Yeah. >> Okay. I see the rest of our board. So, it's 10 a.m. and I'm going to call the meeting of the select board to order and I'm going to do a roll call attendance. Um, Miss Em, >> here. >> Mr. McCloud,
>> here. >> Mr. Leighton >> here. >> And Miss Moore, I am here. In requirements in accordance with the requirements. Sorry, everyone. Okay. In accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law. Please be advised
that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the Lunberg public access channel. Um I don't believe we're Facebook live today because we are Zoom only. Um but it will be uploaded to the Lunberg access YouTube channel after the meeting. Start off with announcements. I have one
announcement. Um Lunberg Water District, uh the water district is currently completing or is currently doing a survey right now that will help shape um decisions about the future of Lunberg's drinking water. They're asking um that all households complete this survey.
It's not just limited to water district customers and we have shared the link to that survey um on the town's website. Does anyone any other members of the board? >> Do any other members of the board have any other announcements? >> Just
>> Madame Chair. >> Yeah, >> I'm hearing some feedback. Perhaps if you could announce for folks that are not speaking to mute. >> Sure. If everyone could please mute if you are not speaking. All right.
I still have a few people that were getting some feedback. If everyone could please just check and make sure that you are muted if you are not speaking. Okay. All right. Moving on to public comment. Are there is there any public comment from the public?
>> I can't see the any hands. Do we have any hands raising, Mr. T? >> I do not see any hands raised, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Any public comment from the board? >> Great. Seeing none, um, Jen, do we need to wait
until 7:05 to do our first scheduled meeting? >> No, you do not. No, it's not a public hearing, so you can go ahead. That time is estimated. >> Okay. So, our first uh presentation is from Josie Gilchrist on the spring vendor fair which is scheduled for May
30th at the TC Pasio building. Josie, do you have a presentation or anything that you want to share or were you just going to speak or how would you like to proceed? >> I just figured I'd speak and answer any questions about it. >> Sure. >> Mainly because you want to >> do a presentation.
Also, um very happy that it's a Zoom only tonight and I'm glad that you're all home safe today. Everybody looks cozy and safe and that makes me happy. Uh my name is Josie Gilchrist. I'm the president of the Lunberg Business Association.
Um our team put together the first annual uh Lunberg fair last year. Um the weekend of Mother's Day. Uh the day started off a little bit rainy, but it ended up being a very big success. We heard a lot of positive feedback about
it. For those that didn't attend, um we had about 60 vendor tables. We had uh food trucks, a BMX show. We had a professional swords fighter that had a ring with foam swords. We had a clown.
We had a face painter. Um petting zoo, hayride, you name it. We had a lot of fun things for the community to do. Um but the key word here tonight is going to be community because that fair could not have happened. Um even though the idea came from the LBA
um it could not have happened without uh the community's involvement um largely and a big shout out to the former uh recreation director Angela um who helped me uh directly with the fair and kind of
speaking for the town throughout that process. Um she was a great help in getting this going. Um I'm going to miss her this year. But um we're hoping to get this fair um going on the town and
as a townwide holiday every year pretty much. We're wanting to make this an official annual event uh so that these meetings don't really have to happen in the future. Um other than just an update on how it
went. Um, the Lunberg Business Association relies heavily on collaboration with other organizations such as the library, uh, the senior or the adult activity center, the club Lunberg Teen Center, um, and just the
town of Lunberg and the many departments and committees involved in this whole operation. Um, as a the former chair of the master plan steering committee, I heard a lot from the community about the need and the
desire for more uh community-based townwide events. Um, and it just ended up being very good timing with the LBA board, Lunberg Business Association board that we had at the time to push that forward. Um,
and with the town's collaboration, we were able to meet that need and heard a lot of really great feedback from the community, the attendees that came. It is a free admission event. Um, the vendors have a fee associated with
their vendor space, but the feedback we got from them was that it was one of the best events that they had attended. They all did very well because Lunberg showed up despite the rainy half day we had to kick it off. Um, but really we're we're kind of we're
meeting that need. The Lunberg Business Association exists to support Lunberg and surrounding town businesses and economic growth. Um, a big part of that is creating events that put these businesses in front of the communities
that they serve. Um and so with the the Lunberg residents desire to have more public free events mixed with um the town's desire to be more open and approachable mixed with also the our
desire the Lunberg Business Association's desire to put these businesses in front of the communities that they serve. it just ended up being the perfect event uh to meet a lot of needs all at the same time. Um we had a
lot of organizations um outside of the little circle there surrounding TCP and around TCP such as um some boy scout troops. I don't know what they
call their territory I guess. Um they said that it was one of the best fundraising events that they've had. Um we had other other organizations that were nonprofits have tables at the event too that they
were able to you know educate people. They were able to fundra. Um overall it was just really fun and really rewarding to see. Um, but I would like the town of Lunberg to to own this event. Like the actual the
government of the town of of Lunberg to own this event in collaboration with the LBA as we bring businesses and bring those attractions to the event every year. Um, and that's really what I'm pushing for as the annual event so that
so that we don't have to go through this planning process every year. we can just have the Lunberg Day holiday um and count on this event happening. So that's my spiel very quick, but are there any questions?
>> Sure. So I have a question. Um yeah, you say having it hosted by the town, what do you what do you envision the town resources that would be needed? >> So the town would streamline the event process because the town would own the event. um the town's insurance would
cover the event. Um the event application really wouldn't exist on our end because we're just as support organization. We're trying to get those vendors to show up to the town's event. Um I'll speak a little bit about Angela's weight that she pulled through
the parks uh and recreation department. She's because she was a part of that department, she really streamlined a lot of that um process. um so that we could have that event. But the LBA just coming in by ourselves and saying, "Oh, we want to have this event,
little old us that has, you know, 40 members and not a very large income or not a large um insurance policy because we're a small organization that almost makes the event impossible with just on
our shoulders." Um the Lemonster economic development director came and spoke to the economic development committee which I'm also the chair of. Um I was absent that day but I
watched the recording and it was really uh insightful about how they handle these uh town events or these city events on their end. They have many like this and they approach it the same way we do with seeking out business sponsors
um for any activity that requires a payment for them to show up such as what Angela handled last year was the petting zoo. Um I believe the fee for that came out of the parks and recreation um budget,
but they were able to show up and charge per head for kids to come in and pet the animals. Um, but the LBA simply can't cover that cost. The option is that we either the town either owns the event and that
takes that weight off of our shoulders to try to come up with that money or the town takes the event and the LBA tries to facilitate some business to sponsor that vendor to show up. Does that make sense? >> It does. I'm just thinking, you know, I
think these events are wonderful. I think my concern is the pull on town resources just with everything else going on. I'm not sure how much staff time if any that we we have at this point. Um, and I think >> it wouldn't be organized by the town
because the LBA I say that we just bring these businesses in, but really when I say Angela and I are the ones that organized it, it was really that was it that put on that entire event. And we contacted all these other um, you know,
resource organizations to partner. we reached out to them and we we waved vendor fees for them to show up and add to the activities for the event like like the clown showed up, we had a magician show up and they were able to offer activities that we could promote
and so we waved the vendor fee. Um, but I reached out to a lot of those people. There's really no organizational time that the town needs to offer except that the town needs to own the event and say, "All right, every
I I didn't want to compete with of course the the town of meetings that happen in May. Um, but I think it was every fourth
Saturday in May was my idea to have like a Lunberg day and like we know that every year that day the LBA is going to come in and work with maybe just a representative of the town to get this event rolling because we can count on that event
happening every year. So, what Angela did was she contacted the DPW and we were able to utilize one of their dumpsters to put the trash in at the end of the day. Um, she contacted, I think, Chris Ruth who organized a couple
guys to set up uh town-owned chairs and tables for people that wanted to sit and just enjoy um some of the activities throughout the day. Um, and then also the use of the facilities, the restroom and TCP, which I know we're not going to
be able to use in years u in the future. This year we could u but it would just mean somebody stocking that restroom. Um, which I understand that the town already has a facilities department that covers that anyways. So, it's just
utilizing what the town is already doing, but that we count on this event happening every year. >> Right. Madam town manager, do you have any logistical questions before I ask the board if they have any questions? >> This is the first that I'm really hearing of this request this evening. I
have many, many questions. Um, I don't think they're best suited. I wasn't prepared for this ask tonight, frankly, and I don't think that they're best suited for this meeting. I'll leave it at that. >> Okay. Um, do any of other members have any thoughts or comments or questions? >> Yes.
Um, I want to thank you, Josie, for coming uh and all the the planning that you and the LBA do, all the different events. I know the trunk or treats a big big uh hit with all my kids, too. Um, but we enjoyed the uh the most recent one, too. I remember chair Nulo actually being in the dunk tank. That was fun,
exciting. My kids got to dunk them. Um, but yeah, the events are great. Um, I do like the idea of of getting more of like uh the recck department involved that you mentioned, Angela. I think that would be a great fit. Uh, obviously we need a new um rec director, but I think that could be something that we could
try to promote potentially in the future that the rec director can kind of help out with this a lot more, too. Um, I would be interested in how Lemonster does it, too, cuz I know they put on some great events. Is it their rec director? What part of their community um runs the show on those events? I think that would be important to know
and we can kind of learn from their events as well. But I think it's something that we should continue. I think it's great for the community. Great community building and I'm glad you guys are putting on the events and I know it's a lot of work. So I I like the idea of collaborating with the town and trying to find a way that we can kind of keep it going.
>> Yeah. No, I definitely agree. Um do any other board members have any other questions or comments? Yeah, I'll just say um I went to the event last year and I thought it was great. Um I was worried about the weather, but it ended up being fantastic. Um I guess I I wasn't aware
of the ask that was coming before us today. So I agree with town manager of, you know, I think there's a lot of questions to follow up and get more details, but the concept, you know, I I think based on last year's event, I would expect it to be, you know, just getting better and uh but I think it's a
longer discussion than we're prepared for tonight. Yeah. All right. U Mr. Mloud, do you have any questions? Okay. Uh Josie, do you know if anyone have you spoken with anyone on the parks commission about this yet? >> Um my direct contact has been Caesar
Nazello. Um >> on that um just because Angela was my direct line to town resources for last year um and she has since moved on. Um, but I I I mean I briefly I spoke to
Caesar about it and he thought it would be a good idea. Um, but again I totally understand needing more information, but it also is important to know that this event can be customizable to what the town can actually offer. uh it's not like I mean last year was
our first thing that we that we did to that scale and we learned a lot from it and what that did was just encourage us to pursue it more. Um but I do think that time is of the essence with this
event. I did open up vendor um signups already and I have um over 50 vendors already signed up for May 30th um in understanding that I would
potentially have to reimburse all of those vendors um if the event does not take place. But that's the name of the game with markets like this is that these people plan like a year in advance for where they're going and where
they're setting up to be a vendor. Um, so I wanted to start on that soon. I wanted to start this discussion and get it going as soon as possible. Um, I guess it would be if this discussion on if we're making it an annual, you know, town of Lunenburgg event, Lunenburgg day
every fourth, you know, Saturday of May every year. Um, it will be a long discussion to try to get a lot of that information fixed, but I'm interested in kind of pursuing a more speedy discussion on the event this
year. Madam Chair, can I just logistically I'm not sure if you're aware. I know you're aware that um Angela Clement is no longer working as recreation director and the position is unfilled. We've conducted interviews. This is a
part-time position. Um reality is is that the somebody if they accept a position may or may not be starting in the next couple of weeks. Um, our primary focus is going to be getting the beach open for the summer and I don't know how much capacity for this year.
Anybody that's brand new to the organization has coming on to assist. That's just the reality unfortunately with the I'm looking at the calendar. It's March 3rd. Um, and we don't have a rec director in place. Their priority is going to be the beach
and summer programming for the town. >> And I'm not asking for town staff hours to be very clear. Um, I'm asking for the town to be aware that this event is happening every year and
that the LBA will be organizing it and opening it up for town resources. >> Oh, okay. Maybe I missed. I thought you had said that we were going to be handling the applications and and kind of triaging all the applications and coordinating with facilities and
coordinating all of that because that if Angela was town resources so anything that Angela was doing would be the new person provided they take a position. >> Angela and I worked very closely together. Every decision that either one of us made we were making that decision
together. So, I understand the back end and I understand the uh staffing um issue that the town has right now and the recreation department and other departments too. I understand the lack of bandwidth um and I am completely prepared to handle all organ
organizational aspects of the fair. It's just that I don't want you all thinking that this is a LBA event. I want it to be a town of Lunenburgg event. I want it to be the Lunberg
Library, the adult activity center, the teen center. I want it to be um any other resource organization that want to take a piece of that pie and let's make it happen annually. Um >> I would say Josie, I think I like where
your thinking is. I have I share the same concerns the town manager does of just because we're so late in the game. I think that if we wanted to move this to an annual town sort of hosted event, we I think we're kind of too late. I mean, we're less than two months away just to be switching that much of the
responsibility to the town. Not saying it's not possible. I just have some concerns about it. Um I definitely support it. I just I think that we I think especially with looking at the time here, I think we'll need to add this as another agenda item, especially once the chair since you've been
speaking with um Mel, you know, hearing hearing kind of what his thoughts are because I haven't had a discussion with him either. >> So, I wouldn't want to, you know, say anything out of turn or but >> absolutely. >> Yeah. And I really >> that's just my main thing and the as
clear as I can be. I'm not asking for any staff of the town of Lunenburgg or committee members to put their hours towards this event because I learned so much from the last one. I have systems and processes in place to actually make the event happen.
>> It's just that I want you all to own it and not the LBA. >> So, >> hello. >> Can I can I add a comment? Um, I guess understanding Josie what the ask is of the town. When you say become a town event, the town owns it. What does that exactly mean? I think that's that's
unclear to at least me cuz I I heard actually mention of funding which made me a little nervous. Insurance. Uh I don't know what else. Yeah, the insurance would be obviously a discussion that we need to have further.
Um, the LBA can look into getting a large event insurance policy going, but right now our insurance covers networking meetings. We cover the vendors that we
have for this event. Um, we don't cover all of those individuals coming onto town property. Um, and I see Jennifer shaking her head. >> Yeah, the insurance is actually the least concerning out of all of this. Okay. >> Okay. So, that's really when I ask for
it to be a Town of Lunberg event, I'm asking for it to be put up on the town website for the town of Lunberg to own it. So, just in case I'm no longer the chair of the LBA, the town still owns this event. the residents and the organizations that depend on this event
every year to generate uh growth um to generate getting in front of the community. They can depend on this event happening every year. That's it as far as what I am asking from the town is that the town owns this
event. um >> more of a commitment that the town, you know, >> supports it and we don't have to have these meetings every year to then talk about this event over and over. >> Did you mention something about funding though? Did I did I
>> correctly? Yes. So last year, um, Angela pulled out of the parks and recreation funding, um, for the event in areas such as portaotti rentals, uh, which we learned from last year, we don't necessarily need that. So that's kind of
gone. And if we can use the TCP restrooms, the Lunberg library allowed us to use those restrooms, that line item's gone. but she also ordered uh like a petting zoo, a dunk tank, uh yard games with the parks and recreation um budget.
And that's where this event can be customizable because money doesn't just come out of nowhere. >> Yeah. >> So, >> I'm not asking for a budgetary commitment. I'm asking for collaboration on thinking outside of the box and
making this event happen every year. Okay. So, Josie, I think um with that, I'm gonna I will talk with the town manager tomorrow and you know when we can get you back in when we have the full board to have these discussions. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. And I I really appreciate you coming forward and all of the efforts
that you you put forth into these various different community events that you're involved in. So, >> thank you. Thank you for the time. And I'm always open to answer any questions. President lunberg businessassociation.com. Um I know it's a little confusing. Um, but if for this event, if any
communication can go to my LBA email, that would be preferable. >> Great. All right. >> Thank you very much. >> Thanks, Josie. >> All right. Running a little bit behind, but the next on item on our agenda is a public hearing for a class 2 license
application for Unique Motors Group USA, Inc. located at 40 Summer Street. And if I could ask the clerk to read the public hearing notice. >> Sure. Pursuant to chapter 140, section 58 of Mass General Law, the Lunberg Select Board will hold a public hearing
on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 at 7:05 p.m. in the Bilada meeting room at Town Hall 17 Main Street, Lunenburgg, Massachusetts, on the application submitted by Unique Motors Group USA, Inc. doing business as Unique Motors for a class 2 license for the sale of motor
vehicles as provided for under Mass General Law Chapter 140 section 58. This license is to be exercised at the premises located at 40 Summer Street. >> Okay, Mad Manager, do we need a vote to to open the public hearing?
>> No. The reading of the public hearing notice formally opens the public hearing. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Um, and I'm going to kind of pass it back to you, Madam Town Manager, if you want to open this for me. Do we have all the documents that we need? Um, is there anything that we're missing? >> And I'm actually going to pass it to
Melissa. I believe everything is completed. I know that there was one question about potentially a name change, but I think that that's been tabled for a future date and that everything in the packet is complete. Can you just confirm that, Melissa? >> Yes. Uh, we received everything that we
needed to. Um they registered their business certificate with the town of Lunenburgg. Um they do have another location that's been successful in Lemonster. Um and they also have an auto body shop in Fitsburg. Um but we did receive anything
everything. Uh the end of last week there was mention of um changing the entire corporation name. Uh but I did let them know that we would basically have to start everything from scratch all over again.
>> And through you, Madam Chair, the um the repair shop that's going to be doing work for um the entity as their own repair shop then? >> Yes. Yes. It's um it's our own business.
So Paza always is doing the same thing. Yeah. >> Okay. And you are with I assume you are um a member of >> my husband. Yeah. He's here. >> Hi. Nice to meet you both. Okay. Does anyone from the board have any questions?
Okay. Oh, Jen, if you're talking, you're muted. Can we just get the applicant's name and address for the record? Just um minutes. >> Yeah. My name is Mary Joe Garcia and my husband >> My name my name is Eric Indana
>> and 706 Lancaster Australian Lannister. >> Okay. And I don't believe I saw any questions. We have everything in order with that. I >> I would just give them an opportunity to describe a little bit what they're doing. A little free publicity >> and just for the viewers. Yep.
>> Yeah. Thank you so much. So, um, we are me and my husband, um, Eric, uh, owners of Unique Motors, uh, since three years ago. Um, and this is a dealership that we dedicated to, uh, auto sales. Um,
and, uh, we are located in Lister. We have a shop in Fitchburg and, um, we want to move to London. We we like the place and we hope uh we are really happy
to go to London because I know dash it's really you know has a lot of cars in there and a lot of people and so we're happy to be there. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Madam Chair, can I ask a question? >> Abs of course.
>> Um I just to confirm you're keeping the your business open in Lemonster. You just adding us another location or is Lunenburgg replacing the Lister? >> Yeah, we want we're going to move through Lunenburgg. >> Oh, you are going to move. So, okay. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> But the repair shop in Fitchburg remains. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, is there a motion to approve the class 2 license uh for the application for Unique Motors Group USA, Inc. located at 40 Summer Street?
Uh, so moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Did I lose connection? >> Second. >> Brian seconded. >> Okay. Sorry, my connection keeps kind of going in and out a little bit here. Sorry about that. Um, all right. With
that moved and seconded, that that is all approved. So, to the Go ahead, Jen. Are you talking? >> Nope. Okay. Sorry. uh to the applicant. I believe our office will reach out to you um with next steps once we have everything signed. >> Roll call vote. >> We need Yeah.
>> Okay. Thank you guys. Sorry. >> All right. Let's do a roll call vote. Mr. Leighton. >> Hi. >> Thank you so much. >> Yep. Miss Em. >> I. >> Mr. Mloud. >> Hi. >> And an I for myself. And now with that, we have we have passed and approved the
application. >> Thank you so much all. >> Sure. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. You too. Bye-bye. >> All right. Next on our agenda, we have a joint meeting with the sewer commission to appoint Alan Wilson to the commission. So, I would ask the sewer
commission chair to call their commission to order. And please do a roll call vote as we just noticed. >> Good evening, Madam Chair. Hello everybody. Uh yeah, this is Brett Ramson, chairman of the Lunberg Sewer Commission. Thank you for I want to
thank you all for letting us join you in a joint meeting so short and on such short notice. Um so I'm going to call the meeting uh announce the meeting open and do a short roll call vote uh to make
sure we have a quorum. Um going to start with Scott Dah >> here. Arthur Cadis >> here and Dan Proctor >> here. And I am here, of course. Uh, Madam Chair, thank you very much. I'll let you
take back over. >> Sure. Is the applicant here with us tonight? I'm not sure. >> I believe he is. >> Yeah, I'm here. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. His name is Alan Wilson. >> Chip Wilson on otherwise known as as Chip.
>> Okay. Hi, Chip. Uh, do you want to just tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're interested in this position? >> Uh, yeah. I was just getting back to a post that's I think you might be lo you might be logged in twice. So you've gotten a bit of a um echo. I see your name on here
twice. >> Still like you might need to mute one of them or log out of one of them. >> Well, good at sewing. Not at computers. >> All right, try again. >> Hold on. It might be Could be one of us
just with the speaker. Let me mute. >> There's two Chip Wilson. I think he's got a he's got one. >> Try that. >> I can remove the second Chip Wilson. >> Yeah. Why don't you do that?
>> There we go. >> All right. Try again. >> How's that? better. >> Mine are things >> not good at computers. Um yeah, I was just responding to a post that Scott had posted. Um you know, we're transplant to
Lunberg. Been here about 10 or 11 years now and uh did the coaching and everything else with the kids. Kids are getting older, so I still have some free time and some energy. And I kind of always figured I should probably be doing a little bit more um with the town
and volunteering my time and whatnot. And um Seward was kind of just a good fit for me and uh that's pretty much how I got here. >> All right. Um to the chair of the sewer commission, have you guys had a chance
to speak about this? >> We have. Um we actually had um Chip at our last meeting. We had a chance to um ask his uh interest uh as he got that answer. But there's also we found that
he has a lot to offer. He's got a um construction business where he deals a lot with sewer installation, not just in Lunberg, but um in many communities um which we find as certainly a positive. Um and we believe that among other
things, he could bring a lot to the table uh as a fellow commissioner. Um so we invited him the other evening uh to join us and he said he'd like to. >> Okay. Does anyone from either board or commission have any questions?
>> I just have a question about the term, the length of the term. >> I assume it's just is it till the next election? >> Correct. Through the next annual town election. >> Okay. So then a follow-up question for Chip.
>> Yeah. Go ahead. I assume you would want to stay or or you would be interested in in running for election to the sewer commission to extend beyond midm, >> right? >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's that's correct. Um
sounded like they were kind of in in need quickly. >> Yeah. and I was available and I, you know, like I said, I'm more than willing to to get involved and, you know, donate my expertise and my time to the town. So, um,
>> great. >> I'm not familiar with I I believe they told me it was maybe a two or a three-year term later on, but um, you know, that's that's fine with me. >> It's not a huge time commitment. You know, a couple meetings a month they said. So, that that certainly doable for
me. Madame Chair, through you to chip. So this term um would expire at at the May annual town election which is May it's the short term May 16th of this year. However, this coming Monday um is the
town caucus which is a method by which folks can uh get on the ballot without having to obtain signature papers. Um, and so if you were interested in running for the full seat, um, that would be or the seat that opens beyond May 16th, the
easiest way to go uh, and get on the ballot would be on the caucus next Monday. And you can talk to the town clerk uh, for some follow-up details on that. >> It's definitely much easier. >> Yeah, it should be Monday night, 700 p.m. at the the middle high school auditorium.
>> Okay. >> I can help you with it, Chip. I did it last year. Sounds good. >> All right. If the select board members have no further questions, I'd be looking for a motion. >> I'll make a motion to What are we doing? Appoint Ellen Wilson
to the sewer commission uh term ending May 16th, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. This will be a roll call vote. Uh Mr. McCloud. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mighten >> I.
>> Miss Emmy >> I. >> And an I for myself. And then I will ask the sewer commission chair to call a vote of his members. >> Yes. Um let's make our vote. Uh can I get a motion for a vote regarding Chip
Wilson as a new commissioner? >> I'll make a motion to accept him as new commissioner. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion that's been seconded. Uh Dan Proctor >> I >> Scott D. >> Hi.
>> Um Art Cadis. >> Hi. >> And I for myself. The motion passes. Thank you everybody. >> Okay. With that, Chip, you have been appointed. So it sounds like you've got some contacts there. Well, that will be in touch with you and we thank you. So
>> Sounds good. >> Thanks. And then Mr. Chair, if you can um just call for an end of your meeting. All right. Uh, can I get a motion to end this um, show commission shared meeting? >> I'll make a motion. Sorry,
>> I'll second that. >> All right, we have a motion that's been seconded. Um, Scott D. >> I, >> Arthur Cadis, >> I Dan Proctor, >> I. >> And I for myself. Thank you, Lunberg.
Thank you, uh, very much. Um, everybody have a great evening. >> Congrats, Chip. >> Congrats. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chip. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> All right, moving along. Our next item on our agenda is a presentation by John Bowen, who is the chair of the trust fund commission on the annual town meeting articles proposed by the commission. And I see Mr. Bone is here.
>> I am here. >> Okay. Um, manager, do we have presentations to share on this one? >> Sorry, you're muted again. John, did you have a PowerPoint or just the documents that you had sent?
>> No. So, what I did was instead of the PowerPoint, I just did the documents. So, >> you have the documents in your folder. >> Yeah. Yeah. I sent it to everybody last week so that everybody had it. I just have one additional update um which I did send I think Monday. And
>> that's that's in their folder. Yeah. >> Yeah. And then and then I just have one additional um legal uh parameter which that was a discussion I actually had with the town council on the uh bylaw. >> That's the only thing you probably don't have is just my summary of that.
>> Okay. So, why don't I turn it over to you to give it give us the presentation and if there's anything that you want me to share or if you just want to tell me the title of it, I can always pull it up and share. >> That would be great. So, if um do you want to go over uh the warrant article um for the bylaw? That's going to be a
little longer than the warrant article for the uh for the funds. >> Whichever way you prefer is fine with me. >> Okay. Uh why don't we do the appropriation for legal expenses um related to trust fund
cypr proceedings? You should be able to see that. >> John, do you know what the name of the file is I'm looking for? >> Uh yeah, hold on. >> Or John. >> Yeah, I have to dig it out. >> BTFC
warrant article. the um side prey appropriation presentation. >> Yeah, >> thank you, Jen. >> You're welcome. >> Sure. Just give me one second. Pull it up and share it. >> I have my folder open so I could have
popped it up. >> Oh, um >> I mean I don't know if you want you do you want me to pop it up? >> Sure. Yeah, that that way that you can pull up what you want to have pop up. Okay. All right, >> that's fine. All All right.
Okay. Can everybody see that? >> Yep. >> Do you need me to blow it up? >> Yeah. If you want to zoom in on it a little bit, that'd be great. >> All right. There's my uh
That's interesting. John, if you click on view up at the top. >> Yeah, I got all these windows popping open, right? I got it. Here it is. There it is. That's what I'm like looking at because this is um I think this is in um Google >> and then full screen. Yeah.
>> Okay, there you go. Can everybody see it now? >> It didn't help. >> It didn't help. It's why I like Word. >> That's okay. >> All right. Well, I'll I'll I'll read it and you know, uh hopefully you guys all
have it in your emails, so you can follow along. Um this appropriation for uh my name is John Bowen. Uh I'm the uh chairman of the board of trust fund commissioners here in Lunberg. Um I'm the only one here. Uh obviously two of
us being here would be a quorum. Uh we hadn't had a 48 hour notice for a joint meeting. So uh in any case uh I have been given permission to be able to present this uh these have already been approve uh ratified by our board uh for submission uh sometime in January.
This is the appropriation for legal expenses related to the trust fund cypary proceedings. Uh the warrant article reads to see if the town will vote to appropriate the sum of $14,252.39. I will answer that. I watched your select board meeting last week from the
general fund for the payment of legal expenses as advised by town council necessary for the research analysis legal drafting and filing of cyprate petitions in the Massachusetts probate and family court Worcester division for the purpose of correcting and updating
the terms of certain trust funds so that they may lawfully and effectively serve their intended charitable purpose including but not limited to the American Legion Poor Trust Fund which is named in the ledger as American Legion poor the post 283 Legion trust fund in
the ledger it's Lunenburgg post number 283 which presently restrict use of funds to members of American Legion post number 283 an organization that is no longer active or recognized national or state post of the American Legion thereby preventing the funds from being
used for the benefit of Lunberg resident veterans and the worthy poor fund highlighted by ledger name worthy poor income whose existing terms require modification to confirm with the modern structure of public assistance as the
responsibility for the care of the poor is no longer a municipal function and was assumed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the early 20th century under state public welfare laws. set appropriation being for the purposes of restoring lawful, practical, and charitable use of these trust funds
through judicial approval consistent with uh donor intent or to take any other relative action there too. So in this um you'll notice that um I'm
still sharing. Can everybody see this? Okay, good. So I'm not going to go through and read this whole thing. I did submit this to you. I'm going to give you a brief rundown and overview. I hope everybody had an opportunity to read it um to and you know formulate any
questions, but I'm just going to give you a quick overview. The other one's additionally as long because it's a bylaw proposition, but um this one also has some parameters uh in this. The purpose of this uh memorandum that I created here is the legal authority supporting the warrant
article of the appropriation of the general fund to fund legal services required to pursue cy prey relief in the mass probate and family court. The purpose of the side prey proceedings is to resource certain charitable trust funds to lawful and effective use where the current terms are impossible or
impractical to carry out as written. Now the reason why the Warren article also says including but not limited to those two funds is because we have uh six funds of which we have uh trusteeship
and some of the funds um uh need to be corrected. And so we put those two on there just to kind of highlight the American Legion Poor, which is one uh which is a specific type of uh fund
based on its age. The worthy poor fund is another type of fund based on the age of the fund and how that gets handled by the state. And so um I'll I'll address that as I go on here. The Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code and Cypre. So I'm
just going to kind of give you a quick overview under 203E which is the uniform trust code in Massachusetts. Okay, courts can modify uh charitable trusts. Okay, when the purpose has become unlawful impractical or impossible to achieve or even wasteful for that
matter. So cypre allows a court to redirect the trust property to a purpose that's as near as possible um to its original charitable intent. This is judicial in nature and it has to be exercised uh by the probate and family court. Now that is for basically used uh
for for multiple uh reasons with regard to the funds that we have. However, for the most part, this is going to be applied to funds that are uh younger than 20 years. So there is a PC form which is a public
charities form that an administrative cypre can be handled um through the attorney general's office that does not need to go to probate court and that's an administrative function as opposed to a court function. The court function is
obviously more expensive than the administrative function. Uh just as a quick understanding, I did meet with Adam Costa and I know that he's on a retainer to handle some things. He did say that he was handling some of these funds uh on that retainer uh to be able
to address the public charity issue. Um and I thank you uh Jen for that. Um you know uh you know for us to get together the time that we did and be able to get them the information to be able to put that forward. So the court aspect of it
is where the money comes in. So just to let you know, we have the authority as trust commissioners with the custody and management of the funds. Any funds given or bequeathed to the town for the benefit of its inhabitants. Okay? So we're we have a fiduciary responsibility to administer this fund strictly in
accordance only with the donor's intent. Nothing outside of that. So the board does not have authority to unilaterally alter or modernize a trust purpose. So when the trust term can no longer be fulfilled, judicial approval is required. So they have the AG's office
has supervisory authority over all charitable trust and is necessary party to any of these proceedings in the court. So obviously they're going to be informed about the court proceedings themselves. the limitations of the attorney general's just as I had explained uh uh
they basically they basically have a separate set of forms that can be filed like I said um they do not authorize changes to donor restricted purposes though so if a purpose has to change it's going to have to go into the court so they can make an adjustment to you
know uh small things but they can't make adjustments to large changes you know what I mean um which would I'll just give you an example. We have a sidewalk fund that was for sidewalks that are within
um that are within I think 100 ft of town hall. I believe that's uh this was article 16 in 1931 from the record of the town to see if the town will vote to accept and forever keep and be responsible to the sum of $5,000 the
interest uh at 4% 200 a year to be spent on the public grounds and sidewalks within one mile of the center of town. said some being a a legacy to the town under the will of Luther Howard and to be accepted as a memorial to uh his mother uh John Howard, Mary Caldwell
Howard and that was approved by the finance committee. So that was in 1931. Well, we have chapter 90 money that takes care of sidewalks. So, uh within a mile of town, so there's
really not a a a use for that. uh and we have grounds which comes out of town tax money which is uh comes out of facilities. So that's already been aotted. So a lot's changed over the years. That fund being more than 20 years old we can try to put before the
attorney general. However, it may have to go to probate court because it can't fix sidewalks and grounds within a mile of the town because the town already gives uh tax money to be able to pay for
that, which I believe comes most of it from either a grant from the state or it's money that the state pays uh for the roads. In any case, uh let's just continue. Application to the affected trust funds. The LegionPort Trust Fund and the 283
Trust Fund restrict benefits to members of Allegian Post 283 because that post no longer exists as an active or recognized organization's trust can't be administered as written even though the underlying char intent of the benefit of veterans remains clear. So it does say
for Lunenburgg veterans however okay it still lists post 283 which does not exist. Now, this may be able to be handled and managed by the attorney general's office. They might say, "Okay, well, the post doesn't exist anymore.
There's verification that the post doesn't exist anymore. We can take that wording out of there, and it doesn't really change. It's still going to be for Lunberg veterans. There is a veterans pore fund for the Legion that is over 20 years old. You can do that
through Cypre. There's one from 2013. You can do that one through the attorney general's office, uh, public charities office. But the one from 2013, which we have, which is the Legion Poor Fund from 2013, which is Lunberg Post 283 in the
ledger, that one you have to bring to court because it's under 20 years old. Those are the parameters. 20 years and older, you could do an administrative action to see if they'll accept your changes. Otherwise, you have to go to probate court or you if they're less
than 20 years, you must go to probate court. You cannot use the attorney general's office. So, the worthy poor fund was created at time and towns were responsible for operating poor houses and providing direct relief to the indigent. Over time, Massachusetts
shifted responsibility of public assistance from municipalities to statewide public welfare systems. As a result, the original men uh method of administrating the wealthy before fund is no longer practical under modern law. Um there's another fund that's been depleted that never should have been
depleted. It's the Susan Howard fund. That's in addition to this one. This worthy poor fund. They come from the Howard family. Um and that one ended up getting depleted back in the 70s uh or the early 80s and it wasn't supposed to be. And I have some documentation on
that, but my board will be discussing that over the next couple of months on how to recover that. But this is for the worthy poor fund from the same family, the Howard family. Need for general fund appropriation. The individual donor trust accounts affected by this warrant article do not contain
sufficient funds to cover legal costs associated with pursuing cypr relief. In addition, using restricted trust assets to finance litigation intended to alter the governing terms of those same trust would raise fiduciary concerns because the side pre proceedings are undertaken
to restore lawful usability and preserve donor intent. The associated legal cost must be borne by the town through an appropriation from the general fund. Reason being is in that fund that we're talking about with the American Legion
Poor. Okay, that fund has 14,000400. That's the number that I used, the 14,25239. Okay, that's the American Legion Poor Fund. The Lunberg Post283 fund has $10,110.91. Here in lies the problem. The donor's
intent was not to have the money used to be able to manage the future of the funds organization. The town accepted the donation. The town bore the responsibility of being trustee
for the management of those funds and have given the management to the care of the trust fund commission by statute. So with that, because the funds did not set a parameter to be able to care for the
cost of the fund, the town bore it because the town had it commissioned. Just to give you an idea, the the trust fund commission has been around for a long time. Um, it has a it has a very long history. This town created a trust
fund by the record in 1941. They already had one. They just didn't have one act as you see with this board here uh of which I am chairman. This uh trust fund commission has not been properly operated uh since Miss Padulla was here
probably in the 70s. Um and that's from the record information that I have. That being said, our board has taken steps uh to be able to uh make sure that the board was organized to be able to have people have an application process
for filling out an application to receive funds uh and things like that. So, in that we've created a policy to be able to give these funds out and to give them out fair and and equitable equitably to the people who are
deserving of it. Now, we have some funds. We have a gazebo restoration fund. Um we have a uh sidewalk fund like I had mentioned. Okay. And then we have worthy poor fund, American Legion poor, Lunenburgg post 283. The management of
these funds falls on the town. The amount of money that I'm asking is a small amount of money to be set aside only when and until and after um uh administrative action is done
which is the lawyer is on retainer. So he can he can do it on his retainer and when I talked to him he said some of the stuff he says he's got he's on retainer but there's investigations that might have to be done. There's some uh detail that needs to be raised. They probably
have to look into the probate court to be able to find documentation uh with regard to wills and things like that because the court's going to require that under cypra, you know, what's the due diligence and what do you have? I've been able to find a lot of
stuff. Uh but obviously I'm not trained like a law firm, okay, or an investigator. So doing it right the first time is the best thing to do. The money is only basically as needed. And I'm asking for that money so that it can
be just set aside and if it's not used it goes back into the general fund. And who would that come under the purview and authority which would be uh uh the town managers. So she would say this is how much money we're going to set aside for that. She's going to look and say
this isn't a cost that I I think is that we're willing to spend to be able to get that done. Do you know what I mean? Uh but the money's there up to a certain amount. So she can say, "Nope, that's too much money. Can we do it for this? Can we do it for that to be able to get it to where it needs to be?" And this is
where the collaboration with the town manager comes in with regard to the money. The problem is, I could ask the town manager to take it out of the general fund on her own, but that would be putting her at risk of using the town's money of which she's been given stewardship over as opposed to asking
the town to set the money aside. Let the town make the decision for the benefit of these trust funds for the people who live in town. And then that way there that relieves the town manager from any responsibility to it because the town agreed that yes, Jen, you can spend up
to this amount, but be a prudent, you know, um uh you know, be a prudent manager of the money and get the best bang for our buck. And that's basically the uh the overall outline of that particular request in the warrant
article. And I'd be willing to uh take any questions. All right. Does anyone on the board um or the town manager have any questions on this warrant article? Go ahead, Mr. Leon. >> Thank you. Um thank you for your work on
this. Uh John, I did have a question about legal fees. Was there any research done on how much the legal fees could be on um going through >> I'll answer that. So I I think if I can just kind of characterize some of the
conversations that I've had on my own with town council as well. Um it so there's there's some um funds that the worthy poor for example I've actually shared that document um now in
your folder so you can see the old worthy poor that is uh more straightforward in that the intent um can no longer be accomplished by the plain read of of the language and I've already authorized um town council to
begin to work on that um with the trust fund commission. The I disagree um based on my conversations with council about the American Legion of Poor Fund. Um it specifically uh states that the use um
of that one second is for um all funds must be used for the benefit of current or past members of American Legion Post 283 or Lunenburgg resident veterans. Um in my conversation
with town council because that original intent can still be accomplished. it's not a good candidate um in terms of the costs associated. Um and I think that this is why Mr. Bowen might have picked the original number,
the $14,000 number. The conversation was um when there are some trusts that we don't have the original documentation for and the amount of research that would be necessary um in obtaining that documentation in
order to bring it to the court um may exceed uh the total amount of funds contained within the trust. So I said for example spending $14,000 to obtain $14,000. Unfortunately, I think John might have taken that a little bit literally, but
>> I did I did it first. But I but I realized that that that was a good round number to work with to be able to be a steward over whatever we can get done, we can get done if we have to do it a little at a time. >> And I think in talking to after you spoke with at Tony Costa at his office hours, I also had a meeting with
attorney Costa later that day and we u dialed a little bit that it's really unknown how much legal fees could be. Um it's it's it seemed in his opinion um that it was not worth pursuing um based
on the potential costs as compared to the total fund sum. >> Well, that was my concern is like how much money are we going to spend for how much is actually going to be in these funds? I think there's going to be a lot of back and forth on how much is actually in there versus what the legal
fees will will be. I just wanted to I if I can just interject um Brian. So in uh Miss Town Manager, so if you read the second line down where it says resident veterans, it also has a veterans must be eligible for membership
in the American Legion. So that would mean that those people would have to go to the American Legion somewhere else and become members and they can't. I you know that's a parameter that needs to be changed because how are we going to know? They would have to provide us with
documentation saying I'm eligible for the American Legion. Could I get some money for some help? So that restricts us from being able to help those veterans based on that one statement. So I have to disagree which I agree but disagree. I agree that resident veterans
it does say but it also says they must be eligible for membership in the American Legion. The only way for us to get that is they make an application to the American Legion, bring that to us, and then that confirms them. But we don't have an American Legion post here. So that creates a problem for us to be
able to take to be to be able to be the trustee over the donor's intent. The donor's intent says they must have a membership be eligible for membership in the American Legion. How do we prove that? >> We can't prove that without the American Legion >> screw you. I'm not aware enough about
American Legions. Are you restricted from joining American Legion post in a neighboring community or a nearby community? >> So with my research, I I I believe that it's to be eligible for the American Legion, you must have served at least one day of federal active duty in the US
armed forces since December 7th, 1941 and hold an honorable discharge or currently be serving. >> Well, that's that's not that's not what this says here. It says eligible for membership. So, I've talked to the American Legion, the National and the
State American Legion, and they said that there's an entire application process that they have to go to become a post member. >> Well, to be a member, but to be eligible, I think, is different than being a member. >> Uh, possibly, possibly we could we could
look at that as the eligibility and find the minimum eligibility legal requirements of the Legion. But again, I'd have to get that information from the American Legion and find out what the minimum eligible requirement is. So that's a that's a key point. Thank
you, Brian. So that's um just so that you're aware. So the the Legion Post itself also allows other dispersements for qualified programs within the town that the money can be used for that would benefit or enhance veteran service programs like special
veteran celebratory functions. It could be used for, you know what I mean? A number of things, you know, on on, you know, holidays. Yeah. You know, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, July 4th. Do you see what I'm saying? So, so the money can be
the the money has its opportunity to be able to be used. Okay. But the my my concern with this one is is that it's 2013. As far as the American Legion Poor Fund is concerned, like Jen said that there's not a lot of um there's not a
lot of information that we have on them. I've been getting information. I know what the American Legion Poor Fund was used for. So, I don't know if you remember, but after World War II, I think it was up near um West Street, they built all those small
homes specifically for veterans coming back from the war. And they divided up all that land, and that's why they have little parcels all up in there. And that was divided up for people that were veterans to be able to move into those properties that came back from World War
II. So, um, so at the time, I don't know when the Legion Poor Fund was, but the last record that I have that I've been able to find was from, uh, the 70s that the Legion Poor Fund did exist. So,
that's basically what we're asking for. We're asking for the money to be set aside in the event that there are things that need to be taken care of and then the money is somewhat available to us to be able to access. And obviously Jen's been doing the footwork with the
attorney on some things, but there are other that's why it says not limited to. We highlighted two funds. We have six. There may be some legal parameters in these other funds moving forward that we want to be able to resolve because if th
this money has not been given out since the 70s. Nobody's given a dime out. I have $85,000 I can give to poor people. I can uh you know people can apply veterans.
There's there's 40,000 $35,000 here for veterans in town to help them. you know, somebody, you know, for whatever cause or reason, we put a whole policy in place for this and an application that's been approved and a policy to be able to do this to make determinations to give
this money out because there hasn't been any. There hasn't been a policy. So, we're trying to move this forward by having the opportunity to have access that if a little bit is needed, we don't have to say, you know, uh, you know, Jen
doesn't have to make the decision. The town has to make the decision. That's the point. The point is, does the town want to be able to give money out to help people? If so, we need a little buffer to be able to have this these things managed because they've been mismanaged. I'll just give you a one
comment that I received um when I was elected to this board. Uh I got a phone call from a former select person and he said, "Well, the trust fund only meets once a year. What does it really do?" Okay. And I was like, uh, what does it
really do? It it's a it's a trust. So obviously that's a person who sat on York board uh for previous years who made that comment who had no clue that this has not been
functioning right for 70 years. I mean, it's a long time and we need to get it functioning right. We need a little buffer to be able to take care of this portion of the management and allow the town manager to have the discretion with the attorney.
She's also an attorney, so it's easy for them two to talk to each other than it is for me to talk to her about the law. Do you see? So that's where her expertise comes in. Can we Is it financially feasible or do we need more? But we have a target that if we only
need a little, we have a little to be able to use. And it goes to benefit veterans and poor people in town that are suffering. So I think that the town would be more interested, okay, in making the decision on their own on whether or not they want
to help veterans or they want to help the poor in the community. I don't think that it's a decision that our board should be making on I support or I don't support. I think that it should be supported because the benefit is going to people in need. >> Okay. Is there any other questions for
Mr. Bowen on this article. Go ahead, Miss. >> Um, so I just John, I want to repeat some things as I heard them because my brain's still on vacation. >> Sure. >> Um, and you talk fast. >> I do. I'm sorry.
>> So, if I can boil it down to to simple things that I caught and just tell me if I'm correct. >> So, there are some funds that the original intent cannot be met for various reasons, >> how those funds, where they go, who they go to, and and why. Um there is it does
matter how old the fund is fund is if it's 20 years or more uh changing the use who of that fund can be done administratively >> could be it I mean obviously depends on
you know there's certain parameters the attorney general's office could say no you can't change that so they have an entire form it's called the PC-15 and Jen has it and the lawyer has it and they're looking at it they're reviewing and and they say that you can change this, change this, change this. The one
thing you can't change really is the donor's intent. But if the donor's intent was, I want this money to go and build a school, well, you can't. Why? Because that money comes from different funds. Like, I want that money to go and fix a sidewalk. Well, you can't. That
goes to a different fund. >> Do you know what I'm saying? >> Well, I'll come back to the sidewalk because I had a follow-up question on that. Um, so less than 20 years, it has to go to court to change. >> Absolutely. Okay. >> No choice. >> So, which which funds I've heard I think
three funds mentioned. American Legion Poor, Worthy Poor, and Post 283. Are those >> Post 283 is the one that has to go before? Because American Legion Poor has been around for longer than 20 years. I have record. And JM Howard's uh sidewalk
and grounds fund is older than 20 years. Worthy poor income is older than 20 years. gazebo restoration. I'm still trying to figure out how old that was, but I'm assuming that that gazebo restoration fund was created for the old gazebo, which now sits on the corner of
Maine and Oak A in the guy's yard, and the new gazebo is where the new where the gazebo is in the center of town. So, um, that's a restoration fund. I haven't found a lot of information with regard to when that fund was
created, but there is $13,000 in that fund. >> So, am I now hearing there could be four funds that you want to >> to follow up on? And >> well, like I said, >> first we're going to check obviously we're going to check with uh the
attorney general's office on all the funds that are older than 20 years, >> but on the fund that is less than 20 years, which is the post 283 fund. Okay. >> Okay. Um, you know, which Jen says that, you know,
and I agree with you, Brian, on that that it does say that eligible, we'd have to figure out exactly what that specific eligibility was actually included in the policy, what an American Legion eligibility would be. >> It sounded like Brian just recited that.
>> Yeah. Yeah, he Well, he did, but I have to get a document from the American Legion. I can't put it in a policy without having their document. I can't just Google it. Do you know what I mean? I have to literally get it from them on their letter head that says this is your eligibility requirement, you know, and
then I can put it into the policy that says here's the information that confirms the information that's in the policy. Otherwise, we're all going to get into legal trouble. So, I'm trying I'm trying to understand how many funds we're looking I mean
$14,000. How long would that money be set aside for? >> Oh, it would be have to be requested annually or it could be returned back. Okay. And that's why I said it would be at the behest of the town manager with
the lawyer in evaluating the cost for the direction for the correction. So, it would be the town saying, "We're going to set this aside so the town manager has some money to work with correcting any problems that are going on with these funds and to get them corrected.
And if it goes over that amount, then the town manager can say it's going to cost more than this, it's going to cost more than that, you know, we're going to need a a larger buffer area of money to be able to make the corrections necessary so that the money can be given out to the people. And if that's
necessary, then another warrant article can be put in for the additional cost. But at least we have something set aside. And if it doesn't get used in that fiscal, it can go back into the general fund. And you know, uh, with
whatever gets done, but at least we have some management to work with. And like I said, the town when it takes these donations, if the fund, okay, does not say you can use the money to management under uh two chapter 203e as trustees,
we can't let you use it money in that fund to manage the fund unless the unless the person who gave the money said there's management of the money. This isn't like your home trust. This is a trust given to a municipality which means every dollar goes to the people of the municipality not to the management
of the fund itself. The town when it takes it takes the responsibility for the management of the fund. And what I'm telling you is is this town has neglected this board commission and the funds in it. Whether they knew about it or not, it's been neglected
and we need to fix it. And the only way to fix it is to have a buffer so that we can use something to work with something. And look, I understand $3 million, you know what I mean, is what we're looking at, you know, in this year's budget. I get it. Okay. The
problem is the people that are suffering on this are poor and veterans. That's what I'm looking at. And this money has never been given out. And I'll just give you an example. In 2017, this there was a commission gave a
$2,700 loan out a loan and never went back to collect the loan or to see if they could collect the loan or convert it to a grant because there was no commission that followed and that money now has to be collected or looked at to be collected and that
burden falls on us. And this is what I mean. And that's where my next warrant article will come into play in a segue. But for the most part, that's, you know, that's where we're at. We can't fix something unless we have the town backing the management a little bit.
Even that's why I'm not asking for a lot. And I did take that number out of context. That is correct. And when I talked with the lawyer last week, he goes, "John, that's the fund money." I go, "That's what I thought." And that's what I thought it was from. But the reason why I put that in there is
because I was guesstimating that $15,000 would be enough to at least get some investigation done or at least the filing costs. And when the lawyer said that he's on a retainer for a certain amount to be able to handle a certain amount, I don't know what that is. Town
manager does how much of that retainer he can use to be able to do the work and how much is going to require that outside again that's going to be on an hourly rate. That's the problem. Everything's going to be on an hourly rate. That's any investigation
that came from. >> Yeah. So, it it again, I'll come back to how many funds we're looking to investigate. It sounds like there's some open questions, right, around eligibility for American Legion. Um, town council's opinion on the post 28, was it? I can't remember which. >> That's okay. Post 283. Yeah.
>> Um, that it may be we may be okay with the original intent. we may still be able to, you know, >> well, the problem is like the worthy poor income fund, the worthy poor income fund says for people in poor houses. So, Nathaniel Day, who donated that money,
he donated money to a number of towns to Shirley and to Groten. And Nathaniel Day intended that the principal sum of a thousand be given to the town of Lunenburgg permanently invested. It said by the selectmen or overseers of the poor. Only the income generated from
that investment is to be used and solely to improve the condition and well-being of the wordy poor, including those in the town's poor houses. This is what it says right in his right in his declaration. >> But that one's over 20 years, so it could be looked at administratively. >> Well,
but it says to go to poor houses. Okay. So again, okay, houses were taken over in 2019 by the Public Welfare Act. So, so again, you know, like I said, is that there's specifics that the attorney
general might reject, and if the attorney general rejects it, it's going to have to go to probate. That's the point. And we want to be able to we want to be able to solve the problem when the problem comes instead of put it off to another day because this money goes to
benefit residents that are in need. And that's an emergency as far as I'm concerned. And when you have all this money and you've had it available for 50 years and you're not giving it out, okay, because you don't know what the board is doing because the board isn't
doing anything, then there's a problem and people in town are suffering as a result of this money sitting here. Yeah, I'd like I don't know 14 I mean I now I understand where the 14,000 number came from, but I have I don't have a a feel as to whether that's an appropriate
amount to set aside for the anticipated legal work or not. Um so that that's kind of where I'm thinking, but I want to before I forget, I want to touch on the sidewalk fund. Um, yes, Chapter 90 can be used for sidewalks, but it can be used for a whole host of things. And if
we have a fund to to cover sidewalks, why don't we use that fund and use chapter 90 for some other >> Yeah. >> I wouldn't get rid of a sidewalk fund, say, "Oh, we can cover that with chapter 90." >> That's could, but >> but here's the thing. So, when the fund
was created in 1903, what kind of sidewalks did you have? And the court is going to look at and the attorney general is going to look at the age of the fund, what they were referring to as far as a sidewalk. They're not going to say today's sidewalk. They're going to say
yesterday's sidewalk, which is probably a boardwalk or gravel. Do you see my point? It's, you know, you're not you're not looking what the attorney general is going to look at. They're going to look at the donor's intent. What was the donor's intent? Well, when did the donor
die? That will tell you the intent. the donor >> sidewalk fund. >> Yeah. 19 1901 >> or 1931. 1931. >> You're saying we can't use that for
current sidewalk maintenance, repair, whatever. >> Well, the donor's intent is for sidewalks. Sidewalks that were there in 1931. Okay. not sidewalks that we have today that are basically covered almost by I I
believe it's federal money that's given to the state that's handed to the town and it's ADA required which goes through an entirely different board. This is a time when there weren't any of those programs in place to be able to protect people and nobody cared if there was a sidewalk. Sidewalks were created usually
by the person who owned the property built a sidewalk along their property. So, you're saying you're saying that yes, I understand. I hear you. Sidewalks have evolved. Yeah. So have roads. So have cars. So have everything else. You're saying that that sidewalk fund,
none of those that money in that fund can be used towards current day sidewalks. >> Well, that's the thing. That's what I was talking about about the evolution of time and coming up to meet modern standard. Okay. You have to be able to meet the modern standard to change it.
You know what I mean? What with the sidewalk are you going to use it for? Are you going to fill cracks? Are you Do you see my point? Like what with the >> But I'm asking, do you know that for sure today? Do you know that for sure that >> I know I know exactly from
>> I've been to the sidewalk fund. >> Yes. From my research of what I've read, the first thing the attorney and when I spoke with the attorney general's office, the public charities, they said that the first thing that they look at is when was the fund created and what's changed to get it up to modernization.
like there are no poor houses. So, how do you modernize that? I gave a I gave a thousand dollars in 1905 to poor houses. How do you modernize that today? There's no poor houses. The towns aren't responsible for the poor. The state is
so now you can't meet the donor's intent because there are no poor houses. >> Yeah. I don't That's a very different situation, I think, than the sidewalk evolution. Well, we could tell, like I said, is we're going to take the luck of the draw and go with the attorney general's office, of course, but the reality is
what, you know, what are we going to do after that? So, they say no, and then we have another fund that's restricted still because it didn't get fixed. Like I said, whole point is is that the town is responsible for the management of the funds. And that's what we need to look at is the sound basis here. If you're
going to accept a trust from somebody else or somebody wants to leave money and they're not saying that they're going to pay for the management of that fund, okay, as trustees and under the uh under the uniform trust code in Massachusetts,
the donor's intent is what is done. We have management of it. That's only to hand it out. That doesn't give us the authority to spend money from it to be able to handle it and manage it. This is not like a trustee that you get on your personal family trust. This is a
municipal donation. This is not, you know, this is a donation to the town. This is totally separate than a personal trust document. And that's and that comes under, you know, like I said, that comes under chapter 807. Um,
uh, that comes after section 807 of chapter 203E. That's trustees powers and duties of delegation and so on and so forth. It's under chapter 203E. So that tells us what we can do as a municipal trustee over over donations
that are given to the town. I mean you guys have it as well to some extent to donations that are given to you in trust. You're responsible under the same trust document. Not as so much as a gift. somebody gives you a gift but as a trust you know with
his parameters fiduciary responsibility falls on the uh treasurer uh for the uh expenditures and so forth and uh that's under I think section 54B of 203
E that's for the that's for the uh that's the treasurer making sure that everything meets the standard And that's why I said this is for us to be able to be organized. The town owes these people
an opportunity to receive a benefit and it's going to cost a little bit to give people who are in need. Everybody talks about I don't want a two and a half override. I'm in need. Well, what about these people that for 50 years haven't got anything
that could have got something? And then there's some people in need here who say, "I don't want an override while we're here." And we're one of the only we're one of the only commissions that can actually solicit trust funds from people. We can sit there and put an advertisement in the paper and say,
"Donate your will to the town of Lunberg from the Lunberg Trust Fund Commission." We can do that by law. You can't, but we can. So, we can ask people to give money. We need money for our school. Donate your
will. Do you know what I'm saying? Put your scholarship here and let us, you know, let us, you know, let us help. >> All right, Mr. Bow. I appreciate that. I just keeping an eye on the time. We've got several other things to keep going through. Is there any other questions from the board on this article before we move on to the next one?
>> I would just uh add a comment. Uh I would agree with Miss Mi. I think there could be a little bit of work done on the dollar amount and a little research on that, make an adjustment on that uh before going to the town meeting. >> Okay, great. All right, Mr. Bone, if you want to move on to your next um
presentation. >> Okay. All right. So, the next presentation is Forgive me. Let me just move into here. Okay. Uh, I want to thank everybody for kind
of dealing with all that. It's a little complicated. It was complicated when I got here. So, uh, distribution of trust funds in the absence of a quorum. This is what happened. And this is why we're in this predicament because this is not in effect
to see if the town will vote to amend the general bylaws of the town of Lunenburgg by adding a new section to chapter 12 boards, commissions, and committees designated as section 12-9 entitled distribution of trust funds in the absence of a quorum to authorize the select board on a limited and
conditional basis to approve distributions from trust funds only when the board of commissioners of trust funds lacks a lawful quorum and further to establish specific voting requirements and safeguards applicable to such action, including a unanimous
vote of all five select board members when only one elected member of the board of commissioners trust funds remains in office. Two, in the event of an emergency where unanimity is not possible, the temporary inclusion of that sole elected member of the board of commissioner trusts funds as a voting
participant with approval by a majority of the select board members present. and three, conflict of interest in emergency fallback procedures, including reliance on the rule and necessity when legally required. All subject to strict compliance with donor intent, the
governing trust instruments, existing policies of the board of commissioner trust funds, and all applicable laws or take any other action there too. Now, how does the rule of necessity apply? That's always a big question. So,
it's kind of like an exigent circumstance is how I look at it. Okay. However, it's covered under 203E section 807. Okay. This is a temporary delegation which
pursuant to our rules under chapter 41 section 45 and our our management capability. We are allowed to temporarily delegate under section chapter 203E section 807 for a period of time. Okay? Not permanent. You're not to
take over our job. you not to do anything except for review an application, review the information that's been presented by the the individual and then make a decision, put a vote and you know basically following our policy and
procedure basically for uh issuing uh a grant or a loan from uh from the trust funds that are being held by us. Now we have a uh there's a procedure for the delegation of trustee duties or powers
um that we have okay in administering these funds created for the benefit of the town. Okay. This applies to all trust fund uh all trust funds unless the donor's instrument provides otherwise but it places the management of all funds with this commission unless a
donor has directed otherwise. So all the things that we have is basically uh what we have authority over under 807. Okay. A trustee may delegate duties and powers if prudent and must
reasonably use reasonable care, skill and caution in selecting an agent, setting the scope, terms, and periodically reviewing the agents actions. The agent owes a duty of reasonable care and a trustee who complies with section 807A is not liable for the agent's acts except of a
delegation submits the agent to mass court of jurisdiction. Okay, that's just normal commission statutory role shall have the management of all trust funds given to be for the benefit of the town or its inhabitants unless the donor provides otherwise. The
custody of the treasurer. the trust funds are in the custody of the treasur and invested per section 54 of chapter 44 or if the town had accepted 54B they may be managed as a pool under 203C which this is what we have done the prudent investor rules. Now the
delegation under 807 cannot override a donor instructions or statutory role. The commission remains the managing trustee. The treasur remains the custodial investment officer as prescribed by statute. Obviously, if we don't have a private trust company, the trust fund commission becomes the
manager of that and we have a policy put in place to be able to deal with that in the event that a board decides that they don't want to invest with Bartholomew and company anymore. The commission may delegate discrete administrative or professional
functions. This is from 807. Okay. Um, when the commission determines delegation is prudent in the best interest of the trusts, all delegations must be in writing, specify scope, standards, duration, reporting, and provide for termination. We've done that
in this in in this request. Prior to delegating, the commission will evaluate the proposed agents qualification and independence. Obviously, you're the select board. I think qualification fits. You were elected. Establish written terms. We have that here with the bylaw we're
requesting and implement periodic reviews to monitor compliance and performance documenting findings in commission minutes which means that if a you have to submit that anyways to the treasurer that's basically that's basically what the documented findings are.
So each delegation instrument must identify the affected trust, describe delegated tasks, state performance standards, set reporting frequency requirements, acknowledge at the agent's duty of reasonable care and submission uh and include you know expiration or
revocation conditions which the bylaw does comply with section 807. So temporary delegation to the select board when a quorum is lacking. My question that I pose, okay, is do we have the authority to be able to do
that? If we have adopted a policy and a practice or a bylaw, will that authorize such temporary delegation? That's the question that we're asking here today. The findings under section 807 the uniform trust codes allows delegation if
prudent with oversight including to another municipal body acting as an agent. The commission's statutory management under chapter 41 section 45 vests management in the commission. Any delegation to the select board must be obviously narrowly tailored, timelmited
and structured to the select board acts only as an agent and it may not supplant the commission as a managing trustee which means you can't make any changes. All you can do is approve applications and that's what the warrant article does. The treasur's role is preserved.
We don't have to really discuss that. We know that she's going to approve whatever you say. She's going to back check it and make sure that it fits the donor intent. If a bylaw or formal commission policy uh that contemplates a quorum failure, a temporary limited delegation to the
select board is compatible with state law provided that it meets section 807's prudence and oversight standards. It respects the donor instructions. Does not alter the treasurer's statutory functions. If no bylaw exists, the commission can still rely on section 807
for a narrowly defined timelimited delegation during a quorum lapse with the same safeguard. Adoption by a bylaw or formal policy is recommended for clarity. I can make a policy, but that policy could change. I'm asking for a bylaw so that it stays intact. Like I
said, this board has not functioned properly for 50 years. It needs something to keep it functioning. And the way to do that is to have a bylaw. That way there nobody forgets because somebody forgot in 1941. I told you. Somebody in 1941
says, "We're going to organize a trust fund commission." I'm like, "No, you're already able to organize in 1913. You had one. Do you know what I mean? It just disappeared." And then in 1941, it showed up again. I have that. It's in the record. Okay. So, there are required
procedures for this delegation. the we we have to basically obviously there's a documentation that there's no quorum. It's timesensitive and it risks the donor intent uh uh there's a risk to the donor's intent and the beneficiaries if
it's delayed okay obviously I just showed you this delay has caused people to lose as a result of it. So um basically that's that gives you an idea of 807 in a nutshell. Okay, as far as
the quorum is concerned, okay, for uh for the quorum, let me pull that up here real quick. Okay. So, just so you know, that's section 807.
That gives us the authority to do it. Yeah, I can create a policy, okay, and hand it to you. The problem is is that if there's a bylaw, everybody's responsible for it. It solidifies the the trust fund commission
from not falling away again like it had because now you have a bylaw in place that basically says this is your duty uh temporarily until the seats are filled and that way they the residents in town don't suffer a loss as a result not
having access to money. So just real quick the bylaw is a continuity riskmanagement measure. It does not transfer management or investment authority away from the commissioner trust funds. It creates a narrow conditional process allowing distributions when the board of commissioners and trust funds cannot act
due to a lack of quarum and the cited laws and the state ethics commission's guidance on the rule of necessity for conflicts and emergencies. And that's what I mean. That's why I said is the rule of necessity is you there's no conflict unless you you can't change
anything. You can't tell the treasur what to do. You can't make policy. All you can do is approve applications. You're limited. And that delegation comes from us. >> All right, Mr. Bowen. Sorry, I'm just going to cut you off right here. Do I think you've gone over most of the gist or did you still have some more points? I'm just looking at the time. We've got
some more appointments on the >> No, I like I said, is I wanted to sol I wanted to kind of sum everything up through 807 to give you an understanding of our delegation and powers. You've all read this. I've I've submitted this all to you already, >> right? And and basically what the public needs to understand is this is to make
sure that this uh trust fund commission stays active and continues to give the money back to the town and the people's whose names are on here are recognized at meetings that we want to thank the Howard family. We want to thank um you know we want to
thank the uh uh uh American Legion funds. You know the American Legion who was once here. You know what I mean? These are people's names in perpetuity that want to be remembered. I mean, I think there was just recently a big donation that was given recently um uh by a family at one of your meetings and
it's like they do that to be recognized and this is this is why this is important so that this can continue for the people who donated the money and also so that the beneficiaries never lose the money and like I said I gave it to you in a nutshell the authority I've
given you the document uh hopefully you all had a time to read it this just goes over a set of parameters is 50 select board approval when only one elected member remains and no emergency exists. Uh emergency fallback is that the seat is the sole elected member as a voting
member when like let's say somebody has a conflict of interest on a trust fund. You have to sit out and there's a one member. Well, they don't have a quorum. They can be brought in. And if there's only one member, then they're basically an assistant to tell you this is what uh how it works and this is the way it
goes. And that's basically that's basically the bylaw in a nutshell is to hand you the authority to approve an application. And we've already had just to give you just to give you an idea, we already had um the uh the application
has already been basically um approved um by the town attorney for the application that we have and the process that we have in place um has been ratified for how the money's given out. what cons what's considered to be somebody who's poor, what's considered
to somebody who's uh honorable veteran, you know what I mean? Uh uh that's you know that is deserving of the money like you know no dishonorable discharges things like that you know for some of these funds and >> okay does anyone on the board have any
questions for Mr. Bowen on this article? >> Nope. Okay, I'm not seeing any. Mr. everyone. Um my suggestion if you're willing to hear it is, you know, if these do get put moved forward on the warrant, um would be to have a presentation, a PowerPoint or something to give on town meeting floor that is
concise that allows, um the people that are there to kind of understand because all I appreciate all the effort that you put in, but it can be kind of hard to comprehend. >> Well, yeah. Well, the PowerPoint presentation would be for the town. Okay. But I sent you the documents to read it directly.
>> Totally appreciate that. That was just my own little my own little two cents there. >> But to the town, yeah, you've seen my PowerPoint presentation. I've made one before. So, trust me, it'll be very clear and very concise about the direction. But what I'm saying is is that's why I sent it to you beforehand
because I figured I'd be limited to like time for this. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, we really appreciate that. Does anyone have any other further questions u for Mr. Bowen? All right. Great. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Bowen. We're going to move on to our next item just because we still have quite a few things to get.
Um, >> can I just ask one question? >> Sure. >> So, moving forward, you're going to you hear all our information and then at the end of hearing all the warrant articles, you guys will make a floor announcements of approval or prior to town meeting of
whether or not you approve the uh article because some of this requires money and I need to go to the uh finance committee with this. So, Madam Chair, through you um John, I was actually going to email you after this. They're hearing money articles uh
next Thursday. >> Okay. >> So, um >> I courtesy copied Chris. >> Yep. So, that's when the finance committee would probably most likely hear this article. >> Yeah. >> Um the select board typically uh votes the warrant and then after they vote the
warrant um they make their recommendations on the same. >> Okay. All right. Yeah. I just wanted to just make sure that I I kind of have an understanding of the process. I just want to make sure that I understand it completely when you're going to make your decisions about whether or not you approve or deny these warrant articles.
>> I don't think that the board has that scheduled yet, but your next stop would be next Thursday the I think it's the 12th with the finance committee. >> Yeah, I'll talk to Chris. I car copied him on it anyway, so just in case. All right. Thank you very much
everybody. Hey, I appreciate everybody's time and I'm sorry that it's long- winded, but there's a lot of problems here we're trying to fix. >> Yeah. Thank you so much for your time. Have a good night. >> You too. Thank you. >> Yep. All right, moving on. We are running a bit behind here. Um, so our
next presentation is from Michael Tuhill who's the chair of the open space committee um and on annual annual town meeting articles proposed by the committee. So I would ask um if Michael is still here. I am. >> Thank Thank you so much for your patience. I'm sorry we are running so
far behind. >> That's okay. >> Turn it over to you. >> Okay. Thank you for your time. Um the Lunberg Open Space Committee right now is an ad hoc committee which means it's as necessary as needed. And it's an ad hoc committee of the planning board. And
what we're proposing to do is to codify what we do right now by putting in a bylaw that establishes the open space committee as a standing committee of the town of Lunenburgg. So the we currently have um seven
members. We have representatives from conservation, planning, um um the parks department, three at large members, three citizen uh members, and we're currently in the process of getting a um representative from the
agricultural commission. So, we have all the different types of open spaces represented on the on the committee. Um our primary duties are to produce and update the open space plan, open space and recreation plan, which we've done.
Uh we actually just extended the uh expiration of that plan from this coming June until June of 29. The state gave us the opportunity to do an update, an interim update and get three more years in the cycle. So our open space and recreation plan is now valid through
June of 29. Um we review chapter 61 conversions and make recommendations um to the select board. We are not a regulatory board. We are an advisory board. So we we give um advice and help
to conservation, to parks, to the select board um and and to the planning board. Uh we maintain inventory of open space in Lunenburgg. That's one of our primary um goals. We're in the process of updating that inventory right now. So
we've got um a lot of things that we do and we don't do it on an ad hoc basis anymore. We do it on a routine basis. So, what we're trying to do as a as a best municipal practice is to just codify what we do right now and to put in a bylaw that lays out the membership
of the committee, the the terms uh the appointments. And the proposal is to have the select board appoint the three community members and then the individual uh boards that have representatives planning, conservation,
parks, and agriculture have those boards appoint their representative to the open space committee. So we're we have two-year terms. Um I went through the duties. It's it's actually it's it's it's not a change at all of what we're
doing right now other than we would be a full-fledged um committee of the town a standing committee of the town of Lunenburgg. So with that um keep it short and sweet and like to answer some questions. We'd like your support obviously to put this
on the warrant and for town meeting because it's a brand it' be a brand new bylaw. I did review this with attorney Casa obviously with the planning board. My uh committee, the open space committee voted on this. Um I did go to the bylaw review committee. Um Chair
Nazolo is is a member of that committee. Um I know he's not here this evening, but he was in support of this um and recommended that we come that I come to the select board to do this presentation. Sorry about that. I was looking for my my mute button. Great. I appreciate that
presentation. Does anyone on the board have any questions? >> Oh, yeah. This seems like a pretty straightforward request here. Um, to me it makes sense. I appreciate you coming forward and explaining it. U Madam Town Manager, do you have any questions? Okay, great. Mr. Juhill, really
appreciate you coming forward and bringing this and we will be um adding it to our discussions as we continue to discuss warrant items. >> Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much. Have a good night. >> Hey, Glenn. >> All right,
moving on. We have um next on our agenda is ratify the town manager's appointment of Melissa Sergeant as Council on Aging Outreach Coordinator. So, I will pass this off to the town manager. Thank you. So, um I'm happy to announce
um that Melissa Sergeant has accepted the position of outreach coordinator. Um she's coming to us from the town of Berlin where she has served as COA director for um about a year and a half. Uh prior to that, she served in the town
of Clinton as the outreach coordinator. um and she is uh excited to get back to outreach um and join our team and serve our population here. Does anyone have any questions about
this um ratification and appointment? >> No. All right. With that, I'd be looking for a motion to ratify the town manager's appointment of Melissa Sergeant as Council on Aging Outreach Coordinator. So moved. >> Second. >> All right. This will be a roll call
vote. Uh Mr. Mloud. >> Hi. >> Miss Em. >> Mr. Leighton. >> Hi. >> And an I for myself. All right. John, do you need anything else on on that? Okay. And then I will pass it back to
you again for your town manager report. >> Okay. Hold on just one moment. All right. So, thank you everybody. A brief report tonight. So, um two Thursdays ago on February 19th, 2026, I
presented the preliminary FY27 budget to the finance committee. Uh based on the revenues and expenditures and included in that presentation, a deficit of 3,357,21388 was identified. Since that time, the school department has adjusted its
budget uh which reduces the current deficit to $3,150 $150,993.89. That's based on the budget that was presented uh by the school department last Thursday to the finance committee. Uh this week the finance committee will
be hearing budget presentations from Council on Aging, Library, all of general government which is your basic town hall and most Ritter functions excluding information technology which presented last week as well as general government unclassified uh which is our
insurance and unemployment um as well as debt service actually as well. Um additionally we launched a FY27 budget hub today. We know that folks are starting to hear about the challenges that we're facing with the FY27
operating budget. Um so we have um uploaded the presentations and the links to the finance committee where they were presented. Um the preliminary budget presentation as well as some uh frequently asked questions relative to proposition 2 and a half. Um and we will
continue to be adding uh content to that site as we progress um towards town meeting. Um if there is uh an override that uh is presented to the public uh we are building out a tool there where
folks can um enter in their actual address of their property and it'll pull down their assessed value. So rather than look at the division of local services calculator that's based on ranges of value, they can find the actual impact um to their property. Uh
so we think that that'll be helpful uh when the time comes uh if the time comes rather. Uh so lastly, staff uh has been working to schedule a tri board meeting sometime next week to mostly to discuss that F527 override. I know the select
board has responded uh with some scheduling uh responses but we are having difficulty uh scheduling that. So um if folks uh have not responded to me um from other boards uh with their availability if they are watching if
they could do so that would be great. But right now, it looks like uh we're tracking to have that tribard meeting most likely next Tuesday with a curtailed or shortened version of the select board meeting starting early and trio board most likely to follow after that. Um but we shall see. It originally
was scheduled for next Wednesday, but we're going to have a challenge with a quorum for the select board that day. uh FY2025 closeout. The schedule A was submitted thankfully uh last week to the Division of Local Services on Thursday.
Uh work is now underway to finalize the balance sheet so that free cash and retained earnings can be certified uh by DLS. Uh I anticipate that Karen Brochu will be submitting that in the next day or two. Uh you have not heard uh lately about
Flatill Road Bridge. Um but I do feel it's time to bring this update forward. um for consideration as it may have an update an impact on the town meeting warrant. So prior to construction of um
well prior to putting the bids out, prior to any attempted construction at the site, the town obtained through town meeting several temporary easements to facilitate work on the bridge. Um and through the town meeting process, those were uh through the eminent domain
process. Um those easements expire on March 7th of 2027 which is prior to the anticipated completion of the project. So we're anticipating that the project will last through June 30th of that year. So just
a few months. Um but the cleanup and restoration work would need to require with would need to occur within the easement period for the period between March 7th and June 30th. uh we've been working with the homeowner or attempting to work with the homeowner to obtain a rate of agre uh entry agreement to cover
that period. But if such an agreement cannot be reached, it may be necessary to include on the a warrant on town meeting uh relative to eminent domain. Uh in the meantime, the town um has been working with its engineer to update the
project bid documents. Um but really knowing which way we're going to go, whether we need town meeting um approval on access, we uh have been hesitant to put out uh any further information until we know which way we're going there. Any
questions on that Flatill Road bridge update? I know we haven't talked about it in a while, but do folks understand what the issue is? Okay. All right. Recruitment updates. Uh we still have the staff librarian position open. Um, we've conducted a first round
of interviews. Um, and a second round is being conducted. Um, the recreation director interviews have been conducted and I believe we're close uh to uh putting out an offer there. Uh, special assistant to the assessor. Uh, which is
a contracted position. Uh, we do need to talk about that a little bit operationally on our side. Um, but we do have some applicants for that position and the dietary aid position is open. Um we do have one additional vacancy to boards, committees, and commissions.
It'll be on your next a resignation on your next agenda. Um but we have received a resignation from the conservation commission. Um so there is um an additional uh vacancy there and we have one less vacancy after tonight on the sewer commission.
All right. Does anyone have any questions for the town manager? All right, thanks Jen. I appreciate your report as always. Okay, moving on to new business. Um, we have a vote on in-person early voting
for local elections which is requested by the board of registars of voters. So there is the request in our uh drive for this. Um, this is something that we usually do every year. So, their recommendation would be um not to hold
in-person voting, early voting for uh local elections. Does anyone have any questions on this item? No. Okay. If so, I'd be looking for a motion to approve um the recommendation.
Um sorry, I just lost my place here. Looking for a motion in accordance with the recommendation of the board of registars to not hold the in-person early voting for local elections. >> So moved.
>> Second. >> All right. This will be a roll call vote. Uh Mr. McCloud >> I. >> Miss Em. >> Mr. Leon. >> I. >> And an I for myself. So that passes unanimously. And >> Madam Chair, there's one second part of that request. Oh,
>> sure. Sorry, >> that's okay. I was just noticing it now that um so it says in addition be advised that the um that the acts of 2022 require that early vote by mail is mandatory for
local elections unless the select board hold a public hearing not later than April 1st, 2026 and vote to opt out of early vote by mail. um they are recommending that we opt out um of that, but we would have to calendar that as a
public hearing. Um if folks are interested in taking that vote, we can calendar that for um perhaps the March 17th meeting. >> Sure. I have no problem with that. Anyone else have any objections?
>> No. Can I just ask so does that mean there would be no early voting by mail allowed? >> It says we are recommending the opt out option as voters will be able to request a ballot online or come into the office
and vote during regular business hours. >> So this is for local elections only correct >> local elections only. the upcoming annual >> the upcoming annual which >> I don't >> we can certainly have the uh board of registars present to answer any
questions if we want to calendar this for a public hearing. >> Yeah. I mean I think if we're going to have a public hearing it would be good to at least have you know someone if they're able to. >> Okay. Anything else on that item? Okay. Next item in new business is to
authorize the MRPC to utilize $10,000 of DTA funds to apply for a planning assistant grant as part of the EOCC one-stop program to update the town's housing production plan. And I'm going to continue to just pass this back to you, Jen. >> Yes. So, thank you, Madam Chair. You may
recall that um Steven Wallace was before you recently asking for two um funding um asks for MRPC. The first um they have stated that they are going to recommend to the the decision makers the board and
that's the remapping. um this project in response of updating the housing production plan, they said rather than us update the housing production plan, what we'd like to you do is take that $10,000 of direct local technical assistance and assist the town by
drafting a full planning assistant grant to do the same work through the state. So, I read that to mean that it's more work than they were able to do with DT funding, and they're suggesting that they use their resources um to help us apply uh for a larger uh funding through
onetop program. Um I'm in support of this, but it does require a vote of the select board. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think anything we can do to have outside sources help us, you know, fund or or look for additional funds is always a great thing. Does
anyone have any questions? Nope. Okay. Um, with that, I would be looking for um a motion to authorize um the MRPC to utilize the $10,000 of DTA funds um as listed in the agenda. Can I do that?
>> So moved. >> Second. All right. We'll do a roll call vote of Mr. Mloud. >> Hi, >> Miss Emi. >> I. >> And Mr. Leighton. >> Hi. and an eye for myself. Okay,
moving on to old business. Sorry, computer's freezing. Uh, first item is discuss warrant articles on the 2026 annual town meeting. So, the town manager dropped in our folder. Um, I think we're going to start with the standing articles.
>> Yes. >> So, if you guys, you know, want to pull that up, we can look at it and then I will pass it off to the town manager to go through. Thank you. And I cannot share because I'm hosting. So if anybody wants to share, that's fine. If not, I'm happy to
talk through these. Um so uh this is just the standard article. Some of these um are finalized because the details come in through the motions. Some of them are highlighted in yellow where you see that something um
could change or will be changing. So first article is to hear reports of officers and committees of the town. Uh the second article is to borrow um in anticipation of revenue and that essentially gives the town the authorization which is why it requires a
two-thirds vote that if we should have a revenue um flow issue, a cash flow issue, the town is authorized to go out and borrow what's called a revenue anticipation note um through the treasurer. It's a failsafe article.
Similarly, um the next article is to expend funds in advance of chapter 90 reimbursement. Um it's essentially the same process here that we can spend money that we know is coming in through chapter 90.
Uh revolving funds this ah thank you Brian. This next article um to it I was trying to do the same thing. This next article uh for revolving funds sets the spending limit of each of the revolving funds. Uh those spending limits will be
detailed in the motions. We're almost there. I think for you to catch up. All right. Next is authorization to pay expenses from a prior fiscal year. As this is the annual town meeting and not
the special, um this requires a four-fifth vote. Uh we do not have any um bills of a prior fiscal year that we are aware of at this point. Uh the next article is adjustments to the FY26 budget. Um
again uh the details of any adjustments made will be in the motion of this article. So the article itself is done. Um, but I'm not aware of at this point of any FY26 budget adjustments, FY26
closeouts. Um, right now, the only thing that I have kind of um slated in here is potential for snow and ice deficit. Of course, uh, we're not going to know what our snow and ice deficit is for some time as this weather will not let up. Um but there's two ways that we can fund
the snow and ice deficit and that's either transferring within the fiscal year from available funds or um by closing out that deficit with free cash. Um the first does not require a town meeting vote. The latter closing it out with free cash does. Um so that article
is here as a placeholder should that be the route that we take. FY27 capital program. This is the article um that carries uh the capital program. Uh the details again are
through the motion. Uh the summary will change that's provided to the uh residents but the the language of the article itself would not here. The next is the FY27 omnibus budget.
I want to stick here for a moment. Um so this would be uh the balance budget that is not override dependent. Um right now we don't have any specific override articles uh that have been
discussed. So this article here is for the balance budget. I think we should talk about that after I finish going through these for next steps. Um salary administrative plan adjustments for FY27. This is the cola
uh for SAP employees. Uh right now I'm looking at a 3%. Uh Julie is the assistant town manager HR director is doing some analysis on that. Um but that's what I'm looking at right now. Uh the next article is to appropriate
free cash to the OPED trust fund. Uh the town has a policy that we um appropriate a certain percentage of our available free cash uh to the OPEM trust fund and that's what will be accomplished uh through this action.
Um com next is appropriating to the compensated absences fund. This is a fund that we started last year uh to pay for unforeseen um essentially when an employee departs unforeseen liabilities when you weren't expecting perhaps
somebody to leave with a large vacation buyout that we didn't budget. Um it's a source to cover that. We put $10,000 in last year, looking to put in another $10,000 this year. This is the next article, Solid Waste
Disposal Program Enterprise Fund. This is the authorization uh to fund the solid waste program which is an enterprise. Similarly, the water enterprise program uh we're going to need to adjust the number in the water enterprise. Uh
that's obviously $45,000 does not cover it as you are well aware from the fall special town meeting. And that is the slate of the standing articles. I do know that um one additional cemetery article came in today. I have
not even read it yet. Um and I think there is also one additional I don't think we talked about sewer bylaw amendment at the last meeting. Um we have received
um an article relative to the sewer bylaws. which looks like a pretty basic language change. >> Okay. Is that in our folder too? >> It is. Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Um as I'm looking in that folder, I see above it uh mosquito control. who have talked at previous meeting about that mosquito control um central mass mosquito control project will be coming to the next meeting of the select board to discuss the program and I've given
them a bunch of questions which they've already answered most of um but if folks do have uh questions for them um in addition to those that you've already gave me at the last meeting I'm happy to share those >> okay before we talk about budget items
on that warrant article does anyone have any questions about any of the other warrant items we just went through. >> I was just looking earlier today at the mosquito language for the article. I just think it needed some edits there. >> I haven't even looked at it. So, that was drafted. Yeah,
>> that's my guess. Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. All right. Uh, Madam Town Manager, what did you want to discuss? You said you wanted to after we went over this about the budget. >> Yeah. So, I think that um you know the the clock is starting to to run on some
decision- making here. Um and so I wanted to discuss I know we had talked about there's a tri board meeting that we're trying to schedule next week. Um ultimately though the override uh decision if there is to be one is
going to be borne by this board and what that looks like. And so, um, I did I do want to be mindful of timing. Um, and I, in looking at
some of the timing, just so folks are aware, um, March 16th is the last day for folks other than the select board to insert subjects um, to the warrant. That I did confirm with attorney Costa earlier today. the
select board um is not bound by that date. Um and so and even if it was um could arguably submit uh something that said an override question or questions very vague, but I think that um the
reality is is that we need to have a vote by a certain point um because we need to get that warrant in the mail. Um so we have a little bit of time, but we don't have a ton of time. And um I know the chair is also traveling next week
and so just trying to map out um some of how how are we really going to um take the next steps here. Right. Since we have we don't have an article, I'm hesitant to make recommendations
without the chair being here. Um I like >> I'm just talking about planning. Planning. >> Yeah. No, I'm happy to hear that. Um, Attorney Costa said that we do have that little bit of leeway because I believe the chair, Mr. Lolo, will be back on the 17th. Is that right? >> Yes.
>> After the close of of for everyone else to submit on the warrant. I mean, in my opinion, I would assume we're submitting a warrant article for an override whether we recommend to approve or not. But all the conversations, it seems silly, I guess I don't know how to say that nicely that we wouldn't be with all
the tri board conversations and then you know at least bringing it to the floor. Um I would assume we're submitting an article. I don't know how other members feel about that. >> Yeah, I think >> I'm not looking for approval or not. I just would assume we're bringing an article forward.
>> Yeah, I think we're headed in that direction. Um the question is what's that number and what does the article actually look like? You know, people have mentioned tiered all in one whatever. Um, Jen, there's one more date though. So, because I remember this from
two years ago, assuming there is an override article on the warrant, the dollar amount in that article needs to match the amount on the ballot in order to be voted on at the scheduled annual town election, not to
hold a special election. So, what that cut off date is April something. So, it's 35 days prior to uh the annual town election, which I believe is April 11th. Um,
just give me a second. While I while I'm asking for that drop dead date, I don't necessarily want to wait till the last minute, but >> No, I agree. >> I want to know what that that a last date is, what the deadline is.
Yeah, I would say I do share your concerns, Jen. Um, you know, that we're getting down to the wire here. So, I am I am hopeful that we can have that trio board meeting next week. >> Me, too. >> Yeah, I I think having a tri board discussion is really important because we've now seen town manager preliminary
budget. We've seen the school um I know some >> April 11th. >> April 11th. Okay. Um we've already seen some things change. some things are still up in the air with CBAs and everything could have impact on the on
the budget. Um, so now I think we need to to take that deeper dive to arrive at a number. >> And if I could just add a little finer point to the date. So, while April 11th
is the final is the final date to vote for placement on the um election warrant, April 8th is the final day uh to for me to get things to the printer. That gives me the minimum of 6 days for turnaround from the printer. So,
anything relative to override that would be contained within that booklet. So, if that number was going to be in the booklet, we would actually need it earlier. So, the booklet goes to the printer no later than April 8th. Your last regularly scheduled meeting of the
select board prior to that would be April 7th, but again, it doesn't that's awful tight. >> That's not I don't think we should shoot for that. I mean, it's glad we know it, but that's just Yeah,
that's a quick turnaround. All right. Does anyone have anyone anything else on this that they want to talk about tonight? >> I think I would just add that I agree um with what Miss Moore and Miss MK had stated uh that there will be a need for an override to to cover the expenses because it we can't do this in the
budget for the the school budget and the u the fire uh adding a fourth shift fourth shift. >> Yeah. And that that was one of my questions as we've consistently said the possible override. I was wondering when it when it becomes
um you know it sounded like you know despite using the word possible it seems like it's a a foregone conclusion. So I suspect maybe is it after the tri board meeting >> it's it's your vote >> right >> whenever this body calendars it and
votes it. So, I'm hoping we have the tribe board meeting next week and then maybe it's the following week that we at least really start talking about numbers and what it would look like on our end. >> I would agree. >> And then we might need to get we might
need to schedule another meeting before maybe the last week of March to make the take the vote. I'm just kind of talking out loud right now. I just I know we're at our tight time schedule, especially looking at when Caesar returns because is the 17th our last meeting of the month?
>> That's our regularly last regularly scheduled meeting. That's correct. Um the other kind of element here is that um we haven't had a regular meeting since I presented my preliminary budget. I know last year when I presented my preliminary budget, there was some
pretty visceral feedback. Um, I can see member Mi is working about the payment management plan as we speak. Um, so I don't know if folks have had an opportunity to really look at that and and if whether or not we want to even
think about scheduling some budget only workshops, you know, for the select board to work on the budget with me um about priorities. It is the town manager's budget that goes to town meeting. However, the practical reality of that is that this needs to be a joint
effort. >> Yeah, I'd be open for a workshop. I think there could be value in that. >> Yeah, I agree. Especially I think you know we we are going to be presenting a balanced budget number. So >> at some point we have to talk about that too. You know what is that going to look
like? That's going to be major service cuts townwide. Um I don't know when we have those conversations but we've got to have them. So I I don't see us being able to accomplish that in in only two meetings left in March. No way.
>> I agree. >> So when when Jen do you think what would work for you because you you're doing the leg work here and and you know >> I think what would be I think that folks I have I think we're going to have to be flexible on days, right? I think um we even saw for those that aren't aware in
the public that are watching this as we're talking about calendaring the tri board meeting um some pretty unpopular options of Friday night and Saturday morning were put out um to folks. So I think at this point what would be helpful is if I could get uh from the
select board what are absolute no dates uh that you could not meet um and that if some of that is because you are on another board perhaps and that there's a conflict depending on whether there's a quorum and the importance of that matter
you know whether or not that's movable for you. Um, but I think we're going to have to just really dial in over the month of it. It It feels like it's a long time. We've got almost a full month, but it's not. >> No, it's not a long time at all.
>> Cuz realistically, we're not having anything this week. We don't have time to agenda something or put anything together. Then we're into next week. We already know of all of the hearings and the other meetings we have. So, we're looking at two weeks in March, if that. >> Yeah. So, so I think Yeah, if we all
send your our blackout dates >> to you. >> Yep. >> And I know um Caesar is in Africa, but I can see if I can get a hold of him and see if he can do the same thing. Well, we know he's blacked out for the next week. Yeah.
All right. Anything else on anything town meeting related? Warrant article related. All right. Actually the logistics of you remember two years ago we were worried about
capacity and we had set up an overflow room and everything for town meeting does do you remember that >> even before me >> maybe it was it was the this right here overflow was in the gym I think that might be
>> we didn't need it in the end but there was concern and I don't know if that's something we want to setup um for this time. >> Yeah, I think that with overflow rooms um we should start to get a sense as the
time goes on what the turnout is going to likely be if um there's a pretty large capacity in the auditorium. Mhm. >> But if it's seeming like there's a lot of folks who are going to turn out,
we'll certainly set that up um with the deputy moderator and >> in the next room and all that. Um >> we we set it up >> borrow clickers and >> yeah, so it was set up before we in in the end didn't need it, but there hopefully there's a road map of how to
do that. It >> Yeah, it's usually the tech people that have the most trouble with that. laying down cable and duct taping wiring to the floor. But >> and having enough clickers. >> Having enough clickers. Yep. So, towns
borrow clickers all the time. I know Holden had a huge town meeting last night uh with an overflow room. So, we'll make it work. Okay. Anything else on the warrant articles town meeting? Okay. Uh, next on our agenda is to
review the FY26 select board and town manager goals and objectives. I don't believe we had anything pressing on this, so I would suggest that we um pass this over uh until the until the chair returns, unless anyone had anything they wanted to say about this item in particular.
>> We reviewed them, I thought pretty thoroughly couple meetings ago. >> That's kind of what I thought we were at. >> Just didn't vote. >> Yeah. >> Oh, we have to vote. Well, you changed stuff and you didn't vote. That's all. >> Okay. >> So, whether or not you want to be formal
or not. >> Yes. We went to update them and realized wasn't a vote. >> Just because there are the goals for, you know, the town manager and, you know, our board, I would prefer to wait until we have a full board to take a vote if we're going to do that. >> I agree. >> Unless there's something pressing that we, you know, we need to do, I think
that we we should wait. All right. Um, discussion and approval of the appointment policy. I do know, Brian, I'm not sure if you had a chance to watch our last meeting. Um, but we all had basically decided we were ready to move forward, but we weren't going to take the vote yet. So, we wanted to
discuss with you any of those final changes. Caesar did say he was comfortable with us taking the vote without him tonight. So, I didn't know if you had any if anyone um had any questions or thoughts or if we were ready to um approve this policy. >> I'm ready.
>> Anybody else have any remaining questions or thoughts? >> Nope. Okay. I'd be looking for a motion to approve the appointment policy um as presented and discussed at last week's meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. >> This will be a roll call vote. Glenn
>> I. >> Renee >> I >> and an I for myself. You can tell I'm getting tired because I switched to first names, but that has that has passed. All right. I do not believe we have any minutes
that are ready for this um week. >> There was something in our folder. >> There was um but we had some adjustments that have to get made. So those are not quite ready yet. >> Okay. >> So hopefully we'll have some for next week. Um do we have any warrants
or anything we need to talk about? No. Okay. Any action items? Okay. Um, committee reports. Um, I do have one quick report committee report from the 925 Massav working group. We have begun
to meet um and our town planner Steven Wallace um is working with EPA um on some outstanding questions and we will be reconvening to discuss uh next steps and moving forward. So, at least we are making some progress on on that. So that
is my quick report and Glenn did you have any reports tonight? >> Uh nothing nothing stand out. Planning board was canceled of course we heard from open space uh library board of trustees this past uh Thursday or
nothing to to report and um again a recent MO meeting but nothing of note to pass along. >> Okay thanks Renee. Uh, school committee presented to FINCOM last week as did it
present their budget. Um, and was it facilities? I forget already. Um, tomorrow, no, not tomorrow, Thursday is the stormwater task force information session at 7:15 in the library, I think. Um, so I would
encourage folks to um to attend to that. There was actually a meeting tonight to finalize a presentation that Weston Samson uh will be giving and I believe that's it. >> Okay, Brian, >> the Lunberg Municipal Building Design
Committee is meeting Monday. The school committee met on February 25th. Um they have an upcoming um STEM night on March 19th and then they had their FY27 budget hearing uh presented a needsbased
restoration budget totaling approximately $980,000. Um, also the board of assessors met on the same night and they reviewed 27 uh pending abatement
applications. They had 12 completed so far. Um, they voted to recommend that the select board not exercise its right of first refusal on 1083 Northfield Road under chapter 61 and
and that was it. >> Great. Thank you. our upcoming meetings. Um we rescheduled tonight's um pending the posting, but we rescheduled tonight's executive session to Monday um the 9th at 8:00 p.m. after the town caucus. So that will give a
little plug for if anyone is interested and and in running for any of our open seats. Town co town caucus is Monday at 7 p.m. at the high school. Is that correct? >> Okay, great. And then we will be meeting
on the 10th um either at 6:00 or 7 depending on whether we can convene the tri board meeting on that day. And then we'll be meeting on the 17th at least and then pending as we discussed earlier in the night some extra meetings. Is there any public comment from the public?
I'm not seeing any hands. Is there any public comment from the town manager? And is there any public comment from the board? >> I just want to um reiterate the need to you know the the timing we thought you
know we started this process this budget process early with the tri board over the summer and so in some respects we're ahead of last year but not that much. We're still it's still crunch time. Things are moving quickly. So to those listening,
please, please, please pay attention as best you can. And for, you know, particularly tri board members, please keep an eye on your email and and respond to the town manager as we try to squeeze in meetings and and things. Um,
it's going to be it's going to be a busy month. >> Yeah, Renee, I would echo that point. Um, you know, we're really trying to do this collaboratively ultimately if we, you know, I feel like we've done so much work as a tri board that it would be do us a disservice for
us as a select board to be making these decisions without having a tri board meeting. But at some certain point, we might have to make decisions. So, I am hoping that we can convene um >> and and I really want public engagement. I really want to hear from the public um
what's important. Yeah. >> Yeah. Just to add on top of that too, um on March 2nd, the fire chief did present the fourth shift proposal too. Uh and that uh YouTube is now posted to on Facebook and on the the YouTube public
access cable. So, people should definitely watch that as well. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Brian. Does anyone else have any other comments? All right. With that, I would be looking for a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn at 9:28 p.m. >> Second.
>> This will be a roll call vote. Uh Glenn >> I, >> Renee, >> I. >> Brian, >> I >> and an I for myself. We are adjourned. Thank you all so much. We'll talk soon. Thank you everybody. >> Okay. Bye. >> Thank you.
Good