going to call our um board of selectman meeting to order for April 22nd uh 2025. And the time is 601. And we'll start with the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we have a few announcements. Um, this meeting is being recorded by the local scene. Anyone intending to make an audio or video
recording of the meeting should notify the chair at this time. Seeing nobody. Uh, financial assistance applications are available on the town's website or by calling the selectman's office. For anyone interested in volunteering, there are several vacancies on various committees and boards. To see a complete
list of the openings, please visit our website at kingstonmma.gov. Also, check our website for any additional events or notices. Again, it's www.kstonmma.gov. Uh, the Agricultural Commission is hosting vegetable gardening 101 on Wednesday, April 30th
at 7 PM at the Council on Aging. Um, does anybody else have any other announcements? Missy, do you have anything for Rick? I think we we'll wait for the I have the dates, but we'll wait. All right. At this point, um, we'll do open forum. So,
if somebody would like to speak. Is green mean good? Yes. Yes. Hello, my name is Ro Kushman. Do I need my address? Yeah, my name is My name is Ro Kushman. 273 Main Street, Kingston Mass.
I just want to say that next, not this Friday, Thursday and Friday coming, but the not this Thursday, Friday, but next Thursday, Friday after this drama siblings stars drama club at the high
school is holding their annual spring play, Mamma Mia. I do not know the time, but I I'll probably figure it out and let you guys let somebody know. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you so much. Uh would anybody else
like to speak? No. Okay. Um we're just going to take a couple things out of order. Uh, first up is going to be the um number three under additional items, consideration and possible approval of a one-year employment contract with Deputy
Chief Adam Hatch. So that is under three. Um, does anybody have any questions? We do have the chief here and Adam's here. Does anybody have any questions? And if not, would somebody like to make a motion?
You want me to do? Sorry. Um, I move to approve the employment contract between the town of Kingston and Deputy Fire Chief Adam Hatch as presented. Second. All right. All those in favor? I. It's unanimous. Thank you. All right.
And then we are also going to take I think it's number six. So, consideration of early voting for annual town election. Um Keith, do you want to say anything about this? Sure.
Um every year, uh starting with 2024, so this is the second year, I guess. Um the board of selectment in Kingston have the ability to determine whether it's going to they're going to allow early voting for the local elections. Last year, the board chose not to allow early voting um
because the clerk at that point had said, "We've got a presidential election as well, and it's just going to be a lot a lot going on." This year, uh the the town clerk is is again suggesting that um there's not a need for uh early early
voting. If people are unable to uh come to town come to the town election, uh you've got the ability to come to the townhouse just like you do in early voting. Uh you're supposed to be um either going to be out of town or or ill
or some for some reason unable to to uh attend the the town election uh on Saturday. Um, I'll say this without saying it that no, if if you come in um to vote, nobody's going to be asking
for a notorized reason why you can't be at the town election. Um, you'll certainly have the ability to vote absentee. So, uh, the town clerk's office is asking again to um not, uh, approve early voting for
the, uh, annual local elections this May. Not to approve. Not to approve. Okay. Uh I move the board of selectmen not approve early voting for the May 2025 annual town election. Second. All right. All those in favor? I. That's unanimous.
Thank you. Awesome. And then uh number seven, request from the town clerk to approve and post the warrant for the Saturday, May 17th annual town election. So they're required by state law to accept and post the annual town election warrant. Um, our town clerk is recommending the election warrant be um,
it's included in our materials. So, any questions or motion? I move the board of select and approve and authorize a town clerk to post the annual town election warrant scheduled for Saturday, May 17th, 2025 as presented by the town clerk. Second. All those in favor? I.
All right, that's unanimous. All right, back to our 6 p.m. appointment. We have a uh public hearing. We have a petition from NSAR electric company uh doing business as Eversource Energy um proposing to relocate poles, wires,
cables and fixtures on Marian Drive. Um Verizon New England um and NSTAR uh is requesting permission to locate and relocate the poles, wires, cables, fixtures, and all the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures to be owned and used in common uh by
petitioners along and across the following public way or ways in right of way Marian Drive. Um so the public hearing notice is notice is hereby given that the Kingston board of selectmen will hold a public hearing on the petition. Um, I think
that's work order 15039504 from NStar Electric Company, doing business as Eversource Energy, requesting permission to locate and relocate poles, wires, cables, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures to be owned and used common by your
petitioners along and across the following public way or ways. Three new FO poles 552, 5523, and 5525 with push brace, back guy, and anchors in right of way of Marian Road.
The hearing shall take place on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025, and the meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in room 200 at the Townhouse, 26 Evergreen Street, Kingston, Mass. People interested are invited to attend and be heard in this matter. Um, would someone like to make a
motion to open the public hearing? I move the board selectman open the public hearing. Second. All those in favor? I. All right, we are open. And we have somebody here. Just introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Julie Long from Eversource. And
you know, as um requested, we're um requesting to put in three fully owned poles um on Marian Drive. So, I have a question before I open up to the rest of the board here. Um, is this replacing current poles or is it
new? No. So, they are going to be three new poles. Okay. Um, we had gotten a request from the owners of the turbine. There's poles and wires that are going down there that um they requesting that we that be moved onto the street, better
access for us. Um in the event it won't affect any of the people who are currently on that circuit and nobody would be interrupted for service when they do the um when they put the poles in and bring that service out to the street. And dumb question, but the wires
are going to go over the road. It does pass over at one point. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm just looking at the at the diagram. Um does anybody else have any questions? No. Anybody from the public here to speak during this hearing?
No. Okay. Um Keith, do you have anything to add? No, sir. And um can you correct me if I'm wrong, but Sean already took a look at this? He didn't have any concerns. Um so that's good. Um, all right. If anybody would like to
make a motion to um oppose, I move the board second close the open hearing. Second. All those in favor? I I All right. That's unanimous. All right. Would anybody like to make a motion on um approving the request or not approving it?
I move that the board of selectman approve the request from NStar Electric Company DBA Eversource Energy permission to locate and relocate poles, wires, cables, and fixtures, including the necessary, sustaining, and protecting fixtures to be owned and used in common
by your petitioners along and across the following public way or ways. Three new FO poles 5522, 5523 and 5525 with push brace back guy and anchors and right of way of Marian Drive or Marian Road,
sorry. Second. All right. All those in favor. All right. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Sure. All right. Next up is a request for change of officers for a liquor license at Regal Cinemas. Uh they're requesting a change of of officers. Um it was
originally made and approved by the selectman on December 3rd, 24. Um but the ABCC requested additional information from Regal that was not provided and required Regal to submit a new liquor license application. Um does anybody have any questions, comments?
Go ahead. I move the board of selectman approve the request from Regal Cinemas Incorporated doing business as Regal Cinemas Independence Mall 14 for a change in officers for their all alcoholic beverages license. Second. All those in favor? I. All right, that's
unanimous. All right, we're early so we can't start the 6:15 uh public hearing yet. Um let's look on real quick. Um, we could do number What's that? Number four, approval of April license. Yeah. Okay, here we go. Approval of um
April licenses uh bowling and billiard table. Um we have uh summary of all annual April license renewals that have been submitted uh by Kingston businesses. The summary also includes a type licenses then um that have been applied for each business. Any
questions, comments, or a motion. I move that the board of selectman approve the annual licenses as printed in the meeting packet. Second. All those in favor? I I All right, that one's quick. We still have three more minutes. And we go
four additional items. The refinance an affordable living unit. Okay. So, request to refinance an affordable living unit. Uh the owners of the property at 27 Bog View Road purchase the property through an affordable living unit lottery through the office of housing and livable
communities. the the owners would like to refinance the property and are required to receive approval from the board of selectment. Staff is recommending that the board approve the refinancing uh request. Um does anybody have any questions or comments? All right. Anybody want to make a motion? I
move the board of selectman approve the request from the owner of 27 Bogiew Road to refinance the property with the following stipulations. The interest rate on the loan be a fixed rate. The principal loan amount should not exceed 242,000 and obtaining prior written approval of the Department of Housing
and Community Development. Further given the town administrator the authority to sign the letter notifying the property owner of the board's decision on behalf of the selectman. Second. All right. All those in favor? I. All right. That's unanimous. We're moving real quick. Got about one more minute. Is
there anything else that's real quick? Do you want to do number nine? acceptance of donation to the Council on Aging and the Animal Control. Um, Council on Aging and Animal Control have both received donations and are asking for the board to accept. Uh, I move the
board of selectman accept the following donations to the Kingston Council on Aging in Memory of uh, Mary Bowman, $25 from Bruce Davenport, $50 from Barbara Holmes and Julie Fishman, $15 from SG Keaney, and $100 from Joyce and Jeffrey
Stewart. Yep. Oh, sorry. That's fine. Second. All those in favor? I I All right. Next motion. I move the board of selectmen um accept the donation of a 10 by10 pop-up tent estimated with an estimated value of $100 from an anonymous donor to animal control.
Second. All those in favor? I I. And we're at 6:15. Good. Good timing. All right. So, we have a uh public hearing for street acceptance. I'm going to read the notice. Uh, the Kingston Board of
Selecmen will hold a public hearing at the Kingston Townhouse, 26 Evergreen Street, Kingston, Mass, on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 at 6:15 to discuss acceptance of Timber Ridge and Sequoia Drive as shown on a plan entitled Tall
Timbers Estates Phase 5 prepared by McKenzie Engineering Group dated September 5th, 2018. The plan may be viewed prior to the meeting at the board of selectment office during regular business hours. Um, can I get a motion to open the public hearing? I move the board of selectmen open the
public hearing. Second. All those in favor? I. All right, we are open. Um, Keith, do you want to start or do you want to or is Val going to present? I think maybe we'll double team if you want, Val. Um, so we is the town's or and Valerie's been carrying the ball on this has been we're not we're uh
notified reached out to uh by the owners uh in the subdivision. They're looking to um have the street have Timber Ridge and Sequoia Drive um become town roads. Uh the the the subdivision is fairly new. So, uh,
if you guys recall, if the board recalls two or 3 weeks ago, um, typically there's, um, an estimate that has to be determined on, um, you know, what the engineers think it's going to cost to
make improvements to the roadway. Uh at that point we need to have uh 50% of the uh of the property owners that this will affect um sign off that they'll they'll accept um either a betterment or paying their share because this these two roads
are in such good shape and new. Uh the need to have the initial um review to determine what improvements need to be made doesn't need to happen. Uh so what we're here tonight to do is to have a conversation with with the property owners um and the board say let the
board know that at this point um the next step if the board wants to move this along would be to let the property owners know that the next step would be to have the property owners get uh 90% of the
um affected properties on the streets. um approval to um accept the the cost either over time or or um and it can be and again I just want to make sure it's clear if somebody wants to pay over time and somebody wants to pay it all up front they can do
that it doesn't have to be it's an all not an all or nothing and I think there was a question about that the last meeting but um the impression that we have is the high very high end of a cost is about $5,000 we expect it to be lower
than that but I'd rather to tell you five grand tonight and have me come back in a few months and tell you it's three rather than rather than the other way around. Um, and if the board's interested and then we can move and wants to move forward in this direction, um, it will we'll put the onus back on the owners of
the of the uh of the homes out there and and have them bring forward to us uh the 90% um signatures of the property owners out there. uh and we can and then start that process of of bringing it forward,
getting all the approvals and with with the idea that we might be able to bring it forward as early as um this fall's town meeting, six months from now, give or take. Val, you have anything you want to jump in? You're more expertise than that. No, I think that was pretty expert. Wow. Wow. I've listened to too
many of these then. So, I think and I think what's important to know for for anybody who's watching this um later on or or or online um this doesn't cost the town anything now in terms of um accepting those streets. It just means
that in the future the town would be responsible for paving those streets as well as plowing and taking care of them during the winter. Um Val, correct me if I'm wrong and those roads are in fairly decent shape that Yeah. So again, wasn't that like 15 years before they would
need to be reset? I think that's what Sean said at the last hearing. Okay. Yeah. So when we say 90% of the signatures, what we mean is, you know, if you can collect the signatures uh with a notary um of 90% of you and then
um that would be enough to satisfy that we can go ahead as staff and start that next step which is the the three to $5,000 that Keith mentioned is because state law requires that there be either a meets and bounds description which is fancy talk for a surveyor describing the
the outline of the road or um we might have to do an asbuilt plan working off of the uh subdivision plan that we have and that we think that's the cost that that's going to be borne by you to have that be um something that's recordable
and that's all it is. There's really nothing else that we expect to see. If I could just jump in real quick and I again this is just a if you get to the point where you're interested in having signatures notorized and this is a benefit and this is this is just for
ease uh of getting this done for you if if you want to find two or three dates or times um we've got notaries in the building if people want to come in. Valerie's one. Yep. If you got if if you want to commit, if you want to let either Valerie and I know, you know, two or three nights where we would set two
or three nights or afternoons where um you know, we could make sure we're available or Valerie's available to to to be to to sign off as far as a notary goes. We can get that done here. So, you're not having to figure out where where you want to get that done. We are open until 6:00 on TR on uh Tuesdays. Uh
so, if that's convenient for people, that's great. If some of you are able to make it during the day, um we can certainly set that up with you and just bring the paperwork in and we'll get it notorized for you to make it a little bit easier for you. Any other anything else you want to say? No. No. Any questions from this side?
Nope. Actually, one question I have, I don't know if you know or if they know. Have there been people are there residents who don't want this? Like are they part of the 10% or has everybody been positive so far? Everybody's been positive so far. Okay. All right. For sake of the people
at home, he said everybody is positive so far. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, did anybody want to speak during the open uh the the public hearing? You're welcome to speak if you want to. Um, if not, then yeah, we'll move forward and vote.
All right. Okay. Uh, any other questions? If you're going to speak, just go up to Yeah, just introduce yourself. Thank you. [Music] Um Nick Lantion, 17 Seoria Drive and one of the trustees of the homeowners
association. Uh a few of the reasons that we would appreciate you guys consider us as a public way is one the bill to the town standards. It's and it was just finished in November of 2024. It's a cut through now for Timber Ridge, excuse for tall timbers for running and
biking paths rather than utilizing street and cell street which is we know can be very busy. Uh out of the 34 residents in the neighborhood almost 90% have children and we do hope to keep them all in the town. Um and we just
want to be able to ensure a safe access for all public vehicles within the uh within our neighborhood. Thank you. Nick, it's good to see you. It's been a long time. How you doing? How are you? All right. Any other questions? Before we make a motion, while I have you all here as a captive
audience, um what I was saying before in the announcements is we have a lot of open positions for for volunteers and elected positions. So, you guys are are relatively new to town. Maybe not. Maybe you've moved from somewhere else. But, um we're all just residents here. Um you know, we we've been co and I'm sure you
guys are too, you know, coaching your kids and being involved in in sports. Um, but also, you know, there's school committees, there's a finance committee here that that and you don't have to be an expert at finance. Um, there's there's all kinds of boards and committees, advisory boards that um
definitely need help. So, if you're interested, take a look at our website, see what openings there are, and and reach out. And if you have questions, you know, contact any of us. We're we're all all our contact info is on the website as well. Most crowds in here aren't happy or uh so we can't make any
plugs, but I think this is all gonna work out. So, he's making a nice sales plug. This is a happy and friendly room tonight. I thought you were guilting him for a yes vote. It's a it's a it's a recruiting event. Because we we're not going to be doing this forever either, right? It's true.
All right. Um would anybody like to make a motion? I move the board of select and close the public hearing. Second. All those in favor? I I I move the board of selectment approve the request from 34 Cell Street Homeowners Associ Association Trust to
move to the next step within the road acceptance policy. The next step I heard you say the next step. I thought for a moment you were going to have them approve for the warrant, but Okay. All right. Do I have a second? Second.
All right. All those in favor? I. All right. That's unanimous. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. Next item is our renewal of razor clam licenses in a request to reduce the number of available licenses
and approve um updated regulations. So annually the board of selectment awards up to 11 razor clam licenses. Similar to town moorings, uh razor clam licenses have historically been awarded to the license holders from the previous year unless they are no
longer interested. The board asked the shellfish constible to recommend a minimum amount of shellfish to be harvested by each license holder to retain their license the following year. The shellfish constible is recommending that a minimum not be required since there is not a waiting line for a license. Um feeling it would be
counterproductive to impose minimum catch on them. On November 7th, uh, 2023, the previous shellfish constable Joe Zlogger Zlogar Zlar requested to increase the number of available razor clam licenses from 10 to 11 based on a
drop in the razor clam harvesting effort since 2018. Uh, Mr. Cullivan is requesting that the number of available licenses be reduced to nine. Mr. Cullivan provided a memo in the board materials. There's currently no waiting list and below are um nine current
license holders. Also, Mr. Calvin made a few updates to the regulations he would like approved. The redline document is also within the board materials. And just uh for note, the the folks who are um current license holders are Pamela Taylor, Thomas Taylor, Karen Webble, Matthew Webbble, Ben Lancing, Scott
McEnroe, John Webbble, Jamie McEnroe, and Tyler Putney. Um, do we have any questions or comments? I I have one question. Okay. Um, there isn't currently a wait list, but there was he I feel like we talked about that.
Was he going to try to enlist a wait list if needed or No, I know if there's a Well, there is a wait list. There's just nobody on the wait list, right? So, he's going to continue to keep the weight list, right? It just doesn't wasn't clear. Okay. Yeah. I mean I mean Dan can speak to it but I know that um like in the years
past because I was on it like I was on list for a couple years. Um okay that was my only question. I just didn't want I wanted to make sure we still Yeah. The last person that was on it was uh Tyler um the other Tyler, not me. Um okay. Nobody's gone there since. Got it. Yeah.
That was it. That was all I had for questions. Any other questions or comments? No. No, I just think this is I just want to say this is great work by Dan and uh getting everything up to snub and working with Ducksberry and kind of getting information. It's been I know
you worked with Dubberry and and and talked to them and got information in the state. I just I think it's impressive. That's all. This is uh I didn't even see someone's been talked about for a while. So, um it seems like it's the right move to kind of you're not cook you're not kicking anybody off
in the list. You're not It's just it's the it's kind of the perfect storm to do it. And to oppose a minimum catch without a weight list is I mean if somebody's willing to pay $300 for a license, who's to say you have to catch this much to keep it, right? Right. You know. Yeah. So yeah, and I think we
could re revisit that. I mean, if we do have a sudden surge on a wait list, we could certainly revisit that. But this this makes sense to me. Uh would anybody like to make a motion? So, I move the board of selectmen approve the renewal of nine Razor Clam licenses of the individuals listed above
for the term of July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Set the license fee at $300 and reduce the number of available licenses to nine. Second. All right. All those in favor. All right.
We have the regulations vote. I move the board of selectman approve the updated razor claim regulations as presented. Second. All those in favor? I. There we go. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next item is uh authorize authorization to
advertise and appoint on the board's behalf one civil service lateral transfer to a full-time police officer. Uh Chief Holmes is requesting authorization to advertise and appoint a civil service lateral transfer of a full-time police officer. This action is a fail safe that would allow to appoint
one full-time police officer in the event that something unexpectedly happens that prevents a full-time appointment of future new hires. Um there is a memo in in our board materials. Chief, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, honorable members. Miss Tucker, um
everything should be explained in the email uh as well as the material that you have. Uh you'll notice there's no time frame on it other than to talk about the fact that we have two that will be entering the police academy in the fall if something happens with these folks. Uh this would allow us to
expeditiously recruit, appoint, and have the additional body to put a full-time SRO in the middle school without delay. Uh the question about a lateral transfer has been raised a couple of times in the past. Um I think some of of the members of the board I've talked to
individually. I've definitely talked to Mr. Hickeyi, I did talk to the finance committee chair about uh the possibility of using this, but this would be a fail safe for us. Um and it would be in the event that uh something happened um with any of our recruits going into the
academy, in which case I would keep the board apprised of that. Okay. Any questions or comments? No. Uh motion. I move the board of selectman authorize the chief of police to advertise and appoint a lateral transfer of one
full-time uh civil service police officer on behalf of the board. Second. All those in favor? I I'm going to abstain. Okay. All right. And thank you. I I should have given you a heads up. Uh the lieutenant's presenting the other item
for tonight. Okay. And that's next because we already did the other items. All right. So, next item is authorization to establish a range for firearms training and mandatory qualifications on townowned property. Um, and we do have a memo um in our
materials for this as well. All right, Lieutenant, you are up. Thank you, sir. I believe we have a presentation as well that Mr. Alenro's going to pull up for me. First, I want to just thank the board for letting me be hurried tonight on this. Um, I also wanted to thank uh Mr. the hickey, Miss Tucker, uh the
chief, uh superintendent Turner, uh as well as my firearms instructor team, uh and conservation agent Matt Panella for kind of assisting with this project. For those at home that don't know who I am, Mike Scoa, detective lieutenant for Kingston PD, uh in that role, I oversee our special operations, which includes
our tactical training and firearms training, which is why I'm before you tonight for our firearms training range request. See if this works. Oh, good. Look at that. Beautiful. I don't have to do anything. Yeah, I like it. Um, you do have a memo as you mentioned,
uh, Mr. Cone. Uh, the there's a few maps in here as well, a little bit more detail. Essentially, this PowerPoint presentation I have for you is covering what's in the memo. If you haven't had the opportunity to review it, I also have a letter from, uh, Superintendent Turner that I intend to read as well. U, but just real quick, I won't waste a lot
of your time. Uh, why is there a need for a firearms range? Obviously in the profession of policing uh that is important that we train with these uh with our firearms as well as other weapon systems like less lethal shotguns, tasers. There's obviously a lot of tactical needs based off the nature of our profession. Uh the MPTC
which is the board that governs what we do training wise uh requires that we train with our firearms at least twice per year. Uh also we have to train with our less lethal shotguns at least once per year, tasers at least once per year, and then we do other tactical training. I want to put in there there's obviously these are the minimum requirements we're
talking about, right? And obviously we would like to go bel above the minimum requirements that the state uh puts on us for the state. Uh some background, we used to shoot at the old transfer station way back in the day, more than a decade. Uh before it was uh redone. Uh
and since that time, I've been a firearms instructor for approximately 10 years, nine 10 years. Uh since that time, we've just been borrowing favors from other police departments, Plimpmpton, Halifax, Bridgewater, Pemroke, wherever we can find range time, and they're willing to have us. Uh we've been going to those towns. Uh
obviously, that creates some sort of uh logistical issues, traveling, uh some unfamiliarity with the ranges we're using. Uh we're putting these other departments out. Uh and then we run into issues where if we have a firearm go down, in fact we have one in the armory right now that had a malfunction that if
we don't have time on the range or a range to go to to address that, uh that firearm is going to be out of service till we can address that, right? That also would apply to less lethal shotguns and other equipment. Uh and then of course scheduling issues that come up with these other departments, with these other ranges. Uh there's occasionally
double bookings that occur, uh poor weather, then we try to find another day to do it. We're unable to find time. Just some of the background as to why uh I'm before you today. Uh some cost considerations relative to this. So, uh the alternative
if we essentially run out of good faith with other departments and trying to borrow from them, uh is paying for a private gun range. Uh some departments in the area do do that. Uh I believe, don't quote me, but I believe Plymouth is paying about 10 to 12,000 for the Plymouth uh running gun. I know Hansen
pays a couple different departments pay to use their private gun ranges in their areas. Uh that's still there's obviously a cost to use the range in several thousand dollar uh per training event. And then there's also those same issues of if you have a weapon go down, if you need to do remedial training or extra training with an officer that didn't
maybe perform as well as others, uh it's difficult to get range time without paying for that extra time. Uh obviously then the cost of building the range comes up, right? So, if we were to build this range in the proposed space, and I'll show you a little bit more later where that proposed space is, uh we currently anticipate besides the
manpower and equipment and obviously fuel to run that equipment that uh Superintendent Turner has through highway, really no additional cost. It's just his his crew, his equipment, he anticipates the ability to build this range on the parcel that we're discussing. um if he's unable to build
the burm the backdrop for where we fire high enough uh to be something that we're comfortable with. We think he actually is able to based off the the distance he told me. Uh but if for whatever reason it's not enough, he anticipates approximately $1,000 to bring in an excavator to lift the dirt up and bring it even higher. Um but
that's if he's unable to raise it to the standards that we hope and it sounds like he'll be able to. Um, and then one thing that I'll address later as well, uh, is we may, uh, end up having to fire lead free ammo, uh, and we intend to at this point. Uh, and that would be a
slight increase to our our regular ammo cost per year. It's like 40 to 60 bucks per case more than what we're currently firing, which is a,000 rounds per case. So, it really only comes out to about 250 to $500 per year. And I give that range because some of the ranges that we use already require that. So, we it's
not unusual for us to stock lead free ammo as well. Can I Can I stop you there? So, yeah. Is that just straight up environmental reasons? Is that why? Correct. Was that has that been brought up by was by staff? Could I just jump in real quick? I apologize. So, we were
talking about it today. Lieutenant SCA at the department head meeting. Uh there was some questions, concerns raised uh about um surface water. There's some old um cranberry bogs, things of that nature. There's also some monitoring wells for the for the uh former
landfill. So frankly, um to try to address that proactively knowing there's a um what I would think is a minimal increase in cost of ammunition. Um to proactively address that so we don't have we're not dealing with um potential contaminations 10 15 years down the
road. Um, it was my suggestion to the chief and to lieutenant to just pri just um offer to use uh this type of ammunition to proactively just reduce the risk of any potential contamination.
So, I'm not an expert. You are much more of an expert. I'm not an expert either. I just I know the cost for me to shoot lead free ammo is I don't go to that range because it's I mean not I mean not not always I mean that's not always the case but I mean if you're if you know if you're shooting a lot at the range so I
mean I I you you got I mean you and the chief and the department are the experts. I just my question is how is is there any concern about about the costs? I mean, I know you're saying it's a little bit more money, but if you're shooting a lot more, especially if you have a home range, you
know, now instead of you're just traveling and getting in time. I mean, there's going to be guys using that range a lot more. I mean, is there is there any issues that you guys see coming up with that? Yeah, fair. So based on my estimates of what we typically
expend in ammunition per year and what the price difference is between our standard duty ammunition and lead free ammo, um it comes out to approximately $540 a year in difference. Uh now I put the range at 250 to 500 per year because
we're not always shooting duty ammo and we already sometimes have lead free ammo for some of the ranges we use. So for instance, we've used Halifax range uh somewhat frequently. They require lead free as well. Um so that's that's already something that's somewhat calculated into our budget. Um and I
don't anticipate that being a major impact as far as us planning for equipment wise. Now to your point, if guys are shooting more, right, that they would then um potentially be additional cost there. But realistically, if they're shooting in addition to the standard across the board department training, there's a good chance we'd be
asking them to purchase their own ammo and have to be compliant with our expectations. So, if they're going above and beyond and they want to use the range as a member of the department, they are potentially purchasing their own ammo. Fair enough. Thank you. Uh, so some site selection uh considerations. Obviously, we did a
voluminous review, and I got to thank my firearms instructors for this. They did a pretty voluminous review of all the town owned property uh with the clerk's office uh and found essentially any town-owned property that this could work for. And that consisted of ensuring it's
accessible, right? Is it landlocked or not? Uh it's also restrictions we had to consider. It has to be at least 500 ft from a residence, 150 ft from a roadway, not conservation property. And then other considerations which is going to come up a little bit with this tonight is whether or not it's protected property like wetlands, right? And stand
back distances from that. Uh that really left us with one viable property which is this parcel. I believe 66-30. It's the wastewater and uh transfer station property. So those considerations we just discussed the lead free ammo
considerations uh relative to environmental that's exactly all it is. It's environmental concern more than anything getting into the groundwater. Uh there is some remediation you can do relative to that but it gets expensive and realistically using lead free rather than remediating the lead out of the
burm is probably a lot cheaper uh to just use the lead free uh than bringing in a company to remediate it. uh wetland standoff distance environmental consideration uh conservation agent uh did us a solid and looked at the standoff from the wetlands as to this
parcel. There is a small portion of this parcel that is considered D wetlands under our regulations which are pretty much the standard regulations throughout the state. We have to be at least 100 ft away from wetlands uh to be able to uh use the property at all. Uh although you can apply for a permit through the
conservation commission to uh bypass that and under certain certain conditions as designed, we will not be within that 100 ft is my best estimation. U Matt when he gets back from vacation is actually going to walk it with me, but it looks like we got plenty of distance. Worst case scenario,
we'll address that possibly if with the board's permission uh be able to apply for a permit, but I don't at this point anticipate that being an issue at all. I believe we're we're outside of that 100 ft. Uh question came up relative to noise considerations. Are people going to hear it? Yes, they are. Uh you can hear the Plymouth um sorry, the
Plimpmpton gun range. You can hear the Halifax gun range. All from Kingston by the Nature of Firearms. They're loud. With that said, we'll be reasonable about the time that we're doing it. We're not going to be doing this at 11:00 at night. Uh the training standards from the MPTC do require we do low light shooting every so often, but
that low light shooting could be 400 p.m. in the winter, right? Because of how how uh early it gets dark. So, we'll be obviously reasonable relative to the shooting times. Um, some liability considerations. Uh, Mr. Hickeyi uh reached out to our insurance company who
indicated there would be no increased premium as a result of this because they understand cops shoot guns. It's the nature of our job. Uh, and then also our intent would be with the board's permission and a suggested motion from you guys that we restrict access to law enforcement personnel under the control of the police department for us to say,
"Hey, you're allowed there, you're not." So, we can post it, right? no trespassing, authorized personnel only, so that we can control who goes in and out of there. And when I get to the map, you'll get an idea as to where exactly it is. And realistically, it would be difficult from anyone from the public to access it anyways, unless they're jumping railroad tracks or highway, uh,
or the wastewater plant fence. If somebody from the board, you know, wanted to take a nice, we could probably get a waiver done, right? I was going to say, you're the one. You don't want So, right. All right. Just kidding. Yeah, I
I maybe I shouldn't show you the map. I shouldn't show you the map where it is. That's going to be the problem. But, uh, the ease of access and sight clearing this particular parcel uh, very easy to access for us as far as parking and everything like that through the transfer station. It's mostly flat, short vegetation that's easily cleared
uh, by Superintendent Turner and his staff. So, here's the proposed site. It's slightly different than the original memo you guys uh, received from me. I do have an updated memo if you don't have it. Um, and that's because of this wetlands that's here as well. So, uh, to kind of orient everybody, the building
that's on the bottom there, that is wastewater treatment plant. This is a transfer station. Then we have the wetlands here. And this red line here, the dotted line is the 100 foot standoff. As designed, the blue is the shooting area. The light blue is kind of a uh staging area. Uh, we'd be staging
in this area, pretty much standing in this area, shooting this direction towards the top of the parcel. Um, as you can see, there's some distance here. It's about 2530 ft from the furthest point of the range at the 50 yard line before you get to the 100 ft standoff from the wetlands. Um, you'll see that
we're approximately 30 ft off of the property line. And then from the nearest residence, which you'll see more detailed on the next slide, to the property line. So, not even to where we're shooting, but to the property line is 508 ft. Uh, and again, we have to be
outside of 500 ft. So, we're there plus another 30 ft. Um, quick question for you. So, as you're riding by on the train coming back, are you going to see seeing? Yes, this has come up. Uh, it is visible
from where we are depending on how uh large the burm gets built and we're hoping Sean can build the burm nice and high. Uh, but it's where our intent to pay attention to train schedule times. You can see the train by the nature of where exactly it is right here. We're coming out of or going into the station.
So, it's going slow at the time. You could see it coming a while up. Our intent is to call a ceasefire, not actively be firing rifles as they're driving by. I mean, at least Well, I mean, at least if they're calling in some I'll get armed militia, they're calling the right people call. We got radios on. So, we're right there to
answer the question. So, we'll be able to we'll be able to clear that call pretty quickly. So, and I'm wondering if if um I'm I'm not a landscaper, but I'm wondering if if um Sean could plant some like arborviti or something that grows up and blocks the view, too. Great
point. Might not be, you know, it might not block it in the first year, but hopefully something that grows and could block it. Yeah. And the um this little buffer here that we intend to leave 30 ftish off the property line. There is some decent vegetation here, but as you can see on this map, this is pretty accurate. There is it is spaced out a
little bit, but so we we're going to leave a little bit of a tree line distance, but great point. We could probably fill in the vegetation if possible. Okay. Um, any questions on this site location stuff as is? Thank you. Uh, a little bit more zoomed out. So, here's the range location just to kind of orient everybody a little bit
better. Range location, wastewater transfer station across the railroad tracks, you got Copper Beach, you got the schools, you and now this is obviously Route Three and this is the old exit 9 as everybody knows it, now known as exit 18. Uh just to kind of give you an idea, train station right here. And that's what I was talking about where the train's slowing down,
coming in and out of there. So we can see it coming pretty far. Uh this is the site. Obviously, it's just trees and dirt. Not much to see right now. Uh but what you might notice is how flat this is. This is generally pretty flat. It is not going to be difficult to level out. Uh Sean
indicated that he was surprised actually uh by how little there is as far as large vegetation to clear. these large trees on the right won't need to be cleared. Generally, it's right down here and it's very small vegetation as far as diameter. He can clear it right out, no problem at all, he
said. Uh, these are some other ranges that we use as an example. Um, you'll notice the burm height is relatively low. So, we have Halifax here and Plimpmpton here. Uh, this is the Halifax range parking area just off the range here. You'll notice there is some asphalt down here. Maybe eventually
that's something we would like to do. makes clean up a little bit easier. Getting those shell casings so we're not missing them in the dirt, things of that nature. Um, but our intent is to build the burm a little bit higher. Uh Sean indicated he can probably get 16 17 ft. Uh, which is probably another four or
five ft above this Plimpmpton range one. Uh, which I think would be plenty. And like we said, if absolutely necessary, we could probably even build it higher uh by bringing in a company as well. And this is this is the uh the standard qualifying distances you see marked off, which we would intend to do something
like that as well. Just mark off the qualifying distances. And then right before I finish up, I do have a letter from uh Mr. Turner that I'd like to read real quick uh just uh showing his support for it. He indicates that Honorable Selecman, Mr. Hickeyi, I'm writing this letter April 22nd, 2025 in favor of the
police putting in a shooting range at the transfer station on town property. Last Friday the 18th, I met with Lieutenant Scoa on site to look at the plans. We went over a few different options and this parcel seems to be the best fit for their shooting range. There will be a few days worth of work to clear out some small scrub pine trees
and scrape down the land. We have most of the dirt already on site to build the required burm needed behind their targets. There may be a minimal cost of police department as discussed with lieutenant, but we aren't sure until they get the approval from the board and conservation. As far as I see, there will be no impact to residents visiting the transfer station as most training
will be done on days the transfer station will be closed. This department will help as needed. And obviously, I want to thank Sean for his help with the project so far already. Uh, is there any questions? Thank you. Looks great. So, just a quick comment. So, Kim Kim
obviously is not here tonight. She called me yesterday and and her only concern with this, which I actually I haven't talked to the chief yet. Um, I talked to Keith this afternoon. Kim's concern is the noise with the neighbors and thought that we should be doing a
public hearing for people who would be within the range that would be affected by it. Um, I don't disagree with her. I I fully support this and I and I feel like um I mean I I would argue for this, but that that's just something that that Kim brought up. So um I'm not sure how
you guys feel about it. Um, but if we if we had to do a hearing, um, what would that be? Two weeks. Yeah. So, it it doesn't have to be I mean it'd be a public hearing, but it doesn't have to meet the the um posting requirements. We could hold it two weeks from from today. I spoke to the chief about it. I
don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think he he's happy to to to uh attend and and and hear any feedback anybody has on that. So, that shouldn't be a problem. And again, we can publicize on the website and and uh make people aware what's going on. So if
they want to come in either remotely or in person to voice any concerns they have, they can do that. So that'd be fine. The if I could just make one more comment just in case somebody 5 years from now comes back to watch this tape. Uh because they may
um I I just the only concern I have respectfully is I don't want to overpromise when you're going to use the range. Yes. You had said or the the letter that that Mr. Turner had provided said that the range would only be used
or will be used primarily when the transfer station is closed which is I think what Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. I could elaborate on that a little Thursday, Friday. Okay. I'm sorry. So I don't go to the transfer station here obviously. So,
um, I guess from my point of view, and I don't know what your schedules are, um, you know, are you not going to shoot on a weekend? Is that a norm? But during the week, it would be. I just don't want people to, like I said, somebody will find this when they're upset about the noise on a Tuesday morning, right, and
say that it wasn't going to be open or used when the transfer station was open. I just want to make sure that we're underpromising and overd delivering on that. That's all. Yes. Yeah, I'd be happy to address that. Thank you. So, uh, currently the transport station is closed Thursday and Fridays. Um, I expressed to Mr. Turner that our intent
would be to do our primary training, our our departmentwide 8 10 12 people there um on the Daisy's clothes just realistically so the public's not pulling up and going, "What the heck's going on over there?" Right? So, um, primarily most of our training, our current intent is to do on those
Thursdays and Fridays. Uh but with that said, there may be officers that want to get extra training in that we have to do remedial training with. There may be firearms that go down. Uh so I would anticipate the other days it might be onesies or twzies, a smaller number of officers firing, therefore less noise overall. But to that point, uh there
could be large scale training events we do on other days that sometimes isn't when they're closed. Uh it's just the current intent is primarily when the uh transfer station is closed. So would you do it on the weekends? Is there a chance you guys might do? There is a chance. Yes. Yeah. So, I again I I maybe I'm
being overly sensitive, but um unless you want to increase recycling rates by having a shooting and the transfer stations open all the time, it might increase recycling rates if that's what they think the shooting's for. Um I just would want to make sure that the that that the board potentially considers this as something that's going to be
open seven days a week. And you'll try to keep it if you can on your on your departmentwide training to a a Friday, Thursday, Friday. But um I don't think it's I just want to make sure we don't say we're not going to do it any other day and we do. Yes. Yeah. No, totally understood and that's completely
accurate. We would we could potentially do it of course with the board's blessing any day of the week. It's just our intent to do most of it on the Thursdays and Fridays that they're closed. the um how many how many yards is it from the um from like the farthest
corner of um the transfer station? From the farthest corner of the transfer station to the or sorry, the closest corner to the to where you'd be. So it's I So we'd be right here and then the transfer station is right here. Uh I did not measure that out, but I would anticipate just looking at this
approximately 50 yards. This dark blue is 50 yards. Okay, so you know roughly similar distance. Okay. Thank you. And keep in mind, I mean, I I I I I do support having a public hearing, but this is a noisy area. It's a it's a
corner. There's a train station. There's the highway. There's the transfer station, which does make noise. Um I mean, it it it's not super quiet. But having said that, um if you have say 10 guys there shooting, how how many rounds
is each just curious like how many shots that would be? Like it it like each officer firing 40. So let me think of an average training day. Let's say roughly I don't want to underestimate. So let's say 150 to 200 rounds per officer. So say 10 officers
200 rounds up to 2,000 rounds roughly. Yeah. Okay. And within a li time as far as you know we're not talking about drills, we're not round circle talking about policies or anything like that. actually live firing is probably a total
of two and a half hours, two to two and a half hours of firing spread out throughout 6 hours of day. So, it's firing for a little bit, changing the training plan, talking about what people did well, what they did poorly, and then firing again, things like that. Okay,
that makes sense. So, um what is the board's thoughts about holding off until we have a public hearing? Is there any I mean I support that or I support putting one in, but I totally understand public hearing.
I don't care really about the public hearing, but I'll do it. I'd vote I'd vote it right now if we if we if the board wanted to. Um I think it's our it's the town's land. It's for it's for the public safety. It's that they've already went through the purpose of finding there's not a lot of places to
do it. Um it's the kind of area you would want to do it. I mean, uh, I know I know in Pemroke where the fields are, you play soccer there. I think it's a private range in your old colony. Yeah. You can hear it while the
kids are playing soccer and it doesn't really seem to be. Yeah. I mean, people are going to complain about gunshots. I mean, it's like I'm a duck hunter. Sure. They're going to call they'll call it in a couple times. I mean, I don't know. I if the board if I if one person in the board wants to move it to right to uh
two weeks from now and invite the public in, I'm happy to do it. I I'm just kind of uh I I think I would lean on the side of caution. But again, you know, even if we had, you know, a few people who were who who were
against the noise, um it's still something that's important that we need to have. But I just feel like giving folks the chance to speak up before we make a decision is probably the smart thing to do and builds more trust with our public safety. Not
that it's your fault. It would be our fault for for for voting it, but you know what I mean. Yeah. Yeah, that's it's fine. It's fine with me. Yeah. All right. So, um I don't think we need to to make any motion. We don't need to motion to put it off. So, well, do we need to make a motion to do a public
hearing? No, I don't think so. I think you've given the you've given staff okay some direction. We'll the public hearing will be on Tuesday evening, May 6th and we'll make sure that um we'll publicize something on the website just letting people know that there will be a public hearing on the 6 to hear any concerns
about um and if if you don't mind, Lieutenant um you know maybe a couple of the maps to just identify where it is so we could put that up on the website as well just to be able to illustrate what we're looking at and um be happy to. Sure. And thank you, Lieutenant. This
was an excellent presentation. You guys you guys put a lot of thought into this for sure in terms of planning on where to put it as well. That's what I mean. Um but also in the in the presentation. So, thank you for making it very clear and you answered all our questions. Yeah. And to find something almost free
for the town. So, can't beat that. Yeah, that's absolutely great work between you and Sean to be able to really make this thing happen. So, I do have a a a sort of a technical question though. the the non-LED uh rounds. Are they are they still does it change accuracy or
anything with with shooting? It depends really, you know, there's a different manufacturer, there's a different grain. Uh sometimes it's we call it dirtier on the gun. Requires a little bit more maintenance on the gun, but as far as at the ranges we're shooting, it's not going to make any noticeable difference for for practical tactical training. So,
when you guys are competing against each other, the chief can't say, "If I had had lead bullets, I'd have shot better." 98. All right. Thank you guys. Thanks. Well, and also with that everything's short range, too. I mean, right. This is great. Yeah, this is a short range. No,
this ours. Thank you. All right. Next item. Uh, we have a request for six one-day liquor licenses from 42nd Parallel Brewing Company for Grace Beach uh Music Nights. Uh Steven Darby of 42nd Parallel Brewing Company is requesting a one-day liquor license
for Grace Beach Music Nights June 24th, July 8th, July 22nd, August 5th, August 19th, and September 2nd. Um the uh the application that was signed off on by the chief of police and fire. Um hold on, this am I reading this
right? Provided with the application that was signed off on by the chief of police and fire is a certificate of insurance. Uh, recreation director Susan Woodworth requested to approve this request with any rain dates that may be necessary. Any comments or questions?
Nope. All right. Somebody want to make a motion? I move the board of selectman approve the six one-day liquor license requests from Steven Darby of 42nd Parallel Brewing Company for Gra Beach Music Nights at Grace Beach for June
24th 2025 July 8th 2025 July 22nd 2025 August 5th 2025 August 19th 2025 and September 2nd 2025 from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. along with any rain dates that may be determined by the recreation
commission. I have a second. All right. All those in favor? I. All right. That's unanimous. Last item. Uh, appointment of wastewater laborer. Due to a promotion within the wastewater department, there's a vacancy after the recruitment process.
Superintendent David Walsh is recommending the hiring of Ryan McKe to the position. Um, any questions or comments or motion? I move to appoint Ryan McKe to the position of wastewater laborer, a full-time grade three step
three non-exempt position within KTEU labor with the wastewater department with an anticipated start date of April 28th, 2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. Second. All those in favor? I I All right. We don't have any meeting minutes. Uh town administrator
report. Thank you, sir. Um couple of things. The uh the fire department received a couple of grants. one for student awareness of fire education the amount of $4,682 senior awareness of fire fire education for $2,200 and a firefighter safety
equipment grant of $4,554. Also, um at the recommendation of our um interim streets, trees, and park superintendent, uh we are extending the paving um the paving contract with our
vendor uh at $9548 a ton. That is a 2-year-old number. Right now, if we had to go back out to bid, we'd be looking at probably $112 a ton for asphalt. So, we're going to exercise that second
um second year. um extension, which is great news. Um as everybody I'm sure is aware, if they've traveled on Main Street, um the final coat of asphalt is being put down. There are detours that people are having to follow. Um staff worked really well together to
come up with detour routes, worked with the state. Uh there's going to be some ramp closures uh on and off route three um one or two days of the project. We'll try to announce those prior to uh if we know what those dates are going to be. The work the work day is from 7 am to
5:00 pm. There are traffic delays because they are requiring alternating traffic. Um so if you can avoid the area, uh I I'd suggest you do that. It's supposed to be done Friday, which is great. Um and once they're finished, it'll be a uh a much smoother ride for
those traveling on on that section of Main Street. Um, we expect I expect to have uh our act interim uh street, streets, and park superintendent Sean Turner here at the May 6 board meeting to present the list of recommended roads he's suggesting be paved uh with our
chapter 90 money. Um going to try to be a little more aggressive with that this year, I think. And then uh lastly, found out today that uh the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has awarded Kingston a $44,000 grant to update uh
the town's housing protection h excuse me, housing production plan and uh housing needs assessment, which is a requirement to be done every several years. Um it's a uh it's a executive order that requires this. The local match is about $12,000 and will be
funded by the affordable housing trust and the planning board. uh public accounts uh and the old colony planning department will be performing the work. The work will take about a year. Expect it to be done sometime in April of next year. I don't have any personnel or
miscellaneous updates and just hope everybody had a nice Easter with their families. Thank you. Any other um comments? Does anybody have any announcements? No, I think just the big one which is Saturday. That is right. Saturday town meeting. Um,
there 9:00 a.m. Is it 9? Sorry. Now, now I want you to speak about it. I forgot what time it was. 9:00. 9:00. Yeah. 9:00. Yeah. Town meeting. 9:00. Be there. Be square. Supposed to Weather looks bad. So, that's great. It's awesome for town meeting. Lots of lots of kids cancellation. Kids games cancellation.
That's right. Uh, and our next regular meeting is May 6th. So, that's uh two weeks from tonight. And that's Tyler's last meeting, I think. Right. Seven. Yeah. Unless there's an emergency between then and May 16th, right? We might have to just come up with one. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, with that, I
will take a uh motion to adjurnn. I make a motion to adjurnn. Second. All those in favor? I. We are.