Good evening everybody. Everybody is here live so we can get right into our meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Please join to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand
indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good evening everybody. Thank you for joining us online and here in the building. Um the next item on the agenda is public comments and the board would like to hear public comments from either
anybody here or online. And if there's further action required by us, uh, we'll add the matter as appropriate to a court agenda. Depending upon 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 matters presented. So, having said that, uh, is anybody here this evening that has a public comment here in the in the room? Don't see anybody rushing to the front.
Anybody online that has a public comment? I don't see any hands raised. So, thank you all. We'll move on. Um, the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. There are four items on
tonight's consent agenda. One is for a boy scout proclamation, which I will ask before somebody is available to attend. Um presuming we're invited which I think
um the use of town property for the 60th annual holiday parade like to get started early as well as does this include also memorial park. does >> where we will be against the third
annual Christmas or holiday village >> and then there are two cemeter cemetery needs as well. I read those out so that if anybody is here for those items um they know that it's been handled and
they believe we've had people wait around saying when are you going to do my item and it's already getting done. So are there any questions or comments from the board? >> Congratulations to the Eagle Scout the Brink and and my thanks to Jen Picarelli
as always for her fantastic leadership over the holiday parade. Yes, I would echo the comments on both of those. Um, before we vote, is anybody interested in attending the Court of Honor on Sunday, January 11th at the
Rodney Gun at 1:00? Anybody available? >> Maybe. Well, you can temp you on tenatively. >> Okay. Yes. >> Greg, there's a thing from the Boy Scouts that pass.
>> It was Lindsay. >> Typically, we get some If you can make it, let me know. All right. Great. Uh, you need a vote. >> I move to approve consent agendum. Consent agenda items A through D as presented contingent upon adherence to
all federal, state, and local public health and safety guidance and authorizing the use of digital signatures if approved. >> Second. Motion made second. Any further comment? All in favor? Motion passes. We do have a 7:15 public hearing, but we
cannot start it until 7:15. So, we will move on to um item number five, which is uh appointment. We have appointment for Denise Walsh, the community preservation commission. And I think Denise is
online. Good evening. >> Hey everybody, I am here. Good to see everybody. Um tell us a little bit Denise about your interest in the preserv community preservation commission our committee
and uh why it is that you're interested in that large position and then the board will ask whatever questions we did get just so you know we got your application to serve so we have that background so go right ahead and tell us a little bit about your interest
>> great so I've actually been on CPC for a number of years now as the representative of the recreation commission. And so, um, what Tom Hespach, who's also on the recreation commission, and I are doing is we're switching roles. Um, he's going to become the recreation commission
representative for the CPC and then I wanted to remain on the CPC as an ATL large member. So, I love being part of the CPC um, and want to continue to serve in that capacity. >> Tom on there was the atlarge question before.
Tom was Yes. Yeah, he was that large. >> Reversing your your roles. Got it. Are we going to >> Tom in a similar fashion or No, >> no, because it's the so that >> just >> Yeah, we weren't sure. We know that
there's a lot of steps here. So, we just want to make sure that we're following all the steps to make sure that we're we're doing this in a manner that is um conducive to the to the town. >> Absolutely. And what I want to avoid is having a situation where we now we have two official members that are considered
to be uh you know at large. Go ahead, Bill. >> Yeah, Bill G. I'm with the CPC. Um there's actually two at large positions on that committee. One of which is vacant. Okay. There currently has another one. So you're appointing her.
>> Did you hear that, Denise? >> I did. Yep. I was just going to say that. So I'm glad Bill's there to explain. >> Excellent. All right. Any questions from the board? >> No, but thank you for your and continued service. >> Thank you.
>> No more questions. Thank you. >> No, thank you, Denise. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And so I will entertain a motion. >> I'll move to appoint Denise Walsh to the Community Preservation Committee as an atlarge member with a term ending June 30th, 2026 and authorizing the use of
digital signatures if approved. >> Second. >> Any further comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor? Good. Next item is the um appointments to council on aging. We have three that are
being appointed to the council on aging. Um we do one at a time, Greg, or how do you want how do would you recommend one at a time? >> You be um be careful about the motions. We do have different term dates. Oh, >> okay. Yeah.
>> So, we will go one at a time. I don't see Bruce here. Bruce, >> no. Bruce is unable to be with us um on such short notice. We just realized last week that we were coming in front of the board.
>> All right. >> I think most of us know Bruce >> Diane. We have Sally Thirst on Zoom. >> Good evening, Sally. And I have Diane Goff here with me tonight. >> Good evening, Diane. So,
>> hey Peg, who are you? >> I'm Peg Brown for Grant Street. I'm representing the Council on Aging this evening, and we've been looking forward to this evening for several months now. We u had a bylaw
uh petition at the May 2025 town meeting to increase our membership from five members to seven. Um that vote was taken and passed and it was ratified by the attorney general effective the end of October.
So we may now add two additional members to our board. In addition, we're missing one of the five members. So we're also asking uh for a recommendation to appoint three members tonight. So I make
sure I have the dates right. Uh the council on aging board made a motion to recommend the following candidates to the select board for immediate appointment. Um based on the bylaw
change that was at the Maytown meeting. Um, the COA board recommends the appointment of Bruce Davidson and Diane Gothier, each for a term of two years with their term expiring on June 30th,
2028. These two positions were added as a result of the bylaw amendment at the May 2025 town meeting. In addition, we recommend Sally Thirsten
for a term expiring June 30th, 2027. Um, she will be filling a current vacancy as per the COA body loans. So, that's where we stand tonight for that summary
of where we're at. Any questions from the board? And I'll go for a lot of questions any of them um of the processing here. So we won't ask any questions but uh any questions from the board on any of the members that are here before us?
>> I guess to both both members that we have here given we're we now have 140 workers moving along. So in the next couple years what do you hope to accomplish through the council on >> you can go to
your 25 speed by the way. Um I hope to continue to contribute. I started out as a member of the senior focus group um back years ago now. Um anyways, but um as evolved and and I was involved in
that, I was um I started getting, shall we say, more excited about perhaps helping with um our elder population here in Mayard.
as I'm aging, it would be nice to have um something that is perhaps a little bit more um able to enhance our programs that we have in,
you know, at the senior center. Now, um I think a new position, you know, a new place, uh will be something that will allow us to perhaps extend or add on to some of the programs that we have um
currently. And I think uh as our population does get older, there's a a lot of us who feel that, you know, we don't want to, you know, just have, you know, certain things. would like to, you know, perhaps do other things. You know,
maybe there's there are other programs that we could, you know, expand on or do. Um I would love to see more teaching or more, you know, um things like that just to kind of get people to know what
they can do to advocate for themselves. And I think that's lacking because I can see a lot of people that are here in Mayor that are trying to age in place and they just It's very difficult. They don't have the resources. You know, it's hard if you're
94 years old and you don't shovel your, you know, silence. So, you know, it's, you know, where do they reach out? That's that's something that I would like to see happen. I hope I hope I could contribute.
>> Sally, do you have thoughts on that question? Hi. Uh, Sally Thirstston, 18 McKinley Street. Um, I, uh, some of you know I work at the library and I do adult programming and, um, have been, uh,
co-sponsoring events with Amy, working closely with Amy to bring some, um, events of interest to um, the the COA demographic. um those have been successful, but I think there's a lot more we could do. Um
also, I've been at the library have been um building our email communications, which I think is something that Amy's interested in doing, and I hope I could um lend some expertise there. Um also, I'm what Peg calls a junior senior,
so I'm hoping I can um maybe build up that demographic in well, work with Amy to do that. um appeal to um you know less than 75 years old age group. Um so
that's what I'm hoping to contribute. Um I'm excited about the new space um and all that that can allow us to do for seniors. >> Great. Thank you. Now I'm wondering when I move into the senior junior category junior
questions. >> No, other than just appreciation for both of you for being prepared to take this question. >> Thank you. All right, we'll do one one vote at a time
starting presumably on here is Denise first. >> I have Bruce is first on this move to appoint Bruce Davidson and Diane Giering with a term ending June 30th, 2028
authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. Should I do both motions at once? >> Yeah. >> And move to appoint Sally Thirsten to the Council on Aging with a term ending June 20th, 2027 authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. >> I still second.
>> Any further comments? All in favor? >> Thank you both. Bruce >> did Uh it's still only 7:15, so we got times. The next topic is the U appointment of the golf course advisory
task force. And for those who uh haven't been following the episodes as I called it at the beginning of the week, uh we have created a group that will the charge is to advise the select board on the future of the man golf court
facilities and associated properties and to provide public education as to the opportunities and limitations of property's future uses. We decided that we would have four atlarge members appointed by the select board. Um, one
member of the group would be a liaison from the main community preservation committee as either a member of the CPC or a design of the CPC and uh that person is also selected or appointed by the select board and the purpose of the
body that we're going to appoint is meant to serve as an ad hoc committee with limited concentrated scope to facilitate planning by the town and fishing committees in preparation for proposed action. by the voters if the select board in the future decides that that's the direction we might want to
head in. The terms that are going to be appointed are three years. There's no staggered membership because of expected limited of scope of the body. For example, if the select board directs the body to produce a final report within three years, then staggered terms of
appointment could potenti cause a problem with interrupted progress in production to potential membership pages. Um, so Greg had reached out at our direction to uh seek out memberships and I think that there
was pretty quick response from what I understand and um we got some good candidates and we are ready to present those candidates for appointment. >> Correct, Mr. Chair. So there's um
the easy one is uh that I was notified by Rick Le. He's the chair of the CPC, the community preservation committee that Tom Hedgehot is the um leison on the designate from the CPC. Um so that in addition to those
we got four applications um Bill Crrenshaw, Greg Zamudo, John Kinsman, and and Drew Holmes. I don't see Drew. Oh, here he is. Okay, great. Um so it's up to the board. Um it's there, you know, we can still
entertain more um applications. Um but if the board of life, you you have no >> more probably just >> uh then yes, there >> Oh, so it's up to you, Mr. Chair. I I
wasn't aware of that. So if you would like you can maybe um I don't know discuss amongst yourselves about what sort of candidate you want what kind of what what kind of work you're looking to get from the from the um potential appointees you'll get interview the appointees.
>> Uh let's support the board member board members go ahead get this behind us and have that person sort of in the wings the new person that applied this evening. Did you have a deadline on the Oh, >> no. I was surprised about how quickly we got that. So,
>> yeah. >> Did we have a Did we say it's four and a >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um, you could expand that. It's your charge. >> So, you could make it five and one. You could make you could go >> could have an alternate member that doesn't vote.
>> Yep. What's What's the problem with having five members in >> We could have five members. I feel like >> what's the difference? >> There's no I mean there's no difference >> unless we have a split vote, but that's unlikely. So >> that's if there's a split vote that you
>> she's always here. >> So you can you can um you can revise the charge add the at large number and or keep the CPC member designate one.
It's an advisory task force. We'll have we have somebody else wants to participate and sounds good to me. >> I agree. >> All right. So, we have the name of that person. >> Yeah. Do you want it now? >> Do we want in your >> How about How about let me uh put it
next time. Uh yeah, let me vet it, please. Because I don't even know. >> All right. So, then we'll put this off till next week. vote on that person on these people tonight and the next the person who applied today. >> We vote tonight and then give you the
authority to add a person as you see fit. >> I don't recommend that. I don't think I've ever done that. >> So, so there's two things we need to do. One is vote for the four here and the one. >> That's right. >> And then we need to alter the charge to a vote to five and one. But you don't have to do that tonight if you're not gonna appoint this other person. We'll
pick it up personally in January. >> Yeah. Okay. That's fine. Yeah. >> All right. >> But that we we will have to do that if we have to pick. Okay. That's fine. Yeah. I'm fine with the one. >> All right. So, but tonight we'll do the one that we were prepared with with the
one that was signed by CPC. Next meeting just so we're all on the same page. uh first meeting in January, we will uh take up any other names that have come in and then consider the changing the charge to an additional person or two
people or three people or whatever you think is appropriate. >> Do you want me because more on that topic is a for me with your flow but um you want me to do a cut off for appointments applications? You can
change the uh on your on the website. Just change it. Put a date. >> Yeah, >> sure. If that sound right. >> Yeah, >> I'll do like sometime next week or to the week after, but I'll that way it's kind of like clear. Okay, I'll do that.
>> Okay. So, now we will uh we'll need the names. I think they're at the bottom. >> There we have the bottom. >> Okay. The names are at the bottom of the
uh the uh boy ducks. >> Add them into the motion. >> Okay. Yep. Just add them into the motion. >> All right. Move to appoint Bill Cranshaw, John Kinsman, Andrew Holmes, Gregory Zamudo, the golf course advisory task force for
a term to end June 30th, 2028 in authorizing the use of digital signatures if approved. >> Second. >> Before we vote, could we hear a bit from each of the members just about their interest in I know we have it on the application, but I would just like to hear from them. Not
>> problem. Bill, you're in the room, so you have anything to say? Okay. Um, my personal interest in this goes back to the fact that I was around when I first acquired the course for the town. So, I'm a little invested in that and I
want to see what the next stage might be. Um, but I also have a lot of experience planning. So I think I can help a lot with organizing things and getting
getting the information basically that you need to make the decisions. One thing I always caution is there shouldn't just be one answer suspect there will be a set of answers. If it's not
>> Yeah. Uh, Greg Zamudo. Um, I have been an observer for everything around Mayard for about the last decade since um, since we moved in here. And I've been wanting to get involved in a committee. And so this is my first foray into the world at um, I am an a golfer. Anyone
that knows me knows that. And I also am obviously cognizant for resource constraints. Um, the talent has as well. Very similar to the company I work at, small company resource constraints. So just want to contribute to the community and I think my skill set can be helpful.
>> You have behind what we used to see. >> That is true. Yes. >> Okay. I just want to know what we're dealing with. >> It's been a long ride. >> Still much. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> John.
>> Hello. Uh Johnny Kinsman, 52 Summer Street. Um, I I'm a fan of the golf course. I'm a fan of the town. Um, and so if the change is um slated to be made, I want to help
steer it in a way that's positive for everybody. Um, I really enjoy, you know, organizing events in the town and in the community and outdoor activities. Um, and so I would love to lend my effort
and my creativity into finding um a more vibrant use for the acreage if that is, you know, deemed advisable by the rest of the the board members. But I think it's a it's a nice problem to have to have such a wonderful piece of land that
is a a wonderful entity and the idea of improving upon that for the enjoyment of even more of the town is a great assignment. So, I'd be eager to help take that on. >> Sure. >> Good evening. Can you hear me? Okay.
>> Yes, we can. >> Uh, so this is a this is an area and a topic that I'm pretty passionate about. Uh, I've been involved in various organizations around town for the last 10 years or so. Uh, from youth sports, uh, also as a member of the, uh, recreation commission for a couple of
years. Um, and uh, this is just something that I'm very interested in, very passionate about. I'd love to uh, lend my energy and time uh, to this topic to try to find the best solution for the town. Uh, perhaps that's staying consistent with what we have. Perhaps that's making a
change, but uh, given it's something I'm genuinely interested in and something I think I have some perspective on, um, I wanted to lend my efforts. Thank you. Any questions to any of the member any of the applicants?
>> No, I'm thrilled to have such a passionate group here. I think it's a it's a unique uh challenge and opportunity. Uh I like what Bill said right at the beginning about the options. I think I think education can be a component of this one. Educating yourselves first of all about the um
what is feasible and then educating the public on that. and feasible being both legally from a CPC in particular once we have palm here as well and then financially and then also making sure that whatever use we're going into if there's a route for expansion in the
future you're considering those factors and I think you guys all spoke to various aspects of those. I'm I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you come up with and I hope there's a a good amount of um time that you're able to get community input the community on what the possible kind of options are
and then seeing where the community wants to go within that as you also bring in your specific expertise and passions into that process. So good luck and thank you for joining this group. >> I just echo those same thoughts. Um just appreciative of the what appears to be
the breadth of experience that uh the four of you bring. Um so again just thank you very much for uh committing your time to this. It'll be very valuable. >> Either of you guys >> all right okay so then we will uh I'll
take >> we did we did >> we did the motion >> and yes it's time to vote. All in favor? Congratulations. Need to get one in. >> And you're good to go. And Greg, are you
going to take charge of together or is there >> uh Yeah, we'll get the band together. I'm not Again, this is faster than I think I've ever had enough people like start a group. So, um >> yeah, I'll reach out.
>> Excellent. All right, we are a few minutes late for our scheduled 7:15. I will read the public notice uh for the public hearing. Uh, notice hereby given in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter
138, as amended, that a public hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 7:15 p.m. at town hall room 2011 195 Main Street Maynard Mass 01754 to consider the application for a
transfer of a section 12 restaurant all alcoholic beverages license for Shri Ganesh BC Corp DBA Cafe of India manager Hari Papelia at 155 Main Street Maynard
Mass there's a hybrid option attendance via Zoom using the access instructions on the posted agenda found at the mayor town website and a copy of the application is on file in the office of the select board. So do we have Mr. Ganesh with us?
>> Uh yes I'm here. I'm Kos Deni of the owner of the new ownership. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. So you're this is really just an application for a u a transfer of the
alcohol beverage license to Mr. Ganette. >> Yes. Right. >> Okay. And is the is that individual with us time? >> I think he's representing actually. Can you can you um Mr. Danny, can you tell us what is your relationship? What's
your role in this? >> Yeah. Um I'm Kale Stangi. So I'm the owner of the new restaurant. So planning to serve the alcohol beverage over there and the PL they already have the alcohol beverage license the previous owner. So we apply for the transfer the ownership
uh and then the alcohol beverage. So I'm the owner of the the new ownership new restaurant. >> Right. You Mr. Chair the Ganesh is the name of the company. >> Uh it's a corporation name. It's I'm Kas the the Ganesh is a corporation name. >> Yeah.
So I don't know I don't know what right so they will be known as um cafeia >> all and this is just a formal process to >> uh right because it's up to I mean like the the board's responsibility is just sort of like you know like adhere to the
direction regulations of the alcohol beverage control commission that's the hurdle it's getting and Greg Wilson knows it very well and has been working very closely um with Mr. Mr. Deny and the rest of the team trying to get this through. Um it's tough it's tough to do this sort of transfer. So uh so thank
you Greg and also thank you Mr. Deny for your cooperation with my office aka Greg Wilson um trying to get all this paperwork in line. Um have have you already done the transfer like do you have ownership of it yet? >> Yes. So the rest of the paper ship like
the food for meat all the business license is on almost done overage and that's the last step like getting the liquor transport transport okay >> transfer process >> okay >> the process has changed a little bit has
it not we're now it doesn't have to come back to us >> correct >> because the ABC expected to be like within I can't remember how many days but it's a quick turn like they don't they don't want to wait another two weeks >> yeah Okay. All right. Any questions from
board members? >> Any significant overall changes in in the way the business is is being run that you are planning on? >> Uh no whatever the food is almost same and the burber. So whatever we had before with the previous owner was planning to do same uh when I getting
the permit and all those things. So um we try to make a better like whatever we had is we continuously try to make it better. So, no major overhaul. >> No, no, no. Improvements to the experience of the dining. Okay.
>> All right. So, there are a couple of motions that we have here. We'll go one at a time and >> public hearing. Get open. >> Oh, yeah. Sure. Public hearing. Any questions from members of the public on this topic? Anybody online have any questions?
Members of the public? Thank you. Um, so now we will go to promotions. >> Move to approve the section 12 restaurant all alcoholic beverages license transfer application for Shri
Ganach BCorp DBA Cafe of India 155 Main Street authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? All in favor? Motion passes. unanimous. Under the next motion,
>> move to authorize the town administrator's office to distribute the section 12 restaurant all alcoholic beverages license for free Ganesh VC Corp DBA Cafe of India at 155 Main Street upon approval from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission ABC
authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. >> Okay. I believe these votes have to be taken by roll call hearing. Is that accurate? And if it's true, >> either way, let's do it just to be safe.
>> Um, and that way we're um, we're not going to be in trouble. She any big question. So, we'll just do a roll call. Doesn't change anything if it if it's >> Yeah. >> wrong. >> So, Chris, >> we're on number two. >> We are on number two. We'll go back and sort of do like the checking of the jury
and >> Yes. >> Yes. >> I think Jeff. >> Yes. >> I am a yes as well. So, let's just go back to um the previous motion that we already approved verbally and just do a roll call on it to be sure.
>> Let me yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. Thank you. Uh motion to close the public hearing. >> Is there a uh any comments or questions? Roll call vote. Chris, >> yes. >> Lindsay, >> yes.
>> Yes. Mike, >> yes. >> Yes. Well, we are closing the public hearing and we can move on. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Number six, it's the Green Meadow building project. I didn't miss anything on the agenda, did I? >> No. M.
>> Okay. >> Mr. Chair, the um this is a little complicated and we're not joined this evening by our project manager, Phil Colbo. Um um but I'll do the best I can to sort of explain and and maybe if there are members of the board who are also members on the on the school building
committee building but the gist of it is um there's a difference between what the expected project costs were going to be and what the bids came in at. So, um, the project funding agreement, which is the relationship that we have between the town and the state through the
Massachusetts School Building Authority, the MSBA, um, that should reflect more accurate numbers. And now that we have those numbers, the PFA is amended to reflect those changes. Again, between the original projections and what the bids actually came in as.
So, the bid savings were 814,791. Again, that's savings is relative. Um, it's not that we're it's not like we we started taking out the bonds and paid down those bonds and and it's it's just that there's a difference between what we expected might be the conservative estimate for the cost of the project and
then what the actual contractor that came in now. Um, and so you can see the rest of the math. Um, if you're applying MSBA's reimbursement rate because again the the state through the MSBA is chipping it for a significant portion of the cost of the project. So they they
want that money so to speak or at least they don't want to spend that money. But interest you will not distribute that money out. Is that right? >> Bingo. So it's not again correct. Savings is kind of a misnomer because it's just it's just not money we're spending. >> However, the key question I guess that I
would have is does that mean that the impact on the taxpayer is reduced because we're not actually borrowing? >> Yeah. We're getting >> correct. And so that's a good point, Mr. Chair. So when um we try to be pretty, you know, we meaning the fiscal building authority, finance committee, select
board, etc. tends to be pretty um forthright and transparent with the taxpayers like if if you know I don't remember what the numbers were anymore but when we were proposing to the voters to um authorize the debt solutions for the bond payments we try to say if it
costs x amount this is what your average single family tax tax will pay me now it's going to be less than that so it won't be same burden it's not it's not cheap but it's but it's something and so we try to capture those costs and they have to be accurately reflected in the
contract which is the PFA with the city. >> Understood. Everybody follow? Yeah. Okay. Then uh any questions on that? Hearing none, we can make a motion. Move to approve the second amendment to
the project funding agreement PFA for the Green Meadow Elementary School MSBA project number 201917400 010 as presented authorizing the main select board chair to execute the
agreement on behalf of the town and to bind the town to its terms authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. Second. >> Any further questions? All in favor? Thank you. Okay,
Mr. Chair, the other item was just about the status. The project is continuing. I I can't remember what exactly. We're about halfway. So, like if if you look at the project um at some of the pictures, we'll probably tell you um and at the last school building committee,
we went over this. Uh I think I I don't want I'm like I'm probably exaggerating my estimation, but let's say it's about 50% done. It's becoming a true building and they've even gone so far as to pave the roads in front of it. So, project continues even in the winter.
>> Will there be an opportunity for us to possibly get a tour? >> Yeah, definitely. >> Um, we did that at the high school at some point probably right around this time in the project. No rush. >> Cool. That's cool. >> You know, as long as they are so so they can give us a little idea and a little
this is where this will be. this. You don't really see much because it's probably still probably no rooms in there. I don't know. I don't know whether it's just >> rooms. >> There are rooms. >> Rooms. They're not spray. Yeah. They're just frame. >> It's all and it's all done in sections.
So they something might be framed while another part might be insulated and then they'll start writing for. So like it's all in sections. >> So if we can schedule something can and any board member that wants to go or can go. >> Yeah. I haven't been to the site in a couple of maybe a year, three months.
>> The pictures and the pictures that you get every week from the report that comes, you know, there's only a few pictures at a time, but that's they they'll give you a you know, it's not a tour, but they will give you a pretty good idea of what what's really happening. >> So, you're not much depends on the
>> depends where Yeah. >> where it's over. >> Yeah, they're doing second. But this is there was one that we got a notification we got in the last stage about the heat how they're heating it. You know the concern was that they're using um torpedo heaters and they're not. They
have two rather large exterior heaters. So all the exhaust and everything is not going in the building. Only the heat's going in the building and other things. Yeah. So there's a lot going on. I don't know. It might be uh you might want to wait a little bit to get it to just because of the >> Well, yeah.
>> The mud and stuff. Yeah, I'll put it on the radar anyways. >> Yeah, maybe maybe even in the past. >> Yeah, no problem. Right. But if we don't ask them, we won't get it. So, we got to get on their list of this. But that'd be exciting. Anyways, Mr. Chair, I don't I mean there will be constant change
orers, you know, until especially a project of this scale. Um but no, the school committee continues to meet the subcommittee on financing continues to meet and the progress is progressing. Yeah. Progress is progressing. Project is progressing. halfway through the development. Then we
took a tour before the building opened in the high school where you got to see >> we did that with the fire station too. >> Yeah, it's kind of exciting to see the Yeah. >> Okay. And perhaps even members of the school committee could be invited because they may want to see >> invite everybody.
>> Yeah. Well, not everybody because we don't want to have a, you know, the whole town there. >> Good point. >> Everybody is excited about >> Yeah. >> All right. So is that your status update? >> That's it, Mr. Chair. >> Great. Item number seven is MS Office of
Municipal Services Department overview and uh Mr. Silverstein is here to do a presentation for us on the Office of Municipal Services. Welcome, Steve. >> Thank you. Steve Silverstein, Office of
Municipal Services. Greg, I can take over. >> Yes, you can. Let me uh send you request. >> You didn't use the regular. >> No, you did not use the template. >> I know, but I like you did
these action profile shot. >> Yeah, but now the other department. >> Everybody feels like they need to step up. Uh I did use a lot of animations for better or worse. Um so this is a brief overview of uh the office of municipal
services uh and what we do. So who we are and what we do. The animations aren't as crisp as uh just uh go over the roster really quick. Start clockwise from the top left. That's Zoe Beetle, conservation
agent and assistant town planner. That's uh me, Biller, uh planning director. We have uh Rick Asmin, building commissioner with Smokeoky the Bear, who does not work for the town. Uh Jim Alexander, administrative assistant. Uh Casey
Melon, the new health director, and Katie Stannis Slazic, who is our very new uh public health nurse. So the office of municipal services encompasses the departments of building, planning and zoning, conservation and
health. But given that Maynard is a small town, we do much more including uh economic development uh oversee affordable housing and the growth of affordable units in this town and uh we deal with uh
dispensaries and the sale of one Can I tell you about another one? Quick question. Yeah. Um, do we approve um like people's ability? I know they
just allowed by law. Do we approve past the ability to for people to go and sit in there and you know, if I'm not mistaken? Yeah, but we have >> I wasn't sure. I wasn't It came up once before, but it but it came up before that it was on the horizon and we talked
about it. I was just wonder I wasn't sure if we ever took a vote or any discussion on being right. >> No. >> Okay. I'm just curious since I start possibility >> just uh there are a lot of regulations
around it. So one of them is that uh the in the first five years it has to be a social equity applicant that can apply for having a cannabis cafe. I don't believe rise is that though unless they change their >> but that's so the way that this is
they're not going to allow existing um and I'm not familiar with the way the new law was written by >> but they're not going to allow existing buildings that have sale to to
expand in such a way to have cafe >> not unless they have a social equity applicant that owns said, "Yeah, for the first five years." Okay. >> But it's a rapidly evolving >> land. So, good question, Chris. Thank you. >> Yeah,
Steve. >> If I can communicate one thing that MS is about, it's about taking mayor taxpayer dollars very seriously. Um, stretching them as far as they can go, calling them back whenever we can, and
finding free money if it is on the table. $ 1.475 million is what has obtained in state grants over the past two years. >> I think it's interesting that the presentation we have has less money than that.
>> Oh, I I just had to reassess it because I wanted >> No, so actually uh some of that money was under embargo when I initially wrote the theation uh and that money has since been released. I didn't catch that. Anyway,
but we we we have actually it's probably an underestimate to be honest with you. Um but we we really lay it out to get whatever money we can if it's available. Um >> is that what's the time period? >> Since I've been here.
>> Yeah. >> That's really it. But the one touch >> two years. >> Two years. Yeah. The one touchstone that predates me is the gentleman sitting behind me to my left, Bill Nezer, who is the dog man. Uh he is very very uh
persistent when it comes to state grants. He's very knowledgeable and that's why we win a lot of them. So, and we're always on the lookout and we are basically probably overapply, but uh we do apply for whenever there is any
funding trunch whatever wherever it could fit in for better or worse, but so far it's yielded time that I've been here. Nothing you see before you outside of state grants uh more for your dollar. So, MS, like I said, what some
of the things that uh that we concentrate on include um O back taxes. We work with uh the Treasury Collector's Office. Um any corporations that have special permits that may have lapsed. Uh
in terms of renewals, we make sure that they pay their renewal fees. Uh for example with cell towers we did have uh an instance where one of the private cell towers uh a very large corporation which will remain nameless at this point had not paid its special permit renewal
fees since 2009. So we hunted them down and uh they paid the piper uh as they should have. We s also has uh led several of the past RFPs in the sale or lease of municipal property, buildings and land that has
yielded a significant amount lately. Uh surplus goods. So with the old firehouse on summer street, uh we were in there basically selling broom handles and that yielded some amount of money. We were actually able also to sell uh the old
fire engine to a fire department in uh Rhode Island. So, whenever there's money to be had, we're going to grab it. Uh, same thing with building permits. Uh, we instituted a policy whereby we were basically saying that, yeah, you're not going to necessarily come to the town
and just use it and make money off of it without paying into, you know, the use of what is shared space and shared property. >> And here's some question on that one, if I may. Yeah. Are there any costs to the town associated with the filming
permits? something. I know there's the police details and stuff, but is are they additional car? >> The So the the film studios pay for the police details, right? >> Yeah. That's that's part and parcel of it. Anything that they they take if they to use water, they're charged the uh
public works water rates. Um >> that's a good question. So, so um the first film that I was aware of that I was involved with was Knives Out and we didn't have a film application process because it was novel and so I only I
only charged them because anytime they used a metered space I would charge them for that cost. Uh I think that was the only thing I could claim and beyond if they needed police details or etc. Otherwise like the costs are minimal. um
if they shut down a per portion of the street or if they close off certain parking but it's it's if you are familiar with we we really try to control that and it's very minimal impact and and I think the board can appreciate costs are usually offset by
what are sort of economic incentives and attractiveness to the town but relatively minimal I think we have through Steve a good relationship with a couple of like the kind of the same guys we could see a through so they understand >> and I presume we would have heard if any
businesses or residents had any costs but >> that's a good question >> they're pretty good at identifying yeah and actually if say there's a a film production that's on your street like there was on Dartmouth Street they make sure to go around and to pay for the use
of driveway space so that everybody is kumbaya about it I would say the biggest cost of the town is probably staff time but it's all part and parcel of being business friendly because these are you know local not local businesses but businesses operating in this area
primarily based out of Devons and we want to be as obliging as we can. We help them with matchmaking in terms of uh say for example they need a contact at the mill which has a lot of open you know parking space we'll put them in touch we'll arrange meetings uh we make
sure we basically smooth out logistics and put them into touch with local businesses here so that the local businesses see direct um revenue from the the presence of the production studio in town like for
example the sanctuary did with the the recent Thank you. And then here's some animations of the properties. Here's one summer retreat which was sold for $101,01. This is the old Fowler in an old picture
of the Old Fowler. And uh almost sold, very close. Uh still under discussion with the uh developer who who uh was awarded the bid. And then this is the telephone uh equipment shelter up on top of Summer Hill which was just leased out
to AT&T spoken about previously. Um together this totals over a half million dollars in revenue. This is not grant. This is pure revenue for the town uh with another potential 2 million in the pipeline.
And so there there are other cost-saving measures, really small ones that probably don't merit their own slide, but for example, uh the health department revis uh revisited the contract with our um our sharps collector, the use syringes, so we now
save $15 a month on that. But actually, what's the best part about that is that they do a better job. They make sure that the box if the kiosk gets clogged they're here right away to clean them up because people were leaving used syringes outside of the police department. So Steve, out of that half
million said, um, if your group hadn't been working on this, um, and we were just back in our 10 years ago, uh, you know, status, how much of that money would we have seen?
In other words, what's what are you actually bringing in? I'm not looking for you to to your own heart because we don't we understand how valuable your office is. I'm just looking to see would there have been a substantive difference and if if you could estimate what that would be.
>> I can I can help. Do you want to take a step? >> Go ahead. But because I would say who would be around if if C wasn't doing this work? Probably me. Yeah. So like I would probably have sold the old fire station, but I'm still so a lot of that stuff is like he takes the bulk of the
work. He's also my man on the street doing all the all the diplomacy with all this. >> But like as the chief procurement officer, I would still try to that would be my job is the disposal and acquisition in this case. But um um it's
tough. Like here's a good example. The that um um cell tower property at the top of Summer Hill had been a pain in my neck for years because it just takes a certain amount of like concentrated focus and and hunting down these different corporations and talking to like a thousand different people and
everyone seems to suddenly not know that the town exists. And so um having that like devoted or you know having a devoted position to debt is really helpful to me. So so in that regards
I could I cannot confidently say I'd be able to accumulate the same amount. It's certainly not the two years that he's been here. Um um but maybe a portion of it. >> Yeah. But >> that's the point. We're having established this position, having um
Steve on board and whoever else, the whole team that's working on this is actually benefiting the community. >> It's it's more than what he's saying because there's efficiencies that are presented to developers, business owners, and applicants and new and new people want to start a new business or
people want to expand their business or shift from this side of the street to the other side of the street. the town administrator's office came right >> and so like having having the model of MS it's not perfect but it's meant to be sort of like a one-stop shop and that's what Steve overseas >> and and the collaboration with all the
other departments to sort of make it work and then I just have to cheerlead so >> um there's a lot more than that $500 even the films like that stuff is and and they like seeing Steve because Steve is going to be the guy on the street to help and sort of like not grease pumps
but at least like reach wheels and the reverse of because I can't meet everybody who wants to get coffee. So, it's you can't >> and I love caffeine. >> Uh yeah. And some of the the one place
where I will toot my own horn, uh, as the people on my staff know, is that when it comes to harassing corporations or people who have a lot of money, I have no problem doing that because I don't like when people try to get one
over on the little guys, the little guys of of Maynard. So, um, I read contracts and make sure that they are honoring those contracts or that they're honoring their obligations to the town like in the case of the the cell companies and and they try to send their lawyers and
lawyers don't scare me. >> What have we done for you lately? So, in general, we provide inspectional services to help keep residents safe and secure primarily, you know, from building department and health departments, also of course conservation. uh we help new business
new businesses to get established and here I really have to give kudos to everybody well actually three people in particular Rick Asmin, Bill Ner, Zoe Peele and actually and Jim Alexander who is at the at the front
desk. I think that we have a pretty good relationship with anybody who walks in the door for the most part. And some of it that you know some of those people may have had controversies in the past, but everyone is there to put people
point people in the right direction, put them on the right path, the path towards getting whatever permit it is that they're looking for or helping them start a business. And we're not perfect, but we really we're very obliging and our goal is to make sure that other people succeed or that they're able to,
you know, build an addition to their house. Um, so we're very very customer focused, uh, client focused, and we do our our level best given the resources that we have because I'm always saying every department is an army of one. For the most part, it is.
It's just one department like health. Health health is the exception because now we have the health nurse. But uh uh planning zoning bill conservation Zoey Rick is building that's it. I mean this is in in other towns you have the
building department is 10 people. So that's not the case here but we do what we can. Uh and then also so in terms of the new businesses I I we have some good examples. We helped uh the new wine bar get off the ground. uh some of the
smaller businesses like uh the bakery that's in front of our specialties or the uh children's secondhand clothes shop that's in the uh the people's theater building you know we work closely with the sanctuaries new ownership and uh economic development is something that
everybody in MS agrees is you know it's it's critically important to the town to bring in additional revenue but uh it's also cool to see because we all believe in Maynard as a as a destination And uh you know we work very closely with the economic development committee and we're
doing our our best to you know highlight Maynard as a place to be place to go a place to live um and especially a place to start your business. Some of the other things we've done we've tried uh pretty hard dedicated a lot of hours to uh trying to remediate
blight and other nuisances correcting code violations. And honestly, this is some of the more difficult but also can be gratifying work because we're dealing with uh neighbors who may be in a tough or challenging situation and we're
trying to connect them with the right resources so that they thrive and their neighbors are happy with the, you know, the abiding property or whatever it may be. because uh some of these are are are
going deep, you know, deep-seated difficult issues to deal with. Uh what else? Planning and zoning. So, we have a very progressive regulatory structure uh through our zoning bylaws and that's William Mark Nem. Uh you know, this is
Maynard is a is a leading is very very progressive in a state that's very progressive. Uh we really are looking out for how do we create housing? How do we create housing that's affordable? Um, and so we have, you know, zoning bylaws that promote that. We did spend a lot of
time defending against an unfriendly 40B successfully. Maybe that, you know, hopefully that had something to do with uh, you know, the resistance that we put up against it because it's in spite of all the time that we spent planning, you have a kind of interloper who comes in
and wants to plop down 250 units in a place where it's not in the best interest of the town. Um so there was a lot of manpower person power that was used to find out from the community what the community believed and then execute the
will of the community which for the most part was to defend against this uh public health. We conducted a community health needs assessment uh and we saw some of the major issues including uh road safety that were highlighted by the
people of Maynard. Um so looking to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. Uh some of the other things we saw were uh issues in involving uh the aging population and aging in place uh including financial insecurity. Um and
that as something that weighs on the the older population in May. Our next step now is actually to put in place a community health improvement plan which we're doing with uh new nurse Katie and uh we will be soliciting stakeholder input and even though I
don't really love creating another committee probably looking to create another committee to improve overall health in the town meter. Uh we did conduct flu clinics most recently stepped up and didn't show up. She still needs a flu shot. Ridiculous. Uh we did
have our senior breakfast for to promote um social relationships because one of the other things that came out of the health assessment was there is a crisis of loneliness and isolation. You know some of that is just uh in the wake of COVID but some of it's not it's
just this is what is happening in the community. Uh, so highlighting this is good because what mayor's probably its main strength is the fact that it's a tight-knit community and neighbors really do care about each other. Uh, and then also we're we are
administering the opioid settlement funds and hopefully we'll have some news about that shortly. From economic and community development standpoint, we removed the parking meters from the basin. Uh we are overseeing improvements to Koolage Park as part of the
partnership with Civico. Um we apply for money from CBC which was uh generously granted by them to put in some amenities at that park. We on a regular basis work with senior tax workers uh tax writeup workers and we had grad school interns
as well as high school students who we worked with on their senior project and also appeared in uh a recent film that they that they put on for their communications class. So we try to do our best with with outreach to uh any and all communities. I already mentioned
business. We have looked to uh create social media channels to further engagement with uh with Maynard at large. Some of the challenges on the road ahead in no particular order because obviously the biggest challenge on the road ahead
is number two which is water. Um economic development. This is a full-time job. There are economic development coordinators in other towns actually in all of the neighboring towns maybe with the exception of Stow. Um, and it has important consequences to the
community's vitality. It's currently an unfunded position primarily uh uh powered by completely by volunteers be it EDC or the Maynard Marketing Task Force or the Maynard Voice, but this is a place where investment would have
dividends for the uh the commercial landscape in the town. Second with water. Um, for the most part, MS is the first place that developers, real estate uh, agents and mill owners uh, go to when they're
discussing new projects. And so, we have to clarify the fact that water is not necessarily a given that we do have water constraints. So, some clarity as we go forward or some silver bullet that provides water would be good towards
alleviating that challenge. And then finally, I've alluded to this. So to work, um the town like any other town in the in this country uh experiences a wide spectrum of mental health issues. Um and some of them
are quite intractable or quite you know of long run have serious consequences to family members, children, uh elders, etc. And as much as a jerk like me tries to, you know, find out, investigate,
meet with people, uh, try to find a solution with when it comes to mental health is best left in the hands of professional, but we don't have a social worker. Um, so we make do where we can, but it would be it would be the town to try to find additional resources in that
arena. Sorry, couldn't take a word there. So, what next? um objective mailer court comments. So there's a four-point plan that we that I have uh discussed uh in the past before this board. The first point of that plan
was to uh remove the parking meters. That's mission accomplished. Uh the second point is uh replace putting trash recepticles back in downtown and in another court. The third is the dumpster corral. Uh I was just we were just talking about that with uh Angela
Lawless, Chief Lawless earlier today uh who was saying that the uh the fact the haphazard nature of some of the dumpsters, the commercial dumpsters gives her anxiety because some of them are in places where are not that are not optimal. So one of the things we'd like
to do in turning mailer court into a actual place placem would be to put all the dumpsters for say Babikos and Eli and Azakar in one play an open table in one place and move it away from as far
away as is feasible so that customers of those restaurants uh can enjoy you know dining alresco without having a dumpster right next to them. Uh and then finally the the main goal would be a nailer court common
of course with your approval of this type of vision uh to posit to connect the space in Naylor court which is underutilized with Veterans Memorial Park because that is kind of the the heart of town in terms of the town common. Uh what we are working on in the
new year we are going to be implementing a new permitting and licensing software. I talked about that briefly uh last time I was here. Uh we just signed a contract. Very excited about that. That should have immediate dividends because it's going to be able to flag to us where permits or where fees have gone to
laps or you know if someone pulled a permit, it's not closed. How long has it been? Why not? Why is that the case? So we could do followup because right now a lot of it is is fairly manual. And then finally uh the powder mill
corridor. We have our sight set on it. Uh Bill spoke about the uh the MBTA community catalyst award for 585 grand or whatever 558 grand that we received last time. That's kind of the final frontier for for growth. And so
we're all in with that, especially with the actin apartments. We want to populate that corridor with commerce, get people moving up and down in terms of public transit. Hopefully one of our future grants will be to get a shuttle uh that runs that route and uh when we
get water, you know, put some additional apartments up there. So that's what basically 10% of what MS does. Sorry I ran over, but uh that's it. >> That's okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate the presentation.
Um, one of the things that um that I noticed um on the night of the sit stroll, whatever they call it, the holiday stroll, uh, some of our newer and you know, all of our shops downtown
that were open that evening have so much potential and when people are there and it's active and you see it, um, it gets exciting. I mean, that night was really kind of exciting. see people in the shops seeing things that they really
don't recognize it's there for and having been uh recently over the last several years been able to travel up in central New York as I have there's a small little community up there now they have the benefit of being on one of the finger lakes it's called Skinny Atlas uh
New York um and it's beautiful little downtown very very similar to Maynard in many ways and they have turned it into a destination. And as my wife and I who we travel up there together, as we were
walking around that evening, we're saying to ourselves, how can we develop this into a skinny ass? Um because it's it's it's very similar. Uh, I guess they have the niche of being on one of the finger lakes and people go up there not
only for the mil >> to visit. They have the milk go up there to visit but they also have the opportunity to, you know, sail or whatever they do on the lake. I have not gone up there really in the summertime. Um, it was exciting. I really want to
see how we can develop the community in such a way to make it I mean you can't copy exactly but there's a model there and it's just I mean you walk into those stores and it's exact same as what you have up there the same
they're bustling you know all the time in like October November December time frame but anyway my comments but thank you very much for the presentation anybody uh have comments >> um Yeah, I do. Uh, hi Steve. Thank you for your presentation and your
department put this together. Um, one area I just wanted to ask you about, you you mentioned about the the challenges of mental health issues. Um, and that we don't have the police department have a social worker or they're not called social work
clinicians. Yeah. But I I I appreciate that obviously from from this department it would be different needs to be addressed perhaps. What is your understanding uh given that you know our budget situation we're unlikely to afford a social worker
anytime soon? Uh what are the regional resources available? um and what if anything if you haven't done it already can can ma do to uh work with those regional resources uh for the types of mental health issues because
obviously this is a uh well it's a worldwide problem but it's something that goes beyond the boundaries of main yeah so we do work pretty closely with the clinician who is under a mayor uh police department used to be the jail
diversion program um She Emily Black, she we share her services with Concord and Carlile, >> right? >> Uh but she's paid by a third party, Elliot Health Services. Um we could probably pay her some more
money to get some more some additional some supplementary services because she does find herself and she's told me this doing a lot of social work whereas she's primarily supposed to do clinical intake. Now I don't know what the heck the difference between those two things is but there's a very clear difference
right in her expert world. So, we try I we hi we have consulting services from a regional nonprofit that does work in with uh people who have issues with um
it used to be called hoarding. I think there's another term for it now. But personally, I'm not satisfied with the return on investment there. Uh so I think we need to either pursue other nonprofits uh or like I was saying get
somebody inhouse. We could possibly have a intermunicipal agreement the town like conquered hire somebody at full-time but share the costs with that other community. I think that would help um you know allow us to have our cake
and to eat it too. But regional resources, there's the Metro West chair uh public health services um where our health director actually previously worked and they do have a social worker, but keep in mind that we share their
resources with 10 other communities. So each individual case, the ones that I'm thinking about when when I was writing this uh PowerPoint, very time intensive because part of it is you have to build trust with the the resident who has the
issue and that is these are, you know, methodologies. So it's it's quite difficult, you know, it's like, well, why don't you just clean up your act or, you know, clean up your property? And it's not that simple. it was it would be here's a fine and clean it up. That's not the case. So, we
need some some somebody organization that can invest the amount of time that it takes to deal with one case or in the case of Mayor, you know, the few dozen cases that we have that are longstanding.
And I'm certainly not an expert in health insurance, but given what appears likely with the very significant increase in healthcare costs uh for a lot of people, I'm going to presume that some of that will affect residents in May and whether or not that
will um just increase the challenges that the community has for getting the services that they need if they can't afford the health insurance. Yeah, I worry I worry specifically like I mentioned the uh financial instability especially with the the population aging
in place here uh is is significant because the knock-on effects are if you have less money you may be more reluctant to go to the doctor. Maybe your co-pays are high, your deductible is high, you don't have health insurance or whatever the case may be. Um there there will be adverse health effects
from just rising costs of living. Which reminds me that we actually just received some money from uh Emerson Hospital to uh continue our um senior breakfasts for against social isolation and loneliness to promoting relations.
So that's something that we are going to continue to be doing in 2026. Thank you. But I appreciate you uh bringing that as one of your main challenges because I I do see it a big one for our residents. Thank you. >> Yeah. No, thank you for the
presentation. >> Nope. I just say thanks. I know you guys do a lot without much. So, thanks for everything you do. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. The next item is that you too
>> his partner. Yeah. >> William Mark. >> Did I get that right? >> Feel like I'm really in trouble then. to get them. >> So tell us a little bit about this grant that you're here at CU.
>> Well, this is the um this is a grant that we received from the Massachusetts uh Office on Disability to conduct a self evaluation and transition plan. And this is required by the American Disabilities
with Disabilities Act, title two. And in a nutshell, um, a town is a municipality is required to have, uh, first of all a, um, a evaluation, an examination of all the
public facilities, programs, infrastructure, um, to see, uh, if it's compatible with ADA standards, you know, and that results in a in a a list and a u
the first that's the first part of this exercise. Um the second part of it is the development of a transition plan. This is a fluid plan that is designed and it's based on the um self- evaluation and it it identifies any
barriers to uh ad access in any public facilities and it provides a plan to address each of the shortcomings or each of the uh any uh deficiencies that are found. Um, the reason this is important
is because it's designed to be a multi-step process much like our earlier grants that uh we discussed a couple of weeks ago. Um the first stage is a planning stage to memorialize
towns intentions uh with the commonwealth so that the second stage which is going to be constructible base um can then be applied for. So with every grant that we
have that's a planning grant now they're supposed to be uh you're supposed to complete that and then be teed up for construction. So it's a they call it a development continuum. So um this uh plan will probably take uh a I would
anticipate a year and a half or so probably to get this completed and once that uh the um transition plan uh is completed and the and the recommendations um it would be adopted
by the town um um ADA commission and the select board. uh at that point structure grants. So that's in a nutshell what this whole thing is about. So in the end everything in a perfect world um once we
um complete this we start applying for uh construction grants and address all any deficiencies identify. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> No. Thank you. I think so. >> One quick question. Um would would we be
hiring some type of consultant with this money that it's not your >> No, I'm not. >> We would we would we would we would uire put out and sold. Um there's that there
are a number of firms that specialize in this sort of thing which would be ideally um we'd have somebody that's very experienced with there's several that are are um prominent Massachusetts so I don't anticipate any problem just question
selected one work best >> okay uh Sarah >> you move to authorize the town administrator to approve the contract for the municipal ADA improvement grant for
designing the ADA self-evaluation and transition plan to address barriers to accessibility and program services and facilities with the executive office for administration and finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the amount of $59,986.
Second, >> any further comments? All in favor? Thank you. >> All right. Item number eight is Department of Public Works. Two items. First is a grant
consistently. >> Uh thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I know I have a couple of items, but I really want to commend uh Bill and his team on the ADA transition plan. It's actually something that we've been working on collectively for over four
years um without uh a lot of success. The transition plan is um very very advantageous to the town when it moves to what's called action grants. what Bill was talking about. It does not just align with facilities, but it aligns
with pedestrian crossings, ADA ramps and sidewalks, things of that nature. The grant categories when you start to hit action grants can be a the maxes can be up to $40 million to do ADA ramps and things of that nature. So, it was a barrier that um the town has had in
front of it for several years. Our previous transition plan actually was not formally adopted. So we've been actually executing our processes without a um formalized ADA plan for over a generation. So that is a uh may seem
kind of small in financial category stature but it's a very very very good grant to receive. So I do want to commend Bill on that. I really do. >> Um in front of you today we have two agenda items. Um, one being the largest, which we're super excited about,
>> which is the award of $2.3 million um, in the emerging contaminants uh, small disadvantaged communities grant focused on u water contamination or decontamination, as I like to say. Um, we're looking to contract with our
engineer and firm Stantech >> to start to execute what may be a little bit complex to understand um, which is roughly about a 50% design of our phase three project within our
master plan. Right? So, if everybody looks at this from like the common process, why aren't we following an order of operations? Right? That's the first question we have. I was I was excited for Greg to to kind of grill me on that um about a week ago. >> You're excited. >> Of course I'm excited, right? I like
feedback, right? And so sometimes I'm always in the weeds. This is what I do every day. And so sometimes that I need to kind of understand where everybody's aligning with uh the complexity of these projects that we're we're contending with. So part of that is because in um with
our minster plan and Maynard's um issues in regards to water, there's not a one-sizefititall grant solution. There's multiple grants out there, whether it's FA federal or state um that focus on certain aspects and most grants are not discretionary funding grants. They
really have a purpose. Right? With this, I want to make sure we understand what the EC stands for, emerging contaminants, which is contamination that the EPA believes they will actually regulate in a lower aspect.
Contaminations that we're contending with are PAS and manganesees. Right now, iron and manganesees have MCL's, but manganesees MCL is very high and it is almost um what we refer to as a secondary contaminant.
EPA is looking at one EAS as as the board has heard me talk about in the future and about 2029 is their target goal to reduce the MCL or the minimum contaminant level down to levels of what we refer to in our industry as non-detect which may violate if we do
not filter them. The challenge for Maynard is we have to filter it out of three treatment points because we have a shared distribution network and a shared treatment process. The reason that we were lucky to receive a ward of this large stature is because one of our treatment plants, which just happens to
be our phase three, is he is heavily riddled with raw water contamination or PAS levels far exceeding that MCM. Rockland's PAS levels are far lower, meaning the raw water and Green Meadows PAS are also lower than OMR, which is
why we were able to target that as part of the grant. Now secondary which everybody is familiar with in Mayard is our discoloration. Our discoloration comes from one treatment plan as we talked about which is OMR. That discoloration is a combination of iron and manganesees. So in order for us to
maximize this grant which is something that may actually swung through the fences and received a significant amount of money is because we have manganesees and PAS in levels that far exceed what the future emerging contaminant level is going to be. So the 50% design though is
only focused on the actual materials in process that remove those two processes or those two chemicals. And so it will not pay for the roof that has to take on that vessel. It will not pay for the design of expansions of walls. It will not pay for other aspects of the
expansion of the water capacity vessels that come with pre-treatment in in front of those. So, some people may say, well, why did you look at that grant? One, because as you heard Steve talk about, we go for almost every single grant we can. We have limited resources and funds
in Maynard, and we do not hold back or wait for opportunities because these things are not guaranteed. So, for us, we saw the we saw the door open. We had uh we have extreme advocacy at uh both the federal and state level right now for Maynard and we took this opportunity
to secure the biggest grant we could possible which is why we moved on that 2.3 million which is why it is roughly not in the order of our master plan but it does help us align in parallel if that makes any sense and so this 2.3 million if the board approves on the
contract with Stantech will begin as of tomorrow um we are positioned to start to do this design work. Um, and this will last roughly about six uh to 12 months worth of process. And in the interim, we're going to continue to look for alternative funding sources to
continue to move on phase two, phase three, other grant opportunities, i.e. also other loan opportunities and or alternative funding sources. Um, so just for clarification purposes, uh,
was representative, uh, Clark involved in this effort, Congresswoman. >> Yes. So, >> Congresswoman Clark, >> I cannot tell you yes or no. Um, all I can tell you is, um, this was really
championed by KO and yes, it's federal funds. Those federal funds are funneled through um Mass D's Boston office and it is something that Kate met with the secretary of mass DP several dozen times
to find solutions for funding. And again, this was us fitting into a box, right? We're taking a circle to fit into a square. Um but this is really where we worked with handinhand with D to maximize the award. It does need a final
blessing from the EPA, which is federal funding. Um, but this is a program that's been around a long time. Um, and it is something that did receive um, federal blessing, but it was really championed by Kate's team. Um, Mass DP's
Boston office in collaboration with our central office. Greg was a major part of that as well. We dealt with our what we refer to as Sierra, which is the central office. their um director Mary Jude was integral in in part of this as well. This was a team collective effort, $2.3
million. As you can see, our original war was 2.1. We championed for more. Um I don't want to get ahead of my skis here, but there is what we're told is there is potentially more funding and have already myself and Kate are already working on trying to acquire more of this funding um to try to boost this up.
We originally asked for 4.6. >> Yeah, that's great stuff. And um obviously Our thanks go out to Representative Togan and to Senator Alfish for his participation as well and to everybody
who had uh part in working towards getting this grant for the town of Mayor. $2.3 million for a community of our size is is enormous. who does
>> we couldn't raise rates to match this in 10 years time. >> So kudos to everybody. Thank you very much. I do think we um although time has passed since it was actually awarded. We probably should have some type of a
grand announcement at least through the website if we haven't already. I think we might have. >> I don't remember what we did. We did a public Yeah. Yeah. through Gil Boil and then um as part of our master plan launch at the town meeting, we also incorporated it in and some of our
public outreach. But I think with something like this, we can also it may be good because the timeline is kind of sensitive sometimes, right? Where the bureaucracy right from state >> which I think frustrating.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't I don't think it would be a heavy lift for Guilford to update it because grand award is updated and in progress just to kind of give a nice timeline. Nothing may maybe nothing major but just more of an update because as you can see from a lot of the purpose dates and and background these things
take a while. We started this process in 2023. >> Yeah. >> Right. This is not as fun of a grant for the sort of publicity of it because there's no ribbon cut. There's no there's no sight to be seen. Yeah, I mean there is, but this is going towards 50% of the design thing that we're going to fix in like years now. So, it's a
little trick tricky for the publicity part of it, but we can we can do what we can. If it's already >> I disagree. I say >> $2.3 million has got to be four or five% of our budget, right? >> Sure. >> I I feel like even it doesn't matter if
there's a ribbon to cut. That's an extraordinary amount of money. I don't >> So I think for people who live in Mayard that that feels pretty newsworthy. >> Our water budget that's almost 90% >> when you put it when you when you look
at it in relative terms I think it's newsworthy. >> Okay. I >> to be honest >> I just it's I don't I love it. Um >> maybe not like out >> maybe this is why I'm not like I don't know >> but for I think at a local level it it's definitely
>> that's a better way to spin it that I was just thinking like like a PR company to push this out on the wire or anything like that. I mean at a local level I >> well we foilator so like >> that is usually what we mean
almost but it's it's um I don't know and you're right I'm not the PR guy so like I don't I'm curious how Gilfo is going to sort of portray this in a way beyond what we've already said in a way that is sort of like tangible sort of like >> yeah and I well I get that that is challenging from a messaging standpoint
I'm sure that they have thoughts on that even though there isn't like a tangible thing to look at and see that the money is going toward. I think the major message is that this is a huge amount of money that keeps us on on pace. Um, and that it is an award that is the result
of our local offices and our state representative and state agencies all working coordination because they understand the need. >> Let's do it. I'm I'm I'm excited too. Now, and Mr. Arian did say thank you, but I also, if you don't mind, I'd like to
copy you and and give a lot of credit to Justin Mark um who didn't introduce himself. So I so Greg, this is Justin. So um but uh well mostly for Facebook. So uh no no uh yeah, he's on the web.
Um, but really Justin did the bulk of the work and like and if if even Justin even mentioning my name is only because you know the Wister office was told by Justin probably to call me. So they did call me like it's it's all really funnels through him or even as evidenced in the picture I snapped on Friday's uh
conference in Marvel world with 495 partnership like Johnson was on the stage and sort of like voicing the concerns and the and the critical need to address yes the region but primarily mayor's water issues in order to meet our goals plus the region's goals and
the state's goals and it's really Justin's name and reputation and perseverance and persistence and it's really sort of allowing for this unknown money to come all the way down to little old Maynard and it's and it is really truly remarkable. Maynard is small even
like geographically and sort of like reputation wise. I think we're pretty small and mighty and if you ask our neighbors we're very attractive but it's hard to get on the radar of Worcester, Boston and and even more affluent towns um just because they have the names and
so like people people sort of like otherwise. So, he's done a great job of of as as we've said before punching above our weight class. Um, he's the he's the fist. So, he's done he's done a lot. Great work. And he's a little under
the weather. So, yeah, >> here he is. >> So, you're just going to get a condensed version. >> Uh, but but this is very complicated, Mr. Chair. And Justin's right, that um even I have a hard time sort of tracking various phases of the of and where the money's going to go. Um there is a
spreadsheet which I did upload to board docu today uh per Justin's recommendation but but it's complicated. If you get a chance you can look at it but the general concept is we are trying to shift money towards future endeavors which will try to try to sort of like
stabilize and provide capacity in the future but is are again this is phase three because I even need to sort of rep like sort of like repeat it in my own mind kind of keep a track of where we are. phase two is wrong. So, we're we still need to sort of like solve that
gap. Um, but this is this is really a good investment for the next part. And Lindsay, just to speak about kind of how we we'll continue to tell the story, right? We'll start to incorporate this as the rates start to get presented to the board in January. We'll make sure we highlight this then.
>> Um, and then with our our firm talking about making sure that we start to build our newsletter. So, our rate hearing at in in my in my mind will be sometime at the end of January, probably to February. And at that time, I think I'm hoping to have a nice template of a
newsletter that starts to build on the story as well. So, I think that that will help kind of keep the ball fresh in people's mind a little bit. >> Great. >> Any questions or comments on this?
probably right here in January. This is me setting my own unrealistic standards. >> And we typically do before this >> bugging him around January. >> Fair enough. >> Well, maybe this is in advance if you
want to take a till February. I do have the rate of hearing, but with the out of sequence application of the funding, um, you know, you were talking just a moment ago about we should be ready to go tomorrow, but is there a time we have to use the funding by? Does it behoove us to delay funding until some of the phase
two things are worked on just so we don't design? >> So there is the second of funding secured. >> So we don't want to delay it and it doesn't interfere with anything we're doing. So even if a magic fairy came and gave us three four million dollars we would execute this unilaterally.
>> So independent of phase two we're not gonna we execute on phase three until phase two. So is there technology development is there more information about those emerging contaminants and the rates that there is. So independent anything we do in phase two we'll have more information by the time we get to phase three and >> it will fill up to% but also the 50%
now. So this is the complexity of our system, right? When we move on phase two, we're still going to have to incorporate PAS treatment, which this design will help us understand the entirety of the PAS treatment we need for our system. So it is essentially 50%
of OMR but it provides baseline data for our final design of Rockland because if when we move not when we move on phase two we're talking about putting on new well sources. We're not talking about a huge uh treatment plant upgrade. If you
recall our treatment plant is actually producing at 50% capacity because the loss of previous wells there. So we're really bringing on the raw water was always designed to but in at our time sequence we're forced into still mitigating and treating for PAS at that
source to meet the EPA standard. So technically Rockland in essence if we move on on the cycle of the tracking machine we can get into details a little more at the rate here or two but I'm I'm more than willing to have that conversation now it's we're essentially most likely going to see our first PAS
treatment played at Rockland Omar that and um it is unrealistic there's a reason that I highlight we will exceed PAS it is unrealistic for us to have PAS treatment at all three treatment plants with new w with new wel capacity and
other contamination issues such as discoloration. The costs are astronomical. That's the entire master plan. What we're looking to do with phase two, as you recall, is we have a blended system. If we can put on new sources, which Rockland is our cleanest
raw water, new sources at Rocklin with PAS treatment and potentially sustainably slow down growth. we don't have to rely on OMR as much which means we don't have to produce discoloration at a higher level and or PAS at a higher level. So we're actually diluting our
system by reducing OMR and then as we move and secure finances we would replace that system. So in the interim what our goal is um is to reduce how much PAS we have in our treatment system whether the MCL makes a line or not
we're going to reduce it as much as humanly possible while increasing capacity so that we can regain new growth in customers so that we can pay for phase three. >> Thank you. You're welcome and congratulations and thank you again. >> Of course. Of course.
>> Anybody else have any comments? No. >> No. >> Okay. So, we can move to accept the grant. >> I'll make a motion to accept the terms of the agreement from the Department of Public Works EC- SDC preliminary water
treatment design contract number 1511 between the town of Maynard and Stantech Consulting Services, Inc. in the amount of 2.3 million and authorized use of signatures if approved. digital signature we have signed. No worries.
>> Second. >> Any further questions or comments? All in favor? >> Thank you. That's really great stuff. Yes. So, now we're moving on to a related uh issue,
but uh different this I don't steal your thunder. Go ahead, >> David. It's actually not my thunder. I believe this may be yours and Jeff's under maybe the entirety of the board and I don't want to sell yourself short
here. Um, we received an email correspondence. I actually received a direct correspondence from um a D project manager that I deal with quite often at the Boston office indicating that there was an allocated airmark in u the economic bond bill for $200,000 for
water improvements um identified for mayor which was championed by Kate Hogan. But as I believe I think the champions um were the select board members who spoke to Kate Hogan and were advocating as we've discussed multiple times about
every stakeholder has to advocate and it can't be one, it can't be two, it's it needs to be all of us. Um and I believe this $200,000 earmark is on the hard work of the board and their advocacy and again Kate Hogan's advocacy um and
championing for our community. Um at this point this is something we were not expecting. I would say my office was absolutely not expecting this. Um, but it is a delight. Um, every ounce of money allows us, if you look at that financial sheet, to close the budget
gap, which is close to $4.6 million in executing phase two and phase three, right? But if we stay focused on phase two, we're still talking about $2 million gap for full design before we go to construction. That's still kind of a hurtling task. Um, as you may recall,
um, when we were talking about phase two or new well sources, there's the time gap that I always talk about, three to five years to permit and put on a new source, right? Um, Steve made um an eloquent presentation earlier. We're talking about um sustainable growth.
We're talking about how does MA move forward, whether it's economic downtown growth or it's housing growth. um everything is hinged by our water capacity constraints. So in order for us to actually start the clock, let's imagine the 2.3 50% we just
talked about didn't exist. That didn't that's not really starting any clock outside of a design clock. In order for us to increase our capacity, we need to start the permitting, piloting, and pump testing process that can take three to five years, which is phase 2's beginning
operation. The cost to do that is actually to to start that process is roughly $650,300. Uh yeah, excuse me, $300. And right now, we do not have a funding source allocated to close that gap. We do have
two funding sources that are available. One is this $200,000 earmark, which could stop the process. Um the other as you recall is we're in the class action lawsuit with um PAS manufacturers which gives us somewhat discretionary funds. So these funds are identified for water
improvements but they're a little bit more discretionary on like a grant. But as you recall and if you can see in the tracking sheet, a lot of that money is going to be utilized for what's called a manganate design system as a chemical system to feed to help us reduce our TTHM violations that you see in your
consumer which has a public health. That is the last remaining aspect of green meadow that we need to need to put on board. Our design phase for that is roughly at 80% and once we get to 90 we have to kind of go back and forth with D
change of design. But right now the cost estimates for that are about 360 to $400,000 which means we would have a delta leftover balance of roughly 350 to 370,000 in the class action lawsuit award. If we couple that with this
200,000, we've essentially closed the gap and we started the permanent clock that takes three to five years. And that is what I would recommend this board take serious action on because that is actually how we potentially grow in the next three to five years which then
acquires new revenue sources which then can be reallocated towards continuing phase two, phase three. Um, we do also anticipate as this time clock starts to happen, it's it's very hard because we have to logistically align the work with
season of work. So, the reason that I bring this up is this isn't necessarily just administrative work. It's actually drilling a pilot well and testing it, which takes time. It cannot be done in the middle of winter. Spring is a perfect opportunity because they have to drill these pilot wells and then we have
to start to test the seasonal conditions. Um, so this is why I'm advocating even the 200 isn't the 651 in totality. The 200 allows us to mobilize the drilling company and set them on a course in spring. We expect another
trunch of money from our class action lawsuit prior to April town meeting which would if the if the um town appropriates it in continuation of last town meeting we could sec we could see our 370,000 delta go up to 450 550
depending on how many tanches we received in that time frame which allows us at that point to continue the process without necessar necessarily looking at rates doing it. So when I talk about that when we talk and I kind of want to
lead to the rates because I want to make sure that we we fully understand this process. When we come to the rate conversation we are still going to stay very sound in our financial approach of our five-year bonding capacity process. Right? So we're closing the gap with
these alternative funding sources for design. But we also want to make sure that when we get to full permit, full design and we go for bond for the actual construction, we're not asking our rateayers to do 40% at the time of construction. We're still building our
capacity so that the time we hit that time frame that technically the the rateayers have already seen it with one, two, 3% increments over the course of that five, six, seven years. So our goals are still aligning. um this just helps us do this without
potentially raising rates or reallocation of uh retained earnings. >> Thank you. Um couple of comments that I would make initially. Um, at the time that Jeff and I met with Representative
Poland, probably I don't know, probably about a year ago now or approximately, the conversation was focused with uh Kate at that time, specifically on the fact that we were having a discussion about the rebate program that was being
presented at that time. And we knew at the time that the we did not have our own amount of money >> to present the rebates and allow the rebates to go out and help people that needed that wanted to have uh filters put into their homes at that time.
>> So what we chose to do at the time, you may recall when we were at the rate hearing, you said $200,000 is 2% increase on our rates. And so what we chose to do and I was advocating at the time there might be other avenues of money coming because I
had had that discussion with Representative Hogan and >> based on history I was quite confident that it was going to be coming uh and instead we we and rightly so we raised the rates by 2% to meet that $200,000.
My concern is that we don't forget that we should claw back, as I advocated for at the time that we did that, should this money ever come through, that 2% should come back. So the rateayers are no longer paying for that $200,000
because we got it through a grant. And that's what I'm asking the board to remember. It's going to be eventually up to the board obviously, right? But I don't think the rateayers deserve to be told that we'll claw it back >> and then oh here comes the money, but
then we don't claw that 2% back. >> I absolutely >> the 2% increase specifically >> $200,000 >> for the program >> for the rebate program that when we spoke with Representative Hogan, the discussion now it's it was written that
grant was written really broadly. >> Yeah. uh it it allows us to really whatever we want relative to water quality I think is how the correct the phrase was and that was part of the discussion too that we wanted to make it as broad as possible but I am concerned
we not forget that >> and the reason that the air mark so now we're talking about the legality of it so the one thing that I want you to remember too and we can get to that so that theory let's stay with that because that theory can be achieved it's just not a straight one so you so technically
state funding can't be used to offset revenue and that's so technically our rebate program was a revenue replacement program right so that's why it couldn't be named the rebate program and then this earmark unfortunately does have a very short sunset clock it needs to be
fully utilized by June 30th 2026 so we have six months um this this process that I'm asking for in front of you or um I'm recommending can be done within six months but David to your point and I want the board to kind of think about this when we talk about the
rate hearings what we talked about at the time and I don't want to speak for the board but the rebate program was a pilot program that we initiated right and that was the overall conversation we wanted to have a pilot program to respond to the immediate needs of our
customers at the time that pilot program has been functioning for over six months what I would tell you right now is we have a waiting list of about 20 we also have about 50 applicants that originally put in pre-application who have not
moved six. So, a lot of people also wanted to grab a spot and have not actually pursued Julia and um I actually tked Julia because we gave six-month windows to start to execute. But again, we're are sensitive to this topic. We're not going to say, "Hey, six months we
didn't do anything." No. We have reached out to a lot of those um applicants who have not moved and asked if anything was going on. Are they having hardships? Is are they running into complications? I actually foresee that a majority of those 50 applicants are never actually
going to utilize the rebate program and the waiting list will be activated very shortly in the next month month or two. And the reason I'm bringing this up is the allocation that the board has approved is probably going to be strong enough to handle all of those who were ever interested in the rebate program.
Now, I'm not saying we haven't had an event in a while and as you recall the event that happened last time was the winter and we couldn't alleviate it because the operation flush the system. So, I'm not I don't want to say we're not going to have an event anytime soon. Um, and want to be prepared. But what we
can do and what we discussed at the time was because I remember the board talking about should we raise 2% or not and I loved the vetting conversation at the time. I did say if it was a pilot program and you discontin it in a year,
the 200,000 you raised still aligns with the financial building of the bond capacity. And instead of raising an additional 400,000 in FY27, we may only want to raise 200. That 200 from the rebate program gets back reallocated to
the bonding capacity and it realigns with our five-year bonding plan. So in essence, it would be clawing back a rate increase, but it may not reflect that. And so I think part of this is I guess the challenge is on me is how do we make sure that that outreach is is is made
clear. >> And I think that's the one thing I can take away from what you're what you're processing. That's fair. But that's the bureaucratic process of how we would potentially have >> no I just don't want it to be forgotten that there was a 2%. We were had the choice between a 7% increase or a 9%
increase. We went with the 9% increase because that would allow us to fund the $200,000 that would allow us to fund the rebate program. >> And the $200,000 was coming to us through a different source that% raised
in my opinion should be recognized to be given back to the >> So I'm I'm a pretty predictable guy. I always give the board two options. What we'll do is when we have our dot plot, which I turned the beginning of our forecast, I'll make sure that we identify what that looks like. So, if
you approve 9% uh last year, we'll make sure if it drops, which I actually anticipate is us coming down. If you haven't got to see my presentation, I hope you don't even look at it. It's just >> three months away. No, I don't I'm not talking about my rate. >> You haven't seen my DP slides. You're
not You can't. So, but part of it is we use CPI data all the time because DPW a majority of what the DPW's budget is is expenses, right? So, CPI matters to us more than it does other other departments. And so, what we're seeing in our our industry was we were keeping
up with massive inflation. We're seeing that inflation decline which is very healthy for our water and sewer department and it's very healthy for our financial strategy because it actually aligns us to move back with not keeping up with operations but to reshift back
to our plan. And so a lot of the last several years was keeping up with operational needs to match CPI while building that capacity. And what you're going to see is our CPI data happening to go down. I don't I actually don't anticipate a major rate increase. Um, I
don't want to get ahead of my skis again, but I would say that it will be under 10%. I can guarantee you that. And I actually anticipated falling back in alignment with our original forecast at five or 6%. >> And before we I give it off to everybody
else to comment, I do want to recognize the fact that Jeff was involved in the discussion with Representative Boen's office as well. I thank him for um you know the the whole conversation that we had at the time that was sort of on the quick because it was hey Jeff there
might be an opportunity do you want to join me and we we had the conversation and thank you oh repeatedly to representative for listening understanding asking what we needed asking how she could help and um I had
every confidence just couldn't say it but I had every confidence that that was going to come So any comments from the board? >> Uh one quick question and you don't need to give an extended answer about the the permitting process. We're aware the
finances can be difficult. We're aware the technical problems exist. Um the permitting process you often hear calls for streamlining um the process. Is that pie in the sky thinking? Do you think it could actually happen or is the system
so deeply infected that any attempt to try and change it is is unlikely? Three years is the answer. Five years is the normal. I actually do anticipate if we continue to move the ball that Central and Boston would most likely approve a
permit in three years. Um I'm very confident because it's also a site that we're very familiar with. This is an exploration outside of a site that doesn't already have grounds. Um, we've already done a lot of preliminary work through our master plan. Our $400,000
master plan wasn't just to create the plan. We actually were able to start to do some perming process and what we refer to as hydraulic uh scouting. So, Rockland Nav is our only source that is bedrock wells, not gravel wells. So,
it's a different hydraulic location process. It's called fracking. So, we had to frack trace that area to see where there's fissures in the bedrock. We've already executed that. We're highly confident that we've secured
three wells in that vicinity. Um, and there's a fourth well enacted. Um, the permit process, if expedited, as long as we're funding it at a at a rate that keeps up, I actually believe we'll get support from D at a three-year whack.
the issues that the town ran into and actually Dave and Chris may have been members. Were you members when Rockland came on? Were you board members back then or is that >> Yeah. >> Is that okay? So, one of the issues back then was when Rockland was a new source, it was an untapped resource and bedrock
wells were actually not heard of back then. And there was a a environmental impact on the potential of drawing that source and how it would affect a pond on private property in sto environmental analysis took place for
over 10 years and it actually has come back that we've never impacted that aquifer which actually helps us expedite this process. A lot of that time frame is is basically an environmental increase. So permitting sounds like, hey, just fill out this permit and get
it in, right? It's far more advanced than that. Most of the front-end permitting for new water sources are environmental impact. And that's where I believe as long as we're moving at a pace. I actually think that window could be three years. Um, that's why I'm
confident that that will most likely be our first treatment plan that we may get a PAS treatment mitigation plan in line ahead of a 2029 aggressive PAS policy. Um, I'm also hopeful that the EPA starts to claw that deadline back is what we're hearing in our industry. Could be 2031.
Um, I think that's more appropriate for disadvantaged communities like us. Um, but in essence, our goal is always to reduce the I want to get these treatment plants online as soon as possible, right? I don't want to go by hypothetical MCL at this point. We all know that PAS is a carcinogen. The
quicker we can get it out of our public drinking water system, the better we are. >> Can I Can I add something? Um I think you're he Justin definitely addressed your question and lens up because I appreciate that science behind it too. But um there's always so much that we can control. So even as Justin made uh
illusion to uh the environmental impact and our relationship with TV and there's other sort of like regulatory bodies for TV primary but um permitting is for those people probably at home peritting is not just a red tape sort of stamp and like it's just sitting on some bureaucrat's desk. it that's that's
actually far from it. Although if there is the case it's not because it's sitting on the justice desk or my desk or even the select board. It's um it might go to Worcester but they are also limited right. So there's there's only so many bureaucrats are going to be able to go around and really address this as
quickly as they can as well as any other tenants sort of pursuing similar to the products. So it is three years is aggressive. It sounds like a long time and it is, but it's not because and I bet if you ask EP, they probably would rather be shorter than that, too. Like there's not there's not a lack of want
to be shorter than or three years to five years. Um, it's just a matter of resources and not just at the town, but it's primarily at sort of like our relationships and sort of like the responsiveness that we get. Um, it's complicated drilling, putting a new on
the ground is really hard. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean our our news source wall for a which is referred to as well eight. It's five years. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> No, well thank you. I'll thank you and your team. It's uh it takes a lot of
eyeballs on these projects to to make sure all the tees are crossed the eyes are dotted and the math adds up. So I just want to thank everybody uh who is involved. Um it takes a lot of work. Greg just alludes one aspect of that. you've been talking about that every time you have the opportunity in front
of us at the town meeting as well. Um I think going to your conversation with David, we've got to find a way to convert all of that complexity into a message that the public uh can understand or rather messages we talked about last time that the public understand. But that said, these are two
great motions to have in front of us tonight. And so just want to thank you Justin and and Greg and Kob and David and everybody else who worked on this. >> Okay. Thank you again. Do we have a motion? I will move to approved Davis and
authorize the town administrator and director of public works to sign the contract with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection D or work to support the continuation of mitigating water resource issues in the amount of $200,000. >> Second. Any further comments? All in
favor? Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a nice day. >> Feel better. Uh item nine is senior center planning which based on the fact we had no executive session this prior correct uh
is still ongoing. Nothing to share. >> That's true Mr. Chair. I am optimistic. They'll continue to have conversations with the developer and town council and I and I still optimistic. >> Uh item number 10 is the annual town
election and the annual town meeting. We have motions to set the dates for each with the uh proposed annual town election which is actually controlled by charter as uh Tuesday May
5th and the annual town meeting also controlled by charter I believe as Monday May 18th. So we'll take two motion actually one motion. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Move to set the date, time, and place
for the annual tel election as Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Fowl School Auditorium, 3 Tiger Drive, Maynet, and move to set the date, time, and place for the annual town meeting as
Monday, May 18th, 2026, beginning at 700 p.m. at the B school auditorium three time drive main authorizing use of digital signatures if approved >> second made a second any further comments all
in favor >> and uh where are you with the budget Greg >> oh man um I will I will try to give you the uh 30 seconds cliff notes of the about an hour of Greg Johnson story time I saw it to their budget committee last
week so where we're where we normally are. I've gotten the budget requests from all the departments um in communication with the capital planning committee and I presented to the budget committee last week what you see in front of you. Um and the culmination of
of all those requests and my conservative revenue estimate still equates to about $ 1.5 million in the red. Um that is not so surprising. Um that's that is the sort of like usual trade-off if I were to say yes or if the board were to accept every uh proposal
for every department. A lot of those are and you already heard from from a couple of departments tonight like if we were if we were to fulfill some of these requests for full-time employees that comes at a cost plus plus benefits etc. some of the other major highlights. Um
uh I really am looking forward to um the implementation of the new solid waste and recycling enterprise program um which you can see in my town minister's report like we were finally able to um hire someone to help us do that. Um Lindy Gear and uh and she she came to
today's holiday. Today was her birthday. >> Uh I hope she doesn't think there's a holiday party every week. >> Um but it was and she wore her ugly sweater. So she made a gingerbread house to the home. >> She's already a team player. Um but she's got a lot of work and um and just
for the reminder of the board and the public um the idea is to shift the burden of solid waste and recycling collection from um trash stickers but largely subsidized by property taxes to this new enterprise. That's that's a
lot. Of course, we need to do an request for proposals to find out what a vendor can sort of like provide this modernized approach. Um, and then that will sort of allow uh for projected costs for that contract and then you have to set rates according to what people are going to pay according to how much trash they're
going to get. So, we're not the first town to do this. Coincidentally, I sat next to the town administrator of Toppsfield at at the at the ugly sweater meeting of the MMA and MMHR the other day. Um, Taco Hill just did it and they have a one, if you want to, you can
Google it. You can go to their website, they have a wonderful web page about it. Um, and it's pretty impressive and so like and it's exciting to sort of move to this modernized way of doing solid waste and recycling collection. Um, we can do it too, but it's uh it is a lot of work, but that's that's pretty
pivotable pivotable. I'm not saying that. That's an important part of my budget projections. Um because uh because you know the budget I need to get that 1.5 down to zero by January 21st. Um and uh and I do but sometimes
it comes if you all recall this time last year my proposal was to do away with travelers. Um, it was, you know, not easy and we ended up having to pull from free cash and and it was kind of complicated to be able to get us one
more year worth of of uh of funding for solid waste recycling contracts. So, it's tough and that's only one part of the budget. There's still um still difficult to project uh revenues. Oh, and speaking of which, um this week
starts the state's um budget process. It starts with revenues just like I do. It's called the consensus revenue report. And so that that's this week. I don't know if it's happening right now or what not, but um that's when uh the legislature, the governor's office, what not, that's where there's a lot of information shared. They hear from
consultants about what's the state of the economy of the commonwealth and how we do like and just like I try to sort of like read the tree leaves, how how can you sort of like project the next fiscal year? And that sort of sets the conversation for the rest. And there's some fluctuations just like I see as
well. But um that will that's a that's pretty that's the start of that's the start of the state budget process. Um and then and I kind of pay attention to it because I'm kind of a wonk like that. But the MMA follows it too and then they will disseminate sort of like the highlights to the different towns to say like here's what we're feeling as far as
state revenues and then um but the state has they got a lot of paperwork. Um I mean you can read the headlines yourselves. So, uh, if, um, I don't know what that could translate to the towns, um, but we're advocating from for for that aid.
Um, school committee, I heard, will be voting to accept the proposal from the superintendent's budget Thursday. I think it Thursday. I might have that date. >> They met last Tuesday. Last Thursday, >> but they didn't formally accept the the
budget. So I um I haven't shared that because I don't want to do that till the school committee like >> so they they did not vote that night. >> Uh that's my understanding they don't y um so uh but that'll incorporate that as
well. Again that's that's like any department that gets incorporated and then my recommendation reflects all of that as best I can. Okay. So that was a lot. Uh that was not 30 seconds. I apologize. Um, but I'm I'm here for questions if you have any questions from
anyone. >> I have questions. It's just my identification. Yeah. >> Remind me. So the process for snow and ice getting paid out of free cash. >> Yeah. >> So the 300,000 is an estimate based on >> previous years,
>> but like the balance going from 119, it says balance 1210, 2025, 1119, and then proposed balance is 419. Y >> is that the previous year's 300,000 hitting this year? Is that how it works? >> Free cash is >> I know it's confusing, but I
>> I think you just said it basically right. So free cash is money that we collected, we just didn't spend. >> Yeah. >> Um and so we can apply it to whatever, but but generally it's to known onetime costs. So nice is a good example. We do
it every year. Most times do. Um, so I'm using money I have now that we collected because of last year's whatever combination of revenues that I'm going to apply to this year's free cash is is funny. I'm going to use it. You can
spend free cash the day after you come meeting. So I'm going to spend that free cash on what we believe is the known cost of snow ice for this disc. >> Got it. >> Oftent times free cash goes towards like cop cars and whatnot stuff you're going to >> go. So even though if it's appropriated
in that fiscal year, >> yeah, >> can they not make those like it's for us it's all capital stuff. Can they not make those capital purchases until July 1st of the next fiscal year? >> No, you can spend right away. >> So you still spend within that fiscal year even though it's last year >> for free cash >> for free cash?
>> Yes. >> Got it. Okay, >> that's correct. Same with retained earnings because retain earnings is free cash at permanent enterprises. >> Yep. But but other if I have a capital item that is appropriated through the general fund that's taxes I haven't collected yet. So I can't spend that
money till collectors. >> I think another important part especially those who aren't tied in is that snow and ice is the only area where the community is allowed to def spend. >> That's correct. >> Because it's so unpredictable. So we can just fill a gap knowing that perhaps the
expenses may be God knows how bad depending on the winter but it's a it's a good vague estimate to try to >> the hole I got a question Greg um I see that there's two cruises up >> for purchase this year
>> and um my question is and if you don't have them answered tonight that's fine. Back when we entered into the Green Communities Act, there was a requirement that we begin the process of transferring over to um you know, whatever
hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles or whatever they happen to be. >> Um >> are we on track for that? And are these vehicles? >> We only have hybrid vehicles hybrid. >> Uhu. So um however many you're right but I can't remember how many years ago that
we like we we stopped by um so we only have hybrid >> it was like in because it was when I was on planning committee so I want to say it was like 2021 >> that sounds great with mobile and I said like from now on it's only hybrids and so now they're only hybrids where you
you can see some other like I'm interested and and Chief Triano is interested in pursuing EV vehicles but the only EV cruisers I've seen are like the F-150 trucks. Yeah. >> I haven't seen like I might be wrong. I can't think of like I know they have
like the the Mustangs now. But anyways, it's a little I don't have >> concern from the police chief. >> Yeah. Mike's concerned about acceleration. >> Yeah. There's all that and it's not tested, right? And so like but the chiefs are kind of reluctant to be like the first one that's going to try the
shiny stuff. But um >> um we're not like reluctant. We like EVs, but it's the uh infrastructure. So like I like right now the the cruisers right there are plugged in to keep the engines warm. Um but that's that's not like a charging plug.
>> So like I would have to upgrade our capabilities to be able to handle those cruisers. So it's all of them. It's like >> okay, >> we'll get there. >> I just was curious to make sure that we were on track and we weren't. >> Yep. So this is the both the cost of the
purchase of the cruisers and the outfitting. >> Okay. Any other questions? Move on. >> No. >> Thank you, Greg. >> No worries. >> Moving forward on the budget. >> That's right. >> Uh what's the date for our budget uh hearings?
>> I don't remember. >> Just so we can put on our Yeah. Yeah. We >> Everybody make sure we have it. >> We scheduled it >> February 7th. I have it. seems to be the right. >> That sounds right. At the beginning of the year, we
schedule all this stuff to the select board meetings. >> I have it on there February 7th. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yep. That's it, Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> We have not set up minutes. Any questions or comments on the minutes
or we have a motion? Move to approve the meeting minutes of October 21st, 2025 as shown and authorizing use of digital signatures if approved. >> Any uh comments or questions or corrections?
If none, all in favor? Very good. Next item. Craig is u sticker contest is first. Uh, two things I want to commend the fabulous town clerk on. Uh, this right?
>> Yeah. >> Now, I don't know who put that there. >> It's not me. >> Okay. >> It was the top, >> but you did do a good job, >> but I I did not say that you were the winner. >> I tell you if I mention her name.
>> I didn't say her name yet. thing is um as part of today's activities that that the wonderful assistant town minister Stephanie Duggan put on um she had some gingerbread cookies kits in front of everybody and some of the staff did take
advantage of that like took part and like and so I guess this is the result of the fabulous town clerk. >> Yes. um that same town clerk um who and as as some you know some of her predecessors as well have tried to incorporate some of the the sort of like mundane or
occasional aspects of the job and elections and whatnot and try to try to allow for some public input in particular children of mayor. So, in in this year, like in the past, it's been like a dog coller's office worked with the school district
and um they wanted to get some stickers. So, um we got those um submissions and then she submitted it to town staff and everyone went to the little website. We clicked which ones we liked. And so, the clerk thought and I agreed, it would be
nice if you board were to announce those winners. Um actually I hope no one is awake that subate submitted the fact um uh anyway so at the in the executive content of tonight's board dots you'll see the the winners if the board would
would announce that >> yes I'm going to put them up on the screen >> oh I don't know can we do that >> yes just one second >> good question >> and how will these um fine artists be notified of
Uh, good question. >> Yeah, we'll let we'll let she'll she knows you. Obviously, she did all this, so I'll follow up with her tomorrow. She's going to let >> Can you >> Are you Are you ready? >> Yes. >> Drum roll, please.
>> What's that? We'll have the actual the actual sticker contest. >> Can you go to the Go down? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There it is. >> Congratulations to Madison of grade
three. Wonderful. >> A good one. >> And Henry of grade six. And I assume these will be made into stickers that will be passed out at the election time >> when uh
>> Yeah. when May and daughters come in. >> It's pretty clever. >> Congratulations to each. Greg, can you draft up a nice uh congratulatory letter? >> Yeah. >> To each of these students >> on behalf of the board. >> Uh whichever you would prefer. Um on
behalf of the board is probably nice. >> Okay, got it. will do. >> Madison and Mary, >> thanking them for their participation and their uh artistry. >> Uh Henry's mom is on is on Zoom right
now. >> Henry's mom is on Zoom. Congratulations. >> Oh, it's >> congratulations. >> You must be so proud. Thank you. It's very cute. I'm glad for him. I'm so It was such a fun thing that the clerk did. Really fun.
>> Did you know before this evening that he was going to be the winner? >> Uh, no. No. I I happened to be on and Lindsay said that I might I might >> No, this was worth listening.
>> Thank you. So, the clerk wanted this to kind of be the the announcement. >> Yeah, that was fun. >> Yeah, because this was an executive conference. >> Yes. Thank Henry for us. >> Yes. >> Get a nice letter. >> Yeah. I want to know I want to know why he he chose that time. I was just
curious any significance. >> I don't know. I'll have to ask him. I'll have to ask him. >> I I'm surprised it wasn't point six and seven. That's what I was thinking. >> It's approaching the end of the story. >> Isn't it 150 which is what's on the
float from the Maynard 150th? >> That is possible. That is the time that I think he usually is 50. >> The clock is always at that time. >> Why? Why is that on the book? >> Because we created that quote, Natalie and John that the mayor 150th parade. So
they set the time at 1:50 and now it's just always at that time 150. >> Was sitting in Natalie's garage and it was like, "Wow, we should get some use out of it." >> Mystery solved. >> So now it's in the Christmas or holiday parade every year. >> Where's our flag?
>> It's uh it's not that time. I forget the sun. >> It's a little hard to read. >> Have to repaint. That one is probably 1210 from the 1210 whistle. >> That's what it is. I knew >> So, congratulations to both especially
to because um and I want to say I'm loving that I'm I'm looking through all the interviews right now on the town clerk's website. That's fantastic. So, there's some there's some good creativity. >> Yeah, it was fun. I really appreciate Thank you, Mr. Chair, for indulging that. And um that's fun. And you know,
it's nice that got to sort of like do do Oh, you got you could spend a while. They're they're not bad. Um I I was impressed. It was hard to vote on. Mr. Chair, for the rest of my TA report, it's um a lot's going on. I really appreciate everyone's contributions for
the last couple of weeks of the events. Um uh but I I don't want to steal all the board. I will just say that thank you to all the staff in particular that helps run all the events, right? So from public works, police, fire,
everybody. you know, it takes takes a lot uh all hands to be able to get all these events and to support the community's initiatives for that whether it be the holiday stroll um tree lighting monora lighting last night parade so much going on. It's really fun
time. Um, I also want to very much thank this town Stephanie Dugen for hosting today's holiday party downstairs uh training uh uh professional development. So like um that was that was a lot of fun. >> Team building.
>> Um it was really fun and uh it was a good turnout. Everyone was well fed and and cookies were all >> Thank you for our cookies. >> It was great. Uh there probably extras around. Okay. So, um uh >> the town office will be closed um next
Wednesday uh uh at noon on Wednesday, December 24th and we be closed uh for the next two days after that through Friday 26th and then the next week closing um Thursday, January 1st and Friday, January 2nd. I will be taking vacation um between between those two
dates. Um, but the town will be fine. Everyone will be fine. Um, and uh, and I I'm sure, you know, it'll be time well spent. And then, um, couple other things to highlight. I already mentioned that we're the Lindy
Gear on board. So, if you see Lindy, thank you for for, uh, offering her assistance. And then, um, I I again want to sort of commend Justin DeMarco for representing the town and our It's a weird feedback. and then uh
representing the town and all our and our concerns at the 495 metro west partnership. And then um and I also like to highlight the fire departments and council on aging's collaboration um at the fire station. That's really fun to see too. Uh there's a lot of good work that all the departments are doing. So
I'm miss I'm not I'm not mentioning a lot of it. I just wanted to set those highlights. So that's all I have Mr. Chair. >> I don't have any questions. Any questions? >> U the chair report. I'm not going to steal everybody else's thunder by uh congratulating all the people on the all
of these events that have gone on. What I do want to do though is uh give real kudos to our public safety departments because it seems that over the last several weeks um we have had a number of
public safety issues that they have responded to whether it be house fires or other uh I know that there was an automobile accident the other day at the same time that there was a a house fire ongoing etc. That's the fire department. The
police department has been responsive as well. Um the police department was publicly thanked as well last evening. Um the chief proactively reached out to the leadership of the Jewish community that set up the uh manora lighting
because of the events worldwide that are going on um with anti-semitism or whatever. he proactively reached out and assured them that they would have police protection at the event last evening. Um, you never know what can happen small
town like Bayard and you know um and he expressed um Warren Bell expressed his thanks to uh the police department for the community that was there um just because they know that they're safe and
that's um we see that repeatedly with Leonard and our public safety department. That doesn't dismiss the DPW and all the good work that they're doing as we're moving on. um with so much is going on with various department of public works issues. And then finally, I
want to wish my colleagues, all of you merry Christmas, happy new year. We to all the residents of Maynard. Um a wonderful holiday season, enjoy family, friends, and loved ones and
you know, make this season the special season it's supposed to be. That would be it. Uh just I think just want to give another shout out for Jen Karelli and her team for their organization the
holiday parade. That was as always a great event. There's a huge amount of work that goes into that. Um also the uh telephone the WAVM telephone was held this last weekend. I was able to attend the the beginning of that and it's
always a pleasure to see the the kids putting all their energy into that. I know from previous experience that Monday morning as a teacher in a high school was usually pretty quiet. Um so just a sign of how much they put in
>> they raised $42,000. I was going to ask that is that was the number that I had. 42 that's not >> it was every year it's slightly higher last year was 40. >> Yeah. So that was great. Um and then
again um in the wake of what happened in in Sydney um at the weekend um I think it made the manora lighting on on Monday even more poignant and um just important to appreciate
um you know the people come out for support in our community helping each other and I think that's that's really special. >> Thank you. Yeah. Um, do that. I'll second everything that's been said. I I was able to attend the um the holiday
stroll. I was able to attend the holiday party. Um, and then last night I was able to attend the Manura lighting as well. And it's just really proud to be part of this community. All of those events take multiple people coming together uh to make them work and um just really heartening to see the
turnout at each one of those events and to um see some new faces, see some old faces, get to talk to some people um as as they come down together and join your community in the downtown area. We're lucky to have all of just wish everybody
happy holidays uh as we have our last meeting. As you noted, all the thunder has been stolen. >> I don't think we can possibly thank Jennelli and that group of people who work with her enough for everything they do to make that parade happen. So, um,
I'll say it again. Thank you to all of them for putting on that parade and the holiday village. Same for the holiday stroll. Um, I was not here to go to the Manora lighting last night, but I heard it was lovely. Um, so yeah, feel grateful to be in a community that does all that. Um, one other note, the
December issue of the Maynard Voice came out today. I encourage you all to read it. Um, what I've heard from an inside source is that the most clicked on article every month is the police blotter. >> So, I recommend checking that out. It's
entertaining. Um, and this month there there's coverage of the parade. There's coverage of upcoming events. Um, and there is an investigative journalism piece about who dressed up the parking >> which is well worth the read. >> Biggest question in title.
No, just the same comments as everybody else about all the um things happen specifically the just great every year just continues to grow under the leadership of the group in charge and
that's related to um and same thing merry Christmas happening to all you guys been a pleasure working with you this would go to next. >> All right. Is there a motion to adjourn?
>> Second in favor. Back zone.