It is 7:00 and we'll call the meeting to order. Uh open with the um the new statement that we have in accordance with the open meeting law regulation 940 CMR 2921. Please be advised that uh select board
members Lindsey Lanchi and Mike Stevens are attending this meeting remotely. In addition, because they are attending remotely, all votes taken at this meeting will be by roll call. Lastly, if any member of the board are not clearly audible to any one of us as members of
the board or any members of the public, please let me know and um we will immediately do what we can to remedy the problem and we're informing the public about whether or not the meeting will continue. So, that's the open meeting.
Uh that's the opening uh comments and the first aspect of the first item on the agenda is pledge of allegiance. Please rise and join me as you can allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Thank you everyone for joining us here this evening and thank you everybody for joining us online. Um board would like
to hear public comments which is the first item uh on the agenda after we open up. Um if there's any further action that's required by the board after hearing comments related to matter as appropriate to a forthcoming agenda.
uh be advised that depending on the comment we may if we're able within the confines of the open meeting law respond with information as opposed to needing to deliberate on any comments that might be made. Having said that, is there anybody here in the room this evening
that may have a public comment? Do not see anybody raising their hand online. Is there anybody that has a public comment that they would like to make to the board this evening? I do not see anybody raising their hands
online. So, we'll move on to item number two on the agenda, which is the consent agenda, which consists of three items to cemetery deeds and the use of town property container test. Any questions on these items or if there
I'll move to approve consent agenda items A through C as presented contingent upon adherence while federal, state, and local public health and safety guidance authorizing the use of digital signatures if approved. Chris has seconded. Is there any comments or questions on any of these
items? Hearing none, we will vote. Hi Mike. Yes. Yes. Yes. Jeff. Yes. Yes. Well, I just want to take a note. Thanks,
Sarah. Pressy as always for the organization mayor best. We're looking forward to it as we do every year. Uh, thank you for giving me the privilege of running best for 32 years now. Thank you.
It's probably one of the most looked forward to days in the entire community every fall as we enter into that season. So, thank you. Uh so next on the agenda is one of our happy occasion appointment of a police
officer Anthony Forda is that correct pronunciation gentlemen chief come on forward evening welcome nice to meet you forward to working with you um chief take it away
thank you yeah thanks for having us as usually Zo was happy uh occasion. So, we're always glad to to appoint officers. So, Anthony is no different. So, we're here tonight to formally recommend Anthony Baga for appointment as a full-time police officer with the
MA Police Department. Based on his performance during the interview process along with a review of his qualifications, professional background, and personal attributes, I'm confident that Mr. Baka possesses the skills, demeanor, and dedication required to serve our community. Mr. Bodak is a
graduate of Worcester State University. Holds a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice with a minor in prelaw. Brings a strong foundation in public safety having served in progressively responsible roles at both MLAN psychiatric hospital and local general hospital Saints campus. His work in
these advisories has required exceptional empathy, sound judgment under pressure and attention to detail. He's currently serving as the evening shift supervisor at Saints campus and has consistently demonstrated strong leadership by effectively managing his staff, maintaining operational standards
and ensuring clear and communication high pressure situations. His current former supervisor described as a professional leads by example, remains composed during challenges and treats all individuals with dignity and respect. Additionally, he's proven strong verbal and written communication
skills which will serve him well in a profession where accurate, respectful, and timely communication is essential. It's my professional opinion that Mr. Bedk will be an asset to the main police department and to the town of May as Paul endors his appointment as a full-time police officer and respectfully request
the board's approval. Mr. Banker is scheduled to attend the Boil Police Academy meeting beginning next Monday, August 25th, with a graduation date of Friday, January 30th. like to thank select board member Christ silver assistant during the hiring process in the interviews which took
place some time ago. It just took some time to get through a lot of the other interviews and processes um and for the their support the entire select board for your continued support of the police department as well. Thank you. Thank you chief. Um Anthony, do you go by Anthony or you do? Yes.
Welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself and about what drew you to main and what you look forward to about working here. Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, right now I live in my fiance. Um, looking to get married actually this December. I'm very excited about that. Uh, so origin,
Massachusetts. Uh, it's a similar town kind of like mayor. That's what kind of drew me to this this location. Very hardworking blue color town. Um, I drove through there mayor itself. I see cops on the beat and you know really take care of the community members and that's what I'm looking forward to. Great. Thank you. Any comments from
members of the board or questions? Congratulations. Thank you. Mike, uh just very happy to welcome uh another member to our force in in town and uh wish him very well and uh looking forwards to some long service for
Mayard. Thank you. Any comments? Nope. Just welcome to Maynard and thank you. All right. So, having heard the comments from the chief and comments from Anthony, is there a motion?
Yeah. I'll move to appoint Andrew as the student officer of August 25th, 2025 and fulltime officer as of January 30th, 2026 continues upon graduation of the police academy and receive certification
and perform as a local licensing authority as of January 30, 20 26 upon appointment of the fulltime officer for employment expiring January 306
authorizing significance or questions hearing none. We will vote. Lindsay, yes. Mike, yes. Chris, yes. Yeah. Yes. I am a yes as well. Congratulations and welcome aboard.
Are you involved in theory? There's geographicalbody who said the tree at the end of the street is the exact state. All right. Good luck. Good luck in statue.
Thank you. Thank you all guys for joining us as well. Thank you guys. Congratulations family members. Thank you. All right. The next item on the agenda is just a we have it. There's a place keeper to monitor the uh volunteer
appreciating event scheduled for September 7th. Lindsay, I saw you sent out another social media post about it. Um, so what do you guys have to Lindsay, Michael working on this? Uh, any updates, any indication as how
populating it will be while it's concern? um just to have people keep talking about it and remember that this is a celebration of the fact that uh we have so many volunteers in May who contribute to the
running of our town across so many different uh capacities of what we do. Um and it it's a good opportunity for us to celebrate them and to recognize uh what they all contribute to our town. So, do please uh talk it up and it'll be
a casual event uh but hopefully a bit of fun and an opportunity for people who maybe don't see each other uh too often if at all to to do so and to socialize and um as I say to recognize uh all these valuable contributions that are
made to the town. Yeah. Nope. Looking forward to it. Should be good. Ice cream, games, music. That's about it. I think it'll be fun. Thanks. All right. The next item is the planning
board draft zoning bylaw amendments. Welcome. Uh I'm Zoe Peele. I'm the assistant town planner and I'm here to answer any questions you may have. Um, I'll direct your attention to the memorandum of August 11th
um to Johnson describing each amendment and its rationale and requesting that it be referred back to the planning board for further discussion. Can you give us a little bit of very high level
insight into what the any changes might be that we'd be looking at? Yes. Um the first exhibit from this memorandum of the um the amendment that was currently with A4 um consolidates parking guidelines with regard to the
number of the parking minimums for dwelling units. There were two specifications um one in the primary parking guidelines and other for the general public district. Th those have since been consolidated into a single um into into a single table and so the um
there's no need to have a special line for dwelling unit parking requirements in that section being driven. Um the second B4 is really just um just housekeeping to add the pattern overlay district to the list of overlay
districts in the opening sections of the bylaws to reflect the PMA uh MBTA communities district that was approved at town meeting. the I say the most substantive amendment proposed in the memorandum which is seen
should be marked as C4 is not copy but um it would uh establish a definition of battery storage systems. Um we currently as you may know the government protections have been
extended to equipment that facilitates the collection of solar energy and so um and a recent case has found that battery storage system standalone uh container storage container type operations that charge up batteries from the grid during
the day are considered to be protected under the do amendment. Um so they are subject to um a much lower bar zoning than a lot of perhaps other similar types of perhaps industrial uses would
be. Now, um we don't have any in town, but um until we until we determine where these can go by default, they can go anywhere uh under the government unless there are guidelines that are
established, bylaws that are established for the purpose of protecting public health public safety. And so this bylaw would accomplish two things as a uh as a short-term measure. One would be to set
a definition for what qualifies as the battery energy storage system for the purposes of our violence. And the other would restrict placement of those systems within the water supply protection district in the event of a malfunction or a leak or a fire that would cause hazardous waste to enter our
water supply. And we anticipate that in a future town meeting more developed uh bylaw zoning is the best zoning bylaw that would determine the optimal zoning and things that are permissible to have
oversight over under sight plan review and guidelines for decommissioning other safety um issues that we are permitted to zone. Great. Thanks. Any questions members of the board? this storage system. What kind of
applications would it have? The idea is that um during the day during periods of high power generation that the battery system can charge up and then it's it's it just acts as a power storage that then releases power
back into the grid. Yeah. I think maybe my question is more what scale are we talking about? So would the um we we have a set of solar panels in town. is at a big enough scale to necessitate one of these. What type of facility would be big enough to necessitate?
Well, um what we looked at a little bit doing some preliminary research on this is that one megawatt of of of storage so to speak is about the size of a tractor trailer container. And so when we looked
at other bylaws that are either pending or um coming before municipalities. Right now we see um in rural areas different tiers set for um projects one were smaller and then
one to five and then five to 10 etc. Now given that footprint the other thing that just to all note is that the solar system does not need to be colllocated with our it can be placed really anywhere and hooked up to the grid. So
someone could under under current mass state law um propose the placement of this kind of container on a residential lot on an industrial lot really anywhere that they could fit that equipment
and um generate collect power from the grid and then feed back. And then it says uh general law requires us to have a designated area but you don't currently correct. Well, it what it requires is that it
says that you may somewhere has it has to be permissible somewhere. It can't be effectively it can't be constructively banned by overly restrictive zone. But in the absence of
any such zoning there is no restriction. So at the and so I think when we look when we do a little bit more research on the scale of projects that we want to allow and the types of um thresholds so
there has to be some right development of this technology somewhere of some sort. So and if some municipalities the lower tier smaller smaller um like one megawatt and smaller are by right but anything bigger than that requires
so as it stands now we have no regulations we have no zoning bylaws whatsoever and so at least for the time being we can restrict placement of this type of thing in from the water supply
protection district under a rationale that's supported by the public health and safety exception to do amendment protections. Okay. Michael Lindsay, any questions? No from me.
No, none from me. Thank you. Okay. All right. Is there any motion? Uh, I will move to refer the draft zoning bylaw amendments to the planning board as presented in the planning director's memo to the town administrator dated August 11th, 2025.
Second. Second. Motion to made and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Mike. Yes. Uh, yes. Yes. Yes. I have a yes as well. Thank you.
will be referred to. And so you said that cut off was one megawatt. Um as it stands right now that's like a guideline that other communities that that's it's a it's a number that's um it's easy to visualize because it's and that's a common size.
Got it. But there's nothing in the in the proposed B1 that mentions anything about the power. Are you are you saying the amount of power generated is the problem amount or you saying that the just for reference the size of the containers?
over. So it's frequent that you see um companies marketing these things in in these modular products that are these containers they want them up because right you know they want to hear so so as they're talking about these
things are they like what's is are they aware of what it takes to get to that site or maybe like how any potential. Do they have any idea how many potential
um you know ocean container size movements we're talking about potentially? Well, that's I think when the planning board begins um discussion of how to um make a more comprehensive bylaw about
these that it may be that there's a and the thresholds vary a lot from some the um you know some communities where there's big open space in a rural area there's no concern about placing a large complex you know let's say it's
fine to to do things you know up to 50 50 megawatt but for a dense community like ours where so much is is within large protection district it's possible that what ends up being practical is something
narrow along the lines of megawatt or smaller But that's something that we it's the SC the size and scale is not currently discussed here and we're leaving that open to future. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, the next sign item on the agenda item number six is really just a consideration of legislature has opened up the opportunity to allow town meetings to approve if businesses have
wine and malt only licenses that they can automatically apply for a license to serve all alcohol beverages. And really the reason this is on the agenda is just to get the board's thoughts so that Greg and his staff can prepare an article for
the fall town meeting if you want to. If we want if we want. You're right. So it does require town meeting acceptance of the law and then if they're eligible because they already have the malt and wine, they can apply to the board to have that
transferred. So it would give us the ability as if we were to approve full alcohol license for anybody who had them all. Yeah. They they would still need to come if they wanted to expand, right? You the town meeting would just say it's a possibility,
but they like any other license. You're the license. So that's you're right. So, um, uh, staff and I are just, we got the advisory from town council, um, based on on the, you know, the governor signing the law and then the alcohol beverage
control commission. They're giving a little bit of guidance about it. So, do you want to put it on the do you want us to put an article on the fall time? You don't have to tell me tonight, but if you want to, you could or you can ask questions or we can sense is that anything that off
that that offers opportunity for businesses to compete um and to expand on their business is probably a good so I don't think not everybody not every business may want to expand that in that fashion but at least it gives them the opportunity and we're not prohibiting
that. It's a it's a strange task because you can't remember what it right. You can only what's already if we're at a maximum of molten wine and we're at a maximum all
folks that may you know know this right if I run this I own if I own the malt wine mine license yeah wine license I want to um I think oh that would be great for my business if you don't have an available license
is oh I see do it you're right so it's it's a strange Are we reading through the reading through you know the um the advisor advisor from it seems like almost like don't have
licenses. It's a new but in the future we may well I understand that you're saying in general we typically don't have available. No we're almost always businesses do the home rule position so we can increase
trigger a number of home rule petitions. Is that a possible? Yeah, that's possible. Um, and I think the legislator is looking to not cap anymore have more freedom. So, by the time we get there, maybe a point, but that's you're probably also true because this
is an indication of the direction like if if Hill is already allowing that's that's not an insignificant change. This is a change in culture of the city. They're allowing sort of uh transition, right? my very my question has to do is are there any
downsides and and I don't see any at this time. Selling more hard alcohol can have a few obvious downsides in terms of drunkenness fatalities. I think those are the risks. I think I I more toward statements. It's pro business and people
are responsible and we don't have an above average instance rate of those sorts of issues in Mayard. So I'm planning support. I mean I I agree something at least. I I'm kind of just curious to see what
what the results would be because of you know that this not allowing us to roll as until I think that's an important point, right? Because people may think this is going to change like what they see downtown. not the interesting piece of
it to me would be following up on on that comments. Um it's what kind of anticipation we get at a public hearing when something like this comes up whereas typically you have a set number but talking people might be more
interested in participating but maybe not but I'm fine. So it sounds like there's no opposition motion desire just direction from the board general consens. Yeah. If you because the motion would be if you wanted to accept the it would be our meeting. Yeah.
Yeah. So we'd have another chance to talk about that. Any objection to Greg and his staff working towards wrapping up a article? Great. No. Okay. your direction. Next two items. Uh Greg, can you give us
a little bit of insight into and Chris too from any meetings that you might have attended on as to where we're at with senior center and the communication with the developer over there, building owner over there? I I do you have any? So, I haven't heard aside from what you guys
might have going on behind the scenes negotiating a lease, I don't think we've got a meeting. That's right. And that's what I can touch on. Although publicly right now downstairs, um Lexfest, who's the owner of 141 Parker, they're having a second meeting with the planning board. Um the topic is parking,
but I think it's it's all on relative to the development of the Yeah. in order to allow for accessibility. Um it sounds like It's it's a really sort of a medal position that Lexfest is providing the
town to allow for the parking and the band space and everything. It's great on my end on the negotiating side. So, I had a phone call with the um partner of Lexfest and we need to follow up with our councils and I think we need to put all our bets together. We're very close
to having a deal. I'm kind of reluctant to say anything other than No, no, don't don't quote behind it. But we're very close. I did hear from some members of the public saying, "What's going on? We haven't heard anything, you know, we're going to miss out on the building season and all that other stuff." So,
yeah, fair enough. That but that's not the tone that I when I talked to the owner the other day, it seemed everything seems to be in it. And the fact that they're continent we were moving towards. So, keep us updated and if anything happens before our next meeting, send
out an email. Okay. house as well. So, we're good to go. Any questions, Mike or Lindsay? Nope. Okay. Uh, Green Meadow School Building Project. Uh, it's uh breaking more ground than I
think I would prefer, but otherwise we're Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yes. We're keeping a closer watch on them than I would prefer to um because of recent events. I'm I'm referring to water. Yeah. Um
I'm disappointed. Justin DeMarco's very disappointed. So we're we're we're just we're going to be a little closer watch. Wasn't that sort of the message we got when Yes, it was. It came on us. Um
either way, the the project is still very much progressing. Um we had a building just the day we change orders. It's kind of a common business when it comes to building construction that I saw. They had a walk through. I didn't go to that walk through. I don't I I walked it
myself due to Oh, really? I'm not sure if the walk was cancelled, but the public meeting that's why we met last night. Yeah, that's true. So, maybe electronic part of the last meeting was cancelled. Yeah, I do believe I was I was away. I do
believe that the walk took place. Okay, good. I I separately. That's true. Um, so that's good. Uh, my understanding is, um, something that's been brought up by the board in the past is, uh, what is the planning that's
occurring for the school to start? And that's something that's been brought up, um, from the principal staff, the superintendent staff, our project managers, the and the contractor. So, um, I haven't seen the plans myself. I don't have children in the school system, but if if um, so I'm curious if
Okay. Um, so, so plans for I didn't hear everything you said, Greg. Plans for the playground or plans? Yes. Yeah. What you brought up the other day? Yeah. So, uh, the plan that I heard from
Karen Linquist recently is that that traffic circle is going to be the playground. They're cutting down the tree that is currently on it, which I guess um, it sounds like it was diseased. Anyway, um they bought some new equipment uh that they sent out in
an email, some pictures, a couple things. Um they only there there will still be traffic around that circle. It'll just be the buses and kids drop off the like official school traffic. So that's not great, but I don't think it happens at the same time of day. Um and
teachers and parents will be blocked off from going around the circle. And I think the drop off line is now going to be along Tiger Drive. So whereas it used to be you would take a right into Tri Tiger Drive and you could go straight and you could either keep going straight and pull over and you'd be in the Green
Meadow drop off line or you could take a left onto Tiger Drive and head toward Fowler. Now for Green Meadow, everyone will take a left, they'll drive toward Fowler and then they'll stop um after you get around the curve and they're going to cut across what is currently the teachers parking lot. This is
probably hard to envision because I'm just saying it out loud. Um I think is what's going to happen. So, I think none of it is ideal, but they're doing what they can with what they have. Uh, and we'll see how it goes. Um, but there
there will be the the the actual the playground the kids will have is just that little the traffic circle that the flag pole's currently on. That's the playground for now. And there's about I think a hundred kids per cl per grade, I think, who come out
for playground at a time. expect necessarily have the answer unless he couldn't get in the memo. But is that playground equipment transferable to the new playground that they're building or we spending money on a new playground that's only going to be enough?
I don't know. That's a question for um the OPM or for the superintendent. Um um that I'm not sure about. Remember we we tore down a million dollar playground in order to build this school to build another playground at another location. Um, so it's very
frustrating to if that's what's going on continue to expense. Okay, we could find out. We'll have it. Mike, anything? Uh, no. Other than just wanting to make sure that the uh the communication on
these plans is is effective. Um, I think that's uh important at this point. and and we know from past experience that there's always teething troubles and that within the first uh couple of weeks of of the school year then uh the
problems get found out and uh reacted to. So I hopefully that will go well. And to that to that point, I would just stress and I I think this is what you were just saying, Greg, is just in in my experience seeing this as a parent, the
way that we have discovered what's wrong is um by parents or people calling it out and saying this can't possibly be acceptable. So maybe if I'm I'm not sure whose perview that falls under if it's the OPM. I'm assuming it's the OPM, but um just thinking about the last year and
the start of last year and all the things that have happened and perhaps we can get ahead of what would be some of those issues before this like really be diligent in the next two weeks um in ensuring that things start off smoothly and that they don't start off with
parents complaining and then the OPM saying, "Oh yeah, that's a good point. We shouldn't do that." Um, so yeah, I would just encourage the uh the OPM to be diligent about that. It it sounds to me Mike and you can correct me or Greg, you're both on the
call that the you the project folks and Carol are in constant contact and and the teachers and the committee at the school and you know teachers and people involved in that have enormous amount of input into
what those decisions are. You know is not deciding what to say for our children and what's going to happen with that. They they just set the parameters. The safe the safe part of it and all that is still in control of the main school department and the you know the
principal in Brian House they may have a group that's in constant contact with colleers talking just about those issues. I think that's you know I think they'll be okay. Number one issue obviously is safety of the kids when
especially at the drop off if they're going to a parking lot that new conditions teachers or whoever's parked in there not ready for because they're not used to it and suddenly you have something backing off. Those are
things very careful. Yeah, you know the school administration is generally really great about that. They have tons of staff out there. Karen is out there almost every morning. Um, so they're they're really good about that. Um, last year it was that, you
know, the I know I've brought this up before, but like the construction equipment was staged in the parking lot that you walked through at drop off and there were giant u equipment deliveries during drop off like 8:30 in the morning when there are hundreds of children in the parking lot. That's when they were
delivering the excavators or pulling them out. So obviously like in in hindsight, I think it there anyone would say that's not a great idea. Um I and that I don't think that's the school administration. I think that that is the project management. Um I'm glad to hear that the school administration has tons
of input into the safety of the kids because they're obviously uh best positioned to do that. So um I think that's great and just if they can get ahead of anything like you know 18 wheelers in the drop off parking lot at at 8:30 in the morning then now would be
the good time to do that. Um, but I'm sure that that Karen and Brian and they're all involved in the conversation about what makes the most sense safety wise. No, but they didn't I know last year they didn't have the now exist
going through there. Yeah. So, it's good points either way. I I get I understand concern but it should it should be resolved by the fact that you now have access directly to you know agency site.
Yeah. So we don't meet again schools. So what's that? I'm gonna follow up. Yeah. Hopefully the school committee is on it and working you know giving their thoughts. We're not the experts on drop
off and pick up for the elementary school. We need some insight from parents and uh on administration especially. Not you. No, no, I Yeah, I don't tell them.
That's right. No, no, no. All right. Great. Thank you. All right. The next item on the agenda is again a placeholder for an upcoming meeting, our next meeting. Um, we have not had one of these situations in the recent past. I
know we had one a while back to like uh but there's going to be a public hearing scheduled at our next meeting at 7:15 September 2nd regarding property at 29 Maple Street and some
issues with non-compliance to some uh I guess some conditions in normal living by the by the building some other type related issues. Um, so
it's on our agenda. It's public hearing. Want everybody to be aware of it that we'll have the discussion here presumably if the homeowner or the property owner goes up and then we will get some instruction as
to what our guidance or what our you know our instruction should be going forward. Just be aware that it's on the agenda for next week. If compliance continue the hearing next that's something I think that's what David
and I plan on I discussed it with Steve specifically that talk so we want to be prepared to leave you guys we'll talk about it yeah we'll need to know guidance as to what type of conditions we can put on uh
timelines we can put on those types of things all right everybody else okay with that Lindsay Mike, any questions? No. Right. All right. We've got two correspondences on the agenda. One from GBA EO
Environmental Inc. and another from Verizon. It seems like we get one from Verizon or the other the other every every meeting. Um any questions on the correspondence? Okay. Can we just talk about the one
with the um the fire state fire because this I've heard a lot of frustration from residents about the use of PAS chemicals there that move down white pond property
which is covering and it feels that the either the remediation or should be getting some sort of benefit the state for destroying what is an asset of the town. Sure. That's a valid point. But so years ago when they started this work and GCA is the contractor they
um I think that was an expectation to be able to answer that question. I mean this correspondence says very low. It just says that another reports filed. Um but it's been a while since I sort of tapped in and found out what like the full like status of of this work and
know I I understand this is a very lengthy process and it's a huge site. Um but I can see what I can find out. I'm also curious to see what the where's the gold. It would be nice if they could claim that and then we could have some
options. Yeah. Any questions about those? If none I'll move to accept correspondences A and B further questions we'll take a roll call
Lindsay. Yes. Did you Did you guys hear me? I said yes. Sorry. Yep. I think maybe we're losing your audio. I'm a yes. Can you hear me now?
Yes. There we go. So, yes, Chris. Yes. Now, I'm a yes as well. All right. Next item on the agenda is the acceptance of minutes from the July 1, 2025 meeting.
Are there any comments on the minutes? I will move to approve meeting minutes July 1st, 2025 as shown and authorize these digital signatures if approved. Okay. All in favor? Lindsay?
Yes. Yes. Yes. I have a yes as well. Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can still see some daylight, so I'll try to be quick. Um, town offices are going to be closed in observance of Labor Day. That's
September 1st on a Monday. Um, we're still conducting a lot of hiring. You see the list there, but a lot of interviewing. It's good. We're making a lot of progress, but it just takes time and then there's a lot to do. Um, assistant town administrator Stephanie Dugen, who's doing a great job on keeping a track of all those hirings. She's talking a little this evening, but
um she also completed her uh Massachusetts Munal Association Suff University human resources certificate seminar. So that's very that's great of her. Appreciate her hard work on that and especially uh Stephanie's hard work in my absence when I was on vacation this week. So everything is in well
hand. Um a couple other things to point out. I'm looking forward to Monday's syrup and sirens event uh hosted by uh M Police Department, M Fire Department, LMS Health Services over at the Oaks. So that's Monday at 9:00 a.m. It's a kind
of interesting event. And then um we got a baseball game tomorrow night. Um the Wox I plan on being there. A number of staff plan being there. Yep. Very good. Uh police department's going to be doing the color guard work. So it's good. What time is it supposed
to be there? You I think I have either at 6 or think it's I don't know if I saw the first one. I'm assuming the same time as last time. Yes. And then um um yeah,
you can't really miss. And then um don't touch me. Yeah. Uh I wanted to update the board on a couple other matters. Um, oh, also I want to point out I wrote it in the in my notes on board docs, but it's not in the TA report. So, um, sort
of at the request of the board, we included a list of recent business business certificates and, uh, and per reports awareness. Um, but I did I I asked municipal services u because I noticed a lot of those addresses were out of town. Um, municipal services
reports a lot of those permits are for food truck and farmer farmers market stalls. So they're not those are not necessarily businesses in town. They're just getting permits so they can serve elsewhere or I'm sorry they can serve in town.
Okay. And then um Okay. So uh the current fiscal year I wanted to inform the board um or update the board. So, when the governor signed the state budget, um it was se it was different revenue
uh than what had been projected when the governor's first budget was proposed back in January and uh at a loss of revenue projections by $63,000 approximately. Um however, it's been six or seven months since that initial projection.
So, County Kevin Peterson and I looked at our our own revenue projections and were able to make up the difference. And I feel confident that we're not we didn't we were still very conservative. In fact, we lowered some of the revenue projections and some of the sources, but
we're able to make it up to make up that $3,000. What that means is I'm not proposing any amendments to the expenses. So, I don't have to make any budget cuts at this time. I did at the at today's department head meeting. I said if there's going to be any budget amendments for this fall, I need to know because as of right now,
I'm not proposing it. So, it happens. It's rare that we don't amend the budget in the fall. But I don't I don't feel compelled to unless the departments tell me there's something we need to change. Um, which is a good thing. Doesn't affect schools in any way to notify them?
No, because the um No, I mean, unless the schools tell me otherwise. Um, because we're taking that outside of the budget. It's it's all general revenue. So it all kind of comes, you know, for you know, like that also comes from, you know, any of those, you know, Neil's tax. I mean, it all just general revenue
that we But I thought this was a decrease related to chapter 7. Fair enough. But I try not to sort of punish one department, but that that formula that's a relatively formulaic approach. So was
the cut based on change in number of participated students per student? What what was the actual driver behind the reduction? Now that's a good question. I'll have to find out because I'm not that familiar with Mar questions Lindsay or Mike. Uh that so I'm sorry Mr. Chair. Um
go ahead. One more thing. So, um, it's hard to get everybody together for a quad meeting. Uh, we identified a couple of dates. Um, but it's been tricky. So, I appreciate everyone's response. Greg Wilson was kind enough to
send out the the survey um in my absence last week. We a lot of people did respond. We didn't hear from the finance committee yet. Um, but Jillian Pendergrass said she would get with them. However, we also heard um that there we we should probably be sensitive to Rashana, which is which is my
understanding is according to what actually Greg filled me in. It's a it's a number of nights or a number of days. And so, um I'm laughing at my own ignorance. I don't I didn't know that. Um uh but it's generally observed this
year, Tuesday, September 23rd, and that was the date that most people could come to the quad. So, if we're trying to be sensitive to that, which I think we probably should be, I'm proposing I just looked at the week before and I and maybe we can send out another survey about this um the
Thursday, September 18th. And I say before because you know the board had already indicated preference to go sooner rather than closer to the end of September 18. We knew the check was going to be away that week now
and the following week, but this week I think. So I'm going earlier so I can get more people. And Mike, you had a Thursday the 18th. Yeah. September. A month a month ago. Mike, you said you had a conflict with
one of those, right? No, I'm okay in September. Okay. So then maybe we'll find completely out. So unless you guys How about this? Is there any objections to me or me Greg
send out the survey again and try to get if people can make it to the 18. All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Back to you, Greg Wilson as well. That's all I have to Thank you.
Heck Brown, I see you're on the meeting and I assume you might have stopped into here the update that you were going to give on the senior center. Is that true? You're on. Yes. Yes, that's true. But
uh I can let you know that we didn't we did address it. Greg is uh in his words very close to resolving the issues with the property owner. he if we if he has it resolved within the next two weeks before we meet again he will let us know
if if not otherwise but very right now working with planning board on issues parking so the process moving along and we are comfortable that we're
going to be finalizing this couple that's that's this close or this close? Craig said this. I would say I feel like I'm always negotiating about four different things. So, if that gives any indication, I
would say like sometimes really far apart. This is really close. I I spoke with the I spoke with the partner uh today and of the items sort of outstanding. There was a couple I felt like was just business and a couple I think we could
compromise on. So, we're close. Thank you. Yeah. All right. It's always good to check in. Um, next item was Carol on I just saw in the report you had love to see the um collaboration between fire department
and FEMA. Yeah. Do we know if any of the federal FEMA cuts that are being announced are going to impact the FEA um location here in That's a great question. Okay. But I love that you brought that up
because I I really do appreciate the relationship we have with them and uh and yeah, that's a great question. I think most of those impacts are felt by employees, but many are already paid off. That might be true. Great. There's not a
So there's just for the sake of context, there's it's actually two sites. So you have the bunker which is mostly empty because they don't use it. And then you have um the very active uh it's like a communications for the northeast but they go to Puerto Rico a lot. They it's like their if FEMA needs
to make sure that people can hear them from around the world. They'll talk to these people in Mayard and they'll go anywhere in the world with huge capabilities and trucks and satellite dishes. It's really impressive. Um so but I'm curious I don't know.
Yeah, but we we maintain a good relationship with them because if they can't get to work, they can't do their jobs, but they have to go through town our town to get there and vice versa. You know, you need to go out. I'm sorry. Those two sites local. So, there's between Okay. So,
you go into the one guard and then you need to go that way. That was it. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions for Greg? Okay, chair report. Uh, I want to start off by I noticed today that there were a
lot of maids um especially this year's freshman college class leaving school. Uh today is sort of the first day and then moves on into um the rest of the next week. And on I just wanted to
express uh good luck kids being promoted to go off school and to continue the pride that we have with them and for them not to forget their home and always come back here to Maine because uh this is where they got their
start. So uh I also on the same day since we're not going to meet be meeting before school start I want to wish good luck with all the meeting students and the um uh school department and school committee and all the teachers and
administration for a good year coming up. Uh the last item I wanted to bring up was driven by essentially when I go to the farmers market and I
getting comments from folks in town. The number one issue I've been hearing about is water issues we addressing with our water. And I think partially this is driven by the postcard that had to go
out because of the unfortunate result seem to be a relatively I'm not a scientist seem to be a relatively minor but requires addressing it on on the state level. Yeah. Um I'm wondering what the thoughts
would be of board members um and Craig has the administration in having the similar meeting like we had last year on the budget relative to water where we can give a general update on what our
situation is. It would obviously require the cooperation involved of the conduct and presentation about what's going on where we're at on all of these
discoloration availability the volume of water capacity as well as finding that resulted in post. So everybody's up the game and everybody has an understanding. Um I think there's
way too many stories out there that may not be true. Maybe it's all about communication. That's really what I want to try to emphasize is getting the word out as to where we're at and also to get people's understanding of what our future is
about and how we're going to address it. So I'll put that on the table consideration. I don't know what the timeline would be having such a meeting just need to be on board and have probably September October when we're
setting ourselves up for a lot of at that point given the point that we're also pending the back but what is general if I were to throw that out there what is the general thought um so I think that's a great idea I I I
just I'll say I agree that that's something we should consider pursuing. Um I think I actually would say that and um more of like a multi-channel communication approach to helping people understand. Um a meeting is great and the meeting that we had last year on the
budget was good, but it was you know 70ish people I think in the room and maybe another 50 or so online. So that's that's good, but you know in town of 11,000 it's not enough. Um, so I'd say it's a combination of that and you know, we talked about this a little bit at our
goals meeting. Also looking at using social media, the Maynard voice, like all of the channels that we have access to um to distribute information because a couple months ago, Joshua Morse worked on like a Q&A sheet. I I worked on it a
little bit with him um uh and he, you know, worked with Justin DeMarco on like why do we have this water situation? How did we get here? What is the town doing? Um, and it was great. And he pushed that out on social media. And I think the issue is just that you're only ever
going to hit a couple hundred people at once and then a couple months later a new crop of a couple hundred people is going to be like, "What's going on?" And there's going to be a public hue and cry. Um, and so it's it's like a multi- channelannel and then continual
approach. Um, so I agree to answer your question, David. Yes, having some kind of meeting is a great idea, but I'd say we should also broaden our sites a little bit and come up with like a broader strategic communications plan um generally about water so that we're
communicating more regularly um via different channels with all the different constituencies that are using those different channels. Yeah, I I agree and I'll I'll guess because I think another distinguishing factor in this the meeting that meeting
was very specifically to prepare for override votes. What are people's concerns? What's on their mind? Where do they want to go? What do they want to see incorporated? So, you had a very distinct moment in time and a very distinct decision that was being asked to the voters. This is about long-term planning and if you ask you know five
different people about water issues they may have a question about five different subset you know of of the different kind of water. Somebody might be talking about capacity and implication for future growth. Somebody may be talking about most recent notification. Somebody may be concerned about out of town versus in town building. And so you're
we have just such a a diversity of topics relative to say you know we're looking at you know variety for this particular town meeting. So I think that that multi-pronged approach and really making sure that we on the board are all aligned you know on a very you know sync
messaging and what we want to get across for each of those major sections is going to be an important part of the development of that strategy and any kind of FAQ etc. especially on those longer well the I think the two where we really want to get a little bit more
focus in ourselves are what's the long-term step beyond you know the current rockland and the the recent well 4a and then I think on the connecting some of the science of the discoloration issue to the you know what can and
cannot be done and what options are there things we talked about with Justin but it becomes very technical very vast and so translating that for a layman's audience of which I include the pocket of ourselves uh to some extent I think is going to be important. Yeah.
Mike any thoughts? Um I'm struggling to come up with something that uh Jeff and Lindsay have not already covered and I wouldn't want to repeat. Um, but I certainly concur with what they've said and uh the especially the idea of a multi-prominent
approach um to to really try to broaden the audience. That's I agree with what you know Mike's Mike's take on what you know Lindsay broke up to say just it's you know it's we when we did it
before we had a kind of time stop you know done by a certain time with with the water issue what's time stop there so many different issues you know saying habit but you know for
Jeff's point there's so many issues and so subsets of each each issue and you know that you know white farm is going to come up and why aren't we doing that and then if you know if anybody's s listening we're going to be talking about um you know the possibilities and
the options that exist down the road potentially with MW and all that I mean it just so much what are we going to what are we going to focus which which of the issues that are you know being spoken about being asked about what are those what are the most important issues
and where we where we going to focus our time and energy because there's so much of so much you know the sun moving fast water I'm just worried about you know not getting answer too many of anyone's question we're answering so many about
so many different events and this is why we elevated this to one of our annual goals for the year this is a one and done meeting I think this is a broader you know piece of a a long-term communication strategy Yeah. And Chris, to your point, I think
that it it that's the thing. It can't ever be one and done. And so, if we want to get away from this like periodic, I'd say at least quarterly waves of, "Oh my god, what's happening with water? Why is this a disaster?" I'm calling all of the news channels in Massachusetts. Then it
has to be a regular, constantly um updated approach. And I I agree with you. It's such a um complicated issue with lots of layers. and which do you approach first? Um, what I think most people are interested in is like what's
the plan going forward? Um, and the I'll see if I can dig it up and I'll send it to all of you guys. But the thing that Joshua Morris and Justin and I helped with um, a couple months ago was it was it was great. It was concise. It it wasn't like the word forword history
back to like the 1990s of how we got here, but it it did explain that this is a 30 some odd year issue that we've had and we don't need to necessarily go back through every single decision that everybody made, but that this is what the plan is going forward. So, I think
that there's a way to make it concise and um I know one of you just said, you know, keep it in layman's terms so that it's relatable and understandable, but I think the way to approach it so that it isn't so daunting is is the regular communication. Figuring out what what
the right cadences and the right methods and channels are. Where do we begin that communication? Uh I mean clearly we begin it here but then where do we go? What's the what's the process to get it out? We haven't been
successful. There's a lot of there's still a lot of mystery engagement. There's still a lot people say we do nothing. People say we don't talk. People ask what are you doing about we talk about it. But that's but that's every topic we
cover. That's every every topic. I'm not being you know I'm not being critical of people that don't think we do anything but every topic that we cover as a board as a community. We get that from some segment of the population. You guys don't do anything. You don't do this.
You don't. And that's whether it's at the over whether it's preachers whether it's water, you know, whatever it is. That's what we hear. And that's and that's you know despite the fact that for the past five or six years the number one or number two um selecting
goals every year have been increased communication better communication and I think we're doing a better job of it. If people don't want to listen until something you know catches your ear somewhere on social media they're not going to listen. So to that point, you know,
we don't have any options under those that we've pursued so far to get information out there, but there's nothing else there. There's a new um attempt at a um at a um you know, local newspaper or another information store. It's fantastic and a great a great
source of information so far, but you know what? There aren't any new channels to for us to pursue. So, just to give ourselves some credit on communication, I think we're just I've said this before, we're in an environment where there's a lot more
misinformation than there used to be and it's it's a harder game and we're far from the only municipality dealing with that issue right now. I do think relative to other municipalities, I would guess that we are doing a good job. I think we have uh perhaps due to the closeness of this community been
able to take advantage of that and and walk away from town meetings having synthesized some actual conversations discussion. I would say on this one if and what I'm hearing I think from Lindsay as well as the first one is just to really understand that timeline and I
think having a conversation uh with either among ourselves or with Justin or what I think goal should be can we get into the kind of public knowledge of just what are the phasings you know that Justin keeps coming on so that at least you know the people are more closely
following town politics they come this meeting they hear phase one phase two phase I mean, they understand what it means. And so, maybe mapping out the recent history of where we've been, you know, from recent well sources to 4A to current plans with Rockland to future phasing after that, making sure that
we're all aligned on what that phathing is and what each of those steps will and will not do would be a good start. All right. So, let's push off any idea of the meeting and instead focus on the
revitalization of that memo that uh you're talking about which I recall growing up it was mostly by social media out. Yeah, it was just social media. I'll dig it. I have it over in my email too. So,
I'll resend it to all of you guys. Okay. and then we'll talk again about what might next steps. Thank you. All right, Mike. Uh, nothing to add other than uh to
reflect on uh Greg's comment earlier about the uh the daylight just there. Just uh for any flat earths out there, that daylight went a long time ago. Um so, thank you. Thank you for the somewhat shorter meeting.
I have nothing to add except um happy belated birthday to David Gavin. I think it was was it yesterday? Two days ago. Happy birthday. Awesome. Appreciate it. Thank Chris.
Um, can you give us an update on the status of the prov was also on tonight's topic of the planning board? I was so I'll find out. I've just heard a lot about and the and
you know it's not something that we haven't heard in this room among ourselves over the years but the the the comment has been from several people. Oh yeah, was He's in there. He's got his occupancy permit and everything
seems to come to a halt and there's cleaning and garbage and everything piled up over there and people are now sick of potentially believe it. No, I don't I know I know you know but just I've been asked by a few people that pointed it out to me and I'll bring
it up but that's waiting for that so we can maybe get an update maybe as a result of tonight's meeting and see where it goes. I like it just a just you know it it is kind of I'm excited downtown. Yeah. No mater
on my end. Thank you David. And free birthday Chris. Yeah. Me and Sally and a whole bunch of people have our birthdays the same prior to prior to our next meeting Christmas two sleeps my granddaughter told me I have my birthday
there when you woke up but sleep my number sleep the way it is 21st 21st yes sir all right it motion to return call Mike
yes Lindsay, yes. Yes. Yes. I'm a yes, too.