e e e e e e e e e e
e e I'm going to call the uh Board of selectman meeting uh to order for uh Tuesday March 11th uh 2025 and we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to
the republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right um we have a few announcements um this meeting is being recorded by the local scene anyone intending to make an audio or video
recording of this meeting should notify the chair at this time and seeing nobody um financial assistance applications are available on the town's website or by calling the selectman's office for anyone interested in volunteering there are several uh vacancies on various
committees and boards to see a complete list of the openings please visit our website at Kingston ma.gov and also check out the website for any additional events or notices again it's www. Kingston ma.gov um any other announcements from board
members no all right at this point we'll um uh we'll entertain open form if there's anybody here who wishes to speak at open form just raise your hand no nobody online no okay uh our first appointment
is uh recogn recognition of police officers Chief are you here on okay um you know what we can come right back to it um how how how long do you think do you want to move the minutes that's an easy fast yeah let's
do that I didn't have any edits I don't know if anyone else did all right great um I move board selectman accept the Open session meeting minutes of January 28th 2025 February 18th 2025 and
February 25th 2025 as presented second all right all those in favor I I sorry I got used to roll call voting I was sort of pausing I yeah I know it doesn't feel right um do we want to jump to we do have a resignation of the um from the
agricultural commission um is there somebody here who wanted to speak yes please and just go right up to the microphone just uh introduce yourself good evening my name is ruy Santos I'm on the Kingston agricultural
commission and we're here to acknowledge the retirement of Barry maias uh who was one of the founding members and probably the um the impetus for us establishing a agricultural commission um and Barry and
Lydia have been very prominent in the town they own Bog Hollow Farm which you've all seen as you go down 106 whopping Road um and they have been very supportive of Many Adventures and many uh things that
have happened in the town uh Barry is retiring but we are very fortunate that his son John is going to take his place on the committee when going through all the proper channels that that will take place um the one thing um most people do
not know about the town of Kingston is that agriculture has never been a really big part of this town from the very beginning it was always boat building ice harvesting and other things that took priorities over agriculture in my
lifetime uh I have seen The Disappearance of six different farms uh where today there are almost 90 houses and uh I'm not willing to say that the tradeoff was in the positive uh fashion
I firmly believe that Farms give a town character if you come down 106 or go on whopping Road and you go through that S curve you see Cranberry Bogs on either side one owned by the matias's and one
that was owned by Roger ker until he resold it in my 35 years of working in the Bridgewaters I can't tell you how many people asked me when I told them I came from Kingston OH do you live near those Cranberry Bogs that look so nice
when you come down that road and I said no unfortunately I don't um but we've been fortunate in that the Roger carea bogs have been purchased by someone or a group of people who want to continue to maintain them as Cranberry Bogs as I
said uh I've seen The Disappearance of six different farms in my lifetime and uh to me that's not necessarily A positive factor I have however seen in the last four years is the creation of a
new farm that is going like Gang Busters and that is John we's Christmas tree shop or Farm on Route 27 that has taken off in the last three years to a point where there's never any parking on the
weekends that he's open so I'm I applaud him and I can tell you all in all honesty John's acreage there is an excess of 17 or 18 uh Acres so you could put houses in there the way we claim
houses are 36a or 40 something b or whatever else so I think he need needs to be uh recognized for that behind me are two of the members of the uh commission they're here to make sure I don't do anything dumb or say anything
done there's John webble and there's Christine NAA mry and they have been on the committee for years and years and years we meet at once a month we talk about agricultural things and we try to recognize anything that goes on in the
town that's a agricultural but I think the town owes a at least a round of applause to Barry and Lydia for the years that they spent running that those bogs and what most people don't
understand about agriculture 55% of the farmers in the state of Massachusetts do something else as a primary occup occup ation farming is not an occupation it's a way of life if you get involved in it you stay with it
while you're doing something else Barry worked for UPS for years as a 18-wheeler driver his wife was a school teacher John owns a construction company uh krie his wife is a school teacher so we're all doing something else and yet we stay
with the Farms because we know they are VI viable and very major part of our society that should be recognized so we thank you and thank you I hope you'll send that barrial at and thank you well
and I'd also like to point out and thank them for all the years I mean my kids grew up here in Kingston K went through K through 12 and and and all four of my kids um got to visit the farm they had a lot of uh school trips out there to the farm you know throughout the year pumpkins Christmas trees all all sorts
of things but it was so great um for my kids to see that in the town that they lived in you know to see that as um you know something that that farming is essential I mean we we have to have farming you can't I mean that that's where our our food comes from you know in the end um I I mean I know you know
they do Cranberry Bogs which is super interesting and it's it's exciting for them to to see that and to see the harvesting every year it's just it it's it's really awesome and we appreciate all the time that he put into this um uh commission as well so you know I noticed
I was doing research on a I was a um public school teacher for 36 years and so I like to get into research I was doing research on the town reports and in the Kingston Town report they often have starting in the mid 1950s a
photograph on the cover uh Del no Warf should be a memorial because it's been there probably 15 times there's never been a photograph of any agricultural operation on the cover and today with uh
drones or whatever else they have I think that view of the 106 and warping Road would be look nice on cover thank you for your time thank you thank you give him a round of applause yes absolutely all right I see our chief is
here should I move the resignation yes I move the board of Select and accept the resignation from J Barry Maas from the agricultural commission effective immediately second all right all those in favor I all right and we'll do should we do the appointment now probably yeah why don't
we go ahead and do that all right so we have um uh as he mentioned we have a letter from John maias uh requesting appointment to the agricultural commission and they met on February 26th and discussed the application they're recommending the appointment of Mr Maas
I move the board of Selectmen appoint John Maas the agricultural commission effective immediately through June 30th 2026 second all right all those in favor I all right that's unanimous thank you all right Chief you
have some uh recognition to do it's okay we have I think 15 kids between the five and block yeah so almost we're used to the yeah yeah yeah that's true he'll be interested in serving the
community good evening honorable members Mr chairman Mr Tucker uh sorry I'm late um I can talk longer if you want I mean you know that I like talking it's it's totally up to you make up the difference could I have off of D and off of Gallow up front
please he's like where look good I'm glad you brought him there's a lot of things we do on this job uh sometimes it's apprehension uh sometimes it's search and rescue things that we end up engaging in so I received a
recommendation from sergeant Tom Mory uh for the actions of these two gentlemen to my right Chief I was writing to inform you of the exceptional performance by Officer Eric Dow and officer Mike Gallow in the face of danger during a life-threatening situation on the night of December 18th
2024 at about 7:30 p.m. officer D and officer Gallow responded to a single car motor vehicle crash at the intersection of elm and milgate Road the operator was inside the vehicle as it caught fire in the engine compartment and it
spread there was a citizen that stopped at the scene officer D and officer Gallow attempted to render Medical Aid until uh to the operator until the Flames began to uh extend towards the hood and the passenger compartment officer D and officer Gallow and the goods Samar were able to safely
extricate the operator from the vehicle as the Flames continue to spread helping prevent further injury to the operator I'd like to recognize officer D officer Gallow for their quick response to the call did this decisive action resulted in life-saving action and displayed
coverage in a dangerous situ situation so I'm going to read the citation uh this is a letter of Merit from the Department to officers Dow and Gallow your actions on December 18th 2024 in response to a motor vehicle crash involving a burning vehicle and a trapped occupant but for your actions
the occupant may have suffered more serious injuries your actions maintain great uh credit reflect great credit on yourself the department and maintain the higher traditions of law enforcement congratulations on a job well done [Applause]
if you don't know this is office of Tim as he's known by the kids at the sacred hot school that's actually what I was gonna say is I always thought he was officer Tim officer Tim I call him TJ uh but some people call him Timothy he might have done something wrong if he gets called that I don't know I don't
know deal um so this one is a little different this is one of those uh kind of going above and beyond the scope of regular duties as everybody knows officer Tim is the school the aison officer of the Sacred Heart School and he's a part-time SRO for us um I
received an email from a retired member of the law enforcement Community who uh I go way back with with both M and the dad for the uh student that was involved in in something that happened at the school uh a couple of weeks ago so I'm actually going to invite retired detective sge Tim Stanton to the podium
to give it some context about what happened he retired from the Brockton police department thanate good morning well good afternoon while my wife and I on Kingston residents our daughters do attend a school here at the Sacred Heart and again I have to laugh because one my
oldest daughter uh didn't realize that officer Tim had a last name uh and uh again in the grand scheme of things what took place was very minor but it was very important to us uh my youngest daughter our youngest daughter had a uh thermos uh explosion on her
desk uh which naturally LED everyone in the class to laugh uh a typical kid thing to do while opening it she spilt it and it went everywhere uh caused her to cry and officer Tim was very helpful about calming her down um it wasn't so much that that uh LED my wife and I to
write to the chief on off Arnold's behalf it was what he did afterwards he he sought out our older daughter and said uh hey could you watch out for your sister today she kind of had a tough day if you could check in on her or where to that effect and uh you know it's it's
easy for the kids to ignore at home I'm sure looking around the room everybody's been there well our kids are young they came late in life uh for us um it's one thing when we ask them to stick together and hey make sure your sister's okay your sister looks like she could help with this or that we're also the people
that make sure that there's toothpaste on the toothbrush and that they're cleaning up after themselves it's a different thing when somebody goes out of their way and fortifies that and uh we just really appreciate it again uh the obvious joke would be crying over spiled milk but it did mean an awful lot
to us um another thing is that we've never formally met but um my thanks go out not only the agency and the chief but the local government as well uh without you guys supporting the the men and women of the police department they'd never be a to get done what they need to do I think you deserve the
credit as well and uh I did have one other interaction that I think kind of May sum up uh officers Officer Arnold's work in general the kid there was a function at the school for Halloween and amidst the uh sugar crazed Fury that was going on the safest place to be and to
be out of the way was tucked in where officer Arnold had set up his Cruiser to give out candy for the night and school suppli some and what was really it was clear that he wasn't doing it on for anybody else's benefit but for the child
a group came up of five or six kids and uh he one of them uh lag behind and uh officer Arnold again I don't know if he even remembers it uh kind of let that happen and when it came that last kid's turn there was a reason behind it he
wanted to check with him and ask him how a certain subject had been going and when the kid answered that it was going okay he said well keep it up if you keep with it I know you get it I wish I could remember what topic it was but I just thought s important to mention that this isn't the only thing and and again if I hadn't already mentioned he's like a
superstar at the school uh when we do pickup or we see him there the kids really appreciate him being there and so do we I'm sorry to be so overly worried about it it's a minor incident especially compared to the heroic action of the offices but uh I think what officer Arnold's doing every day deserves U almost as much credit if not
more thank you on behalf of my wife [Applause] this is great I got to face the radio thanks for making up for that lost time for me I appreciate it so I'm going to read the citation uh the offic of t
Arnold for your actions as a schoolly aison officer in your role at the sacred hot school for taking time to go and above the Beyond to ensure that the student was appropriately advocated for following an incident with other students of the school your actions reflect great credit upon yourself the department to maintain the highest traditions of law enforcement
congratulations on your job done [Applause] all right our next item up is an update from the Water Commission uh regarding the water moratorium um I think Mr Costa oh okay
Li license yeah why don't we do the liquor license update of Pisano's existing liquor license and new entertainment license uh when they first requested their liquor license it was to serve until 10 p.m. manager Sylvio Piper is requesting to extend the time to 11:00
p.m. Monday through Sunday and also requesting an entertainment license uh for Sunday mornings before 1: p.m. it sounds like that might be a nice Sunday brunch um any questions I don't think there's no concerns that we know of from the neighbors or anything I don't think
there's been concerns thus far all current um license okay um would anybody like to make a motion I move the board of selectman approve the request from Pisano's restaurant to extend their license time until 11:00 p.m. and have a Sunday
entertainment license before 1 p.m. second all those in favor all right that's unanimous all right now we're back to you hey Mr Costa jumping around a little today yeah keep everybody on their CH thank you
sir thank Youk this is the most recent and it should answer pretty much any questions you've got um if you want to read it you want me to read it to you for the benefit of the people at home can maybe read it to get it on the record yeah yeah yeah that'd be good
okay um why do we need a new well well um maximum day maximum day demand is the day of year with the greatest water use that any one day of the year um D requires us to um be able to provide
portable water if our biggest well is offline and if you look at the chart you see there in 2017 was when we approached the town to get um money to purchase land so we could build a well that's when it became
very apparent to us that we were going to run into trouble and we needed to get a well online as quickly as possible and you can see what happened with growth in 2020 2021 and 2022 right now we're actually in violation of D orders to have um enough
portable water in the event that our top our Lar is producing well is is offline so consequently we passed the water moratorium simply because we don't have the water to provide people that currently are customers
um okay what's being done beginning in 2017 Kingston water department initiated efforts to identify a new water uh Supply well investigative tests will will testwell work was
performed in 2023 the Kingston water department adopted a moratorium on new water services connections until a new well is online to protect our water supply for our customers in 2024 the land for a new well was purchased by the Kingston water department in 2025 the
Kingston water department conducted a qualifications based design selection process a designer for new well and pump station was selected and contract terms are under negotiations I expect we have signatures very soon we encourage our customers to
conserve water and that's um if everybody pretty much every time I'm going to speak to anybody in public please conserve water if we have a dry summary it could be very potentially very difficult for us so don't use more water than you have to use and I'm here to answer any questions you might
have anyone have questions I well I guess to start how does this or what is the process for requesting more water usage and what's our stance what's our standing now with
the Lost water that's happening um we're working on the Lost water issue because as much as anything it was a reporting issue and um we weren't losing nearly as much water as as people thought because we have bleeders at the end of uh Mains
we have bleeders and the some of the bleeders were not not reporting the loss water as accurately as we wanted to we're in the process of having a leak survey done again it's a second leak survey we've done in the last two years in town we found some leaks but not
nothing big and we're actually pay attention to the bleeders which is one of the issues that we needed to focus on so if if that gets sorted is there possibilities to request more usage from the state
I'm not sure what DP would would would respond to it to be honest with you um my experience in the 30 odd years I've been a water commissioner is they do their job very well but in the process of doing their job very well they say no a lot so I don't know I don't know what
they would do to be honest with you we'll get the once once we've got the survey done once we get the information we'll get it to DP and see what happens my best guess no I think we're we've got a water moratorium until we get a well on line that's just the guess though but that is something that's going to be
asked of them oh of course when okay do sorry yeah go ahead do Wells at individual homes impact the water table to the point where D would be concerned about private Wells as private Wells
tend to not be as deep as the itan wells that we use for the town water okay so they're actually draw the straws are drawing water out of different different glasses if you will okay I guess if we get a real severe drought then you're going to you're going to start hearing from people that get private Wells
before we would have a problem because they would dry wells will start drying up and then that because that's closer to the surface okay so if there's a a dry period of time the surface waters will dries up and that would be their water but I've been in town 30 years and I've never seen it okay thank you now
what about um you know development obviously they a developer would be able to build homes if they built their own well with their well go deeper than I would think if they're going to put a private well on they can they can build and we've had
people come to us and say well I with some very good legitimate reasons and why they need to build now and we said just put a well in yeah and if you have an opportunity to get Town while later use that welfare irrigation right
okay do you have any questions there question I guess just a backtrack to my my other question is there a timeline right now for when that survey will be done and when that will move forward Chris you got an answer that even if it's a 0.1% chance it's
still a 0.1% chance so at this time the application process for the new well that we're looking to install we're looking to up our allowable pumpage and that's all part of the process and it's such a long process if we by the time the D is going to look what we have now for sources and if we look at those
sources right now they're going to base the yield on those current sources and then we have to go through that whole process again which could take two to three years just to go through that process to get our pumpage allowable pumpage up and they're not going to allow the pumpage to go up without another source because you have to be able to supply at your high we largest
source offline so they look at what we have now to supply water to the town to the existing customers and if we they won't this D won't allow that upage to be done if we go through that process right now it's going to be denied so we coupling that increase in allow a
pumpage with the new permit with the new well to kind of roll them all in one instead of going through all that expense that motion twice it's a two to threee process with d and and for the benefit of anybody watching can can you give us an idea what is the timeline right now for for
bringing on a a well online the current timeline right now is like I said is Mr Costa said we're in the process of finalizing the agreements with the design firm and then it's the pering process so it it 5 to seven years
okay yeah and it and I just want to be clear because it seems be some misconceptions in the public and Scuttle buts you hear around it is not the Kingston water Department's position or intention with a moratorium to stop or prevent any building going on in town I've been to several meetings where
people have stated oh well the water department is not allowing building no it's we are allowing building you can build all that you need to but at this time you cannot tie into town water there's no water capacity available for additional customers so people are building putting wells in and the now
the contract is to say well if I build a house can I run a water line across the front lawn so when it's available I don't have to take up the front lawn of this new home absolutely but it has to be done our rules and regulations in our inspections has to be performed on that for the record so it's not our intention at all to stop building in the town of
kingst to stop growth it may be a challenging point for developers or for new construction but it's that's not the intention of the the moratorium they the purpose of the moratorium is to stay within our allowable pompes with the D rules and regulations and make sure there's enough potable water to satisfy
the needs and demand for the existing customers whether it's for consumption fire protection or any other need the existing customers need to be satisfied before we can add more I think it's important to say too that and when we were interviewing people to do the
design for the um the well one of the key features was availability starting right away a reputation of finishing on time or early so all of those things facted into the choice that we made um for the um
developer okay thank you anything else no can we add this to the that's yours website yes packet that would be great I think it would help people to see this too absolutely right all right
we're doing the best we can as fast as we can to get this Source online and it's it's like as I I said D has very strict rules they stick to them very strictly carefully which they should but that is that
creates a lot of a lot of the issues we get right now are in permitting the three years are permitting and we can make some assumptions based on the years on this chart where they Spike that more people are home therefore using more water sure you back you know historical weather
and see you know times of dry season you know people like a green lawn they invest a lot in their home they want it to look nice that curb appeal absolutely but like I said it's the water really needs to be devoted to the human consumption as opposed to putting it back into the ground and not not get a true benefit from it for human
consumption as intended yeah but I think you're right you can look at this and you see all the all the telea workers everyone's working from home and not going into Boston during during Co you see the spike with Co dramatic PR and that's gone away as
as C Mr cost stated you know the D is very thorough in the permanent process because this is a water source to supply water to thousands of people as opposed to a private well in your yard that's going to go to just one person MH so it's it's it's a left mod capacity and
looking at every every possible containment to make sure that it's of high quality water right and by the way this source does have high quality water yeah well come back anytime let us know what we can do yeah thank you so much
appreciate your time thank you all right all right uh the chief is not here so we will skip uh number three don't talk four yeah so four is accepting the release um uh leaseholder of aquaculture lease
number one and accept the removal of name on the aquaculture weight list so the current lease holder for aquaculture one William vaner sent in an email to the office stating he's giving up his Grant the next individual on the wait list is Matthew webble uh Mr webble stated that upon his name being
added to the existing license number three completed in February um he'll remove himself from the wait list um shellfish uh conal Dan culan contacted the department of marine fish Fisheries regarding the process um of releasing the license as well as removing a name
on the wait list uh DMF um responded the email clearly states his intentions intention and it's up to the Kingston select board and shellfish Constable to make a determination uh DMF is not involved in this process so likewise the town can
also decide on um removing mat from the waiting list so we do have a couple of suggested motions first of all does anybody have any questions I don't see Dan Dan's not on no no anybody have any
questions Tyler is there anything you want to add to it I don't know if there's more that you know about it no um everything I've read is lines up okay yeah I've talked to people involved lines up okay good all right anybody
want to make a motion sure I move the board of Selectmen accept the email notification from William vaner voluntarily surrending the aquaculture license number one effective March 11th 2025 second all right all
those in favor I I I keep wanting to say Eric ey I know all right another uh you want to say Eric ey too no I want to say yeah all right do we have another motion I move the board of selectman accept the email notification from Matthew webble requesting to be removed
from the agriculture wait list effective March 11th 2025 second all right all those in favor I I Tyler ey Tyler ey all right okay done with that now we're going to go back chief you are up again um we have a discussion and possible
vote on a fiscal year 26 proposition two and a half override for the police department um if if folks have been paying attention to our meetings over the past two to three months um schools were looking um uh a little uh over what
we had uh available for a budget but with additional revenues and then some other uh changes within uh the schools both the elementary and the regional um they were able to uh basically fund without hit needing an override they didn't have to make additional Cuts they
just found other sources of revenue um for that um but we still have um an ongoing request from um our police chief he had he's cut down his request um recently um to just um well I'll just
hand it over to you Chief if you want to take it away thank you Mr chairman um what I'm effectively asking The Honorable members to do is is to take this and to hand it off to uh annual Tom meeting uh this has been an ongoing discussion between you as a governing entity and us as the police department
um the two and a half override will be for 500 and I believe Mr hickey added 75 from employee benefits 575,000 you have an email that effectively breaks down what it is that we're looking for there's some benefits to this what it is that I'm asking you to do uh the first
and foremost is the timing next uh next benefit is is the uh the risks that are involved an office of safety strategy for the town and I mean it's kind of this is kind of the reason that uh that you brought in an outside Chief is to tell you what it is that we need and this is not a list
of wishful thinking and wants these are needs uh in terms of timing it takes 18 to 24 months uh to get a police officer hired you have to request a civil service list um we have to conduct a a thorough background investigation we have to wait for an Academy the academy is 6 months um when they're out of the
academy uh they're not going to be on their own they're going to be with the field training officer for anywhere from 60 to 90 days uh not withstanding any remediation time um there is some uncertainty with the municipal police training committee uh if anybody caught any the headlines
about the Cape Academy uh what that's going to do is um there was some training issues with the staff instructors at the recruit Academy in the cape and that's being worked on uh but it's un it's uncertain whether or not uh they're going to have a new director and whether or not they're going to be able to run a subsequent uh
recruit Academy in 5 and a half months or five months uh so what that's going to do is it's going to cause an aggregation of uh a weit list for other acms um West Bolston Randolph um
lindfields um NBTA Boston Plymouth and Falmouth of the mainies I might have missed one um but those are the mainies that we would use so there's a timing issue there uh if the town uh decides to not follow this to town meeting everybody knows
that there's probably going to be a two and a half override next year uh so now we've extended the delay time for boots on the ground from 18 to 24 months to anywhere from 24 to 36 months to get new hires because of the delay of a year if
we decide if the town decides to not do anything at town meeting um offic of safety is a concern it is my biggest concern uh I'm very serious about um the safety of the people who serve the community um what ends up happening a lot is you have this you have a burnout
Factor that's happening now and again uh with overtime and forced overtime just constantly happening because we're operating with a skeleton crew the town should consider a strategy about where we are right now versus uh where the town wants to be for labor relations and collective bargaining
about whether or not this town wants to go the route of having minimum Staffing levels for patrol offices on the street um there are some risks I mean I just talked about the delay uh we also have the financial risk of one officer going
out 111f injured on duty status if somebody gets hurt uh and they're out for any foreseeable amount of time you're look at that anywhere from $25,000 a month for the backfill of the overtime that we have not budgeted for I do have a meeting coming up with Mr hickey and group to discuss whether
or not we want to adjust uh the premium so that the backfill of overtime is not only being comp compensated at $400 because it's about what we get right now um so there is a risk with just not having enough bodies um employee burnout I mean I'm a big Advocate as anybody on the department knows about uh officer
Wellness peer support and those types of things um I I think to this point in time and this is not just my work this is the work of the administrative staff the two lieutenants and and my assistant laa uh we've given you uh a very substantial
amount of information for you to consider this request I've said it to every one of you that I recognize this is not a small deal given the town's financial situation at this time uh and to wrap up I'm asking that the the board um forward this to the town's people and let them decide
whether or not I should go to the election pulse thank you all right thank you Chief so um I have had some people and we've all had people reach out when we were discussing a school override so we had a lot of people reaching out one way or another uh I've only had one person um one one
taxpayer reach out to me regarding the police um uh override and she just wanted us to remember that the taxpayers this past winter got a huge tax bill increase um over last year because of
the amount that we had under the tax levy that we were able to raise taxes without an override um so that was a big jump um this year we didn't have as much um available uh tax levy so um the tax increase next year won't be nearly as
High um and she also mentioned you know the sewer bills and the water bills and whatnot going up um but having said that um I believe that this amount would be
was it a $100 a year for if if if we have 575,000 I think it was a just about $100 a year for an average home because when we were looking at this before for under schol about 5 the average in the I think it's 650 or something 630 I think or
something and so on a million dollar override it was 140 something um when we were looking at school overrides so that brings it to like right around $100 um for an average home of the 650 50 something right so if your house
is worth more it' be that much more so at this point it's about $25 a quarter if you're paying quarterly um for a new sergeant and two new patrolmen so um any any questions from the board or comments or anything just
want to make sure that I have this right the operating budget for police the one that we have currently approved sorry that it's okay that finance committee is reviewing already reviewed included one new patrolman and one new dispatcher
correct the last one did so last fiscal year this the one that we have no we put them back in because they were going to they were going to be yes but but they were cut they were they were so this is where we get a little confusion because the last so we voted the Poli we voted
the budget 63 million and at the next meeting the chief came and said just to be clear that budget included one patrolman and one dispatcher and I don't think I realized that at the time so I want to make sure I know what's in this budget versus what's in the override request I may be confused my
understanding Chief do you do you know is this did did we already put in one dispatcher and one patrolman and so I want to make sure that I'm correct here fiscal 25 had those positions that this is what the board when I first got here y saw fit to add a new patrol officer
yep and a new dispatcher we've since hired the new dispatcher right the new Patrol you're not talking about 26 no right but with the hypothesis of a 4% uh we had worked with the Town Administrator and had we stuck with 4% we would have lost those positions and
laa correct me if I'm wrong but we ended up adding 233,000 or so to maintain I want to say 11 or 10% increase to keep those positions and not cut right I see these positions that new for next year so the 11% included keeping existing
people not adding new people correct okay so I definitely misunderstood that that night that's why I wanted to bring it up now because I don't know that I was alone you gave me a panic well that's why I wanted to ask so the current budget
in this book is existing Staffing okay and then the override that is before us for consideration is hold on I have it right here one Sergeant two Patrol one Sergeant two patr 486,000 change for half a million
dollars half a million yeah okay um and that includes overtime cost for PTO training uh equipment I think even ammo for the police academy CU we have to pay for that yes it it just so
happened tonight was kind of too we we the first thing we saw was the celebration of three incredible uh members of the police force and which is amazing so you sitting there you're like oh man this is like the best this is the best you know best police department on the planet
which it is and then the best part of this is best part of present for those and being present for that the next one was that we're not going to be able to open up um a watermore touring for 5 seven years and so it was just this dichotomy if you're going oh man those are you know we're so proud of our our
guys and and then which we still are it doesn't take away water doesn't take that away but then we're going how do we fund these how do we fund these things past a couple years you know how do we pass these things how do we fund these things past a 2 and a half% over uh two and a half prop override because that's
what that that's what scares me is is um both things scare me one not having we we hired you to bring you in to be a change change agent um into into prop up an already great department
but you have two things one is we o not over hire but we hire to where we're supposed to be because I believe those numbers are true absolutely I believe everything you you've given us is true in two to three years you know our revenues aren't there we're back to prop two and a half to fund those again and
again and again um projections right now for the economy are are are scary people are scared people are nervous um you know Frankly Speaking if if the town ran like a business which is not a business so that's not why it's it's run very differently you know we would have cut half of our staff um you know we're
basically down to zero this you know after this budget comes up um and so it's just it's it's and we've talked about this in the phone and and and U but just so everybody else knows it's like I think I think this board is
extremely Pro Poli to I don't even know where this this is going to go obviously we are we we very much care about our police department but we also have a lot of other things in our ears too and and like we've mentioned sewer going up water rates going up um next year prop
two we already mentioned a prop two and a half for schools I mean this year was a Band-Aid to get us through this year so what makes me nervous is and I hate to use the word running Nimble because it's probably offensive but running Nimble and running you know
and running very very frugally versus pumping up a pumping up a department um without any projection of resources to be able to fund that in the future and that's just makes me nervous it it absolutely um because the last thing you want to do is um pump up a department
from basically um taxing in my opinion over taxing to get to that point without the without the projected Revenue to cover it and then have to lay people off or in anything in that kind of Direction so or put the fear in God of people saying you know if we don't fund this you know years
here's what's going to happen and so I just I get nervous about about both but in the fiscal stance right now um people are being asked of a lot they're being asked of a lot so it's been tough it's been a tough decision going back and forth but I also think that part of I'm
not trying to take this the whole night um even though I do that quite a bit um but I also think that I know I know we're voting on this going on the warrant but I also I think it's important to get a poll of if this thing went on the warrant who on the board would support it because we've had this
go before where we didn't have support for it then it can't be moved so I think those two things I think they're important to know is there Beyond it being on the warrant is there actual um support from the board that would that would then
vote Yes and the affirmative and and then um present it at town meeting and I think it's important just to to make note Tyler you sort of said it I mean what we're voting on tonight is whether we want to push it Forward on the warrant then at town meeting it
would need a uh favorable vote at town meeting members and if it passes there then it goes to our election as a ballot question and it would need to pass there and all registered voters can can vote on that that's just a majority vote correct yeah it's just a simple majority
for for all of those things um including here getting it on the just takes three of us so it's it's it it's takes three votes first just the five of us then the 200 or so who show up to town meeting and then it's open up to the whatever it
is 9,000 reg 10,000 registered voters um in the town so um did anybody else have anything they want to ask I think before we talk about the next steps I want to just take a second to say I very much appreciate and I spoke to you earlier
this week that your dedication and your passion for your department I I think Tyler spoke to this a little bit this and Eric this is we brought you in to to help us figure out what we needed to do and what that looked like and you're doing exactly that so regardless of what happens next you have shown up for the
Department you have presented a plan you have shown the how much you care about this community and everyone in it so I just wanted to thank you for that and just make sure that we before we say yes or no to anything that we take a second
to just appreciate your your work thank you uh it's because I love working with these people you have you have a pretty fair idea of what we have for our Workforce uh I come to work with a smile on my face every day um and they are a pleasure to work with um you know a
couple of points um this is a first step I mean I I I will speak candidly about you know hypothetical about what the Staffing level should be and this gets us towards what the department should have for Manpower uh and again um you know it has
to be at a pace that the town knows that it's got x amount coming in for Revenue uh versus we know that we can dedicate this much to the police next fiscal year you may see regardless of what the board votes tonight obviously I'm asking you to to send it the town meeting but you may see police chief and the fire chief
working together on a public safety growth plan because I have to pay pay uh mind to my counterpart on the red team I mean he's advocated for the police department prior of me being here as I understand it so um this is a first step towards um uh getting us the uh what I
believe to be substantial amount of growth uh but this is only a first step uh and I recognize too again it's we talk about it like it's $26.50 based on our calculations and what Mr hickey and uh Miss Barrett sent you today per
quarter but that's 2650 per quarter on top of what you have to anticipate is going to happen next year and the year after that and the year after that so I recognize and appreciate that too as a taxpayer myself just not in this community anything else no I mean I mean from my
perspective um kind of like it's not the same thing as schools but I I do feel like this is something that's worthy of going to the warrant um I think you've done exactly what you said you're going to do and I think that we are extremely understaffed um for these type of things
so I I am personally in favor of it but um in favor of going on the war or in favor of the of the article both probably both okay that takes care of the straw pole if it was unanimous yeah that that was the B quick question is if it was a so
you're saying you're a no based on I've been saying I've a no for months yeah over being yeah yeah and same thing I no and no huh no and no so no put it on the warrant no oppos it correct meeting okay
I'm just jotting it down you said stle so no I I I want you've at least one on either side so yeah it's not unanimous whatever it is exactly that's that and I am generally in favor of putting something
forward on a warrant um for a town meeting and we haven't voted yet whether we're supporting the Articles yet we'll be doing that um 2 yeah 25th no that's when we're closing
the warrant it's probably later yeah after I got the nod the shake and just for clarification the reason I asked for the straw poll of if you were going to support the article at town meeting is because it's very awkward if you go up there it's a 05 or 041 or however it works out um that was the reason why I
asked defend use not I know our board just anybody watching so um are you abstaining I am recusing myself conv okay so there's there's four of us voting so it's it's going to take
three he told he told me I'd be the Swing Vote he did so let's open up would somebody like to make a motion I'll I'll do it sure why not uh I'm with the board of selectman support including a proposition two and a half warrant article on the 2025
annual town meeting warrant in the amount of is it 575,000 all right I'll I'll second it uh any other discussion before we vote the only thing I want to add is we
thought we would have some remaining money um on from the regional school committee which we do but we have some cost overruns in the the fire department that's going to eat into that we were kind of hoping and it had been floated to potentially use some of that um
uh remaining tax levy um maybe to fund one of the one or two of the positions here but that does not look likely um so if there is anything left um under that tax levy you know we'll have to make a decision on that later but it's not
going to be usable for police what he shaking us to car shaking us you I don't know did you want to say something say yeah how you going hi my only concern
maybe I'm misinterpreting this is right now we believe the budget for 26 has excess Levy capacity of 200k but if there's a problem with the ongoing 25 budget that 200k is not going
to help that situation okay and as long as I'm up here uh and and I think that's what you U Were leading into you know I have always been a strong proponent of as much excess Levy capacity as
possible I'm at the point now where whether we have zero excess Levy capacity or 200k it doesn't make much difference so I see a possible alternative to a to an half override of
using that 200k challenging the police department to perhaps use that 200k to hire two new um patrol
officers without doing the sergeant for this year around the 200k is light from a fullblown patrol officer expense but that includes overtime training Etc so
perhaps for 200k getting additional Personnel you could get you know two Patrol offices um my concern of doing two and a half override this year even for
575k is I feel strongly that there's going to be a requirement for a more significant override next year probably for education for public safety you name it and I wonder if we would be setting
ourselves up for some difficulty if we go to the residents two years in a row for overrides but it absolutely is your decision and I just wanted to provide the information and I fully support what
the police chief and his Department are trying to do the only difference I've had forever is do we do it over one or two years or three or four or five years because as you all know we have funded
an additional 25% for the police department over the last 18 months granted we probably would have had to fund 10% anyhow but it's still a differential of 10 or 15% thank
you so Keith is not here I don't know if you can answer the question with fire um Carl was saying we can't use the the 200,000 and I may have misunderstood when when Keith and I were talking um if the fire department
is so they're short Right medical and overtime recall um we don't have the final number yet no no it it's estimated um there's you know been a lot of um constraints on the fire department budget not to speak for chief Douglas
but you know they have a number of um staff who are out injured right so those shifts are all being covered with overtime so that's you know an unexpected expense um those are you know unfortunate situations but you know
because of of the nature of that so that is putting strain on that budget right um but then where does the funding to cover that come from cash yeah so then well that's it's one of it's probably the biggest thing you know there's probably going to be you know looking at
the budget as a whole to see if there are any other bud you know departments that you know you could transfer from right um we've already used some of the reserve fund uh for an unexpected uh building repair furnace at um Highway um
you know there's going to be some there's going to be some challenges in so far as um looking at how things are snow and ice is um is already depleted so um you know they had to sand a lot this year you're were out quite a bit
you know it doesn't look like you know you don't see 3et of snow you think it's okay but you know black ice is no one's friend so so am I mistaken that the um the remaining tax levy the the 206 whatever thousand that is still
available the 200 we made a slight adjustment to compensate uh when we were looking at things how the elected official line um to put a budget so it's it's about 200,000 so that excess Levy capacity for the FY 26 budget yeah is
still there yeah okay um based on the you know not everything has been voted but it is you know it's it's pretty close to final and that would in turn if you needed it would be something that could be you know allocated to a departmental budget or whatever you know
Town expense um there still would be you know if there was a an adjustment to if it was you know from 3 to two uh for the you know the department the police department you still have the
corresponding um benefit costs which is because our budget is pretty tight for the benefit cost as well um you don't want to like you know immediately incur a deficit and trying to be cognizant of it you know the only benefit I could think of and it's
certainly I don't want to speculate but if if it is not a full year Staffing right you may be able to to stagger it in such a way to you know still be able to cover those costs but you know fill those much needed positions that that's why I'm saying
that that each patrolman if you include all the training and overtime and everything else it was somewhere around 148 each I think 144 144 I'm sorry if you did one and then a half year it's another option we did too right we did and then the following year it's yeah
hits you hard but if we're already we're already looking at overrides for next year so I guess these are other options um I don't think we're going to be voting on we're not going to revote the the police budget um tonight I don't think we're you have a motion in a second too on the yeah we do
so um we have a motion in a second any other discussion before we vote I hold everybody in suspense I'm I struggle with this um again but at the end of the day I feel the same way I did
when we spoke with the school budget is the people of this town can't afford this right now it's even even a slight increase right now is is more than people can handle um so let take the suspense I'll take the suspense away no I think I think the what what we've all
said is it's not a reflection of how the town or the board feels as much as it might hurt and I get moreale I get that that's a big deal but we very much value our police department and if we can find a way to do some of this like what Carl was
suggesting I think that's a we should definitely pursue that as another option all right so let's let's take the vote all those in favor I I and against Nay n okay so that that
failed so it's a 220 so I guess the next step um is we will be discussing potentially changing the budget numbers with adding in uh or or reviewing that that 200k or so that's
available yeah Chief so I'd ask that that be an agenda item at your next meeting uh I did discuss publicly with the finance committee the use of that uh Levy capacity to fund we would figure out a way to fund one sergeant and two Patrol offices per for a partial fiscal
year um moving the needle so um is do you think there's a benefit to I mean obviously obviously getting all three on the rolls is a is a benefit because it's they're there and we have to fund it right and I mean that in a good and just honest way Y is I mean if
it was one patrolman I mean what's our I guess I what's your what's your low well we can we could fund one patrolman all the way through F FY 26 we've drilled down as low as we can go I mean my my original request was uh a
deputy chief M uh three patrolman and a dispatcher oh I know that part I'm sorry I'm not to cut you off I'm not talking about how low can you I'm talking about what would be the I guess the downside to is the upside exactly what I said before as we get them on the rolls partially yeah and then we the training
and things the downside is the sustainability you'd have to build some sustainability money into fiscal 27 and we probably have to Hitch our wagon to whatever overrides coming in the future right right so you instead of instead of hiring one for full-time FY uh 26 three
partial and then yep get back to the drawing board yep I appreciate the uh the board's time uh I am not alone and I'm disappointed that we couldn't at least forward it to the tax payers and I don't know if there's a way for you to reconsider um but uh you know we were hoping to at least start
moving the ball forward um with giving it to the to the uh the town meeting so thank you for your time all right thank you Chief and just for so that people know there isn't there is always an ability to reconsider yes um if you're on the uh
sort of sort of I don't want to say the winning but the winning side of a vote you can move for reconsideration at the next meeting even if it's not but you can put it on the agenda for discussion in case anyone wants to do that okay all right the next item next
appointment is Waste Water Pump Station operator and maintenance tech technician due to a vacancy uh the department uh position of Wastewater Pump Station operator and maintenance technician that's a long title um is vacant after the recruit process the superintendent
is recommending the promotional hiring of David Wilson to the position um would anybody like to make a motion and I see Sheila is on she used to do these well she did I move the board of selectman appoint David Wilson to the position of Wastewater Pump Station operator and
maintenance technician a grade six step four non-exempt position as part of the Kingston Town employee union labor with an anticipated start date of March 12th 2025 consistent with the term of the offer letter second all right all those in
favor all right that's unanimous tomorrow welcome welcome aboard tomorrow exciting all right we've already done the uh the minutes um what's up that was actually a promotion really welcome aboard it's welcome to a new step I
guess right um did minutes so we did the minutes I have the town administrator's report I'm just going to glance through it real quick um the board of assessors and the veterans agent will meet um today to discuss the hero act legislation that was approved
that expands the property tax exemptions for veterans uh below is a table of the three current exemptions and the exemption amounts and the the new exemption amounts Additionally the new exemption limits can be increased annually by the annual cost of living so that the first type less than 100%
disabled the current exemption is 400 the new one is 800 if you're 100% disabled uh the the current exemption is a th000 and the new one would be 2,000 and if you are 100% disabled and living in adapted housing it the current
exemption is500 and the new exemption limit is 3,000 and the current um exemptions are funded through overlay in the amount of 99,100 the board of assessors can recommend no change in the current exemption or any amount up to the new
exemption limits um any recommended change in the exemption amount would be placed on the 2025 annual town meeting warrant for town meeting approval and then under project updates we have two new trees in front of the atom Center they've been well they've
been removed and staff are exploring the options available to provide parking for the building um also Town planner Valerie Mard was awarded a grant to fund phase two contamination testing of the former fire department on Maple Street um Old Colony planning is overseeing the
project for the town and uh we have a timeline in our handout as well um I'm not going to go through that whole thing and then the first of the five small welcome to Kingston signs with the town seal has been delivered um I'm not
sure if it was still downstairs I didn't notice it was okay um I I saw it the other day um they they look great um so it's it right now it's at the bottom of the townhouse uh Center staircase folks want to come in and take a look uh sign will be installed uh when the ground is
completely thawed uh we'll have additional signs that'll be installed near the McDonald's on Route um it's got to be on Route 3A on the sewer property um Enterprise Drive near Kingston collection luring Street near ducksbury Town Line and Elm Street on the pton
Town Line uh we've had no Personnel updates and then uh miscellaneous updates again nomination papers are currently available for candidates interested in running for Town elected positions a list of those positions is available on the town website and nomination papers are due back by Friday
March 28th um and that's all we've got just a reminder they are du back on the 28th but that is a Friday so just keep in mind the clerk's office closes at 11:30 in the morning so just keep that in mind
nice call up all right any comments Froman no no I mean thank you to everybody for all of their hard work on this budget season it's been difficult next year's not going to be any easier in probably be a lot harder so um I think that the budget discussions for this
year are starting to wrap up but the budget discussions for next year are going to start the day after town meeting right so right and the and the policy part of the uh town meeting has just started really I mean as far as the war goes so still a lot more work to go but we do I I just I really wanted to
just make an effort to thank everyone for their hard work because this budget has been quite the puzzle so for those people who spent countless nights working on it and days I just want to appreciate their time and effort yeah thanks to our finance committee and our
finance director all right our next regular meeting is uh March 25th um that's in two weeks and with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn adjourn to Executive session I'll make a not to return to open session for the purpose
of you have to oh God I didn't have it up in front of me either so okay so move to adjourn uh move to recess to Executive session not to return to open session for the purpose of to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining
sessions or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel Town Administrator second all right all those in favor all right e