e all right good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the lunenberg select board today is Tuesday March 4th sorry I was just looking on here I think we should be good on Zoom all right just as an FYI we do have a quorum
tonight Amanda and I are the only ones here in the room tonight but Renee is also joining us via Zoom which I'm truly grateful for thank you Renee she was not supposed to be with us tonight as she is away this week but was willing to join when we found out this morning that we had lost our Quorum so thank you for
being here Renee please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 in accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the lunenberg public access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to
the lunenberg 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 up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law we're going to start tonight with public comments are there any public comments from the board I just have a quick one I just wanted to say a thank you um to our Public Safety teams both police fire and
the state police and several of the other agencies that were deployed earlier today for those that thought on social media for a missing juvenile fortunately she was found and recovered safely but I just want to send a thank you to all the the teams and the staff members that were involved in that rescue mission yep and I have a very
similar public comment I do also want to take a moment to thank all of our public safety personnel um as many of you know like Amanda just just stated also last week we also had a large structural fire that our First Responders uh responded to and extinguished as well uh it's
situations like this when everyone's watching and paying attention that we really notice the professionalism and the ability of our public safety personnel to respond to emergencies and I know I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that I feel very well served
in town by our First Responders and I'm very grateful for them all so thank you all very much Renee do you have any public comment uh no I'll just Echo uh what you and Amanda both said and thank all of our First Responders um I did get the
emails in text um today and I'm glad it had a uh a happy ending agreed thank you Renee are there any public comments from the public all right seeing none we'll move on to announcements I do have one I just
want to remind everyone that the citizen party caucus is next Monday March 10th at 700 p.m at the Middle High School auditorium attending the caucus is the easiest way to get on the ballot you will need someone to nominate you at the caucus for a position and if you're selected then you'll be put on the
ballot otherwise you have to gather signatures and submit nomination papers to the town clerk to get on the ballot there are a bunch of openings on the ballot this year including some on the select board the school committee the Sewer Commission not going to list all of them uh but if you are interested in checking out what positions are opening
up um that you if you're interested in getting nominated for then you can go to the town website or the Facebook page announcements have been posted there with a full listing Mr chairman did you want to make an announcement about the executive session at 8 oh yes you're right thank you I was going to mention that earlier uh but I skipped over it um
so we do have an executive session today at approximately 8:00 uh and depending on where we're at in the agenda we may or may not return to open session uh we will ask folks to exit the room as well as zoom and then we'll let you back in afterwards if we still have agenda items to cover so thank you for reminding me
about that all right Communications from other boards not seeing any I don't have any moving on to scheduled meetings and hearings so up first we have an application to transfer the common Vic license to samfam Inc doing business as
lunenberg Diner located at 324 electric AV so I will invite the applicant up to the podium and just ask you to introduce yourself uh speak about your professional experience and maybe talk to us about some plans that you have for the lunenberg
diner hi good evening thank you for having me um my name is Sita Sam insur just Nita um this is my very first time um running a business so I still have a lot to learn um so far I have been um
guided and instructed from the previous owner they have been very helpful and very kind to guide me um right now I'm just trying to do the right thing trying to get everything's done and ready so hopefully I'm in the right
track all right I'll open it up for questions from the board I will say it does look like you're on the right track judging by uh how organized your application was uh so that's definitely a very good sign um Renee I'll start with you do you have any questions uh no I actually to be honest
I haven't had a chance I'm looking at the folder now MH um maybe just a little background on on why the need to transfer the license sure well my understanding is that the previous owners um were just selling the
business um I think it's just a ordinary sale um okay so no change in hours right nothing changes at all and I did see the floor plan do you have any big changes that you want to make or no you're just going to operate the business just trying to settle down in the old one all
right no big changes then no okay Amanda um just to the town manager is everything in the packet that is needed everything been filled out any concerns the the only document which we talked about beforehand that I don't have in the packet but um she does have and is going to supplement is the
documentation relative to the actual sale um as I understand the sale has already occurred so we just need to supplement the file with that but other than that everything is completed great I will send that as soon as possible great okay based on that I'm comfortable moving forward and I'm looking forward
to having a new business in town wishing you than for the forward yeah the diner is a staple in town so uh you know I definitely wish you the best and uh like I said earlier uh you were incredibly organized and it was very easy to see exactly what you were submitting and um
we appreciate um just how well you went through this process and provided all that documentation so thank you Renee anything else uh no no all right else for me great so is there a motion to approve the transfer of a common Vic license to
to Sam fam Inc doing business at lunenberg Diner located at 324 electric hav so moved can I do that or do I yeah you can do that perfect second all right any additional discussion this will be a roll call vote Renee I Amanda I and an i
for myself congratulations thank you so much yeah of course wishing you all the best thank you I'll do my best um so the only thing I think Jen already communicated is that we're going to have to hold off we can't sign the license this it's just the two of us um so once we get that third signature then we'll
follow up with you so you can actually get the license okay yeah but thanks for coming in tonight thank you so much I'll grab your signatures at the end of the meeting yeah sure that's fine to do all right have a good night thank you have a good night thank you all right moving on we have a meeting with the principal assessor to
discuss the board of assessors town meeting warrant article we had that on for 7:30 Mr chairman um we are a little early I do see her on Zoom hi good evening hi good evening everyone hi
Linda are you um I know we're a little early are you ready to um speak to the warrant article now or yeah yeah that's fine okay great well I'll pass it off to you then if you're um ready to
go okay um we have two Warren articles um that uh we would um like to have approved for the May 2025 uh town meeting uh the first one is to amend Clauses 17 D and F and this is
relative to the tax exemptions um we um had um could you hold on just one second sorry we're having a hard time hearing you in the room sorry Linda we're just going to increase the volume in here okay all right all right can you try now
Linda sure okay is that better yes okay um so I just wanted to go over two warrant articles um that um we would like to have hopefully adopted at the May uh annual town meeting um as you all
know we actually during the last town meeting we had these uh articles um adopted they hadn't been in the past so now we want to amend these Clauses 17 d e and f relative to the tax exemptions
um want to see if the town will vote to amend Mass General Law chapter 59 Section 5 CL 17 d and f um this is for the elderly surviving spouses and minor uh exemptions or to take any other action
mila2 um what we would like to do is uh under master the law section 59 Section 5 uh cla a 177f uh or FY 2026 we would like to increase the asset level from 40,000 to
66,000 and the exemption amount from $185 to $332 and thereafter uh Cola Provisions uh which have already been accepted by the town meeting would apply to both these asset and uh exemption
amounts um you want me to uh go on to the next one or do you want to discuss this one in a little more detail if you have any questions yeah I do have one question which I think was brought up actually the last time we did this um and I know Town Council is still going to review
this right corre languages and finalized correct I just wanted to point out so in the beginning to see if the town will vote to amend mgl we're not we're not amending mgl okay correct that's the only yeah um all right um yeah you sorry go ahead J through you Mr chairman um
just so the public understands what um the rationale is behind this article what's the purp why are we trying to do this just so folks can understand yep what we're trying to do is to uh we had to bring this these down
to the state levels and now we would like to bring them back to the levels that they were at in 2022 um so um this is why we want to increase uh these exemption and asset amounts okay the other um the limits uh
like I said we we had to get them adopted 17d uh the enf to add the cola um during the last town meeting and um those hadn't been adopted in 1998 to
26 years girl to a 17 so now we just want to bring it back to the levels that they were at um and uh because they were you know very low levels uh like I said currently 40,000 we want to bring it up to 60 for the asset amount and the adjust the
exemption amount from 185 to 332 and thereafter in 20126 uh we will add the cola to that to adjust those Sarah you wanted to jump in uh Linda explained uh the very
technical part of that um what happened was we realized that um things had not actually been voted on over time time and we went and we got approval for each of the things but as we were approving
we had we had to wait to get to approval before we could adjust those rates for cost of living allowances um and so we're trying to add those cost of living allowances back in with the correct assets um because they
hadn't actually been updated and voted on for about 20 years in some cases okay right Linda did I did I yeah that's correct okay yeah and it was actually less confusing
to have them first adopted and now increase them uh so this is why we we want to bring them back the way they should be this point um so that's for the 17 uh if there's any other questions I can move on to the
next article yeah Rene Linda I just have one quick question um only because you mentioned 17 D andf but the article calls out only E andf I remember seeing that somewhere
yes uh because um yeah so 177e would allow the asset limit to increase protocol and then the 17f um all allows the exemption amount to increase prot aola as of July 1st of
2025 so that's why this enf one one adjust the asset and then the other one adjust the exemption amount and those those modify D yes exactly it's just going to say that okay okay I just want to make sure there wasn't an oversight or anything like
that okay let me I just want to make sure I understand this too based on what Sarah just said I think you helped me so ad adopting 177e and 17f amends 17d is that essentially what you said
yes okay it's correct okay gotcha but we've already adopted this correct at the last time meeting now we're just adjusting we've adopted these exemptions we're just adjusting back to the pre special town meeting levels that they
were at yeah so it's an order of operations issue okay okay exactly yeah could do both things at once and now we're correcting it right all right yeah I'm following it I'm following it a little confusing when we were doing the
research on it initially it it uh it was a lot of uh detail but we're on the right track now uh and then um are there any other questions on the 17 D all I should say e andf at this
point no I think we can move on to the other two okay so um the next one uh actually uh amends was 41 C which we voted at the
town meeting to make it D now so 41c replaced uh is excuse me 41d replaced 41 C um and what we want to do with this is we want to amend the qualifying amount uh from Mass General Law chapter 59
Section 5 um plus 41c now name 41d for FY 2026 we want to increase the income level uh which is currently at 24,000 to 31,500 for a single person um and then
married income level would increase from 30,000 to 396 in addition as as part of this uh Clause this it has an asset amount the single asset amount would increase from
$40,000 to 527 and then the married asset level would increase from 55,000 to 727 um and again thereafter Cola Provisions which have already been accepted at our last town meeting would
apply to these incom and assets okay I don't have any questions on this one Renee or Amanda nope yeah Linda I'm just curious um oh Sarah your hand still up um how you arrive at the levels are are
these common the exemptions the uh income and asset levels amounts um these were actually um as of
2022 um so now we're that uh were given out so now we want to just bring it back to those levels like I said we had to go back and get them approved and adopted um okay because they hadn't been so now we we're just bringing it back to the
same levels that they were at in 2022 if that makes sense and then yeah it's kind of weird um we're going 3 years back to the levels of 3 years ago well Cola we had to bring it
back yeah Will Cola allow you to bring it up to current day levels the the three years basically um we can actually change the amounts uh so that's what we want to do now is
we want to get the amount that approved changed and then we're going to add Cola in um July of 2025 which will be effective for his 2026 and and the Cola can cover the three years it's not just a single year
Cola it'll cover from 2022 to today um no um it just brings us back to what it was in 2022 so now we didn't we didn't go back and calculate what the cola was we just want to bring it back
to the levels that it was at in 2022 in July in in July this passes at town meeting yeah yeah um initially there was an an era um in the office and we just
brought it back to State guidelines and now we um want to bring it back to what it was in 2022 um and then add the the cola um in from fiscal 2026 okay uh Mr chair through you if I
can ask a question to either Linda or Sarah I'm just hearing and I want to make sure that I'm hearing correctly and we can we can kind of do some of this offline tomorrow but the intent is to not only Inc restore these income um
asset and income levels to pre special town meeting rates but it is also to um then take those and apply a cola to it and if we need to have that in the language of the article or in the motion so that's specifically called out we
should do we should make sure that Adam uh Costa Our Town Council is aware of that and that it gets Incorporated unless it's by Statute automatically happening because all right now that it's it says is those those new income
and asset levels but if we're applying a cola Factor on top of it we should expressly state that okay and we already did approve the that the cola would be added with the Clauses during the last town meeting but that's already been
done okay we'll check with Council okay yeah and I think Sarah has a qu I wanted to add something um yeah I did thank you Linda um what I wanted to say is we actually voted to add Cola the problem is we had to have a starting spot to add
the cola to um went back to the 22 22 values because those were what had been posted and people had previously there were a couple of people who had previously been able to get exemptions
but then because we had to approve um 17 D EF and 41 C and D um at the old level at um at like a base level MH uh it didn't match what was on
the wall that previous assessors had been using before we walked into the office so going back to 2022 is the last time it was posted and it would allow a couple a couple of people who were basically cut off from that exemption
back into getting that exemption so we already have the enf approved um and likewise for the other part what's changing is that starting level of the assets in the cola and just to anticipate a question um in terms of the overlay it would it would
be maybe less than five people that affects um and you know that overlay portion that's something will be discussing when we vote to approve the level of the overlay at the next meeting we haven't done that
yet okay thank you any other questions on either of these articles I did want to add one other thing uh which it's just kind of like some factual information um we currently have 121 real estate
exemptions um and of these for the 41c which is going to become 41d we have 20 people that have applied uh two were over the current income levels and um if they don't qualify for
the 41c they can qualify for the 17th d as long as they meet uh those levels so we had six applicants that were approved for that so I just want to add that just for some information all right thank you Linda
well if there are no other questions I'm going to thank both of you for coming in tonight and the work that you did on both of these articles I think it's great that we're increasing these limits are there any other remaining questions none for me all right great
well thank you both so much all right thank you yeah have a good night the rest of your night you too thank you all right up next we have a presentation by Josie Gilcrest about the spring all vendor fair
hello you never know what's going to happen with those like is it going to fall I'm Josie Gilchrist I'm the president of the lunenberg Business Association I also do some volunteer work through the town of lunenberg all right so I'm here to talk about the
lunenberg all vendor fair that kind of started as a conversation last year but the application process for events in the town was a little uh intimidating so we are finally getting the ball rolling we're collaborating with the uh the
parks department this feels weird is that b no okay I think we can hear you well though regardless worry about it okay so I'm going to read kind of just a description about the fair for
those that know absolutely nothing about it when I say the fair they're like what the heck are you talking about so the little description that we have so far is join us for the lunenberg fair Saturday May 10th from 11 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. a community celebration brought to you by The lunenberg Business
Association and the lunenberg Parks and Recreation Department this exciting event will feature a diverse lineup of local vendors delicious food trucks live music a petting zoo inflatable axe throwing sword fighting dunk tank and so much more with fun activities for all
ages including a young entrepreneurs section and interactive entertainment the fair is a perfect way to kick off Spring and support local businesses don't miss out on this vibrant day of community creativity and celebrating in lunenberg this fair is going to be held May 10th
from 11: to 6 vendors will arrive sort of kind of flooding in Friday night for setup as need be but um I'm going to give a special shout out to Angela clemet through the parks department because she's been just a Powerhouse in
getting this going and her collaborative effort with the lunenberg Business Association has been remarkable and we're very very thankful for that um her and I meet um probably once every 3 weeks just to get our notes in order because there's emails flying all over the place um but she's been really great
and without her this Fair couldn't be what it is so congratulations to a staff of the town of lunenberg um she's been awesome um we have so far over 52 confirmed table
vendors um they're going to be getting 10x 10 10x 12 spaces um strategic ically placed throughout the TC pasos Green Space the fair grounds if I can say that are going to be basically that green space in front of TCP going all the way
to the teen center um we have collaborative efforts going with the teen center who they're going to be having a Touch a Truck Event there at their location and a jail break fundraiser to support the teen center the lunenberg public library
is setting up a table but they're ALS so um collaborating by offering I don't know if you know they have like a rent and activity section so they're giving us cornhole games ring TOS setting up a bunch of strategic just outdoor activities um and also the adult
Activity Center is allowing us to use their Pavilion and seating area in the back where we'll have live entertainment um right now we have live entertainment going all day I'm trying to find that oh we have a jazz band
playing we have a local um artist out of Fitchburg uh John Gerard who's expected to be entertain um and we also have another folk singer that's coming as well but as far as activities and entertainment for the crowd like I said we have the
inflatable axe throwing a petting zoo face painting a local um professional swordsman Dan Burns is setting up a very safe kind of interactive sword fighting ring don't be intimidated it's secure
um the dunk tank um and we also have local nonprofit collaborative efforts going with the eagle house who's possibly going to be setting up a photo booth the story school is probably going to be providing a scavenger hunt so we're really trying to pull in a lot of local organizations to help make this
event going Angela and I are kind of pushing it forward but really it's the collaborative efforts of the entire Lunenburg community and Beyond that's making this happen hundreds of people are coming together to make it happen without them it couldn't exist
um trying to find more notes here oh we are going to be having food trucks placed throughout we're having a hard time right now with the list of approved nooba Valley Board of Health certified food trucks it's a
complicated list I don't know if the town has or is aware of that list but I would encourage you to take a look at it it's a little confusing and we've we've done a lot of phone calls and so
far it's on point with who's been nooba Board of Health certified and I hope that they are because I went off of that list but I don't know how old it is um but we're pushing all of the vendors that are serving food to our local Board
of Health Unit here in town for their approval just to look it over make sure we're not missing anything so we've got that covered um super thankful for that and their ability and their willingness to look over our many applications and make sure that everybody is certified how they need to be um it would kind of
stink day of for them to be like oh you can't be here so I'm really glad they're taking time uh out of their work schedule to look over our applications for us so it's been super helpful um this Fair has been long expected and I do want to note that it's
not in competition nor is it a d duplicate of any past lunenberg events uh it stands alone by itself we're wanting to um give the community what it's been asking for a larger just Community event where people can just go
and celebrate what local offerings we have um we've even brought in um Hollis Hills Farm to do a hayride shuttle service because oh parking right for all these people we're going to be parking over at the high school and we've got that shuttle
service that's going to be running all day bringing people to and from to try to keep traffic going and safely because we're blocking off that Loop in front of TCP um same day which we didn't know until much later in the process the um food
pantry is going to be having I think they collect or they have the post office collect goods for them and that happens to be the day where the post office is bringing truck after truck okay so that will be happening and I've spoke to them them and we're going to
try to mix that in as well and potentially have this isn't certain yet but potentially have live drop offs for attendees that want to come and Supply food to the food pantry to kind of snowball that what they already have going um can I ask you a question before
you keep going just about that part with the road closures and everything have you already been talking to Public Safety and the schools andone else yeah that's where Angela's come in and coordinating with all the different organ um with all the different groups in town and how they work together what we are trying to do and what we're
trying to avoid doing is overwhelm people during budget season so um that's something that is on our radar that we're we we've tried to do but being considerate of people's time is have a joint meeting where we can just be like here are all the
details we have do they match with your procedures what do we need to do what are you going to do so we can just make sure everybody knows where to be and when on that day um the loop is going to be closed um Angela set up a signup sheet for volunteers um that's something I
want to make public um we desperately need volunteers for that day and I know that there's something through the Honor Society for high school students that are a part of that yep um if you know of anybody or if you have any ideas of how to get volunteers to help direct traffic
they're going to be wearing their vests and since we are doing this with help from the Parks do we want to maybe post on Facebook yeah okay yeah so parks department has um been posting the sign up information so if we go to their um
Facebook page they should have that link live we can help to amplify yeah thank you that would be super helpful do you have an estimate of how many people you're trying to get to help out yet sounds like it's going to be a lot I want to say that it was at least
four oh people um in like two hour rotations I see okay does that make sense so they can sign up for the time slot that makes sense with their schedule and so that they can still enjoy the fair right um what's the best contact information for people that
might want to have a booth or the vendors you have we've actually already closed the vendors um what we're taking into consideration now is that it is May and the grounds could be a little soggy so I'm trying to keep it to where I mean
we will have space that's why um I've accepted a little Lake comers that I know has been on their radar they've just um not signed up so I've accepted a little here and there but I really want to stay on the higher ground with the booths to not create a mess out there or
um just for the safety and accessibility of the attendees so I think I've maxed out the space that allows for um avoiding mushy areas on the grounds there um we will also be using the TCP
gem for um we have a couple like it companies that are going to be showing off some stuff that maybe they don't want moisture hitting or some crocheted items from Artisans that um could be affected by moisture in the air that we're going to push to the inside as
well so other than trying to help recruits and volunteers just advertising what else can we do to help you at this point I would say that if there's anything that you all think of like oh what about this that may trigger this
application because it is such an intimidating process let us know um we really don't want to do what sorry that just made me think Raffles if you're doing any 50-50 Raffles or anything that is an additional permit MH through if we
had a vendor that was doing it anyone that's doing anybody's doing a raffle good to know yeah all right that is helpful because people have asked about that and um they've you know nonprofits have had a list of things that they could do to earn money so I'll tell them
and alcohol or anything you're looking for liquor licenses we're trying to understand that more because we were approached by a um a winery is that what they're called okay I don't drink and I always get confused a winery Winery
yes um and they said that they've worked with municipalities in the past with getting single day permits we that is what okay so we would just direct them to the town and to the select Board office and yes we and you would just
help them through and then that would take care of that the earlier that I know it feels like May so far away the earlier especially for things like that that that could get in if there is anybody that's going to be pouring okay so they would handle that application
process and it wouldn't be us doing it that answers a big question that we have and then also do you know off the top of your head if we need to block off a certain area for them or if there's restrictions on pouring or selling like actual bottles for them to take home
town yeah we have to do a little bit more look into that that would be helpful to understand I think that's where we were a little held up with that application there was like a garden area that you were contained in or not if there is we would put it over by the
adult Activity Center where the live music is um tape it off to where people couldn't get out of that area with open beverages cool I'm just going to pause for a second Renee do you have do you want to jump in with any questions or anything I just um first it sounds like
really fun event so looking forward to it but um you mentioned the uh the food drive that the post office does um on that Saturday and not I know last year folks from the food pantry were going over the post office and picking up food
as the carriers came in and then bringing it back and he made several trips um so I don't know with having that Circle closed off at TCP yes I did have you thought they'll have access yes I spoke with them on the
phone and we're going to have a communication system with walkie-talkies where we can just know all right they called they're going to be coming by with the truck in about 5 minutes so those volun that are directing traffic will know open up this portion allow
them in in the police department on that too assuming that they probably need a detail or two just so we're aware on that part of the process that would be important especially if you're going to have traffic driving into the fairgrounds I wouldn't really want to personally feel comfortable with a volunteer I would want a traffic safety
officer or a police officer good point doing that okay personally especially when you're talking about driving into Crow yeah just just so you know at at least last year I um it was not the post office trucks coming in it was food pantry people
going over to the post office picking everything up and bringing it back mhm maybe we'll create some sort of visor um poster something for the vehicles coming in and out it's a temporary thing and then people are moving afterward I'm not sure about
having people drive into a fair yeah it sounds it sounds like we'll need a little bit more coordination with um specifically the police department on this um which is great yeah um yeah we've been in constant communication with them too so that's we'll add it to the list of yeah I have one question for
you um I know it's going to be a beautiful May Day on May 10th but in the case it is not yes is there a rain date or a rain location we're pushing for the rain date of the next day okay fully aware that I believe it's Mother's Day
weekend Oh okay yeah okay we're going to hope for the best well this sounds great really excited for it um the Agricultural Fair unfortunately I was in Pennsylvania I could not go to that but my phone was blowing up that day of people who were going and just
wanted to share with me how great they thought it was so I know that this is going to be another great Community event awesome when did you start like really organizing this this was this has been a long time in the the topic of it started last year mid last year yeah um
but really we've started I want to say September I we've got a lot very quickly um but one thing I do also want to say is even though we've closed off table vendor registration we're still asking
the community if you've got an entertainment an activity that you want to offer for this fair to get more people to show up and more activities for kids or adults or whatever of some Community other things that might be involved that might be interactive type
things I was thinking of so that would be be awesome yeah we want to get more people involved it's really I don't really want to own this event I want the town as a whole to own this event and all the people that have creative um gifts and talents
to I I I want the town to be more collaborative if I could be well that's exactly what I was going to say I mean it sounds like the whole planning of this event was very collaborative you you have the parks involvement and I remember how that started and why it started y but you know I think it was a good thing that that ended up happening it's been great it's been lovely Angela
and I worked together very well um Economic Development development committee has talked about it as well yes I would like to see um and I'm hoping to speak with the agricultural committee about somehow getting some live animals in but I'm not really sure
like an actual Fair competition of sorts but I don't know what lunberg there that's what I'm thinking yeah to have like some kind of a chicken show or something yeah so we do have some more creative
things that we're still pursuing that we do have room for and especially for like time chunks so we can maybe spread out attendees throughout the day um but we're still going with it there will be more but that's where we are right now and we are in constant communication
with the fire department the police department um other organizations but so I trust that'll work itself out and with the one day alcohol license you know just yes that's helpful information there's anything that we can do to help out to in that process just you know okay and if anything comes up where
you're like oh I wonder if they did that please ask me because I don't want the day to come where I'm like I have to shut down a portion of it because I didn't do it right um and this is a first time thing for Angela and I so we're definitely learning as we go and our hope is that it will become an
annual fair so awesome all right want to plug the date time and location one more time sure it's going to be uh in front of the TC pasos uh school in lunenberg May 10th from 11: to 6: and it the
admission is free for anybody to attend awesome and we'll really help with the advertising thank you very much I appreciate the time yeah thanks for all of your work looking forward to it yeah same have a good evening thank you Josie by bye all right moving on appointments
ratifications and resignations uh we just want to acknowledge the resignations of Michael Mackin from the Sewer Commission and Peter beardmore from the school committee both of them are longtime Volunteers in town I don't
know um the full history but I know that um Mr Mackin was on the school committee as well uh before he was a sewer commissioner Peter beardmore has been longtime volunteer in the finance committee Capital planning and the school committee uh so their contributions to the town are greatly
appreciated and I'm sure we'll still continue to see them involved in town and whatever way that they can find to work into to their lives moving forward so I'm very grateful for all the volunteering that they've done you're here
yep all right Tom manag your report sure all right thank you Mr chairman um so I'm just going to open up my time manager report here but while I do the I know the first item on it is the update on the library project so phase one is
nearly complete with a just a few uh punch list items and phase two uh is underway the contractor starting to close up walls and the flooring work will start later this week um that actually wasn't my first thing on my report now that I opened it the first
thing on the report was um and somebody is going to get me for my pronunciation but you got it bridgew work on flath Hill Road at katakuna mug Brook so y uh so that work is starting uh the road will be closed starting onid Friday
March 7th that's this Friday uh we have uh put me messages out on the website as well as on social media uh but there The Detour will be Reservoir Road right onto paage street right onto Bird Street and right onto flath Hill Road and from the
other direction flath Hill Road left onto burd Street left onto paage Street um we understand that this is going to be an inconvenience for those who use this road either for local travel or um as a cut through but um the work needs
to get done and so the anticipated uh date of reopening is uh April 25th if all goes well um can I ask you a question before you go on sure section have we posted any maps about the the detours yes so those yes so uh on the
news and announcements page um after the announcement there's the map located there as well I think it's on it's right on the website on I'm sure it is I just I just hadn't seen it um great question though the the roof replacement and chimney restoration not
much to report here still doing work on this building before moving on to Ritter uh we do have an invitation for bid out for cleaning services from municipal buildings there was a site walk this past Friday and 25 potential biders uh
showed up to do the walk so wow uh based on the amount of folks that came and the questions that were asked we have moved the date out one week uh so that we can get all their questions uh addressed in addendum and allow them to respond accordingly uh
with their quotes but that is promising wow that's great um General update uh the attorney we received notification that uh the attorney general has approved articles 78 and N uh from the special town meeting uh very limited
comment so that is that is good um only comment was about uh we are not commenting on the revolving funds so they are otherwise approved um vacancies so the assistant to the Sewer business manager the last
report was that an offer has been made the update to that is an offer has been accepted and uh that individual will be on uh your next agenda for an appointment um the screening committee has reviewed applications for the police
chief opening and um we'll be beginning uh our interviews on March the 12th and candidates have been notified uh we still have the Lifeguard and Beach director positions open if anybody's looking uh for something to do this Summer that might be a little different and want to spend some time out we
really are going to need uh to get that staffed up sooner than later and we have a new opening for library page uh at up to 8 hours per week this is a great job for those High School folks um who are looking for maybe their first job or a
new job little plug on that one I believe they only need to be 14 years old and just have to have a the ability to get a workers's permit so that is something that opens it up to a wider range of teenagers that's not often easy to find having two teens
myself and can we anticipate an application um so uh board and committee vacancies uh we have openings on agricultural commission architectural preservation District Board of Health cultural Council green communities historic commission um master plan
steering committee maybe uh Personnel committee uh Pack Sewer Commission storm water task force and the zba and uh the remainder of my time has been spent working on the budget and so yeah so that is the report for this week great
Renee do you have any questions yeah just one quick question um the chimney restoration would did it come in were there any surprises I know there were concerns that's why Carter wanted to start with the chimneys first um did it
come in on target or did we encounter some costly surprises we have not encountered any cost and cost or surprises thus far we did encounter um a bit of a delay in the location of uh where our scaffolding is has been placed
outside of the handicap ramp area onto the abing property um that caused some temporary uh stoppage of work uh but the property owner has been great uh working with me to just make sure our paperwork's in place great yep okay okay thanks thanks Renee Amanda you have any
other questions no I think I interjected as you just wanted to check something could have come up all right thank you so much Jen all right old business we do not have a full board so we're going to table a lot of this uh discussion on select board and town manager goal setting process we can start to focus on
this now that we wrapped up the workplace climate policy um anyone want to volunteer to draft this out of curiosity I'll ask the other two members as well since they're not here but just wanted to see if anyone wanted to work on a draft I can work on a draft if no one
else wants to okay step up and I'll ask them as well too just to make sure um and one other thing I wanted to ask do we want to try to car out some time for a workshop for this one as well those seem to be pretty productive we'll have to try to find some time might be next
month um but do we want to try to do this in a workshop what was that Mr chairman we should set the goals in a have set set aside some time to set the goals so I don't know if you want to do them together on the same so we our
goals no your goals yeah I see yeah it just we should we should make sure that we don't spend let too much time go past before we reduce those to writing okay yeah that's fine we can do that and we can talk about that more as well so I think we definitely should
have a workshop so we can do both on okay yeah I don't know when it'll be right now but um we'll coordinate something we seem to get a lot of work done when we have those targeted meetings yeah for sure I agree okay you okay with that
Renee y all right you got just so you know um you kind of going in and out my internet here is a little dicey so oh okay all right thanks for letting us know all right up next review and discussion on budget task force recommendations we'll wait until we have
a full board uh but I've been captured in pretty much all of the discussions that we've had for each one what uh next steps are on all of them uh so it'll make it a little easier the next time we do that discussion on budget Capital plan and annual town meeting warrant articles Jen do you have any update on
the budget that you want to share tonight sure so um for folks that aren't aware I presented the preliminary budget to the finance commit committee this past Thursday evening um I I heard a lot of great feedback um from folks both the
public um and the finance committee of areas where um they had some concerns had some questions wanted me to look at things maybe a little bit differently I've heard all that I am uh continuing to take that all in it's really great feedback to get it now as opposed to
town meeting floor when we can still make adjustments uh the biggest kind of change in the budget is that in order to balance the budget um I I did reduce uh the pavement management line um down to
zero for this year um I I've heard loud and clear that folks a requ if that's going to happen need a lot more data around that and um but B if there's a way for it to not happen in totality and that it's a reduction as opposed to an elimination that that happen even if
it's potentially with one-time uh funds like free cash to offset that um on that note today we got our chapter 90 apportionment and it is in the mail and it is substantially High higher than previous years so 690,000 in chapter 90
so that helps to offset that reduction um so but I I just want to let folks especially in the public know I am all ears at this point for if you haven't had a chance to take a look at that presentation to look at it and weigh in um as I understand the school committee
is meeting tomorrow evening to discuss various options uh with the school budget and to make a recommendation for approval of which budget or maybe plan a plan B plan C um and so this is going to continue to be refined and honed um as
we go along here so a little bit in a holding pattern right now uh waiting for that feedback um but I'm I'm happy to take any questions if folks have them on that Renee do you have any questions uh yeah I'm just curious I mean um the chapter that's a huge
increase but over what we've been getting do you know why yes so the governor um is requesting a bond authorization from the legislature so it's contingent upon that Bond authorization but I would imagine that if it went out in the letter with a
number today that there's a fair amount of confidence that that's going to pass wow yeah I mean that's great news just surprising yeah actually get a big bump like that yeah cuz wasn't it like 418,000 or
something like that correct last year yeah it's been about that level that's almost 50% increase so it's um let me just open up here real quick I'll give the exact chapter 90 oh I put it in and my followup
question should we expect that amount next year as well is that the new standard I I I don't know what to expect um from the state I I was surprised to have open this um I I think a lot is going to
depend on what happens outside of our local control but um yeah where is that chapter 90 I just scanned it just not finding it but 690 and change I'll send that out supplement supplementary to the board after the conclusion of this
meeting so you can see it but it is contingent upon that Bond authorization so if folks want to call their legislative delegation and speak to the importance of chapter 90 funds this would be a good time oh actually hold on here it is well it it'd be nice if they
could apply those funds to our school transportation I know reimbursement agree so let's see instead of chapter 90 so um it's a $1.5 billion Bond Bill
funding for 5 years so uh um assumedly if if this passes that we can expect similar amounts for the next 5 years awesome I don't have any specific questions about the budget so far other
than you know I did watch that um super short finance committee meeting that was sarcasm it was a very long meeting but um I really appreciate all the work you've done you know you've hit the ground running um looking forward to continuing the conversations and we do I believe have a joint meeting next week yep next Tuesday with the school
committee so we'll we'll definitely be digging into this a little more next week as well um you know they're still sort of working on it and it's kind of changing day by day still at this point right I I would imagine that in this budget year that we could very well see
changes um between the final budget and town meeting floor that's potential I could see depending on how things kind of pan out over next course of month months uh budget adjustments at the special town meeting I I think kind
of everything is on the table um that nothing nothing as is normally done is going to happen with this budget season it's going to be an extraordinary year yeah and and again not just in Lunenburg
this is this is pretty um across the board here for our folks yep for sure yep even in the wealthier communities that's happening Renee do you have anything else on the budget uh no nope okay um and then for
the warrant I will just say that we received a Citizens petition relative to cemeteries I haven't read through it yet um but I just wanted to make everyone aware that that is there so we'll have to uh go through that as well um Mr chairman I hearing the
feedback from uh last week's presentation um I do want to to add an additional warrant article as a placeholder I haven't written it but um essentially to supplement the um the
pavement management line uh as a standalone article um if if the decision is made to supplement that line with one-time funds uh such as free cash I just want to be really transparent about it and show it right on the face of the
warrant and so that we can track this is how we did this and why um and so I'd just be asking that that's a placeholder at this point yeah I think that's fine I think it's really helpful for the public too they'll be able to see it and people in the future will be able to look back and know exactly what
we did so yeah I think that's um a good request all right any other discussion on any of these topics tonight nope all right moving on to current business notice of right of first refusal for 100
towns and Harbor Road uh I do want to discuss this with the full board but we did get a notice of intent to sell for this property that's in chapter uh we do have a few recommendations so the planning board found no planning related use for the property but they did discuss that it
had agricultural use uh the Conservation Commission didn't have any interest the agricultural commission was interested and I'm just going to pull up their letter that we have from them so I can say exactly what they stated hold on one second
so their recommendation was for the town to preserve the property at 100 towns in Harbor Road citing the following reasons so the first is that the town has the opportunity to preserve the agricultural aesthetic and open space in this chapter 61a property should we take the
opportunity considering other properties are coming up as private sales with no um RR which is right of first refusal currently several large properties in town are already seeing development such as the stone Farm the funeral home The Paton Farm which are
already town houses and this property has potential for multiple passive Recreation and or a community garden which would serve the entire Community surveys in general comments in Town consistantly express interest to
maintain the farming Community feeling the town needs to take advantage of these opportunities ities once farms in open space are subdivided and sold there's not an opportunity to get them back so that was a recommendation we received from the agricultural commission and then the open space um
committee also discussed it however they did not vote on it but I did watch their meeting and the members did express interest in the property as well um so obviously we're not going to make a decision tonight we need the full board here to just discuss it a little more as well um but I just wanted to put this
out there for the board that this is something that we're going to have to decide on and also for the public as well any questions or comments on that tonight no Cesar you cut out during the open
space oh my bad um no no it was I I you froze on my end yeah so they they discussed it a couple weeks ago they did not vote to make a recommendation but I did go back and I watch discussion and they did um Express an interest in the
property okay and it's about nine acres is that right it is y nine acres and the plan um for the sale is for it to be uh subdivided into five Lots single family homes cost is $400,000 I guess my
question I mean if we were interested how how would we pay for this [Music] so um I think that that's a question to me so let me just pull up right now
um let me just open up the free cash amount that I had as the remaining so if town meeting was today and all of the funding articles as has been discussed and proposed thus far are approved at the levels that they are so
uh any transfers um into stabilization funds offsetting capital projects Etc we have for this I'm going to put a huge caveat though it would mean that something else
needs to be adjusted so something else is coming off of the plan and that we would be starting um FY 27 with no starting free cash which is not a
great plan so um in order to start uh with a beginning balance of free cash we would really have to I would say adjust the capital program dramatically in order to afford this purchase at this
time all right well it's certainly a trade-off um you know I'm I would say that out of all the properties that we've had this option for and my tener on the board this is probably one that I have the most interest in potentially pursuing but I recognize that that really needs to be balanced with the
financial realities of the town as well so but I think we all know that I will also just say this is one area where adopting the community preservation act would be great for the town because that would allow us to have funds set aside specifically to purchase
properties for open space uh so that's one yet another reason why that should be uh further explored but any other discussion on this tonight no the other just to say the clock is now ticking correct yes
decision we technically we have until May but we would have to decide sooner for the warrant for the warrant so yep okay all right we'll move on consider approval of the revised Regional 911
emergency communication District agreement with nooba Valley Regional dispat dispatch District Jen do you want to introduce this one sure so uh oh in your packet you have a sorry
what Renee sorry it's you know it's past 8 I do uh so we're actually waiting for Town Council he's not here yet oh okay yeah okay okay sorry that's okay so you have um the red line of the
dispatch agreement essentially um what we are doing is act adding uh the community of Hudson to our regional dispatch agreement uh um so they'd be joining Berlin Bolton boxboro Harvard Lancaster um with us in this uh Endeavor
um not much else changes within the agreement uh but what does change is that our original uh quote was or uh assessment for this year was about $212,000 and with the addition of Hudson it actually drops down to
$26,000 so um there with the addition of Hudson uh the district is is applying for additional grants through the e911 program um so I I believe at this point all other communities have executed the agreement and we are we are the last um
to potentially join any questions for Jen Renee nope Amanda nope I don't either I read through it not much is really changing it's pretty straightforward to me all right so is
there a motion to authorize the town manager to execute the revised 911 emergency communications District agreement so moved Rene second all right any additional discussion this will be a roll call vote
Renee I Amanda I and an i for myself the motion passes unanimously and moving on potential vote to declare approximately 100 cubic yards of sand which were previously obtained by the town at no cost as Surplus so the
DPW director has requested that the board vote to declare um these uh 100 cubic yards of sand that the town received uh as Surplus we don't have any use for it so if we vote on it then we can give it out to Residents and I do
also just want to take a minute to mention I believe that Jim latanzi while away on vacation arranged to have buckets of sand deliver to seniors as well uh to help fill the Gap that was there so I want to thank him for
stepping in to help out our seniors as well any questions for Jen on this um do we have a process for which they're going to be able to receive the sand will it be uh buckets not truck fulls at
DPW first come first Ser similar to the way it was before that portion stopped okay and also I didn't know that about Jim who obviously was a longtime resident before he moved to Fitchburg and H Hill so that's wonderful that he did that so thank you Jim if you are listening
Renee nope no question all right is there a motion to declare the sand as Surplus so moved is there a second she freeze um I'm pulling up the agenda
what's the motion let's see the motion was made can you just second it oh second okay any additional discussion oh there it is all right this will be a roll call vote Renee I Amanda I and an i for myself the motion passes unanimously all right
perfect timing uh Town Council just walked in as we wrapped up current business so with that I will move to enter into executive session and to re-enter Open Session pursuant to Master General Law chapter 30 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to
litigation if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the litigating position of the town and the chair of the board so declares second any additional discussion so will be a roll call vote Renee hi Amanda I and I for myself we
are now an executive session and we will re-enter Open Session s afterwards so do you want to e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e I didn't know you want to do before we did this I still wanted to make my uh committee comment have
time my committee report hold on is it really I'm just going to let ad all right I believe we are back [Music] on just to check Renee are you there can you hear
us yes all right great and we can hear you too all right so we're moving on to minutes warrants and action items we have regular session minutes for January 15th 2025 February 4th 2025 February 11th 2025 February 18th 2025 so three of
these were on our meeting uh and on February 18th and one of them is new have we had a chance to review these are there any revisions that anyone has or do we want more time I yeah I haven't had a chance to read them I didn't expect to be here all right I know
that's fair that's why I asked all right so we'll skip over those warrants we do have some we're not going to be able to get all three signatures though so we'll have to try to AP I don't know let's see uh yes okay so I can't sign them right I
can at least read them inside them myself and then we'll collect signatures in the office as members have availability does that work it works all right so we have an accounts payable warrant in the amount of $ 96257 and I'm going to recuse myself from
signing and that's it thank you action items any new action items n all right committee [Applause] reports okay I have one that I've prepared that I'm going to read about
the master plan steering committee um well first I don't have anything for the economic development committee they have not met um since our last meeting so since my appointment as the select board representative to the master plan steering committee um I believe it was on June 18th of 2024 I've been actively
working to understand the status of the master plan process that's includ included reviewing past meeting minutes watching recorded meetings completing public surveys and polls and regularly seeking updates via email however despite these efforts key information on the progress of the master plan and its deliverables have not been made
available to the master plan steering committee the master plan steering committee has not been able to meet since May 30th of 2024 until the most recent meeting um last night March 3rd 2025 over this period the the planning board has been discussing potential adjustments to the master plan steering committee structure but no official
request was ever made to the master plan stering committee for the input for input additionally um at plan of board meetings on February 10th and February 24th at least of 2025 it was incorrectly stated that the select board did not have a representative despite my appointment in June of 2024 um my
multiple emails to the um planning board chair and some other members as well as my regular updates here at the select board meetings earlier today I sent a comprehensive email to the relevant boards with supporting documentation and I've requested that the town manager coordinate next steps so we can determine what's been completed by the
consultant to date what Still Remains outstanding um how much of the remaining funds um are available and where they will be um directed to and what the final review and public engagement process will look like before the adoption additionally I want to request
um or I would like to suggest that the possibility of a tri board meeting potentially the planning board the select board and the master plan steering committee along with a consultant to ensure alignment with transparency in this Final Phase the master plan is one of the most important guiding documents for LUN future especially right now with our with the
climate of our town and it represents a significant financial and time investment by the town and will impact zoning housing infrastructure and economic development for years to come I think it's critical that we bring this proc process to completion in a transparent and structured way so that truly reflects the needs and the goals of our community I'm going to continue
to monitor this process I'll be attending the next planning board meeting um and I'll provide more updates as I have more information thank you Amanda I don't have any committee reports none of mine have met recently n do you have a committee report to share tonight no all right thank you I don't
all right upcoming meetings we are meeting on March 11th and March 18th public comment are there any public comments from the town manager no any public comments from the public Mr pasos yes thank you Mr chair uh
unfortunately had a little trouble signing into the meeting at the beginning so I just missed um Communications from other boards um I'm before you this evening as the vice chair of the green communities committee um I know this was just distributed
today but uh the chair asked me to uh pass on our excitement that we got notification today that the $225,000 in green communities dollars that we applied for in October uh have been awarded to the town of lunenberg
um 3,300 and change for the primary school Refrigeration controls uh High School controls same about roughly the same about of money amount of money excuse me uh Refrigeration controls at Turkey Hill the big one $200,000 for the
primary school heat pump system that does not cover the entire uh install but it takes a big chunk out of that uh total dollars for getting that building completely uh covered by heat pumps uh
$10,000 for police hybrid police cruises $5,000 for each of two uh 1,800 and change for Primary School weather stripping and uh a couple thousand to offset the cost of administration of
these grants uh by Town employees Etc so we're quite excited that uh you know this this grant round uh was submitted with minutes to spare in October thanks to many people that worked very hard to get this application in and the chair
asked me to announce that we're ready to hit the ground running and start planning for next October's round thank you very much thank you Mr pasos and really thank you for sharing that I actually anticipated hearing it in the town manager report and then I just completely didn't even notice that it wasn't there but it is really great news
$250,000 in Grants so thank you 225 any other public comments from the public all right any public comments from the board none no all right I don't have any either is there a motion to adjourn so moved second any additional discussion
so be a roll call vote Renee I Amanda I and an i for myself it is 928 p.m. the select board is adjourned have a good night everyone we'll see you next week [Applause]