I'm just going to wait till that turns on. All right. Good evening everybody. I'm going to go ahead and call our board of selectman meeting to order for December 16th at 6 pm. And we are going to begin with the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, just a few announcements before we get started. 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. Uh, financial assistance applications are available on the town's website or by calling the selectman's office. For anyone interested in volunteering, there
are several vacancies on various committees and boards. To see a complete list of the openings, please visit our website at kingstonmma.gov. Also, check our website for any additional events or notices. Um, upcoming holiday hours. Uh, townhouse
closes at uh 12 pm on which >> it would be addendum. >> Oh, thank you. >> Uh, Wednesday, December 24th, we're closing at 12:00 p.m. Um, also on December 25th, uh, it is closed. Townhouse will be back open on Monday,
December 29th. Um, and on January 1st, uh, will be closed. Townhouse will be back open on Monday, January 5th. And then transfer station upcoming holiday hours, Wednesday, December 24th, closes at 12 PM.
I'll keep that for now. Uh, Town of Kingston has exciting job opportunities which can be found on the jobs page of the town website. Um, as well as posted in the townhouse lobby. Currently, we're accepting qualified applicants for the full-time positions of a building commissioner or zoning enforcement
officer, uh position of water pump station operator, and the position of administrative assistant supporting the board of selectman's office, um the human resources office, and the IT function. Uh we're also looking for a council on aging van driver to work 35
hours every other week. Um also, we've got the luminaries coming up um this Saturday, Saturday, December 20th. Road closures are scheduled from 5:00 pm to 8:30 p.m. and additional information can be found on the town's website. Um, any
other announcements before we move on? Nope. Okay. Uh, next up we have uh open form. Is there anybody who wanted to speak at open form? Go ahead and just introduce yourself and and your address um and then go ahead and speak. >> Hi, good evening. Uh, my name is Keith
Hansen. I live at number one Copper Beach Drive in Kingston. My house abuts the uh easement which is a walkway which goes to coffee drive. >> Oh, wait. Is the microphone is the light on? >> Green light. >> Sorry. >> Uh I don't know. >> It is now.
>> How's this? Okay. >> All right. Should I start again? >> Yes, please. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. My name is Keith Hansen. I live at number one Copper Beach Drive in Kingston. My house butts the uh easement which goes from Copper Beach Drive to the Kingston Elementary School.
>> Okay. I've been a resident there since 1990. Uh that easement was originally put in by Peter Collins who was the uh developer for that uh for that area and he had to put that easement in as part of the agreement to uh be allowed to
build. Um over the course of time uh I've been maintaining the uh walkway. I've been raking it and plowing it and so forth. I've noticed it uh over the last couple of years. It has gotten cracks in the in the pavement. Roots have been coming up. Sink holes have
developed. It's gotten to the point where it's deplorable. And I think it should be condemned. I've tried to go to the school and I've tried to get answers on who should be uh repairing it, not just maintaining it, which I have been doing, and I get to the point where I get a bad back and I'm not going to be
doing it anymore, but somebody's going to have to maintain it and repair it. uh these sink holes and so forth. Uh it has it's deplorable. Um I haven't gotten a answer from anybody to exclude the school, the town barn as to who is
responsible to repair it. Uh I think that's something I respectfully request you to look into. Find out who's responsible to repair it and also who's liable should somebody trip and fall over there. I don't want it to be on me and I don't want anyone to pass the buck and say, "Well, you've been maintaining
it. You own it. No, I'm done. I'm done uh maintaining it. It I I physically don't feel I can continue on. Someone's gonna have to take over it and also repair it. If you could find out who's responsible to repair it and who's who's liable for who owns it. Uh if you could
look into it for me and get back to me, I'd appreciate it. >> I'm not super familiar with it or I'm not familiar with it at all. But you said it's it's one copper beach and it's it's an easement. It's a It's a paved area from Copper Beach and it goes back all the way to the high to the elementary school.
>> If you go out to that front parking lot, you can see it. There's like a walkway. >> Okay. >> Where the teachers park >> Yeah. >> Uh so we met today and um I've downloaded the subdivision plans and
we're looking at it and we're doing a driveby tomorrow to take a look >> and then we'll get back to you. >> Okay. Awesome. >> Awesome. >> That was fast. >> If you could just look into it for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Keith. >> Thank you. >> Yep.
>> Um and thank you, Val. Uh was there anybody else who wanted to speak at at open forum? Yeah, go ahead. >> Will Kushman is online. >> Hold on one second, Will. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Sean. >> Sean Turner, 21 Winter Street, interim
superintendent. >> Oh, and Val, your town planner. So, we're just here tonight to announce so Val and I last March the uh Mass DOT has a municipal pavement program where they look at their roads that we
maintain, state roads that we maintain. And uh we sent some emails wanting them to come in and look at some of the roads 10, Route 106, Route 27, Route 80. So, they kind of picked out Route 106 and they said that probably in
two or three years they'll get back to us. Last Friday, we got an email stating that they accepted Route 106 for Mass DOT to come in and grind the whole length of Route 106 and repave it at their cost. So, there's no cost to the
town. So, that's from Maine and Summer all the way to the Plumpton town line. So, I just wanted to share that with you guys. It's probably probably close to $4 million worth of pavement. >> Wow. >> That we do not have to come up with as a town.
Now, how did how did we how did this come about? Can you repeat that? >> There's a a new federal program that came through that gave money to the state to consider for state uh state numbered but locally maintained roads >> and it's up to the state to allocate the funds however they wish.
>> Um but we put some pressure on them and asked them to consider Kingston and we're really thrilled that they turned around quickly and changed their minds and put us on the two-year target list. >> Wow, that's great. And um so I I'm seeing a letter that we have. So this is
in fiscal year 27. So it would start after July of next year. Is that >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. We're waiting for exact scheduling, but it would be in the next fiscal year. >> Wow. And just curious, um I know this will be a state project, but um would they go down to, you know, traffic and
and whatnot. Would that go down to a onelane road for some period? And that's a big majorly traveled road from Halifax and Bridgewwater into Kingston. So, >> I'm sure it will at times, but you know, they'll set up a plan, traffic management plan we'll go over with the police and fire,
>> it'll all be sorted out before they start anywhere. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yes. >> That's awesome. Great. Thank you so much. >> Just want to make you aware. >> Yeah. And anytime you have good news like that, that's that's great. >> All right. Uh Will, did you say you had
something for open forum? >> Yes, I did. >> Sure. Go I want to say first off, I want to say thank you Sean and Val for that amazing update. And next up, I'm I'm wanting to state that I I hope everyone has a great
holiday season. I know next week you guys off. So I I kind of I just want to wish you guys a happy holidays. >> You too will. >> Thanks. >> Have a nice one. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on. Um our first
appointment is to um execute contract for town administrator Scott Lambier. Um we have our the the contract in in our um items here. Did anybody have any
questions, comments or a motion to make? I would just like to comment that um I am in 100% agreement with the selection of uh Scott as our next town administrator. However, I am concerned
with the um contract with the terms of the salary that I believe it is richer than the town can afford in consideration of all the uh financial issues that we have coming uh up in the
future. However, in order to uh provide some unity here, again, I believe that this is a gentleman that is will do a great job in the town. I intend to vote in favor of the contract, but I at the
same time am asking my fellow members of the board of selectment here to consider this as somewhat of a compromise on my part concerning finances. And perhaps as we go forward, we come up with
additional financial questions on specifically the FY27 budget that we all try to work together and perhaps, you know, make compromises that we're not all happy with, but we believe to be to
the best benefit of the overall finances of the town. With that being said, I intend to vote in favor of this contract. Right. Any other comments, questions, or a motion?
>> I move the board of selectmen execute the proposed contract for Scott Liam Basey, town administrator. >> Second. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? I >> I >> and against that was unanimous. Okay.
All right. Thank you. >> So, he starts >> January 5th. >> Okay. So that is one, two, two, almost three weeks, three weeks from yesterday. And so we will, just so everybody knows, um, uh, George
has been our interim, uh, town administrator. When did you start? >> Was it September? >> It's about three months. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So we are going to have um a little bit of an overlap. We're going to kind of
aim for the the first week of overlap. So George will start that week uh of the 5th um with Scott and then they'll decide together um you know how long that's going to last, but it it shouldn't take more than um a few days I think um to be able to pass on um and
pass off what knowledge George has gained here and on all the fun things that are going on in town. >> I only have 90 days of an institutional memory. >> That's right. >> All right. Uh, the next item is the appointment of a full-time permanent
civil service police officer, West Patron. Um, >> Lieutenant, >> I'll give you the floor. >> He came out of the back dark corner. >> Good evening. May hopefully have the
bullet approved. Mr. Trump, it's all right. I'll be as nervous as me. Don't worry about it. Uh, Mr. patrol right now Ser is a police officer with university. >> I can't see it. Ask >> Oh, the microphone needs to be turned on. Is it
>> not on? Maybe just point it toward you. >> There we go. All right. >> Okay. >> Um bringing forth Mr. Patron. Uh he's currently a uh police officer with Suffach University. He's already postcertified, already had the academy. He actually went to an academy with uh
Mr. Carlson who we just recently hired. Um he's passed all our background and uh we're looking for a January 5th start with Scott. >> Excellent. >> All right. Any questions, comments, or a motion?
>> I move the board of selectment appoint as a full-time permanent civil service police officer for the town of Kingston starting Monday, January 5th, 2026. >> Second. All those in favor? I >> I sorry. >> It's unanimous. >> Thank you. I appreciate >> Thank you. Congrats. Welcome to town.
>> See, we didn't grill you. You don't have to worry. >> We won't ask too many questions. >> Congratulations. >> Welcome. >> Thanks, Lieutenant. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, next up, we have a joint
meeting with the water commission, sewer commission to review and possibly finalize theou. Um, Elaine, did you want to Doesn't matter which side they sit on. Do we have anybody from uh It's just you. Is there anybody from water?
>> Just you. >> He was in here earlier. >> Okay. All right. Um, >> that's a lot of seats for just you. >> I know. >> I guess you have lots of options. And Sean, do you want to come up and I mean and >> do you want us to sit somewhere? Is that >> You're welcome to sit down. I mean, we can
>> I feel like it's not I mean I guess >> I guess how close how close are we on that? >> Well, the copy that we sent sent along the water and sewer uh waste and sewer commissioners all agreed on that. So, it's more and I Sean I don't want to speak for Sean.
>> Yeah. No, I had some discussions with with you, Eric, and I had some discussions with Elaine yesterday, and >> Yep. >> I think we're all in agreeance with it. >> I I didn't have a chance to talk to anybody on water, but I'm pretty sure the water commission, but I think they
relayed to Elaine that they were >> they were happy with it as well. So, >> okay. >> I don't think there was really too many more questions from us. There was any from you guys. >> I'm happy. We had had questions and and responses. I wasn't sure if if they were resolved. That was the only question. Okay. Excellent. Sean and I talked about
yesterday. >> Perfect. >> Yep. >> Do we do we have more ch like I'm wondering if we need to vote on it then or if we were there more changes that need to be done to the actualou? >> No, we the copy we sent you was was uh approved and voted on by the both the
commissioners on 129 because we had a joint meeting with the water commissioners. >> Got it. Got it. >> So that's the result of that meeting. >> Is the right one? >> I I don't I don't know. Um, so the one that you >> like it is the one that you >> The one that you >> Yes, those those are the ones that and I
were discussing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, do we want to um do we have any questions? Does anybody on this board have any questions about this? >> I My only question is that the fire chief and police chief will have to also
>> sign off on him. Right. He's fire chief gives a thumbs up. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. And you know, if things aren't working, obviously we go back to the drawing board, we make amendments if we have to. And I know there's going to be
a permit that needs to be put together. And I know you already put a draft uh together, you know, road opening permit or something. So, that'll just be done sort of um >> well, there'll be there'll actually be two. There's more of a road opening permit, but there's more of a because you can't expect them to have an emergency
>> at say midnight and have to come fill the road opening permit. Right. >> There'll be like an emergency repair sheet. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Almost the same thing. It will give the location, the date, the time, just so we can keep track of what was fixed. >> Yeah. >> And what's what in the roadways. >> So, there'll be those two sheets, but we
can sit down. I can send it to >> Elaine and Dave and from Water. >> Yeah. >> I can send it to Bob and Okay. >> Let them look over it. It's basically a sheet. They just get to fill out and we all sign it. >> Yeah. I think this is great. >> And then we'll keep track of it. We'll keep it in a central
>> location. We'll we'll make sure we keep track of it and >> right >> you know like we discussed too maybe we have meetings we start doing meetings >> between highway sewer and water >> you know whether we do it quarterly or twice a year but I think that would help
too in communication with jobs coming up stuff that we've done >> right >> so we could do that as well start holding meetings >> yeah I I think this is great I I think just for for the public's point of view who who h maybe haven't watched our past couple meetings or or in the last year
we had been looking at at creating a a DPW that would oversee you know water, sewer, highway and would all be here within the town hall. Currently water um department falls under the independently elected water commissioner sewer it or
wastewater is under the independently um elected uh commissioners. Um, but Elaine, at one of our meetings when we were talking about this, you had suggested we why don't we do anou to handle a lot of the reasoning behind trying to create a DPW, which was a great idea. You know, we put together
this draft. Sean worked on it and then water water and wastewater um went through and then like you guys worked together last week to to hammer out the final uh version of it. I think it it it's great. I think it does meet probably 90 something% of the reasoning
for a DPW without actually having to create a DPW. So it formalizes sort of the the communications and collaboration um working on all these projects because we have you know duplication of effort and hopefully that will um eliminate a
lot of that. Um so thank thanks again for for putting in the time to to put this together both Sean Elaine everybody. >> You're welcome. >> We appreciate it. Yep. Not a problem. >> We're confident it'll work. Maybe with some tweaks, but >> Yeah, >> it'll work. >> It'll work. >> Yep.
>> Great. Great. >> So, >> you need a motion in order to execute this on behalf of the board. >> Yeah. >> So, I Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Go, Carl. You do it. I move that the board of selectmen approve theou concerning the planned or emergency road
openings, excavations, andor surface impacts undertaken by the water department or wastewater department on public ways under the jurisdiction of the highway department. >> Can I make a friendly amendment to also authorize Eric Cron to sign on behalf of
the board? >> Sure. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right, that's unanimous. >> Thank you. We'll execute them at our next meeting. So, >> sounds great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for
>> All right. Um the next item up is a presentation from Woods Hole um and the Collins Engineering regarding the grant from the state coastal zone uh management's coastal resiliency program. And I think we have somebody online who
is going to speak to that. And Val, Val, if you want to do the intro. >> Hi. Uh, so briefly, we have Woodsole Group and the Collins Engineering Firm. They're um they're our contractors, the recipients of the grant is the town and
we're working with CZM Coastal Resiliency Program and we're going to do an overview of the work that's going to be happening down at the Adena for the town. And uh Lana, I think you're up next. >> Hello. Good evening everyone. Um I'm
gonna share my screen. I have a presentation. So my name is Lana Als. Um I am a climate resiliency specialist with the Woodsole Group and I'm the project manager for this project. Um with me are my colleague Mary Scho who's a coastal
scientist at Woodsole Group. And then we have Julia Del Tupo from Collins Engineers who's going to be giving us an update on some of their recent work in the presentation. So as Val said, this project is at the Adena at 45 River Street where there's the harbor master's
office um that warf and boat slips and then um the newly improved boat ramp. So, I'll basically be giving you an overview of the project team, description, including some of the recent work, and also where this project
came from, and then our goal and scope for this particular grant. Um, and then I'll be able to show you the scheduled tasks and give an update on a lot of the progress we've already made since this project kicked off in early November. So, our team here, um, Val is the town
planner if you don't know that already, and she is the point person for this project in Kingston, but we're also working with Matt Panella, Tom Taylor, the harbor master, and Tom Bombadier um, from the waterfront committee among many others who I'm sure will be helping us
out from the town. Um, from the state office of coastal zone management, our primary contact is Jason Bertner. He's the Southshore regional coordinator and he's providing technical oversight um and assistance with any future grant applications. And then from the Woodall
Group, the team is myself, NaS um Mary Schol who's also on the call, Gwen F who's one of our engineers, and then Leslie Fields is a very experienced project manager who is overseeing this project and helping me along. from Collins. Um we have Allison Barinelli um
who is project manager over at Collins and Julia Delto is supporting her and um partially managing this project as well. And then Marina Schmidt is also providing project support. So the site I'm sure most of you know it well. Um it is the only town landing in
Kingston, the historic way to water. Um and it uh features a boat ramp, a wararf, and the harbor master's office. um as well as quite a bit of parking. So the yellow outline shows our site for the existing conditions work and the
flood vulnerability assessment. So when I describe certain tasks later, those are looking at the whole site. But when we start to look at alternatives for the site, so different um possibilities for improvement, different designs, we will be focusing on the warf the harbor master's office and this southern part
of the parking lot which is on the left side of the screen. um because of those recent improvements on the northern part of the parking lot. Um although we if there is an alternative that um uh pertains to that, we'll include it as well, but the primary focus is on the um
part of the site that hasn't recently had worked on. So for some background on that um project, so there were some parking lot and boat ramp improvements that were constructed in the spring of 2024 by Duckspree Construction Company. Um, and
the goal was to mitigate rainwater and coastal flooding issues on that northern part of the parking lot. Um, as well as improve the boat ramp and try to raise the elevation so that it would be usable at higher tides. So far, it seems to be functioning really well. Um, we heard some feedback when we visited the site
that people have um started coming from other towns to use this boat ramp. The word has gotten around that it's um really effective even when the tide is quite high. Um, and the materials and construction seem to be holding up well so far, including um, the rain garden at the back of the parking lot, which is
um, hoping to mitigate some of the storm water issues. As far as the impetus for this project, um, these photos are from November of 2024 from the king tides, the highest tides of that year. And, um, you can see
that the warf is submerged at that tide level. Um, and even higher water conditions are sometimes seen during small storms here that can limit access to the harbor master's office. And so as we see the sea level continuing to rise,
um, we want this site to uh, continue to be functional in the future. And so that's why um, you all came to us at the town of Kingston and um, that's going to be our primary goal as we look at alternatives for the site. So, as I said, the goals are to develop
alternatives to reduce the impact of funding at the site, including those three main elements that haven't had recent work done. Um, the final deliverables, we'll have for you a report where we'll have graphics for each alternative, each idea for the
site. Um, we'll have conceptual level engineering drawings and cost estimates for each alternative. And then when this project was originally written, it was submitted as a two-year project to CZM and they um had a limited amount of
funding to give out this year. And so they were only able to fund one year of this project, but they have expressed that um they've encouraged us to reapply for more funding. And so if that's something that the town wants to do, um then selection of a preferred
alternative by the select board would hopefully occur in June. Um and hopefully by then we would know whether or not the second year of the scope, which would um include getting through many of the first steps of permitting for the selected alternative as well as
developing those construction drawings more. Um hopefully we would know by then whether the project had been selected because the applications are supposed to open up in January. They've changed, anyone's familiar with the CCM funding cycle, they've changed it so that now um
applications will be earlier in the spring and January and then we will know whether or not grants have been awarded and be able to start projects hopefully on July 1st. Um whereas we used to apply in June and then have to wait for awards till the fall. And now, you know, we've
started this project that we hope to have a year for, but we only have eight or nine months. Um, so Collins Amblewood School Group would be happy to support um an application for that second year of funding in January. So, this is the schedule. This is a lot. Um, the these these are all the
individual tasks and kind of when in this um nine-month timeline, eightmonth timeline we'd hope to complete them. The first part of the project is essentially documenting existing conditions and that's most of what we've been working on so far. So we've um done an elevation survey of the site. Collins
is working on um subsurface evaluations, engineering inspection of the warf structural evaluations. Um so we're really just trying to get the lay of the land, really understand what's going on with the site so that we can um give some ideas for the future. The second
part um of the project is to develop those design concepts for the site um including figuring out what is the flood vulnerability um getting at some target elevations and some target risk levels for different elements of the site and then getting into developing those
alternatives. Um so we have started some of this work but the third part of the project is to communicate those design concepts to stakeholders. So that's you all, that's the public, um, and that's, you know, all of our contacts at the town. So that'll include our reporting.
Um, but it also includes meetings like this and several stakeholder meetings that we have, uh, scoped into the project. So I wanted to give an update on our progress so far. Um, we've completed one project team meeting. Um, and we have
the other meetings scheduled. We did a site visit as I mentioned on the 25th of November. Um it was really successful meeting. We had uh Val from the town, Matt Panella, um Tom Bombadier, Tom Taylor, Glenn as well from the Harbor
Masters office as well as um a whole bunch of the consulting team and Bo from Ducksburg Construction actually came out to tell us about the previous work that they've done at the site. So that was really helpful to get everyone together and talk through what some of the problems and opportunities are at the site.
Um we've completed a lot of the work towards the existing conditions survey and plans. Um we were able to complete a lot of that fieldwork on the 25th as well and um we've drafted existing conditions plans and we're going through a round of edits um before handing them off between Woods Group and Collins
engineers and then Collins will finalize them. Um Collins has um been working on subsurface evaluations. So the borings um were not quite completed today. Three of the four are now done. Um and they're hoping to get the fourth done as soon as
possible. The warf inspection was completed today. Um and then the structural evaluation memo will be written based on those two two elements, the findings of those two elements. Um public meetings. We had our first site visit counted as a public meeting and we're hoping to do two more as we
develop alternatives to get feedback from the users of the site. Um this is our first select board meeting and we're scheduled for another in June um to present the concepts to you all and hopefully um you'll be able to from that uh make a decision about which direction
to go in. Um and the vulnerability assessment we've gotten started on. So the analysis is complete. We have designed flood elevations calculated, but we're working on writing all of that up. So, I think now we'll Yeah. So, these
are some images I have for um for some of the progress we've made. All of those yellow dots in the center map are um elevation points that we took while completing that survey. In the lower left, you can see a draft of um the existing conditions plan. On the right,
that's some of the flood vulnerability analysis. And then the top left that is um us trying to figure out what's going on with the storm water system at the site. So I'll pass it off to Julia now um to talk about some of the um updates from the work that Collins has been
doing. >> Hi everyone, Julia from Collins Engineers. Uh so task three was the waterfront structural evaluation which was broken down into subsurface and morph inspection. Um for this subsurface evaluation, we prepared and presented
this board location plan um to the town and harvester for their input. Um they signed off on it and four borings were scheduled for this week. B2 and B4 were completed on Monday. Um the plan was to have B1 and three today. We ran into some issues locating water main. So
we're going to push off B1 until we can find uh exactly where that water man is. Um, and then after all the borings are complete, our SIM consultant will prepare a geotech evaluation which we'll be including in the final structural evaluation memo. So, here's the boring
location plan and then just a few images of the um the soil samples gathered in the uh truck setup. Next slide. And then um the waterfront structure
structural evaluation also included the warp inspection. Uh we completed that today. Um we also flew a drone back on the 4th. So this is a video that just kind of walks you through the model that we developed using our drone. Um in addition to
capturing aerial photographs, this model gives us a unique tool that we can use to evaluate the structure as well as plan for future alternatives to the site. So that this is just a video kind of walking you through what we captured and the level of detail. Um and then the inspection was completed
today. We'll be going through all the data and the photographs that we've collected and use both that and the subsurface to prepare the structural evaluation memo. Um expecting to hand that over uh end of January. >> Great. Thank you, Julia. It's it's so
great to have a a model like this because it lets us almost go back to the site without going back to the site. Um, and it gives us a really good reference for dimensions and elevations and all of that. So, that's all that I have
for you today. Um, we'd be happy to take any questions um and uh comments on the on the project. And um yeah, we're excited about the opportunity to um to be working in Kingston.
>> Any any questions from the board here? Comments? >> No. All right. Well, we look forward to working with you and we look forward to seeing some of the concepts um uh at our next meeting in June. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um
>> that's great. >> And there's no motion required here. >> All right. It's just it's really helpful to see the schedule and the and the plan and and all the pictures are really really helpful. I still think that we should put the harbor master in a boat like a house boat, but that's
>> neither here nor there. Um instead of the trailer, then you don't have to worry about the flooding. Right. >> Anyway, thank you all for your for your work and we look forward to seeing this as it progresses. >> All right. Next up, we have a request from conservation for support in
applying for the FY26 Department of Fish and Game Community Biodiversity Grant. Matt, go ahead. >> I'll be uh super brief and just ask me any questions you have for followup, but um the state came out with a biodiversity grant. Obviously, biodiversity is super important and it's
in decline. So, um, I've wanted to get a a group together for a while. Sort of I've been calling it a pollinator task force where they don't have to sit and take minutes, but they can do research, design. >> Yep. >> Uh, get funding, uh, talk to property
owners, uh, in this case would be municipal. So deal with whoever's in charge of each particular building where they were looking to do something on that property uh for approval, proper sighting, things like that to get sort of like easy lowhanging fruit projects done that have high benefit. So things
like pollinator gardens, right? There'll be somewhere in town where there's a little piece of lawn that um doesn't need to look perfectly manicured all the time because it's out of the way enough and we can install a feature there that would have high benefit. manage it properly because you can't mow these things or you're killing everything that
you're inviting in to use them. Um, so what I'm looking to do with this grant is kickstart that project by um a partnership with Living Observatory, who is a nonprofit that works on um restoration projects and they have a website where they do a lot of public
outreach um and have this group work with Living Observatory to monitor everything they do and to improve their outreach to the public and to be able to build one new project on town property by June 30th, 2026.
um as well as to improve an existing project that we have on conservation property that we've been having some issues with based on drought. So by the end of June, we'd have two projects done that would be good. Um sort of showing people what it would be like, what
they'll look like to get more public support. Um some nice signage, fencing, things like that. Um so what I'm looking for is just sort of approval on the grant, but also with a concept. Um, and just to answer any questions you might have about the way that would work. Um, I've already talked with the facilities
manager about that. I understand, you know, I get it that we're not going to go like out front here and create something that's going to cause people to uh lose sleep at night over the way things look not being manicured. So, >> right.
>> All right. Any questions from from the board? >> No, just a just a comment. I know on the recreation department we had talked a lot about the wild flower garden that we have down at Opachinsky at that point. So something like this could take the place of that, right? Is that where you're >> Yeah, that's kind of been on my list too
for a while. Yeah. >> Perfect. Thanks. >> Sure. >> And and just a point of clarification. So pollinator. So what we're trying to do is encourage um bees. Am I right? >> Yeah. So pollinator is kind of a funny
way to word it just so that more people get it and support it. The idea is biodiversity. So it's really everything right. You want as much diversity as possible when it comes down to it. A lot of them are insects and a lot of them are happen to be pollinators. >> Yep.
>> It's it's easiest to get support for pollinators because of what they do. Um >> something I just read a stat. it was like 45% of agricultural crops in Massachusetts require diverse pollinators, not just honeybees. So, it's it's something that's easy for
people to support, but there are obviously there's some people that have, you know, well, there might be bees, maybe that'll be dangerous and that sort of thing. So, that's why sighting is definitely important. >> And are are there any matching town fund requirements? >> No requirements. It is suggested. So
what we usually do is we'll put um my staff time and any other staff time that is involved in coordinating with the project in as match. Um and one important thing I forgot to mention is I have reached out to the horiculture uh instructors at Silver Lake High
School. So they have a group every year of students in their program and they said they were I'm on the steering committee and they were talking about wanting to have more off-campus meaningful projects. So, one of the things with projects like this is obviously for installation, they would
be hugely important in that, but also they should be able to help with maintenance because obviously I knew you were going to ask a question about how much is it going to cost to maintain over time? Ideally, nothing or little. So, >> all right. Any other questions? If not,
um, would someone like to make a motion? I move the board of selectman support the conservation department in applying for FY26 department of fish and game community bio biodiversity grant. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I. >> That's unanimous. Thank you, Matt.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Next up under additional items, we have a review and possible vote of a host community agreement for waste uh waste disposal transfer station at 48 Marian Drive with uh Kingston
Environmental LLC. Um so we were approached many months ago, a year ago maybe, maybe longer. >> I think longer. Yeah, I was gonna say hold on I get I think it's in the other notebook. >> Yeah. Yeah. you guys you guys came and presented to us quite quite some time ago and and kind of going through the
whole process of um trying to uh potentially put in a waste transfer station over by the MBTA to use the the railroad there. Um I'm going to synopsize this so if correct me if I'm wrong on anything. Um but basically
>> if you're going to correct them you'll have to do it up there. Um, so, uh, the garbage trucks would bring it to the processing station over by the MBTA. Um, trash will be, um, uh, piled into rail
cars, railed up the MBTA, and potentially out of state rather than into a landfill here in Massachusetts. Um, so Kingston Environmental has been working with the town on the various permitting and processing um to to to
have this project move forward. Um, it it's currently in land court, but then once it comes back, it would potentially go to the um uh board of health and the planning department. Um but sort of as a
parallel track um we've been working on a host community agreement um with Kingston Environmental uh Val Massard. Who else in the >> Sean Turner myself um representative from the planning board and just as a reminder because it's been a while we
started talking about that community host agreement I believe in May of 24. So we were talking about this project before that but we started talking about a community host agreement ahead of that. So, just as a reminder, that's not required. The community host agreement isn't required for them to move forward
on this project, but it's more of a >> a showing to D, the board of health, the planning board that we are in agreement on what we want this project to look like and what we think would benefit the town of Kingston. >> Right.
>> If you agree. >> That's correct. Yes. >> Okay. If you want to >> feel free to argue, you did a great job articulating the project. It has been a couple years. We're very excited. Uh this is a partnership with the town. We've been spending a lot of time behind the scenes working with the uh town departments. Looking forward to working
with the neighbor neighbors down there and we really think it's going to be a great project for the town. >> And Jack, can you just state your name and >> Yeah. So, my name is Jack Walsh. I'm the principal of Kingston Environmental and uh I've been working with some of the the board members here with my group um
for the last couple years. >> Okay. Perfect. Um, so as far as the board goes, um, we have a host community agreement that has gone back and forth between, um, them, our attorneys, um, Val, Sean, and whatnot. So, it's gone
through various iterations and this is the final result, um, of of what we have as a work product from that group and going back and forth negotiating with you guys. So, um, what we would be looking for is, um, first, if there's
any questions, uh, Val left, unfortunately. Sean's here. Um, but we would be looking for a vote to, um, accept and approve the host, uh, community agreement tonight. Next step would be, um, Kingston Environmental is
going to be, um, applying for some state permitting um, uh, as part of uh, the next part of the process. So, any questions, comments? Or if not, >> I just I would have wanted to confirm with Val, but it looks like all of the
questions and comments that we received back from council, she had answered. So, I I think we're all in agreement as far as I know. Sean, is that your understanding as well? Yes. Okay. >> All right. So, any other questions,
comments, or would someone like to make a motion? >> Sure. I move to let's see uh I move to execute the host agreement
between KESP and town of Kingston for waste transfer facility as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor I >> I. >> That's unanimous. Thank you all. >> Thank you.
>> Merry Christmas. Thank you. You as well. Merry >> Christmas. All right. Next item, annual appointment of matrons and special police officers. So, we have uh annual appointments listed by name on the agenda of special police officers and matrons. Um I'm not
going to read them because they're going to be part of the motion. >> Also on the agenda. Yep. >> Okay. >> Oh, wait. Can I ask a question? >> Sure. >> Never mind. I I I saw a name under special police
officers. Um but I got the dad confused with his son because his son active police officer. I'm like, why is he here? Is it special? But that's his dad. So never mind. Go ahead. >> Okay. I move the board of selectman appoint the following individuals to the position of police matron for the
Kingston Police Department. The term of the appointment shall be from January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. Caitlyn my Michelle Beck Taylor O'Neal. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I >> I move the board of selectmen appoint
the following individuals to the position of special police officer for the Kingston Police Department. The term of the appointment shall be from January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. Marks Brener, Darren Martin, Caitlyn my
Edward McDonald, Eric Dow, Scott Peterson, David Hurley, Jonathan Neil, Sean Percy. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I believe also in case we don't want to read all of those. Oh, good. We don't
have to read I don't think we have to read the whole list. I think you can say as presented, right, for the licenses. Okay. >> Just making sure >> it's in the uh the agenda and everything. Okay. >> All right. So, next we have an appointment of a head of youth services librarian, um, Orion Oak. Due to a vacancy, the position of head of youth
services librarians vacant. After the recruitment process, library director Donald Cologne is requesting the hiring of Orion Oak to the position. This is a full-time schedule D7 step two exempt position as part of wage and personnel. I move the board of selectman appoint
Orion Oak to the position of head of youth services librarian effective December 17th, 2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Now next is acceptance of resignation of Vtorio Buzz Artiano from the
conservation commission uh provided his resignation effective December 11th. Um and the letter is in our board materials. I move the board of selectment accept the resignation from Victoria Buzz Oriano from Conservation Commission effective December 11th,
2025. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I don't want to accept resignations. >> I know. >> So, there's going to be an opening for anyone who's interested in conservation. So, just keep that in mind. and to thank him for his time.
>> I will miss the heated debates between him and another member on the commission. For sure. I hope he still comes. >> All right. Next is to set our 2026 annual town meeting date. Uh annually at this time, the date for the the town meeting is set for the bylaw. The annual town meeting shall be held on the first
Saturday in May for the transaction of municipal business except for the election of such officers and the determination of such matters as by law are required to be elected or determined by ballot or on such later date in the months of April, May or June as the board of select may vote to hold the
meeting. So first um Saturday in May as May 2nd um >> worked for everyone, didn't it? >> It did, I believe. Um >> I think it did. >> Yeah. So, I was available. Kim's available. Um, >> Kate. >> Yep. Kate was
>> Sean. >> Uh, did he respond? >> He did not respond. >> He did not. >> Great. >> He's available. >> Yes. >> I guess he's available. >> Uh, we can double check that. If we have to, we move it. Right. >> Yeah. We
>> just keeping in mind the election is the 16th of May. So, just >> Right. We try really hard not to put both >> right in a row. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um, so would someone like to make a motion setting May 2nd?
>> I move the board of selectman set the two 2026 annual town meeting date of 525 26. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I. >> All right. This is where we get busy. Um, approval of 2026 alcohol licenses.
So, individually listed on the agenda with backup in the board materials, um, is the list of the annual alcohol licenses for 2026. Um, there are some suggested motions if we need to remove any or if you just want to approve as
printed. >> I move the board of selectment approve the annual alcohol licenses as printed in the agenda addendum. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Same with the common victual. >> Vicular. >> Victiller.
>> I cannot say it. Licenses. Uh, same deal there. Would someone like to make a motion? >> I want to hear Eric say it again. >> I >> move select and approve the annual common victular licenses as printed in the agenda. Agenda addendum. >> Vicer.
>> Vicer. >> Vicer. I can't say. I know you have trouble with that. >> I can say nuclear, but I didn't say >> Don seconded it. >> All those in favor? >> I >> All right. Entertainment licenses. >> I move the board of selectment approve
the annual entertainment licenses as printed in the agenda addendum. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Uh, next item is the 2026 auto amusement licenses. >> I move the board of selectment approve the annual auto amusement licenses as printed in the agenda addendum. Second.
>> All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Meeting minutes. Uh we have approval of open session meeting minutes from September 18th, November 18th, November 25th, and December 2nd, 2025. >> I move the board of selectmen approve
the open session meeting minutes of September 18th, 2025, November 18th, 2025, November 25th, 2025, and December 2nd, 2025 as presented. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I >> I
>> All right. Uh, do we have a town administrator's report? >> Mostly I kind of keep you guys up to date real time. So, it's >> Yeah. >> All right. Any uh selectman comments. >> Happy holidays. Stay safe.
>> Luminaries. >> Thank you to the highway department and every all of our emergency responders over the weekend. There was a the storm may may not have looked bad, but the roads could have been very bad. We saw some neighboring communities with some very serious accidents because of IC
conditions. So, just keep that in mind. Thank you to Sean. I'm staring right at him, so I might as well give him a little pat on the back. He, you know, they work long hours into the night and and police and fire as well. So, just thank you to everyone who um kept Kingston safe. >> Yeah. And I just wanted to add that the
um the luminaries map is back again this year. And so, um, our librarian worked really hard on putting that map together again and worked with the police department to add the mapping of the road closures. Um, I think everything is the exact same as it was last year. Um, but just to keep that in mind for
parking around town and um, the mapping of where you can visit and what's available on that night. >> Nice. >> Yep. All on the website. >> Anything else, Carl or Don? >> I'm good. Nope. I would just like to thank u our fire chief uh for helping
last year and our search for the police chief which was um a lot of extra work outside of your normal duties. Um and then also to our fire chief and our police chief for um their combined efforts on the search committee um this
>> not committee >> working group >> working group. Thank you. The search working group uh searching for our uh new town administrator. So that was a lot of a lot of work. Um and super helpful. >> Yeah. >> Every time we're hiring department
heads, having input from other department heads through the process, looking at resumes and kind of trying to call down the results, it's it's very important. And >> you know, these these small groups of people who take time out of their day to try to sort through this stuff. I I really appreciate it. So that goes to
those folks. So you two as well. >> All righty. Our next uh regular meeting is December 30th uh 2025. right back here. Same time 6:00. With that, would anybody like to make a motion? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I. >> And that was in 53 minutes. >> It was >> that a new better than I thought. I did.