going to call uh the board of selectment meeting for May 20th to order. And it is now 6:02 p.m. And we will begin with the pledge. I aliance 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've got a few announcements. First and foremost, we have a new face up here. Well, not so new. You've done a lot for the town for
many, many years. So, but I I'd like to welcome uh Carl Pike to the board of selectman. Um, and I'd also say congratulations to anybody else who um has uh uh who ran for office this past weekend. Um we didn't have a huge
turnout, but it was good to see um we had a few writein campaigns. So, thank you again for anybody and everybody um who put their name out there um to get elected. Um, this meeting is recorded by the local scene. Anyone intending to make an audio or video recording of this
meeting should notify the chair at this time. Uh, 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. Do you would you like to Yep.
Kim? I would if I can. Absolutely. So, something that we've done in the past is sort of highlight one of these openings to explain to everyone one of those empty seats and what that um involvement might look like for anyone willing to volunteer. So, finance committee now has
I believe three open seats now that we've been joined by Mr. Pike. Um, with that said, if you know someone or if you want to get involved, um, maybe you have questions about the finances of the town or you want to take a closer look at how the budgets are built and maybe you're
not afraid to ask questions or stand up for what you think is right, then finance committee maybe is the perfect fit for you. Um, I highly encourage you take a look at the website, watch some of the recorded meetings. They're all available on the local scenes YouTube page. Um, just give it a shot. You can
ask any of us any questions or or Mr. Pike or members of the finance committee, we need you. The town needs you. It's a seven member committee and now that they're down to four members, I believe their quorum is four because they need at least four people there. So
consider volunteering your time and we would greatly appreciate that. The moderator appoints that position, so letters of interest can be sent to him at moderator kingston.gov. And that was all I had. Excellent. Um, any other announcements
from anybody else? No. All right. So, we'll move on to open forum. Is there anybody here who would like to speak at open forum? I think I see someone. And Renee, just just introduce yourself and and your address and then um speak away. My name is Renee
McDonald. Um, I live at 26 Ordolani Circle. My first time ever speaking at a mic at a meeting. So anyway, um my question or concern is the transfer station and the new hours starting um this summer. From what I see, it went
from 12:00 to 7:45 to now being 10:00 to 3:45. So we've lost the one night a week that we had at the transfer station. Um, I just wanted to ask if there's any option at all for maybe to make it still end at 7:45 or 6:45 and shorten the
hours up to that end instead of starting at 10:00. Um, I just think it's important to have the one night a week for work schedules and everything else. I know the weekend obviously is an option for people too, but we all know how lives get and I thought one night a
week is important. That's it. Okay. Um, so this is open form and it's this topic is not on our agenda, but we could certainly add it to a future agenda. Um, and I would say and and I think um if we want to do that, we can add it probably
for two weeks from now and you can speak to any of us individually as well about um some of these things, but we should we can talk about it publicly. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Renee. All right. Anybody else want to speak at open forum?
No. Okay. So, our first appointment is with um after our election, we have a reorganization of the board. So, each year after the the annual town election, um we'll discuss and vote on a board chair, a vice chair, and a and a clerk.
Um so, at this point, um if there's anybody interested in um running for any of these positions, I'm I'm perfectly willing to stay on um as as the chair uh for this coming year. Um, if anybody else is interested in
other positions or want to make motions, I mean, you guys haven't served as chair. Carl hasn't. I spent three years in the in the chairman seat, so I'm I'm happy to step up again or, you know, support you um continuing. I don't know if Carl, Missy, or Don has interest in
raising their hand to be the chairman. No, I think uh Eric did a good job and I think it would be good to have him continue if he wants to. Yeah, I think so. I think I feel good about you continuing to. I think that's a great option for us. Any opinions from Carl?
Okay. How about this? I move the board of selectman appoint Eric Cron for the position of chairman of the board of selectman. Second. Second. All right. All those in favor? I. I voted for me, too. Thank you're allowed to do that. Appreciate it. All right. Um, so is
anybody willing to step up as as vice chair? happy to do that as well if you'd like. I mean, we do often talk about agendas and things. Um, unless you guys want to be vice chair. That's great. Carl, I nominate Kim for vice chair. I second
that. All right. All those in favor? I I It's unanimous. Now, we get to pick a clerk. And this is a fun position because you get to take minutes during our executive session. I nominate Missy. Shocker.
Do I have the Wait, would you be willing? Yeah. No, you don't ask if they're willing. You just go through the coming from the former clerk. I do. That was good. I like that. All right. Did we get a second? Can you second it? Second. There we go. All right. All those in
favor? I And oh, we forgot to ask her how her handwriting is. I have great handwriting. She can type, so we're good. All right. So, we're good. Right. Well, okay. All right. Thank you, everybody. Um, all right. So, the next item is proclamation for National Police Week.
So, that's uh May 12th through May 18th. Um, town administrators asking the board of selectman to recognize the Kingston Police Department for National Police Week. Um, we have a proclamation. I'm going to read it as well. Um, Chief, I'm I'm going to read this
first off of this and then I'm going to come around and and present this to you. But, we have it framed up. We have all our signatures on here. Um, but the proclamation is as follows. To recognize National Police Week 2025 and to honor the service and sacrifice of those law
enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while protecting our communities and safeguarding our democracy. Whereas there are more than 900,000 law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of the Kingston, Massachusetts Police
Department. Whereas since the first recorded death in 1786, more than 24,67 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice and been killed in the line of duty. Whereas the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved
on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC. Whereas 282 new names of fallen heroes were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the spring of 2024, including 118 officers
killed in 2023 and 164 officers killed in previous years. Whereas to this date, 25 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. Whereas the service and sacrifice of all officers killed in the line of duty will be honored during the National Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial Funds 37th candlelight vigil on the evening of May 13, 2025. Whereas the candlelight vigil is part of National Police Week, which will be observed this year from May 10th through May 16th. Whereas May 15th is designated as peace
officers memorial day in honor in honor of all fallen officers and their families and US flags should be flown at half staff. Therefore, be it resolved, the Kingston Board of Selectmen will observe May 10th through 16th as National Police Week in Kingston,
Massachusetts and publicly salutes the service of law enforcement officers in our community and in communities across the nation. So, um I believe We need to make a motion on um declaring it National Police Week.
Would anybody like to make that motion? I can do that. I move the board of selectman declare May. That proclamation says 10th. Correct. Right. Where is it? Um 10th through 16. Yep. Okay. I move the board of selectman
to declare May 10th through May 16th, 2025 as National Police Week. Second. All right. All those in favor? I I All right. That's unanimous. Chiefly appreciated. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Thanks.
All right, we have another one. So what? Yeah. So we have another one that uh was not on the agenda, but it's National Public Works uh week. So I have a pro proclamation here. I'm going to read uh National Public Works Week proclamation
May 18th through 24th. Uh people, purpose, presence. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of the town of
Kingston. And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for re rebuilding,
improving and and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment and solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest for us for the citizens,
civic leaders and children in the town of Kingston to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest in understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2025 marks the 65th
annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association um Canadian Public Works Association. Be it now resolved, we the King the Kingston Board of Selectmen do hereby designate the week of May 18th through 24th, 2025 as National Public
Works Week. I urge all citizens to join with the representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies in activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and
to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing quality of life for all. It witnessed whereof, I have here unto set my hand and caused the seal of the town of Kingston, Mass. this 20th day of May,
2025. Um, so my question, Keith, this wasn't on the um on the agenda, but can we take a vote to or do we need to do that in two weeks? So, I can present this and then we'll actually Yeah, yeah, I apologize. I wasn't aware that it was National Public Works Week, but I wanted
to at least have the board recognize Absolutely. that department at least if nothing else unofficially. Okay. Thank you. Perfect. So Sean, it's officially framed. So there's that. Yes, it is. It is framed. It's got all our signatures and it's worth a lot of
money. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for all that you've done. And Sean, especially, thanks for stepping up um for the past several months and and and helping to lead that department. Um it's you've done a great job. We really appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Y thank
you. And as an aside, I've heard some really great things about the Facebook updates from folks. They really like the highway department. Absolutely. Posting those things. I know that the police department's already very active there, so that's a nice addition. Absolutely. All right. Next item is to request the board of selectman support
of planning department grant applications. So, uh, Val is here, Val Msard, our town planner. Um, take it away. hard to follow up on my peers and their hard work. Um, but thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I'm here to present uh four requests for letters of support. We're It's grant season, so we're hunting. And um the first is we're looking for a joint application with the town of Ducksbury and the town of Kingston as joint applicants to uh look
locate the additional funding we need to finish exit 20's engineering design. That's the uh shared ramps that we have at exit 20 between Ducksbury and and Kingston. We're also combining that with
the Tarland Big Y intersection that's become a real, you know, it's been a as pressures of development have grown, that's become a really hazardous intersection. So, we're asking for the state to do both the um finishing exit
20 and then we would also do the engineering design for Tarkland at the same time. So, we're hoping that they'd be favorable to that. So, that's a Mass Works application. Um, there we've already what we're proposing is that we are use the money we've already spent on
the 75% design as match. Um, the second is a community planning grant. The uh 2016 2017 master plan is uh now dated. We've had a lot of change.
We've had COVID. We have um expanded the wastewater treatment plant. We are uh in the process of upgrading our public water supply with the well. And so um thought it might be a good time to visit
our community plan master plan. There's uh $100,000 that would be sought from the community one-stop community planning grant with a $25,000 match from Old Colony Planning Council and a uh an
equal match from the planning board public benefit accounts. Uh we would then start that project and finish it in 2027. The third is a brownfield redevelopment cleanup. There's no match
required. Uh we're waiting on the phase two. We kind of backtrack. This is for the old fire station at 10 Maple Street. And people may have noticed that we've had uh equipment out there doing sampling. We got free grant money to do
the environmental phase one and phase two. And relatively recently, the state has made it so that um public entities that own or control brownfield sites that even they have contributed to can now apply for cleanup money. So the
upside is that that would be great. The downside is we don't have an alternative dry storage um option for us. So this is in case we can apply this year or maybe we would apply next year. Um we're going to get those phase 2 results um in the
next couple of two weeks and that will tell us whether or not we have to tear down the uh old fire station which is serving as storage. Even though it floods in the basement, it's a very old dilapidated building. We're using that as a storage building. Uh so we will
apply if we can somehow figure out that the fire station could stay up and we would do that. Otherwise, we'll hold off and wait until the following year, see if our if our odds get better or if we can come up with a modular storage unit
or something like that. Um, and then the fourth, we're working with um this is another cooperative effort with the waterfront committee, the um public safety and also um conservation. We're
looking at a coastal resiliency grant which would um help us do a feasibility and design for improvements to the wararf the parking and the harbor masters office at the town landing. We're working on the budget. We should
have that in about a week working with an engineer and um we will work with the same engineer to apply for the grant. Uh we're proposing that once we know how much the match is, we're going to investigate whether we can go to
Seapport Council, whether we can um which which aspect of it, the waterways fund money that's set aside for this could be used and also uh planning board public benefit account money because this would benefit the entire town. So I I have a question back on the first
one. The mass works infrastructure. The Tarill uh road intersection was pretty high up in the in the uh safety assessment that document that you gave us many many months ago. It's much more dangerous than any of the other intersections in the community. Yeah.
And um that is already in the tip program somehow. It is not. No, we okay we got um I spent $29,000 of public benefit monies that the planning board had to hire a consultant to introduce it
and we've given a project notification to introduce it into the tip. It's not in the tip yet. There's a whole process that happens next. Um and we'll get responses for mass dot telling us how and if we can get it into the tip. Mhm.
And then once that happens, just so that everybody understands, um this is a multi-year, this is like 5 to 11 year horizon. Okay. Um, if though we're able to, if the state feels that this is something that
they want to fund through Mass Works, which is what we're hoping, then they may say come back the following year or two and do it as a um a Mass Works grant, which could happen quickly. Okay.
So, we're at a a crossroads whether is in the tip or mass works uh is going to rely on it wouldn't be both. It would be one, would be one or the other and it will be uh relative to the discussion that we have based on the application that we're going to make. Okay. We the
the downside for us applying is that we don't we should be positioning ourselves to apply for these grants when the development occurs or as it's occurring rather than years after it's occurred. We're doing it years after it's occurred. We're going to score lower.
However, by having the joint application with the town of Dubury, we're hoping that that would make up for some of the points because the regional grants score better. Okay. And we do have a letter of support from the town of Dubury. Okay. Excellent. I had a question on the
the grant application for the harbor master's office town pier parking lot. Forgive me. I thought the waterfront committee was working on something. Is this the same they approached us? Okay. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to make sure we were all kind of going in the same
direction. We believe that we are. Okay. We're going to have some more conversations just to make sure that we are, but we we've had some preliminary discussions in the past couple of days. There was definitely some mis miscommunication, but we think that's been resolved. Okay, great. I just I wasn't sure if they were two separate
projects or if they were kind of being one project and two different grant uh programs that could fund aspects of it. So, I see. Let's see if we could tie that knot together. maybe make those work together. Great. That sounds great. Um, my only concern as a sort of
parallel issue is do you have time for all of this? Hey, that's it's in my job description to do all these things. So, um, well, whatever support that we can provide you and the planning department because I do know that we did eliminate that part-time assistant planner
position. Um, it is something that we'll probably revisit as we look at the budget this year as to what gaps we have. Um, at least from my perspective, you have our support and any assistance that anyone can provide. I don't know, I don't know how to write
grants personally, but yeah, that would be greatly appreciated and please let us know. you know, your support for the activities that we're doing as a as you know, this is we have we we team up with DPW, we team up with conservation, we team up with police, we team up with
fire, we have letters of support from the police and fire already for the T- Warf grant application, I believe that we're we're talking on that and also the mass works, we've worked together. So there's there's a lot of cross communication that goes on. It's not
just planning that's working on these things. I'm just the one who is before you tonight. Sure. Um for the the harbor master, as long as we're all on the same, you know, same page, then that that's great. And obviously, there's always concerns about how much the match
will be. Doesn't sound like we would know that at this point for any grants, right? I'm sorry. We don't know how much the match would be for Well, we're going to have a budget towards the end of next week. And when we have that budget, we'll we'll have a a group conversation about what we're going to do about
match. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Carl, do you have any? I'm good, thanks. All right. Uh, I move the board of selectman support the four grant applications presented this evening and authorize the board chair to sign a letter supporting the grant submission
on behalf of the board. Second. All right. All those in favor? I. I. It's unanimous. Thank you, Val. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have uh a request for opioid uh settlement funds from the police department. Uh chief is here to
and we have a presentation in our handout. Um he's requesting a transfer of $18,000 from the opioid settlement funds to be made out to Plymouth County Outreach Care of the Town of East Bridgewater. Chief, take it away. Honorable members, uh Mr. Chairman, Miss
Tucker, Mr. Hickeyi, uh, thanks for putting this on the agenda. Plymouth County Outreach, uh, is housed right here in Kingston on the, uh, Plymouth Kingston border on Main Street. Uh, they're a countywide organization. You may have heard us discuss them before. Uh, they're also on a national stage
that puts Little Town of Kingston on a national stage at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference because Plymouth County Outreach is a model for um, other support agencies uh, that IAP has decided to use. Um the people you see before you to my left obviously
Lieutenant Sco Vera presents with the director Vicky Butler. Um to to my left here is is Chief Tim Can of the Handover Police Department. He's he's on the governing board of directors for Plymouth County Outreach. Uh we're requesting $18,000. Uh prim primarily PCO has been
run off of uh grants. Those grants are ending. Um what the this transfer will do uh is it'll buy them some time to stay in business. It's a vital service that we use um as a followup uh for early intervention um overdose
prevention all sorts of different services. There is a presentation in your packet um Trish you going to be running it so some of it some of these slides will be skipped by the presenters. Um but this will buy us some time and this request is going to every
police agency in Plymouth County. Uh there are, I'm told, 25 that are interested in doing what we're doing here tonight. Uh so I'll pass the the podium off to Vicky Butler. You can all come on up. Thank you, Chief. Um and thank you for
um having me here tonight. Um so you can go to the next slide. Thank you so much. Um, so Plymouth County Outreach is a collaboration of the 27 municipal police departments in Plymouth County as well as Bridgewwater State University Police Department working together um with the DA's office, the sheriff's department,
um, local coalitions and uh, treatment facilities to make treatment resources, harm reduction tools more accessible to people who are struggling with any kind of substance use and also their family members um, and friends. And really what we're trying to do is remove the barriers that prevent people from
accessing the resources that they need. Um, next slide. So, um, I know we don't have a lot of time tonight, but I just wanted to throw this slide up here. These are all of the different things that we do in the community. Um, I think a few things that are important to mention is we're not insurance- based. So, someone not having insurance isn't
going to prohibit them from accessing services. Um, we don't have weight lists. everything that we offer and everything that we do in the community um is completely uh funded under our grants currently. Um so our program started with that post overdose follow-up. So we partner with law
enforcement anytime someone overdoses within any of our Plymouth County communities. We're going to go out as soon as possible uh plane closed police officer in an unmarked cruiser alongside a recovery coach, which is a person in recovery themselves that's been through this um to first and foremost check in
uh make sure they're okay and then see if there's anything that they need. So if someone needs to be connected to um treatment or um has questions about different resources in the community, we're going to be able to do all that right in the comfort of their own homes. Um next slide, please.
The other thing that I wanted to mention is our uh situation tables. So we have four within Plymouth County. They're based on the four uh district courts and um this is really a a great tool as we start to move into um addressing uh mental health concerns and kind of other
concerns within our community. So this is a proactive approach where really anyone um who has multiple kind of different risk factors, substance use doesn't need to be one of them. um the our our community partners, our police departments are identifying these people
proactively, bringing them to the situation table, which is a table of kind of all different service providers and requesting assistance before this escalates. So maybe we have a family in town that's um you know facing eviction. Uh maybe one of the parents lost their
job. There's maybe truency um all these other risk factors. Why wait for this family to get evicted when we can be proactive and connect them with services within the community? Um, so this has been a great new resource um, within Plymouth County. Next slide, please. Um, we collect real lifetime
data, so I wanted to kind of throw a few of these slides in here. As you can see, um, over the last three years, we have seen, um, continued to see a decrease in fatal overdoses throughout Plymouth County. Next slide. This is a map showing our fatal
overdoses throughout the county. Next slide. Um, we're seeing that same trend with the non-fatal overdoses, seeing that same decrease from year to year. Next slide. Um, this is our non-fatal overdoses up on the map. I wanted to um
just point out that kind of um concentration of non-fatal overdoses where we see the North Plymouth and Kingston line. Um that's important to note because our drop-in center that the chief had mentioned um sits right in that hotspot area so that we're able to be in the Kingston community and um
really support that area where we're seeing the higher rates of overdoses occurring. Next slide, please. And then this is just kind of since our our um our program started at the end of 2015, but we started um having a more robust data collection
mechanism in 2017. So, as you can see, um, from the start, we have continued to see decreases in fatal overdoses aside from 2020 during the pandemic. Um, but luckily, we're back on that downward trend, uh, I think it's important to highlight this data because, you know,
we're we're doing a lot in the community, but to be able to show that it's making an impact, um, I think is really important. And we've often seen decreases, um, in fatal overdoses when the rest of the Commonwealth and even, you know, across the country is continuing to see increases. These are a few uh pictures of our
drop-in center. Um so we opened in Kingston in October of 2023. Uh the drop-in center we host weekly meetings. Um we have youth groups for youth who are using substances and really it's just a drop in. So, whatever someone might need, whether it's a
family member looking for support and resources, someone who walks in the door looking for um you know, access to treatment or a detox ped uh or maybe it's just to grab a box in Nan, whatever they need, they can come through the door. We have people that will come in and just have, you know, a cup of coffee
and have a safe place to to sit and meet with the recovery coach. A quick question for you. It I'm recognizing the the building. Is that where the Kingston Science Center used to be? Yeah, it's actually it's the old sign. We still have people that Yeah, we still have people that come in and ask that. So,
it's right in that Clipper building. Okay. Um, we're also recognized as a national model. So, we were selected by the Bureau of Justice and Assistance to be a national mentor in 2019. It's a position that we still hold today. So, we have places from around the country that will come to um Plymouth County to learn from
our outreach teams to bring that information back and implement it in their own communities. Um and as Chief had mentioned, we've presented the model nationally several times um at different forums around the country. I wanted to mention specifically when we're talking about
Kingston, we've been particularly fortunate um with the amount of support that we've received. So, Detective Lieutenant Sca has, you know, presented with me um at a lot of those conferences and then not only that, but have participated in the mentor program, have
sat in on different working groups for various initiatives that we're doing and have attended roundts in Washington DC to provide insight, assistance, and recommendations. Um, so we are we've been very fortunate to continue to have this support. Um, and then just a little bit more about our funding that I wanted
to list on there. So, we were awarded our first federal grant in 2018, received um several other grants in 2020, 2022, and 2023. Um, but these awards were for program startup uh and not program sustainability, which is, you know, the problem that we're running
into at this point. Um, and then just wanted to kind of end my presentation with this that I'm sure a lot of people have seen that was released in February um about how the state is concerned that these opioid funds are not being spent um and they, you know, um would like to
take them back if they're not being spent. We have a great um program that's doing a lot of good in the community um and are looking for support in being able to continue that. And at this point, I would like to invite um Chief Kane. Good evening, everyone. Thanks for having me. As she stated, my name is Tim
Kane. I'm the chief of police of the town of Hanover. And I'm ecstatic to be here to just kind of talk about PCO with all of you. Kind of share the message a little bit, but really kind of dial it back a little bit and speak from the perspective of a young officer who started his career right when this
opiate epidemic really took off. And that was me at the time. So I responded to a number of overdoses. Uh many that were fatal, many that were not fatal. But one thing that always stuck with me as a young officer, you know, right out of that police academy out on the street
going to these calls was when I left that scene, I left a family there that really had nowhere to turn. And there was very few options that we had as a police department. Um, and I wasn't with handover PD at the time, but another
department who is now part of PCO within Plymouth County. Uh, we were looking for answers. The original answer, now this it's it's important to highlight when this really took place. You know, back in the 1990s, law enforcement had a completely different approach when it
came to handling uh addiction and drug issues. Back then, we knew it as the war on drugs. The answer by law enforcement at the time was to arrest our way out of the problem. Uh law enforcement has evolved immensely since that time. We
are now taking a far more supportive angle to try to support these individuals who have addiction issues. Um I think that's the right approach to take. Uh the numbers bear that that is working here in Plymouth County. Um it's
no small feat that we are a national model that that people are now turning to they're emulating their own programs uh strictly at you know with the same objectives that PCO offers. Our officers now I look back you know and I'm Chief Holmes probably the
same amount of time roughly 25 years or so. Our officers go out there now and they respond to a scene similar to what I responded in the early part of my career. And now they leave this family with a little bit of hope that they didn't have otherwise. Uh we give them a direction that they can turn where they can re really receive some support, some
treatment, some followup without fear of really being introduced to the criminal justice system. Now obviously at times that still has to take place depending upon other circumstances. Um but that's not what PCO is all about. So you know being part of
PCO from the perspective of an officer who responds to these calls to now being in a position um as a department head for a local law enforcement agency and then a one of three chiefs on the executive board for PCO. Um, I see this as a platform to really kind of get that
message out there, strengthen the commitment from our communities as we move forward. Uh, the collaboration between all the communities within Plymouth County. Uh, to be able to put a model like this together and just step up and do something when others weren't doing anything about it for so long is
something that I know that many chiefs, uh, my predecessor included, a lot of these chiefs in surrounding towns have now retired. You know, they went into this with a vision. Um, I would say that they met their goals. We are now being tasked with keeping this going. I'm very
proud to stand behind it. I I speak for many of the chiefs that I've had conversations with who also stand behind this. I know Chief Holmes stands behind it. Um, you know, and we're hoping that the communities will will trust in that as well and and and really get behind it
and support it as needed. So, you know, we look forward to working with the town of Kingston like every other town in Plymouth County and um assist those who need. So, I want to thank you for your time. Thank you, Chief. I'd like to thank both of the presenters. Uh the current balance of
the opiate settlement funds is 177,000. uh each year that uh that fund is added to from five different pharmaceuticals that were a part of the class action lawsuit and that's filtered from the governor's office to the town. Happy to answer any questions. Can can you remind us how many how many more years that's
going on through the settlement till 2036 I believe. 18 more years I believe. Okay. Thank you. Um any other direct questions from anyone? Uh Keith, can you remind me? Do we have anything currently that projects that we
have this ear any of that money earmarked for that we've been discussing? I just want to make sure that I'm not seeing anything. So we've we've talked uh about some equipment that um we held off for right now. There's been some discussion about um a and I apologize chief not if I'm not
using the right term, family unit. Family for the police department of uh trailer office space. You don't have the room in the building. But those, you know, those discussions haven't been formally brought forward for the board's consideration. So, at this point, mine,
there's no there's no encumbered money out of the 175,000 that's in there. Okay. I have no concerns about this. I think it's a great program. It's clearly making a difference. So, yeah, absolutely. And it's an allowable use of this money, so I don't I don't have an objection to it. and they have the uh
center right here in Kingston which makes it directly accessible to um to our residents for sure. Yeah. Just one quick question. How did we determine the number 18 as opposed to eight or 28 or 38 or whatever? They asked for five
grand and I rounded up a bit. I'm just kidding. uh the director Butler, she came up with a a a cost contribution per community uh based on the population, the number of incidents and the usage and it was 17 and change. So the rest of
it I did round up to 18,000 to make it clean. I think we can make that available. Appreciate it. I mean, look at I'm not kidding when I say that uh the town of Kingston and other towns that have partnered with throughout the county should be very proud of what
Plymouth County Outreach does. Um like Chief Kane said, we have about the same amount of time or years of service and to take an addict, throw him into the justice system. You know, we can't arrest our way out of this problem. It doesn't work. This works and it's something that the town should be proud
of. Well, we appreciate all your time and Vicki, thank you for um heading up an organization like this. Um, you know, it it's wonderful. I'm glad that we have something like this available for for all of our residents. And as you guys
know, it can happen to anybody. Um, you know, it doesn't doesn't pick and choose. It can happen to literally anybody, any family, and you'd never see it coming. So, uh, with that, if there's no more questions, uh, if someone wants to make a motion, I move the board of selectment
accept the request from Chief Holmes to transfer $18,000 from the opioid settlement fund to be made out to Plymouth County Outreach. Second. All those in favor? I Sorry for the question mark. The word fund isn't in there, so I'm just making sure that's what you're
supposed to say. All right. All right. It's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Y All right, next item. Uh, request from the fire chief to car carry over vacation time. Um, Chief Douglas is requesting to carry over three weeks of
vacation time. Um, included in our board materials is his contract that states chief can carry up to 5 days vacation until next year. Any vacation days remaining over 5 days shall be forfeit forfeited. Um, alternative, the chief still shall have the right to sell back
to town up to five vacation days. Um, Chief or Keith, you guys have anything to say? I no objection as long as he has a plan, right? Usually does. This one's quick and easy. July delayed my vacation the end
of this year. No objection. Who's going to take care of your grass? Who's going to take care of your gr your yard? Yeah, you. You for those that don't know, I'm about Yeah. I'm about five doors down from him and and his
yard is the best looking yard in the neighborhood. You won't do it. You don't We won't do it well enough, I'm sure. I don't I don't I move the board select and approve the request from Chief Mark Douglas to carry over three weeks of vacation time. Second. All right. All those in favor? I.
That was easy. Thank you. And good luck. Call me if you need anything. It won't be for long care. Training starts next week. All right. Next is a recommendation on temporary staffing at streets, trees,
and parks. Um, so, uh, at the at the May 6th board of selectment meeting, uh, there was a discussion the board had as to whether or not to continue the discussion about moving forward with a public works department at some point. at a future town meeting. The board at that meeting
uh I believe anyways uh agreed that they wanted to bring the public works department forward at a future town meeting date but had not chosen at this point which town meeting it was going to be um to assist the streets trees and parks department and and Sean
specifically in his role as acting superintendent. Uh we discussed briefly a couple of weeks ago about trying to fill on a temporary basis the foreman position uh in public in streets threes of park excuse me. Um so Sean and I and
human resource director Tina Betty uh met with u members of the uh KTEU union and discussed the most appropriate way to address this and the the um process that uh we've agreed to and are
recommending the board select and consider accepting is um we have frankly we've advertised already for the equipment the I'm sorry the the foreman position uh with the anticipation that at least one uh and we assume more than one existing or current uh equipment
operator within streets and parks would have an interest in filling the position. Sean um and our human resource director and anybody else Sean feels is appropriate. Frankly, uh we'll interview those candidates if the board does approve this plan uh and have the have
that person fill fill in as an interim uh streets, trees, and parks foreman. If in fact a equipment operator is promoted temporarily to foreman, a temporary foreman, we would then look to fill the
equipment operator position internally. We have one laborer position um internally that has the qualifications to fill the equipment operator position. Now, um I think the union, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the union has
agreed that because there's just one, if in fact we we bump uh an equip equipment operator up to a temporary foreman, we would then uh approach that laborer to see if they would be willing to accept a temporary role as equipment operator. And if that in fact happens,
then we would uh look to hire a seasonal laborer to fill the laborer position. um all the you know the money in the there's funding in the budget fiscal 26 for all these positions um you know Sean again is f is filling in for a
superintendent on on an interim basis so um the three positions of the air we're not asking for additional money but we'd like to provide um streets trees and parks with a fully staffed department if we can do that so what we're asking the board to consider tonight is to allow uh
the hiring of a temporary foreman uh potentially a tempor temporary equipment operator and lastly a temporary seasonal worker. Yeah. And I just want to remind the board, you know, we we talked about this before, but but they're hitting their busy season in the summer and and Sean was able to kind of be both the
foreman and the superintendent through through the winter and the spring, but but he's busy and they need help. So, um, we have it in, you know, we're we're down a person. Um, so it's definitely there. Um, I fully support this. Are there any questions? The funding is
available because we approved funding for a DPW director, but because the DPW didn't even without that. Even without that, I mean, we have either a DPW director or or or a superintendent. So Sean Sean's money is coming from that. He's coming. He's coming to talk. Uh oh,
he's getting up. No, I just wanted to say we can labor position. Oh, your mic is introduce yourself, too. Sean, interim superintendent. um looking to just with the labor's position, we can fund that
non CDL, so it could just be a laborer, right? Okay. Which might you get more candidates that way as well, right? I guess the I'm just making the point that the budget is tight. This we have
this in the budget. Yeah, because we're down we're down a person. We didn't we didn't Yeah. I just We're going to be talking about the budget every single meeting probably. So yeah, we even brought in a member of the, you know, former member of the finance committee just to make sure but that we keep
talking about the budget. So any other questions, comments, concerns, motions? I move the board of selectmen approve the process to hire a temporary foreman and if necessary a temporary equipment operator proposed by
the interim superintendent of streets, trees, and parks and the town administrator. Second. Can I just I apologize. Can I just ask for a friendly amendment to include a seasonal laborer as well? Please accept it. Thank you. All right. And did we have a second? I
second. All right. So, all those in favor? I I unanimous. Thank you again. Appreciate it. Also, do they really have a non busy season? Because if it snows a lot, I'm pretty sure they're busy in the winter, too. That's probably a very good
point. Okay. Um, approval of new common your favorite word. Vicular. Vicular license. Blended Berry um LLC. Um they're requesting a new common license.
The said application will be at 150 Summer Street, Unit D, for the hours of 7 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Um any questions, comments, motions? I move the board of selectman approve the new common vicular license for Blendedberry LLC effective immediately through December 31st, 2025.
Second. All those in favor? I. All right. That's unanimous. That's right next to the stop and shop. Yes. The crazies used to be right. All right. Next item is to request approval of a bond anticipation note B for the new
water department well project. Um so they're seeking temporary funding for the well design work approved at the 24 fall town meeting. So just as a reminder, town meeting approved it. Now we have to do the paperwork on that funding. Correct. This would this would authorize the
temporary borrowing during the um preliminary work of the of the well design and will ultimately be um financed in a more permanent uh permanent manner uh after this section of the project is complete. Do you guys
want me to read this novel? Yeah, I apologize. This is, you know, this is the the motion that was asked ready for story time, guys. Okay. Unless you had more to say on that. No. Okay. I move the board of selectmen approve the sale of the
$900,000 5.25% general obligation bond anticip anticipation notes the notes of the town dated May 30th 2025 and payable May 29th 2026 to Oppenheimer and co incorporated at par and acred interest
if any plus a premium of $180. and in connection with the marketing and sale of the notes, the preparation and distribution of a notice of sale and preliminary official statement dated May 7th, 2025, and a final official statement dated May 14th,
2025, each in such form as may be approved by the town treasurer be and hereby are ratified, confirmed, approved, and adopted. and the town treasurer and the board of selectmen be and hereby are authorized to execute and deliver a s a significant events
disclosure undertaking in compliance with SEC rule 15C2-12 in such forms as may be approved by bond council to the town which undertakings shall be incorporated by reference in the notes for the benefit of the holders of the notes from time to
time and that we authorize and direct the town treasurer to establish postissuance federal tax compliance procedures ures and continuing disclosure procedures in such forms as the town treasurer and the bond council deem sufficient. or if such procedures are currently in place to review and
update said procedures in order to monitor and maintain the taxexempt status of the notes and to comply with relevant securities laws and that any certificates or documents relating to the notes collectively the documents may
be executed in several counterparts each of which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one and the same document. delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in a PDF file or by
other electronic transmission such as such sorry shall be as effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart signature page to such document and electric electronic signatures on any of the documents shall
be deemed original signatures for the purposes of the documents and all matters relating there to having the same legal effect as original signatures. And that each member of the board of selectmen, the town clerk, and the town treasurer be and hereby are authorized to take any and all such
actions and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts, or other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to be necessary or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the foregoing votes. Second.
We'll give you a minute before we close the vote. You want me to repeat it? Don't worry. Nine's coming up. All right. Jeez. Uh, all those in favor? I Who seconded that? That was I did. Okay. That was a unanimous. We have never had
to read that before. We'll wait for the next one. This The next one may be longer. All right. Next one's Eric. Ken, did you write this? Seriously, he he might All right. All right. So the next item here is consideration and possible
approval of a state septic betterment loan program. Um so the town shall issue a bond or bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400,000 the bonds pursuant to chapters 29 C and and 111 of the general laws and a vote
of the town passed November 19th 2024 which authorized total borrowing of 400,000 for community septic management loan program. So the same thing, right? Same idea. Okay. Yeah. So, um, do we before we re read the motion?
Getting ready. Any additional information there, Keith, or or Ken? No, just again, we we uh have we've we've appropriated and used all the original $400,000. Uh, town meeting approved the this new $400,000 amount that we could
allow people to um b take money or or borrow money from to uh replace septic systems if they need funding. Okay. And I think it's important to note on something like this that uh number one, you don't even start paying it back for
a period of time, couple of years. There's no interest involved in that period. Um by my calculations, $400,000 over basically a three-year period, you're doing somewhere around 10 or 12 projects. And I think that's about
the rate that that's been running. At least when I was involved, it was only two or three uh septic systems a year that people were were doing. And um so why would what I'm sorry, don't we don't have to belabor this, but just quick
question. Why would someone come to do this rout? I mean, obviously they don't have the cash or can't get their great interest rate 2%. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Good. Yeah. Good. All right. I move the board of selectmen move the
town shall issue a bond or bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400,000 of the bonds pursuant to chapters 29 C and 111 of the general laws and a vote of the town passed November 19th 2024 article 8 which authorized a total borrowing of $400,000
for a community septic management loan program the project and that the terms of the financing agreement or agreements between the town and the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust the trust the financing agreement and the project regulatory agreement or agreements between the town and the department of
environmental protection of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts D. the project regulatory agreement each relating to the notes and the bonds are hereby approved and that in anticipation of the issuance of the bonds the treasur is authorized to issue an interim loan
note or notes the notes from time to time in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400,000 and that each bond or note shall be issued as a single registered security and sold to the trust at a price determined pursuant to the financing agreement and that the treasur
is authorized to determine the date the form of the maximum interest rate and the principal maturities of each bond and note and to execute a financing agreement with the trust with respect to the sale of the bonds and notes such date, form and maturities and the specific interest rate or rates of the
bond bonds and notes to be approved by a majority vote of the board of selectmen and the treasurer and evidenced by their execution of the bonds or notes. and that any certificates or documents relating to each bond and note collectively the documents may be executed in several counterparts each of
which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one and the same document. Delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in in a PDF file or by other electronic transmission shall be as effective as
delivery of a manual exeu manually executed counterpart signature page to such document and electronic signatures on any of the documents shall be deemed original signatures for the purposes of the documents and all matters relating there to having the same legal effect as
original signatures. and that all action taken to date by the town and its officers and agents to carry out the project and its financing, including the execution of any loan commitment or agreement by the treasurer, are hereby ratified, approved, and
confirmed. and that the treasurer and the other appropriate town officials are hereby are each hereby authorized to take any and all actions necessary or convenient to carry out the provisions of this vote, including execution and delivery of the financing agreement and
the project regulatory agreement relating to the project. Second. Excellent. Uh all those in favor I. That's unanimous. So that's the story time for tonight for me. I'm losing my voice.
The rest of the motions look fairly short. All right. Uh next up is a request uh by the agricultural commission to use townhouse gazebo for produce sharing programs um for the residents. Uh it's the same thing that's happened the past couple years right out there. Yep. Um so again, just for for
folks who don't know, um they're again proposing a sharing program for excess produce grown by residents. So, the idea is that you would come here to townhouse. There's a gazebo out there and you can place whatever produce you have inside that gazebo and folks can come in and and take what they would
like. Um, the members of the commission would monitor the produce on a weekly basis to remove spoiled items. Uh, the anticipated dates for this program would begin in late June and end midepptember. uh health agent Joyce Crystal Christophalsski provide comment that she
has no issues and would just like the committee to check the gazebo on a regular bit basis for any pro produce that may need to be discarded. I know there were some concerns about animals and things getting in there, but I don't think we had any evidence that that was an issue in the past. Now it's screened
in and and it is closed. So yeah, that's helped. All right. Uh any questions, comments, or a motion? I can make a motion. And I move to approve the request of the agricultural commission to use the townhouse gazebo for the produce sharing program. Second. All
those in favor? I. That's unanimous. All right. Next up is a request for one day liquor license for 42nd Brew Company. Uh Steven Darby from 42nd Brews requesting a one-day license for gears and beers at Jones River Storage parking lot 26
whopping Road Kingston on June 7th from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Any questions, comments, motions? I move board of selectman approve the one-day liquor license request from Derby of 42nd Brew Company for the Gears and Beers event at Jones River Storage parking lot, 26
Whopping Road, Kingston on June 7th, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Second. All those in favor? I. All right. Next up, uh we need to set our special town meeting date. Uh Tuesday, October 28th. Um we originally
did that already, right? Didn't we set it for November? or something that we talked about. Oh, okay. Maybe we didn't. I think we talked about we never said it out that I recall. That's possible that we just held it on our calendars. Okay. So, there is a need to hold a special town meeting. Um we always do anyways,
but uh to consider a dead exclusion article for the roof on um elementary school. Um so, again, proposed date is October 28th um just two days before Halloween. Three. Close enough. I move the board of
selectmen set the date of Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 as fall special town meeting. Second. All those in favor? I. And I'll be trick-or-treating the night before apparently. All right. Acceptance of donations. We
have a few here. Um so the police department and Council on Aging have have received um donations. So would somebody like to go through and make the motion? I move the board of selectmen accept the following donations. A $1,000 donation to the Kingston Police
Department revolving fund from Helen Boxer. A $25 donation to the Council on Aging from William and Carolyn Wilderman in memory of Mary Moo Bowman. $150 donation to the Council on Aging from David and Kathleen Lee in memory of Mary
Moo Bowman. And a $57 donation to the Council on Aging from Stop and Shop Blumen for Good program to support hunger relief. Second. Yes. Absolutely. He's going to negotiate not to accept a
donation. I want the town to match it. That's that's all. No, just so uh the reason that that the uh the lady sent the donation is uh she was stuck in a she's from the south and she was stuck in a situation where uh there was a death in
the family I believe or family emergency. She just called looking for help and she ended up with one of the dispatches Mike Herrick. Uh so between Mike and Sergeant Calter uh they arranged to like deliver some food. They paid out of pocket. The woman called back. She wanted to send a check to, you
know, to send a a donation to the offices. And the sergeant explained, you know, we have that whole ethics thing and the $50 maximum. Uh so they talked about um what she could do and you know, she's financially well off and she wanted to help the police department out. So that's how the town ended up
getting the check and uh I think it's a testament to the the people that we have working for the town. Thank you. And we just set up a revolving fund at the last town meeting. So how convenient. You have a place to put it, right? Perfect. All right. So, I think we already had that second motion in a
second. Yep. All right. So, all those in favor I No, no, just kidding. It's unanimous. And thank you for your generous donations. Yes. All right. Next item, seasonal employee appointments for recreation department. Um they're recommending the appointment of the
following summer park staff and counselors. Someone want to make a motion? Ask a question. Do we have to read all the names or can we say as presented? Okay. I move the board of select and appoint the following the seasonal recreation staff as presented. Second. All those in
favor? There's a lot of names on this list and I'm pretty sure I'm going to mispronounce a lot of them. So All right. Next item is to discuss the town administrator evaluation. Um we had the draft annual evaluation of the town administrator as summarized by the
council. Um we can discuss it, vote to make any amendments or comments given. Um once we're done reviewing um then we can make a motion to to accept the final evaluation. Um does anybody have and then also we can discuss whether um to
provide the town administrator with a bonus as outlined in his employment contract. Um were there any questions about the evaluation or did anybody want to discuss it? No, I think that council summarized everything,
right? I agree. All right. So, um we can make a motion um to include a bonus. So, just um I'm I'm just going to read the the the portion of his contract. So, in addition to the So,
it's part B. In addition to the above salary, the town administrator may receive up to a $3,000 bonus each year at the board's discretion. said bonus not to be applied to to base salary. Um if the board of selectment in its sole discretion determines that his performance exceeds expectations as
documented through the performance evaluation process set forth in section V of this document five um said bonus payment is payable in the first pay period in July based on the evaluation in April of each year. Okay. Well, first question is going to
be is it was it in the budget? Okay, that's always my first question. Okay, we'll just cut it from the police department. We'll have plenty of money. Oh, boy. All right. So, um, you said I'm just
pulling up the So, I guess it's a question. Did did the VI did the evaluation reflect exceeds expectations? I see both achieved and exceeds. So I think it's sort of up the discretion of
the board. I do too. And I think it's um Yeah. I mean I I certainly would support um providing the the full bonus as we have it outlined in the contract. Should we make a motion for it then? Yes. You want me to make the motion? I move the board of selectman approve the annual
evaluation of the town administrator um as presented this evening. Further, I move the board of selectman to authorize a bonus of $3,000 based on the results of the administrator's annual evaluation. Second. All right. All those in favor? I
I That was unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you. to say the public officials review process is a little odd coming from the private industry. You get to sit there where we talk about this and it's just
an odd it's an odd thing but we do it and for those the government does is odd but fair for those that did not watch our meeting um last week we did extend um the contract for the town administrator um for three more years. So thank you. We have a lot of stuff
going on. um you're up to your ears in all of it and um look forward to working with you. Um I appreciate the board support. Thank you. All right. Next up is a request from Troop 49 for camper ships grant from the
William H. Willis charity fund. Um they're requesting the funding of two camper camper ships be approved to give two boy scouts the opportunity to um attend um summer camp. And the cost of that um is it 1,360 and that would fund
two. So um my question and I didn't look at this in here. Where where would that money come from in our budget? It wouldn't come from the budget. It would come from the William Willis charity. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I I got it.
Okay. I move the board of selectman approve the request from troop 49 for funding in the amount of $1,360 from the William H. Willis charity fund for two campers ships for the camp Squanto summer camp the dispersement to be made to troop 49.
Second. All right. All those in favor I I. All right. The next up is to amend the start date of the new townhouse hours. So, we already um had approved the new town hours to begin on July 1st. Um just for this building, right? We
said it's just this building. It's it's just this building. It's a trial period of six months, right? So, just as a note, that's a Tuesday. So, they're he's just requesting that we actually begin the new hours on Monday, June 30th.
So, this is housekeeping. I'd rather make it confusing, but that's me. That's me personally. We do our best. I move the board of selectmen amend the start of the new townhouse hours on to Monday, June 30th, 2025.
Second. All those in favor? I those against? Nay. But I voted against the first time. There you go. So, 4. Uh, approval of Silver Lake Parcel. This item was on the May 6th uh board meeting and was approved. The entire motion was
not added to the addendum. So therefore, it needs to be revoted so the vote can be certified. So again, at the 2023 falltown meeting, the transfer of surplus parcel of land owned by Silver Lake Regional School District to the town of Kingston was approved as part of the upcoming Lake Street Culver
replacement and storm water improvement project. This agenda item is requesting the board of selectman accept the property for municipal purposes. This looks like a Kim one. Yeah, it does. It's more than a lie. It's like who gets to read the legal language.
I hereby move that the board of selectmen accept for municipal purposes as authorized pursuant to article 16 of the October 24th, 2023 special town meeting warrant and further to authorize the chair to execute all documents
necessary to effectuate the acquisition of said property. A parcel of land shown as lot three on plan 25119A filed with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds land court shown on
the assessor's maps as map 8 lot 49. Second. All those in favor? I talk about it too long and Carl will just do it himself. All right. Uh this is going to be on all of our meetings um uh agenda. So, update on the status of establishing a
department of public works. Um, so again, this this we don't have anything specific to talk about, but we do need to decide our our our fall town meeting is in October. I personally think um we need to to have something prepared and
and put forward um for that meeting. Um but there is there there are quite a few things that we need to do between now and then. So we have the working group, informal working group that was working on um putting this together and that was um you know chief it was water
department, sewer department um uh town administrator um and our fire chief. Um so what we need to decide is um I I think one of the things that we we found from uh town meeting people were saying they're just hearing about it now. It's
a big it's a big thing that that people were just hearing about. They want to hear more about it. So, I think we need to have some some uh public hearings um or informational sessions um whether that be like a open house kind of thing
where people come in potentially and maybe also on Zoom. Sure. And when they did the sewer expansion, they did the same thing, right? had a specific presentation and discussion open to the public, recorded, posted, and and we could do, you know, a presentation maybe
at the Council on Aging and maybe look into, you know, what other sort of PR we may need to do um with the public so that they do feel like they they know a little bit more. Um also, you know, sit down and do the same thing for for staff for the staff of all the departments.
Sure. Um and the folks here in in in town hall. so that everybody's on board, that we hear any any concerns, objections, um but also that everybody kind of understands where we're headed, what the goals are, how it's going to change
everybody's um uh how is it going to change their their day in terms of of working. And then also with the public I, you know, we heard that um the woman who stood up um and kept asking how it's going to change her life. You know, I I
answered that, but um there may be more questions. You know, how how does this affect other people? And I've had somebody else who was against this actually just reached out to me the other day who said she's now on board. Well, I think there were a number of questions and concerns raised leading up
to town meeting and at town meeting and since town meeting. Um, I I may be alone in this. I think I think we should dissolve the working group because I think one it I think having discussions out in public makes a difference and what I heard from from you sort of at
even at town meeting was there wasn't any movement forward with certain parties in that group. So, I'm not sure that I want to beat a dead horse there. So, maybe having things either here like this or specific meetings that are only
about DPW, maybe we need to do it that way. But I think we need to look at this differently and approach it a little bit differently um and just have the conversations out like this. And and the other thing I think um we need to do and and I can
certainly take on some of this is is reach out um to the other towns. Um, you know, we we did a search and looked at at at public documents and stories and and um uh news articles about other
towns that did this. And I've looked through their reports because a lot a lot of towns will actually, you know, you know, government loves to do a study. You know, why do something when you can pay $25,000 to a company to tell you whether you should do it or not. Um, so I've read some of those reports and
it's it's common sense. I mean there's nothing there's no high level science engineering to this. Um, but I mean when I say it's common sense, what I mean is it's not complicated. You know, it doesn't mean that it's right. I'm just saying that um it it it's not that
complicated. I certainly don't think we need to hire a company to come in to evaluate. This is something that we're 100% capable of of of doing in-house. Um it's just a matter of of really fine-tuning and defining the roles.
Sure. Which is where I think the disagreement roles and responsibilities. So I mean some of that is where do the where do the elected commissioners fit into this? Do they fit into it in a long term? If you wanted to pursue getting rid of elected water and sewer
commissioner positions, what would that even look like? what would the time frame be? Like I think some of these questions also came up in it even though that wasn't part of this discussion. I think it's something that people were asking and maybe had reservations about moving forward on this first step because they really weren't sure what
that meant. Um and I think there were questions about the idea of having superintendent and foremans in two of the departments but not the third department. So we had some you know reservations. How do the job duties get distributed? I I mean I think we can we
can work harder to make sure that everyone understands that a little bit better. So I agree. I I think one of the things we we could do is um you know we can approach it from a couple different ways. So you could have an open house where people come in and they just tell
you know we we give them the information that we have and we hear and this again this is the public not necessarily staff because it's two different audiences. um you know, we can move forward a little bit quicker with with with uh our internal staff and have meetings and and
discuss um concerns and then walk away from that with concerns and try to develop, you know, a presentation and and then do have another meeting with them. Um but as far as the public goes, um maybe just kind of have some
informational um nights. Maybe even, you know, one over the summer and then one in the fall. Sure. You know, like one in September, maybe one in July, something like that. Um and I'm I'm thought you did a great job presenting at town meeting. I thought you did a great job explaining everything. So I'm perfectly
happy for you to sort of continue leading the charge on this. I don't know how other folks feel. Um Yep. agreed if you have a strong opinion on that, but my concern is I'm not in favor of bringing this back in the fall town
meeting. I never like having a regular town meeting turn something down and then coming charging right back in at a special town meeting where it's even more difficult to get everybody in there. So that that's really at this
time my only thought. I think you know what's interesting? We had more people in our fall town meeting than we did our annual. We did. I I don't know why. And I think at the end of the day, it depends on what's it's because it was MD MBTA's zoning. In
this being the school roof, you're likely going to have a decent group of folks. So I also But I understand that. I I typically I actually 100% agree with that. Um the amount of people after the
town meeting that came to me at at least 10 just me that came to me and said I would have changed my vote had this happened after the other some of the other votes for the later article that and also I think it was it's important
to note that the commissioners that spoke out against it all spoke out against it but said they aren't opposed to it. They just think they needed more time. So, we're giving them more time. So, I assume that they're going to be for it in the fall, right? That makes
sense. Um, yeah, it's it's a and normally I I agree 100%, Carl, but I think and and we don't have to decide right now. We don't close the warrant until um September. We don't have a schedule yet. Right. Right. So, we could end up right, you know,
agreeing with you and say, "Let's hold off till um annual." Regardless, there's still work to be done. Yes. So, I guess my question is how do how do we move forward toward this initiative and what's the what are the next steps? So, in in my
opinion, this I'm just going to throw it out out there. Um I think we need to have a meeting here with town employees in those departments. Anybody who's interested and has something to say, we should have a meeting and listen to them. Uh now, that could be an entire meeting. we can have a hearing and they
could talk in in open session or it could be, you know, just two members of this committee, you know, attending a meeting here and it's private where they can speak off the, you know, they're not being recorded with what they're saying. Uh, and that probably makes more sense,
I would think, so that they felt freer to speak. Do we have I'm I'm fine doing it either way. I'm just kind of thinking, does it make sense to come to the employees with already questions from the public? So, in other words, do
a public one first and then I have a plan. I'm not from my perspective, I have no problem meeting multiple times. Now, maybe the staff and maybe Yeah, Keith's like, "Wait a minute. We can't be in meetings all summer long." That's fine.
Just just a thought. Um, you know, one of the comments and you've mentioned it tonight was people weren't aware or there need to be more time, more meetings, more conversation. Even if it's an informal meeting with one or two selectmen and employees or the public, I just wonder if we should if we should
broadcast it live and rebroadcast it to give the people the opportunity to see it and to make them aware that these discussions have occurred on several occasions. So, you know, I think it's a it's a valid point and I would say let's maybe
talk to the department heads and say are you know or the union to see would they feel comfortable being taped and broadcast or would they feel better? I mean maybe well the question isn't I mean so this board would like to move
forward with a DPW. What does that look like? We need input from the community, from the employees, and from the people to figure out what that looks like for them. I know what it looks like in my opinion, but that doesn't mean what we presented was 10 votes short of passing.
So, we were close, but we had unanswered questions. So, let's try to get some answers to some of the questions we already have and have these discussions. I agree with you, Keith. I think it needs to be as much recorded and published and posted and shared as
possible. So, I would say for the public that those should be public hearings in front of probably this entire board here and let them go on record because then their their questions are are um uh heard by everybody. Um I guess it's just
the the employee one that um but I mean anyone who has questions send them to us. We want to know what the questions are because we want to find the answers to this. We don't know the answer to a question that's a problem. We need to know what the plan. We need to create the plan and we need to be able to execute that on that. So if you have
questions like the questions we saw at town meeting, let's start answering those questions. Yeah. And I'm fine since Eric is kind of was in charge of it before and seems to be probably the one taking the helm this time. I'm perfectly fine if you guys want to or fine with me doing it, working with him
about getting questions out to social media and all that stuff too and just asking certain things, certain formats, whatever. Sure. Whatever. I mean the people who are only participating on social media tend not to come to town meetings and not to come to these meetings but so they might get more feedback. I have a question since you
guys you know have kids in the school and summer vacation means something to you. It means nothing to me anymore. It means that means I work with three little kids running around. Yeah. Keep going. So, so my question is, would it be would would it make more sense to try to get some of the the the younger
families um involved if we did this in June before school is out or do it in July and September? I say do it in June. Just do it. You say do it in June. I say do it in June because I think once summer
hits, families are busy and summer brain is So, we've got a we've got a June 3rd and a June 17th board meeting. Um, Trish, I'm just going to look to you for timing. Could we do something? Advertise. Could we advertise a public
hearing on on June for June 3rd if we needed to go that quickly? It would be a totally separate meeting though. I'm thinking it was separate. What about the between those two meetings? I just need to check and I just need to check and see if the room's available. School is out the And it is because everybody else is on vacation
forever. Everyone's on vacation. So, school's out the 13th. The reality is that probably means that entire week is a wash with parents. So to me, it actually probably makes more sense having it like a week or two after school's out if we can't get it in before school's out, which isn't
possible because the week the week school is out is probably you're not going to have anyone. Can I ask a clarifying question? Why do we care when school is out as it relates to the DPW? I'm just saying just to get people here that to get the younger families that are going to be busy in the summer. We
can I mean we can try to keep the agenda lighter if at all possible on June 3 with the anticipation. I know I know Trish's already got the agenda the draft agendas for the next two meetings already done because she shared them with me this morning and and there are some things on there that we're going to
have to deal with, but I do think it's important to try to get the feedback from people when it just needs to be a separate I think it needs to be a separate meeting. It could be the same day. If we go separate, we could do the 24th, which is, you know, almost two
weeks. It's 10 daysish after school is out. Yeah. I mean, I'm here either way. So, I'm not going to be So, does anybody object to June 20? That gives us a little bit more time to present. I won't be available, but that's
You don't think you'll be what? She's not available 24. I'm not available at 24. No. Did you say what about the 24th? What? Okay. So, can we start again? What is the purpose of the meeting you guys are trying to schedule? Are we just are
we presenting your presentation again from town meeting? Yes. And then gathering feedback and gathering feedback. Okay. Because I want to make sure we're preliminary public hearing. Got it. Okay. But you think it should be separate from our normal board meeting that started or
something. So that that way it's kind of starting June 18th. It's a Wednesday. Just throwing a date out there. You deal with ZBA and conservation. And we can't do it earlier like five o'clock before one of our meetings. Well, that would be tough, I think, with people trying to
get back from work. So, let me take a step back. What did we say about the 24th? that that and and Keith's not available the 10th. Why don't we just pick a date and start? How about this?
We just How about we piggy back almost monthly or every other month on one of our select meetings. It's just first thing on the meeting. So June 3rd and then July 16, whatever day it is in July. and we have it at the beginning of
a meeting and the public can it can be a public portion. I would rather have a little bit more time. So I would rather do June 17th if we're okay if we're going to do that and that'll just be the beginning of I like that idea and I would prefer personally not to have it
at the beginning of the meeting but to have two separate meetings. Think about the posting on local scene DPW discussion and selectments meeting. So for us, yes, it's fine. We have this thing at 5:00 and then we have a regular meeting at 6:00. But I think they should
be two separate agendas. I'm just pick whatever you want. My point is is like I'd like them to be two separate meetings so that that way they can document it differently. They can create a playlist of all of the discussions. Mhm. It's a lot easier for them to separate it as opposed to trying to So
my my do concern with this meeting is just like our town meetings. People say we didn't do any meetings. They didn't get get a chance to hear about it. Now are they going to show up
to that? So we do it at six and then we're going to record it and and then we'll have information from them. Eric will have stuff to present. Is it possible to offer a meeting before like you're saying separate meetings? Yeah. And then after our meeting. Is that a
option? Because maybe people can't get here at five o'clock. So you do one before and one after. I know it's late. Well, you'd be presenting the same thing. Well, the problem not on the same night. Not on the same night. I mean, on a different meeting. We're kind of guessing a time and hoping for the best. So, I would I would stick to it be
before for an eight. Yeah. My thought was probably even uh a little stronger than Eric's here. All of this discussion is academic because so few people are going to show up. You're going to have people from the water department, from
the wastewater department who don't like the idea. They'll be here. Yep. You you'll have uh they didn't say they don't like the idea. They said they just said they wanted more time. So here here's and I'm holding them to that. So stepping back then, do we would it be better to to do outreach and go out to
the Council on Aging when they're there to talk to them or do they not care to, you know, to work directly with groups and go out if we have more? This is attached to our meetings. I say we maybe the first one we do a half hour, we do 6:00 to 6:30. And if there's no one
here, then we know to keep it at 15 minutes or less. And if there's people here, then the next time we do an hour or this isn't about your presentation, okay? At the end of the day, this isn't about your presentation. And I think Carl's right. They're not going to come. They're going to listen to your presentation and they're going to the people who object to it are going to
continue to object to it. Fine. Right. We need to in our preparation for bringing this back to town meeting, we need to be able to answer the questions. There were some people who reached out to me. There was confusion about the enterprise fund. They thought it was a somehow a power grab for money to supplement the general fund. Well, we
can't actually do that legally. Maybe that's something we can address in the presentation. Maybe the time is better spent with us talking about the objections we heard. Yeah. And coming up with how do we answer these questions. So, um the as I mentioned the elimination of a position in the highway department, the um there was some
discussion inclusion or exclusion of facilities, right? There were reasons for that. We had that discussion as well. Um how does it matter to the public? So, I wonder to address those. So, I wonder if it makes more sense to meet with the employees first. You do. Yeah. I mean,
I'm I'm I'm happy to I just think we need to come up. We need to figure out the answers to these questions. We need to have a strong plan on how we plan to present this because I think all five of us still believe that moving toward a DPW is the right thing to do for the town and the best thing to
do for the town. The question is how do we how do we make sure that we the plan that we have is the right plan for the public as well. And just to take a step back and and add to that note, um it may not be perfect. We may be putting
something together that is and a problem arises and we have to shift. I mean, this is what happens. This is why town meetings go back and forth, you know, back to change bylaws all the time. Um because something needs to be changed. So, but the shift would be adjustments,
not correct reverse out of DPW. I mean the idea is that we have a centralized um leader who is able to bring all those departments together and coordinate work and coordinate projects and coordinate
vendors and engineering firms and whatnot. And the other big benefit obviously is if you have somebody in who's who is an engineer has that background. I just I you keep saying that. I just think that's a that's like a very wonderful dream. I just don't
know that that exists. But I it sounds great. I just don't know that that's possible. But yeah, I mean a lot of I mean it it it might be hard to fill the position. I I don't know. But that's what other towns do with uh DPW directors. Do we know that? We know
that. Well, I don't I don't know the percentage. I'm sure there are some that may not that might have, you know, um comparable experience. Um but you know you can put in there that they have an engineering license because then we can rather than outsourcing engineering
studies and and um that that we do often we can do it internally. You know there may be things that we we would be able to do internally and save money there that might even pay for the additional that's that's one of those things I never was certain of. So if we had more data to support that I still support the
DPW. I just don't know that. Right. I don't know that the DPW director will be able to do those engineering things that you mentioned. Yeah. Yeah. So, has it ever been mentioned? Um, my concern is that we hire a DPW director for X number
of dollars with the idea that he's going to do both that job and street trees and parks. six months or 12 months later, we need to hire a street trees and parks person for X dollars and we're right back to having an extra high-powered
body coming in highriced at a time when we all know there's financial problems. But this is the question I was mentioning earlier is is it realistic that the DPW director could do the superintendent job or that a hybrid position of superintendent and foreman
could be possible? I don't know the answer to that. So I think that's something that was one of the objections that I heard as well was what about those other roles and is it just adding another piece of management? So, we really have to be able to quantify the benefit and the and the way I would want
to see it quantified, I'd want to see it right in there, a guarantee that nobody will be hired for three years or whatever because my experience here in finances for the last 12 years is we hire people as part- timerrs. Six months
later, they're full-timers or we were not going to replace such and such a position. A year later, we replace it. Mhm. So, well, Jim Su came to us presenting the wage and personnel article and suggested the hiring freeze. So, you're not alone in thinking about
these things. Okay. Well, I don't know exactly where that that leaves us, but um for next step, so I would suggest that we go ahead and put a public um for the 17th. Let's do it on the
17th. A public hearing. Um, I like the idea and and I would say keep it do a separate meeting though. Let's have that start. I would I would say 5:30 and then have a regular meeting start at 6. So the first night just do a half an hour. Can So you're presenting
or you're just taking feedback or what's the plan? Depends on So here here's my plan. If the room is full, you're going to ask you're taking I'm going to very quickly go through I can go through that presentation in a minute and a half. Okay. So I can very quickly bam bam bam
tell them what are your questions? What are your concerns? Yeah. What do people think? Now if the again I don't think it's going to happen but if the room were packed and people were still had questions we can start our regular meeting late. Correct. Sure. We just can't start it before. Correct. So I would say 5:30 and 6:00 for the postings
on the 17th. Um and then uh and then go from there. Well and again our emails are on the website. you have questions, concerns, you want to say, you want to tell us your opinion about it, why it's a terrible idea, why it's a great idea, email us. It's all there, right? So,
okay. And then in terms of the employees, um that can be se that can be anytime. Um, so Keith, I would say um and and I guess we need to figure out whether that would be recorded, televised, whatever, or in
private. I'm open to either. You know what, as you were speaking earlier, you mentioned, you know, going to the senior center, going to some other, you know, um, local groups. What the the downside, I guess, is that there often times won't be able to be to be uh, uh, recorded.
But I think it's we could also say in in meetings that we are making these recordings and and presentations that are made that we went to the following uh civic groups or whatnot and explain that you know we made a presentation took answer took took questions provided answers at the following you know
different civic groups as well. So I think it's a way to put it on record just not not u maybe as uh formally as a videotape. I think I'm I'm perfectly happy to to write a speech about that for Memorial Day. We have a lot of people who'll be out. You're going to give the
speech memorial. My god. Can we have the police when they the buttons that they give out tickets? Can you also give out a little PowerPoint on why we need a DPW? No problem. Okay. All right. All right. So, so, um,
but getting back to the employees, um, I would say whatever you think. So, if you want to think this over, talk to Yeah. totally figure out like I can talk to some of the department heads and get an idea of what what they think is appropriate and let you know and then hand up. Yeah, Mark.
So, one thing if I may comment about employees, um you've got two departments that run with commissioners. They have a fairly dedicated group of employees. Um without getting in any way nasty, let's be realistic. they work for a political
board. To put those employees in a room and record them, um you're putting them in a very difficult spot. Uh that is grossly unfair. Um if you want to have private conversations in a room amongst whomever might be chosen, I think that's realistic. But many of these people, if
you want them to be honest with you and record them for public play, let's think how you would feel in that position. Uncomfortable to say the least. um job at risk to say the most. Um and whether that's realistic or not, they work for political boards that
oppose this. Sure. And I think I've been trying to sit back and not off of my opinion and it's it finally got painful. You bite your lip. But I think that after being on the working group, seeing all the things that have transpired, you as the board of selectmen say, "We're going to pursue
a DPW. That's our vote. Period. End." Okay. We take the time as a town, however that looks, to do the research at the higher level, whether it's uh Keith, yourself, uh members of different whatever team you choose to create,
bring to the public options. You're really asking a group of public residents to give you ideas on something that most, I'll say most, not all, know very little about. You've got to give them something to have a conversation about. that room can't be, hey, what do
you guys think of a DPW? Um, and I think we'll have a lot better success if we spend the time. I say we, not on the working group, but we as a community spend time doing research, laying out a plan or two plans or three plans, one that looks like what Carl suggested,
which is a three-year delay. Whatever those options might be, bring those to the residents and say, "Here are the plethora perhaps of options. What do you think of those?" because if we have a meeting and I I'm afraid we've done this
in in different environments that I've worked in throw it out there um with those political boards it's a mudslinging contest and that's about what you're going to accomplish. So it's, you know, I would even be willing to meet with each department
individually, you know, um if if if they're more comfortable meeting alone and not as a big group of every but again the only reason I the primary reason I stood up is to say please everybody remember these poor people work for political boards and they are controlled by political boards. The
likelihood of you getting complete honesty without that component right is going to be difficult and unfair. That that's fair. And and and I think what folks need to understand is we're not my my point would not be to try to convince
staff to talk back to the commissioners. I just want to hear what the my opinion is. I just want to hear what their objections are. I want to hear what their concerns are. Mhm. Um I I don't want to start pitting I know it started the reason I
spoke is because it started to feel a little bit like that and I just wanted to raise the wave the white flag so to speak. Yep. Thank you. Well, thanks for that perspective. Yeah. And and I think at the end of the day that's not the the
intention. No. So, so Keith just let me know and then um I if uh if anybody on the board only two of us would be able to meet right without it being a meeting. But to add on to what Mark said, I think the the pursuit
of a DPW is to um improve how we manage the town. It's not meant to we're not trying to fight about it. So, I'm just trying That was never our intention. Right. Okay. Right. All right. So, I think I
think we've got enough. So, public hearing June 17th, 5:30, regular meeting starts at 6. We'll adjust and pivot if we have to. And then, uh, meeting with with staff at any time at at their convenience. And to Mark's point, we should come to that meeting with some
options. Like, what would that look like? what options could there be as we build a new and we may not have that ready but just thinking about it like absolutely I mean there were a lot of questions all those questions could lead to different options so right I mean and some of the op options that that the
working group you know even the the commissioners were talking about was merging their two commissions into one because a lot of towns do that they'll have you know water and wastewater as one commission um I'm not sure that all of the commissioners on both both of those commissions would be in favor of
doing that, but those are different options like you said. Right. Right. So, I mean, is that a viable option? What would that look like? Right. Sure. Okay. Um, moving on to meeting minutes. Uh, we did have some, uh, minutes included in our packets. Um, did anybody see any
needed to be amended? I think Trisha got mine. Y. All right. Would anybody like to make a motion? I move the board of selectment approve the open session meeting minutes of March 25th, 2025, April 14th, 2025,
April 22nd, 2025, May 6th, 2025, and May 13, 2025 as amended. Second. All those in favor? I abstain. Okay. All right. Town administrators report. Thank you. Uh many people in town have
uh have taken advantage of the opportunity to sign up and be notified by kind of a reverse 911 uh through Blackboard Connect. Um Fire Chief Mark Douglas has been working with our current uh vendor and um the current
year's cost for that service is just over $10,000. They're anticipating next year that that service to doubled over doubled over $21,000. And for that reason, Chief Douglas is proactive. We take a look at other options that are being used by other communities. And the
reverse 911 option that's being used by several communities um and provided by the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department is a a a um an op a software called uh Code Red. Uh exact same thing uh as Blackboard
Connect. It's free of charge. 48 communities in Bristol and Plymouth County use it and they're willing to allow Kingston to add to the service as well as of July 1st. Uh Mark's admin who's got some technical background uh proactively has downloaded some of the
database that's in there. So we'll be able to hopefully move people from Blackboard to Code Red. I expect and and Chief Douglas and I had a brief conversation about it earlier today doing some sort of a test uh sometime around the 1st of July or shortly
thereafter that so people are aware of uh uh if they're still getting their reverse 911 calls and if they're not give them the opportunity and and the platform to sign up for those if they want to do that. Uh so I want to thank Chief Douglas for recognizing there's a
there's a significant increase in the uh in the cost of that service. It's an important service and we found found a frankly a free alternative I think it'll work just as well. So um we will be trying to roll that out sometime uh around the 1 of July and getting people uh rolled over from one one platform to
the next. Um just to remind the board as far as finances go, we'll be presenting your um the the year-end transfers on the 1st and the 15th of July to the board for your consideration before bringing them to the fin. Uh we are still working on a software to
allow transfer station permits to be uh purchased online rather than having to go to the streets, trees and parks department. Uh there was a training again today on that. We we will have a link on our website that will allow allow individuals to go online provide
the necessary information to uh apply for an a a transfer station permit and have that transfer station permit mailed to your home. Uh we'll also have those opportunities uh in an expanded way uh with some of the building information, the building and electrical and plumbing
permits that go on downstairs. We've applied for some additional grant money that we didn't get for for some additional opportunities like business licenses and uh things of that nature. Uh but we're hoping to find some extra money uh through some grants to try to continue to expand that program moving
forward. Uh tough week as far as personnel goes. We had um we had two uh critical employees uh decide to leave the town of Kingston. Our first a long long tenur uh fire captain Susan Hussie is going to be retiring on July 10th. Uh
she's done an amazing job for the town and the fire department and want to thank her for all her years of service and um uh her dedication to the community. She will be missed. Uh today we were notified that our assistant treasurer Nick Derby uh Derbis Derby's
Nick has resigned uh effective um June 4th. So he's going to be a tough loss as well. Tough to replace. He um is moving to become the assistant treasurer collector in the city of Somerville. So we're thrilled for Nick to uh have this opportunity. Um it's a great opportunity
professionally for him, but we're going to hate to see him go. And then lastly, the fire department has hired firefighter paramedic Shawn Dowling, who will be starting effective June 5th. So, we're happy about those that that information. Lastly, the uh the Kingston Sewer Commission um had their the public
hearing on rates postponed. Um it'll be it'll be held on June 5th in this room, room 200 of the townhouse uh to review sewer rates, charges, fees, and civil penalties and sewer rules and regulations, special assessments, betterments, privilege fees, and
amendments. So, if anybody's interested in attending and um letting them know how they feel about uh the proposals, um that's the date to do it. Be happy to answer any questions. their original public hearing they had the last public hearing they had they had received some feedback that five o'clock was too
early. So just to note they did respond to that public feedback and move it back a little bit later. And I guess lastly because it wasn't mentioned by anybody else yet. So I apologize I'm stealing anybody's thunder. The Memorial Day parade is Monday 10:00 in the morning. Um starts uh down at the Kingston
Elementary School. Uh works its way through town. I think there's a map on the town on the town website ultimately ends up at the Kingston townhouse where there's a really really nice ceremony for the for uh for everybody in the
front of the townhouse and then there is a free barbecue uh for anybody who wants to go. The grills we will be manned by town staff. Um and we wish we hope everybody can attend, have a hamburger and a hot dog, something to drink and u most importantly recognize the people
that are allow that have allowed us to be here um in this society. So thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Do we have an update on the water moratorum? No.
Uh sorry you brought it up last time. So, um I guess my update on the water moratorium is we're, you know, still working through the some of the information. Um there was a water audit done by a D roughly a month ago. Um I've
reached out to the to the individual in the letter who who uh was the contact uh last week. I haven't heard back from that individual. We asked someone to continue to try to keep at least establishing a contact and getting some questions answered.
Um the water commissioners at this point have not brought up anything that I'm aware of at any of their any of their meetings where they've discussed reconsidering that at this point. Um so that's what I know at this point about the water moratorium. Okay. And their meetings are when I
forget when their meetings are. When is their next meeting? Their meetings, I believe, are Tuesday afternoons. Okay. Um, they are published on the website calendar. I'm looking at it. Um, so people can see that and I think they're every couple of weeks if I'm not mistaken.
Next week, next week at four, next Tuesday at 4:00. So, June 27th at the water department building. Absor May 27th. Uh, four o'clock at the water department building. Um, I just had a quick question. and the online stickers. I love that that we're going to try to
pursue that and offer that for residents. Um online I know we've talked about it before, but online employee applications is that we're working with our we're working with our um so part of our website
um allows us to update our website every three years, I think. Um, one of the things that we're working on is fillable forms that will allow individuals to um, complete an application online, submit it online. Um, so yeah, we're trying to
enhance um, the need to come to the or eliminate, I guess, the need to come into the townhouse for anything uh, and do it at your leisure uh, online if you prefer to do it that way. So, it's it's going to take a little time uh, with a lot of the different things we have
going on. Uh, but we are trying to make an attempt to try to make doing business with the town of Kingston easier. Thank you. Perfect. All right. Any uh selectman comments, Kim?
Not today. Missy? No. Don, uh, the only thing you kind of touched upon it a little, but where is where are we in the process of the revamp or rework of the website? M so um Jana Morrisy who's um the assist the
deputy the deputy uh town clerk is in charge of our website. She's been working with um Civic Plus now. I want to say it's Labor Dayish uh that we're looking to um release the the updated website. We're working with department heads and I've asked them to go through
their web their the department pages um excuse me update them where it's appropriate. eliminate some things uh if they're not timely anymore. So when we transfer them transfer the information over to the new site, it's it's it's
uh up to date and accurate. But I believe it's Labor Day. All right, Carl. Any comments from you? No comments. All right. My only comment is again to welcome Carl to the board and we look forward to uh having your
your vast knowledge of uh finance and the town. um all aspects of the town. Uh you have a lot of great experience that you're bringing um to help us out. So, thank you. I think the thing he's been looking forward to most is making the next motion. Well, before he does, so we
have uh the next the next regular meeting is June 3rd uh 2025 and then on the um 17th we'll have the public hearing and another meeting. Uh but this next motion is to recess recess for someone. Okay. So uh move to recess to executive
session not to return to open session for the purpose of discussing the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health rather than the professional competence of an individual or discussing the discipline or dismissal of or complaints or charges against a public officer, employee, staff member or individual. Second. All
right. All those in favor I I Right. That was unanimous.