lease or value of real property if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body and the chair so declares. Is there a second? Second. So be a roll call vote. Glenn I. Brian I. Renee
I and an I for myself. We are now in executive session. [Music] All right. So, we are back in open session, but we're just going to wait for everyone to return. Do you want microphones down there? No. You can just come up to the podium. It's
fine. Okay. Okay. I believe we are all back now. Uh please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] 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 on Facebook Live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to the Lunberg Access YouTube channel after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these
discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law. We are going to start tonight with announcements. Wham Park 25 years since the last ride
will be held on September 13th from 12 to 2:00 p.m. at the historical society. It's been 25 years since Way Park closed, but the memories still live on. Join us for a nostalgic celebration of one of New England's most beloved
amusement parks. Event highlights. So, the historic memorial park uh memorial memorialia will be on display. There will be a memory wall to share your favorite park photos which you can email to Cara
McCarthy to bring them to the event. $5 limited edition Whan Park Lunberg police patches will be available. Images of America, Waym Park Books, available and signed by the authors, and $5 photo
with Wham the Clown if you are so inclined. Um, and there's also going to be popcorn to snack out. And I'm just going to pull up one more just to verify, but the pancake breakfast is going to be next Wednesday and I believe
it is at 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and they occur every second Wednesday at the Lunberg Adult Activity Center. So, I think I got that right. So, I don't have to blow up the email. All right. Any other announcements that I missed? All right. Moving on.
Up first we have recognition of FY2025 special merit awardees. So this is the first year that we are doing this. We created the these uh merit awards at special town meeting last year. So these are uh the first awardees. Uh and I'm
going to pass it over to the town manager. Thank you. So um if we could have the awardees in the room come forward and have a seat while we're talking about you. Don't be shy.
So, while they're coming forward, our first awardee is not able to be present this this evening, but that first awardee is Kennedy Jackson, the administrative assistant uh to the Lunenburgg Police Department for the communications award. So the communications award is granted to
somebody who dep displays a commitment to assisting the public in transparency in government including but not limited to improving and/or devising new ways to communicate information within the organization and to the public at large. And I want to read uh just a little bit
about why Kennedy was nominated. So Kennedy is a professional and committed to employ committed employee helping the public and staff resolve any issues that may arise in her daily duties at the police department. She's a highly dedicated staff member that is constantly working for the good of the
department and the community as a liaison for the department to the community whether it's answering phone calls or emails. She is a constant professional that goes the extra mile for the issue. She takes pride in her work to make sure that it is done correctly. She is constantly volunteering for community activities
like at the Boys and Girls Club, the LBA business fair, and many others. Her commitment goes above and beyond her 40-hour work week. So, um, Kennedy is not able to join us this evening, but congratulations to Kennedy uh for the communications award.
[Applause] The next category is the category of efficiency. And there were two folks uh who received awards in this category. So the efficiency is for some somebody or somebody's that display a commitment to
ensuring we operate proficiently and efficiently by stepping up and stepping in to undertake nominal cross trainining in mission critical functions exhibits a willingness to float as needed andor suggest ideas that result in the ease of processing and savings of time materials
storage requirements and the like. So, Marbeth Baloni is one of our efficiency winners for these years. So, Marbbeth is our cataloging and collection services librarian, but she does so much more than just add items to our collection and maintain what we circulate. I know I
can count on her to come in and to work to cover a co-worker's unexpected absence on short notice, stay late to assist on the front desk, take on additional special projects with determination, and do it all with a positive attitude and eye for efficiency. There have been several
instances where we have had a concern with the collection, be it lack of space or low visibility leading to low engagement, and she readily has an informed solution to try. Her and I talk through ways to improve workflows, collection management, and more quite frequently, and her feedback is one that
I value when considering improvements at the library. Thank you. And then our second awardee is Eric Foster, who you know from PAC. So Eric Foster has been instrumental in helping PAC to achieve its goals. As production
technician, he takes care of the day-to-day equipment and production needs. He goes above and beyond in making sure that v videographers are well trained and prepared to record. He has especially shown outstanding commitment and expertise to major events such as town meeting. His efficiency and
preparation and follow-through has helped us reach the point of excellence in the services we provide to the town. Eric finds the best ways to get things done. He researches technical options and makes thoughtful recommendations to help pack function better. He doesn't settle for the easy way out, but gets a
solution that makes the best sense. Productions of shows and events become seamless. Too much of a pause there. I know it becomes seamless when he orchestrates it and when the new processes involves he efficiently plans and trains videographers to get the best results
possible. His efficiency has led us to an improvement in creativity and productivity [Applause] and final category is for the pinnacle of excellence. So the pinnacle of
excellence is granted to somebody who displays a willingness to make extraordinary efforts in the ongoing improvement of the organization assisting other staff members or departments to complete new or ongoing assignments and often requires the person to stretch to learn new computer
programs, methodologies or processes. And the pinnacle of excellence awardee was Brian Gingris, our building commissioner. Um, Brian is very knowledgeable in his position as well as many others other areas of land use and town government as a whole. His
easygoing manner makes him approachable by his peers and as well as members of the public. Brian's willingness to help residents of Lunenburgg as well as tradesmen, contractors, and fellow employees make him a valuable asset. His computer experience with Open Gov and other platforms are unparalleled. He
displays excellent communication skills and delivers in layman's terms with the residents and the public. His willingness to go the extra mile with new hires makes for an easy transition in town government. In over 40 plus years working for the town of Lunenburgg, Brian is by far the most
well-informed, proficient, and skilled BIS building commissioner that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. From his So, congratulations to the this year's awardees, the inaugural class. Um, it
was such a pleasure to read all of the nominations and thank you to all of the folks uh from the community. There was quite a lot of both staff and non-staff members that submitted uh nominations and so it was my honor though to select these folks uh for this inaugural year.
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, if you guys want to say anything, you can. Um, just turn on the microphone. Just hit the button. I wasn't really prepared for a speech. I think the only reason I'm sitting here is actually the staff that work for me
and with me, honestly. Um, not just the one that nominated me, um, but those that have left and the ones that we currently have. So, thank you. [Laughter] Um, the only thing I'd like to say is
that uh I have a neighbor uh Hattie Boucher uh who has um a form of uh inoperable cancer and you can find um information about her on hope for Hattie if you search that on Facebook. She's a Lunberg resident, very young girl and uh
she deserves our support. So, thank you very much for bringing that up and I want to thank you all for all the work that you do on behalf of the community and I want to thank you guys for going above and beyond and congratulate you guys on winning these awards. It was very welld deserved. So, congratulations.
Thank you. And um we have the plaques if we want to bring them out. I know you guys have seen them already, but we do have to uh show them off here. Little fun. Yep. So, um, well, I do want to let's show the let's show the plaques so the public can get all the recognition here.
[Music] All right. So, camera [Music] right here. Right here. All right. So, Ryan one and then you guys want to hold this
one here. Jen, where are you going to hang these? They're going in this room. In the back? I know. Right in the back. Wall. Can we get the camera to [Music]
put three on? Yep. Awesome. All right. Well, congratulations again. All right, we're going to take a brief recess. We're going to get some pictures with these uh and then we will continue on. So, we'll be right back.
[Applause] [Music] All right. Up next, we have a presentation by the DPW director, Will Bernard, on trash bag fees. All right. Hi. So I'm Billard the DPW director. So
I'm here to talk about a proposed rate increase on our pace you throw bags. So why is an increase necessary? In fiscal years 24 and 25, the cost of
trash removal exceeded the income we made from the pas throw bags. um spending on the trash removal is increasing faster than the income generated from the bags. So I don't know if you can see my slides um I put trend
lines in and you can see the trend line of the spending is a little bit steeper than the income. So next slide. So, I've estimated the cost of trash
removal with our contract with uh GW Shaw, and it it's around $460,000 for FY26 and 467,000 for FY27.
And the income from the bags has been, you'll see on the next slide, a little less than that. Um, one thing to note is our contract with SHA is a three-year contract, ends in 27. We do have the option to extend, but
we might go out the bid if we do. The costs from there forward are pretty much unknown. Um, I put this slide in for the um cases of bags that we've sold. You could see in the graphs, the trend lines, it's
pretty flat. It kind of bounces up and down a little bit, but it's pretty steady how many bags we're selling per year or how many cases we're buying per year. That doesn't exactly translate the number of bags sold, but it's a it's a
good indicator that we're not we're not selling more bags, so we're not going to get more income from bags. And you could see the cost of the cases has increased over the years a little
bit each year. That only factors a little bit into our cost, but it it's worth noting. Bill, can I ask a question on this slide before you? You may. Um, so I'm looking at slide four. The cases sold. Yeah.
Very few extra large. It's mostly large and small, right? Can we save money by not offering extra? Is that an option? How would folks feel about that? H I don't know how we would save money.
Well, do we pay to have these made? I don't know what. Right. Yeah. And then we get reimbured when residents buy them. Is that how it works? Essentially. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. We're not ordering tons of those bags, right? We're only ordering what
about 17 cases per year as opposed to the uh the small bags is you know 500. Yeah. The other two sizes are over you know 4 500. Mhm. All right. So in the next slide I've
proposed a 2% increase a 5% increase or close to 5% increase with the numbers kind of rounded. So, the sale of the um rolls of bags is kind of an even number. And then I also looked at a 10%
increase. So, I did the 2% cuz that kind of covers it would have covered FY 24 and 25, but I don't we'll see going forward. I don't think it's going to cover the cost going forward.
Um, when was the last time the cost went up? I have that in a future slide, but it was FY24. Okay. Mhm. We'll go to the number of the next
slide. So, number of bags per year per household. So, I I used two methods to calculate that. uh when I looked at the sale of cases, you know, multiply out the cases by the number of bags in each case, blah blah blah, right? Divide by the number of
households and it comes out to 49.6 per year or roughly one bag per household per week, which I thought was a little surprising. So, it I looked at um another method to calculate and that was by weight. So on average, the average
household is about 750 pounds per year. You do the math there and it comes out um to 14.4 lb per week. One of the small bags can hold up to 15 lb. So again,
it's one bag per week. I don't think most people are shoving 15 lbs into a bag. So that I said let's use two bags per week per household as as an average. So the average household is
buying about 104 bags per year. And the next slide the estimated yearly cost per household. So a lot of spreadsheet here right? Um, but the bottom line is down there in the yellow. A 2% increase
based on the number of bags we I calculated 104. It's only would be $54 more than what people are paying now. The 5% increase be 1260 more. The the rounded 5% is $1357 more and a 10%
increase be $25.20 more. Um, I know there's a lot of spreadsheet there. I don't know if anybody has questions on it. I'm just sitting here thinking I'm wondering how many people how many
residents don't buy the bags and have their own arrangement cuz I I see quite a few eel Harvey bins out on the street. Um, I've seen mention of people even just getting a dumpster. Um,
yeah. So, it's hard to tell. We don't have a solid number on that. I suppose we can ask Shaw to um go out with a clicker or something. How many stops for a week and Yeah. click how many households? Cuz they didn't they combine some roots recently because
they did. Yeah. They Yeah. I don't think it was because around a little bit volume. Yeah. It had to do with volume and the time it took. Yeah. Yeah, it's part of that time is how much how often do they stop to pick up? So, I bet
it is part of the reason. All right. Um, I guess one thing to note is the change in the of the cost of the bags. A 2% increase, we'll just look at small bags cuz that's what most people buy. Um, the 2% increase would only
increase the cost of a bag by 3 cents. A 5% would only be 8 cents and the rounded 5% would be 9 cents and a 10% increase would be 16 cents. So not big increases.
The next slide is the the history of increases. Um so again let's look at the small bags. That's what most people are buying. In 2018, the bags were $1.25 each. It
increased in 2020 up to $140, which was a 12% increase. Then it increased again in 2024 up to $161, which was a 15% increase. So again, I'm only proposing the two, five, and 10%
increase, but it's only a year since the last increase. Is that right? No, fiscal, right? Fiscal fiscal year. Okay, so two years. Yep. All right. So my recommendation is to go
with the the rounded close to the 5% increase. Um it it will cover the cost in FY26 and 27. It'll only cost the average household 1357 per year and it makes the cost of the bundles more
normal. So the small bag would be $16.91 at 5% but rounded I made it $17. Um the 2% increase not likely to cover future cost. I don't believe it will. And the 10% increase, it will cover cost
maybe 3 years or more maybe. However, it's going to cost people more money. And since it's a enterprise fund and want to keep the spending and income pretty close, the 10% will not really be
in the spirit of that. So again, I I recommend the 5% increase, the rounded 5% increase. Any All right. Thank you. Brian or Glenn, do you have any questions? Nope.
No, no questions. I appreciate the the presentation. Do you have any other questions? Yeah. The cost of the town for getting ordering the bags is that been pretty flat or do you expect that's one of the slides has the the
bags uh the cases, right? So to the town, not to the person buying. Yeah. So for town the small bags and 21 was 4275 which is why do I look right cases sold and cost cases. It's early.
Yeah. Okay. And then it's climbed a little bit. So now in FY26 it's 5107 for the case of a small bags. So, it's gone up
on a well from 21 to 26, it's gone up $8.32 or a 19.5% increase, but that's a small part of, you know, the income, the income we're trying to generate, right? So,
most of the income, well, most of the cost is in the trash removal. The bag's just a small part of that. All right. Thank you, Bill. I don't have any questions. Um, was there something that you wanted to say? The only thing that I was thinking of is isn't there just since we're talking
about this tonight, there's going to be a change to the the bag distribution, right, with the wrap, people are going to just while he's here. Yeah. The bundles are going to have a different wrap around them. It's just
slightly looks different. residents are aware. It's got a new look, right? It has nothing to do with this discussion tonight, right? One other thing I should mention is the small bags. They're in production. So, we got a phone call
today. One of the distributors ran out of them. So, there might be a small delay on getting the small bags. Okay. Gotcha. Um, so I recognize that, you know, people aren't going to want to pay more for the trash bags and I get it. they are kind of pricey already. Um, but
the whole point of a pay as you throw program is that the program pays for itself. So the residents who participate in it need to pay for it. Um, and I think $13.50 a year, I think, is pretty fair. Um, so, you know, the program
shouldn't be partially subsidized by all taxpayers in town, especially when not everyone in town participates. Uh, and conversely too, we also shouldn't be um taking in more than we need to because then it's kind of like a secret tax, right? Um, so I think we need to find
that balance and I think um 5% as you suggested seems pretty fair and I think the increase isn't as much as we seem to have done in previous years either. Uh, so I think it's a very fair request. Um, what do other members think?
I would agree. I I think it's still a bargain compared to uh citizens who have to pay for their own dumpster, pay for their own service. It's still a great deal. I would uh support the rounded 5%. Yeah, I was actually a great point. I was thinking that earlier today and I
didn't say it. And I still think it's definitely cheaper than having to figure out what to do if you know we can't afford this program because it has gone up so much in cost over the past couple of years. So, you know, it's kind of necessary to make sure that we break even. So, right,
Glenn. I agree with previous comments, Renee. Yeah, there's a definite trend here of it becoming more expensive of us the delta changing. Um, I'm looking after this contract [Music] that we'll have to address at some point
down the road. I would be surprised if this next contract we're looking at something. I know we looked we were very lucky this time with the carts, but I would imagine that that comes close. I've heard the pay as you throw is going well they're still doing pay as you
throw but pay as you throw is going in the cart. So you Yeah, that's the trend. Y yeah. All right. So is is there any other discussion on this? Seems like we're all pretty much in agreement here. Did you have a suggested start date for
the fees to increase? I did not, but uh did it. Yeah, that's Yeah, maybe the beginning of October. October 1st. Yeah, give us some Well, let's look at the calendar to see. Give us some time to advertise and get it out there.
Okay. Yeah. Um, so October 1st, we should include that in the motion. Um, so let's see. How do we want to word this as a motion?
Um, I move to approve the fee changes as included in the rounded close to a 5% column. Does that work in a motion? Um,
to go into effect on October 1st, 2025. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you very much, Bill. Hey, you're welcome. Thank you. Have a good night.
You too. Good night. Okay. Public comment. Is there any public comment from the board? Any public comment from the public? Come on up. Good evening. Laura Busian, 3D9 Mus
Road. Um, I'm here as the president of the Lunberg Music Gators and um, I'm just reporting back on our fill the booth uh, fill the booth toll booth event that we had on August 9th. Um, I just wanted to let you know that we raised about we raised $1,500 in 3
hours. Um, it was a beautiful day. We had an incredible turnout. Um, we want to thank all the uh, Lunberg residents and others that came by. People were literally like pulling change out of their car and and um it was just it was
incredible. We saw uh former select board members. We saw some school committee members. Uh we had so many who shared their stories who said how important the music program was to their son, their daughter, their grandchild, everything and just how it built their confidence. So that was really great. Um
we had one incredible donor who came by who played the saxophone and gave us $200. Like he knew we were there. the advertising. We put the ad in the paper. It worked out great because people knew and were coming by early. Um we thank all of you for granting our petition and
um for your concerns for our safety as well. So, thank you for that. We kept everybody on the sidewalk with a very small handful of like having to go into the street, but everybody just put their passenger window down and it worked out just really fantastic. And the kids were really amazed. They're like, "Oh my god, they g they gave us $5." You know, it's
just like, "Yeah, it's $5." Um, so we will be back in the spring with another petition cuz we had a goal of $3,000. So to fill um the supply budget that was cut during the budget process. So we've got about half of it. Um, go snack shack. So at the football games, everybody come out to the football
games. Um, I have been in contact with Mr. Ballister at Turkey Hill. And he would like um he would need $500 for some supplies this year. So, we'd like to work I'll call you the town manager and give you a call and just say, "How do we get this now out of our pocket and
into the town?" So, we'd like to get $500 to them and put the $1,000 back into the high school the middle high school music program as well into their supply budget. So, if that's all right, so shoot me an email. I will. So, and just yeah, thank you all. We really appreciate it. And thank you again. The
town was amazing. Everybody was great that came by. So, awesome. Glad it went well. Thank you for reporting back. And I look forward to seeing you back in the spring, it sounds like. Yes. Yep. All right. Awesome. Thank you all. Have a good night. Good night. All right. Up next, we have appointments, ratifications, and
resignations. And we are going to acknowledge the res resignations of Ezekiel Ayala, the finance director/town Accountant effective October 25th, 2025. Uh, do you want me to read them all first? Sure. and then uh acknowledge resignation of
Angela Clement, recreation director, effective September 5th, 2025. And then the retirements of Lisa Normandon, the administrative assistant uh for the ZBA and building and build Yep. effective October 30th, 2025, and the retirement of Debbie
Lefond, uh librarian effective October 11th, 2025. Well, Mr. chairman, that was not a pleasant list to read um in any way of retirements and resignations. So um I'm sure that people probably reacted when
they saw this posted on the agenda. Um so I just want to go through a couple of them. Um so Miss Debbie um is retiring after a long career and I know um people are going to be heartbroken to see her go. Uh similarly, Lisa Normandon, who
you heard earlier tonight has been here for over 40 years. Um she has been a tremendous asset to everybody that served in that building and will be impossible to replace. Um similarly, Angela Clement has served the town well
as part-time recreation director. Um but ultimately she needed to get a position that was full-time. Um, and so she is uh going to work in a similar space but in a full-time capacity. So we wish Angela well, but she will be a huge loss. And
then Ezekiel Ayala, the finance director, town accountant, has been with the town for a little over 2 years. And um I am proud to announce that he is about to become the executive director of a nonprofit organization in the city of Worcester. Um but that means that he will no longer be working for the town
of Lunenburgg. So, um that will be a substantial adjustment for the community, but um wish him well certainly and we'll take advantage of him between now and October 25th to the fullest. But that was a rough list um
all around and all of these individuals are going to be extremely difficult to replace and irreplaceable frankly. Yeah, that's for sure. Uh, so I want to congratulate uh Lisa and Debbie on their retirements. And I'll also thank everything that Ezekiel and Angela have
done for the town. Ezekiel, as we all know, has done so much. And um, you know, the vendor fair that was organized was just incredible. Uh, so Angela, thank you as well for all that you've done for the town. [Music] All right, moving on to the town manager
report. Okay. So, um, first up, the special town meeting will be held on November 18th, 2025th at 7 p.m. Uh, thank you to an astute resident who noticed a misprint in the ledger. The ledger is going to go ahead and run a correction this Friday.
Um, but town meeting is indeed November 18th, uh, not the 12th. And the warrant is open for submission of articles through October 2nd, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. If folks have any articles to submit, they submit them either via email to the
office or come in physically before that deadline. Um, as everybody is aware, I think everybody is aware, but on August 26th, there was a fire at the Lunberg Middle School that just happened to be also the very first day of school. Um, the fire occurred within the solar
panels on the roof. Um, and thankfully everybody was evacuated safely and there were no reported injuries and the fire was brought under control within about 15 minutes. Um, I do want to thank all of those first responders both within this community who were dealing with
this a very serious matter at the time and those that came in to help assist. Um, it was quite the day for Lunenburgg and it could have been substantially worse, but thank you for your service as always. Um I had just spoken about the
resignation of Ezekiel Ayala. Obviously this is a position of significance. I am having a discussion later this week, in fact tomorrow, with a vendor who specializes in providing financial management support to municipalities um across the Commonwealth. I believe he's
actually done some work here in town as a consultant in the past. Um while the position is posted and I hope to have it filled quickly, I do want to ensure that because it's such a substantial position that we have a safety net in place for the transition period and during this
transition is also the retirement and transition of the payroll and benefits director. So those are happening within days of each other. So, um hopefully uh this consultant um has capacity to come on at this time and um provide us some
support in the interim, but I will keep you updated. Uh capital planning season is kicking off with the capital planning committee meeting first scheduled for tomorrow, September 3rd at 7:00 p.m. That's a preliminary meeting where they're going to be reorganizing, looking at the
financial policies. I am working on distributing the schedules and associated materials. Um and but department heads have been told to anticipate that they are submissions are due in the month of September with reviews beginning in October.
Uh the toucher truck event on Friday, August 22nd was a huge success. Thank you to all of the residents families who came out to enjoy the day and get up and close with our machinery. And thank you to all of the various entities that helped round out the success of the
event from local businesses to state agencies. We could not have done it without all involved. And I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank Dave McDonald, the unofficial event organizer for all his I'm going to say assistance. That's what I wrote here. But I'm also going to say persistence in bringing
this great day to uh fruition. um without him championing this um in the background, it's probably something that we wouldn't have been able to pull off with the love. Actually, it's not probably we wouldn't have been able to pull it off. So, thank you Dave. Um now, it was such a success we have to do it
every year. Um a reminder that the Nishoba Board of Health is conducting their community health survey for the region. Um that survey is on their web page, on our web page, on Facebook. The survey is open through August uh September 30th, 2025. Uh we did have our
staff appreciation event on August 21st. Um staff enjoyed lunch, longevity awards and merit awards were presented and folks enjoyed yard games and it was a great afternoon for staff to take some time to relax with one another and be recognized to the service they performed to the community. I think when you talk
to people who work in this space, um, public service is becoming increasingly more difficult and it's nice to just have a moment and kind of be with one another and be appreciated for what you do. Um, the chair already had announced um again on that whale and park event
which is September 13th, 2025, but I want to give a particular highlight if you have photo memories either digitally or in your old boxes of yourself or your family. um enjoying Whalm in years gone by, please send those in. We're creating
a memory wall um of Lunenburgg folks or folks who are now Lunberg folks. Um so if you could send those in to Cara McCarthy in my office, her email uh is k McCarthy Lunenberg.gov, but that is also on the Lunberg um Whan Park event link.
So some project updates. Starting today, AllPro, our cleaning vendor, is back in town servicing municipal buildings with evening cleanings. This is the same vendor that the town had previously um for the past three years or so despite
well other than the last several months this is who we have had for the past 3 years. So we expect a seamless transition and we're looking forward to having all pro back. Wallace Park court resurfacing project is underway and the work should be completed over the week and the courts are planned to be reopened next week.
Then there is announcements online and on Facebook, but there is a whole lot of fog ceiling occurring across town uh from September 4th to 15th. Um the list of roads is Lemonster Road, Arbor Street, Beiel Street, Brookview Terrace, Bird Street, Canterbury Drive, Cliff
View Terrace, Gilcrest, Hunting Hill, Meadow Lane, Pine Street, Rolling Acres, Skylark, Valley Road, Watt Street, and Winwood Terrace. When the work is performed, the roadway will be closed to vehicular traffic. However, residents and school buses will be accommodated as much as possible. The roads will be
closed for periods of 60 to 90 minutes to allow the fog seal to dry. Um, individual roads will be closed to clean and sweep to prepare them for the fog seal. Residents will be accommodated during this time frame. Then the fog seal will be sprayed on the roadway as much as possible. No vehicular traffic
will be permitted until it is dry. Um, for folks that have never heard about fog seal, but is one of the reasons why we have great roads in Lunberg, fog seal is sprayed onto the existing pavement and penetrates up to 38 of an inch into the asphalt, softening the asphalt
binder as it goes. Um, and it slows cracking and reduces the loss of the aggregate material. So, um, it dries clear, is plant-based, and is non-hazardous. So, if you did not hear the roads and you're wondering if you're included, check our website and that
list is there. Okay. Whole lot of recruitments with all different statuses. So, we have a dietary aid and a temporary dietary aid post positions posted um at 9 hours per week. We uh the meal site worker position at 36 hours
per week. We have some work to do with the clerical union on that and then that will be reposted. uh the payroll and benefits coordinator. Uh interviews have occurred for this 32-hour per week position and an offer is out. Uh the executive assistant to
the town manager and select board position, an offer is out and I think I just got some good news in my email, but I don't want to steal my own thunder. Uh but it looked positive. It had an exclamation point. So perhaps we'll have an appointment soon there. Um equipment
operator 40 hours per week. We have conducted interviews there. Um but I don't believe an offer has been put out yet. Intermittent heavy equipment operator. This is for this is various but if folks are looking to pick up um some additional work over the winters.
This is helping us take care of our our roadways for snowstorms driving our equipment. If you're interested and you want to hear more, uh reach out to Bill or Julie in my office if that's a line of work that you're in. We have a videographer position that an offer that will be on your next agenda. So, an
offer has been accepted there. The land use director position has been posted. The children's staff librarian position has been posted. The finance director position has been posted. The administrative assistant to the building department position has been posted.
Library pages um interviews are ongoing. And seasonal cemetery laborer also uh the the students that we had for seasonal summer help. um have gone back to school. So, if there are folks who are looking in some small hours to help uh keep the cemeteries looking good in
the fall, that would be great. Um we have the same list of appointed and elected positions. Um, as last time, I'm not going to reread the whole list only to say there is one position that I think that at the next uh meeting of the
tribe or before that uh there might be that we're putting on the appointment to the Montusetts Regional Vocational Technical School. There's one vacancy there. It's an appointment of the select board school committee and moderator. So, uh we do have an application for that, but um I wanted to again
reiterate, we hadn't really published that a lot. Uh so reiterate that that's available um for folks if they're interested. And that is it on my manager's report. Great. Any questions for the town manager? Just a question uh about the Flat Hill Bridge. Are there any any updates for
that? So as much as I would love to give a public in update on that and I know that folks are keen to get one. Um unfortunately based on the situation that we're currently in, I'm not able to provide any uh public updates. I I cannot imagine how incredibly
frustrating this is. He what's especially for those that have to go through that detour. Um and I know that I'm asking the residents to trust that we're doing what we can without talking about it. But um when I am able to give a public update next, I will. Thank you.
Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. Moving on to new business. So, first we um have authorized FY2026 2028 agreement between the town of Lunenberg and the Montichus Regional Transit Authority or MART for Council on
Aging Services. Um but I believe we're going to pass over this tonight because we still need a redlinined version of the agreement just to make it a little clearer on what has changed. Um and I don't believe that you've received that. So, um I did reach out to Mart. So, um they did say that there were some
changes especially around um insurance and liability. um they unfortunately had multiple users working on the draft so they don't have a a good red line. So I'll have to compare between the two documents. I ran that through earlier today through software to do it and it
looked like those the changes were maybe a little bit more substantive than just the insurance. So I want to take a closer look at what I think the what the deviations are, flag those, see if they need to go to council. It needs to be approved before the end of September, but okay. Um, as long as we get it on a
future, right, I did read the whole thing, but you know, it's kind of hard to do that without the context of what's actually changed. So, all right, up next, ratification of the collective bargaining agreement with New England Police Benevolent Association, local 353 for FY26 to FY28. So, we are
actually doing this for real tonight and to the town manager. Do you just want to um speak to uh where the contract landed at all? Sure. So, um, we have, uh, agreed upon terms for a three-year contract for
fiscal years 26, 27, and 28. Um, speaking to a couple of the highlights of the changes, of course, this is a public document once it gets executed. Um, it wage increases for each of the fiscal year is a 3% increase across each
fiscal year. Um we also adjusted the educational incentives for um they list associates, bachelors and masters. So in that order 8,6 and 20 for the first two years of the contract and 9, 18 and 20 for the last year of the contract.
Percents. Percents. Yes. Thank you. Uh thank you for clarifying. Yeah, I was going to um we also um provided a $3,400 stipen for the accreditation manager, which is uh to maintain accreditation compliance
with the post commission, a translator stipend, um an hour of overtime for a scheduling supervisor, and a public information officer uh stipend. Um, a lot of what we did, uh, folks may have heard discussions of this board previously where we talked about
alignment between different units, um, is to align, uh, some of the language of the SAP uh, in terms of sick time and benefit time um, for spouses over provided par to the collective
bargaining agreement. Um we changed the definition of spouse for a more expansive definition. So either married or essentially living as such. Um sick leave is on an acrruel. Um and so the one one of the things I do want to flag
for the public here when I'm saying we're mirroring um the police union was one of the only unions that their sick time was only for themselves in in their contract. Um, so now it's been expanded right in the contract to cover children, spouse, parent or parent of the spouse.
Um, we also uh made some minor changes to details and overtime, but probably one of the largest changes is changing, which this board is obviously aware of, but the public isn't necessarily aware of, is changing the way that uh, vacations run. And so vacations are
moving to an acrruel system. Um this allows greater flexibility for folks especially in their first year of service. Um and so folks will begin acrewing vacation beginning the first full month after hire. Um the amount of
vacation time that they're acrewing has not changed. Um and then uh vacation time will no longer run on the fiscal year. It's carried over in a continuum and then it's capped at 5 days greater than what they would acrue. um before
they have to burn that down. Um in order to make that work, uh we had to provide a transition year because these folks are coming into the fiscal year with their vacation time. So, uh we essentially are buying off people that have a fourth week of vacation and then
splitting the rest of the vacation uh extra or this year's aotment into the three fiscal years. this probably doesn't translate well to the to the listener. Um, and it's probably more confusing than it is. Uh, but that those
are the major changes um in in the contract um in order uh to make this all work. We did we were anticipating obviously negotiations and so we had some money set aside in the salary reserve for that. But um the the town
has been running we have a a staffing schedule of having four sergeants and we have been running with three and so it was discussed that in order to pay for this we will run with three sergeants for the foreseeable future.
All right. Thank you. All right. Is there a motion? Uh, I move to ratify the collective bargaining agreement with New England Police Benevolent Association Local 353 for fiscal years 26 through fiscal year 28.
I'll second that motion. All right. Any additional discussion before we vote on it? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you for all your work on this with me. Of course. Thank you as well.
Okay, moving on to old business discussion on warrant articles to be sponsored by the select board uh for special town meeting. So the only one that I recall us discussing and adding to the list um was the postcards for the
uh warrant. Uh were there any other that we discussed that were new that maybe I'm forgetting about? I think that was the only one. The chapter 70 funding. I don't know if that was going to be discussed or if we wanted to push that to the school committee if they wanted to do that. So the article that that comes in under
is um a standing article. So that would be in the motion. So the article is to amend the fiscal year the present fiscal year budget. Um and that's here as a standing. So to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow or
transfer from available funds also necessary to amend the amounts voted in the FY26 omnibus budget and then whatever we would do under that is would be captured in the motion. But that article to carry any action is included as a standard. Okay. So we got that one covered for like the standard ones
for that warrant, not for what's in the motion yet. So I did have a conversation with the superintendent. Of course she's curious. I told her that we would have that conversation candidly first before and I haven't had the opportunity to have that fully full dialogue yet with her um about what the thoughts are
around that but I want to do that there first before she's hearing it in a public meeting. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure we go through the right avenue of how we proceed with that. That so the the article that would allow it as a motion is a standard article.
Okay. Gotcha. So, we at least have the article and it sounds like they're going to continue to have conversations and we will as well. Um, all right. Any other ones that people want to add to the list here, at least for tonight? Obviously, we're going to keep having this conversation
for a little bit. Jen, can you share with us at some point just the the list you ran through the last time? I'm starting to you've seen like drop little tidbits of information in that folder. So, for example, the TCP roof
one. Um, okay. What the what the vote was and what the history was there and and as I come across things, I'll drop them in the that folder. But yeah, I'll I'll I'll keep a running the running. Yes, that would be helpful. Thanks. And I do want to be clear cuz there was
some the feedback. This is just a list of things that have come in. It doesn't mean that there's anything that's the select board certainly hasn't voted. No. Yeah. we still have to like vet them once they're actually drafted and then you know obviously that same process that we do every year is going to happen still. Um that's not really the stage
that we're at yet. So yeah, for sure. Um one that I do kind of want to run by people um is uh potentially getting rid of the personnel committee. Um based on my research, uh it seems as though uh personnel committees sort of were a
thing of the past that aren't really that common anymore. And I haven't done enough research right now to confidently say, but I suspect that we might be in the minority of communities that still have them. Would you agree with that? This was actually the specific um assignment that I had given to the
employee working group was to research this and one of the champions of the employee working group has moved on to work for open gov. So um so I don't think that that research is really happening in that space right now. Um but the reason why
um I tasked them with that is just that is that um there was actually something recently that I don't know maybe six or so months ago went out on MMHR group which is the human resources for municipalities listerve and people were
asking about who had recently gotten rid of their personnel boards and what it was and I was surprised that it was more overwhelming than than I expected it to be that folks are moving away from um you would need to have a some type of
system in some areas in place if you were to disband it. So something ready to take its place. Um but I do think that personnel boards in general are from a different time. And I think having it and not actually
having anyone on it isn't really serving the town well. So I think there's two parts of that that in my opinion at least I think we would benefit from at least considering it c can I provide an example specifically. So um right now in the absence of a
personnel committee I I'm the personnel board, right? So I administer the salary administration plan. Um there are a lot of things like reviewing job descriptions that absolutely should I think probably occur just here without
it being vetted by another group. But right now, if we're going to offer somebody beyond a step four for coming on, because there's no personnel board, that entire decision is consolidated with me within me as one
person. Um, I appreciate the trust that I'm not going to abuse that, but it without a personnel board in those areas like that where there's something that is an exception to the rule that you want vetted. right now we don't have a
any kind of check on that. Mhm. So I think without a personnel board it doesn't make sense to look at. Yeah. So there are certain functions at heart happening now because it doesn't exist. But I also think more broadly like systems work until they don't anymore. And I think we need to recognize that it's just not working
anymore because we haven't had one for I think like 2 years now. So I don't Yeah, I don't know. But it was it's just about 2 years. So, um, I'm kind of not looking for any commitment here, but just looking for a reaction from the rest of the board on whether or not this is
something that we would want to bring to town meeting. Yeah. But go ahead. I mean, like town manager said, we need we need something in place before we can even though we don't currently have a personnel committee, we we come have to come up with right
our plan B, our our new plan going forward. And I think there's really a couple options, right? I think we could basically move the SAP to a select board policy um and then rework it in certain ways that make sense and then just get
rid of the part that establishes the committee. We could also, if we wanted to, I don't think this would be like the proper path, but if we wanted to, we could probably keep that bylaw, just get rid of the part that creates the committee and still have it be a bylaw so that things have to go to town
meeting. But I think there's a lot of benefit in having a committee like the select board to approve those things as frequently as we would be able to. And also I think there's a lot of benefit in changing the SAP more potentially than twice a year as well. Well, that's
that's really the consideration that you you're you're going to want to because you could do it either way, but that's exactly the consideration that you're going to want to think about is do you want the weight and authority of a bylaw to amend the SAP, in which case you would want to
amend the bylaw itself by removing the reference to the personnel committee and where it makes sense, put in different entities in its place and stand up select board policies behind it? or do you want to pull the bylaw out and have it live as policy?
Mhm. But that is that's a philosophical decision for Gotcha. Um any other reactions to that tonight? I would be open. I I agree with Renee. I think there's got to be some sort of
path forward. Um my first thought just thinking about it was including like an HR director in those decisions. Maybe getting three people would be good idea, too. Mhm. And it would be appropriate conversation for the bylaw review committee that will be formed,
which I'm on by the way. Um, and we are having our first meeting on Thursday. Um, I guess it's hard to say until we like really meet to see how much we want to consider changing. Um, they might kind of send it back to us because that is a pretty big substantial
change, you know. Um, so whether or not the committee is going to believe that that it falls within the scope of the committee, uh, I think is yet to be seen. So, and I can have the HR director, if the board's interested, if if you'd find it informative and kind of dealing with
this, pull down the information that was shared around that list serve about who the data around who has left them recently or I mean, it's not like it's a great like 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, everybody, but it's a sampling. Mhm.
give you an indication of what folks are doing. And I think if I recall, folks also said like why they were moving in that direction in those responses in some cases and they also indicated what obstacles they encountered. Yeah, that's helpful. I'd be really interested in reviewing
that. All right, let me pull down that data. Okay, cool. All right, any other discussion on that or any other potential warrant articles? [Music] All right, moving on then. Recommendations to the master plan
steering committee on master plan update. Uh, so we have the spreadsheet and we can start going through these and compiling our feedback. Uh, so if you open it, you'll see it. It's named copy of select board master plan recommendations for committee. You'll
want to make sure that you're in the select board tab. There's two tabs. U make sure you're in the right one. So how this is formatted is that there are some uh high-level goals and then each goal has a couple different um sub
I guess actions u that are listed here as recommendations from public feedback. Uh so those are sort of more of the actual items to discuss here. Um there's a list of relevant committees for each of them. So we're going to focus on the ones where uh the select board is listed
and then I'm going to try to compile pretty much uh whatever discussion happens for each of them. Uh so we can start. So the first goal and this is like the highle goal here is support a range of housing options for all ages and income
levels. Uh so the first action I guess here is encourage new housing developments that broaden the available residential options including apartments, town houses, single family, multifamily and are planned appropriately to preserve open space,
public trail access and wildlife connectivity. Uh so what's our feedback on that one? [Music] Are we going by the columns that are listed here? questions. No, I'm just general discussion on each of these. Uh some of these uh so if you
scroll over and I think what we were asked to do is too is if you look at seven provide any additional feedback. Mhm. Um I'm really just looking to get like what do we what do we think about these things like you know um a little higher level here. Um I don't think we need to go through each and every single one of
these questions. They're just looking from feedback. You know they want to know sort of uh where we're at. I think did they do they want to know too about specific if there was policies because Yeah. Yeah. So if there are some of them where it's easy to flag we can but this one you
know right right um so I'm looking at Glenn because he's on this if you have I need more insight do you say it's not fair you just appointed to me that like two meetings ago. I know that's why I prevented so I'll just read through my my notes
real quick here. It's like the scale of implementation efforts is is a a concern because you know naturally a lot of people like you know myself only having lived here for two years chose Lunberg because of its rural character but it should uh should be consistent with the
rural character of town. Uh government and builders will only see in that list they will only see apartments, town houses and multif family highdensity housing. they who whoever they are do not want
single family houses built. Um, and I can't really identify who I mean when I when I say they, but and I'll just use the example that I I mentioned at the last meeting of the the uh the special
permit for use of town houses. Um, you know, 20 town houses up off on New West Townsen Road. Um, you know, I think it's tough reconciling the open space preservation and, you know, allowing
individuals to actually own their their own home on a piece of property, you know, like a single a family home. So, I mean, I I think what I'm saying is like those are excellent talking points and it's sort of like advocating for fresh air and clean water, but we just have to
be mindful of, you know, what makes Lunberg Lunberg and to what extent is it that we embrace those, you know, that that initiative or action or so I mean that's my feedback whatever that's worth. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree and there is a bit
of a a contention I guess when you say one we need more housing and we need all sorts of different types of housing but two we really value our open space right we want to preserve our open space like those two things are contradictory um so I'm just going through here um so like
what do we need to do to uh encourage new housing developments that are single family I mean my honest opinion is absolutely nothing there's plenty of it in town um duplexes seem to be going up Right. Uh the couple of developments that have gone up in the past um couple of years on Massav, I I believe we're
duplexes and already occupied. Um you know, I my honest opinion and we'll get to it cuz it it is listed a little lower. Um senior housing though, I think there is a real need there, right? Because if you get to a certain age where you want to downsize, this
happened to my grandmother. I feel like this is actually something that a lot of our loved ones experience at a certain point in life where it's uh no longer feasible to maintain your large house and the kids are gone and maybe you have a spouse still or not and you want to downsize but you want to you know maybe
you grew up in Lunenburgg and you lived here your entire life and you want to stay in the community but you want to downsize. Good luck to you, right? Because there aren't really that many options if you want, you know, a cute little condo that's age appropriate. So,
I think that is like a serious housing need in town, housing for seniors. Um, but some of these other ones, you know, I'm not too sure um that we do really need to do much to encourage, you know, I mean, I'm watching 100 towns in harbor be developed rapidly. Uh, so, you know,
it's definitely happening. Um, but that's sort of my reaction to it. I read I read this sentence a little bit differently. M I I read this one as the with the and so if we take out that parenthesis in the middle is the select board um
encouraging new housing developments that broaden residential options and are planned appropriately to preserve open space park trail access and wildlife connectivity that coupling of the development with that secondary piece.
Okay. I was just speaking about housing more broadly then I guess um I I think that that I think that that might be the prompt here that it's it's does the select board encourage new housing or does the select board want to encourage new housing developments that
broaden residential as well as preserve open space public trail access and wildlife connectivity. Um yeah I mean if it's possible I don't know like how do we encourage that though right like that's that's the question. So I if if I had to get is
this controlled by your board's bylaws or policies? No. Do we have a bylaw policy on this already? No. If yes, how does this recommendation align with your committee's current goals and priorities? So we don't have any not not
identified as a goal. Are there any aspects that need further clarification? I suppose that I mean how to do this without zoning I don't know. That's the only thing. If yes and if yes, please describe related
to your board committee. What's the impact of implementing this recommendation? Are there potential unintended consequence? I just don't think it's something you probably have control over. And I think if you go through in that way to these other ones, I my guess is that you're going to find
similarity there that there's some of these things you don't have control over once you kind of tease them out like that. Mhm. Um but comparatively, you know, develop a 5-year strategic school forecasting plan, a funding designated like that's where you have
made statements right in that space, you know, but we also sort of need to get through this like trio board process too to really understand where that's going to um continue to be a green community. That's something that's absolutely in a select board. So I think I think that that's what you're supposed to do is take each
one and kind of go across like that. Yeah, we can do that. So, okay. So, that was the first one. The second one, allow people to purchase land and have a temporary dwelling unit on site while building their home. Um, so I wonder how this fits into the new
ADU. Yeah, it it doesn't have anything to do with the select. That's right. Yeah. I think that that's I think that's a it's not under your jurisdiction unless you wanted to make a policy statement around encouraging one way or
another these things. I guess that's the one thing if we if it's not this is an opportunity to take a policy position if one has not been taken or to not take a policy position either way. Fair. Um but I also wonder how that fits
into like the state's new laws too. Temporary dwelling unit. So, they're talking um I'm assuming they're talking trailers. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. And so, I I that's something that maybe the
board does want to take a position on. Do you want temporary dwelling units or or maybe a question, what does this mean? Does this mean trailers? How long? What's temporary? Right. I Yeah, it is definitely like a a residential trailer, like a a camper or
something while they build whatever structure they're building the house. And I'm assuming that that is not allowed now. I don't even know. I It does. I can't imagine that it is. Sounds like a planning building
planning board. Yeah. Um, other than a policy position around it, I don't A lot of these things I it's hard to weigh in on this not having created it. Yeah. And I would also like I want to know the context of this one, right?
Like how did this get included in um the draft master plan here? Um, you know, like why was this scene as being important for Lunenburgg specifically? So, I don't know. I guess I'd be curious on what the context for this one is.
These are due at the end of the month. Yes. I don't know. I guess I guess my comment here is I don't know how the select board or any board can meaningfully go through this without having that information at a meeting. And so
maybe we need to invite somebody to walk us through this. Do we want to ask uh someone to present on this? Will that help us process? Some of them I I think are probably a little bit quicker quicker to go
through, but um and I don't think we're being we'd have to I guess we are we open to that whole concept and that could be part of the the focus of the master plan and we could eventually be like not I don't I don't know that we'd have to make that decision about about it now. But if
we're willing to like if we're open to it, which I really I I don't I can't imagine there's a huge someone in public must have suggested this and it just made made it through the the filter, right? And you know, I I just I'm not convinced
there's a big need for, you know, people must be asking, I guess, that have land and building a house if they can put a a camping trailer there while they build the house. I mean, yeah, it may have just happened once and was included because that person decided
to feed um submit that feedback. Um so, yeah, I don't know. I don't feel too strongly on this. I don't I don't see it as being a huge issue either. Um but I'm curious to know um sort of like the backstory on that one. Okay, so we can keep going through here. Someone um accidentally copied one of the cells
here and replaced the actual thing with this, but I have a print out so I can easily find it. Um, let me go to the first page here. So, the next one is encourage the development of an assisted living complex in an area that reduces impact
to surrounded areas. Um, so this one I would at least want to explore and that's sort of like sort um, you know, I think senior housing is a need in town and this isn't um, you know, something
that we really have much of. Yeah, I don't know that this one is senior housing. No, it's not. Yeah, but I I see it as falling under the umbrella. Um, which is why, you know, I would be interested in exploring it. It is very different. You're right. It's an assisted living. Um,
I see that as like an EDC/ planning board, you know, making zoning more attractive to a business to come in. Yeah. Like I don't unless they're proposing that the town runs an assisted living, which clearly is not. No.
So I mean if I I don't know that that would you know again fall under the the select board. The word encourage to me means tiff or so tax and rent financing or some kind of some kind of
incentive by which they would be able to develop in a way that otherwise they normally wouldn't according so either we're making something really favorable within the zoning or we're giving some kind of tax benefit specifically or some others typical some
other type of benefit to promote remote assisted living complexes to come. Like again, I just over any other over a bowling alley or a like I just I I
I don't know where some of these things it's it's different than what I'm used to seeing in a master plan. Okay. Very specific in some interesting areas. Yeah, I can I can understand that. Um in contrast to the next one which is
like this is standard establish a affordable housing trust. see that as a proposal like that's like pretty cookie that's that is core government functionality right so that's some of this that I struggle with is that some of these um things feel very much like
this is government space and some of these feel very much like this is private space that is left should be left to private entities and that the government doesn't kind of belong in some of these spaces
well I do think like the process that happened probably was people coming together and deciding like what do we believe our community needs and now it's trying to translate the results of that process into like how do how does the government achieve that and a lot of it
you know we we can't really just um you know decide that we want an assisted living complex in town and make it happen you know and that's where you know you'd hope that the vendor who has been hired really helps assist the community in saying is that really a function of
government or is it not and push back a little bit of that? I am just going to read that these are recommendations from public feedback that was narrowed down and tailored by uh them collaboratively. So, but that's okay. So, so I mean it is important to
to uh recognize how important a document like this is for a town and you know we'd be remiss if we didn't you know indicate that the process you know specifically because we've been down a land use director that did not affect this process. It didn't affect well it would help it
would have helped the the committee if we had if they had the the resources for sure. Yeah. So this up until recently um it's it's been a very um ineffective inefficient in my opinion process. Recently you know they're running on
they're cooking with gas. I mean they are they're organized and you know you know with an example of the the um document in front of us. They pulled that together real quick and the talking points they have you know are you know pretty impressive of
the the information points that they have. But I mean this process has been going on you know I I actually went to I it was certainly the first one that was at u coffee roasters. I believe it was the very first um public meeting that they had and that was and there was one
subsequent to that and it really I mean it I wasn't impressed with that you know that event and but now going back to the meetings and stuff with all the information it's really impressive. So the the the presentation is really impressive of all the information they got in the community outreach, but I'm
not convinced that the community outreach was real in depth and meaningful. Uh a lot of a lot of these are, you know, emotional like again, you know, clean water, clean air, you know, keeping seniors in their home or having senior housing, you know, those are very
emotional and very easy to get behind and push. But the reality of, you know, implementation specifically using the uh assisted living is just, you know, a no-go. And and not to jump ahead, but there was even a talk of, you know,
purchasing the the villages buildings, right? And, you know, and and and a comment was like, oh, the town could rent out build, you know, the spaces. And I'm like, you know, private sector can't rent them out. I mean, God help you. Government's not going to do it, you know. Uh so I
yeah I think what the uh town manager was alluding to you know I'm not convinced that the guidance that they had was the best you know um and I'll just stop in this I think I've said it publicly in some of their meetings the sampling sizes are small but yeah here we are
right here we are so we got to finish this thing but I don't know if it helps to have somebody kind of for the nonobvious ones walk us through or just to do this in a work I think it's going going to take a while. Yeah, I think it's worthwhile to keep
going here and just to just to sort of see what else is in here. Um, and then I agree. I think I think we need to kind of have that that meeting at some point. Um, so we covered the establish an affordable housing trust. Uh, let's see. Advertise federal and state first-time
home buyer programs. Um, so I'll just I'll just run through them all and then if um anyone wants to stop and discuss any of these, we can. And then the next high level goal here is encourage small business development within existing commercial areas. And uh we have the sub
action as increased use of town center new area TCP for event/programming. I'll just call this one out. I think we are doing this already. Um, so I remember this process began like two years ago and I remember there was there was a lot of talk in the community that
we needed more community events and the community responded to that by planning more and we've had a lot of events that use uh like TCP and I think they've gone really well like the vendor fair um
having the uh farmers market there uh we had like probably I I don't know but probably up to a thousand people attend some of those events throughout the entire day and it's gone really well. Yeah. I mean, I think this one Yes. This is controlled by your policy. Yeah. And it's it's been happening.
Okay. Build upon efforts to improve natural open spaces and recreational opportunities. Uh so assess and provide parking and improve pedestrian action access to town beach including ADA accessibility. Um so this is an interesting one. And I do think there is
a bit of a parking issue there, but the solution I don't really know cuz there really isn't any additional space there unless you want to park somewhere else. Even then I don't know where or like how you would get to the town beach and that's certainly not addressing the ADA accessibility. Um
I recognize that. So when something like this, when a community flags something like this and it is constrained by letters, that typically means that you're making an indication that yes, you're interested in acquiring property. How that looks, that can be fleshed out
during the implementation, but it's flagging that you're interested in pursuing the acquisition of property, right? For sure. What that would really look like. Okay. Provide public access to Lake Shirley. Um, we did enter into an agreement with Shady Point. So, uh, we
have done that. Uh, improve parking and access to all trails in town. This is one of the ones that I want more context on. Uh, because I go to the trails a lot. I've never really seen that there is a parking issue there. I've never had an issue parking at any of the trails and I know they are they've got some
grants for, you know, parking there. So, conservation is actively working on that like at least for one of them table I think. I think there's a second one, too, but Okay. Um, okay. Support community gathering
spaces. Improve advertising events across town. Um, I think we do a really good job advertising for events. Um, they're certainly well attended. Um, optimize use of municipal buildings and properties, inventory, and create a long-term plan for all town owned land
and buildings. Uh, so this is definitely one that falls under us. Um, in addition to municipal building design committee, um, I think the priority here, at least in my opinion, uh, is a buildings, we definitely need that. Um, but we do also have a lot of properties that are under the care and custody of the select
board. Um, whether or not we need a defined plan for all of them, I don't think so. Like, I do think it's useful to have some reserve to address future needs that you can't really envision now. Um, but it's also to revisit those past assumptions or past conditions and say,
does this still apply? This decision was made, does this still hold true? We did do that two years ago. Um, nothing came out of it. So, we we went through all the properties. Uh, there were site visits. Uh, we looked at all of them and nothing. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think just
doing those periodic reviews um for me that's sort of what I read like, okay, maybe we should, uh, revisit that, you know, next year. Okay. So, we talked about this one already. Improve school facilities funding and opportunities. Develop a 5-year strategic school forecasting plan
of funding designed for renewal every 5 years to ensure long-term educational equity, fiscal responsibility, and adaptability. Uh, so I think this uh will probably fall into place with the tri board process. Um, so I I you know,
we'll see where we get and then a five-year strategic forecast hopefully can be created. Uh, foster safe and resilient town infrastructure, ensure town has an updated hazard mitigation plan and create a roadmap to reduce the impacts of natural hazards and climate
change within Lunenburgg. So that's an interesting one. Um, I don't know that we do have a hazard mitigation plan. We do. It is expired I believe. Okay, the last one is expired. And then we have one category here that
just says additional recommendations. So continue to be a green community in good standing. Absolutely. Review all bylaws and update as necessary and continue on a 5-year review basis. Um so that is the periodic review schedule that we have uh
defined in our charter and we are conducting that this year. Assess viability of public purchase of town center property. Um we did talk about that one already. And then evaluate all town administrative functions, building permits, etction, etc. to be able to be
accessed through online actions. Consider AI impact to town administrative functions/opengov. That's in progress. Uh we're moving a lot to open gov already. Um and that's it. That is uh the draft all the recommendations here.
All right. any discussion on any of uh any of these? And do we want to send the invite to um discuss this and try to get some context on some of them? Which ones would if you're going to invite someone in to
give context, I would identify those and give them in advance, but Um, yeah, it's it's not entirely clear to me what the goal of this worksheet is. I mean, it to say whether there's a
bylaw, if it under our control, it cuz none of those columns actually say whether we agree or support. Mhm. I don't know. Yeah. Well, that's why I was just trying to gather feedback and reactions on all of these items. And I I think, you know,
part of that is I know that's only one column, but you know, I think that's really what they're looking for, right? They they want to know what volunteers in town think about this. Uh cuz it can help guide them uh with the rest of the process here. Um but we did, you know, we had we had some
discussion here. So, we'll compile it. We'll see where we're at and then um we can continue discussing this. if if we could if folks wanted to submit things to me and then I could kind of compile and see where there's cons consensus around it. Alternatively, I
could take a stab at filling this out of what I think that the answers are and identify like board should make policy or could take policy position around this but otherwise it's not under your purview. Mhm. Is that helpful to kind of tee that up
in or do you want to kind of look at them and think about them and then submit them and I can compile? So yes, I do think we can do that. Um I think it's good to have just I I keep saying this but like our general thoughts on some of these and also the Okay, so like does it fall under our
purview, right? What currently exists in policies and bylaws and you know what potential action uh could be done to achieve some of these? Um, so like yeah, we need to do both of those things. Uh, so if you want to start compiling some of that, yeah, I think that could
probably help. Um, all right. Any other discussion on this tonight? All right. Discussion on tribard meeting of the select board, finance committee, and school committee. Any discussion on the tribe board meetings tonight?
September 30 is the next one. Yes. What are we discussing that night? I don't remember. Oh, that's going to be a big one. That is uh public safety and DPW. So, I mean, yes, public safety and DPW. So, and facilities, I believe, is
on that night as well. So, we'll see if we make it by 10 p.m. We cut it real close last week. Was in uh Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of spending that night. I think I would add from the the last meeting I felt like the the healthcare potential changes does fall more onto
the select board and negotiating and and working out with the what to what to look at. So I look forward to kind of planning ahead as we try to work with the PEC to try to make adjustments to the healthcare that are beneficial to
both parties. Mhm. Yeah, I agree with that. That was that was pretty surprising how quickly um the health insurance really gets exponential pretty fast. Yeah, I know. That was shocking. For those that didn't watch, in 3 years
right now, if we're projecting to be on trend, it's a million dollar increase in health insurance along. So, it's a huge part of our budget. And by the way, thank you for all the work that you did to that presentation because I think it's we learned a lot. Yeah, most information that we've seen
on it, you know, we had a breakdown of how many people were enrolled in each plan. So, it was very thorough. So, thank you. Um, we have had some uh requests, I guess, of additional topics to be covered at the tri board. Um, I guess
ultimately the tri board chairs are going to have to figure out. Um but um water district um in as much as they are potentially having an increase that would
to their rateayers that would coincide with potential increases to taxation at the same time. Um and I think that there was one more kind of oh um the board of trust
commissioners um has asked to come before the tri board as well. So for what um to speak about the work that they're working on so and how does it relate to the operational budget for next year? Um if it does I don't know that it does.
Okay. But um nonetheless so we have those save with the water. Save the water. Right. So we have just to kind of flag that there are some folks or groups that people would like us to consider in in part of that tri board but that'll have to be worked out.
Yep. Okay. Cool. All right. Any other discussion on the tri board meetings? All right. Discussion on acceptance of gift uh nope actually sick leave bank policy. So, there's an updated policy here or
draft of the policy. Um, there's the red lines. A lot of changes were made, but I don't think there was really much of substance that I at least noticed. Um, yeah, the almost, if you look at the red line, almost everything is red. Mhm. So,
that's clean one is easier. Clean one is easier. So, I did just do that. Um the clean one the I can kind of point out some of the major changes. Um added the definition of day, added the definition of sick leave bank. Um
provided um some clarity around some things but not substantive changes under program eligibility but just provided some clarity around that. um provided some clarity around the process by which the non-UN employees would be
apprised of um that they could apply to be on the sick leave bank committee. Um let's see. they um added the annual accounting to not only go to the select board but also
to go to the program members. Uh let's see added clarity around uh what happens if members decide to withdraw from the program. So they can withdraw um but any uh time that they had contributed to the
bank is irrevocable and once they withdraw they are not eligible to reapply ever. Um let's see added uh that the uh grievance um if if somebody's not grieved that's
the wrong word but if somebody um is dissatisfied with the decision of the committee that they can appeal to the select board who would hear the matter in executive session and that would be the final um final decision. no further um appallet or grievance procedure
beyond that. and then also um added some language. Um if you look at number seven under benefits and benefit eligibility um there was some questions around what if somebody does not need 2 weeks of
consecutive time but they have a situation that requires kind of continued check-ins. And so I just called out specifically an example of it. So let me just read this whole section. Um, no less than two weeks of work time may be requested by an
applicant from the bank and no more than 30 days may be granted from the bank to any one applicant at a time. In most instances, so I added that in most instances, the time off must be used in consecutive days and weeks. Exceptions may be granted in circumstances
such as for employees who take repeated blocks of 2 to three days off at a time to undergo treatment such as chemotherapy. Members who request but do not use more than two work weeks of time may return unused time to the bank. I had a couple questions on that one. Sure.
So one, how do you define a work week? So the work week is whatever their normal whetheral Yeah. Whether it's 40 or two shifts or or 4 days or 5 days. Is that okay? Cuz we're we're doing it based on individual days. So it's individual's work week.
Mhm. Um the other thing is I would be in favor of if you request 2 weeks but so 10 days but you only you use eight. It says may return unused time. I would say
must return unused time. That's I would be in favor of okay recalling any unused time, you know. So, the way I have it drafted right now is that you'd only return time over two weeks.
So, if you requested more than two, but you'd have to use the bank time for two weeks. Cuz what I'm trying to avoid and is that we don't want people to go to the bank for 2 days, 4 days. We want you to go to for that longer two
work weeks. Yeah. So, I'm trying to allow it to be given back but kind of mandate that the the floor is still 2 weeks. So, that's what I was trying to do with there that said members who request but do not use more than two more than two.
Um, but I see that that doesn't really help us, right? It was the may unused time was the the part that I didn't feel right to me. So if they request uh you know a month
but they recover quicker and they're cleared to return to work, right? Then they must return. The unused time should get returned. What about for the people who request 3 weeks and only use 3 days? Should they still return at all? I mean cuz you're taking it from the bank. It's
it doesn't really prevent the issue that I was trying to solve. Yeah. I don't know how you get out of that. I don't know how to work around that. Okay. So members, so then members who request but do not use time must use must return shall return unused time to bank. Mhm.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. I don't see why they wouldn't return the days, right? It doesn't help, right? Yeah. Yeah. If you're if you're taking it from the bank, you need to use it, right? Um so
are you um still having any ongoing conversations about this or is this really It is on your plate. So, any other questions? There's there's one edit, Jen, on um under sick leave bank committee
number three. Oh, yeah. I caught that one, too. The town manager that applications I think it's the town manager will accept applications. Maybe it's talking about Oh, we'll announce that applications will be we'll announce we'll announce
okay by April 25th. We'll announce here they're available. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. TM will announce. Thank you. Yeah, I forgot to mention that. I saw that. Um All right. Anything else for tonight?
I know folks haven't seen this in a while and it's Yeah, I mean if if you need to read it through again. I think the questions I had before that I sent you earlier were were all addressed. Okay. So, do members want some more time to review this and then we can pick it
up again and then potentially approve it? I'm good with it. Yeah, I'm good. Mhm. Glenn. Yeah, that's fine. All right. Great. As am I. Um with the changes we discussed with the changes discussed. Now, here's
another one like the So, when do we want to start this? So, um, should have started July 1st, but we made an intentional decision to not. Um, do we want a bright line that it's
going to start January 1st, or do you just want me to start implementing October 1st? Yeah. Well, what do you what do you think would work better for implementing it? Does it really matter? No, the first year is just going to be funky anyways because of the non I mean, the easiest the easiest thing is that
we'd start at next fiscal. Well, yeah, I know. That would be the absolute easiest thing. Um, so if not that, cuz that's a really long time to wait. It doesn't really matter. Okay. Well, what do members think? November 1st. So, no impact on eligibility, making it
easier, harder depending on the start when we start this. What do you mean? Yeah. Um, the enrollment people who are eligible in the enrollment period. So we started October 1st.
Yeah, we'll just have a funky open enrollment that it'll be open for the same what was it 15 days June 1st. We'll have a the first Yeah, I guess if we wanted to be super specific in the motion that um the first open enrollment
will run from November 1st to November 15th for this initial and then after that we'll run according to the policy something like that. How do members feel about that? Do we want to change the start date or the open enrollment at all?
If you open it in November, does that mean they're going to be giving up a day say in November and then in July? They would. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. So, they'd give up one this fiscal, one next fiscal or two. Two, right? Mhm.
So, the two that they would have given up had we started it on July 1st, right? for the two that we would that they they'd be giving up the ones in November that they would have given on July 1st had we started this for July 1st and then Jul the next July 1st is for the other two for the second fiscal year.
Right. I think we may need to form this the committee sick leave bank committee before we start this. Oh yeah, we should have that in place before someone submits a request. Okay. Do we
so you can approve the policy but not have an implementation date until we until the formation of the the committee and the documents are prepared for the enrollment. Okay. So want to hold off on the open enrollment.
We're going to hold off on open enrollment approve the policy. Let's stand up the committee. Okay. And then we'll announce the open enrollment. I wonder day two. I wonder do all that after. Yeah. I wonder if the donation of the day should be half of what it what an
annual wand would be because we're already in looking at November. Well, I think it's beneficial to do the full day cuz it still gets the bank going. Right. Right. It doesn't make it fair for people who are if you half it then the next round of people that come in, they have to give
two and everybody on the initial only had to give one. So, I'm just thinking for the fiscal year, like if they're giving two in June or July versus No, they can always enroll during open enrollment. Real open enrollment
next if they don't want to join now. Okay, that's true. But once you join, once you join, you can't rejoin, right? But if they were worried about that giving up like Yeah, the two the two they can join during open enrollment. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, it
sounds like we should question. Oh, yes. So, is this basically designed to get someone who may go to like long-term disability? Like, is this like a a bridge? A bridge. So, my question is, is there a a max? Is there a cut off?
Uh there's not a cut off. No. So there it's 30-day increments at a time. But if you had certain employee could once the if ultimate cut them up cut off would be the either committee stops granting sick
leave bank time or the bank is um depleted but the committee would have the discretion to continue that. I mean you you are contemplating that this is not going to be used
in a typical year. This is for out outlier events that typically are more serious and long-term. Yeah. I've I've personally I've seen um sick banks not uh support a request
because it was a long-term disability. That definitely could happen. Okay. So, we can vote on approving the policy tonight. We probably shouldn't set an effective date or an open enrollment until we get the committee going,
right? Just adopt it to but not enact it. Right. Yeah. Okay. Um, so is there any other discussion or is there a motion then? So the motion is to adopt adopt the sick bank sick leave bank policy
with the changes discussed tonight um to be implemented at a later date once the sick leave bank committee is in place. Sure second. All right. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Up next,
discussion on acceptance of gift policy. Uh so we left this off um pretty much being okay with uh where we were at. We just never voted on it. Um so we can discuss it still if we'd like. Nothing has changed here. I have to apologize. I totally thought
that we had adopted this and I went back to give it to somebody and I said it doesn't have the adopted date on it and right somehow I thought we did too. I thought we voted on it. I we didn't. Um so is there any any discussion on this? Um,
or can we just adopt it? No changes since the last time. Not at this. No. Nope. I'm good. Okay. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion that we adopt the section 3.11 gift policy
adopted on September 2nd, 2025. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passed unanimously and uh the policy is actually adopted this time. Okay. Minutes, warrants, and action items. So,
review and approve minutes of tri board meeting for July 8th, 2025. So, I guess we can start there. Um any discussion on that? Any changes? Okay. Hearing none, we can go on and then just approve them all together. And
then select board regular session meetings. So we have September 3rd, 2024, October 8th, 2024, July 1st, 2025, July 15th, 2025, and August 5th, 2025. In in August 5th, there's it's just like
a a typo. Uh the correction after adjourn. It says motion to adjourn uh meeting, not close public hearing. I think it hasn't swapped it yet. What page, Glenn? Um, it is the August
5th. Yep. Oh, motion to adjurnn. Yeah, it says motion to adjurnn. Oh, okay. Oh, yep. Oh, yep. It just looks like it's a cut and paste from All right.
[Music] Okay. All right. Any other changes? All right. Is there a motion to approve all of these sets of minutes? Do I have to read all the dates? Okay. I move to approve the what are
there? Six sets of minutes. Yeah. As printed on the agenda as printed on uh tonight's agenda. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Warrants. Do we have any warrants tonight?
We do not. We do not. Action items. Any action items? All right. Hearing none. Committee reports. Uh, agricultural commissions. Um, farmers market. It's the 12th. That'll be the last one for the season. I
believe the fair is the 27th. They're both at TCP, the fair as well as the farmers market. Um, library trustees are coming up and meeting in September. Open space is meeting tomorrow night. Planning board is still operating
without the lane use director, but I do see it is as mentioned earlier tonight being advertised. Um, Matthew Brener, the chair, was assigned to the municipal building design committee as their representative. Uh, and the master plan steering committee, of course, is
waiting for our um or everybody's feedback, commissioning, boards. Uh, the MMO um did a presentation, went to a meeting last week, virtual meeting, and they did a presentation on the draft safety
action plan. Um, it was voted to forward that plan to the public comment phase and as you described before the people who two-tier above me weren't there so I was actually voting. I have no idea. Oh wow. Was going on but we voted for
that doesn't happen often. You're the alterate alter. I think you had said don't worry. I know. That's funny. Of course happened to you. So, there were there were a couple of capital projects on there listed for Lunenburgg on Lemonster Road and Electric A that we'll have to
forward to I guess the uh DPW director, but that's it. Cool. The school committee meeting uh is tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. here. Uh and the board of assessors is 6:30 tomorrow and
they are still looking for one member. That's live. I don't have any. Okay. So, for the Council on Aging, this morning I attended an event uh to induct a resident into the Century Club, uh which is the club in town for residents
over 100 years old. I believe there's five or six members now. Um so, Francis Theion uh turned 100 years old on August 29th. She has been a lifelong member of the Girl Scouts of America and scores of Lunenberg girls remember her as their Girl Scout leader. She was a member of
the United Parish for 70 years and a member of the Lunberg Women's Club for 60 years. She has been part of the fabric of our community. Uh and it was a truly wonderful event. I I really love doing these things. Uh it's so great to meet uh the residents who are being honored and uh it was great meeting
Fran. Uh I don't know if she watches our meetings at all. Uh but if she does, I'd like to congratulate her again on her 100th birthday and uh on joining the Century Club. Uh the capital planning committee is having our first meeting tomorrow as a town manager uh announced
earlier and the bylaw review committee is holding its first meeting as well on Thursday. All right, upcoming meetings. We are going to be meeting September 9th. I will not be here. And then uh our next meeting after that is September 23rd. And then September 30th is a tri board
meeting. Public comment. Is there any public comment from the public? Mr. Bowen. [Music] Mr. Nolo. How are you? I'm well. How are you? Name and address?
Yeah, pretty good. I just like lost an internet connection, then it showed up. It was very weird. So, I just wanted to touch base on a couple of things if you don't mind. Mr. Bowen, your name and address for the record. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Forgive me. Uh John Bowen, 162 Island Street.
Uh so you just lost a finance director, uh which is our town accountant. Um so now my question is is how are these books going to work? Um it's amazing that there are financial issues here in town. Uh and we need to know as citizens
where is the legal and financial accountability. Mr. Scullum brainy and myself uh individually uh and I won't speak uh on behalf of my board uh of which I am elected to because that wouldn't be appropriate at this time uh
are you know wondering where the forensic accounting is uh with regard to the financial issues in town. Um the budget task force uh that Renee Emky was on as well uh was in agreement to that and that hasn't been looked at by your board. We'd like it to be able to be
looked at. Uh let's get into the understanding of policy and finance here in town because I don't think that it's very well organized. Uh in that respect um I'd also like to ask uh for a financial evaluation uh as a suggested
warrant article. Uh that would be uh requesting that a financial uh forensic accountant come in as a warrant article and we all lot for that cost and put it before the people to whether or not they think that that is warranted. The other issue that I wanted to talk about was the personnel committee. Um, I'd like to
begin by explaining the history of that. That was actually as a result of the civil service law in 1884. Okay? And for us to be able to take away a personnel committee and give power to the executive would be an anathema to the actual uh organization of that
particular structure. And I'm totally against that. You can do your uh historical research on that before making your decision uh with regard to removing that committee. uh that committee prevents political influence over the hiring process. Um as far as
you spoke about advertising different things in town. What about a banner on electric a and one on whom uh in whom and one on Massav that says vote today on a voting day? What about advertising for that? We have 13,000 residents but
1,400 people showing up. And the last issue is the temporary housing issue with trailers. the they're not talking about camping trailers, but maybe a double wide for a family to be able to live in a space to build a home on maybe a piece of land that does not have a home on it or somebody rebuilding a
home. Uh the limitation should be part of a full construction plan with regard to that and that should obviously be under the planning board. However, it should include in that particular kind of policy, it should include the resale or removal of the tempor temporary
structure over a period of time. And those are just the issues with regard to your meeting that you had this evening. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Bowen. And I'm seeing no other public tonight, uh, either in person or on Zoom. Any public comments from the town manager? No.
Any public comments from the board? No. No. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn at 9:02 p.m. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously and the select board is
adjourned. Have a good night everyone. Adult activity center for outdoor. Are they do they mean expanding for the seniors or do they