similar. >> Yeah. No, usually it's >> all right. Good evening everyone. Welcome. I call the meeting to order. This meeting of the Hopkins Select Board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom. Um I believe all members participating in the meeting tonight are
present in the room. The public has the option of attending in person here at town hall or via Zoom using the link posted in this meeting's agenda. This meeting is being recorded. Um we will start with the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Uh, next we're going to move to public forum. Each person will have
two minutes to speak at public forum. Please start by stating your name and address. Uh, I am going to start to change the public forum format a little bit. Uh, in the interest of time, and I've put a lot of thought into this, uh, we're going to go back to the original 2 minutes. So, at 2 minutes, I will kind
of give you a heads up, you know, finish up your final thoughts. Um also I will be you know capping it at tonight it will go till about um 6:20 uh so that we can move on. When I look through these agenda items one of the
things that we want to be cognizant of is a lot of people from town hall put a lot of effort into what goes into this every week into these meetings and I want to make sure for those that come and attend in person that they're able to be here at get through them on a timely event. Um, when I say I'm going
to stop it at 6:20, we will continue that at the end after we get through all of our other agenda items, I want to continue hearing everyone's thoughts. And then, um, lastly, you know, as we go through when someone comes up and speaks about something, I'm going to start asking if if anyone else would like to
speak on that matter. And if someone raises their hand, um, at that time, I'll look for someone else if they have a different item to talk about to come up and bring that up first. and then we'll go kind of based off time so that we're hearing the most topics in a timely manner. So with that, I'll open
up public forum to who would like to join us first. Welcome. >> Evening everybody. >> Good [clears throat and snorts] New England weather. >> Y >> Hi, I'm Don Sutherland. I'm chair of the environmental working group of the Hopkins sustainable green committee. I'm
I'm here uh uh to uh represent the uh Hopkin Sustainable Green Committee's uh perspective on late Maspanox use of herbicides uh to manage plant life. And the Hopkin Sustainable Green Committee
urges the board to reject the $55,000 requested expanded use of several hundred gallons of toxic herbicides to be administered by DPW in Lake Maspan in 2026. Uh we see this as physically and uh
physically and environmentally irresponsible mainly because um this request it feeds a herbicide treadmill uh which doesn't manage life in the long term. It's a shortterm fix for an issue.
[snorts] Um the uh it requires repeated renewal on applications. This is the second application by the groups. Uh the first was in 2024 for over $30,000 and they've done a lot of work the lake
maspan association and they have done excellent assess assessing of of the lakes life forms. But when it comes down to this is this issue u the group feels they're making a big mistake because the chemical the use of these chemicals
isn't designed for the health of the lake. It's not it's misrepresentative. It's dialogue that way. It's it's meant to harm and destroy life. That's that's what makes it effective. And it kills not only one form of life but non-target
as well, which isn't often part of the package of dialoging. So, uh the group from our last I attended their meeting this year. uh they assessed uh the effect of this prior use and they found that it was effective but then plant
life came back in certain in a surge form and we've had um you know >> at two minutes if you want to >> well we're willing to work we I mean the group has a toolbox that they have from their vegetation management plan from
2021 and they have alternatives other than chemicals that we uh strongly feel we could work with them uh to manage this issue. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Donald. >> Like to speak next. Is Is this Who wants to speak to that same topic?
>> We got one. All right. So, I'm going to have someone else come up to another topic. We'll come back to you. I just want to make sure. Yeah. Come on, Ed. Ed Harrow, Spring Lane, speaking as a resident. Firstly, a big kudos to the Hopkins and Fire Department ambulance crew for the wonderful ride they gave me
the other night. Secondly, um I've had people think that my letter about barrel racing on Main Street was a serious letter. It was written in Jess and it was submitted in Jest and it was not meant to be taken seriously, but it was a little pointed, I will admit. My real
reason to be here is ebikes. Um and I know that I provided a link to a New York Times article. I have the full article that I will leave here. Um, I have a a three generation history in bicycles.
I have a picture of my great aunt and uncle on their trike, tandem trike in New York, 1880s. My uncle was a bike dealer and my parents met on riding bicycles. Um, the the issue of ebikes in this town, in the
state, in the country is uncontrolled. It is the only way in my opinion that ebikes can be rendered quote unquote safe is to require a license, require they be registered and require they be insured. Putting 12year-old kids out on
ebikes is crazy. I had an experience on Wood Street and Woodville and the twisty turns. And this kid was clearly when you do something and you and you're good at it, you know when someone is not good at it. This kid was on the curb. He was riding way far to the right, which you think is where to be, but he was
right at a corner. So, I never saw him until I got around the corner. If you're on a bike, you need to move out from the corner to maintain your visibility to the people coming up behind you. This is a major major safety deal. I have pictures of damage done by ebikes. I'm
going to leave all this stuff with you. I have pictures of groups of kids on what we think are ebikes, but they don't have pedals. They don't qualify as an ebike, but we have no way to distinguish it. I have the letter that I wrote about
the kid with the car accident on front of the Hopkins Town Hall. I'm done. Thank you very much. Have a lovely night. >> Thank you, Ed. And Lance, I'll leave all this with you. [clears throat] >> Anyone else like to speak to ebikes
or is there a new topic? >> There's if there's a new topic. Yep. >> No. Okay. Yeah, you can come up. You can talk about the lake and can you check if there's anyone on Zoom that would like to speak? >> There are no hands raised on. >> Okay. We'll come back to Zoom. Welcome. >> Carol Esler, 16 Oakst Road. Let's see. I
have two minutes. And uh what we need is a paradigm shift. It's going to be difficult. Okay. They dumped hundreds of gallons of Daquat in our lake. I don't want to go too long on Daquat. toxic, banned in many countries throughout the
world, um, including the entire European Union. I can't believe we put it in our lake. But we could get into chemicals and just play whack-a-ole with other harmful chemicals. So, we're not going to do that. The EPA, you can't really trust. One of the reasons why conquered
said no to these chemicals in their lakes is because of some doubts and need for more study in terms of endocrine disruption. People always think of cancer first, but endocrine disruption is another concern. We're talking
fertility. We're talking birth defects. These are things we're worried about. But if people who want herbicides talk about balance and health, toxic synthetic chemicals do not cause balance
and health within a lake. They destroy life forms, maybe zup plankton, phytolanton. There are far less shore birds the the year that they put it in. This is not balance and health. This is degrading
our ecosystem. is what this approach is doing. Now there was the toolbox many of which things have not been used. They've done draw down they've done toxic chemicals. Other things should be in the
toolbox such as diver assisted suction harvesting, small weed harvesting machines and aerration. These things didn't even make it into the tool box. And here we are spending money on a toxic treadmill that in 10 years would
be a lot of money and we could afford some of these useful other tools. So again, it doesn't degrade without sunlight. It's poisoning our lake. We need to talk about healthy biodiversity
versus single-year human convenience. Thank you. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Yep. Please come up. >> Uh Don Kaiser, Oak Hurst Road. Um to carry that discussion a little further.
Um but I'll start on the weed committee. I would probably be a member of that committee if it didn't their charter didn't read like herbicides are the first choice. People say it's the last choice, last resort. It seems to be the first choice.
um thinking about um things that we've done in the past that aren't in the toolbox. We've actually brought in a um a hydro rake before which will do people's shorelines that work very nice. Um it's not enough to do the big basin um aerration something we could do. I've
seen a wet dredge that I call a muck sucker because it sucks the muck up off the bottom. I think a lot of silting goes on. So I think it's something you probably have to do a few years in a row. that's also doesn't seem to be in the tool box. But then I thought of today, a number of years ago, there was
a gentleman on our lake, Marco, who said he wanted to take an excavator into the middle of the lake and deal with some of the rocks in the lake. We managed the lake association to get permission from Concom for him to bring an excavator into the lake and he piled
up a bunch of the rocks and we have an island in the lake now from that. And it occurred to me that he did that as volunteer work. I believe we paid for his diesel fuel that instead of an eight-foot draw down some year, maybe we do a 10-foot and we got a lot of guys in
this town that have bulldozers and backhos and [gasps] maybe we buy their diesel fuel and maybe we get some volunteer labor. We could actually do a dry dredge and maybe a short period of time and maybe for short money if we think about building another island,
expanding that island. Um, always one of the big costs with thinking about dry dredging is hauling the material away and now it's got dquad in it. It may have dioxin from the 40 plus years ago when we put dioxin in the lake. Um, so that might be a channel to look at. Um,
I'm concerned about the criteria for um this year's chemicals that they're asking money for. um they decided not to do an assessment, a survey in the spring. So, I have no idea what the criteria is going to be for doing this
herb application or not. Um we lucked out today. We didn't get snow. We got cold weather. The draw down may work really well this year. In my 40 years of being here, the best year in terms of the least weeds was after one of the drawdowns we did in 2015 16. And thank
you. >> Thank you. >> Who would like to come up and speak next? >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh Kevin Darbone, 14 Hillrest Drive, Hopington. Um speaking out as a
community member on a uh press release by Van Ralton in regards to a November 14th uh release. Um, I'm the one who complained last fall to the select board, uh, October 1st, about over a year ago. [snorts] Um, my complaint
wasn't with the HPD doing a good job and dignifiing the call as being a swatting incident at the high school. My complaint was with the HPD unprepared executed well-developed plan and protocol, the protocol that the HP already had written and drilled with the
H um, Hopington Fire Department, the district, and trauma centers. Um I worked as a safety officer at an employee run company for many years. We were sold to a national company. So safety you know within the comm you know
that company a2 billion dollar company with 7,000 employees was really important to me. So facts versus fiction are also really important to me. So after reading the press release, I couldn't help but notice Van Ralton
writing as the acting chief while Joe Bennett was out on vacation wrote in such a way that it seemed to be suggesting the FBI had conducted an afteraction review of everything the HP uh HP had done on October 1st, 2024. That
concluded that all the work by the HPD had been done right. Van Ralton's case was reviewed by special agent Brian Leblanc at our request as a action actor. The case really a case
that's incredibly misleading. Why? Because agent LeBlanc did not in any way review the entire case that Scott claims. And people in this community are also friends with [snorts] other outside sources. We live in a
growing community. I have sources through previous enterprises, previous jobs. I can make phone calls. I can hire people to get facts. So, I want to present facts, not fiction. Would you like to know what Leblanc did in fact do? I'll tell you what he did.
He confirmed he did not he did and didn't do. But before I do that, I want to call your attention one more thing of Ralton's letter. Evan, >> you're at two minutes if you want to finish up. >> Yep. Does anybody else want to read? Um, I prepared this and I think it's really
important to to close this up. >> I understand, but we've got to stick to a schedule. >> Okay. Scott said to the Hopington Police Department Marines committed in transparency. When I tell you that Leblanc really did do laugh at this dubitious statement,
Mr. Transparency should have been more well transparent unless a transparency flag around. It turns out the case field agent did assess the HPD actions that day and and reviewed the recording itself, not the entire case as
being stated. So, I bring this up. If you're doing a case review, this is how you do a case review. Whether it's an incident or accident, a fatality, case reviews are really important to get the facts.
>> Thank you, Kevin. So I just ask for correspondence in relation to any misleading misconduct. Thank you. >> Who would like to speak next? >> Good evening. Sabine St. Pierre One Woody Island. Um I have to agree with John. I hope that we are going to
continue to get some cold weather before any snow so we have an effective extended draw down. So, I know everyone probably doesn't want to hear that, but I'm hopeful for some solid freezing weather. Um, I'm here on behalf of the LMPA, the Lake Maspan Preservation
Association, and I just wanted to give a little insight into um our connection that we have with um other boards in the town, and we do work closely with the CI on, you know, the last since they've their inception 10 years ago. Uh we help
with the weed surveys. We look for their guidance on what they need us to do as an association for education of the community. Um we had an awareness campaign that we started this September where we put up a lot of links uh with the help of Judy
Day at Concom. She had come and done a presentation at our general meeting about what people can do to keep their waterfronts healthy. how can they prevent um unwanted storm runoff that could contribute to the weeds using non-phosphorous fertilizers. So, things that we can do as a community to prevent
um the weed situation and uh we had 178 hits on our website in September. We had put lawn signs out, directed people to our website. We have a specific tab called Lake Health and normally we get about 14 or 15 hits in a month and we
had 178 hits. So, it means that people are looking and we're hopefully educating them. Um, let's see what else I wanted to quickly talk about. Oh, we have a flyer that I'll give you just so you can see what we do for education. We have a welcome [snorts] wagon. When people move to the lake, we give them a
pale with some safety items in it and also um some of these flyers to for them to understand again what they can do to to keep the the lake healthy. So, I'm going to give that to you guys. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Sabine.
So, we are just at 620. So, we're going to hold off on more public forum until we get through the rest of the agenda items. We'll continue it at towards the end. All right. Um, so move moving on. The next piece is our uh public forum statement. So, we talked about this last
week. Uh, we're going to try something new. you know, we we hear a lot of people that come up to public forum and the feeling is that they're not being heard and things aren't being answered to. Um, I feel like as we look, you know, from the board's perspective, I think there's a lot of things that get
talked about in public forum that we respond to indirectly um at future meetings. And, you know, I understand that that might not be as direct as some people would like. So, um, this is an attempt to kind of show what the board's
thinking. This isn't really, um, since everyone sees when the board meets, this isn't the board's like opinions on things. It's more just some things that we thought with council made sense to kind of talk about and people can just get perspective on when the board makes
decisions or um, contemplates something going on in town, there's certain things that the board needs to think about in that. and we just want to bring that type of transparency to this process. Um so I I mean the first one is extremely time timely. Um it was just brought up
the swatting incident on several of the past meetings and I think the original conversation was around you know the board not taking that deeply enough and so you know what [snorts] what we did was we went back and looked at what the immediate next steps were. So after that incident on October 1st, the board met
on December 3rd of 24 in a public meeting with public safety and school officials to talk about the incidents. It was extensively discussed the response um by school staff and public safety and the lessons learned. Uh I think the key takeaways were the importance of ongoing preparedness and
the fact that we can never do enough in those situations. I think all three departments had uh the shared opinion that we need to continue to like do better in those incidents. Um so as an additional follow-up to that since our last meetings, you know, we got we got
feedback from really all three departments and you know I I'll start with the schools. You know, Evan Bishop, our superintendent, you know, his opinion was um an appropriate response. You know, certainly things to tighten up and to improve upon. Uh, one of the ways
they're doing that is, you know, they called it the safety task force. You know, police, fire, and schools are now having monthly joint meetings to continue preparedness and response. Um, our fire chief, Gary Doherty, talked about how 65% of the Hopkins Fire Department staff is trained in act
active attack integrative response. Um, they continue to do training beyond that. 300 high school students are trained in the stop thebleleed training this year. Um and the safety task force is attending joint training by the I love you guys foundation which is
focused on school and community safety. Uh fire police chief Joe Bennett talked about um that same AI AIR training and 100% of the police force is trained in that. Um all three confirmed you know a commitment to continued
improvement more work that needs to be done. I think the next major step is they're targeting a May 1st 4-hour tabletop exercise focused on ICS, unified command roles and responsibilities. So again, that's the work that's going on behind the scenes that we don't really hear about on a
day-to-day as they continue to improve upon those things. Um, beyond the swatting incident, you know, we've had several questions around going back last couple meetings around an update on the Tim Brennan situation. you know, the select board uh you know, back at the
beginning of the year probably took the advice of council and when that went into arbitration, the board was advised and is is still of the opinion that we're going to stay out of that process. We think that process is going to play out on its own and we look for conclusion of that and until that time, the board won't play into it. Um, moving
on, the other big one has obviously been Hiller's Pizza. Uh, there's been a lot around that and again, we've talked about that. I think we had two specific select board meetings to talk about like what's the board's responsibility. We talked about the the process. Um but we
felt like it was more important to you know identify some of the facts that you know council agrees were important for the for the town to remember as we go through these things and we continue to you know adjust um our policies. But it was um one of the things that and again
this isn't new. Some of this stuff has been you know referenced before but the domestic violence act of 2014 requires that incidents involving domestic violence, rape or sexual assault be withheld from public safeties publicly posted daily log. Um the log requires that these must be kept in a separate
log which is not a public record nor shall the entries be disclosed to the public. The preserves of the privacy of victims. The release of this information is not discretionary. Members of the police department who violate the law are subject to penalties that may include imprisonment or fines. And contrary to what has been stated, the
information is not concealed or altered. It is strictly confidential. And that is, you know, that is a way to sum up like how there's been opinions or accusations that things have been deleted from the logs and this is the town's response to that. Um, with
respect to what information can be released to the public about sex offenders, again, this was an opportunity to kind of just like make sure we're all on the same page when we think about things. Information about level one offenders is confidential and cannot be released to the public. Information about level two offenders
may be shared only upon request and police officers may not proactively release it to the public and information about level three offenders must be distributed to the community. uh these restrictions are required by state law. So right now like that's where we want
everyone to kind of think about how the town has responded to a lot of these things. They're doing it by what you know first of all is the law and to maintain you know a limitation of liability for these things. So um again this was you know that's what we had for tonight. We're going to continue to hear
what you guys speak about in public forum, but we want to try this as an effort to directly respond to the things that you guys bring up because we do care. It's not always easy to respond. We certainly can't legally right away, but hopefully this helps everyone feel that we are responding as we go through
things. So, um, with that, I'm going to move on to the consent agenda. And so for tonight, the select board will consider the following. We'll consider the authorizing the town manager to sign a license and hold harmless agreement with the 26.2
Foundation to facilitate the development of public trails at 53 East Main Street. Uh it will consider appointing Eric Cardi as a traffic conible to a term expiring 63028. And it will consider confirming the town manager's appointment of Jeffrey Wood as
assistant building inspector and zoning enforcement officer. Um I think we had a Did we have a change in that first one? Do we have a typo? >> Uh there's a typo in the license and hold harmless agreement. Um >> do you mind the >> Do you mind clarifying?
>> Sure. In um number four of the document the word um completed is used instead of should be contemplated in the last sentence. >> Okay. Thank you. Um before I look for a mo before we do anything, I'm going to
make a motion to um I move to pull out item B separately. I need to recuse myself that one for our family connection. But if we want to start with A and C together, I guess I need a second. >> Second. >> Yeah. >> All right. There's a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I >> I
>> I >> All right. So now we're going to discuss A and C. Um Amy, do you want to start any thoughts or comments on >> So A Okay. So, we're holding out the constable. Okay. >> So, the um so the um Okay. So, I don't
have any comments about the new town employee and the license to hold harmless um for the trails. If we could just get a little bit more explanation for that, I think that would be helpful for the public because I don't we don't I don't recall us ever doing one of these before. >> Sure. Um it's a >> Hey, Joseph Baldiga, council for the 26.2 Foundation. Just in case you have
any questions on that, >> just a little bit. What is it and what what it will do? Because I think the public is generally supportive. So, the town leases uh the land to the 26.2 Foundation, future home of the International Marathon Center. Um while uh they're working on that those future
plans, uh the town uh trails committee um had an idea to construct some trails on the property. And so that's where >> so we're happy to open the land up for the trails, but our insurance company is requiring us to get the holdless agreement from the town. Otherwise, we're going to be liable if somebody
breaks their leg. So, so again it's very exciting. The trails that start at this property connect all over the place. So it's good opportunity. >> Okay. So they'll be worked on by members of the trail committee who are you know appointed town. Yes. Okay. I think that's helpful. Thank you.
>> Good. Thanks. >> Um no I think I had the same question. Just quick one. So for this one the trails committee is okay and is in sync. >> So the trails committee are the ones advocating for the trails. We're happy to open up the land and excited about it
as well. And hopefully years from now when the IMC is built, there's going to be a whole trail system uh with as part of that, too. But for this initial stage, while it's in the fundraising stage, [gasps] it'd be a shame not to open the land up to the trails. So,
>> I'm glad it's happening. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um I have no other questions. I'll look for a motion for um items A and C. Peter wanted to assist >> as part of the trails. [clears throat] >> Peter Lavoy, 21 Hayden Row Street,
speaking as the chair of the trails committee and yes, we've advocated for this sort of agreement. Um really want to express our appreciation for Elaine for helping push this forward. Obviously helpful on this particular parcel of land, but there are also other trails
that cross private land that they need this sort of license agreement. So, um, really appreciate your help on getting this in place. So, thanks. And >> just so we're on the same page, it's not a license agreement. It's a hold armless agreement. We're not licensing anything
to the trails committee. So, >> correct. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Joe and Peter. >> Mr. Chair, move to approve the consent agenda A and C as discussed. >> Second. >> Okay. There's a motion and a second. Any
final thoughts? All right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? That is unanimous. Um, and we are we're going to have to move beyond. We don't have a quorum to do item B. >> There is an exception. >> We abstain from the vote. That should be
sufficient. >> Okay, perfect. So then I'm going to recuse myself. >> Well, I think if you just stay as a member of the board and just >> I think it's it's the rule of necessity because there's only three of us. >> Okay. >> You can be here, but you can abstain. >> Perfect. And I think we all trust that you can
>> treat treat the matter fairly, right? You feel like you can treat it fairly. >> Okay. >> So the second one is traffic constable appointment. >> Uh the city board will consider appointing Eric Cardi as a traffic constable to a term expiring 6:30 2028.
>> Second. >> Okay. >> So >> all those in Go ahead. All those in favor >> I >> I >> I abstain. >> All right, the motion moves. >> Thank you.
>> Perfect. Thank you. So, moving on. Next, the select board will consider promoting Robert Ecross to the rank of sergeant in the police department. Would the chief and deputy chief please join us? And the sergeant I'll take Okay.
Welcome through the chair. Welcome and good evening. I'm glad everybody got here safe. Um, thank you for [clears throat] the time to uh to consider uh a promotion tonight. uh promotion is very important within an organization. This
is a funded position and uh we have a vacancy that that we work through a process. Our process is governed by a negotiated agreement that was negotiated between the town [sighs and gasps] during contract negotiations and uh that was followed. Uh deputy, you want to
talk about the process? >> Sure. Uh so it's all outlined uh throughout the contract and uh the process starts um with an application uh for those interested patrolmen who uh meet the qualifications. Uh then we have
a uh test put on by an outside vendor. Um that uh is scored and any uh officer who scores a 70 or above um moves on to the interview round. Uh the interview um is conducted with any of those who pass. Uh this year it was done with myself um
a deputy chief from Franklin um and Jessica from HR. Uh that portion um of the process is scored and uh ultimately accounts for 40% of their final score. The written test counts for 40% of their
t their final score and the final 20% um is classified under um chief's assessment which involves um their seniority performance evaluations what they've done within the department um any other activities um that they've performed um as an officer and that
accounts for 20%. Those scores are then tallied um by HR as a as a blind score that nobody within the agency is privy to and those final scores are then posted. >> Perfect. >> Yeah. >> Um usually we let you a chance to
introduce yourself >> through the chair. I'd like to >> introduce you to uh Rob Ecros. >> He's a candidate that came out on top. Um he's well qualified. He's very active within the department. He serves many roles in training, field training, and
uh he's actually the senior patrol officer right now. So, I set you out. >> It's all you. >> Uh yeah. So, I am Robert Ecros. I've came to Hopington about 7 and a half years ago now. Uh love working here. I've loved working here since I started.
Uh like Chief mentioned, I am one of the field training officers. So, that's when we bring in brand new hires and then they're riding around in the car with us. We're showing them everything from the roads to, you know, making arrests, going through the cell area, uh, investigations, all that kind of stuff. So, I've actually done that for 20 plus
officers now. So, I got a lot of experience with that. And that's kind of the supervisor before the supervisor cuz they're they're green. They're right out of the academy or a transfer from somewhere else. So, we have to show them how to be an officer as well as an officer in Hopington. Uh, so I took that
on and really ran with it. You know, doing 20 plus officers. It was it was a lot, but it was I was happy to do it because I want them to be trained highly and I think I I meet that standard and I really put a lot of effort into it. So, I enjoy that. Uh, recently I became a ballistic shield instructor. Uh, we have
shields that we carry in the car. Uh, became an instructor for that. So, definitely happy to train the officers on that. Uh, and just anything that I can get involved with. I do a lot of the social media, our posts that we make on Facebook, I get involved with that. Uh, health and wellness team member, I get
involved with that. So, with the help of Chief Bennett, we got a lot of new gym equipment for the department. Um, recently we did a lot of testing for the officers so they could see if they had any, you know, blood issues or anything like that, any cardiac issues. We actually had a company come in. We were on the assault bike. We were all hooked
up with the oxygen and doing all that. So, from the help of Chief Bennett, we were able to do that and make sure that our officers are as healthy as they can be. So, I I do as much as I can with the department and now I'm just looking for that that next step and I'm excited to do that. Perfect. Well, we appreciate you
talking. I'll open up to the board thoughts, questions. >> You want to start? >> Sure. >> Well, first of all, [clears throat] thank you. Um, great to hear that um we are completing the leadership plan that you uh anticipating and had envisioned
some time ago and this gives our police force the necessary strength and maturity. Uh that's the goal. So I'm happy that we are on that path and I have interacted with um professor across a few times quite a few times uh on air
street and other places and was really uh had the pleasure of uh and impressed with his professional deminer and all the good work it puts in for Hopington. uh I think for everyone's understanding uh chief you mentioned it how would you
uh what are the key roles and what are the kind of overall leadership responsibility you put on um this role and how in your view uh Mr. Cross uh comes out as outstanding candidate for this.
>> Sure. [clears throat] So, a patrol sergeant really is the most important position in an organization. Your first line of leadership does so much for the community, so much for the officers, and so much for the mission of the
department. So I see uh what Rob will bring to it is as far as community, he understands our posture in the community, our commitment to service. He's been delivering on that and I have every confidence that he'll hold his officers accountable. U one of the other
as the other aspect is being there for the officers. Uh Rob is committed to wellness. He's committed to the department. um and as a I think he'll serve as a mentor, a trainer and uh he has a very solid understanding of our uh
expectations and standards and um so that ties into the department. So he'll be able to support the officers on calls to ensure that they're they're meeting all the standards but also support them as a mentor and
communicating them to them in that way. But finally as the organization knowing the rules, the guidelines and all that it will it kind of gives you the total package of what we need from a first-line supervisor in our organization that's a sergeant. >> Excellent. Thank you. That uh all makes
sense. And I would also add that I have also observed Mr. Ross on various community events and seen him in action in helping build the community uh relationship or working for um the kids in the with the pizza in the last day of school and other uh events organizing
those and I was very impressed with the leadership you have demonstrated. Thank you for stepping forward. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I just want to say um appreciate all the background that you provided and I'm really I'm really pleased that we have people that have been here a long time that are ready to take the next
step. I know we have a lot of um newer officers who are not very experienced. So, we really need some people who have been here a while like yourself to uh step up and take more more responsibility. Um and your list of certifications is impressive. So, um that's great. And then I wondered if you might be able to tell us a little bit
about um some of these train certifications you've done like and what you learned from if you want to pick one. >> Sure. Yeah. What you learned from it. The list in front of me. >> Um let's see what would be a good one.
Yeah. Where do we have that one? >> Okay. Yeah. So, um, nonviolent crisis intervention. I'm certified as an instructor with that. So, that was recent. Uh, a few of us, including dispatchers, firefighters. Uh, we did a class where we learned uh, and it's not
specific to law enforcement. That's why we had the dispatchers as well as the firefighters. and it was uh intervening in situations where someone might be in a state of crisis, but you don't want to go, you know, sometimes the police have to go hands-on, but it's kind of talking them through things. So, it actually went through the progression of, you
know, when you're at the talking stage, kind of seeing what they're giving off, what their body language is saying. So, that was actually a 3-day course and we went through and at first we were just kind of learning all the things. So, how to talk to them, how to keep the room safe, how to keep other people safe, and then it kind of escalated to, okay, if
they do start to do these things, how can we get other people out of the room? How can we get them out of that situation? And it was interesting to not go from a law enforcement standpoint, but from more of just that community caretaker. Um, so that was really good, three days of that. It was pretty hands-on. It was more uh strenuous than
a lot of us thought it was going to be. you know, at the end of the day, we were sweating, doing some of the techniques that we were learning, but it was all stuff that was, you know, very safe. It wasn't, you know, anything like super physical. Um, but it was just learning how to intervene in situations like
that. And in the future, we hope to be instructors for that and maybe teach some of the other uh uh departments in town and help them out with that as well because that's such a a big thing seeing people that are in mental crisis. We definitely want to be be able to help with that. not just calling us but giving people the tools themselves to be
able to work through that as well. [snorts] >> Thank you. I really appreciate that and I think it's very interesting to the public because you know modern policing has changed a lot over the years. People may not even know that you do that sort of training. >> Yeah, of course. >> Thank [snorts] you. >> Mhm. >> Perfect. Um, as far as questions, my only one is for the chief. We always
ask, is this part of the budget already? >> The answer is yes, and it's in next year's budget as well. >> Perfect. Um, yeah. No, no other questions. You know, I think especially in like this line of work, you know, promotions like this, you know, there's not there's not a million of them in
front of you. I think it's a very important thing for you, your family, the department. I think, you know, what it what it says to have someone that's been in town for a while now move up in the department continue uh what we have going. You know, I personally, I've spoken about it multiple times to to see the community involvement the last
couple years. I think it's the department's doing a really nice job with that, being out during public events and being present and and working with the communities and the and the children in the community. So, um I just hope to see that continue. So, thank you. Um with with that,
>> I move to promote Robert Cross to the rank of sergeant in the Hopington Police Department. >> Second. >> Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Uh all those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> It's unanimous. Congratulations, Sergeant.
>> [applause] [applause] >> Is he doing a pinning? >> Yeah, we we'll do a picture. Is he doing a pinning first? >> Yeah, >> we'll get out of the picture for the pin. Oh yeah, >> it's my pleasure to give you this
Saturday. This is Charles, right? Congratulations. [applause] [applause] Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's right. He's not getting [applause] it. What's up?
>> Sorry. All right. Ready? One, two, three. All right. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you. Hey, some shut. >> All right.
You guys doing? [laughter] >> Oh, thank you. >> There we go. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for coming. Congratulations. >> Oh, is it? Yeah. Sorry. >> Thank you for the reminder.
>> So, next the select board will consider a presentation by the Lake Maspan Weed Management Control Advisory Group regarding weed management in the lake. >> So, remember all those good feelings. Keep those good feelings. Welcome back. >> All right. Good afternoon. Uh Joseph
Aldiga. I am chair of the citizens input group for the Lake Maspern weed management control group. Thank you for your time. So, I am here to update the board on the weed control efforts and also to speak in support of the DPW's
budget request of $55,000 to facilitate the continuing efforts to continue I'm sorry to control the weeds in Lake Mascan, we have in addition to uh Sabine who is chair of the LMPA, we also have
another member [snorts] of the uh control group Paula Garland. who also resides on the lake. Um, and I should start by saying that the members of the citizen input group, most of us reside on the lake. Now, I think uh all
but one reside on the lake and we certainly don't want to do anything that's going to harm the lake and I respect the comments from uh the other folks who have spoken in opposition to what we're proposing for the Wii control group. I respect their comments because
I think we all share a common goal, which is to keep the lake as healthy as possible. Um, we obviously don't want to put anything into the lake that uh is going to endanger anyone or at least as far as we're concerned is going to make
the lake less healthy. So, just to recap a little bit because I think uh I'm not sure you were here last time we were here, right? So in spring of 24 um we did obtain concom approval to uh have
herbicide treatment applied uh because the measures taken in advance of that simply were ineffective. They just didn't work anymore and and the primary uh tool in the toolbox until then had been the annual draw down and
the every thirdyear extended draw down. To make the draw down work, you have to have an extended period of cold weather without snow cover. Right? So when the lake is at its lowest like it is right
now, you have to have weeks of cold frosty weather below freezing that's going to kill the weeds. So we just haven't we moved on to lake in 2015 16. You heard uh Don Kaiser mention that's
the last recollection he have of of a good draw down. That's when we moved on to the lake and the draw down was fantastic. We had like six weeks of cold weather without snow cover. We haven't had that for 10 years. We're not so far we're not having it this year either.
The lake if you've drawn uh driven by the lake it's very low. This is the low draw down that we get approved every third year. Um, but last week it was 60, right? This weather is okay. We're not
getting a lot of snow cover, but it's supposed to be cold, but then it's going to warm back up. We're just not getting the conditions to dampen the weeds like we need to by the draw down. So in the materials that have been uh provided to you folks and is made public. So you
have the results of the survey, the post treatment survey from August 24. You also have the uh materials that we presented to Concom uh last time we went before them in March of 2025. So this was earlier this
year when we went before concoming we herbicide treatment again for this past summer that we just went through because we wanted to see what the effects were in a second year after having done the herbicide treatment. And unfortunately,
although the herbicide treatment worked remarkably well, um we had no weeds that summer, uh the targeted weeds, um but it didn't carry over into the second year. We were hoping for a strong draw down. It didn't happen last winter. So this
summer, the invasive weeds were back. And you got to understand that you've heard comments from some of the opponents about uh desert and a vacuum and we're just making it a barren lake. That's absolutely not the case. You
read, don't take my word for it. Read the report. The herbicides that are applied are very targeted to just the invasive weeds. The weeds that were [clears throat] killed were the invasive
mil foil and the fan wart and the I forget the other the pawn weed, right? The invasive weeds. There's plenty of weeds in the lake even right after we did the treatment for Dawn to swim in. He talks about how he likes to swim in the reeds. I do too. But um there's
plenty of weeds. We don't kill everything. The fish were plentiful. The water fowl were plentiful. you've heard anecdotes about, oh, it seems like there were less fish and less bird. That's just not the case. Um, so it really
worked very well, but we never thought that it was going to be a oneandone. Um, so we are looking to do it again. If you look at the conservation uh presentation materials, because a lot
of what you've heard tonight and in past meetings is how we're dumping hundreds of gallons in and the sediment is just accumulating herbicide or toxic waste and all that stuff. And and again, I I'm trying to be respectful, but at the same
time, some of what you're hearing are just misrepresentations. So to give you a flavor as to what and how it's treated, if you look at page six of the uh conservation materials, so the herbicides use, so
it's a 50 acre area, right? Because we're just applying it to the north basin because that's where the shallow water is. So the sunlight gets through to the sediment and it creates the weed growth. south of Sandy Beach, we don't
have that problem. We didn't we're not looking to apply herbicide there. We didn't apply herbicide there last time just because you don't have the weed growth. It's in the area that frankly used to be a swamp and we're trying to stop it from going back to being a
swamp. But it's the North Basin. The water is 6 ft deep, ton of mud on the bottom. And if you look at the dosage right so you had tribune applied at one gallon per acre and aquithal one of
these is daquat I forget which uh let's see the tribune is a daquat so you had 60 gallons of tri of daquat over 50 acres so it was a gallon an acre the aquithal three gallons an acre right and
the uh studies and the folks who put the treatment in, right? They all have the same consensus which it's it is so minimally applied. It's quickly uh spread out in the water
and that there's none of it falling through to the bottom other than you know you are killing the weeds. Um, so but it's not just dumping in hundreds of gallons into one concentrated area. So
look at that total treatment, right? 185 total of chemicals over 50 acres. Um, so there was also talk about the toolbox and again I I feel like we we talk about this all the time, but if you look on page five
of those same materials, you'll see here is the toolbox that everybody's talked about and that we got approved by COCOM. So the draw down is the first one. We've already talked about how that alone isn't effective. We're going to keep
doing the draw down. It's the easiest mechanism to kill the weeds. It has some effect. It's just not sufficient for the north basin. The extended draw down. We talked about the other four uh devices in the toolbox. Benthic barriers, hand
harvesting, mechanical harvesting, and herbicide treatment. So for the North Basin, those other three are not feasible or coste effective for the area that we're talking about. So harvesting
would be wonderful. Dredging would be wonderful, but you can't dredge that area. Top topographically, it doesn't work. It's full of boulders. You heard somebody mention Marco with his bulldozer going out there. That was before we moved on to the lake. My
understanding was he got in big trouble for doing that. I don't think he had any approval. He just unilaterally pulled his backho out there. We would love for that to happen. I would love for the lake to be dredged. We only got about 5T at the end of our dock. I would love 10 ft, right? And that would solve the
problem. [gasps] We had estimates of what it would take to dredge. And dredging doesn't last a long time. You'd have to do it every two or three years, right? Because the sediment still builds up. Million bucks
to do the dredging for a year. And you need someplace to put all the dredge material. So, sure, you pile it up on sandy beach or on the parking lot. You're not going to use that for the whole year. And then you need someone to haul haul it away. So,
and and mechanical harvesting, same thing. It's not that's like mowing a lawn. We talk to people. The reason it's in the toolbox is because we went out and we surveyed what alternatives were the herbicide. Mechanical harvesting is like mowing the lawn. All you're doing
is taking the tops off of the weeds. They grow back. You would just have to keep mowing the lawn. It's not feasible. It's not cost effective. Handh harvesting small areas. Sure. Maybe in front of your dock. Bethnic barriers.
Same thing. You can put these are just the big barriers sort of the size of this room that you can buy online and you could just put it in front of your dock and it will cover the soil. It's not feasible for 50 acres where the weeds are prevalent in that entire 50
acres. So again, I'm trying to be respectful of the folks who speak in opposition to this. Um we are doing our best to minimize runoff into the lake. The LMPA has been
doing a marvelous job of educating folks to make sure we're minimizing what's going into the lake. A good sign of that, and I don't mean to steal your thunder, but a good sign of that is we get the lake tested for phosphorus every year, which is the number one problem of
lawn fertilizer. The lake has incredibly low phosphorus. So, it's not Everybody likes to point through, oh, everybody has green lawns. It's not fertilizer, >> but it's it's not being caused by fertilizer. It might be caused by boats
coming in from other lakes. It'd be wonderful if we had a boat washing station at the parking lot for Sandy Beach. Again, where's that money going to come from? It's not feasible. We try to police. We have signs, but it's not a
feasible way to address this problem alone. So, so what's being proposed we think is as limited as possible. It's spot treatment really only the area we're not
talking about treating the entire lake. And what we're concerned with is and what we saw before we treated in 2024 is the lake starting to close in because of the invasive weeds. There's an entire portion now down near
Lake Shore. I think it's Downey Place that we used to be able to take kayaks and stuff in there and you can't anymore because the invasive weeds have gotten so bad. We didn't treat that area. It's almost like a bird preserve now and we're not proposing to treat that area, but you're going to see the invasive
weeds encroaching, encroaching, encroaching, and eventually closing off the lake. We're trying not to have that happen. So, I'm happy to answer any questions. I don't know Paul or if you want to speak as well. >> Well, I was just going to say that um we
have done we've either done or we've researched in detail every item in the toolbox and um like he was saying, if we if you cut the the weeds, it's it causes it to grow more. Like when you cut your
lawn, when you mow your lawn, it becomes thicker. And the same thing happens if you handh harvest. Um you spread the weeds and besides where you can't handh harvest 50 acres but the phosphorus thing is absolutely true it's not from
from lawn fert fertilizers so >> so I also want to stress >> because it's um it's not very it's shallow and so you've got the sunlight and then the weeds um grow up towards the sun so that's what I think the problem is and I just want to remind the
board as well that we're here not just updating you but we need budget approval. But this is just the first step, right? Because if in February or March it looks like we haven't had the winter that would cause a draw down to
be effective, the plan is to go in front of concom's approval before we do anything. We don't need con approval if you folks moot the decision because you don't approve the proposed treatment. But that's that's the steps that are
necessary. We got rid of the spring survey. Typically, we've gone out and done [clears throat] spring and fall surveys of the weeds because the spring survey was too early. >> There was never any weed growth anyway because we were doing it at the end of May, early June, mid June. That's not
when the weed growth happens. That's when it's just starting. That's why you apply the herbicide right then. So, you catch the weeds as they start growing. you minimize the uh the debris that's going down into the settlement sediment because you're killing the weeds before
they start and that's when you got to hit them. So, so anyway, so this is just the first step. We still have to go in front of Con even if you folks approve the budgeting item. >> So, [clears throat] thank you. Um and I think that's an important thing to call out, right? Like we're going to be focused on the budget
like for the application, right? That's step one. We're in the middle of that process now as a town. Um, and then of course Concom has the ultimate decision on what treatment gets used. Um, I've got some more questions, but I'll let my board members kind of start first. Amy, do you
>> I I don't think I have any particular questions for the Weeds Committee. I appreciate the long presentation. Um, and I [clears throat] think like as Joe was saying, we'll hear from Concom later. We'll hear from the DPW later about the budget and the need and everyone else's recommendation. And um and I assume the sustainable green
committee will uh we'll hear from them as well. >> I know because I think you know herbicides I think make us all nervous and sometimes we do understand other things have been tried and that that's the last last resort. But um yeah but we have to all do our due diligence and it's not we're not really the deciders of the whether we use herbicides or not
just of >> the budget but a lot of input. So >> and just there was a comment made and I wish I don't know if it was Mr. Sunderland or if it was Dawn, but saying I think it was the other Dawn uh who's a neighbor and I see him all the time. We get along and stuff, but I think he said
something about he didn't join the committee because our predisposition was to herbicides. My predis disposition is the exact opposite. I hate the thought of chemicals. Um and we would welcome his input on the committee, but you
know, we're trying to do what we can to keep the lake healthy with minimum intrusiveness. So >> yeah and along the same line I think um you articulated the scope well we're going to probably going to talk about
the budget and as the immediate next step and then would wait for the concom to analyze and give us their insights as well and fully understand I mean herbicides are not risk-free we all um realize that and um how can we make it
manageable targeted while we solve real world problem which is we want to also make sure the lake is usable. It uh uh is stays nice, beautiful and recreational as it is and people take advantage of the natural resources that
we have there. How do we balance it? How do we uh take advantage of the lake maintaining and making it usable without you know harming it for long term for the natural habitats for the water and putting in chemicals of course sounds um
not very promising for long term but we'll we'll wait for more uh information and insights and I appreciate uh putting together all the information this is very helpful and I also appreciate how you um approached it with the surveys and with the consulting groups and uh
kind of targeted application. Um those are all I think a good indicator that you are all uh very careful and very I think caring about what you are doing and uh making sure you are actually
attacking the problem and uh also managing the risk along the way. We just need to weigh in how and where um kind of the balance point is. One thing I noticed on the kind of background timeline. So two questions related to
that. One is I see in 2020 conservation commission denies NOI for harbicide treatment. What was the reason and what has changed today? And second is in 2024 the treatment that was implemented it was just a year ago. So why again in
2025? What was the uh >> Yeah. So the treatment was spring of 24, right? So then we skipped spring of 2025. So this proposed treatment would be for spring of 2026.
So and we felt pretty good that we made it, you know, skipping a year because we weren't sure how long the treatment would last. And it's interesting because we got rid of and Sabine knows all the names of the weeds as she reminds me all the time, but we got rid of entirely the
type of mil foil that we were attacking in spring of 24. So what's and I think it was Mr. Sunland that said uh we created a vacuum and you know something always fills the vacuum. So a different type of mil foil came back. Uh it's it's
a bad one. Still invasive and stuff but different type. So we were successful in knocking one down or out and now another type has come back. So we never expected it to be one and done forever. Um but we were pretty happy that we were able to at least skip a year before coming back
and seeking herbicide again. Um with respect to concom so and I don't want to speak for them but my understanding was they wanted to see a couple things. One was they wanted to see that, you know, with the LMPA that steps were really being taken to sort of minimize what was
going into the lake and that other steps were being taken to educate and minimize and buffer zones, right, that Concom is very into. Um, so they really wanted to stress that. So we really, and I say we, LMPA really took that by the horns and
have done a great job on putting more out there, really talking to people. we stress it in all the meetings and stuff. Um, and I think that helped convince Concom that we're not just looking at this as a panacea for not being responsible for the other things. And
then the other thing is is we took concom and I invite all of you. We took the concom members out on the lake a few times and uh I don't know if Mr. Harrow was still here. He left, but he he came out of my boat and they all came out of
the boat and they looked so that they could get a feel for what we were talking about and how targeted was what we were proposing that you know it really is a North Basin problem and we're trying to be very targeted. So, I'm not sure there was a change of
personnel on Concom. Um, but I think it was we were able to change their perception as to how we were trying to be careful caretakers of the lake and not just saying, you know, dump all this garbage in. So, >> thank you. That's very helpful and I'm
sure residents would be interested to understand the chronology as you present it. So, that makes sense. Uh one other uh question I I was wondering do you I I saw the cost comparison and again obviously you've done a lot of good analysis and put in a lot of thoughtful work. I appreciate that. Now looking at
the cost analysis um the harvested approach is about 50k a year. Now we did it in 24, skipped 25 and um sounds like we have to do again in 2026 but at that rate we will soon be kind of
evening out the cost of other options at some point dredging or other options that you mentioned. Have we done that analysis the long-term cost benefit analysis and the environmental impact? In other words, if the [snorts] dredging helps for 5 years or 8 years and costs a
million versus harvey not, we end up doing every other year or every year and spend um 680. It's pretty close. >> It's actually pretty easy because the limited amount of herbicide we're
talking about, I think the treatment by Solitude came in at like $32,000. So the other costs in that 50 were it's like $10,000 for the consultants, right, that the DPWO employees and I forget what the other five was. Um but it's in
it's in my letter and support, right? But the treatment itself is maybe 30 35,000 and even if you think of that being spent and hopefully [clears throat] it doesn't have to be but you know every other year, right? 10 years, that's like $350,000,
let's say, or $400,000. The cost of dredging, right? Because, and remember, you got a feasibility issue, too. If you've driven by Lake Massock, you see the North Basin, which is where we have to treat. You can't walk 5t without hitting a boulder,
right? And and probably somebody's propeller that hit one of those boulders. So, so you it's not an easy lake to dredge, right? Because first you have to do something about the topography. What are you going to do about the boulders, right? I don't know
that the state is ever going to approve us bringing a backhoe in there and moving the boulders. I think they don't even they're not even thrilled about doing the draw downs, never mind scraping the bottom, right, to clean out the boulders. And even if you could do
that, the estimates that we got about dredging, right, even if it was a perfectly smooth bottom was like a million bucks to dredge and and then you got to dump it and let it dry and haul it away and all that stuff. And even that wouldn't last more than a year or
two because because you're not going to dredge 6 ft down. So it's still going to be the bottom's still going to be reachable by the sunlight. So after a couple years, you're still going to have the weeds. And and don't forget with the
herbicide treatment that we're targeting on there, it's not just the cost. We're leaving behind the healthy ecosystem. So you think the sustainability committee is unhappy about us targeting, like no one disputes, our invasive
weeds. I'm curious how they would feel if we were just going to scrape it and make it look like a skateboard park, right? where it's just a bare bottom. I you're not going to get approval for that anyway and I wouldn't want to do that, right? So, so it is I think a
dramatic cost difference, but it's also nobody's going to let you just scrape the lake. >> Understood. It's a complex problem and again there's no easy solution obviously, >> right? >> It all right. >> There's no perfect solution. Mhm. And I
I I also looked up and um it's unfortunate, but I saw there were almost 240 applications across the state um of herbicides in other lakes and other um water resources for the similar reason. And that is scary cuz we are getting
chemicals more and more in the water and then we end up getting PAS um different source probably but in many other um issues with the water. So how do we actually solve it long term is a challenge for all of us and more I think thoughtful work and head to get into it.
But at the same time we do need to solve the problem cuz if we don't solve the weeds today it's going to eat up the lake eventually or it's um going to also create other problems make it unusable and also probably inhabitable for many
uh many of the uh natural inhabitants today. So again, I'm not an expert. I don't know what's the overall solution, but those are the balancing acts that we need to look at. And I think you have um done a good job in collecting a lot of good information and doing the initial
efforts. And um good luck with Concom and let's see how and what it looks like. I would emphasize on finding the long-term kind of uh analysis and also I didn't see any if there are any long-term ecological indicators that you
are using or maybe it's a good time to start using as a baseline or benchmark that what are changing that we may not see on a day-to-day basis but over long term has changing or is going to change so we can really
find a good threshold that >> you know >> the um the consultant that we were using since I've been on the committee, Dave Mitchell retired last year. So now we have aquatic resources. They mentioned in the letter ARC. Um but we were just to give you a comparison
how the and Dave Mitchell was great, but these folks are really good and really professional. Um so they have their own boat, they have all this fancy equipment and we do 10 or 11 stations. That's our historically we're checking 10 or 11
spots around the whole lake. They do 79. Um so they've very comprehensive and I think they'll be help they've only been on board a year. Um but I think they'll be very helpful in creating that baseline that you're talking about. So it's pretty good. >> Thank you. >> I think they're probably not taking We
do have a hand raised on Zoom but um we're probably not taking comments at this point. >> No, it's not open public comments. Um, I mean, I think for my opinion, this was extremely helpful. I know there's multiple factors that we need to think about. The board's going to continue to look at this as we go work through the
budget process. Like I think we discussed, we'll hear from the sustainable green committee. We'll hear from the DPW. We'll weigh all of this and we'll look towards what's the best solution for Hopkin Lake Massock. But I I appreciate you guys coming and walking through this. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. We also looked at fish that will um eat the weeds. But then with the fish, we looked at um you can bring in some fish, some kind of fish that will eat the weeds, but it also eats all the other
fish. >> Oh, [laughter] and the people. >> Thank you. >> Is this yours? >> Different problem. >> Is it piranha or something? We don't want >> You shut your mic off. [laughter] >> Thank you both. Um, next the select
board will consider voting to opt into the PACE loan program administered by Mass Development. [snorts] Program helps commercial and industrial property owners finance energy improvements. Funding is from private capital and is paid back via lean with the repayment passed through the town from the borrower to the capital provider. No
town funds are used to fund the program. The program is an economic development tool that is available in several communities in Massachusetts. Um, Elaine, do you want to walk us through this one to start? >> Sure. And as you just uh mentioned, it's um a program that the town can opt into uh to make these uh loans available to
property owners. Um and it would occur if there is a uh a project and if there's a private equity um [snorts] funer who's available to fund the improvement. So the town can opt in, but it may never see a project, but it
uh makes the town available for for this loan program. Um, and this uh was brought to us by uh Julia Chun, our sustainability, economic development and equity program manager. Um, and she brought this to us and we met with Mass Development. They described the program and it sounds like something that could
be helpful to commercial and industrial property owners to make energy improvements. Um, and we do have Julia, I believe, on Zoom and perhaps someone from Mass Development as well to answer any questions about the program. the town uh serves as like a pass through for the pay repayment to the private
equity company. >> Perfect. Julia, you out there? >> Hi everyone. Can you hear me? >> Welcome. We can see you. >> Okay, great. I can see myself as well. Um I'm just going to take a quick second to share this presentation.
Okay, >> there we go. Can you all see that? >> Yep. Sorry, I just want to make sure that you folks can see this. >> Yes, we can. >> Okay, wonderful. So, as Elaine shared, this um program was actually brought to
us by the sustainable green committee who did some research. We have nonprofits and businesses who approach us looking to do energy updates. These can oftentimes be very costly and sometimes cannot be covered by traditional loans. And so this program
is run by mass development at the state level and it is as you will later see passed by several different states as well as cities and towns in Massachusetts. So a little bit about Mass Development. They are a quasi governmental agency. They are the
commonwealth development finance agency and land bank. They work with various businesses, nonprofits, financial institutes as well as cities and towns to stimulate e economic growth through programs like this. They also work as a liaison between banks and capital
investment to spur economic development at the municipal level. And in FY25, they financed and managed 409 projects generating over 4.65 billion in the state economy. So we are very glad to
have them as partners. This particular program um has several benefits both to property owners as well as the municipality. Um as you all know a significant goal of ours in this year is job creation as well as attracting
and retaining um our existing businesses as well as sustainability and decarbonization of those buildings. And so the PACE program allows commercial property owners to finance energy improvements. Uh instead of taking out
traditional loans, they're repaid through property taxes and instead of those transferring between property uh owners, they transfer with the property. Uh the loans are also existent for 10 to 30 years as opposed to the 5 to 10
traditional loan. um and they qualify based on the property and not the borrower. And so this is very beneficial to property owners. There's no long-term uh recourse and financing as well as no new debt on
the balance sheet. So in terms of financial ratios, it can be more beneficial to them. So currently 32 states including DC have active commercial PACE programs and so it is required that states have this program passed for towns and cities to
opt in. Um 40 states have enabled legislation and throughout the country $9.7 billion have been financed for projects since June 2025. So, it is a relatively new program, but we have seen several towns and cities in Boston, uh,
sorry, in Massachusetts take advantage of this program. This is just a slide showing the states that have opted into PACE. So, I'll skip through that. And in Massachusetts, the PACE program was launched in 2020. The Mass
Development is the program administrator. And so we work with them in terms of connecting businesses with the private lenders and PACE information as well as financing documents are all on their website. And so they are the
primary project managers for this program. This is a pretty helpful flow of how the program is operated. Um essentially what happens is the property owner will come to the town and uh they will say that
they want to install new energy improvements. Um this could be a variety of improvements such as solar panel implementation um changes to HVAC insulation uh in windows or roofing and then improvements to the water efficiency.
Once that happens, the municipality will bill and collect betterment assessments, which then goes to the MDFA, paying the agent who receives and disperses the betterment assessment, and then the capital provider finances the improvement and then gets paid through
the betterment assessment that the municipal municipality builds and collects. These are some examples of types of buildings that are covered by this program. So for commercial anything from office buildings to restaurants,
manufacturers and malls are covered. Housing is unfortunately not covered unless it is multif family housing. So if the housing unit has five units or more in the complex, it can be covered through this program. and nonprofits
such as the YMCA, Bay Path Humane Society, which is in Hopkin, schools, and healthcare buildings are also covered by the PACE loan program. As I mentioned earlier, there are several kinds of energy improvements that are covered through this program.
things such as HVAC system improvements, lighting, energy recovery and redistribution systems, um solar panels, geothermal and solar hot water are all examples of projects that would be covered under this program.
These are a few examples of projects that PACE has covered in the past. So, this is a building that um I believe is in Greenfield, Mass. The amount of financing was 450,000. As you can see, the term limits are very long. So, this
was 20 years for 450,000. Um, and there were several different improvements made from LED lighting, recovery ventilation, um, and electrification of space heating. This is a larger example and I believe
this was the first project done in Boston in 440 Mlen Highway. uh also 20 years for the financing term um and $787,523. A final example. So as you can see there have been significant projects that have
been covered under this project. Um we have presented this to the economic development advisory board as well as the sustainable green committee. Both committees have voiced their support and voted in favor to support this program being voted on by the select board
today. >> Awesome. I think that >> Sorry. >> Yeah, sure. I'll just quickly go over um the next steps. Um this is again I think I went over the key elements of how the PACE is operated, but the next steps would essentially be municipal opt-in.
So, the town manager's office would have to sign in to opt into this program and then there would be a vote from all of you. >> Perfect. Thanks, Julia. That was very helpful. Um, I I guess my first question is would this being would the town
acting as like a pass through? >> Do we have the resources to like actually manage this if if a lot of people take us up on it? >> Yeah, so thanks for that question. Um we did a presentation um with John Nice and
he's also in favor of us moving forward with this program. Um, as we mentioned before, we do have some neighboring communities such as I'm just taking a list at the towns. Westboro, um, Berlin, Bellingham all have these programs and
we have yet to see a project funded around us. And so it's not something that happens annually or even by annually. It's just something we want to have in place in case the project comes forward. And we do have the staffing um, capacity at this time to move forward.
Yes, I confirm. Yes, did speak with John Nice. Yes. >> All right, perfect. Um, Amy, you want to start? Thoughts, questions? >> No, I mean, seems like a good program. Um, it looks like there's minimal administrative costs for us and it would seems like it would be a benefit to
businesses. Um, yeah. So, if somebody wanted to take an old building downtown and get some insulation and energy approvements, it seems like a great use. We also have some older um condo developments in town so maybe they could benefit you know and then of course there's the Marathon Center there's the
YMCA historical society like just seems like there could be I don't know if many people will take advantage but it doesn't seem to be any draw down drawback to to moving forward >> perfect shadow >> yeah same line and Julia thank you for promoting this and bringing this to this
level certainly it adds to the toolkit and makes our economic development program you know more attractive with another tool for our commercial entities essentially to add um energy systems, more efficient energy systems at no cost
and no cost to no cost financing and no cost to the town. So it aligns very well with our sustainable green program as well as our economic development strategy. So I really like it. Uh thank you again for the work and uh u I would
love to move forward with it as soon as we can. Yeah, >> great. Thank you all. >> Yeah, I really echo that. I have no additional questions, Julia. I think this is a great thing. It could be a benefit to a lot of, you know, parts of the community. So, appreciate you
putting this together. >> Um, I think we need >> I think we need a lengthy motion on this one. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> Seat document >> is just this on the back of the >> correct. >> Okay. >> Okay. It's very long though.
>> This one. >> Yes. Oh, I move the motion that the Hopkin select board hereby approves the municipality participating in Pace Massachusetts pursuant to the PACE act and authorizes the town manager to enter into a PACE
Massachusetts municipal assessment and assignment agreement with Mass Development pursuant to which the municipality will agree to one levy pace betterment assessments and impose pace betterment. assessment lean leans on
benefited properties located in the municipality in the amounts determined by mass development to be sufficient to repay the pace financing. Two, assign the pace betterment assessment leans to mass development which mass development
may in turn assigned to the providers of the pace financing each capital provider as collateral for such pace financing. Three, include on the property tax bills for the benefited properties the
installment payments necessary to repay the pace betterment assessments in the amounts and at the times as determined by mass development. Four, collect and pay over to mass development or its designate the pace
betterment assessment installment payments as and when collected. And five, enforced to the extent required by the agreement, the pace betterment assessments and leans. the agreement to be substantially in the form presented
to this meeting with such changes, modifications and insertions as the town manager may approve as being in the best interest of the municipality. The collector treasurer of the town or such other town agency as may be designated
in the agreement is authorized to levy such pace betterment assessments and impose the pace betterment assessment leans on behalf of the town without further authorization by this board. >> Second. >> Perfect. So we have a motion and a
second. Um any final thoughts? >> No. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? That is unanimous. So, thank you again, Julia. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all. I appreciate your support >> on on this. On behalf of Yeah.
Sustainable green. >> Yep. >> Thanks, [clears throat] Joe. Welcome, Jeff. So, Jeff Roland, chair of sustainable green committee, I just want to thank you for your support for this. We're excited to get PACE loans to this point. when we started researching it uh back when we were um learning about the specialized code and bringing that to
town meeting we learned about this option and uh committee did our research backed this brought it to Julia Julia and I brought it to the economic development advisory board um so it's really great uh we see this as a win-win you know for the cost of paperwork for the town um we you know give our
businesses a new financing option for green upgrades so thank you again >> thank you for the good work you know >> keep it up thank you guys um next moving Moving on, the board will consider approving a change of manager for the section 12 all alcohol license for 110 Grill from Anthony Carluchi to
Robert Nelson. There's been a Corey and a sorry check on the new manager. Um, is Robert here or online? >> Anyone named Robert? Um, >> there's six people, but I don't see
anyone named Robert. >> All right. any of those people on Zoom on behalf of the 110 license transfer. >> Just raise your hand if you are >> nothing. Okay. Um so Ela, do you want to walk us
through this is like this it's not a super common thing. We've had it come across the board once in a while. They change managers. It's part of the process. Um I think for right now it's important to discuss because of all the emphasis we've put on not only Vic Vic license but also alcohol. So, um, it
looks like everything's in place we had in the packet. Uh, I just wanted you to weigh in on this, please. >> Uh, yes. So, uh, for alcohol licenses, uh, anytime there's a change of manager, the board needs to approve that. Um, and as you mentioned, we did do a Cororey and sorry check and it came out fine.
Um, and so it's just a change of manager uh, proposed by 110 Grill. >> Perfect. Um, I'll look to the board for any initial thoughts. questions. It's usually we have someone here representing the change. So this is a
little a little different this time. >> Yeah. No, I think looking at the documents and it's a routine process, but we definitely want to ensure that we have checked all the boxes for this. So Elaine, you feel comfortable that we can
go ahead and do that. And I'm glad to hear we did sorry also this time, right? So both Corey and Sori and they came out okay. Mhm. Yeah. Nothing further than >> Amy, any thoughts? >> No, I don't think so, but I appreciate
the detail information in the packet. >> Yep. I'm I'm just giving one last look through it. Yeah. I mean, everything everything looks in order. Um, again, I think the preference would be to meet the person typically and so um I hope at some point
we can meet Mr. Nelson and um welcome him to this new role, but I'll I'll look for a motion from the board on this one. >> Could we I mean we will be doing the renewals um soon. Could we request that he come to the renewal? >> There will be uh a renewal for the 110 grill the next meeting.
>> So if we wanted we could ask him to come for that one too since he's not here tonight. >> Okay. >> But I'm comfortable approving it. Are you re I was just going to say are you recommending approving it or holding off? >> I I'm recommending approving but if but I thought since we'll have an
opportunity in a couple weeks maybe we see him. >> Okay, >> we can ask. >> I'm comfortable with that. >> That makes sense. Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. So I will look for a motion for that one. >> I move to approve the change of manager
to Robert Nielson for 110 G one Lumber Street. >> Second. All right. There is a motion and a second. Um, all those in favor? >> I >> I >> I um none opposed. So, that is none.
>> And we will Can we extend a formal invitation for Mr. Nelson to join us at the next meeting, please? >> Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Uh, next we have we'll consider hearing about it in discussing a parade in Hopington that would be held on July
4th. >> Welcome. Thank you both for joining us. >> Welcome. I believe we have some slides for this. If Ben, if you're out there somewhere. >> Yep. So, Jim Morabi, so 10 Ledgestone Drive. I am the chair of the Hopington
Republican Town Committee as well as the vice chair of the Veteran Celebration Committee. >> And I'm Amy Groves to College Street and I am the chair of the Hopington Democratic Town Committee. >> So,
I can start should have >> They do. Okay, great. >> Um, first off, I want to thank Amy for putting this together, and I'll let her walk through it. Um, what the HRTC
wanted to do, uh, along with the HDTC was sort of take a step from a community perspective to show that two political parties can work together, right? Um it's uh it's been a challenging time for
the last few years. Uh but I think at a local level just reminding everybody that we're neighbors and there's issues a lot of issues that we agree upon and we wanted to see where we could work together. So Amy's been
great. Um we've got some ideas focused on a Fourth of July Independence Day parade. Uh, Horrible's parade is off the table. Um, we've we've learned that we're moving past that and uh we got some ideas on on how to approach that.
We want to run them by you folks uh to see how we step forward. So, >> so if it's okay uh that this isn't displayed on the monitor, um I'll just speak to the point. Oh, it is. Okay. Very good. >> We got on that one. >> Very good. Um, so we do propose a July
4th U parade sponsored by the Veterans Celebration Committee, which which is a town committee and both of our town political committees. Um, we want to stress positive messaging. You know, happy birthday America. This is the 250th birthday, um, town spirit, that sort of
thing. Um, and that and we will have that in our advertising and we'll just set the tone for that. Um it'll be open to everyone. Um families, teams, organizations, businesses, town committees. Um if if you know, certainly the police and fire will invite them. Um
and we'll follow the familiar parade route that you see um here on the slide. Um it's the same one that was followed for the Horribles parade. Um and we would like to award u prizes at the gazebo at the end of it. We don't plan on having any food or drink or anything
like that. Um, and we would negotiate the exact time and when we submit the formal application, we'll have that set. But we want to talk to the Lake Massock folks because there's a boat parade the same day. So, we might move it up to 11 instead of noon, but we want the whole
town to feel welcome at it. Um, and we would bring the application safety plan and litter plan, which are all required. We'd bring that to you at a subsequent meeting and it'll be in your packet. Um, and it will be revised as necessary based on your input tonight.
So, that's what we propose. Um, and we have four requests from you. Would you like me to read them or you want to cover them or >> um, sure you can. >> Okay. See how well we work together. Um, what we would like because we are now working with the town committee and we
would put them up front and center because we we think the veterans really should be there, right? It's the 4th of July. Um, we would propose that the insurance and police st detail be done through the town. Um, the police detail isn't a lot of money from the select
board perspective, but it is money. And so there are some different ways um that this could be handled. Um, I don't know if you want to get into those details, but for instance, the um Veterans Celebration Committee could up their uh budget request or perhaps there could be
a small line item transfer. I'm sure that our town manager has some ideas on how we could do that, but we just, you know, we've been discussing that. Um, we would need to approve a slight change in the charge document uh that would be coming from you uh for the Veterans
Celebration Committee because currently their charge document just says that they're responsible for two events per year. This would be just adding the third event to their very short charge document. Um, if available, we would love it for all of you and perhaps adding the town clerk and town moderator uh to be judges
and award prizes for most artistic float or best family float or whatever it is. Um, that might make you more popular or less popular. I'm not sure which, but um and we would like to get uh your comments and your input, your if possible, your direction to go ahead
with the for us to submit the parade application, the safety plan and litter control plan for your final approval at a later date. We just wanted to kind of get together with you tonight because of the history with the Horribles parade and and all of that. We wanted to kind of do this preliminary step.
>> If I could maybe speak to the veteran celebration committee piece of this. So, we had a meeting a week ago where where we had a discussion um with regards to the the funding piece and and sort of one of the reasons why we're bringing it to the veteran celebration committee is
they they they have funding. I'm not sure what the the appropriate uh terminology would be outside of their funding that's done every year for the the two events, the Memorial Day uh events and the Veterans
Day events, but funded through their their uh marathon runner sponsorship. Um so there there there is, you know, some funding available through the Veteran Celebration Committee. Um, we feel like Independence Day, Fourth of July is in
keeping with um this the spirit of the Veteran Celebration Committee. Uh, we we took I I'll say a a non-binding vote at our committee. All members were in in favor of moving forward provided the
select board was in agreement that that it made made sense was something that we could do and and do of course legally. So, Veteran Celebration Committee is on board. Um, our committees are on board. We just need you folks on board.
And this was Jim's great idea. He came to me uh with the idea. I presented it to the Democrats and the Democrats are totally pumped about it. >> Awesome. Um, well, first of all, thank you. You know, I I I think it's really important to have a Fourth of July
parade in town. I think it was I think it was something that was missing this summer. Um, and I really applaud both committees for kind of working together, putting the partisan stuff aside and trying to do something that's best for Hopington and setting an example for how political parties should, you know,
cooperate. Um, so thank you both for that. Um, I'm I'm pretty comfortable with everything on here. I don't I don't see anything that I I would be concerned about. I'll look to my colleagues for additional comments and questions. >> Yeah. No, I think in concept, I think it's a really good idea. I would not
have been comfortable with us sponsoring as a town the horribles parade even though I've enjoyed it with my kids over the years. It just doesn't seem like a town sponsored thing. But converting to a Fourth of July parade, I think is a really good idea. I don't know if we have the funds that we could allow the them to use the insurance or or how we
would go about changing the charge of the Veteran Celebration Committee. >> Well, I think this is the budget season, so this is the time to budget for it. Um and it isn't a lot of money, so we could certainly do that. >> Okay. And then um I I want to note that it was Matt Kissner, I think, that really brought this up at the beginning
of the year and he's not here tonight to to weigh in, but this is not the final vote anyway, so we could um let him weigh in next time. >> Yeah. No, first of all, u I commend your leadership. Um thank you Jim for taking the initiative and Amy uh for the
collaboration and this is a exemplary I think leadership for our town and I hope our national leaders also learn from it. But uh this is great. I'm I'm really hyped and excited and it solves a long-term I think um or in the near
long-term debate that we have been having. Uh and I think the $784 is a small change for the camaraderie and the spirit that is priceless. So again, uh I commend your leadership. I fully support
it and I can't wait to make it happen. Thank you again. >> Can I add if I could? I just I think we would like to get more feedback from town staff too on what we need to do to protect the town um or if they would want certain guidelines or or what maybe at the next meeting.
>> Sure. And I think it's important too that I mean next year in 2026 it's the mass 250 so it makes sense to have an event and you know Fourth of July is a good time to do that. So it's a good time to have a town event. I I if I could I do feel obligated to share from
the veteran celebration committee that they were okay signing up for the to co-sponsor the parade but not a townwide 250th uh event. >> It's a lot of work [laughter] >> a lot of budget too. I >> I I think you know for tonight what I'm
hearing is like a general yes to move forward this. I think we need to get a couple details. Probably come back at our next meeting or the one after that so that we have specifics on whatever we need to do for the veterans committee charged, change that understanding of the budget situation, how we're going to
make it work, just so we can come with more of a motion to finalize it. But I think for right now, I think we're sounds like everyone's comfortable moving forward and expect to have you guys back here shortly. Okay, >> great. Sounds good. >> Thank you. >> Thank you both.
All right. Uh through the chair, just quick uh follow up, Elaine. So for the 250th celebration, are we going to have a separate discussion and during the budget session for that budget? >> I don't know that anyone's planning anything at this moment, but it's time to to think about it.
>> Okay. Keep on reading. >> Maybe future agenda item. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh, so next the board will consider discussing the special town meeting scheduled for this Thursday, December 4th. Um, do we have anyone joining us? I know this is one simple article. Should be
very straightforward. You want to walk us through hopefully the shortest special town meeting Hopington's ever had. >> Sure. And, uh, what we have in the packet is the draft motion that would be made. So, it amends the 2026 budget to reduce the general fund appropriation
and um change the amount appropriated for uh debt service and employee benefits and insurance uh to to drop the uh appropriation to 120,825637. >> Awesome. And again, I don't think we can
emphasize this enough. This is not returning money to people. It's preventing people from being overcharged at the end of the month when tax bills get released. Right. >> Right. And so if there isn't a vote uh for whatever reason, um then we will have to tax at the higher rate.
>> Yep. So what you're saying is we need about 130 people to show up on Thursday night for 31 for a very short period of time so we can walk through the motion and hopefully have unanimous agreement on not overt taxing our residents.
and friends and families and everyone. [laughter] Uh but this is great. This means if we are just to simplify it, if we are to charge our tax at a X rate today, this would ensure we don't charge X which is
little bit higher than what it should be. We will be charging X minus Y after the article is passed. So it'll reduce the tax rate that's coming up. >> Correct. It would be what the board voted uh the tax with saw the tax forms at the last meeting.
>> The J. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And we do have Kyla here to answer any specific questions. >> I I mean I think this is pretty straightforward from a you know a town meeting perspective what we need to do. What we're looking we're just making sure people show up. Um I can't imagine
anyone wanting to be overcharged on their tax bill. So hopefully this is a this is a pretty easy one. Um we don't need a motion or anything tonight. This was just to put the motion publicly. Um I think just from like a housekeeping standpoint, the board will meet right
before the 7:00. The se town meetings at 7:00 and the board will technically meet right before that. >> Could meet at 6:30. Um the agenda is posted. Um if there's any uh reason to discuss the article, could do it then. Uh meeting at the town meeting is at the high school auditorium.
>> Yep. >> And not the middle school. [snorts] And then we we also have another item at our meeting too to accept a donation >> to accept a donation for the holiday lights. >> Yes, I saw that. >> Yeah. Y >> and I was going to say um I really thought the chart which is on page 100 of our um our packet is really helpful
because even though everybody agrees that they would like to spend less on taxes if need if it's not needed. People are still confused about why we're doing it. They can't recall having done it before. And I think the chart is really helpful just to see where the differences were with what we originally estimated versus where we are now. night
I because any I'm really trying to talk it up people to get people to come but people are still confused and I think they're going to ask these same questions on a Thursday night so we shall see but I will be there and I'll bring the other two voters in my household >> and I think it's we'll have plenty of minutes to walk through this in detail
for anyone that has a question that night again for the sake of getting people out you don't want to be overt taxed the end of the month >> um so hopefully again very quick special town Um I think I think we are good with that
piece. Elaine move on to the town manager report. So just very brief town manager report. Um regarding the Main Street Carter project, the paving from Wood Street to the fire station was completed on November 18th. Uh temporary striping of
that part of the project was completed on the 24th. Uh the uh contractor Amarillo was on site that week to finish the winter cleanup and they'll be offsite for the winter um when the cleanup is continued and completed. Uh paving at the intersection and the east side of the project will be scheduled by
Mass DOT and Emerald next year after the marathon. >> Can I ask about the bike lanes? So I don't the bike lanes have not been striped and I don't think the signals are working for the bike lanes. So, if a bike is on the bike path and they get to the center intersection, there's not there's going to be eventually be a
special bike late to tell them when to go, but it's not there yet. >> Yes, there's more coming. Um, and it's too cold to stripe now. Have to do that in the spring. >> So, and the signals it's too we can't do those. >> And whatever signals need to be finished will hopefully be done,
>> okay, at that point or sooner. >> Perfect. >> And there are no uh town position vacancies to uh consider filling today. Awesome. Um, so I think that brings us to leaison reports and board invites. Um,
I did not have anything this week. I think things were pretty quiet over the Thanksgiving break, but Amy or Shidle, >> uh, I don't have anything either. >> Um, there is, I'm just looking at the date. There's something like a Huckington lights up as one event, I
think. >> Well, isn't this Saturday the >> lantern lantern festival? Yeah. >> Yeah. So that's um yeah, Saturday at the at the library lantern festival. Hopington lights up as one. So it's an activity for the kids um and just a you know spirit of unity and hope in the
dark. You know it's dark and it's nice to have light. >> And doesn't that start with the holiday stroll by the chamber in the afternoon. >> Yep. >> So it's >> right. So the holiday stroll we should mention plug we should plug. >> So holiday stroll for those that don't know the chamber of commerce puts it on.
It's a great little event Saturday. this Saturday afternoon, a lot of the businesses in town are open and you know, weather depending, it's a great opportunity to just kind of walk around before the lights go up. >> Uh so, you know, I I we took the kids last year. We had a great time with it
>> and we plan on being there again. >> And both the boy and girls boy scouts and golf to do activities for the event as well. >> Perfect. Um we've got future board agenda items. Do we want to add anything or
>> I think we can add the 250th celebration related. >> So the 250th celebration. >> Yeah. >> Oh, it's kind of the July 4th parade is already on there. We could kind of add it to that one >> together. >> Together.
>> We can probably take off the Well, yeah, combine it or take I think we should just take that one off. I think it's two separate things. We heard from Jim that the veterans can't take on the 250th celebration. So, we don't want to >> we're gonna have a general discussion
based off the town without any committees for that one. >> Okay. >> So, we'll remove F. Um and I think do we have it on? We we continued the financial policies
um last meeting. I don't think we we got around to that. So, I think we want to get that back on for the next meeting. Yeah, that's that's under L. So, that's already on there. But otherwise, I think I don't see anything else that needs to be cleaned
up. >> Any thoughts? >> Uh I think not now. We did clean up last time. >> Yeah. much. Now, the financial policy review, we still going to do that again, right? >> That's the one I just mentioned. Yeah, we'll do that at hopefully the next the
next meeting. >> Yeah, >> good. >> Good. >> And the license renewals will be our next December meeting. We'll do those. Pardon me. >> The license renewals will be the next December meeting. Okay. >> All right. You guys good? >> I think so. Yeah.
>> All right. So, that brings us to um a continuation of public forum. So, if there's anyone available that did not get to speak before, please come on up. >> And thank you for sticking around. We're trying something new. >> I appreciate you guys put the time in, volunteer. So, I appreciate you guys
putting the time in. Michael Riley, 2011 West Main Street. Uh, I'm been on the lake since I moved here in 2003. I've been with the LMPA off and on mostly on for about 18 or 19 of those years, including when we first bought the dam. I was there when we
first started doing these things on the weeds. And it's really interesting because as you guys change your seeds and we have to re-educate and things, we kind of get a lot of things. There's a lot of things that aren't necessarily accurate that it really bothers me when people say things that they they're
knowing aren't true. One thing is we're all concerned about the health of the lake. None of us would want to use chemicals unless we really had to. Uh but one of the reasons that conservation changed um and you can talk to Ed directly, but when Lake Whiteall became
so bad that the weeds are so bad, that's the future of Maspanino, that was one of the things in a conversation he had with me that he said, you know, we don't want it to get to there. So, we have to do something. This the that's why when they changed the vote, they originally approved it years before when a private
citizen brought it. Rick Odell actually brought it first conservation approved it. Then we went for public funding and the town paying for it. Then they turned it down. So that's kind of the history some of the history to it. Uh but some of the things are just not true. Yes. Uh the chemical is outlawed in some
European countries as chemists told me. Yes, it is. But not for water. It's outlawed for above ground in a lot of the European countries. Not in water itself. They actually use it in waterways in many European countries. um it would help the lake. What's
happening is the weeds are so thick, the natural life, the fish, everything else has changed when and yes there is for the recreational and yes I do use it for recreational but there's a lot of things that happen when a lake gets choked out
with too many weeds. Um and I think sometimes we reinvent fire and we reinvent the wheel. The CI committee was formed by your board several years ago and actually had a lot of people with their anti- herbicide on the original
boards that once they got all the science and that's what we got to stick with is the science there's not you can't th as an attorney I you know people throw out the word liability everybody oh stop here we say chemicals PAS chemicals it's bad well let's do the
science let's I appreciate your time. Towns have been using this for 40 years because they were using it for 30 years when we started. There's no increase in cancer and any of the times they've done that. Just use the science in your decision making, not on fearful words. That's
all. >> Awesome. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Two hands raised on you. >> Two on Zoom. All right. Well, let's work with anyone in the room who would like to go first. Welcome. >> Hi. Um, Karen Crumb, 12, Joseph Road.
I literally wrote this down. I'm not making this up. I wanted to thank you for how public forum had been handled over the last several weeks. Um, I watch public forums from other towns and I know that what you'd been doing with
giving, you know, not a set amount of time and not in 3 minutes instead of two was generous and I loved it. So that's what I wrote down like I'm not just saying this because you changed it tonight. Um, maybe you'll change it
back. I I wish you had said we are going to be making a change after tonight to maybe prepare people or maybe at the beginning of the year. I I I find it a little bit like odd that after so many people are speaking out about things
that have led to more public coverage, there's suddenly a big change. It just doesn't really sit that well with me, but um it could be something I'm just making up in my head. Um, I also love the response time that you've been giving to responding to the public forum
from the previous week. Um, I think that's great and I [clears throat] really appreciate it. I was surprised to not hear anything about the um the Van Ralton letter in there because that was a big deal and I think that still is a big deal. Um
when a year ago tomorrow when there was a meeting in here and the select board had called in different um people from the school committee and the principles and the police department and the fire department to ask about you know what
had happened with the whole like swatting incident. I still do not think that the schools have a writtenout plan and the reason is that that plan does come from the police department. The schools don't write it. But after that
meeting, another resident and I actually asked um Carol Kavanaaugh, Chief Bennett, and Scott Van Ralton if that had been written. and Scott Manraelton said to us, "We don't tell
the schools what to do." I really don't know if there's a plan. It's something I really wish you'd look into. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else in the room? >> We'll go to Zoom.
>> Yep. There's um Steve Snow and Donald. >> Okay. Steve, can you hear us? you there? >> Yes, we can hear you now. Steve, welcome. >> Hello. Through the chat. I just want to um let you know that um I
had put my hat in the ring to the um the chart review commission and I know that I am way out of my league in that in that issue. >> Steve, can you speak up a little bit? We feel the town of Hington has placed
basically the insiders on that on that committee and that we need to we need to have some some form of um dialect to each and every
portion of our town charter and not just rubber stamp issues. The other thing that my thoughts are is it is currently are we going to are we going to be doing public forming at the beginning and the end of each select
board meeting? And if so, I mean that that obviously changed changes the way people show up to public forum. As you know, I've sat through p the entire meetings for number of number of times [clears throat]
and I'm just wondering is is this going to be the new the new norm that if you have something to say you can come at the end of public forum and and do that? That would be my my thoughts.
>> Okay. Thank you, Steve. Um as as a reminder public forum we can't respond in real time. Um so I'll continue at the start of public forum to remind people of the new process where we'll you know have a set amount of time
then we'll have a continuation right moving forward. That's going to be the process that we'll follow. So I'll remind people of that. Um you sorry you said there was another >> Yeah. Donald. >> Hi Donald. Can you hear us? Actually,
it's it's Carol. Um, I know I spoke earlier, but I had to leave and now I'm back. Um, can you hear me? >> We can hear you, Carol. Uh, name and address, please. >> Yes, Carol Esler, 16 Oakst Road. Uh, 40
years on the lake all the way back to when the Metcafe Eddie study came out on the utrification of the lake. utrification being the um growth of of aquatic plants that get in the way
[clears throat] of humans. Um what I want to speak to is just a couple things. I want to commend LMPA for their excellent work on the website about fertilizers in the lake. But if someone wants to change, they'll go to the
website and there's a lot of awful stuff going into the lake, nutrients and poisons from the whole watershed and more work needs to be done on that and making people aware.
I also want to say that um it's really really important that we remove some of the nutrients besides stopping putting more in. And nobody's talking about moving large boulders at the bottom of the lake. What we're talking about is
small machines targeting areas of strong weed growth and removing some of the nutrientrich soil, which now has more poisons in it, which makes it more difficult, from the bottom of the lake to slow the weed growth. The genie is
out of the bottle. There will be invasive plants. Um, you cannot get everything. It's not possible. And what we want to do is slow the weed growth, do it in a way that's healthy
for the ecosystem, which is really, really important, and not continue the poison treadmill, which often contains PAS as well. And we shouldn't discount that. And the last thing I'll say, I'll say quite simply as a grandmother. I
have two beautiful granddaughters who have just learned to swim and I want to do that with them in a non-toxic polluted lake. So, we need to honor the ecosystem above human convenience and make this a healthy, prosperous lake.
There's a beaver on the lake now and it's a a deep draw down this year. We could have great success. Let's not poison it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Carol. Anyone else with a hand raised? >> Nope.
>> All right. So, I think that covers us for tonight. I'll look for a meeting to adjourn. >> Mr. Chair, I move to adjourn today's meeting. >> Second. >> Motion in a second. All those in favor? >> I >> I >> Thank you everyone for coming tonight.