Yeah, we're ready. >> All right, folks. We're going to get started in just one second. >> He's going to die. >> There we go. >> All right. I am going to call our board of selectman meeting to order for uh Tuesday, November 18th at 6 pm. Um we do
have one member um remote. So I'm going to just do a a roll call. Um Eric here, >> Kim here. Sorry, Missy here. >> Kyle Pike here. Don right here. >> All right. And we will start with the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance 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, we have a few announcements
tonight. Uh this meeting is being recorded by the local scene. Anyone intending to make an audio or video recording um 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. And we
say this every every meeting. For anyone interested in volunteering, uh there are several vacancies on various committees and boards to see a uh a complete list of the openings. Please visit our website, our website at kingstonmma.gov. Also check our website for any
additional events or notices. Um, and also just wanted to to um shout out a public thank you to uh Larry Ayurasi of Ayurasi Painting who has generously donated his time to paint the two machine guns and light poles at the island near the library for Veterans
Day. Uh last year they provided the same service and uh powerwashed all the stones um at the memorials. U any other announcements? >> I'll just thank you to everyone who came out and voted this weekend at the special election. Um uh the debt exclusion for the partial repair of the
school roof passed by a narrow margin. Um so just thank you for those who came out to vote. Um I would also say that as we approach budget season, this is the perfect time to join a committee or commission. Finance committee is seeking three members. So anyone interested in serving on finance committee needs to email the
moderator and that's moderator kingston.gov. And you don't need to be a finance expert. just be willing to look at the budgets and ask questions and and show up. >> Excellent. All right. Uh now, uh open forum. Is there anybody here who want to
speak at at open forum? Go ahead. Well, I just I know we are still in the 2025 season in the the year of 2025, but I just wanted to ask you guys to maybe if possible, can you guys start to look at
any more possibilities of doing any more sidewalks on Main Street for the 2026 springtime to fall? I know it's getting very cold out. I'm not going to ask you guys to do anymore this season. But I'm just asking, can you guys take a look
into the possibility of doing more sidewalks for next year? And then as well as that, I just want to say thank I want to say I hope everyone here has a happy Thanksgiving. I know it's coming up in in a week. So happy Thanksgiving
to everyone. Thank you for everything you do. I and I think I speak for the whole time. We are thankful for you guys because everything that you do changes this town for the best. >> And I just want to say thank you well
for all of your um donating all your time. You're everywhere >> and uh thank you for for donating all your time and hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving. >> Thank you. >> Uh was there anybody online that wanted to speak open forum? Doesn't look like it.
No. Okay. All right. We're going to take an appointment out of order. We have um number four, we have an appointment of a full-time permanent civil civil service police officer, Adam Roy. >> And we have uh Lieutenant Dave.
>> Uh good evening. Thanks for taking us order. uh the police department would like to uh bring a recommendation to uh for this candidate to fill a open position that we have right now. Uh Mr. Roy has passed
all his backgrounds and necessary uh items that he had passed to become uh a police officer already. He's already a pool certified police officer with the town of Kassac and he's going to be coming over with us and u I'm sure you
guys will be very happy with him. So that's my short version. >> Awesome. Any questions or comments? >> Uh would anybody like to make a motion? I move that the board of selectmen appoint Adam Roy as a full-time police
officer for the town of Kingston starting on November 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor, Eric. I >> Kim I. >> Missy I. >> Cal Pike I. >> Dod. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Department appreciates. >> Of course we can. Will [laughter] >> shake your hands. Shake your hands. That's it though. [laughter] [applause] >> Thank you guys. >> Welcome. It's nice to meet you. >> It's the easiest part of the interview
process, right? Absolutely. All right. Now, now we're gonna move on to >> Something needs to be muted. >> Missy, can you mute your computer? >> Oh, it's not turn off. >> Oh, great. Fantastic. >> Try that. >> Yep. That Nope.
>> Sorry, we're having a little technical difficulty here. >> Yes, sir. >> Her her laptop may be frozen. >> Down. dragged on.
>> Oh, there you go. >> Let's see. >> Did that work? >> Did that work? >> There we go. >> Thanks, Will. >> All right. Now, we're going to travel in time back to number one. Um, >> our um
>> Yeah, we're just going to break for a minute. >> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. Okay. >> All right. Were you here for the um 42nd Brew? Okay. So, we're going to take that one out of order as well. Um so, that's
number three. Review and approve requests from the 42nd Brew Company to have a 5K. Um, does anybody have any questions, comments, or um want to make a motion? >> I move to approve the request from 42nd Brew Co to have a 5K on Saturday,
December 13th, 2025 from 9:15 a.m. I'm assuming, yeah, to 12 p.m. along Maple Street, Landing Road, River Street, Jones River Drive, Marsh Road, back down River Street, Landing Road, Lynen Street, Back Down Landing Road, and finishing on Maple Street with the
following conditions. work with the Kingston Police Department on the hiring of police officers along the route. Notify uh in writing to all residents and businesses along the route. All >> right. Do I have a second? >> Second.
>> All right. All those in favor? Eric. I >> Kim I. >> Missy I. >> Kyle Pike I. >> Don I. >> All right. We have a second motion. Then further, I move that the board of selectment allow the use of Maple Street Fire Station and the Townhouse parking lot for parking on Saturday, December 13th, 2025.
>> Do I have a second? >> Did you want to second that, Carl? >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? Eric, I >> Kim I. Missy I. >> Cal Pike I. >> Don I. >> Okay. Perfect. >> We're good. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Now we're going back to number one. uh public hearing for classification of property tax for tax purposes. Um so pursuant to the provisions of mass general law chapter 40 section 56, the board of selectman will hold its annual public hearing on the classification property for tax
purposes. The selectman shall first determine the percentages of the local tax levy to be uh borne by each class of real property and personal property for fiscal year 26. During the hearing, the board of assessors shall provide all information relevant to making such determination and the fiscal effect of
the available alternatives. Based on information provided, the board of selectment shall adopt a residential factor to be used by the board of assessors to determine the percentages of the fiscal year 26 local tax levy to be borne by each class of real and personal property. said hearing will be
held in on Tuesday, November 18th, uh, 2025 at 6 PM in the townhouse, um, room 200, 26 Evergreen, Kingston, Mass. Um, do I have a motion to open the public hearing? >> I move the board. >> I move the board of selectment open the public hearing.
>> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric, I >> Tim I, >> Missy, I, I, >> Don, I. >> All right. Um, we will hand it over. I think we have a presentation.
>> Good evening everyone. I'm Marian Clark. I'm the principal assessor and I'm here to um present to you the tax classification for fiscal 2026. So the the main item on this is whether to set a split or whether to split the
rate or not. But before we go to that, I just need to go over some of the um of the open space discount, the residential exemption, and the small commercial exemption. So, we'll start with the um the discount for open space.
Great. Um so currently there are no open space parcels classified in in Kingston. Most of the land owners here either participate in one of the chapter lands which is either chapter 60 which is forestry, 61A is agriculture and 61B is
recreation open space. And those discounts um under open space range from 75 to 98%. The open space discount has a maximum amount of 25%. So our the residents in our town who are
into the chapter are going under the the three other chapter programs. The open space discount is mainly for like out west for large 100 and 100 acre parcels. Um so the board of assessors
um voted to not recommend we accept this open space discount. Any questions on that? Okay. So we'll move to the residential exemption. So the residential exemption shifts the
burden from the ownero occupied PE residents to the um non-owner occupied residents. In Kingston, we do not have a large amount of properties that are not owner occupied.
Um the places like Boston or the Cape are the are where you'll see the shift because we're still collecting the same levy for them, but you'll see the shift to the non-owner occupied residents. Um and there are nine of them in the inner
city. There's eight Cape and one in the southwest mass. So it to for it to make sense, it really is for a city or town that has an abundance of non-owner occupied properties. Um it's it's quite a process to go
through it too. Every resident that is occupying the property has to apply for it and bring in their information. We have to verify it with census and voting. Um, so the amount of work and and what we would get from it, it
doesn't seem that it would be great for the town of Kingston. Um, the board of assessors also voted not to recommend this exemption. Anyone any questions on that? And so the last exemption we are going
to talk about is the small commercial exemption. And this exemption would give a um a reduction to small commercial owners at the expense of larger and industrial parcels. So this is it would give an exemption to
small commercial properties but not to small industrial properties. So they would still pay their share. Um to qualify the business must um have been occupied as of January 1st of 2025 and have no not more than have more no more
than 10 employees. The building must have a valuation of less than $1 million. Similar to the residential exemption, we still have to raise this levy. We still have the levy. It's not exempting anything. It's just
just um giving the burden to one class of properties. >> And in doing that, sometimes you're giving you think you're giving a break to a small commercial property, but if they're renting or leasing the property, it's the owner of the business that gets the deduction reduction, not the
business itself. Um so again, on this one, the board of assessors voted not to recommend the small commercial exemption. Okay, the the next page is the assessed
home value sheet, right? This is just showing you where values have gone over the last 10 years. And you'll see just an informative sheet and um up until like 20, they might be going up 20,000 a year in
value. from 21 up, it's approximately like $50,000 each year in value. So, it seems that ever since COVID, the the um properties have gone up in a faster way.
It's so this year it is the average home value is 679,727. And we'll go to the next page which just is again a tax rate history sheet which is going in the other direction which coincides with the values. Um so
over the years the tax rate has been going down. We had a little bump in 25 and it went up 26 cents this year and it'll show you that sheet the estimated tax rate would be 1283. The slides are also in the packet too if
you want to look at it later >> on the website. I can give you one. Okay, thank you. >> Um the next sheet is the um classification report that I sent to the state and all the all
the values report the classification the LA4 we call it LA13. They have all been certified by the state at this point. And this just shows you each year we might change the possible count and the
values a little bit. It goes down um each class. So 101's um single families, 102 are condos, 104, 105 are multifamily, 111 to 125 apartment buildings.
But when we do this, we send it in, the do looks at it. It checks to see um if why we lost two exempt parcels or or why we gained it, if the town bought an exempt parcel, though it's just for them to have a snapshot on where our values
are for this year. And we have see at the bottom the total value is about 3 billion6 um for this year. And the next slide is the pie chart. And this this is a good a good point of
reference when you're deciding whether to split the rate or not. It's just it shows you how much is residential in a picture which says a lot. So 88% of our town is residential property. And then you have the personal property at 4.43
uh industrial at 68 and commercial at 6.88. 88. So, we are largely a residential community at this point. Um, and hoping to, I guess, at some point get some more commercial properties in
to help with the tax burden. Okay. The next slide is the LA3 base levy growth and this shows you um the single family homes, the the growth there. Um, B that
was a decent amount this year. The um land was a decent amount. The single family homes weren't all new homes this year. Sometimes the houses are in flux for the year. So I take half of it one year and half of it the next year. So
along with that in additions um to people's property that was our new growth for residential vacant land was we have 22 new parcel land parcels in a new development. Cali Marie Way and that plan was um sent
to the registry before January 1st making them individual properties individual for apostles came out of chapter land. So that went from chapter land into vacant land and then the commercial but bottom line
is that our new growth was 395,000 which is significantly lower than last year. And we go to the next page. There's a couple of reasons for that. This sheet shows you the base. It
compares you from compares last year and this year. Um has in there what the 101 value is and the estimated growth for new houses. Um but there is one area that we there's two reasons we're low. one I believe it was the water moratorum because we
didn't have as many permits this year and a second reason um is our personal property. So you'll see on this in the bottom of the page how the negative personal property value which is substantial that is because of the utilities um
national grid and ever source. So how it works is what's in our town January 1st. So whatever equipment is in the town January 1st we get to tax it. in other years uh during when they were in tall timbers and putting new poles up and
they had quite a bit of of equipment there and we got large amount of personal property for them and this year so it's just you never know it's t hard to predict that this year there was not many um not much from the personal
property from those two ever source and national grid any questions questions so far on anything? Okay. So, the next page is the is the maximum amount allowable levy which is the levy
sheet and just how you start that how we start we start looking at this at last year's levy. So last year's levy was 44,227535. We didn't have any amended growth. That's when you it's something you don't
pick up and you realize that the next year you can put it in as amended growth. Um proposition 2 and a half increase is just multiplication and we get that number and then the new growth is added in which was the 395974.
Um that brings us to a levy limit for 2026 at 45 million729197. Okay. The last thing we do is add in the debt exclusion and any overrides that we might have. So that was the debt
exclusion was added which brings us to our maximum allowable levy which is 46,609493. And that right now is an estimate. I'm not sure if we're going to tax right to the levy or not. I waiting for the um
the account and and the other papers to be submitted to the state, but I think we'll be close. I think we're going to be close to the the levy. So, um that's where our tax rates coming up. So, I I don't think our numbers will be far off.
They're not certified yet. and then we'll go to the sheet that will show you the different tax rates if we split the rate at all. So right now I have as a single tax rate the estimated
single tax rate is 1283. And if you look down the sheet you'll just see you can you can switch it a little bit. You can go just it shows you all the different CIP which is commercial industrial personal property shifts. And where you
shift it will give you a residential tax rate and a CIP tax rate. So that would be something we'd look at if we're if we want to shift um the burden of the tax taxes.
Any questions on that? Okay. See, do I have any more here? Okay. Average single family change. Um last year's tax rate was 1297 um on the home value of 633,49
and the average tax bill last year was $9,215. This year the home value was 679727 at a proposed rate of 1283. [clears throat] Um and that would come out to an average tax bill of 8721.
The value difference 46 318 and the average tax bill difference would be $56. >> Such a bargain, >> huh? >> Such a bargain. >> Mind you, that is not the same. It's the average doesn't always take into
consideration everything. So colonials might go up more than capes. Different neighborhoods might go up more than other neighborhoods. Some may go down. Sometimes a house every like seven years it's depreciation. That house might be taken some depreciation off. So it's
different. So there's a lot of other factors that go into this but to give you some idea we use average and that's what it came out to. [clears throat] And the last sheet is just the summary sheet. Um the board of assessors
recommend a single tax rate by adopting a minimal residential factor of one. Um it seems it fails to adopt in Kingston because of our lack of commercial property and the board of assessors as I said
during the slide does not recommend the open space discount, the residential exemption or the small business exemption. >> All right. Thank you. Um, any >> any questions? >> Yeah. Any questions? >> Well,
>> Ken's here if you'd like to. >> She want He wants to ask. >> I don't I don't have any questions. >> Yeah. Any any questions from the board? Don, Carl, >> any questions for me? >> No. >> No. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh,
>> yeah. Go ahead, Marca. >> Okay. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. >> And and just introduce yourself at >> Yes. My name is Marcia Makans. I'm a member of the finance committee. I'm not here in that official capacity. However,
um my question is you rejected the the board rejected the open space discount rate. Um be and I didn't I'm not sure I understood why is it because it's so much higher than the
25%. I got a little confused. Number one, and what would the what's the delta if we accepted the state discount open space rate
what rather than rejecting it >> there isn't any open space right now. Oh, so that's why you rejected it. >> Oh, because I guess you said you rejected that. I was confused by that.
>> If you're going to answer, >> you voted not to adopt it because we don't have any. >> Yes. >> Yes. We didn't we didn't so much say that we recommended not to adopt it, but there was no point in adopting it because we
don't have any, >> right? >> Or we do have some, but they're all taking of other taking advantage of other legislation. It gives them a bigger break. >> So, there was really no point in proposing to use it. >> Okay. So, it's not like you can reject
the other options under the state law. That's what I was curious about. Well, we don't we don't reject. We make a proposal to the board of selections. >> We can't take away the state exemption. >> You can't take away the state exemption, which is better than our town exemption would be.
>> How many parcels in town are eligible for that state exemption? on the DLS website. Would that be the the the the land that's listed under vacant accessory? >> They don't list an they don't have an open space parcel. That's okay. I'll ask
the next policy question [laughter] and that was you rejected the residential exemption because you said that it would not be
great for the town. >> I think those two other exemptions, if I may, >> I'm sorry. I think the the other two exemptions were the concern is the administrative cost. >> There's a lot a lot of administrative
uh effort that would have to go into that. People have to apply. We have to keep records. >> Uh there would be a you know so much more of a burden on the office >> that I'm not sure that we would have the personnel to do it. We might have to be looking at you know more help. Uh, so it
just didn't make financial sense. You know, the return on investment >> as as the town of Kingston is right now. It just isn't there. >> I guess my question would be from a policy perspective, did you look at what
impact it might have on the average homeowner in Kingston? I looked it up on the DLS website and they if we adopted a half a percent residential exemption, it
would save most people, the average $697,000 homeowner money. It would and it would only raise my taxes a tiny bit.
So I'm just saying I understand from your standpoint that it might be costly to implement but in the long run would it be from a policy perspective and I it's hey the ship is sail for this year
I understand that but I mean could we have like a robust policy to ba abate about going forward on that? Um, I think it would I think it would be a great idea, but that's just a a policy
consideration and that's why if I asked you if you reject it, it's simply because of the impact it might have on your office. But >> I'm asking about the consideration on the taxpayer. >> The impact on our office is also on the taxpayer. >> I said, but they need to pay us for all
the things that we need to do >> to, you know, to administer that. >> Yeah, I understand. But that would be like a one-time expense. >> No, I'm just let for a second. I think I might be able to give you the answer on this. So, if we
were a town where we had a whole lot of um uh investment [clears throat] properties where people were renting and and and um you know doing Airbnb and that kind of thing, I think it could potentially make sense because you might have a a high I mean, correct me if I'm
wrong. It's it's non-resident owners, but people who live there in the house misunderstand it for >> Oh, go Oh, right back up there. It's for single family owner occupied single family residents. >> Correct. But but what you're doing is
you're sh and correct me if I'm wrong. You're shifting some of the tax burden from them to people who own a property but don't live there. Am I am I right in that? >> Okay. So to do that they would let's just say you have to hire another person
to do this. You're adding cost to the town that does is not a onetime cost. >> Again I don't know. I again I just went on the DLS website to give a quick analysis >> and it looked to me like >> the m a lot of taxpayers in Kingston's
taxes would go down >> how basing it on what data >> it seemed to the DLS data >> did they say how many people own or reside in the house they own again it was just a gross you submit your town >> no but but what I'm what I'm asking you
does that does the DLS data tell you how many homes are owned by people who don't live in the house. >> It just tells you the valuation, >> but it doesn't tell you whether a person lives there. So, that's what we would need to know. And we're not >> all I'm doing is I used that tool. I I
went on and I looked at a tool and it uh I I'm not skilled at using that tool, but it said to me maybe it is a a a policy that would be worth considering for a way of spreading the tax burden
among, you know, it seems to me that the notion is the higher the value of the house, you know, you got to really >> but but it complete. Let's just say there's three people in town. Well, there's I'm sure there's more than that. Let's say there's 100 people in town who own the home, but they rent it out.
Because again, that's what we're talking about. Am I right? >> I'm not >> No, I'm not talking to you. [laughter] I'm not talking to you, Marca. What I'm saying is in order for for anybody for our residents to see a a a savings there, you'd have to have a large amount of people who are taking that tax burden
off. The tax doesn't go away and the state's paying it. Somebody else in town is paying it. I'm paying it. I'm not I wouldn't benefit from my >> Hold Hold on. Just wait till you get back to the microphone. >> I wouldn't benefit from it according to the DLS website because the value of my
house is higher than the amount, you know, the people above me, me and above would pay slightly more, but the people below me would pay substantially less. I can >> No, no, no. I think you're you're
looking at it. >> Maybe I'm misunderstanding. >> I think you're misunderstanding. >> I don't want to debate again. Maybe I misunderstood the >> So you you will pay more tax than somebody expensive house. But what what this exemption does is if you own your
house and you live there, let's say we give a 1% discount. Anybody who lives in their in in their house is going to get that 1% discount. We're going to take that 1% savings across all these residents who live in their the house that they own
and we're going to take that money and put it on residential where people don't live. >> Well, you see the towns that the municipalities that have adopted it there are towns where they have a lot of summer homes, >> right?
>> No one the owners don't live there. they rent the homes >> or they're in urban areas where there are a lot of >> rentals >> rentals we don't have you know multiple story >> residences we don't have rentals we don't have >> we have some I would say we don't have a
significant amount >> we don't have enough to to make it >> right >> to get the return on the investment >> uh in administering it >> you Eric you probably came up with the right amount of about like 100 120
>> and we're talking about 4,500 parcels. So, we're shifting >> we're shifting the um the the base from the 45 to the 120 and and how much would we shift to make it worth it wouldn't be much off the 4500
>> parcels. Those the break would not be significant for such a low shift. >> So, so 43 I'm just throwing a number out there. 4,300 people will have some savings, but the hundred people who own the property but don't live there would
be paying more in their property taxes. >> But this is essentially what our friend over there, Mr. Pike, often brings up is it seems like you'd be punishing those folks using this as a business opportunity. So rather than encouraging business, you're taxing them more.
>> Right. Anyway, like you said, it's not something that we're probably going to tackle this evening, but Marca, if we want to look more into this, >> I'm happy to send you the deal >> as we as we proceed to next year. I think that that's that's completely fine. We can look at that.
>> I would love to know if the DS website actually shows >> how many people own a house but don't live there. is that data would >> have that information. >> But then it's meaningless because then you're guessing at how many people own a property but don't live there.
>> Like you don't know. I don't know in my own neighborhood how many people own their homes and and are renting it out to somebody else. I don't know. I honestly don't know. So we would have to find out that data for the entire town and that's going to
take somebody >> to collect that data. So, do we want to invest money into taking a survey of the town to find out and then are people going to be honest about it? I don't know. >> I don't know. >> Right. So, that's the key to to to
finding out whether this would work or not. Um, are there any other questions or or comments or, you know, questions about anything? >> Any other thing anything from the the public online? Is there anybody online who wanted to
speak? >> No. >> I move the board of selectman close the public hearing. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric I. >> Tim. I. >> Missy I. >> Kyle Pike. I >> Don I.
>> All right. Somebody want to make another motion? I move the board of selectman vote in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 40 section 56 as amended. The percentage of local tax levy which will be borne by each class of real and
personal property relatives of setting the fiscal year 2026 tax rates and set the residential factor at 1.0 with a corresponding CIP shift of 1.0 zero pending approval of the town's annual
tax recap by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? Eric, I >> Kim I. Missy I. >> Kyle Pike I. >> Don I. >> All right. I think we're good. Thank you for the presentation.
All right. Next up, we have a uh update from the recycling committee. >> Welcome, Jean. [cough] [clears throat] Don't say my address. >> Oh, that's okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. Jean Landis
Snowman, Wolfpond Road chairman of the recycling committee and I have a fellow member David Okonnell here with me tonight. Um, I'll try and get through this pretty quickly for you. Uh, but I did think it was important for you to
know a a lot about what we're doing on our committee because it affects everything in town. Uh, other members not present here are Joe Casna, Vanessa Verkotti, and Jean Wyatt. Um, we meet monthly. We work closely with the superintendent of streets, trees, and
parks as well as the facilities department. and our D municipal assistance coordinator Todd Keep regularly attends our meetings and um as well as the superintendent as his schedule allows. So over the past
several years we have supported the town and state recycling initiatives in several ways. We've purchased and ensured the recycling bins are installed in all the town facilities. We are developing a recycling information display now to located in the main entrance of the town hall and you've
probably all seen that or not realized it was there. We are participating in the annual agricultural fair and other events such as night out. We've held two fix it clinics where people bring items that need to be fixed or um you know
which contributes to reuse of items and eliminating new purchases. So each year in coordination with Todd and the superintendent, we apply for and receive recycling dividend program grants that are based
on the recycling activities of the citizens. So that money comes in generally it's funneled to the recycling committee where we can then use it to do additional things that will benefit the residents and improve their recycling.
So in turn it generates more grant money for us. Um some of the things we've used that money for are the in in anticipation of the uh plastic bag ban was uh purchasing and issuing regular
and thermal reusable shopping bags. [clears throat] We've also in the past uh have given out jar scrapers which allows you to utilize the entire product in a jar of peanut butter or mayonnaise. that sort of thing. Uh last a couple years
ago, we handed out multiple use openers for residents to eliminate the need for multiple types of openers. We also contribute money to the Library of Things at the town library. If you haven't utilized any of their items, you might want to check out what they have
available. Um you know, something you might not use on a regular basis, but it would be nice to use periodically. And we also try to include messages about recycling on the water, sewer and tax bills. We have set up an organic waste
collection program. Uh and with the grant money, we um bought collection buckets with lids for a for the first 100 people who participated in our pilot. And we're doing this because 20 to five to 30% of our trash is organic.
and sometimes it's the heaviest and it's the messiest part of the trash. Um, we are working with uh the Council on Aging. They now have a bin over there. So, we have three bins at the transfer station and their one bin and that's
costing the taxpayers through the grant $344 a month. Okay. So, the grant money is going towards that. Um we're we're looking at co-digestion of food waste at the wastewater treatment facility. Uh
there was a recent webinar on that. Uh Elaine tells me that she did view that. She's going to talk with their um engineers to see if that would be feasible because the state grant only allows us to cover that expense for five years and we're going to be into our
fourth year. So, we're going to have to find a a different way to dispose of the material at no cost uh to the taxpayers because we won't be able to use grant money for that. [cough and clears throat]
Years ago, we did set up a swap shop using an old construction trailer that was donated by the highway department. We did have to spend some money on signage and mold mitigation for that. And then David and his son and some
other individuals uh constructed uh shelving for in there when that old uh trailer was condemned at the end of the COVID period because of inundate in infestation of mice and there had been
water intrusion. Uh the highway department was gracious enough to take those shelves out and store them for us at the uh Maple Street Fire Station. So this year we did apply for a new grant to purchase a new uh facility. You've
probably seen it down there. It's a very nice looking shed and the highway department was helpful in bringing those shelvings back. So, we've got it pretty well set up, but because there's no heat or air conditioning, it really only
operates in decent weather. So, you'll see there's a sign on the door that says we intend to open up in April, but with the lessons we learned from the previous swap shop, it's going to have
to be manned by volunteers at all times. Um, I personally spent about 20 hours a week in there cleaning it out. I no longer have the time or the inclination to donate that many hours. And it was just a a shame because once it got
filled up, people couldn't get in to look at things. So, we're going to take a a more practical approach, I think, by reviewing every item as it comes in. Make sure it's suitable. You know, it's not cracked, it's not chipped, it's not
missing pieces or stuff filthy. And, uh, then we're going to date it so that items will be inventoried periodically and removed if they've been there too long. So, we're really looking forward to having that, uh, open up. If there are individuals who would like to
volunteer to uh work at the swap shop there, we have a special email address that um for the swap shop and that is on our web page and it's also on the door to the new swap shop. Uh we've hired a
social media manager and if you're on Facebook at all, you'll see that uh there's things being posted two to three times a week on there and we're hoping that that's a better way to get information out to more of the residents. Uh we did write the bylaw for the
plastic bag ban that was passed at town meeting and we have worked with the health department to implement that. Um we also um worked with the board of health to uh implement a regulation on private haulers requiring them to also
offer recycling um in addition to trash hauling. Um so I regularly attend the board meetings of the Southshore Recycling Cooperative. The town is a member of that organization as are 17 other communities
on the Southshore. and I recently stepped down from the executive board after serving uh on there for several years. Uh those of us on the recycling committee try to attend webinars about recycling. We also share a lot of articles about recycling.
Last year, I was invited to join the Silverlake Regional School Wellness Advisory Committee and attended several meetings and I did an on-site assessment uh visit and made recommendations how they can increase the recycling of several materials. Now, it's up to them
and the administration to see what they can do about that. I have presented information on recycling on several shows produced by the local scene. Uh the superintendent and I, this is Paul Basser, uh participated in a video on organic waste collection for the green
team in Hangingham. Um we have designed and manufactured the new Kingston recycled street signs that you see around town. This initiative was shared with similar sign from the agricultural commission to save costs and the highway department put them up on the same pole.
So we saved some costs there. And we receive monthly reports on the volume of textiles recycled at the transfer station and at the schools and we try and let them know if the bin from Bay State is full. Uh we do receive $140 a
ton from Bay State for the textiles collected there. Textiles collected at the schools. Some of that money goes to the PTO. Uh and there is a statewide ban on textiles in in the trash.
Um, in the spring we hope to be able to be on site at the transfer station, assist residents with questions, encourage them to participate in all the recycling programs, and help with placement of material in the correct bins. As you know, the state is now
promoting pay as you throw. And while we did explore this as a community a few years ago, it did not pass a town meeting. There's renewed interest in looking at this. Uh, it's been a proven way to reduce the costs of your trash
disposal because once people realize how much it costs to dispose of a bag of trash, they're quickly learning how to recycle and remove everything that doesn't have to be put in the trash. We are in in the middle of a contract with
Seamass. Our contract runs out in 2029. We're paying a little bit over $80 a ton. The current contracts are being renewed at $140 a ton. So, we know that that's what we're going to be looking at when this current
contract uh runs out. Um, we can see a lot of all this is done by the volunteers on the committee utilizing the grant money that the residents earn through their recycling activities. So, we we're very pleased
with the amount of money that we receive every year. We try and use it as judiciously as we can, spread it out um to benefit as many residents as we possibly can. Any questions?
>> Any questions? Uh well, I'd just like to say thank you for >> for working on this for so long to all of you. I mean, I I I know um I don't know how many years everybody's been on it, but I know [cough] it's been been a
long time. It's a group of dedicated individuals. >> Yep. >> And we know there there's a lot of other dedicated individuals in the community that um are fully recycling as much as they possibly can. We want to keep promoting the organic collection and see
if we can't get more participants in that particular program because we do think that that will benefit uh the community as a whole if we can improve that that percentage and uh see if we can't find a way to work either with the
highway department to compost it the compost you know with the yard waist site or work with the sewer department to see if we can incorporate it there so that that would eliminate that cost to have it removed and and processed. >> That's great. >> All right. >> That's great.
>> All right. Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh unless I'm mistaken, we're up to number five. >> Uh >> we have a uh request from the police department to expand up to 66,000 in
opioid uh settlement funds. You give that a whirl. >> There's only No, wait. You have to use that. There's only one. >> Oh, fancy. >> It's fancy. Fancy. >> Wow. >> So, this one.
>> Yes, please. Let's see if my computer. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> We're just keeping you on your toes, Will. >> Yeah, we jumped all over the place. Well, >> okay. >> Oh boy.
>> Is it frozen? >> Share screen. Oh boy. >> No, it's just multilayer. >> Yeah. There it goes. Beautiful. >> Yeah. >> Cooking on fire. >> You think? >> Okay. And then just hit it >> right here.
>> Yeah. >> How can you even see that? >> John, we miss you. [laughter] >> Yep. Yep. Young eyes. >> There we go. >> See if it works here. >> Is that Well, you're not in It's not No, it's the >> the bottom left corner. There should be something. Or the right corner. Yeah,
that right there. >> Oh, it's not doing >> I always knew I was needed. There we go. There you go. >> We're purposely just slowing down for you. [laughter] >> Hey, we have a logo. Hey, not bad, right? >> All right. Uh, by way of introduction,
Michael Scava, detective lieutenant for the police department. I oversee our special operations um here before you relative to three agenda items. I'm hoping this short presentation can explain all three. Uh, and obviously I can answer questions as we go, procedurally, whatever works for you. I just appreciate your time. Uh, first I
want to introduce you to what is going to be the Kingston Police Department family services unit. It's something that you guys I'm sure have heard Chief Holmes talk about for some time uh by way of the sergeants position he recently requested uh and by way of his previous request to apply for a DMH
grant for a clinician. Uh that is part of this greater picture. We're effectively at the point where it's all kind of tying together which is what brings those three agenda items before you tonight as well as this presentation kind of explaining everything in one big picture. Uh obviously as you know the chief is out right now. So in his
absence he's asked me to kind of move this project forward. Uh so the unit is going to be the FSU sergeant uh which is uh somebody that is a current sergeant that's being moved to that role um as a result of that seventh sergeant position that you guys created
at a recent meeting. As well as we're looking to get approval from you tonight uh to hire a clinician which is going to be entirely funded by a DMH grant which we recently just got approval for within the last week. Uh, and it's also going to move some other positions we already have are going to fall just chain of
command wise within the um jurisdiction of this unit. They'll end up fall continuing to fall under my command. So that's how this is how it'll look within the department's organizational structure. Essentially, you end up with the FSU unit with the sergeant, the clinician, and the SRO's. And I'll speak
a little bit more about how that's going to play into the department as a whole. Uh but those highlighted yellow portions before you is the really the change. Uh there's been some discussion about why a sergeant. I won't go too ind depth but effectively before you you see a couple charts you've seen before
relative to our growth in service our growth in services both by calls for service uh the number of calls per sworn officer. We've seen uh fis uh fiscal year I'm sorry calendar year 24 and uh calendar year 23. We saw that Kingston
PD officers had more calls per officer than calls per officer in those other listed jurisdictions including a lot of our neighbors like Duxbury, Halifax, Pembroke, etc. Um on the right side of the screen you see added responsibilities. These are responsibilities that have been added
within the last 10 years that have never had a supervisory position added to support them. All of these responsibilities are either done by current supervisors or by officers, but those responsibilities need to be audited by supervisors. There needs to be checks of training, checks of records, for instance, things as high
liability as taser instructors, less lethal, those types of things where we're getting into use of force. That needs to be supervisory oversight. We also in 2014 had no school resource officers. We now have four certified school resource officers, full-time at the high school, full-time at the middle school. We have a school resource
officer at KEES, KISS, Sacred High. All that requires supervisory um oversight of course, right? Reports, things that come up. Uh so traditionally they've been reporting to me and it's just the responsibilities have grown as we've grown those roles. Uh and this would just give them somebody uh that first
level supervisor to report to. And there's other things you see here which are going to fall within the role of the FSU sergeant uh such as our partnership with Plymouth County outreach and some of our other community outreach programs. Not everything that's listed to the right there is going to be the FSU sergeant's job, but that's just to
kind of illustrate some of the things that have been added to the supervisory structure within the last decade. kind of justifying the need for that seventh sergeant. The clinician co-response is going to be a large part of this unit, right? So, this is that DMH grant I just referenced
where we uh receive funding from Department of Mental Health to hire clinician if the board approves it tonight. Uh effectively what that is, you may have seen it in neighboring communities. It's a co-response model. So what will happen is if there is an acute call for service for somebody having a mental health problem like uh
suicidal ideiations something along those lines hallucinations a police officer will still respond. Standard police response will be the same but then also when available the clinician with the assigned FSU sergeant will also respond to that scene. That's just somebody with a little bit more training
in that field that can help uh almost in an advisory role to the officers on scene on what's the best course of action here. Is this criminal? Is this mental health related? What is the best way to handle this call? And the intent really of that DMH grant is a jail diversion program. It's really to take
instances where individuals should not be getting locked up and we can offer them services instead. That is the goal and and in theory, if we're able to stabilize individuals within the community, reduce the likelihood of these acute incidents, it's going to reduce the likelihood of use of force incidents and hopefully reduce the calls
for service as well. If they're stable in the community and they're working with the clinician, hopefully we can reduce the need for these types of responses. Uh there will be follow-up calls where the clinician will go out with patrol officers to these individuals households absent the acute call. So they're they're normal, but
we're just checking in type incidents. um by way of the grant's expectations um because of the the amount of calls for service and obviously DMH has a lot of requests for funding to be able to get approved for this grant we had to partner with Plimpmpton and Halifax for
the overall call volume to be able to justify getting this full-time clinician position. So the clinician will be expected to provide these same services to the towns of Plimpmpton and Halifax. They'd be a town of Kingston employee. We are considered the lead party. We're the uh applying party with DMH, but we
would be expected to ensure that this clinician that's funded by DMH also provides those services to Plimpmpton and Halifax. Had a lot of talks with Plimpmpton chief, Halifax chief how this would work out and I'll get a little bit more into how that's going to have to look. Um but the expectations effectively are that they provide the
same service. The clinician provides the same service. They're just housed here in Kingston. One of the things before you tonight is relative to the workspace, [clears throat] excuse me, the station, as we know, is well past its prime, right? The police
department is out growing the station. The station's uh been before town meeting before to potentially be replaced. We lost that by a a near margin many years ago. Um the station does not have the capabilities to grow into this unit or for this unit to grow into the station. So, one of the things
before you is to to kind of make do is a uh modular office trailer. That's the motivation for that is a lot of what's listed on the screen before you here. Just the issues we're having with the outdated station. The modular office trailer. This is uh what's proposed tonight. Uh it is an
8x32 trailer would go on the east side of the building kind of near where we park our cruisers. Uh the intent would be that it would be office space for both the FSU sergeant and the clinician as well as interview space or holding space for juveniles or other individuals going through crisis. Uh kind of a what
we call like a soft room. It would look like a living room space. Uh it's kind of best practice when dealing with individuals with trauma instead of like the hard cold uh interrogation room style space. Um that would be the intent of the trailer. We have had communications with um members at the
state that deal with opioid abatement funds and we've been informed that opioid abatement funds can be used that this is an allowable use of those funds because the primary purpose is to help with individuals with mental health and substance use disorder uh through the use of the clinician.
Of course, it's expensive, right? uh this goes into the opioid abatement funds uh and kind of how they're they can be used and also I highlighted a couple particular portions relative to the pooling of abatement funds through other municipalities and I'll speak to that a little bit more obviously with this being a regional uh unit
effectively a regional uh resource we're going to try to seek getting some some funding from Clinton and Halifax but as you know that's on that's their own decision to make um but we're hoping to still be able to move forward with the trailer and go from there but this is just speaking to the regulations that are on the state website about the
opioid abatement funds and how we can use them for this purpose. This is uh our last knowledge as far as the overall opioid abatement funds. Uh we also are aware that approximately $18,000 were uh earmarked for PCO as you guys recall from a previous meeting. Uh
Plymouth County Outreach, that's a our uh organization that we partner with for substance use disorder uh follow-ups individuals that have overdosed resources we offer. That organization has existed for quite a few years now. We partnered with them. They needed some funding. Uh they're trying to get funding from every town in the county.
That's some money that we put towards them, leaving us a little over $100,000 still in our opioid abatement fund uh account. The request before you today is for $66,000. The trailer uh was about 50
I'll tell you exactly what it was. The trailer was 52845. The request for 56 is based off estimations of installation costs, electricity, um, tables, getting it all hooked up, and obviously if anything's left over, we don't spend it, remains in that account, right? Um, and then
they'll leave a little over $50,000 in the account. And of course, that account continues to receive funding for the foreseeable future through those settlements with those pharmacy companies. Uh, another piece which I kind of referenced slightly earlier is this
Plimpmpton Halifax piece and how we're going to make this work. There an intermunicipal agreement has to be done. uh this intermunicipal agreement uh is designed to ensure we provide those services that DMH requires us to provide to these other communities but also in
the event there are unallowable expenses that we cannot bill to DMH how should that be fairly split up and how should we do that um currently as I stand before you today I don't know of any expenses that I cannot build to DMH in in thorough conversations with DMH the
equipment like radios vests things like that covered, laptop covered, cell phone covered, all of the uh salary, benefits, health insurance covered. It's just a matter of one way or the other somehow we went over. I don't anticipate that. Um or realistically in the future if DMH
funding were to be cut or go away. That's really why we need this IMA in place. Um, and of course there is a termination clause where if if we find ourselves in that position where DMH is no longer willing to fill this or to fund this uh position, we could
terminate the IMA and no longer fund it if the town deemed fit. There's on the right side of this screen is what I'm going to request from those towns as startup costs to help us. So the left side is the IMA and I have obviously the full document and percentage points about what I think would be appropriate
to um assess those towns. At the end of the day, the percentages that are down there is equivalent to Silver Lake. Figured what better way to do it, right? So uh Kingston's portion, Halifax's portion, Plton's portion is exactly to the fiscal year 25 Silverlake assessments. Um then on the right, this
is relative to the trailer. My thought process is that trailer is half the clinician, half the FSU sergeant. That FSU sergeant and the use of the interview space will be almost entirely Kingston. The clinician is that shared resource. So I would say roughly half
out the gate is already just Kingston's cost and then the remaining half you could argue is that split regional resource where then splitting that using that percentage point from Silver Lake gives us those dollar amounts you see before you. So, that remaining 33,
little over 18 being Kingston's share, uh, just under 10 being Halifax share, and about 4,500 bucks being Plimpmpton share. Now, my goal, my hope is that the board will approve me to spend up to the $66,000 tonight to be able to purchase this trailer. And if I'm able to get
from Plimpmpton or Halifax any of these dollars, great. And we can use that towards allowable expenses that are permitted tonight. And if not, then we still are able to move forward. Yes, sir. So, just a quick uh comment on that. So, the Silver Lake um assessment,
the percentages, yes, if if if I remember correctly, that that's based on the number of students that are sent from each of the towns. Yes. >> Um so, which which is probably >> right on track. But you may also want to just look at overall population numbers
and see if the percentages are the same. My guess is they're going to be pretty close because I mean over the 20s something years I was paying attention we were anywhere from like 52 to like 58%. Yes. Like over the many years >> I tried to look at percentage um
population as well as calls for service right so we have we did uh during our application process with DH we received um letters of support from the Clinton Police Department and the Halifax Police Department. During that process, they also assisted us with statistics from
their PDS. Um, so between calls for service, population, and the Civil Lake assessments, they were all roughly similar. I figured the only concrete thing that is in place already between the towns as far as assessments, I'd stay consistent with the school because they are roughly similar to the point. >> Okay.
>> But I would say we could always look at that too in the future. If over time there's a higher call volume in one community versus another, we could we may want to look at that formula again. But this is at least a starting place. >> Exactly. And the IMA does uh in the draft language already lay out a
procedure for if the towns want to renegotiate it. It's essentially a fiscal yearby fiscal year contract. >> Got it. >> Can I ask one question before you change? Sure. >> Are any of the expenses or um services provided by the family clinician reimburseable clinician reimburseable
through Medicaid? Potentially? >> No, strictly DMH. Uh, in fact, the model um wants us to stay away from anything insurance related as much as possible because we don't want to be essentially charging people or you know what I mean? So, um DH it's all covered um through
the grant. Uh and the way they built it was to hopefully create a situation where we're not paying a dime. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Sure. Uh just to kind of give you guys, you know, this isn't just me, this isn't just Chief Holmes saying this program is great. Uh last year we did a department
survey of the concept of doing this um program of having a clinician of how big of a deal is mental health in our community. So this is a departmentwide survey. Um I believe I think it was 10 or 12 members chose to answer
anonymously. A bunch more members uh answered with their names. But as you can see uh percent of calls that officers believe involve mental health or substance use, 40%. That's a lot, right? Of course, it's not always easy to quantify because it's not written in every call for service. It's suspected.
If there's no facts that are necessarily there, it's not ending up in reports. But that's the officer's perception. They suspect approximately 40% of calls involve one or the other. Um, we see repeat offenders. We see a lot of things there. But I think what's incredibly important is towards the bottom here on staff mental health clinician. 92% of
the department felt yes, that's a great idea. Right? And then would the department support the development of the family services unit, the unit that's before you today? 100% of the respondents said yes. I think that's huge. Uh if you guys do approve us to
hire this clinician, again, fully funded by DMH grant. If you do approve that tonight, it's going to be done with a TTA, a training technical assistance advisor, William James College. I've been working with them a bunch. They're um funded by DMH to roll out these programs. So essentially, this is
outside of my wheelhouse. I recognize that, right? I'm not a clinician myself, but uh this organization has already been a great help. Uh DMH has deployed them as a co-response clinician uh you know, program that they help with hiring
all of that. Um I think they're going to be great to kind of roll it out for us. Um and if there's any question questions around, uh licensing of the clinician, super clinical supervision, all of that has already come up. They've already answered a lot of questions for me. Um, so I think we'd be in good hands if you
guys were to uh approve this tonight. Any questions of me? >> Is the office trailer new? >> Yes, sir. It is. We did look at um the potential of leasing one uh to see if that would save cost. We identified that the lease would be approximately $23,000
a year. So after approximately two and a half years, it would make more sense to just buy it. Of course, we anticipate being in the police station for longer than that time. We're not looking at a vote anytime soon for a new police station. So, uh, we think that the the purchase was appropriate. Thanks, Joy. >> And this went before Capital Planning
and was unanimously supported. >> It did. Thank you, ma'am. So, uh, Capital Planning saw this, not this presentation, but we did discuss uh the trailer specifically. So, not the larger picture, but the trailer. And they did unanimously support the purchase of the trailer. >> Right. And just as a reminder, even though it's grant funded, it still falls
under their bylaw because of the asset being above that dollar amount. >> Exactly. Yeah. Just to just to clarify the the grant is the DMH clinician position. The uh the trailer would be opioid. You're right. I apologize. >> Nope, that's fine. >> But sometimes people forget that it's
not just for things like free cash or other funding sources. >> So, are there any other questions from the board? If not, do you want us to go ahead and um consider the first motion? Are you ready for us? >> I'm ready whenever you are, sir.
>> Okay. So, the first one um is a request to expand up to 66,000 as he described in opioid settlement funds um for the purchase uh installation operationalize the modular office trailer at the current police department station. Um
any questions, comments? >> Wait, hold on. We have one thing. Ju >> just a quick question. the the the grant itself. Is it is it an upfront grant where they just give you the money or is it reimbursement sort of like a chapter? >> It's a reimbursement, sir, uh by month
or quarterly, however we choose. We do anticipate being able to absorb those costs for that month or quarter and then get the reimbursement from DMH. >> Okay. >> There we go. >> Okay. [snorts] >> Sorry, I was just looking at the finance director making sure that >> Yep. Of course, that makes sense. Of
course, >> right. >> Okay. And if you guys will coordinate, I'm assuming the department's okay. Great. >> So, any questions, comments, uh, or motion? I move the board of selectmen authorize
the police chief and his lieutenants to expend opioid settlement funds not to exceed $66,000 to purchase, install, and operationalize a modular office trailer at the current
police department station, as well as other related equipment and services for the use primarily by the proposed Police Department clinician and family services you >> second. >> All those in favor? Eric, I >> Tim I, Missy, I
>> K Pike, I >> Don I. >> All right. Um, thank you. >> And the next item is requesting the police department for the police department to utilize a department me of mental health grant and to begin the process to hire a co-response clinician
funded by the grant. Um, are there any questions, comments? >> I don't have any question. And I have the same comment that I've been making on most of these new ones that uh you know I I certainly think this is a good idea. I'm going to approve it tonight,
but I also say that it'll be considered with everything else in the police department for budgets for future years. >> Any other questions, comments, or a motion? I move the board of selectmen authorize
the police chief andor his lieutenants to utilize the approved department of mental health master agreement jail/arrest diversion program grant and spend in an amount not to exceed $70,000 as a
reimbursement grant for the remainder of FY26 ending 63025 in compliance with the DMH statement ment of work and to begin to hire a clinician as a town of Kingston Police
Department with final candidates being brought to the board for an official offer of employment and shall be permitted to continue to employ the clinician and utilize the grant in subsequent fiscal years in the amount
permitted for each fiscal year by the DH statement of work so long as funding remains available. able >> and ju just a friendly amendment. I think the date was wrong. So it's ending 6:30 2026. In in our motion it says 25, but it should be 26.
>> Accepted. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? Eric I. >> Tim I. Missy I. >> Kyle Pike I. >> John I. >> All right. And now the last one is the request from the police department to
enter negotiations with the town of Halifax and the town of Plimpmpton to complete an intermunicipal agreement for the use of the department co-response clinician. Um so that was in our presentation. And if there any questions, comments, or a motion, >> I move the board of selectment authorize
the police chief and/or his lieutenants to enter into negotiations with the town of Halifax and the town of Plimpmpton to complete an intermunicipal agreement for the use of the department co-response clinician as a tri-town resource and to return to the Kingston board of selectmen for final approval as well as
to seek out funding for from those towns to assist in the initial rollout costs relative to the office trailer. >> Second. All those in favor? Eric I. >> Kim I. >> Missy I. >> Kyle Pike I. >> Don I. >> There he is.
>> All right. Thank you all. I appreciate support. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you for the very detailed presentation. It's really helpful to >> Can we have that? Can you send it to us? Okay. And Trisha. Oh, it's on the website. Look at you. >> All right. Next item is to appoint an
interim building commissioner, William Horics. Um, so George, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a interim contract position >> as we're still searching to fill the position with a permanent applicant.
>> And you'll note even in the uh in the motion that you're doing it, you see it starts on the 24th and then ends on the the 24th of February. >> Right. Of course, for some if for some reason >> you're not there, you can always redo it again for another month or two months,
whatever it is. That's >> microphone. >> Oh jeez. >> Did you Did you catch it from there? Did you pick it up over here? >> I apologize for that. Yes. If you look at the motion, it's it's it's going for approximately 3 months or 90 days. If at
the end of that 90 days there there's some reason you still you can always extend it again for another month or so or whatever until you get your new um permanent uh building inspector. >> But interim positions typically are more
expensive hour by hour. So keeping that in mind it's in our best interest to move Yes. >> as quickly as we can with candidate the >> I know whatever however it works with the hiring committee. All right. Uh, would anybody like to make a motion?
>> I move to appoint William Horax as the or Horox as the interim building inspector effective November 24th, 2025 through February 24th, 2026. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? Eric I. >> Kim I. >> Missy I.
>> Kyle Pike I. >> Oh >> Scott I. >> I was a messy eye but I was off. Sorry. >> All right. The next item is the appointment of plumbing and gas inspector alternate George Greenwood. At the time of the annual renewals, Mr. Greenwood had not responded, but now he's requesting to be reappointed.
Easy enough. >> I move to appoint George Greenwood as plumbing and gas inspector alternate effective immediately through June 30th, 2026. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric, I >> Missy I. I. >> All right. >> Wait, hold on. >> Don I.
>> There he is. And then we have appointment of public health nurse due to a resignation. The position of public health nurse is vacant after the recruitment process. Health agent Joyce Crystal Balsski is requesting the hiring of Ann Marie Stacenos. Um, we have a motion in front of us >> and she was online earlier, but she
probably was during hearing. [laughter] >> I move to appoint Ann Marie Stenos to the position of public health nurse a less than part-time grade six step seven position within wage and personnel bylaw with the health department with an anticipated start date of November 24th,
2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric, I >> am I. Missy I. Call Pike. I >> All right. Next, we have an appointment to the waterfront committee. There's a vacancy on the committee. At their last meeting on November 4th, committee voted
to recommend the appointment to the board for Shan Hagen. >> I move to appoint Shan Hagen to the waterfront committee effectively effective immediately through June 30th, 2027. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric I.
>> Tim, I miss I. Cal Pike. I >> I >> All right. Next. The fire department received the following donations requesting us uh to accept it. A 2005 Cadillac Escalade from Kathleen Hildebrand. >> Okay.
>> I Yeah, go ahead. >> I move to accept the donation of a 2005 Cadillac Escalade from Kathleen Hild Debrandt to be used for auto extrication and stabilization training. Second. >> All those in favor? Eric. I.
>> Kim. I. Missy. I. >> Califly. I do. >> I. >> Well, I know what to do with my car now when it dies. [laughter] >> Uh, next item is appointment of a COA van driver. Cindy Mace. So, currently there's a vacancy for a van driver upon completion of the recruitment process.
COA director Holly Negelli is recommending Cindy Mace to fill the position. I move to appoint Cindy Mace to the position of COA van driver a grade three step three non-exempt position within the KTEU labor with the council on aging department with an anticipated start
date of November 24th 2025 contingent with the terms in the offer letter. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Eric I. >> Tim I call I. >> All right. Next item update I sorry I keep cutting you off Don. I'm sorry
>> he's moving right along. Yeah, >> it's okay. >> He sounded sad, but >> it's okay. >> Um, all right. Uh, update on Department of Public Works. So, it's not not [clears throat] a DPW anymore. We're looking at anou
uh sewer or wastewater uh commissioners uh met uh this evening. I attended that meeting. They looked at our draftou made some suggested edits. Nothing sub nothing terribly substantial. um just kind of rearranging some of the
wording which I think looks great but in the spirit of of everything that's being asked in thatou um they were pretty much on board. The only issue was the you know using their um uh staff for snow plowing which has been you know a
request. They had said years ago they had hired a laborer who they were intending to lend to the town for snow plowing purposes when we have an event. Um but they're they're underst staffed and um during snowstorms
they have that laborer doing their own cleanup work around their facilities. Um, so the term in the in theou was instead of shall provide at le we're asking for them to provide or shall
provide at least one preferably two people to assist with snow plowing >> and they just changed shall to may. >> That's the request. So we'll see. Yeah, we'll see how that go shakes out with the highway and >> and water department's meeting next week. I was planning on going to that
meeting unless it coincides with our meeting. um to see what kind of changes. >> It should be earlier. I think they meet around 4:30. >> So, I should be okay. I'll I'll go to that meeting and see how that one goes. Um and then we'll get the feedback from
from everybody. We'll hash it out and get things signed. But they they um they said that, you know, years ago u most of these people have been around for a long time. They said years ago and especially when they did the first expansion of the the sewer project, they thought that
communication was really um good. Things worked well. They were able to um uh coordinate traffic, work with the police department. So um anything that we can do to get back to that and and coordinate our projects, um they seem
perfectly willing to uh work towards that as well. Well, and the goal is that this is an agreeable document by all, right? So they can all work together, >> right? Yeah. So they're they're on board. Very positive about it. >> Great. >> All right. Um we have approval of open
session meeting minutes September 9th and November 4th. Any motion? >> I move the board of selectman approve the open session meeting minutes for September 9th, 2025 and November 4th, 2025 as presented. >> Second. All those in favor. Eric I.
>> Kim I. Missy I. >> Cowpike. I. >> I know. He tried. >> Don I. >> There's a delay. You're never going to get it in time. >> All right. Is there anything? Uh >> I know. >> George, any any updates? >> Well, as you guys probably know from my
most Oh, I'm sorry. As you probably already know from most of my annoying phone calls, I try to keep you guys updated in real time. Yep. rather than coming back two weeks later, you know, and talking about it. So, you're sort of up to date on everything we've been doing. The only thing I might make a
very quick uh uh thing on is I I am trying in conjunction with the uh finance director to maybe come up with a um u let's say some budget projections or whatever which we can move forward with over the next several weeks. I I
understand I will probably not be here in April or May when all this is this is going to be taking place. But what I don't want to do is just leave it and then the next person comes in and they're three months behind. So, you know, they can go from there. So, I am trying to work towards that right at the
moment and the the next person can do as they please with it, but at least that there's something there. There's bones there to to start off with. So, we'll work from there. I plan on meeting with George on Thursday and I promise not to make suggested reductions of more than
10%. >> Oh my god. [laughter] >> Well, remember mine's my 50,000 foot view of where it is at the moment. We're not quite into the weeds yet, but you know, it'll be something to start with anyway. >> All right. [clears throat] Um, any
selectman comments, Kim? Uh, I did want to mention that the EV charging station vote that we took to move forward with that other vendor, based on our >> discussion in that meeting, he's actually following up with the facilities manager as well as um Derek Bilnitzer, the finance committee member
who has some knowledge about electronic I mean electric vehicles. So, that may be coming back at a future meeting for us to look at that again because what we had voted to move forward on might not be the best solution. Um, and so there's some emails going on as well related to
this, but the facilities director and assistant are working on this. And then the other thing I wanted to mention, speaking of the facilities folks, they're the their new sign is on the front of the townhouse. So I don't know if you've had a chance to see it, but I know Rob and um Melissa worked on getting that up there and
>> sounded terrifying. >> Big ladders, but it's up there. It looks great. And if you have a if you see them, please thank them for their their efforts to get that up there because it was it's a big sign. >> Yeah, I saw it high on the building. >> Awesome. >> Um
very >> Thank you, sir. Um just an update on the regional school committee um regional regionalization committee. So we we're set to date um to meet tomorrow. We are going to have to do it in early January
due to like posting agendas and whatnot. Um, we did get approval to go all the way until 2026 for our grant. Um, so Kathleen helped us with that and
that should be moving forward with some subcommittees and um, the Colin Center is on board. So, all of that should get us some data to then present to the communities. And that's all I have for that. >> Excellent. >> What's the first Kingston 300th event? Is it the
42nd brewery launch on December 4th? I think >> I don't know. >> Okay. I think so. >> I know the gala is coming up. They're selling tickets for that >> on the wreck website. >> On the wreck website. >> Okay. Because I did look and I did not find it when I was looking, but perhaps
it was earlier. Maybe I was too early. So, we have, please check out the website for events. Kingston 300th anniversary is 2026. So, the 300th committee has been working very diligently to create a very festive year with lots of events. So, >> yeah, there's a whole calendar of
events. So, I'll double check and make sure, but the tickets are going to be sold on the recreation website. >> I think the first thing is the is >> I think you might be right brewery on December 4th, but check the website to be sure. >> Okay, got it. >> Carl, do you have anything? Thank you. >> I'm good now.
>> Don, do you have anything? >> I am good. >> You can't wait for the delay. >> All right. [laughter] Um, so our next regular meeting is actually not December 2nd, but we have one next week on the uh 25th. We will be posting it. Um,
>> for Trisha, she's like, "Great. When is that?" >> I sent I sent an [laughter] email today. >> Yeah. Um, it's not posted yet, but it will be posted >> um Tuesday. >> Next Tuesday. So, we have a the uh TA search committee um has a finalist that that is going to be brought forward
before the board. Um and we're aiming for next Tuesday at 5:30. Um so, we just need to get that posting. >> Correct. >> Can I ask the name? >> Not yet. >> It will. It will. >> It was a good ask though. I like it. >> So, names have to be published on the agenda. >> Yeah, they will be.
>> So, >> okay, that's understandable. Thank you. >> Yep. All right. Um Yep. And then uh so that's just going to be a special meeting. Then our regular meeting will be December 2nd. Uh with that, would anybody like to make a motion of any sort?
>> I move to adjourn at 7:35. >> Second. >> That was an excellent motion. Um all those in favor Eric I. >> Jim I. >> Missy I. >> Calpike I Don I. All righty. See you next time.
Thank you everybody.