e e e e good evening um I call this meeting to order of the Hoppington select board on April 30th 2024 this meeting of the and select board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom do we know if Amy is coming tonight she is okay is she not on Zoom does it she need M com okay all right I assume she's not on Zoom okay so we assume that all members uh participating in the meeting will be present in the meeting room the public has the option of attending in person here at town hall or via the zoom link using the link oh there's Amy posted in this meeting's agenda this meeting is being recorded So as always we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance 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 [Music] all so um we typically start with a public forum um I will say that we like note that each person will have up to two minutes to speak at public forum please start by stating your name and your address um and uh I do know that a couple of us intend to speak tonight so um I'm going to speak first but then I will ask um if there are others who are here to speak tonight um so I would very briefly like to address the concerns shared by Sha duel last meeting oh I wrote too small and and asked the board to join inmon manager elain Lazarus in recommitting to the hopkinson's 2020 pledge regarding systemic racism every incident is hurtful and damaging and it is up to us all to stand in solidarity and support when people experience harmful racist acts intended to exclude we are a community dedicated to inclusion and yes we have a long way to go um our Charter Begins the town of hopkington welcomes residents of all Races ethnicities religions abilities gender identities and so and sexual orientations the town of hopkington further is committed to providing a climate of safety and acceptance to all residents the town of Hopkinson will actively address and resist acts of discrimination bullying or intimidation um so I wanted to um highlight that um Mrs Lazarus put out a statement on behalf of the Town um that uh asserts similarly I also wanted to highlight a statement that the public library put out that was really um really touched my heart and I hope that it that it touched others as well so they wrote with the recent racist and xenophobic incidents that have come to light in town we as a library would like to not only express our support for select board Vice chair shahul Manan and all people of color in our community but also condemn the words and actions of those who behave in a manner against the values of our town at the hopkington public library we embrace the idea that everyone is welcome in our library and in our community at the library we have materials that help community members explore and challenge new ideas it is our hope that this makes our community a more accepting and informed place we invite everyone to come into the library to check out materials that may help patrons see the members of our diverse Community from a different Viewpoint or just with a fresh set of eyes the Hopkin in public library is a place of learning Recreation and expression where members of the community can respectfully exchange ideas this should also be true about other places in our wonderful town we are one community and one hopkington regardless of where someone was born or the color of their skin in our community there is no room for xenophobia bigotry homophobia racism religious intolerance or any form of hate so I just wanted to make sure that um that that statement really uh touched my heart I hope it touches everybody's heart and I hope it serves to um challenge us all to to be better when we need to be better um one of the things I thought about um and I wanted to ask the board about as you know as I was reconnecting with the pledge um we could put the link to the Pledge on the homepage and just elevate it a little bit um which I think would be kind of nice we start with number one I'm sorry we start with number one yeah we'll just put the whole pledge up right on the on the homepage it might already be there but I'm sorry I thought it might actually already be there I went so I will confess I went looking for it and I was sorry to see and maybe it was me but I couldn't find it easily it's on the select word page but you have to scroll down so I think the homepage would be a great place for it so um thank you though Amy I knew it had to be there somewhere but it wasn't it wasn't on the homepage um and I know that um uran had something he wanted to say as well yes um so seeing how this is my last meeting I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who helped me through the past six years my rookie year on the select board or Board of Selectmen as it was known back then I was so warmly welcomed and mentored by Clare Wright Brian her Brendan tedstone and John Cino uh I I can't leave out Elaine Lazarus Lazarus and Norman kamalu they all helped me learn the ropes and brought me through the process of understanding Municipal Finance which is no easy challenge um I can't say enough about how they all welcome me with open arms and I can say that I consider them all my friends I did my best to consider that same camaraderie to all my incoming members through the years and I say that I also consider Mary Joe Amy Muriel and shahil to be my friends as well the last week's select board meeting shahil brought up some important words to say and I also want to follow up on them following the police chief's midyear uh performance review an article was published uh the enough mansplaining article and the article was referenced in the Hop news Facebook page where one comment in particular I found to be quite offensive to me and my culture while I believe in freedom of the press and I'm completely comfortable being criticized over my decisions and actions and even if you simply find me tiresome however I find it disappointing that the article that F focused on myself and shahad without even explaining that the chair's line of questioning was interrupted by Mary Joe Mary Joe had gone out to explain that we we'd been muzzled by the DA for several months Shah hadah and I expanded on that but there was no mention of the comments by Mary Joe and only focused on shahel and I I don't want to speculate as to the author's motivations but there was certainly more to the story there was one comment by an anonymous user on the Hop news Facebook page that said something to the effect that speaking down to women is part of shahul and my culture please don't insult my culture with ignorant statements I'm very proud of my culture and Heritage my culture and Heritage uh women are not treated like third class people um in either Pakistan or Bangladesh in fact women have served as prime ministers the highest level of power in these countries however as a comparison here in the United States only one woman even appeared once on the ballot and as it turns out she lost to a man caught on a hot mic bragging about grabbing women by the crotch and was recently found liable for sexual assaults please don't insult my culture I'm really proud of it thank you thank you very much for speaking up um anybody else okay um yes so public comment yes indeed um again uh two minutes please do your best yeah Peter Le boy 21 Hayden R Street and I just want to Echo what you all said we certainly all have a a long way to go but I will say it's kind of interesting I didn't see Bob over here but being the there's only two of us White Nails in this entire room it's a sign that we are moving there is some progress what I'm here is for as the chair of the trails coordination management committee the trails Committee just to remind folks that there will be a forum with regard to dogs on the trails we've had people very concerned about dogs on the trail very fearful people who don't use the trails because we have other folks who are very interested in having their dogs off leash what we're trying to do and start the process with tomorrow's forum is to try and balance the needs and desires of both sides and we recognize it's a complicated issue we recognize that there's no one solution but we think that with everybody's input we can come to a better balance than just having a leash law which is where we're currently at now and as you well know that maybe followed by 50% of the people out there not sure how I'm not sure how to assess that yeah I've heard 50 and 60% but you know in any event we want to start the process of working through that and certainly welcome all of you but the public at large so tomorrow night at the senior center starting at 6:30 thank you very much welcome good evening all of you are looking very good thank you to Mel and aan for your service um so I am here to talk a little bit about my husband Shah man and our friend I just have say your name and address I'm sorry Manan 274 Ash Street I'm here to talk about my husband shahul Manan and our friend aan nah they have been recently accused of mansplaining and cultural in sensitivity such accusations are not only wrong but also biased when people of color speak out they are often shut down conveniently by being unfairly labeled this tactic aims to undermine their ability to voice their concerns and their opinions it is an age-old strategy used to suppress marginalized voices and for your information my husband and I grew up in Bangladesh a country which has a lot of history of female leadership Bangladesh currently is governed by a woman prime minister a woman minority leader and a woman speaker of the house so some culture right uh both my husband and our friend have endured months of criticism as public officials and they took it with a lot of Grace criticism for their public office is fair game but labeling them as culturally insensitive or accusing them of or of mansplaining when they were simply trying to articulate their perspectives is both inaccurate and wrong so I say to both of you thank you for your service you thank you hi I'm Amanda MAF 21 Hayden Rose Street and uh I would PR far prefer not to have any reason to say what as I'm about to say um this is two minutes so I will just read what I've got here I welcome the opportunity to speak to this board before it gets reconstituted in my 37 years here in hopkington I have never felt a sick to my soul for our town as in the past few years from your unconscionable backing of the upper Charles Trail committee planning our multi-use Trail along Route 85 with three Crossings spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that could have been used used more responsibly by other communities through your lack of regard for your citizens 70 to 30 vote to disband the committee the town regarded as unresponsive and buln noly self-propelled with one of your members saying we don't need to do what the town says because we choose committee members to another suggesting to a backer of the article it's hard when things don't go your way clearly select board it's not hard when things don't go your way even by a 70 to 30 vote because you wield your own power power and disregard directives under your watch the cancer of a downtown bike trail suited for Lexington or Arlington has turned what could have been an aesthetically pleasing downtown like Ashland and Southboro into a debacle and a huh again with little regard for Public Safety making intersections more dangerous and creating hazards that just recently caused one Hopkinton resident stitches finally and of utmost importance your firing of an Irreplaceable Stellar police officer for protecting a rape survivor's identity over a police chief who thought so little of that survivor's safety dignity and rights that he published documents with insufficient vetting and revealed the survivor's identity again unconscionable that the two who published those documents did not of their own valtion take full responsibility and resign their positions speaks to their own character that this board took no discernable disciplinary action to rectify the egregious wrong done that officer Brennan went to Such Great Lengths I'm sure with the knowledge he could be jeopardizing his livelihood to avoid speaks as and to the character of our town and for that reason primarily and the aforementioned I as a resident of hopkington for 37 years feel sick to my soul thanks Amanda hi SM um my name is charu smam from one ever Circle you may be a little hard to hear charam one ever Circle um as a resident of hopkington I've lived here in this town for about 12 years and I'm here to express my personal opinion about some of the contents of the demand letter that was sent to Mr Manan from the attorneys sent news uh in that letter it is mentioned that the town peoples have commented Mr man's behavior in public meetings as displaying bullying and misogynistic towards other select board members letter references an article again that was already mentioned here uh enough mansplaining already and and it is referencing this exchange uh that took place um on the February 28th select board meeting my personal opinion is that this article grossly mischaracterizes The Exchange that took place and I have seen the video I've also seen several other select board meetings and I don't did not see any display of misogyny at all um in fact in that meeting I saw that there was just a very respectful exchange and um you know the the substance of this was not really captured in that in that uh news uh piece or opinion piece it was was very negatively criticizing and singling out the two uh gentlemen in in the in the select board but the this was shared you know by majority of the the select board members but it was unfair to just single them out and I hope um other people who share you know my opinion come out and speak about uh this openly um my again my culture teaches me to say anything respectfully and I saw there was a lot of respectful exchange that happened that day um and know I believe in standing up for the right thing that's why I'm here today uh and finally I just want to say I know this is the last meeting for uh Mr nasah and Mrs Kramer so thank you so much for your time uh and service in the select thank you so much SM okay Mana I'ma nasta and I'm at 21 Winter Street I'm also aan nr's wife I just wanted to say um the Facebook Hop news page um there was a comment on it and I just wanted everyone to just wanted to be a little present here and just say look at us like do we look look at NBA do we look like we are bullied or in any way um have husbands that are misogynistic not at all that's that's all I wanted to say thank you than for coming thanks come make sure I'm heard yeah um hello everyone uh my name is ruer um I live on 280 as Ash Street here in hopkington first of all thank you um to this forum to giving me this opportunity to speak up um um I want to speak about the opinion piece um in Hop news that I came across um and the reason I want to speak up about it is because I'm a woman I'm a woman of color I'm an immigrant and I'm working in the workforce for the past 20 years and I think I know a thing or two about man's planing I went to the article I clicked on the link that pointed me to the video recording of that meeting I listened to the entire video recording uh and I did not see man's planing and then I questioned did I miss something in my 20 years um I know what man's planing is so I went back and read it again and I went back and saw the recording again and it just disheartened me to make bubbles like that on the article about somebody just not respectful um pictures speak a thousand words and the blah blah and the yada yada are necessary I felt so as a woman of color and an immigrant and you all giving your time being volunteers making our lives better it just disheartened me so sorry to hear that and thank you both Mrs and Mr NASA for your service thank you R sorry that you have to go through this thank you thank you is there anybody do we have anybody on Zoom I haven't joined the zoom I was late um no I don't think we do have anybody on Zoom I would like okay hi Karen Karen Crum 12 Joseph Road um the last select board meeting on April 16 16th while interviewing three candidates for a promotion to Lieutenant Mr banan asked Sergeant van ralton this question I'd like to hear your thoughts regarding compliance and adherence of policies and pro and procedures in two aspects of it one is in a time of difficulty because of the complexity of the situation you are in at a moment or for a long time or for any confusion how would you go about handling the to the policies and procedures and the second part of the question is should you observe any Gap in existing policies and procedures how do you go about recommending and improving that policies and procedures to fill that Gap this was Sergeant van Walton's verbatim response My Philosophy with policies is there a guidance they're a tool to be used and referenced by the officers but more often than not it's common sense and I've always told my officers do the right thing for the right reasons and I'll support you I'll work with you I'll go through it with you it's when you don't do the right thing for the right reasons and in clear violation of a policy I believe that if off if the officers feel as though I trust them they'll do the right thing for the right reasons this current select board then went on to vote for sergeant Vin ralton to be promoted to Lieutenant my issue tonight has nothing to do with now Lieutenant Vin ralton we had three great candidates however if this select board is now going to accept that policies are a quote guidance which is exactly what they are and that doing the right thing for the right reason is worthy of a promotion minutes why wasn't it acceptable for Tim Brennan to do this exact thing when protecting a victim does anyone see the blatant hypocrisy of that vote I need you to finish this is the perfect ending for this select board your actions yours not the police chief not Tim Brennan have exposed us to so much liability it should never have happened and it was unacceptable that Tim Brennan was fired for those same reasons someone was promoted and as an aside I wish she spent as much time responding to concerns of the residents that you did responding to a hop news article it's crazy go sorry thank you sorry I was running late tonight um I did want to just say I really um it's important for us to recognize our own biases and I really appreciate shal's bravery and speaking up at the last meeting and Ouran speaking up tonight and it you know you they you both experience biases that I do not ever experience in my life and I really I know it is very hard to speak up and I appreciate that everybody that came tonight to spoke up speak up about it too because I know it is hard to be um a minority and afraid you're going to be attacked further by speaking up um and I really appreciated heran and sh's voices during the police chief review process when um I think a lot of us or myself I can should say felt pretty paralyzed to speak when there were so much that we're not allowed to talk about and I appreciate them finding ways um to speak about it without violating what we were not supposed to to speak about and anyway um so anyway we're fun you'll be greatly missed on on the select board uh next year I appreciate your calm thoughtful voice Andel will also miss you next year too I know being a chair is a really hard job and um yeah thank you for taking it on this year thank you thank you Amy okay um thank you all for your comments did you want to say something yeah I just wanted to fully support uh my two board members and their families this has been a very very difficult time and I just also would like to say I am not a person of color and yet I lost a slash Tire over this incident so um we all all have to stand back and take an example from from Iran he has been a very calming effect on this board and he's been wonderful to work with and I and I really feel that these people all of these people have volunteered and come forward and are trying to do what they think is the best for this community whether you agree with them or not still nobody knows at all so they're doing their best and I appreciate them very much thank you Mary Joe oh sorry thank you I just want to say briefly that U thank you all for coming out tonight on this very to speak on this very important topic the last few weeks have been very difficult for myself and my family but I had tremendous support from the town uh residents my neighbors my friends and uh thank you all for reaching out showing your support for the right cause and thank you all for f fusing and bringing up the right issues um and I think that is how we want to move forward as one Hopkinton focusing on the right issue focusing on this uncomfortable but very important issue of racial discrimination and making sure there is no place for it in our town or anywhere for any color sex gender religion or any human any human being so thank you and our journey continues um I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart uh now that said I also want to um celebrate the last night with our dear colleagues tonight um thank you mirel for all the services and um we will miss uh your presence and um thank you Iran um I always enjoyed uh working with you with both of you and I think we have done a lot of good things together uh I hope you enjoy your retirement from this tonight um and have more fun time with cyas but really thank you uh you have taken the volunteer work uh with P compassion and uh with hard work spending hours days and um U kudos to all your service and all the best on your next adventure now with that I think uh we have a couple of quests that we wanted to give to our uh departing members and uh wish them luck sorry sounds like some weight to it yeah I just wanted to display it as well little so this is for Ean thank you for your service this is super cool this is really and we'll take thank you thank you this is guys didn't need to do this no you deserve this thank you Maria thank you very much that is beautiful wow thank you guys should we take a minute to take a picture yeah let's take a picture come on come on maybe we'll mix [Applause] [Music] up thank you so I promise that I will not belabor this and we will get to the business we have a tradition in the military there's so much transition that when you have a goodbye event like this the person who's leaving um says a little something about oh it's going to make me emotional um says a little something about the board or the organization that they're leading um and it has been it has been difficult we all acknowledge that but it has been sorry I'm having an emotional week anyway um it has been the privilege of my life to serve with this board um every single person on this board brings something really valuable and important and necessary to this process I've known Mary Joe the longest we're personal friends um but she brings you know history and longtime dedication and experience that we can't replace Amy is a newer friend um but she she brings something that I value so much um transparency like like she is so dedicated to informing voters and people it's it's inspirational and I know that again we've had hard times but she is to be um appreciated for the hard work she does to make sure people can access um the information they need to participate in this process um Shaul I uh famously actively worked to recruit Shaul um his experience at the uh appropriation committee was experience that I thought we couldn't we couldn't really duplicate um on the board and we really we really needed that that experience and um he and DEA are such Community contributors they're ridiculous they're ridiculous right they they contribute in so many ways on so many boards so many committees not just in this community but the the larger community on the state level and um I remember doing some work you doing some work even for um uh elections at home or elections among among Bangladeshi voters here like on the national scale right so really important important work um and uran fan is um is just uh it was is so thoughtful and so measured and so fair in the ways that he participates in on this board and in other um other exchanges it's been um I really just can't say it enough it's been a personal privilege to be part of this group so thank you thank you thank you um okay 20 years in public service I'm hit in the road thanks to gendi um so uh our consent agenda includes minutes from the March 26th meeting and the April 2nd meeting it includes a marathon fund request um for $900 from the post prom committee the funding is for hiring Matt Roberts for a 1-hour show at the post prom party um on the 10th at pins it includes election worker appointments the select board will consider the request from the town clerk to appoint election workers through um through April 30th 2025 the New England Chinese American Alliance the event was approved by the S board at the April 16th meeting and is scheduled to be held on May 4th the application had an in correct ring date of May 27th which the application applicant would like to change to May 25th and a resignation with appreciation and regrets of Asha shearing from the youth commission effective June 30th 2024 did we want to pull anything off that I did just notice one typo it can be corrected but um one of the election workers is Julia Cur I think she's Julia Dean wait you can fix that oh you know what I don't actually have it written out who it is it was um in the full packet is not in the r oh I'm looking at the full packet anyway sorry sometime I feel like I'm I sometimes shift into in time War here okay I just want to know do we do need a separate vote on the election workers because Mary Joe is one of them okay Cruise myself so Madam chair I move to approve the consent AGA consent agenda items AB b c and d ABC D and E no a b d and e there we go there we go time's to check see it's time to get off all those in favor I just want to make one quick comment I want to thank asak Kiran sharing for her service um she's retiring or resigned uh thank you Asha for your service yes all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any abstentions okay and then we have to take C separately we don't necessar have a motion so can we just so I move to appoint the list of election workers to terms expiring April 30th 2025 the correction on the name yeah correction on the name second uh all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any extensions you're I I abstain okay great although it is listed right on the list that I am not allowed to participate in like State and national elections but local elections I am allowed to do the counting so as long I I just usually check people in and out anyway thank you thank all right um now we are on to the um I went right past it the farmers market license do you want to oh do we have anyone do we have anybody that's speaking to the farmers market oh sounds like we have some yes hello select board this is Jeff vudi with bliss Point meter I believe this is uh my agenda item great welcome hi hi yeah I'm I'm here to talk about something fun appreciate it so take us away tell us what you would like from us uh I would like to participate as a uh a winery SL meery we make alcohol made from honey um also known as a honey wine and uh I would like to participate in the Hopkinton Farmers Market this would be our first participation in the hopkington market as a as a wine vendor we'd be sampling uh okay less than 1 o samples to customers using compostable cups uh we take those cups away and uh selling our bottles to interested customers great well that'll make a a wonderful addition to the farmers market um Mary Joe do you have any questions no we have I I've bought meat at the farmers market in the past we had a different dealer but there are rules and regulations and they're already set down for this sort of thing so I'm feeling very comfortable uh with this okay Amy I agree actually um my son studied in Wales and he brought us home some meat once for Christmas and then a friend of ours gave us a two pound jar of honey for Christmas this year and so we made our own meat actually this winter anyway so this is a very nice addition to the to the farmers market I think and as long as the premating team had no adverse comments uh and I know you have policies we had mne there before so sounds good to me great Shad yeah I like the idea and I'm a big fan of farmers market as well uh used to go there um last year and I was little disced to see um that the turn out of vendors was um uh not very favorable towards the end but uh I'm happy to hear and see that there are almost 40 vendors coming this time uh for this summer it's very encouraging and I think um events and Arrangements like this will encourage the um audience as well to participate more and this is a privilege actually having a farmer market in town and from a public health perspective it can really go a long way so I'm a big fan keep it up thank you just uh just a couple questions um so when you're making me are you are you um thinning it out or is it as thick as honey well honey by itself is antimicrobial it's so thick it can't sustain life um but when you thin it out and add water uh it becomes fermentable and we have products on the dry end that are uh thin and light like a dry white wine and we have uh products on the other end that are dessert style a little bit more um robust in flavor with you know both fruit and honey flavor so and most of our stuff Falls right in the middle excellent so um as a wine maker there are particular licenses that you have to get from the state in order to sell your wine we are um so yeah me is considered wine by all alcohol licensing agencies so we are federally licensed by the ttb and also uh State licensed by Massachusetts abcc excellent as a home Brewer I'm uh I'm looking forward to trying yours all right looking forward to seeing you there who knew you all had these talents um okay so I I we don't have any adverse comments is that correct miss lazers everybody is in support of this so I'll entertain the appropriate motion Madame chair I move the motion to approve thank chapter 138 chapter 138 section 15f Farmers Market license to B Point M to sell me at the Hopkinton Farmers Market on Sundays from June 9 to October 13 2024 second uh all those in favor I I any opposed any extensions I said I even though I forgot to say I but I I am an I thank you very much good luck we'll look forward to seeing you there thank you to the board thank you all right our next order of business is Town employee appointments Mrs Lazarus they're coming great so this evening we have for appointment nathani belino who uh is being recommended for administrative assistant in the land use Department um the admin ministrative assistant in land use provides skilled administrative and clerical work providing support to the daily operations of the department which is a collaborative multi-jurisdictional Department responsible for many land use related functions the administrative assistant is required to use tax discretion and flexibility around day-to-day responsibilities and works primarily with the director of Municipal inspections to provide support coordination of inspectional work and assistance with Daily Office functions and ongoing operations um Nathan's relevant experience is she has been working with the town as a temp now for two months and has liked it so much she would like to stay which we greatly appreciate um and so she's been in that role for a couple of months uh previous to that she worked um as a dental assistant uh and at the front desk at a dentist office she is currently enrolled in community college and is a high school graduate her references revealed that she is skilled in detail oriented work she has extended Ive experience documenting records and files she takes initiative and pride in her work she has a strong work ethic is and is a fast learner and she has ex excellent customer service skills and is an excellent list listener she's trilingual and has had to work with customers who are in pain trying to understand their insurance and faced with potentially expensive dental procedures so that's quite a trial by fire uh the interview panel uh included John guch principal planner who's here anna Rogers the environmental and inspectional services coordinator and Kristen Merill Human Resources generalist great Jessica additional so um we advertised position externally internally we had 10 applicants um three were interviewed and um was selected as the top candid um and also as an aside just recently the um gave us a surprise visit the other day and awarded her as the candidate of the month nice very nice John so Na's been uh with us for over over two months or about two months uh excellent worker has been picking up everything you now it could be a different language up there and um it's just been super seamless uh very helpful learning everything interested in learning more about the department and what we do just very excited to have our own with great well tell us a little bit about yourself and why you picked Hopkinson um so I'm 26 like everyone said before I was a dental assistant but I am studying to be an architect and I just thought it was the perfect position for me close to my house um I needed to change routes and this is the route for me to learn even more you know I get to meet Architects I get to meet contractors all the time and it just Network for like the position for a lifetime really for me incredible that's awesome um architecture that's a big lift good for you though that's exciting um any questions on this side I'll start with orine um sure um welcome um so it looks like you've uh made quite the quite the move from from Dentistry to to land use um why the shift um well I was tired of seeing people's teeth too so no um like I said you know Dentistry has nothing to do with architecture and the land use department is everything that I need to know so I don't it it didn't make sense for me to stay in an area that I didn't see myself in the future so it was kind of pointless at that makes a lot of sense yeah I don't have much or any question either but um thank you for choosing our town it's a busy office I know so you'll be busy and we'll need your help and support so welcome thank you for having me Amy yeah so thank you for applying and I I always think it's great when someone tempts here first because then I can see if they really like the atmosphere and like the job and I know so many people that have started out with a job they weren't and then turned into a career that they got a degree um going forward so it SS like you're on the right track for architecture and I think it is a good place to work that so welcome I'm Mary Joe well I almost think you're following a path that I took a long time ago because uh when I first started my career I was a CDA and then jump to municipal government so uh it looks like you're heading in the same direction and uh I'm just at this point everybody's pretty much said everything so I want to welcome you to hopping and I hope you have a nice long stay thank you so much appreciate you guys I will entertain the appropriate motion I move to appoint nathani balino administrative assistant in the land use Department second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any extensions congratulations congratulations welard I have uh learned today that there's an additional responsibility for the land use assistant and that is to get my phone calls redirected to Mrs Lazarus who we can't seem to change her phone number I guess so let's um if you don't mind waiting we'll take a picture with the other new hire just say changing the phone system is more of than hardest it JS it's a very archaic system so I'm sure oh he's sneaking out they tried I have a that got married like three months ago and they still can't to our new name hello Mrs Lazarus take us away okay so this evening we have valasi Alves Val uh who is being recommended as a custodial maintenance worker in the engineering facilities Department uh the position is under the direct supervision of the facilities manager uh they perform General Building Maintenance and semiskilled building repairs such as painting patching and sanding uh furniture assembly sheetrock and so forth uh they do preventative maintenance such as filter and cleaning coil replacement they over have oversight of subcontractors and vendors have work order management building and grounds maintenance occasional routine custodial tasks and oversight of subcontractors and vendors the role is available on a rot on call schedule for snow removal as well as after hours and for weekend emergency response B's experience is with the town of Framingham the Framingham Public Schools uh for almost three years as a custodian and with Chestnut Hill realy as a maintenance technician for four and a half years uh Val's references reveal that he's a hard worker he works well independently when required or with a team as needed uh another reference indicated that he is very dependable he can be counted on to finish finish a job without supervision takes instruction well and also offers good ideas to support the work to be done and that Val has ex excellent customer service skills and always wants to help others and is extremely polite the first round interview panel uh was Dave deloro Town engineering facilities director Armando nudu facilities manager vasuda data executive assistant in the town manager office and Kristen Merill Human Resources generalist Jess so again we um advertised externally and internally um we had four applicants um three applicants were interviewed and uh two were selected um Antonio Garcia has already been appointed in one of the positions and um and now um ball is the the other candidate we would like to move forward and hi great thank you Dave thank you again um we're excited to be able to fill um two positions with one ad well done went through the references were great for Val kind of fit in exactly kind of what we what we really need this position to do is work task service is always top priority um and last but not least is skill set be able to do all sorts of different tasks again next last position to a lot more in work great please tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to work in hopkington why you came to hopkington my name is DC I think I know guys going to have a little hard time to pronunciate the full name but you can feel free to call me b as a nickname we can also work to call you your whole name cuz it's a beautiful name thank you uh well for now I'm work in the prim School District Cadia actually she said I'm the maintenance SCH for four years about five years and I chose working hoton because I working fir here the 311 that mean because I have a family kids other that stuff and being screw up a little bit and they shift will be working much much better for me and that's something I would like to do always been do is maintenance keep me challenging and learning more and more because when you don't do it you don't don't keep update that mean would be a great opportunity to to me to get the back and hands on job great great uh we're really glad that you decided to apply to hopkington and hope you find it welcoming here and uh and I appreciate that you look forward to the challenge so um Mary Joe do you have any questions well no I'm hear that he looks forward to the challenge and I and I do think you will get uh a big variety of things working in a smaller department and and in a town like this uh cuz there's so many different aspects to do where sometimes in a big town you get one job and that's your job you know uh so I'm I'm very excited and I want to welcome you to hington and I hope everything works out fine and we're going to have you for a very long time thank you Amy I don't have any questions but I wanted to welcome you to Hopkinson and I'm glad we had a position that will fit your needs I know um working in a school that that's it's a very challenging job those Middle School which especially makes such a mess when the week before school opens the custodians have everything sparkling clean and then just a week later it's tight mess again and like you said you have to do it in the evening when the kids are not there so I'm glad that we had this position and I hope you'll hope it'll be better that's for sure Shad uh no question I like your background you're maintenance technician for four years at Chestnut and then city of Framingham um very solid background and thank you for choosing us uh we all sometimes forget how the buildings actually shine and how they are in working condition for uh people like you and uh your service are behind those so thank you for your service and look forward to having you thank you thank you very much we fun no questions um not really much to add after everyone else but um I appreciate the extensive background that you have and that you're bringing those skills to to hopkington so uh welcome aboard thank you very much I am ready for the appropriate motion I move to appun valich did I say it right no please correct please correct me yeah thank you I move to appoint valesi Val Alves custodial maintenance worker in the engineering facilities Department second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any exensions congratulations [Applause] congratulations bichi I want you to just look at my name and look at his name and we make people say our names okay so a long policy people struggle with with my name but also I'll learn people's names if I can I really I want to say other people's names correctly absolutely yeah John get in here D let's go come oning it up all right be all right yeah it's going to be okay they've actually been very quiet very well not bad no but people buter your name loing right along okay our next order of business is hire in process updates Jess oh you know what people Folks at home are going to hope that you're on the microphone I'll get used to that I promise I know you will um so today um and um tomorrow um are the interviews for Deputy police chief so um we we have um six candidates who are um being interviewed so half were today and half will be tomorrow and then um the Review Committee will um meet to um identify candidates who would move forward to the assessment center that is scheduled I believe for the 25th um I don't mean to interrupt but I this was from a pool of 12 is that right to of 12 applicants that went through the initial scen through an initial screening of um candidates that met the minimum requirement and those who didn't and then there was yet another level of screening where the vendor reached out with um written essay questions um for the candidates to submit um and then we also had one candidate who withdrew from the process so that's how we number that we have um so that's underway um the town manager um positioned the the it closes on the 6th May 6 for applications um we are in the process of setting up a meeting for that Review Committee on um the 13th or 14th um um and then we will review um what has come in and move forward in that process um and then we have we advertise for a member at large we've had an a significant amount of Interest oh great um so that will be submitted as well to the the vendor for for screaming through the chair um how how many members of the public can we have on just one on the committee um well we were expecting one okay is it I've had multiple people reach out to me that they had applied to so it's a lot of interest there is a lot of interest that's awesome yes so then fire chief Deputy fire chief Deputy fire I believe is that posted yet or is it maybe it's not yet but we knew that that was that one was coming it's imminent yes and we um we've identified um people for the commit for the Review Committee so nothing's changed since the last time yeah so that will probably play out a little bit a little bit after the yeah it started later so it's y y great lots of big lots of big decisions being made that's awesome thank you for your help with that any questions for Jessica or no good progress sounds good how you see that progress yeah progress thank you all right thank you okay Mrs Lazarus we have Hopkin and Center for the Arts lease Amendment uh for 98 Hayden row back before us so actually this is new the lease amendment is new okay so this is what Norman had brought up when we wanted to approve the all alcohol license this follows the the alcohol license so at the last meeting the board granted a section 12 uh restaurant alcohol license to the HCA the current lease um allowed the indoor service of alcohol as had been continuing but it did not allow outdoor service so uh the desire was to um amend the lease to allow the outdoor service at HCA events um and so that's why they're back here this evening to amend the lease to allow that outdoor service they had been doing outdoor service under the pandemic um rules that were in effect right um but now in order to um make that permanent and to make that something that's specifically allowed in the lease the amendment is proposed and we had worked with the school department on the language that's in there and so um they did um discuss the need for um communication as far as when large events are going to be happening so that they can make sure there's no conflict between drivers or attendees or parking uh concerns and so forth so that's why uh we're here this evening for a an amendment to the to the lease agreement the desire is to continue to allow them to serve alcohol at their events inside and outside inside and out um okay and because the pandemic uh the pandemic allowances have receded we need to do that all right Kelly so um I think uh we worked really closely with the schools with the police department um we uh pretty much just followed what we've been doing uh through those amendments and uh incorporate that into the lease so there shouldn't be any surprises or anything really different uh just trying to make sure all of our tees are crossed and that we're uh complying in to what we all agree to great thank you uh anybody have any questions Mary Joe no I'm I'm all for this one I have had the privilege of invb being a few times in outdoor uh festivities at the HCA and I uh fully support this Amy and I apologize did you say that the school has school is aware of this and they're okay with it I know you have done served outside before but okay and there were no adverse staff comments same procedure as before okay shadow um nothing new I think we covered most of what we wanted to talk about in the last one there were some incorporations that was suggested those are those have been added and Incorporated um and this is um similar but outdoor included that's the amendment so I'm I'm okay with it and I'm looking forward to your first outdoor event soon I mean you're you're I'm going to ask the obvious you're comfortable with the conditions that are placed in the amendment right yeah excellent I will entertain that motion I move to amend the lease agreement between the town and the Hopkinton Center for the Arts 98 Hayden row as drafted Oh all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any extensions great congratulations ation and thanks for the good work you do all right looking forward to being there nice job on the marathon yeah there okay Mrs Lazarus here we are at um the town meeting um article discussion and I know that Ellen wanted to say something I think does she want she has a slide and she's she's on Zoom aw can can we liveen up Ellen um then can you promote Ellen oh there she comes okay I'm here he Ellen hi alen so um um Mrs laus do want to just introduce what we're going to be doing and then um we'll have Ellen talk about the consent agenda okay so we'll be talking about uh all things town meeting um The Board needs to make its recommendations on uh various articles and talk about its own presentations uh at T meeting and talk with Ellen about the consent agenda great Ellen take us away on the consent agenda okay so I just at the very last moment um sent Ben one slide that I made um about my proposed consent agenda um and the way I'm well I can I I've got my list here so I took a look at what we had on our consent agenda last year um I sent a list of ideas to Elaine and she helped me refine it and um here is where we are um last year we had an cons consent agenda of eight articles um I identified which ones those were um and sort of looked at the same type for this year this year I'm proposing 13 which is is ambitious but um hopefully good given how robust our TW town meeting um warrants are so um do people have in front of them the warrant articles and motions or do you want me to um like what would be helpful so I think if you just um went through the list quickly for the public we all have it but if you just went through it quickly for the public so that they can know what is on the consent agenda okay I can do that okay so the the first one is article two which is supplemental Appropriations and transfers and this is sort of um a perfunctory thing that we do every year and we did have this on the consent agenda last year um the next article is article four resend authorized but unissued debt again um this is sort of perun especially because um I think the recommendation is is no action um by Appropriations um and that that will be their motion yep um number five the excess Bond premium similarly the Appropriations Committee is recommending no action um moving on to number 10 um it is high way fund and um I think I think this is also um sort of a just a standard thing that we that we do and we've done before so that generally we haven't seen discussion about it um number 11 is and this definitely I don't know much about but um OPB I think um we have talked about it before at town meeting but it again it is something to do with the library trust fund that we do every year um elain is there anything you want to say about any of the things I've said so far uh no just want to add that the OPB and both the stabilization our deposits into those funds yeah yeah okay so very and very typical uh it's yeah coming yeah um then the trans uh article 12 the transfer to the general stabilization fund again um very very typical something that we that we are moving um funds around for Article 13 is similar transferer the capital expense stabilization fund article 14 another trans sorry 13 isn't no action article no action yeah yep okay sorry thank you for calling that out yes so 13 is also no action um thank you for for calling that out um article 14 is another um um sort of typical transfer we make to the school special education Reserve fund then we skip all the way to article 34 which is um the toxic chemicals testing and um I have as a note um elain that it's likely going to be no action but I know that's um my notes are a little dated do you know if there's been a decision yes the sustainable green committee voted to take no action on the article and it was their article originally yes okay okay so um thank you that update so I think that makes sense no action on article 34 that since the sponsor has um recommended no action will include that in the consent agenda skipping ahead to [Music] 45 sorry I'm just flipping my pages accepting a gift of land that one um and the uh 46 and 47 so there are there are three land acquisition um Gifts of land that we are recommending under the consent agenda 45 46 and 47 and then the last article that I'm recommending is um the echo Trail which is article 50 and it's transferring um the care from the the um oh to the open space pre um preservation committee commission so that rounds out the 13 articles that I'm recommending um as I said Elaine consulted with me on this Elaine did you want to add anything no I just wanted to add that it was also discussed at the moderators meeting that was held uh with all of the article sponsors um and so this list was basically generated at that meeting right and um the other thing I just want to remind um everybody who's listening tonight or who may look at this later this is a proposal but if there's anyone who's participating in town meeting who believes that they would prefer to have one of these articles stay on the warrant and come up for a discussion and and sort of um you know remain open for for that kind of consideration um all we need is someone to request that and we will move articles off the consent agenda back into the the the typical warrant order and consideration great thank you does anybody have any questions on on the Cent agenda um no I think you clarified it well thank you Ellen okay um I hold on I'm sorry speak no I think he was done right I'm done I'm sorry thank you do you have a question yeah okay okay um so I think some of these might be ones that require 2/3 it's just simple majority but with the consent agenda the idea is it would be unanimous correct so I think the only one that requires a 23d is article 50 which is the um the transfer of the echo Trail Parcels okay but if we do the electronic voting we would have a record if it was 23 so so we would do all one motion and hopefully we get at least two thirds yeah I think that if it turns out that it's not a 2/3 then we would have to pull up something revote that one separately okay good good call yeah good good call Amy um so um there's one more thing I just want to make the um select board and other people aware of um article 39 which is the MBTA zoning um I am recusing myself as moderator for that um discussion because I live in one of the parcels that's being proposed for resoning and Connor will be conducting that discussion and vote okay thank you appreciate that um I look at article 50 and it's a simple majority okay yeah I don't know if we have it in the document wrong or maybe it was another one I was thinking it says 23 that says 2/3 on the uh motions oh in the motion not in the warrant look at that where does it say it in the Motions document but not in the warrants well no I've got all right was the last minut change by 10 version I probably have the older version thanks for that throwing me that little Lifeline cuz I was at the moderator's meeting there we go all right so two I have the wrong one too okay you might want to get the updated one there I'll get a copy of the one to Amy has another question I know the other question or or just comment you're probably going to do this anyway but I think last time you had a handout for people on exactly how an asent agenda works and the listing of what would be on it and then could if we could have on the screen to the cend a procedure on the screen at that time because I know people people I don't know people get confused by it because it's still fairly new we did it a long time ago but we've only done it once recently okay um so so um Amy can you just um explain you're thinking that I that we would have a um one slide on one side it would list the articles that we are including and on the other side it would explain what the consent agenda means well if you could fit all that on one screen otherwise I think explaining explaining the procedure like that you're going to read them all the names I think is how it goes and then you if anyone wants to hold one they just say hold or they could if they have just a question they can say question and people people were a little confused about that last year but I think they'll have more the hang of it this year I believe there was a handout last year which I think there was purpose that would be great yeah because I think that that helps the consent agenda is very nice if it if it can work so but that would be great understand it the other thing about and um I believe unlike almost any other time when we don't want yelling out um in in this particular case a person can sort of just yell out hold and um I'll make sure I'm going slow enough so we capture what people say hold on and um and and we move through in that manner great so we have a hand out maybe at the top we can say what it's all about we can list the um the names and the um the titles of each of the Articles as a handout and then when we put the slide um it sounds like the slide should be more about how the consent agenda works and I'll say the numbers or is that what you're thinking Amy that that's what I was thinking that the rules seem to cause little confusion last year but the rules might be more important but you know that's just my opinion you can use your judgment obviously no no it's something new um for sure um sorry every every year we have new people too so I mean I think it makes sense right so lots every year we have people who are learning the processes and procedures so I think um it makes sense to announce the the process and procedure for the consent agenda each time I I think that's right and even if you were there last year people have a lot of things in their life and the and expecting someone to remember all these little nuances year on year is is a lot so um I'm happy to do that um I think everybody knows um and actually this is one more thing that we might need to consider um current we're going to do the same electronic voting that happened at the um November meeting apparently that worked really well um however my understanding is that currently we only have funding for those electronic voting um apparatus for Monday and Tuesday night and if we go into Wednesday night we would have to currently as far as I understand go back to the paper voting method um it would be awesome if we do not need to go to Wednesday night but um it would be also fabulous if we would be able to have the the funding if we need to go to a third night right both things would be awesome first it would be great if we finish in two nights for sure that would be spectacular um and then hopefully if we have to go to a third night we can still um rely on electronic voting thank you for that I wanted to say one more thing too just because it's a little different I know the MBTA zoning bylaw will has generated a lot of um interest and will likely generate a lot of interest at town meeting um and it is a zoning article but unlike most zoning articles it is a simp Le majority so people who are accustomed to it being a 2/3 um I just wanted to make sure I said that this one is different that's good yeah and I mean one of our protocols that we're trying to remember to do um is for each article even even though different C you know each category has a standard voting because people may not be familiar or they may not be there for the whole time before we embark on discussion about each article I'm trying to were say you know this will be a simple majority or this will be um the other things so um I'll I'll try to remind Connor um to mention that as he as um he takes over for article 39 discussion um I do think there will be a lot of discussion about it yeah yeah I agree through the chair thank you for all the good work quick point of clarification um so if we go on third night which we hope we don't need to but if we do we all hope that do we did you say we don't have enough funding for the electronic devices and we need to allocate or we can allocate it dynamically I didn't fully get that well so um as as far as I know last week at the moderators meeting Connor mentioned that today at um the walkth through Nicole uh was there representing Town Clerk and she um mentioned it again and um and said you know we'll have to be prepared for for doing that that the you know the paper um thing that you stand up with and so as far as I know there is not budget available that they had identified and um Elaine maybe you can speak to this but that um today I asked Nicole in anticipation of asking you all and she did not know the um amount I think we can work with the town clerk's office on that and and see if we can address that okay awesome that would be great awesome or we could just finish in tonight it would be that would even more awesome yeah I promise that that is the goal we all we all are are sharing that goal but um you know I think there's a number of articles that are going to have um a lot of um enthusiastic uh participation by towns people so we'll just see where we land I'm glad that we have so many articles on the consent agenda that may help us right we'll have the timer again right to help people see how much time they have left and um yes will and I have been um working um with uh a number of people including Town Council and one thing that we will do this year is uh limit people to two times at the mic for any one article so you may recall that after a person finishes their two minutes um if they have more to say they kind of get to the very back of the line um and occasionally we have people that come up multiple times for the same article town meeting time which we we can choose sort of sometimes how we enforce it but town meeting time actually does have a two time limit and um that's something that Brian recommended um that we follow this this particular town meeting so at the beginning of the meeting I'll I'll lay some of those things out um Megan will be there with that two-minute timer for each person who comes to the mic great great and a reminder to folks if they need uh accommodations to please communicate either via the website there's a a link right at the bottom left bottom right here I am saying it and saying it wrong um bottom right of the um the town's cover web page first page and also just could call the town manager's office as well and make sure we know that they need accommodations and we will do what we can to make sure that that happens and ideally 3 days in advance so that we have time to arrange things yeah so soon would be great and we will have close captioning on the first two nights the first two nights great that's yep um because I think we had to work hard to get two nights we just filled the second night today yeah perfect um really you that's really a good update at 3:30 when we met we did not have that update so thank you okay well thanks Ellen um and we look forward to uh another fabulous Town Meeting thank you we will see you there all right Monday 700 p.m. at the middle school please plan to arrive a little bit early so you can get checked in test your clicker find your seat and uh be ready to go thank you thank you all right thank you good every all right Mrs Lazarus so as you know there are a number of articles that require the select board's recommendation so the board would need to go through that list and uh make those recommendations Appropriations uh and cic have completed their recommendations okay um so is it easier if we use just use the this document I would think that rather than what's in the yeah yeah okay so we have Article 4 15 13 and 34 that um are motions for no action so number four is resend the authorized but unissued debt Article 5 is excess Bond premium uh Article 13 transfer to Capital expense stabilization fund and article 34 toxic chemicals testing so all those are motion for no action does anybody have any questions or can we take care of those so I would move to recommend that Tomy need take no action on the articles just mentioned a second all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose extensions great how about can we do them in groups of five maybe just like we just did those above so that we can say what they are to people and we can vote them or do you want me to just read all of them I think I'm going to do them in groups of five okay so um the the articles that we need to recommend include article number one acceptance of town reports article number two FY 2024 supplemental Appropriations and transfers um article number three unpaid bills from prior fiscal years article six set the salary of the elected officials which is the town clerk salary um and article seven oh I'll stop there so um does anybody have any questions on those first for no no okay then we have article 7 is the fy2 operating budget the fy2 revolving funds spending limit the uh article 9 Peg access and cable related funding article 10 chapter 90 Highway funds CH uh article 11 transfer to uh OPB other post employment benefits liability trust fund any questions on any of those no no great I don't have any questions I have a feeling the public might ask about that one sure yep sure okay article 12 transfer to General stabilization fund article 14 transfer to school special education Reserve fund Article 15 opioid funds appropriation article 16 pay as you go Capital expenses article 17 Digi digitization of all Town records um any questions uh I have one sure and we may not have the answer now I don't know the opioid fund um is it it the same or do we see increase or decrease well this article is um needed because as you know the town is a party to the opioid um litigation and funds have been coming in since before fisc year 24 but in fiscal 24 the town was allowed to by the Department of Revenue was allowed to create a special revenue account for those funds so anything that's come in since uh July 1st of 2023 has been put into that account but the funds received before that became free cash and now have to be appropriated from free cash into the reserve okay thank yeah that's new that's yeah so that's great it's just 45,000 yeah chair one other quick clarification I me yeah um the op transfer this is the standard transfer or in addition that is I think it's an increase over last year the recommended increase yeah right we talked about the recommended but it's a total increase right okay great thanks um and just to say it out loud there were questions uh thank you to ehop at the um know your vote about the digitization of all Town records so just know to expect um some of those and also sorry that's me um also uh the pay as you go Capital expenses just so you know the um the parking lot had questions that's uh for that's article 33 but is it out out of oh it's not not not pay oh great okay um so just you know we should expect some uh um questions on that any other questions on those five okay article 18 districtwide HVAC replacement for the schools um the uh 19 Hopkins Elementary School Edition and renovation lots of questions on that but the school is prepared article 20 Ash Street and Fenton Street drainage improvements I believe that is one of our B questions too is that right so so is Hopkins and so is the HVAC actually and the and the yeah I may be in the ballot ballot question section here um I think I am and then um article 21 is the roadway and sidewalk improvements at De Carlo peppercorn and Barbara also several questions on that at the the know your vote and article 22 the Granite Street Culver replacement so I would expect a lot of questions on that anybody here have questions on those think good okay um article 23 townwide flushing program um also received some questions on that which makes sense um article 24 the house Street Water Treatment Plant ozone treatment uh article 25 The Grove Street water tank design article 26 East Main Street water main replacement um I'll stop there any questions on the those um I just want to clarify that article 24 the house Street uh water treatment plant that's the the the treatment plant that's coming from Ashland Y and we pay the maintenance on it uh we have an intermunicipal agreement and it requires us to contribute to Capital y thank you and it will come from the water Enterprise fund it will be borrowed borrowed from but paid for sorry the BET debt would be paid for B yep yeah but that that could that could raise questions too everybody you know that often that mechanism often um causes some questions so just to be prepared okay the water department has uh vehicle replacement W1 W2 W3 and a sewer department vehicle replacement and then uh wastewater treatment plant membrane replacement any questions on those yes uh just the wastewater treatment plant membrane mhm um which one is this it's the Fruit Street wastewater treatment plant and the membrane as I recall needs to be replaced 10 years I think 10 years okay of life thank you y um we want it in good working order oh yeah definitely um okay and then we have article 32 the sewer system evaluation Hayden row Pump Station article 33 Municipal parking um and that had that probably needs a little bit more work to be prepared for town meeting so I will um work with Mrs Lazarus to make sure and and Dave delor to make sure we're as prepared as we can be um lots of questions on that the uh article 35 the home rule petition senior tax exemptions and for school building projects couple questions on that Mary Joe um article 37 Community preservation funds um and then article 38 is the community preservation so the 37 is the bucketing of the funds that are available that we assign the funds to the buckets as required article 38 um A and B oh no I'm sorry there's there many things uh article 38 is the individual items that the CPC is recommending for town meeting approval um any questions on those um just one question number 33 uh do we have the confirmed numbers the uh the number is in the motion yeah I think it was 75,000 and there's the final yes thank you peran any questions no okay that hasn't changed since last November oh oh good okay do we have the updated motions document is it there was one at our last meeting it was dated April 11 is there a new motions document there was one that uh wased on Friday so it's it's in your packet it's in pack the final one uh without wi printing Monday okay great um okay article 42 is a general bylaw Amendment this is the one to um expand membership on the three committees that previously required um uh participants to be registered voters to change them to be residents article 43 is to expand admission to Town Meeting Hall for residents who may not be registered voters article 45 is a gift of land at Whisper Ridge uh article 47 is a gift of land at Conelly Farm subdivision article 47 is a gift of land at Elmo 3 subdivision article 48 is easement at Lake Masano Dam operations and maintenance um article 49 is Property Disposition for zero Duffield Road and zero Beach Street and article 51 is to amend the town Charter uh for the scribers error on the strong police chief reference any questions on any of those okay so can I get a motion on those articles Madam chair I move to recommend the following town meeting articles uh as we have just gone through second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any extensions okay and for that one on the consent agenda the echo Trail we don't need to take a position on that number 50 correct yeah there's a couple that we don't actually have to take a position on they're not listed here y um like I was I was looking for the npta zoning in the list but we're not the zoning right exactly okay um and so then for the special town meeting the articles are article one Public Works vehicle replacement article two the Main Street Fire Station HVAC upgrade article 3 the Woodville fire station repairs and article four the Property Disposition at zero Hayward street um any questions on those okay just comment I think we are getting quite a few investment on the vehicles that's good the vehicle Replacements both water s police and fire yeah and I will say that we had um some questions on those and so um and so I think that um the DPW director probably took a note um to make sure we talk about what the disposition is going to be of the vehicles are they being reused elsewhere are we building the fleet um are we trading them in all those kinds of you just clarifications so that that did generate some questions sure I think we should be prepared this kind of reflects our um Readiness with the growth that some of the infrastructure related um services and vehicles that we need very much needed Madam chair I move to recommend the following special town meeting articles article 1 2 3 and for is there a second second uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed any extensions so um Mrs Lazarus last year we just kind of took articles in turn that we had to speak to does that work for us this time we'll just assign um people to particular articles um and we'll be prepared to we'll there there are there are notes and talking points um and if any I think you had Co or something so we had to we had to quit if there aren't that many it'll be fine but we'll just split up the the list if that works that's I'll be careful for the next two next 10 days yeah for many reasons right show and get Co again yeah I I don't really want that okay um is there anything else that we particularly need to do um to be prepared for annual time meeting Mrs Lazarus so there may be some articles that you may want to disc discuss oneon-one uh as you prepare over the next less than a week yep yep um and I wanted to say too that there were questions last night on the two citizens petition articles um I did my best to answer them not being Aigner on either of them um but just to say again um that the signers have not come forward with motions and so that's you know a critical piece for town meeting so they've been Outreach to um and um they'll need to make a motion on town meeting floor so just saying that out loud okay so I think with the acquisition of property we have a motion here for yeah so um Madam chair I move to authorize the interim Town manager to sign a purchase and sales agreement for the kalala and Larder properties which are on the warrant for acquis acquisition at the May 6 2024 annual town meeting second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed any exensions thank you appreciate that okay um okay Mrs Lazarus I think we are on to the town manager's report okay so with regard to the Main Street corter project there's a construction uh meeting for this week um and uh so other than that there's no additional updates on when they'll be mobilizing and what additional work will be they'll be starting with this season uh with respect to uh pest um we have an update from Nicole Bros as far as the status of the construction which is ongoing uh right now they're still on target um to bring that online in May yes also with respect to pest uh in Prior discussions um uh shadu has brought up um the uh desire to create a special group that advises the board and the town on pasas and so one of the things that I and I and Norman discussed uh when we met I think it was the beginning of April uh was a few possible ways we could approach that in a framework to get that going um and so one of the things we talked about was a process moving forward and that involved um convening a focus group to talk about and review um the issues and those issues include you know interaction of the town with the state on this issue um Communications um an overall strategic goal in this regard for the town uh working toward an action plan and I think given the recent change in the EPA requirements the science Y and all about PS and just a learning experience as it goes in that regard so I think um perhaps uh in late may this we could set up perhaps a focus group in this regard to bring forward stakeholders and other interested residents um that'd be great and businesses on this issue so it's something we can work on after T meeting next week Monday and Tuesday after Monday and Tuesday yeah thank you for being that up I will work with you on um structuring the meeting and the conversation and we can set out the time and I start U publicizing it maybe last week of May if it works that would be great thank you okay and then on the MW project um Power Engineering is continuing to work on the the design and the town has provided additional information to DCR regarding uh their desire to use a pump station at uh SE District Farms North so it's a continuing dialogue um we presented information about the need for it and potential land that the town could contribute as an article 97 exchange exchange okay great great thank you and then as a staffing update in addition to the uh appointments we saw this evening and that were already discussed um the town is still looking for a dishwasher at the senior center be great to have I thought we had it we did and then the candidate uh wasn't able to continue okay all right cuz I was I I that had been coming up and coming up and then it was filled and we were all excited so they do have a pum that's that's working there on an interim basis okay um also looking for a food service worker at the senior center uh to replace miniss Melissa manard who became the head chef okay um with regard to assistant Treasurer collector um an offer has been extended to a candidate and it's been accepted and they're working through the pre-employment contingencies um two additional police police officers are in the process um and maybe coming to a future uh meeting for appointment um and the water technician has been reposted um looking for someone who's qualified to to perform that function and the town is advertised for a benefits administrator administrator to replace Jessica who became a Human Resources Director great okay and still looking also for a public safety dispatcher and social worker program coordinator and pretty dispatchers okay terrific thank you for this update very helpful um anybody have any questions the only thing I was going to mention is we don't have a deputy fire chief on the list but for next oh but yeah wherever the deputy fire chief thank you one question I had maybe we covered it before do we have a uh resident representative in the deputy fire chief um it's Mary Joe oh a select select board Sil is marri but is there option for Resident yeah Jessica was just saying she got many many applications that was for the that was for the to manager you were asking for I'm just playing tennis here oh de so we didn't talk about we've been talking about having coffee and I've been talking him on occasion but I'm sorry say it again Mary Joe um we've been talking to the deputy Fire Chief and myself we going to be having a few coffees and know just what yeah I'm sorry the fire you know just what he would like to see and then we'll okay so what Shad was asking was if we wanted to open up a space on that search committee for a for a resident representative yeah yeah I think that would be okay cuz I like that there was so much response for the UN interest so it would be good to have more boys there do do we have one on the deputy no we don't and we haven't and that it's too bad maybe we should ask Jessica to see what she thinks because you don't want usually want an odd number of people so oh I see you have to be yeah consistent with the framework we can talk to Jessica figure it out but I agree it would be nice to capture all the people that are interested I know somewhere yeah yeah um bring the list of available because in June we're all the openings right um okay does anybody have any liaison reports they would like to make tonight yeah uh I do I just want to thank the marathon committee for all of their really hard work and how well they did at the beginning of the marathon and what a success the use of the common was it was just really good this year and also I want to report the marathon fund committee has decided on their scholarships for this year we don't know the names of the students but we have gone through all the applications and picked the six that are are going to be awarded this year's scholarships which are I think 1,500 they're they're more than than they have been in the past so uh like to see that happen y any okay um just a couple um so the stor District commission has not met in a very long time but we are just now scheduling a meeting there are a couple new members um I took to get ready in case something about Center School comes to us uh the planning board um I I saw today that um Rob Benson the vice chair has send in some additional questions that he thinks people are going to ask at town meeting I think elain was copied but they were also related to the schools about the so it's about the MS MBTA project and how it might affect the schools so we'll make sure those get forwarded to the schools too so everybody has the answers prepared to respond anyway and then uh I think that is it had a wonderful um event sponsored by S uh for oie and I'm still washing the color out of my clothing but uh it was a fantastic event I want to thank such for for putting it on yeah they had excellent weather was big good turnout got really lucky with and great music and food lots of fun and uh lots of joy and celebration it was awesome uh nothing nothing to add anything okay all right um I don't either but I guess this is it signing off so it's been real before we do not signing off I know I know but for this before we adjourn I just want to add a uh an a future agenda item uh which is uh to discuss the you know racial incidents in town uh that for the future select board um but I think there something that needs to be discussed and vetted thank you we would certainly carry the torch you with that I will make the motion to adjourn all those in favor signify by saying I I any oppose any exensions thank you very much thank you very much everyone right take care this