##VIDEO ID:e0jWVTCyn_0## it's 6:00 all members of of meeting room all members participating in the meeting are present in the meeting room the public has the option of attending in person here at town hall or via zoom using the link posted in the meeting agenda the meeting is being recorded and we have no remote members tonight okay so we will open the meeting with the uh pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay public forum each person will have two minutes to speak at the public forum and please start by stating your name and address is anyone present in the meeting room who would like to speak at the public forum K you guys look at just pass them on Down the Line [Applause] Ken Weiss Manel 145 Ash Street good evening water Commissioners today I was accompanied by CPC Vice chairman Eric Sonet as we were reviewing some of the CPC projects at the Fruit Street complex observation resident salt sand pile is much much smaller but not quite removed yet question is will it ever be relocated two the parking area in the zone one was heavily salted see the photo this is similar to what I presented about a month ago a huge pile of salt on the way home the two Legacy North Salt storage areas are still in place in the open space parcel I had two photos of those two two areas at the Fruit Street Properties a CPC project last year was to survey the parcel dedicated to the affordable housing right across Pratt way is the Zone one of the well when we did the survey to survey the affordable housing parcel we found the town DPW recently paved Pratt way and they paved over the Zone one of the well a couple of feet if we don't know where the Zone ones are then how can we protect them and if the DPW doesn't know where they are shame on them many times fence Zone ones or mark them sometimes you'll see signs such as uh you're entering a low salt watershed area in order to get the DPW to understand that should lower the salt or use a different type of way of removing uh from the road if you travel to Westboro and the the main road from hopkington to westbo you'll notice on the left there's a little well building and then there's a bunch of athletic field you will see a fence between the athletic field and the Zone one that's how they protected it to keep I'll say fertilizer from an athletic field out of a Zone one uh you five four of you tonight and Brian at home or wherever are the water Commissioners and have the responsibility to provide the residents with clean water there are federal and state regulations regarding well head protection we have a local Water Resources protection bylaw we really need to protect our water uh wellhe heads uh and provide clean water to our residents thank you thank you anyone else no one online no there three people but no hands okay I'll entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda unless someone has something that they want to pull out and discuss separately so moved second all in favor I I I okay okay now we want to want to discuss uh we have H have a water supply protection issues that we have discussed and that we've talked to the DPW and that they have given some results and some changes uh so I think that can we get can a copy of that was in the packet do you have a copy of that okay I'll make but you want to give you guys want to give kind an overview on this one of what we've done yeah yep yeah um so Lance has been looking into this issue and uh it's his memo that you received so he will report on that sure so as you mentioned um you know we took a closer look at some of the concerns that were presented by Mr Weiss man till the last few meetings um regarding impacts potential impacts to water quality based on Town practices um the first item we took a look at was the resident sand pile um which was just brought up um some information that was provided to me after this was posted was the composition of that sand pile is actually a 5 to1 salt um sand salt uh mixture that is purchased directly from McIntyre um loan by the DPW and deliver it there so it is a majority sand but it still has that um one six component of salt to it so um even by that estimation I do believe it is non-conformant technically in its current state for the zone 2 and Water Resource protection overlay District uh restrictions So currently we've asked the DPW to look at more conformant solutions put together cost estimates in terms of providing something that will prevent um wash out and erosion controls that it's currently happening over there um So currently they've covered it they put a tarp on it and some erosion control barriers around it um but that's just a temporary Solution that's that can't be a long-term fix so that that is being evaluated thankfully it's not a pure sand mixture as we were kind of originally thought it might be it is majority sand but um still non-conformant so it's something we're looking to fix um second item was just the general salt usage within the Zone one which was just mentioned um so we taking a look at that uh so for those who aren't aware uh Zone one is typically a 400t minimum protective radius that's put around a well um it's usually set set aside just for public water supply use you don't usually even allow public access to a Zone one so it is a sensitive area one that you know needs to be thought of protectively however in this particular case we're in the unfortunate circumstance we have about 830 ft of roadway going through it um a building um paved area portion of a field so it is a little unusual in that regard uh however um looking at it and looking at the historic salinity levels thankfully um our well salinity levels are not you know out of line with um any other community surrounding us actually I think we're one of the lower communities when we compare data surrounding us so thankfully the impacts have not been significant in that regard um and the unfortunate you know side effect of us stopping salt use on the roadway result in potentially very unsafe driving conditions to Road users so it's not something we can safely recommend at this time um and the building there is used by Town staff currently so it we could be have a liability issue there if we weren't providing a safe walkway for our employees so as much as I I'd like to say we're going to stop using all salt within the Zone one going forward it's not something I can safely recommend at this time however given the sensitive nature of this District we do believe some kind of acknowledgement of that is appropriate so we at this time we recommended that signs be installed along the roadway just at the edges of the Zone one as you're coming in just something to the effect of entering sensitive groundwater areas so if people do see uh something a Miss like if there was spill or Garbage happening or something that could be very concerning the DPW and the town when want know of that right away so it can be dealt with um so that that's the only recommendation we have going forward at this time on this issue uh the third item we highlighted was the Meep appr meepa approval conditions which identified the removal of those uh the building the paved area and the field within the Zone one for all the reasons I just mentioned uh however like I said before the town the building is currently being used by the IT department uh so we have four full-time employees in there and we have permanent record storage in the basement so before we'd be able to remove that building we would have to um allocate um money to relocate those uses and um lease additional space which currently isn't in the budget the meepa approval for that site isn't um does not give a specific timeline for conformance so it's not like we're running up against a specific timeline um so you know I understand Mr Weiss Mantle's concerns in in regard to that bumping up up against another meeper request in the future however I think because we don't have the funding allocated to re you know move all of that uh those uses at this time and the potential that us moving forward with mw a water would effectively eliminate the Zone one entirely um and it would make this issue um kind of null and void at that time another option is you know if we were able to relocate those Town Offices to the center pool or po um we could potentially removal of those buildings at that time so no recommended action at this time on that item but I do acknowledge um that we're going to have to deal it at some point um the fourth item was regard to equipment storage so the DPW has been actively working with uh the DPW the facilities Department the fire department have all been working together to clean up that site uh they've been removing Surplus equipment uh we have a couple pictures on there from before and after that I've included about some of the efforts they've made there um so it is sort of an ongoing effort to clean up that site and maintain it seems like there has been M significant strides made in recent history I've only been with the town about a month but the pictures I think C pain uh you know make that pretty clear um and we're going to continue to sort of monitor that and hopefully improve the site the best we can in regard to Pinefield which is current some of this parking space is currently being utilized by JB Sawmill uh to park their trailers my understanding uh I was informed that this has been an ongoing sort of unspoken thing that's been happening for a while however we've been in talks with JB smill they are aware of Our intention to redevelop that site and put install a Cricut field um and that at that time they would no longer be able to park there um which we're anticipating you know maybe as early as fall 2025 but likely more likely spring 2026 so in short order those uh trailers will no longer be able to park there anyway uh in regard to Legacy Farms uh we weren't able to find any restrictions on any the associated uh covenants for that in regard to equipment storage however we do agree that the uh salt storage on those two sites that Mr Weiss manle has identified is not conformant with the Water Resource protection overlay districts requirements that it be contained much like the issue we're having with our own salt storage for the resident sand pile so we have spoken to the developer and inform them that you know they need to make sure that that salt coverage you know stays covered with the tarp they're using currently but they'll have to find an alternative uh next year because it's not an acceptable solution and that is uh all I have at this time it's progress thank you yeah okay question if I so that means for this year we cannot remediate permanently correct which what you're referring to um all the items that you mentioned these are more mitigation but not complete elimination yes it depends on how quickly like for the resident sand pile if we're able to find a affordable solution that we can Implement quickly it may be able to fix this year but I can't make that guarantee at this time in the in that case do we have a mean to monitor the water quality more frequently and uh on a regular basis so the water department took a test 7 days ago just to check in on this so um they they are I do believe they are keeping tabs on it um and there was really no that test did not show any major deviation from our historic levels no that's great to hear but this is the beginning of the you know snow season and there will be more more and more right so that's why I'm thinking in the next at least 3 months or so when we're going to use salt and other potentially because of the safety of the employees right and uh people in the building can we um make it a practice to monitor that I don't know what would make sense 2 weeks or every 4 weeks something there's a cost associated with that and I don't know what's reasonable budget wise for you know the expectation to place upon the Water Department so uh I don't not sure I can say that they can easily commit to two weeks or Whatever frequency I think that's a conversation we should have with over at the water department to see what's feasible yeah thank you I totally understand and appreciate that I think um if we want to explore that so this is January mid almost so we are talking about maybe four tests through the season right so how much it costs and how much it'll be all together I think that's a reasonable way to kind of mitigate the risk otherwise we don't want to find something you know 5 months 6 months from now that's going to be more costly to remediate at that time if you can check on that and let us know I can get that information I'll take a look at it for you anyone else yeah um just curious thank you very helpful um did the DPW give a time frame on when they would kind of gather the compliant Solutions you know going back to the first parts for the resident s s pile uh we did ask them to give us some cost estimates at least by the end of February um so they have some time to do some research on various options available perfect thank you and thank you to Ken for bringing these issues to our attention so we could get the answers um let's see so the the signs putting up the signs to alert people just that it's a sensitive area is that something that we could fit in the budget this year I don't think signs are too expensive um because it is a capital expense not an on going spense so I guess think about that if that's possible and then um the use of salt because we don't want the IT workers to fall obviously I understand that but um sometimes it workers can work remotely on really snowy days is that a possibility so that we can just use sand instead of salt because sand would be allowed correct uh yes sand would be allowed um so think about that you don't have obviously you don't have the answer right now but um and then is the the part were um oh the IT department are they on target to be moved to Center School at some point I know it would be a few years are they one of the Departments that would be moved Lan would know more about that at this point point they wouldn't be one of the Departments that would be moved to Center school but they could backfill space that was vacated here for example okay but that's still a few years away okay and then I guess if we could get I think it would be nice if we could get another update in a couple of months like any any more progress and any any more testing that's done thank one another followup so Lance post the U winter season is there any other um issues that can continue to cause or continue to pose such risk in that area um I'm not sure what you mean um after the salts are done anything else that's stored there or use there that could um you know continue to put certain risk on what contamination I mean the fact that there's a road that runs through there is a risk in of itself that is difficult to mitigate so I think that's that's your real unfortunate kind of major risk being so close to the Zone one is that that roadway um and it's not as if we can stop and relocate the roadway cost effectively at this time so I'm not sure if there's any lwh hanging fruit that represents major risks at that site this time I know a lot of efforts already been done to minimize the RIS R over there um so I'm I'm not sure but I do think you know people being aware of the situation so if they do ever see people dumping or anything in that vicinity it's definitely something we should all be aware of and concerned about that's a good measure thank you thank you for all the work and research I just want to say you you have been in touch with the Legacy Farm Builders and they said they would do something about their's end of it yes um so they will um seek a compliance solution for next season okay with the management company on that thank you anybody else any more questions no P you don't usually do this you know thank you I think there's a lot of good progress here the one thing that I'm concerned about is the it office office building the first step that you will do in order to do a uh interbase and transfer request is submit a meepa request so you're going to and and as you all know I'm on the Water Resources Commission been there almost 10 years um so the Water Resources Commission is going to get the meepa request as long as as well as everyone else that gets that the first step is geez for they compliant with the last one so you're asking for another request and you haven't complied with the last one on this well now I'm not going to prejudge and I probably won't even be allowed to vote on it I I doubt it but quite frankly I know the other members pretty well they're probably not going to be happy campers if you guys get through the staff unscathed and as Lance knows the staff can be a very difficult uh bunch of folks to deal with so that's the first thing the other thing is all of our recent requests where we have approved connection to the mwa we've insisted that you keep your existing Wells that are producing Quality Water you have to be really messed up before they get rid of any Source before they want to take uh water from another Basin so you're probably going to get a condition where you have to keep the keep them as either a backup Source or whatever and all those same things continue on so you might want to look at that for a sooner project than later and the other thing I would s could suggest is for taking the money to take the building out and restore it that would be a allowable CPC expense you know it's it's $100,000 or what probably to take that building away based on other things we've destroyed it's not the hugest place and pull up the asphalt and kind of redo it but that is a that is allow CPC can do Wellhead protection so you're offering I'm I'm I'm looking for creative ways to fund things don't don't get me wrong but uh you know keep that note Lance will I mean it's still still we need to figure out the four employees for it right that's our challenge right now yes and what bucket of CPC could that come out of the open space open space yeah and uh while we are on this topic through the chair uh as we are you know beginning to um have the water Advisory Board kind of getting their heads together on these issues can we I'm sure this will be on the radar but can we make sure this is kind of on their radar in their discussion and we can get their thought leadership on this too with your help okay any any other other questions okay we'll move on to annual town meeting uh we have four articles for the annual town meeting I assume everybody's read them but um we have this one on the proposed warrant article for the U home rule petition Economic Development revenue account uh so anyone have any comments should we should we take them one at a time do you want yeah start with the Center School lease um so this has been recommended by the attorney the our attorney of the language uh no this is some draft language that I prepared based on previous articles that we've had to lease Town property okay but we'll go to Town Council for review okay so this would just be to put the placeholder on okay so the the intent is to uh for those listening the intent is to lease a portion of the former Center school property uh to a nonprofit arts and or Community organization a portion of the building anyone else sorry I didn't we have well the first one is the sent to school lease oh okay and I think the big thing was we can't really move forward with the public private partnership unless we do this that's correct right so that's facilitates what the permanent building committee has talked about okay and uh acceptance of reports we haven't got all our reports yet so uh that will we'll do that at town meeting and uh set salaries for elected officials any questions on any of those what about the um The Economic Development Special revenue account um so I I'm so sorry I don't have the copies do you have any copies of this of this yeah um you can have that one for now I can get another one I guess I was hoping um if maybe the town manager could explain a little bit how this would work so this is us what we had discussed in the fall when um we had talked about adopting the uh the meals tax that this would direct the revenue into a uh an economic development special revenue account um so it requires a legislative action in order to do that so it's a home R petition to allow that to happen and this particular petition was modeled on the one approved for the town of Ashland in 2020 um and so it includes um dedicating the funds and it indicates how they should be spent in a general way and then how the town could stop doing this if it desired to okay and since it would take the leg legislative action which could take you here or so what would happen in the meantime if we because we are starting to collect money already right in the meantime it just goes into General fund to the general fund okay okay yeah and uh on that note I had a good meeting with the uh Chambers um both Elena and I joined and uh we discussed about you know the overarching economic development uh approach that we've been discussing with the advisory and with the excise tax and forming the economic or expanding the economic development office and all those and there's tremendous support and interest for the uh so I don't want to take too much time today but u in one of the upcoming sessions we probably want to elaborate on how this excise tax is going to start uh building that fund and how we are going to use that fund how we going to uh strategize around the economic development office with this Advisory Board and with Chambers and with all the representation from the town and uh make it you know uh more collaborative effort more transparent and use of the fund as well and the big part would be to build this um you know economic development office with more strength and more funding and resource help to that so these are all I think lining up well with the time and with the warrants that we are lining up as well but in the one of the upcoming sessions I'm hoping you know before the town meeting maybe in February we can have a little more elaborate discussion on those yeah completely fair and I I think the importance tonight was I mean this is our last meeting before the article closes so to get it on the the agenda and then we have you know what however many meetings until you know the end of May so we can fine-tune this tweak it I believe in April we'll get the our first you know like deposit from the do which will give us our expectation for the year what we can count on for revenue and then we can get really granular with hey this is how we're going to use it this is the plan we can tweak things and we can come to town meeting with very likely like a slightly amended version of this that's more specific and more transparent totally that's the expectation we want to put it as a placeholder before the time sir y well that's coming to that the annual town meeting warrant closes on February 3rd so which is why we are entertaining these tonight and I will entertain a motion to submit the following articles for the 225 annual town meeting Warren so move second all in favor I hi okay now we have a a change in Quorum or before we leave were there any other articles that members uh proposed to submit um I think I sent um two uh new ones uh is that part of today's discussion yeah yes okay all right yeah I wasn't sure given the time I think we should so one was related to the uh P testing for private well owners and U uh this is going to be you know something again we have to think through more but given the time I wanted to put it out and see if we can have a placeholder for now while we continue the discussion and the uh research on this both from our application and legal uh aspect and we had brief discussion with Brian our legal council so the idea is to encourage the private well owners for uh individual testing but with the protection of uh disclosure requirements or legal obligations of remediation now we are not certain if um you know our state Provisions will override this and what are the legal implications but the driver for this uh from my was that the big one of the biggest challenge we have is current Donas don't tell kind of situation is not very helpful uh in terms of assessing where we are at any point in time and how we can move forward with remediation of this so um I think in um New Hampshire they have at a state level such provision uh and again it needs more research uh how we are going to look at it if we want want to do it at Town level but the idea is that uh can we have that provision through a warrant so that residents who wants to test it on their own can test it but without having the risk of um compromising the uh um you know uh mandatory disclosure that currently is in place and that would encourage for them to do the testing and remediate if they want and can and with more education across the town on this issue so we can all um understand where things are at more elaborate level today we are in my view many ways blindsided because no one is I think um feeling comfortable to test and we are not also encouraging them to test for the same reason so that's kind of the essence of this um um article or this word was it um do we have that in writing or was it was it in the packet distributed oh you distributed it I see okay sorry and do you want to talk about Brian's feedback on this um uh so there are some legal issues that would have to be uh looked into I mean it's possible for the town to have um a bylaw that uh or or you know suggestions for people to do something thing but uh we would need to review closely the legal aspects of uh whether someone can withhold information that they are legally required to disclose by the state or other other to start and or given the option that even if they disclose they wouldn't be mandated uh to remediate right away because that's also another fear that drives uh you know not testing enough so we obviously don't have that legal opinion right now not full um strength of it I think Brian's initially was we could do something but we'll need to look at the legal um kind of legal uh aspects of things and how much and how far we can do this so I think it'll if we want to put it as a placeholder pending more research and legal opinions that might be uh my you know recommendation and then we can always take it out if we find any major legal roadblock down the road yeah I I think it's a great idea to have it but if we have to pull this off because we get the like a legal response that says you know we could be liable then we'll pull it off ahead of town meeting yeah who can do that would you read the rationale for me because that is kind of a nutshell yeah sure so the warrant aims to empower residents with knowledge about their water quality without imposing additional burdens by promoting voluntary testing and maintaining confidentiality the town respects individual property rights while fostering Public Health Awareness providing access to resources and support ensures that residents can make informed decisions regarding their water safety uh which they are afraid to do today it's again kind of Blindside today and the considerations of course that we need to do is have more legal review and ensure that the warrants Provisions align with massachus said state laws and regulations concerning environmental health and property transactions public awareness and campaign we need to develop a comprehensive outreach program to inform residents about the importance of P testing and the availability of resources similar to again New Ham shares initiatives and then monitoring and evaluation establish a mechanism to is the uptake of voluntary testing and the effectiveness of the support provided allowing for adjustments to the program as needed and I think by adopting this warrant Hopkinton could proactively address potential pasas contamination safeguarding the health of our residents while respecting their autonomy and property rights so I think I I don't mind us putting it as a placeholder to think about it but I'm not comfortable at all with the no mandatory disclosure I just can't imagine like if I test my I have an old house and if it has lead paint and I test it I have to disclose that to Future buyers and I don't think we should let people test their water P fast and not disclose it to Future buyers of the land like that seems really wrong to me um so anyway but I I'm okay with putting on a placeholder and thinking about it um well there I think that there is a lot to this that still needs to be discussed talked about and worked out between now and town meeting but uh for tonight do we want to add it to the articles for town meeting to hold the space I'm comfortable I mean I I have to we're all comfortable as a placeholder but there's a lot more that needs to be done before town meeting I think that's what everyone kind of was in agreement on yeah yeah a lot of questions here absolutely and it would be ideal if it could be paired with some kind of Grant solution or 0% interest loan for people to fix the situation in a in a economical way but um but I don't think we have that right now but maybe something exists yeah I totally agree there's more to do and explode this is more to you know SE up the conversation and then because of the time constraint we of course couldn't do the full length of research and one thing is to weigh in is that is it better that we know nothing See No Evil and hear no evil and we're fine uh that's the question to ask or do we want to know and do as much as we can even if not full remediation right now but we at least know where we are and then individuals decide how much you know they can remediate and how much they can um disclose the reason being I want full disclosure as well at some point but if that full disclosure kind of prevents from um knowing then that's a I think bigger risk and compromise but I appreciate that I think if you want to put a place of I'm perfectly fine with that that's what I wanted to do actually I'm not fully you know uh sure what the legal implications and the full implementation looks like so that would be a good idea I think uh I will entertain a motion as a separate article uh and to add the following article to the annual town meeting warrant and the article is for voluntary pfest testing for private well owners so move second all in favor I I I okay any other articles to be added um the other articles I would look for uh ela's guidance a little bit um it was related again to the economic development I wanted to kind of explore the econ Economic Development advisory that we are talking about we'll talk about it in another time uh another session but we have a time constraint so that's why I was wondering do we want to put a placeholder for formation of that and formation of the funding and again um I think Len gave some good insights that there are few options to do that uh given those options I would like to hear uh her guidance if you want to tell us that based on that we can decide do we need this additional one to strengthen the you know effort and work on this or do we not so for the um so there were three um proposed articles uh related to Economic Development and one of them uh proposed creating um an economic de Development Fund which is the same thing which uh we have for special legislation so the only way to create a special Revenue fund is through the legislature so town meeting um we only need one of those articles we already voted to submit one but we can meld the concepts together so we can pull that out that already is covered by the one yeah petition should cover that right everything so saying both would be covered in what we're the fund so the fund would not the special article on the fund would not be needed number this is covered in the earlier one that we were discussing and I wasn't sure about that so I added it but that covers it good and then uh one of the suggestions was to create an economic development Advisory Board um so town meeting can create boards and committees um but it has to do it by a bylaw so um similar to what we did a couple of years ago with the commission on disability bylaw could be uh proposed that would create a board in that way but the board can also create boards and committees uh through the administrative order process like we recently did with the trails committee or the way it did recently with the water and sewer Advisory board so it doesn't need to go to town meeting to create a board committee but you can um the difference is um you know a t meeting a bylaw adopted you know at to meeting is very inflexible the only way to change that in the future is to go back to to meeting if you want some more flexibility you may want to set it up and a different process right well maybe we should put a placeholder in it for now because sh Do's brought it up several times and it's we've not gotten to it so maybe this would push us if we could we could just set it up on our own without the town meeting but we haven't so and then I if you did then staff could draft a bylaw for your review and we could even just decide to do it um you know at a meeting right create a committee okay so you're saying put the placeholder in and then we theoretically could do this before a town meeting yeah I think putting the place holder would prompt us to actually take action I mean I've been supportive of this as well and I'd much rather see it go through us than through town meeting and a bylaw thing that would be simpler yeah if you feel like we need the bylaw to get moving in the placeholder that's fine but I but I'm very supportive to push this over the next you know month or two to get it done done yeah know I totally appreciate that and I know we talked about that what I would suggest is we can again keep a placeholder and then uh in the next couple of months if we uh want to you know push it from this end uh then we can also take that one out and the other thing I wanted to understand actually for my education as well Ela uh you know we wanted to be you know a bold move and full-blown you know full force strategy of our town which what is the difference is it more powerful if we add it as a bylaw uh in terms of not only a mandate but also a kind of um policy and strategic move if so that's what I one of the reasons also I thought that you know it will be a bold statement and more educational and awareness wise uh part of the story and the other thing is you know it'll be kind of um uh more grounded as part of our overall Town's legal frame workk but I'm I'm not a full expert on this I would like to hear that's an interesting question um if you um adopted a bylaw to create a committee I mean even then it wouldn't have any more Authority necessarily I mean you could give it Authority um to do various things I'm not sure what kind of authority you'd have in mind it's called an Advisory board so it implies that there isn't Authority it's just advisory so it's it wouldn't make a difference in that regard and I I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is the lack of flexibility we'd have if it went that route whereas if we adopted the like as our board you know if in a year we're like hey you know we can kind of shift the focus or something or two years from now we have the flexibility to do that instead of waiting to what you said we'd have to go back to town meeting amend the bylaw make a change you know so so I'm again I'm very supportive of the placeholder get it moving I don't like the idea of this going through town meeting I think we can get this done before then through the board yeah I think that would be the better solution but I'm fine with trying a placeholder for now yeah yeah that that makes sense so uh and again I'm also weighing in both and because of the time constraint I thought i' put it in for now and by the time we decide we can uh we are I think it's easier to pull off later right we can't add so for that reason I would put it as a placeholder if that's okay and then we can revisit I think you have support for that no thanks so I think you can do a motion for both your things we didn't what about the second one the creation of the office but the creation of an off office of Economic Development requires funding really so I didn't know if we that was premature and we should wait till the next year after we receiving some income um that's a good question my understanding was since we are already collecting it um beginning of the year we'd have substantial budget support to form it you know uh almost immediately well if it's not right if a position is not in the budget we can't hire the person we have no budget right like if it's not the budget pass that town meeting this year we can't hire someone anyway so again this is a good um discussion to have so what would happen the funding that we are going to accumulate from say January 1 through the year uh are we not allowed to use it cuz it'll be projected 100 150 almost right it goes into the general fund until there's legislation that's approved but by the governor that it will go into a separate fund so it would have to wait until thank you for that but if we do the town warrant and it passes can we do it um before before that because then the town's legal framework would help we have to wait for the legislature to approve the fund okay so this will only sorry then where is this going to be spent from the general fund so right now it's worded I think in the draft that I had prepared that if uh that's uh it references FY 26 so it's this next fiscal year starting in July so if say it was approved in say December could start putting money into that fund at that time and this year's money would go into that fund so the current fiscal year we we're in now the fy2 it would go into the into the general fund I that Fally year ends the end of June right but wouldn't that contradict our um intent and formation a little bit we want it to be spent for economic development but in year one we're going to use it for something else we don't have we're not able to divert those funds until there's legislative approval to do so FS to legisl okay yeah I'm just trying to protect that fund for the intention um so I you know look for suggestions how we can do that is it something we set aside or is it something we already included maybe we discuss it in our budget session I'm totally fine with that too but for that reason if again we can keep a placeholder um just because our discussion is not complete yet until we fully flesh that out and see how it's going to you know work uh I just want to take the opportunity of the momentum of the you know excise and all the discuss are not all that we have and see how much we can progress on forming some of these um even though they may be executed later or they may be uh in action later because these things take time that's just my opinion and open for discussion and sus and regarding the creation of an office uh by town meeting so town meeting can create a department um but it would have to also be by bylaw but town meeting does not appear here by Charter to have the authority to establish positions and duties and also the charter indicates that town meeting cannot take duties that are performed by another department and give them to another so right now we do have an employee who is performing some economic development work and so my concern is that as drafted it takes work from one department and gives it to another I see and I'm not sure Intel meeting I don't think has the ability to do that to do that but it would be next year so you'll have enough time to plan it out to accommodate however you feel operationally it can work out is that right um I'm not sure what you mean by that uh because even if this passes I I heard that it won't be effective until like next year so that means you have time by next year to allocate and um analyze the budget allocation plan it out and then also plan out the operational framework in terms of town Department's roles and responsibilities but I think if uh this article to create an office of Economic Development goes forward it has to be a bylaw that's written that talks about creating this office what's its position in the structure of town government um how it's going to work um but it can't talk about positions because I don't think town meeting has the ability to do that no that's great feedback so let's take out the positions part of it but uh maybe the formation of the office part we can keep and then in the meantime a we're going to have the economic development more discussion and if that discussion leads to a more structured form we can again a pull it out or B we can keep it there and give you the authority to um elaborate and structure it in the next years but at least we have it so we now are uh committed to the formation of it in some shape or form that's the kind of we may also want to think about how we organize Town departments and whether it's more streamlined to have this function in another existing Department today so those are some things to talk about rather than creating a new bureaucracy um a ways to perhaps streamline that now thank you for the feedback my my thinking is um I appreciate all that why don't we do this keep it as a placeholder and when we discuss this if you want to bring in a proposal how you see it kind of getting into the execution from your uh Town overall office structure role perspective we can discuss that and if that makes it you know go away will go away that's how I again these are all because of this length of time that we have and uh not sufficient discussions I wanted to put it as a placeholder so we have a resolution of it in one way or the other and if not we formalize it at least to keep it on our radar as a commitment for future just voted on that right so it is a placeholder now okay okay thanks good um all right I think the board has voted on no we haven't voted on we need a motion for all of his proposed so going back to because we didn't do the voluntary did we we did that one right we did that already the economic development we need a new motion here yeah um so the motion I would propose is for the advisory and the office of the economic development that's the placeholder we can keep if you are okay to establish an economic development Advisory Board and creation of an office of Economic Development and we'll craft the you know without the Staffing section without the Staffing section thank you y of Economic Development okay so how do I articulated no um okay uh to establish the economic development Advisory Board and an office of Economic Development okay and the creation of an office for economic development little weird but okay um so moved okay second all in favor I I I'm going to say I but I'm a little reluctant on I'm a reluctant on the second one cuz I'm not sure this is the right method to do it I understand the intent is good um what we want but it will give us time to dig into these I okay I agree with you all right yeah okay moving on the changing the quum requirement for the water and sewer Advisory Board um the Quorum of the board shall be and this is the change a majority of the number of the appoint Ed members it's it's a majority uh and it used to say for three members regardless of the number of members appointed so that we're taking that out and adding a majority of the board all in favor can I get a motion what can we explain so right now there are three people that we appointed but only two have been sworn in is that is that correct yes uh if you recall from the last meeting um we've only been able to swear in two of the members so far one has been working remotely out of country and but however uh happily to say that I the that remaining board member should be sworn as of tomorrow which may made this article pointless but that has not happened yet so it's why it's still on the agenda for the time being in case there's an issue potentially that get more for the time being I have uh forwarded um the available MW and posos information we have to those members just inform them not to um you know I guess technically it's not an open meeting violation because we don't have a quum but uh there is no formal discussion going on until we can get that official Quorum in place so if there were only three members the Quorum would be two and then all votes would have to be a vote of two right a major unanimous right theoretically if there's only two members they would still be able to open and convene the meeting and it would be a majority so that third member um would not be able to participate on any voting up until he is sworn in which may be tomorrow but it has not happened yet so I cannot guarantee it I'm I'm really on the fence on this I guess it doesn't really matter but um I thought we had thought it was good before but what's your recommendation we have not had any additional applicants for the board so filling out the full five seems to be difficult so be nice to facilitate this and get this group going okay okay can then um anybody want to Second a motion well I think we need someone to make the motion so all right so I I move to amend the charge of the water and sewer Advisory Board to change the Quorum section to read a quorum of the board shall be a majority of the number of appointed members second favor I I okay oh not my favorite the update and regul for poles wires antennas the location of a petition um I have read it all and um it has the one section that I love and that's no double poles and I'm just wondering how we can somehow enforce that cuz we haven't been able to so far well that's an existing provision can we can we have a lane walk us through this one with the background do you mind sure so uh within the last couple of months we realized that a couple of provisions of this were out of compliance with the law um and that is that the town is required to send out the butter uh notices um for the applicant uh we had for years requested that they do that um but now it's the town's responsibility so we're taking on that responsibility do have to provide an AB Butter's list for us to use um and we have increased the fee to cover the town's costs in this regard okay so the currently is 50 and now it's going to be 150 correct okay and that will cover your Postage and yes okay that sounds fine to me it's a small change I was just double checking I'm good um you want yes sure I move to modify the board's regulations for pole wire and intendent location petitions as proposed second um well again I want to know how we can enforce the prohibition of double polls cuz we've tried and tried for years and they come in at night and put them up and then cut off the old pole at the bottom and uh we have had a Prohibition against double poles for a long time and they ignore us then we have it again here is there any way well one thing the board has done in the past and continues to do is when it approves a new poll it requires the old poll to be moved within a certain period of time and on El on that note have we um done any compliance review or given any warning or anything when they're out of compliance or did not follow the rules as uh we heard yeah I think they um they do know that the town is concerned about this and so um we do monitor it in general um and the number has been decreasing over time but we have a lot on Main Street there they're going to be removed pretty soon well we hope I'm right on the corner of Ceda Street and Main Street that was they were told at our meeting they weren to double poll it and we come in the next day and it's double Po and the Bottom's cut off for the old pole so we can't do anything about it do it all the time the other thing here is that the petition in of the application fee is $150 uh for application and 250 for poll structure and petition so it not $50 it's $150 I just want everybody that's the change yeah okay we do have a motion in a second we have a motion in a second okay all in favor I I want to thank uh for his work on this as well thank you Lance happy now we have to enforce yeah look at that we have our marijuana testing facility how is that coming how how are we doing on the U agreement uh so we have um uh no changes to the number of uh Laboratories Testing Laboratories that we have uh one thing that did change is uh the law changed where the Cannabis Control Commission created a um a model host Community agreement that all communities are required to use now so the change brings us into compliance uh by referencing that model instead of uh what we had before as the town's preferred option and that's the only change from our original voting on it that's correct okay and this is another of those policies that run the back burner until we had an assistant T manager to help out so this is great and there these are minimum conditions we could impose others is that correct it would be a subject to negotiate okay okay and this will bring us into compliance with the law all right so I would make a motion to modify the board's marijuana Testing Laboratories and marijuana research facil process and host Community agreement policy as proposed second all in favor I I adaptive playground project and uh the select board is in a joint meeting with the school committee and the community preservation committee to discuss the proposed adaptive playground project and and Associated funding and Ken's here from the CPC I think they can all come join us right can all join and come up open the [Music] meeting seeing a lot of you guys lately is that a good thing was like Tuesday night I mean was it Thursday night I'm Mary Joe the CPC is not formally meeting today but as chair I'm representing CPC I know it's okay representing CPC and we have a number of people representing the school so want I have a presentation to start off this excuse me I have a presentation to make okay start it off okay Ben has it on it's on we have presentations there we go good how about the next slide thank okay the focus of the CPC is in four main areas open space historic restoration community housing and Recreation of these four areas we are by law required to take 10% of our uh annual revenues and and put them into those we call them buckets the other 60% can be spent and any of these four areas we derive our funds with two and a% real estate tax and a state match which is currently about 18% the CPC the community preservation Act was really created to provide a local source of funds for the above items in which times of tight budgets were typically not funded you know historic restoration ends up at the bottom of the list when things are tough and uh you know you might not be able to buy open space which was been a long priority here or community housing or even Recreation kind of sometimes ends up in the nice to have percent we're saying well the nice to have gets 2% our committee consists of Representatives of those four main areas three at large and then a person from the planning board and the Conservation Commission so we we have a I'll say a dedicated advocate for their 10% plus as much as the other 60% of the funds that they can get for for their projects I'd like to give a little history of the marathon playground in FY 24 school department requested a million dollar for an additional playground at Marathon school on the next slide there we go got a million dollars for the additional playground at Marathon school because the school edition created a need for additional playground equipment that year CPC turned down the request for two main reasons one is the EMC playground provides for playground needs for the community right next door so we thought we would would be duplicating what we were providing in the MC Park that year and we also felt that playgrounds for educational use should be funded by sources of funds available for educational uh purposes you know we in town and Hopkinton put a lot of priority on funding our educational needs uh next Slide the next year uh school department came in for a million dollars for an adaptive playground at Marathon school um that was a little different proposal CU we don't have an Adaptive playground in in in town so we looked at that one really hard uh we approved $100,000 for the location study and the engineering uh for the Adaptive playground and this was approved at last annual town meeting the committee itself expressed our concerns that locating on a school property would limit it Community Access during those times at schools in session and the cost seemed kind of high compared to other CPA funded adapted playgrounds but with those funds um the location was study the American Marathon School site was selected equipment was selected layout was designed and the budget was established and now we are where we are today uh this year in the CPC cycle for FY 26 next slide yep good um basically a M200 plus th000 and at the end of a long long discussion CPC uh recommended funding 300,000 toward the construction of adaptive playground at Marathon School uh and that's what our proposal would be to town meeting and actually we're going through Community are the Capital Improvements and Appropriations very shortly uh on the next cycle on their way to annual meeting the location concerns Drive the CPC uh decision basically the location at Marathon School limits Public Access during that time the school is in session and summer school which is there is in session so that takes off a lot of the time positive as effects of the marathon School location include dual use with School Educational use and the school department will end up taking up the maintenance of the uh playground in the future so that's that's kind of good thing also the Center School location uh former Center School location was not considered because the future of that property is uncertain I think a lot of our members would love to have it at Center school but I agree that at this point until we get the funds done for Center School as you might remember the presentation I made month or so ago about Center School till we really get going on that project it this the location's uncertain I'm not sure we would want to invest there at this point couple years from now maybe different but so at the end of the day uh majority members the CPC are comfortable with the location combined with CPC contributing the engineering cost which is 100,000 and a portion of the construction cost which is 300,000 now next slide project cost concerns it is on the high end of adaptive uh playgrounds funded by CPC funds there's about 45 that have been funded I think 24 and the 1,000 or 100 to 500,000 range only four or over a million dollars and we would be the third most expensive on the list the real expensive one on the list was quite a Rolls-Royce of playgrounds uh and huge um most of or I'd say many of the the programs have funding sources into in addition to CPC funding so there's usually a school CPA partnership I'll say to make it happen um I did provide in the me material the spreadsheet that I'm talking about all the other adaptive uh playgrounds um and possibility of other grants at the time they were meeting with CPC hadn't been explored and perhaps that's another source of funds and the next uh next slide please so our considerations in funding the project our revenue is projected to be about a million 7 this year which 10% is devoted to Recreation 60% being can be used in any of the four Focus areas the whole project would be a very large project for CPC this project competes with the inprocess fields like the the cricket pitch which might need additional funds for the safe access to it and competes with a lot of other projects that are in the planning phase in potential open space we have our site set on a several nice open space things that would take a good chunk out of the budget if we ended up getting a willing seller um parks and wreck have got all sorts of plans in process of which we're funding some studies so we didn't want to commit everything and just like all the other Town departments and the school department we're making hard decisions on where to spend the money and so we're making some tough decisions this year and we still believe that town funding for the portion of the project that benefits public education should be available from public education sources of funds next slide please so why not just borrow it from the CPA funds I think that was brought up at your last joint meeting that was discussed well currently our debt and interest includes a yearly payment of 107,000 $108,000 that was used to fund the high school field lighting and we also paying off 32,000 for the Fruit Street concession so this our current debt and interest is um about 8% of our yearly Revenue if you remember back to my presentation on Center school that will require borrowing of about 28% so we're looking at potentially in another year of having incurred debt and interest costs of 35% and I know the select board is very concerned about debt and interest costs we we don't want to use up all our ability to fund future projects and that's what we would be doing if we took this on with a substantial debt increase in particular we don't know where we are until we get a little bit further along on the engineering you know are those rough estimates of cost from the permanent building committee you know spot on or you know is there a little Egle worm who knows what's going on uh with that so we don't really want to borrow it next slide Community needs and school needs Marathon needs an additional playground equipment Community needs uh adaptive playground equipment the community need for adaptive playground equipment could be met without new playground by installing new equipment in an existing playground thus it makes sense in our in cpc's opinion for CPA funds to be used for a portion of the project with the school budget funding the rest next and last slide so we recommend the support of the 300,000 for the construction which is what we feel very comfortable uh in supporting uh through the T meeting budgetary cycle in the last slide while we have the discussion leave it up there is there's a kind of a schematic of what was uh proposed so that concludes cpc's presentation be happy to answer answer any questions thank you any comments from me um not really I I think the only thing that I want to recognize is an Adaptive playground committee did a lot of very hard hard work um to come up with this and um did this over a number of months and we respect the votes that have been taken by the Committees yeah I would I I like your work product from that committee you guys did a really done good job on a very tight timeline and you know got I thought everything was well supported and I think that majority of the committee you know recommends that and I think that's why we're willing to to kick in on on on it and not not insignificantly kick in I mean close to 400 Grand so I mean I I think a lot of us would like to find a way to make this happen um I understand Ken's limitations here um or the Comm for the CPC committee too but um obviously we're all very short on funds this year and there's a lot of other projects so I don't know yeah I don't know if there will be enough free cash or something to to make up for the rest of it or what we could possibly do creatively if there are other grants because I know the dog park was paid for and by a portion um I think at least half from a different Grant and the other half was by CPC but um this really seems like a need and it seems like a great way for um to normalize kids with disabilities playing on the same playground as kid as all the other kids and being right by EMC Park you know everybody could use it on the weekends and after school and in the summer so it's really a very worthwhile project and well studied so I just hope I wish we could find a way to get this funded eventually or ideally this year but if I may through the chair um sentiment this project was important to the school committee um as well as it came from its own committee that was not part of the school committee um that it is important for us to us to see this become a reality in hington feels a significant need I also you know when we started out back I like that you gave the history appreciate that um and ended up with the proposal to be on the school property it feel like that fit a nice need of being able to have a collaboration where the schools are able to to be stewards of the playground but also to open up access to the you know to the community but um I'm hopeful that we are able to find funding for the town I know that there and Susan speak better to this but reasons why you can't just add a couple of pieces of equipment that it has to do with the surfacing that would make it an Adaptive playground um so that that is unfortunately would be an ideal thing if it was the type of thing where we could add a couple here and a couple of there but I'm hopeful that the town will find a way to be able to get us the funding you know for the town make this project reality I think that's a good point from Nancy that it's this this the surface can't be the wood chips it has to be a surface that um can be accessible and so that's the biggest cost part of it so none of our existing playgrounds I don't think have that at this point here was my understanding too that didn't the committee CH choose the cheapest option of the different ones presented so they were very considerate of the cost of the total project and understanding we know from the building projects things cost a lot of money these we we appreciate it that you pick the the cheapest of the four that were picked but most communities are in the half a million dollar range for you know and it's sometimes hard the dates on those are well they're over over some time they're over the over the time so you years in building have been very expensive yeah there's been I mean inflation we all know that but it would be a good data point to also see you know where the variances are and if there is any opportunities sorry just to interject into that and I also Echo that I think you know this is um something that we should I I would support definitely to move forward and make it happen make it a reality sooner rather than later and um I think this is something you know we being um an equitable town we want all our children to have access equal access and having the most vulnerable um great options such as this which is well thought out um I think I think we all want to get our heads together and see how we can make it a reality and I understand uh thanks for putting out various thoughts on this and um i' would like to hear you know uh from the school or from the proposed um um proposal perspective how and what are the kind of uh thoughts about the location about some of the cost and others if there is any opportunity on any front that would be a good discussion to have and then I I also want want to explore how can we chip in for the money uh in addition to CPC from other funds as um we have a little bit of healthy free cash and which comes up in every budget discussion but can be Bank on some of that uh is a good discussion to have and I see some of our our Appropriations chair is here too if there are anything uh that we can look at uh as an option I don't know uh that we might also be able to chip in and maybe it's a compromise how the CPC and uh free cash funding comes together to fund it as whole uh and one quick question I had is that um is there a rational on the CPC side for the 300K allocation like how did you uh come up with that number if you can help us work through that part of it was looking at Community time versus school time time and you know we're we're roughly doing 400,000 out of I'll say a million two million three uh we felt that was about the time we get the weekends and we get the nights and we get one month during the the summer and I think some members looked at what their projects was in their budgets for historic or or open space and those members said you know I got stuff that's coming and you know we can't get down to nothing as far as as where we're at um it's I mean if it wasn't located at of school is there more money not sure this year there would be more money so but I think I think the attitude to the would be it would be more our responsibility to fund the playground you know because it it isn't at that point it's not an educational expense and it would cost more because you'd need to do like because Marathon at least is flat but needs the surfacing and when the committee looked at like over 30 locations Marathon was the most affordable place to install the playground I'm I'm not disagreeing that it's not a bad location you know it's I mean Center School is flat too and in two years we'll know whether the center school is available for that backyard I mean so so won't we know sooner than that I mean we're talking about the lease at town meeting so in roughly you know less than four months I think we're a year away because we really got to get through the the architectural work and to really you know fine-tune what what it's going to cost to tear down the back part and and and redo all the stuff in the inside I we're we're we're not we're not there yet it'll be a while okay so hold on one sec so I I I think I echo my you know colleague sentiments like this has to be a priority for the town my biggest thing is how do we do this without raising taxes I like the use of free cash I think you brought that up first Amy right we need to look at that number um and I think shidu you started alluding to how can we get CPC to chip in more I'm not saying 300,000 is not a good amount but is there a way we can I'm seeing both sides you both kind of talked about the pros and cons I'd like to see something you know 5050 ideally CPC funds free cash and I think I think your biggest con concern with the marathon site is the access during school hours right and so I like that to me is obviously a safety thing from the school is there any flexibility on that is there a way that we can improve that a little bit I'd like the so I think the one thing I would like to say about accessibility is I know that when you're thinking about the marathon School you feel like you might be limiting access to it but there are over 600 students 180 days of the year that would have access to that I think ultimately you're increasing the a the access to it by opening it up to Marathon kids and then of course the entire Community has nights weekends afternoons and that's when our students from Elmwood Hopkins would not be in school and would be able to access access it so I really feel like you're expanding the access if you have it adjacent to a school so that kids in the building can use it all day every day and I know what you're asking really is can we have other people on that property while kids are in school and the answer to that really has to be know for safety reasons just for the record here what would be the total cost of the entire project it's uh 1.2 2 43 million through the chair can I add a comment in the burning so the the cost I know it's not a small amount I know the t is going through difficult Financial Times I also know that we're going to continue with difficulty and I'm sensitive as you know stewards of the community's facilities but also as a taxpayer I think this is a real need in the community I think that when we look at some of the work the commission on disability has been doing in looking at you know areas of town where handrails could be improved where sidewalks need to be improved that it's access for children is important and having equal access with their peers to play alongside is huge it's not something that I think anybody should take slightly and I I app apprciate the efforts to try to find the funding from multiple sources to make this happen because it's a year in a year or two years the cost is going to be more but also that's lost time for kids that could be playing on the playground um alongside differently abled peers we also I'm sorry can I speak is that um we also have noted that most of the children that need an Adaptive play gun are receiving services at the marathon school starting at age three um so it's not many children that would be not available during the that would be available during the school day that would need an Adaptive playground in town but but the point is that it's for everyone not just right so we want everyone not just the kids that are on IP that obviously but particularly they could play at the EMC playground other y as as most of my professional career was as either as an engineer or a project manager sometimes you look at it which I think the committee did and figured out what they really wanted and then added up the cost at the end of the day the other way to approach one of these things is say hey we got 750,000 to build this thing what's the best stuff we can get for that what can we maybe put off for an addition in another year or two I mean that's another that's the other engineering approach and you know there are I got to ask the question you know there are some 750 or $500,000 ones that have been done in the last two or three years on this list go look at what they got now maybe they didn't do all the good stuff we would want to do but you know some days some years a lot of time when my kids when we were house poor in hopkington you know we didn't go on a vacation that year too so it's uh you know I I you know you could take another another cut at the the Apple looking at it from this is what we can do from a cost standpoint if you know if the $900,000 or so is not available from the from the town to fund it we also had if I remember the presentation correctly we had a 25,000 or 25% contingency in it do we really need 25% on you know equipment like this that probably is a catalog price that you could probably buy for this summer type of thing is you know fairly early it's not like you're pricing out something for two years from now you know I mean there might be some ways to look at at ways to to sharpen the pencil I think I mean no matter what um through the chair no matter what it's a budget and you don't know that number until you go to bid yep so it's just a budget can I ask from process standpoint so the CPC has voted the 300,000 I assume the school committee has put a placeholder article on the warrant is that for the rest of it or they did not pass uh cic so there is not an article okay yeah to that limits a path forward uh for this year then um we could still apply for other grants but it's a little late to um expect to receive other grants then we are looking for you are looking we are looking mhm okay I'm not sure from what I saw on this list of things you're going to find $900,000 in another Grant you know you might make a good chunk but I don't think you're going to get the rest out of some Grant outside of town well I mean but if it was a nice big portion that would that would help a big portion would help is there a chance if we got another Grant if we could go back to cic and maybe they would be supportive of a smaller amount or a c cic done with their review at this time going before cic on Monday so okay and and I've got my 300,000 in it I mean yeah I think Kyla had the answer to that question we meet CC meets again okay so if if something were to change they could review it again okay to the chair um two thoughts one is that um can we look at it you know um more collaborative uh passion like what we are doing now I appreciate all the comments and trying to make it happen one is that um question for elain and Kyla and Mike how much can we afford from the free cash for this can we find a middle ground free cash uh CPC combo and maybe little bit of room for Grants if that makes sense and you know come up with a number from all ends and see if we can make that that's one and second thought is as I was hearing um for Access issue maybe we can find a creative way to solve it without compromising the safety issue cuz it's going to be a handful uh as we understand maybe we issue special pass with applications that you can accommodate during school hours I don't know I'm not an expert in this safety and your operations wise but if it's like five or even 15 people you can make it like a you know within this time you apply get that approved get a special pass and ID for that for those kids who can participate during the school hours that will solve the access question that CPC or concern that CPC has and maybe that'll open up a little more of the of the part there um so those are the two thoughts I want to put out there we will know Center school funding next year well about this time you know we we propos two years of studying the construction plus trying to get other grants that are part of that proposal uh so maybe this time of the year we won't be quite there but we will be at least six months into the engineering at this point where we might have a better better feeling whether we're in trouble or not we certainly won't have bid documents at that point and you know uh you know Center Schools uh got some good bones but it's got a lot of work to do do we know in a perfect world what grant money would be available I mean is it 50 Grand is it 300 Grand could it be it's probably less than 50 less than 50 all right so the grant is that's useless just a small amount the grant it's a non-issue so it needs to come from CPC free cash or a donor n you got some extra money on it got Aon I I I think that's the path forward I think this is really important to get done um I personally would like to see CPC chip in a little bit more again in my mind it's a 50/50 CPC free cash I love our town manager's perspective on this I know we would well there's a lot of competing uh requests for free cash and it's not unlimited yep so be part of the budget discussion well we have a lot to look at uh and the next thing up is the comprehensive budget which ought to might answer some of our questions um does anybody have anything else I want to add just can we take it under advis appreciate that thank you thank you through the chair just one closing so where are we living this um procedurally for this year uh the request for the playground that is are we going to have a town warrant or we're going to handle it through the budget process through the budget the warrant closes February 3rd 3rd February 3rd but we are not meeting anymore that's correct not before not before right so procedurally this is not going to be included for this upcoming year I'm just well it also didn't didn't as as I mentioned didn't pass cic as well that would have to be overcome if someone did submit an article yeah but our next meeting meeting overrides see I see recommendation if they want to I mean you know I always like to have have them supporting me I mean that but it wouldn't be the first project that they said no and town funded it in the past the schools could still keep it on the warrant as a placeholder even without CC approval so submit it what that they could submit the article do we want to put a placeholder again yeah because we don't want to you know Mis out the year for the logistics issue hopefully we can all come together with a solution and uh get things going any Board of committee can submit an article or or citizen thank you everyone for coming thank you folks I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other welcome Thursday huh you're welcome Thursday evening Thursday evening again okay all right we have Kayla's up next is it Kyla Kayla k so when you're ready Mary Joe I'll take this one I'll take this one when you're ready okay I was didn't know whether we was going to say you're on or you're on okay do you have slides so I'm just referencing the memo that was in the packet which is the T manager comprehensive budget transmetal um want to just go through a few things there uh the budget is within the constraints of the two and a half limit it complies with the town's Financial policies it incorporates the use of available funds with the estimates we've received to date um it reflects a sensitivity to tax impact streamlines the provision of some services and addresses the town's long-term Financial stability but it's not yet balanced as you know there's a 1,800 $181,600 gap between anticipated revenues and proposed expenses the school school committee also has not yet voted on a recommended budget budget so this one includes the most recent one that we've received so with regard to the sources of funds or the revenues the transmittal forecasts revenues that are 88.3% above the bu budgeted Revenue level for f25 and one notable change in revenue for FY 26 is the $4 million that was reled relased from the overlay account to the general fund by the board of assessors which follows the settlement of P pending eversource ATB cases and no new filings by every and this 4 million has flowed to free cash and that we expect free cash to be uh certified soon so we don't have the final free cash number either at this point um and at this point we anticipate that state aid will remain flat and that's the information we've been given to date but we continue to monitor information from the governor and the legislature in this this regard with respect to the uses of funds or the expenses um in October Town departments were requested to provide level service budgets for FY 26 and to identify any special circumstances due to Regulatory and statutory requirements Community growth and Community needs that Aid the most vulnerable the aggregated budgets resulted in an 11.1 increase 11.1% increase and a $3 million roughly budget shortfall so Kyla laier CF and I then requested that departments reduce the budgets to a maximum 1.3% increase and this was the bottom line number uh needed to get to a balanced budget uh from all departments uh on the bottom line so the reductions from non-school town departments totaled 1.73 million which showed some deep Cuts in services and personnel and in reviewing that we were ensured that the community is ready for those types of reductions so we have recommended a budget that is a 3.34% increase instead uh on the town side so the proposed budget for Town departments this is non-school retains core services and important services but it's less than level service in some areas it's $1,338 lower than the initial budget requests submitted by Town departments the changes to Department budget requests can be discussed in Greater detail at the upcoming budget review meetings with each department over the next month um I just wanted to note too that the largest portion of the town budget is for public education but we're one organization with cross- departmental cooperation services and work and without reductions to the education budget or an increase in revenues that get us to a balanced budget there will be very deep service and Personnel cuts on the town side to achieve a balanced budget it's important to note that the town supports public education budget too including providing employee health insurance Workers Compensation Insurance Services and benefits for retirees General Insurance banal management software Payroll Services n nursing and vaccination support water and sewer and snow plowing and on the positive side of the budget um message this year is that a review of services this past call and the bottomup development of town budget Services resulted in some streamlined and consolidated services which I did outline in the memo and so the proposed budget includes a contrib a contribution to our OPB of $875,000 and ,12 and which is on track to achieve full funding in the early to mid to 2050s a contribution of 700,000 to the stabilization fund is proposed to bring that fund close to the Target of 5% of operational spending and in last year's budget transmittal memo the town manager did warn us of the impending shortfall for this year or for next so we have some decisions to make over the next couple of months um and I threw in a couple of options for discussion they include reducing expenditures to match revenues in both town and school budgets another option is to supplement budgets with free cash to support one-time expenditures such as townwide events and the like which are typically supported in the operating budgets and reduce expenditures to make up the difference in other words a targeted use of free cash to fund specified things a third option is to supplement budgets with free cash to meet level service needs only but doing that with a plan to discontinue the practice soon as possible and then increasing revenues by a proposition to an half override is always an option uh which is subject to a town vote and it does require an alternate budget should the override fail so I threw in the idea that we use uh certified free cash to fund some onetime expenses and community events which could total up to $500,000 or so which I did list in my memo um and this is a proposal it's not in the proposed budget uh but it gets us closer to the Gap and it isn't that those items are removed from the budget but it's just the targeted use of free cash to fund those items so the town is for forunate to have a substantial amount of free cash this year with a significant amount due to the release of the funds from the overlay account and the use of the remaining arpa funds to pay for health insurance in FY 24 but it's not a sustainable or reliable Revenue Source over time it will allow us to meet some of our Capital project needs without any new borrowing next year um and the tax impact does continue to be an important concern um as we consider the challenges of seniors young families and others struggling to stay in hopkington and the transmittal includes a cautious recommendation on Capital spending and I concur with the recommendations of the cic in in that regard the largest item proposed for funding with free cash uh next year is a $3.2 million for a public safety radio system upgrade which is sorely needed and the 5-year Capital plan was included uh with the memo so as the budget review progresses we'll continue to Monitor and report on the refinement of any of our estimates um and including the amount of coming in from the new meals tax and I'd like to thank Town staff department heads and town boards uh for their cor collaborative effort and continued support in bringing these materials to this point and the one town one solution approach will continue to guide the ongoing dialogue involving Town residents for the further refinement of the budget leading up to the town meeting so thank you anyone have any questions comments well you've Shunk the def since our last meeting so that's good we're heading in the right direction it's to start um so do we even have an estimate about what free cash is going to be look like when it's certified I know you said you're looking soon yeah we're it's probably going to end up between 8 and 10 million it's a healthy number but it's one time right because of the uh overlay yeah that's not going to happen again but thank God it's over yeah the capital projects that are approved by cic total 6. okay 3.5 but then you so do you have and that does not include the playground I and do you have um so 6.5 there and then 875 and 700 for op and uh uh Reserve right so that leaves about 1.5 or so maybe maybe okay and it doesn't include the alternate options which is adding the 500,000 that's listed here right so that hypothetically that brings it down to 1 million uh even further down 1.4 right we correct 1 million left yeah so one couple of things first of all thank you elen and thanks to the andaya and all the town departments I know it must have been very hard to give away or give back this 1.7 as a scenario um cutting you know are bringing it down on all fronts but altogether still um I saw somewhere the overall Town's increase is 7% and schools 6.4% town is 3.34 3.3 okay uh you had it somewhere but that was the original request that we received oh I see so after this uh exercise it's now 3.3 okay got it so yeah that's pretty hard I'm sure um one just one other thought I don't know how much it's going to cost I hope it's not a peanut butter spread cuz the vaccination is one that stood out for me that I did not um want to see cut I know it's hard because of our elderly and our health public health risks that it brings so that's I I don't know how much amount it's probably not a big amount but it adds up I get that um so that's one that kind of stood out on mine and I was also attending the library budget discussions and one thing I not noticed there is that their budget is as it is pretty small and cutting another 20,000 or 30,000 is going to hard quite a few programs so I don't know if that eventually happened or not uh so because it's a small budget I I hope I mean again it's up to you and um all of the leaders of the Town Town management that um not have a you know sput better but depending on the size of the individual Department budgets also looking at the impact I'm sure you're going through all of that so those are some of the thoughts that I have but um even though it's one time I think as much as we can take support from the free cash that's probably what we have to do to some extent and um you know if there is any other option that we can hear from the school uh I know they had a task to also look at some of that I don't know if there was a any feedback from that again it's hard given what we have seen um and see how we can all make it work together so since so we're still waiting on some numbers um the free cash to be certified the state aid number and oh and negotiating for healthcare premium sorry you're working on that okay the governor's budget is due out tomorrow budget so we should have indication tomorrow so at our next meeting we'll have more info okay and L when you mentioned it's on page two and three the Deep Cuts those were things you ended up not cutting corre that's correct for now but we did not but we could if we had to um doesn't look like anything there really but I know these are small things but the holiday lights on the common it seems like maybe we could get a donor that might be interested in doing that but that's just a really drop in the bucket anyway we definitely want you to have up-to-date payroll systems given all the data breaches that we see now so I wouldn't want you to have to cut that um let's see and then all right so the ones that you propos for the certified free cash totaling 500,000 that seems reasonable to me um that would helps meet our Gap and then um so if we're expecting around 8 to 10 million in free cash and CB or cic has only approved 6.5 million in projects what happens and we so if we don't spend all that free cash which I know we don't know the exact number yet what happens to it does it roll over to the following year correct yes okay I don't I don't think don't think I have any other questions I'm trying to remain hopeful that we will be able to get most of the things that the Department's needs department needs so all I have good um go ahead I had one it so going back to the 6.5 so cic recommended that I see the list of capitals that was also separate from the 500k that you recommended right so we're already kind of at seven in in reality um on the list of capital projects there was like four in red at the bottom it looks like those like cic didn't recommend those did the town manager's office approve all the other ones that were in white like what's the recommendation from both the CFO and the town manager I concur with cic's recommendation okay you they attended most of the meetings and they had good reasons for for making those choices they were difficult choices okay I'm good for now thank you sorry I just noticed this one can you can you discuss the uh the roadway Improvement De Carlo Barbara and peppercorn I know we tried to vote on that last year too and I think it didn't pass but what's the reason for not recommending it like the roads are in really really bad condition they felt that it could be part of the paving management program that's included in the operating budget and given the constraints that we have on capital projects they figure that um given everything else it just wasn't top of their priority this okay to the chair what's the uh plan for the wireless or sorry um the dispatcher Communication System I didn't fully follow is that coming next year or it go ahead sorry it is part of the um 6.5 million approved by CP cic um it has been deferred for the past 3 years so it really needs to be replaced um so that was one of their top priorities for 26 totally I fully support that it was defer 3 years but it's almost 20 25 year old system so it it is D time totally totally agree one thing I also wanted to reflect is that we we have Reserve cash for a reason right for the rainy day um and as much as I would love to save more I I'm just hypothetically saying what is the risk of using our free cash because that's not supposed to be a reserve right it's always something that we have managed well on our budget or we have unspent for the most part and in this case eversource our previously you know um uh deserved tax we are just getting it late but say with all these scenarios and also allocating money for the playground we make it all happen what is the concern and I know again in an Ideal World I would love to see more savings but what is the you know downfall for that um the first item that you need to consider is the balance in your stabilization fund so does your stabilization fund equate to 5% of your operating budget if it doesn't free cash needs to make up that deficit so that would be one thing that you look at and then spending free cash just deletes options or limits options for next year understood right we also won't have that available next year and then that Gap gets even bigger understood yeah can't sustain it and if you look at the forecast the fiveyear forecast that's included in there we um may need free cash y and that's something you know I've been voicing for for quite some time and we need the economic development or other Revenue sources so we'll get to those of course and and it's dire that we really drive those but again coming back to that um uh you mentioned 5% what is our current percentage going to be with this allocation for this year um I don't have the number off the top of my head I think we were at 6.5 million and then we'll add another 700,000 so uh 7.2 but I haven't done the 5% yeah so that would be a good data point I do hope that that you know we are around 5.5 or six which is you know more is always good but it's a it means we are managing our risks uh and as for next year again the other kind of lens is that free cash is because we didn't spend those in the town budgets where we anticipated those I always debate is it a good thing because that means we starved some services and that's why it comes back the next year so it's kind of a catch 22 game if you think about it every time if we want to save too much on the free cash it's going to bite us because someone didn't get to use the money or didn't get the money because of not fully appropriate allocation of some kind and that's why they are asking for it again this year so I think that Loop is something to think about I would rather have uh 1 to 2 million free cash then fully fund the services that we need now so something I know it's always unpredictable in some ways but something to think about and how we can tune that better so over the next month the Departments will be coming to talk to you about their budget proposals and you can get into depth uh with these questions for each of their budgets yeah and and just to resonate everyone's thought I think um we definitely don't are not in favor of looking at the override option that is not an option right now at least I I heard my colleagues and I wouldn't have on the table well I mean this is this is the year uh I really think we do need 5 to 6% in the state ization because we know we're not getting the other source money next year that's $4 million we're not going to get and we we know that now so you know we should be prepared um it's it's a very difficult difficult situation and I I see some of these things that have been suggested that we may cut back or eliminate and um we really have to look at them and uh as much as we don't want to say yes to any of them we we have to look at them I you one of them with the holiday lights on the common they were gorgeous this year but can we afford it next year I don't know I [Music] mean I don't want to cut Fox and W program say don't storm water program our family day huh our family Day family day that's a lot of money for family day I don't know if it can be raised wait do we fund Family Day in another way huh I thought that was privately funded family day is it on there it is privately funded apparently there are some expenses that the town has paid for as needed okay but I don't think that full 30,000 has ever been spent okay and like you said the vaccine vaccine Services I hate to see it all cut out but if you had to limit it to you know people over 65 or or something like that perhaps we could take a look at [Music] uh I mean you just don't want to see any of them reduced or eliminated I mean close Sandy Beach that was a real resource for me when I had when my kids are little I I hate to think of closing Sandy Beach uh but I know it's expensive life Cs and on the beach operations are expensive just want to be clear we haven't proposed closing the beach we haven't proposed closing the beach I just want to clarify that okay well I'm just reading from suggestions here and uh and not reducing Library hours right all that right okay for the stabilization though because we do want to get that to the 5% or what whatever is recommended could we get an update on how much is in there currently because I think the last few years we have been adding you know the a good amount so I have it on my list okay thanks for next time maybe I mean and that number is important for our bond rating as well when we gr so so I'm glad that this budget does include continuing to put more into that I know it's hard to you know we're saving for a rainy day and it's hard to know when that day going to come but it feels like it's going to come soon because yeah good to move on Mary Joe yes thank you thank you work [Music] sorry if I know no nobody wants an override but um if we were to have to propose that that that wouldn't need to be a warant article just have to be on the ballot that so it doesn't have to be decided right now okay now we're going to move on to the permission for bonfire what's up Chief everying tonight hello hi chief ladies hello and what would you like to present tonight I'm going to present good evening my name is Gail obber and this is Kim Cooper we are the class parents of the 20126 graduating class we appreciate being here tonight we've also asked Chief Gary Dy from the hopkington fire department and Tim Pearson director of buildings and grounds for hopkington public schools to be here with us unfortunately Tim couldn't come at the last minute but we want to thank both of them very much for their support historically there's has always been a post-prom event this is an activity after prom for to keep our kids safe in the last few years the attendance for pro post prom has continued to decline the students that we want to attend our post-prom event have no interest in attending this year we sent at a survey to both the junior class students and parents the consensus was that not a lot of people were interested in a post-prom event they wanted to have a class event at another time Kim and I mostly Kim came up with a very creative idea that has been done in hopkington in the past but it has not been done in a while it's an event that would bond this class as they prepare for their senior year we are asking permission from the board to approve a permit for the fire department so parents so the parents of the class of 2026 can host a bonfire event on Friday evening June 13th they had it wrong on the agenda just so you know Friday evening June 13 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 900 p.m. this would take place behind hopkington Middle School on the clay part of the field too uh we have have the support support of Chief Dy and Tim Pearson if the wood we provide is untreated and completely clean of foreign objects we would have a DJ and two food trucks and we have already checked with the Board of Health and they are both both the food trucks that we would like to have there are already approved for permits we would also provide sport activities for the students such as cornhole volleyball and softball and there would be lights on the field and the students will be able to use the brown gym bathrooms Chief Dy forwarded us the Massachusetts General law regarding ceremonial bonfires which you all have in front of you something important to note we have talked to both Chief Dy and Tim Parson and discussed if there was a water restriction due to a drought like last year we would not have the bonfire we would still have the DJ the food trucks and the sporting activities we are also working on an alternative date for a rain date if it rains we have discussed this with Mr Bishop and Matt Santoro school resource officer they're both on board providing we get the permit thank you in advance for your consideration of our request for a permit for this exciting activity for the class of 2026 than you okay any comments or questions just in general um again and sounds like a fun event and great uh Community Gathering and especially for kids uh high school kids so I'm um uh I'm supportive of it I want to make sure safety and other measure wise how we are thinking and what's the plan um and great that uh Gary is here if you want to walk us through that uh tonight we're just here really to get your approval um once that happens then we can uh move forward with the planning um the like uh Gail and Kim are saying the mgl says you have to uh give us the authority to have this bonfire we're only allowed to do one a year um once we do that we'll find they already have the location picked out they'll have to provide the wood and then we can actually talk about the size uh some of the other things we're worried about that time of Year's um red flag um like if we're in the drought again we can't have it um depending on bur season in some EPA requirements um but once this is the first step once the first step is approved then we can move moving uh developing a safety plan and stuff thank you and in general um you feel this is manageable and something our department can especially in that location it's down in the back there's not uh won't be any structures around or anything and we will be providing a fire truck that thank you I think as long as the fire chiefs conditions are included I don't have any I think we should approved the Event Y so if I may through the chair um it Tim person was not able to be here tonight I think in the schools we just had some confusion as to who the sponsors of this was uh first we thought it the hpto but now I realize it's a parent organization so I spoke with Mr Bishop he said that what is typical is that the high school administration will you know pop into an event like this post prom but they typically are are not there for the entire evening so as long as we're clear that it's a parent generated event then I think you know the schools are very comfortable with you using this space Y and we asked Matt too I mean we asked Matt to be there for the event and would obviously have whatever we needed in terms of that support and Matt said he would be there for us and it will be funded by us doing fundraising through the parents of the class and just to add that we are checking to make sure the town's insurance would cover such an event and if not some additional Insurance may be required okay well I love the idea having gone to high school in the 60s every year we had a huge bonfire it was around Thanksgiving time and not this time of year but um went in the 80s and I it was huge you remember we had a great time it was safe and uh none of us I don't think ever forgot it uh it it just meant a lot so uh was one of our biggest events in fact it might have been the biggest event of the year um and uh I I think it's a great idea and as long as the chief is on board and and organizing I I would think this is great so anybody else got any comments okay uh I Mo I will make a motion to authorize the fire department to issue a permit for the commer um ceremonial bonfire on June 13th 2025 with the following conditions the fire department will require a brush truck to be on standby during the event the drought uh a drought of red flag conditions exist the event may not proceed and a food truck may be required for inspection by the fire department so moved second all in favor thank you thank you very much appreciate it have a great time have got some water okay okay uh we have a town position [Music] to we need food service worker at the senior center now this job is already did someone leave or something happen or is this a new position so this is a position at the senior center where someone left excuse me I didn't yet someone recently left someone recently left so it's budgeted it's a budgeted position okay any questions any I think it's pretty straightforward to me thank you we get Joe when he gets back uh I moveed to authorize the posting of a food service worker position at the senior center so moved well I abstain for these votes it's micromanagement so you can wait till Jo gets back I mean am usually abstains from this okay if you really need my vote I'll vote Yes because I think we need this position but we can wait well then we go to town stat the town manager report yeah let's do that y so the first item in the town manager report is just an update on the Main Street Corridor project uh the last uh property and traffic control cabinet cut over work ever Source was scheduled for this week this past week um and all will be on the new underground infrastructure once this work is complete Comcast and Verizon are working to complete their designs to cut over to the new underground infrastructure Comcast intends to begin pulling wires at the end of January um and there's an update attached to my uh Town manager report the second item is the town Department position vacancy that you already mentioned um third uh just announcing again that the new um there's a new means tested senior property tax exemption for school building projects which was um there result of some town a town proposal which was approved by the legislature and that will be available starting in fiscal year 2026 and the board of assessors will administer the program and determine the exemption amounts annually um in soad they'll be putting out information on that new program that's really excellent that it's finally gone through yeah good job everybody working on that and wanted to mention too that um there is a proposed use of the team hoit statue um for a fundraiser um team hoit has reached out regarding a fundraising on March 20th uh where Bank of America would like to include this in a um in a regional event uh where they'll have some uh Marathon bibs put on the Statue and a QR code and a sandwich board up for the day which is giving day um they'll also be using some statues around Boston for the same purpose and they'll provide security to monitor the statue and display for the day and at this time it doesn't appear as though any permits or licenses are required and there be no blocking of Roads or anything like that they're going to do it on on premise right they're not going to move it no it'll be like pictures and things like that right right people will people will um will go to the Statue and use the QR code nice to donate okay thank you very much like a a great fun idea but I just does that mean since no permit or licenses required can any charity just do this well they're using Town property so uh we appreciate asking for just the use of the property make sure nothing else is scheduled and so forth and that we don't need other things there like portable toilets or Public Safety anything like that okay okay liaison reports anybody have one oh the u Chinese American Association is having their or the Hopkinton Chinese American Association is having their uh lunin Year celebration this weekend I think it's Saturday it's Saturday Saturday evening y so that's nice it's a wonderful event right what is it it's a new year Chinese New Year oh New Year okay yeah and uh okay Joe you're back sorry so no that's okay um I moved to authorize the posting of a food service worker position for the senior center it's not a new position someone recently left so it's budgeted supp that move manager supports all in favor I I okay and we went through uh the town manager report L just gave that uh and liaison reports do you have a liaison report um just um I attended the uh Library meeting and um there were you know concerns about the budget and how it's going to be managed uh so that's where I made the earlier comment on budget as well as well and then they are um I think the vice chair sent a note that they also discussed about a possible warrant for the the reporting structure of the unit um I don't know if there was any followup or is that still being considered but there was one that I also heard from them uh and then on affordable housing I think they're meeting uh to tonight so we'll have some more update but uh about how about the expiring date restrictions and how we can how we can manage on some of the ones that are expiring because we are already at 10% which is the threshold from a zoning perspective if you go lower it'll be a free zoning in essentially so they're working on renewing those on a timely basis so we can meet up to that but there's more to it and uh one of the upcoming sessions I think we would like to have them join us uh that's all I have Amy I the only thing I'll mention um I think um so there's a Bobby GI statue that's going the idea is it's going to be placed near the common but it's been at the HCA during all the construction but I was going to say they start distri commission has been reviewing that and they're hoping to get it um on the common before Marathon this year so that would be nice if the project is finally done yeah but it it was really nice design to have the Bobby GI statue um it has a little like a circle a half circle wall where people could um sit next to the Statue and see it I thought it was I'm sorry I was told it was going in the on the brick house yes I'm sorry across from the common it's going to have a a platform everything yes it's be balanced with the HS the ho statue being on either side so yeah you're you're correct okay okay that's that's all I just I thought maybe I heard wrong yeah I think that's the only um thing I have right now it'll be nice to have that done Joe I'm good right now okay um I did talk to Dy feror on the marathon committee and they're moving right along and there's really not much new uh she did say they were hoping and planning to have the Saturday events that we had last year with the children's race and that that was very popular and that was it was a really nice um deal that they had there so uh we're hoping to do that they're hoping to do that again this year so I think that's great have the use of the common for Saturday uh on the weekend uh the other things okay I I did go to the MW meeting and you know they're just they're just steaming right along so I I that was a good meeting uh and that's all I have to say anybody else okay so future board agenda items I did want to talk about Ran's item the senior tax credit office because it was because of the seniors we can't use the workof program for a certain amount of the seniors that are doing work at the senior center like like in the gift shop that's it's it's not part of the criteria for that but we did for a little while so now we have to we really got to look into a way of giving them some kind of the same compensation that that the state or that we give uh the other people who work and donate time to the senior center um and I think we're going to have to do it ourselves I was thinking do it you know in a different way have it as open right have it as open but I thought it had been resolved no it's not been resolved yet no so Senior Services has created or you know looked for other opportunities for people to to do the the activities that they need to do and as far as I know there's you know been opportunities for everyone who wants to to do something but they have to perform work for the town and not for a nonprofit organization so it's not the regular workof program correct well it's it is the workof program but they have to work for the town and not for a nonprofit for the town and not for not from the senior center tax benefit comes from the town that works for me so that's so that basically is done that's taken care of can we take that off that list the future things would you say it's I thought there was still an interest of and talking learning about it more okay but it's up to the board okay that was his item well I just want to make sure the seniors get there they do they work hard and I I've worked there myself so okay now uh I need a motion to adjourn so move it uh so no ex session oh we have executive so oh J to Executive session I should say not to return yeah to this session s read all the items select board will convene an executive session I moved select board will convene in executive session update and strategy session regarding arbitration filed by there oh there's a there's a motion that does not have have all that okay I would use um do you have the motion oh yeah right here I'm sorry thank you yeah making it up I hope people people don't realize I it's not that I can't read it's just it in much I'm having cataracts removed from both eyes so everything is blurry takes me a little longer than somebody else I move to convene in executive session person to mgl c30a 21A purpose 6 to consider the purchase exchange lease or value of Real Estate land at SSR map r121 0 r240 and r161 190 because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiate negotiating position of the board pursu to mgl c30a 21A purpose 3 to consider strategy with respect to negotiations with the police fire DPW and dispatch unions approval of executive session minutes to allow the allow elain Lazarus and Lance Del prier to participate in executive session not to convene in Open session after the conclusion of the executive session second second Amy Rush yes Joe Clark Yes Man yes may Jo yes