Good evening everybody. Welcome to the select board meeting Thursday January 8th 2026. Call the meeting to order. Um we have full compliment of the board Kevin, Denise, Bob Roger and myself. Uh let's
start with the pledge of allegiance please 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.
>> Okay, thank you. >> So, first up we have appointments or resignation of patrolman Michael Bur. Is anybody here to represent him, Mr. Town Manager, or is that you? >> Um, that that's me. The chief submitted uh his letter which is in your packet.
He resigned to take a position he with the Lebanon New Hampshire Police Department. So, he's headed in a different direction. Like to thank him for his years of service. Okay. Thank you.
Uh minutes next up from December 23rd, 2025. Questions, concerns, comments? >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes, sir. >> I make a motion we accept the minutes of December 23rd. >> Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? >> I
>> Thank you. Okay. No licenses or permits? No announcements? >> Nope. >> No. Okay. >> Just a little start this year. >> Uh business new business. Item one, MGL chapter 59, section 5, clause 22G,
consider authorizing the placement of a town meeting warrant article to adopt the optional local property tax exemption for veterans subject to town meeting approval. Mr. Town Manager, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a preview of a potential warrant article for
spring town meeting. As you know, the deadline for submitting town media articles is fast approaching February 10th. So, we're actually within almost within a month of that. This was submitted by the assessors.
Um, so we're not asking for approval. This is just sort of to gauge uh support for putting this on as a warrant article, which the select board would see again in March in advance of the town meeting. This particular article
about veterans benefits would allow the town to not discriminate against veterans with trusts. And we have uh chairman Dory who's here with us if he has anything to add with the chair's permission.
>> Good evening. Uh Denise will be here shortly as well and she'll elaborate. Um this uh clause came to us um recently uh by um our residents uh
uh bringing it up uh as a consideration and uh the clause has actually been around since 2018. So towns have been adopting it. Um however um you know this came uh to our attention um and we um at
our last meeting uh the board on December 16th uh voted unanimously uh 300 to adopt it and uh move forward to you the board and hopefully put a warrant uh for the next town hall
meeting. So, um, and Denise, you want to come up? Sure. She can elaborate a little bit more, but >> Okay. Good evening, everybody. >> Good evening. >> Um, so this clause 22G um right now, if a veteran or a senior
has their home in um in a trust and they're not listed as a trustee, then they're not eligible for the exemption. So, what this does just for the veterans only, it doesn't include the seniors. It will allow them to be eligible for the exemption if their home is in a trust.
So, I believe we might have two veterans right now that f fall under this. And one of them had contacted us and that's why we're bringing it to you guys because they'd like to see it go through if they possible. >> Okay. And your board like Rick said uh voted 300 in support of this.
>> Unanimous. >> Okay. any any ramifications any any um you know what what's the monetary component associated with it potential >> um I I think they're both right now I'm not sure what the other one is I know
one is going to be uh a 22e which I believe is $1,000 person so they'll get the th000 and the other one is either a th000 or a full I'm not quite sure what that person is >> and that's in the form of credit correct >> yeah their abatement yeah they're an exemption so we'll just credit their counts, right?
>> Okay. >> I think the only I'll just add to that. The only thing um we'll just need to uh confirm is that the veteran is um living at the property, his property. So, that's going to be his name uh has to be
uh included in the trust and um you know, somehow we could maybe track it through a utility bill or something like that to confirm that uh he's a resident living in the property. >> Would it apply to revocable and irrevocable trusts?
>> It wouldn't matter the structure. >> Yeah, it wouldn't matter whatever the trust is. Um it because they're not going to be listed in either one of them anyway. So, um, but like like um Rick said, we'll have to have something to just to confirm that they do live at that address. >> So, these people probably more than
likely they have their house in a trust and the, you know, kids or family, whatever's, you know, benefit of the trust, but they're still surviving and living in the the res, >> right? It's Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I think one of them definitely was was already getting the exemption and then put it into the trust and then they lost
the exemption because of that. Um, and that's the person that called and said they want to get back into it. So, this is the only option that they could go with. >> Gotcha. >> So, Mr. >> Chairman, >> yes. >> So, this is in addition to the other exemptions we've adopted. >> Exactly.
>> The only difference is if it's put into a trust, >> this allows the the uh right >> present homeowner to get get the additional discount. >> Correct. >> Okay. All right. >> Clauses will still be >> Yeah. >> Right. A to F have already been accepted. This would just add G.
>> Yeah. Just uh through your chair. Y just one point of clarification. Have they already been able to get the exemption if they were the trustee? This is just when they're not the trustee of the trust. Correct. >> Correct. Because they were getting it before. >> Yep. >> And now they're not cuz now they're no
longer a trustee. >> Okay. >> Gotcha. >> M. >> Yes, sir. Um Denise, is there there's no clause for anyone that's uh over a certain age for for this >> for the for the regular seniors >> for the regular seniors for
>> not right now. My association is working on something for that with the state. >> We don't know how long that could take. I mean it could take months. It could take a few years, but that we're definitely working on something for the seniors that are running into the same problem because it's happening a lot. >> So
>> could we do a special act maybe? Um, I think I'm not quite sure what they're doing. They just mentioned it over the summer conference. So, um, but we have a group that works with the legislation and they're they're trying to get something through with them >> because there may be quite a few seniors who
>> there are quite a few seniors that a lot of them have lost it because they've gone into the trust and they're not listed and some have been irrevocable so they can't even change it to get back into it. So, um, yeah, hopefully something will come up soon for them.
We're working on that. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anybody else? Any other questions? >> Okay. >> Thank you, guys. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, so not not looking for a vote, just
information. >> Informational. You'll see it again. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh, other business topics not reasonably anticipated. None. >> None. >> No, sir. Okay.
>> Town manager's report, Mr. Town Manager. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, briefly, we've um just finished up and we're we're as close as you can be without arriving yet. So close we can taste having an a new IT director on
board. and I can't express how excited uh we are about that. Um moving on, I was appointed vice chair of SEMR earlier this week at the business meeting in Foxboro. Um because I didn't have enough
to do apparently. Um so >> did you were you late to the meeting? >> Yeah. >> So you weren't >> or left early, one of the two. >> It's a very productive meeting. We actually came to terms terms with the union that um has 24 members dispatchers
over there at the the Foxboro facility. They're actually still discussing a potential merger with a neighboring regional dispatch which the state put on hold um without giving us the the funding that they gave us to start this regional dispatch. So, it probably won't
happen for the next year or so, but we're hopeful that in the future, if it benefits both communities, it would be a long-term benefit to add more communities to the the pool that are collectively purchasing the technology
to make the dispatch run. Uh, we're continuing with operating budget, long-term planning, collective bargaining preparation. Um MFN has given us their budget projections for next fiscal year which is an approximate 1.5%
increase for us. Um the the SEMR increase is uh our percentage would potentially go from 600,000 a year to $650,000 a year. So, we're taking all of these
into consideration as we shape fiscal 27's budget. Um, that we're, as mentioned before, we're taking articles for the town meeting. February 10th, the deadline, and there is a 90-day uh report attached
uh with your packets that summarizes my findings from my first 90 days in the job. I analyzed the the strengths, spoke to a lot of people, numerous stakeholders, analyzed risks. There are some financial budgetary challenges uh
to address internal infrastructure and modernizing, professionalizing the the staffing, the uh systems, the policies, and we're making great headway, and there's still much to be
done. Uh, subject to the board's questions. That's the town manager's report. >> Uh, Mr. Town Manager, I do have one question. The MFN um the the um regional plant district for the uh septic plant,
are you um what capacity are you on that board? >> Just a member. >> Just just a member. I haven't gotten tagged yet for anything more. I >> Okay. Okay. Um and there Mr. Chair there is uh one more thing. Um just want to
notify the board that I have appointed John Eisner and Todd Bramwell to the civilian traffic control unit and these were both put forward by the chief as former officers. Um, officer Eisner had
served 43 years and they both feel that serving on the civilian traffic control is good for them at this time as opposed to being a special police officer. >> Okay, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes, sir.
>> Um, Mr. Town Manager, did I see in here also, I'm not sure, maybe I missed it, that uh a new T DPW director starts Monday. >> Oh, yeah. >> Uh, yes, sir. I I apologize for neglecting to highlight that. We're very excited that the first DPW director uh
Justin Chica will be with us Monday and he's already been working with Highway Water and and the other stakeholders uh without getting paid for it. So, super happy to have him aboard. Super excited. High expectations what we can
accomplish. >> He's starting this upcoming Monday. >> Starting this coming Monday. Oh, >> good. Good. >> Yes, sir. >> The um SER group, you know, we've been we've been working with them for years and I know I had an issue uh about a
year ago where I had to call 911 and I think it would be nice if they could come in and give us kind of an idea of what they actually do over there if they could get someone to come over because when I called 911, I didn't expect to have to continue to give them my name, my address, my first
born, my second born. And what I mean I mean giving him all this information and finally I said to the guy are you going to send someone over here or not? >> And I was told as I'm having this conversation someone else is relaying
that information to the authorities to to respond. So I think that's just one of the things I think people have to understand how that whole system works. We're used to calling 911. It goes to our communication department and immediately goes out without any other
questions. And I found it rather odd that this guy was trying to have conversation with me while I'm trying to get assistance, you know, and I just couldn't believe that uh that I was trying to answer these questions though. I finally made it a point of it like are you going to get somebody over here or
not? You know, and and I was told otherwise. So, it might be worthwhile just to have an idea how the operation works, especially now if we're talking about additional possibilities of another merger where we have even more uh people, more towns
involved. We did this years ago to save money and we're saving a ton of money. >> And that $650,000 is nothing in comparison to what we used to have to pay. So, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. In fact, I would encourage them to merge with others if they can do it. But just so people have
a clear understanding, that would be helpful. >> So maybe with that being said, now that you're vice vice chair, vice >> vice chair >> vice chair is is there a summary that I mean would
you be delivering that or or would do they have a >> I I can ask the director to come. Um that's what we we pay him to know the ins and outs. I think it'll be worth our while just to get an education how it works. >> And and if you haven't been there, it's it's a state-of-the-art facility, I
think. I mean, we could go in groups of less than a quorum and and see the place. I mean, it's it's it's a room surrounded by screens. It's like something out of the movies. It's right >> it's a it's a full command post. Yeah.
>> But yeah, I'm happy to ask um Rob if he'd like to come and make a presentation. I'm sure he would. And if not, I can do it. So either way, we'll get you the information. >> All right. Thank Thank you. Um, so with that, it it, you know,
pertaining to your your 90-day findings, uh, Mr. town manager. I'd just like to make note um I'm um you know from what I've observed in all the interactions and everything that uh you know I've been engaged with with you uh the first 90 days um I want to thank you on behalf
of the town for your commitment um and your tenacity with with attacking stuff uh not attacking maybe that's a bad word but um uh you know jumping on issues prioritizing
in uh moving forward. I am very extremely hopeful for the town uh with you as our top dog, so to speak. Uh I see a lot of good things and uh I just want to thank you and um tell you keep
up the good work. Um you have a a lot of stuff on your plate and um I'm very confident with you at the helm. So, thank you. >> Uh Mr. Chair. >> Yes, sir. Yeah, I'd like to second that as well, especially with the um
number of uh people who have uh been uh transitioning, let's say, through the that office. Um I think uh the the work that you're doing up there and the help that you have is uh really outstanding. So, thank you.
Okay. So, select boards report mail. We don't have anything. Uh, warrants. Mr. Chairman, I have a couple questions before we get into the warrants. >> Sure. >> Perhaps you, if you don't know, Mark,
you can get back to us. What the heck is Jones Fish Hatchery and Distributors? >> Jones >> Fish Hatchery and Distributors. It's a watershed plan. >> Just curious. So on the first page, bottom AP26-26
per first page >> $25,000 uh >> bottom of page one of the >> about $35,000. >> Yes, about 30 37,000 actually. >> Yeah. >> Without knowing the specifics, I would venture this is conserv and I can
certainly get back to you with them. I I >> guesseration related. It has something to do with our lakes, the treatment of our lakes, but I don't know that for sure. >> We do treat the weeds and the lakes. I just don't know where this >> Right. That was $150,000. >> Yeah. I don't know where this came from.
I'm just curious about what it is. >> That's all. >> And there's anything wrong. I know we don't have a fish hatchery in to in town, so just kind of curious. That's all. Other than that, Mr. Chairman,
>> I'll make a motion that we approve Umb in English warrant AP26-26 dated December 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All in favor? >> I >> I. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Chairman. I'll make a motion that we
approve payroll warrant PR26-13 for the week ending December 20th, 2025. Warrant dated December 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All in favor? I >> I
>> Okay, thank you. Do we have executive what? >> Uh there are there is one executive session minutes outstanding and it would be prudent to uh vote on that in executive session since the purpose is
not hasn't been fulfilled yet. >> What do you think Peter? >> Um >> we got to go into executive. >> Yep. >> Okay. We it's a little barb >> just just in past experiences of this
sort. Um we don't really have to approve the minutes until the situation's been rectified and we've actually waited until the next executive session before we we've done it. Once the once the minutes are approved and once the solution has been done, we can do it in open session. We don't have to go into
once once it becomes public record. We don't have to do it in exact session. >> It's I'm accountable to that. completely up to the board. >> Mr. Chair, um last year there were some minutes that I actually took that we didn't uh accept them until the uh there
was a resolution to the purpose, >> right? And once a resolution is had, then we can do it publicly because it becomes public information. >> Okay. This one, we might be a month away from a final resolution. I would venture an educated guess.
>> So if that's the case, like Mr. Kimell said and and >> no, we we certainly wouldn't want them to be we maybe wouldn't want them to become a public record before the resolution. >> Sure. You could approve them and not release them, but if if you'd like to hold off,
>> that works. >> I'm amendable to that. >> I just assume hold off. >> Yeah. I mean, if you feel you need to have it. >> Just didn't want to lose them in the shuffle. >> Okay, I understand that. >> We can >> put a sticky on them. >> Yeah, let's let's do that.
Let's do that. So, uh, Mr. Chair, >> if nothing else, >> make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> I wow. >> Getting adjourned. Thank you.