Speaker 1: Good evening everyone. This is the December 17th meeting of the Natick Select Board. Let's see, so just briefly, I'm calling this order at 6:00 PM We are going to do our open session first, and I call that to order from now. And then we will be going later on into executive session and leaving, closing the adjourning from executive sessions. So once we go into executive session, the public portion of
meeting will be over. So for those in the room, please rise for reflectance in a moment of silence. Speaker 2: States stands under God, liberty and justice for all. Trooper, Speaker 1: First off our announcements. I can do the election if want. Speaker 3: Sure, either way. So there's a, this is, this is a standing announcement and I do see the chair of the font group as well in the audience who can help provide context if it's
okay with you share. But there's a New Year's Eve event on the rail trail and the reason for, well, a reason for the announcement is to get the word out. It's an exciting event. It is a series of fire pits on New Year's Eve night, all approved by the fire department and the police department and DDW. So no worries on that front from the safety perspective, but it's, there's a venue change. And again, if it's okay with you, Mr. Chair. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Thank you Mr. O Speaker 3: Ostroff to provide a little more context. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Chair and Mr. Erickson and select board members. I'm Josh Tro on the board of the Friends of Natick Trails
and I here first to thank town staff for their great partnership with our fifth annual New Year's Eve event on the Constitu Rail Trail. And then, yes, as Mr. Erickson said, just to note a, a slight venue change. So we had in years past had a lot of activities centered at the Amvets for safety reasons. We moved that further up the trail and at Chrysler Road we will have food trucks and live music and restrooms and a all, all the fire pits with parking available at the Natick Mall and Home Depot. We thank them for their generosity as well as sponsors
who helped make this free Family food beach fun event possible so you can learn more through the town website. Thank you so much to the town for helping to get the word out. We are really excited to present this event. We welcome more volunteers. There's room if you'd like to host a fire pit, you know, to do that. This is safe done with a solo stove and we've got lots of volunteers to, and the fire department to help make sure that it's a a safe event. And if there's any changes, of course we'll be making public announcements about that. But really appreciate the community's partnership and the fun spirit in which we do this event.
We just noticed that the friends of Dana Trails borrowed this idea from Mr. Erickson's hometown of Holliston, which has successfully done it for many years and it's really a joyous event. From four 30 to seven 30 there'll be lighting starting near Mechanic Street and it goes all the way up to Route 30. And if you wanna venture into Framingham, they've borrowed the idea as well. Couldn't really stop them. So, but as well as down the Wonderer Bridge spur to towards the Natick Mall. So thank you for the opportunity to sharing your announcements and I really appreciate it. And if you see signs like this around town, you'll know why.
Thank you so much. Speaker 1: Next, do you wanna do that calendar? I can do that chair. All right, I'll do that. The town political calendar for 2026 has come out. It's on the town clerks website. That date has passed. Nomination papers are available now for all town wide positions and town meeting members. There are various deadlines for town wide offices January 6th at 5:00 PM is the last day
and hour to submit nomination papers for town wide offices with the registrars of voters, you need a minimum of 25 signatures. Let's see. The other one that I wanted to read is the preliminary. We're gonna do 10 election in January and other information that we will provide later in our agenda today. So I'll leave it at that Your Honor, on election on March 31st, it's later Rich, but
Speaker 5: Ipro propose to the political calendar. There will be a meeting next Monday night in room 1 25 at the community senior center from five to six minutes to educate residents about local elections. If anyone is potentially interested in running for office, there will be people there who have either previously run for office or are currently in office that will, will help advise you or guide you if you would like to consider running or if you have any questions on the more people
that we can get to participate in our government, the better off we are. And then finally, I will be holding office hours tomorrow at the community senior center from nine to 10. So if you have any concerns, please drop by and we can chat about those. Thank Speaker 1: Any other nonsense following back, lean forward. Okay, public. Next up is public speak. Any individual may raise an issue not on the tonight's agenda and it will be taken under advisement by the board. There'll be no opportunity for debate during this portion of the meeting.
Due to the requirements of open meeting law, this section of the agenda is limited to 10 minutes and any one individual addressing the board is limited to three sentence. Speaker 5: Thank you Mr. Chair. I am Carol Law. I'm a member of the board of Yes for Natick. Yes for Natick is a political action committee with the mission to share information about our town and top government and to encourage civic engagement and participation. I'm here to announce an event. We are planning for Thursday, January 8th. So three weeks from tomorrow at 7:00 PM
that we are entitling the changing face of Natick Center. On that evening, we will bring together four perspectives on our beloved Natick center and the development that is underway. We've all seen it and what we might see in the years to come, our panel will, will include town administrator Jamie Erickson. Thank you Jamie Heather Rockwood, executive director of the Natick Center Cultural District. Stu Rothman, president of First Cambridge Realty and owner of the Clarks Block and the new the block in NA center. And James McGrath, senior VP of Stonegate, developer
of several projects in NA center, including 13 West Central 45, east Central, 21 Summer Street, and 11 South Main. This event will be on Zoom. It's not in not in person with later telecast on Natick. Pegasus. The public is invited to register and submit questions for our panel. And you can go to yes for natick.org and that is spelled well Y-E-S-F-O-R Natick, N-A-T-I-C k.org. As a reminder, the event is Thursday, January 8th at 7:00 PM
It'll last about an hour. Thank you for your time and thank you for letting me make this announcement. Speaker 1: Excuse me, is there anyone else in the room wants to speak? Is there anyone online line? Next up is discussion and decision. First up is the appointment of new permanent police officers Chief Hicks floor. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the board. Again, I'm in front of you this evening to request that as part of your action, the Point Authority new police officers for the town of Natick, which is always a special night as we move forward
and build our organization and ensure that we have the type of of officers that the town of David deserves. So with that as their appoint authority for police officers, I'm gonna request that you appoint the following candidates as permanent police officers. And when you do, I would ask that the appointments be contingent upon successful completion of the police academy and any other requirements necessary for a success service. One thing I do want to point out is, as everyone realizes, we are recently outta civil service. So this is the first opportunity we have of appointing candidates, not from a civil service process,
but I want to ensure you that we went through in these candidates here tonight, went through a, just as a rigorous process as any have and as we didn't previously. And they also have, because we are on our civil service, they also had to compete against many other applicants. So I just wanted to point that out. And with that, I would like to introduce those candidates in front of you here tonight. First will be Steven Ford. We practice this. Steven graduated from Keith Regional Technical High School in Framingham in 2019. He was a member of the national honor.
Steven has been employed by the Market Basket grocery store since 2014, has held various roles in the company from groceries, bagging, groceries, all the way up to where he is now as assistant store manager in. He has responsibilities including handling payroll, making personnel decisions, including hiring and discipline, addressing customer service issues, loss prevention along with overall operations. So sounds like a police officer already. He was selected to be part of a team that was tasked with introducing new technology regionally within the market basket chain, which we know is vast.
His direct supervisor says he is a very hands-on during stressful situations such as employee disputes or unruly customers. He does not shy away from the problem. Communicates very well with the people involved. Mr. Ford is 25 years of age and currently resides in Framingham. I do like to point out that he's here tonight with his father James. I'm gonna put you all on the spot. His father James, his mother Margaret, and his best friend Douglas. And they want to thank you for being here tonight to support their candidate. Next is Nicholas Raffi. Thank you. Some of you may remember, Nick has
already been in front of this board. He was appointed a reserve officer already in 2024, but right after he was appointed reserve, he went on deployments and has been on deployment and just returned. So he missed out an opportunity for other permits, but he's back and ready to go and no, just so you as a reminder, he's a 2018 graduate of Natick High School in 2022. He graduated Magna CU Laude from the University of Massachusetts with degree in Criminal Justice. He currently resides in Natick with his parents, Michael and and his siblings, Robert, Valerie, and Michelle.
Next is Brendan Healy. Mr. Healy attended high school at Arthur Spencer Williams School in Braintree. He had entered the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Budgets Bay with a class of 2025 and you honor in a Bachelor's of Science degree in emergency management. In June of 22, Mr. Healy joined the Coast Guard Reserve. He's still active in the reserves at even at this. When Don's background, his Chief Petty officer described him as someone he doesn't have to worry about. He's always ready and willing to step into any task or situation that needs to be addressed. You further describe him is always eager to train
and mentor the newer members of the crew. He is vocal when he needs to be and needs by example. Mr. Hill is 23 years of age and currently resides in Quincy, Massachusetts. When he said tonight again with his mother, Amy is Brother Ryan, his sister Megan and his, his girlfriend Kaitlyn. So again, thank you for being here to SU support. Next is Camry Thomas. Dear Camry is a 2015 graduate of the Windsor Locks High School in Connecticut. After high school he attended Johnson and Wells University in Providence, Rhode Island. We majored in sports, entertainment
and events management, receiving his bachelor's degree in 2020 while attending. He's, he was a two-time NCA All-American wrestler and he was a team CTA captain and also active at the same time in youth as a youth mentor through an organization called Beat the Streets. Mr. Thomas credits the programs with instilling him a sense of discipline, resilience, and a commitment to serving others. He is currently employed as a senior executive, a co-executor of Resource Soft, resource Soft in Marlboro, Massachusetts. He's a 28 years o years of age residing in Hanson, Massachusetts.
And he's here tonight with his wife Cassandra and his father Phillip. And again, thank you Speaker 1: For being here to support these candidates. Speaker 6: With that Mr. Chair members of the board, those are the candidates that, that I propose to be appointed as full-time police officer's, effective January 5th, which they will attend Speaker 1: The academy on that date. Chief Hicks, Mr. Sidney, you have a motion? Speaker 7: Yes, I move that we appoint Steven Ford, Nicholas Bray, Brendan Healy,
and Camry Thomas as permanent police officers, effective January 5th and contingent upon successful completion of the police academy and any other requirements necessary for successful terminate could certification. Second Speaker 1: To Kristen. My hearing is better on my right side Speaker 7: Time for the hearing. Speaker 1: Pretty excellent. Okay. Comments on the board, start from left to right here. Speaker 8: I'd like to thank all of you for stepping forward and applying to be part of NA community. And I wish you all the best in the academy. Thank you. Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm really happy to see such qualified candidates
applying to work for, for Our town and for our police department. It is always a joy to appoint highly qualified people and I look forward to seeing you around town after you graduate the academy. Speaker 5: Yes, congratulations. And as Chief Hick said, this is always a great event for us as well. Welcoming you to, to our community. And I am thrilled that we are out of civil service and we have such fine candidates to, to choose from. And and I look forward to you growing with the department and growing in your leadership as well.
It looks like you've all had a really good start with that. So welcome, Speaker 1: Welcome. Speaker 8: Thank you Chief. I mean board chair thinking about the chief much. Yes. First of all, congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you for being here. I was thinking leadership. I was really thrilled to hear about all the leadership that you all have endeavored and excited for you to bring that here and what that means as a part of the department and how that will contribute to the police department.
I'm also really encouraged to see your family and your friends here. That means a lot to have the support of your family and your loved ones, knowing the type of work that you'll be doing, but also as a, as a place of accountability that this is a, this is a community elevation and a community appointment. So congratulations and thank you. Speaker 1: Thank Ms. Paul. First I wanted to thank Chief Hicks for bringing such great candidates to us. This was a, I won't call it a challenge. And, and it is a challenging year.
This was first year out of civil service and there's a lot of infrastructure that had to be built quickly to fill these positions that were very much needed in town. Kudos Chief X developing that quickly and for bringing us such qualified candidates and, and looking through and listening to the experiences. I would, I I, a couple things just jumped right out at me that, that you're all leaders and that you're all mentors and that you're all committed to public service,
which I think, you know, if, if you were to list the qualities for a police officer, those would be the top three opinion. So congratulations and thank you for choosing the, let's do a round little Speaker 2: Mark. Did you vote? Speaker 1: I don't think voted yet. Forget to do that. You vote. I always think it was unanimous. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. A Now you can clap. Speaker 2: Welcome. Congratulations. Congrat, when's a luck, right? Yes, from Tolin. Oh, really? Yeah, you guys, thank you.
Speaker 1: And riveting is our select board meetings. Are you are all free. Actually, we'll, we'll pause for a couple minutes. All right. Next up we've got item B, water and sewer abatement appeal. And I hope I don't butcher this name badly, but it's Nick Metin. Gigi, anything close? Thank you. Sorry for mispronouncing your Speaker 9: No, it's my husband's name by the way. Speaker 10: Just thank you so much for giving us mind.
Speaker 1: Pull it down. Just pull it down Speaker 9: Now. Yeah, Speaker 1: Better. Speaker 9: Okay. Thank you so much for having us tonight. As you may know, this is related to our bill for three months. We received this high bill for three months when nobody lived in our house. So what happened is we lived overseas for close to two years. And in the middle of, almost in the middle of that duration for some reason, some something started and stopped by itself for, for three months. The usage increased extremely,
like it was a very high usage. And we, we received this bill for close to $13,000. I think for those three months we, somebody from the town came to check the water meter and then we exchanged some emails with John Marshall and then we, we also hired a plumbing company. They did, they recorded everything. They checked if there's a leakage or anything. They checked our to toilets and I mean, everything looked fine. So basically we, we asked,
we asked the lawyer what we can do. 'cause there's no explanation behind this high bill. There's no leakage, there's no evidence that looks like there, there, there was a leakage or anything. So we are just asking basically our bill to be adjusted to our average rate. At least that's the minimum I think we can ask for. So we can provide proof regarding nobody lived at the house during that time. Our neighbors were so nice to pick up our mail, cut our grass, et cetera.
But I mean, we can definitely provide more details, more proof if needed. Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions from the board? I'm sorry Ms. Thought. Thanks. So I see that you do have an irrigation Speaker 5: Meter, correct? Speaker 9: Yeah. Speaker 5: Yes. But the excess usage is all from your the house. Speaker 9: The house inside the house. Speaker 5: From inside the house, yeah. And I will also see that your most recent bill, we have a copy of looks normal. So when, when was it that you were gone and when did you come back?
Speaker 9: It was in the beginning of 2023 and we came back end of 2024. So almost two years we were away. But this happened in the middle of like, the usage was almost like 0, 0, 0. And then it spiked for three months and then it became zero again. And then we came back. Speaker 8: It's this may, I think it's May 1st August 1st. That mid month Speaker 9: Period around that duration. I think February, March through June or something like that. Yeah, that duration. And we came back in September, I guess.
Speaker 5: Do, do you have a sprinkler system and is it No. No. So you don't have Speaker 9: No, no sprinkler. Speaker 5: Are all of your outside faucets on, on your irrigation meter? Do you know there's zero in irrigation meter. No. But do you know if your, all of your outside faucets are connected up through your irrigation? No. Could you go over to the mic and answer the Speaker 1: Question? Oh, it could be. I'll just say that he, he responded no, he responded no to that question. Yeah, Speaker 5: Some, some of them are regular,
Speaker 9: Some technical terms my husband is more familiar with. So that's why he I understand. Speaker 5: Yeah. What I'm wondering is if someone could have used water outside of your house during that time? No. Speaker 9: No. Speaker 1: Or, or it could have been a trip. Speaker 5: Right? That Speaker 1: Was, that was Speaker 5: Because if, if your faucet is not like our, not every one of our, my outside faucets is on our irrigation meter only some of them are. Yeah. So did you look at outside as well? Did they, Speaker 9: I mean, based on who came from the water department to check our meter,
he confirmed it should be from inside the house. I mean that's at least what we, we heard And our, the plumbing company, I mean also also checked everything, Speaker 5: But no one found anything. Speaker 9: No, nothing. Speaker 1: And, and the usage after that period normalized? Speaker 9: Yeah. Yeah. It normalized, it went to zero. And then when we came back it was just our regular monthly, I think usage Speaker 5: Question. Speaker 8: Thank you. Ms. Re, you mentioned that your neighbors were collecting your mail. Yeah. Did you, at any point,
did you see this while you were away? See that it had spiked in the bill? Did you see your bill Speaker 9: Watching? We saw it later. Like it, the, I think we received like, is it three months that we received the bills? I think we were checking regularly. I think that's when, and we came back like two months after this happened. This cop. So it was pretty close? Pretty close? Yes. Yeah, it was maybe two months later we saw it. If it stopped during July, we came back around September. So June, July, it's about two months
Speaker 1: Question. I had just a couple comments and that's is last about this specific case, but more sort of instructive for viewers out there and fellow residents. We have a, who are abatement policy that's published online. And generally if, if the fault lies with the town, for example, a faulty meter or incorrect billing, the town is responsible for that issue and that the, the resident is not.
However, when there are situations like these where there's a considerable overage of the normal pattern of what we look for is whether the, this, the select board of water commissioners get a recommendation kicked up from the deputy town administrator that said this is in this type of situation we've looked at the average of, or the highest of the previous three years of that period.
And that overage is generally paid for at the lowest tier of charge for that. So that's tier one. So I have a couple comments and suggestions that I'd like to review with board. One is that I think we do need more detail about the dates that you provided. Yeah. Or that you talked about. I think also what I would like to see is the information about the plumbing
work that you've done. 'cause that's important for us to, to understand what steps you've taken for remedial action. And it, it's really as much to protect the town as it is to protect you. Because once, if we were to approve an abatement now you could not come back in a year's time and say, Hey, we've got the same problem again. Speaker 9: Got Speaker 1: To help us. So we wanna want to solve this problem here. Yeah, Speaker 9: Sure. Speaker 1: Mr. Sidney. Speaker 7: Yeah, I, something occurred to me.
I was wondering if while you were away, you said your neighbors were collecting your mail today. Have keys to the house? Speaker 9: No, no one had access to the house. No one had access. No one had keys. Yeah. Speaker 7: Yeah. I was just wondering if it was possible that somebody had gone in and turned some water on, forgotten. Speaker 9: No, even our backyard, the door was locked so they were cutting grass, but just the front, front yard. So nobody had access to inside the house or our backyard, basically. Speaker 7: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 9: Sure. Speaker 11: Mr. Chair, could you clarify what dates you're looking for in terms of, are you looking
for the dates they were overseas when they left? Speaker 1: Yes. I'd like to see those two, two data points. One, one is when they were overseas, all a sudden she, she told us that. I know, but the other piece is what's missing, which is the plumbers information about what they did when to remediate that. Thank you. And what I was going to suggest is that Speaker 9: There were some videos that we emailed to John Marshall. We can also forward them to you if you want. The plumbing company took some videos when they did the leak leakage inspection.
We can definitely share all those Speaker 11: Details. Speaker 1: Okay. Well what I, Speaker 11: So one other question. Yes, please. Are you enrolled in my 360? No. Did the water department explain to you what that was? Speaker 9: No, I don't recall any. Describe it or Speaker 1: I can. Speaker 11: So my 360 is a program that you would register your address with and when you're, if you were overseas or you're traveling, or even if you're home, if there's a water leak or some sort of abnormal usage, you immediately get a text message. Okay. Or an email. Okay. And so I would strongly encourage you to enroll in that program. Okay.
Speaker 9: We'll do that for sure. We'll shut it down next time. 'cause the reason we didn't shut it down this time was we fixed our heat heater at the, like average rate since we were gonna be away during winter time, we didn't want it to, so my husband thought it, it's linked to the water, so he didn't wanna shut the water down. But we learned it's not related. So that's why. But next time we'll definitely shut it down. Speaker 1: Okay. A lot of the information that that, that we're getting tonight is made me feel a little more comfortable.
I'm willing to entertain motions on what we should Speaker 5: I, I just have a comment. I think this is, this one is tricky. Usually when we approve an abatement, there's been a problem that's been identified. Yeah. And that's the reason why, you know, Mr. Marshall couldn't approve anything either because you don't have any idea what the source of the problem was. And you know, we can see that it's gone away. But this is, but I think this is why, you know, what Mr. Evans is asking is about the information from the plumber and if there's videos that's even better. Yeah.
Speaker 9: Okay. Speaker 7: I would suggest we continue this to another meeting to, so we can see those videos and that would be my 'cause I'd like to see that they actually took some action and, and I'm not against an abatement. If they did everything they could. Speaker 1: Yeah, I understand what you're saying. Any other comments? Okay. So I don't think we need to vote. Right? We just please continue. Continue it to our next meeting is on January 7th. Will you be able to come to that meeting? Yeah, sure. Okay. And I appreciate you coming. Speaker 9: Sure, thank you. Speaker 1: And filling us in on what's happening.
But I think if you provide that information, that gives us something to, to hang on to, to say okay. They, they did try to remediate the problem and then we can help them hopefully. Speaker 9: Okay. And if you could forward your bill, your plumber bill to Mr. Marshall and he can send it to us. Okay, sure. I'll do that. Speaker 7: I'll fill all the And the videos. Speaker 1: Yeah, the video, the Mr. Marshall just forwarded the videos to you all that were submitted. Okay. But if there's any additional information, just please get it over Speaker 9: To John. Okay. We, I'm not sure if Bill was there. We can definitely forward to Bill. Yeah, that'd be great.
And we can also share the dates that we were overseas. We can collect them and the dates of the bills for proceed. Okay. Speaker 1: Alright. Speaker 9: Thank you very much. Thank you so much for your, thank you. Thank you. Speaker 1: Okay, next up we have another order abatement. Robin Leitz. Speaker 9: I thank you for your time. We are 20 year residents of Natick have never had an issue in our house until the beginning of October. Unbeknownst to us there was a leak going on in a bathroom on our second floor that eventually leaked through
the first floor ceiling, walls, pipes, everything. We had no idea to the tune of about $19,000. So the next, actually that night I emailed our plumber, the mitigation company, came out the next morning, opened up all the walls, ran fans for a few days, then the plumber came, fixed everything in the bathroom. Then the mitigation company came back up, put the walls back together, everything together. So not only did we fix the problem behind the shower wall,
but to make sure that this wouldn't happen again. We had them look in the other bathroom to make sure that nothing would happen like this again. So it was $14,000 to the mitigation company. And then $4,000 I think I sent all the receipts to the plumber. So then on top of that we received a $600 water bill, which I almost fell off my chair because normally that bill is, you know, $88, 110 or 15.
And so we filled out all of the paperwork and received an $89 abatement. Which I'm appealing because I feel that, you know, that's a $600 water bill. And we did take, every step was very high and not our normal bill. So we're asking for more relief from that $600 bill. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Question Mr. Mr. Sidney. Speaker 7: Yeah. Mr. Marshall. The $89 was based on our usual rules.
Yes, Speaker 12: Correct. So based on the board's policy, we take a look back over those same quarters for the prior three years and we take whatever that highest rate is or the highest usage is, in this case, I believe it was 23 units from the year before. We calculate that at the regular tiers and then we take whatever the excess is and the excess gets dropped to the lowest tier. That's what ultimately gets reduced and where the abatement comes into play. So the $89 that was referenced
was the abatement in this case Speaker 1: Ion Speaker 9: Just one question. Are you enrolled in my 360? I think we are. Are you, I don't know if you can check that on your end, but I think we are. Speaker 1: What, what I would, excuse me. What I suggest is go, go to the DPW water and sewer site. It's based on your account number. So if you go to, I forget the exact URL, but it's my 360. And you put in your account number and it will tell you either you're registered or not registered. But as my colleague said earlier,
it's a nice, it's free app. First of all, it's on your phone. It, you can set alerts for thresholds for daily usage for that. So for example, I'll give you an for instance that I had, I had a lot of laundry to do. So my, my threshold is set pretty low. So I got an alert from my 360 that said, Hey, you're over your daily suggested average. It also has a feature that lets you get alerts when you're away. So if you, for example, for whatever reason
you, something happens in your town or in your house, you could ask a neighbor to come in and, and you know, maybe, maybe get a plumber if necessary or if it's obvious, you know, shut off something. So in this case we're, we're following what our stated policy is, which is we go look back at the previous three years and say anything above that, we're going to still charge you for the water usage, but at the lowest possible rate we can charge you.
This is to, to be fair to other rate payers. Now we're very sympathetic to the, the loss that you had and the expenses you occurred in the, in your bathroom, the flooding of your first floor, more likely. I have my, my brother and sister-in-law had a similar problem where their bathroom flooded like that. So you have my utmost sympathy, but to be fair to the rate payers, we, this is as far as we can go. So
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just wanna say I don't, unfortunately you going back last year, you also had high usage during that period. And I don't know if maybe you had another plumbing problem but you used 23 units, which is the calculation that Mr. Marshall used the year before that in 2023 it was only 10. So, you know, you might have had something else going on during that period that accounted for that higher usage. But unfortunately that's what we need to go on. It's that, that highest usage over the last three years. Speaker 1: Further comments, Speaker 8: Just one question,
and this may, it might be obvious because the, because the water was coming through the ceiling at a point, but it says that on your application the water and sewer division was noticed, but they never visited the property. Why didn't they visit the property? Was it not necessary because of, it was a very apparent leak Speaker 11: That was coming to the ceiling, Speaker 9: I guess. No, nobody ever said they were coming out when I contacted them, I would be, I they could have come out. I didn't know that they wanted to. Is that a standard? Speaker 3: It it's, it's upon the request of the, of the, of the homeowner.
They don't necessarily go out. Usually it's say Hey we have a water leak and they can come out if it's requested, we check and see, okay, we obviously can't provide too much direction 'cause they're not plumbers, they're not hired. They can really just check the public infrastructure and maybe give some guidance on things that might be happening interior. But it's usually at the request of the property owner Speaker 2: Based on the, the damage we proactively had looked at all over the house. Yeah. Yeah. So that wouldn't happen again. But obviously the damage was done in this case. Speaker 1: Yep. Unfortunately the damage was, was done
but he took all the right steps afterwards. So unfortunately we, this is to be fair to the other residents, we can't just simply ignore that the water was used 'cause the water was used, even though it was a difference of 23 to 28 units. We do have to charge at the lowest rate that we can. Speaker 7: And I, and I should note also a large part of that charge was sewer usage, which we can't abate 'cause we have to pay it. It's the MWRA rates on based on Speaker 3: Just the correction there. The sewer portion does get reduced
to the lowest tier as well. The lowest Speaker 1: Tier. Also Speaker 3: It's the water and the sewer charge that get abated to the lowest tier. Speaker 1: Thank Mr. Eric. So unfortunately I'm, I'm sorry that we can't offer more, but it's really our hands are tied on that. I appreciate you coming in though Speaker 11: Mr. Chair. Should we vote on that? Speaker 1: Yes, we should Speaker 11: Move to deny Speaker 1: Second. All in favor? Please say aye. Speaker 11: A aye. Speaker 1: So thank you very much for coming in. Sorry for all the problem Speaker 11: Mr. Chair. I just had a few quick comments.
Yes, There has been discussion in our community about abatements and how the abatements of are the rate payers and the cost to taxpayers. So I just wanted to present some statistics to the public so they, that contextual understanding of what this board has given an abatements this year. So this year the board has granted 48 thou, the board or the deputy town administrator has awarded or given $48,596 in abatements. When you spread that over 14,000 repays,
that is equal to about 87 cents per quarter per rate payer in a $21 million enterprise, $21 million in revenue enterprise account with 14,000 rate payers. We're looking at 0.0023% of our revenue and of all the abate the bills that have gone out this year, as of December, we have, the town has sent out 45,224 bills and we've had 61 abatement requests, which equals 0 0 1 3% of all bills requesting abatements. So this is just to reiterate that the abatements,
while it may seem like $48,000 is a massive amount, when you put it in the context of a $22 million revenue enterprise account with 14,000 rate payers and 40 over 45,000 bills sent out, 61 abatements is not excessive. And I just wanted to share that with people who don't really have the context. Thank you Mr. Chair. Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, let's move on to item C, which is potential extent extension of request for
by ick center cultural district to allow businesses to use portable sandwich board signs, sidewalk sale displays and semi fixed ments sidewalks and commercial zone districts. Speaker 3: Those be enhancements, Speaker 1: Enhancements, ments, that's a Speaker 3: For data center. So this, this was in response to the dialogue that we had at the last meeting whereby the board with the recent amendments to the zoning bylaw passed by town meeting this fall, which we're still pending with the attorney general's office. And we're working at the staff level
to set up the process where the application and review process for the entire bylaw. But there's a component of the bylaw that includes review by and approval by the select board for essentially what it says here, enchantments and other like temporary or or movable signage in public ways like sidewalks and things like that. Not on the actual roadway. This was the request of the board to actually extend what the board approved back, I believe it was in August, July or August timeframe, which was to allow these while the, the,
the zoning bylaws were being worked on to allow these to the end of the calendar year. It's really just a basic extension of that work. We're also using this as a good opportunity to learn from what occurred over the last three to six months with that policy in place or with that approval in place to help inform some of the next steps with regards to the approvals of these moving forward. Now that it's in the zoning bylaws so that we can help inform the board's next review of, so it likely this fall, it's probably a March timeframe, maybe February, depending on how quickly our,
our staff can put this together. But we, we'll bring back, we being the community economic development department as well as Billy from from the select board office and myself will bring back the application for your understanding and, and understanding how we're planning on handling it, but then also the process by which we think would make sense for the board to consider so that you're not seeing these throughout the year. We're, we're gonna try to line it up as like a one time a year. So this, this really is just to extend for, you know, really the duration of, is the board's pleasure
but three, three months, six months, the approval. And then you can always revoke that at a future time once we get that more formal and complete process up to date. Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Erickson. Sure. Comments? Motion? Speaker 11: I just a motion. Speaker 1: Okay. Council, the James Speaker 11: I I I believe the request from Ghana native cultural district is to impose a temporary moratorium on enforcement related to sidewalk signs, outdoor displays and similar promotional elements. What I would move is that
the board request continued enforcement on these enchantments enhancements as they relate to a DA accessibility and safety issues, but without regard to them actually existing. So I would ask that the board, the motion would be for six months to be revoked upon adoption of new rules. Speaker 1: A second Speaker 5: The board alternate motion Speaker 7: Or well could, could we do through the end of March and then I come back after the town election to see
what the next board wants to do. Would you be okay with that? Yes, Speaker 8: I actually would prefer to hold it in six months. Speaker 1: I, 'cause I, Speaker 8: It's questionable whether a new board is able to make that decision right away. I I think that, I don't think it hurts to hold it for six months and give that new board time to deliberate or depending on where it's gonna fall on our agenda. Speaker 1: I I would agree that was a zoning change approved by town meeting. So I I'm okay with six months we're waiting on the ag and ag typically if,
if past performance is an indicator of future performance, six months is, is pr. Yeah, Speaker 5: I, I wanna understand why we wouldn't just extend our, what we already approved and it sounds like this might be more lenient and then when we put the new rules in place, then it's gonna seem like we're taking a step backward. Why wouldn't we just keep what we have now until the new rules are passed? Speaker 11: I thought that's what we have now. We're allowed to have in sidewalks, other sidewalk sandwich boards, other enhancements as long as they don't interfere with safety, a DA access, et cetera.
So I would change, I think your point is taken. Yeah, so we can just extend, Speaker 5: We'll just extend what we have in place and then, and then and it's only for first four Speaker 1: Businesses in the current roles currently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So rather than, Speaker 11: So then I would amend my emotion, my emotion. I would amend my emotions about this to, to be moved to extend our previous Speaker 1: Policy Speaker 11: Policy until such for six months or until such time as the board revisits it. I'll second Speaker 5: That. Yep. Speaker 1: All in favor please. Aye aye. Aye. Thank you for amending that.
That's a much better answer. Okay, next up is liquor license renewals. Speaker 11: Mr. Chair, just a note. Yes. When, if you could give me two minutes before we review MI Mr. Moran's application. Okay. He's in a place where I need to text him and let him know to be available. Okay, Speaker 1: Why don't we take that a couple minutes recess. Speaker 11: Okay, you can take a, a break Speaker 1: Recess. Let's take like, well Speaker 11: Can we take Speaker 5: Number of different things we're gonna Speaker 1: Do here? Actually, if Mr. Very goodly just
Speaker 5: Going, Speaker 1: Let's go with the intent to call town meeting item eight, which is like to announce that we springtown meeting will be on April 28th, 2026 and the town election is on March 31st, 2026. Again, this is information that is in the 2026 political calendar. For information on deadlines for submittals, please consult that document
that can be found on the town clerk's website. So we can also then go back to the see through the license renewals with the exception. Okay. Right. So French, a couple certain notes. Yep. One second to get to the right place. Cheesecake Factory Change Management there. Any questions or comments on this? One Speaker 5: Second. Speaker 1: Mr. Sidney, seconded by all in favor, please say aye. Aye.
Aye. Speaker 5: Aye. Speaker 1: Next is the vote to approve the 2026 liquor license renewal. Comments of questions? Speaker 7: Mr. Chairman, I want to explicitly make sure that we are, there is no renewal for the following included Gaby's Chophouse, so Sushi and PF Changs and nine East, which we'll be talking about shortly. So those, those are explicitly included,
excluded from our license renewals motion. Speaker 5: I, I object to excluding nine East. Speaker 7: Well, we gotta talk about it separately. We can. Okay, that's a motion. Well, except we're gonna come back and talk about nine East and then we can decide whether renew it or not. Okay, that's, I just wanted to exclude you from the gross motion. Mr. Speaker 5: So, so I do note that PF Chang's is on Donna's list right now on the 2026 renewal list. Speaker 7: Right, but in her, in her memo, Speaker 5: I, I I understand. I'm just saying that that is included
unlike some of the others that you mentioned. So I think we need to be very explicit about that. Speaker 7: Yeah. And so let's, I'd say move approval of license renewals with the exception of CAS fees. Nine East, so Sushi and PF Chang's. Speaker 1: Aye. Any, any further discussion? Aye, all in favor? Please say aye. Aye. That was moved by Rich and seconded by Kristen. Right. Okay. So, all right, let's talk about, Speaker 5: Let's just be, I I'm,
I'm still little uncomfortable about this because if we are making a motion based on the list that's online, I think we have to be consistent. I don't believe some of these other things are on that list. Speaker 7: I, I, I don't think it, the fact that they're not on the list, I wanted to explicitly exclude them even though Changs is on the list. Speaker 5: Then what are, then what are we, Speaker 7: I just wanna be really explicit about it. Speaker 5: I understand Rich, but you're, but what the point that you're missing is that you're excluding things that aren't on the list. So that doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 1: You're choosing things that are on the list. Speaker 5: No things that aren't on the list. Speaker 8: PF Chang's is on the list. Speaker 7: PF Chang's is on the list. Speaker 5: Is on the list. Speaker 7: But I wanted to also be really Speaker 5: Clear. Yes. Piece is not, for example, I understand, Speaker 7: But I wanna be really explicitly clear in a public vote that we are excluding Gatsby's and these other ones that Donna has mentioned, so that there's no question Speaker 5: Coming back. But if all, but if all we're approving, if what we're approving is this list, Speaker 7: But we're not, we're approving this list and making sure that we're being, Speaker 5: But, but, but then the only thing we need
to exclude is the ones that are listed on here because the other people we are not moving. Right? Except, and then I think that should be a separate vote because they're not on this list. Just, well, we're Speaker 7: Gonna do a separate vote to make sure that we're explicitly not renewing the other three. I'm fine with that, but I want Speaker 5: Explicit vote because we have to have a specific vote. Bob Gaby's language. Speaker 1: Let's do a rewind here, right? The rewind is, we'll, we'll approve the 2025 liquor license renewals with the exception
of Gadsby's. Speaker 5: No, Speaker 7: With the exception of change. The exception sounds Speaker 5: Right. So, so we'll approve what's online right now on, on peak, the 2026 renewal list with the exception of PF Chang's. And, and the, and we should state the reason for it, which is in the memo, in the memo that they haven't submitted the, they have submitted a change of manager application, but the, the other status remains outstanding. Speaker 1: Okay, Speaker 5: So Speaker 8: Mr. Chair nine east is on the list Speaker 5: Then motion. Mr. Moran is available. Mr.
Speaker 8: Marran is available and Mr. Upton has raised his hand. Speaker 1: Okay. So let's do one thing at a time here, which is, we'll, we'll do online with the exclusions that Ms. Waler mentioned. So that's your motion. Speaker 7: So the two that we're gonna exclude is nine East and we're gonna come back to nine East with Mr. Moran. Alright, so nine Eastern. Chad, Speaker 8: Should we, should we speak with him first before we deny? Should we just have the conversation with him first and then vote since he's on the phone? I don't know. I mean, I don't know how it feels to go ahead
and vote while he's on the line. Speaker 7: I can have a separate vote to renew. Yeah, Speaker 1: I, I, I would do that because this was a lead arriving bit of information, so I would like to give that a separate examination if that's okay. Speaker 3: Just, just so, Speaker 7: So the current motion is the list is provided except for nine East and Chang? Speaker 1: Correct. Speaker 3: And just for a clarity of the record, it doesn't mean that Nine East or PCH is being denied. The, it's just that they're gonna be debated and Speaker 1: Separate. Thank you. Great. Okay, so I'm gonna give that to Linda
and Rich and all in favor, please say aye. Speaker 11: Aye. Aye. Speaker 1: Okay. Let us talk now about nine East we have, Speaker 3: Is that Mr. Upton? Speaker 11: No, that's Mr. Moran. Okay. Speaker 3: Is he available? Speaker 11: He's on, he's online. Speaker 3: Do would you like me to ask him to Speaker 1: Unmute? Yes, please. Speaker 3: Okay. You should have asked. Speaker 1: Hello Mr. Moran? Speaker 13: I'm here. Speaker 1: Okay. Please walk us through your application for the liquor license and,
and the status of your request. Speaker 13: Well, that's why I sent a bullet point memo to you guys today. Let you know, to let you know where I'm in the process. We have not finalized a lease on a new location and nor has the two entities that wanna buy the store and they wanna keep me on as a manager. That has not been finalized either, but I would need a 2026 license going forward to finalize that process. Speaker 1: And then you're planning to look at sites within Natick, I take it. Speaker 13: Well I've been looking at all sites in Natick, we're down
to two, but really one, and I signed, I signed an NDA so for tonight's meeting I probably can't discuss that, but we're getting, we're getting much closer. Speaker 1: Yeah, I just needed to know that it was in needed. Speaker 13: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yep. Speaker 1: Okay. Questions and comments Holder, can, Speaker 5: Can someone just fill in what the regulations are regarding this, about a license when they're old? I can do that, Speaker 1: Please. Speaker 11: So in Massachusetts, a pocket license usually means a dormant license. It's somebody who holds it a license, either on premise
or off premise, but is not actively using it and keeping it in the quote pocket for future sale or transfer to another location. These are allowed, they're allowed to be approved by the executive board. So mayor, you know, or the select board for a period of time usually to check in and say where are you in the process? And that's what I would recommend to you. Speaker 1: Is there any invitation on the timeframe Speaker 11: For that? It's usually one year and of course it can be extended, so usual as practice
as opposed to policy or law. Speaker 3: Just for also the record, any, any new location once identified will need to come back to the board, I believe. Yes. To make sure that's officially transferred to that location. So the board still has an approval process, even with the new location identified, similar to how the board handled, I believe it was Austin Link. So yes, when that was being moved, they actually came back a couple times even though they held onto their license until the location that the board was comfortable with was identified. So there is still e even with the extension or, or continuation for one more year of this renewal.
Speaker 11: Right. Speaker 3: There will be a moment in the next year, assuming happens next year, that this board will have to review the location specific components of the license Speaker 11: And all of the other application components. So inspection, certification of occupants, all of those things, Speaker 3: Which is all part of that location specific, right? Speaker 1: Yeah. Right. Thank you both for clarifying that. Ms. Speaker 5: Can, can you remind me how many open licenses we have? Speaker 3: So we have one for, for full alcohol? We have one, one open licenser
or un un held license Speaker 11: For off-premise. Speaker 3: For off premise. Correct. Which is, which is consistent with, it's the same type of license that this is. There's a number of other types of licenses that you have for off-premise beer and I believe there's a handful of mall beer and wine probably about 12 or 13. I don't recall the exact number for also off premises, but this is an all a alcohol system. We have one Speaker 5: One and, and so if, if this one, let's say we, we were not to approve and there would be two, but at this point there's, there's one
that's open, correct? Not Speaker 11: Including Speaker 3: This one, not including this one. Correct. Just Speaker 5: To be clear. Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah. And that was the one that was added due to the updated census in 2020. And, and obey just the, the state calculates available licenses for communities. Speaker 11: Mr. Chair, would you entertain a motion? Speaker 1: I would Speaker 11: Move to approve nine East Emporiums re renewal of all alcohol off-premise license. Second Speaker 1: I Ms. Wolfer, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you and thank you Ms.
Coughlin and Mr. Erickson for walking us through that process and reminding us of what we have to do tonight and as well as in the future for that next. Thank you very much. Welcome. Thank you. And good luck finalizing the look forward to you being back in Natick. Speaker 3: There is still a hand raise for an Andrew. Speaker 1: Okay. Is he unmuted? Speaker 3: I have not unmuted him. No. I'll do that direction of the chair. Speaker 1: Okay. Please unmute. Speaker 3: He's not on muted. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you Mr.
Upton, do you have some comments to make? Speaker 14: Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Andrew Upton. I am representing both the Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's. If I understand correctly, the new manager was approved and cheesecake was renewed, so we don't have to talk about that, but I'm certainly glad to give more detail on the pf Chang situation if the board requires, we understood that you were waiting for a manager change application. We submitted that last week. There was some problems with the portal about the visibility
of some of the documents. Those were all corrected yesterday. I spoke to Billy Walsh today and he said we are all set with that manager change, but I'm certainly glad to address or discuss any other issues. Speaker 1: Ms. Speaker 11: So the, we don't meet again before the end of the year. We could, we could meet maybe in a special meeting, but the manager application needs to be approved by the deputy chief and reviewed by him. So we anticipated it being on the January 7th agenda pending of course Chief Loon's review.
That's, I just wanna make that point, clarify that point. Speaker 14: Right. And mi Mr. Walsh showed me that he had slated us for January 7th for the manager change. Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. That's helpful. Trying to, Speaker 7: To, so we could renew the license and then do the manager change in the seventh. Speaker 1: Right? That's what Speaker 7: I'm, and then yes, you know, if the manager change is a problem, then we, you know, we're in our, in that other path of how do we deal with it. Speaker 11: I'm, I'm not sure we can do that. Mr. Erickson, did you wanna weigh in?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm, I'm my understanding that, that the, you need to have the accurate and updated manager on record in compliance and approved in order to renew your license. And this, this had this, you know, staff, I get Donna ability full credit. They started notifying all of our applicants months ago about the, the need to renew, which should have given ample time for all of 'em to update their manager of record if it was needed. The fact that, that this is happening late is really no fault. I, I would argue of of town staff
and really it's, it's really the, the beholden upon the applicants to ensure that they're up to date. And I know we've had challenges in the past with some of some of our license holders in doing manager record changes timely. That's not unique to anyone. It's, it happens, but the renewal process is pretty clear at the state level. And so I'm not sure the board can renew this at this time. That would, they'd have to get the manager of record up to date before the board today. My understanding before Speaker 7: The, well, I'd be willing if, if they, you know,
DC Lizanne gets information back before the end of the year, I'd be willing to like do a new time meeting sometime before the end of the year if you know, and then if that doesn't, you know, if it, if it can't happen in time, then January 7th, it's gonna, you know, then unfortunately no license until January 7th. Yep. Speaker 11: Mr. Mr. Chair, may I make a, a motion, Speaker 14: Mr. Chairman, if I may Speaker 7: Go ahead. Speaker 14: First of, first of all, it is common practice
to renew all licenses whether or not a, a pending manager change has been approved. There is absolutely no requirement under section 1 38 that, that a new manager be approved. There is currently an approved manager. There is currently approved officers under Section 16 a of chapter 1 38. Every licensee has a per se right to renew. And if the board wants to revoke condition, suspend or otherwise modify a liquor license,
they have the right to do so, but not on this basis. Additionally, if you do not, if you do not renew, that means PF Chang's will be closed from January 1st to January 7th. You know, creating a tremendous negative impact on the business, which I think is wholly unnecessary. There isn't, there is no legal requirement for you not to renew. That is, that is patently incorrect. Respectfully, Speaker 11: Mr. Upton, have you reviewed the Natick alcohol policy? Because that, those are the rules according to our alcohol policy. So it may not be under Mass General law that,
but the A BC, the, the A BCC may not have a specific requirement, but the Natick alcohol policy does. That's the first thing. The second thing is, I wasn't sure if you heard how generous the board was being in saying that we'd be willing to have a meeting before the 31st if your client can get together with the deputy chief in a timely manner and get the review sent to the select board. I think that was a very generous offer given that this is the holiday season and your client has had at least two months to change a manager of record, Speaker 14: I do appreciate that.
I, I, I, I think, you know, we'd be hard pressed to argue that, you know, un under the renewal statute that you can't renew them. But if, if that's how you feel, you know, we'll have no choice but to get along. I will tell you that I talked to Mr. Walsh and I talked to the manager today, and I sent him, him or her, the contact information for Detective Luon. And so he's on the way to getting the fingerprints and getting that report done. Speaker 11: Then we should be, then we may be
able to meet before the end of the year. Speaker 14: Yeah. I, I, that's, that's totally, totally up to you. It seems like a lot of extra process. Speaker 1: It's our process though, and that's what we have to follow. So what we will do is we will, Mr. Walsh has, has put this in play. He's working with Deputy Chief Loza to get this done. I will send a note to Deputy Chief Loza to request that he notify me when his, his approval is ready. We will convene a probably noon time,
noon time or so meeting, depending on availability of people. It'll be a 15 minute meeting at most. It'll be handled very quickly and it's, it, it, it's dotting all the i's and crossing all the T's and, and it's just necessary for us to do that. Speaker 7: Yeah. Unfortunately we've had problems in the past where the reason our policy is the way it is, is 'cause we've had problems in the past where paperwork just keeps getting lost or rejected or not, or not done, not Speaker 11: Submitted or not Speaker 7: Done.
And so we just wanna make sure that all the i's are dotted t's are crossed before we do this. Speaker 14: Well, I, I do res I I do appreciate your flexibility and your willingness to have the meeting so they don't have to go dark. Speaker 1: Yes, we will. We will work our day on this to make sure that doesn't happen. We don't want to close them during the holiday season. So thank you. Speaker 14: Thank you Speaker 11: Mr. Chair. I move that we continue this matter to the January 7th agenda pending Deputy Chief Loon's review. If the review comes before then, then I would move that we schedule a, a meeting so
that we can timely review them to be open on January. One second, Speaker 1: Move by Ms. Coughlin and seconded by Ms. Welsch Flager. Any comments? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Speaker 11: A Speaker 1: All thank you. Thank you again. Catherine. Where would I be without you? Knowledge follow licensing. Okay. Next I'd like to talk about Katz's Chophouse. We work. Ms. Donovan in her memo described the various deficiencies
that Gatsby's Chop House had with their application. Their A BC renewal form was submitted. However, it's incomplete. The following required materials were not included. Number one, building safety certificate of inspection as general laws Chapter 10, section 74, liquor liability insurance verification. MGL chapter 38, section Speaker 3: 12 1 1 38. Sorry, Speaker 1: Did I say 38? I'm sorry. 1 38. Workers' compensation
insurance verification or signed workers' compensation affidavit. MGL chapter 1 52, section 25 A and verification of select board approved alcohol service training as required in the, under the town of Natick rules and regulations governing alcoholic beverages. So I might, do we need a motion to deny? We do, Speaker 3: Correct. Yeah, I have the wording if you would like. It's just a simple motion. The motion that's provided by Attorney DeLuca is moved to not renew the alcohol licenses for this establishment for the reasons noted failure to comply
with the required board of health and fire safety inspections, along with the reasons you noted. Speaker 7: Second Speaker 1: Moved by Mr. Sydney, seconded by Ms. PO with heavy assistance from Mr. Erickson. So, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Speaker 7: Aye. Aye. Speaker 1: All right. Is there anything else in Sora? Sora? Oh, yep. Thank you. Sora Sushi. Let's see this one Speaker 7: In just in Speaker 3: File. If I, if I can just provide context please. They just quite frankly did not file the required paperwork
during the month of November. They, they were notified multiple times, including by certified mail, by regular mail in person. Several meetings occurred with, with the manager at the, the, the location. And quite frankly we're, we're, we're just past the timing where that's brought that, that it's possible to renew them. I don't believe there's any requirement for the board to take a vote here because they didn't get the application material in. So you're not approving your denying really anything. No. It, it'll just lapse on January one at 12:01 AM Speaker 7: Well, I just for clarity, I think I would like to move
to not renew so that it's clear in a public record. Speaker 11: We don't have a pending application. Speaker 3: There's nothing, there's nothing, there's no Speaker 1: Application approve or, or not approve. Speaker 3: Not renewing. You can't renew something that's not submitted. Right. Speaker 11: So the license will just lapse and they will not be able to sell alcohol on January 1st, 2000. Speaker 3: They'll essentially just have to resubmit a new license application. What, when? When they're ready, when they can. Speaker 1: Thank you. Mr. Eon had a variety of things. Speaker 3: I'll say, and this goes back to giving credit to Donna,
Donovan and Billy for putting on the sort of primer to which I did not really Chang's attended. But it just is really helpful for all applicants to attend that primer because it provides a lot of context on what is expectations are, what the requirements are for local and state PPCC attends. You can have them questions and it's just really helpful for all applicants involved to attend that and, and be a part of that process. That that was held in November. It was very well attended. It was standing room only. We only had, we had 75% participation rate
and the ones that we've had issues with are ones that did not attend. So it's just helpful to make that note in the record and encourage anybody else who's still listening to have your people attend, get to know the native rules and regulations. We are here to help businesses be successful, but it's a two-way street. And, and we expect in return, timeliness and, and accuracy work with you through the process. But you gotta be responsive and timely and follow the rules. Speaker 1: Thank you very much Mr. Okay. Briefly announce, but please, Brenda. Okay.
Speaker 8: The select board hereby gives public notice of the intention to call the 2026 Spring annual town meeting on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 at the Kennedy Middle School at 7:30 PM All articles requested for inclusion in the warrant for the 2026 spring annual town meeting must be received in the office of the select board Natick Town Hall 13 East Central Street, Natick, Massachusetts by 5:00 PM on Thursday, February 26th, 2026.
The select board encourages petitioners and others submitting articles to provide such materials electronically to select board@natickma.org by such date and time. If submitting through this format, petitioners are advised to request a read receipt to verify proper and timely receipt by the select board's office. The select board further encourages that articles be submitted in narrative format only and that maps and other supplementary material not be included as part of the warrant article if necessary. Town meeting May town meeting on if necessary,
town meeting on May 19th, 2026 and May 21st. 2026 will take place at Natick High School. We don't need to approve that, do Speaker 1: We? We're all set. Thank you Ms. Pop onto the consent agenda. B, Mr. Or madam? Yes. Speaker 8: Item A, approve and sign 69 East Central Street. Termination of easement Item B approved donation in the amount of 2,222
and 22 cents from the friends of Natick trails to the town of Natick. Item C approved select board meeting minutes for October 24th, 2025 and December 3rd, 2025. Item D approved Boston Athletics Association. Request to occupy a public way on April 20th, 2026 for the Boston Marathon. Item e approve renewal of 2026. Annual licenses, automatic amusement devices, class one, two, and three auto dealers. Common vehicular, non-live entertainment, live entertainment.
Fortune teller, adult use marijuana establishments. Item F approve one day liquor license for the NA Historical Society. Item G, approve amendments to tree management. Natick Incorporated. DBA ready, host community agreement. Item H, approve Request for exemption from town bylaws Chapter 41, section four, Amy McGill. Item I approve. Tam Natick Incorporated DBA TEMA Sushi S 12, all alcohol extension of hours on
December 31st, 2025. Application and Item J approve friends of the Natick trails to host New Year's Eve event on the Cotuit Rail Trail. Request to occupy a public way one day entertainment license. Speaker 1: I'd like to pull item I please Speaker 8: Item I Speaker 5: And I'd like to pull F Speaker 8: Item F motion to approve the consent agenda. A through E-G-I-G-H-N-J. Speaker 1: I'll second that. Okay. All in favor, please say aye.
Aye. Aye. Okay. And let's do it in order. Alphabetically, item F. Speaker 5: All right, so the reason I wanted to pull item F is we are approving an event that took place in December on December 11th. And so we're doing this after the fact, which makes me very uncomfortable. I don't like having these things come before us after the fact. And I wondered if there was any information looking through the materials. It looks like it was approved back in November. Is it just something we forgot to put on the agenda or what, what is the reason for it?
Speaker 1: I can give you that answer. That was a, an application that had been received well in advance of this, but in the frenzy, let's say in all the work that had to be done for the renewals of the liquor licenses, this was one item that slipped through the cracks. And Mr. Walsh contacted me with that and said, well, what do you want to do about it? And I told him that rather than have a specific meeting for that one item, I, we are allowed to
approve after the fact that a, an event like this, this was a, a annual fundraising event for the historical society. They are TIP certified and they gave us assurances that everything would be fine and it had been approved also by Deputy Chief Zam. So I thought best to put it on this agenda and approve it after the, so I understand the principle that you're second one, but that's the reason. Speaker 5: Okay. So I did notice that he did approve it
and at the end of November, so if, but we didn't find out about it until recently. Speaker 1: Right. Was as I said, but before through the Speaker 5: Crack. But did you find out about it before the event? Speaker 1: Yes. After. Just directly? No, no, that's not true. Was Bruce Bruce before the event Speaker 7: Green light to move forward and then we put out the next agenda. Okay. Speaker 1: Right. It was before the event was after the meeting. We Speaker 7: Couldn't post it in time. Speaker 5: Move approval. Second. Speaker 1: Moved by Mr. Sidney, seconded by Ms. Ger.
All in favor please say aye. Aye. Speaker 5: Aye. Speaker 1: On to Aye speaking. Aye. Speaker 7: So the reason I wanted to pull this one is because it appears from the writing that they want only a one day extension of their hours. But the way the application is written, it's a permanent change in hours and I don't know, it's not clear to me. You know, I don't wanna stop 'em from having their event on, you know, new Year's Eve, but I also wanna make sure that, 'cause they're required to stay open, Speaker 5: But it, on the application it says new
hours and it's only for that Speaker 7: One day 12 91 20. That's only in the writing. If you look down further where it says hours, it's not restricted. There's a, there's a place in the application looking at the application. I, I mean, I'm just confused. I could be that, I'm just confused, but when I Speaker 3: Can you, can you, 'cause it does say new hours, 12 31, 20, 25, 11:00 AM to 11:30 PM and, and okay. Speaker 7: So that Speaker 3: My review of that is that's only on 12 31 1 20. Speaker 7: Okay. I just wanted to make sure that it was clear that because they could, you know, we, they could get in trouble if, if it was
Speaker 1: Operating on side of them. Speaker 7: Yeah, if well, if they, if they Speaker 1: January 1st. Speaker 7: Yeah. And they, they had new hours and they weren't open. So, okay. I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you for Speaker 1: We have a motion. Speaker 7: I'll move second. Speaker 1: All in favor? Please say aye. Aye. All. We're on to 10 administrator updates. Have anything, Speaker 3: We have a pretty heavy executive session agenda, so let's get into that. I do have a quick question. It seems like there's a class here. Can I ask this is the second group of three that have come in here for like a class or is it like a scout thing or is it a
Speaker 10: It's for AP gov. Speaker 3: AP government. Yeah. Speaker 10: And we have do political Speaker 1: Participation. You can come up here and get your five minutes of, Speaker 3: Do you mind just going on the screen? We're gonna be five minutes of fame, so if you can go, just say, Speaker 1: I had to sit through alcohol licenses. Unfortunately Speaker 7: We Speaker 3: Missed the previous three of you that were in here. Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Chair. Yes, please. Okay, Speaker 7: So we're gonna put you on the spot. Tell us a little bit about why you're Speaker 1: Here. Yes, please. Speaker 10: So we are here because we have a project which is political participation. So we are supposed to be involved in a
local state. You could probably go to any level to get involved with some form of government and to kind of witness like how it all works in real life. Makes sense. And then we read about it, came present that next week. Yeah. And you do like a paragraph write up. Speaker 7: So if you get interested that event that Ms. Er mentioned next Monday night over at the community senior center where people are gonna talk about why they serve. That might be something
that could infl inform your presentations. Speaker 10: Oh, that's really, Speaker 1: We send an email to select minute native may.org. Select select board. We can, you can get details on that. Speaker 5: Oh, cool. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. You Speaker 3: Can share with the rest of your class and you just, unless you just wanna get the special credit. Speaker 1: That's right. Speaker 5: And we definitely invite you back to share your report with us. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Speaker 1: All right. That's all. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. Thank you so Speaker 5: Much. This is awesome. Speaker 1: All right. Selectboard updates. Speaker 7: Happy holidays to everybody.
Oh, and I do wanna say that Menorah lighting was really moving Sunday. I think there, I, my guess, and this is, I didn't count, but my guess is there were probably 300 people there and they were from all walks of life and all faiths to support the Menorah lighting, you know, the day after the Bondi Beach massacre. So I was really pleased to see the turnout and the support from the community for that. Speaker 5: And to see our, our town employees, our police chief, our fire chief were there and firefighters with their Speaker 7: Candy drop, which was, yeah, every year.
That's so much fun. The gel drop. Speaker 1: Yeah. I would also note that what was interesting personally for me was to hear residents thanking the police and fire department for ensuring their safety. I must have heard that at least half a dozen times. And it was a heartfelt thank you for, for the work that the police department is doing in particular fight antisemitism. So kudos again to the police department
and fire department correspondence. Have one item, Mr. Erickson. Speaker 7: Actually I have to do any, Speaker 3: Yeah, it is just there for, for people's knowledge. Speaker 1: Okay, well that's good. So we will now try to go into executive session and I'll cite the reasons for voting to do stuff or free items. Item A is pursuant to MGL L chapter 30 a, section 21 A two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations
with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. Police chief item B, pursuant to MGL chapter 38, section 21 A three to discuss strategy with respect to litigation of an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair. So declare and I do declare Michael Moty estate of versus town of Manock in chief James Hicks.
Number 2 2 8 1 dash 0 0 5 Middlesex superior Court, Skyler Ian versus town of Natick and Chief KY number 3 2 3 8 1 CV 1000, Middlesex Superior Court, Charlotte DeClemente versus Town of Natick, James Coty and Kyra Rossi. Number 24 81 CV 24 0 1 Middlesex Superior Court, Jamie Vener versus town of Natick. Number 2 5 81 CV 0 0 6 2 2 Middlesex Superior Court, Leslie
Palo Etal versus Natick, sorry, town of Natick ZBA and Van Jo Realty. LLC number 21 MISC 0 0 0 5 2 HBS, Connor Carney versus NA zoning, board of appeals number 25 MISC 0 0 0 1 9 3. Land Court, Noone Corporation versus town of Natick. Zone, board of Appeals number two five MISC 0 0 0 6 10. Land Court, Georges versus town of Natick, 2 5 8 4 CV
0 2 3 4 0. Suffolk Superior Court, Georges versus town of Natick. CSC case E dash 25 dash 180 1 Georges versus town of Natick, MEP dash 25 1 1 62, George and George's town of Natick number two five BEM 0 2 4 54. Item C pursuant to MGL chapter 38, section 21 A three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining.
If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair. So declares Native Patrol Officers Association, local 4 9 6 Massachusetts Coalition of the Police. And I So move second. There's a roll call vote. Mr. Coughlin? Yes, Mr. Sydney? Aye. Mr. Walsh? Yes. Ms. Wal. I'm sorry. Ms. Pope? Yes. And I'm Mr. Evans. Mr. Bruce? Mr. Cooper.
All right, so we're now in executive session and we will be exiting our adjourning from the meeting following that executive.