##VIDEO ID:Sjro93DkqLY## yep okay stand by 5 4 3 2 1 Welcome to the February 3rd 2025 meeting of the long metal select board this is Select board chair beneath haavi I'll be confirming that all members and persons anticipate on the agenda are present and can hear me Members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative Dan Zoro Here Andrew lamb here Mark gold here Josh LaVine here staff when I call your name please respond in the affirmative Lynn Simmons here Mike Barbary here this open meeting of the long met select board is convened in person and Via Zoom webinar as posted on the town and on the agenda and Town's website identifying how the public may join there is no chat or Q&A function all the materials for this meeting are available on the agenda posted on Long me.gov the public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda unless I note otherwise this meeting will feature resident comment for residents attending the meeting in person please raise your hand when we get to the comment section of the meeting and I will call on you to approach the microphone for residents participating in the meeting via Zoom webinar format please use the raise hand icon at the bottom of the screen the meeting moderator will promote you to panelist unmute you and give you permission to speak if you join the webinar by phone dial Star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to mute unmute residents who wish to speak will identify their names and addresses only each individual is afforded three minutes for comments please note that this to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] all right we'll move over to select board announcements residents are reminded please to clear snow and ice from sidewalks within 24 hours after the precipitation ends please use an ice melting compound and/ or sand when necessary to ensure the sidewalk is safe for pedestrians if you have a fire hydrant adjacent to your property please ensure that it remains fully accessible after snowstorms for additional information please visit longm ma.gov Civic alerts and uh just one more announcement for tonight Town municipal office will be closed on Monday February 17th for President's Day so short uh announcement list and we will move into resident comment um is anyone here that they would like to make a resident comment okay anyone online okay all right she oh I'm sorry a comment on what subject anything anything that you would like anything this the only chance to speak yes it is I would like to okay yeah so you can go come move on up and sit in front of a microphone um and you can start with your name and address and you'll get three minutes oh thanks yep forgive me I talk today and I'm tired but we'll go my name is Mary Beth guthy and I lived at one I live of 147 Laurel Street and my comment today um concerns the project at Laurel and conver Street the massive project undertaking that is going on um I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak about the impact this project will have in my home to say I was surprised and shocked when I received the letter back in July of 2024 notifying me of the seizure of my property is an understatement I had no knowledge of this project when I purchased my home in December of 2020 neither did the realtor the seller nor my attorney had I known about this I would never have bought the home my concern is the direct negative impact the project will have on my home yes the road is currently busy but it is manageable my home faces Laurel I have two lanes of traffic in front of me there are times that I have to turn around in my driveway in order to safely pull out upon completion of the project there will be three lanes of traffic for me to contend with two lanes of stop traffic and one lane of continuous traffic due to the right hand turn lane Lane on Converse funneling cars onto Laurel the noise and pollution will increase exponentially imagine trying to back out of your driveway when you have three lanes of traffic to contend with just to go to Big Y can you imagine what it does to the price of your home recently the town provided me with a just compensation report without including any data or methodology as to how they calculated the offer just compensation should be based on the principles of fairness and Equity the value of the land taken and Severance damages which includes the fair market value of the property after the taking I requested an opportunity to review the independent appraisal's report and was told it was not available how can you calculate compensation without data if it was available but not to me um and only to the town how could that report be considered independ dependent the town Justified their offer to me by stating the project will benefit my property by keeping traffic flowing they went ahead and provided a partial report which I appreciated detailing how the rental payment portion was calculated I had to extrapolate the figures they gave me in that report and estimate how much the offer was for the rental of the land so in conclusion I just want to ask ask you a rhetorical question if this was your mother your sister your brother a family member would you be satisfied would you just blindly accept an amount because someone said all will be well or would you advocate for datadriven fair and Equitable compensation for the decreased value of your remaining property this is my home this is all I have thank you thank you and anybody else here for resin comment you move the microphone as well thank you yep at 59 commerse corner of Highland I have recently been in contact with Mr Keane regarding this project and have been for the past couple of months and also Mr Dono your appraiser and requested the same information an appraisal report that shows how the calculation was made and assessed for the dam award for my property Mr Keane referred me to Town Council I left a voicemail for Town Council last week I sent an email to Town Council last week as Mr teen said Town Council was withholding it or upon the advice of council was being withheld and that's unfair and it can't be withheld the law doesn't state that it can be withheld the law doesn't state that it should be withheld and I think the reci reciprocity here is of utmost concern when you're taking somebody's property for I understand the situation and the need for it reciprocity should be driven to the point of the property owner and that that information should be turned over and I don't understand why it hasn't in fact we have the opportunity to oppose and get more information about the damage award and we have a certain amount of time to do that and how can you even make a claim or oppose it when you don't have that rightful information so again I'm reiterating statements from the prior owner that we deserve to have those reports and a fair and just calculation that is readable by anybody not a summary of what this calculation is based upon something that anybody can understand great thank you thank you appreciate it and anyone else here for a comment okay and no one on line mik no okay um so with that we will move into uh board and committee interviews uh we have two interviews tonight the first is Don Duncan who is interviewing for the Council on Aging board directors if you can move to the microphone Don good to see you um thank you for being here tonight and um if you could just Begin by you know just telling us briefly about why you're um you know looking for this appointment well I've lived in town for 30 years and I didn't have children in the school system so I have never really been actively involved in the town so um um I retired and thought it' be a good idea to kind of get a little bit more involved so I started working the polls and then candy saraphina was the one that um presented this to me and I said you know let me think about that I think that would be a good thing but I do enjoy the adult center a lot um and so I think it would be good to have have a voice in in what goes on great thank you any other questions from the board Mark yeah M dun thank you very much for flying do you do you get to spend some time down in the in the adult center I do yes do you have any thoughts about the the operations or something that you're looking to import or bring to the the the Council on Aging or is this a general interest participation kind of no it's actually interest and participation right um I had a mother-in-law that lived to be 103 and she was very active in the West Springfield um Senior Center and so I thought it's a good thing you know for people to to get involved and I've certainly met some wonderful people um at the adult center so thank you great any other questions from the board all right thank you so much for joining us and we'll vote on your appointment at our next meeting thank you yeah thank you so much um and then we have a interview for Board of assessors austo baros who's joining virtually [Music] y austo can you hear us I can hear you can you hear me yes we can hear you sorry folks I'm more of a Microsoft teams guy I apologize able to end uh I I did come down with Co over the weekend I'll go ahead I'll start my video uh all righty great great great ready well thank you so much for uh joining us tonight and thank you for applying uh could you just uh Begin by just telling us you know why you're seeking this appointment name and address oh sorry I've been resid of the town of Long Meadow for the past uh 10 years um and uh recently in my life in terms of my job I've had Capacity open up I've been considering uh finding a way of giving back to this community which I have grown very fond of uh I am uh I do have uh a facility with numbers I have an MBA from Boston University when this opportunity presented itself I found it to be a good fit for me and hopefully for the town great thank you so much and sorry uh address please 95 Warren Terrace great thank you um any other questions from the board Mark yeah thank you for thank you for applying Mr bario I guess a couple of questions one is how do you how do you find yourself here tonight applying for this position I mean you know the elephant in the room obviously there's been some controversy about the vacancy but but uh you know what what brings you here and what makes you believe you you can contribute to the the of assessors yeah absolutely so I had a conversation uh with Josh about it a couple weeks ago I uh only made myself aware of of the controversy uh earlier this week um again I want to point back to my uh strong uh sense of a community towards this town uh I've got a 26 years of uh mutual fund and retirement planning op operations experience so like I said I I do have fac facility with numbers and with taxes and roundabout way and that the the uh purpose of the retirement plan is to not pay taxes but other than that uh yeah I I just think it would be a good fit for myself and also for the town right can I just yeah go just a quick followup uh are you familiar with the requirements I guess there's a course that needs to be taken or training from from the state or something like that plus you know the meetings I I just want to make sure you you know what you're getting yourself into here yes I did make myself familiar with those requirements um I am not 100% clear on what the timeline is in terms of getting ramped up my understanding is there is a recent appointee uh who is in the midst of that process of becoming accredited I noted that there were at least three designations uh that the state offers for assessors and I'm in the process of uh determining which of those or all three will be required great my my only last question is have you had any experience going before the board of assessors in the past by on your own through you know so you kind of seen what's the process is I have none okay you'll figure it out Josh yeah so elephant in the room uh is a good way to put it um I I put together a worldwide search committee and uh and I I think are good friends uh and I I think he would be a great fit um and I yeah I I guess that Mark was going to touch on the question I was going to ask uh just on uh timing and availability um the historically the board of assessors has met at 9:00 a.m. uh doesn't necessarily have to um but uh just it is a Time common in the spring and the fall and just want to make sure you are uh available for that and there will be some training that will happen over the next month or so as well yes so in my current role my my 9 to-5 uh my clients are generally in central time so my calls usually don't start until 10:30 and I'm blessed to have un employer that does allow me uh some flexibility in terms of uh attendance any other questions mark no just I just Josh I want to thank you for reaching out because it's an essential board we need people and it's not always easy to find people so thank you anything else all right uh thank you so much uh for being here uh and well we're gonna actually if you you can stay on if you'd like um because we've kind of touched on how there's been this controversy about the board of assessors so um I do think that this uh will take some further discussion here um Mr mlan was appointed to the board of assessors last month he has completed the courses that is necessary for him to uh sit on the board of assessors and to uh you know begin the abatement process um subsequent to his appointment we had a member of the board of assessors resign um and this resignation happened you know at a very unfortunate time where we're about to begin looking at tax abatements and you know these are tax abatements that uh property tax AB abatements that residents in town are looking for when they're looking for Relief uh from property taxes um and that whole process has been put in Jeopardy because of this resignation so what I think um we should do tonight and I'm going to make a motion um is that our rules of procedure say that we can vote on an appointment in a meeting subsequent to when the interview takes place and I think that we should vote to suspend uh the rule of rules of procedure for this instance um so that we can appoint um uh Mr baros tonight it will take time obviously for him to get his town email to be able to take the courses but that way he will be all set and ready to go when we begin uh the abatement process at the end of this month or beginning of March go ahead Mark my understanding is that the town Charter says it must be a 7-Day waiting period so I don't believe we can do that tonight as much as I would agree with you would be beneficial but I actually know it's the town Charter because we've tried it before and I've been told that so it may be policy that we could baate but we can't override a charter it doesn't require two weeks I understand can we take a look at that and see if if that's right yep I'm pulling up right now okay we'll take a look at that and confirm if it is then you know we'll have to we call a special meeting in a week yeah yeah yeah we'll have to look at a different option if that is the case uh but seven days you know I I really I I do think that this this should not jeopardize you know what our residents um um you know are seeking from the town uh because of this recognation and so I think that we should be taking some move here whether it's tonight and suspending that rule or doing a special meeting uh to give Mr bars time to take the course and get caught up the speed I'm just pulling up the chart yeah I got it if you want me to read it yeah go ahead mik um section 8-12 the appointing authority may make an appointment to a board commission or committee only at a public meeting of the appointing authority held at least 7 days but no more than 60 days after the last applicant interview for an open vacant position the term of an applicant receiving an appointment shall not commence until um then it goes into the following the applicant has filed the written acceptance of the appointment um the applicant has been swor to office by Mass general laws by the Town Clerk and the applicant is undergone required ethics training under uh Massachusetts General law okay that's in the town Char so um thanks Mark for pointing that out so we will most likely call special meeting here um to make the appointment thank you so much again uh Mr baros for applying uh it's really you know we really appreciate you putting yourself forward um you know at this time when the town really needs you you it's my pleasure thank you thank for consideration thank you all right uh next we'll move into select board comments anybody like to make a select comment Mark I I have my first announcement is to to thank Adam Jensen and the IT group in Long meow I apologize to people in town who may have gotten a Spam letter from me apparently my town email account was spammed over the overnight and uh several thousand emails went out but Adam did a great job cleaning up my computer did everything he did needed to and I really appreciate that so that's the first thing the second thing I I I think the people on this on the select board know this but I'm making a point for the people in town last last week the select board members were at the mass Municipal association meeting and one of the divisions of the mass Municipal Association is a group called the mass interlocal insurance agency miia and they run everything they for our town they do our liability insurance they do our property insurance Casualty Insurance that kind of stuff they also have a division that does health insurance and our town doesn't have health insurance and you'll through them and you'll find out why right now is that they announced that the health insurance for next year for the miia membership towns and I know we were there with Mark strange who's the Town Administrator in lllo uh he participate the average increase is 14.8% but the range is somewhere probably between 9 and 19% so 14 and and contrast that with the town of Long Meadow we're in the scantic Valley Regional Health Trust which is a group that we manage and the reason I'm saying that is because the towns who are part of scantic Valley helped run scantic Valley last year and I sit in on those board meetings uh last year scantic Valley had a a a surplus over their targeted Surplus they and and so they decided knowing that the towns were kind of hurting for their budgets and and because the Town members are all on their plan they actually held the line and had a 0% increase for the current year of medical benef medical premiums that's not only a 0% increase for the town but also for the members the PE the employees of the Town who participate in scantic Valley uh they did that with a looking at about a $3 million Surplus thinking they'd run down that Surplus the good news is after 6 months they haven't run through half of the Surplus they've run through a lesser portion of that and although they haven't set the rates for next year I think it's very comfortable for me to say that they'll be far far short far short of the average of 14.8% of the miia and we're looking probably in the in the four five six seven maybe even perhaps 8 but I don't even think that percent the the moral of the story is when the town gets to participate and help control our costs we do a very very good job and clearly the predecessors to this board who put the town in the scantic Valley Health Regional Health Trust did a really great job and I mention that because I want to contrast it with my other favorite organization which is the Hampton County Retirement Board which we have no part of who is for the last couple of years and into the future is will be offering us a maximum allowable by law increase year-over-year but I think it's worth stating that the scantic valley uh Health Regional Health Trust has done a phenomenal job continues to do a phenomenal job and it's not to say the Mia doesn't I think they do a very good job and I think the GIC which is the government one may be equal to or greater than that it's just that we as a town to have phenomenal job and I think people in town should know that the only other comment I want to make is I attended a Pioneer Valley Planning Commission meeting it's called The Metropolitan planning organization they're the ones who look at the the projects the basically traffic projects and other Associated Department of Transportation projects and I've been reporting from time to time that projects are escalating and costs are going up and they continue to do that but this past week I was pleased to be able to vote to uh make a change to their plan uh We've made a change to their 2025 fiscal year 2025 into 2026 plan adding 1.5 million to the What's called the District 2 plan and that's specifically targeted for the railroad crossing in long midle so you know uh Walter gun who also sits SS on the committee based on the his position in the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and I were able to take a kind of a lead role and kind of push this through when clearly people are very concerned about increases in in the cost of doing everything which delays all the other projects but I think it's a necessary project it's the Emerson Road railroad crossing uh that that will now have uh the gates and all the things that it really needs that we did on barall road so I just wanted to report that that has now been been approved and we'll start moving forward great any else Dan um I just wanted to congratulate our colleague uh Andrew dr lamb um last week you were I I wrote it down here you were named uh person of the year for Asian American and Pacific Islander so thank you D I'm pretty sure I could say that that is totally undeserved but it was a very nice event celebrating Lunar New Year it was great to see a lot of elected officials there supporting the Asian-American Community thank you for mentioning that great um I also want to Echo what Mark said about the like happiness that I had when when I went to that miia U meeting uh there isn't a lot of good news in all my time fiscally when you're in this kind of business but in that room probably I would estimate 2third of the people were in MIAA and when they announced that 14% there was a collective groan and I just felt very pleased that we weren't affected by that and we were in spanic Valley and that's a very rare moment where I felt like we got a break in our town so that that's a that was a memorable moment uh one other thing is that viewers of our last meeting know we spent a long time talking about a tree on Woolworth Street I just wanted to inform people and update them that um the petitioner on Woolworth withdrew his request because the tree was kind of evaluated by another arborist and they thought it was pretty healthy so that is not something we're going to be talking about at this time anything else all right uh Lynn Town manager report thank you uh and thank you for allowing me to participate remotely tonight I'm recovering from uh an illness that I had most of last week and um did not think my voice would hold out uh so thank you for allowing me to do this from home uh so I just have a few updates tonight uh we have um been able to announce that the school dep department has hired a new um schooltown IT director this is to fill the retirement of Antonio Pagan the face in the name of the new hire may be familiar to many of you uh it we've school department has extended an offer and it's been accepted by Nick George Who for those of you who may recall had been a uh prior IT director in the district a couple it directors ago so we're very uh excited to welcome Nick back he'll be starting the middle of February um we've had some issues with fire department apparatus um most notably Engine 2 has suffered a significant engine problem and needs repair the cost of that is $42,000 which exceeds what's available in the vehicle maintenance account at the fire department at the time being so a request was made to the finance committee Reserve fund for the use of the $20,000 they have that was approved and the uh engine two repair is um beginning it's going to be uh several weeks though as the parts have been ordered um and an aerial portion of ladder 2 is out of ser the aerial portion of ladder two is out of ladder one I'm sorry is out of service um this was related to um damage that it was that sustained on um the Tennison Road fire uh one of the rungs on the ladder was damaged by one of the fire department tools uh as they were in the process of taking the ladder down uh it can still be used as a pumper truck in the meantime so it is still in service uh out an out of an abundance of cost a the lfd had the ladder truck tested 6 months earlier just to make just to see if um the damage was was that substantial and although it passed inspection uh the engineers from the manufacturer uh stated that the rung needs to be repaired before it can be used as a aerial device again so that is in for repair as well that is a much less costly repair and is expected to be back in service very soon and um in the last two weeks we had damage at Wolf Swamp Fields related to snowmobile activity uh some decoy coyotes were damaged and we suspect some of the field surface as well it's been covered in snow so it's been hard to fully determine uh a police report was filed and we are getting quotes to add cameras to this field as well that concludes my report tonight happy to answer any questions that you have great thank you so much Len any questions mark yeah Lynn do you know how old Engine 2 is that had the problem uh 2018 okay and and okay thank you anything else okay great thank you Lynn um we will move into Old business uh we're going to uh not approve any meeting minutes tonight we'll save those for the next meeting and then move right into our the continuation of our DPW site 21e um eminent domain case settlement and so there is a memo t attached the agenda or not a memo but an email attached the agenda from our finance director Ian there was a question at our last meeting about what the settlement funds could be used towards and Ian um looked into it we we asked Ian to look into it he did so and found that um we could not appropriate it at this time and had to leave it for free cash um in uh to be available in Fall 2025 so later this year um anything else on that Len uh no that that sums it up I um thank you for Mark for having us do the due diligence to look into it I mistakenly thought because it was part of a legal settlement that we would be able to um direct those funds uh in the middle of this uh budget year but as you see in email's response Ian's response um we're not able to do that so I I will still um bring this request back up as we look to uh use is for free cash in the fall um and I I will um bring this up again as a use for that money okay great thank you uh any other questions or comments on that for now okay all right then we can move along to new business and then the first item under new business is the long meow convers street L project order of taking which uh the select board will have to take a vote on tonight um there's a memo um that's prepared by Lynn and I believe Tim Keane as well um so Lynn I'll turn it over to you to present this thanks so I um believe I'm just pulling this open now um I believe thiso uh this memo is prepared by Tim to me uh but heavily relies on um the pretty specific process set out by the state regarding this type of project uh I believe Tim is there with you tonight um uh we have received uh guidance from Town Council throughout this process along with mass do uh all all of these benchmarks need to be hit in order to keep this project on track uh and I know most of you here are aware that this has been um many many years uh if not a decade of work to get to this point uh and the orders of taking had gone out in December um there's 72 Parcels I believe impacted uh some are permanent some are temporary and um this tonight is a vote of the uh select board in order to effectuate those takings within 30 days of that vote they get recorded at the registry of deeds uh and the process moves along uh I know Tim can speak to it in much greater detail detail or answer any questions that you have specific to the project great thank you um Tim do you have any comments to make or just kind of free to answer any questions from okay can we have just Tim come up so people at home can hear him yeah Tim if you can yeah just the microphones are for the TV not for us um okay so any questions comments from the board Dan uh just a quick question so a lot of what I've been hearing just from residents has been the lack of I guess communication um now I don't live on I don't live in that part of town but I'm just curious could you just kind of walk us through uh the mechanism of communication when did you communicate this or the town to our residents yeah so it the process is is it's very prescriptive by mass do when things happen and how they happen um but the U the key uh public participation step was back in 2021 at the 5% design was during the midst of Co it was a it was a virtual hearing public hearing um that wasn't the first step there were some votes by the board prior to that for funding and things but that was the U the biggest step in the process for public input on the uh the designs were 25% but at that point they are pretty far along they don't look too much different than the 100% designs and since that time we've uh some folks have engaged us the whole way through some residents um but back in July when we sent the uh letters of intent that was that was when things really started to ramp up and then the offers a compensation in December even more um you know public inquiry thank you Josh uh can you so we have a good explanation very technical on how the temporary easements are calculated uh has information been shared with the the four home owners who have the permanent easements on how that was calculated well I I probably made a misstep I did provide one um one resident a copy of the appraisal report that showed the permanent and temporary easement calculation after that we got in touch with Town Council said um those shouldn't be shared till after tonight uh so it's the most detail was probably in that memo Lyn and uh about how those compensations were calculated but that's just for temporary temporary impermanent well the memo focused on the temporary but the appraisal reports for the four permanence has right but has that has the permanent easement calculation methodology has that been explained to the to those foreign homeowners probably just the one who I gave the report to out out of turn um Lyn could you can you explain the rationale for not explaining I I know that Town Council has recommended we don't release the appraisals can you explain do we know the rationale for that uh so let me just draw a distinction here um we are allowed to explain how the valuation overall how that process works how they determine valuation which is what um um Tim worked with our appraiser to prepare this memo to just provide that context that was just that memo was just prepared um I want to say what Friday of this past last week um in terms of the individual appraisal reports for the properties those with the exception of that one that Tim mentioned those have not been released those will not be released until um these have been recorded I don't even believe it's until uh I don't believe it's after this vote I believe it's after recording um but I can verify that um that that did definitely catch both Tim and I by surprise we we expected to be able to release these reports um but again on the advice of councel because um of the legal nature of these uh he advised not to release them until all takings have been recorded um the valuation of the Acquisitions this memo here it does talk mostly about temporary easements but it does go into um how they would determine the value of a permanent easement it it's based on um if I'm remembering correctly L I read it last week uh it's based on like the length of time the length of um use and as you would see I I believe I provided the compensation um Excel sheets to all of you a while ago this was going back a while now um and those four permanent easements those are the bulk uh of the valuations so so they are compensated at a higher amount because it is a permanent taking Mark Tim we talking back and forth here about temporary easements permanent easements can you just talk about the difference between the two and what each means well the the permanent easement uh for those four Property Owners is a loss of their property for either the road is being widened road is being widened exactly okay and that the temporary easement is uh I mean it's described in that in the cessor report is a rental but it's basically for the the inconvenience of during the work while the contractor may have to access portions of their property for primarily sidewalk installation Josh yeah I just wondering if uh one of you could rund down the timeline a bit how how we got into the the queue for this project what's the state involvement just so I I know that I've known about this project for a long time but I I want to see how uh how information has been passed out um well it's yeah I go ahead Tim sorry it's I don't know when it started I've been here 5 years and it started 201 2017 um and the advertisement date for the project right now is May 2025 it was pushed back at least once I believe um based on funding available from the state but the the process maybe this is longer than usual but is it is these are long processes while the the designs are reviewed by the state and um the easement the land acquisition process unfolds it's it's just a cumbersome process um but this one's been going on for eight years yeah and I um just wanted to add to that what Tim had mentioned earlier about the the bulk of the public participation part of the 25% design done in 2021 that is a state process that the state they were state public hearings Mass do public hearings uh generally they're done in person but we were in covid and the state did everything virtual um we have we as in the town of Long Meadow have very little say over those processes so all we do is attend as a participant um but it is all led by the state this is one of the only and the last local pieces we have in this project and that is the takings Andrew do you think just for the sake of kind of public a little bit of whatever public confidence we can give uh at this time because I know that we have I know you've talked to the to us in the past of just how these calculations are made for these valuations it's I I i' just like you to reassure people that these are done in a very standardized Way by I Believe by basically else like State metrics essentially and basically based on square footage and um by parties that you had nothing to do with the calculations Etc it's not an intertown kind of thing could you speak to this just a little bit just I I know you've told told us about these things but I think it would be helped if people knew there's a methodology that's very standardized and long and and has been around for a long time yeah so that the town and regardless of the town this isn't anybody any Community you're required to to bring in an outside of appraiser to assist you through this process so we don't we're not involved in it at all other than we hire the phaser they then are tasked with um coming up with valuations uh when this initially started we had an estimate so that we knew what to plan for uh we unfortunately as the um appraisals became known we did not have enough funding and so we had to go back to town meeting you may recall this last um fall town meeting to come up with the rest of the funding to um purchase these easements um but but yes to your point um this is all done by a third party and um it is all um applied with the same lens there is no um difference or favoritism plate depending on the the address it's all done across the board um everyone has the same um uh calculation applied it's just the specifics of the um amount of the the taking is applied to their parcel and then it plugged into whatever formula they use to come up with that dollar amount thank you and um Josh I just refreshed my memory on this memo here and it the bulk of this memo is all about temporary easements and so we can certainly get some more information um related to the calculation for permanent easements um but I'm I'm not anticipating it to be vastly different other than the fact that they are not using this 5year uh threshold obviously a permanent M would be permanent and the 5 years would not apply yeah thank you yeah I I looked at it again I my reading that is only temporary easements and I I think my guess is that the difference is there's no discount factor which they have on the rental but if it is on home value I I just want to assure uh we heard from mcy earlier and she emailed the board that there is a a fair process happening behind the scenes and that's I I think that that's something we should certainly share and uh if I could keep going uh oh yeah um I just for informational purposes there's some people here I don't know if you can see on Zoom uh and um two questions uh have they has any been been given we talked about abatements before is there any process for appeals and if someone is unhappy with their offer and doesn't take it uh what happens um Tim I don't know if you've navigated any of those questions with the appraiser yet um I I I haven't go ahead now I say I haven't Lyn I know like on our other project we did last year with the north Interceptor we one person did get their own appraisal done um and we it was a different value so the town kind of met them halfway we all with Council involved though is really between uh more of a legal matter at that point and that Happ I was going to go I was going to respond similarly um that is what I understand but I I could confirm that with Town Council um and that's also part of the reason why you don't give out your the towns the town would not give out our appraisal report um it's because there could be that back and forth or um potential litigation over it um but if you um are looking for more specific information regarding what happens if um if someone chooses to um I guess fight it I don't I don't mean to use that word necessarily but um I can certainly get the steps from Town Council on what would be next um the other Avenue that is available to the town is a um an eminent domain taking um this project is for public purpose the town does have um substantial right to take property for public purpose and that is a mechanism that could be used anything else from the board I I think I I would just like to add just and I know I speak for all of my colleagues up here for all who are affected by this um we sympathize and um I just want you to know that we all everyone in town for what it's worth appreciates you for basically allowing this project which will help all of us essentially and I know that's right I I I just offer that as a sentiment but um I want you to know that it's recognized am I to uh no sorry you're yeah um okay anything else from the board oh sorry you're not allowed to speak right out yeah sorry um so any anyone anything else from the board okay um there is a motion uh before um you know the board for the order of taking I think you know out of best practice I should not be the one take making that motion because it directs the chair to execute and enter into all the documents um so I'll you know entertain any motions I move that we approve the order of taking there speciic language I'm sorry I don't see I have it um do you want to withdraw that Andrew yeah I withdraw my my motion I hereby move that the select board acquired by eminent domain for the necessary Health and Welfare of the inhabitants of the town of Long Meadow for municipal purposes more specifically for constructing safety improvements reconstruction including resurfacing portions of Long Meadow Street convers Street Laurel Street and Forest Glenn Road as authorized by article 14 of the town of Long Meadow annual town meeting of May 10th 2022 that it further authorized the board's chair venath heathy to execute and enter into any and all documents necessary to effectuate the acquisition of the following property easements in the parcels Iden ified as te-1 through and including t-72 p-1 through and including p-4 and pu-1 on a plan of land entitled plan of alteration of Long Meadow Street conver Street Laurel Street and Forest Glenn Road dated April 11th 2019 comprised of nine total sheets prepared by Design professionals civil and Traffic Engineers to be recorded in the hamton County registry of deeds with the order of taking and that still further the board award damages for said eminent domain takings in the total amount of $525,000 to the affected record owners of said land the amount per record owner being specified in the aforementioned order of taking second okay any further discussion all right all those in favor all those opposed okay thank you all right and we will move on to uh oh thank you Mr Kean um we'll move on to water bill insert requests so there are two water bill insert requests um you know these are typically come around um you know from time to time and there's one that uh addresses a recycling cart insert with the new recycling carts that will be um you know uh provided to residents of the town and also the rain barrel insert which I think we've seen for to so both of those are before us for approval and our water bills Mark how move we approve the inserts through uh the water bills for the rain barrel and for the recycling cart second okay any further discussion all right all those in favor all right and then next up we've got uh poor things coffee uh the food and beverage truck cart renewal request so this is the same renewal that we did last year uh same locations as uh the the last two years about um and um you know we'll entertain any motions or any discussion about about this request I'll I'll move we approve the uh poor things coffee food and beverage cart for 2025 second okay any further discussion yeah I just uh this has been a a real success success story in town uh I think it's I if there's any other people want to open up a cart I would encourage it and it seems to do really well and they're good people you can always see a lot of folks around there so um I I hope their continued success great thanks anything else all right um so we had a second you second it we're good to go okay um any so any other F further discussion okay all those in favor all right great and I think we have one more comment Vic um application renewal um so I will move that we approve Starbucks corporations uh 2025 common uh V uh license second Mr did we did we miss them the last I don't know if they got it it was a late it was a late edition that's fine I just wondering why they I think I received it the day after our meeting yeah okay uh so Dan seconded it any anything else on this all right all those in favor okay great all right and then um we are on to the Charter review update uh so there is a memo attached to the agenda this um has been talked about for quite some time now the as the memo indicates in 2018 the charter Review Committee recommended changes to the capital planning committee as well as uh you know the permanent building committee I was also part of a working group last year the capital um cap I always I always mess this up CPP Capital project program working group um and we also took a look at the capital planning process and came to a similar um conclusion that changes needed to be made and I think Lynn does a good job of outlining some of the issues that the charter committee as well as the capital planning program working group um and as well as members of the select board I think have identified uh for you know last seven years or so and when we met with the facilitator uh back in September uh which is an exercise select board did for the first time you know in a very long time um and we set out our goals for the Year this is one of the things that we uh identified as wanting to address to finally make some of these changes so Lynn um if I can turn it over to you to kind of you know CU I think you laid it out really well you know why these uh changes are being recommended at this time yeah thank you um yeah so I um I wanted to just use this as uh kind of a a starting point for discussion um and as you will see in that memo there's three different versions attached um we don't we not wed to any of these necessarily but I did want to give you some some options um the first one is if we just consolidate um based on their current both their current missions and configurations in the town Charter uh or the um select board vote of June 9th 2017 um and so that's the first option here the second um is a consolidation based on the recommendations made in the charter review committee's work and then the third option is um most similar to the Charter review committee's work um with uh some updates on it based on um what kind of we've our lived experience in the last few years with capital planning um again these are just starting points for conversation uh I would though hope that we could have a discussion make some amendments if needed and get these ready to go on the warrant for the annual town meeting as ven had mentioned earlier we've talked about this for quite a while and um I think all of us remember it um each year as we go through the capital planning process that this is an area that we've been wanting to make changes to um so I if anyone has questions tonight I'm happy to answer them or if you have thoughts on it or something you'd like to see at the next meeting perhaps um I'm happy to to work on that as well um and then just lastly uh the on the memo you'll also see there's a list of four things it's not just the um the charter uh change that's necess that's needed for Capital planning we would also potentially need to resend the vote of the select board create creating the permanent building committee um we would need to as I said amend the charter we would need need to amend the general bylaws which um would edit the title of capital planning um and then I would also would recommend that we add a section into the Vas that actually describes what the capital planning committee does and then um if any of the options that are um put forward include a member of the finance committee we also need to amend the charter for finance committee because right now there's a Prohibition on um a finance Committee Member serving on any other board or committee uh and so we would need to make that adjustment as well okay great thank you so much Lynn uh Mark yeah I I I've been behind this for since it started I you know and my sense is a change is needed uh but I think we need to modify both the makeup of the boards their responsibilities but also the flow of information and recommendations that for approvals and I I'm not sure that that was totally captured in all of Lynn's things I'll tell you of the three Lynn Just For What It's Worth i' kind of favoring your option one but I have a whole bunch of uh suggestions additions Corrections whatever it is I know this isn't the place to do that but I'd like to send that my track changes version to you basically it it it tries to address the flow of the capital plan as well as just the makeup of the boards uh and and what what they're intended to do I also think that you know for example one of the things I it is the committee and we're calling this the capital Planning and Building committee or something like that shall be responsible for overseeing the transmission between the town which is I designate the DPW or counting or whatever and the select board progress and expenditure history of Prior Year's capital projects until such projects are completed and the finances closed out that tracking is not something that has been formalized and in the past when it has been done it's been very helpful at least to me on the select board and also to the town so that that's kind of an example of some of the things that that I put in here Lynn but I'll be glad to certainly share my edits with you and then you can share them with the board thank you uh anything else I just had a question so if we're looking at the composition I was just looking at some of the options uh earlier before the meeting um I think it's a a great idea that we have you know all these qualified different roles whether you have someone who has legal experience someone who has um real estate experience or building experience what have you um my only fear is that we get folks that don't have that experience and we're we're we're we're trying to get someone uh to join a committee and they they don't fit one of the um requirements so I I just wanted to understand how how loose is the requirement that we have in place is it more suggested or is it more of a requirement says to the extent possible then so you current it's current this is this is how it's how it's um written right now so both permanent building committee and cap well not so much Capital planning but permanent building committee has those um spelled out now and it yeah the goal is that but um I think more importantly we try to get a core for yeah um and for what it's worth I think just kind of reiterate some or highlight some points from the memo that I think are important the you know the the capital planning committee is pretty um I guess Limited in the amount of time that they spend in looking at these projects and really being engaged uh whereas the permanent building committee they have a lot of really committed members uh but they don't have as much work to do and so this is kind of a you know I think a natural way to consolidate those two committees um to be able to kind of combine those knowledge bases um to hopefully create a better informed better functioning committee that will be able to really speak to the capital projects um that come before the town um there was also you know some consideration too about you know consolidating finance committee or folding that into this as well but finance committee you know I think for you know it's the only committee that is not appointed by the select board it has a very unique place also I think the finance committee is um at least you know kind of they're also kind of rethinking how they're going about um some of their work and there are different aspects of the finance committee that you know we've been able to identify that they have not really engaged in uh that that work recently and so they're going to we're going to be talking about how they can expand um the work that they do so um for the time being I think that the that the best way to move forward and see how this works is to combine these two committees the capital planning committee and the permanent building committee um and Mark I I like Lynn said I think this is a starting point so you know would welcome any track changes any um you know any ideas um and you know I think we've got plenty of time here to put something together um to kick off this process of getting a warrant or getting an article um on the town warrant and maybe taking some of these votes that are necessary to uh make this consolidation Josh yeah I I think that looking at the three different options um in generally generally I think it's it's a good idea um to to do this I what I'm just concerned with is that some of the duties of the permanent building committee I don't want it them to really get shoved aside or to be a small consideration because we've recently seen what happens when we neglect issues in our buildings with um the the mold issues in our schools and I I I think if we are keeping a committee busy all year round I think that is hopefully that will they can stay on top of it more but I want to make sure that that is it it seems like one of the Lesser priorities I want to make sure that that is still uh made clear that that's very important because that that's just kind of stuff that if we don't do it we don't nip it in the butt it comes back bites us and uh maintenance in general and we also have some big decisions to make on what to do with uh buildings soon um so that that's just my my general comment but I and I know Mark's been talking about this for a long time and I I do think that something should be done our Capital planning process could certainly be overhauled um but these aren't just two things that should be lumped together uh and they will do both I think it's it has to work in unison which it should um but I want to make sure that our permanent Building Maintenance is really uh taken very seriously as it has been U but I we can improve on it and I maybe having it looked at with the capital lens at the same time will be good um so which is why I think we should consolidate I just uh those are just general thoughts I I think that all of the approaches seem to have um their their fin their good points I'm looking forward to seeing what Mark uh has suggestions great thank you oh Mark I I I think it's worth a pardon me a history lesson or a way back machine here for the board and others the the capital planning committee predates the current Town structure it's back when we had a Town Administrator and I I believe it was Jerry nolet who was on the select board taking something from what he' done at work and we had done at work and saying we needed some some residential input to prioritize uh the multiple requests coming from various departments that included the schools and all the Departments when there was no unifying process for doing that and and it's literally been unchanged even as we brought in a town manager maner whose responsibility is to put together a capital plan and so you know the the question and I and I more or less bridge that when I was on the capital planning committee and it got very difficult when the when the town manager is essentially doing some very very good very detailed work in terms of prioritizing things and it almost makes the capital planning committee which is why I think they're meeting the way they are is not necessarily doing the detail work as the town manager is doing it but rather bringing the voice of the residents the voice of of of long metal residents to the plan you know for for saying I understand the town manager thinks this is a higher priority but from the res residential perspective the priorities change a little bit and so that's where we've gotten and ultimately it's come down to the select board who gets to adjudicate if you will between the the what the town manager has recommended and what the capital planning committee has looked at at but along that way the capital planning committee lost the perspective of calling in the town engineer and looking at the estimates and saying what what's the basis for these quotes and all that kind of stuff and and and I think it's far more important now for the you know for the capital planning committee yes to bring I still think it's important that they be the voice of the residents at the capital plan that the town manager puts together but the building committee is is also taking on a a more formal role that I think it's important for us to also look at so merging them together I think there is enough work for all of them to do I think the missing link and as I the one thing that I quoted in carrying through is not just approving the money or recommending the approval of money at town meeting but then doing the follow through you know what have we done you know how are we doing it you know I think it's important that the town engineering department the the the town accounting department report back to the residents of town we're spending $2.1 million a year capital and how are we doing on those things and what's being done so I hear you Josh I I and I agree with you but I think that the capital planning committee has I won't say they there their their their requirement has lessened over the years with the new town manager and I think there's a good role for those people who can contribute significantly and merging them with the building committee and so I really support doing that not to mention the fact that things go to Capital planning and then they go to finance and then they come from the town and the flow is just a mess so Dan I would just again I mean this is something you know Mark had mentioned that you know we haven't this was addressed back in I think 2017 2018 it just hasn't gone anywhere then we you fast forward we had the long range plan which I sat on and this also came up on the long range plan as well and one of the things that we talked about on the long range plan was we have a lot of people involved um all different committees different age groups um and let's not let this just be collecting dust on a shelf and and let's not do anything with it let's actually Implement some of these um ideas so it's really just a comment to say I'm glad that we're taking this up and uh V you mentioned it early on when we had a a group meeting um you know a few months back just on some goals and and things that we want to take a look at and um so you know Mark I applaud you for you know bringing this forward and and you know working this uh working on this over the years and I think now you have a a board here that does want to you know make some positive change so appreciate your efforts on this and and ven for bringing this forward great thank you um anything else okay so I think um for next steps uh Mark you can share and then um yeah we'll we'll work on this and we'll bring a draft back and uh continue the discussion but it sounds like the select board is in you know favor of doing this so we'll Workshop some of this language and hopefully get a an article on our annual town meeting warrant and uh take take necessary steps one last thing V I think people need to realize that there are changes that we can make but there are changes that we can't make in town Charter and things like role of the finance so we need to be cautious and I'm not saying which way to go but for me if we can do things and do things quicker and do things more easily maybe getting 85 or 90% of the way there but doing it now is a lot better than waiting and waiting and waiting to cross every eye dot every across every te down every ey and and and and you know take two years it's going to take to make those changes yeah and I think that that's kind of why that you know considering any anything to do with the finance committee was kind of set to the side as well um you know because that I think actually taking action moving forward on this is is a priority yeah um Lyn do you have anything to add no okay okay mute button gotcha sorry no I'm just in agreement with all of you yeah appreciate the conversation okay great thank you um and then um the next item is our remote meeting participation policy the state's um uh statute about about uh or you know or law about remote meeting uh is set to expire on March 31st and so um we need to revisit our remote meeting policy um Lynn did you want to speak to this can I ask why we have a policy that allows for remote meetings I don't believe yeah but so in 2023 this conversation Lyn do you want to speak to it or can I speak okay um I was going to defer to you and you're you're I know what you're going to say and you're right up yeah okay in uh 2023 this came about before the temporary orders um regarding the uh Co measures were extended we had brought this forward to the board in 2023 and then we got the advice of Town Council to wait on it because it was likely that the temporary orders were going to be extended we don't have anything in the select board policy book that gives boarding committees the opportunity to run virtual meetings or um I'll go find the minutes because I know it was approved I was on the board so I you know and the problem is it may not have been committed into a separate document and for that I apologize but I know this board approved remote participation so that that doesn't mean we can't do it again it's just it's been there the other thing I will comment on is everything I heard at that MMA meeting is everybody loves this and the state's going to extend it so you know now until they do they haven't so right you know we may want to do it but I'm just thinking that that you know for us to act I don't think we need to I know we have I know for a fact we have just like I knew for a fact seven days was the waiting per I know for a fact we have you know so I think Mark's right I I remember this but I but then I second guessed myself when I saw this because this talks about the select board which I I know we talked about that if we have it then the other boards can have it but I don't remember how was Mor moralized so yeah this policy that was brought forward in 2023 was never voted on or adopted if it was prior to that way before that if it was you know prior I thought we said the state was the state was going to take it up and that's why we we just happen right so if you know and we don't have to take action on this obviously we could I wanted to bring it back up too because also a notice to boarding committees if the the policy does lapse it's good for them to know that they have to start making arrangements to start meeting in person so I hope this serves as kind of like a an initial um notice to them you know that we're going to have to go back to in person quum of the board chair Anders meetings if that um lapses well e even the policy that we did have required a quorum of the boards law what what you said I mean it the only thing is it allowed for some members to because I remember we when we talked about it we had a park and wreck Committee Member who was in Florida most of the winter and stuff like that so that that was the purpose y behind it in in my notes uh from 2023 it said bring this back in the winter of 25 so just no I appreciate I'm just saying that that I I know it's been authorized by the board but I beside which I think the state's GNA extend it y so I I I would suggest trying to go ahead sorry I'm trying to remember um exactly I remember looking into this a ton in 2023 before um the last emergency provision was set to expire and if I remember correctly I can't pull it up right now um I believe the remote policy only applies to the select board and so at the time one of the conversations was to extend it out to other boards and committees um but I'll I'll go back and confirm um and additionally we're hopeful that the new um Municipal empowerment act language for extending this um does pass but the last time it did not it lapsed for I believe um a week or 10 days and it caused absolute chaos uh and I'm hoping that doesn't happen again but I do want to make sure that we have the most up-to-date policy in place if the state fails to act in time that's fine and and the proposal says unless superseded by the state so I mean we're we're covered either way the only comment I'll say to you Lynn is that that I recall that it was everybody but the select board when it was originally passed and you recall it was only the select board so you know we'll we'll see what it what it is I'll go back back and dig through my computer now that it's been fixed if I can make be incredibly unhelpful that also sounds right I don't know what it is co brain Yeah well yeah there's I I know we talked about that that this all sounds very familiar but I don't know which way we came out so I hope that's help I don't either well I mean I think it's good that we brought this well in advance and that was part of the point of doing this now um so that we can kind of work through some of this stuff and also give notice to other committees and it's a big change a lot of committees have been meeting fully virtual and that's something that may change so um it is helpful for them to be aware of that if let's say worst case scenario it doesn't happen and we can we need to start having people uh everyone scheduling meetings again what what kind of space do we have at Greenwood now yep so we have two conference rooms that would be open eventually to um night meetings and right now we're just waiting on some logistical things uh to go in there so that we can set that up um in terms of security access and things like that and Lyn if you want to add anything to that um let me know yeah no that's our goal is to um offer up Greenwood for night meetings we hope that it's used um as much as possible but like Mike said we have some logistical things we're working on in terms of nighttime access to the building we hope that that will be resolved um by the end of winter early spring and also the adult center and library also um has meeting space available as well as the schools okay in the inter term anything else on this okay uh one more thing um and so yeah we'll we'll look into this and you know and bring this back if needed um so one more thing U we had some siens petitions that were um submitted um and we need to refer uh the ones that need to be referred to the planning board in a certain amount of time um and so we checked with Town Council on this and Town Council said that although this was not on the agenda that we could still bring this forth uh to vote on referring them to the planning board because the non discretionary and it's there's no deliberation involved yeah exactly you have to take procedurally you have to take the votes to refer it yeah but we have no choice but to take the vote so um so although it's not on the agenda um we need to refer these over to the planning board um so well I I have them up here yeah it's three citizen petitions out of the five I I move that we refer the uh commercial vehicle parking citizens petition to the planning board for consideration of public hearing second any further discussion all right all those have favor great I I move that we refer the citizen petition for front yard ground Mount solar panels to the planning board for consideration and public hearing second any further discussion all those in favor I move that we refer the citizen petition for side yard ground Mount solar panels to the planning board for he uh consideration and public hearing second any further discussion all those in favor all right great thank you um any comments about correspondence all right great all right to adjourn I'll second any further discussion all those in favor all right thank you everyone thank you than you