[Music] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you. Uh we will now move to citizens speak. Uh per select board rules we have uh 21 total minutes for citizen speak. Every uh individual is asked to limit their time to three
minutes uh so that others can speak if they want want to and we are fair and equitable. Um, we have one person who signed up on uh it here in person. Uh, and I'm not going to be able to read the last name.
Quiet. Is it Miss Quietch? So, you are uh you are up. I will give you a 30 second warning when you have 30 seconds left in your time. And I'm sorry for my inability to read your signature. Good evening. I'm Shannon Quietch. I live at 16 Ultra Circle and I love my
library. I have four children, ages 10, nine, six, and three, who are avid library users, checking books out, resources, enjoying the indoor and outdoor space the library offers, and even uh donating my time on the executive board of the friends Milton Public Library. Milton's one of the top
performing libraries in the state. The staff is exceptional and the programming robust, but I think that the lack of park parking holds us back from reaching more. Countless times I've been searching the parking lot, looping around with my kids on a children's storytime morning only to end up on
Cantav, bringing my toddler from the street over to story time. I've heard numerous times like friends sharing stories that they'll want to come to a big event at night and drive by and there's no parking in sight and they just head home. Or is it like a Wednesday that I'm bringing my kids to
Lego club and you're faced with the decision, all right, should I just let them go in alone and I'll go find parking on my own? And so I think that parking is a necessity for families and for all library patrons. And I know for families, they're already car pooling. Their cars are filled with kids and adults coming to programs together. And
I really believe the library is the heart of our community and with its mission to enrich the community by connecting people with ideas, information, and imagination. And the library alo also offers meeting rooms for community groups to support the library's role as a meeting place for
all ages. So, I think that additional parking would make it more accessible and allow for multiple large events to occur at the same time. So, I think when I when you think about the library at its core, it's providing access to books and resources and meeting space, but it really provides so much more. It's
community engagement, civic engagement, cultural enrichment. So, if we can promote that accessibility and all this good just by adding more parking, I urge you to do it. Thank you and thank you for your service to Moon. Thank you very much.
Uh I don't see any hands online. Um and I don't see any more hands in person. So uh I will go ahead and close our uh citizen speak. Uh next up on our agenda, we have a discussion update partnership for Healthy Milton regarding the
November 13th, 2025 community forum on promoting inclusive communications. And I know we have two speakers here for us. Um, if you wouldn't mind introducing yourselves when you are seated and comfortable and you're not on a on a on the clock.
Um, thank you. And we'll be brief. My name is Lori Stillman. Um, I'm a resident, a longtime resident, an active member of our community, uh, town meeting member and, uh, I am also a co-founder and
member of the board of directors of the partnership for healthy Milton. My name is Patricia Latimore and um, I live at 449 Elliot Street. I'm also a member of the equity and justice for all
um advisory committee for the select board and tonight I'm here in support of um partnership for healthy milk. Thank you. So because um the equity and social justice committee is a part of the select board, you're obviously very
familiar with what they do, but you may not be as familiar with what the partnership for a healthy Milton is. Uh we're a recently formed 501c3 nonprofit organization and really our mission is to help promote the health and well-being of all
members of our community. We are comprised of a board of directors of nine really impressive people steeped in the public health and medicine professions. Um we are independent of
the health department although we collaborate with them and Caroline Canella who's the director of the health department uh sits as an exeicio member of our board. So we focus on um the principles of
prevention and health equity and we know that a community's health status is largely influenced by the conditions in where people live, work, play, and pray. And
um in fact things like affordable housing um quality education uh areas for people to have recreation clean air are even more determinant of people's health than the access to
medical care. So it's very important. There's also another very important indicator that um influences people's sense of well-being and that's their feelings of belonging and inclusion in a
community. And that's why we're here today. when um the uh partnership for healthy Milton looked at uh the data that came out of the health department's first community health assessment as well as the
findings from the equity and social justice committee. We found that while many people in our community have a strong sense of belonging, there is a large swath of people who don't have as much of a strong sense of belonging. And
when we dig deeper into who those people are, they're largely people who are lower income, um, who are renters, people of color, and new Americans. Um,
and we felt an obligation since we are very committed to health equity to see how we might um, promote more of a sense of inclusion. Now inclusion uh has many many factors and we can't address them
all. So what we decided to do was focus mostly on um communication channels. How can we as a community promote better communication channels, public communications um for all of our residents? And so what we did was we
applied to Celebrate Milton for a grant and we were successful. Uh and our proposal was to hold a community forum that would promote more effective um and inclusive communications in our
community and we're very excited about it. We invited um Connect Milton and the equity and social justice committee to co-sponsor it and they were delighted to do so. And so the first thing that we did was we formed a planning committee
because we didn't want we wanted to make sure that this forum was going to be responsive to everybody. And we couldn't believe it. As many as 15 people immediately stepped up and said they were interested in helping us put this forum together. There's a real lot of
interest in making this happen. Um the forum itself uh is going to be on Thursday, November 13th. It's from 6:00 to 8:30 at the library. We'll be offering a free dinner from 5:30 to 6 if people want to join us. And it's really
an invitationonly meeting. Our goal is really to spark interest and conversation in the town and generate some good ideas for doing things more innovatively and build on
what we're already doing in town. And um so we are inviting town leaders who are who sit on boards. Um we're inviting community residents, people who work with community organizations and businesses uh to the meeting. And we've
also invited um the select board uh somebody from the select board to attend, one or two people as well as um town administrator Milano and department heads. We've al we're also inviting residents as well residents who are
going to be most impacted by the results of this forum. So we just want to say that you know what we hope comes out of it will be new policies, procedures
um and ways of communicating with our community that are innovative and that are going to work. and we can't do it unless we have town government at the table. And that's why we're here. Um, you know, you guys
have the levers to making policies and procedures and you have the resources. And hopefully when all of us together come up with some of the ideas there will already you'll all have an understanding of um you know what is
being advocated for and and buy in um to make some changes. So we're here to just basically um ask that you have representation at the meeting and uh we are open to any questions that you might have. Thank
you. Thank you very much. Any questions from the members? Just a quick clarification from from me. You said this an invitation only. Uh so if someone is a Milton resident and they want to go, they're not they would be
not able to go if they don't have Well, we have room for 50 people. Okay. So that's that's our so we're inviting um of all of the people that will be there, we're inviting up to 10 residents and then the rest are an
assortment of people from all the town boards and um elected officials and um community organizations and businesses to fill those other slots. And if we have uh more room then we're happy to
open it up. But right now we have a list of about a hundred people. So we're um that's why we can't just open it up to anybody who can attend. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. One of the things that we hope will happen is that we will have future
forums also, this is a launch for us um because you cannot solve making people feel a sense of belonging with one shot. What we're hoping comes out of this is a strategy that different organizations will take up the ball and run and so
therefore you will have more people involved in the future. Um but we're starting out with the group of 50. That makes sense. And uh will there be an agenda for the meeting that will be released or um
we'll have an agenda in advance. We with the money that we received from Celebrate Milton, we've actually hired a facilitator and trainer. So, um there'll be some information about best practices, but also a lot of discussion
and brainstorming together about new ways of of doing business. Great. Well, you'll excuse me. I'm just going to look at my calendar, but as somebody who spends his daytime thinking about social determinance of health and and public health, I'm very uh if I if
it looks like it's free on my calendar, I'd like to I'd like to attend myself. And I say that knowing that um my wife's not here, so she I may, but I actually think that I can do that. I think I can join. Thursday, November
13th. There's an RSVP if you wouldn't mind letting us know. And Mr. Milano would be great. I I you know, we're very respectful of the fact that you guys work all the time and are busy with meetings in the evenings and have families and we, you know, we're
trying to be judicious about your time. Um, on the other hand, you could appreciate that unless we have your representation, we can't imagine that we'll be able to make progress. So, um, we'd really like to have you there. I'm happy to join. I won't put any public pressure on other members to
join. Um, uh, unless we have a a rush then and we have a quorum, then we'll have to figure that out. Um, and we may have we will have a new member at the time as well. So, that might be an opportunity for the new member uh to join and and learn a little bit. but the work that you're doing um
to help people feel like they belong. I think right now it's more important than ever and we're very grateful for that thought and uh and your own work and volunteerism that that's going into this because it's critical work for the community. So, thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you. [Music] All right. Uh, moving along, we have a report from the Equity and Justice for All Advisory Committee. And we have our guest speaker here who is able to join
us on time. I don't want you to make it seem as if that's uh usually in doubt. If you wouldn't mind introducing yourself, sort of. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Chris Hart. Uh I am at 55 Woodland Road and I am uh
here before you all as chair of the in my capacity as chair of the equity and justice for all committee. I appreciate Mr. Chair uh being able to speak uh with you members of the select board, Mr. Milano. Um just a little bit of table setting if I may. Um so the equity and justice for
all committee and I say this not only for the benefit of the board but also for the benefit of the public uh that might be listening to this. Uh the equity and justice for all committee um is in its uh second iteration. Its first iteration um was through a charter in 20 uh 2021. You'll have to pardon me for
the exact dates. Um and it was then an 18-month charge. Um where in the course of the work of that first iteration of the committee um members of the committee uh did quite a bit of research
and work into four distinct areas. after discussing where where to focus, one was town government, one was school youth and families, uh one was police and fire and one was affordable housing. Um at the end of that work uh and the charge of that committee uh the committee
produced a report uh that was provided a final report that was provided to the select board in 2022. Um that report is available uh on the town's website through the equity and justice for all committees uh page. uh and prior to this meeting I had distributed to uh you all
a distilled uh version of the recommendations that arose from the committee that's the subject um of uh the discussion I'd like to have with you this evening um but just to continue on with a little bit of history uh the one of the recommendations and
recommendation that was almost immediately implemented by the select board was to create a permanent committee uh and uh that permanent committee is now in its third year of operation ation, the third third year beginning um uh over the summer. Uh and
um currently consists of eight members with up to 11 uh being able to be in the committee uh each serving two-year terms. Um in March or April, uh I was here before the committee uh to just to provide an update. the charge of the
committee is as an advisory board and advisory committee to the select board um with a mandate to report to the select board a reporter a mandate that hasn't necessarily been followed but one that I'd like to uh make good on uh going forward and as I said to to then
chair wells um at that update meeting um I mentioned that the committee was concerned and I was personally concerned about the progress that was made or not made on the specific recommendations made in the report. Uh and Chair Wells u
invited the chair back whether it was me or somebody else to come and speak to the committee. So that's why I'm here. Um the recommendations that were provided in the 86page report reflects an enormous amount of work by the committee. It also
reflects a lot of consideration by the members of the committee on what uh mattered to Milton in terms of moving forward uh with equity and justice. Um the the charge is uh in in the charge of
the equity and justice committee is to uh work toward equity and justice in the town especially with a view toward uh eliminating racism especially uh against uh individuals of color um and eliminating other forms of prejudice and
discrimination. Um and that's what these recommendations are really geared to do. And so what you'll see in the distillation that you've been provided is each one of the categories that I mentioned the series of recommendations taken verbatim from the report as well as a cell the word document a cell that
talks about status. Most of this is blank. Uh a couple of things uh we know have been done. Uh maybe one or two things have been have been mooded. Um there are some recommendations um that are likely out of date. So, for example,
um one that's been mooded has to do with moving forward on ADUs. Obviously, we now have a state law. We've moved forward on ADUs. Um there's some discussion in the police and fire section regarding the status of civil service. Um that has also changed. Uh
there was then a um a legislative special committee on civil service. It's done some work. There have been some recommendations to the legislature. I think that there's some work that we would need to do as a committee now, but there's a lot in the town government section which is in the first two pages of the distillation that I provided uh
where the committee does not know what the status is and where where the committee believes and I believe uh that work if it has not been done can be done. Um I'm happy at this point to follow your lead uh Mr. share on how to
address this one is we can simply talk through the recommendations as listed here and I'm happy to do so um and we can have a discussion about any particular one um but I another would be to essentially treat this as a first reading of uh recommendations where uh I
would invite myself back with your indulgence um as soon as possible to uh to to a meeting where we can actually talk about progress. I I suspect unless I'm told differently that um other than the first two recommendations here, the
first one on a town and I statement um which was agreed to but I don't think has ever been posted or enacted um and the second on the establishment of a permanent uh select board. It's not clear to me that any others have been acted upon. Um so for example um
incorporate uh DI accountability and responsibility into the goals of the town administrator. Create a full-time townwide DEI position. Create a DEI dash dashboard uh available on the town website. Report the state of the DEI to the town annually on that. That's the
sixth recommendation here on that uh score. um uh Pat Latimore who was co-chair with me uh in the first iteration of the committee and I spoke to town meeting to provide them that very update uh based on the work of the committee. Um you know and I could go on. I don't think any of these have been
enacted. There may be good reason for it. It might be that this was simply set to one side because there have been other priorities. Um whatever the case may be. I think it's time now to look at these closely and see what can be done. What can be done now? um what should we
discuss that um that can be done over time? Um is there is there something that the committee should be considering based on concerns that the select board may have? I'm happy to have that conversation in whatever form it should take. But I think the important thing is
that um as an advisory board uh we work with the select board to move forward on these priorities and treat them as priority. Thank you. Um, initial thoughts or questions from the members? Thank you. Is this on? Okay.
Thank you for um putting this together and for updating us on the status. Um, I think it it just highlights the extent to which we have um some distance to go.
A question I have regarding um current events and the federal administration's approach to DEI programs. Um
have you considered or Mr. is Mr. Milano aware of any actions or any kind of review of municipal DEI programs.
I'm not aware at this time other than just kind of the overall commentary on that issue these days. Yeah. Nothing specific that has impacted Milton specifically or other communities that I am aware of at this time. Um I I'm not sure. You'll have to pardon
me for asking. I'm not sure that. So, the reason I'm asking I in my day-to-day work um for um federal contracting purposes. Um the DOT
is not allowed to assign um MBE or WBE scores or percentages to contracts and projects. um you want to um just share what those stand for?
So it's um it's basically disadvantaged business enterprises. Um so you know giving a percentage of a project to or holding a particular weight for um people of color, veterans
and women on construction projects. Yes. Um I don't know if there my question is is do we have a sense um of any risk
any similar risk to any initiatives that we might have? And has anyone discussed with town council or done um a scan? And maybe I'm thinking too early, but
I I think the town's direct contracts with that are supported directly by federal government are limited, right? Public school education, right? And Milton schools certainly benefits from more. So they might be better in a better position to speak to things that they're seeing.
Y terms of what we have underway, we haven't seen that yet. Um, but I can double check with departments that have and there only a couple of federal grants, but I can double check, but to my knowledge, we haven't had that direct um,
that you're referring to. I would think we might want to consult town council just to make sure that we are as successful as possible in achieving this. um and so that we understand like what
impediments we could possibly face. Secretary, if I may, um I I think that makes a lot of sense and um uh I I mentioned in passing some of those uh acknowledging some of those concerns in my last uh
visit to the select board. Um obviously I'm not town council. I'm not here to advise. Um I I will say however that um uh this is part of my practice and so I do uh advise organizations and municipalities as well on uh risks
associated with DEI. So to that extent um if it would be helpful um wearing my hat not as a lawyer but as um as chair of the committee to engage with um uh town council and have a conversation about uh these to figure
out if there's risk and what that risk looks like. I'm happy to do so. Um I I will say just from my vantage point um the kinds of recommendations in the town government section of the report uh I
think implicate a lot less risk um than the kinds of risks that you were you're talking about with regard DOT. So I I would be less concerned from my perspective. Um, but obviously, you know, you'll you'll have to get town councils and all of this is new and nobody in
every space. So, it's, if I may, it's it you're right, it's new in every space. Um, uh, it's um being challenged in various ways. Uh the level of enforcement is unclear, but what is clear is is where
you have um where where the most risk from my perspective where where the most risk exists is if there's a federal contract where you have to make a certification um or if you are otherwise requesting grant money um or
uh if you have specific requirements of procurement contract. Um when we're talking however about things like what's where in these recommendations like um having a policy um having uh roles that are assigned
around um looking at equity and justice in the town um having uh dashboards about data. There's nothing wrong with having data. Um I think that we're looking at a much much lower level of risk. Good. From my not wearing a lawyer's hat.
Yeah, of course. Mr. Dailyaly, any questions? Yes. Or thoughts? So, I haven't had a chance to just very quickly look through a lot of these recommendations, this report. It strikes me it's been a few years since some of
these were brought before the board. And Mr. Hart, your point you said uh about the equity and justice committee was that thoughts of eliminating prejudice and racism. And I'll say as someone who has worked in the space of DEI as well as belonging spaces and working with
youth programs and schools around making spaces where all people feel that they are welcome and places that they can achieve. I think of DEI even though it has been hijacked now weaponized to the point where even I as I'm saying it I'm wondering should I say it right that
that that's happened with just three letters with the idea of creating a space where we acknowledge difference we acknowledge um the different identities of folks that folks are having different experiences and that we should be be creating spaces
that take these things into account that when we have imbalances whether it is in treatment success. Um, I think of I I spoke with you all when you were working on this early on about youth sports in town and the thoughts that uh families
of color, newer families to the town did not find it easy to join sports programs. So, we had a swath of children and families who were left out of essentially what is one of our key community building areas, right? Youth sports. We're all at the fields. We all watch our kids grow. I get to know your
kids. You get to know mine. we look at each other as neighbors and they were feeling blocked out by that. So I think of this and you know even just in um Miss Latimore I know you've worked so extensively in our schools around AP programs and I think of the calculus
project being attacked a space that was put forth for uh students of color to get extra help in math to close some of these achievement gaps. and where we stand now where this work has been deemed racist and wrong that we would
look at people who have been marginalized and attacked and said that we need to change it that we need to create something that is better and thus we must put resources towards helping folks who have been attacked previously and so in looking at where where we
stand now I wonder if there are any kind I see some of these recommendations we've acted on maybe not even with the uh equity and justice committee's um thoughts, but you know, we've had long discussions for the last few years about affordable homes um what that meant for
us in terms of 40bs and new development, our long drawn out um discussion around the MBTA uh communities act. So, I see feel that some of these things have gotten better simply because the conversations were being had. I think this is more of a social and cultural
shift and now we're shifting in the other direction. So, um I wonder as I read this if there are any points or recommendations that are of top of mind for the committee that the town could
move on. Um knowing that we do stand maybe not some risk from the federal government, but who knows every day it changes, right? But a risk from people who take or all of us take our
points from the country, right? What is okay? What are the things that we can push against? Where can we grow? Are there points in here you say that would be top three things that the town could move on to make a difference in people's lives? Sure.
I I I appreciate the question. Let me um let me address it in a couple of ways. So um the first is um my my sense of our discussions around these recommendations and we've been
talking about these recommendations for quite some time um and how to help move them forward. Um my sense is that the overall concern of the committee and not just of the committee but also of residents in
town who have um talked to me and others about wondering what the committee is doing. My overall sense is that people want the select board to act. They want the select board to be vocal and active in this space.
Um, and so in many ways I uh I appreciate your comments just now because um I think especially in an environment where uh DI
um in spirit and in in letter is under attack and being used to attack uh other things um be it academic freedom, be it speech, whatever. whatever the case may be. Um
to have this select board um keep it as a priority uh I think is important. So to that end I would say um I I think the committee would be would be pleased to see the select board take take these up in
whatever order the the select board deems appropriate. Um I I think that's that's my sense of of of the committee discussions. Um I have focused here my comments on the town government uh
portion as opposed to the other portions in part because of for example some of the complexities around uh the affordable housing piece where I think you're right things have have changed um the political context has changed the kinds of issues have have changed um but also because to be candid I think some
of this is simply lowhanging fruit I don't I don't think it's difficult to simply enact a policy and put it on website. Yeah, that's that's an easy thing that that can be done. Is it a is it a priority? It is in the sense that it's sending a message. It's speech. It's um it's it's
making sure that this the that people know that this is something that Sledboard um takes seriously. Um and I think that that can be true about creating a dashboard. I think it can be true about um having an annual report.
Um, you know, I I think that other things are also important, but I think that they can take more time. So, for example, um, you know, if the if the select board were to look at recommendation number four, create a full-time townwide DEI position to lead the town's DEI strategy, you know, I I
understand that there may be some complexities in implementing something like that. I think it would be uh it would be in my top three because I think that it would send a clear message about how we're how the town is prioritizing DEI, but I also think it
might be a more difficult one to implement. So, uh I don't mean to punt on your question, Mr. Dailyy, but I but I do think that that's how I'm looking at this. And I think when I look at some of the recommendations and I think of uh
the last few years and some of things that I've seen professionally, I think when I'm thinking about top three, what I'm asking for is what are the things that are impactful? Um because as you say, we may put things up on the website and that would be speech and it would send a message. I found
that in these years those messages have not had impact. um they've been largely performative and they've gotten us nothing on the ground in terms of moving in terms of moving the need in terms of folks having more opportunities
um people feeling more welcomed. They it has not done as much as we would have hoped. And so as we think about our town here, what are the things that we do that actually move the needle that provide a better quality of life for our
residents and certainly a better sense of community for all folks that are here. Uh, as I'm thinking about just DEI and where we stand now, um, Chair Zol has talked often about ICE and the fear and thinking of things that are people are seeing nationally where their
identities are what's getting them picked up and arrested and the concept of DEI is that your identity is understood, honored, and folks find a way to make space for you. So, are there places where Milton can make more room
and more space for folks of various identities where they're not seeing that now? Um, are there places where we can actually move the needle and say that the community gets to get to know each other um differently um than they would otherwise? That our children have a
different impact in school. I think the point here around schools and our historic um segregation is an important one. You know, I've had parents ask me, "Why does my kid live on this street and they go to this school and then all their friends on all the other streets go to a different school?"
And I think over time, I've seen even without these directions and from the town, parents have taken that on themselves. I've seen some of that change in sports. I've seen the change in the schools and where folks go and how folks attend. Not perfect, but I've seen that effort come from individuals.
And I think that that has moved the needle. So when I think of the top three and it's not to make this a list as something that is that simple um I think of impact um because the other pieces have not gotten us where we would like to be. Yeah.
I think of that a question I've so I know we had our offsite over the weekend and we set some goals. I forget if we had um
some goals relating to this topic. We had go goals relating to I don't think explicitly I we may want to consider more explicitly calling this out and I know we have the that retreat on our agenda in a minute and I know we're working on the sort of more formal
statement for the goals that we'll review at a future meeting but I think it's a great point. It may be I mean I agree with Vice Chair Daly on everything he just mentioned um about the need to be thoughtful in prioritization and aligning to impact
but I think one of the things we could start to do is to more expressly center it in our own goals. I think that's well said by by both
members. Um so I have lots of thoughts about this. Um but um so m uh Mr. heart. Could you tell us, you know, you're coming to us about, you know, the select board um some of
these um uh goals would maybe impact the library or the planning board or uh other parts of town government? Are is the committee reaching out to those uh other parts of of town government as well? Obviously the select board is the
executive and we you know we should be dealing with this but it seems to me like the other boards would be would benefit from this conversation. Yes. So in fact we had our we had a meeting last night um we designated uh liaison to each of the elected boards uh
and so my hope is that um members of the committee will be having similar conversations with uh members of the other the other boards. Um but but let me say uh something both to that as well as to um to Mr. Dy's comments. Um I do
think it's a conversation, right? I I mean it's we're an advisory committee to the select board. We're also to advise other towns, but you know, a lot of that is when when the at least my vision and I and I I think that the members of the committee would agree with me, but but
I'll speak for myself. Um I think that you know we come at the committee's work through our own experiences through the people that we know. Obviously the report reflects a lot of research. It reflects a a survey uh of town
residents. Uh and so in a lot of ways we're informed and we bring that information to you uh with our with our advice and recommendations. But we also want to understand how to implement from you and we want to
understand what will work from your perspective. So I see this as a dialogue, you know. So to to Mr. Dy's point, you know, first of all, I I don't I don't see this as either or. I I very much appreciate the point about performiveness and we and I do not want that and I don't think anybody in the committee wants that. Um but I also
think that um that that silence speaks loudly. Uh and I think that you can do both things. You can you can speak um and uh you can um take uh specific measures on um uh school youth sports
programs. Um I think both of those things are possible and they should be done. Um but I also think it it does take setting setting this as a priority and so I see this as a back and forth. Um and I'm hopeful that it'll be a back and forth with the other uh boards as well.
Thank you. I I the the my first question was really based around the idea of this being a continued conversation because I think uh and I'm uh I regret that we haven't had you here uh in the last couple months, but I'm glad that you're here uh
today and you and I have had individual conversations about this issue as well. But um now more than ever, I can feel like we have to say that every meeting now. Um, this is this is important work. Uh, and I I agree um wholeheartedly with
Mr. Daly about figuring out um where we can really make a difference at this point because I think the the um the the unspoken danger of performative um work is the the real danger is that you pretend like you're making progress,
you're not making progress. The other uh danger is that you by being performative may end up drawing attention to the work except you're not even really doing it that much and and then be chastised or or whatever else the federal government might have up up its sleeves. So I you
know I think being very deliberate and thoughtful about what we want to put into place here uh and how we put it into place is is is important but also having that commitment putting it in place and putting that work in place. I I appreciate that. I do I do have one reaction to that. Um but I think it
dubtales with your comments which is uh it would please me to no end uh if the select board started to implement these recommendations or others that that that uh that it that it deemed uh important. Um and we started to hear feedback from
residents. Uh I think that's exactly the kind of dialogue that we want. We want people thinking about these issues. We want people thinking about how these issues affect them and their communities and whether the work that is being done deliberately, whether it's being
effective or not. I think we have to have that kind of iterative feedback for this to be successful. That takes time. It takes effort. That's right. I you know the um many of us when we were small we read the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King who said the moral arc of the universe
is long but it bends towards justice. and and uh former President Obama has just sort of made the emphasis of it doesn't do it by itself, right? We've got to bend the art, otherwise it won't bend. And so um I I think that um the last uh
the last few months have given us a real sense of uh what happens if we don't uh do the work and uh and so that makes it more incumbent than ever to do the work. So um barring other thoughts or suggestions from the members, my my thinking on this is um that you've just
given us, you know, a great document which is a summation of a great 86-page document and uh so we're going to have a little bit of time to absorb this. I would like us to come back in November um and uh invite you and Miss Latimore
or anybody else that wants to come from uh from the committee um so that we can both uh respond to this and we can have our own meditations on this and what we think might be possible. And I would uh you know knowing that um this was
written maybe uh in a different era uh that that today it's possible that your committee may decide you know in in reflection these are the areas we'd really like you to focus on uh or where we where we see the most urgent needs um
so that we could come back in November and maybe have that uh discussion and then uh implement u some things. Then it also occurs to me that um the the uh board agreed at the January 4th, 2022 meeting, which predates all of us here
except for I see Mr. Wells has joined us online. Um I you know I think it would we've we've begun the process of of creating a DEI statement, but we haven't finished it. And so perhaps what we could also do, Mr. Milano, is circulate to the members
what that draft statement looks like. Okay? because I think at the very least um even if we don't vote it in as an official statement, it would be helpful to clarify our goals and our thoughts around uh this work. Does that sound okay? I'm I'm that's a suggestion that
I'm throwing out there for members and for you, Mr. Hart. Yeah, it's a good Yep. I I I welcome all that. Um, and I would say in addition, um, I say this for everybody's benefit as well as those
watching in, um, at home, um, the Equity and Justice Committee meets, um, the first Monday of every month, uh, at 7 p.m. Uh, and those meetings are of course open to the public. We have, um, uh, public comment, uh, for those who
are interested. Um and and what I might suggest is in addition to any members of the public who are always invited to to attend, um if any members of of the the select board would like to come to our next meeting, um perhaps uh as a
discussion ahead of um the our next visit, um that might be productive. So that would be the first Monday of November. That's right. My calendar's getting full.
Uh, let's see. So, that's the third. Yes. Well, I have to take the compost out that evening, but other than that, I feel like I'm free. Is that on your calendar? Mr. I will double check that. I'm I'm 90% confident that's correct. But, perhaps you can follow up with an email
invitation as well and uh that we make sure that it lands there, right? Um, and I I think you know the very beginning you also alluded to like quarterly reports and I I encourage the committee to consider that and whether it's an inerson or a written report
that's submitted to the select board uh and to other boards. I think that's that's critically important we need to you'd be very happy to um and have a continued discussion with select. Any further questions from the members?
Well, you have our thanks for your service, Mr. Hart. Thank you all and thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, oh, we got all the hits today. Um, number six is our elected official civil discourse training. I didn't know if you wanted to do the library while Oh, yeah. Let's do the library. Let's do
the library. Number eight. Yes, because I imagine we were going to talk about uh the Route 28 for a minute as well. So, why don't we go to um item number eight? Um if uh any and or all of the folks who uh would like to join us
for the a discussion of the feasibility study request for proposals for library parking would like to join us or not. So, um, Mr. Milano, we have this, uh, well, I guess it's, uh, it's addressed to our our director of our libraries,
um, uh, document from Ryan LLC. So, I don't know. Um, maybe, uh, Will, do you want to give us a Oh, actually, we should have all of you introduce yourselves real quick. Uh, my name is Christine Hodlin. Um, I live at 112 Maple Street and I'm one of the library
trustees. Hi, I'm Will Adamsick and I'm your library director. And I'm Cheryl Tagayas, 660 Canton Avenue and I am here in my capacity as chair of the master plan implementation committee.
Thank you all. Um, so Mr. Adams, do you want to um maybe kick us off with a just a quick uh review of what we have in front of us? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um so, at our last meeting, I think in September, uh we left it that um we we provided an update
of the work that's been done um looking into parking options for the library as well as the town center. And after that work, we came to um a plan of doing a feasibility study that would create an
RFP. And the document that was shared with you um and and I'll look to Cheryl to help um fill in some of the blanks here provides uh what the work would be for a feasibility study to look into what would be the best options for uh
parking for the library and uh potentially the town center. It would review um the spaces. It would review options for what could be built on that property. Um it has a number of deliverables. Um the project would
involve uh being the project manager for the project. Um verifying goals uh with uh members of the community and people who have been working on it. Um coming up with planning scenarios, providing um site plans uh diagrammic uh
illustrations. It would also involve um public uh meetings um and discussions with individuals within the community um and um eventually would lead to helping to create an RFP um if this project is
something that would go forward. That's kind of the um a basic version of what the that document is in front of you. Cheryl, anything to add to that? I would just add that um the real impetus behind this is to um is twofold
really. To if we think about parking as a use by itself, it's not the in a town that has limited land available for uses. It might not be the top priority for folks to think about as a land use.
Secondly, if you combine it with another use and it is it does provide an opportunity to help pay for the parking so we can get multiple uses out of our town asset. And in talking with various consultants about how to go about this
next step, uh it became clear that really um to answer the question whether this is a viable uh option u is to to test the market really. So, first is to get support in the community for what
would be an appropriate set of uses and appropriate scale on the property. Then craft an RFP uh for the marketplace to tell us whether they think that works and whether it could help uh pay for us or pay for that parking and provide for
us uh potentially uh another use that is in need. And the one that we've talked about the most is affordable housing. And I mentioned at our last the last time we were here that Boston had been rolling out uh a public private
partnership where they are getting um neighborhood u libraries in conjunction with affordable housing projects and the most recent ones in Chinatown but it's rolling out throughout the city. Um thoughts or questions from the
members? So, one of the questions I have and I don't know if it belongs in in this um in this phase of um discovery um and in assembly of the RFP. But, you
know, to your to your point, Cheryl, about um potential other uses offsetting the cost of the parking, um I wasn't sure that I saw anything specifically spelled out in the document
that referenced um that referenced financial or um revenue generation. Um, so I was just I was wondering if that had been discussed in
the drafting of this or if if you feel like that would be part of the discussion during the RFP process or that when when we get responses from biders. I think if that's the priority that we
want to establish that we can make that one of the goals at at the outset with the consultant. It is something that was discussed with the consultants in prep in advance of the preparation of the proposal because I think there I mean I think there are a number of questions right
about or a number of avenues to contemplate uh you know revenue generation opportunities and value creation. Um, one is through uses other than parking on the site to offset. I know like the
Chinatown example that you're mentioning, Chinatown has like a lot more allowable density to offset um affordable housing and and other uses. So, I think the question is is what what would be possible here? What would
offset the use? But then also too with parking itself, um is there any opportunity for revenue generation with parking? Um I know we don't want to nickel and dime our residents to use the library or anything
like that, but um it just it just might be a question out there that you know somebody could take a quick back of the envelope look at it. Um I did have conversations with um developers who do mixed income housing
and affordable housing and also um a state official um who's very familiar with uh state grants um that would be available to us for this um the parking associated with the library could be considered infrastructure. So um
eligible for infrastructure grants and if done as a affordable housing project um the combination of the mass works grants for example um and then um even a possibility to um partner in partnership
with the Milton uh housing authority. So there are avenues that um some developers have expressed to me that lead me to think and the committee uh in discussing this in the past to think
that there is um a viable option here. Um how the it generates revenue outside of um let's say a lease arrangement. If this became a taxable uh you know right now it's non-t taxable land, right? So
it becomes a use that is taxable. You get revenue generation there. But there could also uh be some other uh form if there's a cafe if a cafe you know you get some kind of uh local uh revenue tax off you know from that. So there um
there are different avenues I think. So the program mix is going to be important um to what the income could be. Um, and that's what we're really hoping comes out of the feasibility. From what I've heard is some of that's going to come
through the RFP process. Okay. Mr. Wells has his hand up, so I want to make sure we get to him. Mr. Wells. Thank you, Mr. Ch. Um, I want to make sure Miss Hagen is finished for us before I speak. Are you all done? Um, yeah. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. So, a couple of points. Um first is um when we entered into the idea of building a new fire headquarters on the site where it exists today as well as the
um preservation and renovation of the existing fire headquarters historic site as it is as it now exists as a community community but community use. Um, this neighborhood is very involved and I'm
hesitant tonight even having discussions without them even knowing about this because this is not something we talked about the whole neighborhood. We talk about this with them. That's one thing you're going to get need to get this neighborhood do. Number two, to Miss Hagy's point, if you're going to
try and do this, I think we currently have in capital requests somewhere in the excess of, and I'm calling around I believe it's 630 million. It could be six in total capital requests.
So, as Will knows, you know, it took us how many years, Will, just to get you a quart of a million dollars for the generator for the new library for the library there. It it's the pressure on capital requests is enormity. This isn't even on the capital list yet. I think
you're going to have to start to number one, engage with the partners, whether it's the neighborhood, get their input. Number two, uh if this is a vision you
that this board allows board, you're going to have to come before the capital committee and stuff to paint a picture to get yourself in the group because I find it highly unlikely that even if you are able to partner somehow that this is not
going to involve town dollars and if it's going to be town dollars just like the fire stations and Mr. I don't know how many times you've done before school project and it's not even a reality yet. You're going to have to because that's how things like this
happen in school. So, it's more than just coming to speak to us about this. It's dotting your eyes and crossing your tees to not just inform the abuing neighbors who are very involved and and I say this
wholeheartedly. We could have never gotten to that beautiful facility that exists today and the rehabilitation of the existing original fire station without the without the involvement in participating
actually participation of the residents of that and that's where you're talking now as you know well it's the same pretty much the same neighborhoods I think you're going to have to do this I think if you try to bring this as a project without any
outside dollars. You're on a long queue as you know as I talked about the general you're years into this before we even get a look at. So that's just my comments on it for now and I think it's important because that's the process we take in getting these things done. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If I may, would you please? Yes. Um uh on the comment about the neighborhood involvement um I don't recall the name of the neighborhood association that Richard referenced but they did participate in master plan
implementation committee meetings in which this was discussed. Um a big part of this proposal is community engagement. It's something that we felt is absolutely necessary necessary with
um any kind of public project like this and so that's anticipated would be robust and it you'll see that there's a lot of scope associated with that in this proposal. So we agree that that's um absolute necessity and I I know Will
wants to speak to this too but you know the library has been working on this for some time and so for uh it's understood that it would it takes time for these kinds of initiatives to move forward and
it's why we felt as if if there is an alternative to public funds Milton funds that we should explore it and that's why we suggested justice RFP. Thank you. Uh thanks thank you Mr. Wells uh for
your comments and I agree things do take time and there's only so much money to go around and and I I agree with uh what Cheryl just shared but I think we're at the point um in this process as far as the library goes and with the master planning committee where we don't have a
specific plan. So, we're not able to bring a specific plan before any groups. What we're the point now is we would like professional help um to get us to that point and that would involve more community engagement. Um and it would
involve focusing what that potential plan might be and what potential funding sources might be. So, is this feasible to be funded directly by the town? This process will help us figure that out. Is it feasible to have it funded partially
public private partnership? What would that look like? What would potential uh tax revenues look like? So, we're we need to get to the next step and we think that this feasibility study will get us there. And if if at the end of that feasibility study, we we don't know
what that will show, but it will have more community engagement, uh more community involvement, and we can specifically work with the neighborhoods. uh we reached out to other uh neighbors as well uh during this process including the the churches and the hospital. Um but we we think
we're at the point in the process where we need to take this step so we can better define what is feasible and what that plan looks like so we can present it to people and they can react not to just us talking about it as a theory but as an
actual plan. So that's what I would say about um and Mr. Wells has his hand up so I'm assuming he has Mr. Wells. Hey do and as as Will knows and I stated this the last time you were here I know
intricately not just in this role but in my private life the operations and the needs of the library. But the community the neighborhood organization you're referring to is the Milton Center Walnut Street Neighborhood Association. I don't believe to Mr. Gas is this is not
something was ever discussed. I know how active they are now involved there. I'm just saying to you in the community where we have 40 it's $40 million capital request right now not including a request for a new school or a new engine 4 up on which is going to have to
be built at some point. This is this is a step you go no matter how you go with this, you're going to have to take that step and go with this. So I I'm just trying to use many years of experience here. Not that I know all the answers as
to the things that I think you need to do immediately on top of this regardless of what we decide to do is start to paint a picture of where you want to try to go and you need because without their support input and support you're going
to have a very very difficult and well you already know that you went through the whole building of the of the library seeing that's it Mr. Chair that's that's all thank you thank you Mr. Uh Mr. Daily question. Um so in this feasibility
um is this leaving it open for areas around the library to be reviewed for solutions or is this being done with the idea that the solution is parking structure and it's more about how do we get that done? Are we leaving it open
for other solutions when this goes out? Um I I think that as part of um I thank you for the question. Um as part of the kind of discovery process with um with the contractor, we would discuss all of the sites that we have reviewed um and
we would talk about how we got to the site that we're um looks most feasible from us. But we would not rule out if they they'll be able to um look at the environment and see what other options might be out there. Um but
we would uh turn over and share the work that we've already done um and looking at things that maybe are easily ruled out because it's wetlands or other other reasons. So just a a quick um question. So, this proposal here, it's it calls for
essentially $10,000 um for uh for this consultant uh to come in um figure out what the goals are, develop some scenarios, include uh you know, community participation, at least two meetings, work with a board of trustees.
Um, can you just let us know what the ask is from the select board because I know the library trustees had uh volunteered to put some funds towards this as well. Um, thank you for that question. Um, I guess we would ask if you have anything
to participate at all in the cost of it. Um, the trustees will pay for this if that's the only mechanism that we can have to go forward. Um, as Will said, we I personally have been working on this project for 15 years. We've gone through
so many options and the only way for us to find out if this is an option is to go to this next step. And um, we're willing to put our funds there if there isn't anything from the town um, that can be offered. Thoughts from the members?
No, I think we can I think we can look at that. Um and I I just want to be clear on my um questions from earlier. Um the and I think I think this is spelled out
here that you know it says the draft will encompass all the elements that outline the town's programmatic expectations for the development community. So my question is if at this time in the programmatic expectations we
would indicate anything or study anything along the lines of um revenue generation or fiscal impact um just to surface and highlight the type
of benefit that a project like this can have to the town. um so that everybody is thinking very broadly and open-mindedly about the potential of this. Um so I I think you I think you have this in here. Um and I
also think that you know we may consider you know if this goes forward um you know that that it could be a factor in the evaluation criteria but I think this that's probably by the end of this RFP development process this this
will probably be hashed out. [Music] I will say um in our discussions we spoke about what other uses could be besides um affordable housing um whether
it be medical office for example with Milton Hospital nearby. Um we thought that this process could tease that out further. Yeah. Yeah. I think so too. I I also think that going into a process like this, it's good it's good for public
entities to have um some type of baseline and some type of knowledge of like I am I am a big fan of knowing somewhat of what you want to see when you when you issue an RFP. You don't need to know the exact answer that comes
back, but um to be able to compare the numbers against to validate. I'll just share also that during the process I had a conversation with um an
operator of a cafe um in Milton and asked about this location. Um, I also had a conversation with the owner of the property at 7 Pleasant, which has u, initially when they came to the planning board, they thought that they may be
getting uh healthcare workers who wanted to live there um with the proximity um to the hospital um to the hospice um and public transit that this um property has, you know, that's that's um a
possibility as well. Um the committee itself you know is made up of volunteers with um you know li there is some limit in the capacity we have to to do all of the due diligence. Um it's not the expertise of the the library trustees
and the library director which is why they came to the meek for assistance but we really feel to take it further it needs the outside um expertise to come in and take it to that next level to answer the questions more fully. Yep. Other
thoughts from the members? Mr. Milano, if the select board decided to put some resources towards this RFP process, what would that look like? Uh we didn't budget for it necessarily obviously as an unexpected or a new um
cost, but with the some of the vacancies we've had and continue to have in our office between the assistant town administrator, the assistant planning director, the planning director who only recently started, there is um some additional funding that won't be spent based on our current projection. Um so
if the board wanted to allocate um funding for it, there is some savings there in place in our budget currently. I I think um the points that Miss Hagerty were was making there I think are are really critical. Uh it it has it
kind of the idea of building parking spaces is like for me and I know for you guys too kind of gross like is there other ways that we can you know figure out how to get people to the library. But you know in our day and age that's
that's how people get their kids to the library. That's how seniors get to the library. That's how everyone gets to the library for the most part. Um, so I think the points about making sure that this is a there there's some sort of a revenue generating mechanism whether
it's a a business uh or I don't know if paid for parking or um any any sort of way for the town to start diversifying its revenue and making this not necessarily pay for itself but at least pay back to the town
a little bit. I know that's not, you know, the the library pays to the town, you know, more than we can possibly really quantify uh in just its existence in the programming. Um and uh we are not
a town with uh a lot of money. So, um I think we we've all in our retreat um discussed uh prioritizing figuring out how to diversify our our funding base, bring in more businesses, bring in more tax revenue for the town that doesn't
burden the residents. I think that would be a strong preference that we would have as part of the RFP process and I think we would want that included uh in in the discussions with the consultant. I would also think that it would make sense if the select board decided that
we wanted to support the RFP process that perhaps one of our members could uh attend one of the early visioning sessions to kind of get a sense of both what has been done and what could be done and to provide that sentiment to
the the board. Mr. chair just um at our last um time here we suggested a small working group u and we had suggested a member of the select board uh participate in that I know you we heard earlier that you're
being asked to participate in in many other things so whether you feel as if you're going to have capacity for that uh you are welcome we do feel like um that that small group uh would augment what the library can bring to guide this consultant and certainly your views as
expressed tonight would be helpful in helping guide um the consultant. So we would welcome that. Any volunteers? Oh, Miss Heaggery has her hand in the air. Um so can't help myself. Yeah, it's it's a good cause. It's a
good cause. Um they're all good causes. It's true. We we only have so many hours in the day. Um, is there anyone that uh wants to make a motion uh on any of this in terms of supporting the RFP?
Um, that would be us supporting the RFP moving forward and then figuring out if we're going to have some financial backing later. Uh, I think we need we should we should discuss with Mr. Milano. I think we should make a commitment to have an
answer for the group by the next select board meeting, but I think we should um evaluate um competing needs and the appropriate
level that we should pitch in. Um, you know, I do I do think if we're we're making a request for um certain items to be involved in this in this RFP that that we should um we should consider the
cost of that level of evaluation. And if that um if that uh adjusts the price tag um we should we should consider covering that if if if that's the case. I I think
we I think we should talk about it um or look into it over the next couple weeks and and come back with a an answer. But but that definitely that option is not off the table. Could I make a suggestion also? Um, of course
I think there's room to continue to ne to negotiate the scope of this work. And if um there was one of you that wanted to work with Mr. Milano and and us to um revise that scope, uh we we
would certainly uh welcome that. Um it I think it would be helpful if um if you did make a decision that you felt that this was an appropriate direction and um the details of the final details of the scope and the funding uh could come.
Thank you. Yeah, I think that that makes sense as a as a action plan. Um you one thing just from my my own reading of this and I think echoing what Mr. Wells was saying a bit there, community participation is obviously
included in this with two community meetings, but it sounds like the first meeting you we've already have three kind of sketches that we're sharing with the public. And I wonder if there's a opportunity for folks to get in earlier um whether it's through a big public
meeting or just bringing in some neighborhood groups. Um so that people don't people feel like they you know that they have some input into the process. Um, but I think Miss Hagerty, your your suggestion with Miss Dagias's comments makes a lot of sense. So perhaps um we
could have a motion now on a general sentiment and we could review and uh discuss uh again at our um second meeting this month. I'd like to make a motion to review um
funding possibilities for this RFP um and make uh make come back to the to the committee and um this meeting in two
weeks. Okay. Second. Seconded by Mr. Daly. Mr. Wells is remote, so we'll have this as a roll call vote. Mr. Wells, you have your hand up. So, discussion. So, under discussion, I'm I'm not for the funding because they
have their own funding sources and as you know, we've been bringing our own department heads that come in before us from under this board past months. I believe you heard a very passionate
plea from the police chief regarding his inability to purchase and deploy his body cameras which are a critical tool and I'm just giving one example. I just think we need to be very careful. And I
not to say that this isn't warranted, but we don't have a lot of money to spend. And I think that any money that we're going this board is going to approve, we need to truly focus on those departments that come directly under this board before we offer to give it to
um an entity that has its own funding sources that come from outside. So that's just my comment on that. I'm okay with moving the RFP forward and starting the process, but not from a future show. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wells. Um, so with
any further discussion? Um, so we'll have a roll call vote. Uh, Mr. Wells, this is a motion to vote to consider this and return in two weeks time with thoughts, input, and uh, discussion.
Okay, I'm okay with that. Yes. Okay, Mr. Wells is yes. Miss Hagerty, yes. Mr. Dailyaly, yes. And myself, yes. Thank you very much for your time and your continued efforts. Uh, Mr. Milano, I think we're back to uh number six. Is that correct?
Yes. Um, elected official civil discourse training. Uh we have a working group to recommend training options and b policy and for bias and civil discourse training for elected officials. Where would you like to begin, Mr. Ma? So I had a little homework on this one
in terms of um a little bit more of a deeper dive and to see if there are any similar programs that other communities have done. I have yet still to uncover anything kind of specifically along this lines. There have been trainings around board and committee participation. There
have been trainings around um you know workforce trainings that communities have had um communities are starting to launch like citizenmies where they're um inviting people in to attend to teach them about town government how government work and how people should
interact with town government. So, it's all kind of around the edge of what this vision is, but nothing kind of specifically addressing it. Um, in order in in terms of like something that is very similar to copy and paste and and take some good parts from. Um, so at
this time I don't have any kind of direct recommendation um based on Mr. Furs's comments. I think the best step here really is creating something that's responsive to the concerns we've heard, that's responsive to the issues that members want addressed and working with
a group to kind of put that together and then find the right person to to lead that effort. That's from the members. Yeah, I think for me I'm I'm more I'm more focused on the
code of conduct and perhaps the civil discourse training. I think the script is less important as I would hope that if we have a code of conduct in place as well as uh trainings and discussions
around discourse that if it does come to a board member having to address comments that were made either by themselves or by others that they would be able to address these sincerely. I wouldn't want it to be that our boards are simply reading off of a
boilerplate uh because I don't think that would be addressing the issues that may come up. So I think the discourse training code of conduct which we discussed a bit in our retreat as well. Um and that's something that would be for all elected board members even as we
were talking about uh onboarding uh new electeds. Perhaps that just becomes a part of our onboarding process. M. So this is not civil discourse training in
itself, but there is a civil discourse initiative that the town of Welssley has on its website. It's more of a volunteer effort, brings people
together. I'm sure you've evaluated this in your in your scan. Um I don't know if there's anything any kind of learnings um or or outputs from from Welssley that
we could learn from or take because I think I think the challenge or the problem that we're trying to address is that as as a town and through some of our elected bodies
large and small. We as elected officials and some sometimes residents sometimes struggle with skills to communicate when we disagree with people and that is
so this it's clear from this initiative in Welssley that other municipalities face this challenge. Um, so yeah, I mean this doesn't what what you're mentioning doesn't surprise me,
but I don't know if this kind of came across your radar and you know, maybe maybe we can link up with Wy or something to see how what they're thinking if they have contemplated this.
Yeah, I I think what I have found to be a little challenging here is like what exactly do we want to do and that is what is the problem we seek to address, right? Cuz there's there's the a bias element piece of it.
There's the civil discourse in terms of managing and and doing a board and committee relationship and you know members participating, appointed members working together. So I I think it's a little bit of a shape-shifting challenge. And so that's where it's like I think would be helpful to
point have a small group say this is exactly the key elements that we wanted to work on. Here's the type of people who can facilitate such a training and let's get some proposals and and take it from there and let we can develop a proposal accordingly. So that
I don't want to take it in one direction and then it's oh that's not really what we're looking for. So that that is what I am bumping up against in terms of trying to come up with something that hits some of the key points. I think that's a great point. Um my suggestion might be that one of us uh t
undertakes an effort to write out what we're what we think sort of you know synthesizing all of the discussions that's happened up till this point and say here's what we're looking for. uh and then we could circulate that
document prior to our next meeting and then we can discuss it and say yes this is what we want and we could charge Mr. Milano at that point with going to either find a you know somebody who could do this training or a draft code
of conduct um or both of those things or something else. The code of conduct piece I think is a little bit of an easier lift in the sense that there are other communities that have them. There are different versions we can take from and and and consider. We have our own policy packet
that has components of codes of conduct kind of spread throughout it but not necessarily in one place. So I think it that is a little bit of an easier exercise to pull together. It's the training piece and the other element is like who is the audience? So just those are the kind of considerations I just want to keep in mind and obviously we
can work with Mr. Furs as well to to pull that together. But maybe that's the that's the key point that we should possibly discuss. I think code of conduct makes sense something we can find and put together as we asked about training and we're thinking about audience who is who would be there and
how would it be delivered right we have these virtual trainings that we all go through from time to time around about different things is this something that we're looking to do virtually and is it just the select board that we would like in this training are we asking other
electeds I see how that can be really confusing to put together is how are we expecting to go through this training drive through the cost? And it's also is this are we asking for this to be a one-time training? Are we asking for this to be six months, a year?
Do you do it at the beginning of your term or if you're reelected in some space? Is it just the smaller boards? Is it something we're trying to extend to town meeting members? You know, in terms of training, how big do we want that to be?
Well, what we discussed at our offsite, right, was that a lack of civil discourse is a risk to just proper town governance decision- making, right?
Um, it's felt on this board, it's felt on other boards, it's certainly felt at town meeting. Um, I mean, I I do think it's it's a good idea to both of your point that we
figure out how we do proper refining of the problem statement, the problem that we're trying to solve, and then understand the options for the scope and breadth. I think that's what I'm hearing you say.
Uh, yeah, and I think there's a lot of ways we can go with civil discourse training. Yeah. Um if that is something that you know is it something that we have to get voted on or if we said if it's just the select board then uh four of us perhaps a new
member five take the civil discourse training. Does that have the impact that we would want across all of our conversations? If we say if we try to make it a townwide policy where we've been discussing this before, if we're talking about in terms of that our electeds at
all levels should have some form of onboarding where you are onboarded, you get the code of conduct, you get an idea of sort of what um town government is, who does what and then do you also have to go through this virtual civil
discourse training before your first town meeting. Right? In that sense, we have to talk to the moderator. We'd have to see if if folks are okay with that where before you are before you walk in the town meeting and you take that microphone, you take that vote, there's an understanding that we as electeds have a
responsibility in the words in the way that we govern ourselves and the way that we speak with each other, right? So I I also so this is triggering a thought for me that if we go and ask the rest of town government to participate in this
we would have to do it first ourselves. Yeah. I don't think I don't think any of us would have an issue. Yeah. I know. I don't Well, I think we're Yeah, I think we're all Yeah, we're the ones starting. Yes. Um I I I it also it so I I I thought where you're going with that
misery is my thought was we probably ought to ask the other elected boards their thoughts on this and get them in so that we understand because if there is no interest from other boards or
indeed if the if there is hostility from other boards on this topic it might dictate one course whereas if other boards are open for this, we could potentially take another. So, uh, in terms of actions, it seems like we could
today, uh, we could ask, uh, for a code of conduct, um, to review prior to our next meeting, um, that we could come to that with our thoughts and suggestions and edits and ideally vote on it. And, uh, at the same time, we could task Mr.
Milano um with reaching out to the other elected boards and our town moderator um with uh this these questions of if we put this together, A, are you interested? B what would you like to achieve? And C uh who should be
participating in it. Okay, we should probably also have a statement of what this says because if if we just send Mr. Milano out to ask, "Hey, are you interested?" They might be like, "What is this?" So,
we we would need to develop something for him to point to as as to what how we see a civil discourse training like what that would be general general theme. Um, yeah, I don't disagree with that. I do feel like Mr. Milano sat in on a few of
these discussions at this point, so he could probably represent it pretty well in terms of like what our overall aims are, but I'm sorry, Mr. and I am comfortable with that. Yeah. Do you feel like you could in terms of what the overall goal is? Yes. Okay. All right. I was going to offer to write it, but you
too because you we did start this meeting with you asking us to clarify. So I don't know in terms of what the overall goal is I have in terms of what the training actually does and it's on I think is um the the details that are a bit trickier.
Does that sound like a a good next step? I don't think we need any motions on that but um um and all right so uh any further discussion on that topic? Uh why don't why don't we go to something light and like the Randolph
Road diet pilot um topic number seven Mr. Milano. I'm going to recuse myself. Yes, please, Miss Herty. To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, so the, um, members know, residents know the
Randolph A road dial pilot was implemented by Mass Dot. Uh, Friday was the first day. Um, there were cones kind of separating the lanes to create a single lane in both directions. that was then um made more permanent over the weekend and Monday
morning um striped and then this morning some of the delineators um appeared in a couple of locations that separate the road in the median. Um we've been in touch with MASDOT over the past couple days just um sharing some observations
that we've had been in touch with DPW and the police chief um to you know share observations that we're seeing um obviously any comments um can be directed to our office mass through their website has a dedicated project
email if you just go to mass.gov and I think it's route 28 road diet pilot. Um, but if you Google it, you'll come to their landing page with additional information as well as a project contact. And I know they've been responsive through that project email through emails that I have seen coming back. Um, and you know, we're paying
attention to what impacts are appearing elsewhere around town. Um, and on that corridor, it has been certainly slow in the mornings heading north um, and in the evenings heading home. there are a number of town employees who travel that commute. So, we talk about it in the in
the building. Um, but it is day two and we're continuing to see and observe the impacts of that. Um, the travel speeds are certainly slower, which was one of the goals, but we know the impacts of that was congestion and potentially spillover congestion um elsewhere around
town and we're continuing to observe that. Uh, questions or thoughts from the members? I see Mr. Wells has his hand up. Mr. Wells. Uh, you're still on mute, Mr. You're muted. You're muted. Just trying to put my hand down. So, I'm
just going to follow up a little bit. Both Senator Driscoll's office and my office have been delused with emails over the past few days. You know, one thing I want to say to people is very important. I did talk to Deputy Chief Alberta today. First thing from a
operational point to Mr. Milano, I understand Mascot has removed the morning do not at the seven of both Reed Street and Randolph and Allen and Randolph. I went look I understand the Howland one because you can't take a left there anymore.
I understand that one but the Reed Street one and one resident I spoke to today. Um I had talked previously about this the congestion particularly bleed off into the side streets would be significant. So um
to remove the one at Reed and 28 that is a both of those were recommend recommended by a traffic commission approved by this board and acted by this board. So, um,
and we'll reach out to Dan Fielding tomorrow. I'm not sure on why they took that one out. I think that one still needs to be in play. And Mr. Wells, I did I did share that with Mass today. We did look at the plans. The plans show the plans show the
sign staying. So, the 100% design plans have that sign at read. So, whether it was removed by district staff mistakenly or then it was done intentionally, we don't know. but the plans show it in place. Um, so we did follow up with Mass
today about that, but you your office following up will help that uh move that along as well. So, following up because that's important. Following up um and and I say I'm going to use this opportunity to say this because so many people have reached
out. Um, one was very happy tonight. I was glad to hear that one loves it. Um, this is going to take a lot of patience. You don't become the most dangerous road in the Commonwealth overnight. This has
taken years for this situation to exacerbate itself to the level that collectively, municipally, and from the state level, we've partnered with Bastard to try and create a solution. While the pilot is is a is a exactly
without a pilot, um it's not a perfect there is no magic wand here. This isn't Dorothy in the in the Wizard of Oz. Click my heels three times and let's go home and this will be all over. And the other thing that I want to say is you don't run traffic management on
Facebook. And I don't usually ever speak to Facebook, but I'm going to be very direct in this tonight. Um, you can't go out and be Jimmy Olsson, the cover reporter, and ride around and say, "I've got Lois Lane with me and report like it's accurate and you
have the there is an and and I know Miss Hagged is not on the we know where she works, what her background is. There is an inordinate amount of work that has gone into trying to create a safer alternative
to the dangerous situation that exists that exists on 28 particularly between one chart in region. And I only ask that residents and people who use it are going to have to be patient
because I don't want to see any more people die there. I personally, you've heard me say this before, I'm not here to preach. I've been to too many fatals on that street myself and I've been retired for so please just bear with us. I I'm sure this will take some type of tweaking and
but I'm appreciative to the time and effort Master has brought to this in such a short period of time. Let's give this a chance and let's see how this works. Um, the last thing that any of us wants is another fatality, another life
lost in the sexual. I know I preached a little over there, Mr. Chair. I apologize, but I I felt it was very important given all the emails and things. We put so much into making this happen and getting masked out to the table and make such a very quick um plan
and initiative that I don't want to just beat them up right away. They are trying to make a very dangerous situation safer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wells. Uh Mr. Dailyaly, thoughts or questions? I'm just going to p I'm just going to
underline what uh what Mr. Wells just said. Um we knew this would be a difficult transition, particularly the first few days, weeks, and months with traffic, with change. None of this was done flippantly. This has taken years to
get changes made to this road. The intention is that we leave this at the end with a much safer uh pathway and commute. Although it may be difficult in the beginning, we get the emails. We may not respond to all of them. Um but we are taking everyone's notes, sending
those to Masto, taking those within ourselves, within our working groups. This will we will be out with the residents when we're still in the construction phase as well. This is not in any way finalized and I will say as Mr. Wells said, please bear with us.
Please understand the amount of work and analysis that was gone that had that has been put into this road diet happening which is why it has taken so long. Um it is not easy to get the state to come out and change an entire road. Uh so this
was intentional. This is um a serious undertaking and we are listening and reviewing everything that is being said so at the end of this um we have something that really works for our residents and something that is much safer and a better way to travel here
now. Thank you, Mr. Dailyaly. Um well, I won't uh uh beat the dead horse there. Uh but I I I do agree a thousand% patience is required. Um I I think
it's roads are a funny thing. Uh the the the bigger they are, the more cars tend to drive on them and the traffic just tends to get worse and and uh you know it's not easy to undo sort of 20th century thinking processes around
infrastructure. Uh and that being said, this is not an academic experiment. this is informed people who do this for a living and you know God bless them that that that is their their their their life's mission is to try to help people
get to places uh safely and quickly uh and they don't expect you know to make millionaire wages doing it. So we have to we have to let this play out a bit. ch sudden change like this is going to take a while for for the wayses and the
taxi drivers and everybody else the commuters who are used to using this route. It's going to take a while for it to figure out. It doesn't mean that it's an academic experiment. It's not an academic experiment for people who have lost friends and family on that street
uh or have been impacted by the terrible crashes that have happened there. Um that said uh I did Mr. Mr. Milano, I you and I spoke a bit a bit today. Um the one uh area where I'm particularly concerned about is, you know, in terms
of the spillover traffic and the side streets. I know we're we're all concerned about that. Um, is there an opportunity or an a way to for Milton police, and I know you were going to talk to Chief King about this before our uh our our meeting, to potentially step
up enforcement uh, you know, for the safety of the uh of that spillover of the spillover streets? Yes. and the department has been um increasing patrols in that area and will continue to do so in terms of specific
enforcement on roads that we see appear to be in affected by a bit more traffic. Um more cars itself is not necessarily violations. Um so they might not be breaking laws by traveling on those roads, but it's certainly something that the department's aware of and and working on and will be um certainly out
there in the next um come in the next few days and the next few weeks to observe that. Um, and I'll just note in kind of tying to that is that prior to implementation, Mass did do traffic counts on essentially all of the streets in that come on or off of Randolph A. So
that pre-implementation data is really fresh. So as we meet and and review with Matt, we'll be able to see and have them run additional counts to see what that impact is and and where are we seeing it more than just the anecdotal. Let's let's follow what the data shows us. Um,
so we'll have both those pieces to to build upon. Thank you, Mr. Milano. And then, um, just a a final question for you. Um, and we've talked about this, the timeline for MASDOT, sort of giving us, you know, obviously they're not going to have a lot of real clarity on what's happened
in 3 days, but um, can you give us a quick sense of when they'll be coming back to us and, uh, when, uh, you know, sort of that that sort I know this is a six-month horizon. Uh so we're really just at this at the start of this, but um when we'll see them next and what we
can expect. We haven't um invited them into a specific meeting. We could certainly uh do that if the 21st makes sense and we can gauge from them in terms of um what that um conversation will look like and and what that would be two full weeks of
implementation. Um our next meeting date on the books right now is not until November 18th. So now that pushes it a full almost a full month after that. Um, so we could I could engage with Mass, see if that would make sense to have a just a preliminary conversation about impacts, report some of the comments
that we're hearing and um what they've seen so far. Um, if that would be something the board's interested in, I think so. Okay. Yeah, I think that would make sense. Okay. Um, and you know, if they feel like they
really won't have anything for us substantively and they want to save themselves the drive to keep our streets nice and clear, they could give us something written uh perhaps for that meeting and then come in person with more data in November. But it would certainly be great to hear something
from them, whether it's in person or by report. Okay. Um, by that date. Does that make sense, Mr. Daily? Mr. Wells, are you okay with that? I am Mr. Chair and to their credit Dan Fielding is doing a great job of posting
updates um and disseminating them both to our office and to town so that and for residents so that they can see you know what is taking place. The good news is there hasn't been any accidents since this started. So that's one positive light.
Thank you Mr. Wells. Uh and I agree. I I do believe, you know, this has been something that's been bubbling for for a decade and I'm so pleased that we've been able to get DOT reg relatively quickly. I think it was July where we had that last double fatality accident.
Um, which was kind of the straw. Was it triple? That's right. My god. Um, it was a triple failure. Triple Man. Um, yeah. There was two in the one car and then one in the other. Um, so you know, I think to their credit, this is moving really uh I don't want to say
quickly in in a glib sense because there's a ton of thought and expertise that went into this plan and uh you know in the in the general scope of things they've moved very quickly. So we're grateful to them for that. Um, okay. So I think that may conclude unless there's
any final thoughts there. I might ask if I could take a a quick break. In fact, I'm the chair. So, I'm just going to say let's take a quick quick break uh and then we'll uh we'll resume with uh our select board uh retreat recap. Just declare a recess. I will declare a
recess. Thank you and welcome back. I will uh return us from recess um to the back to the uh October 7th meeting of the Milton Select Board. Um the next item we have uh Mr. Milano Select Board retreat recap. We kind of previewed this a
little bit earlier, but do you want to give us a little rundown of where we are in the timing for things? Uh yes, thank you. Um so the board's retreat was on Sunday afternoon. We um discussed a number of items and we are consolidating a list of some of the
action items the board um had identified to make a list for kind of feedback and fine-tuning. So, I have an initial draft um that the facilitator Jeff Nutting had drafted that I um worked on a bit. So,
we'll be able to circulate that between now and the next meeting and try to capture make sure we've captured what we heard and then let the board deliberate it publicly before um approving the list of goals. Okay.
Uh well, I unless there's any comments, I think we can move to the next item. one. Uh, do we intend or is it uh do we intend to post these goals once we Give me one second. Had a chance. Look at them.
Oh, yeah. It looks like we're muted on that. Oh, are we all muted? Yeah. Good job, Nick. uh we just told all the secrets of the select board so you'll have to tune in some of future time. Um so just
do you want to even do a quicker recap of your recap that you've just given us? Sure. Uh uh the board at the retreat discussed a number of potential goals. Um we are putting together that preliminary list to make sure we've captured everything right. We'll share it for the board's review uh ahead of
deliberation and potential approval um at our next meeting on the 21st. And then to Mr. Daly's question which was will those be posted? Yes, we would. Um, so kind of in two steps. First, we are our packet would be posted prior to the meeting on the 21st.
That'll include the latest draft version that we have. And then once the final version is approved, we'll post those on the town uh select board web page. Um, yeah. And I I might just add my own comment, which is that I I'm sorry that it took us so long to get to that
retreat. we were trying to set something up in June, couldn't find a date. Then obviously there's been some uh disruption among the members. But um I just you know for for future iterations of the board, I think it's so critical to get those uh retreats in as quickly
as possible. New select board members uh and returning select board members are are sort of immediately thrown into the cauldron of the town election is on uh you know Tuesday, then the town meeting starts the following Monday. And so there's very little runway time to that
initial uh initial bit. And so thinking both about the onboarding for select board members, but also ensuring that um early on in the tenure of particularly for new members, they have an opportunity to articulate goals uh and their thoughts. I think that's just
really important. So future select board chairs take note. Um and I own that fact that we didn't do ours until October. Um, okay. So, Mr. Milano, uh, number 10, change to the board of directors at Milton Fuller Housing Corporation doing
business as Fuller Village. Yes, thank you. Both this and item 11 are um some paperwork um updates from Fuller Village for their liquor license. They have two liquor licenses um on site there. Uh, the first is just to update to reflect the current list of
the board of directors. So, they submitted that to us. And the second is to change their manager to properly identify the um the executive director Molly Welch who is their um designated manager for the purposes of they're like a license that they report to both the
town into the uh ABCC. So um two documents both need to be approved and they'll be submitted to the ABCC for further approval, but they just reflect the current iteration of the board of directors for um Fuller Village and then their um active manager uh at Fuller Village.
Uh, so I will uh I'll take a motion on this unless anyone has questions. The first one there. Um, I would like to make a motion to approve the change to the board of directors at Milton Fuller Housing Corp.
DBA Fuller Village at the following location. Oh, at the following location. Well, I thought that was for the liquor licenses. I thought we were It's the license carries for both locations. Okay. All right. And to approve And to
approve the liquor license for 1399 Blue Hill A and the liquor license for 1372 Brush Hill Road. Second. Made and seconded. Mr. Milan, would those good for you for the motions? Yep. We're just Yeah, we're reflecting the board of director exchange. All
good. Okay. Uh this will be a roll call vote. Uh Mr. Wells, yes. Miss Hagerty, yes. Mr. Dailyaly, yes. And myself, yes. Uh, item 12, we'll have to take item 11 now. Oh, we have to take item 11 now. It's two separate votes. Two separate
Oh, I feel like submitt. Okay. Uh, so then, uh, item 11, I'll take a second motion on that one. So, um, I'd like to make a motion to approve the change of manager at Milton Fuller Housing Corp., DBA Fuller
Village. um with a the liquor license for 1399 Blue Hill A and the liquor license for 1372 Brush Hill Road. Second. We got the thumbs up from Mr. Milano. Uh
any further discussion? This is a roll call vote. Mr. Wells, yes. Miss Hagerty, yes. Mr. Dailyaly, yes. And myself, yes. Now for the big breaking news. We have a warm copy of the town warrant. Um,
Mr. Milano. Yes. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. The warrant committee completed their work last week. Appreciate the efforts that they put in to, uh, finalize their recommendations. Bless you. And to write their comments. So, um, upon the board's
what the board's being asked tonight is to approve the warrants. Um, so all the articles that are within it and the manner in which they appear. Um the warrant committee's recommendations are also enclosed with it. This is with the printer now and we expect delivery to
hit by the end of this week. Um so we'd be looking for the select board to approve the warrants um and approve it for posting. I'll take a motion on that if anyone would like to make
this one. Okay. I move to approve the special town meeting warrants index and greeting pages dated October 27th, 2025. [Music] That's good. A second.
Uh made by Mr. Dailyaly, seconded by Miss Haggerty. Uh any further discussion, Mr. Wells? Uh we'll go do a roll call vote. Mr. Wells. Oh yes, Mr. Chair. I am voting yes on A,
B, C, D, E, F, H, and I, and I vote no on G. Um, sorry, Mr. Wells, we're just uh voting on the approval of the uh not for the index page. On the index page?
Yeah, the index, the welcoming remarks, not the not the individual articles. Yes, that's right. And Mr. Mr. Milano's confirmed that. So, Mr. Wells is a yes. Miss Heaggerty. Yes. Uh Mr. Dailyaly. Yes. And myself. Yes. Um
so I need to go back to 12. Uh so we are done with 12 I think. Yeah. On the warrant. Yeah. The warrant the the board is welcome to discuss the articles if you'd like. We can discuss them at a future meeting. Discuss them before town meeting. Um I'll just just for the warrant committee has voted to
approve them all um as they appear. They have one additional edit in the alcohol town land one which is article number seven. Um they have approved a recommendation that differs um pretty significantly from the article for um article number eight which is
light trespass. Um so that's one we might want to spend a couple more minutes talking about potentially at our future meeting. Um and I think Mr. Wells was pointing out um his concerns with one of them which is article seven I believe if I heard you right Mr. Wells. Um, that's correct. Well, it's G. Yeah. So,
I'm looking at it. I'm just holding my Yeah, we're open for Go ahead, Mr. Wells. We don't have to do it now. We do a few future meeting. I've already echoed my concerns both to Mr. Milano and to the law chair. Okay.
Uh, and I'm guessing that you're that's your um your your your qualms are with the uh additions of from the warrant committee. Is that it? They actually made two. I'm okay so much with the first one. The second one is unreasonable. It will not exist anywhere
else in the town. It doesn't exist in any licensed premises we have. It exists in no liquor licenses that we give in private entities and it does not exist anyone who applies for liquor license for indoor um sale of alcohol on town
properties. So I did as Mr. small as I did. I don't know what they were thinking, but it's more of an operational ideological type of change to them and something that does not exist at all in this town. And that's my concern.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wells. We we are open for discussion if anyone has additional thoughts about that article or other articles. Um I I I will add my own just brief commentary on that. Um I think the um
the alcohol on town land article is something that has gone through um public hearings. Um had we've had comment from a number of folks uh on both sides of this issue. Um I think you know when you have an article that um
both sides are kind of not not thrilled about it tends to be a a good compromise. Um but I'm sure that we'll have a lot of time to discuss this at town meeting. I don't know that it makes sense for us to delve into it too much. um on the lighting bylaw um changes
um I would like to review what the warrant committee has um has done here myself a bit further before I comment on them. I was before the warrant committee is that last week? I think was last week. Yeah, last week uh to discuss this
and um I know that uh their um their general feelings on this were that uh it blended both a light trespass uh art uh element as well as a um nuisance element. Um and uh they were
concerned that we were and and um what do they call that? Dark skies uh provision. So I think that they were trying to limit the scope a little bit more there. Um but I haven't I have to admit that I haven't read through their final version yet, although I did speak to the warrant
chair warrant committee chair on Friday. Um so um those are my quick uh comments on those. Um, and I will I will add at the very end of of my comments that I do believe it's possible for us to get this done in
one day. I do believe it. Um, I think that uh uh, you know, I know that there's strong feelings on a couple of these. Um, but I I think that uh, as a town, I think we can tackle uh, nine articles in one
night. Um and um I I hope that we will not for the sake of expediency itself but for the sake of um you know really just uh good and efficient town government. I I I would ask for some more time as
well to look at some of the updates from the warrant committee. Um one on the light trespass the new committee of three. I wonder how that would be assembled given the discussion we had about if it comes back to select board if it goes to appeals or the folks are
handling other licensing would you know so I think that's for perhaps another night with some more time um the alcohol in townland I think that just deserves a little bit more space because we've gone back that back and forth with that um often uh
so I think maybe we have our meeting on the 21st which is prior to town meeting so we can perhaps have a more robust discussion of some of the articles there. I will say that I I know that the um there the committee of three individuals appointed by the
select board for the appeals process was the attempt by the Warner committee to continue to have an appeals committee and um to not require it to be the select ward. Um so I know that that was the basis for that. Um and uh but yeah, I I think that's
probably uh a wise idea to come back on the 21st with some more substantive discussions. Yeah, that that's Miss you have I mean you're welcome to make more more comments or thoughts here. Okay. Um so we've approved the warrant. Uh we
just uh and uh we've discussed it. So we'll move on to a discussion update report of the Milton Bud Budget Coordination Committee. And I guess I'm turning over to my fellow members that are in person here for this or Mr. Milano. No, Miss Herty the chair.
Miss Hagerty is the chair of She wants to kick it back of the Milton Budget Coordination Committee. So, we had um a successful second meeting um last Friday where we
went around to each member of the committee and just members in attendance to identify what the definition of success was for everyone. Um, in a nutshell, folks are coming to the table
to look at broader trends, higher level with the town to provide more transparency into our financial um, situation.
Um and we committed to um meeting again in the next couple of weeks. Um we so we spent a lot of time in that meeting um with this discussion.
We had wanted to get through the um highlevel overview of the five-year plan um five-year forecast. And um we're going to be convening,
Mr. Milano, I forget what the recon is it the seventh 17th. The 17th, right? Wait from Friday. 17th. Um, so we're going to be reconvening on the 17th to to review that and to also um just orient ourselves toward the the
roles that um that the various committees are going to be playing on the committee. Um we also had a robust discussion on the budget calendars which I think is going to be a useful product. Um, so our vice chair, um, Loy Walker
took a took a pass at putting everybody's budget calendar in one place, which I don't know I don't know if we've um had that as a as a document in recent years. Um
but um it it it brought about like a pretty a pretty good discussion of when when people when different groups are thinking about the budget and um sort of the sequencing of filing items. So we
are we are off to a good start. We're refining our approach and the products that we're looking to develop. Um I don't know if I'm missing anything. No, I would I would add that
the word from our last meeting is institutionalized. Yes. Meaning we were everyone was very adamant about institutionalizing knowledge and procedures. So that regardless of who sits on what board, this is part of what the calendar is
that everyone knows or is aware of the roles that each group plays in the budget process. when who is reviewing what, what's the deadline from the schools, what's the deadline from the warrant committee, when do things go in front of the select board. Also, the understanding that the select board is constantly meeting and our finance
committee. And that's an expectation as well. And also knowing when do folks have input, when do you ask questions? And also in the five-year plan, the big thing that we discussed was looking ahead at needs and understanding what may be coming um coming down the pipe
and that everyone has an understanding when they're going through our numbers. um and our budget that is not just for this one year that we're think we're looking ahead. Um and it's not to step on Mr. Milano. I think it's to make his job perhaps a little easier in his coordination with all the boards that
everyone has an understanding of their role and the expectations of them um from the town. I think I just I would add that what I have found interesting about this is like on the one hand it's of course we have a calendar but on the other hand
it's this is raising and and and showing the importance of just communicating that right sharing it publicly and have it be part of something that's memorialized and assign and it really is about assigning tasks so people know when things are due. So I I I found that helpful. The
other thing just we've talked about a budget summit with the school committee and the warren committee and the select board together. So I'll be um following up just to coordinate dates to find a date to get all of those groups together in a room big enough to hold us to have a just an intro conversation of the
budget year um and just to do it together with everybody. So that's one of the other things that we talked about a bit is putting on that calendar but now we got to find a date to do so. So there's that and our um our reserves policies. Yes. That are being worked on. Yes.
Yes. that are going to be crucial for our path forward um in get keeping us on stable footing, especially over the next few years as we manage what we've got from the
override and making sure that we're rebuilding our reserves going forward and not drawing everything down. Well, I I don't have any questions uh immediately, but I you know, just I think this is such important and
critical work, and so I really thank both of you and all of the members of the committee uh for for for putting this effort in. A great cross-section of people from town hall and from the various um elected boards and committee, elected
and appointed boards and committees. I'm just really delighted to hear that. So, congratulations on your appointment as chair and for your first uh report out. So, we look forward to hearing more from this group. Uh and um I'm guessing
that uh in terms of the both that calendar and some of the some of this these uh documents and ideas are going to be important for us to communicate out to the sort of town more broadly. So, having a you know dedicated page maybe for this committee. I don't know if that's happened already. haven't
perused our town website recently. The committee has a page. It's not yet populated with information, but that was the other we we're we've we've got we're working on products. Yep. Nope. No pressure. No pressure. That was definitely the other theme forming. Team is forming. Yeah.
I appreciate that very much. Um uh I have no further uh questions on that. Um Mr. Wells, I don't see your hand up, so I'm guessing that we're good to go. Um Mr. Milano to item 14, East Milton Fire Station. Thank you, Mr. Wells. Uh, East Milton
Fire Station RFP and visioning session. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, we're working with MAPC to hold that. We've targeted the date of November 10th, but um we should be able to announce that publicly and officially this week, and then we'll
start sharing that and advertising it um to invite folks out to that to talk about the future of the East Mountain Fire Station uh property. Uh Mr. Wells, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so I just want to retouch back on this
and I've listened uh I listen intuitively especially when members start talking about the need for dollars and additional revenues and reserves. I just want to go back to this um because for member Daly,
member Haggedy, they were not here when we first um talked about selling this. I know that um I believe Chair was from the Fire Station Builder Committee has already been able to um voice his strong
support for selling it. Um it's a unique piece of property there. There isn't a lot to do with it. My concern is I'm sure some of the members have seen um and this happens. We don't manage the town on Facebook, but there have been a lot of posts about we'll save the fire
station, do this and that, blah blah blah blah blah. I go back to and I I'm not being disrespectful here. I'm just I want Miss Haggy to get home and I get to the reason. Um, so, uh, again to my initial point that I
made a couple weeks ago, we did go to town meeting to borrow a million dollars when we bought the property where the the new the new engine 2 is going to East Station is going to be housed with the assurance to the town that we were patrol.
My second point is, as we know from and you and I, Mr. Chair, know because we were the only two lucky there, we did put on an RFQ. Is that what it was? Do we put an RQ or an RFP, Mr. Model? Uh, request for expressions of interest. I'm not sure as an RFI.
No, that's request for information, right? So, we do know there is commercial interest in it. You know, is it going to be um uh you know, I don't think it could be a housing or resident. It just doesn't have pie, but there is a there is a
commercial value to it. Um, and I just reiterate this at this point because as you know, Mr. Milano, when you can do these visiting sessions, people can have a wide variety of ideas. The important thing to remember here is
that we have an asset where I'm not usually an advocate for selling assets, but to me, I gave my word. I intend to fight for that. Um, I do live in East Milton, so I get it, but they are getting a burning facility. And as Miss Haggedy just said in in a roundabout
way, but I believe she'll agree with me, is that every dollar we can get, each and every dollar that we can recoup. We don't get a lot of opportunities for commercial dollars here, we need to capitalize on. We're never going to have a social plaza.
We're never going to have a legacy place. I don't I don't think we'll ever have a Whole Foods. Highly unlikely. But this is a building that will remain because of its historic significance. the out, you know, the outer look will look the frame of it will have to remain. But, um,
to try and keep it with the work that it needs so far, I think it's just I think that when we get to this vision, I I for one intend to reiterate to my residents, neighbors, anyone, our residents, neighbor, my
exactly this. This is a situation where we needed a finder. It took years, as you heard me say, both Mr. Zone, Mr. deal with the groundbreaking. It took years to find the location they finally got to put one. I don't know if they I for a long time I never thought we would
get a new police station. So that's just I want to re I want to reemphasize this because before we start to go down our road that you know looking at a multitude of possibilities here. Um this is a limited structure but it does have commercial value and I think and we we
did borrow that million dollars and I I don't I just don't want to lose sight of that. I'm sorry I was longwinded on that one. So, thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Wells. Uh, other thoughts? I would add on to what uh what Richard has just said. Um, I've been sent and I've seen some of the discussion about
the town keeping it, refurbishing it, changing into something else. Um, and it's not that it's impossible. It's that that does come with great expense uh to the town potentially. It is a very unique building. haven't been a fire station. The floor is very unique.
What's under the floor is very unique and so the town management of it would be particularly arduous I think um in the long run. So we're not saying no. We are saying it is very difficult and improbable. And part of this visioning
is seeing what is possible and what is best. And I think all of us on this board uh we very rarely walk in here with just um one idea in mind. Um and we are willing to work through the issues which is why we're starting with the visioning. Um, we're not going to make any decisions without input from the
town and I'm sure the residents and everyone else would also hear um our feelings on what's possible for that location as well. Agree. I mean, I think that, you know, if we do end up selling the property, it's it will be valuable for us to
understand from the residents who live nearby and from the residents who live around town what type of commercial use we would like to see in that spot. I think that's I think that's very valuable feedback.
Um, and yeah, I I just generally agree with everyone. Thank you, Miss Eric. I Yeah, I don't have much to add. I think Mr. Wells um said said most of what I what I feel as well. Um,
only that um, you know, I I think that the Well, I I I I'm just I won't I won't meander on that one. I I I have nothing further to say, but I'm glad that we've got that scheduled for November 10th. And um I think if folks are interested
in that, please attend. Please write us and ask questions. Um we're always happy to respond. Um no further discussion. Uh we'll go to item 15. Do we need to approve the Oh, do we need to approve the visioning session? Nope. No, we're good.
Um so, uh one day liquor license. Uh, does anybody uh feel like making a motion on this one? Uh, yes. Move to approve the 1day liquor license for the Mary May Benny Wakefield Arboritum at 1465 Brushill Road on
October 18th, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for October Family Fest. A second made by Mr. Dailyaly, seconded by Miss Hegerty. Any further discussion? I will just add if you haven't been to the this uh arburetum, it is really a
gem in Milton. It's gorgeous. Uh and I went for the first time a couple years ago and I've been back a few times since then. I was I was stunned. I didn't know that it was there and uh it's a real it's a real jewel that we have in town. Um so, uh barring any further discussion, we will go to a roll call
vote on this. Mr. Wells, yes. Miss Hagerty, yes. Mr. Daly, yes. And myself, yes. Uh we now have uh item 16, discussion approval, application to use Manny Park by the Milton Chamber of Commerce, 555 Adam Street uh for the
Halloween stroll and holiday stroll and tree lighting. Um any uh discussion about this or shall we go to a motion? Make a motion, Mr. Chair. Okay. All right. Move to approve the applications to use Manning Park by the
Milton Chamber of Commerce, 555 Adam Street for the following events. The Halloween scroll, Saturday, October 25th, 2025 from 3 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The holiday scroll and treelighting, Saturday, December 6th, 2025, 3 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Second
made by Mr. Dy, seconded by Miss Hegerty. Uh, no further discussion. One one point, Mr. Chair, Mr. M. Just for Mr. Milano, can we please, you know, he we've discussed this repeatedly. Um, let's get those permanent planters in
place. Um, I think we took a vote on this, so we didn't want to approve anymore. Um, and I looked at what we did for the back to business. It wasn't exactly what you need. I want to get those security measures in place both on the post
office side and the Adam Street credit side. We need to do that. So, sorry, Mr. Chad. I don't want to hop on this, but it's an important security aspect for protecting um pedestrians, people in that park. So, I I want to make sure we get that done.
They were they were delivered at the end of last week. I believe DPW was installing either today or would be st installing this week. So, could you give us a written update maybe when they're installed? That would be wonderful. Thank you. Um Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry. Thank you. I just
No problem at all, Mr. Wells. It's an important It's an important point. Um, but if there is no further discussion, we can move to a roll call vote. And Mr. Wells, I will go back to you. Yes. Miss Hagerty. Yes. Mr. Daly? Yes. And myself? Yes. Um, item 18,
application from First Parish, Milton, 535 Nav, to use the town green Baron Hugo Gazebo on Sunday, October 26, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. for trunko tree with the First Congregational Church. I'll take a motion on this one unless
there's any discussion. That sounded like a motion. If that was a motion, I'll second it. All right, I'll make that a motion. Uh I don't usually do it, but it's fine. Seconded by my by Mr. Wells. Uh this will be a roll call vote. Mr. Wells. Yes. Miss Hagerty. Yes.
Mr. Dailyaly. Yes. Uh and myself. Yes. Just like to you, Miss Agetty. Thank you. We just got to It looks like you're about to go to bed, you know. No, no, no. I have a lot of work to do. Have a busy day tomorrow, too. Mr. Milano, you had item 17.
Item Oh, I Yeah, we missed I missed item 17 somehow. Um Um Don't I'll take I'll take a motion because uh I apparently I made it the last time by reading the agenda item. Discussion to approve the application to use the town green gazebo
Baron Hugo Gazebo by First Parish Mil Sunday. We did that 17. Sorry, I skipped 17. Yeah, the number 17. I was reading 17. No, you were reading 18. Yes, he's reading my 17. We have separate. Yeah, it's read 18. Sorry.
Okay, 18. All right. Okay, got it back. Ah, move to approve the application to use Manning Park from Scott Farrell the Milton Chamber of Commerce, 17 Mark Crest Drive, the holiday light installation and display November through December. Second made by Mr. Daly, seconded by Mr.
Wells. Further discussion? Uh, Mr. Wells, yes. Miss Haggerty, yes. Mr. Dailyaly, yes. And myself, yes. Sorry, I feel like No, no, that's my fault. Uh, I now I think we're at item 19. Yes, we are. Uh, and so we have a discussion and
approval of meeting minutes. Um, was everybody here for each of those? 18th 25th and 26. Yep. Yep. Well, this one from 20 2205, I don't know that any of us were here for 200 years in the future. Oh.
Oh, wow. Um, I'll take a motion on this one. I was not at the 18th. Okay. I'll take separate. I was out of state. Okay. Right. Motion to approve the meeting minutes from August 18th. Mr. Wells did not attend. Second. Okay. Uh, made by Mr. Dailyaly, seconded
by Miss Hagerty. Um, this will be a roll call vote. Mr. Wells, he's out on now. Mr. Dane? Yep. Miss Hagerty? Yes. Mr. Daly? Yes. And myself? Yes. All right. I move to approve the meeting minutes dated August 25th, 2025 and August 26, 2025.
Second. Uh, and any discussion? Uh, Mr. Wells? Yes. Yes. Miss Hagerty? Yes. Mr. Dailyaly? Yes. And myself? Yes. Uh, town administrators report. Mr. Milano.
Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so we talked about the special town meeting, but just as a reminder for town meeting members, uh, it begins Monday, October 27th at 7:30 at the high school. Please put it in your calendar if you have not. The warrant will be up on the
website tomorrow posted and in the mail and should be in mailboxes this week. Um, we do have a number of board and committee openings um that on our website. If you go to the board and committee page, the excuse me, the active openings are listed. In
particular, um the chair of the historical commission, Steve O'Donnell, asked me to plug the historical commission as one of particular particular fund. Um if you want to join that one, uh they're a good group. Um but the full list of openings is on our page. Um if you're interested, if you're
not really sure what you'd like to serve in, reach out to our office and we can give you some guidance and give you some um ideas. Uh we did receive a liquor license application for the um new restaurant at 10 Basset Street um under the name of Marbella. So we will be
opening the public hearing for that liquor license application at the select board's meeting on October 21st. Um so likely we'll so the plan would be to open the public hearing then take comments um and the board can choose to do at that point hand up there
and we'll be advertising um that in the paper um and it'll be a not a Butters will be notified um as well for that and Mr. Wells I'll let you jump in. Do you have a question Mr. Wells? I do. So just for for both for Mr. daily missed because this is their first time
going through this. Unlike a new license application, what the applicant is applying for on this one is for an existing license which which was previously assigned to the plate store. So, it's an exist we'll be voting on
this won't require any house or senate u action. This is an existing license within the town and it will only require our vote once we vote on it. Um it will be moved to if if it's approved move to the same location but the new business.
Correct. So is the owner the same? No. No. Okay. The license the license been returned to us. Now it's up to the select board to issue. We the board can only issue it to that specific location but a new entity may apply for it which
is the case here. And even though I mean what weren't the owners of the plate the same? No, they're not the same. This is the owner of the fruits. Got to cut it. Okay. M. If I may, Mr. Chair, just to follow up on that. So, for both Go ahead, Mr.
and Miss Agony, a similar situation exists at Am I right, Miss One Elliot Street, a we have not voted one, but a license was approved by the legislature for that location and for that location only, but no one has applied to um put
it in use yet. the Bank of America building. The building the um the fitness unlimited building. Okay, that is correct. Well, I might go to that's all I got. Thank Thank you. Um poor
two uh just fire station project updates related the East Milton uh fire station groundbreaking. We appreciate um the fire station building committee for hosting inviting um us and others and that was held last Friday and made it into the Milton times. So, um we're
excited that that project is continuing to progress. Um and related that the fire station building committee is is um really starting to work now on the third project which is the Athetherton Street station for engine 4. Um this the
committee is meeting October 14th. Um so we expect to take that discussion from the committee level up to the select board as well to map out um what that process will be for getting um that third project underway before voters before town meeting as required um to make sure we um finish the three fire
station projects. Um and then I just wanted to note that with the new town council transition that um we've been in touch and meeting with uh Darren Klein from KP Law. He attended our department head meeting last week. So had a chance to meet department heads. The first
round of office hours will be next week. Um so folks will be able to to sit with him and and start working on items in earnest. Um we have the site view with mass D tomorrow for the lower gyle um ongoing um appeal that'll be at lower
with um the hearing officer. Uh that's at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Um and then just lastly, I I just want to note that um IT director Rob Mallet's mother passed away um a couple weeks ago. Um the services are this week in South Carolina. There
will be um a service in November, I believe, at St. Agatha's. So um condolences to Rob and his family. He is down at South Carolina for the week. Um and we know um the impact that that has on the family. So we just want to extend our condolences to Rob and to all his siblings and his father. So that
concludes my report, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Milano. Uh for the chair's report, um obviously um extending our sympathies to Mr. Mallet. Um also, uh Miss Gene Darcy, who's our retirement director for the town, um
just lost her, uh daughter, Aaron, to cancer. Uh and so we uh we extend our sympathies and our condolences to that family as well. No one should have to lose a child to cancer. Yeah, it's just terrible. Um, so our
thoughts and our prayers are with her. Um, we had uh in other firefighter news, um, there was a a fantastic fundraiser for firefighter Daniel Thomas uh this past weekend uh at Floren Hall in Dorchester. I know um some of the
members here went um and uh it was a really I think a a great success. there's a huge turnout um and um I the uh the the speech the speeches and and there was a lot of emotion but a lot of love in that room so it was it was uh
great to be a part of it. Um also uh on this past Saturday there was the Mid-Autumn Festival um that was organized by the uh Milton AsianAmerican Pacific Islander uh coalition. Um it was a great success. there was a number of
people out there. Um there was free moon cake which is always a bonus. Um so thank you to that group for pulling that together. Um and I know connect Milton was also a part of that. So thank you to connect Milton. Um and uh and finally I
it would I would be remiss if I didn't note that today uh is October 7th which is the two-year anniversary of uh the the Hamas massacre. uh that uh began this uh latest round of fighting uh in
in Israel and and Palestine and um just that u peace comes with effort and uh I hope that uh you no one has a monopoly on grief. No one should have a monopoly on grief. There's so much grief to go
around right now in that area. Um, it's important for us to keep all of the folks who are grieving in our in our in our thoughts and uh and to continue to work for peace and the return of the hostages. Uh, and uh, I don't think that we need to go into too much more detail
about that, but I I would be remiss if I didn't mention that. Um, I don't have any other items from the chair. Um, public comment response. I feel like we already addressed the library parking uh in detail. Uh so moving on to future
meeting dates. Uh we have on our uh select board meeting uh next one is October 21st. Uh then we'll have one on November 18th and December 2nd. Um looking forward and December 16th. Um,
we will also be convening on the 27th of October for special town meeting and the 28th and the 29th if that is necessary. Um, any uh future agenda item suggestions from members? I think we had a couple from uh from our discussions
earlier. Uh, Mr. Milano. Um, I don't know if anybody has anything else that they'd like to um put on the agenda in the future. Um, as always, it's my policy and I think it should always be the policy of the select board that any select board member that has a agenda item that they
want to see on the on the agenda, it gets put on the agenda. So, uh, that remains um my strong uh my strong belief. Yes, I think last meeting we discussed the potential for the board of health to
present on their activities overall and also to speak to the opioid settlement funds that are being administered. I don't know if um yes, Caroline Canella and I had looked at dates. So, okay,
I've given her our our calendar and I know she provided me the date that worked for them. I just I don't remember off. Sure. But it's happen. It's Yes. Yeah. Great. Cool. Okay. Well, um I'm going to steal this from you, Mr. Dailyy. Uh I am going to
then um uh move to adjourn from open session and enter into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining. Milton Clerical Unit of the Southeastern Public Employees Association, Milton Professional Management Association, Milton Public Employees Association,
Milton Firefighters Local 116, Milton Police Association, Milton Superior Officers, Milton Library Association. Uh, based on my belief that discussion of this matter in open session may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the select board, the select board will not return to open session.
Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Dailyy. Uh this is a roll call vote. Uh we'll start with Mr. Wells. Yes. Miss Hagerty? Yes. Mr. Dailyaly? Yes. And myself? Yes. Uh I'm going to move to adjourn from open session and enter into executive
session to consider the purchase exchange lease or value of real property uh exchange lease or sale of value real property. I would imagine uh Corey Hills based on my belief that the discussion of this matter in open session may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating
position of the select board. The select board will not return to open session. Second. Seconded by Mr. Dailyaly. Uh this is a roll call vote. Um we've already lost Mr. Wells. Um so Miss Hagerty. Yes. Mr. Dailyaly. Yes.
And myself. Yes. Uh and then um so I will u move to adjourn. We move to adjourn. So yeah. Uh so again uh move to adjourn. We don't have Mr. Wells online anymore. So we can just do this vocally. Second. Uh yes, we need a second and
then all in favor I I uh I am going to now call to order a meeting of the Governor Stoen trustees. Uh and uh now I will move to adjourn from open session for the Governor Stoen trustees and enter into executive
session to consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, town farm based on my belief that discussion of this matter in open session may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the Governor Stoen Trust. The trustees of the Governor Stoton Trust will not return to open session.
Need a second. Second. Uh, this is a roll call vote. Uh, Miss Hagerty. Yes. Mr. Dailyaly. Yes. And myself? Yes. Uh, I will uh move to ajourn. Second. And uh all in favor? I. All right. Thanks everyone for joining
us. [Music] Hey. Hey.