good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the lunenberg select board today is Tuesday April the 9th please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all in accordance to the requirements to open meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being recorded in broadcast live over the lunberg public access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to lunberg access YouTube channel after the meeting the agenda list 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 for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law we're to begin this evening with public comments do we have any public comments from the board this evening um Franco oh did you have something all right uh I just wanted to uh make a quick announcement um to the public uh what started off as a joke as a post on Facebook has now turned into a useful thing uh there's a collection if you have your eclipse glasses we're collecting them all up in one single location at the library and then we're going to ship them out to a collection point in Utah a uh an entity out there is going to be mailing them to South America so that kids down there can see the Clips in October so if you have them bring them there all right I would just say Mr chair it was an amazing event I hope you people got a chance I know I I was up North but uh I know it was a little bit overcast here but it was quite an amazing event and you know I've been through partials and never a total so we were in the path of totality and it was an incredible experience I have to say all right any other public comments from the board all right here here on all of that do we have any public comments from the public this evening Mr buron Circle would you mind just repeating that after mic yes George Burton 39 Courtland Circle just coming down to to uh you know my three minutes that I have for um the persecution that you did Mr Jeff and Mr Franco I'll call it honestly it was the whole whole board but um Mr Jeff I understand you um own a a property management company um and and use a firm that you had mentioned to me in December of 22 called moradi Bellon and um I don't quite know how to say it but it's BLM um I find it very strange that our HOA our village at flat hill Association after 20 years of having a the probably one of the best HOA firms in the in the in the state has now gone and used this firm um very similar you know same firm and we you know the troubles we've been going through um it's just kind of very interesting that it's it's using the same firm I wonder if it's the actual same attorney that we're having um you know issues with as well but um Mr Franco you know you're an attorney I've understood as well and um do you think it was morally and ethical um of you persecuting my family with Mr Jeff fre on on January 9th do you feel that appropriate comments did you want to say something to me and my family directly because we were not here and I think it was very inappropriate of what you did to our family and you you do not answer questions I've understood but sometimes I do see you guys answer questions you don't have to tonight but you can see that I was very upset back when I heard first heard this I'm starting to calm down a little but there's a lot of problems here um as I've asked requests from the town for um the library to prove some of the issues that theyve been given to the police um false information I'll call it um and it can be proved by videos from the library I was told I was given a video clip and then I asked for additional Library clip and I was told by the town that there's security issues that you can't give out um the video clips from the library however I was told by the librarian he's given it out the librarian's given out video clips to multiple individuals previously I'm kind of interested why I'm getting denied when this video clip can prove that um lies are being told to the lunenberg police about my family it's very interesting you know all all of this is very interesting there'll be more to come as I get my 3 minutes in um at these public meetings but there will be more to come it was unfortunate that you guys chose to persecute me at a at a uh select meeting in my family and it's caused a lot of distress and a lot of emotional distress to my whole entire family with three beautiful daughters um on Honor Society it's had a big effect on them that you guys seem not to care but you know what we'll get to the bottom of it and it's it's very honestly very disgusting and a hideous situation that's occurred from every single one of you except for probably SE I don't think you commented on it but all other five of you have commented on it Mrs uh you know we don't get any comments back from you ton manager nothing nothing no help we went to you in in October of thir 31st of 2022 asking you about this situation you totally ignored us totally ignored us I'll leave it at that and we'll be down more often thank you Mr Burton for your comment I I will take the opportunity to clarify that I have absolutely no familiarization with the company you just referenced I'm not affiliated with them I don't own them I've never worked for them I don't know who works for them the first time I heard of them was tonight during your public comment so do we have any other public comments from the public this evening any other public comments from the public all right any announcements this evening oh we have a public comment for Mr Bowen Mr Bowen on uh Zoom Mr Jeff thank you sorry about that I thought I hit um the hand sorry about that so I just want to make a quick comment um as you know that I have commented numerous times with regard to uh certain reimbursement funding uh for the cemetery commission and uh that belongs to the town um I want to say that I have uh done uh a substantial review um and I've also had uh a a relatively decent convers ation with uh Mr U Clark uh regarding some situations uh after his appointment I just want to make mention that um the graves from 1700 to 1800 actually belong to the care and custody of the town the town is to care for all Graves 17 and 1800 which if you use the raymaker program and and the and uh use the Direction you can see that there's probably about 2,500 or so Graves maybe 2,700 I don't have the exact number in front of those graves are to be cared for by the town um if we're talking that each grave site based on its Dimensions is 45 Square fet which would roughly be you know uh I think you can figure that out for yourself the exact numbers um and then the cost for the care of those um that should come out of the town for those folks because there's nobody to take care of those dead that are interred there however the people who have passed after the fact I'd say from 1900 on forward there's still family around so forth and Perpetual care is supposed to be the funding that's used for the caring of those particular uh Graves that are not between 17 and 1800 masteral laws Chapter 15 Section I'm sorry chapter 114 section 15 is quite clear about reimbursement and if you read the last sentence you know maybe you should uh consult the attorney who sits on your board for legal writing and Mr Jeff yourself has inexperienced and obviously um awarded individual um who has an understanding of uh statute law in the direction of that uh you see that there's a restricted modifier on the last sentence of chapter uh 114 section 15 where it says uh that the town shall be reimbursed for any Town money and that's a benefit because our school needs it and if we could be reimbursed from the sale of lots from the cemetery commission for work that the DPW is doing uh we could actually cut down the budget um uh you know appropriately and be able to take that money and use it somewhere else or since you cut the DPW budget you could use that in the dpw's budget to be able to manage and maintain other things and I just wanted to call attention to that that the way the law is written there's a comma before the word or and the sentence after that is not a complete sentence which means that as a restricted modifier that is in addition to so anybody that understands legal writing which Mr Franco I know you understand Mr Jeff I'm sure you've read plenty of Statute uh you understand exactly how restricted modifiers work with regard punctuation in the use to conjunctions so I just wanted to make clear so Mr pasos uh who thought that he could make a uh uh a uh uh point of order not as a member of the cemetery commission board one day when I raised that issue uh as well as you know issues of reading letters that come from the DPW directly in their entirety for a full understanding not cherry-picking as the Cemetary commission seems to want to do with everything I just want to make mention that you know when you look at these things in a totality okay the Town tax money that gets used okay when a when an organization such as the cemetery commission has over $200,000 mind wrapping up on the public sure I will I will when they have over $200,000 okay in a burial rights fund and they're asking the towns for us to pay for I'm going to tell you right now the price family and the Proctor fam uh I'm talking about Irene Proctor and K Proctor family family have lots Irene Proctor is a price she is the great aunt of my wife and um the price family has nine Lots if I don't have 2 and2 Ines of grass cut on my Lots your new rules and regulations are a breach of contract and we will be having a discussion about that and I promise you if there's a divot in my lot or there is Bare Grass in these lots that belong to the price family and the proor family I will be sure to make sure that I notify the town that they're in breach a contract to their new rules and regulations I just wanted to clarify that as well as give the information with regard to chapter 114 section 15 thank you very much Mr Jeff for your time thank you Mr Bowen for the public comment this evening do we have any of the public comments on Zoom before we go to announcements seeing none we're going to go to announcements do we have any announcements this evening yes we do um the tax bills the proof has been sent to the the printing company so after weeks of trial and error of working with our vendor accounting system vendor Tyler Technologies and working through all the errors that we were encountering um the staff worked diligently uh with the support team there we finally have worked through all those errors so the file is with the printing company that means they should be mailed by the 16th Due on May 16th any questions related to that announcement all right any additional announcements all right we're going to Communications from other boards um I see Mr Allison in attendance representing the a uh agricultural commission Mr Allison good evening thank you for the invitation thank you um so the uh the email was four items to discuss the 20 24 Market how we how we the select board I assume can be helpful generally uh Administration requirements and challenges and goals for the year um so that's all I wrote down um that I brought with me the um I'm not sure we're going to have a farmers market this year we've had uh two meetings thus far and um the the uh the commission has walked out of our March 7th meeting um when we had one new applicant to uh in in interest in membership and we had another applicant we had two applicants there actually interested in helping us manage the market um and uh before we even got past that item um for whatever reason uh members got up and walked out uh I've not been able to I I've reached out to the clerk to get the minutes that had been taken uh have no response I've not had any communication with any of the other Commissioners um in the past um and just to give you some background I've been involved with the agricultural commission since it's been a thing here in town uh about 2013 I believe and we got the market control in 2014 or 15 uh and I've been in personally involved in the market since that time and um we have always gotten the rules and regulations done uh at the latest by February and gotten them out because vendors typically want to get that squared away um so it it's unfortunate um but it does not appear that we will be able to have a market this year and if we do it will be uh seat of the pants so to speak um what does what does that mean it will not be it will not be as well vetted as previous markets uh the members the vendors uh I'm not sure who will be able to get to vend this year uh last year we had uh problems with getting uh vegetable vendors um we get into it a little bit further uh the town of lunenberg is is an agricultural community and has been forever um we have a a large number of very successful uh self- sustaining uh self-operating at their own property farms for these Farms to come to the lunberg farmers market they would be losing money they would have to pay somebody they would have to get a vehicle they would have to spend the time at the market all things would be losing them money by not being able to focus on their own Market where where where they've already got a successful business going I can't blame them at all for that and and it's been a challenge because um that's what lunenberg is we're an agricultural community and there are a good number of businesses in agriculture and you know it it doesn't make Financial sense for them to come to the farmers market it would be great if they wanted to to help and promote but I can't blame them for making a financial decision which is what it appears to be um you know I I I uh I probably said a little more than I should have to Griffin Stillman uh at one point because he kept he just kept telling me uh every every question I had to him was we just need people to come to the farm and this is a few years back and um I asked him how he could be so myopic and he that apparently it made him unhappy um but now I realized that his response was The Logical reasonable response and and and I apologize to Griffin for having made that statement um Mr Allison do you think it would be beneficial for us to schedule an appointment with the agricultural commission at our next um meeting on the 23rd I I'm not able to get a agricultural commission meeting going with the Commissioners um I'm not sure what that would help I guess when I'm so part of of of the request you know for you guys to pres be here tonight was from me in which I was asked for an update just on where we're at with the farmers market it was an update on just generally anything that we can do to be helpful uh the select work can be helpful uh any update on um any administrative requirements you know I know that um you know we're any any information about administrative requirements that you guys have so that way as we think ahead and we plan ahead that we can have that on the Forefront of the mind um and and I don't recall what my fourth one was at this time but it may be helpful given that this is conversation will likely be a conversation to schedule a joint um schedule a time to discuss this in more detail very good um I I would like to make one more comment about the the the the help that we've received um since 2013 has been aside from the market being posted on the sign board in front of the Ritter which I don't believe has anything to do with this group um the announcements have been made about the Farmers Market uh fairly regular and I appreciate that um however there have been numerous requests and numerous comments and discussions that have gone nowhere uh about potentially using the TC pasos working with the Lions Club to have so to speak permanent space uh where we could have an extended Seasons we could offer different things um the agricultural community in town that I know of personally is not real happy with the town because the town does not seem to support them and us um you know and and and the one last comment that I'll make is I think it was about three years in a row I was chair of the Agricultural commission and chair of the planning board and in 2018 there was a bond bill for a million dollars I uh I numerous times tried to get assistance from town manager from the land use director uh from anybody I could cuz I don't know anything about Bond bills I know nothing about that in fact I I really don't like being a politician I really don't it's not comfortable it doesn't feel right I don't like it it's not it's it's it's it's something that I that I get rewarded for for doing but uh it it's not only that it there wasn't help but there was push back and I don't understand if the state is telling us they've earmarked a million dollars for us and all we got to do is ask for it that was the only help that I asked for and and it got denied it got denied it got pushed back and eventually I just my emails stopped being responded so um I would appreciate some future date to have further discussion if um if we can get that that would be great all right we'll Target the 23rd um of April and then I will reach out to you separately which I know I need to do anything really ah okay all right mat I would appreciate that okay anytime thank you thanks mat thank you to the m thank you Mr congratulations thanks all right we're going to go to our appointments um section of the agenda so we have a presentation so I'll refer over to oh I see we have the water district Mr Burch Communications from other boards thank you I'll be brief Mark bur Tony Buttonwood Place uh chairman of the board of lunenberg water Commissioners this is just kind of uh a regular update that we'd like to be open and share with the board and the town um currently you'll see the guys out flushing the hydrants uh this this helps to maintain water quality ensure that all the components of the system's working um my other uh real reason for coming tonight is to just highlight some specific dates we have coming um we we have several public meetings scheduled uh to talk about p and our P master plan and how to mitigate it uh these dates are we actually have one tomorrow uh at 6:30 at the water district and we have one 11 April 11th which is Thursday at 12:00 p.m. and we have another one April 25th at 6:30 this will be at the lunberg high school uh there are three larger large groups that are involved with this process so we we didn't really separate them uh these are all public meetings anybody from The public's uh welcome to come to them uh but we designated and sent invitations to residents of Hickory Hills for tomorrow night um April 11th at 12:00 p.m which is noon time is for Town departments and town boards and elected officials um and April 25th is the CommunityWide at the lunenberg high school any one of these meetings just because you're not highlighted as a group uh any any Resident of lunenberg is welcome to attend uh this is all trying to get the information out there and have the discussions prior to uh our goal is to have a May 16th 6:30 uh meeting at the lunenberg high school to vote to appropriate the srf fundings uh the srf funding for uh remediation of pasas uh we also have a few dates before that we have our regular board meetings um we have a regular board meeting one scheduled tomorrow um it was moved from 400 pm to 5: P pm and then we also have Wednesday April 24th at 400m and May 8th before the the the meeting that we have on the 16th which are all uh open to the public as well um we also have seen uh we we've heard that reports that the EPA intends to announce a final maximum contaminant level for p um tomorrow hopefully we'll see how it goes they've been pushing that down the road for quite a while but um we've we've heard some from pretty credible sources that we will be hearing something on that and um currently their their projection is four parts per trillion down from 20 parts per trillion so that's all I got right thank you very much have a good evening any questions any comments from the board uh you you were just recently reelected right I was congratulations I just wanted to congratulate you on that thank you thank you very much and and we're really encouraging the public and everybody to attend ask the questions it's it's a lot of money we realize that the town right now has a everybody is feeling a crunch um but this is something that we' worked very hard to get on the front end of and and and we feel that working together with the D and our engineering firm that we we have a a good plan to put forward so thank you very all right I'm going to turn over to representative kushmer thank you Mr chairman uh I'm pleased to be joined uh this evening uh by my colleague in the house representative Margaret Scarsdale uh and state Senator John Cronin uh as always uh when we do something we do it together want to start over again uh as always when we do something as a delegation um when we do something uh we always try to do it as one delegation and speak with one voice uh and when we arrived at this decision it was um it was certainly a unanimous one and uh and and we wanted to do it as uh really as a group so uh each year uh the Massachusetts black and Latino legislative caucus uh puts forward a call for nominations for black Excellence on the hill to recognize black and brown communities uh across the Commonwealth and asks delegations to come together to nominate recipients uh who demonstrate Excellence uh in a variety of forms uh whether it's through creativity uh and producing Arts uh whether it's leadership uh in governments uh or in society uh whether it's uh through religious uh leadership uh public leadership industry leadership uh uh or any other form the idea is to not only lift up our communities of cult uh and to recognize them for excellence uh in in its every form uh but also to demonstrate to the Next Generation what they can Aspire towards who they can lift up as their leaders uh and and look to for for sources of inspiration uh of what's already being done in our own communities and so uh as a as a delegation we put forward uh one of luneberg's own uh and one of the select board's own uh in Michael Ray Jeff's uh for excuse me for the 2024 black Excellence on the hill uh and by any objective standard uh Michael Ray Jeff is somebody that uh is worthy and deserving of recognition uh in truly every form uh but as somebody who has served our nation uh as a combat veteran as somebody who stepped up uh to do the critical work uh as a select board member uh these are difficult jobs uh and not enough people are willing to step forward uh and and do that work uh and and to serve the hours and and put in the dedication uh and then through your industry leadership standing up and uh serving as a vice president with mass developments uh and really ensuring that our communities are lifted up and served equitably uh across the Commonwealth and fighting for economic development and Community Development Across Ross every sector uh of Massachusetts but most particularly here in north central Massachusetts uh where through your work and Leadership uh we're seeing tremendous growth and opportunity uh and so for all of those reasons uh and and for all of your leadership um both mentioned uh previously uh and not for all of the other intangibles that you do uh and for lifting up our not only our communities of color but but the town of lunenberg uh across all uh of M Massachusetts uh we want to commend you and we want to recognize you with the 2024 black Excellence on the hill so with that I would like to welcome you forward uh Senator Cronin has a citation from the Senate and representative Scarsdale and I have a citation from the House of Representatives all right this is where we have to shower you withit where hases and Air Force uh but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the House of Representatives be hereby known well at the Massachusetts house offers it sincerest congratulations to Michael Ray Jeff and recognition of being the third wer District's recipient for the black Excellence on the hill Awards and and the entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for Future Good Fortune and continued success in all Endeavors this is given this 9th day of April 202 for at the State House in Boston Massachusetts signed by Ronald Mariano speaker of the Massachusetts house uh and presented by representative Margaret Scarsdale and myself thank you congratulations congratulations and Michael Ray I have some Hardware from the Massachusetts Senate for you I hope it has a place of honor in your house but on a personal note um that the work you've done for the town and the impact that you've had is is enormous and I'm I'm grateful for the the Partnerships and the relationships we have with uh with you Heather and with every member of the board but I I personally I know I'm going to miss you and I know how hard this work is and uh and I just want you to know that on behalf of the delegation we're grateful for your partnership and everything you've done for this town so thank you [Applause] I thank you I want to take a moment I'll address it from here to my colleagues on the select board first and to the town manager you know although this recognition is directed towards me it cannot be done without the work of all of us um we are a team I think we've worked as a team uh we disagree from time to time and we still work our way through what needs to be done for the community um I accept this honor but again with the understanding that it's teamwork that allows our community to be better to to be better than we were yesterday to have vision for tomorrow um and I just want to thank all of you for your work to our community sincerely and from the bottom of my heart so thank you I also want to thank those in attendance I know that um you know stepping into this role and I want to again thank our delegation stepping into this role has obviously been challenging um I've I've recognized that you know we often don't think of I hope that most people don't think of race often in their lives um that it shouldn't always be on the Forefront but I recognize that in our community you know and I I've I've been very honest about my family lineage and me being from the ancestry of slaves I think many people in my lineage that came before me have only hoped that there would be a day in which they or their descendants were able to stand equally with others so I want to thank the community for its Embrace and I want to thank everyone for all their support thank you we love you [Music] [Applause] you put us in recess yes uh I'm going to take the wheel long enough to uh say we're going to go into recess for 3 to 5 minutes while people clear out and all of that we'll return in 3 to 5 minutes hello again I am yeah of course buy okay yeah sounds good all right cool yeah take care yeah you too thank you I I you in front yeah you get the hold the class sign I feel it bece he goes into the back he like I'm not jokes you guys we go exactly wow what feel that incline right there oh yeah I know there's like a no there's some work that has to be done you may have read about it she's going over the uneven the floor like this work that like walk on the hall like [Music] this know congratulations [Music] fundraiser fundraiser no ratifications we not doing ratifications okay uh they Cory's are pendant oh [Applause] I'll make a motion to return call it a night we're almost on schedule so the the only difference of they had this state oh oh going to say just like you ask just like you that's way it is nothing gets why they original agenda on the 18 no no no on the agend it's the 22nd the rain there's like a big thing like that everyone just it so noisy him like look at your yeah I know I was like I was leaving the home I was like especially compared to last like the exact opposite all right to the booth ready should be early tonight but then I saw a room full of people I was like oh did I miss something thank you thank you all right we're going to resume our meeting and we're going to go to our 7:30 uh hearing uh this is a special event license for the car show fundraiser on May the 22nd from the Turkey Hill Family Lions Club thought I was going to have all these people here putting me on Don Johnson 357 Lancaster Al I'm here representing the Turkey Hill Lions Club but also um the car show is um going to be a collaboration with your permission uh with the PTO and also the boys and girls club we would like to do do something that's a community event something that's a lot of fun maybe everybody can raise a little bit of money but mostly it's for fun um before covid the Police Association used to do a car show they did it for several years and it was always a good time so what we are proposing is to uh close down Memorial Drive all the way down to the end of TC pasos um and then the circle area the cars would be in the circle and then going up the road um the lion club wants to set up and sell hot dogs hamburgers that kind of thing the PTO would like to do some kids games the Boys and Girls Club also some kids games um we're hoping maybe we get a firetruck Hank to come the library is on board they'd like to do something um maybe bring in um Kona Ice if the boys and girls club don't try to do that themselves we're not looking at a million outdoor outside vendors um mostly it's going to be just us organizing it um we have permission from all the powers that be the police the fire the highway um the school uh the library and the Board of Health have all uh come back and said they have no problem so um just need your our blessing all right thank you do we have any comments or questions from the board no I agree that there used to be a great event and I'm glad to see somebody's putting a group of a group of organizations are doing it so I'd love to see at a great again event again all right is there a motion I would make a motion that we approve the request for the special event license for the car show fundraiser as presented on May 22nd um from what the hours 4: to 8:00 p.m. 4 to 8:00 p.m. second any additional discussion is there a rain date the rain date is the next Wednesday the 29th yes I I'm not a car person but I'm told that car people do not bring their cars out if it's raining you have that information correct from what I understand that's true okay all right we have a motion in a second any any additional discussion all right as many as are in favor with the motion please say those opposed no so congratulations you come next week you get a free set of steak knives by the way I just thank you very much thank you all right we have a next appointment right on time 740 toll booth fundraiser for uh request on May 18th from the pitb MR shiners Club in support of the Shiners Hospital Transportation fund good to see you again good evening I'm Carl Edmonds from the pittsbur and L Shrine Club and we're asking um if we could have permission again this year to do what we call a tow Booth uh or roadblock for the um at the intersection here massav and um Main Street um again this is uh the money goes towards the transportation fund where we transport um patients from all over the world um to do that usually cost anywhere between 40 and $80,000 because you have all specialized equipment so we're just looking for an opportunity to raise some money Mr chair yes this is the same one you've asked it's the same one we've done for the last two years you were the one who requested it right yes how did it go last year it goes excellent we probably we probably take in close to 2,000 $2,000 it's a great event I agree with you and it was last week's I'm sorry last week's total same day all right so I think the only the question or what we're looking at is we think we might have a conflict on that date um because we did approve last week to have a toll booth on the 18th okay so I'm just pulling up the times 8 to one all right let me just take a look at this sorry you I'll the top of your head do you know the times you're looking for before I was from 9 to 2 all right so let's going to overlap all right they're 8 to1 and you're requesting 9 to2 wait who did we approve uh Turkey Hill Lions Club last week kin was here M oh okay yeah the food pantry but but that was on Election Day I thought this is election day as well the 18th oh oh I'm sorry I'm looking at the previous 22nd okay yeah the 18th I'm sorry yeah yes we did do that okay so wait um wait this is 418 are we looking at the was 518 got it oh so it's April 18th April 18th no we're want to do it on May 18th okay CU okay does say dat event did we mess up no no the form says yeah the form says April 18 R says April 18th yes yeah no the 2024 I know it's May 18th cuz that's my birthday were you intentionally picking well let's were you intentionally picking election day no this is so you it had no correlation all right is there um is let me just pull up the paper but is there an alternative date that would work for you because again we did approve something already that I would need to go back okay with a group of guys to see yes you would okay okay cuz two things are wrong now not only one thing okay it's not only that we have a conflict is that the date that you asked for in the form is not the date you just asked for person no no it's May 18 is what we wanted okay all right so and then do I just resubmit the application yes yes okay with the updated date because yeah we're again we're all looking at the same thing here and you are looking just for the center of town correct that's it that's it all right so I mean I don't I don't have any concerns I mean I think we've typically I mean you guys have done this before or you haven't had any incidents you're familiar with the process everyone has on the vest you have the cones um so I don't I don't want to speak for my the fellow board but I don't expect that you're going to have any problems getting this approved um but do if you want to revise the date and come back to us um all right so does the board I do need to come back then well if I may ask my colleagues um well I mean let's put it this way I think I'm sorry Mr chair good ah do we need do we need um Carl to personally appear for us no you have to resubmit the form but there's you to be here in person although we are very personable people and always I know my comment but this is this is pass by bedtime wow okay well as it turns out it's past mine too so and that has never stopped me at any of the other meetings so if you resubmit the form you won't have to personally appear we can vote on the application as received okay right thank you all right thank you thank you conratulations thank you we'll look forward to getting that soon all right so next we have interviews appointments re appointments and resignations I'm going to turn to the town manager for that we do not have a town manager report and then after uh the town manager gives those updates we're going to turn to Old business this is looking like an 8:30 or earlier evening for us tonight I don't like it at all this we make it D it minority on that one so L Franco is gonna filibuster the the adjournments uh so this will make it shorter uh the ratification of the three appointments that are on the agenda for tonight are being tabled until the 23rd because we're pending uh documentation for quaries so that will be on the the 23rd those three appointments the resignation of the police Public Safety coordinator Amanda Moore and police officer Devon O'Brien uh this just an announcement Amanda's last day was last Thursday um and that position has been posted internally and that closes on on Thursday the uh officer O'Brien's position was also posted internally and that will um close or has closed sorry and that will be an appointment at the next uh meeting on the 23rd as well did if I may Mr chair for you to the town manager did the officer O'Brien let us know where he's going to he is going to the state police he's going to the state police okay wasn't it wasn't there announcement about that or just Okay MH so this is our second officer in a year to go to the State Police yes so hey we're we're filling up their Rings yeah can't compete yeah we've had employees um as well leave the town to go for state agencies as well well the state agencies aside from State Police are on a hiring freeze for the most part right now with waivers yeah right now all right any questions related to those updates from the town manager and I just want to um publicly thank Amanda Moore and officer O'Brien for their service to the town um it's truly been um very um wonderful to work with Amanda over the years she when I first came she was at the DPW as the DPW executive assistant there and had then moved on to the police department so we're she's going to be missed and uh she was a true asset to the community in her a role as an employee for the town so wish her the best thank and by all the appearances we may be seeing her back here again in another month or so um I also want to extend those things to Amanda as well I know Amanda you know is Lunenburg born and raised you know went through the school system as an as an honor student went off to college um graduated with honors um she's made significant contributions to community um and uh I'm happy to see that she's considering um well is currently on the ballot uh and will be continuing to offer her service to our community in a different capacity and certainly look forward to working with her in that capacity all right we're going to go now to Old business um do we have anything to discuss any board discussions as it relates to fiscal year 24 budget fiscal year 25 budget the capital plan or the uh warrant articles all right um to the town manager so consent calendar should we expect to discuss that on the 23rd or on the 30th the we can put it on both okay all right and as a reminder to those at home a consent calendar is when the select board and finance committee um and moderator uh we kind of go through some articles with the town manager identify the ones that we assume can be grouped together to pass as a group at town meeting um to help expedite the town meeting process and we call that the consent calendar uh and at town meeting if anyone wants to pull anything out you just ask to pull something out of the consent calendar all right we're going to go to current business so first on the current business is a notice of right of first refusal for 100 Howard Street for Lots 1 through 4 and this is relation to a conversion to residential um I see that Mr Cole is in attendance while not required to to speak would are you interested in giving us an overview of certainly and good to see you Mr Cole I haven't seen you in quite some time thank you good evening everyone uh Tanner Cole 100 Howard Street I'm the owner of the property um essentially uh we're asking you to um deliberate on right of first refusal this land has been in chapter roughly 5 years um I currently own 64 Acres there uh I've taken a small portion of it and divided it into four house Lots those lots are under agreement um we actually have one family looking to purchase three of the lots and build on two of them um and then the uh other lot lot two is going to a young couple that's looking to build their first home so um any questions I'm happy to answer them so just to clarify Mr Cole So based on my experience on the planning board as I recall uh how you've divided these Lots up and given the widths of the driveways which are right above that 50 ft at or above that 50 ft Mark that you would expect that there if the board chooses to not act on its first R of refusal and these sales go forward that the ability with our current zoning laws for these lots to be further subdivided don't exist is that their assumption corre correct okay yeah and and that's largely driven by the frontage requirements and here just to restate it Frontage requirements as annotated on our plans are 50 feet for one um roughly 52 for another uh 52.9 for another and there is one lot too which you have identified as being needed for um screening essentially and that's 131 but we know that with dividing that you're not going to have the right size yeah and the the um detail with the frontage requirement is that you cannot have more than 2 50ft frontages um separated in other words you need a to have a full Frontage lot then you can have two 50ft Frontage slots then you need to have a 100 foot Frontage lot um so you know this is basically the highest and best use of the land um the the way the lots are configured Lots one and three have passing perks lot two have passing perks lot four we never perk tested and that's the lot that they're looking to retain primary I mean they could theoretically perk it it it meets all the demential requirements but um that is all mature trees and screens it from the neighbors so I think ultimately Lots one three and four are G to be in common ownership so I don't foresee them acting on that but um no more than four Lots yeah and three likely buildable correct y y Tanner for me this is very straight forward I don't have any other questions okay thank you oh you don't have to leave yet I don't know if [Laughter] any so uh I as Tanner and I and again if any of other members have questions for Mr Cole but based on the rules I mean this is pretty straightforward in terms of what he can do they can't be further subdivided based on our current rules so this as Mr Cole noted is the highest and best use this is looking at them and really figuring out the best way it sounds like he has a pretty good plan of family members that want to live near each other they want to screen themselves and if that plan somehow Falls part someone else would gladly scoop these Lots up and make them available so the question before us is um is do we want to and again the request is only pulling these Lots out of chapter correct correct and so the request is you know for us because we're coming out of chapter we have the opportunity to um make a to buy them and if we choose not to purchase these Lots or request for the town to purchase them um then Mr Cole can proceed with his request to sell them so that's what's in front of us is do we want to act on the right of first refusal I'm inclined to not want to act on the right of first refusal as am I uh the planning board discussed it uh at length uh at their March 25th meeting and they didn't formally take a vote but they weighed all of the pros and cons and the pros that were there they all described as um minimal um and they were pretty much uh a majority favoring not um pursuing it and also the conservation commit didn't recommend it either so I just have a processed question um because I've never done this before uh it mentions the um intent notice of intent goes in addition to us planning board Conservation Commission State for or I saw that documentation also mention mentions Board of assessors and Town Council has it have they both reviewed this or weighed in yes okay it goes to count Town Council to the form as it meets the requirements of what's supposed to be submitted okay for the request and I didn't see anything from Board of assessors in in the folder but well that's just for taxes inter reers that's notification that it's a request to take that property out of chapter I would concur that I don't see any reason that we would want to pursue it so we should wave our right of first refus I do have a a technical question I mean this is residence B is that correct okay or is it out Ling um cuz I'm I'm I'm just interested about the 50 Foot because only because my driveway was 50 foot and we had to get a a you know a waiver from the the planning board with the zba I should say on ours and I just was wondering I thought we had changed that till the driveway with had to be wider Without You Know by right at least if you want to tan if you wouldn't mind is coming forward oh sure yeah um I mean this all went through planning just for my personal interest but there is a requirement that if you do a reduced Frontage you have to meet uh acreage requirements so you have to exceed the normal lot size I believe it's twofold so a 2 acre lot becomes a 4 acre lot if you're going to do the reduced Frontage okay um I'm not sure why you would have needed a special permit unless you were just under special permit a wave from zba because because the requirements I you know was like we had 50 and I think it was maybe we had 45 and it was supposed to be 50 at the time but I thought I that was that was 20 you know 25 years ago I thought we' increase the size I thought one of the planning board things was increase the the requirement the the width required for Frontage I thought we did that under under your tenure no that's not us that's not our that's not what we're being asked it's just personal interest I as far as the 61 taking it out of chapter and write a firsts so I have no problem waving that all right any other comments questions or motions uh just a pile on I mean I don't see a reason I I mean not to wave this also so I'm for waving it I don't see it uh you know waving it becoming at a future nightmare for the town and uh there's a lot of reasons we should be W weaving it in um you know Financial too so I'm also for waving it all right just a note because I don't think we mentioned it and I don't have the exact number but the four Lots in total would cost the town theoretically 400 and how much I believe it's 435 okay um total it should be in the packet but they it is that's not a huge markup over uh the assessment so all right I would move that the town the the board vote to weigh the right of first refusal on the four lots of 100 Howard Street as presented in our paperwork and by the applicant second all right we have a motion and a second I think I'm going to record that second as being Mr Franco um we have a motion in a second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I those oppos no um passes unanimously excellent thank you thank you Mr Cole for your continued work in town and for being a responsible business owner thank you thank you all right so we have um are we actually signing this um today mhm yeah all right that's what the big fer is yes that one's the the town meeting warrant and this is the town election warrant okay so I'm going to have a request for Annie going forward to put tabs on the T Pages we need to sign um so that would be helpful all right so we are going to start the process of signing our uh let me just get back to it first uh the warrant so we have multiple signatures uh on this warrant coming we have multiple warrant or multiple copies and thank you Annie for all your work that you do for us and for being a new member of the team and uh I say that as Pol LLY as possible it's just always helpful for me to tab the where signatures are needed but we certainly can look and read and it's not it's not required it would just be helpful probably have the easiest signature too six copies and all all right all right so the warrants are coming down and there's no tabs needed for this one all right so um excellent the next thing that's coming down is the warrant for the um the election warrant ex me this is compelling television why don't we just keep signing here roll straight into the next stuff we sign um I'm going to pass down two folders the big one is for the first thing we signed Renee and the second smaller one is for the ballot I'm just going to move straight into our other stuff that we're signing here tonight we have an accounts payable warrant the amount of $543 399 what's just oh pass R yeah all right so the account's payable warrant we have another accounts payable warrant the amount of 1,327 76115 we have a payroll warrant in the amount of $986,000 and then we have the victory Supermarket did did yeah we did vote on this last week um so Hanford also known as victory Distribution LLC Victory Distributors LLC satisfied their debts as it related to the Sewer uh and so I am passing this down for signature as well and I see that uh Caesar has already come in and signed on this one oh yes do all right so while we are doing those let's see minutes I did not have the opportunity to review the minutes so let's push those to next week uh warrants and we'll come back to action items and we're going to start with our draft turnover policy okay this is a policy that the finance director treasur collector and I have worked on together it is taken from uh the template that the department of of Revenue uses and our internal procedures as well as far as um because every Town's a little different of who things go to um this is something that we wanted to get out in front of with change over in staff to make sure that this in particular is something that staff knows the the written procedure and it's not just a verbal communication is the if I may ask uh is the I understand that there's a need to implement are we harmed by voting on this on the 23rd I don't think there's harm in waiting till the 23rd If the board wants to review it take longer yeah I'd like well review it I'd like to read it okay I'll review it after I read it the first time yeah I'd like to um I think it's I don't have I've read through this I don't have any concern but I do want to take another look at it it's a little meaty um so if it's okay with the board for us to push off any signing of this or approving until the 23rd we all in agreement yep y let's come to me okay any immediate questions or comments to the town manager all right okay action items any action items for the Town manager or board at large today so I would just comment I'm glad that Mr Allison was able to come in this evening uh the request was for um us to schedule a time with the whole board uh I think there you know it's a little alarming when you when you hear about a committee walking out of a meeting um to understand better um how we can be helpful um and then also hearing about the concerns about a farmers market Market moving forward um so I'm glad that Mr Allison was able to come tonight but I think I think it would be beneficial if we can have a um try to schedule a discussion on the 23rd any action items committee reports any committee reports the finance committee will meet this Thursday okay planning board will meet on the 22nd there hasn't been a meeting in a couple weeks they didn't meet last night no so they've been yeah um they've been having technical issues uh with like zoom and posting their meetings so I tried to watch two in early March and I couldn't find them anywhere uh so the last full meeting that was available online was the one on the 25th so I watched that one and then they briefly were present here last night to say that there would be no meeting and that the meeting on the 22nd would be restarting as normal what was the reason they had no meeting um I don't think the zoom link was correct so something about remote participation just not not being um as it should there were two agendas with two different Zoom links yeah Nota all right any other committee reports um school committee so they met last week and took a vote regarding arpa funds um I think we all got the the email um that they voted if the override passes they will return the arpa funds and um it turns out if the override passes they have two funding sources going to those line items so but they formally voted to say they would uh return the aror money excellent all good um so a Council on Aging met today at 9:30 uh discussed mostly recurring items uh you know gave an update on the senior tax relief uh where that stands on Beacon Hill right now talked about uh just just to highlight a few points uh how the Council on Aging uh uh and the adult Activity Center uh as a venue can be involved in the lunenberg 300th anniversary celebration that's that's a recurring topic upcoming events uh I'll announce because we're not meeting again until the 23rd uh uh coffee with the chief on uh April 19th uh at at 900 a.m. covid Clinic uh Monday April 22nd 3: to 6:00 p.m. and growing places it's a program to get fresh produce to people's homes uh that is well that's after our next meeting but that's Monday April 29th from 10: a.m. to noon so I'll probably wind up repeating that one uh and I think that's all Jane you got any additional thoughts you were there remember I think that hits the highlights pan pancake pancake breakfast oh yeah there's a pancake breakfast tomorrow right pancake breakfast tomorrow thank you 8 o'clock so thank you all right I have the um I don't know where this fits it's not really a committee report because it's not an assign committee is just something I took upon myself to do so I had a a meeting yesterday uh afternoon right before the eclipse actually uh we were making sure we were getting out of there in time so I we could be home for the time the start of the eclipse um and I met with the superintendent of monitech um and this this comes after um I met with their admissions um their admissions um counselor just to you know go over their admissions policy um this was probably two months ago and then I request to meet with the superintendent about 3 weeks ago and so this this was a scheduled meeting and what I wanted to get a better understanding of was was their admission practices um and and you know where this comes from um is I noticed that the amount of applicants that are going towards Monch are a little low compared to what I recall um and then I wanted to understand their process for applying in light of our delegation specifically Senator Cronin and and representative K Merrick um following legislation to go to an all Lottery system and so I wanted to get a better understanding before you know endorsing or signing on to what they're proposing of how monitech actually admits so Lunenburg is somewhat blessed privileged and that our acceptance rate is close to like 80 something percent I think it's like 88% actually so most of the kids who apply actually get in whereas they gave me their sheet across the 18 communities that contribute to Monte Tech and the average is less than 50% uh and several communities the exception rate is like 30 something per. um and so something I learned and I would I'm mentioning this um to you seleman m to bring back to the school committee is that they noted that Lunenburg is one of three three is one of the three communities out of the 18 that do not participate in tour day and this is this happens every year where they bring the eighth graders to monitech to showcase the eighth graders who may be interested in attending monitech to Showcase what the school offers and they said that for the last several years lunenberg has declined to participate that they provide the buses that they will bring you know come to the school pick the kids up and bring them back and provide a lunch and lunberg doesn't participate and you know I so it would be interesting uh if we can just get a better understanding of of what we can do to participate the gist of the gist of my own concerns this is very far away from the duties and responsibilities of being a member of the select board this is something I've personally been interested in for a couple of reasons you know I heard about Monte Tech considering absences as one of their criteria and looking at who's going to come in and I really tried to impress upon them in my previous conversation and the one I had yesterday so if you've had more than 10 absences between your Junior excuse me between your seventh and eighth grade years you start to lose points on whether or not you will get accepted into monitech and my comment back was a 12 and 13y old which are who's in seventh and eth grade you know 12 13 14 year olds don't have any choice over how they get to school every day for the most part and that that often is a reflection on family not so much a reflection on student ability that if we're talking about 16 17 year olds different story um but when you're talking about 12 through 14 year olds that that and what I gave them examples of was you know the kid who's in foster care who had to move families they probably were out of a school district for a week and they've already missed six seven days you know and if and if over the course of the years they got sick they hit their 10 it's probably a kid who may benefit from it but they're their hurt the most you know the kids who come from families that you know some kids you know unfortunately go through traumatic experiences while they're children they might need counseling services you know some families um you know may sometimes and I can think of my own family my brother who lives in Fitchburg that you know some of my nieces and nephews have missed school because they had to stay home to help take care of the little sister who has special needs and you know what happens when the family is out of the home and so kids then get penalized for coming from families that aren't as stable as other families and so I urge them to reconsider that absence policy um another thing um that that we discussed in addition to absences was also they mentioned that they previously were going uh every Community would have to write a letter um to to explain you know are you going to get in or why you would recommend the school district would write a letter recommending a child to get in and and generally that letter was worth about 15 points and this is you know a lot of points in their system um and what they've done is they've changed it so that way there's no more letters now they do interviews and those interviews that used to be worth 20 points are now worth 35 points um and and they're they're rationale for which I fully understand is that when you have 42 different people across 18 districts writing these letters that the standards may be different um and so by consolidating into one person writing them that you get you know better kind of results um and so I urge that if they're going to go that route that they would consider someone who's neutral and detached that one thing I pointed out uh in our conversation was that their acceptance of students with disabilities uh is a little low uh and that it seems as if they can kind of handpick in certain ways the students that they want for certain reasons uh and that it just would be better in my view again I was very clear that I was not coming on behalf of the board that I was just a concerned citizen uh that really wanted to see and I know that this board is aware that I've been talking about this for a while is just a general interest is ensuring that you know kids have opportunity I also spoke on the last point about the college rate so roughly and it depends on the trade and I get it it's going to depend on the trade but roughly over 50% of the kids who are going to Monte Tech and some years 60% are going to college uh and and one of my comments to them was you know it seems as if Monte Tech is a great tool for the kids who are not going to go to college and that while I understand that a kid may change their mind while in the course of high school and say hey I actually want to go to college now I also understand that certain career paths in in health care or in engineering that typically that becomes a college path afterwards I get that but it would seem to me that they may want to weed a little better so that way the college-bound students don't walk in their doors for the most part and that they're able to capture the kids who if you don't get into Mon Tech and you're not College Bound that they're not just dooming these kids for McDonald's um and and kind of like what is the plan uh and and I think that they heard my comments as a concerned citizen we'll see what happens again in it's Administration they work underneath the board but I just went as a concerned citizen to express my concerns knowing that there's parents in our community whose kids are are going to be applying from mon Tech who have more than 10 absences because of family issues that the kid had no control over and who may now be at a disadvantage um and and I urge them to find some compromise before the state steps in with some Lottery legislation that perhaps there's a compromise to be had and that I just encourage them to work through that that maybe it's you know they they admit 50% based on their criteria and the other 50% um would come in you know through Lottery but I was adamant that I am opposed to Lottery across the district that lunenberg has its allocation and that if it is going to be a lottery based system we need to maintain our current allocation and that we're not going to be lumped in with the general group of everyone CU I'll tell you some of these towns some cities like communities like Fitchburg which is is almost half the school you know if we enter a lottery system our kids would it would be too hectic in terms of planning uh from one year to the next the one year where we might only get eight kids in the next year we might get 20 kids in that's a huge cost difference that's not sustainable and so I just urge that you know I urge them to keep the quota similar but just if the lottery is again implemented to find it within their current quota system and and they mention that they will discuss this internally um and I just again went as a concerned citizen in response to some of my own concerns but also directly response to some parent concerns any other committee reports select board is not meeting next week uh due to school vacation we are meeting on April the 23rd April the 30th and then May the 4th so annual town meeting excuse me April the 30th and then annual town meeting is going to be May the 4th at 9:00 a.m. at the high school so again uh select board is not meeting next week we will meet on the 23rd and 30th all right any public comments this evening from the town manager none any public comments from the public hey what you say about [Laughter] 8:30 uh well I did think of something interesting that talked about Jane you better identify yourself oh Jane rabbit 314 towns in Harbor Road um the Gren Hills Community community is what is it called Gren Hills commer music center right um I think it's like four times a year has free concerts uh every like 3 months on um Wednesdays at noon and Jack and I went and we saw a lot of buses you know from senior centers that were there so I had brought up that it might be a really nice thing for to offer for our seniors and so the discussion was how we can provide transportation so that's kind of where we're at but um and if you haven't been there you really need to go because it's an amazing place so anyway that's all good job and we just wanted to congratulate you Mike thank you J so you're amazing you are Michael you've done so much for this town you really have you know and and the amount of energy and your intelligence is spectacular and your service to our country is amazing as well so we just want to say a sincere thank you thank you so much you're good man good good job it's it's hard to take all this but thank you Mr R thank you thank you to all of you really yes really all of you thank you thank youe good night any other public comments this evening from the public checking Zoom seeing seeing none any oh Mr Bowen Mr Jeff congratulations uh John I just wanted to say that um well deserved award Mr Jeff um our personal conversations definitely a reflection of the award for you uh for which you've been given so I just wanted to uh just highlight that and it's great that the delegation came out to actually present that uh that's a uh that's a great step in your life and um I can uh I can I I have a lot of respect for you um I just wanted to uh clarify and make mention because it hasn't been discussed it hasn't been brought up by the select Board of the supposed changing guard of unions with regard to local 39 and local 170 who's going to be handling the DPW Collective Bing agre Sean Foley and Sean Stevens happen to be people that I know for 170 uh as I have expressed that I have been a union member myself for many years uh Al Union Salt working with the organizing department on uh for local 1044 glazes glass Workers Union International peners Alli trades District Council 35 um with regard to uh non-union contractors uh uh subverting prevailing wage laws by paying substandard wages to their employees as well as working uh as assault uh to turn uh non-union companies who are paying wages in substandard manners and benefits over to uh wages that are suitable I wanted to touch base on that for a minute that I don't think that even our finance committee understands if you heard some of their comments about subverting uh tax dollars uh from a prevailing wage and Mr Jeff you you highlighted that as well I believe you said Guatemalan fixing the roof when the delegation was here last um which was not an insult to Guatemalans it's just a fact that you know there's a lot of uh uh people who speak different languages who do roof it so that being said I just want to clarify what prevailing wage is for an understanding if you don't mind prevailing wage is there when you buy materials at an excessive cost that money is taxed at an excessive High rate uh obviously 6 qu% here in Massachusetts I believe on products and when you buy that that goes back communities okay when you pay prevailing wage those persons who are making $45 an hour are paying a higher tax bracket within the state and paying back into the coffees which are returning to the states prevailing wage is not to avoid but something to embrace and I think what's been happening here in town uh with statements from the finance committee uh as well as your statements with regard to the C to prevailing wage prevailing wage provides uh added benefit to the community by uh uh by in in in the process of an individual's work being taxed but it also provides another thing it provides safety for the employer okay from being sued because they have well-trained individuals uh it provides saf for the employee as well as benefits annuity in pensions uh which allow for a good retirement uh as well as a good life to be able to afford a home to be able to put their children in whatever school that they want and even to pay an additional increase over a two and a half of which has been submitted that if more people were paid a prevailing wage and the wages of our town workers were paid uh legitimate wage they wouldn't leave they would stay and they would also be paying money that would basically go to the state or the federal government that can return back to us so when people start talking about avoiding paying prevailing rate we have to stop that Mantra this is a good means to help people it also is a good for us to be able to generate more money to be able to do the things that we want that being said chapter uh um uh local 170 is a Teamsters Union not a laborers union therefore our DPW will be negotiating contracts with the teamster Jun I don't know if anybody understands how Teamster works but Teamster is not a Labor's local 39 a Teamsters Union is very strict is very direct and is very trained individuals and they stand behind their work and their interest is to provide a good service to the community and I think that if everybody realizes where they're coming from to where they're going to that you can thank the people at the DPW for stepping up the workers not the administration the workers for stepping up and saying we need a better Union to do better for our town it's not just about the employee they're very much interested in doing more for the town to be able to provide better for the town and I just wanted to just make that clear that we have a collective bargaining agreement coming up and Heather I would suggest that you consider that even though costs are going to be probably a little higher than normal it is an excellent excellent asset to this community to have local 170 step in and take the helm for our workers within Town well thank you Mr yeah thank you Mr Bowen you know the select board and the town manager do not advise our employees on how to unionize or which unions to go with that's kind of you know uh against the whole purpose of a union um but I am trusting that members within the union have heard your public comment and can take that under advisement do I have any other public comments this evening from the public seeing none any public comments from the board I just wanted to make a brief public comment um I just wanted to say as to you personally Michael Ray that no and to the public uh Michael Ray and I talk about everything very freely and uh you know one of us will leave a message for the other and say I need to talk to you for three to five minutes and it's never 3 to five minutes it's 3 to five minutes about something having to do with town and then it's 35 to 40 minutes about history or Supreme Court precedent or the nation the state of the nation the way it is right now uh and and and and history and just the many conversations we've had over three years and um this is all connected this is going somewhere uh and one of the things that the themes that we have spoken about is the framework that was set out by the framers of the country which was absolutely brilliant I think we both agree that that was brilliant but the gulf that existed between the framework that was set out at the time and how people actually lived it and executed it at the time and how over the trajectory of 240 or 50 years we have for the most part ASM totically approached the more perfect union but we are not there and we have had setbacks and it's been fits and starts throughout history but just the conversations we've talked about Supreme Court president we've talked about Dread Scott and py versus Ferguson and Brown versus bord of Ed and we both wish we lived in a world and I know know how much you hate and you never do you never throw this out there but uh and and you know the race thing and um we both wish we lived in a world where race didn't matter but until we achieve the more perfect union we do live in a world where it matters and as long as it does matter I want to acknowledge that you indeed are a role model for the black community but you're more than that you are a leader and a role model period and I am proud to call you my friend thank you L thank you I want to offer just a comment to the public and to the board thank you all I know that it it's always uncomfortable for me to receive um any kind of accolades it it's just uncomfortable you know we do we all do this work not for any personal gain but out of care and commitment to the community um you know and I just you know it it has been a pleasure working with my colleagues I've learned a lot in this role I've learned a lot from the times we've we've disagreed the most um and and hearing other members perceptions you know and and I hope that I've demonstrated to my colleagues that even though I may seem pretty absolute at times and I'm like you know I'm very colorful with my language as everyone knows but um but even even when I'm adamant about certain things that I do pause and I do reflect and I do listen um and it's you know it's part of being a a a it's part of being a member of a team uh and we are a team so all right I move to adjourn second any um who want to fil the Buster for another two minutes not 8:30 that that clock's slow that clock's slow it's 8:30 uh sure regarding Brown B Franco time who who was the second I didn't catch this excuse me okay we have a motion in a second to adjourn all in favor please say I I those oppose no the select board is adjourned uh and to all those at home again we are not meeting next week we'll see you on the 23rd and have a wonderful [Music] evening