Jeff the chair is unable to join us this evening as such i l Franco as Vice chair will be chairing this evening's meeting please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 requ 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 after the meeting the agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and those that are 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 uh do we have any public comment from the board this evening I just have one I want to thank everyone for coming out or watching uh the Boys and Girls Club are you smarter than our sixth graders this past Friday uh I'm very pleased that the winners of the event were our own select board Mr Franco Mr n solo and Mr uh Jeff who were the winning team uh this year so dethroning the police team who really threw down the gauntlet last meeting but everybody had a great time it was very well attended uh and raised more than $24,000 for the boys and girls club so again to everybody you can watch it on YouTube if you haven't seen it lot of fun lot of good questions and answers and great stories uh and accounts of what the Boys and Girls Club mean to people who attend there were two uh students there who gave their own personal stories which was were always moving and they were always a good reminder about why the Boys and Girls Club exists and why it's such an important part of the town thank you Mr chair I have public comment uh I'll just add to that it was I I had not yet been to one of those so I I made it under the wire before leaving the board and it was a lot of fun I was glad I was able to be there it was it got me out of the house I was out with the people it was really nice [Laughter] so uh any public comment from the public Mr bow hi everyone uh John Bowen 162 Highland Street um here with G Marie price uh Sim address uh as this board is aware I have mentioned already that I am running for the cemetery commissioner's position as a right in candidate uh if I was appointed we would be in this position as well uh at some point um however I would like to quote by uh Pope um St Gregory the Great he developed the Liturgy of the church um he made a statement that was quite profound he wrote about the kind of man who ought to rule this is fitting in the situation with the cemetery commission what he said was can the occupation of power distract the mind of the ruler this is why I strongly think our present commission is in Dire Straits the power it's an occupation of power the inurance and personal benefits which have been prevalent in this commission is appall is is appalling changing a rule to give one rule of power as discretion is too much power which the new policy reflects I strongly believe in a cemetery commission formation okay as a corporation under IRS code 501 C13 through the use of Mass general laws chapter 114 will allow the cemeteries to receive donations and hold them I don't know if everybody's aware but they just gave back $175,000 donation because they can't hold money and they had no authority to accept money we should be raising money in applying for grants for all Perpetual care and maintenance and burials and relieve the taxpayer of the $22,000 we give the DPW and uh and pay for those wages to be able to do the work the Town manager should not have control of management operations but move the cemeteries into the Conservation Commission as a department this is an ecosystem we have with cemeteries in this community the commission should only be managers oversight only to the corporation which will comprise of five skilled directors with experience we need to stop the patronage of this commission we need to stop the naming of buildings and structures at the Town officials uh it should always be noted that it should say on the side of any building the town's people circuit 2024 because that's who approved and ratified and every person is important every donor and family needs to be treated equally there should be no discretion well I'll let you do this but I won't let you do this that's my discretion the family of the inter should be always contacted with a survey about any major projects in the cemetery the cemeteries need to remain in their present historic condition and remain a green space no matter the cost of the maintenance to do so the rules and regulations and policies created should go before the town for ratification not just before a board the cemetery commission has no Integrity I'm not speaking about M clock and has come uh it has been revealed in that Integrity by the condemnation of the Town DBW employees and contractors that this commission has engaged right now anyone who told who is told that they could have a specific size Stone I'm going to encourage all those people to make a call request of this commission to get a larger Stone after all it is their discretion are they going to tell some no and others yes let's see Dave Doran seems to have an awful lot of extra space planting around around his headstone more than everybody else and it appears that that would be the rule as much as you want the price family presently has space for 132 people can you imagine the size of the stone that we're going to need I'm looking into it right now and I'm sure that I'll be approved for a large Stone to be able to put 132 names because when Elden price bought those in the 1800s he bought them for the price Legacy if you could wrap up in 30 seconds this is my platform I challenge anyone to debate me I have a plan no commissioner has had a plan in any appointment of any statement that they gave to this board even during election what is your plan Cemetery commission is a question that this board should have asked every appointment which all these appointments just converted into a oneline vote because there was no challenges which I know you Mr Franco were you know appalled at the caucus the question the board should have asked okay is this question why why why is there no plan not leave it up to me to do it but now I'll do it right in the end John Bowen I asked for this board's endorsement I live at 162 Highland Street I wanted to be a cemeterian in this Commission in in this town to make this commission a corporation and I would like this endorsement and again I challenge Dave Dorne and Michael Clark at any point in time to any kind of a debate if they'd like to have one or any kind of a discussion through Facebook even though you know there's a lot of junk that floats around there I'll have the discussion you know but I want to just say that you know I I think that the cemetery commission itself is a problem 10 seconds please I think it's a problem and I think it needs to be fixed but right now in its present State the person that can fix it is uh mlim muu that's the person that can fix it and there's no action being taken thank you for your time thank you I would just issue a general comment just to be careful about I mean that's borderline campaigning here and I don't know that this is a proper forum for that so uh that's all can I just address that real quickly want Lear sure I did not come uh I did not come here to campaign I came here because if you go over the entire history history of what I have mentioned over time with the cemeter commission at their meeting and at this board is all reflected in the same letter and L three lines yeah sorry and that's that's what I was mentioning all right okay thank you any other public comment from the public anybody online no that's it seeing none we'll move on announcements uh yes just I'll put this at the front of the meeting annual town meeting is this Saturday May 4th at 9:00 a.m. at the middle school high school auditorium I would arrive early uh where we don't know what the attendance will be like we're expecting a larger than normal attendance also we put out a survey on social media if you could anyone that's thinking of attending we're trying to get some idea of how many people are going to go to the meeting so um this will help us in some way to for personnel that needs to be there and set up and such but we have planned everything for overflow rooms and um all the proper audio and visual for those overflow rooms as well absentee voting the town clerk asked me to read a notice in the town clerk's office 2024 census forms should be returned to the town clerk's office by now if you lived in the town on January 1st first and did not receive a form please contact the town clerk's office at [Music] [Applause] 978-5860 were due by April 1st please let let the town clerk's office know if you no longer have a dog or come in to renew the license to avoid fines if you have mail payment for your dog license without a stamped envelope to return it please stop by the office to pick up your license lastly absentee ballots for the annual Town election which is on May 18th are now available and you may vote in the town clerk's office during regular office hours the last day of apply for an absentee ballot to be mailed is Wednesday May 15th and the clerk's office off will be open on Friday May 17th from 9:00 a.m. until noon this is the last day an hour to vote absentee yes can I ask one question I'm just curious how many returns have you had on the survey do you know yesterday afternoon about 60 and were they all saying they were coming um it was one two three Mo most most I didn't feel it out okay I was going to ask to but what where where did it get sent to it's on Facebook oh it's just like a Google form M okay I have I haven't seen Facebook no longer allows polls oh I didn't know that I figured people knew I was coming but this is to to meeting yes yeah I'll be there as a why um we well uh we we we 7:15 we have the toll booth fundraiser we're 1 minute away so if you work your way up slowly we can actually kick that off on time that's for the Shriners Club communication from other boards first uh we oh I'm sorry thank you we do not have any Communications from other boards we do oh we do sorry uh please good evening Mark bur 20 Buttonwood place I'm the chair of the Board of Water Commissioners and I had a few prepared things I wanted to just kind of go over real quick tonight uh I realize it's a uh short meeting so I'm going to keep it short can I steal that yes y I can't seem to pull it up right now and were you able to not yet okay well I'll start backwards then you're very very close to being a regular here a good thing trying don't don't even think I'm going to get up on that stage no no even people participating is good Mark well so in the past the board has has um voiced its concern that the the district is is not open uh and communicative so I'm trying to change that think you're doing great our meetings are different they're in different locations we're posting them now and coming and communicating with the board uh one of the things I wanted to go over article 25 at town meeting um I had a couple comments on that and I just uh I know the planning board has been going over it full disclosure I have not uh watched the meetings uh but I wanted to give you the um Water District's perspective on this article uh previous land use director had brought this article up in reference to restrictions for development in commercial zones uh and in commercial development specifically in zone two and zone three so not necessarily the Zone one the town's current bylaw would not allow for certain types of development within the zone 2 or zone three what he was proposing was an adoption of D's regulations for Zone 2 and Zone 3 that would allow for certain types of development along with safeguards in place to protect the zone 2 and the Zone 3 this was specific to similar development that we've allowed within the same commercial District so he was looking specifically in the area of kings and that zone two and zone three the type of development we're talking about probably currently would not fit within the Zone twos and Zone 3es that we have on our other sites this would mean uh significant commercial tax revenue for the town of lunenberg the Water District's position is that as long as they were following dp's guidelines we had no concerns over this article it does not change any current regulatory Authority in The District in any way all of the district's regulatory authority of the zone 2 and three comes from D and the the current Mass the current lunenberg bylaw so personally I I feel that the only thing this article does was is allow for commercial development within uh the zone two and zone three implementing safeguards uh by D to allow for this development and it would also produce tax revenue so on a personal end with all the overrides and all the money that we're looking for and increases I I think we should really bring this article up for some serious consideration um I know there's been some um feedback on the Zone one take Zone one out of it just change zone two and zone three because I think it's it's important for the for the community and I think there are some deals in place that will go away if this is not uh if this isn't passed and I I I didn't see it as a significant impact so uh were you able to yes okay the other item I want to go over tonight is is specific impact to each customer regarding the past treatment plan that we have I want to go over the exact numbers that we have as of today no hypotheticals um basically what we are looking at today so the the voters can understand on May 16th what they're voting for So currently under a 30-year plan for a state revolving fund the Hickory Hills well will cost each water taker $622 cents per quarter what we have done is uh added the Lancaster AV well to this and that impact through the srf funding totals out at uh $13.79 so that would be to treat Hickory Hills and Lancaster a under srf funding so essentially the vote that we have on the 16th is for the $13.79 but if we look at the overall plan which is to move right into next year applying for srf funding which we don't know that we have but we should treat all of our sources you add the keing well to that under a 30-year Bond at 4.2 25% essentially a yes vote on the 16th will cost the water takers in the end adding the keing well $177 23 per quarter we're still only voting at the hund the $103 79 at the 16th but the intentions to move forward in the worst case scenario if we stay in the timeline that we have will be 7344 for the king well combined $177 123 in the end that treats Hickory Hills Lancaster a and Kings average cost to the water taker over 30 years is $21,000 for three I'm sorry supplies interrupt this this is getting really into the weeds I can't even read the document that's being shared we weren't giv it in advance I will we will forward this to you this is this is a small clip and we we plan to meet with the board I think can we postpone till we have that meeting CU I think the public isn't even aware that you were going to present number I wasn't aware you're going to present new numbers tonight these aren't new numbers well I can't see them I've seen so many iterations of numbers and financing options and um I would feel more comfortable having a open discussion um I feel like this is um the public would not expect this tonight and without having this material I can't even I can't even I I open it on Facebook I can't read it um I don't have much to close out and this is this is stuff we're going to I see I see your I see I see Miss Miss hemp's point and and um yeah go ahead and wrap it up but because I mean it right it's squeezing it's stuffing it into the envelope of communications from other boards but I see what you're I I see getting into this this is a condensed version of of a a more broad overview well that version needs to be if I may yes I would I would recommend that we hear the speaker out and we don't discuss this cuz that could be open meeting law issues but he could certainly present it especially since he's saying he's close and we are going to have a meeting with the water district at their request from last week's meeting so I I I I take to heart what miss m is saying I can't read it either I have very good eyesight and I can't read it I hope that Mr bur you'll present this you'll provide this to us uh I have lots of questions already that I'm not going to ask tonight but I think we should at least hear out my intent is is a statement and to have a summary that uh everybody can take home and and understand I'm sure there'll be questions after um but my intent was a short summary to to go over what we see as for finances for for um a water supply for the community so do you want this on the agenda as an item for next week for actual discussion oh next week or the week after I think we we've discussed with the board we we definitely feel that this is a large issue that that impacts the town and we would um definitely want the board to to weigh in I I haven't seen an issue in the past with the water district that the board has not weighed in on so I I am inviting it at this I was asking more about the timing next all right yeah so you'll be able to wrap up in the next couple minutes here yeah so uh you know essentially treating three water supplies for for $21,000 over 30 years to the average resident if there was a no vote then we would have to move forward forward no srf funding no guaranteed srf funding we are going to continue to do everything we can to curve the costs on this but currently no srf funding so um if we're we're looking at just Lancaster RAV and Kings under 4.25% 30-year Bond it is $167.3 for Lancaster Avenue Kings two supplies over 30 years $20,000 so my summary is is is this and you can look at this a whole bunch of ways and I'm sure the board will have questions when we talk about this in the future $10 per quarter gives you three Water Supplies $10 additionally per quarter $1,200 over 30 years I'm not going to I'm not going to blabber that I'm going to just leave that I will have uh the Water superintendent forward this to um the town manager and and to the board as well for review it is the plan that we recommend is the best financial plan for the community um there are a lot of other different uh ideas and plans out there but that's what we have come up with I want to talk briefly to redundancy um I think that was another big issue that was brought up and we'll I'm sure we'll discuss this further but there were two big issues from our last public meeting that I took away and that all of the meetings that we had were were very informative everybody has um great questions and um one of the things that I think was discussed was redundancy so under Mass General law 310 any person who obtains a department approval for Community public water system that relies entirely upon groundwater sources shall provide additional Wells well fielded Springs pumping equipment or the equivalent capability of producing the same volumes in quantity of water as its system's primary well our primary well is the keing well our secondary source currently is Lancaster RAV King is one .5 million per day Kings is about or Lancaster a is about 750 so a little over half currently even though the Hickory Hills well is not an active Source it's still considered a source prior to pasas if we needed to activate that Source in an emergency even though it had high levels of iron and magines D would allow it now with P if we do not treat it I'm not sure they're going to allow that in the future so that is a is an unknown and I'd like to speak to knowns that will not give us an equal source to our largest source we currently we we currently have it if you combine the two water sources so that's all I had on on that uh I would like to um if we could tonight set a date where the water district uh comes and has a discussion with the board and reviews uh the plans that we have and and reviews any questions the board may have uh I think that uh this is a very important vote coming up uh some people are voting based on on finances um I think the the engineers we've had and the employees have have done a great job in coming up with the I feel the best financial plan anything else moving forward would be more costly all right so um your vote is the 16th right our vote is the 16th correct sir all right so right now on our schedule we have the 7th and the 14th but we have to have a scheduling discussion ourselves about this seventh meeting which might not be happening on the 7th MH uh we might be next week's meeting we might be shifting that I haven't brought it up yet so it would be hard to nail that date down with you tonight because that might date might not be there in an hour and a half um the 14th is two days before your vote I mean does that work it's it's I I think it's important to have the the board's uh weigh in and and and have that discussion we don't have many public forums where we can where we can talk about um our plans and what we're trying to do um as a public official I don't feel it's appropriate to comment on Facebook um on somebody's personal uh so we are posting on Facebook putting as much information out there to try to keep people as informed as POS informed as possible um there is a lot of information I en I encourage everybody to to digest it and and you know all right so I think it looks like the 14th it's the only realistic thing that we know we're going to have a meeting so okay so I will or will Heather reach out to Fran and and and confirm that so um and is that something you would feel that you would I mean we may ask our engineer to come anyway is that going to be helpful no I would I would encourage probably yep yes okay we're much information so Mr chair I mean I will say notwithstanding the fact that there were some absences that will be on the 7th I think something of this magnitude that you know we're talking about not couple hundred thousand we're talking about millions of dollars to have our initial meeting at the request two days before the that's not a lot to get any word out so just logistically it almost makes no sense to have it then because how much I mean you're going to give give people ours is on Tuesday night the meeting is at what 6:00 on Thursday so basically you're giving somebody less than two days to listen digest and come back with anything so if I mean my recommendation would be for the 7th or before anytime before the 14th well we might not be able to have that meeting on the 7th for reasons that are going to that that we'll get into but um I mean so we'd have to nail down another date and then you would just have to be there for that date we we yeah we're open to another date if if that if that's what the board wants to do um I think it's important that um we let the board weigh in on this issue even if it's a day before we have our vote uh I I just feel that uh it's an important issue for the community and as the the highest board in the community I think that I think it's important to have your opinion um let me just see at that meeting whatever we do we're going to make sure that not only does the Commissioners and the Water District employees and their Engineers be able to speak as well as us obviously we want we want to hear you know I don't want it to be another two-hour meeting like they just held but I don't want to have nobody from the public be able to speak either I want to hear some from people as well I understand your point uh I the the main purpose is to get get your opinion some of our meetings uh some speakers uh it does it does drag them along so all right there's an unknown in the schedule about whether or not anybody else is going to have this room on the eth or the 9th so we just we can't nail down a date at this very moment so we're going to have to when will you have that information we should be able to by tomorrow by tomorrow morning all right okay so we will not have a date the six option Monday say again Monday the 6th Monday the 6th or Monday's an option I feel like that's not a popular meeting night I know planning board's not meeting till the 13th okay Monday the what what's not meeting until the 13th planning board I'd rather take some time to make sure that no one Els is meeting the TR to do that right now yeah yeah let's not nail down the date at the moment all right we'll reach out or Heather will reach out okay all right thank you very much I appreciate your time thank thank you um get back on course here okay so there uh that's it as far as Communications from other boards thank you the uh next item is the tool toll booth fundraiser for the Shriners now they they're not coming back to represent we just uh the the conflict is cleared up so we're just taking a vote on that uh and that is for uh that event date is 61 yep 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the intersection of massav in Lancaster AVS uh again that 5 hour period 9:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. we've already had a discussion with them the only issue remaining was the conflict on the date and it's all it's all good now so uh with that unless there's further discussion I'll entertain a motion on this request I move to accept the toll booth fundraiser request for June 1st from 9:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. as presented by the Fitchburg lemonster Shriners Club in support of Shriner's Hospital Transportation fund second any further discussion all in favor I I I opposed um I'm an I too opposed abstentions uh okay it passes unanimously four to four to nothing uh it is 7:34 we can move to our 7:30 which is the toll booth fundraiser request from the Boys and Girls Club of lunenberg we have a representative please uh introduce yourself and hi I'm Andrew Wood 947 flat Hill Road uh I'm here to get approval for a tool booth on May 22nd from 4: to 7:00 p.m. at the center of town we do have confirmation from the DPW and police that there are no conflicts with this date also I want to say thank you guys for your participation on Friday for the game show congrats on winning um and all the proceeds for our toll booth are going to go to financial aid for our summer program for kids that are less fortunate um yeah any questions have you guys had is this your first toll booth this year I believe so yeah okay because I know in our bylaws we limited to two so I know that this is the same night as the I think prom the cruise night right I believe so I'm not too sure on that one Cru night yeah okay okay so I didn't know if you had one already because I know that usually have one around town meeting around this time so this is the first one as long as you don't go the two I perfectly fine with okay this is 4: to 7:00 p.m. is it yeah the same night as the cruise night on on yeah yeah yeah it's just that it's slashed out I don't know why it's slashed out on this thing I thought yeah uh I I thought it was 4 to7 pm. it's just that there's a line through it but I think that's just a stray Mark uh any other questions or comments from board members is there there's a rain date for the cruise night right there was yes I don't know off the top of my head but are you going are you going have this I believe so okay I think Michelle wants to yeah I missed so what what because if it if the cruise Knight gets rained out you might not have as much traffic through town center and so you're just going to what are you going to do stick there's no rain date on applications okay so DPW and police have both reviewed it and there's no issue or conflict with the car show mhm so I'm just putting that out there yep so unless there any further comments or questions I'll entertain a motion I move we approve the toll booth fundraiser request on May 22nd from 4 to 7 p.m. for the Boys and Girls Club of lunenberg as presented second all in favor I I I oppose none and uh it's approved for on nothing good luck be safe thank you thank you have a great night you too okay ratifications should we do the interiew yeah we'll we'll we'll yes okay uh let's hear from uh uh Council on Aging and uh appointment uh request for appointment of Elena Christopher good evening if you would just uh introduce your name and address okay I'm Elena Christopher and I live at 91 Autumn Road and I have um been a property owner here for 35 years lived in the town for 25 and had a business for 22 years um I finally have some free time and I'd like to give back to the community um it the community has been great and um and I've had loyal following in my customers and so I am very motivated to do something in behalf of the uh town and when I was approached about the Council of Aging um I have been a a one of prime a primary caretaker for a very very elderly person a parent and I have watched her over the last 20 years and all that she's gone through with fixed income and you know trying to get additional support and uh I thought that I would like that would be an area where I'd like to uh put some time in so on that I've decided to put my name in that for the job that's great any questions or comments from the board no thank you for for volunteering thank you well I've known ala for many years in a good way and uh yeah I couldn't be more thrilled that you're you know going to be active in town in a different in a different capacity this time I know you'll be just as successful and I know your energy and your passion for doing this uh especially given the story you just told will be welcome there and it' be a great addition to the Council on Aging thanks no questions here I just want to thank you for stepping up I've already seen you in the habitat once when at the C last Council on agent meeting or maybe it was the one before that and also we we know each other just from you would see me once per year I wasn't normally a wine guy but I would go in and buy the same bottle of wine for my sister-in-law every year of racing yes that's right that's right you always knew exactly what I wanted so and you remembered the exact one so I appreciate that so that not that that has anything to do with that has no bearing on your application at all for the public just so you all know that um so uh so thank you for stepping up in this capacity did we have any comments from uh Debbie Lincoln Debbie Lincoln 46 Hemlock Drive and I'm the chair of the council in aging I would just like to say that Elena attended our last board meeting she fit right in everybody was thrilled that she had stepped up and volunteered to do this and we're looking forward to working with her so hopefully you'll approve her and appreciate her as much as we do thank you thank you uh I make a motion that we approve and we appoint Elena Christopher of 91 Autumn Road to the Council on Aging term to expire June 30th 2026 second all in favor I I I congratulations forward of nothing I believe you need to go get sworn in at the town clerk's office okay all right thank you thank you have a good night than now we will do ratification of alternate Plumbing gas inspector please thank you to manager So the appointment I'm asking the board to ratify tonight is for the alternate Plumbing gas inspector position Jeremy Pierce is the person I have appointed Jeremy has over 25 years of experience in the plumbing field he is the owner of Pierce plumbing and hbac and has worked as the plumbing and gas inspector and our alternate in multiple other municipalities such as the towns of Shirley Princeton Bolton Lancaster lemonster gron and Sterling all in a part-time as needed capacity for the last 14 years prior to that he worked as a plumber for 10 years before starting his own company Jeremy is a licensed Master Plumber licensed sheet metal worker and licensed oil burner technician so I'm asking the board to ratify this appointment tonight any questions comments sounds like he's ultimately qualified okay I'll entertain a motion I move to ratif the town manager's appointment of alternate Plumbing gas inspector Jeremy Pierce second all in favor I I I None opposed four to nothing approved ratified and the second uh ratification mask in the board is for Cole keeper he's a returning seasonal lifeguard position so no further words he was a good employee that we're glad it's coming returning to the town as a lifeguard questions comments always glad to see people [Music] returning I'm moved that the board ratify the town manager's appointment of seasonal lifeguard Cole kefir second all in favor I I I ratified thank you Town manager report I do not have a report tonight um but I wanted to talk generally a little more about Tom me um just for the more for the public too that the school will be offering child care services at town meeting and that is being uh so student council and National Honor Society students will be um providing those child care services I think that's going to be in the library there will also be a bag lunch for sale and that time frame should be between 11: and 1:00 that there'll be baged lunches so that will be a sandwich chips a cookie and a bottled water for $7 cash um those were mostly at I think I don't know about the type of CH of cookie so did childcare something new we I think that was done once before in my time here but is so I understand why we're doing it this year but is there like any plan on maybe making that per that would a school um decision so I think that something that they brought up during their discussions this year during meetings what time do doors open and people start believe it would be 8:00 yeah 8 that's when the child care would start you're say no um well it would be around that time and then until I think 1:00 was the time they ending okay and and we have our pre-own meeting tomorrow I think um Mr Franco is attending that on behalf of the board um we have a larger than normal group that we've included just to go over all the logistics um that we've they've already tested it out and everything but just to make sure everybody's on the same page as far as setup and um where the town clerk will be checking in people where things will be for um anyone like the water district asked if they could be there for a table to to provide materials um that checking for voters registered voters will first be uh sent to the auditorium as we have 600 uh clickers for capacity for that room and then to the Overflow rooms the gymnasium and the cafeteria are there any questions what about parking parking um I spoke with the police chief he is going to have uh someone there for traffic um there'll be multiple officers there meaning so they be directing for traffic it's going to be wild we'll see it could be could be it could be not totically though it sounds took a lot of planning on a behalf of a lot of people I want to thank those people that were involved yeah hopefully the plans and it sounds like it was all well thought out that these plans are put into some procedural written policy that in case it happens we don't have to reinvent the wheel and we can say how what did we do here even if it's not utilized for all the rooms at least we know what we want to do and what we have to test and everything so good to be prepared than okay uh moving on to Old business uh we had have as you recall will recall we kicked the draft Revenue uh turnover policy review to tonight uh giving people additional time and also uh Town manager made some adjustments to it I guess got some feedback on it or yes uh so please go ahead and speak to that thank you um so I did get feedback um specifically from departments on the threshold the timing of the turnovers and um regarding timing of when the office treasury collector's office is open so obviously um if it had to be within 48 hours there may be a time period that the treasure collector's office is not open CU they're not open on Fridays and many departments um that first initial threshold would have been met daily so it would have caused an undue burden on their Department of coming to the office daily to do those turnovers so what we compromised on is the timing um was weekly and to increase that threshold to 250 and 250 is what DLS um has came back with their draft on the threshold amount as well so I feel confident that that would pass their um muster as well the chart just made um certain amendments that for departments that where fees weren't applicable or changed so Department of Public Works they don't collect driveway permit fees they do for those other ones listed added in membership fees and rental fees for facilities Parks and Recreation and removed Court's fines and administrative search charges because those um don't get funneled through the department through the department actually okay so other than that this is all the same as what we've previously seen right yes yeah uh any we did commit to voting on this tonight um any questions or comments no no I'm perfectly fine with these the changes made are very clear and very common sense oriented like that we don't have to turn in fees that we don't collect that's that's always a good thing to remove from the chart other than that I'm ready to vote on it so am I okay I'll entertain a motion I would move that we approve the revenue turnover policy as amended and presented this evening second all in favor I I I none opposed um there it is okay thank you so this next one um is sort of and I'll be turning it over to you again shortly but this is sort of like a a big basket of yes we keep this on basket of whatever whatever may have come up this week so if you wish to discuss items from the basket yes so it's recurring agenda topic from February till now there is one change in the consent calendar the finance committee met on Thursday they voted to remove article four for the priority year expense so it's down for the reason I gave it our meeting the four just changes the threshold yes four fifths vot um so it's now just majority that's not four fifths isn't a prior year 9/10 that's for a special ah okay four well they're really lenient on fours so we're down to 11 articles under the consent calendar the prior uh sorry budget adjustment article that's finalized with a number there was um and this was discussed throughout the budget season as far as once we knew the number from Personnel committee for the amount that was needed for fiscal 24 for the salary Administration plan wage adjustments so we have um most of the funding within the existing salary Reserve account we need an additional 13,570 and. 73 and that will come out of the regular Reserve account so it's just a transfer from the reserve account to the salary Reserve account and so the total coming out of the reserve fund and going to the seller reserve and snow removal is 239,000 $73.95 those the only changes those are the only changes and that was just calculating it was discussed just a final dollar number needed to be calculated that is all I have for okay so that's just sort of FYI we don't need to do anything with it okay all right um how about status update on Capital plan projects for FY 24 that is in your Google Drive its own folder I can do kind of a high level if you want to start with and not go through every single one thank God so for starting with the oldest uh from physical five and to 21 most of those um remaining projects have been completed and closed out some of the funding sources are going towards the fiscal 25 Capital plan so really what's remaining is the kitchen remodel for the senior center and that the facilities director will be continuing to try to complete monitech wasn't able to do the whole project but they could remove all cabinets so the facilities director is going to be working with um the company and do that work and now we have a a second facilities staff member on board so hopefully that will help with getting projects done in house as well and the chimney repair Old article that's been um put aside for the town hall building envelope project that's on a future Capital plan so we had just reserved that money for when that project goes out to bed any questions on that those years nope going to the next uh fiscal 22 so most of those projects have um either the equipment's been ordered or the Project's been complete the some um you'll see remaining lines will be going towards other um projects within the fiscal year and the two main ones are the Ritter the Ada ramp and the envelope um repairs to that building and the facilities director is working on that bid package so that did go fully through the apdc get approval and now it's at the point of developing the bid specifications and the town hall same with that uh that is within the bid specification phase it says here that the six wheeel dump truck should be received this March did we get it no so that sorry I didn't update that um I think it is now June of course fiscal 23 so it's going to be the same for the 10-wheeler you're going to see that I think that's June as well on the fiscal 23 we have uh some remaining projects some have been completed um the paage street Culvert construction projects that's substantially complete just waiting on the as belt for that project and um we have the town hall repairs project that's interior work to be done to the town hall the public safety building engineering design um for drainage Senior Center HVAC updates and Brooks house and the senior center roof replacement the major and records retention and the major ones out of those all those projects the ada8 patio project that Capital line is that's fully expanded completed and the generator that was awarded the generator came in actually early it was supposed to be coming in in May but and came in April but it did not come with the fuel pump that needs to be so and that's back ordered until September so they're going to do all the preliminary work for all the conduit um so they'll be ready to go when that so we'll have everything run we just won't be able to generate right yeah but at least it's September and before winter and when will we need a generator the fuel pump you say there's a a fuel um pump that goes with the generator but but like it doesn't come with the generator no they're two separate okay all right I was going to say that's kind of an odd Shi separately yeah all right well to to Riff on a theme did we get the 10 wheeel plow in sand sander which was due in March 24 is that also delayed no that's what I said right before we started going into this that that one I think is June as well oh okay one day the survey study on the flat Hill Road drainage was done last week yes that was just survey on the detention Basin with mccardy mhm yes okay through mccardy their subcontractor I haven't seen a report and fiscal 24 not much change in fiscal 24 projects um the one um change is North Fairfield culbert that's was awarded to the beta group they're doing that project that will fully expend the 25,000 in that line item and that's all that's it yes any questions comments no okay all right so still under old business um we have a discussion we had briefly discussed last meeting the uh the PTO request for the experience uh award um and I just didn't know if we had any further ideas on that that people wanted to offer so I thought about it a little more and I think I have an idea of what the actual request could look like that I just wanted to you know uh bring up with you guys so for the select board member for a day if we were to do something like that I think the way that it would actually look is having some sort of award that is for specifically ideally like Public Service of some kind so like volunteering or extracurricular activities like student government or something like that and we can give these Awards out to maybe like five students and then create name plaques and then invite people in to present the award and give them maybe like 10 minutes to come up here and maybe like introduce themselves speak to the work that they did that helped them win the award give a little speech or something and then vote on something kind of like a joke um I think it could be a fun idea I don't know and maybe we could invite the state delegation that's something that they'd be willing to participate in but that's really the only way that I can see like that actually being a thing select board member for a day I don't know just wanted to throw that out there um and oh sorry one more thing I did think a little bit more about the tours cuz we did sort of discuss that a little bit and I don't really think that should be something that um students get as an award because if I wanted to tour like the US capital building for example all I would have to do is just submit a form on the internet and get one for free because it is you know a public building so maybe there's a way to once every year have sort of like a class Bas tour that's not really connected to an award or something but I don't know throwing that out there if that's something that people would be willing to do butour yes that would be part of it no I mean I mean this year it's a public building theoretically like you know we could just do that well there although there is that has to be done would be a special priv of course it would be like a tour but I'm saying that like you shouldn't have to win an award for is what I'm saying like a class should be able to just maybe have a tour yeah I don't know this is just sort of where what I was thinking about when I a good question I don't know yeah I think if more than six people went up to the steeple it would probably collapse what I about the the weak capacity yeah if you go on a tour a lot of you know a lot of other buildings you don't get up to go to the yeah Towers because they're cramped and they're Steep and right yeah so I think that would be a special thing yes I that the only the only thing is and and I say this because again we have to be conscious of this you know it clearly is not ADA Compliant so if the person who won this oh yeah had Ada issues we would not be able to do we we would have to do a video tour mhm uh just because again there is no access to there and even then as somebody able-bodied sometimes I wonder why I continue going up there so the clock is very cool but it's not very glamorous going let's not glamorize so what do you guys think of the select board member for a day I like that idea I like the key I like I like Town manager's idea of presenting them the key to the town I think having them open a open a meeting by reading the address or maybe reading an article or something I think would be good and I think the name tags your idea is a great idea so there's um speaking of the key to the town thing um CU I have a couple of fake Keys myself in in the house we have like a a replica bastile key that George Washington has at Mount Vernon things like this so we have these keys but the museum in conquer probably sells like brass Colonial type keys or something if we wanted to do that as a symbolic key yeah exactly you know I'd be willing to go retrieve those right I think that'd be a cool package yeah um no that makes it sound I think more cool you know that what you kind of presented there it's it's uh because I was trying to figure out like what would you know as Tom pointed out the other day that's not even fun for a selectman being selected yeah and it's also like I I think the potential to scare people away from you know government and public service is there too cuz you never really know what type of public comments are you going to take place that day honorary chair of our next dog hearing God yeah we could bring in a stuffed animal yeah you get your money's you get your money's worth that's that's two hours right there yeah yeah well hopefully people would be kind of like you know cool about making public comments and stuff but you never know um but I think I think if we do that if we're going to have them speak or anything we should we should give an age category about this is for yeah I imagine this as being you know Junior High junior or you know Senior High School right not something for K I don't think there was an age specified no no but we can we can specify an age so I guess it kind of went without saying yeah well I think building something around what you're suggesting I I'm I'm for building around that and exploring that you know to do well we have to commit to them I think and then we can build you know we can assign somebody to do it it but I think I think they're looking for a commitment that there is something to do tonight you're saying well I the the cruise night is when they're going to have this May 22nd so it's quick tick tock tick tock so yeah well are we prepared it's like three weeks from tomorrow all right what's that it's three weeks from actually realize that it was for U that date so yeah well I mean do we think that this idea is sufficiently rete at this moment to well I think details need to be worked out but I think it sounds like we're all generally supportive of doing something mhm oh yeah we're definitely doing something so something built around this idea yep okay they even pull out the gavel have them gavel in a meeting where is the gavl in that dra I should have brought that out yeah so we can specify the age range of the winner if we like so yep so is there only one winner or is that all Al sort of up for us to decide i' have to go back yeah one winner I think it makes it easier yeah well I don't know I'm definitely supportive of it I am too you know yeah I yes so I don't think it needs a formal vote I think we're no we're there but we should communicate with Mandy that we are willing to do that and she may even be watching she may she may okay so that's Renee do you have any thoughts you're good okay all right so great that's good thank you Caesar for that idea I think I think it sounds more exciting the way you fleshed it out so yeah it really didn't sound exciting at first it's good um and where are we now okay so current business um disposal review disposal of surplus property policy did you want to speak to this Madam Town manager well thank you so you'll actually see two drafts one day um which date is that is that the the 30th okay draft number two draft number two I would look at I missed that the first draft in the definition I I think um the overall it made it too wordy with having Surplus ly replace throughout I think it can be um condensed in just defining Surplus to include those terms um because Surplus is the word that's used in Mass General law that requires this policy so that's what this all stems for we're required to have a policy for any disposal of items um less than $10,000 $10,000 and more we we have to U procure that um or bid that competitively with an advertise procurement process so I've reviewed a variety of different towns policies and um this also kind of follows what we have been doing we use municibid as our public auction site and um that's worked well it's really easy to use it gets it out to a whole host of people anyone can um go on there and and submit a bid it has timelines built into it you put in a description pictures it's really useful to tool for this and is um approved by the state as well as a public auction site the um it also addresses if there's no bids through munici bid how those items are disposed of so the first um it would be we try to um Garner some value through scrap or we would put it through recycling um and then the board would have the option if we cannot dispose it that way through a nonprofit or other governmental agency now I see there is no letter number number three for $10,000 or more is there any reason for that if what happen that is because it that strictly follows Mass General law as far far as how that's bid so we have to um follow competitive bidding process for anything with a value of 10,000 or more okay but if what Happ I mean okay with the procedures so they they have some way to if you don't get any bids what to do with it in that paragraph okay fair enough that's the only question I had I'm just sorry you couldn't fit it on one page you should reduce thep SI I can widen the margins could feel like real Corporate America if it's more than one page I don't read it yeah any other questions or comments board members I'm not looking for the board to vote on this yeah right I don't think we could I mean yeah okay okay the fact that I'm not voting on it then I think it's great yeah yeah plus I read the second one later and the I I've only been through it once so okay I don't know I mean again I don't know that there's much to discuss Beyond this I know that you're not asking us to vote on it but and I'm fine with it going to another meeting I guess we should we should get the chair's opinion as well but I mean it seems about as straightforward Ward as they come okay we'll just kick it Forward um do we have any minutes for tonight no there are no minutes no warrants uh warrants it's not a warrant week we on a bi-weekly schedule now so that if depending on your meeting next week we'll be contacting you to First signatures okay so action items um we need to be talking about the timeline for Town manager evaluation yes right so um I'm off the board in two weeks two and a half weeks so what is the proposed Madam Town manager if you want to speak to this a little bit we usually start talking about the timeline early in April or late March um and so kind of we're past that um and my contract says um we start the process mid April and complete by the election unless agreed otherwise which I'm obviously agreeable to this point because we're not going to make that right but I want to make sure we don't lose Mr Franco's evaluation I don't want it to be a four person evaluation because we couldn't plan mhm to do this at the right timeline so I think we need to get these forms out uh it's not my authority but we should get them out as soon as possible and start writing them and have the town manager who has nothing to do from between now and Saturday I'm sure to write her self- evaluation yeah I I I agree that it should be input from all existing board members currently so we have to be aggressive about it um I don't know specifically what that looks like you have a proposal on a timeline I don't I'll have to look at last year's timeline and what what we built in to for um once the forms were sent how much time you were given I think it was at least 2 weeks yeah so yeah of course we usually vote on the Consolidated too wow yeah this is tight um okay I I mean obviously we're not moving it tonight but we have to get a schedule and get this nailed down and do whatever we have to do to get it done last year you guys did start before the election it was finalized afterwards right [Music] great yeah I think that had a lot to do with the uh tax assessment issue right okay yeah y all right um any other thoughts or comments ments on that [Music] process uh the whole process typically takes a month you don't have a month yeah no I know so yep we we have to just condense it um we have two meetings you have two meetings left well from what I'm understanding for some reason we're not having a meeting next week is that it well we do want to change the day but I I think we have to have a meeting next week um so let's get well actually uh any well we'll get that in a second let's let's any committee reports school committee meets tomorrow so we had a request as you saw Mr Mr chair from the finance committee about the um Financial impact of the senior tax relief yes so I think we need to get that to them I have not had the opportunity but I think we need to know how many people are partaking of the relief now that's a prerequisite for doing the relief that we're planning so that we can tell them what the impact to the taxpayer is to shift that tax burden so we need to get from the tax the tax assessor um what how many people last year partook into to what degree M and just assume that we will match those did you have like a worksheet that you were working off and you can just plug in we didn't okay we didn't it was it was I mean the real the real issue to be very honest Madam Town manager is that it's so minimal I mean literally so minimal that we're not offsetting like I don't think we we gave more than 10 or $15,000 in tax relief spread over the whole rest of the town comes to you know I don't even think it registers as a dollar on everybody's yeah we didn't do a formal sheet I I I realized that probably that was uh would have been best to do it but again but we don't come anywhere close to the 1% of the budget that we're talking about right which would be 400 I mean right now we're talking about that we we could possibly do 400,000 would be the maximum but we don't get anywhere close to that yeah and plus we we have the cap too right that's I'm saying the cap is one% yeah and and so at the most it would be 400,000 but that's again that's if everybody many many more people participate and didn't already do yeah the thing that confused me about the question a little bit I mean is that like when we went before the finance committee last year last year to explain the whole senior tax relief thing I mean we we kind of drilled down on all of this discussion and that it would be Revenue neutral and all of that but I guess they're looking for the specific well yeah they I think they understand that's Revenue neutral they want to know for those people who are not benefiting from the relief how much is it extra they have to that that they're going to pay fair enough yeah fair enough yeah okay okay so I think there were like 30 applicants yeah last year at 700 50 I mean it's like like I said 30,000 so I one of us should try to find that out from the the the assessor's office MH so okay well we can we can have a rock you know rock paper scissors after the meeting but which one of us does that okay all right sounds good all right you triggered something for I just I know the board is or U actually Mr alzo and Mr Franco are aware um that the bill is on the governor's desk but there was a conflict within two sections of the bill um as far as U residential was referred to in Section 5 of the bill so that had to be stricken um and then so it's is going back to the house and the senate for that revision as well as section two paragraph two had a misspelling of lunenberg so well that'll hold up that has to be corrected um but I have talked to um both representative kushar and representative Scarsdale they're well aware I sent an email to all three of um our two representatives and Senator um giving them a copy of the draft letter from the governor's office with what that Amendment looks like and the reasoning behind it so they're that's on their radar and they're going to um be on top of it when gets to the their respective divisions do is there any kind of a projected timeline as to how long that will take to go through the they don't think it will be that long knowing um that it's kind of a minor okay Amendment so I imagine yeah I mean it's it's just complet still implementing the intent entirely just to make that absolutely clear to the public but it it's uh um I mean maybe um I don't know maybe they have these sessions where stuff that needs these minor amendments they just take like you know a Tuesday morning and do that stuff I have no idea how they actually do it on the hill but but um darn I was kind of hoping this thing would be signed in the next couple weeks but I don't I don't don't know how good that looks at the moment but um okay well whatever as long as it goes through it thank you very much for the update and for remembering to bring that up so um okay um so scheduling uh there's a we Michael Ray would like to he wants to be present next week at a meeting what's his earliest available it's Wednesday Wednesday so he's asking about shifting this meeting to Wednesday or Thursday next Wednesday the seventh meeting what is what is Thursday the eth Thursday um that's the 9th there's something else I think going on on Thursday Maybe not maybe it's the following Thursday I'd rather not have it on the Thursday on Wednesday what I no trivia but uh there's um I don't know if if finances meeting there's I I tend to doubt that they'll call a meeting right after Tom meeting and take a little break but I can find that out that would be the only of this room the school committee meeting next week on Wednesday they're meeting tomorrow so it's usually first and third I don't think soes I don't know I mean I prefer Wednesday over Thursday yeah me too Wednesday I think zoning is in this I think they're in this room for a hearing signals yeah other meetings posted already who's this Zoning Board of yeah that's on the uh that's Wednesday yep MH um the uh there's nothing on the Thursday except you're saying school is on Thursday no no well there's nothing on Thursday ex well there apdc but it's not in here Finance is the only person that usually uses this room if but I can check with them I doubt that you think they're going to be meeting right at the town meeting I doubt it yeah they're probably going to be just chilling for a bit taking a little breather yeah so I get I mean what do we say the ninth pending now conflict can we do that works for me I guess okay so pending no you know confirming that there's no conflict the ninth at seven okay so is it not possible to get a different room for on the Wednesday on Wednesday it's going to be limited um especially if that would be the meeting that we have the water district here right well I think that should be almost the only thing we have unless yeah because it'll be after town meeting so you know shouldn't be anything pressing cuz it's going to be you know people are going to want to talk for at least an hour just on that probably an hour and a half yeah I don't see how we could do that anywhere other than this room well we could do it in we could do it in the in one of the media rooms of the school yeah that's what I was thinking but I don't know how many people will attend I mean again I don't know either and it's not live right what it wouldn't be live then yeah schol done it I think you can do live yeah I've watched the school committee meetings Live school commit so so um well why don't we this wnes is a little easier for me the high school community room a little wizard just a little um yeah known just text it to me so uh High School community room where is that's one of the it's one of one the collaborative spaces where the school board has some of their meetings okay you're saying do that on Wednesday instead of doing a Thursday meeting here that if we're all available on Thursday I honestly would prefer having it here where we normally have it so there's no confusion about where we are it's not as easy for me on Thursday okay it's doable but it's yeah I will be here I'd prefer Wednesday but I will be here you know of course I would be here on Tuesday but that's a different story nobody else would be here on Tuesday Monday or Tuesday are actually the best days for me but so how are we how are we leaving this Thursday will'll be the preferred date but well it's it's not your preferred date but I mean overall because it would be in this room secondarily we would do try for Wednesday if schedule wise I think one independent of the room schedule wise Wednesday is better you say Wednesday is better for me okay and Wednesday is better for Tom well that's just a preference a preference um I mean I'm totally okay with relocating it you know if if you are to maybe they should relocate their me and they if it's posted already um I I'm kind of joking but I mean they can repost it I guess because they're within you know but the issue of what's the what district meeting and and the proposal of their article for their special meeting is if if people want to come they will find out where it is MHM and there is no chance that people are going to come here and be like oh my God you know I I didn't know it was here we'll make it very clear and we'll put it out on the town's website that the meeting will be with their joint meeting and you know people will post it I don't I don't think we're going to have a problem the people who are following closely will know where to go yeah fair enough all right all right so we're leaning toward Wednesday we're saying Wednesday we can do Wednesday Wednesday after the collaborative room is open otherwise Thursday okay and I uh texted the finance chair to see if they're meeting next Thursday okay no they are on your say I said if they are I thought you text thought okay okay where is he what's um faster all right so with that um okay so we also have a meeting on the 14th and that's my last and you guys have a meeting on the 21st um so with that I'll uh move to public comments starting with the town manager I do not have any public comments tonight any public comments from the public none on Zoom No Hands raised okay public comments from the board I encourage people to come to town meeting on Saturday uh it is one day a year that we know exactly when it is every year first Saturday in May and this is the way to participate in your town government and I would highly encourage people to put take a uh great advantage of that opportunity Mr noo I don't have a public comment I'm just going to build on that too on Mr Alonzo's Point um I I wish town meeting were always packed but it definitely probably will be packed this time there's a major issue on the agenda with the override uh and uh people on both sides should come and speak to it so that uh a broad base of the Town a broader base than usual than we usually get at the Town meetings is making this ultimate decision which is very very important decision no matter what there are uh very good arguments on both sides of the issue but it's a big issue period so um I would encourage people to engage in it thank you uh motion to adjourn second well go ahead all those in favor I I I any opposed okay we are adjourned