is 7:05 and I call the meeting to order. Um, I hereby declare that the warrant has been duly posted and published and that the reading of the warrant is hereby waved. Can we stand for the pledge of allegiance?
[Music] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you. Um, as is our custom and tradition, we take this time at town meeting to honor those who have um, honor those who have given their time to town meeting uh, that have passed in the last year. Now, I'm going to read a
list. Helen Brule passed March 31st, 2025. William Slatterie, April 10th, 2024. Charles Brinley, May 25, 2024. George Labonte, August 12th, 2024. Carol
Crowley, September 6, 2024. Carol Gross, October 2nd, 2024. Winslow Butch Carlson III, November 11, 2024. James Shuhan, November 17th,
2024. Lewis Drossy 3rd, November 27, 2024. Maria Connley, December 13, 2024. We could have a moment of silence. Thank you. And I apologize for any misprononunciations or for anyone
that we may have missed. Um, if you'll indulge me for a second, we all in uh Norfolk about just a week ago experienced a spirited election season. In a day and age when misinformation and incivility are just a
click away, it was great to see so many good people stick their neck out and run for office. And it's so great to see all of our town officials and all of you here tonight at this legislative session. Let me introduce some of the players
here tonight. Uh we to my immediate left, we have Carol Green, our town clerk, Rebecca Teft, our assistant town clerk. Our select board is Kevin Roach, our chair, Anita Meckllinburgg. And congrats and a hearty welcome to our
newest select board member, Taes Hickey. [Applause] Sitting with our select board is Justin Kasanova Davis, our town administrator, town council Tom Harrington, finance director Todd
Lindmark. In the in on the floor below the stage is the advisory board uh led by chairperson David Loot. Dave, will you introduce your members for the body? I will not stand up, but I have a big mouth. So, uh, my far right, Rob Gary,
uh, Joyce Terry, Kevin Cala, Joseph Sears, Jonathan, and Michael G. Thank you. Um, our tellers tonight, if we need to count any votes, are Paul Tero, and Andy Bakinowski. My name is
Jay Talerman, and I am still your town moderator. We're going to go over some rules for town meeting. We are governed by town meeting time, which is a manual on town meeting practice in Massachusetts, and some local bylaws
that we have. I'll explain procedures as needed, and we'll recognize legitimate requests for points of order. Motions will generally be made by the advisory board, but we may make some exceptions with the consent of the body. The articles in the warrant guide our
discussion, but it is the motions that we will debate. Sometimes a motion will be to adopt the action contemplated in an article or is shown on the screen. But sometimes it will be a little bit different, but again it's the motion that matters in what we'll be
debating. Sometimes you'll hear a motion for indefinite postponement, which is a common motion. That's essentially a motion to kill an article, to take no action on it at this meeting. that can be offered either in the first instance by the advisory board
or at any point during the debate and it is not debatable and we will immediately take that to a vote. Those who make the motions will generally have the first opportunity to explain the motions. Any debate and any subsidiary
motions must be within the scope of the article. That is it must have a reasonable relationship to the matter being discussed. This is not the public square. We have work to do and we should confine our debate and discussion to the legislative agenda which is the town
meeting warrant. If your comments stray or debate strays generally then I may ask you to stop or I may redirect you to the matter at hand. Motions and motions to amend generally must be in writing
provided that if it's a ministerial or clerical correction, I will accept a friendly amendment without the um uh formal vote of the body. We'll help with procedure. If you think you have a motion to amend and you want to do it, please come to the mic and express it
between myself and Carol. We can generally figure out the right language and walk you through it. If we have to take a short break to do that, we will do that if that's what you want to put forward. We will generally go in order except that for tonight, article 33
we're going to hear directly after the budget because it concerns a budgetary matter and article 34 is going to be grouped with the other zoning bylaws and we'll hear it after article 26. If you otherwise want to change the order, you have to make a motion to do that. You
may speak only when recognized by me. If you want to speak, come to a microphone. If you're unable to do so, raise your hand and we'll get a mic for you. I'll try and balance discussion as best I can. I may ask for um someone that has
something new to add. Everyone has a chance to speak on a matter, but at a certain point, we may want to avoid repetition. You have a max of five minutes the first time to a microphone, three minutes for the second time, but don't be surprised if things are getting
repetitive that we asked to move it along a little bit. I may allow someone to speak with new info or to ask a or answer a question a third time, but by by law, I may limit you to just two times. I hope we can continue to have a
spirited debate and that this meeting both supports and challenges the issues that are presented. However, no personal comments. All comments must be civil and respectful. And this town meeting wants to hear your opinions, but I may not allow you to state what someone else's
opinion is or what someone else has said. If comments stray beyond the limits, as I've noted, or if there's a disruption, I may ask you to stop. If folks are overly disruptive, they may be asked to leave. We have a whole bunch of
local officials here. Between myself and them, we will try and get any questions answered if they are relevant to the subject matter. For those in the visitors section, you speak, you may speak when the moderator um asks you to speak. We have some budgetary items and
as a matter of course, we always ask the schools to speak. We have planning staff that will always have an opportunity to speak on zoning um and DPW fire police. That that that is typical, but generally wait until you are recognized. If anyone
wants to film the meeting, they must let me know and I will approve the means and location of the film. I will ask for a voice vote on all motions. No shouting. If I cannot discern the result, I may ask for a show of hands. Just one hand. If I still
cannot discern, we may have the vote counted. I do respect the call of the question that or could be a motion to cut off debate. I I will respect that it is a twothirds vote and if there are people lined up at the mics, I may allow
them to speak. If I think that that motion is premature and made to cut off other people from the opportunity to speak, I may not recognize it or I may hold it in obeyance for some time. Similarly, if I'm hearing a lot of the same comment, I may cut off debate as
well. I will generally ask the body if they're ready to vote if that is the case. There are a bunch of variet there is a bunch of handouts available. I hope you all have them. They will be important especially for the when we're talking about the budget. Um, and before we get started, I
wanted to give the chair of the select board, Anita Meckllinburgg, a chance to offer some comments. Thank you. Good evening. Nice to see everybody here today. I promise I'll be so short, but I wanted to recognize a few um turnovers
that we're having in staff. Um Matt Mel Matt Melnner was our director of facilities for not too too long, but he's with the schools forever and has just played an invaluable role in um with the schools and with the town, and he will be missed. Chief Hines is
retiring and um those are big shoes to fill. He's done so much to keep our community safe, especially this past year with um all of the tensions around the opening of the respit center. And so we're um grateful for his service and for his leadership in our community. And
um Justin Castanova Davis, our town administrator, is going on to uh town. I I can't talk a lot. I'm going to start crying, so I'm not going to talk a lot about Justin. He's done so much for our community. He has pulled our town employees and really begun to build a
beautiful culture in our and our town hall and really um done a lot for our behind the scenes to clean things up. We're a small town and sometimes in a small community everything can be a little bit peacemeal and we've really done some nice work cleaning things up
and tiden things up and and he's been an amazing um partner to the board and so he will be missed and and um and finally Tim Lehan isn't here this evening. He's no longer on the board. I just wanted to speak for a minute about
his service to our community. Whether you agree with what he does or disagree with what he does, he has served this community for literally decades. Um when he was first on the board, we we were not besties. He has different views than
I do and and um we both really grew to a place where we listened and grew to respect each other. And it's how you want leadership to be where you're partnering with people with different views from your own. and I have so much respect for him and he has touched our community. Whether you agree or disagree
with everything he says, I want to acknowledge that how much I value that partnership that that we had with him and how much he's impacted this community. So, I just want to say looking forward to a wonderful town meeting. Thank you for being here. It means a lot.
Okay. Article one does not require a motion. Article two unpaid bills. Mr. Loots. Mr. Moderator, I move to indefinitely postpone article two as printed in the warrant. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Loot's
explanation. Uh, article two would authorize payment of outstanding bills from prior fiscal years. Currently, there are no outstanding bills to be paid. Thank you. Any discussion on article two? Seeing no one rising, this requires
a majority vote. All those in favor say I. All those opposed, no. It passes by a clear majority. Article three, current budget year transfers. Mr.
Loose, I need a slide. [Music] Mr. Moderator, I move that the town transfer the sum of $371,3528 of which $236,3528 is transferred from free free cash. 115,000 is transferred from
ambulance receipts and 20,000 is transferred from the opioid abatement stabilization fund to be added to departmental budgets and appropriations from the current fiscal year as shown on the screen. Thanks. Been moved and seconded. Mr.
Loots, this article would authorize transfers within uh town government to cover expenses that uh uh have shifted since our approval of the budget in May of last year. And Mr. Lindmark, our finance
director, would like to say a few words here. So on the screen you see the various uh sums of money that the uh transfers are coming from which is free cash ambulance receipts and a opioid stabilization fund. Uh we did have a few transfers for
the fire department especially for the EMS supply line as well as our salaries for overtime that's been incurred uh over the past uh year. Um that was 9,000 and 20,000 respectively. And then every year typically um good good years, bad
years, we do have to cover for snow and ice expense. Uh this year that uh total came to 207, 350, 208. Uh we have a couple of items. Again, they're specific um funded from ambulance receives an opioid. The ambulance, which is a 5-year
program, the debt for that payment is $115,000. and then the select board um going to transfer 20,000 for them to utilize uh to then expend towards opioid uses. Thank you Todd. Any questions? Yes, Mr.
Moderator. Mr. Diamond. Yes, Mr. Mo. Peter Diamond at least the first time we come 84 Cong Street North. Could I have an explanation on the snow and ice budget? Is the 207,000 the full budget for the whole season or is that
to cover excess of something we funded earlier? Mr. Enmark. Yes. So the uh you hear me now? Okay. So we annually budget $250,000. We have to annually budget at
least $250,000 year year in order for us to uh be able to to expend beyond that um per mass journal laws. So, we budgeted 250, we spent the 250, we spent another 27 on top of that, uh, which is the transfer that's going into there.
Thank you, Mr. Diamond. Just for illustration, snow and ice is one of the very few things where we can deficit spend as a community. So, that's why this is a typical item for a budget transfer at this time. Yes. I just wanted to know the total for the season.
Thank you. Excellent. Any other comments on or discussion on article three? Seeing none, this requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It
passes. Article four, collective bargaining agreements. Mr. Herwitz. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve the funding of the following collective bargaining agreements between the town of Northport and Northport. Is that is that mic not working down there? Better. Yeah. All
right. I'll start again. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve the funding of the following collective bargaining agreements between the town of Northfor and the Northfor Police Officers Bargaining Unit effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. and the International Association of
Firefighters, AFL CIO Local 4134, effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30, 2028. That seconded, Mr. Herbert, the advisory committee recommends
approval of this article. State law requires that collective bargaining agreements be submitted to town meeting for approval in order to fund them. Since the posting of this warrant, the town has settled negotiations with both the police and fire unions. The advisory committee took a formal vote immediately
prior to town meeting and recommends approval of this article. Thank you. Any questions, comments on article 4? Seeing none, this requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed,
no. It passes unanimously. Article five is a compensation schedule. Mr. Herwitz. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article five as printed in the warrant. Mr. G is going to be doing all of our seconds uh tonight. Let's get used to
it. Um Mr. Herwitz, the advisory committee recommends approval of this article. This article proposes a 1.7 uh 75% cost of living increase effective July 1st and and an additional 050%
increase effective January 1st for nonUN town employees. These adjustments mirror the increases negotiated in current union contracts, ensuring parody and compensation practices between unionized and non-UN staff. The town has
historically supported equitable treatment in cola adjustments. Thank you, Mr. Herurwitz. Any questions or comments on article 5? Seeing none, requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All
those opposed, no. It passes unanimously. Article six is our omnibus budget. Before we get a motion from Mr. Lutes. I'm going to describe how we do the the budget and there's going to be
some important slides that are up here. So, first we're going to we're going to hear a motion and then we're going to hear a comment from advisory board, from the town administrator, then from Norfolk and KP schools. When we're done with that, I'm going to read the line
items on that are going to be based upon something that was in a handout out there on the table and are going to be shown on the screen. There's a much more detailed budget, but we're going I'm going to read the line items. If there's something in that line item that you want to discuss, yell hold
and we'll discuss it. If you don't yet, if no one yells hold, then we're going to consider there to be no comments, amendments, or objections to that particular budget. And then when all the discussion and all the amendments are done, we'll vote the bottom line. So that's the process. Mr. Loots, a motion,
please. Mr. Moderator, I move that in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 108, the town fix the salary and compensation of the elected position of town clerk at 97,272 uh and uh
97 sorry excuse me uh 97,272 and.76 cents for the fiscal year commencing on July 1st, 202 25. And further to raise and appropriate the sum of 55,159,498,000 or
$498 for a general fund operating budget, and to meet set appropriations by a transfer of $40,000 from ambulance receipts, 1,127 from free cash, and to raise the sum of 54,17,491
1 from the FY26 Taff levy to defay the departmental and incidental expenses of the town not otherwise provided for the fiscal year commencing July 1st 2025 been moved and seconded. Mr. Loots
Mr. Moderator this article would fund the general operating budget for the town for the upcoming fiscal year beginning on July 1st. the proposed budget of 55,159,498, which represents a 4.2 increase over the current fiscal year. The advisory committee remains concerned
about the continued use of one-time revenues to balance the budget, including $1.1 million in free cash for fiscal year 2026. It is important to note, however, that much of this year's increase is because of fixed costs such health care, collective bargaining commitments, and
regional school obligations. Despite the increase, this budget will not result in an overall expansion of the town's or schools workforce and should be considered no more than a level service budget. The select board has committed to a full year-long review of the budget for next fiscal year. The
advisory committee looks forward to being involved in this review. The advisory committee voted five to three in favor of this article. Thank you, Mr. Loose. First up, Mr. Kasanova Davis. you or or is it you or
Mr. Todd will start? Okay. Of course. [Music] Okay. So during the process, we start uh typically in the fall uh right after um fall town meeting um with the process of
setting the budget for the upcoming year. During the fall town meeting, you guys approve a lot of the capital items. Those capital items are typically done in the summertime going into the fall and then we start with the operational budget. Uh the schools typically the timeline is pretty much similar to ours.
to start probably a little bit earlier. Um it's a long process. It's vetted by multiple departments. Advisories reviewed it. Select boards reviewed it. Um so what we've come up with um I'd like to show you a couple of slides
here. The revenues where do we get them? Uh tax base that's comprised of the tax base which is the property taxes on your houses. The assessments. Uh each year we're maxed out at two and a half% increase based on Proposition 2 and a half plus any new growth. We anticipated
new growth of about $600,000 this year, which is a little bit of a drop from uh last year where we budgeted $650,000. So we're looking at about $4,837,000. local receipts. Those are typically excise taxes, uh meals tax, um the
receipts that we've received based on uh local um opportunities that we have available to us. Reviewing those, putting them in a trend analysis and looking back 3 to four years, uh we've gone through and made some changes up and down. There'll be a slide a little bit later on where we've identified what
those changes are in the revenues. But for the most part, local receipts increased from 4,137 last year to 4,470 this year. State aid is the monies that we received from the state which includes chapter 70 monies as well as some
unrestricted um monies that are from the state and um other monies that are the uh revenues that the town receives. So last year we had 4,659,000 from the state and I'll show
another slide where the um line items and the revenues for the state are are listed. That amount for this year is going to be 4,845. Other funds basically is going to be transfers. Uh last year we had some monies that were from ARPA. Uh we had a balance of about 195,000 and then 40,000
of that uh we used from um ambulance funds. So that was the $235,000 from last year. This year we have $40,000 of ambulance billing that we're going to be receiving um for the revenue on that. And then the other is the free cash.
Last year we spent $65,000 and as you just heard we're going to be proposing to spend 1.12. Um that's to come to a balanced budget uh based on the level services that we're anticipating. Overall the increase from last year to this year for
the revenues is 4.92%. Or change about just over 2.4%. $4 million. Next [Applause] slide. As I indicated, state aid. These are the line items for the state aid and
what we were receiving. You see 25 um numbers from last year and 26 numbers that we're anticipating. Again, this is not a finalized number. Uh the governor once they do uh finalize the budget numbers, but typically the trend is a little bit higher than what um is
budgeted for. A lot of times what happens is the fall town media will make a transfer to help out the schools with any differentials there. Uh but with the anticipated $185,738 in total for the change or an increase of about almost
4%. Next slide. [Applause] So the revenue adjustments as I indicated the local receipts looking back historically over 3 to four year trend trying to say okay you know we budgeted this amount this past year
where's the trend you know should we line it up a little bit better. So again we did make some adjustments um and the list of the adjustments are up on the screen. Um hopefully you can read them. If you can't there's handouts. Uh the motor vehicle exercise I'll just quickly run through it. We increased 85,000
uh payments in lie of taxes. We had a a payment in lie of tax. So that's an agreement that the town has with a particular um constituent in the town um that was bringing in about $10,000. That pilot's no longer in place. So we reduced that. Water department
indirects. We increased the amount for um indirect costs that the town receives from the water department by 5,000. We increase the amount that we receive from the wastewater by 5,000. transfer station. Uh between all the different um
decals and the selling of materials over the transfer station, uh we anticipate that to increase by about $5,000 as well. Fees for the town, we dropped in 500 bucks. Other departmental revenue, we increase 10,000 based on the trends, licenses and permits. Again, based on
the four-year trend, we're looking at about $65,000 increase there. fines and forfeitures reduced four investment income um increased 40,000 uh meals tax increased by 5,000 and the ambulance
receipts we're using 125,000 into the budget um again to help balance the budget. These are revenues uh typically when you increase revenues potential is that you'll have less potential going towards free cash because your revenue expectations are that much
higher. Next slide. [Music] So, kind of in summary, summer revenue, again, I already indicated the new growth number last year was a little bit lower than we budgeted of 650. So, we dropped that down to the
600,000. Building permits, we're keeping eye on those. Um, again, based on the trend historically and what we anticipate, um, we we've kept the the permit numbers up a little bit more. uh this year state increases state aid increases again just under 4% and that's
currently as proposed that's uh probably going to trend a little bit higher and then the adjustments made to local receipts uh that I just [Applause] outlined next slide and on the uh screen is a proposed budget broken down by function uh
general government which basically covers a lot of the town hall facilities, uh, land use, building department, treasurer, collector, finance, town administrator, things of that sort. Public safety, uh, that's coming in, I'm sorry, the general government's at 3.8 million. Uh, public
safety is just a little over $6.8 million. Public safety includes fire, police, as well as building department. Uh, education, which is a major driver for our budget. Uh that includes our local schools plus uh King Phillips assessment, Tri Countyy's assessment,
and Northolk agricultural assessment. That's 28 million for DPW total costs. You notice um that's about $2.5 million this year. Human services, uh which includes uh COA or the U council on EG,
I'm sorry. Uh that's a budget at $264,000 this year. culture and recreation, which is the library and recreation departments, that's 896,000. Employee benefits, which is a very large number that includes a lot of our health insurance, Medicare, uh
retirement um payments that we have to make. And that's approximately $7.8 million. Debt service within the limit of uh 627. Then we have exempt debt $3.8 million, which you'll notice that has been reduced from last year and is on
the trend of going down. In total, the budget ask is 55,159498. Good evening everyone. So, I'll just briefly talk about some of the budget drivers uh that are reflected in the uh uh the general the budget that you saw the slide before. So, education, we have
5% for all four districts. Uh Northfor public schools is 4.3%. Uh KP is 5.2%. 2%. Tri County is 18.1%. And that's largely driven by uh more students uh attending there. I do want to note that uh that does not include the Tri County school building
project debt that we're responsible for. That debt assessment is $45,120 $120. I think that's important to note because in the next article we will be addressing that debt. Um Norfol County retirement there's $210,000 increase there which reflects about a 7%
increase. medical insurance, a 12.1% increase, which is about almost $500,000. But typically, public safety uh generally is a a large driver in sort of the town budget expenses. It reflects a 1.7% increase for police and fire and almost $100,000. Uh 1 and a.5% for
police and up to about 2% for fire. Next slide. [Applause] I'll briefly just discuss the NPS school appropriation. Uh Dr. Olardi will provide more detail regarding that. But uh the budget that the school committee
is present as well is aligned with uh the budget presented by the town which is 4.3%. The next slide will highlight some of the additional expenses that are part of the town's budget. Uh those those expenses reflect about a 5.7% increase and those are reflected in the town budget. Um I just want to note
typically in fall town meeting the town will appropriate additional funds received uh as part of the uh state budget process. Uh so right now uh the house as well as the senate budgets increased uh chapter 78. So if that does occur then that will be reflected at a
fall town meeting transfer. Last year uh it was about $70,000 that we did a transfer there. Next slide. I won't go through all of these elements. I think it's just important we've shown these the last few years because we've been asked about this. What are some of the additional expenses
in the town budget uh in the handouts that you all have? There's facilities costs or some medical insurance costs, longevity costs, and so forth. It reflects about a $3.7 uh million uh additional appropriation for school expenditures as part of the town budget.
Next slide, please. So just highlighting some of the uh fiscal year 26 budget. The town maintains several reductions uh in personnel from previous budgets that we had included the fire department executive assistant building assistant building inspector uh making that a
part-time position executive assistant and the DPW uh budget to a highway position. But this budget also reflects some additional reductions in personnel. uh it was in labor in the transfer station and a patrol officer in the police department. It's important to note these positions. These are
positions that ultimately are vacant positions. We've been very strategic about holding positions to try to come with a responsible budget for the town. Um so and try to minimize the impact that we have on the community. Um I do want to point out some other sort of important facts and things to understand. Our overall operating budget
increase is 4.8%. But on the town side of the budget, if you exclude education and fixed costs such as debt and benefits, which we don't control, it's a 1.45% increase for the town. That includes cola, collective party, the article you approved before for police and fire. It's incorporating
the budget that we have. I think we've been very conservative and very fiscally responsible there. Including fixed costs such as debt and benefits and but excluding education, it's about 4.46% increase. And then when we include everything, it's a 4.2% 2% increase when
we include the exact debt. Next slide. So, I think we've heard this uh you know, this is now my third budget with the town. Uh the budget climate has been difficult. Um you we've indicated this pretty much every single time. Uh moving forward, this is going to be
extremely difficult for the town to budget in this manner. Um the town may have to consider an override in forthcoming budgets if they do not want a reduction in services because we are relying on a significant amount of one-time sources of revenue. In our
previous budgets, we've utilized ARPA funds. We've used utilized special education stabilization fund as well as free cash. Last year was almost $900,000 of onetime sources of funds. This year is about $1.1 million. Um, so as we indicated before, when you have these
non-recurring sources of funds, uh, balancing the budget, it leads to long-term budgetary issues. And that's the situation we've been grappling with for years. Um, I do want to note this past year, the town realized it highest level of free cash certification was
almost $3.3 million. And the reason why I highlight that is because of strategic decisions we have made. Uh we've been conservative with our budgeting practices trying to as Todd mentioned before with local receipts not increasing too much so we can rely some free cash um not filling some vacant
positions strategically when they do become built uh become vacant and prudent budget management by our departmental staff uh has helped us achieve this result and helped us prepare for this difficult financial situation we're in. I think as you all are aware if you look at surrounding
communities there have been multiple overrides by other communities. This town hasn't had to do that these three years and it's because of the budgetary decisions and the prudent fiscal uh management with select board department staff advisory and you all. Um this town
hasn't had an override since 2006. And the nature of Prop 2 and a half is that towns eventually do have to look at a an override. Um, so we don't have to do it for this budget, but it's something that we're probably going to have to take a look at in the future.
Um, and so, uh, I also on this slide, I wanted to give a breakdown of where our free cash is at. As of this moment, we have $1.7 million in free cash. If we account for the budget transfers that we did in article uh, three, um, it's
$236,000. If we account for the $1.1 million uh we're proposing to utilize balance budget, it's about $1.3 million. If we do that, we will still have three cash available of about $384,000. Next slide,
please. So, the year ahead, what we'll do is we'll continue to review the state adopted budget and advocate for additional state aid. Uh we there's additional the state has realized additional aid in the millionaire sir tax. So we're going to try to advocate that. We did secure some
ear marks potentially in uh associated with that. We're going to advocate for additional unrestricted government aid. Uh the governor's budget proposed 2.2%. Uh I think the u house budget lowered that figure and so we are advocating for a higher figure there. And we're also
advocating for additional revenue for chapter 78 in the formulas there. um Norfolk and other communities who who tend to be minimum uh state aid communities. We're trying to get to the $150 and obviously take a look at other the formula where more of the aid goes to sort of what are called gateway
cities. Uh so we're looking for reform there. So we'll advocate for that. We'll work to finalize the clear look module and this year I'm proud to say that with the our departmental staff and with the finance team uh we're going to release a budget book which is going to provide a lot more information um and give you
more in-depth information even beyond the detail sheets that you have out there. We'll release that in June. We'll continue to monitor and uh review revenue and expenditures to ensure we remain on track and we hit the targets that we're expecting. It was mentioned before the town is going to host budget
meetings with our school partners, uh, department heads, the advisory committee, and our residents uh, much earlier in the process than we typically have done. We've slowly done it early. We had December financial forecast. We started that last year, but I believe this select board has committed to
starting earlier process so the town collaboratively can find a way to balance the fiscal year 27 budget. Whether it's looking at reductions in staff, whether it's looking at pro providing override, we want to engage with you sooner rather than later. And that's what we will do. And then the
town needs to determine how they will fund the tri county debt. We are responsible for this is a debt that the town did vote to uh support this project. And this year we're uh we're proposing to utilize our stabilization fund to pay for that, but that is not sustainable and that's not a long-term
answer. So we do have to look at that. And then we'll also collaborate with our our unions and our staff to evaluate opportunities to realize cost savings where we can. Uh we've had really uh cordial and very good collaborative relationships with our units to settle on fair collective bargaining agreements. We'll also look at
healthcare. Um as you saw we was 12.1% rate increase. That's not sustainable for the town. It's also not sustainable for our staff either. So we'll look to collaborate there and see what savings that we have. Next slide. And this last slide is just a historical budget to show you what the Norfolk budgets have
been uh since 2003. It outlines some various proposals for Prop 2 and a half. Uh two have failed and one has passed as I mentioned 2006. But generally our average uh budget from 2003 on is about 4.32%. Which you heard before our
proposal is generally in line with that and that's in a tough uh fiscal climate. As I mentioned a lot of other communities as you all are aware are going through overrides. Uh I feel very proud of the work that we have done in presenting this budget and appreciate collaboration with everyone.
Thank you Justin. Uh Dr. Lardy would like to talk a little bit about Norfol schools. Do you have my slides as well? I don't but I imagine someone does. Okay. So if we can go on to the next
slide the other direction. Um first of all thank you. I'm Ingred Delardi, the superintendent of the Norfolk Elementary Schools. Joined tonight with several members of our administrative team, Victoria Salana, um Miriam Goodwin, and later speaking tonight, Kim Clinard, our new facilities director, as well as
members of the Norfolk School Committee, uh Lisa Sheldon, chair, Madora Champagne, vice chair, uh Lauren Bez, and Peter Schwab, who were the members of the budget subcommittee. Um so I will provide a high level overview of the Norfolk budget. Um if anybody's
interested in more information or more detail, we did present to uh uh we had held a public hearing on the budget in March as well as a presentation for the advisory board. Both of which were recorded by Norfolk cable and are available on NCTV.
Great. So as Justin framed earlier, it was a difficult budget year. The past several years have been very difficult. Um whenever we are developing our budget, we're guided by our mission and our vision statement. We try really hard to make decisions that are going to preserve the integrity of our
educational instructional programs, protect our teaching positions, and have the highest return and yield for our students. Next slide. Um, education across the state is facing many different budget challenges. Um, since the COVID closure, we've seen
rising costs for uh behavioral and emotional supports for students. um work that we have been doing in terms of closing academic achievement gaps. The hiring landscape in within all of education has changed dramatically. We are seeing salary um uh salaries become
more competitive and we've had to make adjustments to stay in line with the market. Um, additionally in Norfolk, we are also seeing significant growth in enrollment, which we've talked about many times before. And that also comes with accompanying cost with additional teaching staff, um, increasing, uh,
support staff, uh, as well as art, music, physical education, and other programmatic impacts. Next slide. Um, we've shared this slide before, but again, this is just a 10-year history of education in Norfolk. Looking at enrollment, each child day, our lower
elementary school, which is a pre-K through grade 2 school, has increased by 123 students over the past 10 years. Um, uh, at the Freeman Kennedy, we're up by about 67 or almost 200 students districtwide. Next
slide. Chapter 78, Justin already talked about that is the vehicle that the state uses. It's the primary vehicle for delivering educational finance support to the municipalities. The money that uh the state provides goes directly to the town and is used to offset educational
costs. Um Norfolk is a minimum state aid community. We are currently budgeting and hoping to see the $75 per pupil increase in chapter 70 aid. We have heard and we've been working as the town has to advocate for additional chapter 7
revenue. Currently, they're talking about an $150 reimbursement per pupil. Um, that funding, if that is increased, would go to the town, and we would come back to the town and fall town meeting for that additional appropriation. We're going
backwards. Uh, next slide, please. We also annually share, just for comparison purposes, the Department of Education identifies benchmark communities that provide like services and have like demographics. These are the communities that we compare to for academic
achievement for per pupil spending um as well as for any other kind of benchmarking that we do. Um you can see that per pup people spending in Norfolk is at the bottom of our comparison group. What I also want to highlight for you if you see the that all of the communities that are shaded in green
those are communities that are spending under the state average per pupil. You will see that more and more communities are now falling in that um under the state average. That is a direct result, as Justin said, of competitive grants and other sources of revenues being filtered to gateway cities. So, we see
more cities um all of the competitive grants for curriculum for new materials are targeted to districts that have high uh high poverty uh schools that are under chronically underperforming. So, Norfolk has not been eligible for any of that additional revenue that's come from the state. That is the situation in many
of these communities. So, it's getting harder and harder as um smaller smaller towns to access that and keep competitive in terms of educational funding. Next slide. Our 2026 budget request. As you
probably recall, or maybe you don't, um last year when we balanced our budget, we did have to use two sources of one-time revenue. We used 125,000 from our special education stabilization fund to offset growing costs in special education. We also used a one-time
tuition fund, revolving fund for students that had been tuitioned into the district to receive services um to offset some of those additional special education costs. So $250,000 of our budget last year was onetime revenue which put us in a situation as the town is every year with using free cash where
we started in a deficit. Um as a result of that, a level service budget for the Norfol public schools for this year would have come close to 10.1%. We recognize that that is not a number that the town can support. That isn't uh that would exceed the available revenue.
Uh worked very closely with the budget subcommittee over the course of the entire fall um and early winter to make budget reductions to try to come to a number that the town could effectively support. Um the 4.3% reflects probably
about 900,000 cut out of the initial level service budget. Um, it will allow us to meet contractual obligations for staffing. We do have to make a slight market adjustment to the salary that we pay for substitute teachers. We're having a very difficult time recruiting and uh maintaining substitutes. It will
partially fund the adoption of a new math curriculum which we are required to implement next year. Um, the current program has sunset is no longer available. Uh, it will also increase special education funding for transportation and tuitions for students. Um and it will maintain most
of our class sizes within the school committee class size policy limit, not all. Uh next slide. So as I said, this budget does reflect some position eliminations and staffing reductions as did the budget last year. Um last year we cut a technology integration position as well
as support to our libraries. This year we are eliminating an additional 2.3 pair of professional positions and a third position is being reallocated um to provide additional math support for students. 1.6 professional positions. So we have a teacher retirement. We are not
replacing that classroom teacher position. We also reduced a.5 speech and language therapist um and a 0.1 art teacher. Um 6 is other positions primarily clerical positions that have been reduced netting a 4.5 uh position
reductions. Also in order to generate savings we restructured our business office. We have an HR director who has been with us for for over 20 years retiring this year. We are replacing that with an HR specialist not a director. We also had a assistant
business manager um has left and taken a position in another state and we've restructured that to a business office support specialist. Um so that generated some additional savings. Next slide. Um this is just a quick overview
of the changes from fiscal 24 to 25. You can see the cost of the contractual raises um cola and steps and lanes for teachers is just over half a million dollars. Uh we do back out what we anticipate saving in retirement. So we have three teachers retiring. The net savings in that is about
99,000. Um paraprofessional salaries with a cola is only up by 2,00 2,800. That is because we are eliminating as I said um 2 uh 2.5 positions. The all other staff uh increases 22,000 um the substitute wage
adjustments reflected there as well as other contractual obligations that we have um sickly buyback, retirement, things like that. Total cost of staffing changes is 553,000. Next slide. On the expense side, we have been level funding expense line for for
probably eight or nine years. Um with the cost of inflation that reflects cuts uh annually to what we're purchasing in curriculum and supplies. Um the math curriculum adoption, we have 100,000 in the budget currently for new curriculum adoption. We have to increase that slightly in order to fund half of the
new math program. We're splitting the cost of that program over two fiscal years. Um, you'll also see other supply lines, FK, uh, general supplies and all of those day supplies. Those are both down by over $20,000. Um, we we reduced
quite a few different things in order to kind of offset some of the increasing costs that we have for services. Um, special education instructional services up about 100,000. Um, we are applying again uh $75,000 from our special ed
stabilization fund that I'll in the next slide I'll I'll show you what's remaining in that as well as circuit breaker reimbursement that we received for uh special education reimbursement from the state. Um this year we are applying slightly more than we did last year. So we have an additional 62,000 in
reductions from stabilization and special ed circuit breaker. Um you can see the cost of transportation that's the annual transportation contract that we have with homes is up as well as special education transportation. Um uh district office supplies are down and
then you see some minor adjustments in technology network and and facilities maintenance. Next slide. As I said we are using um another source of one-time revenue. We have back in 2020, we established with the town a special education stabilization account
that is to help the district absorb unbudgeted special education costs that we are required to implement if new students move into the district or if new needs arise. Um we set that account up and initially invested 250,000. The schools funded half and the town funded
the other half. Um, as a result of having that fund, we do not budget any contingency um, amounts in our annual operating budget. Last year we used 125,000. We are using another 75,000 which will leave a balance remaining of only 50,000 in that um, stabilization
account. Next slide. Class size projections across the district. Um, you can see what we are anticipating. We have two grades that are going to be higher than typical. Uh our class size maximum policy for pre-K to 2 is 21. You'll see our second grade
at this time based on current students in seats will be above the policy limit in several classes. We'll have 22 in some of our second grade classes. Um grade three is also going to be high with 23 and 24 students in some of our classes. Um all the others are within the school committee policy. Next
slide. Cost savings. Every year we really look with our uh community partners as well as the town for opportunities to reduce costs and stretch town dollars. Um we have for many years now shared a facilities director um and an assistant director with the town that saves us annually
about 25,000. Um we also share a custodial uh a custodian who has a staggered work schedule which reduces weekend overtime costs. Um, two years ago, we regionalized our school lunch program so that we're sharing the cost of administration for that program with both Rentham and Planeville. That
generates some annual savings in terms of the cost of the director and assistant director. Um, we also are cost sharing professional development with all four districts with Rentham, Plainville, and KP. We had a full day of shared professional development hosted at KP KP this year, which allows us to
cost share um, presenters and other uh, expenses related to that. We also work hard to apply for any grants that we are eligible for. As I said, we've applied for probably six or seven grants through the state through the Department of Education, which we have been declined for because we are
not prioritized as an underperforming district or district with high incidences of um um poverty. But we have been able to secure a regional uh behavioral health grant for $100,000. We also have um a opiate settlement grant that we just received. Uh thank you to
the select board for for um providing us with some funding through that as well as Metro West Health and a Care Solace grant. Most of those are mental health grants to provide services to students. So annually we are continuing to find ways to cost share expenses and to save um expenses to the town. So we're saving
about 274,000 next year. Next slide. Happy to answer any questions, but just want to end by saying um thank you for giving us this opportunity. We feel very fortunate to be part of a community that continually shows such strong support for education. We're
lucky to have a great PTO, uh, parent special education parent advisory board, recck department, our wonderful partners as our police, fire, DPW, um, in keeping our students safe. So, um, and the many parents that come in and regularly volunteer in school. Um, thank you for
all you do to help us, uh, provide the best education possible for our students. Thank you. [Applause] Now we hear from King Phip School. Hi everyone. My name is Rich Strole, year 2 King Phillip School Superintendent. I'm going to try to keep
this uh under five minutes. So I appreciate your attention tonight. Uh so um on our website is I have like a seven-page budget narrative and even more slides, but tonight I'm just going to keep it brief. um if you could um expand this a little bit. But anyway, um
I just want to point out right here this part or make it a little bit bigger. Um as mentioned, I think Mr. Kasanova Davis, unfortunately, King Phillip as well as Rentham, Planeville, and Norfork are four out of 232 holdless districts in the state of Massachusetts. Most of
the money from the state is going to those gateway cities. So just 37 million of the 420 million increase in education by the state for this year um are going to us um as part of those 232 holdless districts. As a result, state aid has
dropped from accounting from 25.6% of our uh revenue in uh 2018 to just 22% in 2025. This decrease in state aid is resulting in a larger increase absorbed by me member town assessments.
Next page, please. A little bit more detail. Um, here I just wanted to point out, uh, we plan to keep all staffing positions and services for next year from FY25 while also meeting mandated student needs.
We're adding one, uh, English language teacher uh, position, but it is actually not in our budget. We're using state funds for that, and we're restoring seven positions back into our budget that were cut last year. As a reminder, um 20 positions we cut from our budget
from FY24 to FY25 for this year. So, we're living with those cuts this year and we're restoring seven positions for next year based on mandated student services. So, we have a 4.13% increase to our FY26 operating budget. This is mostly due to annual
contractual increases, health insurance costs, and school choice out and virtual school tuition increases. I wanted to point out we do have um a successful new program at our high school. Despite the cuts, we reallocated some staff this year and we were able to plan for a specialized therapeutic program at our
high school. This new program has allowed us to keep more of our students who were out of district in district and bring some students back. As it relates to our budget, we're going to continue to strive to reduce the number of special needs students who need to be educated outside of our public school
district by strategically investing in specialized programming. Next page, please. Um like at the high and um I'm now on the um the top here. Like at the high school, we're adding a middle school special education teacher, actually restoring it. That's one of the seven restorations to will serve
students who would otherwise require specialized instruction outside of district. Um the ELE teacher was paid for by the state this year. We're keeping it for next year. It's not in our budget. Uh we've gone from uh seven to about 40 ELEL English learner students this year. So that position
we're using monies that will come from the state over the summer to pay for next year and then we'll assess to see if we need that still position for FY27. Next page, please. This just points out we are restoring
146 thou we're adding $146,000 for facilities upgrades and in addition 131,000 is being restored to instructional supplies and line items that were reduced for this year. Next slide, please. These are the final words you'll see. Just in terms of the future,
I wanted to let you know we're currently working on compiling a c uh updated capital improvement list, which we should present at the Tritown meetings next year. The 20-year bond from our 2006 school renovations will expire next year. So, our greatest priority to
present to you in the future will be for our roofs to be replaced, which are nearing 20 years old. We did submit a statement of interest through the MSBA, Massachusetts School Building Authority for our roofs to be replaced at both our middle school and our high school. And um we want to get in the queue as soon
as possible to hopefully be approved for MSBA funding in the for roofs in the future. Besides that, I do want to share we will need um a high school turf field replacement in 3 to 5 years and tennis courts as well. I do want to give appreciation and gratitude for all our
uh King Phillip Regional School Committee as well as our parents, residents, town leaders from Northfor. We will continue to serve our students to the best of our ability and also do everything we can to support our students and families while making smart fiscal decisions which our school
committee town leaders and residents can support. Next slide, please. These are just five quick slides, I believe. wanted to point out this says here what I mentioned state aid for our school district has dropped from uh
25.6% in FY18 down to 22% for FY26 that's a shift of more than 1.4 4 million which is largely being absorbed by member town assessments. This 300,000 here is a slight change and I'll talk about that if you can go to the next
slide. In terms of END a regional school uh committee school district um can use a certified balance and excess and deficiency fund uh deficiency fund as a revenue source for the proposed budget. We're using 300,000 from END for our
next year's budget. this um in recent years KP has been using 400,000 annually to help fund the subsequent year's next year's budget. This year it's 300,000. We're being slightly more conservative. Um and also last year we ran a deficit. Besides cutting those 20 positions, we
ran a deficit. So um if you look at the the graph right there, you'll see our END dropped this year from 1.3 million to 960,000. that's down 342,000 the deficit from last year. We don't want to continue that down your downward trend
and we do want to aim to try to build our END back up closer to 3% which would be 1.2 million. END can go as high as 5% which would be 2 million for us and that's I believe Tri County for example has END all the way at the 5% max. Next slide
please. These are the positions we are restoring. Um the EL teacher is not in our budget. We're using state funds, five teacher assistants, a special education teacher at the middle school, and a speech language pathologist. Those posi and there's the instructional supplies and services and facilities
upgrades. Those uh positions are all to meet mandated student needs in their IEPs, students on uh special education with IEPs. Next slide. Just two slides left. This highlights we did have a reduction this year which was uh in
526,000 out of district special education tuitions reduction in uh healthcare. We originally had an 8.5% uh healthcare increase. We went out to bid and uh we took uh the bid came down
to 5% health insurance increase. Um some other things special education uh transportation had an 8% increase. we project 6% for the next 2 years. Homeless transportation we project will go up, but we could use some grants to offset that. We use $250,000 this year
from reimbursement reserve funds. One other thing to note is our operating budget has 227,000 increase in athletics. Um, previous years KP's been using athletic revolving accounts and the as the costs have gone up that's now depleted. So, we raised that in our operating budget. We
did not want to raise user fees for parents as they already have user fees for sports at KP which I believe is the second highest in the Hakamach league. Last two slides. Um next slide please. This just shows
um Northfor Planeville and Rentham. Our um Northfor gets 5.1 5.19% increase this year even though our increase for KP was just 4.13%. Planeville has the low number this year and Rentham has the biggest
increase. And then the last slide please. Here's the pattern for the last eight years. Here you will see the 4.13% increase in our budget and how that translated for Norfor 5.19,
Planeville.25 and Rentham 8.13. Overall the past 8 years, Norfor has had a 4.12% increase from KP, Planeville 4.87%, Rentham is the lowest at 3.72%. I appreciate your attention and that concludes my presentation. Thank
you very much for your support. Thank you. Can we get um slide number six from Justin's presentation up there? It's called proposed budget. There we go. All right. This is the budget we're going to be voting on. These are the
line items. each line item that you're going to be voting on available I think online but also um available out in the hallway was a much thicker set of budgetary materials that
broke each of these line items down. For example, public safety includes police and fire. DPW includes a number of different things. General government includes a number of different things. That's the fine detail. This is the
actual budget line items. If you want to discuss any of the subbudgets that are within these, that's fine. We can discuss it. But these are going to be the votes that we're going to take. For example, if you want to talk
about police, cruisers, fire trucks, you're going to want to hold public safety. If you want to talk about the select board budget or something like that, you're going to hold general government.
So when we're going to just I'm just going to read this list, but if you have a particular question about something that operates within one of these, then hold that and we'll be happy to discuss it, get questions answered. If you have amendments or discussion points, we can
do that. Okay. So, I'm going to read each category and if you have a hold, just say hold and we'll hold it. So, general government, we have a hold on general government. Public safety, we have a hold on public
safety. Education, we have an hold on education. DPW, we have a hold on DPW. Human services, culture and recreation, benefits and
insurance, debt service, exempt debt. Okay, so now we're going to talk about each of the holds. And if you had a hold, you can feel free to come up to the mic. So the first hold was for general government.
Hi, Mike Heavner. I'm 52 Pond Street. Uh, I had questions on the uh IT budget of the general fund. Uh, I was moving to amend it to the fiscal year 25 budget of $328,431 instead of the proposed
353,000. Um, one just because there's no line items on what this money is going to and it's increased 89% in the last six years. And Medfield is a compar comparable town. Uh their budget for this for last year was 243,000.
Okay. So if you have a motion to amend then you would be amending the whole of general government by that amount. That doesn't mean, and I'm just telling that doesn't mean that it's necessarily we try and honor the the what the
amendments are for, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to go to that micro or subline category. But I'm I think there's probably folks here that can also answer any questions you have as to why the number is what the number is. So, do you have an amendment to
general government? Uh well then yes I move to I wouldn't I'm not sure how to word it that right so if you have a number you can even state with the in so I move to amend by increasing general government by whatever the number is
with the intention of those funds going to it I guess is what you're trying to say and Carol is coming over that can help you put it in writing is that is that what you're trying to accomplish yeah I'd like to leave it at last year's line. Okay. Do you have that number?
Yeah. Last year it was at $328,431. This year it's proposed at $353,69.4. Okay. So is you just want to add in what we cut? No, you want to cut it to go
down to what it was. Y. Okay. So the red you want to move to reduce the general government budget by what was the number Rob? 24,63 by that amount with the intention that
it's a reduction for the IT line item. Yes. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Do you have any other comments? And I think then we can have folks talk about it if if need be. Don't. Thank you. Okay. Any
uh comments from over by Mr. Lindmark or advisory committee? Sure. If we could have it talk about it. Good evening. My name is Don Trent. I'm the IT director. Um the increase that we are
asking for this year, um a lot of them are coming from cyber security and deputy a lot of activities going on and you probably by now you everybody's or experienced at some problem or another of cyber security. There's a lot of
attacks. There's a lot of surface of um support in to deal with that. And this increase is mainly coming from um we went from an I'm going to a little more technical than I need to but it go
from ADR solution which is endpoint detection response to a managed detection response just MDR which is something that will protect our town um IT infrastructures not just outtown but everything that we do nowaday
electronics and all the service attacks That's what we do. And what the MDR do for us versus the EDR is the EDR is something that we have to respond. The MDR is there is a service behind the
scene that can respond to it immediately comparing to something that we have to respond. So if we have a ransomware attack, the MDR solution will be able to shut it down quickly and the service will immediately tell us to
respond to it. Versus EDR solution, there's a time lag between the EDR and MDR. And that time lag can vary from 4 hours and so on. With the MDR solution, you're looking at 5 10 minutes because
that's the service that we are looking for. So the increase is for this year is mainly for that. Thank you. Any other questions just on the proposed amendment? Seeing none, just the
amendment. Now that is a majority vote. So if you are in favor of decreasing general government, Mr. Moy, can I just want to add one thing to what Don said? I think adds uh clarity up as as our IT director had mentioned uh
typically the town has seen about 300 or so cyber attacks a month. Uh recently we've been talking a lot with our staff about this. We have gone up to 1,500 attacks a month. Uh we do cyber security training. I'm sure um residents here have heard about other communities that
have been sort of um uh undergoing fishing attacks and the expenses align with that. the town is working uh aggressively to get a grant to help with some of these costs. We realize uh that our IT budget is growing uh exponentially. So, we have gone through the process to apply for a significant
grant to help cover some of these expenses. We've also removed some expenses in in our budget. Um another factor that we have to factor in is now with IT based services, they're going subscription services, so they bake in um general increases year-to-year. And
we're trying to be proactive about that. One other thing that we're looking at for our our future budget is to transition from our Google suite to Outlook suite which will realize some additional savings to there too. So we are actively looking at that. Um we're just trying to be proactive in regards to our cyber security. Uh because if we
do succumb to an attack that cost will be significantly more than the additional $25,000 in the budget this year. Thank you Justin. Okay. So we're going to vote on the amendment now. So if you are in favor of reducing general government by the 24,000 odd dollars
with the intention that it go to a reduction to the IT budget, you are going to vote yes or I. If you are keeping the budget as proposed in the budget and making no change to it, you are going to vote no. So all those in
favor of the amendment say I. And all those opposed. No. Okay. So, the motion does not pass. I truly appreciate the participation though, and this is the kind of participation that we're looking for at town meeting. So, it takes a lot of
courage to come up to a mic and make a motion that has uncertain fate. So, I I truly applaud this gentleman for coming forward. Okay. Public safety. Thomas, did you have a hold on public safety? I sure did, Mr. Tamman. Uh Thomas Clay at
253 main. Uh I wish Chief Kenny was here but Kenny's here but he's in the Carolinas so I know that but we have Jack Kelly filling in for him. Jack Kelly fill in for him. My question is about what's going on with the ambulances because what A1 is a 2016
Ford F550 for four and 4x4 ambulance and two and A2 is a 2018 Ford 554 and fourx4 image. what's going on with them and when can we get um replacements for the insulants because because they're getting really old. They're not going to last a long time and we needed
replacement for the squad truck. It's a squad one. It's a 2007 emergency one Ford F554x4 bus command shift commander bus truck. Okay, let's see if we can get some answers to Thomas's questions here.
Thank you, Thomas. Okay, Thomas. Uh Jack Kelly, deputy deputy fire chief. Um so your answer to the uh ambulance question is uh we're taking delivery uh this July of
a brand new uh PL Customs International uh Titan 170 ambulance. So that's in part of the replacement one at the DPW. That's the 2006. That's correct. Yep. Yep. So that's on schedule to be delivered in July. And what about the A2
being replaced? That's an 2018 the engine two no the ambulance 282 to 20 so that'll be part of the capital program that we're going to project out in the next five years and the squad truck that's going to be turned 20 years old in 2027 that'll also be part of uh
capital uh projections down the road depending on funding so that yep you're very welcome Thomas Thomas is going to hold you to that you know so when you say down the road Thomas means it here Do you have anything else on public
safety? Um, yeah. I wish um Chief uh Chief Hines the best in retirement. I'm I I I only know him since after the pandemic, so I still I'm going to miss him so much. I I think he's a great guy. Good luck on your retirement.
[Applause] [Music] Anything else on public safety? Okay. Education. We had a hold on education. Mr. Smith, Jonathan Smith, 26 Robin Road,
I'd like to know from the uh local committee and KP any effect of federal possible reductions in aid or other funds that they get. and what they
would do if they are reduced. Oh, we Dr. Allardi, why don't you go first if you have anything? So, we'll go with KP then and I can speak for both of us, but correct me if if I'm wrong. Uh we don't uh through
you, Mr. Moderator. Uh at this time, we don't project any um federal cuts impacting our education locally. Um we have um some uh federal monies primarily
through uh title one uh title 2, title 4 and um uh uh for special education. So nothing that we have um learned or heard has indicated that those uh cuts will impact us at the local level. Perhaps
I've heard title two with professional development which is not a huge amount of money but I don't know if you want to chime in but Yeah. So, we, you know, it's it's a wait and see, but at this time, we're not projecting uh cuts based on if there's
federal cuts to education. Thank you. Fingers crossed there. Um, anything else on education? Okay, so we are moving along. DPW Thomas, do you have a you had a hold on DPW? Yep, I certainly did, Mr. Mile.
Um just want to mention that um I know this I know everyone know this but Billier's last day is Friday the assistant DPW director he's going to get a new job at the bell and he DPW and I wish him luck. I mean with me me and Barry have been friends for four years
since um after Bob McGee retired. So I wish Barry the best. I miss him I miss him so much. Um my question is are they going to fix any roads this year? because Cape Cod Estates is really broken and they it's been hasn't been paved in a long time and that they're going to pave the roads in the town
center at the by the Liberty Independence and uh Union. My other one is Cleveland from 42 house number 42 Cleveland to house number 45 Cleveland. The other one's the Bird Roads Peasant Hill Estates Chickity Spell Oakidge Oak
View Trail Mountain Rockidge and Foxon. Blair, can you fix Kod estates please? Are you going to fix it this please? You really need to. Uh Blair Crane, DPW director. Tree warden of the year. Tree war of the
year. Thank you. Thank you. So paving is a is always a hot topic around town. We've had a a pretty uh terrible winter in all honesty. Uh so that's been uh certainly been an issue. We are uh currently talking with asphalt
contractors to see what uh we're going to be able to do. We're in the middle of doing secon water mane and culbert project. So uh we want to make sure that uh we get that complete uh just as soon as school is out and then we'll get into the paving season. But Cape Cod Estates
is certainly on the list. Yay. So, uh, about being obvious about that. There you go. So, we will, uh, we'll move forward, uh, and hope for a nice sunny summer. That'll be good. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, Thomas. Anything else on DPW from
anyone else? Hi, Tom Cler, 253 Main Street. Um, I have a concern about the the intersection of Rockwood Road and Boardman. We have a traffic I'm sorry, we have a street light that has
been out for quite some time. I have submitted a repair request to Eversource. Three other people have submitted the same request and I'm looking for some help there. That's a very dangerous intersection, especially
at of course at night. I myself cannot see the intersection as I approach it and that light isn't working at all. And as an example, I was able to get a street light fixed on the corner Sweetland Farm Road in Main Street with
one request to Eversource and within two weeks they came out and fixed that light. So, I'm wondering what we can do to fix the street light that's on the corner of Rockwood Road and Boardman. Mr. Crane, if you have anything on that.
So, I certainly don't want to speak for Eversource, but uh but I do know that they're our liaison uh from Eversource. uh they're in the midst of uh one the liaison that we've had has uh has stepping aside and a new one is coming in but I will make a phone call tomorrow
morning to see if I can rectify that problem. Thank you. Okay, so that is it for the holes. We have a motion on the floor for an appropriation to fund our omnibus budget
for 55,59,498. It requires a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, nay. It passes unanimously by my count. As I mentioned in my introductory
comments, we are because it's budgetary related, we are advancing article 33 um for consideration next. Mr. Gary, am I okay over here? Wherever you like. All right. I move that the town appropriate
the sum of $45,119 from the town of Norfor stabilization fund established pursuant to general law chapter 40 section 5B for the purpose of funding the town share of the fiscal year 2026 cost associated with the reconstruction of the T tri county regional vocational technical
high school. So I I'm not sure. Just want to make sure that that's the motion that I have. Yeah. But what what stabilization fund is it? No, it's coming from the general stabilization. Okay.
Yeah, it should be fun. So, just want to make sure because I had a different motion, right? Yeah. All right. So, that that is the that is the correct uh motion, Mr. Gity. So, this article will authorize
$45,119 from the town's general stabilization fund to cover RSS share of the fiscal 26 costs associated with the Tri County Regional Technical High School project. As you'll recall, the reconstruction project totaling $286 million was approved by voters in
October of 2023. Norfor as one of the 11 member communities of the district, is obligated to contribute a portion of the cost each year based on student enrollment. Because the project was not accompanied by a funding source such as a debt exclusion override, the town must cover
these annual assessments within the confines of existing revenue sources. For the upcoming fiscal year, the town is proposing utiliz utilizing funds in the stabilization fund, a fund established precisely to address extraordinary or unanticipated
obligations. Um the advisory board believes that this is an appropriate and prudent use of the stabilization fund for this fiscal year. However, we also wish to emphasize that drawing on this reserve annually to meet a recurring obligation is not a sustainable
long-term strategy. We therefore strongly urge that a more durable and fiscally sound funding mechanism be secured in f in the f the near future. Accordingly, the advisories board advisory committee supports the adoption of this article in fiscal 26. Thank you,
Mr. Garity. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, this is from our general stabilization fund. We have a number of stabilization funds. Those are kind of our rainy day funds. If it comes from the general stabilization fund, it requires a twothirds vote. All those in
favor say I. I. All those opposed, nay. It passes unanimously. Back to regular order of water department budget. Miss Seir. Mr. moderator. I move to approve the public works water division
enterprise fund budget for the fiscal year commencing on July 1st, 2025 in the amount of $2,135,92 as printed in the warrant and moved and seconded. Mrs. here. This appropriation of $2,135,000, $92 will fund the operations
of the Department of Public Works Water Division for fiscal year 2026. The budget is supported by revenues from water system users with retained earnings utilized if necessary. No impact on the general fund is anticipated.
Questions, comments? Water enterprise fund. Seeing none, this requires a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes unanimously. Article 8, the wastewater
budget is here. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve the public works wastewater division enterprise fund budget for the fiscal year commencing on July 1st, 2025 in the amount of $198,38 as printed in the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded. This
year, this appropriation of $198,28 will fund the Department of Public Works wastewater division for fiscal year 2026. The budget is funded through user fees collected from the wastewater system and retained earnings from the enterprise fund if needed. This
article ensures continued wastewater services without burdening the general fund. Thank you. Mr. Bakinowski, you have a comment or a question? Uh, question. Andy Backenhowski, Nagatuck Avenue. Um Jay Hawken cost got us
$900,000 to help with the wastewater infrastructure. Where is that? What is that? What's happening with that? Does anyone have an answer to where a whole bunch of money went? Mr. M, I'll take that one. Uh yes, the town did
secure about $900,000 in uh funds. We've been communicating with the EPA. uh the town is in the process of um submitting application to draw down those funds. Um sort of in correlation with Thomas's um question regards to paving a town center is we're trying to get those funds to
look at this holistically uh look at other additional um um businesses or opportunities to tie into our sewer system. So we're actively working on that. Um and I anticipate we will have that application in uh in June and hopefully the town will have that money in hand within two to three months.
I have one follow-up question. Yep. Sure. So, not that I do wastewater work, but I I looked at the sort of the terms of the general program that money came from, and it's very specific. So, what specifically are we going to be asking
the grant for? So actually what we did apply for was very specific but uh being prudent and giving ourselves some flexibility uh the town submitted an amendment a technical correction that was approved uh to allow us to use it for water or wastewater
services. Uh so we do have flexib that technical correction was approved. Uh so we do have flexibility uh that's going to be a holistic discussion that the town and the select board are going to have uh moving forward. Thank you Justin. Thank you Mr. Bakinowski. Chris Montfort 5 Frederickson Road. Just
a point of clarification. What I heard read by the advisory board member was 198,28, but what's printed in the warrant is 198,38. Right. I had in the motion 308. So just curious which number is the correct one.
So the I believe the motion was for 308. What is the 308? 308 is the correct number. Thank you for catching that. Glad someone's paying attention. Okay, seeing no other questions on our wastewater budget, it requires a
majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes unanimously. Article 9, capital nonborrowing. Mr. Loots. Mr. Moderator,
I move to indefinitely postpone article nine. Second and moved and seconded. Mr. Loots. Uh this article would authorize capital purchase during the upcoming upcoming fiscal year from operating funds. Currently the town is not proposing any capital purchases though there may be proposals to be considered
at a later likely in the fall. Therefore the advisory committee recommends to indefinitely postpone article 9. It's an elaborate enticement to get you back to town meeting in the fall. This requires a simple majority vote to
indefinitely postpone which again is to kill this item for the time being. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Article 10, capital that would require borrowing. Mr. Lutz. Mr.
Moderator, I move you indefinitely postpone article 10. Do I have a second? Been moved and seconded. Mr. Similar to the previous article, this article would authorize uh capital purchase during the upcoming fiscal year through debt financing financing uh
rather than operating funds. Uh the town is not proposing any capital projects or purchases at this time. Though if you want to come back to fall town meeting, we may have some on the agenda then. Uh therefore, the advisory committee recommends to indefinitely postpone article 10.
Same story. Any questions, comments? Seeing none, all those in favor of indefinite postponement say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Article 11, authorization of
revolving fund spending limits is here. There's a slide for I think there is a slide there. There should be for this one. There's no slide. We don't we don't have a slide. No for 11. No, no slide. It's
it's as printed in the this the motion is as printed on the screen, but we could do printed in the warrants. So, if we can just make the motion that. So, if you look in your warrant, there's a list there's a table here of all of our revolving funds. That's what the motion
is going to be referring to. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 11 as printed in the warrant. is here. This article authorizes spending limits for the town revolving funds which are unchanged from last year's fund limits. The advisory
committee voted voted to support these fund limits. Thank you. Questions, comments? Revolving funds are just kind of a fund that money in, money out without having to go back to town meeting over and over again for various programs is a required
article. Seeing no comments, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Article 12, annual authorization of state highway funds or roadway funds.
Miss here. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 12 as printed in the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded. Miss Seir, this standard article authorizes the select board to use the chapter 90 funds received from the state for the maintenance, improvement, and construction of town
roads. Thank you. Questions, comments? Mr. Diamond. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Um, chapter 90 funds. Could someone give a brief overview of how much funds we got this
year and what the funds will be used for? That would be Todd, Justin, Blair. Everyone get up. Blair and then Todd. [Music] There we go. Uh, could you just say the
question one more time, Peter? Yes. Um, how how much funds do we receive for this fiscal year for chapter 90 funds? Chapter 90 has been fairly flat for more than 10 years now. The state allocates $200 million throughout the
Commonwealth. Uh, our Chapter 90 funding has been right around 400,000. It does fluctuate slightly depending on it's a percentage, so if other towns accept more roads, it does fluctuate a few thousand dollars here and there, but it's been fairly flat around 400. And
then if uh the state finds that they have a surplus, occasionally we will get uh some uh additional funding, but it's certainly not a guaranteed number. We uh when we plan, we plan on the number that we know we're going to have and hope for the best. And what typically would those
funds be used for? Is it all for roads or for equipment, for example? There anything to do with roads. You could you can use that for um you could use it for a dump truck if you wanted to. Uh you could use it for
uh part of a building if you wanted to that you just have to go through the state in order to have that set ahead of time. But uh anything to do with roadways uh is a pretty pretty broad category. Could you give an example? Is that enough? Well, no, it's not enough.
But you let's not have back and forth. If you have I'll I'll let you have another question. I'm just curious what the money was spent on last year. Okay. Uh the last couple of years has been all of paving. Everything has been paving. We did Rockwood Road, Medway. Uh
Rockwood Road ate up uh more than $300,000 last year. So that's uh that was a long stretch. It took us a while to get there. Well, I'm going to give you one more. This is it. This is it. Uh how much does it cost to pave a mile
roughly? Uh it does fluctuate with the cost of fuel because fuel is a is a uh certainly part of asphalt, but uh it can be between $250 and $350,000 a mile depending on how on the width of the road and curbing and so on. Thank you,
Blair. Thank you, Peter. Okay. Is it this just we're not appropriating the money. This is just to accept the state money. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Point of order, Mr.
Moderator. Mr. Diamond, making a point of order. And I'd like to make a motion to move article 32 to next in the list here after this because it's about roads. Okay. Article 32 is uh for a roadway
acceptance of Avery Way of Avery Way. This requires if you want to take it out of order and it's up to the town meeting if you want to take it out of order and consider a roadway acceptance next. It is a simple majority vote. It's not
debatable. All those in favor of taking article 32 out of order say I. I. All those opposed no. It passes. So we will consider article 32. I write it after now.
So is Terry? No, I just made a motion and a motion to fill it up. Mr. Moderator, I move that the town vote to accept as a public way the laying out by the select board of the private way
known as Avery Way as shown on a plan entitled asbuilt acceptance plan Avery Way dated January 23rd, 2025 prepared by United Consultants, Inc. a copy of which is on file with the
town clerk. upon such terms and conditions as are acceptable to the select board and to acquire the fee interest in the way sidewalks, water manes, hydrants, catch basins, and drainage structures as shown on said
plan. Second, it's been moved and seconded. Miss Tero, thank you. The advisory committee heard from the proponents um regarding the acceptance of Avery Way. It was our understanding that any and all issues with Avery Way have been met and are in compliance with
town regulations. The acceptance of Avery Way will allow for the transfer of ownership and the responsibility for the maintenance to the town and Avery Way becomes a public way. This was a unanimous recommendation by the advisory committee. Thank you. Thank you. And can
we confirm that the select board laid out uh Avery White? We can. I'm seeing nods over there. Okay. So, this is just to accept Avery Way and make it a public way. Requires Mr. Diamond, you have a
comment or Yes. Um, is it in order to do a motion for indefinite postponement of this article? You are 100% allowed to move for indefinite postponement if that's what you're I would like to make that motion, Mr. Moderator. Okay.
It's been moved and seconded to indefinitely postpone, which would wipe this off the map if indefinite postponement was um approved. Um your reasoning? Yes, Mr. Moderator. Um a few facts about this
project. It's a 40B project comprising of 20 duplex buildings equaling 40 total homes. A 40B project circumvents town zoning bylaws. For example, our bylaws require two points of access for
subdivisions of 25 lots or more and deadend streets cannot be more than 500 ft. This street is approximately 1325 ft long. The street is 24t
wide which is about and 1325 is about a/4 mile long. Uh the acceptance of this road includes approximately a 50- foot wide rightway which includes sidewalks, private parking, overflow areas, and the cool
desac at the end. This this property has a homeowners association that is responsible for maintaining the grounds of the property. This will be Norfork's first road acceptance of a 40B project in Norfork.
All other 40B projects maintain their own property and roads. Um my concerns accepting this road will cost the town of Norolk money. That should be the responsibility of the
homeowners association for that project. The town of Norwalk will be responsible for maintenance of the street over its life and the 50-foot right away that includes sidewalks, private overflow parking
areas and the cool sack at the end. This responsibility will include snow removal, sanding of the sidewalks and clearing of the overflow parking areas. This responsibility by the town will
also include future repairs to the road and sidewalks, resurfacing of the of the road after it fails. And the town will also be responsible for maintenance of the storm water
infrastructure and occasionally cleaning of the of the manholes and transfer of this road to the town uh will make the town responsible for maintaining the trail from the project
through the open space land to Juniper Road. So some of my questions, Mr. moderator. So hold on. Okay. So before we have questions here, so that's an an explanation and you used a bit of time.
So and I'll let you come back and speak a second time on your motion to indefinitely postpone. This is debatable, which means other people or town officials could comment if they so desire. Rich, hold on a sec. I'd rather I want
to hear from residents first and then we'll we'll hear. Uh uh Kim Lock, 23 Avery Way. Just so you're aware, there's 40 homes that are on that property. Only 25% are the 40B. So I'm not sure why you're thinking
the whole street is 40B. So I don't know where you Well, we're not. So let's talk in favor or not in favor of Oh, I am in deep favor of being public way. So you are against in I am against his motion to dismiss it for
this town meeting. Yes. Right. I don't want to have personal debates back and forth. No, I don't either, but I want him to get his numbers right. Okay. I I appreciate that very much. Thank you. Mr. McCarthy, did you have something on behalf of the the planning staff?
Uh I do. Yes. Mr. moderator. I do have a Can you introduce yourself? Sure. Richard McCarthy, Northfor Town Planner. Um it's regarding the acceptance of Avery Way as Mr. Diamond mentioned. It was permanent as a comprehensive permit
40B. It was as permitted within the comprehensive permit with the intent that the road would become a public way. So I don't want to get into intent. So that in intent of what it may become,
that's this body's job. So if you have a rationale, so you hold on. Okay. If you have a rationale as to why indefinite postponement is disfavored or favored, then state that. Sure. But I don't I don't want to
get into intent. Okay. Why I will say against indefinite postponement is this roadway is not to be maintained by the homeowners association as it was
permitted. So it's not permanent designed that way. It wasn't marketed that way. So there's no intent that this would be maintained as part of the association. The responsibility of the association is for the landscaping, the
drainage areas, etc. So, there's deep there's a divide between what the maintenance Okay. is thank you. Okay. Any comments or questions? Mr. Lutz, are you commenting on this?
I'm hoping someone from the town can confirm or or refute Mr. Diamonds uh statement that uh the private parking areas, the trail and some of the nonroadway aspects of this would require
to be maintained by the town as a result of this acceptance. So I don't know who is aware of that if it's I'm getting a shaking of the head. So very I think to Mr. Lut's point, the roadway certainly would be accepted, but unclear if shown
on that plan whether or not the driveway or certainly the trail or drainage easements or anything else are on that acceptance plan. If anyone has an answer to that, I'll take it. If someone wants to say something else, then they can say something else. Sir, my name's Frank.
I'm from 11 Avery Way. And throughout this process, um, we've been told that it was the road that would be paved and that was it. And the rest, the parking areas would be our responsibility, the
homeowner's responsibility as well as the maintenance of the trail. Right. I would assume that the trail is not part of it, but Okay. I appreciate that clarification from your perspective. And also, we've been going through this entire process. um with the
understanding you know from the marketing perspective from the purchase and right well that's what this and and I appreciate that but that's not what this this body's concerned with is it a good idea to make it a public way or not
what was represented to folks or what it was marketed as I don't think is is really something that we discuss here but if you think it's a great idea to to make it a public way then I think that's important information I do indeed Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gity. I would actually
like to ask the DPW, is Meeting House Road a public way? So, I'm not Well, there was an assertation that this is the first 40B road that will be a public way and Meeting House Road has been it's a 40B. Um, we did it, I don't know, 20
years ago at this point. Is that a public way? It is. So, we're we're hearing Yes. Thank you, Mr. Spray. And then then Mr. Mr. Crane, if you have something to add, Mr. Sprag. Thank you, Mr. M. Uh, Benprag, 264 Main Street. Um, I think maybe um to help
everybody's um not having the right information here, maybe the inde propose uh the motion to propose indefinitely to maybe November is to actually have clarification of where the rightway is. I think we're going off of assumptions here and we actually don't have factual information. So, I think it's it's not really fair to make a vote. I feel I
couldn't make a the right vote unless we actually have correct information of Mark Mark eman or marked right away. Okay. I think that that's a really fair point. If anyone harbors that point, then you would be voting in favor here and then this there's no barrier to bringing it back up in in the fall if
that was your position. And that that's a good point, Mr. Crane. And then we're going to come right back here to this um young lady over here. Yeah, I would just like to add that uh you know, I've been out to inspect this. The rightway is there. There's there's obviously town water underneath the roadway. there is
drainage, storm water drainage uh and infrastructure underneath the roadway. So regardless of how you feel about the road, the right of way is important for the infrastructure that's under the road. Um so it has been inspected. It is
to town acceptable standards. Um and it could go either way there. Meeting house road is a town road has been accepted. Um and there are a number of roads in town that are unaccepted. So it could go either way. Thank you, Mr. Crane. Ma'am,
hi. Lan Pereira. I'm also from 17 Avery Way. And just get if you can get just a little closer to the Sure. 17 Avery Way. Lannne Pereira. I have in my hand the declaration of trust and common scheme restrictions of the
Enclave at Norfolk Age Rest Restricted Association Trust. if uh we can enter this into uh findings if we need to or Yeah, we we don't I mean we we don't we don't take things in evidence in in this
body, but if there's something in that document that you want to summarize or or illustrate your point as to why I assume you're against indefinite postponement, please please share with this body as long as it's relevant to whether or not this is a road that you
think is worthy of being accepted. Yeah, it appears as if the approval and the permitting for this project was based on the fact that this would be a road that was a public way. So, I'm I'm not I don't I really and I'm
not trying to be difficult here because I don't think a permit can do that. So, I think what I'd like to hear, if you have a position on this, is whether you think this is worthy of a public way and and what the benefit of that is to you,
the town, or the homeowners. I definitely think this is a public way. The members of this community purchased this property knowing that this was the plan to become a public way. It deeply matters to our financial implications
both shortterm and long term. Okay. And so I think we need to move forward. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate your comment. Mr. Calcott, Mr. Roderator, it seems that there's an air of doubt being put out there about the process by which these roads are
inspected and voted upon to be brought forward at town meeting for approval. Uh Mr. Mr. Town administrator, would you mind just briefly highlighting for town meeting what that process is, the number of bodies that go through review, and who's approved it up until this point? Thank you. I I I think I think he may be passing
the buck to uh to town council Tom Harrington, but I I will tell you that I I will tell you that there are three main steps to roadway acceptance, and there's kind of a an in between step two. When a developer is finished with a
road and they want it to be accepted or it's a new road or even if it's an old road, they have to first develop a plan, get the inspections done, usually get the opinion of planning staff or the planning board. Then the first key step,
the select board have to agree that it is acceptable to be presented at town meeting. That's called laying out a way. So far, Tom. Okay. So far so good. The second step is what we're doing right here, which is town meeting has to agree
as well that this should become a public way. And then the third step happens after town meeting where we acquire ownership either by gift or or taking or some other device. Is that about right? That's right. And I I the one thing I'd add is at the select board hearing,
there is a h a plan with meets and bounds which identifies specifically what the town would be acquiring. Thank you, Mr. Harrington. Okay. So, we've heard a lot. Peter, do do you have any I'll give you comment. Just a little bit because we've
been pretty repetitive here. Uh we just went through a $55 million budget that's bursting at the seams. Uh we had Thomas come up and talk about getting Cape Cottage Estates paved. there's no money to do roads as it is and we're accepting another road
and I just feel that um the town should not bear the cost for maintenance of this property. So I ask for you to vote in favor of this. Thank you. Last word, Miss Jacobson. [Music] We need a short person Mike around here.
Thanks. Vertically challenged. Had my high heels on too, Jay, but it didn't work. Um Sue Jacobson. I'm the affordable housing director. So, I just want to express a concern that that I think people should be aware of. Uh, as they stated, 25% of these units are affordable and these buyers have to
qualify for mortgages and uh the HOA fees are included. And my concern is that you know these whether it's legal or not legal for this to be in a comprehensive permit that the road should be accepted. If this road is not accepted by the town, those affordable
buyers could be put in a financial position where they are financially responsible for something that that was not the intent from the beginning. So, I just wanted to bring up that point. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Mr. Luta. Only if you had something new.
Okay. All right. Let me just explain where we are here. There's on the floor a motion for indefinite postponement. If you vote in favor of indefinite postponement, then we are not accepting this roadway. It's done. If you are in
favor of accepting this roadway, you're going to vote no here, and then we'll go back to the original vote to accept it. So, that would be a two-step. If you want to kill it and not accept this roadway, your votes going to be I and that will be the only vote that we have on this
article. Okay, I think we understand what we're doing. So all those in favor of indefinite postponement, please say I. I. All those opposed. No. Okay. So that fails, I declare by um uh it did
not achieve the requisite majority. So we are back to the original motion. Now I think we've heard a lot about the pros and cons here. So I'm not sure we need any more debate. If someone has something new, I'll hear it. If it's the
same stuff, then I think we're ready to vote. It looks like we're ready to vote. Acceptance of a roadway here where there's no money involved in the acceptance is a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. No. Okay. It passes by a
clear majority. Thank you for the debate and discussion on this. All right. Now, we're back to article 13. Article 13, we don't take a motion under it is committee reports. We
have two. So, we're first going to do I believe a library trustee, Mr. Beichofsky, has something to say on behalf of the Norfolk Public Library. Hi, Brian Bechovsky. Uh 94 Boardman Street. I'm one of the town's library
trustees. Uh, and I just want to take a minute to say thank you to the town for participating in the heart of the town, coming to the library. Uh, especially to the uh, friends of the Norfolk Ptown Library uh, who have uh, been working with the library and making so many of
the programs and other things possible. Uh, and I will keep it brief because I know it's a long meeting, but I want to highlight some of those other partnerships we have around town for programs. Uh there's a new program that we're doing with the Council on Aging called Memory Cafe. It's a social gather
g gathering for people living with memory changes and their caregivers to enjoy a variety of interactive activities. This will start June 25th and take place each month. Please register with the Council on Aging or at the library. Summer reading, which is the library's biggest program, is also
starting. Registration is open right now and will officially be kicking off on June 16th through August 9th. Uh you can register anytime between now through August uh to get into the summer reading program. Fairy Tale Fairy Tale Ballet
Camp is being put on with the Exhale Dance Studio. That's going to be June 16 through 20. There are two spots still open. So if you have kiddos uh between 3 and six that would want to give that a shot, uh come down to library and try that out. And the last one, just because the entertainment's so great with the
names, Tunes for Tots is a concert series that's going to be held with the Norfart Recreation Committee. Uh those are Tuesday, June 24th through July 22nd, 5:45 at Town Hill. If it's raining, we'll do that in the community
room. The performers are Jungle Jim, to Jam, Roly Poli, Guacamole, The Bananis, and Benana. There's a theme there. Plenty more going on at your library. It's the heart of the community. Come down, be there with your friends, help host a meeting there,
whatever you need to do. Uh please let us know if there's any way we can uh make the library better for you and the community. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Bowski. Believe we have a a short and maybe our last update on the from the fire station building committee. I'll be
very brief on behalf of the fire station building committee and the chair who couldn't make it today. Um, as the moderator said, this probably will be the last update uh from the fire station building committee. Um, the work is almost complete with the fire station. As you all know, the our team did move in. Uh, the contractor is working on
some punch list items largely painting, touching up some landscaping. U site work will essentially be complete by the end of this month. Uh, the the committee is meeting next week 5:21 to discuss an official ribbon cutting day. So hopefully we see plenty of people going out there. Uh on behalf of the fire
station building committee, we want to just thank the town again for the commitment to the project. Uh the engagement, the hard work uh by the design team, contractor OPM, but I particularly want to give a shout out to our fire station building committee. Uh because the last part of the update is the project is continuing to track well.
Uh we're anticipating that, you know, we're going to uh return approximately a million dollars back to the town because of the hard work of that fire still building committee. We're very proud of that. Um, so good job. Thank you very much. Okay, we're moving
along. Article 14, Community Preservation Annual Allocations. Mr. G. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 14 as printed in the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded, Mr. G. Uh this standard art annual article reserves
funds from the community preservation act revenues equal to the statemandated minimums of 10% for open space, 10% for affordable housing and 10% for historic resources. The remainder is placed in undesated funds and can be used for any allowable purpose.
Thank you, Mr. G. This is an annual housekeeping article that's required by law. Any seeing no one rising for comments or questions? This requires a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I.
I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Article 15, community preservation annual administrative allocation. Mr. G. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 15 as printed in the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded. Mr.
Yep. The purpose of this standard article is to authorize the administrative budget for the community preservation committee at $15,000 which would come from the community preservation fund. This is the same amount that was approved in the prior fiscal year's budget. Thank you, Mr.
G. Again, annual expense. Seeing no one rising to question or comment, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes unanimously. Article 16, community
preservation funding for Mirror Lake. Mr. Herwitz. Oh, Mr. G, you have this one? Yep. I got switched it up on me. Okay, Mr. G. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 16 as printed in the warrant. It's been moved and seconded, Mr. G. So,
the advisory committee recommends approval of this article. Mirror Lake, which lies 15% in Norfol and 85% in Rentham, has been slowly filling in with invasive vegetation and sediment. CPC funds currently pay for periodic weed treatments, but in most areas, the lake
is only four to six feet deep with over 15 to 20 feet of soft sediment. Outside consultants suggest the lake is a strong candidate for dredging to restore its previous depth, but state and federal law require a phase 2 sediment analysis before any remediation or dredging can
occur or before any state or federal funding can be appropriated. If a phase 2 analysis moves forward and results are favorable, the plan is for any future remediation to be done with state andor federal funds rather than any additional funding from Norol or rent them. The
friends of Mirror Lake had previously done a phase one sediment analysis and has sought to move forward with a more extensive phase 2 study using CPC funds. In November 2024, Rentham approved $27,000 for its 85% share of the cost of
the analysis. This article would appropriate $40,000 from Norfolk CPC funds to cover the remainder, which would have to be spent by December 31st, 2026. This request has come before the town in prior town meetings, but the advisory
committee had previously recommended postponing the issue until concerns about the town's liability were fully addressed and until Rentham had committed its much larger share of the funds. After additional due diligence and input from the project consultant, the CPC, the Norfolk Norfol conservation
agent, the majority of the advisory committee by a vote of six in favor and two oppose supported moving forward with the article. Thank you, Mr. I'm I'm informed that there is a few slides and perhaps someone to present them. Is that
accurate? Um, thank you, Mr. Moderator. My name is Michael Carr. I live at 51 Mirror Lake Avenue in Norfor. And um and I first of all, I wanted to thank everybody up here on the stage and down below for giving us the opportunity just to kind of
enhance what was already said. I can't say the numbers any better um than that, but you know that that headline up there um that Mirror Lake is dying sounds pretty extreme um but it's it's absolutely true. There's been there's
been scientists um that we've commissioned that have if I could just go to the next slide um they call it utrification. I think I got that right. Right, Tom H. Okay. Um, and as was previously stated, um, the hard bottom
of this lake is all the way down to 30 feet, but you only clear water that's left. There's over 20 ft of muck still um on top of it. And there's only 2 to 6 feet of actual clear water that's that's
that's left. Um, so it's it is it is dying. Rent them. We're in Northfor. We're 15% of this lake. Rent them is already funded. Um they're 85% of this phase 2 um feasibility study. And it is
a and nor but Norfor has the public beach. Nor has the boat ramp. Norfor has all the little fishing spots that people come to from from Norfork, from Retham, from Planeville, from all over the place. We get license plates from from
Rhode Island that are parked on the street and there's lots of kids and everybody fishing all the time and and as a result um you know this is a wildlife habitat as as many people know and it is a
recreation area and used by many many people. If I could just go to the next slide. As I said, we got the boat boat uh the boat launch. Uh there's also a dam and and causeway and and what we want to do is get this study behind us
so the feds and the state can take over. There will be no more economic burden to the town if we can finish this feasibility study. And that's really the goal here to keep this this really is a treasure for the town, this lake. And we
want to keep it as healthy as possible. And just to show you what could happen if if if we don't if we go to the next slide, this is basically what we've already said to save it. We'll just I'll just in in the essence of time just go
to the final slide here. If anybody has been to some of these other areas, um a good example if you go to Target and you go south on Route One and you'll see about a half mile south, there's a lake called Turnpike Lake and it's on either
side of the road. And although it doesn't look like that now today, um in another 30 to 45 days, this is a picture taken from last summer of Turnpike Lake. And this is an untreated
um uncared for lake that is pretty much dead right now. And it's a it's a it's a it's a mud hole and as you can see it's mosquitoinfested and it's really difficult. There's a section of Mirror Lake on the north on the northeast side
um that is called Northfor Cove and and that was one one time not that long ago that was a nice beach and a really nice recreation areas. I see some nodding heads here that looks just as bad as
that picture right now. So, and this is not just Mirror Lake. This is a phenomenon that's happening all over the northeastern United States with bodies of water. But we have um we've come so far and the local community has has given everything that they can to do it.
We just need to just pass this one final step. So, um but thanks again for for hearing me out and thanks uh for everybody for attending and allowing me to to speak. Thank you. Thank you.
Anyone else want to discuss Mr. Bakinowski? It's going to be a tough audience here. Um, so I've been in the environmental field 45 years and the first job was
actually sampling sediments in Boston Harbor. Um, the last 5 years I've spent working with the town of Conquered doing a technical review. I'm not managing the project, but Warner's Pond, if you know where that is, near the Route 2 Rotary.
Um, the town of Conquered is into uh dam repair 1.8 million, purchase of property to allow access to a canoe launch, about 2.7 million. um they're looking at 4 acres of land uh that they need that needs to be dredged
in this pond to facilitate boat launching and they're talking $22 million for 4 acres. So, put that in comparison. Warner's Pond, the entire area is 54 acres, 45 is water. This is,
I believe, 69 acres of water. So, you're looking you're looking at an apples to orange comparison to a certain degree. But let's look at the science of the testing that was done here. They didn't test for synthetic organic compounds. I used to be an LSP um until four years
ago. And I understand what you have to do to get this these materials removed because it's hazardous, could be regulated, whatever. The land farming that's being proposed by TRC, who's a consultant, they've got to find 20 acres to try and land farm this or haul it
off. The more you're going to haul off, the more it's going to be. So the phase one work that was done was inadequate. If I could take a 8 and 1 half x 11 piece of paper, that's the pond. They have two samples. To give you an idea of the four acres that conquer's
looking at, they have 170 samples for four acres. So when you look at the proposed knowing what the cost to do for this, know what it costs to do the sampling uh for the phase 2 um they're going to be short. So I don't think that's enough money. So, that's that's
some of the science that isn't very solid here. Um, this project, if I had to put it into a very polite way, this is a project that's death by a thousand cuts. And the reason why is that TRC is peacemealing the project to make it
manageable financially, but in the end, you're not going to have the best project. You will come up with more questions before you get to the end. And every question will probably be another six figures, could be seven figures for all you know. So, the involvement with the town should
have been two years ago, five years ago when this was started and that hasn't happened. I've talked with Caitlyn, the conservation agent, and that's one of her concerns. So, um I'm voting no. You can vote yes if you want, but um there's
some problems with this project is where it stands right now. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bakinowski. Just just just one more note. What we're asking for is approval on the study, not the project. I think that's important to note here. And number two is that the conference uh
conservation committee and the um the CPC has approved this and that's that's why I'm here today. So I think you know what what what lies down the road lies down the road. We're we're looking to to
do our part with Rentham for a for the study and that's it today. I just want to make that clear. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Carr. Okay, looks like we're ready to vote here. This is an expenditure of CPA funds. It requires a
simple majority vote. If you're in favor of extending the CPA funds for this study, say I. So, all those in favor, say I. I. All those opposed, no. No, it passes by a clear majority.
Article 17, another community preservation um fund for uh Campbell Forest. Uh Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 17 as printed in the warrant. Been moved and seconded. Mr. Herurwitz,
the advisory committee recommends approval of this article. The advisory committee recommends approving a $45,000 allocation from the community preservation funds undesated reserve to support assessment and planning efforts for improvements to the publicly accessible areas and trails of Campbell
Town Forest. We have a slide for Campbell Town Forest. There we go. It's a It's a wonderful little space that not a lot of even though it's right in the center of our town, not a lot of people know that it exists. All right.
Any questions, comments on this expenditure for Campbell Town Force. Seeing no one rising to the mic, this requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed,
no. No. It passes by a clear majority. Article 18 CPA funds for a playground at at Freeman Kennedy. I believe this article is Mr. Irwin. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 18
as printed in the Warren. Been moved and seconded. Mr. The advisory committee recommends approval of this article. The advisory committee unanimously recommends approving a $55,000 allocation from the community preservation funds open space reserve
for resurfacing the playground at the Freeman Kennedy School. The existing surface has reached the end of its useful life and the proposed improvements are intended to enhance both safety and usability. Thank you. I believe we had yeah a
couple of slides. Was there someone that was going to present these slides or are we just gonna not Good evening everyone. My name is Tim Strong, facility director for the town of Norfolk and Northol public schools. Uh today we have just a few
pictures of the existing conditions of the Freeming Kennedy School for Article 18 as well as some pictures for the Hoff Day playground which is in the following article. It's the next article. So, we're going to these slides apply to this article and then the next article
which is funds for the HOD playground. If you could go to the next slide, please. I don't know who's someone got the clicker here. Here we go. So, these are some photos of the HL day um which is the next article. Uh
this shows some seam separations from the turf and what we call spaghetti um ground surface over at the HL day school. Um these seams are no longer repairable, thus requiring a
replacement. Um and the intent of this project will be to remove the upper surface and then we will be reusing the subsurface. um material so that it's helped keep cost down for that project.
If you go to the next slide, please. This is just some additional photos. Uh the blue being that spaghetti kind of rubbery surface and then the green turf material. Next photo, please. I think that may have been it. Oh, well,
I will talk a little bit about the um FYI Kennedy uh playground. So, there we have about 9,000 square ft of board and place rubber. Um over the last several years, there have been some patches that have been made as some of the surface
has been damaged. Uh the intent of this project is for us to use some rubber matting in hightra areas to help preserve those patches and the hightra areas so that we can kind of extend the life of the surface we have now. Thank
you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? This article is about Freeman Kennedy and then we will get to Holiff in the second in the next article. Seeing no one else rising, requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All
those opposed, no. It passes. Article 19, playground funds from community preservation for Hol day. Mr. Herurwitz. Uh, Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 19 as printed in the warrant.
Been moved and seconded. Mr. Herwicks. The advisory committee unanimously recommends approving an $83,000 allocation from the community preservation funds open space reserve for resurfacing the playground at the hol of day school. The existing surface
has reached the end of its useful life and the proposed improvements are intended to enhance both safety and usability. Thank you, Mr. Woods. So, we've had a presentation on this. Seeing no one else rising, I think we're ready for the vote. All those in favor say I.
I. All those opposed? No. It passes. Article 21. We're getting to There's going to be a few zoning articles here. 20, I'm sorry, 20. Article 20. Sorry. Uh, community preservation funds
for extension of a project for pickle ball courts. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 20 as printed in the warrant. Been moved and seconded. Mr. 13. Yep. The advisory committee recommends approval of this article. So, a year ago at the May 2024
town meeting voted to appropriate $112,600 from the community preservation fund undesated reserve for the creation of three pickle ball courts at the Pond Street Recreation Complex. The approved article, which was article 22 last year, stated that the funds appropriated must
be used by June 30, 2026, or they would would be returned to their source and no longer be available for expenditure on the project. Since then, the town has determined that additional time may be needed for the necessary permitting process and is looking to extend the deadline by one additional year to June
30, 2027. A majority of the advisory committee, five in favor to three against, voted to support the extension to ensure the success of an already approved and anticipated recreation project. Concerns raised about the extending the time frame included the potential risk of increased costs,
though any additional funding would have to be approved at a town meeting. Okay. So, um, no new funds here, just an extension. Anyone that wants to speak or comment on this article, sir?
Jeff Ber want um is it is it um December 2027 or June 2027 seems to be a conflict on page nine on page in June but in the warrant it says December I believe the Warren article is for an
extension to December 31st, 2027. Okay, thanks. Seeing no further comments or questions, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. No. It passes by a clear majority.
Article 21 is a zoning article for an accessory dwelling unit bylaw, Mr. Kelk. Nope. No. So, who is making
21? Because I have 34. No, no, no, no, no. 34 is going after 26. Don't question me in my first one too. Right. Mr. Moderator, I approve I move to approve article 21 as printed in the warrant.
Mr. Calc, with the passage of the Affordable Homes Act in August of last year, regulations surrounding accessory dwelling units were significantly changed at the state level. This law took effect on February 2nd, 2025, and each municipality will require revision and updates to local bylaws to align
with the new state law. While much of the proposed changes for Northfor directly align with the state language, including considerations like requiring site plan review and a better notice, ensure there is consistency with the other local review standards. Thank you. And um uh we have a
presentation by the planning board. Before we do that, Miss Mio, can we get the official recommendation from the planning board on this? You recommend approval? The planning board recommends approval of this article. So, we have a short presentation here. So, have at it.
You can go to the next slide. Closer to the microphone, please. Oh, sure. Thanks, Donna. Um, so Melissa Mayo, I am a member of the planning board here in Norfolk. the planning board have been working on um prior to
the the law that Mr. Kut mentioned, the planning board was actually already prioritizing uh accessory dwelling units in Norfolk. Um I will just give you a little bit some I know some of you have seen this presentation, some of you haven't. So I'll just go through kind of the highlights of of how we got here and
explain the vote, which it's a little bit different than than it usually is. Um so go ahead to the next slide, please. Um, so for anybody that doesn't know what accessory dwelling units are or ADUs is typically what I'll call them. So if you hear me call it that, that's why. Um, it's just an acronym, but it's
a self-contained housing unit inclusive of sleeping, cooking, sanitary facilities, and it's on the same lot as the principal dwelling. Um, if you've heard of something called granny flats, that's what would really be a detached ADU. Um, or in-law apartments, that's
usually attached to the house. Um, and those are both examples of ADUs. uh they're all kind of bulked in together. Um there's a lot of different options there. So, I just wanted to show that. That's actually from the Massachusetts website and I thought it was a really good depiction of all the different options that it could be. Um so, I just
wanted to show you all that. Um the detached unit, you know, it could be we'll go into I'll show you some real life examples of um kind of a couple of common ones that you'll see for ADUs um that I've researched in other locations where they already have this past. Um, but there's, you know, if you have a
garage, you could put a space above it. If you have a finished basement, you could put, um, an apartment down below. Um, you could partition off a piece of your home if you have extra space, as long as it has its own, um, entryway. Um, so lots of different options. And
then if you want to see, go to the next slide, please, and I'll show you some real life examples. Uh, so the detached ADU or what was really known as a granny flat, if you will. Kind of bad marketing. Um, but that's the upper left hand there. So, that's about 800 square feet. Um, I'll go into the all the
requirements and square footage in a minute, but just so that you know, that's 800 square feet, which you might need to reference again in a in a moment. Um, the garage conversion is also a pretty popular one for um, you know, if you have parents move in, you have adult children. Um, that's a pretty popular one to have if you already have
a garage and you have space above it that's either, you know, a fun room from when you had teenagers or maybe it's just not used or not finished. Um, you could make a space above that and then just a basement conversion. I mean, the easiest, I think, would be a walkout basement. Um, but it could be done in
other ways as well, as long as you have your own, uh, egress. And, um, okay, next slide. Um, so to give a little bit of background, um, and what I was saying before when when I mentioned Mr. Kut was talking about the law and we we had actually already prioritized this on the
planning board. Uh we finished up the master plan for the town of Norfolk which was about a year and a half process. We finished it up last summer. Uh and coming out of that we heard um a lot of well a lot of things but one of the priorities was really around housing and housing affordability. And so we
heard that there was a lack of downsiz housing options at an affordable price. You know we have a lot of uh we have over 55 communities here. I'm not sure if you're aware of the prices. They're not low prices. Um not exactly affordable. plus an HOA fee, plus the taxes that we all pay that we know are,
you know, pretty high. We heard about that in the master plan as well. Um, and then the seniors want to remain in their homes, but they're concerned about affordability. Um, and then young adult children are staying at home longer. Um, the apartments, whether it's around
here, Boston, anywhere in Massachusetts really, um, you can see the the prices are pretty high. I mean, around here even, you can find a one-bedroom for $2,800. Um, so there's not really a lot that's affordable. So for older children or, you know, so they can kind of save up.
They can still pay rent to you as their parent landlord. Um, you know, learn some responsibility, have some privacy, and then hopefully save up money to buy a house one day. Um, and then while we were working on that around the same time actually, uh, we found out that
this was also, uh, a priority for the state of Massachusetts because this is not just an issue in Norfolk. It's a complete, you know, right across Massachusetts, affordability is an issue for housing, which is probably not a surprise to anybody here. Um, so in August 2024, accessory dwelling units
were added to the Affordable Homes Act. Um, and then from there, we started, you know, digging into that. What are the requirements? They changed a couple of times. So, if you did see any of the planning board meetings, we were trying to figure out what exactly the requirements were going to be when they were finalized. Um, now they have been,
so that's why we're here. Uh and we do have the option although we have the very specific requirements from the state. Uh we do have the option to adopt additional bylaws uh above and beyond what the state provided. There's not a lot that we would really want to do in addition, but there are a few that we
thought maybe the residents would appreciate as uh potential safeguards, we'll call it. Um and we'll go into those in a moment. If you want to go to the next slide, please. Um the benefits I'll just tell you for you know everything that I mentioned before for uh that we heard in
the master plan essentially this addresses all of them which is why we were prioritizing it. Um so lowerc cost housing alternatives um for people to remain in town but also you know if you have a parent that's out of town and they want to be close to you or they're getting older they could move into the ADU in your house at your you know on
your property. Um additional rental income. So, this was something that, you know, again with um when folks are getting older, maybe they have, you know, you want to have somebody that lives near you, whether it could be a niece, could be a nephew, somebody that's going to take care of you. Um, and you could have additional rental
income for that if you're if you're charging them that, you know, obviously that's up to the homeowner. Um, but that could help to offset the maintenance costs and all the all the homeowner costs that we all um incur. Um, and then accessible housing for seniors. Um, if I know a lot of the houses in town,
they're, you know, they're colonials, so they have stairs and, um, a lot of seniors have to get the chairs that go up the um, the stairs and they have to get themselves on and off if they don't have somebody living with them. So, this could provide um, support to them so that they could actually have just a
single floor home and have everything built from scratch the way that they need it. Um, and then we also, and I don't know if you guys talk to the town of the employees around town as much as I do, but a lot of them live in Rhode Island. Um, and so this would actually potentially provide some housing for um, local employees so they could live here
and not, you know, travel 45 minutes and um, we could retain the employees around here in Norfolk. Um, and next slide, please. Uh, this is how the state defines. This is just high level of course. uh in any legislation. It's it's
very long but high level. Um this is the requirements for the accessory dwelling units that we uh must adopt. So um I already mentioned what the definition is. Um one ADU by right. So that means that we can't we can't require a special
permit. We can't make it more difficult uh for somebody that wants to add an ADU to their backyard. So we it's not restrictive and it's just one ADU by right. we have our, you know, we have all of our bylaws already in place to support that. Um, and then 900 square f
feet or 50% of the gross floor area of the principal dwelling, whichever is smaller. Um, so it could be a maximum of 900 square ft. And again, that could be any of those configurations that I showed you before. Um, and then one off- streetet parking spot is required. That
could just be in your existing driveway if that, you know, if it works for you in your house. Um, and then it's not required. the parking space is not required within a half a mile from the train station. Um, and that's when you're looking at a map and so a half a mile, you know, in a circle around. Um,
and we can't, you know, like I mentioned, we do have a couple of bylaws to run by you for uh for your review and approval if you'd like to adopt them. We can't be too restrictive, so you'll that's why you'll just see a couple of them there. And we're happy to answer any questions that you have. Why didn't we do X, Y, and Z? It's probably because
it's too restrictive, but happy to answer any questions. Um, next slide please. Uh, this is a table that we put together to make it easier hopefully for all of you to see the differences between what we are proposing for the Norfolk bylaws with the state
requirements and then the state legislation on its own. And I mentioned before that this vote is a little bit different than usual. And that's because uh and I'll explain this again in a second just to make sure you all understand again, but we can choose to adopt the Norfolk bylaws that I'll review in a second or we can choose not
to do that and then we'll just have the state regulations. But either way, this is something that is moving forward. So, it's do you like the bylaws that the planning board came up with in addition to the state requirements or do you not like them and in that case you would just go with uh it would be a no vote and it would just stay with the state
legislation. So what we had added the first two are the same first two um rows there and then going down Norfolk first. So site plan review and a butter notice. This is something that would not be required by the state, but it is we are proposing that it would be required in
Norfolk. And so site plan review um just it's we we can't say no, right? We can't say no to it. It's by right. But what we would like to do is just help homeowners to say, you know, if you come to us and you say, I'd like the site plan review. It's not, this is
getting into, you know, I don't want to get into too much technical detail, but we have tried to make it as easy as possible and without costing a lot of money for the homeowner. So, we would do a public hearing. I mean, a public meeting, which is different than a hearing. A hearing you pay several hundred dollars to put it in a
newspaper. There's a whole bunch of um red tape there. We're just trying to make this simple and easy so that we can just help the residents. The butter notice would be mailed out um so that your neighbors would know that you're going to have an ADU. And this is only if your if your
um blueprint of your home is changing. If you're making it bigger and you're adding on to the home, then it would be site plan review. If you are having uh if you are proposing that you would like one of the detached um ADUs, that's obviously a big change for your neighbors as well. So it would just give
the opportunity for neighbors to come and ask questions for us to see the site plan. Um give you feedback that we have just from you know our careers and knowing things about construction um and help you in that way. And then um we did
talk about additional ADUs. Um we are proposing a maximum of two and it also requires um an additional 10,000 square ft of land which if you know land isn't usually talked about in square feet but it's
approximately uh a quarter acre. So if you have another quarter acreish 10,000 square feet you could potentially have another ADU. So this could be for the example of like I think my generation is called the sandwich generation or something like that where you're taking care of your children and your parents.
So um you know if my daughter was grown and she could have one of the ADUs and my parents could have the other something like that or um you know everybody's situation is different family-wise but this would give people if they have a lot that is large enough to have a potential maximum of two ADUs.
Um short-term rental is something that we went back and forth on. Um, we what we came to was basically we kept hearing over and over and over during the master plan process that everybody loves the character of Norfolk and they love the small town feel and you know so if we have short-term
rentals so think like Airbnb for these ADUs what does that do to the character of Norfolk and is it too big of a change right away and we went back and forth on this for for months and meetings and what we said was there's so there's some sporting event what is it the soccer one that you guys well world cup, just the
World Cup, um, is coming and we were saying, you know, that could be a potential option for people to rent out the ADU, but is that really what the town wants? Is that what the people want when they say, you know, small town character and and all of that? So, we decided that we would propose no
short-term rentals for now. Um, and then get a few of them under our belt, figure out, you know, how it goes. And then if residents wanted to, you could come back to the planning board, you can do a citizens petition, you know, we can we can talk about it in the future if you wanted to be able to add that, but we thought this was the safest bet because
it's such a big change and we've had a fair amount of zoning changes recently. Um, and then an ADU within the front yard setback. So, we are proposing that there would be no ADU in the front yard, which I would imagine you would all appreciate. I don't know for sure I
appreciate that one. um just so we don't have ADUs popping up in people's front yards all over the town, which again would change that character that pretty much everyone in the in the master plan meetings kept mentioning to us was so important to them. Um so if you choose
the Norfol bylaws to adopt those, it's everything that you see in that category there. No short-term rentals and the ADU would not be allowed in the front yard. If you choose, if you don't like that, uh, then you can choose the state legislation. And in that case, you see
there that we would be able to have short-term rentals. Um, the ADU could potentially be in the front yard. Um, there would be no site plan review. You' go straight to the building office with your um to get your permits. They would review everything for you there. Um, no butters notice for the neighbors and
they would just be one ADU total. Um, so next slide. And so this just explains the vote because again it's a little bit tricky. It's not our usual. Um a vote yes is voting on the additional town bylaws that we just we just reviewed in that
table. A a no vote is to stay with the state regulations. But either way, like I said, it's it's now a statewide byright offering. So um we either want to have more safeguards on our bylaws or not, and that's up to you.
Thank you. questions, comments, Mr. Byron, Walder Byron, 80 Fruit Street. the uh site plan review, does that include a board of health examination of the septic capability of the of the
system that exists with the additional uh flow that would be in incurred due to the uh additional people in the ad ADU. So I don't know if they're going to seek confirmation that that exists, but board of health would be a separate process
and that's not part of the legislation. So I don't know maybe in during site plan review they'll have that inquiry but they can't bypass the board of health requirements under this okay Mr. Diamond
uh on the site plan review um how much will it cost and how long will the process take? Anyone want to I imagine that could be variable on the time but if anyone wants to give a ballpark
the cost in terms of the go with application fee application fee they haven't established the fee yet but it's proposed to be $500 for filing fee for one unit and five two thousand If
you were to apply for two for special permit, the application filing phase, any estimate whether this would be a one night or it could be variable for how many nights it could take at a site plan review meeting? It could be done in one night. Um, usually like anything with
with peritting quality in means quicker out. So, depends that the information is put together well on the plan and aren't missing elements of that. Uh the planning board has designed this so that it's it's a public meeting so there's
not a public hearing process so you can get to and on the agenda much quicker as opposed to try to do it as you know terms of advertisement the paper and so forth. So thank you Mr. McCartney. Sir hello Joseph Marson from 20 she street.
Um, I have a question about front yard. Um, is it just prevented you from building AEU? If people could see the front yard, if you have woods in front of it where people can't see your front yard, could you then build an AEU in
front of your house even though it's not visible from the road? And second is building next to your house considered um front yard if there's enough space to your right or left of your house. Would that be considered a change to your
front yard since it's technically not in front but still changes the view from the road? I I'll let Mr. McCarthy answer. I believe the requirement is that the ADU can't be further forward in the front yard than the main dwelling, but if if Mr. McCarthy has anything else
to add there? That that was right. And it doesn't affect the sideyard is a different is a different item. Mr. Mon. So the front yard setback I believe is uh 50 ft. So as long as it's behind that 50 ft, it could technically be in front
of the main property. Are you sure that's what it says? No, that's that's not what it says. All right. Just to clarify, side to side 50 ft. That rectangle is the front yard. That's the required front yard, but the the provision with the bylaws drafted by the planning board
says not in front of the of the home, right? So, it goes beyond the required front yard, right? Okay. Thank Thank you. Next question, comment. All right. on these um short-term rental restrictions and the ADU no front yard.
Are we reasonably confident that if we should pass this that the state's not going to come back and say, "Oh, no, you can't do that." So, I'm going to ask for confirmation from town council as to the no short-term rentals. That's something that the state says we can do. I think
the jury's out with the attorney general on whether or not we can um have the front yard restriction. We're we're all um going through a lot of opinions, but Mr. Harrington, if you can maybe uh add some color to that. Yeah. Uh thank you,
Mr. Moderator. That's correct. So, the short-term rental piece, I I think we're on very solid ground. Uh we're just starting to see decisions on um the front yard restriction and uh I suspect we may get a little finetuning on our bylaw from the attorney general, but uh
we won't know until we submit it. Thank you. Okay, seeing no one else um getting up. This is a unique zoning bylaw. It was passed by a very spec specific act. So, it is only a simple majority vote.
All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. No. It in my judgment, the eyes have it. It passes. We are at article 22. You're going to get it. You're
getting the hang of it, rookie. Yeah. Yeah. This is uh zoning EV charging stations. Mr. Gity, you got the better pipes, though, Kevin. It's hard to compete with that. Article 22. Um, Mr.
Moderator, I move to approve article 22 as written in the warrant. Been moved and seconded, Mr. Gerity. By a vote of 701, the advisory committee recommends approving this article. It creates a permitting path for electric vehicle charging stations in
Norfor. Sets up two kinds of stations, a commercial station or a non-commercial station. Commercial stations will charge, non-commercial stations will not charge. Commercial stations will have to go through site plan review. um unless they're in a residential zone
which would require a special permit. Non-commercial uh st uh stations would not require any pertinent through the planning board. The advisory board believes this article proposed common sense rules for the placement of these facilities and
reflected a thoughtful approach to accommodating this new technology. Thank you. Can I get a planning board uh recommendation on this? Uh Chris Montford, vice chair of the planning board. We recommend approval of this article. Thank
you. Questions, comments? Seeing none, this requires a twothirds vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. In my opinion, it passes by a 2/3 vote.
And I so declare. Kevin, are you sure this is article 23, the zoning flood plane bylaw? I think it's you. Mr. Can I make a motion real quick? Sure.
Sure. You have a point of order. I'd like to move 34 to we discussed before it kind of has something to do with everything we've been talking about. I think that's we we are just a few away, but it's a legitimate motion. If you want to make it, Ben, I'd like to make that motion. Okay. So, there's a motion
to advance article 34, which is a zoning bylaw, um, to discuss right now. It's non-debatable. Requires a majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. That is approved. So, I
think, see, you're already standing up. Thank you, Ben. Okay. So, so we're we're switching to article 34, which is an amendment to a bylaw you passed last year regarding the MBTA zoning
initiative. So, Mr. Kellut, Mr. Moderator, I have move to approve the amendments to the zoning bylaw and zoning map as printed in the article 34 of the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded, Mr. Kut.
Following the local adoption of the proposed MBTA communities overlay district in 2024, the town approved two districts, one in town center and another in Panville to be leveraged for required zoning compliance. With the proposal of the new 200 unit 40B project
partially within the Panville Overlay district, a strategic opportunity arose to extend the overlay district to include all proposed parcels of that 40B to offer an alternative that would reduce the scale of the project as proposed. While a decision to go 40B or
MBTA zoning will reside solely with the development group, offering alternatives only improves the town's position in the planning process. Thank you, Mr. Calut. Can I get a recommendation from the planning board? Mr. Sal,
Mr. Moderator, the planning board um recommends this. Thank you. Questions, comments? You shouldn't have sat right in the middle. Ben, come on down. Can we go to the slide where they do the comparables, please? Yeah, actually.
Yeah, I I apologize for that. Gary, do you have um who is uh presenting the slides here? Thank you for the reminder. That's me. And while we're waiting, um the the Celtics won tonight handily. So, that's good. We're clapping. I had so much fun talking about MBTA zoning last
May. I figured uh we'd do it again. Um can we go to the next slide? I'm going to keep this pretty short. Uh what we're proposing here um is an option for the developer of Pawnville Crossing to have
on their plate uh to try to sway them um to potentially use MBTA zoning instead of 40B. here on the screen. This is the current proposal of that project which currently is at 200 units. That is five
stories, four stories of residential with parking underneath it. Multiple buildings. Um, you know, if if um if this weren't 40B, you know, we wouldn't allow any sort of building at that height. We wouldn't allow any sort of density at this level. It's, you know,
27 units an acre, I believe. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So we looked at this and we said um that that I don't think is in the best interest of Norfolk. Uh we need to start thinking of some constructive ways to give options put options on the
table for this developer to potentially look away from uh from this. So, what we do have at our disposal, if you go to the next slide, uh on the right hand side of the screen top, um the gray part there, that is
where we already put the Pawnville area or the Panville section of our MBTA overlay. Remember, we had two districts set up. One in downtown, uh and then one over here in Pawnville. Um we were allowed to do that for a lot of
different reasons, and I I can get into those if people have follow-up questions. Uh but this is all reviewed last May. Um what we're thinking we could do is is through town meeting extend the MBTA zone o uh the overlay
zone uh to include the if you look at the left hand side of this screen the area outlined in yellow. This is between pine and valley and hill. Um so it's it's it's that area. Some of it is that cleared lot that you see if you drive by
it today. Uh if we extend it into this zone, sorry, if we ex extend the zone into this area, um that would that would just be an extension of the overlay district. And uh I'm going to take a slide, next slide, please, uh to go over
what that actually means, what that puts on the table. Again, we are just giving the current developer options um of you know to uh you know to look at when they're considering do they go through with their 40B permit or switch
to something else. So uh this is just not pros and cons just what it means for MBTA versus uh chapter 4040B. And keep in mind if if you know if we vote yes on this uh and we extend the META overlay
district that's not a requirement or a mandate for the developer to accept that. That's just an option to put on the table for them. Number of units you saw the 200 unit structures uh in that first slide. MBTA would be limited to 140 units and that's due to the density
18 units per acre with MBTA 27 units um in this proposal but it's theoretically you know if the market dictates you know 48 you know you do 48 it's you know it's 40B it can go as high as they want but uh this developer the proposal is 27 uh
units per acre no age restriction on either the three-bedroom units not required in MBTA it's always an opt option they can say I want an entire I want an entire building with threebedroom units that market doesn't really bear that so that wouldn't be the case but for 40B uh 10% of affordable
units have to be three-bedroom units so you will absolutely see three-bedroom units in the 200 unit proposal under 40B affordable required for MBTA is only 10% that's the way we structured the bylaw when we approved it last May 25% is
required for chapter 40B number of units uh for our Um uh no subsidized housing inventory. Thank you. Uh I was almost going to say park. You almost got uh for MBTA would
be because of the 140 units and the 10% affordability that only gives us 14 units um in in our uh affordable housing inventory. Chapter 40B is a theoretical kind of want an asterisk on that 200. It's a theoretical 200 and there's some
reasons for that. It has to deal with timing. what you know when occupancy permits are issued etc. I know there's people in the audience that would love to go through the specifics of that given the chance. Uh the permit granting authority and this is I think this is the most important part for me. Uh not
because I'm on the planning board just because we want to start you know we are trying to use MBTA communities act which was for lack of a better term forced in our throats. Um you know something that we felt took uh the ability of the town
to to kind of dictate what they want to do away from them. We're trying to claw some of that back. Uh we the permit granting authority with MB neither scenario still needs to accept some of the considerations that have been made for the Metaconic Greenway and the and
the rail uh line itself. There's um likely a lot of uh legal hurdles to get um the 200 unit proposal built as it was. the actual development plan that was uh submitted by the developer um doesn't
work because of some of the places that they've decided to show buildings um which which violates some of those um greenway and railroad setbacks. Um, pretty much what this is is this is a chance for us to put, you know, to
extend the MBD uh MBTA district overlay in order to give the developer that is working on Pawnville Crossing an option to choose that if they wish to try to lower density. Um, that's like the specifics of that. I'm going to inject
some opinion in here if I can or just some thoughts in this. Can I roll into that or should I step away and come back? If you can do it quickly. Yeah. Right. Uh I'll do this very quickly. So right now uh that gray area I showed on the second slide, that is also uh 40B development, right? Well, it's only 59
units, but it is 40B development. That's high density. Uh this whether you're 140 units or 200 units, that's pretty dense. It's pretty big for this area. For those of you that have ever driven or tried to tried to drive on Hill Street or tried
to get out of Valley or try to get out of Everett, right? um anything at any size is going to be tough here. But there needs to be some sort of chance right for us to mitigate the impact of this development. And I think in that sense two uh 140 units is
a lot better in my opinion than 200 units. This is the same reason we were trying uh and I believe the select board voted on this uh end of last month, but you know, exercise first right of refusal on the property at Everton Pine just because we need to give Pawnville
some breathing room. That that's a lot of development in a short amount of time. Uh I think I'm done. Do you want to add anything, Rich? I think you're done. I think I'm done. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I'll answer any questions. Certainly, Mr. Spray.
You're not going to take quite that long. No, no, it's actually just one question. Um, can we just so I can reference the comparable charts, can we go back to that slide? That's not my question though. Prior slide, right? There we go. All right. Cool. So, I just
want to so I understand this looking at it for this. So, the number of units towards SHI um is 14 but versus 200 based on state regulations. because we need 10% of our housing to be part of affordable housing act. Correct. If we do this as a 200 unit, are we one and done? Like does this make it so we all a
sudden make state requirements and we don't have to worry about any more 40bs coming into the town. It's something the town has a chance of standing up against. So I guess that's my question. Does that satisfy the state's need for our 40b housing? So we're one and done. Who can say whether 200 units gets us to
10%. Certainly would buy us at least a year, maybe two years. of uh safe harbor. Um Ben, but whether or not we get to 10%, Sue, do you have those numbers? Uh so Ben, it Sue Jacobson, the affordable housing director. Uh Jay's correct. It would get us two years of
safe harbor, but whatever units are not complete and occupied at the end of those two years fall off of our SHI. So we would then be out of compliance again. Um so it's not it's not the end all beall fix. And with the 59 units
coming in across the street, they would count as well. Your subsidized housing inventory number is very fluid because you have the date that it's stamped by the town clerk's office, the 40B project, those those units go on and your your number increases and then
whatever is not uh occupied in a year falls off. And as we've seen in town with our 40B projects, they take between two to three years to be completed before we are then able to add every everything back on. So, you know, I I I would say to folks that uh we have a
very strong affordable housing trust. We're a very active trust. Uh they support this plan that our town planner came up with. We happen to think it was brilliant, but um because we're not in a race to get to 10%. What's best is that we we have projects that work well for
the community. And I think we can all agree that Pawnville getting hit with either 200 units or 259 units is not a great thing. But if we can mitigate some of it, this is a way to potentially mitigate it and and hopefully the
project come through the planning board and have that very experienced board making this the best that it can be. But and and maybe I didn't hear it. Would at least temporarily 200 units. We would get safe harbor for two years. No, no, for two years. How many units are we
short to from 10%. Do we know? I I believe it gets us right under 10%. Okay. All right. Because I think I think Ben asked for that. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Whitney. Good. Elizabeth Whitney, 26 Valley
Street, Pawnville, 43 years. And I've seen a lot of changes in those 43 years. This is the most uh elaborate change
uh called Pawnville Crossing. And how I feel right now is any measures that we can take to exercise more control is the way I want to go. I want
us to have a voice. We have a very coordinated well-informed group and I would like to follow the suggestion to uh I think Dan it was you
who was up at the microphone if I have my Gary I think Gary so I do feel that we should uh take this opportunity
And so I would support the previous speaker. Thank you very much. Thank you. B Yeah, Bulock Seager. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Lucy Bulock, Seager, King Phip Trail. Um, I think this is a good idea and commend the
planning board for thinking about this and Tom Planner as well. I just have a question about giving them a choice. What is the likelihood that they would act the developers would actually choose the MBTA version? Do we have any insight into that?
I will say this. If it passes, we're going to work darn hard to persuade him that and we are the big thing is is the wastewater to try to persuade them in terms of they are proposing a package wastewater treatment plant. And so we
need to kind of work with them in terms of trying to make those numbers work to go this option. So that's that's the biggest thing that they have said to me in pursuing this option. So if we get it, we're going to work darn hard, I will tell you. So there is something on
the table to kind of help them come to the table. There's a couple of things to try to soften that blow, but we So there are balls in motion, if you will. Um but we got to get this first. Great. I support it. Thank you. Here, then
there. Sir, Mr. moderator. My name is Tom Cleverton. I'm the chair of the affordable housing trust here in Northwalk. I wanted to make a little clarification because you were concerned about 200 units. Would it get us into safe harbor for 2 years? Uh if we go
with the choice the MBTA with 140 units that will give us 14 for SHI that actually is going to get us into one year into safe harbor. So our program is not to jump and get 200 units, get 10% and everybody's all
happy. That's not what we are going methodically and building SHIS and trying to stay with the housing production plan to keep the town of Norfolk and its bolic characteristic rather than going into a project. And that's what this would be at 200 units would be a project. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Clever. Sir, uh Dan Casmmer, 48 Ever Street. Um, I think we fully, um, as a neighborhood group, um, sort of the unofficial leader of the neighborhood group, we we fully support the the the overlay district expansion. Um, we think it's an
appropriate method of development for for this piece of land. Um, it it is a difficult uh, place for this type of density across either one of the options just because of the um, roadways and and traffic patterns that that do exist out
there currently. Um I do um want to also mention that the uh project in in either scenario still needs to accept some of the considerations that have been made for the Metacomic Greenway and the and
the rail uh line itself. There's um likely a lot of uh legal hurdles to get um the 200 unit proposal built as it was. The actual development plan that was uh submitted by the developer um doesn't
work because of some of the places that they've decided to show buildings um which which violates some of those um greenway and railroad setbacks uh easements. Um so we would um you know we we understand that this this land is
developable in some manner but we would really hope that everyone tries to make it as appropriate for the town as possible. Thank you. Thank you uh for your visitor correct? Yeah. Uh
owner but uh not on the role. All right. I mean do you I I don't want to hear your opinion. Uh, I'm an owner at 36 Ever Street. Yeah. But you're not a resident. Uh, right. So, I mean, if you have a So, I'm I'm not trying to be
short with you. When we have folks who are visitors, I want they're for facts. Yeah. That's why we would have them talk. If But the if you're offering an opinion, I want to hear that from residents. And I appreciate that you probably have an opinion, but I think that's reserved for the folks that are
that are residents. But if you have a fact that is important, I I'd like to hear it from a from an owner's perspective. Uh yeah. No, just uh I think that um I think having options is a good idea. Good. Okay. I appreciate
it. And I'm sorry I'm not meaning to cut anyone off. Okay. Sir, I'm not a visitor. I live in Northwalk. I live I live on Ever Street. I just got got a couple of questions. Sure. Uh is there a traffic study intended uh for Ever Street? I Valley Street I imagine any of
these projects would have extensive to certainly in 40B it would have an extensive traffic. I wonder what the time frame would be because there's 300 apartments going to pop the south wall pole too. I think that's something that they'll be discussing with the traffic analyst. But I I'm sure that you'll be
an active participant in in whatever hearings and and see that that happens. And I'm assuming you'll address the intersection of 115 and every street then too. A good traffic study would. It's that close because those if you put a light in at Everett Street in 115, no one will ever be able to stop coming
down the hill on 115. I don't think anyone really stops coming down that hill. So I tried to stop coming on street, but it doesn't work. No, those are all good concerns and that's what either option is going to have that kind of review for sure.
Personally, I prefer no construction there at all, but I I would prefer the lesser of the two eagles than the two. And how are you going to handle the septic systems for 200 units? I think that I think we heard that there was an on-site option for it or that that that's where we don't have a sewer system where we're get can give them
capacity. So they're on their own. And have you taken into consideration how it's going to affect the school system too? That's that question normally comes up. It's a little bit off limits in some permitting, but I'm sure the question will come up because we just built the school which kind of taxed us quite a bit though too. So I'll be looking at
another one too, right? Good questions to to have answered during permitting. I just figured I'd bring up those points. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Want to just confirm that in that this is an amendment, but the underlying one was a simple majority. This is a simple
majority as well, right, Tom? Okay. This requires a simple majority vote because it's under a specific statute to promote housing. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. I think it passed
unanimously certainly by a a majority. Okay, I think we are back to 23. I'm waiting until you tell me.
Mr. Calut, this is a a required flood plane by law for zoning. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 23 as printed in the warrant. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Kellut, communities participating in the
National Flood Insurance Program are required to keep their local flood plane regulations up to date with changes to FEMA's flood insurance rate maps. Like many other communities across the Commonwealth, Norfor uses flood plane overlay districts to regulate development and construction within floodprone areas, which require
adjustment based on these FEMA map changes. This article seeks to do just that. Thank you. Planning board, we recommend acceptance of this. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded and recommended by the planning board.
Questions, comments is to make sure you still get can get flood insurance. Seeing none, this requires a twothirds vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes
unanimously certainly by a twothirds. We are at article 24 which is some housekeeping on special permits. Mr. Gity, Mr. Moderator, I'll move to approve article 24 printed in the warrant. Mr. guarantee. Uh, article 24 extends
the expiration date for estate law permits from the current two years to 3 years, which is consistent with the allowance under state law. It will reduce the burden on permit holders to have to return to the board for an extension should challenges arise in development.
Thank you, Mr. Gerity. Planning board, we recommend acceptance of this article. Okay, it's been moved and recommended a housekeeping article here. Seeing no one rising, requires a twothirds vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those
opposed, no. It passes unanimously, certainly by twothirds. Article 25. A little more clean up on special permits. Mr. Gerity. Mr. Moderator. I move to approve article 25 as printed the warrant. Second. Been moved and seconded. Mr. Gity. This
article extends the expiration date for special permits from the current one year to three years. As with state uh the previous article, this is consistent with state law and it would reduce the bur burden on permit holders to have to return to the board for an extension.
Thank you, Mr. Gity. Planning board planning board recommends acceptance of this article. Okay, it's been moved, seconded, recommended by the planning board. Two requires a twothirds vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no.
Hi. It passes by a clear 2/3 majority. Article 26, which I think is a little more zoning housekeeping. Mr. Garity. Uh, Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 26 as printed in the warrant.
It's been moved and seconded. Planning board. Sorry, Mr. Gity. Do you have a explanation? Sorry. Yes. Uh, this article makes two technical clarifications to existing bylaws. First, it specifies that site plans are only required when a project actually needs site plan review, which avoids
unnecessary expense for applicants. And second, it updates the reference to the town's master plan. We had 1992 in our bylaw, and we actually have a 2024 master plan. Thank you. Planning board report. Planning board recommends approval. Thank you. Also requires a twothirds
vote. A little housekeeping here on the zoning bylaws. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? No. It passes unanimously certainly by
23. Okay. Article 27, the general bylaw regarding trees. Mr. Herwitz. Mr. Moderator, I move to amend article 27 in chapter two
of the article by striking the words park commissioners and inserting in place thereof the words select board and further move to approve article 27 as printed in the warrant as amended and moved and seconded. Mr. Advisory committee recommends approval of this
article. This bylaw sets policies for the care, maintenance, and protection of public shade trees and other town trees in Northfor. It outlines the tree warden's authority, responsibilities, and qualifications, and establishes permit requirements for planting,
maintaining, or removing trees. By law provides details for when public hearings are required, how hazardous or nuisance trees are addressed, and how violations such as damaging public trees or improper excavation are addressed. It also includes standards for utility
work, pruning for public safety, and outlines fines and enforcement procedures. Thank you. Um, we have an award-winning tree warden that can answer questions for you, but but let's wait and see. B, did you have a question or a comment? A
comment. Sure, please. Elizabeth Whitney, 26 Valley Street, Pawnville, 43 years. I love this bylaw proposal, especially as I've observed
much development in my own neighborhood for a long, long time. Uh as we have learned by the language in the warrant presentation, shade trees serve an
important function of providing relief and protection from constant sun. Yet sunlight is crucial for both humans and nature in general.
Shade trees and their beautiful canopies are well suited for this purpose. We see them already throughout the town of Norolk. They do. Shade trees of course need attention
to keep them in good condition and the proposed bylaw provides exactly this. The advisory committee's comments say it
well. The purpose of the bylaw is clear and specific regarding the following authority, responsibilities, qualifications, permits,
standards, skills, public safety, and my favorite, tree preservation. What more could we ask? In
conclusion, this very comprehensive and workable bylaw, article 27 on the agenda, asks for approval. It's definitely a yes from me.
And it's not because I'm married to a arborist who worked for many many many years trimming trees for many of these reasons. A yes vote is what I'm asking
for for our town's delightful and helpful shade trees. Thank you. Thank you, B. Thank you, sir. Yes. Come on down. So, Jeffrey
Thumb, 58 Food Street, 40 years. Um, great. Oh, now you do. Um, so the question is, what does this cost us? And how do we know whether a tree is a town tree or not? In my neighborhood, um,
right now we have maple trees that sprout everywhere, and we have oak trees that sprout everywhere. So, this this is this perhaps is a good proposal, but who knows how much it's going to cost, and who knows which tree one
belongs to the town and which one doesn't. Um, the trees on my property, half of them the town, half of them aren't. Does the town know which ones the trees? If I call them up, are they going to come and prune a tree for me?
And at what expense, what budget? Um, in the past we've had a a uh uh the proposal to do this and replace trees, which is a good idea maybe in Florida where trees don't spontaneously grow, but here in New England it's a short
growing season. They grow. They're all over the place. I have to cut them down every year. So, I don't see the value in this proposal. Thank you. I I it's my understanding that most of this already
goes on already and this is just kind of our local flavor of what exists in state laws. But Mr. Crane, yes, this uh this bylaw really the the state law regarding shade trees was uh enacted in 1899. Uh so you can
imagine that uh it needs to be updated and essentially this bylaw takes a lot of that language that's in the state law and brings it to the modern era and and a lot of this work is already being done. There's no additional cost here to to answer the general one of the
gentleman's other questions. Is it is my understanding correct that this is and Fruit Street's an old street, so it's kind of hard to know exactly where the layout is, but if you there was a a tree along Fruit Street and it was half on
half off the right of way, it falls under your jurisdiction. Yes, it does. If if any part of the base of the tree, the root ball of the tree is deemed to be within the town's right of way, then the entire tree is in the town's right of way. Okay. Thank you, sir. Did you have a follow-up question? Yes. What
budget? I don't know. What? What? Do you have a number for what do you need? Hold on. Let me There is no There's no additional expense. Okay. So, we're already doing this work. I have a $50,000 shade tree budget uh for the taking down removal of
trees and planting of trees as well. There is no additional cost for this by So, do we need this bylaw then? Well, it it brings the shade tree law, state law into the modern era. Uh allows for fines more than $20,
uh which in 1899 uh was uh was a lot of money. Uh nowadays, it's not. Allows for uh the work with the planning board and the zoning board of appeals when there's new development. Those are items that weren't in the original law from 1899.
So there are some pieces of this that bring it into the modern era in order to uh take care of our trade trees. Thank you, Mr. Crane. Okay. Requires a simp it's a general bylaw. General bylaws require a simple
majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes by a clear majority. Article 28 is a general bylaw. Some minor amendments to our dog
licensing bylaw. Mr. Moderator, I move to approve article 28 as printed in the warrant. And moved and seconded. Um, Mr. Loots. Article 28 would amend the
Norfolk bylaws uh regarding uh dog licensing and kennel licensing to reflect changes to the state law as a result of the passage of Ali's law last year. Ali's law was focused on uh correcting some concerns about kennel
operation um and made some other corrections to the state law. Um, our current bylaw was in very good shape except for some small amendments needed to be made for licensing and inspections of kennels. So, the two the two major
changes are that uh we now require licensing for personal kennels as well as commercial kennels and we also uh it allows for inspections and approval from the town animal control officer. Thank you. Any other questions, comments?
Seeing no one rising, requires a simple majority. All those in favor say I. All those opposed, no. It passes by a majority. Okay. Article 29 is a general
bylaw regarding some town meeting procedures. Ms. Tero. I get the job of keeping everybody awake. Mr. Moderator, I move to refer article 29 for further study at our
special town meeting in the fall. Second. Okay. So, let me just explain what a before we get to Miss Tero to give an explanation. A motion to refer for further study means we're essentially taking no action here and that the folks
that come up with this bylaw or whoever wants to can discuss it more because I I think we're going to hear why we want to refer it for further study. Miss Tero, thank you very much. the the um the select board proponents of the
article were attempting to clean verbiage of some of the bylaw changes, allowing for flexibility in town meeting scheduling and moving the moderator's organizational meeting to a date closer to the actual town meeting. Those would
have been um in the um packet that you received. Those would have been section 84-3 and 84-6. While the advisory committee did not have any concerns with either of those two portions of the
article, there has been quite a bit of discussion regarding the paragraph F motions. So, our first goaround with this article um and you can see the original motion that was printed in the mailed pamphlet
was not an uni was not a unanimous decision. However, after continued discussion this evening where we reviewed an edited version of the article, we determined that further commentary and discussion was needed to
finalize a version that makes everyone happy. Therefore, we are moving to refer this article for further study to the special town meeting in the fall of 2025. Thank you. Um, do we have any comments from the select board? It was their uh
idea this original. The select board supports that decision. Okay. All right. So motion to refer for further studies again means we take no action here tonight and this could live another day by bringing it back in in
the fall. Requires a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? No. It passes unanimously. Okay. Articles 30 and 31 we are going to
have motions on. These are citizens petitions, meaning a a citizen brought them forward with 10 signatures at least of other citizens. I believe when they after they were presented, the proponent, the original proponent suggested that he didn't want to advance
them, but they were already on the warrant. It brings us here tonight. So, we'll have Ms. Ontario make a motion on article 30 which requires which is about some um uh a bylaw change regarding the
advisory board. Mr. Moderator, I move to indefinitely postpone article 30 as printed in the warrant. Miss Tero. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. The advisory committee welcomes the main petitioner to a meeting to discuss the article that
was submitted to the warrant. The main petitioner at our meeting indicated that after much discussion on his end and review on his end, he was determined that he was um go not going to move forward with the Warren article and
wished to have it removed. The advisory committee thanked him, suggested that he speak with the town administrator andor the select board to see if the article could be removed. It appears that the timing was not in alignment and the main practitioner was unable to have it
removed. This is not a unanimous recommendation by the advisory committee. Thank you, Miss Tero. We have a questions, comments on a motion for indefinite postponement. Sir. So, I'm I'm in favor of passing this.
And the reason is the history and the lack of transparency of what's come from the advisory board. I believe they work pretty hard. They're probably good people. But coming out of the advisory committee has been what the town has
voted for. We were told years ago that we had one school at the time that that school couldn't be expanded and we had to have a second school. So the advisory board
came forward and told us we had to have a second school. We ended up with a trophy school. And if you look at the buildings and the investments that's gone over the years, we're now at two and a half times the
long-term debt is now two and a half times what our tax base is. So what I'm saying is that the advisory board has not been transparent. They have not run the numbers. If they've run the numbers, they haven't
told us. And and all this is predictable. There's no reason why we should have the sort of debt that we have. So, I'm in favor of this because we need change. We need an advisory board that works for the
people. So, if you want to definitely postpone this, I talked to Rob this earlier. Rob does not understand. So, let's not let's No, no, we're not going there. Okay. If Rob wants to talk, he can talk. I appreciate we what I'm
saying is we had a disagreement that that the the town votes for the advisory board recommendations. He doesn't believe that. Okay, Mr. Gity,
I'm not going to insult you and tell you No, no, no, no. I I listen, I didn't let him talk about you, so let's No, I'm not. No, he raised an issue. If if you have if you want to refute the issue that he stated at the end there, that's fine. I just don't want the back and
forth in fairness to him and to you. I believe that the that the job of the advisory board and that what we do for you folks is we look at these warrant articles for three months. We've looked at these warrant articles. We've had 10 meetings. I don't know. We've met
with town officials. Anyone can come. Anyone can watch. I don't know what other transparency we expect. We put in on paper our recommendations. We're told we're wrong. We change our minds sometimes, but at
the end of the day, we come up to you folks and we say, "This is what we think." But it's up to you. All right? All the debt that the town of Norfor has has been voted by the town of Norfor, not the eight people here. We've said at
times, "This is a good debt to get. Let's do this." And you guys have said, "No, we're not going to do this." We've said at times, "This is something we don't think we should do." And then you've come back at another town meeting and told, "Yeah, we're going to do it this time." I'm like, "Okay, go ahead.
It's your vote." I don't understand how moving our appointing authority from one person to other people makes any difference in the way the advisory board moves. So there I think we should
just I'm going to sit down now. Have a nice one. Okay. So just and I'm going to let Mr. Beichofsky talk too, but I want to refocus this discussion. There's a motion for indefinite postponement on here because that's what the original
proponent wanted. This article is not about the advisory board's actions. It's about as Mr. Gir said who appoints them. That is it. The advisory board is not elected. They are selected and appointed
presently by the moderator. The article seeks to change that to the select board. That's all that's here. And if there's any further discussion on this, that's all I want to hear. We have a motion for indefinite postponement on the floor. Really, the issue is do we
want to indefinitely postpone or not? I'm going to allow a little bit more on that very narrow issue. Mr. Beachkovski. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Uh having been on the advisory committee in the past, no longer there currently, uh I saw over
my years I was there, the advisory committee with new members actually had more diverse opinion and better, more thoughtful review uh of the motions coming forward. I think tonight is a great example of it where there were
many split board uh recommendations that came out. uh when I first joined the advisory committee everything was essentially unanimous. So I would say that this change is not needed because in my experience having been on the
advisory committee over the years of appointments by the moderator we've had a better deeper discussion with many topics not actually making it to the floor because they were adjudicated in those open meetings on the way uh coming
up here. oftentimes because things were unaffordable or asking those deeper questions on behalf of the town. Uh so I will limit my comments to that. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Loots. Um I just want to explain in in sort of uh basic language what this does. It moves the
appointing authority from the moderator who runs town meeting to the select board who writes and proposes the budget for us to review. So in other words, the appointing authority would change to the people who are writing the budget and asking us to review it. Um, if you want
independence, giving the appointing authority of the people who are offering us the budget is not the way to do it. Thank you, Miss Meckberg. Thank you. So I in my opinion as a select board, the advisory
board is part of our checks and balances. If the select board were to appoint the advisory board, just as Mr. Lutz was saying, we lose those checks and balances because then you have the same people or the same groups of people. So by having the moderator who is a separate person from your board
appoint gives us that rich conversation and those checks and balances that are necessary for the government of this town. Sir, it has to be relevant. One more comment. I just disagree with that. I believe that if you individually appointed like three or four members and
they worked together and you made sure they worked together, you would get much better results. Thank you, sir. Okay. So, we have a motion for indefinite postponement. That's a simple majority. All those in favor say I. I. All those
opposed, no. It passes by a clear majority. Let's do the same thing for article 31. We have a motion. Ms. Tero. Mr. Moderator, I move to indefinitely
postpone article 31 as printed in the warrant. Been moved and seconded. Miss Tero. Um, thank you very much. Basically the same. The advisory committee welcomed the petitioner to a meeting to discuss the articles submitted. um that petitioner
had indicated at our meeting that he reviewed and discussed and he determined that he was not going to move forward with the warrant article and wish to remove it. We thanked him for um coming in and suggested that he speak with the town administrator andor the board of
the select board to see if the article article could be removed. Um once again it appears the timing was not in alignment and the petitioner was unable to have it removed and once again this was not a unanimous recommendation by
the advisory committee. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded for indefinite postponement. Seeing no one rising requires a simple majority vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those
opposed no. It passes by a clear majority. I know we've taken a few things out of order. So I but I think that might have been the last item. Motion to been motioned uh to adjourn and dissolve the meeting. All those in
favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. It passes. Thank you very much for a productive town meeting. Drive home safe.