Good evening, Hollist. It is Monday, July 28th at 7:01 p.m. I'm a minute late. And uh welcome to an informative uh agenda this evening for the select board. We're going to get started with uh joint meeting with the library board
of trustees to fill a vacancy on the board of trustees. I here we have the chair and the person who's uh being nominated. Want to come forward and >> and vice chair? >> Vice chair. Okay. Yeah.
>> Put Audrey in the middle. >> Yes. >> And make sure you got to let's move this. >> Yeah. A little bit to share. >> Thank you. >> So, welcome. If you could just identify yourselves and then um I assume you want you can start. So, just want to introduce yourselves because your your
backs are going to be to the camera. >> That's fine. Uh Christy Whsar. Do I need an address too? >> You can say the chair though. chair library trustee >> Carla Alfred vice chair >> and Audrey friend >> okay the nominee for the >> the nominee yes our nominee >> so you want to talk about the the
process that led us to this point >> yeah so I have I have a little bit on the process and also why we thought Audrey was a our best candidate um so first of all I just wanted to thank Kathleen and Donna at town hall for all the posting and managing all the candidate submissions and coordination and everything I know that was a big
effort so I appreciate all that we really uh many thanks to them and also to Frank. I know you're on a lot of our emails and uh jumping in here and there as well and coordinating all this today. So, thank you for that. Um so, I'm going to go over the process a little bit. Uh I think I was pretty clear. I know Frank was on all those emails about what we
were doing. But, uh the posting, >> yeah, of course, that's why I'm here. Uh the posting was available on the town website. Um and then also it was posted on Hollist reporter. Uh there were also four candidates uh who had pulled papers back in May for the election. So I reached out to them by email and just
let them know that the the posting was up in case they wanted to uh submit a letter of interest and just make sure they were aware of that opening. So we had seven uh individuals who submitted a letter of interest. Um and of those we interviewed five candidates. Uh one
withdrew their candidacy so they stopped the process. Um one was unable to be interviewed for personal reasons but we still kept them in consideration during our deliberations. Um each candidate received a list of seven questions prior to their interview. Uh and then we
interviewed the five candidates over two days. Each person took about a half an hour, gave us time to ask the questions, they could answer it and then ask us any questions as well. Um and we also if we had follow-up questions too. So um we I I do want to give a shout out to all the
candidates too. Uh we were really overwhelmed by the number of people who showed an interest. Uh and it was really very gratifying. It was it was kind of embarrassing to have so many choices. Uh but it was really really nice to see. Uh a lot of people uh really want to serve the community and have an interest in
supporting the library too. So that was really uh really wonderful to see such a great response. Um so following the interviews uh the four trustees who conducted the interviews then did uh deliberation and we unanimously selected Audrey Friend uh to bring basically
before the select board. So, she stood out on several fronts and I'm going to go through some of those, but I also will give Audrey a chance to introduce herself uh at the end as well. Um, and then also Carla, you can add to anything I've missed. Um, so just as a starting point, I know volunteerism and service
to community uh is very important to Audra and she had considered running for election uh but when she saw the crowded field decided not this time. Um, and also it sounded like you were very happy with how the library was running. So, that's also good. Uh, and I know you've been in touch with um, Carla about
things at the library, programming, etc. So, again, not not a new interest or a sudden interest, uh, which is nice to see. Um, Audre's professional background is in digital communications and data management, and I will let her describe exactly what she does because I don't want to mingle it. Uh, but the I think
analytical mindset was something that really spoke to us. Uh, and she wants to bring that kind of experience to the board. uh combination of of data analysis, technology focus, uh communication skills, and also some social media skills in there too, I thought was going to be really helpful.
Uh and if you watch the interview, I think communication skills were very apparent during uh during the interview. So, um Audra also uh just finished serving as treasurer on another board uh and I think she would bring some great experience from that board to uh ours as
well. uh she did attend our last meeting which was great uh and was very interested in one of our discussions. Uh we were talking about uh policy and we were debating whether it was a policy or a procedure and uh I know you really appreciated sort of that type of discussion and sort of the thought that
went into it and just the consideration and just listening uh and the way we were pretty respectful um with each other and hearing everybody. Um, Audra also has experience working with diverse teams, uh, and enjoys enjoys a collaborative and consensus based decision-making process, which is pretty
much what our board is. So, um, I thought that was another great, uh, plus for Audra. Um, so with that, I'm going to say, uh, that those are sort of our big points for why we thought she was a great candidate. Uh, Carla, did you want
to add anything else? No, I I will um reiterate that we were so fortunate to have such a a turnout in support of the library and consistently everybody who had applied um is a library user. I could name seeing them personally at the
library multiple times um being at separate events or just using the facilities. Um and so thank you for coming out to the town because we we've never had a turnout. We have had contested races. We've had multiple
people apply for a vacancy, but never seven. That was a record number. So, in my term. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> So, we appreciate it. >> Cool. >> Um, would you like to introduce yourself? Talk a little about my pleasure. Hi. So, I'm Audra. Um, my
family and I moved to Hollist about six years ago. Uh, my wife and I have a now 10 and a halfyear-old. Um, and so I'm just really excited and grateful to be to have this opportunity to serve the town. I had been looking for an opportunity to get more involved. Uh, had been a little intimidated by the
election process. So I do admit this sort of the ability to like apply and get appointed. It was very exciting as a way to stick my toe in. Um, I think like many Hollonians, the library was a lifesaver for us during the pandemic. Um, and I'm just grateful to be able to pay it forward, pay it back. Um, my
background is in data and communications, um, including databases, website management, social media. I'm excited to sort of help continue to tell the good news of the library. I don't have any critiques. I just think they're amazing. >> Okay, great. And you said the uh, what was the vote for uh, nomination?
>> 4. >> 4. Okay. >> Yeah. And and I will I think I can also say that Gohead. Yeah, we uh, we all Audrey was our top choice like each of us independently we came to that same conclusion. >> Great. >> What's up? when we all showed up at the meeting >> for deliberation.
>> Gotcha. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, >> um >> solid choices, but >> party unanimous. >> Gotcha. Okay. Um I'm going to leave it uh let the uh these folks if they have any questions or comments or anything like that, do you want to >> Yeah, sure. So, Audra, thank you for putting your name forward. Thrilled that
you have a as the support that you have and happy you're here at the table to present yourself. Welcome. And um again, thank you for your willingness to serve. It's um special person who does this. So grateful you're here at the table. Uh in terms of process, I had a couple questions. So not for you Audrey because you're just a participant in it. Um but
for the library board of trustees, just going back in time just a little bit. So just to set the table, we we had a you had a contested election in May, you had four candidates for two spots. >> And then two weeks after the election, one of the active board members vacated their role, opening up the seat for
appointment, which is why we're here today. Okay. Uh and then you very graciously reached out to the four candidates and said that there was an open seat that they could apply uh and then moved into uh what should be and uh is a joint appointment between the select board uh and the library board of
trustees. Whereas we serve the role of the of representing voters, right? So the voters don't choose in an appointment. Uh they will a year from now and hopefully you'll put your you'll you'll enter a campaign and you'll put your name up for election. But in in the absence of that process being there, we
represent as a joint um two boards, we represent that for the voters. Uh we weren't a part of the process and I'm just describing we were not a part of the interview process. I think we were following you were following past practice on that from from 2021 when we
last did that. Um I I my thought my comment is there's a greater call for transparency today >> than 2021. Uh and so as a result of just understanding process and always looking to improve process moving forward, we did reach out to town council just to
understand the joint appointment. Um perfect practice, best practice and we would otherwise normally be uh you you are currently five active members. I'm I'm confused because you mentioned it was four zero. >> Five with the vacancy one was unable to make the meeting so they did not vote.
So the vote in attendance was 4 zero. One person was absent and >> Audrey would be filling. We're a sixp person board. >> Okay. Okay. Um and so that would be then five members from the board of trustees and three members of the select board voting in a in a typical joint
appointment process. So tonight we're we're following a past practice again where you're making a recommendation with the four votes and you're looking for three votes. Okay. All right. Um I I think the call for transparency is there. So moving forward, especially with town council uh advising the select board, we would look for future joint
appointments to be I'm speaking for myself. So I'm I guess really I'm talking to the library board of trustees and my own board would look for that combination of input. It's difficult. Seven candidates is a lot to interview. So I understand that >> and they were open meetings and and um I
know Christie did due diligence in inviting your board just to not take up your meeting at your time. But this is historically it's not just 2021. this is what we've done. This is how I was appointed. Um and everybody in between, you know, we typically send the chair,
maybe the vice chair, um just because and we've had this twice now where we've had a contested appointment um where we show up now sometimes we only get one person like in the case of Bob that was wonderful too and then there's >> but we still did the v vote
independently. He was the 2020 one you're referring to. We still did the vote independently at our board and then um but fortunately they were on Zoom so anybody they are on the town website anybody can go and watch in terms of transparency can go and see the interviews right
>> um and I as much as I don't like Zoom I do love that they are all there for the entire voting >> right >> populace of Hollist to see >> definitely took advantage of watching those meetings I enjoyed your interview really good job watched them all um and
then the the deliberation was not recorded so I didn't have the opportunity to to view that um because it's not available. Could you just speak to how you prioritize? You as you mentioned you had seven strong candidates. You interviewed six strong candidates. How did you prioritize among the experience? How did you prioritize
to pick the wonderful Audra >> Christie Christie said it exactly as it it was very organic in which um the four voting members sat down. One of them, I'm not here tonight, said, "I have made a list of my candidates um and had
written in great detail all the all the pros for each one." And when I looked over at their paper, it was the same as the the order was the same as mine. So then we just kind of all sat there and waxed poetic about all these wonderful people um with Audra. But I can say
personally for me the piece that set apart was the um was the analytical data piece. We we do a decent job and there's been a lot of change. Um Frank is new. We got a new director. when it comes to
budgets and um and structure of our budget and what the library needs, we're in a big change year and we really need some we were looking for somebody who had that strong um I personally was I don't know if you were but um looking
for the strong sense of numbers and anytime somebody's like I would love to help with the budget I am I have big googly heart eyes for them. So, um I know in the past we've had some strong helpers with our budget, too, but um somebody who comes to me enthusiastic to
support the library and and has very detailed ideas of ways that can go like Audrey had and you saw her interview so you know she had really considered policy specifically and um and and
ways the library could grow and ways she would be supporting the public through the library. all pieces of Hollist through the library, not just one faceted piece. So, that's what stood out to me. Um, but in terms and that was reiterated with our board when we sat
down. I think years past we've had divided votes. We've gone into long deliberation, but we really just all looked at each other and we're like, this is this is the choice we all came to the table with. It was a little uncanny and we kind of all sang everybody's praises,
high-fived and went out for ice cream and we did not. I wish we did. That would been better. >> For ice cream, I think whatever degrees out there. >> Well, I'm not saying we can't adjourn. >> One more thing, and that is just that, you know, I think I was looking for someone who would enhance the board and I feel like Audrey really fit that.
>> She really fills holes. She's not repeating. >> It's she's not yelling into an echo chamber. >> Right. So, uh, you tonight you're presenting a recommendation with with the vote and the board's asked to accept the recommendation. Is that how we're going to handle the vote? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And I I would say, um, from my
perspective, I think that that this is makes it a lot of sense for us because we're not in charge of the library usually. So going through seven candidates for on our side of things, I think would be not a good use of our time. >> Yeah, we were so fortunate. It was really
>> that's I mean, you know, I I would I I get your point. And if there were two candidates, we certainly can have that discussion. But I think with seven candidates, I I I prefer that they that they come to us with and if it was divided, we certainly can chime in and do that. But they seem unanim they're unanimous in that support. I you know, I
I'm I'm >> you know, I I understand your your feeling of transparency because I I feel like you are talking to us too as opposed and not just them. But I think >> you know, I I I think transparency is important, but I also think uh we want to make good use of our time. Seven candidates would have been they
spent half an hour with each candidate. That would have been >> more time than I think we need to depending on on something that um is is a little beyond the scope of our of our board. If it was one or two, then I think it's it's justified though. >> Well, perhaps, Frank, we pin a future conversation about how the bylaws
dictate a joint appointment. I certainly saw our role as um representing v voters as opposed to being subject matter experts on the library. But I think there's a little bit of a philosophical difference there and perhaps it's a future conversation to revisit our bylaws. Me personally, I I would have
liked to have had a voice in the candidates among the seven. I'm thrilled you're here. >> Um and we're not going to undo anything for sure. I'm just saying personally I would have I would love >> and that's why it was that's why we sent out the invites too though. Like if if I know it's a lot of time. It is a lot of
time. Seven people half an hour each. But um you're always welcome to come to our meetings and participate too. We love to have we love to have visitors. >> Yeah, I remember getting an invite to all my emails through um Frank Kathleen
and and Liz. >> I think there's been a looking forward conversation um in the end. So, >> and like Ben said, it's also contingent on the on the situation. If we have two candidates, we could do it easy in >> in an in a joint meeting. But seven is
seven was what is that phrase when you have >> an abundance of >> an abundance. Yes. >> Embarrassment of >> embarrassment of Rachel. Thank you. See, we're already here. We go. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. You're welcome. Uh David, >> congratulations. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> I'm really excited to have you here. Um
I didn't get the chance to do too much review other than to listen in a little bit and to look at the notes that I've got. Would you mind if I ask you a couple of questions about like your take on some issues? And again, not it's not like trying to pin you in a corner. I'm just curious. >> You're in a launching seat. Who's going to >> Right. It's good. So, one of them I'm
interested in your background is technologically leaning like my own and I've been thinking a lot recently about the emergence of large language models and the fact that more and more people are using them to extract information in ways that are, you know, very powerful, but also kind of they start to negate
the need for kind of the in-person part of research, which is both scary and interesting. Um, from a information architecture point of view, I'm kind of wondering if you've had any early thoughts about how a trustee in a modern library can kind of um, I guess make
make our part of that more relevant in a way going forward because I can see that the library as a cultural center makes a lot of sense, but as a place of information aggregation is that's kind of where the the puzzle starts to get a little bit more murky in the next few years. >> Yeah, I think um, this is something I have to deal with in my own job,
frankly. Yeah. um is learning learning about emerging technologies and how we use them well and safely. Um one of the things I think about is balancing already the professional workload that library staff have and have to to in order to become librarians and finding
opportunities and ways that we can help them also become experts for our community who need it. Um I think there will always be a need for a center where folks can both learn how to do something or uh confirm it. Um, and I see
libraries as being that place. And whether it's, again, I think the era of the physical encyclopedia sadly is common, even though I'm sentimental about them, right? But we need a place where where folks can then doublech checkck the thing they've learned, right? Did our AI hallucinate this or is it legit and real? And without forcing librarians to become AI experts, I would
love to explore ways that we can help them be able to help residents and visitors make those discernments, make those decisions or um what questions they need to ask themselves to ask their the you know results. Um I imagine it's like all the other departments I saw the high school or the school district right
is wrestling with their AI policy. Yeah. >> Um it doesn't it's not a surprise that the library should as well and I think it's kind of exciting to figure out. >> I'm guessing you're probably looking into like what tools might we use in the future. There's so many new things out on the horizon. >> Exactly. Exactly. Both that and I think like right digital citizenship stuff, the ways that we can help folks learn
and discern and again understand what are useful tools and what are the ways you're, you know, drifting the wrong direction. >> I like that a lot. I'm I'm eager to learn more as you go forward. That's really exciting to me. Um, another one I wanted to raise is and again not looking for a specific answer, but just to kind of like stir the pot a little and it's a
conversation going forward. I think um a lot of people in the Hollist see the library as one of the the few last neutral safe spaces civically. Um and I try to be sensitive to people all across the aisle. I've had a political journey that's bounced me back and forth to
various extremes um which I'm pretty open about. But as a person who's coming in as a trustee, part of your job of course is to help set policy. How how might you approach the idea of making sure that we do stay inclusive but without being seen as pushing just one
or cultural or political view especially in a place where you know there are lots of different viewpoints people all seem to love the library when they don't it's usually because of a reaction of some political acumen um or sorry some political move when I don't think anyone really wants to have those negative
feelings. So I'm I'm kind of curious about how do we stay inclusive in a broad sense? Yeah, I mean one thing that I reflected during my interview that I truly believe is that I think the library is a space to learn and make mistakes and I don't want to say wrong because I think that puts again a sort of right at two ends but places where we
can work out and hash out things again in a civic community place. Um I myself am like big dichotomy. I grew up in an Air Force family with military parents and so I was excited to see the Memorial Day exhibit and sort of the veteran support that the library does and I'm a queer family and I was super excited to
see the drag story time last year. I love the library being a place that all community members can see themselves and that is important to me again removed from politics. Um one of the questions they asked in the interview was questions about book banning. Um I'm excited that the staff have a really
strong policy for book challenges. I think again the library is a place where we should be able to access the information or learn how to access it again right with our professional staff can help us figure out how you find the answer that reflects your values your individual experiences um but that they are not the gatekeeper to that one way
or the other. So um it is important to me that those spaces feel like anyone can walk in and see themselves, their family and their values reflected but not limited. Right. >> Fantastic. Great. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. Um, well, I appreciate you putting your name in, name forward and
uh the process uh to to to lead you here. So, it's uh it's good. I'm uh was it a one-year appointment because uh the elections next year for this for the seat? Okay. >> All right. So, um, uh, you know, I I would say one thing we should do is we
should encourage the people who, if they aren't already, the people who put in their names to put in their names either for if there's other boards or committees that they could want to participate in or we certainly have the talent bank as well to uh um encourage people to uh to participate in in civic
life even if it's not necessarily in the board you initially wanted to. When I followed up with the other candidates, I also sent them a link to uh the various uh postings that are and appointments that are available in town. >> If you like, you might consider >> or or you could just call you could just
contact the town manager's office and they can they can find the because they might they might be able to find them in a in a good spot. But that thank you for for doing that. Appreciate it. So, uh, since this is a joint appointment, I think we'll do a, um, we can take a, uh, nomination and a second and then I think
you both have votes in this particular case for the for this. We all have votes here. So, um, anybody want to >> Okay, I'll move to nominate Audre friend Audre friend uh, to the open position uh, for appointment to the library board
of trustees for a term that expires on May 10 election 2026. >> Second. >> All right. Right. So, it's a roll call vote. So, Tina, >> yes. >> Uh Damon, >> yes. >> Christie, >> yes. >> Carla, >> I. >> And I vote yes as well. So, congratulations. >> Thank you.
>> And you just uh make sure you uh get uh sworn in by the uh the clerk and you can uh start participating uh >> as a voter. >> Officially official. Oh my gosh. >> Official. >> So, congratulations. Thank you very much for coming in this evening. >> Thank you. >> Everybody stay cool. >> Thank you. Very nice to see. Thank you
guys. All right. Give the uh everybody a minute so we can all right we can kick in on the next part of our agenda. So we're on to warrants. Sure. So we've had two warrants signed since
uh your last meeting July the 14th in an amount of $1,73861. and the second one on that date uh 569,000 and excuse me $569,75188. Uh our second round of warrants was on
July the 21st. Uh the first in an amount of 2,444,000 um excuse me, $2,444,1453 and $473,271.14. And I assume the smaller ones are from 25 FY25 and then the bigger ones are for FY26. Correct. >> Excellent.
>> Great. >> We have a funky payroll this time of year with the school. >> And there's some there's also a giant Isn't there the giant payment for >> uh uh pension >> pension is is coming up too. >> Y >> um all right, we're going to move on to
public comment. And just to reiterate, um there's there will be space for the board to to talk. So this is this is going to be pure public comment. So I see some people in the room. Does anyone in the room have any public comment this evening? I see a hand raised. Please come forward and identify yourself. And
clock is ticking. Two minutes. Tick tick tick tick tick. Good evening. Michael Cassidy, fire chief and emergency management director. I just wanted to share a great time uh milestone that we reached this past Friday. Uh, as the board remembers, back in October, we
received our ALS license, advanced life support, uh, from the Office of Emergency Medical Services, uh, a division of the Department of Public Health. Uh, so we've been operating at the ALS level since October. Uh, as of 6 p.m. on Friday the 25th of July, all 11
of our current paramedics who are on our staff have been cleared by our medical director to operate in the PB model, which means that uh it's a single paramedic working with basics. Um, some of our paramedics are seasoned. They've been working uh as prehosp providers for
years and they very quickly were able to meet the requirements and the approval of our medical director from the hospital. Uh but others who are newer, more recently uh certified or haven't worked in a system where they were the sole ALS provider, uh they needed um
some more um field time, more observation. Uh there was mentoring that was taking place. Uh but as of Friday evening at 6 p.m., all 11 of our current paramedics uh are cleared by the medical director to work uh with the PB model without needing a mentor. Um, I have six
other members of our department who are currently in paramedic uh, training. Um, we've been working very closely with HR. Uh, we hopefully will be making a couple uh, job offers for some additional paramedics. So, we'll go back through this cycle again of people needing to go through the medical director and get
cleared um, after a certain number of calls under supervision. But right now, everybody that we have that's working as a paramedic uh can do so without additional uh resources being required. >> That's excellent news. >> And I would say um you don't have to do
this under public comment. You can always talk to Frank and put it under comments from the town administrator. So you don't have to you don't have to worry about doing it in >> delighted to uh to to share with the board. And uh it it again >> well we want to hear it. I mean you don't have to do it. I I got it Friday
night uh at 5:45 p.m. So by then your agenda had long been um >> Yes. Well, that's why you can go into the comments from the town manager. He can bring you on up and like I have a few comments and uh from a >> I would never steal his >> his >> Okay, thank you. That's it. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. It's
great news. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else in the room have public comment this evening? >> I love how I say that. Everyone starts doing this. >> Don't look at me. Don't look at me. All right. Um, on the Zoom call, does anyone on the Zoom call have a public comment
this evening? Can somebody hit the okay on the uh things just so just in case someone there has a hand up and I can't really see it on that top row. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Uh, so anybody on the on the Zoom have a
public comment? And if you missed the opportunity in this this moment, please feel free to send an email to the town manager's office and we can read your comments in uh at our next uh next meeting. So don't feel that this is once once the time is up then there's never
another opportunity. So um going once going twice. All right, we're going to move on. Next up, we have a DPW facility project feedback and updates. So, we wanted to one of the things we want to talk about
is discussing dates for uh DPW forums uh potentially. Um and um Frank, do you have uh any updates to provide us or and then uh after that we can talk about possible dates for the >> Sure. Sure. So, um, we've been going a
little bit back and forth with Wesson and Samson since your last meeting a couple of weeks ago. Um, they have some recommended due diligence that, um, if the board is seriously considering either of the Woodland or Hopping Brook sites, uh, that we would undertake some
of those next. Sorry, Tina. Did you have a question? >> Land and Hopping Brook. >> Uh, yes. Did I say something else? >> Said Woodland. >> Oh, I apologize. No, no, I do. I've got Woodland on the brain. Sorry. um uh land and uh Hopping Brook, excuse me. Um some of those next steps uh could take a
couple of weeks, but some of them could take a little bit more than a month. Um so as we look at October 20th town meeting, the thought of maybe having a couple or one um forum sometime in August um and then maybe peppering a
couple others in in September. I think it's important to keep that time frame in mind because we'd hate to get too far down the rabbit hole on one particular site and then have an update from Wesson and Samson that um you know might sway the board or town meetings uh opinion on
one of those sites. >> Um the the question um that I do anticipate us receiving. So we'll just come out and and and uh answer the the question about cost. I don't envision us having to eat into the $7 million that
uh town meeting approved for this type of thing um back in May. We there is existing funding in the original feasibility study funding that was uh appropriated back in fiscal year 2023 that we should be able to to tap into. There's more than enough to to to tap
into to pay for this type of stuff. Um, but there is the question of time and for right now July 28th if we're looking at getting some crucial information back from Weston and Samson beginning of September, midepptember,
um, we're looking at, you know, from there three, four, five weeks from from town meeting. Um, so I don't think it's necessarily uh a bad idea to continue with the plan of having forums uh in August and beginning of September. Um but I think we certainly need to plan on
having additional ones maybe the second half of September should we receive some sort of major update from Weston and Samson. Um the the bigger the biggest sort of um time commitment that Western Samson needs is testing of the environmental conditions at the site.
>> Um and making sure that we're not going to, >> you know, be left with a can of worms after the purchase and sale passes should town meeting approve, right? uh one of the sites for for the facility. Um so before we go too much into the depth of the you know the planning for
the forums I just wanted to put that caveat out there that we can certainly proceed with weighing the the pros and cons of the various sites as we know them today but some of those parameters may change by the time we get to to midepptember. >> Okay, do you have any comments or questions about that? Are you needing
the you don't need the board's either consensus or vote to move forward to do environmental testing of either land or Hoppingbrook? >> Uh I don't I I don't believe so. No. Um I mean if you if you our process our meeting schedule would not hold up.
>> No no no no. So the anything anything um uh whether it's a regular business meeting or the timing of the forums should not impact any of that um that additional leg work that the engineers are attempting to do or hoping to do soon.
>> Um but I just want to as those the the deliver in terms of the time needed to commit to deliver some of those tasks >> um it will impact some of the decision- making I'm sure. >> Okay. >> Okay. David u my only concern and I agree with the idea of we need to have
the forums many often is that if we're doing some due diligence in parallel I would hate to have someone come to some of the forums where we have less information draw an errant conclusion from those forums and then propagate those forwards we'll have to do a little bit of communications I think to make sure that if there is anything new
uncovered um as we go along folks who have kind of said hey I've heard what I need to hear are informed with that that new evidence >> worries me a little Yeah, I mean I think it it kind of puts us in that like Yeah, I mean I understand and I uh I I I certainly
agree that we have to be very careful how we move forward, but I also, you know, I think I I think we can be clear that we don't have an certain answers and I think giving the public an opportunity to ask questions or to
participate in something I think is important regardless. Um, agree. And, um, I also, you know, I I I, you know, I I think what I would be >> careful about pushing, you know, if we wanted to have the forums exclusively like in September or something like
that, then we're starting to get into, you know, a very a busy time for a lot of people and certainly there's more people around, which is good. But it also puts us in a position where um there might be other topics that we need to discuss for in getting ready for town meeting and we're losing the bandwidth
to be able to have those discussions. So, um I guess you know, so I'll put to you guys, uh the the two of you, what do you think about doing maybe an August forum and then maybe an update later in the in September, or do you think we should just do a September forum?
>> Um, personally, I'll put my cards on the table. I think having two would be better. I'd rather see us have more, not less. Um but, um I'm I'm interested to hear what both of you think about. No, I I definitely think an August um forum is important and I think the scope of what
we try to accomplish in that forum can be narrow to Damon's point that we're we're asking for and exchanging information that um is relevant in that moment knowing there's more to come and then a follow-up in September. So, I'm I'm on board with two. >> Okay. >> Totally agree. Just want to make sure
that in that first form we express the fact that there's still some outlying information that we're >> Yeah, I think we I think we can do that. I think we can say, you know, there's some information like this piece of information or that piece of information that might drive some uh people to have certain kinds of decisions is that this is this is an opportunity to share
information. This is the information that we have now and and information can is going to continue to change as we go forward um because the the world is not static. So, um I'm comfortable with maybe doing August and then we can evaluate if a September probably do a
September as well once we get more of that information back where we have more clarity on what's uh what's going to be in front of town meeting. >> And I would say too, and James, correct me if I'm wrong, um most of the um most of the time will be focused on
some of the um the testing that needs to take place at the land site just given the nature of the business that was there. >> Sure. Um, so if we get to se if we get to early or mid August or late August and we hear that the community is overwhelmingly in favor of the Hopping Brook site, not that we shouldn't
continue with the due diligence. At least that, you know, gives us some sense of comfort that okay, we're going to do our due diligence on land anyway, but we feel fairly comfortable that this is heading in in a different direction at any rate. >> Yeah, we can we can we can do that. I think that makes sense. Um, so yeah, I
think so I think the consensus here is let's try to do two. Let's do one in August and then an update in September. >> Okay. >> Um and I guess the next question is is dates for a potential forum. And I, you know, I want to reiterate too that we'd
like I I personally I think it should be not a night of our meeting. It should be dedicated exclusively to the DPW. I think we're going to make sure that we invite stakeholders from um all these different boards and committees and things like that. invite everybody to participate but also really looking for
at least a representative from each of those from from a number of uh relevant stakeholders like we want to hear from the planning board want to be able to hear from uh conservation we want to be able to hear from uh economic development I think there's there's really important >> people who you know questions will come
up and that we want to be able to have their uh their input and certainly understanding what the questions are and I I see that the moderator is here as well she's behind the chair so I can't really say hi um but want to make sure that she participates ates at least in the as a um as somebody who comes forward because I think it's important you'll be able to hear sort of like what
are the topics of conversation and you know being able to understand sort of like what's going on in the landscape here you know um uh depending on which which uh places come forward and things like that. So it'll help you better for town meeting so you're not coming into town meeting like okay there's this large group of people and
they're saying things that I you know I'm not necessarily prepared for it. So, I just want to make sure that you um are at least invited and if you can uh join us that would be >> I'm going through a meeting withdrawal >> even from the finance committee. >> Um
>> what's it like? Um so um and then I think the other thing that I think we'd like to make sure so um clear for um clear agenda and um understanding from from everybody who's participating what is expected and
what we're looking for um uh also making sure that we're inviting as many stakeholders. We want to make sure we get that thing out there. That's why I think we want to have this discussion tonight about when it will be um so that people can um uh so people can participate and we can get all from all
different areas and things like that. Um and then um the last thing is is that I think we should have it upstairs in town hall. We had a what we had a a a forum on Pinerest. We tried to all fit in this room. It >> was cozy. >> It was cozy. Yes. >> Stuffy.
there was a lot of a lot of uh um a lot more people than I think we were expecting and being able to do it upstairs I think would be important and then having a Zoom component as well so people can if they can't make it in person they then that's okay but if they can make it in person then there's plenty of room for everybody to uh to
sit down and enjoy it >> and I am wide open other than the week of the 18th to the 23rd. >> Okay, sounds good. Um why don't we hear the dates and then we can see >> Oh, you have dates prepared. I think he had some dates that he was going to throw out there to sort of see what we think.
>> Yeah. So, I had um I've talked a little bit to some staff internally um about what dates may or may not work. >> Um as Ben mentioned, uh we've been reaching out to a few of the different stakeholder boards and committees. Um I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of boards on who they'd like to
send us or their unofficial liaison. Um but um for now I have uh sort of an off week for the select board as an option. So that would be August 4th or the 18th. >> Okay. >> That would be a weekday obviously. Um
there's if the board opted to do uh a weekend session if you wanted to do one sort of midday on a Saturday, August 16th. Um, I do need to double check that we haven't um received a event booking for August 16th for the upper town hall. I
don't believe that we have, but I will just double check that uh tomorrow. >> Um, and then we start to get into a little bit of uh September here. So, we could do one the first 6, which I believe is the first Saturday after Labor Day. Again, that would be a
a weekend option. um thinking that the t the Monday or Tuesday the Monday of Labor Day and the Tuesday after Labor Day could be a little bit of a could be a little bit of a stretch. Um so that's sort of the first pass at August and that first week of September and then as
things come into closer um we get as we get closer to town meeting rather um you know we could schedule one for the second half of September as well. >> Yeah. So you said uh so let me just get this. So, you said either August 4th, 16th, or 18th. >> Uh, the 18th.
>> Yeah. Um, Tina just said the 18th doesn't work for her too well. >> Yep. >> Um, I think the fourth is too quick. That would be next week. I'd like a little more time to post it, but I'm interested like to hear what you guys think.
>> I am available on the 16th. That would not be an issue. >> What do you think, Darren? >> I can do the 16th. >> You want to try the 16th? >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Why don't we pencil in the 16th? Make sure there's nobody else there. Maybe we can do it like what are we thinking like here?
>> Austin's active around 10 in the morning, I would say, on a Saturday. >> You want to do like late morning? What do you What do you guys >> 11 o'clock or >> like 11? >> Yeah. >> Brunch with the select board. That sounds seems delightful. It's a quiet time in terms of sports. So there won't be I don't think
>> I mean we're inevitably going to run into people's on vacation, people on vacations and things like that. >> Um so there's really nothing we can do about those kinds of things, but trying to get it out there. So maybe we sort of pencil it in for August 16th at 11. >> Let's try >> and um an upper town hall and we can
just verify that that works and then if that timing works and is okay for use of the space then we can start to publish it widely. Mhm. >> Everybody feel comfortable with that? >> Yes, sir. >> How long will the forum be? >> Um, probably not. I mean, I think we
probably want to >> two hours. >> Yeah. I mean, I think we would probably like dedicate at least two hours, but, you know, we can also kind of get a feel for it if people need a little bit if there's, you know, more questions or more conversation that needs to take place, we can have that. Um,
and then I think the the what we'll want to do doesn't give us a lot of time to do it, but on the 11th what we'll want to do is to make sure we have clarity on what exactly we want to do, >> what we were looking for from the from the exercise. I think one of the things
that I think we really need to emphasize here is that I think there's a lot of emphasis on why not to do something and we need to start to get more to why we should do something. >> Agree. And I think you brought that up, Damon, but I think it's I think that's something that we we need to kind of get
away from >> not here, okay, where and then we need to start having some of those conversations. And I think that's one of the most important parts of it. But I think on, you know, are people comfortable like on the 11th, we can really >> nail down exactly what we want it to look like and what questions we want to answer and things like that.
>> Wide open to how you both feel about it. Um, and through you, Ben, if Frank would find it helpful, we could perhaps assign one of us to work with Frank on developing the forum. Sure. >> And then we're coming in on the 11th, we're presenting a collection of ideas. Um, I'm I'm happy to play that role or
nominate suggest somebody else. But I I wonder if having one one point of contact for the board up until the 11th would be helpful to bounce ideas off of and make sure >> Sure. >> Um, the board's experience over the past number of months with the DPW facility is is captured and and >> So, you're volunteering? >> I would. Sure. Yes. But I'm I'm really
it's really the idea of if it's helpful to Frank and you see the value. >> I'll I'll go with that. I think that that works for me. What do you think, D? You >> I love this idea. >> Okay. >> And we're not taking public comment on that. >> No, I think it's I I know. I think I
think Tina, it's a great suggestion. And then you can kind of uh work with Frank on getting some of those things and then we can have something to uh to hammer out, make sure we have a pretty good understanding. we can tell people that it's coming and then we can have real clarity on exactly like we we can get
very clear on what how we want to uh put it together. >> It was a really positive experience with the housing production plan. We did uh one inerson forum and then we did another hybrid forum. I enjoyed that experience and I learned a lot and so I would see my role really is just on the structure, not the content but just the
structure of what what it would be. the board on the 11th can and Frank through through Frank um and staff input and so on um can nail down the content, but really enjoyed the housing production plan process and the forms that we held uh and would like to see that replicated
here. So that that's where my interest comes from. >> Sounds good. >> Okay. >> All right. Any other comments about um a DPW forum? We're going to have uh Tina's going to work with Frank to put something together for the 11th that we can review and then uh nail down the
exact um way it's going to look. I mean, the agenda is going to be talking about the sites, but really making sure that we have a clear um understanding what to and and being able to set those expectations at the actual meeting. So,
>> any other comments? Well, >> David, great. Feeling good. I'm good. >> Great. Okay, sounds good. All right. Uh, comments from the town manager. Frank, you're on. You're on. >> Okie dokie. So, um,
just a couple of normal housekeeping type things. We had a uh a permit that we approved in the office last late last week. Um, also just a good note for a community event for August 16th at 6 PM, the outdoor concert uh with the Claflin
Hill Orchestra at Blair Square. Um, so mark your calendars for that. Um, we also received a number of donations this week that I'm going to get to in just a second because they were incredibly generous. Um, so before I get into that, I just want to remind everyone that the town meeting warrant is now open as the
town moderator walks out. Um, the warrant is scheduled to close on September the 8th at 4 p.m. If you have any questions about submitting an article for consideration, you can direct them to myself uh or the town clerk. Um, and as a reminder, town meeting is scheduled for October 20th at
7 p.m. at the high school. Uh, we are still accepting applications for the open seat on the finance committee. Uh, those letters of interest can be submitted to Donna Muzzy here in the town manager's office through August the 22nd. and we've ten tenatively scheduled uh that joint appointment to be made
with the finance committee uh on August the 28th. >> Have we received any letters of interest? >> We have received one. Excellent. >> And the plan was to send them all sort of in mass once the 22nd comes and goes. Um but I can certainly send them as as
we receive them if that's preferred. >> I think that'll be easier to keep track of. >> Perfect. Um so yes, that's scheduled for your August 28th uh select board meeting. Um, be on the lookout for a Heartbeat of Hollison episode featuring our very own James Ke. He and staff from
the contractors who are working on the Woodland Street project tape taped an episode with HCAT for an update on the Woodland Street project. I'm sure that'll be very, very interesting. Um, so keep an eye out on HCAT for that. Um, and as a reminder, for any updates on town projects that you're interested in
seeing or reviewing, you can go to the town's website and click on the little wrench at the top of the page. Uh, and that'll take you right to all of our town project updates. Those include Woodland Street, the DPW facility, and others. Um, we just switched it around a little bit. So, if you have any feedback
on how that's laid out, please by all means send it along. We are all ears. Um, myself, Donna Muzzy, and Peg Driscoll are going to be hosting a breakfast at the center on the morning of August the 19th at 8:30. Uh we'll be cooking and serving and uh the staff
there have come up with some really catchy phrases like we're going to be talking about >> what's the egg one? >> Oh, our excellent future. >> Excellent. >> Yeah, >> I was like it. >> Yeah, it's going to be a good time. Uh but in all seriousness, we're we're looking forward to it. Again, that's
August the 19th. Uh I'll be available to discuss any questions or feedback about things going on in town. Um so we'll see you then. Um, back to the donations that I referenced um earlier, we received
$500 from the Lions Club. Uh, the town did not receive this specific donation, but it deserves a shout out nonetheless. It was $500 for the senior support foundation. Um, we received uh a total of $700 in donations for the senior
center gift account. And then the Lions Club donated an additional $6,000 to the Hollist Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief Fund. So that's almost $7,000 in donations that we've received in the past week and a half. Um, which is just incredibly generous. And uh just want to thank all those individuals and the
Lions Club who uh donated that um I'm sure that that relief and uh the funding will be will be appreciated by uh the center and by those uh who apply through the elderly and disabled tax relief fund. Um, and then before I finish, I
have to of course thank Kathleen Buckley. This is her last meeting that she'll be joining us for, or at least as a town. I'm sure you'll be watching every other Monday. That's right. >> But >> yeah, friend of Hollison. Um, but we have uh already in the past month or so
worked really really closely together. And in that time, it's uh been really apparent what a big impact you've had in the town, not only for the staff who work in in our departments, but just this morning, you could see the the outpouring of gratitude from community members. So, thank you very much for all
you've done for me and for Holl and uh I'm sure we'll be bothering you about something in a matter of in a matter of weeks about >> Thank you. >> HR or something else Hollister related. So, thank you very very much. >> Thank you. very difficult decision, but thank you. >> We'll miss you.
>> We'll miss everyone. >> And that is all I have. >> And uh if you have any breakfast puns for the uh town manager staff, please send them to the town manager's office. >> Yes. >> And I'm sure Damon and I can probably pull out the uh pull out a few and
>> Okay. I'm sure it'll be ecstatic. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, we're going to move on to select board member updates and I'm going to preempt as the chair and I'm going to call out uh Kathleen again and um I wasn't able to make the breakfast
this morning. Um but I wanted to personally say thank you for all that you've done for Hollist and uh you've been a great support to all of us and to the town and we are grateful for the things that you've done for us and we are going to miss you dearly. You've been a wonderful part of this community.
So, thank you for all you've done. >> Done just as much for me. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, and now I will toss it over to >> Okay. Well, I'm going to go for a twofer here. I'm going to thank Kathleen. Uh, we all recognize, we all know that Kathleen served as interim town
administrator. Uh, then town manager or was it town manager from the get-go? >> Was town manager from the get-go? >> Town manager for the So, not only first town manager, but first female town manager, also first female uh in the role of in the office. So, um, as a woman serving on the board, I have
enormous respect and admiration for you and, uh, appreciate your your strength as a woman, your leadership as a woman, your capability in general in every role that you served and, um, looking forward for our relationship to transition into
one of peers because we need support in the work that we do and look forward to following you wherever you go and everywhere you go. Um, and with that, so thank you. >> Thank you. She's getting a lot of spotlight and it makes her uncomfortable. So, I'm going to pivot immediately sticking on the strong women theme to say uh as a request for a
future agenda item, I would like to have on a park dedication for the board to consider. Okay. Um I'll work with Frank through through to to um present to you uh an agenda item. Okay. >> But to dedicate um a space in Hollist um to really anyone that the board would
consider, but I certainly have my eyes on a strong woman that I would like to see. Okay. recognized through a dedication but we wide open to hearing um conversation being participating in that conversation in an open meeting. Um would you like me can I go through all four and >> you can go through this is your opportunity to do that.
>> All righty. So liaison updates I met briefly well not briefly I met uh for good time with Rob Walker at the at the highway um building and the new what's it called? Street Sweeper, excuse me. Street Sweeper was sitting in the driveway and I walked in.
I said, "Frank, when does this uh not Frank, when um Rob, when does this baby get on the road?" And then the next day, I saw it up and down Union Street. And uh I was inspired by the video of the dam. And I thought, I'm going to take a picture of this. I'm going to video this thing. I did not. But anyway, very
exciting. So, our new I don't think anyone would have responded in quite the same way. >> Send me the video. I'm going to edit that thing with the right music. You could probably >> I know. I was not having an inspired moment. I just saw it. and I got really excited. So, our new street sweeper is up and functioning. Uh Rob was training
staff on how to do that. So, um it's really nice to see something that town meeting was was committed to uh that we worked hard to to get uh in front of town meeting and then they they uh embraced it, endorsed it, voted on it, and now it's out there doing its job for the benefit of the entire town. So, very
happy. Rob and I talked in a little bit more detail about uh the traffic advisory committee reorganizing. So, he is working on that uh to bring back to the board uh a version a 2.0 version um of tax. So, that's in the works. Uh also talked to him about a complete streets
application. Obviously, Frank is right in all on all of this and it'll all come through Frank in the end, but we did talk about it. Um areas of priority, keeping the focus on vulnerable road users um was sort of the consensus there. There's plenty of area of need. The complete streets program will not
address all um but there's a pretty clear set of of priority items off of that original plan that we had back in 2021. And then um that really was the gist of it. We had a little bit of a project update on where he is on some of
the sidewalk uh repair work for example Hollis because a lot of discussion at town meeting about um the the amount of funding needed. So I checked in with Rob to understand how that looked over the coming months and he's making um enormous amount of progress um with the
sidewalk work that town meeting funded in May. So glad to see that. Glad to hear that. And then in terms of oh a request for future agenda I Frank I'll reach out to you on this one but would like to invite DOT uh back to the table. We've had them here at this table
a number of times since I've been on the board to share priority concerns that DOT is poised to help us with. And so I would be looking to talk to Frank about having them come and whether or not we post as a board to be there or it's just staff. I'm I'm not really sure how we could handle a number of different ways, but we definitely have some
transportation um items that DOT is best suited to help us with. So we'd look to get that uh on a future agenda for discussion. >> Okay. >> And that's it. Thank you. Thank you, David. >> I will uh keep it short, but I'm going to go for the trifecta. Kathleen, um thank you very much. I said a lot when I
was running uh and to anyone who had listened to me uh beforehand, that I think people involved in government, both elected and and paid, the best are smart, friendly, and people of goodwill. And if you have those three things, you've got someone who you can rely on. And you've definitely provided that. And
I wanted to thank you for that. Um, I had a mentor early on in my career who was very fond of saying possibly multiple times a week that your friends are the people who say nice things about you behind your back. And by that account, you have many friends in Hollist and I hope you will return.
>> Thank you so much. Learn so much. >> Real thing. So, so thank you. And then on the logistical less exciting side, uh Frank, I just want to make sure for future request agenda items. I just want to reiterate Tina's earlier point about a conversation about how joint appointments work from a policy point of
view. Um new to it, obviously, so I'm eager for that conversation. And I'll leave it there and say thank you again, Kathleen. >> Damon, have you ever thought of writing greeting card like inspiration? >> I don't think it pays that well. >> I don't know. I think you might have a niche. You might you might be able to carve out.
>> I stole that from someone. >> Okay. That that was my old mentor back in the day. >> All right. Um I have one uh uh real uh update and that was there was a meeting we had last week with the uh member the
chair of the finance committee uh some members of the school committee, the superintendent and the assistant superintendent uh for operations. and uh we were just talking about sort of laying the groundwork about uh the budget for FY27 and just sort of
thinking about some different things and throwing some things out there and um nothing really to report tonight because it's literally July and we the fiscal year just started so there's a long runway before we get there >> but um just thinking about um different
things and trying to um position ourselves well in October. uh for um for the following May and thinking about um what does the budget landscape look like. So um nothing right now really to report specifically um but
just wanted to um sort of let you know that that that meeting took place and so uh people are people are already starting to talk about you know what does FY27 look like? What are the headwinds? What do we need to think about? I mean, we've talked to the assessors multiple times about how
there's no more buildable land or only a handful of locations. So, thinking about new growth and things like that and what does that look like for us? So, that's that's a you know, there's some things there that are uh we need to consider and think about and that'll be something
we can talk about in more more earnestly in uh the coming weeks. But, just want to let you know that that that conversation took place. All right, moving on. And now we have an update from our sustainability coordinator, Amelia Lando. If you want to come on
forward and I think you got some things, cute little presentation pull it up for. >> Yep. >> Love it. So why don't you come on up, introduce yourself and uh you can walk us through your presentation and uh we do I made sure we had all a little space. So if you have any other updates or if we there's any other questions we
want to go in different directions, then we can uh have a little space to have that conversation as well. Um, well, >> sorry, one second. >> No worries. I'll buff her. Uh, hi. I'm Amelia. I'm Amelia Lando. I'm, uh, the town sustainability manager. I started
in June. Um, I, uh, my education is environmental studies for Welsley College. Um, I previously worked at the state level level and federal level, but I also liked municipal, so I stayed here. Um, and actually, I'm going to be moving to Hollist, so good for you.
>> Yes. Very proud. Mhm. Brave. Yeah, definitely. You guys don't have a transfer station. I'm going to miss it. Weird. >> Um uh but today I am >> Can I cut you off really quick? >> I'm sorry. Um it would you mind letting me um share my screen? Frank Travasio, please.
>> Sorry, Ameilia. >> No worries. Um I'm presenting specifically not to, you know, get anything for your approval or anything like that, but just to give you an update on the municipal electricity aggregation program here in Hollist. The official title we gave it was like the community choice power okay
>> program. >> Um and so this is uh updates for the uh pricing that we're going to have uh through 2028 for the next 35 months. >> Okay. >> So um next slide please. >> Um just to re up on what electricity
aggregation is. Um, under Massachusetts general law, um, municipalities have the power to purchase sort of onmass, uh, power supply for their, um, residents and businesses, and this gives them more leverage for lower prices, uh, which is
always fun. >> Um, and so while this is, uh, selecting our own supplier for their prices, uh, Eversource will continue to handle the infrastructure, the delivery, the billing, the thing you receive in the mail, things like that. So it's no extra um burden onto the municipality or the
supplier. Um so we have a uh broker that we work with, Colonial Power Group, who is able to get us these um you know these deals with these various suppliers. The current supplier we work with is First Point Power who's based in Cranston, Rhode Island. Is that a real place? It is.
>> Yeah. Okay. That is correct. Um so uh first they were able to uh as our contract was um sort of getting to the end of its uh current plan uh in uh projected to be in August uh they reached out to us and said hey let's reup something and we hardily agreed. So
um I sat down with um James Keith our facilities director and Frank ourh town administrator and we basically town manager I'm sorry it's administrator in Sherburn. >> It's okay I understand. Um, and we uh looked at the various options for if we
wanted to extend the current contract or if we wanted to change it and if we wanted to sign on for 11 months, 25 months or 30, no, 23 months or 35 months. >> Okay. >> Um, and that would be a contract for fixed rates for that period. And then finally, um, once we decided on a price,
then residents are going to be automatically enrolled. They don't have to do anything. It'll just show up as First Point Power as the supplier on their Eversource bills. uh and they can opt out and return to Eversource pricing if they want to at any time, but I wouldn't recommend that because we got a really good deal which I'll talk about
in a second. Next slide, please. Um so, uh one of the benefits of aggregation obviously is that it'll be stable. Uh the energy market is fluctuating like crazy right now. So, for the next three years, the prices that we have right now are just going to remain where they are. Uh whereas
Eversource basic service is liable to change every six months or sometimes even more frequently. Not often, but sometimes. Um we also have uh two choices of plans that you can be on. So it's not just basic service. It's also we have uh one plan that is um automatically enrolled for every uh
resident and then we also have a plan that residents can choose to opt into that uh supplies greener energy. Whereas Evasource Basic Service is only uh obligated to meet the Massachusetts state requirement of 63% clean energy cleanish energy. We'll get to that. And then finally, you can't really see it
but if you scroll down um we have uh lots of participants. Those are the number of meters that we have um here in Hollist. And uh the aggregation saved a total of about $900,000 in 2024, the calendar year. And um even though there are third party electricity suppliers
outside of Eversource, those are not as price competitive and are also liable to change whereas municipal aggregation again has stability going for it. Next slide. Um so uh the way that we basically chose a plan was first we considered um the
period that we would be going for. We uh were able to calculate you know because because the suppliers desperately want to give us their electricity um we were able to get lower prices for the longer that we signed up for and also just the stability was one of the benefits that we were after. Um and uh that price
stability is against what Colonial Power Group sort of estimated to be about 14.8 8 cents per kilowatt hour for the next three years as the average for at least Eversource basic rates. Um we also considered whether to start in August or
to start in September with this September December with this new pricing structure. Um December would have potentially given us um even lower prices, but we would have been liable to anything weird happening in the market. So if we locked it in now, it would be taking effect in August at the same time
as Eversource's new rates so that people who are enlist enrolling in it will actually see that um improvement. Um and then finally uh we were trying to uh optimize the amount of clean energy content people got without compromising the uh low cost and making sure that it
was actually price competitive with basic service. So uh we basically tried to optimize greenest for lowest price. Um, and I think based on the options that we had, uh, that meant that we were able to extend the previous options that we would we had had in the previous plan
and contract and just extend those two options for our new, uh, 35-month contract. Next slide, please. Um, so speaking of the clean energy content, um, here's just a little comparison. Um, the, uh, Eversource basic service, as I mentioned, is only
obligated to be 63% um, clean sources, which we'll get to in a second. Um, and the rest of the sources are liable to be fossil fuels. It's not necessarily obligated to. Ever source can use whatever suppliers they want, but it's not always the most cost-effective for the utility to just randomly opt in to
do that, and it can change uh every half a year. So, uh, for the Hollist standard plan, and again, these were the ones that we were using uh before. So, it's still the same composition for the current uh plan that we have going into uh August. Um but we have the 63% uh
required uh from Massachusetts and then 30% of it is wind and we specifically chose that for its price and also the fact that wind is guaranteed to be one of the cleaner resources whereas the 63% that makes up uh the Massachusetts requirement is composed of wind and
solar but also burning landfill off gas such as methane uh nuclear hydropower and trash burning which all can have their own ecological sort of ramifications. So by keeping 37% wind, we basically were trying to actually make it the greenest option. And then
finally, if you do want to opt into the optional uh option that is 100% Massachusetts class one renewable energy credits or mass one mass class one rex, say that five times fast. Um and those are solely comprised of wind, solar, and
landfill gas combustion. So in general they are cleaner and it was not too much of a price jump for people who really do care about that and don't want to contribute their money towards uh less clean sources of energy. Next slide.
So drum roll please. This is what we ended up with um with all of that in mind. Um as you can see ever line go up, Hollist lines go down which is what we love to see. Um currently uh with the prices starting in August uh the Hollist
uh standard pricing has dropped to only about 14 cents per kilowatt hour where as uh Eversource is nearly a cent higher and we still do have a more expensive option for the entirely green option but it is uh less significantly expensive
than it was before. So and the reason February is there is that's the last time Eversource changed their rates for a point of comparison. Um so uh I mean last slide that's uh basically uh we do have some uh future steps that we want
to take with this program. Uh even though we've you know hit this pricing structure for the next three years. One of them is uh kind of separate from aggregation but still brokered through Colonial Power Group. We do have uh the opportunity to secure an additional 2
cent discount per kilowatt hour on electricity prices in Hollist for the next 20 years for uh residents that qualify for energy income uh income based energy assistance. And so uh that
is something that we haven't yet um been able to pull the trigger on, but it would not be a select board approval. it would be another uh town manager signature um like this uh plan. Um I could go into more of what we're looking at right now, but the basic holdup is
just making sure with town council that we are able to do that for a 20-year, you know, contract without putting it before town meeting. Um the other two things are just things that are continuing to be the same. I want to continue to encourage people to enroll in the program and uh for residents for
whom it really matters to opt into the uh uh greenest option. And then also I want to be able to use this to raise awareness for on-site generation for people who want to get off the grid entirely or participate in community solar or own or lease their own solar arrays and things like that. So that uh
if energy prices in you know become uh something that is problematic for our community, there are other things that I'm also you know interested in exploring for people to be able to um best you know finance the way that they live. So um the last slide is just like
thanks any questions but um that's uh basically what's going to be happening. And for those at home if you want to talk to me about this you can call me down there or you can come bother me at town hall. Uh, I work downstairs in the building department. >> Wonderful. >> Thanks. >> What days are you here?
>> Realistically, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, but it is liable to vary. I'm shared with Sherburn for those of you who don't know. I know there's also a camera over there. I guess I could talk to that camera. >> Well, that the that's the Zoom camera. The ones that you see around, those are HCAT. >> Hi, Tom. >> Hat. Hi.
>> That's Tom. >> Um, so he's switching those around depending on which which >> Can you tell I'm new here? >> It's okay. I don't even I only I only pay attention to that one. He and Tom can figure out the rest. >> Um that's why that's why he's here. Um so I'm going to throw questions uh for
from the board if you have they have any for let's just talk about the this program first and then if we have other questions or thoughts we can bring up other topics. So >> you mentioned uh if you go back one slide you mentioned one of the goals of this presentation is to show people how
to uh enroll um just the very keep going. Second to last slide just you mentioned on the slide but also I >> thought you said second slide I apologize penultimate there. >> Um you uh talked about increasing enrollment in the program but you also
mentioned that folks will be automatically enrolled. Could you just clarify that a little bit because as I was following you I understood that there's a middle option. It's the 67 63% >> um green and then the 37 which will be wind. That's the Hollist option. That's what everybody in town will be enrolled
in. Okay. So the best answer to this question is Frank, I'm sorry that you keep going around everywhere. Could you bring us back to the previous pricing structure? >> Sure. >> Thanks. Uh that would be a >> standard. Y >> people who have uh previously been enrolled in the uh municipal aggregation
will continue to be enrolled in it automatically, but people who have previously opted out would be automatically enrolled in Eversource as they change their pricing structure. That's no longer in their self-interest. So, I want to be able to promote this so that people who previously were on
Eversource because it was cheaper than us are not still there paying higher prices. >> Okay. So, you're really looking to move people from two directions. You're looking to move people who were previously opted out of the municipal aggregation program in and you're also looking to move people potentially to
the Hollist optional which is 100% clean energy. Okay. That that I wasn't I wasn't following that. I understand. Okay. How would how are we going to share with residents these options? How are we going to communicate? Obviously here. Yes. This I'm sure will live on a on a on the website. Um are there other
communication tools at work to let people know that they've got maybe two options available to them? >> Yeah. So, um, >> uh, I think it was, uh, required for us in order to make the August 25th, uh, pricing change by, uh, DPU, I think, um,
to, uh, at least put a, uh, program announcement up on the website. So, that's currently housed on my new sustainability web page, um, which I've been, uh, renovating over the past month so that it's much more uh, resident accessible and has more up-to-date information. So, if you go to the
sustainability web page, which is linked at the end of this presentation, um it's under news and announcements, and it's also under the news uh headline of the main page. So, it's front and center for everyone to be able to access. Um, the town of Hollston also has a page on Colonial Power Group's website where you
can not only see their pricing structure and basically all the back, you know, get into the weeds of uh how all of this works. Uh, but you can also look for more specific uh instructions on how you can uh change and opt into or opt up or
opt out uh your registration with them. >> You are clearly very good at giving presentations and pulling together complicated information in a way that's easy to follow. Mhm. >> Um if it's within your your wheelhouse, I'm wondering about having a a poster
for the forum on the 16th where as folks are walking in perhaps even with a QR code or however you would best link folks to this information so that when we're doing any kind of a community engagement where this is so timely. Yeah. >> Um and we're talking about an August 25th um switch over uh that that there
may be some real value there if that's something that's within reach for you. I love graphic design. So, yes, I can definitely design something for for that date. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. Almost. >> I think also we're aiming on doing sort of a late summer newsletter update. >> Um that would have a a fair amount of
other updates in it as well, but we would also include >> this in there, too. Great. >> I might have one other question. There are 51 participants. Those are households in Hollist. >> 51. Yeah. That's the number of meters, not the number of resident individuals. Um and that includes households and also businesses. Have you come across any Are
we seeing a shift of folks doing off-grid their own solar arrays? Are you seeing any shift? >> We do have people who have solar arrays. Um, in the time I've been here, I haven't been able to look at overall trends, but um, it is definitely, you know, >> regardless of what came before, now that
I'm here, I'm going to be working on it. So, >> great. Okay. Thank you, Amelia. >> Uh, first of all, money talks, savings are great, and that is the best way to convince people who are kind of thinking about it. So, I think that's great. um really wonderful and I like that the option is available for those who want
to be completely green. Um you're obviously a practice communicator when it comes to these environmental concerns. Um do you do you worry that people don't understand how rec work? So basically the idea of I think you can't trace an electron, >> right? And so I I think some people
might be confused and thinking that like oh this electron is coming from green power when it's more that the company has purchased an REC which means that somewhere in the system someone is adding green power. Is that a worry at all? I don't think it is but I'm curious what you think.
>> Um I mostly what I try to communicate is um the idea of the sourcing is somewhere out there there is electricity generation that's this as opposed to this. And so, um, even though it's not right down to where the electrons come from, um, I think the most important
thing, uh, to get across to people that I'll take the opportunity to talk about now is, um, that there are lots of different resources that go into our power supply here in New England. Um, ISO New England is basically the, you know, entire, you know, grid for our
region. And um the uh mass class one Rex >> which is the Hollist optional choice. >> Yes. Which is the Hollist optional choice is uh technically a slightly less direct way to access those. But if you look at the actual sources that it's um
coming from, you can think of it as equivalent. The only thing that it matters for is for the people actually buying the resource, which is us through the broker. Hence why uh individual customers, residents don't have to worry about it. Um, if you are uh curious about more information, I can definitely
link you up with some resources, but if by all means um Colonial Power Group has a lot of great things on um the Hollist part of the website and they're just general uh information. So um I definitely encourage people to if you want to know more contact me or you can
uh research uh with the resources I provided. >> Excellent. Thank you. Mhm. >> Um, so, um, will this presentation, can we put this presentation on the website? >> Sure, that'd be great. >> Okay. >> We can link to the video as well if that's >> Yeah, I think it would be great to be able to, you know, for people to be able to hear from you and be able to see
these things directly. So, um, it looks like so if somebody was interested or wants to know more, I mean, I guess the probably the place to go would be your the sustainability page on the, uh, the town website. So, if you go into go to the town of Hollist. us. You go to the departments and then you select
sustainability. The top one is the community choice power supply program and then there's news. Hollison electricity prices are coming down for the next three years. So that's >> what the information you just provided to us. So just making sure that people who are listening have the ability to
know how to access the information if they want to know more or they want to sign up or whatever they want need to want to be able to do that they can be able to get that um get that process going as well. Will there will also be like some mail or something that comes in the mail that will also outline this as
>> I believe. So actually um so obviously uh you are going to see the first um the first bill that's going to be altered by this is going to be your September bill. Um, so that's going to see the new prices and uh you can check to make sure at home uh that you're uh uh in our
municipal aggregation system by checking that under supply which should be in the top rightish corner uh it says first point power. Okay. >> Um the other thing is I think in order I think this is also a DPU compliance thing. I think Colonial Power does also
send out mailers with that bill if I'm not mistaken. >> That I am not sure of. Yeah. >> James, do you know if Colonial sends out a mailing as well about the rate change? >> Have they done that in the past? Do we know? >> Yes, they don't. >> Uh they do manage to uh keep the most
important stuff on the website, but I think uh I think it is just on on the bill if it's not a mailer. >> Okay. We just want to make sure that people know um if they want to opt into a program or they want to opt out or whatever they want to do, they have the ability and
they have the understanding of how to access that information to be able to to do those kinds of things. >> One thing on my wish list is I would love to make a brochure to put downstairs in case anyone, you know, comes in asking about it. So >> great. >> Um >> coming soon. >> And I would encourage you, depending on which way you do it, you should also try
to find ways we can talk to Chris about doing it so you can actually see which ways work better. like you have a different QR code for each one. So it has like sort of a different >> access point. So then you can say this one got more attention than this one. So I probably should continue to do this a little bit more often.
>> Um uh so um well thank you very much for putting all this together. This is exciting. Do we need to vote on this? >> Okay. I just I just wanted to check. I can't remember. That's FYI. That's great. >> Um now are you interested? Could we have like a little bit of a conversation
about other sustainability? Anything else? Do you have anything else that you're working on that you want to you even informally bring up? You can certainly this is an opportunity for you. Otherwise, we might have a couple questions just to sort of >> Can I tell them about the gap? >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Um, so one of the uh I think you just did. >> No, don't talk about that. We don't talk about the gap. >> I said grant all the ears in the room. >> We grant we want free money. >> So, okay. I'll I'll lead up to that then. The two things that I basically
inherited working with James with uh Weston and Samson, different part of Weston and Samson from the TPW project was um working on the uh solar feasibility for uh Adams Middle School. Okay. >> And um we've made a lot of progress with
that. Uh we've seen uh more uh data about what uh it would actually look like in terms of the usable area of the roof and what the cost might be of uh you know investing more into uh restoring other parts of the roof to be able to support it or uh even supplementing it with solar canopies. So
we're you know still working with them on um how to you know best optimize uh for like our needs and our budget. Um in terms of the other thing I'm doing with them is I'm working with them on developing the climate action plan. Okay.
>> And um currently that is in the stage of uh community outreach. So I'm actually pleased to announce that for the Tuesdays between uh August 5th and September 16th. you will be able to find me at the Holl Farmers Market uh with a
table and a bunch of posters and flyers and you can come over and you can play a little miniame to um help us map uh impervious surface versus tree cover in our town. And um I will be uh talking about comm community the the community
actions that we've taken towards combating climate change so that I can get the word out that we are going to have some workshops uh represented at celebrate Hollistston and then following in October um so that people can uh make their voices heard for what they want to be uh what they want to have included in the climate action plan.
>> And I would also encourage you to be to go to town meeting on October 20th too. >> I was kind of already planning to >> Good good. Um but uh that is definitely um you know that's been it's a great opportunity working with Weston and Samson to get some of those um
materials. So uh you should see me week after week from tomorrow. Great. >> Um and then for the grant which is where we got here um there is a uh so pre in previous years there have been gap
grants. Um and uh by they I mean I think it is the DOER. Yeah. Uh has announced um the uh GAP 4 grant. Um and this grant basically is uh
just uh it's not a match grant. it is or or like 100% as much as we wish it was, but instead the whole point of it is that uh you pay however much and they're able to cover the rest of the cost to get to to the end. And um they are
offering uh specifically uh for wastewater treatment decarbonization, which I know we have. Um and in fact uh currently for GAP 4 they are running a uh wastewater
energy recovery pilot program I think is the uh official name of it that would offer a couple hundred thousand uh for the uh planning design and construction of uh uh energy systems that uh incorporate the uh cycling of
wastewater. And I think uh in consideration of the energy projects that we're currently doing on the schools, that's another uh great opportunity to uh look into for example the feasibility of using geothermal or um you know the the
ground source you know heat pumps that are reliant on those uh underground tubes of water that we happen to have. Um and uh those are competitive but um the grant process uh will the grant
itself is going to be released uh by next month I think so by September. Um and uh I think once it opens it is on a rolling basis until funds are depleted. So
>> this is to turn wastewater flow into a heat source. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um and also >> yes and uh potentially also separate from the pilot program there is just general wastewater decarbonization. I know that we already did a lot of um uh
you know energy improvements to the school's wastewater treatment plan but uh we also have other opportunities that we would be able to try to it it doesn't hurt to apply. >> Sure. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Um, Tina, any comments, questions?
Question online just >> Yes. I wasn't planning on taking public comment, but um I apologize. No, it's okay. It's okay. >> No, it's fascinating to talk to you and I'm glad you came back to the table for this presentation and also were willing to share additional information. I hope to see you more often. uh not more often
but often I should just say u because I think I I absolutely believe this community there are many people in it that care a lot about this information which is why I was pushing a little on how do we let folks know about the options for municipal aggregation uh and so having you here present really does a great job of sharing it so I'm glad
you're here thank you >> thank you >> nothing further I'm really excited about the program I'm glad you're here you're already making waves so thank you for everything you're doing >> of course thank you >> and you know and I appreciate the the work that you're doing here. I think it's great and uh getting
information out to the public I think is so important and continuing to do that and I applaud your efforts and doing the farmers market things like that. >> Yeah, that's >> and I think that's that's pretty awesome to to do that. I think one thing that's interesting like when TM was talking about like Masto and things like that. I think, you know, thinking about like,
you know, what what kinds of things are there other opportunities or things that we can think about, you know, getting people out of their cars and things like that? Are there other >> Well, she said she said climate action plan and I was like, well, I'll wait for that. >> I mean, but my initial instinct maybe you should
come to the workshops. I'm happy to, but um >> I'm always I'm always thinking about like, you know, when we think about things like, you know, sidewalks and things like that. I mean, I'm always trying to think about ways to encourage people to, >> you know, walk. >> If we were a if we were a betting board,
>> we could place a bet right here right now to say what will be the top contributor to greenhouse gases in town hall. And I'm 99.9% sure that it's going to be transportation. Although housing and buildings might be it might be it might be like close, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be if not first. I do have a
statistic on that share. >> I do believe that 43% of Holliston's uh emissions currently come from vehicles. I think that is a statistic I have from the decarbonization. >> I was waiting for Ameilia to get the report shared with the board and then
launch myself. But um thank you for priming. >> But I but I think you know I'm always >> maybe it's changed. Who knows? >> Maybe. But I'm always thinking of trying to think about ways that we can encourage that. I mean, I live on the far side of the Hopington side of town and in order to get anywhere, I have to drive and, you know, and I think about
things like, you know, think about things like that and we have a very, you know, just are there other things that we can do? Are there other options? And I'm interested if it's the climate action plan as the vehicle to get there, pardon the pun. Um, then so be it. But at least, uh, you know, I I I think trying to think about ways like, you
know, I love that you're going these different directions looking at those grants and things like that. I think that's fantastic. And you know, I I share um Tina's enthusiasm for talking to you. You know, maybe this is something, you know, once a quarter or whatever you feel comfortable with. We can get some frequent updates. I think
that's one area that I think uh I I feel has we've missed out on for a while. Um is getting, you know, frequent updates and information about, you know, new programs and things like that. And I'm sure James is very excited to do the rain barrel again. >> Can't wait.
>> I know I am. But well actually I mean you know the fact is is that he he stepped up to make sure that the program continued. So you know those kinds of things and if there's others that we can put out there we we we should. So um thank you for all that you're doing in very short period of time. It's very exciting. So >> thanks
>> Frank. Anything? >> No you closing comments that you have or are you >> excited to be here? Come see me at the farmers market. >> Black carp. Put yourself next to the black carp. >> Yeah. >> There will be a dollhouse. >> Oh >> I'll say no more. Okay.
>> Okay. Sounds good. >> Thank you for coming in. Appreciate it. >> Love it. >> All right. We're going to move on to the nine green street dedication. >> Work fast there as a chair to get things from from select board member comments
to right there on the agenda. >> Yes. >> So, yes, this was a discussion that this >> I can't believe I missed that. the select board member uh Hine had suggested that we take up but happy to table it if we just want to ponder it a bit more. >> No, I'm I actually didn't see it here on
the agenda when I >> Do you want to open one another time? >> No, I'm happy to have the conversation today. Sure. Um let's do it then. >> I just apologize for missing it on the >> No, no. Um so if I'm not mistaken, this is the garden area right in front of the nine green sheet parking lot. Um, so I
think you had I don't know if you had any specific ideas about an individual you were already thinking of or just the concept of >> Yeah. >> that idea out there. >> We haven't we've done this uh on recommendation from from outside groups. We have dedicated spaces from with
someone approaching the board to say we'd like to do this. So this is a little bit different. This feels a bit like a blend of the humanitarian awards and a dedication. So we've done both but sort of blending them together. And so I don't I I honestly don't want to jump to naming somebody without hearing how the
board might like to because I realize might like to approach this. I don't want to set precedent that we're not all comfortable with and future boards might not be comfortable with. That said, we are absolutely in the business of dedicating spaces. We've done that a number of times since I've been on the board. Uh so I think the first
conversation to have is is there board interest in dedicating any space moving forward, this space moving forward. And then second to to sort of discuss how that might look. Um, I absolutely have someone in mind. It's not an empty request. Uh, but I would hold back to hear how the board wants to approach it
because the second piece to it, the third piece to this would be when we've had an outside group, for example, the Hollson Garden Club, they dedicated a tree to Jill Malcolm, I believe. Uh, and that tree now lives uh in Blair Square. Uh, they found their funding source for the tree dedication. Um, we have done
other dedications. You end up with a plaque or a street sign. And so there is a funding component and I don't quite know how to how to navigate that, Frank, because if you're going to dedicate a space, you're going to market in some way and there's there's a cost to that. So that was that was a sort of a significant piece that I thought we ought to talk about. So first is is the
board even interested in being in the business moving forward of dedicating spaces. >> Um second, how much you like that process to go? And third, um how and this probably would be a conversation outside of a board meeting with an update back to the board on funding, something like that. So that's the the
corners of this conversation, but yes, I have someone in mind and yes, I have a space and yes, it's nine green street, but I think we start step one. So that's my sort of what I would put to the board. >> So what you're asking us to do is to talk about whether or not the board
should be in the business of naming spaces. >> Yeah. >> And then what is the process by which that takes place? >> Yep, that's right. >> Okay. Uh did you um I I assume by the fact that you're bringing this forward that you feel that we should be in that
business. >> I think when we when we create when we so in building Nine Green Street that potential was always there. We um knew that we we were creating an area that was going to be a gathering spot. Uh and so it's always been in my mind at least
something that was a potential there. We will do similar we will have similar projects in the future. Um, there are other open space areas that the town has access to for for betterment, improvement, whatever, um, that we may look to do in the future. So, I can't think of too many examples right now,
but I I know that it's not out of the question that we would through some So, Goodwill Park, for example, when that renovation is done, we may see a request for a dedication. I'm just speculating on that, but there are other projects. the flag fields. If we develop 260
Woodland Street into recreational space, it's completely plausible that we'll have um requests for dedications. Naming things is tricky. >> Yeah. >> And we haven't really had a process. So, this is maybe a bigger conversation that we don't get to tonight, but that's the
starting point in my mind at least. >> Okay. >> Damon, what do you think about this? >> Many thoughts off the cuff. Um, are you specifically interested in naming a place or honoring a person via a dedication to a place? For example, there are places that I've seen in other
towns where there's like the wall of heroes and boards will add a name to it and there's more than one person. And so that that's one way to add some fluidity. I'm not for or against it just or is it more like, you know, this is Jimmy Square, right? >> The latter, >> right? Okay. So, it's more the latter.
So, um, then I I would think I'm generally okay with that. I do think that we will want to have a rigorous process because people are fickle and strongly opinioned and they'll want to
know why this person and not that person. >> Um, and I think that, >> you know, as a person who is I'm okay with that fluidity, I think it's all right to if if we agree to say like and the reason is because this select board decided And all right, chips fall where
they may, but I think we also need to be okay with then the next select board undeciding it potentially. >> So, um I'm always okay throwing caution to the wind a little bit. So, I think I I lean like yes, but I caution with process. I am not religious on this
point of view. >> Could be there could be a role for town council to weigh in. I'm sure they've assisted other other communities on how a board best approaches something like this. I mean, I'd be interested to hear what other towns do in these particular cases. I mean, personally, I mean, I I
totally respect and and and wish to honor people who've come before for whatever reason, you know, that they've participated in things. But I think where it gets, you know, I mean, I I think where I I I think we need to have
a process to Damon's point is because, you know, why this person and not that person? Can you know should the board be the ones bringing it forward? Should like an outside group bring it forward? Those kinds of things. And then I I kind of I I am a little cautious as well because it's sort of like you know there's there's a finite number of
spaces >> and then you wind up in a space where every name everything is named. It's sort of like you know it it you know you can go name happy I guess you know and I but I I certainly see the other side of it and I would love to be able to find ways to honor people. We do things like
the humanitarian awards and I think those are, >> you know, I think people uh look to that and and appreciate that as as a as an exercise. So, I'd be interested to hear >> what other towns do if there is a a best practice. Is there somebody else who has
like, hey, so and so does this. This is how they handle those kinds of things. >> Um I think I would want to sort of understand that it's not I'm not saying no to anything. Mhm. >> Um I'm not saying yes to anything either because I just I just feel like we know sometimes it can feel um
um it can it can feel like you know well this so and so is a friend or so and so is this thing and and I don't want it to I want it to be you know like honoring those people in those ways and things like that, you know. And then we've we've seen a variety of different things come forward since I've been here and I
think we've named a couple there's been a couple fields that have been named. We've seen some benches. there's definitely been some avenues and so I think uh I'd be interested to see have a little bit more framework to work from >> and kind of have a little bit of a process here before feeling comfortable
moving forward. um just because I I you know I I want to make sure that we're being thoughtful about it in in in our process and it's not it it doesn't become you know the a popularity contest based on who we like and it can be
something that that you know and that that could be the answer but I don't I don't I'm I don't I don't feel that I'm the the final arbiter on on any of those kinds of things. Yeah, my motivation is definitely that um as I spoke earlier about Kathleen is is recognizing strong
women in Hollist who have contributed in significant ways to the the fabric of our community. I do see that happening in the past. We have done that. Um and I I'm motivated to see a woman uh in that position. Um so that's that's my
motivation. But I I think the the the part that needs the most clarity in my mind is whether the board takes that action, that step to do that or it needs to be as it really in in my time on the board historically has been an outside organization taking that step. I think for me that's the biggest that and the funding.
>> Um so I I'm hearing what everyone's saying. I think Frank this is to bring back through Ben at a later date if we get some more information on process. Okay. >> Yeah. A process discussion. I think we'd like to have a process discussion about this. >> Great point of inquiry. Are there are there grants for these kinds of things?
I've never encountered one. Or is it usually self-funded by municipalities? >> I think for the most part they tend to be either self-funded by the municipality or there would be like a foundation or friends of Exactly. >> Yeah. >> Interesting. >> I think sometime in in in some ca one of
my least >> favorite expressions in local government is care, custody and control. And sometimes this comes down to well what board or committee has care custody control of whatever parcel. Um and sometimes it's it's done out of difference to them as to you know what
the process might be. So the select board might have one process for a town owned property but the parks and rec commission might have a totally different view as to how to name something. Um but that's you know down the line I think based on some of the the feedback that we're getting right now.
>> I'm not sure we actually have any any process. So this this could be >> I don't think we do. >> I I remember when the new we um well was opened there was a passing comment that they could be named in in memory or in honor of the the board at the time that >> you know saw the opening and that didn't
come to be but in large part because there's no process by which that that would happen. So okay I think there's more to more to understand and do but I'm I'm focused on it and we'll get to the other end of a decision at some point in the near future. So thank you. >> Okay. I look forward to the opening of
Dimmick Bridge at Woodland Street. You are in favor. >> You're building bridges for building bridges throughout the community. >> I get it. I get more offline. >> Anyway, >> overreached. Sorry. Sorry, Chairman.
>> I How about we name the pipes for the wastewater? >> Fantastic. I came here to get crap done >> or you're full of it. Anyway, >> thank you. Um, that was great. >> All right. Uh, moving on to a certificate of recognition for Charles Nickerson on his 100th birthday on
September 3rd, 2025. >> Sure. So, um, I just wanted to give a quick shout out um to Mr. Nickerson, his family and friends are working on uh a citation for him. We were also working with this um with Representative Arita
D. Roa's office as well as the Senate Present office. Um so I just want to give a quick um overview of the the contributions he's made. Um so Mr. Nickerson Nickerson um this is from uh
Bobby Blair's Hollson a call to duty. Um but just as a uh a quick overview found himself jumping out of a plane on D-Day in 1944 as part of the 82nd Airborne Division. He earned two silver stars as well as a medal of valor uh from uh the
USSR actually. Um, and as uh the lead reconnaissance scout for his unit, Nickerson would often find himself behind enemy lines. Nickerson would take part in the Battle of the Bulge and make his way uh with his unit to Berlin for the end of of the war. Um, and so in
addition to that contribution obviously that he made uh in his service to the country, um he has made uh contributions here locally as a former owner of the Outpost Farm um which we all know and love. Um, so, uh, like I said, we're working with the the state delegation on
on a separate citations from the the state house. Uh, but also wanted to give the board the the opportunity to put something together for him as well. So, all of these will be delivered to him on August 30th, which I believe is when his uh, uh, family and friends are gathering
um, to celebrate. Um but also wanted to publicly acknowledge his service um that is summarized here and um open to any you know however the board wants to handle it we can do it but I think we're planning on um having them
dropped off on August 30th via the uh veteran services department. >> Great. Okay. Tina, any >> So, we have here tonight to sign a certificate of recognition and so we would we would move would you be looking
for a motion to accept this to sign the to present motion to Yeah. Yeah. Motion to approve the uh or motion to issue the citation to Mr. Nickerson. >> Okay. I have one question whether or not we as we've done in the past want to name September 3rd, 2025 Charles
Nickerson Day. >> We have done that in the part as part of a citation. >> Oh, sorry. I think I think uh I'm open to that. >> Me too. >> Do the both. We'll tonight uh issue the certificate of recognition and return with um
>> dedication. Yep. For the September 3rd. Yep. >> Okay. All right. Well, um if you're ready for a motion. >> Sure. Let's hear it. >> Okay. Move to issue the certificate of recognition um of Charles Nickerson, Charles R. Nickerson on his 100th birthday, which will be September 3rd,
2025th, and also for being the town of Hollston's oldest veteran. >> Seconded. >> All right. All those in favor? >> I >> I >> I. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you to Charles Nickerson. >> Do you remember when we were uh
presented with the APR, the agricultural preservation restriction? We heard from the Subbury Valley trustees as well as folks at the state level telling us that this land was not only special because it should always be preserved as farming, but it was special because the care, custody, and control, here you go,
um that that Charlie had put into that land through his management of it over decades had made it some of the best farmland in the state. Um so he's he's all of these things. He is also an an incredibly talented farmer that he was recognized in that way and that land is
considered in that way. So there's that piece too. >> Not not for nothing but I'd love to add for those who don't know the 82nd Airborne was the first airborne division to experiment with parachuting and they were the true tip of the spear. anywhere
where there was conflict, they dropped in behind enemy lines at the very very beginning. And if he was their scout, then that means he was the tip of the tip of the spear and a man not to be taken lightly. >> That's all I would say.
>> Wow. All right. Okay. Uh we have some board business. We can uh put this forward as a consent agenda. Okay. Is that what you'd like? >> Yeah, let's do that. >> Uh, move to approve this evening's
consent agenda. No call outs. >> Second. All right. All those in favor? >> I >> I >> I. >> All right. Two appointments and some meeting minutes. Other business. Any other business? >> I have none. Thank you, >> David. >> None. Thank you, Frank.
>> None. I uh ran next door just to make sure that today we didn't receive any requests for the upper town hall on August 16th. Um, and we have not. So, we will book that day for uh the upper town hall. >> 11:00 a.m. Great. I have no other business as well. So, we will adjourn.
We are coming back. What is our next meeting? I'm trying to remember >> 11th. >> I believe it is the 11th. >> Yes, it is the 11th. So, we will come back >> on August 11th. All right. I will
uh entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So, moved. >> Second. All those in favor? I >> I >> I >> and we are adjourned at 8:45 p.m. We will see you on August 11th for our next meeting. Have a good couple of weeks and
stay cool.