Good evening and welcome to the September 24th meeting of the select board. Uh please stand if you are able and join me in reciting our pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Uh we have uh Mr. Wells is joining us remotely today. Um good evening, Mr.
Wells. I hope all is well. It looks like you might be somewhere north of us in the on a hill. Very well. All right. Um, just say the word if, uh, if you've got anything for us. We'll keep an eye on the on the Zoom, too. Our
next item up is, uh, public comment. Uh, per our rules, we allow, um, 3 minutes per speaker and for a total of 21 minutes. I will keep track of the three minutes. Uh, Mr. Milano will keep track of our overall time. I don't believe that we have anybody here uh, for
citizens speak in person. Um, let me just check our and uh we don't have any hands up online. So, uh, I think we can probably just go
right ahead uh to our next item. Um, we have a, uh, department update with our, uh, town clerk, Sue Galman, and I don't see her yet, so we may we may put a pin in that one. Uh our next item uh we will
come back to uh to the update with the town clerk when she's able to join us. Uh our next item is a letter of engagement with KP Law for town council services. Mr. Milano. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um and we are joined this evening by managing partner
Lauren Goldberg. Um as >> you go, >> excuse me. Um the as the board is aware uh we've the board voted to um appoint KP as town council subject to um a letter of engagement. We have received a letter of engagement from KP Law with a
few um highlights in terms of how the fee will work. Uh KP is proposing a $99,000 retainer um in year 1. uh that would cover a wide u breadth of services that they call basic town council services which is um more or less the
day-to-day services. They are proposing at an hourly rate of $265 for all additional work outside of the retainer. Um that traditionally is um more intensive work um court appearances, litigation and the like. Um there are
also some additional services that have additional fees because of um the more um specialty related services related to those and those are variable rates depending on what they proposed. Um so the overall takeaways are a $99,000
retainer um build monthly as well as the $265 hourly rate which will be um they've committed to keeping at 265 for fis the remainder of this fiscal year as well as the uh next fiscal year. Um, and just to be um, transparent as what that
means in compared to what we're um, operating under today, um, currently it's a $75,000 retainer for basic town council services and a $220 hourly rate. So, it is um, an adjustment um, on both the retainer front and the hourly rate um, as comparison to what the current
um, arrangement is. >> Great. Uh, questions from the board? >> Nope. >> Uh, Mr. Wells, any questions from from you on this? Okay, I can see you shaking your head. Um, I think for me the only question
that I had was um for the I I think when we were going through the process there was discussion about having office hours. Uh, has that been uh included in this? And where does that would that fall under the hourly rate or under the retainer? >> No. Uh, good point. We KP has offered
six office hours per month on a monthly basis and included as part of the retainer um payment. So it is something I know members heard and were interested in um that other communities had been doing with their council. So it's something that we brought to them and that they were uh willing to propose at
the 6 hour limit on a monthly basis. How were we being charged before for items like, you know, if we had to call Peter for something? >> Um, was that the flat fee? >> Yes. That would be all kind of under the
retainer. >> Generally, the kind of rule of thumb was >> anything that didn't require extensive research um would be captured under the the flat rate and the day-to-day calls um emails um the day-to-day business was covered under the retainer. And those
same definitions apply. >> I I am Yeah, I would characterize it that way and >> I can certainly welcome up. Yes, please like to join us. >> You might know a few things. Please feel free to introduce yourself. >> Yes, thank you. Lauren Goldberg, KP Law.
I'm the managing attorney at the firm and I'm also proposed as the backup attorney for the town. Um, so, uh, the town administrator did a nice job of explaining kind of the the breakdown, but the type of thing you're
talking about, just a quick call, um, during the day, that would all be within the retainer. And we feel that our retainer is pretty broad and that it's going to encompass a lot of what you need on a day-to-day basis. outside the retainer, litigation, significant real
estate transactions, um really the type of thing that seems like it should be outside the retainer, a bigger um more intense project. And as I um committed to the town administrator, we won't open matters outside the retainer unless we
discuss it with him. And I will say there are some things that kind of start out as just within the retainer and over time they kind balloon and then we would talk about taking it outside the retainer. Um I feel very confident that the retainer amount especially with the
six office hours is really going to be a benefit to the town. We're very efficient because we have a lot of experience and I know your prior firm did as well. But I have confidence that that we're going to be able to provide the services you need within your budget. Um, and I will work with the
town administrator and with you any if any issues come up with billing. Um, you know, I'm happy to talk about that. I don't want that to be an issue when you all have so many other things to deal with. Um, and the other thing, and I had committed this to you during our interview, is if the retainer amount is
too much, meaning you know, you really don't use the amount of services that would that would be covered. um you know, using that 265 kind of as a as a measure, I will come back to you with a with a lower amount. Um you know, again, it's it's the long term that matters to
us. We're not looking to make a quick buck. Um we just really want to be able to pay ourselves for the services that we provide. Um and part of that is that we really um you know, we do a lot of in-house training. And so we're really bringing people to you that are very
senior and have a lot of experience. Um uh the other thing is for billing purposes. I don't know how involved you all are at looking at bills. I know the town administrator does. Our bills are very detailed. I I've looked at some of the previous bills. Uh our bills, you
will see every single minute that's build in six-minute increments. Um as well as a description, a short description of the work that was done. So, I think that'll give you some insight into kind of, you know, whether you think what we're doing is fair. Um,
and, you know, a better idea of the kind of work that it requires to provide the services. So, I think that'll be that'll be nice to have for you. So typically speaking, uh would you usually review like you know starting with a new a new
town like this after the end of like the first fiscal year of work would you go back and kind of just reassess to see is that what you sort of referring to with in terms of the size of the retainer and everything? >> I for the Yes. And for the retainer I wasn't even talking about a year. I mean
we'll look at it at 3 months. We'll look at it at 6 months. Um you know it needs to be appropriate. It needs to be set appropriately. If you're using way more legal services than we thought, then we would talk about changing the retainer next year to be more reflective of that. But, um, it is, you know, as I said,
there was one town where we went in, we picked the number that we thought was right based on our conversations with them, and it just wasn't right. And, you know, 3 months in, I went back and said, let's let's pull this back. This isn't this isn't fair, and it's not what we're looking for. So, um, you know, sometimes
a town will do well in one month, meaning they get a lot more services in one month, and sometimes they'll get less, but it does matter in the big picture. Um, and we will keep an eye on that. We watch what we're spending as much as you are watching what we're spending.
>> Other questions from the members? >> That was helpful. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I'll take a motion on this if anyone wants to bring it. I'll make a motion to approve the I don't have the in front of I I'll make a motion to approve the relationship and
a contract between the town of Milton and KP Law for the services of town council. >> The letter of engagement. >> Letter of engagement. Yeah. >> Okay. Motion's been made by Mr. Wells. Have a second. >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Hegerty. Um as Mr. Wells is remote, we're going to be doing
our votes roll call this evening. Um, any further discussion? Uh, Mr. Wells? >> Yes, sir. >> U, your vote on this? >> Yes. Sorry. >> That's that's all. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells is yes. Miss Hegerty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dailyaly? >> Yes.
>> And myself? Yes. >> We have approved the letter and we look forward to working with you. >> Well, thank you so much. And I've told you all already, but we are very excited about working with the town and really looking forward to, you know, learning more about how you actually operate and
um, you know, whatever we can bring to the table. We are excited to do so. So, thank you again. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I see we are uh now joined by our fantastic town clerk, uh, Miss Galvin. So, um, I'm going to just bring us back
to that item, uh, number four, which is a department update with our town clerk. >> I apologize for being late. >> No, we were we're >> You were super on time. >> We were very on time. We're punctual and uh, and nobody wanted to speak at public comment. So,
>> well, >> I guess we're doing everything right, right? >> Mr. Chair, if I could interrupt for a moment. So I received um a text from Diane Dulio Agustinino who says she was unable to join on her phone was joined on her has joined by her phone but was unable to raise her hand during public
comment. Um so if you wanted to contemplate allowing her three minutes to speak um due to a technical issue on her end on raising her hand through the phone >> guessing that she is the 848 number. >> Yes. Okay. Um so um is there objection from the board if we No.
>> Okay. I'll reopen public comment uh to allow Miss uh Miss Augustino to speak if you could promote her please. M Miss Galvan, you can just sit comfortably for three minutes. Perfect. >> Can you hear us Diane? >> Hello. >> Yes. >> Yeah. The issues with the issues with
the link the link would not open and I couldn't copy it to be on the Zoom call so I used the phone call. Um I just wanted to clarify that that this is not you know on my behalf. I appreciate um the public comment section and I wanted
to address number five which was already addressed. So Miss >> Augustino Miss Agustinino if you could just quickly identify yourself and give your address for the record and then we'll start the time. >> Oh thanks very much so that I so that I can clarify why I am calling in. Diane
Dulio Exgastino 147 Rididgewood Road, Milton, Mass. And I am calling in has the a former selectman who actually my my name is typed on the contract with Quarry Hills and it was never signed. So
that's what I'm calling in has the selectman former selectman regarding the Quarry Hills. And my initial comment was on item number five because on item 19 that's in executive session. I am very concerned. I have mentioned this in a
previous public comment and having been directly seated at the table during these discussions and debate. I am trusting that this board is reviewing any proposals related to Quarry Hills with the new town council since the
prior town council at a public um town meeting did confirm that their firm had represented some of the owners they I don't recall exactly who and then it was disclosed in news reports that they had so it was a conflict they had a conflict
which um when it was finally released it became more apparent as to why I did not feel the contract was in the best fiduciary interest of the town. So, that was my comment. I've told you before, I wanted to repeat it tonight because I found this um to be a really critical
point with the new law firm coming in and the contemplating the current contract. Thank you very much for getting me in there and um have a good day. >> Thank you, Miss Augustina. >> Diane, >> thank you. Okay, now I will reclose uh public
comment and uh let's turn uh to Miss Galvin. So um just as a by way of a quick introduction. So we've been having these uh discussions every uh we're trying to do them most of the select board meetings to just have uh a different town department come in, tell
us a little bit about their work, give us a look forward at the year, answer some general questions, getting everyone an opportunity to kind of understand the work that goes on. Uh and so we know with uh an election coming up and with a town meeting coming up, uh not that you're ever not busy, but this is
particularly busy. So we thought it would be a nice opportunity for you to come in and share a little bit and answer some quick questions, but there's very low pressure and um as always, it's a delight to see you. >> Oh, well, thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. Um and I thank you for
your time. Um so have something prepared. Um, town clerks have long played an important role in our local government. In fact, their role is one of the oldest forms in government with roots dating back to ancient Greece. The
town clerk's responsibilities are wide ranging and farreaching. And with constantly changing laws and expectations, the role of the town clerk looks very different today than it did 13 years ago when I stepped into this role.
Most duties of my office fall into one of the following categories. Managing, administering, issuing, distributing, recording, and responding. The core functions are vital records, annual
census, election administration, public public record management, open meeting law and ethic training and compliance, oath of office, Tom meeting and licensing for marriages, businesses, dogs, raffles, and storage tanks.
So, let me just break down what we do. I know you are all familiar with elections because that is mostly why I come before you folks um but vital records. So the
town clerk serves as the local register um for birth certificates, marriages, deaths and um we are recording, filing and issuing certificates and all of that is to ensure compliance
with the Massachusetts registry of vital records and statistics which we are fortunate enough to have the registra live here in town. She is lovely. She came in and visited me which was quite the honor. Um and um
it's Jennifer Raymond for those of folks don't know her. She is fantastic and um it's great for us to have um her in the town. Um in addition the annual census, I'm sure you're all familiar with it.
You get it every year from my office. Um and I'm required to conduct it. And the census is a mandatory survey. It's sent to every resident um each January and basically it's to count the population and um maintain official records for our
voting list. Um it also helps with jury selection, veterans benefits, and other municipal services so that we have an accurate tally. Um, on the slip, residents must verify or correct the provided information, sign the form, and
return it to our office, and then we record it um appropriately and update their census. Um, public records. As the town's official recordkeeper, I'm responsible for maintaining and providing access to public records,
including vital statistics, bylaws, town meeting minutes, all in accordance with state law. um and overseeing the public requests for these documents. Open meeting law and ethic training compliance. So the primary role under
the open meeting law is to serve as the official recipient and poster of public meeting notices, ensure compliance with the law of 48 hour advanced notice. Um, additionally, I'm responsible for providing open meeting law education to
the public officials by distributing information materials and requiring their written certification of receipt. I also serve as a local point of contact for boards and committees and the public seeking guidance on open meeting law.
And I also serve as the local liars for the state ethics commission by um distributing the conflict of interest law summary and facilitating the mandatory annual um I'm sorry not annual
um my pages are messed up. >> No worries. um every other year. Um Oh my god, where are they?
Okay, take two. Um okay, it does say annual, but it isn't annual. It is every other year. Ethics training for municipal employees and volunteers. um oath of office, which I have had the
lovely pleasure of swearing all of you folks in. Um I'm statutoily mandated to administer the oath of office to every elected and appointed official including members of boards and committees and to keep the records of those oaths.
Um licensings for marriages, businesses, dogs, raffles, storage tanks. Um my office serves as the central issuing authority for various statemandated licenses and permits um which include marriage licenses, dogs, business
certificates, fuel storage uh renewals as well as uh raffles and permits. Tom meeting um so I act as the official record keeper for town meetings. I work closely with the monitor to moderator to
ensure all legal and procedural requirements are met. Um while the moderator presides over and regulates the meeting, um my job is to provide essential support during and after Tom meeting. After Tom meeting, I'm required to certify all the votes and actions
taken at Tom meeting. Submit general and zoning bylaws to the attorney general for approval. Submit required debt authorization documentation to the department of revenue and provide appropriate appropriation documentation to the assessor and finance director.
And then we come to election administration. So um as the town clerk, I'm the chief election official. I'm responsible for overseeing all election related activities at the local level. So this includes voter registration
lists, nomination and petitions, ballots and equipment, absentee and early voting, polling place management, recounts, audits and result reporting. All of this is in collaboration with the board of registars which you folks appoint. There
are three types of elections. They take place on regular schedules customarily set by law. In Milton, the annual town election happens the last Tuesday in April. State elections are always an even number years and presidential
elections and primaries are every four years. Um, separate from that schedule, for those of us who run elections, there are nearly two types, general elections and primaries.
So, a general election means everybody who's registered can vote and there's only one ballot used. A primary is a party election to select the party candidates that would face off in the final general election. Each party has
its own ballot. If you're unenrolled in a party, um you vote the party by choice. Um, if you're enrolled in one of the recognized ballots, you have have to choose either a Democrat or Republican
ballot. Um, so as far as elections occur occur, the um chain of custody is very important in voting in elections. There are three really important items. The voting book,
poll pads, which we use here, ballots, and the voting tabulator. Um, some of the main items that you need to be prepared for for every election is the voting list, the ballots in the ballot box, the voting tabulator,
training the election workers, candidate and media outreach, communication with voters who cannot get to the polls on election day. For example, if a voter won't be in a town on an election date or wants to vote early, they can apply for a vote by
mail ballot for a state and federal election um for the entire year. um or they can vote early and present in person for our federal and state
elections um on a scheduled date that the town is conducting those. Um so basically to vote early the voter signs and submits an application to receive a ballot. The ballots must be returned to the election official by the
close of the polls on election day where we have an upcoming election. Um the last day for a person to apply for an early vote um ballot would be um October 28th and I would need to receive it in
my office by 5:00 p.m. currently have just shy of a thousand um applications currently for the upcoming election. Um, so the ballot has to be returned to our office by the close of polls on the
election day to be counted. It cannot be turned in at the polling locations. It has to come to my office. Um, tremendous amount of work and organization it is required to run an election. Um, we like to think of it as throwing a wedding.
You invite a lot of people and you're not sure who's coming. So, it's the same work whether everyone comes or just two people. Um, of course, I would like everybody to vote. Um, now, now that the
election's on track, there's about 100 steps to conduct an election that has to be followed. Um, to perform the legal postings needed, count blank ballots, to train and assign election workers, to proofreading the ballots.
Two of the most important activities are testing the voting machines and ballots and training the p pole workers. Every single voting machine that is used in election must be tested with every type of ballot to ensure the machine is
properly counting the marks on the ballot to ensure um that the machine isn't overounting or underounting the ballads and um counting writeins or um anything of the like. Um this has to be
conducted before every election at least 4 days. Um, and the results of those tests have to be sent to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Um, training elections to make sure our election workers know the election law
and what to do in unusual situations is of utmost importance. Uh, voting lists, it that is a list of all the registered voters in town. Um, here in Milton, we use poll pads to um
keep track of that, but we also do have paper lists to ensure that um if the poll pads aren't working, that voters can still continue on. Um, all of the voter ballots must be counted. My office is responsible for
accounting for each and every ballot. That includes the early voters, the absentee voters, and the voters who vote on election day. Um the average flow for a day election day is at 5:00 a.m. the police escort
myself and DPW election logistics team to transport our ballots, the ballot bins to the precincts along with the voting tabulators, the poll pads and the supplies. Um
elections election workers are there. They set up the um materials, the supplies, and then the polls are declared open at 7:00 a.m. Um, typically my phones ring all day long with questions from voters. Um, can this
voter vote here? Um, is it the father or the son, different addresses, if they're a Milton voter, um, but are they still registered somewhere else in Milton? Um and what we're doing is trying to accommodate each and every person so
that they are able to vote. Um so um checking in the voting list, getting the ballots marked and putting the ballot into the tabulator is our goal for every voter. Um registered voters and voters we aren't sure about. for
example, um they can still vote by a provisional ballot and we'll do the research after and if they are proven to be um able to be counted, they are counted after the election. Um every
ballot has to be accounted for on election day. And so at the close of the polls um at 8:00 p.m. the work for the poll workers just really begin. Um, so they have to count the unused ballots. They make sure every ballot that went
into the voting machine was marked off and that the list co matches how many voters actually were cast. Then they count the ballots that came out of the machine to make sure all three um co coexist. Um the ballots that were
handc counted, they mark those and tally those. Um the ballots that had writeins, they mark those and record that. Any ballots that were spoiled, they count those and keep a tally of that. And then um the ballots that were tabulated
during advanced processing remain in um locked up at town hall. Um the actual ballots are locked in the safe, but the tabulations aren't able to be printed until um 8:00 PM after the polls close
as well. So every every ballot is counted. Um everything is accounted for before the election workers can leave for the night. Once they finish that material comes back to my office and um
we have to merge if there is advanced processing with the um election day voting together before we can re read results. Um,
and let's see. Okay, winding down. Um, so the unofficial results of the ballot process on election day are reported at the precincts and then delivered to my office. Um, I already
said that. Um, so finally, the work we do in the town clerk's office is essential to a smooth operation for our community from elections to vitals to public service and everything in between. My office team plays a vital role in ensuring my office not only
meets expectation but goes above and beyond. I appreciate their commitment to public service and for being such an outstanding team. I'd also like to acknowledge the election workers for their dedication, integrity, and excellence. I feel very fortunate to
work with these individuals as well as the entire workforce in the town that make up our government party. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Sorry for the clumsiness. >> No problem at all. Do you have time to take a couple of quick questions if the members have any
>> um questions for the for the clerk? >> So, um Miss Galvin, thank you so much for all that you do. Um you know, especially um in current times, you know, the I mean, you and your your staff do a great job.
Um, and what you do is like fundamental to democracy um, and something we should never take for granted. Um, and a lot we recognize um, this being individuals who've run campaigns
um, and had our own volunteers at the polls and such. you know, what what it's like to manage um you know, a townwide thing like that. Um but also too, just like what you guys do outside of
um outside of elections to make sure everybody's counted and um you know, it's I mean, you really have your finger on the pulse of citizenship in the town. Um so, thank you. Um you know and and
for me you know my major question you know that I I think I ask this question generally for everyone who comes before us is more operational what are your you know what are your what keeps you up at night? What do what
are your big challenges that you see for the next year? And um how can you know how can we have >> how do you do that? >> Yeah. Right. just just the just the awareness of that, you know, just
recognizing that that you all do so much. Um, you know, what what are you what are you focused on or what are you um you know, what do you what what would you change or do better
if you could wave a magic wand? >> Um, well, do better is always a goal, right? You can always do better everything. Yeah. >> Um, so I would say, you know, being more
available, um, you know, there's never enough hours in a day to read everything you're supposed to read. Um, and be on top of everything you're supposed to be on top of. Um, and I have the luxury of having a really good team that supports
me so that I am able to on most days um, keep up with my emails, keep up with, um, the the matters at hand um, that have to be done. Of course, there's always those that are pushed off to the side either by not
wanting to do them. They're less glamorous. Not that anything is glamorous, but um you know, I think we have a pretty good operation. And um I'm always looking of ways to improve. Space
would be our biggest obstacle, I think. Um, you know, I don't know if anybody's been in our office, but we've had a a big container in our office since the last election because we don't have a place for it. Um, so that would be our
biggest obstacle. Um, it would alleviate a lot, provide us with more spots to store all of the stuff that we have to store. >> Got it. >> Um, so >> thank you. >> Sure. Uh, other questions?
>> Uh, no questions for me. So, uh, we had a chance to speak recently, but I want to say thank you to you and your staff and everyone in the town hall for the work that you do. So, >> that thank you. >> Right back at you. >> Um, just a quick question for me, um, Sue and, uh, again, thank you so much
for being available and, um, and for preparing such a detailed, uh, review. I think anybody that wants to understand what a town clerk does, >> I mean, you've started us in ancient Greece and brought us up to the present. So, I think you've done an excellent job there. Um, two two questions that I I
get asked on a fairly regular basis. If someone wants to be a pole worker or volunteer at the polls, do they reach out to you directly? >> Yeah. So, they they should reach out to me and then I would forward the list to you folks for approval. Um, and you
know, usually always right before elections people get sick, they can't show up. That's really when we are looking for individuals. Um so anybody who's interested would love to have them. We'll put them on our list
and more than likely they will be used. >> Wonderful. >> Um so yeah, we would welcome that greatly. >> Thank you. I I know per what Miss Heggery was talking about earlier, I think a lot of people are very interested in keeping and maintaining this prog process. Uh and so if they can
they can play a role in that. >> The only thing I ask is that if somebody is working for a candidate that they not step out on a particular election not that there's anything that they can do. It's just it it gives a yeah it
doesn't give a good impression that the integrity of the election. Not that it could falter it but >> that makes sense. Uh, the other question that I get, um, and and I know that we've we've we've been addressing this a little bit in the past is if folks want
to contact their town meeting members to advise them on how they're thinking about an article, what's the best way for them to get a hold of their town meeting members? >> So, we do have a program that's hasn't been highly
embraced, for lack of a better word, by our town meeting members. um would love to have them all sign up so that anybody who's interested get but it hasn't been embraced. So right now it's kind of a
rudimentary system that if somebody desperately needed to get in touch with their uh town meeting member they could contact me and I would reach out to the town meeting member. Um I don't share emails or or anything like that. Um, so,
uh, that's probably their their best m way of saying it. But that being said, it's not very it's timeconuming for me. It's not a very efficient manner. Um, so, uh, it would have to it would have to be
something of like utmost importance. Um, >> well, I'm I'm glad to hear that you're interested in figuring out how we can do it a little bit better. So, I think that might be an item that we can take up as a board and certainly I think that's not a great use of your time to be a message
bearer. Uh, so u maybe Mr. Milano will think about adding that to a future agenda. >> Okay. >> About how we might be able to expand it. >> Perfect. >> Um, any other questions from the members? Mr. Wells, I don't know if you want to say anything. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to thank Madame Clerk for um her time
tonight. Unlike uh the other department heads that have been coming in to do reviews with us, um Sue Galvin is selected in her position just as we are. She is an elected official of the town just as we are an
elected board of the town and she ultimately answers to the citizens. But having graced her door u many times in my life um she eloquently described exactly what takes place in there. You know people go
in there everything from getting married to seeing how do I get citizenship, how do I do this to the anxiety that a lot of people have when they walk through the door for the first time to want to run for especially town hall election or even town meeting
members. So in that aspect, her team who I know all them intimately um go out of their way to make sure that your experience and their helpfulness and their ability to guide you through the process is always excellent and that
comes from just the way you run your office mad clerk and that's a credit to you and all the staff. Um, you know, sometimes things in there aren't easy and they can be difficult and you go out of your way to um always greet people
with a smile, deal with their issues and guidance through whatever it is, whatever the issue of the day is. So, thank you for that. And and on a on another note, just thank you for your friendship and support, but so many to so many um who sat on this board, not
just us, but who sat in the time I've been here before, who you're always willing to help and answer a question when one comes up. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> You're welcome, Mr. Wells. >> Thank you all of you for your very kind remarks. It is truly a pleasure to have
gotten to know each and every one of you and um I enjoy working for all of you as well as our residents. So um when you like what you do, makes it a little bit easier. >> Yes. Well, thank you for coming in. I hope it wasn't too painful.
>> It was not. I know my presentation was painful, but >> it was not. It was not. Uh it was always a pleasure to see you. So, thank you again for your time. >> Thank you, sir. >> Byebye. >> Great. Uh so the next item that we have uh we've been sort of talking around
this a bit um elected official civil discourse training and um Mr. Furs who's one of our uh residents uh had uh written to me and asked if he could share some uh thoughts and ideas about this as well. Um and um I I see no
reason unless there's an objection from the body that that we wouldn't want him to come and speak a little bit. I think this is um because it's not well I think what he has to share kind of goes a little bit above and beyond public comment. Um and I would just add that anyone who is ever interested in coming
and presenting on anything can always uh write to the board and and ask about that. Um but if you're prepared uh we'd love to have you come up here and join us and then um after your remarks u maybe Mr. Milano you can update us where we are in the process. Oh and you've got
a compatriate here too. Wonderful. Good evening. Brian Furs. I live at 107 Central Avenue and I'm a former town meeting member. We just moved out of our precinct, so I'll be having to find another way back onto our town meeting. Uh, and also for former planning board
member. This is my son, Simon Furs. He asked if he could sit with me, so hopefully that's okay. and uh he's actually going to pass something out for you that um just as a reference point I have a copy for the record as well and I emailed um the relevant materials to Mr.
Wells a few moments ago so hopefully he received the link to that. >> Thanks Simon. >> So thank you for letting me come in uh to talk about this tonight. This is something that's near and dear to my family and um so I'm just going to read a statement and then I'm happy to uh
take questions on what I've just handed out. 5 years ago, our family publicly disclosed the harassment we experienced as a gay Milton household. We did it out of exhaustion after years of anonymous
targeting. Milton's response was extraordinary. Our community rallied. The offender was identified. And when it became clear the offender was a public official, our then newly elected former moderator immediately requested his
resignation and the offender complied. Milton stood up for its own regardless of identity or creed. That is the town my husband and I and our son are proud or are proud to live in and my husband and I are proud to represent as elected
officials. Five years later, I'm here because something has shifted. In public hearings and town meetings, I've heard comments and at times decisions justified by comments tinged with racism
and class bias. National polarization has filtered down. Milton has not been immune. To check my perception, I conducted an automated review of meeting transcripts from 2021 to the present and asked to have the
review flag coded and overtly discriminatory language. I expected a handful of instances. There were far more, dozens and dozens, primarily from members of the public, but occasionally from officials.
That is unacceptable in both directions. Our officials must be held to a higher standard as speakers and as listeners. When a discriminatory statement is made, leaders should address it, ask for
clarification if needed, and if it is discriminatory, note it for the record, and exclude it as a basis for decision-m. This is not solely the fault of our boards. Milton does not provide consistent training to help officials recognize and
discourage discriminatory speech. As a longtime youth soccer coach in town, I could not step on a field without 12 hours of sensitivity training and annual refreshers. Yet, those entrusted to represent all of our residents may receive no training at
all on bias, public records responsibilities, or how to manage harm harmful rhetoric in a hearing. We can do better. Tonight, I'm formally requesting three actions. One, place this item on your next agenda
to adopt a baseline bias and civil discourse training for elected and appointed officials. Two, adopt a policy with a practical compliance path. Current officials complete training within 90 days, new appointees within 60
days. And three, create a short-term working group, including me, to recommend specific training options and a simple chair script for addressing biased remarks and to report back within 60 days.
I'm volunteering to help design something impactful, but not ownorous. As a former planning board member and more than a decade, as a town meeting member, I know the time constraints of the boards. The goal is to raise a standard, not to create a burden.
Before I close, here is a brief sampling of the flagged comments from rep recorded public meetings anonymized here with the full list and references submitted for the record. I have six examples.
Why accommodate people who can't afford what we can? We don't want those kind of people in this town. I'm not racist, but this isn't the place for section 8.
People who live in apartments bring crime and noise. We worked hard to live here. Why should we make room for people who didn't? This isn't discrimination. It's just common sense.
These words have been entered into our public record and at times have been weighed in our decisions. Milton and the values we showed 5 years ago are better than this. Thank you for your time and service. I
look forward to working with you to put this standard in place. Um I've attached a practical one-page proposal for your consideration. Uh, as I said, I have a copy for the record. Um, and I'd love for this to be the
basis for a committee to look at um how Milton can do better on this topic. Um, and then just as an appendix to that, I included um all of the list of anonymized quotes. Um, I am not sourcing
them. They're not cited by which meeting it was from or who said it. Um, but if all of the meetings were watched, they would be heard and I'm sure others would be heard as well. Um, I think this is an opportunity for Milton really to represent to other communities um that
we care deeply about all of our residents, not just people who have lived here for a long time and fit a certain profile that um maybe is reputationally how people see our town. Um, I love how diverse this town is. I
love going down Brush Hill Road and ending up in uh Matapan and being able to drive through the Colines but also uh walk through a great dense neighborhood of multif family homes. Um, so, uh, I just
hope that we can find a way to make sure that our chairs and our and our elected officials are representing the best of us and are obviously there's going to be public comments that the board cannot control, but I do think it's incumbent that the board at least call them out
and make sure that they're excluded from the basis for for which or upon which we're making decisions here. Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh, questions from the members. for me. I always hear from Mr. Milano on his updates. >> So maybe Mr. Milano, do you want to
provide an update because I know that you've also been looking at uh some of these trainings and uh different standards that have been adopted by other towns. Um do you want to share kind of where we are on those? Sure. >> As um I mentioned at our last meeting,
you know, we looked at a Sorry. As I mentioned at the last select board meeting, um we did pull some codes of conduct which address it in one manner but not in a kind of a training type driven manner. I've been um trying to find a potential training
opportunity. You've spoken to um one potential um applicant and who has not yet submitted a proposal. So that's something that I've requested. Um so are in the works but haven't come up with anything concrete um as of yet. So I don't have anything actionable at this time.
>> Okay. So um so do we thank you Brian for taking the time and Simon for you as well. Um, I think this is a a very good
um starting point. And I think one of the things we should think of when looking for services like this is to come up with the scope and understand exactly
um the problem or the challenge that we're trying to address. And I think this really helps us. Um, so when you anonymize this list and got all of these statements from,
you know, the past four years of public meetings, did you how so what was like what was the approach? Did you did you take the like the transcript and like run it through? >> So we don't have transcripts. >> Okay. You did you sit and listen? Oh, I
didn't say >> did you use like chat GPT? >> I used I used an AI program to watch the videos. Um, I didn't actually ask the service to identify the speakers. I didn't really want to know. >> I also didn't do every meeting. So, it
was a a randomized sample >> of meetings. I can certainly um I'm happy to provide more detail to council or if there's questions about where they're coming from, I'm happy to get more into that and I have notes and records on that. Yeah. >> Um but yeah, it was a it was a an
artificial intelligence process. >> Yeah, that I I was assuming that um I think that's very interesting. Um, I mean, just looking at this, it's it's disheartening and it's disappointing,
but um, I don't think Milton is the only place or, you know, whether it's a workplace or a town that faces this, right? And I think that, you know, the way that I tend to think about issues
like this or, you know, next steps is, you know, we we all have work to do. We all have to have a growth mindset. >> Yeah. I think one of the things I think is important to call out on this list is that um some of the language is not
overt. Um, and some of the comments and and maybe many of the comments were not made consciously and it's and it's an unconscious bias. And I I reference the soccer training for a reason. You know, we have to have Corey checks. We have to have all sorts of training around what's
appropriate, not appropriate. Um, but there's also things that are that are taught to us that are uh that are are are done so to make sure that we don't say something to a child that would be um condescending or inappropriate in an
unconscious way. >> And um I think it's just as important to make sure that we're not doing that to adults as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. because we we're not going to get a better environment for our town
if um I mean there's and you know I struggle with it. I mean um you know even in my work at the state you know we all encounter
um statements that get made from time to time that are unfortunate that somebody doesn't realize that they may have said something but the like you're not going to get the result
that you want or the change that you seek by making somebody feel badly. So for me, like I I personally like programs that that teach people how to
question statements um or call out statements in a geared toward you know what I was just mentioning and I think Brian you were kind of getting that to that too where it's like you know this is we have to
have a growth mindset about this and have the psychological safety to challenge these things um and to not like condemn somebody in perpetuity, right? And have a healthy conversation about it. Um,
I've, you know, I've, um, I've I've heard some, um, questions or challenges, um, from individuals, not going to name names, who who've cited that they they may be uncomfortable with this training.
um you know and I think I think that we I think it's it's all in a manner in how we approach it. Um and to make clear that the intent is not to isolate or
um make anyone feel bad or condemn people, but truly the motivation is to make the environment and civil civil discourse, civic discourse better to elevate that. Um,
and as I stated from the beginning, it's not just Milton, it's everywhere. But just because it's everywhere, it doesn't mean that Milton can't do better. >> Thank you. Um, other thoughts, Mr. Daly or Mr.
Wells? >> What was Did that person share what was the reason they would feel uncomfortable with this training? >> They just said they didn't want to do it. >> Didn't want to do it. Uh I would I would certainly be in favor of this sort of training as a
requirement or a step for when elected officials are on boarded. I think it's very similar to anything you would do professionally, right? >> Where you would sign on and conversations about how do you speak and share and work with people? Um you are
certainly allowed to advocate but people have taken advocacy into denigration of other people. Uh there's so many folks who are willing to run, to be elected, to serve on the boards. Um there certainly is a lot of conversation to be had about what does that mean when
you're now in that space and in that seat and what you represent. And I've said repeatedly that when we are asked and voted into these positions, folks are not just asking us to sit here and sign off on things or work on policy. We
are a representation of the people that have voted for us. Um, a representation for the small towns, families, its kids, it's our it's our citizens. And so, the way that we work together, um, I think sends a a large message in terms of what
is possible and what is right. So, if it starts with this training, um, I'm certainly for that. I think this connects very well to our discussion about um our elected officials starting with the select board signing off on codes of conduct about what we are
willing to say we will do and how we will represent ourselves and comport ourselves publicly. Uh I also would like to see well I think we can talk about how this moves forward but how do you follow up on these things that it's not just checking a box
>> uh and that we are acting in the way that's according to what we uh do in these trainings. So often in trainings or in any sort of promises it is just I've watched the video I've clicked through it and now I'm done. But in the heat of the moment uh those things are very different. It's very different in
our behavior. So, I think this is this can be a great step um in terms of our conversation, but there's certainly more that we can um hold ourselves to in terms of a higher standard. But I would love to have this in collaboration with or part of our codes of conduct for
elected officials. And I think this is also something I think that may go beyond the select board. We have a couple other elected boards I'd certainly like to hear from in terms of uh what their thoughts are on conversations and our electeds. Um you know, I don't know if this ends up going
before town meeting or the school committee or the planning board and others that are here in terms of what they'd like to see as well, but Brian, thank you for this. >> Mr. Wells, any questions? >> Okay. Um, so I m Mr. Daly kind of was
reading my mind a little bit too. I I you know I think um yes, this is all this is excellent and thank you for coming in. And I have one of those t-shirts. It's a different color, but uh you know I I I do think back to when um we used to be able to stand up as a
community and say no, this is wrong. We're not going to be a place that you know that condones. And I I I think for anyone who's paying attention to this and is worried about, you know, first amendments, this is not about telling people that they can't say things, it's just about recognizing when things that
are said are uh are are coming from a place of potential bias and to just recognize that and then and then understand that as process of making a decision about a policy. So, it's not about it's not about clamping down or or
silencing folks. It's really about how do we how do we heighten our discourse and how do we make sure that we're really considering relevant facts and not um and not bias andor hearsay uh to make important decisions for the town. So, on a uh so
so again, thank you for coming in and thank you for putting this together. Um I I I maybe I might look at Mr. Milano here because I I think as what Mr. Daily is saying strikes me is that um if we want to create something that is like
this that it probably ought to be applied to all of the elected boards. Uh so us uh planning board, school committee um and uh maybe board of health, parks uh and that that um that
group. And then um I I think if it's going to be applied to all elected boards, it would probably make the most sense for it to come through from town meeting. Um so what might be and I I you don't I know the warrant committee is meeting
right now. We're not going to throw another article at you for for a couple of weeks from now, but it might be uh this I could imagine that a working group could start putting together something like a Warren article that could sort of encapsulate this and then
report back. And I would like that. I mean, I I think if we're I don't Are we going to end up having something in the winter? Probably not. I don't think >> if we Yeah, likely not. I would >> hopefully not. >> Plan not to be back in in May. So, and I realize that May is is is a a long time
from from now. So, I I want to say that we if we're not going to wait until May to do something, but I think maybe having a policy that's townwide, it would be best to have a done by town meeting by an article. But that doesn't mean that we can't start exploring and
even putting into place some ideas here on our board uh as a a way to start um either setting an example or learning how this works or you know road testing some of these concepts. Um so my question this is a very that was a very
long-winded way of asking a question for Mr. Furs is in terms of a short-term working group and I love short-term working groups you know start and end date. um who what are the sort of um skill sets or uh or or types of
individuals that you think would be most um useful for a group like this? >> Uh I think representative would be the most important piece for me as opposed to experience-based. Um I I think the
best result would be a result that comes from a conversation of a diverse group of people. That's why I think a committee is going to best inform this. Um, you know, I hear you talk about the elected boards. I actually believe it should be for all electeds, which would include town meeting. Um
uh so as far as a a makeup of the board um certainly uh a town meeting member, a planning board member, a select board member, I think you have to sort of weigh making the committee too large, but certainly a few people from the
community um and hopefully a diverse makeup of the body um representing all that Milton is comprised of. uh and I think hopefully the committee can then work together to come up with the results that meet the objectives but
also take into the con into into cons the the concerns that might be had whether it's first amendment rights or discomfort. Uh so you know the the proposal is for a very quick time frame. I think it certainly would not need to necessarily be that short. Um May feels like a long time away. The reality is
the wheels of government turn slowly and I think it's probably uh it would be a dash to get there by May. So, uh I think May would be the right time frame and uh I would I would hope for a a pretty
um interesting um interesting dialogue amongst this group and hopefully a good result. >> Thank you. Um thoughts from the members? Um the part about this that I think I would be hesitant on is the working group. Um
given the amount of work that folks are already um doing and the amount of committees and groups that we have working, I'm not sure that I would move for first to the working group. I'm guessing that there are a limited amount of options for this type of training in
the elected municipal space. So again, I know we leave these meetings a lot, but just putting more things on your plate, but I think in terms of the code of conduct and what you provided us, particularly with those examples, perhaps there are more examples of things like this training that maybe the
board can review first and then we can think about how do we move forward? Do we take these trainings and then present them to the other elected officials and then create the working group? But I think we could work towards finding what is possible and then seeing how we would
possibly um put it together. Um because I think that working group is not going to have as much ability to find all these trainings as perhaps our town administrator would with speaking with some other towns or you know if you're already looking at sort of the code of conduct. Let me know if I have that if
I'm a little bit off base with that. No, I think in many instances that's correct where I have struggled to find an example of another community having pursued something quite like this. Yeah. >> And I don't think I've turned over all
the rocks yet. But perhap I mean give me a couple more weeks maybe on the next meeting I can report back as to where that stands because I agree if somebody else has done it and has been successful replicate and steal tailored to our needs and then go from there. Um, and that might streamline some of this, but
I haven't quite found um something good to lean on yet. >> You strongly endorse artificial intelligence now. >> Uh, one solution might be instead of having a a short-term working group, but
you know, I think I think keep we're trying to keep this, you know, on the front burner these last couple of weeks. And I, you know, and I appreciate Mr. for as you're um coming in and helping us to not not only have it on the front burner but make sure the burner's on. Um
I wonder if you know if we start with this and maybe it's having a um like a public hearing on what this might look like. Um, if we want to think about I mean I I I think so many people are
concerned with the state of um of um affairs uh in in political discourse uh in our country and and I I know that certainly I'm not perfect. I I don't think anybody's perfect about it, but um I wonder if we start coming up with something and then have a bit of a
public hearing on it to get input from, you know, a more broadly diverse group of people. Um, and I I I think, you know, having an idea of maybe having a a a um an article for the
Springtown meeting um if we wanted to apply to all uh boards, but it shouldn't stand in the way of us kind of moving forward on our own with this as the select board uh and the executive body for the town to really put something
like this into place. So, um, with as far as Mr. Furs's formal request, I think having this as an item on our next agenda makes sense. Um, if we have at that point, either from your hard work or from the hard work of Chat
GPT, uh, an example of of what a a baseline bias and civil discourse training could look like. Um and then if um even if we if we can't get training done cuz it's one of the things we've talked
about with this is waiting until we have our fifth member added after the November election to make sure that we go through the training. So I still think that that makes sense rather than have somebody come in uh right after we've all been trained on something like
this. But we can start putting the policy together. I think now uh and with the goal of you know having a training before the end of the calendar year um and having some of I think a chair script for addressing biased remarks is a great idea. Um what that might look
like would be very helpful uh as well. Does that sound right to folks if we want to um we can maybe review a document on this next uh on on the our next meeting is on the 7th I think. >> Yes. um because of uh town meeting in
October. Uh so we'll um let's put it on the agenda then. Um I think for for you Mr. Furs if you have any more thoughts or ideas if you you know how to contact us please feel free to share. I'm going to add for folks who are listening this is uh a critical topic right now I think
uh in this country and this town. So please also share your thoughts and ideas with us. Um, and let's um let's continue to think about how we can do better as a town. >> Thank you very much. >> You're very welcome and thank you for
coming in. >> Good night. >> Good night. >> Thanks. >> Okay, speaking of warrant articles, uh Mr. Milano, I believe our next item is uh our special town meeting approval of special uh town meeting warrant. Um,
we have, I think, two of the articles that are back here for us to look at with some edits, the uh the Empic article and the uh uh the lighting bylaw. Uh, do you want to um should is there
anything on um any of the other >> um do you want to give us a quick rundown of where we are on the on the others? >> Sure. and then we can dive into those a little bit more in detail. >> Uh the planning board has voted to withdraw the signed bylaw which is
article 10. Um so that will that has been removed from the warrant. Um that was a proposed new sign bylaw to replace the existing um zoning bylaw regarding signs and how um they can be approved. um based on comments from town council
KP Law um Peter Melo as well uh that some issues still needed to be addressed. So the planning board did withdraw that one. They have kept the traffic impact mitigation one uh which had much more limited comments. Um so there's one fewer article articles one through nine are what will be going to
town meeting. Other um updates since then uh uh KP law has reviewed the warrants. They've suggested some minor um changes for um legal purposes. All the articles are approved subject to town council's final edits. So, all of
their tweaks are more for legal form than anything else um that are going forward. There are a couple of more um substantive questions that they've had on a couple of the articles that the warrant committee is still working through at this time. Um uh just going through the list, articles
1, 2, and three um have all been approved by the warrant committee as well. Uh or rather voted that the town recommended that the town meeting vote yes on those three. >> The climate action planning committee um submitted a revised version of their article uh which streamlines it a little
bit um but keeps it to the same overall goal that had been submitted previously. And this is in response to questions and comments and feedback from the war committee from war committee members. Um I provided that updated version of the article in the packet uh for this evening. The master plan implementation
committee also again in response to questions and comments and feedback from warrant committee members adopted approved some updates to their article. Um most of them uh were more minor. I I'll note the the main change was more in
hindsight realizing that the $30,000 was approved for the master plan implementation committee's use in fiscal 26 and their committee recommends sunsetting the MPIC and setting up a new committee. So now the article includes moving authorization to spend that
appropriation to the new committee that is set up. Um those changes were also in the packet. Um, so those have been sent to the warrant committee. Um, and then that leaves articles seven and
eight. Um, Alkontown property, the warrant committee is talking about that this evening. Um, and we'll see what edits they have there. And then the light trespass one, I did circulate today some of their comments. They're discussing it today. They expect to pick
it back up on Monday. Um so the select board could look at some of those comments tonight, think about incorporating some of them or just defer to the warrant committee's work um since that is ongoing at this time. >> So why don't we start with the uh
>> got up. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Wells. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. The war committee did designate Mr. tag me um on both the lighting article and the outside alcohol article to do dig into those and he did
call me and interview me at length on both. The only thing is I don't really have I I was able to give him a great deal of broad detail on the outdoor alcohol one. Um the lighting one I don't know as well. So to Mr. Milano I'm not sure where he went. I I did tell them I
explainable debacle was our former colleague, Miss Bradley and I don't know Mr. L if he reached out to you or not. >> He also he reached out to me, Mr. Wells, and I made >> I spent some time on the phone with him this week. >> So, uh >> I just want I just I just want to make
the board aware that he was doing this. >> Yes. Thank you. Um I think um for those uh folks who aren't aware um the warrant committee has implemented a a review process where a couple members are assigned to each of the articles to kind
of review ask questions and then kind of come back to the warrant committee with their recommendations. So I think for each article there's at least two people that have been selected and um so that I did spend some time uh with him on the phone uh on the on the
lighting bylaw. Um, so on the on the master plan uh amendment uh or amendments I uh don't see any uh I I think we've all had
a chance to review these before uh as well. I didn't see anything in there that um made my hair stand on end. Um, I think it's all pretty consistent with the Um, oh, and then are we sharing it up on the screen, too? Just great. Perfect.
>> Um, I think um making sure that uh I I guess the committee is reporting to the planning board, select board, warrant committee, and town meeting. Um, I mean, one question I would have is why did they report to the warrant committee? um planning board, select board and town meeting makes sense, but
if the warrant committee really wants to have people reporting to them, I I don't I don't know um how folks feel about that. I mean, it could also just be a written report that's submitted to the warrant committee and that and it's the same report that goes to everybody else. >> I think that's more of the spirit of it. >> Yeah. Yeah,
>> I think that would be fine. Um and then um which is also the annual report submitted to the town administrator. Um I think having a quarterly meetings identified is a great idea. Um you know
I think my my worry about something like this is that nothing happens with this. We've had the master plan for a long time and what hasn't hasn't totally been implemented. So, um I think having that having a meeting standard is is a great idea and I think also making sure that
we have um designated a member from planning board select board um makes sense too. Um and to your point Mr. Milano on the transfer of the funds, I think that um makes sense as well because this is a technically a
different committee. Um, no. So, I would be fine um myself with uh uh deferring to the warrant committee on those amendments. Oh, can you identify maybe Mr. Milano which of the edits um maybe based on color were made by although I
guess everything's on red on the screen u but which were made by uh KP and which were made by the war committee. For this one, the only changes made by council, we missed an or and they clarified that each of the one of not
more than three members appointed by the planning board and then the parenthesis for that and the select board was their insertion. So it was minor. >> The rest was made by the implementation committee themselves in a meeting a couple weeks ago >> in response to the warrant committee. >> Yes. So, I don't have any problem. Um,
>> no real effort required here. >> Yeah, just defer to the committee to continue to work on that. >> Um, any any any thoughts from the members on this one? >> Not for me. >> Okay. Uh, and then moving along, do we want to pull up the the lighting bylaw
ones? >> Yes. >> Also, these will not fit all on one page, unfortunately. Um, but did members have thoughts about the these edits? And I I I will um as Mr. Wells indicated, I did speak to with the
warrant committee about this. I think, you know, their um I think their overall um thinking on this was making sure that there was an appeals process that was created um which they've done here um at
the end of four and then five uh and then um that was kind of the big one. And then I think they were um part of the reason that they there was also a concern of scope for this article with
the language about um light trespass on waters of the United States and um wilderness areas. Um, which I, you know, I understand it was basically the the comment there was that
this is more of like a a dark sky type bill than a light than a uh than a lighting bylaw. Um, but um I didn't have any um I don't have any concerns about that. Um but other thoughts? the only so I I
know we've discussed this before um but I just I want to raise it again because it's probably going to come up again the town meeting. So, this puts a lot of the appeal
authority in the select board's hands, which I know there's not a good fit for this or a good home for this, but um I
I don't know that this is necessarily like the highest and best use for the select board's time. Nor is it something like I in particular feel like I am like skilled at calling balls and strikes on.
Um, you know, I I just want to have us discuss one more time as a group why we would insert ourselves in this. >> What would be the alternative?
>> I don't know. And I'm right like it seems like it's that because there's not a good there's not a good alternative to it. Mr. Wells has his his hand raised. >> Yeah. Mr. Wells, you want to chime in on this?
>> So I agree. It starts. >> We're not an operational body. So my thought would be you've have two options here. So, is a criminal under article six of the town by law, which would make enforcement a police action? I don't think it really
is. I don't think you're going to have to do that. Which leads me to the second aspect, which would be I think we put this in the in in the um planning office and put it with the
planners. A what was the role, Mr. Milano, we had? He's it's been vacant for a few years now. What was He was he was an enforcement officer. What was his title? >> We do have a code enforcement officer. Um >> but I expect >> that's where this should go. That's
where it should be. >> That department would be under the bylaw required to do the testing to determine by the requirements if there's a violation. So then I think an appeal needs to travel outside of them and now
we're asking staff to be >> the hearing officer for something. >> Um it it's no different than a vi than a dog by a vicious dog action in the police department. The animal control officer who's an entity the police department issues issues the violation
if the person wants to appeal they appeal to the chief of police or or his designate whoever who he appoints to oversee that. So I I'm with with Miss Hagy on this. This is not a place where the sele needs or wants to
be. Just isn't. >> So in that case, it would go to the code enforcement officer. >> That's what I think. It's not criminal, which means it's civil. It's more of a zoning issue. >> To me, that puts it on the planning department. And then in an appeal to
that it would go up the ladder to planning or to >> I think they appeal I think they appeal to Mr. Milano to to the town administrator's office or whoever he designates this time where he wants to. So here's so here's a thought experiment, right? Just just just
thinking. So so we're asking a team to make a judgment on light or lumens. Presumably this is like an engineering function, right? An
engineering skills and expertise, right? outside of code enforcement, who in the town has that skill set, >> who's not conflicted and can call balls and strikes on that. >> Mr. Wells has his hand up and or if
that's still your >> No, that's it. No, I put it back up. So, isn't there isn't there isn't there a a penalty for this? >> There is in the in the proposed bylaw. Yes, it's it's a it's a fine. >> It's a fine, right? So, the fine would
would be levied at the district court level. Simple similar to another any other zoning fine, a housing fine or anything that's on the civil side versus the criminal side. >> Yes. >> So, I that's why I say that's
that's the place for it to go. It's how are we going to levy fines and who's going to go to Quinsey District Court to oversee that hearing when it happens? are just so far ahead of our skis. And the other two, it's not going to happen that often. I I'm I'm more than happy
with this. More than comfortable with this being code enforcement. It's civil zoning issue. >> So, I was >> um I was going to also ask, right? I mean, we have a lighting division in our DPW. This may be one of the craziest
offthe-wall. [Laughter] And I'm just I'm just trying to get creative, right? But if if we're talking technical expertise, >> I think >> I don't know if they contain it.
>> Well, it's important to remember there's there's two steps. The first step is to measure to determine if there is a violation that will be done by staff, >> right? >> Homeowner says that's not a violation. I want to appeal it. >> Who is that appeal then getting kicked
to? So it's it needs to be um a level of authority that can authority and can opine and respond to an issue. Um >> but but authority and expertise like you can't ignore the expertise too. Well, I
I I I mean, I might uh suggest that, you know, it's a bit like if you know, if we're going to call it balls and strikes, this is a little bit like the MLB strike zone that they're now going to implement next year >> where it's either a ball or it's a strike, right? It's not an eyeball call.
It's the machine measures it and it says yes or no. >> And the homeowner can be like, I don't like this. >> I want to appeal it. Right. >> And at that point it becomes more of a, >> you know, it's not I don't think at that
point they're going to be arguing lumens and luxes and everything else. It's more of a I don't want to do this or I've had this light here forever and blah blah blah. And the the select board per this article has the ability to just uh not hear the appeal. like we can find it not
compelling that you know um >> we might have an avenue for an appeal if we're not going to >> well I think that you want to give an escape route if there is something like you know that that is an external factor that maybe the the lumens don't consider
there's somebody with a disability that needs to have this particular level of light so that they can make their way back into their house when they're you know going from their car or something along those lines. Like that might be something that we we could as a board
find compelling, but we could also just say I I So I think what I I'm concerned about with this is I've heard from a number of people over my time on Select Board that we have a few properties in this town that are
>> very easily anyone would walk by and sort of say that's a nuisance. That's a lot of light for one house to be generating for no particular reason. >> And those folks have come to us to say what is the process here
>> and I you know I don't want perfect to be the enemy of the good like I feel like we can put something in place. If our meeting agendas are suddenly full of lighting bylaw um appeals, then I think we can probably say, "Okay, we need to
find a different process for this." If we put it into place and we don't ever run into it, then maybe it's working. Okay. Um but I don't want to continue to delay because >> No, I'm not saying we should delay past
tonight. I'm just raising the >> what I think is like a real >> or it's a I think it's a legitimate question. I I don't think this has been
worked on for a very long time. I'm just really stating I don't think I can still vote to go forward with this kind of holding my nose that the select board I don't believe the select board
um is the best uh location for for the appeal process. Could I maybe a an option would be to to ask the warrant committee to change language to say the
appeal is filed to the select board. The select board select board's designate or committee um created by the select board to hear appeals shall hear the appeal. So then you know maybe initially it's a select board if the workload is too high there
the select board designates a hearing officer >> who will handle it. And then the third option is review committee. It's not the sign review. >> Seems like an extra step though, right? Because this is this is housing related. It's >> it's code related. It does, you know, to
Mr. Wells's point, it does seem that this enforcement should stay with housing because if you are going to be an appeal board, I would think that what we would want is an opportunity where we would overturn it. And given the ideas
about expertise to member Hagert's point, um what is the scenario where our expertise about lighting or a home would ever allow us to side with the citizen, right? It it almost puts us in a place of being nothing but the rubber stamp that says we agree with what's happened
with code. They may the residents may have a better chance if it stays with folks who are working in the housing and code space and have a better handle on the enforcement and changes that could be made. >> Right. That's board of appeals or planning board.
>> What about the zoning board? >> Yeah. >> So, Mr. Wells has his hand up. I want to give him a chance to >> And is it was it your birthday, Mr. Wells? >> No. Oh, no. That's good. They keep that hanging in the office here. I don't know why it's still here.
I think when dot came in here one day, all the reps, but um >> somebody's birthday at least. >> Um it was mine. It's been here for a couple of months. I don't know why they don't take it down, but um so you may remember this, Mr. I only
remember this once. So to Mr. Dy's point somehow a sign review denial wound up before us and it was like it should we should and I remember thinking like how did this it shouldn't have been
us and we wound up overturning the sign review committee and the enforcement officer and giving it and it was a 3 to2 vote and it was like just so I'm my thought is
just if we can keep ourself out of these things even if there's only one let's do it like these are operational we shouldn't be doing this just it's just not our you know next thing they'll be asking us to appeal parking tickets to
us and we definitely don't want to do that so um just my thought thank you >> so it seems like we have a couple of avenues. So, one could be that we um we just say we'll wait to see what the
warrant committee recommends and then we can either vote on their recommendation or not cuz my understanding is that they're going to discuss this tonight. They're probably talking about it right now and then again on Monday night. We won't have another chance to weigh in on this until the warrants already gone to
print. So, um I think maybe what we could do is we could just take the this bundle of concerns and go back to the warrant committee and suggest, you know, that the idea of an appeals process is
probably right and the way that it's outlined here is probably not right. um in that it shouldn't it we don't necessarily think the select board has the expertise nor nor would anybody running for select board think that they
would ever be in a position to start weighing in on uh a lighting um situation. >> It's also just probably not the right altitude for the select board to fly at.
>> What you mean like 3 ft above the ground? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, >> no, but but I agree. >> Could the zoning board has anyone has anyone >> and maybe could the warrant committee look at whether the zoning board is the
appropriate venue? Like did anybody, Mr. Milano, did you evaluate that as a potential option? >> This language came from the warrant committee, so it wasn't where it started with us. I I don't know what the other options they considered. The sign review one is funky because it's in the zoning
bylaw, but if you don't like the decision, the sign review committee, it does come to the select board rather than staying within the zoning. And the sign bylaw the planning board worked on did address that by kicking the reviews to the board of appeals. >> Okay. >> So, it did this is a general bylaw, not a zoning bylaw. I don't know that there
would be a restriction on the board of appeals hearing in appeal. Um, but it's something we can bring back and suggest and also kick to KP for feedback because they have not seen this portion of the language yet either. >> Um, as they might have a suggestion on
the proper appeals process and and the type the right type of board to hear that for any kind of >> fine or um disposition that's levied against a property owner. >> Okay. >> Other than the appeals process, did anyone have anything that stood out to
them on this? No problem with any other part of that on my part. >> The comment I was going to speak on was a little bit about the appeals process. Uh I'm going to guess that JF7 and AJ Fund. >> You could send you could send something to Jay directly. Yeah. >> It was about the timeline and how it
works, but that would go that's going to depend on where we're going to send it. So, I think um un if if the board agrees, it seems like what we'd want to do is take the these comments that we've made, share them with the warrant committee, encourage
them to explore alternative language around the appeals process, but let them know that other than that particular change, we don't have any concerns that jump out at us straight away. Uh, and if they want to, we can continue
to discuss this and we can always green sheet it if we need to. Um, with plenty of advanced notice. Um, but I think, you know, like let's let them uh they're going to have another say on it before the warrant goes to print. Um, so are folks comfortable with
that? And then we can again, like I said, come to a green sheet if we need to. >> Mr. Wells, you comfortable with that? Okay. I got a thumbs up there. Um, Mr. Milano, is that something you could share with the with Mr. Funding and the committee? >> Great.
>> Uh, okay. Is that anything else on the uh warrant? >> Not at this time. >> Oh, I do. We need We didn't need to open it, I guess, did we? Cuz we're not changing anything. >> Uh, no. We'll bring a final warrant that is ready to be printed on October 7th
for the final approval before it's posted and um posted everywhere. >> Okay, great. Um, so then, uh, all right. Well, let's move along. Uh, item eight is a slight retreat. Jeez.
Uh, Mr. Milano, do you want to um, I think we have a we have a date for that. Um, it's, uh, October 5th. Unfortunately, Mr. Wells, it sounds like you're not able to join us on October 5th. Is that something that you would like us to wait on so that you can participate
on in it or I I don't really want to keep moving it down the calendar? >> You can you can go on ahead with that. >> That sounded like we could go ahead with it. Um >> Richard, you were garbed a little bit. You want to just say it again? >> So I know you can go right ahead with
that thing. That's fine. >> Okay. Can Can I ask Richard for something? >> Of course. So, Richard, on at the retreat date, I think one of the things we're going to set is goals and items that we would like to address. Uh, would you be okay
with sending us perhaps a list of things you'd want on that for us to discuss? >> I can do that. That's >> that would be great. >> And as a so Jeff Nutting um will be there to facilitate the retreat with us. I did send out a questionnaire from him.
Um, if everybody else could get to finishing that as well. I know he got yours. >> It's all done, Mr. Dailyaly. >> And I'll send out a reminder tomorrow with that attached. >> Go stock >> teacher turns his homework in on time.
>> The only time I'm ever going to be the first one in. >> Great. All right. Um, so no motion needed on that. Um item nine uh is uh participate in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts settlements with a opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its
owners the Sackler family and B opioid manufacturers Alvagen amnneal Apach sorry Apotex Hickma and Divior Milan Sun and Zitis. Uh Mr. Milano. >> Uh thank you Mr. Chair. This is another
um settlement that the attorneys of G attorney generals across the country have signed with the manufacturers um related to opioid um issues and impacts. Um we have previously signed on to a
batch of settlements that again um attorney generals from across the um country have executed. So money is flowing to the town and through the commonwealth to the town um to work on these issues. That money is under the board of health um for distribution and
they've started working on that. So this is another batch of settlements. The distribution to Milton is a little um is not yet um available but we expect additional dollars to come to the town through this settlement as well. It's 105 million um from one of them to
Massachusetts that will be shared between the Commonwealth and in the cities and towns. Um so um additional settlements just seeking your approval to sign on as just about every city or town in Massachusetts is as are the other states across the country. >> Questions from the members.
>> Are there limitations on how the money can be used? >> They're pretty strictly limited to impacts related to addiction to impacts within the community to addiction related issues. Um so there's there's like eight bullets as to how it can be spent. um the attorney general and the
settlement groups request reporting on how it's spent and and that it's adhering to those requirements. >> Other questions? Miss Hagerty, >> is the board of health the decision-making body on how the money is spent within the town?
>> It's the select board had previously voted on that. So, um it is currently um all grants and settlements are are under the select board's ultimate jurisdiction for control. They're they're starting to get out grant applications now. Um the
grant application process is being released shortly so that groups can apply to put the start putting the money to work. >> Mr. Wells has a question. >> So I mentioned this to Mr. Milano be previously. So one of the key things is they want to make sure that they spend
the grant allocation they get for a given year. I went to one committee meeting already when I first got here where um communities communities are not spending out what's been given to them. So they need to spend it down before they can apply for the next year for additional money. So it's very
important. Can we have can we consider maybe having members of the board of health present on the plan or the approach to get these funds out the door and
>> how it can be used? >> Yeah. How can what's the assessment of the greatest need? I know there have been health studies conducted and published recently. Um, I know the work the work is being done, but I think it's important um
I think it's important for us to have some oversight. >> I think that's a great suggestion >> and they've brought on um assistants on board to to come up with a plan to draw to to put the money to work and to to start accomplishing as as Mr. Wells
noted. >> Do we know if um uh training on Narcan is part of that? It's it's it's an it would be an eligible expense, but I I know there are so many opportunities to do it. It's really not a big expense these days. Like we we've had it for town staff um
and just had it through through different groups that will just offer it. >> I I wonder too if um you know there are a couple of uh of the road races in town that are you know around substance abuse addiction. Um, I wonder if there's ways
to sort of raise the profile for that because I I know from a public health perspective, Narcan training is like one of the easiest and and and um best ways to save lives uh in overdose situations. So, if that's been relatively available
for town employees, I wonder if there's a a way to kind of work with Sure. >> maybe a road race or something like that to just make more people aware of what's out there in terms of resources. I think having the board of health come in and share a plan would be great. Um, you know, addiction is um I think addiction
overdose is a top killer for um for young adults in in this country and for and for other age groups as well. >> Sure. >> Um so we don't Oh, we do need a motion on this one. So I'll take that if somebody would like to make it.
>> Um I'll make the motion. Um Mr. Mr. Chair, I'd like to move to approve the participation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts settlements with a opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its owners the Sackler
family and b opioid manufacturers Alvagen, Amno, Apotex, Hikma, Indivor, Milon, Sun and Zidis and authorize the town administer to sign
administrator to sign. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion made by Miss Hagerty and seconded by Mr. Daly. Any further discussion? Uh, this will be a roll call vote. Uh, Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells is yes. Miss Hagerty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dailyaly? >> Yes.
>> Myself? Yes. Um, so, uh, and I think maybe board of health, we could think about having them come in as part of the sort of general presentation and then that could be part of the specific discussion with them. I think that'd be great. Uh item number 10 is a discussion
update. East Milton Fire Station RFP visioning session. Mr. Milano, >> I thought I would have a date to share. I don't yet. We're working on dates to get that underway and we have a draft RFP in the works to share um in October with the select board.
>> Okay. And then u maybe just a reminder of when the um groundbreaking is for the fire station or No, we've already had that. >> No, the we are having it on Friday. So, we're having a ceremonial ground breaking on Friday >> um of this week at 11:00 a.m. at the
site which is adjacent to St. Agatha's 432 Adam Street. Um so, the fire station building committee invites select board and members of the public to join us for that groundbreaking on Friday morning >> and I'm very pleased that it's on my calendar already. >> Um great. Okay, thank you. Uh item
number 11 is Route 28 Randolph A Road Diet Pilot. I know that we've started to hear from some residents who are starting to learn more about this. I don't know if you uh what you'd like to share now, Mr. Milano. Um and then uh if we have uh any discussion needed here.
Oh, I'm sorry. Miss Hagerty will recuse herself real quick. Thank you. Uh yes. Uh this afternoon, Mass Dot provided um a flyer as well as a butter letters that they're sending out to a butters along Randolph A. Uh
they have also put up a website mass.gov/milton route28 road dialup pilot that has additional information um about the impacts along with a map that shows what the changes will look like. Uh they have also provided um the final plan. So, we
have shared those plans with public safety, DPW, and others here in town. Um, we're happy to take feedback and share with Masdot. Um, I'm looking at their page right now. Um, they do have, um, contact information up on their
website. For questions, the project email is milton-root doot.state.mma. us. Um, so contact info is up on the mass.gov page. Um uh it is a stateown road um with um so masto will be the
place where um questions can go directly. We're happy to take them and facilitate them as well. Um in the meantime and for a start date uh that is still um tentatively earlyish October. Um once a a more definite start date is
announced we'll let people know. If you've driven on Randolph A in the last um week and a half, you've noticed that they are milling and paving um in anticipation of um these changes for a uh pilot.
>> Thank you. Uh any comments or questions from the members? Mr. Wells. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sure um Miss Bony saw that email today from Dan Fielding at Mass DOT on this on where they're at with this. The other thing is
just from a uh I know a lot of res and a lot of residents are having concerns. This is a pilot and we're going to have to figure out, you know, the quirks, what's good and what's bad about it. It's not perfect. It's a it's it's a very complex
section of road in the Commonwealth and if this were an easy fix, it would have been fixed 15 years ago. So, that's part of the difficulty. The other thing, too, and this is I I really want cuz this one's weighing on me, um is DCR's plan
to uh go into a 30-day pilot to close Chick um completely for 30 days with the intention to to possibly close it permanently. to traffic, all traffic. And I worry
significantly, and I believe Senator Driscoll does as well. I saw he shared some comments the other day, and I think Mastod does um as to how this may impact the issue of bleeding, traffic bleeding off the neighbors. We already know, we've heard from the neighbors, we
already know that once this takes place, this is going to have an impact particularly on Pleasant Street between Reeddale and 28, Hillside Street, Harland Street, Forest Street, Chikat. Um, this is something we have to really watch very closely. And I I I just re
reemphasize this to Mr. Milano because it's very important for both Chief King and Marina to kind of keep a close eye on this because they are going to do this. And and ironically, they're both going to be about the same time, Mr. Chair. So by the time the the pilot's ready to go and the milling's done and
the and the cones are in place, master uh DCR is going to close trick right around the same time. So I think we need to there's an awful lot of pots in this right now at once that we need to really watch very closely. So I I just wanted to give that update that that is a significant concern. I don't think any
of us expected this. I don't think it was expected >> through the Chicataba closure. Yeah, Massdot certainly did not expect it and I did not. And and the funny thing is I know DC is offering this as an alternative, but it's a public safety
problem for the state police to be dealing with that's been happening intermittently at the Chikatavan overlook on as as one of multiple places in Metro Boston on weekends to just close 5 mile 3 and 1/2 mile stretch of two roads into one of the most dangerous
intersections in the colum that you're going to reconstruct anyway. I just I just that part worries me. is just additional problems that residents are going to come to us with. So that's I just wanted to bring that up because it is a
concern. >> Thank you. >> It's kind like a perfect storm coming all at once. >> Uh other thoughts from the members? Mr. Daly? >> No, I would just echo uh Mr. Wells's points about uh this is hopefully a short-term headache for a long-term
solution. And we are reading what we get from residents. We are heing it. We are in communication with Mass Dot. And um even if we may not respond immediately to every email or every note, uh we do take everything into consideration to come out with the best possible solution
at the end of this road diet. >> Yeah, I I think that's well said by by both members. I don't Yeah, like Mr. Well said, I think if there was an easy solution to this, it would have already been found. Um, I think the important thing is is that we're finally at a point where Matt dot is taking this um
very seriously and they're looking at um how to make this a safer uh part of Milton because we all know that this is Reedsdale has not been a safe road. It's you know for for as long as I've lived
in Milton um which is now 14 years. So, I really I'm I'm glad to see that this progress is happening. I know that this will, you know, there are always going to be headaches uh and growing pains with
things like this. Um I ask for folks to um you know, try to remember that we're the safety is driving this more than anything else. Um and while it may uh it's certainly going to cause some
disruptions as this is in place um we're we are looking at this the DOT is looking at this they're collecting data on this they will be in touch with us on a regular basis sharing that data uh and um and sharing their conclusions from
it. So um you know as uh as Mr. Milano said uh there are you know there's an email on the project. There's a website for the project. So um please provide your own input, feedback, thoughts and ideas directly to DOT. It is a state
road. Um, but we are we will also help uh advocate for folks in Milton for safety on this road first and foremost, but also making sure that people can continue to, you know, live and get to the where they need to work and and uh get to get to their um, you know, their
preschools and everything else um that are on that road. So, I don't think any action needed from us at this moment, M. Mr. Mullen. Okay. No, I'll just add that we will post the information that we received on the town website and send out it on the blast and social media update as well.
>> Great. Thank you. Um so let's wrap that up and then um Miss Hagerty, you can come back in now. Uh we've got some one day liquor licenses uh to review. I don't know if uh anybody wants to uh >> do we need to list them?
>> Uh I believe we have to list them. >> The motion will address it if uh are all historic New England. >> They're listed at You can approve them as listed on the agenda except for December 7th. >> All right. Uh I move to approve the one day liquor licenses for historic New
England at the useless estate as presented on the select board agenda removing the December 7th event which is no longer needed. >> Motion's been made. >> Second. >> Second. Okay.
Uh, any further discussion on this? Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook looks like a winner. Oh, no, that's the one that's been removed. Sorry. Never mind. Forget that I said that. Um, all right. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? No. Uh, this will be a roll call vote. Mr. Wells,
>> yes. >> Miss Hagerty, >> yes. >> Mr. Daly, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. Uh, and can it be already that we are at the town administrator's report? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh few updates. We
have announced that the lottery for the affordable units at the Ice House project on Blue Hills Parkway is now open. Applications are being taken. Um they're due back on November 17th. Um you can find that on SEB Housing's
website, but it's also on our own website homepage, which will bring you to that page for additional information. There are 13 condos available um at 80% of area median income. Uh much more details um is are up on our website and
they have um open houses so you can see the units as well. Uh the council on aging is having a fundraiser here on Saturday. Uh the wardrobe exchange uh we can already see the wardrobe building in this room here. Um so it's clothing. Um
it's 9:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday, September 27th. uh for either $5, $10 per um purchase. Um so please come out to support um that and that's going to support um council on aging programming
here. Um town clerk was in already, but the November 4th special election will be here uh very quickly. The vote by mail application is available. Those are due back on October 28th. Additional information on our website. Um the vote by mail application is the same one
that's available through the state website. So, you can fill it out there. Um, we did receive notice from the Commonwealth uh last week that the spotted lantern fly, an invasive species, has been found in Milton. Um,
so we'll post some information and and get some additional information out there, but um they're requesting if it's spotted that you report it. Um, you may kill it as well um if you feel so inclined. Um, but this is an invasive species that's been expanding across
Massachusetts and is confirmed to have been found in Milton as well. Um, the assistant town administrator, Nick Connors, is leaving at the end of this week. He's accepted a new position with the town of Swampscott as their town administrator. So, we congratulate Nick
on his new job and wish him the very best. Um, and then planning director Liz Manning will start next Wednesday. She attended the planning board meeting on Monday. Um, so she's already paying attention to everything that we have going on and we're excited for her
to start um, next Wednesday, October 1st, and welcome her aboard. Um, lastly, I won't steal the cheer thunder, but Porchfest was this weekend. Um, we made it as far as Shields. I got stuck at Shields with two of my kids for about two hours and did not see any bands. My
wife and one of my children did, but uh, it was a great day and it was good to see you wafting through the park at least. Um, >> well, there was a Porchfest site across the street from Shields >> close >> called Mr. Dy's house. That's that is
where they landed at one point. But um, no, it was great to see everybody out and it was a great afternoon and they had a blast playing at the playgrounds. >> Uh, Mr. Wells, do you have a question for Mr. Milano? >> I do. I do, Mr. Chair. So, just to follow up, Mr. Mano, as you know, there is a home rule petition in here at the
state house for the additional liquor licenses that was >> Yes. >> passed by I can't even remember. Was that the last spring town meeting? It has to be. It wasn't. It was last spring. So, >> they reached out to us again today. They are looking anxiously
um >> for that map, that economic map. I mean, it's only five occasions and I believe one of them we already know which is Curry College is asking for one. Um, I was about to ask for one. Um, so I can't It was brought to me this afternoon, so
I can't emphasize enough December will be here before you know it. And we don't want to lose this. So, um, I we really need this in here ASAP. So, >> yeah, we should have it in I would say this week. Um, I believe it's ready. I just got to close the loop with Kevin on
that. we'll take care of. >> Okay. Thank Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was um told not to let this go tonight, so I want to make sure I got it out there. >> Um and then just lastly, I I did want to share that um the East Milton 40V
project is commencing um utility tie-in work next week. Uh that will require work within um the right of way on both Basset Street and Franklin. Um so they're going to work on Basset first, make their connections there. It will require daytime closures
of Basset Street. Um after the entrance exit of the fruit center, um detours will be in place. Details will be there, but there's this is work that can't be avoided within the street that will require the streets to be closed. Um so it'll be work that takes a couple of weeks to get through, but they'll do it
in phases starting on Basset and then move into Franklin from there. Um they'll be sharing additional information, including maps, and we'll get that out um publicly as well ahead of it starting on Monday. uh Monday morning. And that's my report, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you very much. Um from the chair, um so yes, Porchfest was Saturday. Um a whole host of people are uh critical to making that event happen. Um and I don't want to start naming them cuz I'll miss
one of them. Uh but uh suffice to say that there will be I think there's an article coming out in the Milton Times that that will feature a lot of the volunteers. Um, and so thank you to the folks that hosted like Mr. Dailyaly uh and and others. Uh, thank you to the
bands uh that played. Thank you to uh really just everyone who goes and and makes it one of the best days uh in Milton and uh finally after a couple of years we got a decent weather day for it too which was really uh really fabulous. Um I also want to acknowledge that we
just finished u Roshashana. So wishing uh everyone a shaat tova, happy new year uh who celebrates. Uh and I also want to point out that on October 4th from uh 5 to 7:00 p.m. there will be a uh a
mid-aumn festival jungi at um the gazebo. Uh 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on October 4th. Uh and uh anyone I believe is welcome to come to that. And if you don't know what the Mid-Autumn Festival is, maybe that's a good way to go find out. Um it's it's a lot of fun. Uh and
it's a great group uh that's putting it on. I don't have anything else, but if there's anyone else that has any uh anything that they'd like to highlight from the community. All right, great. Um so future meeting dates, uh Mr. Milan,
oh sorry, public comment response. Um well, we're going into executive session, so I can't really respond to to the to the um the citizen speak um remark because we'll be we'll be discussing that shortly in executive session. Um but I don't know if anyone else had anything that they wanted to
respond to that. Okay. Uh future meeting dates, uh select board retreat as advertised, October 5th, 2025. Uh that will be uh the location for that, Mr. Milano. >> I will confirm, okay, this week and we'll post it publicly as >> required. Uh and then we are going to we
are scheduled now to have select board uh meetings on the 7th of October, the 21st of October, the 18th of November, the 2nd of December, and the 16th of December. Uh we also have special town meeting scheduled for October 27th,
28th, and 29th, 2025. Rumor is that this may be a one-day town meeting. I don't know. We'll we'll be taking odds on that later. Uh I guess we'll see see what the Warren Committee says. uh future agenda items. Um I just want
to flag that um I know the uh the equity uh justice uh group is going to come in on October 7th to present. >> Um we're also going to take up the um the land swap um land uh uh as a future
agenda item on October 7th. We just discussed having board of health come in uh to talk about I don't know that we necessarily need to cram them in on on the October 7th as well. Um but I think that would make sense. And and we also mentioned that we would have um this uh
um uh the item of a u you know continue to focus on bias and training uh for for elected boards. and I have confirmed um with the school committee chair and superintendent for October 21st. >> Great. So, we'll have the superintendent
on the 21st with thanks. Um any other items that folks would like to bring forward, Mr. Wells. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't know if Mr. Nick Connor is on. Is he on tonight's meeting with us? No, Mr. Morano, >> just via Zoom. He's there.
>> No, but he is I just saw him. So, um I know Nick was not here long, but this is his last meeting with us. I know that he's leaving on Friday, and I believe, is that correct, Nick? The 26th. >> Oh. >> Um >> I just want to thank him for his time,
his expertise. Um Nick has a has a very um unique style of leadership. He's always calm, always willing to help. I think back to the first issue we worked on which was a unique housing issue with a gentleman
over off of Truman Parkway which involved many entities of this community uh of of the staff town staff to rectify it and you took the lead in that. I thank you for that and and I especially want to thank you for your you you brought a wealth of knowledge from DCR
and a lot of people don't realize that DCR is a significant piece of geography in this town and I think it's over a third of the total square footage and your ability with DCR um was a wealth of help in so many ways.
I just leave you with this. I did talk to representative Armeni tonight um who is the state rep for swamps where you were going. She know turns out she knows you very well and speaks very glingly and um as I said to her their gain will be our loss. So um thank you everything
and um best of wishes and all the best in your new endeavors. Thank you Mr. Chair. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you Mr. Wills. That's well said. Um, I don't know, Nick, if you'd like to say anything uh before uh your your departure. >> Okay,
>> thank you. It's been a pleasure working with everyone. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, it as Mr. Wells said, we've really benefited from your presence here. We're sorry it was a short stay, but um we wish you the best of luck in Swamps and uh you know, come to
Porchfest next year, maybe. It's we know it's a bit of a drive and uh I hope that uh the new position works out well for you. Um other future agenda items or anything any other business? Okay. Um so uh I am going to then 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 Employee Association, Milton
Firefighters Local 116, Milton Police Association, Milton Superior Officers, Milton Library Association. 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. Uh I also uh Oh,
can I get a second for that? >> Second. And >> can this will be a roll call vote. Uh Mr. Wells? >> Yes. >> Uh Miss Hagerty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dailyaly? >> Yes. >> And myself? Yes. >> Um I'm going to move that we adjourn from open session and enter into executive session to consider the
purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property, Corey Hills. Based on my belief that 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. Can I have a second on that?
>> Second. >> Seconded by Mr. Dailyaly. Uh again, roll call vote. Uh Mr. Wells, >> yes. >> Miss Haggerty, >> yes. >> Mr. Daly, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. Uh, I am also going to move that we adjourn from open session and enter into executive session to
approve executive session meeting minutes stated January 9th, 2024, February 26, 2024, February 27th, 2024, March 4th, 2024, April 22nd, 2025, June 10th, 2025, June 20th, 2025, June 26,
2025, and to approve the release of all executive session meeting minutes related to attorney general via the town of Milton at all number SJ2024. 40078 and SJC 13580 Supreme Judicial Court, Suffach County,
and potential litigation regarding a Mass General Law C48 section 3A. The select board will not return to open session. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded. Uh, roll call vote. Uh, Mr.
Wells, >> yes. >> Miss Haggerty, >> yes. >> Mr. Daly, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. Um, can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Seconded by Mr. [Music]
Mr. Log off. I am going to uh call to order. Uh, now we are adjourned from uh select board. Uh the uh a meeting of the uh trustees of the Governor Stoen Trust.
Um, and I am going to um now move Oh, did I lose that motion too? >> It's on the back. >> It's on the back. >> Oh, great. Thank you. Uh, I'm going to move that we adjourn from open session of the meeting of the trustees of the governor Stoton Trust 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's Stoen Trust will not return to open session.
>> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Hagerty. Uh this is a roll call vote. Uh Mr. Wells. >> We may have lost him already to the other session. Well, we only need the three votes, I guess. Um we'll call Mr. Wells an abstension. Uh Miss Hagerty, >> yes.
>> Mr. Dailyaly, yes. And myself, yes. >> Um now we are adjourned. Adjourned. Uh, thank you everyone for joining us and we'll see you on the 7th of October.