we'll look into that right okay proposed articles for town meeting here we go so we did have a
deadline of uh February 6th to to have uh articles come in I did not really receive very much uh it's possible that more will still come come in but what I've done is create just kind of categories of Warren articles so far I
can fly through these pretty quickly since this is just a quick overview for you you might have already read this so you might be in good shape but so annual Town elections is always number one um and then we have some general Town articles we need to do the the normal authorization for Grants compensating uh
balance agreements um chapter 90 snow and ice and Vocational tuition and transportation um then we have operating budget revolving fund that's pretty typical as always as well and we'll learn more over the next few weeks as we work with finance committee and others about anything that might need to be
added there um I have some Appropriations and some uh prior year bond authorizations that will actually uh be able to resend we didn't need to to borrow um for these Asset Management plans that were approved last year um
and we'll um ask instead for one of them just we need some kind of town contribution rather than bonding I we'll recommend that we go with a free cash uh distribution it's not a lot of money it's $27,000 so we can decide if we want to go forward with that but that would probably be the best way to proceed on
this um storm water um Asset Management uh project which has a quite sizable uh Grant attached to it from the state right um opioid fund transfer we have past Year's uh money that was is categorized and sent to general fund
which needs to go to opioid account um we have uh we'll go over Capital Improvement planning projects uh when those are voted on we're working on that we've had to cancel meetings and we've had weather issues and whatnot so we've been a little little more delayed than
normal but we are um on track I think yep I think that's right uh Community preservation articles which I'll actually give a uh preview of in my update a little later um we will there's some interest in just making sure that we're firm about what land is protected
by article 97 Park Park land conservation uh Parkland not conservation land um so I'll work with Town Council to make sure we don't need any additional votes there but they could come in your preservation uh this next one would be a big one to talk about um so we are
currently out of compliance uh with the um EPA state and federal regulations on the general permit for storm water discharges from small Municipal separate storm sewer systems locally locally
called ms4 so um the EPA has reached out to us about getting into compliance with those regulations and the first thing that they would like us to do like being a gentle way to describe what they're looking for is um to pass a post
construction and construction storm water management bylaw this is now a requirement of every municipality uh to have this kind of bylaw describing um who sets the regulations and what those regulations are uh for making sure that
construction is done uh in compliance with State storm water standards uh so there are some sample bylaws out there that are are pretty easy to work with um even if we just passed a bylaw and then say regulations are coming um that will
look favorably state to the feds um I'm working with the planning board with uh building inspector and Town Council uh and our engineering Consultants to put together a draft bylaw but uh if we think we can get it done in this cycle it would probably be a good idea to try
to do so um EPA is asking for a timeline of when we believe we can have this completed I think it's reasonable to think we could do it by the end of the year uh if it's if not at this town meeting it it could even rise to the level of having a special town meeting just because of how important the state and guyss are taking uh this compliance
so um that's out there uh I have flag and sign by law I know that there was some uh conversation that was happening on this before Marlene had a draft I haven't picked it up yet but this is another thing that that most municipalities are dealing with right now is making sure that their
uh their bylaws are pretty pretty airtight on this because of different um First Amendment challenges that have come up so we want to make sure that that we can do didn't we have a sign a town property sign byla that just got went down in flames at town meeting we had a town meeting and there was a lot
of discussion on on putting and it was I I still remember the words from wry Grossman at Town meting he got up and he was all upset about it because Lydia had brought it up Lydia had brought it forward and yeah there was like because
there's right now there's nothing stopping anyone like someone who's campaigning for a position in town to put your campaign sign in front of town hall in front of town hall in front on on Town property on Town property huh I mean this is a polling
location but but you know when when it polls are open there's laws but yeah I mean the town is in charge of the Town property so we would just remove it we would have to but I there was a bunch of discussion about it because they were saying there was no right they were
trying saying was it was being denied and they shouldn't be denied and could put it on Town property because we were sort of Silent on it right so yeah it's been going on for a long time yeah so um there's some again there's good sample
bylaws on this that would probably be wise for us to pass because of there are some groups out there that try to test just the limits on yes on Town speech City speech and and are often just trying to see what they can get away with so it could be a good thing to make sure we have it could just
be policies it might not need to rise to the level of bylaw but uh it would probably be a good idea for us to have something you writing um I'm sure there's plenty of communities that have them that you know we could review what they have yeah and it's a
good conversation to have probably the kind of thing where we need to do like a town Town Forum on first before you you don't want to just bring it to town meeting so this will be another Lively discussion if I recall the last one it was it was Lively that sounds great sign
me up it's it's a fascinating issue um I had a conversation with the assessors briefly about uh our 41c um property exemption for for seniors uh it's a standard $500 exemption U by
state law if you choose to opt into it you also have the ability to raise it as high as $1,000 on this uh exemption we're at $650 right now which it was generous and I didn't realize how generous until I looked into what other communities around us had we're by far
the highest of comparable communities around us but if there's an interest in trying to help some of our seniors uh on their their property taxes there is an option to raise it higher so just wanted to put that out there so this a request by the assessors the assessors were talking about it as as maybe something
that they'd want to do I believe after the research I did that they're probably comfortable where they are at right now with 650 um but when I was putting this list together of potential by U potential items for town meeting just wanted to to flag that as well s what
age would they be referring to I believe it's above 67 but that's uh there's a state law and then you have the local ability to raise to to lower it I think to 65 but I think we're still at 67 okay but that may not that would come
through the assessors and they may not push it Forward I think um trying to think if if if it would have to start the assessors I think it just has to be go through town meeting I don't know if it would have to have the back the assessors but it's the kind of
thing where you you would like it to so the next two are items that uh in our 2018 Financial policies there were three things that were flagged that didn't current currently exist in our bylaws um that would um you know kind of be best financial practices one of those things
we we did adopt and and that was creating an OPB uh trust fund um we have not yet uh adopted um uh chapter 203c this is the Massachusetts prent investor act it's a
pretty straightforward uh piece of of uh legislation that we would just adopt locally um which has some rules for making sure that money is being invested properly uh fiduciary um which is probably just a good thing to adopt
anyway um that allows us to to use the trust more uh differently and then the other item uh that we haven't um done is to actually appoint a trustee for this OPB uh liability trust fund uh and
options include setting up a whole Board of Trustees with all sorts of rules about who can be a trustee or appointing the town treasur as a trustee which I think would be a much simpler way to do it for community of our size so those are two things that I would recommend doing um but it's for this board to to talk about and I of course provide more
information as you need it but it's from our 2018 Financial policies that were done collaboration of the state and I think they're um it's just things that are still kind of sitting out there that we haven't done yet should be wise okay and then uh this was already teased earlier but uh we will need to update
our um Adu accessory dwelling unit regulations uh to be in compliance with the state's affordable homes act which is passed in 2024 planning board's done a really good job with this already uh and they did have a public forum uh last week and um and passed a version of
these these uh uh updated regulations uh that would be a zoning uh bylaw um for consideration a town meeting so um that's something that should be ready to go uh for this town meeting okay that's what I have so far
um couple other housekeeping things that will come up um but if there's any other bylaws or anything things that that have been on your minds you know now was a good time to bring it up as well um and it's very possible hear from other folks uh now the deadlines passed but just
want to give you a preview of what I'm seeing so so far plus all the financial stuff yes yes all the financial stuff which I teased very quickly here in the beginning shortest right up here and the longest thing for the actual town meeting sometimes sometimes not long at
all you never know um okay great well I I feel like we're um being you know really proactive about getting ready for town meeting because it comes up pretty quick it'll be here before you know it before you know it okay so topic nine is potential donation of land
to the town on Main Street south of Depot Road so I'm looking at this is this is swamp right this is it's very swamp yeah there is not uh this is not a buildable lot this is uh if you look at the
wetlands Maps yep it's almost all Wetlands it is this is underwater yeah goes underwater every year yeah so this is uh really a perfect candidate for something to to be taken uh for conservation and um so the owner of it
uh called me up a little while ago and said she'd be interested in uh donating this land uh it's two acres not buildable all Wetlands uh right on Main Street um you know there's two paths for accepting donations of land one would be
to go through town meeting and and uh the other would be if we say it's just going to be kept for conservation it could be uh voted on by the select board and the conservation committee so I wanted to just bring it to your attention tonight to see if it's if it would potentially interest you in in
moving forward as conservation I uh will be meeting with the conservation committee later this week to tell them about it as well um because of the kind of paral it is it does make a lot of sense I think to to be in conservation um right now the town takes in um
$232 annually in taxes on this land so we'd be giving that up but uh I think our budget can most likely absorb that so okay I'm curious I would also be curious now just because of where it is and there's a lot of you know the potential for flooding in that air if there's a reason we wouldn't want to own
it that's all interesting any kind of Culvert problem or anything like that I or them have to take responsibility for it um it's interesting I I think some's a culvert there isn't it's it's right near the the uh it's not terribly far from
the calage culbert but um it's up the road but uh that road floods over yeah I mean it would give us more access to address anything and and to make any if there's any medication we could do on that land we i' want to know a little bit more about any potential reason we
wouldn't want that yep definitely makes sense it doesn't have doesn't hurt to have conservation look at it either they certainly should right see what they say say oh and this is the property card on that yeah yeah yes okay property card
included yep so we'll see what conservation says I can continue to look at any potential risks to the town by taking it on um certainly something we should be looking at my guess is the risk is not buildable I mean that's my guess is the risks
don't really change either way if something happens on that land I don't know if the owner would really be doing anything with it um I think they the town the land was important to the the owner for uh sentimental reasons according to U the
late owner's wife so um yeah that's what we [Music] got okay kind of be curious to know Daryl's what Daryl thinks about that because it looks like his property probably butts right up again really he
does yep we had asked some of the butters if there was any interest in them of purchasing a land just to get the town out of it um there was not interest right yeah I don't think it's really usable anything yeah I don't you can't really grow anything if it's where
I'm thinking it's really you can't do anything you're just paying I mean it's in the middle of wonderful Farmland but it's just particularly yeah right it's all wetlands in the M okay okay appointments discussion on
part Parking Clerk vacancy we have a Parking Clerk we have a Parking Clerk or we have a position for a Parking Clerk and it's currently vacant we we did accept um what is uh chapter 90 section 20a uh the state statute which uh which
governs the non-p police side of parking so um it's pretty long statute here about uh the roles of the Parking Clerk um it's mostly in the actual um uh administration of of once the ticket is
written making sure that it's paid um and or meeting with someone if there's an appeal for that ticket typically we've had uh either the town clerk or the town Treasurer take on that position um I think the but it is an appointment of the select board so we don't
currently have a Parking Clerk it's vacant um my suggestion would be to um add it to the responsibilities of the treasurer and you happen to have negotiations coming up for our town treasure anyway I think adding that to the job description uh would be a wise
idea that way as you um appoint the treasurer you're also appointing a Parking Clerk so you don't have to worry about making that appointment on a three-year basis I mean how often does the do we have parking so I've been here two months and it came up last week so once every two months Maybe maybe six a
year I've been here something years yeah I I've never I mean do we even issue parking tickets we we do uh we issued one last week because of the parking in the fire lane um and the police chief will will sometimes issue them say if if
someone's violating the um winter snow parking ban or if I mean I guess in a handicap spot or something like that and that would be I suppose The Parking Clerk also has to govern that that there there State statutes on on the um uh handicap but the The Parking Clerk just
so the the Police Department issues the citations and then the Parking Clerk handles the paying and the administrative I didn't know you could get a parking ticket from Hatfield you you can I'm a very law ating Parker clearly because I've never
gotten one but okay interesting what's next traffic lights whoa that's crazy talk Ed that is crazy talk who whoa
whoa oh okay so um do we you don't have to do anything tonight I'm I'm kind of suggesting that maybe we go a little longer without a Parking Clerk and then we just as as you're negotiating on the treasurer's uh
contract uh work on the job description and add parking to it that might be one one thing to do and the other thing you can do is just appoint to parking clerk you can pick anybody you want so Karen option sounds like a plan to me uh oh so we haven't had one all this time we have
uh we haven't had one since the uh maybe two or three treasurers ago uh resign so I think maybe not a real busy job maybe it's still them uh I guess it would be a vacancy if they're no longer down employee oh although I don't know
if there's a requirement to have it be a town employee I've never heard of anyone getting a parking ticket no I'm sure it happens neither yeah I'm sure it does but I didn't realize that you need to have a Parking Clerk we do yeah yeah interesting yeah
we accepted uh chapter 90 22A 20a so that creates the position Okie do and it is a useful thing to have in the rare instances in which are given out so if we get all those swaggy new parking spots out you go oh
there we go become a big role become a big role actually when you think about it when we have the concerts people do kind of Park all over the place I have um and I'm sure that fire L is BL yeah I don't know I think they I
think I was going to say I bet Bob stays pretty much they stay on top of it I I've seen the police out there making announcements saying you move it or we'll move it good okay Town Administrator report well I'll plan to fly through the this as as
quick as I can because I don't know meeting already feels long enough Karen I would agree would project update so uh on the Culvert um EJ Prescott has completed the culbert work I don't know if they driven out past there but
looking pretty good um we're finalizing payments with them now uh we're well within our appropriation but uh because of the amount of time that they had to be out here is a much longer job than You're Expecting because of the weather uh the amount of water uh that came through me they had to rent different
equipment so they are above their initial uh scope but still well within our project budget that was allocated at town meeting so we're working out with them what that means for change orders and everything else but okay we're not going to need more money from the town in fact we should come in under budget
even though there was some so we'll we will figure that out favorite words under budget we don't hear them often we will see it's um COA floor projects completed Friday January 31st the building was cleaned last week we have a little more
touching up for cleaning that I think uh was was being done after but uh projects considered complete um overall I think folks are very happy with how the floors look downstairs and um you know the folks here in this building were really excellent in how they were able to still
meet Town needs while also not being able to be in this building the whole time so I think we've learn some things about how to you know write the scopes for for this and and how to clarify early on just are we going to be able to work in the building and and if we want to be able to then we might need to add that into a contract and see if anyone
can provide that to us too but um overall I I think that the work was done well um and we should end up with a good product so that's great well thanks to the people at Town Hall who were disrupted um and certainly the COA who
somehow managed to keep functioning amid all the chaos but they're all they're all moved back down move back down yeah great looking really good I can't wait to it on Friday excellent uh wastewater treatment plant uh is continuing along well most of the major prog progress
right now is in the headworks building walls and slabs are 100% complete so they're on track to finish January 2026 um going along nicely wow that's a lengthy project it's a long project it's it's a big one so next um item I just
wanted to to talk about this quickly to see if there was interest in trying to pursue this so um I do get occasional messages from residents I'm sure you all do about um snow and ice maintenance could be on either way it could be um why wasn't
this done differently or it could be why was so much work why would why did you clear the roads and sidewalks so many times uh when it wasn't a lot of snow or it was about to be 35 degrees the next day or or whatever else um and some of it's just everyone's going to have their own thoughts about how things should be
done um but some of it could be maybe not having policies in place and a set of operations for just how we approach a storm and and uh in what way and uh what we expect out of it and you know there there is a line that we want to try to
to walk of of keeping our roads as safe as as possible but also staying within a budget that we agree on um so it's something that I've talked to the highway superintendent about just making sure that we you know update our procedures there um and there's some interest in in doing that and just having something that's approved of by
this select board so that you know people do have questions we say well this is our operations plan this is what we do if you have questions you know be in touch is that something that might be of interest to the sport that might be helpful I mean I guess so every storm is
different you can't really have like a standard n um I know there's some if there's only so many inches in they plow if there's not then they do this and they do there's there are processes and that different
have yeah I mean different amounts of snow or ice or whatever yeah I mean I think to do it from an operational stpoint makes sense but to you there's no way you're going to create a policy that's going to yeah you know make everyone happy with how things were done
weren't done were you know I mean I I don't get um complaints very often about the roads I think people are generally happy I'm usually pleased with what I see and I leave very early in the morning yeah um for work and I'm I'm always I think they do a really good job
good I think they do I do I think they do a good job and and some storms are trickier than others and predictions change and you know there's it's sort of like you know every time there's a snow day and this is not unique to Hatfield there's the half the people it shouldn't have been half the people that should
have been you know there's it's a tough call and on handling storms and then also decisions that are a result of um so I think it' have to be broad it would have to be a broad thing yeah I mean there there has to be a lot of um you
know discretion in there based on all kinds of things timing type of precipitation um I mean sometimes it's a judgment call based on the weather reports and we run pretty lean Staffing wise too absolutely you know the Weather
Service says one inch and you get 10 it's like what happened right or they they make you think you're going to get so you pre-treat you do all this other stuff and then nothing comes so it's are they closing schools and there's no snow the next day right they're doing it based on what the
we report is so I yeah I I wouldn't want to be in the position of having to make that call ever since John quill retired I don't know about these weather with his magic marker it's true it's
true you're right you're totally right he was a legend a legend yep okay um next item so uh onetop for Community growth grants um I'll be meeting with an GOI uh and staff on February 27th just to learn a little
more about the specific Rural Development Fund grants that are a portion of uh the onetop um if there's any interest from from folks joining in that meeting I can send you a details what um what time of yeah could you send me the details it's going to be 11 a.m.
I think but I bet I could change that if there's interest we we far enough out that they could probably make time for it yeah I'd like to be there but I'm not sure I can be that day but you could send me the information sure an is
wonderful fabulous I really appreciate them reaching out so what they did was they reached out to any of the towns that counted as as rural uh according to the state that hadn't yet um received grants to this Rural Development Fund so oh um we're one of them so that's nice to see that they're looking out for us
and probably would would look favorably Upon Us receiving some some assistance there so um this is we've gotten plenty of assistance through the The Wider program because it includes Mass Works uh the One Stop um but the Rural Development Fund also includes you know
some some site Readiness uh grants um Community planning grants a few other things that might be of interest us so just backtracking a little bit I'm sorry but like the the snow and ice policy and the procedure that that that sort of folds into our initial conversation about the DPW director and that you know
because that is something that's kind of what I'm talking about when I'm talking about that it's in the job description is responsible for uh policies and procedures at the department right it's right there right yeah yeah and and do we lose that in some way by not having it it's maybe you do maybe the policy
procedures get written by each of the individual superintendents for for their their departments that could work well too so seems to me like that should have already been done we have a we have uh policies and procedures for uh DPW it's
all written out all right has not been updated since I believe 2010 so it's probably the kind of thing that that's good to do at least every it's already there we just got it okay yeah really good thing to update um snow may not be a section in there uh I'm coming from a
a town where every year it was required to put out a snow and ice plan uh that people can see was publicly available I think that was Overkill too an annual plan because it didn't really change that much each year how do you plan you can't how do you how do you know you
plan you tell folks uh this is this is where the blue lights are for the parking band which we don't need to worry about here this this is where um uh these are the roots that we do first here are the roots that here are the sidewalks that you know the residents are responsible for and just putting
that out there to the city council each year uh gave it some kind of awareness to folks about what things looked like did it make a big difference with the calls we received I don't know but we have a plan so anyway I did see on the
news speaking of that I did see on the news there was another um Community I think that did a reminder to people to shovel out their hydrant and um you know that might be we we've had quite a bit of snow we've got some more snow expected it might be good to even I'm sure Bob would be willing to put
something up on the fired um um you know social media Pages um reminding people about that that's that is important great okay um so that's uh onetop grants um diamond
back storage just wanted to let you know that this is something that I'll I'll report on in future meetings as well just to keep you updated so right now we do the town does pay for a storage unit uh where we have you know artifacts that are kept it's 13300 a month um we have been working
with the historic commission to uh figure out what's being moved here the second floor and what needs to be moved elsewhere and they have been looking at other options but um that hasn't happened yet so we are still paying for that and it's something that you know I'm happy to try to accelerate the efforts there and figuring out what our
plan is for for some of these I I thought the plan was to let them be up stairs so that we could get rid of that storage unit that's that is the plan but there are some things that probably aren't going to fit there and or not be at the the level they want that's what I'm told no John Am I
Wrong well we were told that that was enough room for everything that they needed they were going to move out so yeah so so they got to move out so they got to get out of there that's yeah that's that's why we have the upstairs and and yet we're wanting to expand the collection it's a I mean
there are the on that came and said look at you're spending all this money for that storage if we have it upstairs we can save the town all this money but they're not moving on it at all I'll pick up our efforts to make sure that get this moved forward thank you yeah
yeah I'm sure Diamond Back would like some closure on that too or just our money yeah and then uh Community preservation uh committee applications so just want to give you a quick update on those if that's helpful so there were a number of
ation that came in there are seven now that um they are um they are probably going to recommend funding for and that will of course go to town meeting uh three of them are about the Main Street uh Cemetery one is for U Cemetery Road improvements one is
to create just kind of a um a walkway that will really double as a a park uh in honor of Oliver Smith U which looks like an interesting plan and then also some restoring of the lawn and Cemetery space at that Main Street uh Cemetery
just kind of the open lawn space there um you'll hear more about all three of those um there was an application for uh fixing the roof at the Farm Museum and they're interested in doing that um there's Road improvements as well at the
uh Brad street Cemetery um is the application put in for irrigation at Smith Academy Park which will help a lot with with maintenance um um and they seem interested in that and then there's a supplemental application for the project
that's day Pond which uh they're interested in in funding as well so that's that's where things currently look like they're at they're meeting upstairs as we speak but that I've been working closely with the chair to just kind of make sure uh we they have any information they need from us wasn't
there phases of the Smith Academy like walking path did that drop off yeah great question so um because not all the money that we have has been spent yet they they're interested in in seeing that that is completed first before giving more funds for it and like us to apply in a future year if if there's an
additional phase we'd like to do and it could end up working out well to wait on that since there'll be day Pond construction happening right anyway so it might be a good idea to wait but um that was a Phill project so somebody's monitoring that yeah between me and and
Garrett we've been working with uh CPC on on that and and Garrett feels like go either way give us more money we'll we'll build more paths now and if you want to wait and come back okay so that's my report excellent
last item uh from me uh there is an additional item that was added to your agenda under unanticipated new business um we found out on Friday that the Cannabis Control Commission found an error in our um host Community agreement
with uh with River Valley and has asked that we uh fix this error um attorney Tom Mullen has drafted up an amendment to our agreement which would fix the date uh that was incorrect before there there the date of when they
received their license we've amended that mistake and we just need a um signature on that I think it's appropriate to make sure this board approves of doing it that way but and then we can have Diana sign the change is a date the change was
a date the date of when they received their license they we had put July and it was June or something like that we were off by a month okay well get that done I need a motion uh I'll make a motion that we approve
the amendment to the River Valley Growers host Community agreement second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I and this is is just for me to sign yes that'll be
sufficient okay very good our next meeting is February 28 28th yes 25th 2th 28th of July 25th 25th right that will be a joint meeting of the select board we'll go over the DPW budgets and treasurer's budget as well oh actually
can I ask you about that um the treasurers budget the treasurer will be meeting with the finance committee um most of the items in their budget are things that are kind of more on the finance side um would you like to still have them come
to this meeting too um to to discuss their budget or would you be comfortable them just meeting the finance committee treasure okay wait a sec who's you treas yes I'm asking um should the treasurer come before us
yes I mean I think that the benefit of doing that is Town's people get to hear about what's in the budget perfect y that sounds good to me yeah so um yes I think that would be a good good I'll have them come yeah that's perfect great
okay make a motion to adour I'll second your a motion motion May second any further discussion all those in favor I thank you thank you Karen