Yeah, good point. All right, good evening everybody. Um, I am going to go ahead and call our board of selectman meeting um to order for Tuesday, September 23rd, uh, 2025. The time right now is 6:02 PM. Um before we get
started, um we have one member who is remote, so we're going to do a roll call, um uh individually. So Eric here, Kim here, Missy here, here. Don, are you there? I see him.
I am. Sorry about that. Yes, here. All right. Good. All right. And we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. Go. 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 this meeting should notify the chair at this time.
Um, financial assistance applications are available on the town's website or by calling the selectman's office. Um, 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.
Um, please check our website for also additional um, events or notices at kingston.gov. Uh big one is our fall town meeting which will happen on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at KISS. Um and due to a recent resignation from
the Kingston School Committee, the Kingston School Committee and the Board of Selectmen are seeking candidates interested in filling the open seat until the next town election in the spring of 2026. Interested candidates must submit a letter of consideration and qualifications no later than
September 25th at 4 PM. Please submit your information by mail to Town of Kingston, Board of Selecmen, 26 Evergreen Street, kingston ma02364, or by email to ptucker kingstonmma.gov. All candidates will be interviewed at a
joint Kingston School Committee Board of Selectman meeting on Tuesday, October 7th at 6:30 p.m. And I just want to add um you don't have to be an expert at education. You don't even have to be a parent um to serve on the school committee. Um you just need to be
willing to come and deliberate, listen, um take part in conversations coming. we the the school committee basically what they do is they hire a superintendent and in our case they do that um between Kingston school committee, Halifax school committee, Plimpmpton school
committee and the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. So there's four school committees that hire that superintendent. Um they also put together the budget every year. Um the superintendent and her administrators will actually put together the budget. the the um school committee will
deliberate um and and make changes potentially and um and then vote that budget. Um they also come up with policies. But again, you don't have to be an expert. You just need to be willing to serve your town um and and do
what's right and use some common sense. Um definitely reach out to, you know, either myself, I served on that committee for a long time, or any of the the current uh Kingston school committee members. I'm sure anybody would be uh happy to to fill you in on on what's expected. Did you have something else?
I was just going to mention that open space committee spent some time at the Hall property which is over behind the Oachinsky fields doing a cleanup event this weekend. Um they were able to haul out a lot of old uh plastic tarps back from when there was paintball back there. So, um, just wanted to thank the
open space committee for their work and there is an open seat on that committee if anyone's interested in help helping take care of and maintain our open space in Kingston. Um, we have a great uh amount of open space that I would love to see cared for myself as well. Um, and
yeah, that's it. Great. Any other announcements? And I would just like to to make notice um tonight is uh Keith Hickeyy's last meeting as town administrator here in Kingston. Um Keith uh started back in
February of 21 I believe. Um so it's been a little over four years. Um he will next week he starts as the town administrator in Fair Haven. Um so similar size town I think also on the ocean. A little bit different seaside community.
Seaside community. Thank you. Um, but I want to personally say thank you to Keith. Um, you know, although you weren't here for a terribly long time, um, you were able to make a a big impact. You you were able to, you know, through your leadership help get the town through, um, some difficult times,
you know, with with with COVID and a lot of things going on between the town and the schools and and various departments through COVID. Um and and we have lots of drama like many like like any town. Um and you've been
able to help guide us through through that as well. Um a lot of things behind the scenes that that not everybody sees and and uh but we do. Um and it's interesting. I met with the department heads um a month or two ago to ask them what they would like to see in terms of
um we're now in a search for a new town administrator. So I asked them, you know, what sort of things would you be looking for in a new town administrator? And a lot of the answers I got, Keith, were just to to clone you. Um, so what you wish for,
right? Um, so no, I think that that that's good feedback and I and I got a lot of positive feedback. People really like the way that you, you know, walk around town, go into their offices, um, see what people need, what what they what sort of help they need to to do
their job, what you can do to support them. Um, I think that's important and I think that's key. Um, you know, you definitely made your mark here with that. Um, and and like I said, you helped guide us through quite a few things, some public, some private. Um, I I for one appreciate it and I wish you
nothing but the best in Fair Haven. Um, and as you've said, I'm sure we're going to stay in contact. Hope so. Um, lots of lots of stuff um, still going on with the uh, with the transfer. There's a lot of institutional knowledge right there. So, I I don't I don't really want to
take up much time, but if I could just say a couple of things while people are here. First of all, I think the town's going to be in great hands on an interim basis. George Sam Shamia I've gotten to know um, in the very small world we seem to live in. Um, I look forward to sitting in in his uh in his molded seat
uh uh on Monday. Um, he's been a great um resource for me and and somebody that I've gotten to know a little bit and and I'm I'm sure that he'll do a great job here for you. But before, luckily, I guess uh because Sergeant Lancha is here, we've got a lot of town employees who are here tonight. And before they
leave tonight, I just want to again thank every one of them for, you know, the effort and sacrifice you put in on a on a on a daily, weekly basis. Um it's very much appreciated. We've got a great group of employees in every in every department. Um, and I think it's, you
know, what's what's been nice, I think, over the last year or so, frankly, is, um, I didn't know we had this many policemen. I've never seen so many I've never seen so many Kingston police officers in one in one room at one time. And that, I think, goes to the respect they have for Chief Holmes and the
admiration they have for Sergeant Linatra. And I think it's a a fantastic change and one that the police department in this community should be very, very proud of. And it's a reflection, I think, of every department in town would be doing the same thing for their for their co-workers if they were here uh for the same purpose
Sergeant Lanch was finally here for tonight. Thank you. Thank you. And I would just like to add uh we do have our our interim TA uh here. He's just attending the first part of this meeting. Um we just did a meet and greet with uh some of the the town
employees over at the Council on Aging uh before this meeting. So, it was good for for folks here to to meet George. And I think it's a really unique situation where we're just swapping with Fair Haven. We're taking their interim TA. He he's now going to work here and and um Keith is taking the the permanent
position over there. So these two guys are going to be on the phone probably quite a bit um exchanging uh institutional knowledge which you both have gained where you've been. So and and we're lucky George has has quite a few years um East Bridgewater was it
also Whitman? No, he's all over the place. Y So, we're in good we're in good hands, I think. Um uh which is great. And again, this this is an interim um uh situation
as we um seek to fill the permanent position. And that posting is on the town's website and other places. Um, and applications are due by October 10th, I believe. And yeah, that sounds screening working group is Selectman
Cron, Selecman Baitman, um, our HR director, the fire chief, and the police. Police chief, correct? All right. Thank you. Thank you again, Keith. Oh, thank you. And look forward to working with you, George. All right. So, next we have uh open
forum, and I have somebody standing there ready to be recognized. Go ahead, Will. Hello, my name is Joe Gushman, 273 Main Street, Kingston, Mass. I Today I'm not here to bug about any sidewalks. I promise you that.
But I just want to say thank you, Keith, for your years of dedicated service to our community of Kingston, Massachusetts. And thank you for everything you did for me for the sidewalks this year. Thank you super much. It's greatly appreciated.
Thanks. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Good luck with uh your future endeavors. You you've been a you're a great ambassador to this community. Thank you. And welcome, George. I can't wait to get to know you. And would anybody else like to be recognized in open form?
Did you want to mention that? No. Okay. Yeah. No. Okay. Uh next. Yeah. Sorry. Jonathan Clark, Lantern Lane, Kingston. So, yep. You can go. I'm going to let him speak now. Um, go ahead. We're going
to be addressing uh postc court, but it a lot of that is going to pertain to Lantern Lane as well. So, um would you prefer we just wait for that discussion? Uh yeah, why don't we wait for that? Okay. Yeah. Uh it'll be up right after the next thing. So, next item. Uh we're going to
have recognition of police personnel. Sergeant Mike Linatra. Uh, Police Chief Brian Holmes would like to recognize Sergeant Linatra with a letter of merit recognizing his efforts and commit commitment to the Kingston Police Department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening,
honorable members, Mr. Hickey, Miss Tucker. Um, the the life of a K9 handler uh is one of an added layer of sacrifice and service to a community. Um, at the initial onset of the career,
there's a 16-week school full-time Monday through Friday that at the time we used uh Bridgewater Department of Corrections. You're working your dog every day. Uh you're you're working and learning everything from tracking, apprehension, article searches, air
detection, ground detection, search and rescue, civil disobedience. Um you have your dog that's socializing with other dogs. Ideally, you're learning K9 tactics and search and rescue tactics. If the handler elects to have the dog attend detection school, usually about a
year out, uh you have your choices of narcotics, firearms, explosive ordinance. Uh the the Department of Corrections went as far as to train their dogs in searching for cell phones within the unit. U so that's an additional 12 weeks of training. In addition to that, the minimum number of
training hours per month for a K9 is 16 hours a month. Uh training is a shared responsibility of both the handler, the the hosting town and the agency that does the training. It's ongoing. The dog gets better with time and more experienced in
the work that they do. In addition to that, I don't have to explain to Sergeant Linatra or State Representative Kathy Latra that the dog becomes a part of your family. the dog becomes somebody that is uh a family member with your
your handler, your spouses, and the kids if you have them. If he wants to go on vacation with his family, he has to find another handler to take care of his dog. Um, and then he has to repay that favor when it's time for that person that took
care of his dog to go on vacation. It's not like you can just go to doggy daycare and say, "Take care of this furry land shark." because it doesn't work that way. So these additional layers of sacrifice are not something that you would know about unless you were a handler or you heard about it.
The top of the pinnacle for levels of patrol officer is detective, SWAT, and K9. And that's about as high as you can get. Um there are other in larger cities there are other specialists like vice and narcotics and code enforcement and things like that.
in at the end of June of this year, K9 Valley was uh Valley was retired and we've uh had a couple attempts to recognize Sergeant Latra. So, third times a charm. We got him here tonight. Um, and I'm pleased to recognize
Sergeant Lash with a letter of merit for your years of service to the Kingston Police Department and the regional K9 community as a police K9 handler working with your partner, your K9 partner Oliver from 2007 to 2017 and your second
K9 partner Valet from 2017 to 2025. Your actions reflect great credit upon yourself, the department, and maintain the highest traditions of law enforcement. Congratulations on a job well done. In addition to this certificate like you to hold here, there is the department's K9 patch and a
plaque that is also being retired to Sergeant Latra's home or office or wherever he chooses to have it. [Applause]
Nice job. Yep. Congrats. All right. Next up, uh we have a request by residents to continue winter maintenance on postc court. Um, as the board is aware, letters to property uh owners on unaccepted streets were recently sent informing them of the
improvements that need to be made to meet the criteria approved by the selectman over a year ago for winter maintenance to continue. Um, the residents of Post Court were informed that the existing fence on the south side of Post Court is too close to to road inhibiting equipment from properly
removing snow. The fence is owned by a property owner that lives on the corner of Main Street in Post Court. that owner does not use postc court to enter or exit their property and therefore does not have a direct benefit from the town plowing postc court. Uh but the the
residents of postc court have contacted the selectman's office and uh streets trees and parks to share their concerns about the town no longer plowing postc court. Um so um Keith do you want to give us an up and just as a a background please correct me if I'm if I misspeak
on any of this. Um a year ago, um we had put forth a policy. It used to be the policy that any any road with more than I think three houses on it were any unaccepted road would be maintained through the winter. One of the problems that we've had that all the towns have
been having over the past couple of years um is it's just it's been become more and more difficult to get private contractors to plow for the town. Everybody's dealing with the same issue. So the state pays a lot more than we do
and obviously they take um a lot of the contractors first. Um but the real problem is that a lot of these guys who who have their own trucks just in the past 5 years the cost of a pickup has more than doubled. Insurance has gone
through the roof. You parts all through COVID. I mean just trying to get work done on a vehicle is next to impossible. So, this is what was sort of the catalyst of of why this was brought up a year ago because we don't have as many um uh trucks available to do these
roads. One of the other problems is when they do assign some of these roads that are more difficult that have issues, um it's driven some of these contractors away. They're like, I'm not dealing with that road, you know. So, then they're like, you know, give it to somebody else. Well, somebody's got to do it. Um
and that's been that's been one of our biggest problems. So, a year ago, um the the highway department superintendent um and Valerie um had put together a policy for us to review um that and I forget all of the the things it had to happen.
I have the dates too if that would help. So, the policy was originally voted on and adopted in August of 2023. Okay. To go into effect of April of 2024 and give notice and then in September, I think of 2024.
That's right. letters went out and that's when folks came and said, "Wait, we don't have enough time to fix these things from many different roads." And some of the roads were rather simple. It was like, you know, cut back some of the bushes on the side or trees or branches and fill some potholes, fill in potholes and and a lot of those
were taken care of and and we moved on. But there were some like post road um post court um that it was a bigger issue and and at the then we voted to give them a year until this year to fix their issue. Right. And that one particular is
complicated because there is a fence that is not owned by people who live on postc court. Right. Oh, hold on. We're not discussion. We're not open yet. But what are you saying? Just let us finish. I I know. But let us finish. never notified by the Let us finish.
No. Can you let us finish? A year ago, this was passed. I I need in August 29th, 2023 was the initial passing of the policy. Right. April was when it went into effect. Notifications didn't go out until September, which there was a lot of
objection to that because there were folks who were abuters to those properties, including the person on Main Street, who did not receive notification. So we as the board decided to make some exceptions to that policy because we were not aware that not everyone who was impacted was not
notified. Right. So that's why of of quite a few streets were actually exempted at that time. Um which brings us to to now. But just in terms of the date, I just want to make sure we had that. So it was August 29th, 2023 and then into effect April of
2024. Right. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think what we're most concerned about is trying to get all the roads plowed, regardless of whether they're private or unaccepted ways or public, safely so that no property is damaged and no employees or equipment or
contractors are at risk of of experiencing damage. So, right, if you have a truck that runs into a giant rock because it didn't know the rock was there because it sticks into the road, we need to address that or get have someone address it. And that was I think the concern that we discussed last year
was how do we get as many roads as possible so we can plow them safely. Right. Right. Um and we have we have more roads. It's not just Postc Court or Lantern Lane. I mean there are other roads that that we're dealing with. Um and and some are worse than others. Um
the one on Post Court, it's really just related to that fence. Um Lantern Lane, as far as I understand, I haven't seen it so I'm trying to remember. Sean is not here. our our highway superintendent couldn't be here tonight. Um what was what was the issue again with with Lantern Lane?
With Lantern Laneid it's the width of the road um as as well as excuse me having uh two feet on the side of each road in sections of the road to um push the snow back and store the snow. So is there something about a turnaround? I
thought no standing. Can I me just jump in? Yeah, go ahead. So a couple of things. Um, we had had I I had conversations and and there's a gentleman here this evening um from Postc Court um who asked along with
members of uh residents along Post Court as well to be here tonight. So, I think that they are um Sean Turner and I met with a property owner on Lantern Lane two weeks ago, I think it was. Um
he um he emailed um the town last week to ask to be placed on tonight's agenda. Um unfortunately uh Trish was on vacation so we didn't get that information until yesterday. I reached out to the gentleman from Lantern Lane yesterday and said, "Well, I can't get
you on the agenda tonight." uh what you can do and what I think he tried to do was my suggestion was to get up during public comment and express to the board that um they would like the board of selectman to consider whatever relief they may give to
um post court that be that um lantern lane be given the same consideration. So you've got from what I understand two roads here residents from two roads here this evening lantern lane and postc court. Um so let me start with postc court. post court. I think as everybody's probably aware, um the
challenge and the issue that that's been that's been brought forward with regards to the inability to potentially plow is the fence um that starts at the intersection of Postc Court and Main Street. Um, I've had a number of
conversations with the property owner um who um has been uh we spoke again as late as this afternoon and and we've we I think have come up with a potential option that that I'd like to bring forward to the board for consideration. It doesn't fix it doesn't fix the
problem completely, but I think it may address the issue. The challenge we have with when we try to bring forward a a cookie cutter policy is you mentioned, Mr. here. A lot of these roads have different and unique cir circumstances and we've tried to be
um as as um leaning as we can be, I guess, and trying to work with the property owners to to not have these roads not be plowed in the winter time. So, um, when I spoke to the owner, uh, at the intersection of Maine and Post Court today, we were
trying to figure out the best way to deal with, um, the fence situation and and the fact that, um, you know, there's an expense to move that fence that I don't think the town should be bearing, not because the fence we we we we may
not have some responsibility there, but because, yeah, like I said, every road has an issue. So, it's not a fence on Lantern Lane. It's potentially some rocks and and um I I and at least two weeks ago the potential willingness of a property owner to remove a piece of his lawn and put in some crushed stone. Uh
that would have potentially fixed the problem to streets and park satisfaction. So but the ask was we're you know we're fine to do that but we want the town to fund these types of things. So, uh, getting back to post court, what what the property owner and I the who owns the fence, what we talked
about today and what I think it's okay to and I ask you to get up and tell me I'm wrong if if you disagree with anything I'm saying. we he is willing to as the property owner um u not hold the town harmless or I'm sorry hold the town harmless not not hold the town
responsible that if the town was was to damage the fence during um a snow plow operation or a snow removal operation because the challenge isn't just plowing the snow because the fence is up against the side of the road. What often happens when there's a significant amount of
snowfall, um, Street, Streets, and Parks has to go out and physically remove the snow that's been piled up against the fence to provide more space for more snow to be placed if in fact more snow comes.
So, the um the offer that the property owner has given the town, I think, is a reasonable one. It will still require the town to go out and move the snow away from the fence if we get some significant amount of snow and there's significant amount
of snow um forecast in the future. Um we haven't to the best of my knowledge damage with fence that's been there for 30-ish years since 1983. 1983. So never been hit. So you know I I I guess I feel confident
that streets trees and parks understands there's a fence there and they try to work around that to the best of their ability. uh the owner of the property has been generous enough to be willing to allow the town to be held harmless, which I think is the concern the town has had all along. Again, it's not a perfect solution because we're going to
have to go back um during the day during regular work hours if there's a need to remove the snow, but we are eliminating the potential risk of damaging property. Um and uh it to me it feels like a suitable
a suitable resolution for both sides to kind of meet in the middle. And and to be clear, at least one of the other roads we're dealing with, there are issues where we're concerned with with um that could be unsafe for our employees and our
equipment. This is not one of those. So it's really just it's it's the private property. Yes. Um Right. So, it's not we're not worried about the driver's safety and we're not worried about um the actual condition of the road is absolutely fine. So, we're not concerned about the the vehicle being damaged by potholes or or things like that in the
roadway. Um the concern we had was potentially damaging private property by having a fence as close as it was to the road. uh with it because of the generosity of the of the property owner being willing to hold not hold the town uh or excuse me
hold the town harmless for um any potential damage that hopefully won't happen but could um to me it's kind of a win-win reasonable resolution and knowing that we have two trucks that
can fit down a road that narrow and if we don't get contractors again you know there may be delays in getting roads that are narrow plowed. That's just the reality of the situation is that we only have a couple of trucks that can make it down that street. Um
what's my pickup truck? So, so sorry hang hang on if I could, sir. So, we we have a couple So, we have a Let me let me let me let me finish. No, I'm sorry. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah, you need I I'm going to let you go up to the to the mic and you can speak,
but you got to say your name and then speak. We have so streets, street trees and parks has equipment like pickup trucks that we will use on postc court um to plow the roads. Oftent times there's a there's been a significant number of
outside plowing companies, contractors that will plow roads for the town uh in addition to the town plows. Okay. we're we're seeing fewer and fewer of those outside contractors who are willing to um put
the hours in, potentially damage a truck because it's it's it's becoming more and more expensive to do, right? So the so the resources that we have available to plow a narrow street like Postcourt is only two pickup trucks where in the past we may have had two pickup trucks and
and and two or three private private plowing company pickup trucks. those plow private plowing company pickup trucks may not be available available to us this year. So the amount of road that streets trees and parks is going to have to plow with a pickup truck because that's the only size truck that will go
down that road. The number of miles may increase. So what I think the chair is trying to say to you and to everybody uh who may be listening is I think streets trees and parks in the past have done a tremendous job at getting out and getting roads cleared very quickly. it might take them a little bit longer this
winter if god forbid we have snow and the the number of roads and and the resources available to us to plow those narrow roads have shrunk. So rather than you know so rather than being out there at six o'clock in the morning the plow post court it may be 8 o'clock in the morning because they're just traveling
around. It's not so that's so we just again I think what the chair is trying was trying to say to everybody was you know we we the town of Kingston has an interest in doing in continuing to do an excellent job at maintaining roads because our the number of outside um plowing companies that we have available
to us are shrinking. the number of resources we have available to us are shrinking. And what's more challenging on your road, as we've already talked about, is it's so narrow. I can't send a 10-wheeler down there. So, I've only got two pieces of equipment that can plow roads that are uh width challenged uh
like yours and um is going to require more a more specialized piece of equipment to fit down there properly. So, we're not s I don't think we're trying to suggest I don't want you to walk away from this tonight suggesting that we're trying to do a lesser job on postc court. We aren't. It just I don't have the same number of pieces of
equipment to plow postc court as we've had in the past. So, we just ask you guys to be patient. We aren't we aren't ignoring you. We're trying to get down there. It'll be on a plowing a plowing route just like we always have. The number of plowing roots unfortunately are shrinking because we don't have the resources anymore to have the number of
plowing roots we had. So, it's going to take our our staff and the and the outside contractors that are coming back a little bit extra time to go through their entire plow route than they have in the past. And just to add to that, we have many, many narrow roads and for the no on the
Nook, for instance, where the 10 wheelers are not going to fit. So, we have a lot of narrow roads that have to be addressed with these pickup trucks. We did um increase our our rates for plow drivers, hoping to entice more private folks to come and work for the
town of Kingston. And and we incur and we increased the insurance stipend hoping to get more people. You got to go up there and say your name up there. Sorry. So here's my deal. So you know
name and address, sir. Post court. Uh Barry Figley, six post court. Thank you. Okay, so you know there's a fire down the end of the road. What's the fire department think about that?
So the fire department So if I the fire department Well, wait a second. Let me Sure. I apologize. I think you So you know, so everybody had to pay a betterment for them to come down the road, right? They put sewer covers
first. They said, "Oh, the suit covers are too high, right, at one point." And then, you know, so that didn't work. So then they said, "Well, you know, it's not wide enough, right?"
So, you know, I you know, I have a defibrillator and a pacemaker. So, if they get try to get down there, what are they going to do? So, I'm actually going to pause you there, okay? because we're not done because I think we might
be done. I'm not opening it up yet. I will if if people want to speak, but I would just ask that that you let us finish up here first and then I'm going to open it up because if we can solve this problem without Hold on. If we can solve this problem without a whole lot of speaking, that's what we're going to do.
The town is the one that caused the problem. I I am putting an end to this fence. They put it too close to the road end. I got it. After they replace it. That's it. That's it. I'm I'm calling
you out. Sir, please stop. Easy. Stop. Okay. Yep. Were you going to say something? You put the fence in. Oh my god. All right. Put the fence, guys. Stop or I'm going to ask you to leave. Okay, that's it.
So, hang on. If I could let me hang on. Let me just let me Let me just So, listen, guys. Let us try to solve this problem. If you guys can be quiet, we might be able to solve the problem. If you have my Do you want to leave? Because I'll I'll ask you to leave. And if if you won't
leave, I'll call the police. So So just shut up and let us finish. So I've told you multiple times this is how he treated me on the phone. Let's Let's pause. Let's take a breath. Keith, did you have something you wanted to say? So again, I I I understand the concern
that was raised by the residents on Postc Court, including the owner who owns the fence. I I I think um before I I think I think respectfully if if you guys will just give the board five minutes I'm I'm pretty conf So the
concern you guys the concern you guys have is you want to have your road plowed the the fence the the gentleman who owns the property with the fence has been has been kind enough to hold the town harmless if if if the
fence remains and there's damage I I'm not a bright guy and I show that every I show that every Tuesday night. However, I'm pretty confident if I'm counting heads up here, the board of selectman is going to go with a suggestion of plowing the road and and holding the town harmless is going to be
a reasonable solution. So, I I understand the frustration and I understand the concerns about medical issues and things of that nature and I and I think everybody up here respects that. What I'm what I think the chair was trying to suggest is if you give these guys five minutes to debate and and make a motion, I think you're going
to walk out of the room pretty happy. Okay. I agree with that. And I think at the end of the day, again, focusing on what we're trying to get to, I think we want to plow all the roads safely. Correct. Amen. So, I think that's we all want the same thing. So, we're trying to get there. It's just a little ugly sometimes in the
middle. So, I just I think, you know, I wanted to thank Keith because I think he spent a lot of time with the residents on this and and making, you know, talking to them, having these considerations to be brought to us and giving us time to talk about them, I think, is important
because that's exactly what we want. We want to be able to plow the roads and I appreciate that very much. But again, I I the gentleman who owns the fence, if he was if he was unwilling to try to find a compromise, it wouldn't have mattered how much time I spent. So, I appreciate
the fact that he and we didn't start off on the best foot. Um, but we we continued to uh talk and and and joke around a little bit and um and and end up coming to what I think to be a fairly reasonable compromise. So, um
I know we can continue to talk about this. I would respectfully suggest the board consider making a motion so we can just put this to bed. Also, if there's a lot of snow, just so that you guys know, in 2013, my understanding from the highway superintendent is that we brought we called in the National Guard to clear roads like postc court because we didn't
have the equipment that could clear the roads safely. It was too narrow. So, if that is the case, if we have a year like 2013, we may need to be more creative and we won't be able to fit the pickup trucks down because there just was too much snow. And if that's the case, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.
We'll figure it out together. I mean, I think again, I would just ask to sit back and look at the history of the of the streets, trees, and parks department. And I think that they have gone above and beyond and done a great job at removing snow with whatever resources they had. And if, god forbid, we have a snowstorm like the one that select Manberg just mentioned,
I want to be on vacation someplace down south. Um, I'm ready to make a motion. Thank you. Do it. I move that the board of selectmen authorize the continuing plowing of the post court road with the
proviso that we receive a document uh making the fence any any liability concerning the fence uh not a problem for the town. Second tying uh is Don still there. All right.
All those in favor, Eric, I. Kim, I Missy I. Kyle Pike I. Don I. All right. Now we need to We don't have Lantern Lane separately on here, but I also need to speak with um Sean on this,
but I will let you speak because what I'd like to ask you if you don't if you don't mind, do you have a question? I've been living for three. Actually, can you go up to the mic? Sorry. Yes. Grant, thank you for for keeping it going.
Just want and just introduce yourself. Colin Chromy, three postc court. Okay. About 23 years down there. Uh the event with uh in 2013. Mhm. Townwide power outage, 5 to 7 to 10 days, right? They came down with a front
end loader. It was this thick after the guy left and we took care of it on the tail end of it. M I've had many uh innumerable uh visits down to the uh to Mr. Basler about, hey, you know, you new guys haven't hit the route this year. I'd walk into the first
phone calls, never addressed. I started showing up. It's been a cyclical thing. Sometimes, some years they get it, some not. In reflection on the fence and the positioning of it during the sewer betterment, uh the gentleman that was here that owns the front house,
the proposal was brought to him, they had hit the roots of his uh willow tree, right? And they couldn't swing the machine because of the fence. So they said, "Hey, we'll offer to take the willow tree down." $4,000 tree job back when the betterment happened and um then we'll take the fence and put the fence
back up. And the contractor paid for all that action. The rub is is that they actually placed the fence, I don't know, 18 to 24 in closer to the road at that time. So the town's contractor actually did that and squeezed the road. This
gentleman's upset because he just found out so tight in timeline not aware of any of this at all because of the non-abutters right that you you know depicted earlier and I think that if that lends any you know understanding as to the nature
of what's really transpiring the other thing with Mr. Basler annually with the new contractors that were on board was to plow it to the passenger side to the pass to the driver's side of the vehicle to the center median that works. Never have we ever had except for in 2013 in
my timeline there has there any been any unnecessary uh retroactive coming and clearing of snow on postc court ever. So, just to dispel any kind of that the general trend that that was going in, it's never been an issue except if they did it well, ran the snowblower up, tuned it,
went talked to Basler, boom, it was done. And it was just about communication. And I'm glad for your, you know, we thank you for what you brought, but I thought that you might want to understand the nuts and bolts of the early days of it. That's all I have. Thank you for your time tonight. Appreciate the call. Thank you. I also think we should
potentially in the spring look at the policy itself and just have the the superintendent because as we've mentioned, we worked with Paul Bowser before and just make sure that what it says gets us to the streets safely. So, I mean, maybe the width isn't the right number. I don't know. Maybe two feet is too much. Maybe it only needs to be a
foot and a half. I don't actually know. I'm not a plow person, but I'm hoping that we just regularly look at the policy. Sure. I mean the challenge is that we're dealing in some cases like postc court with a very very old road that wasn't built for some of the vehicles that are traveling
down there to be plowed. Um, Lantern Lane, um, you know, again, it's it's a a a short, narrow in spots street that, um,
doesn't allow for uh, or as easily as it could um, some of the larger vehicles that we have to be able to get on there and and and and plow the road without potentially damaging damaging um,
the private property of people whether it be and and and again Mr. uh Turner and I were down there. We were hosted very nicely with one of by one of the owners down there. We had a great conversation. There are some um there are some stone walls that are there that
are that have been there I think for quite some time. Um they're decorative in nature. I think over for the most part they aren't there to keep um you know keep um soil from from coming down you know type
of thing but they've been there for quite some time. They'd be very expensive to have to move. Uh what we what we suggested um to the property owner on the inside of and I I apologize I'm terrible with directions. on the inside of of Lantern
Lane. Um on the inside of the curve of Lantern Lane was um removing I want to say was was it 18 inches or a foot a foot? Okay. A foot of um a foot of let me back up. There's there's basically
this grass to the edge of pavement and as you work your way down around that bend um it narrows up a bit and Sean offered to have the property owner remove a foot
of of the grass and replace that with um with rock. Um the the issue and the the the the reason for doing that I think it was a somewhat of a compromise. It wasn't as
expensive obviously as having to put in asphalt again that that's at that narrow section of the road. Um you know it becomes it becomes a little bit more challenging when you have one ton pickup trucks or or dump trucks going down through there
and um and having to maintain those roads. The property owner a number of years ago was generous enough to allow this three trees and park superintendent at the time to install a a a turnaround for town vehicles. If you look at the very end of the road, there's a there's
a turnaround that um town trucks if they need to can turn around in there and have to drive back up rather than back up Lantern Lane um to try to address again the ability to to maintain the property. The challenge is I think and and and the
owners can speak to it better than I. Um it the the the type of vehicle that can go down lantern lane and maintain lantern lane in its current condition is diminishes to a much smaller vehicle because of the width of the road.
Um the imp and I again I don't want to I don't want to speak for the gentleman um and I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong u as he should. Um he was willing to give up a foot of his pavement for this crushed stone. The debate comes he doesn't feel it's his
responsibility to put that to do that work. We explained at that meeting that it's a it's an unaccepted private road that we the town does not have the legal authority to expend town funds to um do the work and
put those that type of material down there. So c can I ask if we don't if we don't do that it's it's just grass correct is that nodding it's it is it's just grass. So if but we're we're asking him to put the
crushed stone down so we don't drive on the grass. So we don't go on the grass either. So so to widen Yeah. to widen I think ultimately to widen that out a bit. So otherwise if we go on the grass and we tear up his grass. So there's so so a couple of things. I
mean they tear up my grass and my my road is very wide. I'm like you shouldn't have been on you shouldn't have been on the school committee. Uh it's a joke. I'm talking about I know that was a joke. Um the issue I think if I could is uh
again if the property owner is willing to uh accept that that a foot of his of his grass may be damaged by a plow um then that might be something we can we can work with. There's the my only hesitation and and again I think
it's something that's not insurmountable. It's just something we need to have a conversation about. We talked we were initially talking 12 inches 18 inches. How does that you know what's the right number? Um the 18 inches you get closer and closer to to an irrigation system and
and I think fixing the lawn is not that hard to do in the spring. Replacing um heads on an air an irrigation system and potentially um you know uh the piping that that feeds those heads you know it becomes more expensive certainly and
more challenging. So, um, if let me let me throw this out, and again, I'm just spitballing, so you can tell me what what you like and what you don't like. If we tried to identify what a foot was and put some put some uh grade stakes on the property that identified where the foot was off of the
pavement, so the so the streets, trees, and parks in a snowstorm would have a visible object that would be able to say, "There's my foot off of the pavement. And as and if if we tear up your lawn,
we tear up your lawn and you're okay with that. I just don't want to have them be a little more aggressive or have a new plow person on that road go 18 in hit a sprinkler head and then you come and say, "Hey dude, we set a foot and and he damaged the sprinkler." So is it
possible, I guess, to to put something along your property that would designate where that foot area is? So somebody should have a much better idea, you know, what the parameters are for how far they can plow wooden
or something. I'm just saying wooden stakes, wooden grade stakes. But if you got a better look, do you want to speak? Okay. And just just to be clear, um, this isn't on our agenda. Post court is correct.
I'm But I don't know if we can still can we still deliberate even though it's a different road. It's related, but it's not the same road. So, by the absolute letter of the law, I guess I'm not 100% sure. Uh I I mean, he can talk to us.
Yeah. No, no, I know. But what that's why he's coming in public. That's why he was coming to public comment. I'm just wondering if we can deliberate or But go ahead. Actually, just introduce yourself. Jonathan Clark, two lantern lane. Okay. As you know, you guys have been plowing our road for as long as I've been there.
It's always really has not had a problem except sometimes not showing up. But the road the let's start with the stone wall at the end actually is kind of a retaining wall because the roads here and their
property is down here. You're talking gazillions to relocate that or move it. The curbing on the other the f first house has been there forever and I don't even see a problem with that.
That road has been clearly staked every winter by two homeowners. We've never had a problem. The problem I think really occurred when I put in those beautiful rocks on the corner,
which I only put them there because the trucks or cars would hit that corner. the the ground would recess, the rain would come down, wash that out, and the road would start to cave in. So, I just wanted to tell Amazon, please don't do
that anymore. We somewhat succeeded. I can remove rocks and we can clearly stake that road as we have every year. You guys don't even have to do it. if you want a letter from the people with the stone wall that
you would be held harmless for their stone wall that can be sent. So I really kind of think as the direction you were going which I appreciate plow our road if I have to fix a little bit of grass I have to fix a little bit of grass. We did talk about
the stone but after I thought about that I think that would just make a bigger mess every year where a little bit of sod is not that big a deal. So, if you want to put that into your way of thinking with this, that would be So, my my suggestion to the board,
because it's not on the agenda tonight, is what I'd like to do, if the board would be willing, is to give the interim town administrator, that feels good. and uh and uh and like the day before vacation
and and the streets, trees, and park superintendent the ability to meet and uh come up with a resolution that's to the satisfaction of the streets, trees, and parks superintendent and the property owners. And then in terms of an agenda request, I would request that we say something like exceptions to policy just more
generically if we can a little bit just so that we can cover lantern lane. Anything else that that Sean thinks we need to discuss? We didn't know. So So that's why so that might cover it in case something else bubbles to the top. Don, were you trying to say something? Yeah. Yeah, just a quick just a quick
question. Um, and we just need to confirm with Sean, but I just want to make sure that there wasn't an integrity reason that he wanted rock there because obviously vehicles as uh the resident just mentioned can slip, slide, dig in on grass. Whereas if he was putting in
rock uh depending now obviously if he only put in an inch of rock, it's not going to do anything. But if Seawn wanted it done to a certain depth, that would add integrity to the road. So I just we just need to verify that's the re that's not the reason that he wanted it done. Sure. And again, I think if if the board's comfortable just allowing uh
Sean and George uh if needed to, you know, to to spend some time with the property owners down on Lantern Lane and make sure that the concerns that he has have been addressed to to his satisfaction. Um, you know, I I think we can make this fin a resolution to the satisfaction of
both sides. Great. Thanks for hearing me. No, thank you. Um, all right. So, we will put that on the next agenda. Trisha, if you can remember to do that. I would say Keith, but Nope.
I was gonna say you can you put it on our next agenda, but Oh, Trisha. Yeah, my my right hand can do adjustment. All right. Uh, any other questions about postc court then? And now having said that, did anybody want to speak? We already voted to to take care of
We could always reconsider if we have to. Oil trucks go down all the time. When you guys salt the road, they come down with a uh 10 wheel and they back all the way in. But again, and again, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but the plows when they're down and extended are are much
wider than the the wid the width of the truck. Yeah. So maybe that's fast. If you want to say something, just go up there. We want to say thank you very much for this. You're more than welcome to send us the words. If you want us to read them, too. If you want to email them to us, you
can. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys. Take care. Actually miss you. I've never met you. You speak quite well. Thank you. Only person who's ever said that. Moving on.
Moving on. Appointment of assistant conservation agent. Upon completion of an employment search and interviews, the town administrators recommending uh Georgiana Manenna to fill the assistant conservation agent. Would anyone like to make a motion? I move to appoint Georgiana. Wow, you
did a better job than I will. Manena Manennena to the position of assistant conservation agent. Agreed for step four non-exempt position within KTEU labor with the conservation department with an anticipated start date of November 3rd,
2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. Second. All right. All those in favor? Eric I. Kim I. Missy I. Cal Pike I. Don I. All right. Thoughts and prayers to Matt as he maintains oneperson office until
November 3rd. Uh appointment of teen and emerging technology librarian upon completion of an employment search and interviews. The library director is recommending Parker Yarasitis if I said that right to fill the teen and emerging technology librarian
position. Motion anyone? I move to appoint Parker Yarasitis to the position of teen and emerging technology librarian. a schedule D-7 exempt position within wage and personnel with an anticipated start date
of October 6th, 2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. Second. All those in favor? Eric I. Kim I. Missy I. Kyle Pike I. Don I. All right. Appointment of Pauline Dodd as a regular member of the Council on
Aging Advisory Board. Uh she submitted a letter of interest to serve as a regular member. um advisory board voted unanimously to support Miss Dodd's appointment. I move to appoint Pauline Dotus as a regular member of the Council on Aging Advisory Board to a term ending June
30th, 2027. Second. All those in favor? Eric I. Kim I. Missy I. Kyle Pike I. Don I. I think they still have one more open seat if anyone's interested. And I think they also might still have an associate
member seat as well. All right. Closing the special town meeting warrant. Uh Keith S. Sure. So the uh when the board adopted the uh the time fall time meeting calendar, tonight was the night the board supposed is supposed to close the the warrant. Right now I have I have uh
10 draft articles on the warrant. Um I think I've included the table of contents in your board packet materials. um that uh that there needs to be some some items addressed. Obviously, um we have,
as we've talked about before, less than $5,000 in in um in uh available um taxes. So, all of the items that are there tonight um
would be uh funded through uh some other source with the exception of the uh requested sergeant for the family services unit. Um I think the chief has got some ideas on how to try to deal with that and and that can be addressed sometime between now and fall town
meeting. Uh, I will say that I was on a conference call last week with um the uh MSBA regarding this the elementary schools roof replacement pro uh uh program um that uh the MSBA has agreed
to fund or grant funds of I think the equivalent of 53% of the cost. Um the uh there's some information that um the MSBA was looking for from the school department. I know they're working on it. At least some of that information
has been submitted to the MSBA. Um I I think that the school department has until this Friday to get that information to the MSBA. if they aren't somehow able to do that. What the MSBA had indicated last week on the phone was they may be they may may need to push
the Kingston project from the October MSBA board meeting to the December MSBA board meeting uh for for approval. Um what that does internally with town meeting is it would mean um town meeting
would be approving or considering this project contingent upon MSBA approval. Yeah. Where we had set up an October 28th um town meeting because it was shortly after the October MSBA meeting. So, I'm
hoping that that all the information can be provided uh by the school uh by the end of this week um to allow MSBA to vote on this prior to our town meeting. I think it's important and and Paul Gallagher provided some information I think to everybody that will need if if
it is a fall town if if it does get approved, it would be a debt exclusion warrant article. that would need to have a um special election held that would have to be held sometime uh obviously in November December time frame which is
never a great time to do it with holidays but um uh so we'll see where that goes. the the operating budget, the supplemental operating budget for the planning department um is under the is with the anticipation that some of our commercial development will will occur
and that the cost of the permits needed for those commercial developments will offset the cost more than offset the cost of of a part-time planning admin to help with that. Uh the assessing department is seeking $100,000 for their
townwide uh revaluation. It has to happen every five years. Um they're asking for it at the fall town meeting, which I know is is not ideal, but it's coming from overlay. It's not being asked to be raised by taxes. What it does uh I'm told by the board of
assessors is that it um provides the the assessing department an additional four or five months to get the rebal done with by the by the due dates rather than waiting till a May town meeting and having a lesser period of time to award a contract and get that
that company out there to do the to to do the revaluation. um the um the veterans. We're going to be talking about that uh in an upcoming agenda item. Um but we have in front of the board tonight, but we're proposing
um creating a district with the town of Dubury. It would require the town of Kingston to um or the district, I guess, which would be housed by the town of Kingston. Um it would be require us to hire a part-time admin to assist with uh
the uh or support the veterans agent. Um the benefit to that is um the the town of Ducksbury and the agreement that we've proposed the town of Ducks and the town of Kingston would would split evenly the cost of the wages and benefits for the veterans agent and the
admin. The uh the the benefits that are provided to veterans by the veterans agent. The budget for Kingston would remain in Kingston. The budget for Dux would remain in Ducksburg. So based on the assumptions that we made for wages,
um the the assumption is that we will save annually $78,000 a year by having a uh a veterans district. Um so we need the 13,000 would be appropriated for the part-time admin for 11 12 I'm sorry, for
uh seven months. um we would be offsetting the revenue um by 7 months of $77,000 which would be more than certainly well more than the $13,000. Um we're also looking to supplement the
police department budget. Uh there's two there's two articles. Both of them are related primarily I think and I and again I the chief can speak to it better than I trying to uh the the establish a family service unit is $180,000 for that that right now you you see is just a
dollar sign that would be $180,000 which would be for the salaries benefits uh and operating expenses of a family service unit for the remainder of the year. That would be funded completely by u grant monies and opioid funds. uh the $100,000 that's uh that's that's now
listed as article six is $100,000 for a sergeant to oversee the family services unit as well as I assume some other tasks and and Chief Holmes can get get into that whenever you want to do that. The uh Can we stop right there?
Absolutely. These types of items annoy me just a bit that we go through a meeting or two where we authorize this type of thing. it's going to be covered by grants the first year around and so we talk about
it and we say yes, we approve it and recognizing that, you know, if the grant isn't renewed the next year, we probably have an issue of financing it. And now we're looking to uh come here with another $100,000
um the first year. I'm not sure I understand, you know, the reasoning for this. So again, I I respectfully um I think there's an opportunity in the next couple of meetings to have an have a
discussion with uh the departments that are seeking the different appropriations that are coming forward at fall time meeting. Tonight's um really the only thing tonight was meant for was to close um close the warrant and I've probably gone well beyond the scope of that by just explaining what the articles are
that we've received. So, I apologize if I've overstepped there, but I know that uh the Chief Holmes and the police department have a a pretty detailed explanation as to what the appropriations are for and the purpose and the purposes for them and the justification for them. And I'd ask that
the board just place that on a future agenda for discussion and um some decisions can be made at that point. That's reasonable. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, last couple things. The sidewalk plow, that's going to have to be jumped up to $234,000 from 225. Sidewalk plow was on the capital plan
initially to be replaced in fiscal 26. Um, I made a decision um with some input from the street, streets, and parks in terms superintendent to push that a year to fiscal 27. Um, hoping we would get one more year out of
it. We haven't. It's in a it's in a condition now that um really is is cost prohibitive to to fix. I have um I have identified um four different funding items uh or or funding appropriations that have already
been that either are approved or have all been approved that I would like look at to use to fund this. The veterans memorial appropriation, they had a significant amount of money appropriated for the memorial out front. I met with that that Veterans Memorial Group last
week. They have $74,000 remaining that was appropriated through free cash. They do have some invoices that they have left to pay. Um and they would like to have a little bit of and I don't want to call it a buffer. That probably isn't a fair a fair adjective, but they want to have just to be safe.
take. So, I'm asking them and and I I've shared with them that what I'd ask them to be supportive of doing is is um is um closing out that that appropriate closing out $50,000 of that
appropriation and reappropriating it for a portion of the sidewalk tractor. uh the the uh they have there's $108,540 of unexpended wages for fiscal 26 in the streets, street trees, and parks budget because of the vacancies.
$40,000 from the I'm gonna steal and make the assumption that we're going to do a veterans a veterans district and I'm going to look to try to take $40,000 from that budget uh to offset the the the trackless machine and then use um $35,65
from snow and ice to um to fund um the tractor as well. So there's there's a there's an there I I believe there are reasonable budget savings that we can use um to take care of that tra sidewalk tractor. Um looking to have the
police department is looking to establish a revolving fund for abandoned uh and taken property. Um there is no appropriation for that. Uh, the wastewater department is seeking to appropriate $82,000 to hire um a wastewater operator and a part-time
admin. I've spoken to the um wastewater superintendent and just wanted to make sure that the wastewater department has $82,000 can raise $82,000
in their um in their fees to cover that cover that cost. So, they're going to be running those numbers and I'm sure they'll be speaking to the the board about that. The board talked a while ago about trying and I think I think um Selectman Alenbright brought this forward trying to bring forward a a
hawkers and and and pedlers um solicit solicitation registry. So, I've got that on there as well. And then special legislation the board already agreed to, I think, uh to have to to present to the community changing the town clerk from an elected to an appointed position.
Right. So those are the those are 11 and I think finance committee wanted one to change their bylaw, right? So if we could so you're going to have to so and it can absolutely be done. All all you the the mechanics of that is reopening the warrant, bringing that in, closing the warrant, which we've done in the past.
It's not a big deal. Um but it's it's that's the process that the board would have to use to add an article. Now we can do that literally in one meeting. You open it, add it, close it. Absolutely. The reason I brought it up is because the warrant is open right now, right? And all we're looking at is a summary of the meeting articles.
So, I guess the question is is can we just say we're adding Yeah, we're adding a 12th. So, I don't know how and I'm not telling you I'm not sitting here trying to tell you which way to I have written the articles. Um, most of them have been approved by
legal counsel. Um I I think the board can can I don't think anybody's going to have an issue if the board says that they would like to add an article uh to amend the um and that's if finance committee even has one. I don't know to amend the petition. I'm sorry to
amend the by the budget bylaw. I I think if we if you say that we can probably add that and that's fine. Well, this isn't the budget bylaw. This is them. They wanted to change it instead of saying uh the finance committee is seven members to saying it's up to seven members because they were having trouble meeting because they
only have four members right now. So they just wanted to make a slight modification to their bylaw. Um which I don't think is going to be dramatic. I think it's just a up to up to instead of is and gives them a little more flexibility since we've had trouble right replacing our esteemed colleague over
there. No comment. Can you be on both? No, you can't actually. All right. Um, but otherwise, I don't know of anything else. That was the only one that I might So, do do we want to add a placeholder for that or do you think we should hold
off and get it written? And I don't I don't think it matters. I really don't think reopening the reopening the warrant if the FINCOM wants to do that is a big deal. Yeah. Okay. So, let's just let's hold off then. Okay. Will you will you be in touch with Michael the follow up just to let him
know? Okay. All right. Do I have a motion on this? I move the board selectman close the October 28th, 2025 special town meeting warrant. Second. All those in favor? Eric. I Tim I. Missy I. I. Don I.
All right. Consideration of forming a veterans district with the town of Duary. We previously discussed this. Keith did you want to? Sure. So with with me with me in the audience is the reason we can do this and that's Sarah Lansing. She's she's Kingston's veterans administrator. Um she was the king she was the Ducks
Veterans Administrator prior to this. Um um we met frankly because Ducks was having a hard time finding a veterans administrator. uh um veteran director, I apologize,
veteran service director. And um they reached out to to Sarah who came and talked to me about forming a district. And it was something we had talked about frankly um when our two when our two part-time admins retired because we were having the same problem. And luckily um
because of the amazing work environment we have here, uh Sarah came to Kingston and we're very blessed that she's here. So, Duxbury uh came out saying, "Hey, what can you can we form a district and we sat down and talked and and Sarah feels exceptionally confident that we
can do that. So, we started looking at, you know, what the impact is going to be to the veterans of Kingston, what the budget impact is going to be and how we going to do this." Um Sarah um provided some information that
she had gotten from the Massachusetts Exe Executive Office of Veteran Services. Thank you. Took me about three weeks. Um and they they have a they kind of have some guidelines as to um
the staffing levels that that they recommend having for um certain number a certain level of veterans numbers of veterans that you serve. So what their recommendation is is that they would have a full-time uh veterans agent and a
full-time admin. when we ran the numbers, frankly, it was going to be it was going to cost Kingston more money to form a district than than uh the cost of it now. So, um Sarah went back and and thought about what she could and couldn't do and came back and said, "You
know what? I think I can do a uh an admin at 19 at no more than 19 and a half hours a week, which would require the town of Kingston not to have to pay um will not that employee would not be eligible for health health insurance
benefits. Oh, no. Motion to adjurnn. You've been dying to say that for years. computer. I don't Zoom just went crazy. Well, the whole screen went, but he's
he's looking at it now. All right. If you can still hear us online, we just It looks like Zoom went blank. They're trying to fix it. Can you hear us? I don't know. It's all It's a blue screen. Can you guys hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Don, can you see
us? I can see you guys fine. Oh, okay. So, our screen up here just went blue. So can Don you can hear us Don? Yeah, Don said he needs to
I mean fortunately. Yes. Okay. We'll continue. So they can hear your laptop. Is it Is it plugged in? That's the interrupted. Will it interrupt the connection to the
recording though for you folks? Okay. So, we're still live. The Zoom is still operational. Okay, we're good. That's fine. Okay, we'll keep going. We have nothing to present and up there anyway, do we? No. Okay. All right. So, go ahead, Keith. I I
forget where you were, but um Excuse me, guys. Do you guys want I'm on Zoom right now. It's real. I'm wondering, do you guys want me to come down and take a look at the projector screen because I I'm I'm on the road and I'm like couple minutes out. if you want me to come back and
look at it. I think we're okay. Well, yeah, I think we're okay. This is our last item. Thank Thanks, Will. Okay. Thank you. Have a nice night, guys. Um, so long story short, um
Sarah uh believes that we can effectively support the the veterans of Kingston and Duxbury with a full-time veterans agent and a part-time 19.5 hours or less admin. Um the the again the benefits that have
been in Kingston would remain in Kingston. The benefits that that have been budgeted for in Ducks would remain there. Ducks would Ducks would repay the town of Kingston on a quarterly basis for the costs incur half of the costs incurred for the wages for that
department. Um, as I mentioned in my in the addendum, what we what we'll be looking to do with with uh the veterans agent position is work with wage and personnel to rec look to re see if the position should be
reclassified uh based on the additional workload that that uh is being asked of her. Um, in looking at some other communities who have veterans agents who are serving a similar number to what Sarah would be serving from both communities, the
salary range is mid 80, you know, 90 90 $95,000. So, we plugged $95,000 into the into the budget, estimated budget for this just to just to show uh what that number should be because wage and personnel um won't have anything to be
bringing forward until the spring town meeting. Um what I what I would suggest the board be willing to consider is um entering into a an employment contract between the town of Kingston and Sarah until July 1st of 2026.
uh similar to what we did with um the harbor master when we didn't have anybody when we didn't have a wage and personnel position at that time for him. Um that would compensate Sarah at an appropriate rate.
um allow the the district to to start up and um and um what we're looking I guess and I'll stop here because I think I'm I'm mumbling at this point, but what I'm we if the board of selectment approved
this this evening, it'll go to the town of Dbury, they'll approve it. They they'll consider it and hopefully approve it next week. They seem very excited about the opportunity. the signed agreement would go to the uh state agency that I just mentioned
and um they would review it and uh they feel you know very I guess they they're very excited about the fact that that Kingston and Ducksbury are going to have a district like this uh and have a veterans agent who is as skilled as as we have here. So uh don't have an exact
timeline. They they said to Sarah today that they thought they could turn it around pretty quickly. What we're suggesting, worst case scenario, is probably going to be December 1. Um but maybe a little bit earlier than that. Sarah and her admin would be in Kingston two days a week. They would be
in Duxbury two days a week. Um what we would schedule the hours to be specific hours in Dubbury, specific hours in Kingston. um and make people aware that if if I'm a Duxbury veteran that I and I need to see Sarah today for an unknown emergency
that is absolutely fine for for that person to drive to Duxbury because she's in Duxbury this this particular day and get the service that they need from from her in Duxbury and vice versa. So, um really excited about the opportunity to
to do a to do a a regional thing like this. Hopefully, it's it's an opportunity for us to look at other um you know, town functions to see if there's a better way of doing business for less money. And this and and again, I can't thank Sarah enough for her willingness to try to step up and do and do this for us.
Are we ready for a motion? Wow. I I Yeah, unless anybody has a question, I would say fire away. I move that the board of selectmen approve the veterans district involving the town of Dubury and and the agreement that we've
all reviewed in the papacia. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? Eric I. Kim I. Missy I. Kyle Pike I. Thank you very much. Sorry I was so longwinded. Don I. Yep. Thanks Don.
All right, next item. Update on the status. Does she have anything to add or she just is there in case you have questions? In case questions. All right. Uh there's no update on Department of Public Works. Um but I will be working with both water and
sewer commission um soon. Um do we want to take that off the agenda since you're working on it? Just keep it on. I'll um we don't have any meeting minutes to to go through. town administrator report. Any closing arguments?
He said motion to adjurnn, didn't he? My my three favorite words. Um I I'll be very brief. I just want to thank this board of selectman. Um the board of select and all the other selectmen who are here. I had a chance
to to visit yesterday with Dickaruda. Always a pleasure. And he brought his dog with him which was even better. Um, Kingston's been an amazing place for me to be. Um, there, as I mentioned in my email to you guys today, there are a couple of times I wish I had a doover um
with some things and and for those I'm I'm sorry. Um, it's been a great it's been a great opportunity for me. Um, I can't urge this board to um allow depart, you know, we've got an
amazing group of department heads. Um, I I've said from the beginning that every department head who's come in here has been a has been um has brought a new um energy to this community and and the group of department heads I had the
opportunity and the b and the pleasure of sitting around a table with every couple of weeks is amazing. Um, I know it's going to be hard to continue to uh afford quality staff members as we move forward. But I
think this board and the in the five years I've been here and the improvement in this department has that we have now. you. I would like to think this board has seen an improvement in the quality of of work and presentations that have been
brought to you uh every two weeks and that's because of the the hard work, dedication, the capability of the people. Sometimes they don't you you get what you pay for and and and I can tell you right now the town of Kingston is absolutely getting that now. And it might cost us a little bit more money
than it used in the past, but you're getting a hell of a lot more than you used to get, except for the treasur. Motion to adjurnn. All right, we have our next regular meeting October 7th, uh, 2025, two
weeks. Um, any comments or a motion to adjurnn? I' I'd just like to say that, you know, it's been a my pleasure to work with Keith Hickeyi here. I was actually on the original search committee that went out and talked to many candidates and we
settled on bringing him to the board of selectmen. Um I've been fortunate enough to work with him and the two excellent directors of finance on my time on the finance committee. um spent three years
here uh really working full-time with Keith providing excellent direction and uh excellent uh person to bounce things off of. Um and now sitting here in this corner chair and uh getting a little frustrated at some of the uh important
matters that we have to spend 25 minutes discussing. However, um it's still uh my pleasure to have worked with Keith and uh I look forward to having some um fried clams down on the New Bedford waterfront.
I I'll buy Can I just ask one thing? You may. Um the Plymouth County Advisory Board has a meeting on Thursday the 23rd at 6 PM. I'm unable to attend that evening, but someone can attend in mystead. So, I'm just going to forward it to you
guys. I don't think we need to vote on that. It's just it's October 23rd. So, okay. So, if if someone could just, you know, raise their hand, we I we can send someone in mystead, but it doesn't have to be on an agenda, I don't think, because it's not an official reappoint. It's just
subbing in. So, I would appreciate that. I will forward it. Thank you, Keith, for everything. I know when we talk to the department heads and everyone in town, they really appreciate everything you've done and it it's been a pleasure to work with you for the last year and a few months. So, I appreciate that. We've got a great team. Thank you.
Yeah, we've got a great team here and um it makes life a lot easier when you can when you know you can turn around to the people around you and and they're willing to do whatever they can for the community to to be uh to to have it be
the community that is. and and and I know what people get frustrated at times. We heard it tonight with some of the road stuff. Um it's not because we're trying to be jerks. It's just sometimes it's just tough and but the the people here have put their heart and
soul into it and I have been blessed to sit around with some incredibly talented people who um make make life awfully easy for the person sitting sitting taking direction from Trish.
So true. Would anybody like to make a motion? Do we still have Don or did we lose him? I think he's still there. Okay, Don is here. Don, you want to make a motion to adjourn? I will. Um, well, first I just want to say thank you to Keith. You've been
excellent to work with as well. Um, I'll keep that very short and sweet, but you're going to be you're going to be very much missed. Um, but you've left you've left us with you know, working set of department heads that have been excellent and you'll be missed. Uh, but I will make a
motion to adjurnn. Second. All those in favor? Eric, I Tim I, Missy I, Kyle Pike, I Don I. That's it. All right. And I invite everybody to stay. We have cupcakes. That's is going to get him out of the
office.