all right everybody It's time to go here Welcome to the select board meeting of April 17 2025 We have a full house tonight We have we have Denise Kevin Roger Alec and myself And as always we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance
I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Okay right off the top we have the reappointment of Mark Sweeney to the
board of registars I don't think he's here Um but there's a letter from the Norton Town Republican Committee uh to appoint him on their behalf So I'll take a motion or any questions Mr Chair Mr
I make a motion that we appoint Mark Sweeney uh to the board of registars Second Okay All in favor i I I opposed extensions Okay Next up we have the
minutes for February 13th executive session February 27th and March 13th Everyone have a chance to look at these Mr Chair Mr Marcy I make a motion that we accept the minutes of our executive
session on February 13th Motion to second All in favor i post Mr Chair I make a motion that we accept the minutes of the select board meeting on February 27th
Second All in favor i I sorry I'm sorry No opposed Okay Mr Chair Marcy I make a motion that we accept the minutes of the board
meeting on March 13th Second Okay motion and second All in favor i I oppose Excellent Uh we don't have any licenses and permits Um are there any announcements i have one announcement Um
just a reminder to everyone that this Saturday is election day No not next Saturday I'm sorry This the next Saturday the 26th is election day Um 8 a.m to 5:00 p.m here at town hall
So please come out and vote We also have Mr Chair go ahead And if for any reason you can't make it on that day there are absentee ballots available at the town clerk's office When are those ballots available until Mike do you know okay I don't think they're they're
available up until Friday but I know there's a cut off date so let's find that out I have one other announcement Mr Chair Go ahead um that the uh ReScross America um national education trailer will be at uh Norton Middle
School this Saturday um from I believe it's 10 to 1 So everyone is uh welcome to come down and learn all about uh the uh reaccross America program Uh for the last six years Norton has taken part in reach
across America where in December um there's a ceremony that goes on at the center cemetery common cemetery and there's a uh wreath late on every uh service member's grave in the town So if you want to learn more about that this
Saturday at the middle school Okay Excellent Any further announcements okay Okay on to new business Uh first up we have a discussion in or vote to support repaving of King Phillip Road Um this was brought to my attention by u
one of the residents Shero Um and I've been down that road a few times Um it's horrible to say the least Um I'm sure anybody out here who's from that area knows that Um so is anybody um is Sher here i am Okay Do you want to come up
and speak yeah May I present something to all of you if it's what you put in the email I think we all have it on our No it's a lot more than that Okay Wait there's more Wait there's more Thank you Thank you Thank you for allowing us to
be here Thanks It keeps going There you are Thanks [Music] Do you have one more oh you need one more Absolutely If you can say your name and address and
then Okay You're welcome to All righty Well my name is Sher Seavoy I live at 115 in Pillow Road in Norton Okay All right So hello My name is Sheri Seavoy and I'm a resident of King Philip Road I want to first thank
you for allowing us to meet tonight I would also like to thank the residents of King Philip Road who are here tonight as well as by Zoom You all support the mission that we so much need I have proposed a package
for your review on the behalf of the concerned citizens regarding repaving King Phillip Road In in this package you'll find a letter to both the planning board and the highway department I dropped this petition off on 3:26 and found Jar and
found Jared at the highway department to be very helpful but I haven't received a response from Paul at the planning board I and another resident have reached out to him numerous times I also emailed him on 49 but neither of us have
received a response Nick have you received a response from him yet i spoke with him today and he is here in person Okay All right So there's also a fact sheet to what the uh you know the next sheet of
the deterioration of the road has created Um then you'll find a resident on our street who's my neighbor who also presented her plot plan and indicating the road is listed as public And there are two listings on
the back of that plot plan that also state the frontage is also public All the properties I researched between 2009 to present state the road frontage is considered public even though some of the residents are being told this is a
private road Included also included is a signed petition from everyone Um I collected 70 signatures with that petition I I have I've also had heat paving um give us
their opinion with their best options to make it a safer more productive street for everyone who needs to access it They felt with the amount of asphalt that is already there we should only need to do
a top coat of 2 in They will also repair the unevenness as well as the deep holes and they'll line up everyone's driveways so there are no gaps So everything will be smooth to your
driveways We believe that our road has become increasingly dangerous to the residents and everyone that needs to travel in and out The service is continuously deteriorating to where just filling in the potholes is no longer an option The pavement of this road has
become unsafe to travel on caused by unevenness and the enormous holes that are being created each and every week This issue has a significant impact on the well-being of our community not limited to the high cost of repair to
our vehicles and also the depreciation in the value of our homes 20 years ago the residents had to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to tie into the public utilities and we continue to pay our neverending increase
in taxes each and every year So if it's so I we feel it's only fair that we have a beautiful road to live on We feel because of these ongoing issues our road requires immediate attention and action by our town We kindly request that the
town repave our road to ensure the residents a safer and more conducive lifestyle We believe that this change will create a positive outcome for the residents and to those that need to access it Again thank you for taking the
time to meet with us tonight We are confident with your support you will help us bring this road back Thank you very much [Applause] So what I'll do is I know there's a lot of residents from that road Um if anyone
else would like to speak you can come on up Uh otherwise we can we can discuss this as a board Can we at least do a show hand Say something or if if you want to speak you have to come up to the microphone I'm sorry
Hello I'm Alison Nocis 88 King Phillip Road Um I've called several times too and spoke to several different people Um at this point it's embarrassing having company over It's to live in such a beautiful area and not be able to utilize it and take a baby in the carriage and walk or without breaking
your ankle walking your dog or it's a safety hazard at this point Kids can't ride their bikes It's It's awful And then to have pay the excise and that first chunk of the street gets to see where their excise goes but or their taxes and we walk out and see huge
potholes and have damage on the cars It's not like it's crumble into nothing It's awful I hope something can be done Thank you All right Would anyone else like to
come up put you on the spot Come on out Good evening My name is Denise Seavoya I live at 56 King Phillip Road Um one of the one of the concerns that I have is a safety concern for my granddaughter I'm
her guardian and she has to walk through that mess which is dangerous The water comes across the road nice and level like a nice little calm
pond The holes are deep She can't see how deep they are where she's stepping Uh she has to actually trespass onto other people's property to walk around it
And I'm concerned she's going to have an issue She's going to fall down break a leg break a knee break an ankle break an elbow an arm bump her head um because of this So I think it's
a big safety issue I talked with the school bus transportation um about having the bus come back down the road on King Phillip Road and to no avail was that going to happen It's not safe You know they they got every reason
to not come down the road in their in their minds And uh not to mention it's dark as a pocket The only light is down at the end of the road and she can't see You know my
granddaughter can't see where she's walking and that's not fair to her You know that causes her anxiety and she just doesn't know what's going to happen every time she walks down the street if she can't see the
potholes for that matter I mean and then the other thing is I think people need to stop putting the leaves and the brush and the debris into the conservation area to stop the water from rising I'm sorry I need to apologize I'm not
trying to be an annoying neighbor but you know what my leaves get mowed up And then all the brush from the car from the swamp is brushing up against people's cars
now You know my car is a concern of mine It's my daily driver It's the only car I have and it's an old one So I'm not going to be happy when I have to replace a major component and I go 5 miles an hour down the road Got
people coming up on me I even one day had I don't know who it was I didn't recognize the person Um I'm highly suspect that was a delivery person in the car I'm turning
into my driveway really slow Not intentionally but because I'm turning in my driveway This car tried to pass me on the driver's side as I'm coming
down the road turning in He came on my property to try to pass me cuz I was going too slow for him and he came within 2 in of just missing my car If he had hit my car my car would have gone through my bay
window So I mean they're going to And they speed down the road the trucks So I'm I'm not sure how they speed down that road that I I've come down with my pickup truck and it's still just I can't hit the ceiling and
I'm going so I understand that Uh well you have the big FedEx trucks that think they're four-wheelers or 18 wheelers have all the wheels on the ground they can get over anybody that it's you know it's just not vehicles It's just not you
know residents You know I think you know when they can speed up they speed up You know it's the 20 mph road Thank you very much Thank you for listening Absolutely [Applause]
[Music] Could I say one yeah Come on up Sure Hi everybody If anybody else would like to speak come on up and we can on the line if there's anybody else Could we do a show of hands of who is here we're going to we're going to just make comments to the board
for now So just let us know your name and address please Hi I'm Nick Adams from 65 King Phillip Road Um the reason that I'm here is that the plan on the town actually shows
that there is a 40 foot wide road all the way down the road So it's not like this is not possible to uh accept the road and pave the road
It's not a median problem It's not any other thing You'll find that the map shows that there's a 40 foot wide road from start to finish I also want to mention that the Lincoln family was very
kind when they set Lincoln Woods aside for conservation and they gave it to the town and also the Lincoln family gave I understand they gave or
sold I don't know the land which was available for the town to build the wells So on both sides of this area the town has benefited and now I
think it's time for the town to do something to fix that road which has been an ongoing issue And even if it's expensive even if it needs to be you know restructured from start to finish And I would love to see us start with a
quality survey so that we can determine is the land actually owned every square foot by them and uh can we build a road properly where the land already is set aside Thank you very much
[Applause] Hi my name is Penny Haidider I live at 41Q Um this has been an ongoing thing for I've been in that house that I lived in for 35 years That street is a
nightmare And she was mentioning the cars speeding down that I have called the schools over the school buses driving fast down that road Now that has nothing to do with potholes However I don't know anyone that lives on that street that hasn't screwed up their car
because of the potholes It's ridiculous It's dangerous You cannot get two cars It's bad enough trying to get two cars And I don't know whe they're talking 40 ft There's not a place over there that's 40 ft wide And anyone knows that we're lucky if we get 20 ft and we're lucky if
we can fit two cars side by side The point is the street's a mess And I am up here to invite every one of you guys to take your car and preferably the better car that you own and drive King Phillip a couple of times Go down
that road And I'll bet the speed limits 20 m an hour And I want to see you do 20 on that street cuz if you do 20 on that street you are dropping cops off your vehicle And we all know that [Applause]
All right Do we have anyone else okay Okay You can come up briefly Sorry there's a lot on my list Um the add-on I want to say is in reference to my granddaughter walking down the
street with the puddles They're going and they're splashing her Totally covering her with water Not sure who it is Who knows who it is i don't know But she wanted me to tell you that
Yeah Well that's going to happen with those craters So yeah Unfortunately that's where the water's coming up You crossing the road you know crater No that's not unfortunate I grew up on that
road No I mean it's unfortunate the condition of the room Correct Thanks I appreciate the correction Thank you Thank you Okay Anyone further all right So let's discuss this Um I
think I think that the contention is whether the road was accepted by the town or not And we as a select board just for everybody's knowledge we can't accept it as a select board It has it would have to go to town meeting to be accepted But the contention hang on just one
second Okay Um I think that's a contention So anybody have any questions here you want to start with yeah Go ahead Could I just ask might give us the history of that town um so in uh May of n the town meeting May
15th of 1995 town meeting voted to file special legislation to accept a series of streets in town Um that special legislation um was approved in August of
1995 And in that legislation it stated that there had to be a process that would go through the planning board to the select selectmen at the time and the board of selectmen would have the final say on which of those streets were
accepted And at a select board meeting um on February 5th 1998 the select board voted to um accept 700 ft from Bay Road down King Phillip as a public way
Can I who owns the remainder of that it's a private way The titles would say whether they owners own to to the middle of the road or not but the town took 7 the first 700 ft of the road What's the total length of the
road um it's at 4,000 I know I know on the list at the select board meeting in the minutes from February 5th 1998 it listed it as 4,000 and they crossed out 4,000 and accepted
700 ft So Mike if if the board was so inclined to um have the intention of accepting the rest of the road it would have to go to town meeting through the planning board process It it would
have to go through the uh planning board u meeting and then to town meeting Well planning board you'd have it would have to go from the planning board back to you and then to town meeting Planning board would have to
vote on it and refer give you a recommendation and then it would be up to you to decide if the town wanted to accept it and uh bring it to town meeting Um can we ask is Paul here paul's here
[Music] Do we know why this wasn't um put on an agenda when it was brought to the plan board as far as paving it or that that's on me and my my apologies It's just with the the town meeting warrants and
you know six or seven special permits just but fortunately now that the planning board's taken action on the couple of the warrant articles my time is freeing up so I can I'll be getting on that immediately we can get them on the next
agenda May 6th which we wouldn't have actually been able to schedule with everything we've had So but we'll get it Yeah I mean this is just my personal view This is a major issue for this town It's a the road is
is horrendous and it makes Northern look bad Just a second Yeah just just one more Um maybe matter of just from a public safety standpoint we have
a police fire ambulance going down that road if needed if and when needed And um just from that standpoint um you know I've been up and down that road literally my whole life And this is
the worst I've ever seen it Yeah So you know in my opinion there needs to be something done from a repair standpoint immediately and um you know I you know before this this is a timeline for
planning and back to us then the town meeting um these people need really relief immediately So with that being said uh this would be fall in the public safety bucket of a emergency repair So
um you know that's my inclination is to um you know whatever process it needs to be have highway do whatever they need to do or you know maybe do we consider this proposal from a heap from a um you know
a repair standpoint Um I read the proposal and this is not a bad amount for that much work uh to repair that with a 2-in top coat for 3,300 ft These
these specs on this uh are inclusive through through your chair Yep Go ahead Uh so quote Whoops And I agree it doesn't look bad but there's a but we don't know if the state if that road meets the current code If we have any
takings that I need to be part of that um if that estimate meets the code I'd like to know if Jared's seen it and what his thoughts are as well Right And so I think I have more questions and I have answers to be able to vote on this tonight Um so I do think it has to kind
of go through the process I know that there's urgency to it Um but it's it's it's not like it happened yesterday right it's not like it was a new issue that just all of a sudden occurred This has been ongoing for years I think we should do some diligence to understand what the true cost is going
to be and what the true impact is going to be And I'd love to hear from Jared to hear his thoughts as well So the the other question I had and we'll have Jared talk in one second The other question I had was how far down does the sewer go there all the way down All the way down the end So the sewer goes all the way down
the 4,000 ft Yes So the sewer goes all the way down there Um buses go all the way down there School buses go all the way down there Do the buses Yeah they do They don't go past that They turn
around Mr Chair Mr I think from this standpoint now the board wants to consider an emergency repair as opposed to a full reconstruction of that road To fully reconstruct that road with
drainage and everything else is not going to be something that anybody at town meetings is going to want to vote for Period So that's that's that's going to be some of the projects like that will be well beyond these quotes I understand that But would prepare me if something happened
like the bomb fell yesterday and and the road was disrupted right this has been ongoing since at least 1995 or whatever it was these dates are Right So this isn't a new issue It's a new issue to the select I understand that I understand that So
one second I'm going to have Jared come up if you if you don't mind Jar to put you on the spot I'm assuming you've been down there Oh yeah Since I've worked here I don't know where you'd like me to start I agree that that road is um in
disrepair It's actually a burden for us to maintain Every time we go out and do potholes we save at least a ton or a ton and a half of asphalt just for that road As far as it getting progressively worse I think it has just with age and obviously with the past uh 23 with the with the high water table it it caused a
lot of problem with other roads and drainage in general Um I don't know if there's any specific areas you want me to address Do you do you guys plow that road we do plow that road because we we plow a lot of other um private ways as well only to keep them open uh for emergency vehicles to make them passable
We might not spend as much time or get them down the pavement perfectly Um there's a few other things that came to mind with all the questions but honestly I I can't uh piece there's a lot to unpack Um as far as the quote I'll start there that I saw Um the figures that we would use for our
contractors who probably are um not probably they are prevailing wage We're actually surprisingly close close to that quote A little more maybe about $20,000 more Obviously I didn't have them come out I know their figures and I I calculated it myself Um
I am hesitant to say that's a a worthwhile like expenditure of money I mean obviously like you said it's an emergency It probably should be repaired It is a band-aid It's just it's maybe not for me to decide but it's an expensive band-aid because uh someone had mentioned they had seen water flowing over that road in the past I
have as well The water table can get high in that area The road there's areas of the road at least two areas that I know that are very low So if you have a a poor base for the road and I know they said someone had mentioned there's um I think it was heaps opinion that there was a decent amount of um asphalt there
to begin with I don't think there's more than 2 to 3 in It's already in poor shape Um you know we resurface roads We don't personally our contractors resurface roads by usually doing an inch and a half to 2 in mil and then they do a surface coat If you do that you're going to take out most of what's there
for a I would say a poor base and then put another 2 in on top of it Uh it might hold It's definitely better than what's there obviously but um it just doesn't seem like uh the proper if you're going to spend the money a better reconstruction in that case though Now
you have drainage Um elevations would have to be changed probably a full depth where you'd bring in material you know to build up that roadway I don't know how much that would cost to be an astronomical model Yeah there's a second proposal here for 140 I think it
includes all that The uh the 140 is the one I'm referring to That was only in 10,000 I'm sorry Okay I'm looking at some Denise do you have questions i was just going to say I'd be I'd be interested to understand what the cost of the correct fix for longterm would be because otherwise we're going to spend
$100,000,000 now and then be back here in a couple years looking to fix it properly then Um so I'd like to know what that full cost would be And you have to figure on legal costs because you're going to have to have takings takings all the way along there
Um and also engineering design So there are a lot of extra costs that will be added in there So u Mr Chair and I'm not saying that's not worth it I just want to do it right rather than do it the wrong way and be
back here again in two years M my question is to uh Mike and Jared What can we do to help these people right now yeah I don't have a good prescription I I was hoping somebody Yeah What I was going to try to give maybe my perspective of what I think um
one what has been done and why We can get into that or if it's not relevant that's fine and just just basically my opinion on the quote that I saw and you know the math and that I did um and just yeah seeing the condition of that road and the base material of that road and the low points and um you know there's
things I don't know about the acceptance process of the road but I know in other circumstances usually before a town accepts the road it's brought up to spec maybe there's a situation where it can be done in reverse I don't know enough about it um I would also like to help people down there and for no other reason it definitely would help the town
maintain that if it was in better condition So I'm not opposed to it I just don't have a good solution with my knowledge Mr Chair Mr Mercy um I'm just looking at some of these other roads that were um accepted at the same time and some of these roads there's no way
that they're 40 ft wide and down in Reservoir Street Are they on the list um the did the select board accept them or was that just on the legislation the town meeting article
well that the in the minutes the select board accepted all of them except for um home street Right Right So yeah they they were all accepted So there's many streets on here that are narrower that don't seem like they're up
to code as it would be But we still maintain them and we still they're probably somewhere on your sk on the schedule to be repaved Um a lot of the private roads that I know Yeah Well the ones that usually Which which roads are you referring to narrow roads you're saying that I maintain that are Tom accepted
Um can't think off the top of my head but maybe How about Lazy Lane all the ones down the road Well we have we maintain a farm and lantern They're not they're also private Um we maintain there's a there's a bylaw I'm assuming that's what my predecessor followed That's what I follow It's just that you
can you can um fill with a suitable material um hole So basically you know you can if it's a gravel road you put gravel I assume King Phillips says if it's asphalt you patch it with asphalt Um and it basically um allows us to go
on private property to maintain it but it's for no it specifically says no reconstruction no construction no resurfacing Um it would have to be accepted which again I don't know enough about I wouldn't be opposed to it I just don't know the full process Other than that it should be
brought to some sort of standard Any other questions for Jared not for Jared So I I know Mr Kimble's here He was actually on the select board when we went through this My question if
you remember um would be why did you only accept 700 ft and not the full Yeah Who's Carl yeah Who is Carl carl Jacobs Jacobs How did I know Peter was there he was a highway superintendent at that time So a brief history The 95 boats we
took on all these roads as a blanket was because we were doing sewage in the grove and most of the streets were dead end streets in the grove even though they were paid and take care of the town We weren't able to put sewage on those streets until we accepted them as part of the process because it was part of a
it was a grant process So we had to make sure that those streets were properly accepted Were they laid out properly were they the proper width no they were not But we just had a blanket vote in order to get the surge put in 700 ft of King Phelp Road if I recall was because
the width of that section did not was pretty much defined at that time Even today it looks that way It was wide enough so that you could you could accept it When you hit Samacet Street
the road becomes very narrow There are two houses right there right together and you can go to the left you will be property to the left and there's an island there but that's very very narrow So we could we could logically accept the first 700 ft We had no intention of
ignoring the rest of it It was just that that's all we could do in order to get the process started What I don't understand going back to the grove and the sewage is and I don't remember this but we put sewage in that entire underneath that
entire street We repaved the entire street just beyond Samoset There's a low area where it's probably some of the worst spot holes they have and that's because it floods often the water comes back You get frost underneath it lifts
it The only way to fix that we didn't want to do that in '95 or 98 was it has to be brought up It has to be elevated And so we couldn't do that Um the road is deplorable It's in terrible condition Something has to be done with it Uh I
would caution you on the $140,000 quote because Mike will tell you that um we have to spend a certain amount of money under certain guidelines that the state sets up I saw the $140,000 estimate It seemed like it was very very
reasonable and you know I think you should jump at it But we just recently got in a little bit of trouble because we we uh blacked off a uh cemetery and we didn't pay prevailing wages So I don't know how that falls
into it And Mike may have a better answer to that than I do but we have to be careful that 140 may not be the final number and it may cost us more Yeah it's anytime I look at a quote like that I know it's going to cost more But my my question to you also is do you know what
year they did put the sewer down all the way down 20 years ago I think 199 about 99 Yeah About 20 2005 2005 20 years ago But we didn't we didn't borrow we borrowed all that money
These these folks had to pay for through betterments Um we didn't go out to for we didn't I don't believe we had any grant money involved in that We connected to the town city of Taton we had to pay for that whole project all the way down past the wake and everything So but I don't know why we
didn't um I guess my point would be that we've already paid it in my lifetime at least once when we did the when they did the storm project So obviously we've taken some responsibility for it and we we should be maintaining I think I think having
this is my opinion I think having put the sewer all the way down there that uh and then paving on top of it that is basically claiming that the the road I I don't know why uh and again I don't know if you're going to put the sewer down the whole 4,000 ft that it was only 700
accepted but the u and I understand your reasoning that it was the 40 foot wide it's not going to happen 40 ft beyond Samite is not going to happen No and I get that but but also you had said that you accepted roads that were under 40 ft So the reasoning for I just I can't get
my head around the reasoning for this one but does anybody have any other questions i I just don't think this road can possibly ever be brought up to what kind it can never
So you know the the lower of the two quotes the scope of the lowest one that is probably most likely what you guys did in 98 what was approved after the sewer line was installed and that was a
20 year uh life expectancy It was done in 2005 right and again you've got all the water in certain areas You go beyond the curve Oh yeah Where Lincoln is that's not as bad for $700 feet obviously aren't that
bad but that center piece something's got to get done And as you're doing that you have to bring the road up a bit I think if you're going to do it you need to bring that one section that floods just raise it a bit But then you got to be careful that you're not flooding the neighbors on the right side because on
the west west side there's pretty much wet lands But the right side you don't want to make it too high where it kind of backs into their property either So you got to you got to take a look at whole thing As far as using chapter money chapter 90 funding to get that thing done and doing it right It would
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if not a million dollars to do it right Uh I don't think the town's going to be in any position to do that for a long time Bob before you go you said you paved it when you did the sewer system What year was that 2005 The water sewer department uh put
in they put in the sewage and they and they paved it when they were done I don't recall if they paved the whole street or half the street or what they did but they did pave it They had to My opinion is once you put the sewer down there as a town you're taking responsibility for it That That's my
opinion Well pop up How many houses are on that street 70 70 houses and at least What are we collecting in taxes on that street we got some beautiful waterfront property out there We're paying We're paying We're paying dearly for
Mr Chair Good Um I want to come back to Alex suggestion about some type of emergency um paving Can the town
pave can the town pave on an emergency basis a non-town road and I'm not suggesting that it is a non-town road but if if that remaining 3,300 ft is considered a private way can the
town pave someone else's road well for M we did pave it once after the sewer was put but I I I get your question There's two wrongs that make a right Right Right I mean I just I mean and I I get that I that does make sense
I just wouldn't want to end up in a legal situation with anybody the residents or the town Um if something were to if we were to violate some type of private property situation normally what the town would do was um
highway would go down and um put some gravel into fill potholes but they they wouldn't do a full because it sounded like what Jared said that that would sort of constitute reconstruction and that would fall
outside the scope of the bylaws Is that right okay that would be quite a bit of gravel if we're going to fill up all those puddles I'm I'm with everybody It's It's I've been down there It's a mess So Mr Chair Mr President um so if the uh
planning board is going to uh begin the process Paul I believe you said that we're going to of accepting the road So at some point it will be ours I go back to my question What are we going to do to help these people we have to the town
has to do something to help this situation until or when we accept this road which earliest it could be is at the next town meeting Mr Chair we I mean we we could make a motion for emergency
repair but go ahead Yeah I um I mean I think I think we all want to help the folks down there Um for sure I [Music] um I think I hate to say this but I think
anything that's going to require town meeting approval is going to be an uphill battle Um so is this is going to sound I mean it's my last select board meeting so I can say whatever I want Say one more thing So could could
we is there is there would the emer if we were to do an emergency paving of the road would that have to go to town meeting and if is there any way of avoiding town meeting to do something like that well this is your last
meeting question You can't you can't use chapter 90 money on a private road So Jared doesn't have that kind of money in his budget to go and pay the road Um so and the planning board doesn't have to
accept the road either And if you think if um you know just an using an example if a developer built a road and it wasn't up to standards the planning board wouldn't
accept it They're not going to accept a road that's going to cost a town money Now if the people on that road wanted that road to be
accepted they would have to spend the money to bring that road to the little confused on this because because one it was paved over by the town right uh didn't even last 20 years when it was
supposed to last 20 years So it's been uh the way it is for at least what a decade if not longer So that now the last four years The last four years So it lasted 16 years when it should last 20 on top of it We're plowing that road Uh we put sewer down
it Um tell me you accepted the the road without telling me you accepted the road you know Exactly Thank you What's going on outside needs to be some sort of repair at least at least to repair going through the rest of the
process I don't believe um it it's going to take a while for it to go through the process as John to do all what he has to do from a conservation standpoint and water and everything else that's the dynamics of that will never be compliant
with current codes of any kind So um there needs to be some sort of emergency repair It needs to be found some some way shape form We can't This can't be the first road There's got to be a solution So I I
have no problem with the town taking the road If we do it needs to be bar standards right by law It's just it's not like it's an option to try not to do it It can't it it it physically can't be brought up to stand That's why it's
still a private way today right that's why and if you're going to if you were going to do that town meeting members other people in town may they say "Well okay but are they going to pay
betterments are we going to pay for their road upgrade?" And that's for issues that'll come out um when Arrowhead Village when they when they want that done over and they just kind of come to the select board and say on
our road Well that's a private way as well That's all right So we had a couple people in the audience who just come on back up um briefly I think you were first Yes All right Sorry Penny can talk Okay Again Penny High 41 King Philip
Road As I said I've been there a very long time When we put the sewage in when the town came through for us and we finally got the sewage I I was right there Florida We were desperate for that It was disgusting But at the time each house
every 50 ft of a property paid a $16,000 betterment tax When that went by when the sewer went by we paid a big Betterment on top of the average of $22,000 per home that it cost us to tie
into that sewage So unfortunately at the time Jim and I own two houses over there So add it up We paid almost $80,000 for the privilege of having the sewage go by our house instead of in the lake
Now we have already done the betterment thing We're going to do it again Come on people We have taken a beating over there We've taken a beating for a long time And as far as the plowing I'm not trying to be aggressive I'm
frustrated So often the plows the road was accepted right to Eddie Bro's property That's it After that you're done As soon as you leave that first few Yeah What it was 700 ft Bam They're hitting potholes
They couldn't even go along the side of that now It's so dangerous over there It's dangerous to pull out your yard It's dangerous to come around a corner If I had kids gotten on a school bus now it I just would never allow them And those buses fly down King Phillip by the
way I would never allow them to take a bus off that street That street is the most dangerous street in town And if anyone can find another street that's worse than that have at it But we pay really high taxes We have waterfront property We love our properties And it's
I'm not even going to say what I think But something has to be done and it's got to be done And it can't be just a 2in slab on top of that It's got to be a fix I'm not saying 2 in won't do it But if you're going to do it when you fill in those potholes they come over
they throw some stuff in it and they're gone They don't even pat it down I watch them We watch them all the time It comes right back down It just pops right out 2 days later it's all over the street And now you're getting your car's getting hit by it Your windshield's getting hit
by it How bad Drive down there Thank you I just want to revisit because I had the estimate first 115 Kingville Road I had the estimates done So I just want to go over the estimates with heat and I think
that's someone the town should talk to because we were up to 197,000 to replace that road A full replace I didn't send you that one Okay The 140 is the millings Okay So we weren't going with
brand new asphalt It's the millings It comes in a little cheaper to get it done the same way Heap is a very good company and I stand behind them 110% They did my driveway They he actually spent what an
hour and a half 2 hours walking the street with me and Nick going over the entire road and what giving us his opinion on how to fix the road I mean this there's a few different ways of fixing the road When you say
emergency the problem is the asphalt that's going down into those holes are not what do you say neck emulsion There's no glue holding that asphalt in those holes So of course it's coming
back up So if you need an emergency fix I suggest some glue go in those holes right now I mean for for right now seeing that doesn't look like we're getting it paid tomorrow But again I just wanted you guys to understand the
estimates that I received from heap where he was very thorough They're a very good company and they'll fix that road right now whether or not you subcontract I don't know how the highway department works but Jared can talk to
him about you know Ryan is very good Um he he could tell me he could tell Nick and I everything about that road even how it was put down and how much was put down And he felt that that was
down 20 years He felt that road's been there for 20 years So he was pretty close And doing a 2-in top coat and yes bringing it up is going to cost a lot more money to bring up those low areas but maybe we could get some drainage in
there somehow but would hold it for another 20 I'll be dead in another 20 So I'm not going to worry what happens another 20 years after that But I mean he has a lot of good ideas and he makes a lot of sense as far as that road right
now And I'm just trying to I'm trying to save the town money I think we all want to save the town money somewhere because we I know the residents it's been a struggle for a very long time They would like to get it done right but I get the
money part too You know at the same time for our purposes we since it's not officially a town road we're looking at an emergency repairs which sounds great That sounds great Yeah But I mean it's sad because you know you hearing everyone talk that and I don't
understand why is it listed everywhere else as a public road Why is it on people's plot plans as a public as a 40ft public road these were engineers that designed those plot plans Are they all wrong so somewhere something went
south somewhere Somebody didn't sign something Yeah Thank you very much Okay Thank you Something is confusing somewhere here Yeah Um we had a couple more Anybody who wants to tell come up and just stand up
here Go ahead Peter Yes Um Peter Wiggins 157 Avenue North Massachusetts And I used to live up the street there on Bay Road And King F Road reminds me of Lincoln Street when it was
a dirt road back in the day until they repaved it back about 2001 And I agree that King was the most dangerous road here in North So something needs to be done about that Thank
you Mr Kimmel So we're we're going to wrap up comments So if anybody else has any comments just come on up I think and Mike can correct me on this I think what we have to do like we did in the Grove is you can't accept the road It had to be through a legislative act That's how
we did it when we did the Grove They were non-conforming roads So we had we had to get um a legislative act passed in order to at least accept the road as as it's built so that we didn't have to expand and comply with all the
regulations of chapter 90 Well that the legislation part is done because King Phillip was listed in the legislation So can we go back to that legislation and add the remaining 3,300 ft no you don't have to do that So the
legislation was King Phillip Road The issue is that the select board on whether it's was planning board's advice or the highway superintendent's advice chose only to
accept 700 ft at the time So you you already have the legislation It's a matter do you want to accept the remainder of that So under that legislation can we use chapter 90 funding
i don't think so We should find out If the road has been accepted in in its entirety then why can't we use the chapter 90 funding as state funding that they they give us to make total roads we pay 25% the state pay 75% All right Just
I'm just giving an an idea but we need to find out if that's available or not All right Thank you I think you want to say something else And I can say again I just want to say if it was accepted if it was accepted you could use the chapter 9 you might that's the
issue right now Um in my in my defense uh emulsion is a t coat and we we do use it and if no I know I I just want to it's not that it's not going to save the pottles something does more has to be done Um but uh yeah
if it was accepted we could use chapter 90 money until that portion is isn't I think it's a legal issue You can't for that those funds Yeah J what can be done tomorrow there's not much I can think what could
be done We don't have the funds All all of our road resurfacing in town is chapter 90 money It's all state funed There is no budget to repair roads There's a with that bylaw I was mentioning earlier that earlier there's a there's an item below it that allows um money to be set aside for it only
within the criteria that I mentioned earlier no reconstruction or construction and as of right now I don't know when it was initially done it's about $1,000 So we use that $1,000 to buy the material um all the private roads whether that they're gravel to grade them or asphalt to patch them um
including the temp I'm just curious to know how much money You know how much money well hold on No no no Wait I'm sorry You can't I know Sorry So any other questions on the board mike where where can we find some money
so Jared can patch some of those craters out there uh the only way you can find money for that is to have a town meeting article and use stabilization money I I do want to add though that I think it's beyond
patching I actually agree with with the residents I think on patching Yeah But it's Yeah you need it would need to be you know you're back to doing either deciding whether you're going to do a band-aid in a sense where you're going to spend the 140 190 They're all kind of close I agree but but it's still it
doesn't address the drainage issues in the and the the material below the road that you know and I know they say full depth but he's talking about going 48 in down I mean in some areas that would help but in the areas where it gets submerged in water it's going to make no difference um it might help in the sense that you'll have less bad areas You'll
have more areas that are good which is not a bad thing Maybe it's it's it's worth it But um yeah it's just you know I'm super frustrated because we have an $81 million budget we're going to review and we can't come up with $100,000 to
fix to help these people Okay Um is John here john I didn't see you Sorry Wow Good evening everyone John Thomas conservation director I just want to remind everybody that if you decide to
dig up the road or do anything with it we are in the flood plane so you will need to come to conservation You will need to seek approval It's going to cost engineering It's going to cost a lot of money probably to do any of that And um 4,000 linear feet of roadway or is that
what we're expecting yeah So while I'm saying the other 700 we may want to evaluate that too to see if that is in kind of any disrepair Majority of that whole entire road is in the flood plane is also within an area of critical environmental concern There are limitations to what we can do out there Um so we're kind of strapped from kind
of what we potentially could do for mitigation Um so we're going to have to hire an engineer if we're going to get serious with this Just to let you know Thank you Oh good John with an emergency repair any of these object whatever it might be Yeah I mean with this all we
need to make sure is that whatever's being put down meets existing conditions So that means any areas where we're going to be digging we need to make sure that it meets the current conditions where it is currently And you know I have the ability through the conservation commission to review that be out there when they're physically doing the work I just need to notify the
board and let them know that that this is emergency repair Thank you You're welcome Thank you Thank you Okay Discussion like this
I don't know what Yeah We have to I think we have to do an emergency there There's no there's nothing in the book for for any kind of emergencies like this outside of chapter 90 Not not excuse me Mr Sure And not
without town meeting cuz theoretically you could get stabilization but in order to access stabilization you have to go to town Reserve maybe we reserve only has $20,000
Unfortunately maybe what we have to do is find out first if if there's chapter 90 funds available or if we accept it before we accept it have the answer to that
question then then it would have to go to town meeting but at least if it goes to town meeting 75% of it's being covered by chapter 90 funds Yeah Yeah And then if you use chapter 90 funds doesn't need to be brought to code and then
alternatively be able to say it's an emergency let's do it now Can you legally do that or is there need to be a declared emergency before you can use emergency as your rationale for
well to personally to me I think it's a life safety issue with with ambulances fire trucks getting down that road It's It's atrocious Is um I'm running out of vocabulary Mr Chair um Mike does
um is you might not know the answer to this but does the state have any other emergency programs anything that we can t try to tap into for this not other than trying to get a grant
But I I I think your uh first thing is correct to uh talk to legal counsel and see if we accept this road based on that legislation that was passed in 1995 then then are we eligible for
chapter 90 money for work yeah I think the only I I would say that the only other thing that we could do and this is easy for me to say because it won't be on the board anymore um is um we did we did
this I think for Barrow's court as well is that you just you expedite it as much as possible by having it as a standing item on the agenda and it gets addressed every time we have a select board meeting whether it's just to say no no
no updates that's fine but you try you just make sure it stays in front of every stays in front of the board keeps in in the attention of the board so that as these things are moving through we're moving them through as quickly as
possible that said I don't know if there's any way to address this without going to town meeting so the folks who live on King Phip Road are going to have to make a case make this case because this is a good case but make this case You're going to have to make it a town meeting
in the critical town meeting which I I realize it's not a a solution for right now I get it I mean I I want there to be a solution for right now but I think we're all struggling to find a solution for right now And Alex suggestion is a good one You know can we
can we make it an emergency or can we declare it an emergency situation is it it's a public safety problem can we do all that i just don't know what what recourse we have to get the money to do it So Kevin you actually took some words right out of my brain I was going to put
this on the next agenda Um and hopefully I'll be back uh after the election but um I I want to talk to the state legislators I talked to um uh to Mike and to Steve and to even Feny as well as talking to the legal council to see if
there's anything we can do um emergency wise Um that way we can come back to the table with anything maybe present an option Um because right now it looks like it's not going to go before town meeting until the fall which could mean you know if it passes there hopefully uh then
you're not going to see any paving probably until the following spring uh at at best So to me that's a concern going through another winter with that condition So I personally I'll you know I'll I'll take lead on this and personally work on it Um and we we'll have an update for the
next meeting I don't think the I don't think the issue is that none of us want to see it done We just want to make sure it's done legally and correctly So that's what we're trying to figure out the best way to do that Obviously if there's any way to exit to expedite an emergency legally and do it the right way without any
issues So I agree with that Right So I'm sorry we don't have an answer tonight for you but um I you know I think everybody here we're all in unison We're we're going to work on this So Mr Chair can I make a motion to put this on the agenda for the next meeting
um and um and uh also well I guess that's all we can do for now but um to to move this agenda item to the next meeting So make a motion to Can we move to refer it to planning board as well uh as far as the adding the road Oh you know let's
hold off until next meeting just because uh I want to see about adding this since we only added 700 ft last time So I'm sorry Go ahead K Okay So yeah So just reiterate I'll make a motion to add this um agenda item uh discussion and or vote to support repaving King Phillip Road to
the agenda for the next select board meeting Second Okay Uh any further discussion yeah One more quick question Jared have we used all your pothole repair
asphalt you've used it from this winter It's allocated for the roads Are you talking about chapter 90 or um or the small whatever you want yeah we have we have a b we have a budget for materials road materials that we use to buy you know gravel pipe everything Then we have that $1,000 for private roads And then
we have the a lotment of the state money the state money I'm in the process right now you know meeting with the contractor We you know I kind of ran to the roads for condition You know if you were asking I think um you know would there be chapter money available um if we know
what's going to happen in the next 6 months then obviously I would plan accordingly Maybe not use I usually try to use around 3/4 of it and then you know kind of bank a little bit So maybe I would pave two two less roads say and then if this was to move forward you
could use that money for it Is there anything I think correct me if I'm wrong you is there anything left over from fiscal year 2025 that we could do um he's talking about you talking about I have to use the money that's in my budget It would be the road materials It's only about $30,000 We probably
spent about we're almost right on mark with everything So we spent about 3/4 of it Same with that $1,000 stuff Not nowhere in there near enough to do anything substantial I mean as far as you were asking what can we do in the meantime it's continuing to patch it They do blow out They're going to blow out with or without motion with or
without and they do compact all the holes and if they don't I'll find out But um there's there's nothing that's going to keep those holes in there It's it's been raining too and that's when it gets a lot worse quickly It's starting to get drier around So it'll totally get
better I just you know if if there's any solution moving forward for some sort of relief for these people yeah let us know We'll bring it up in the next meeting too The only thing I can think of is is more you know if if there is money more money in those funds so that way I can continue to do the things I'm currently
doing maintenance and new you know additions to drainage systems and things like that but still have a portion where I could get down there more often Time and manpower is also an issue I don't always want to re have that reoccurring thing pop up But I mean we like I said it's not a not an exaggeration We don't go every day with asphalt but every day
we go with asphalt We save a portion for King Phillip and Charlotte AB the second half of Charlotte AB There's there's problem areas that we haven't paved yet We focus on but there's only so much you can do with the time and money and life So it's part of your plan daily plan weekly plan Weekly plan You
can I can uh open my my agenda I have a booklet I keep track of all of it could see every time we go down there who goes down there and you know roughly how much material they use All right Thank you So we have a motion in a second but one more brief comment I think that's fine
Alison 88 Kingfield Road I think we can all agree we don't have time It's the worst that I've seen it since I've lived there in 15 years It's crumbling It's going to be a sinkhole It's super dangerous Anything that be done sooner rather than later it's awful like we just can't wait without something
happening right it's just not working Mr Chair Mr President just one more quick question for Mike Mike if there was some other type of emergency if it wasn't a road would we just say that no we can't do anything
If you have an emergency that's what your stabilization fund is is for You go to town you'd have to have a special town meeting and twothirds of the voters at that meeting would have to vote to use stabilization money for an emergency
repair We've had special time meetings for less I I don't want to bring it up Am I right yeah But last year when we had the discussion on an override the the talk the thing that I
mentioned was if we had an override all the free cash we had would be available for projects like this But so we use free cash down for this So we obviously didn't have that So we have to use the free cash to
keep the town operating And now for emergencies you have to use your standization fund But there's still what's in free cash right now There's still we can use free cash right for an emergency We're using it for the budget
So if we were if we were to vote that this is an emergency we could use free cash for that You you couldn't use free cash Tap me would have to vote So that that's what I was getting at So would it still have to go to town meeting okay
I'm sorry But yeah you made it sound like we could use the free cash That's why we could budget free cash for projects through town meeting Yeah And we didn't use all the free cash at the last town meeting right no we held free cash so we could uh have it
for 2026 budget Right Okay So I long time ago there was a motion in a second Unless there's any further Kevin I'm sorry Go ahead This is going to uh just one more question for Jared I want to make him get up one more time This is not a uh and I'm not a
construction guy Um and I'm certainly not a road guy Um is there any is there anything we can do for these pod for at least the potholes can we can we put steel plates over them or the the whole road is it's all potholes It's not even one of the
reasons why the patching doesn't work is because a patch works well on a road when you have a nice area around it with a clean edge Sometimes you'll even saw cut them in certain areas You apply the emulsion Uh sometimes you heat the heat or let the emulsion dry asphalt compact and sometimes you can even seal the
edges with emulsion or or we have rubberized crack sailing as well It's impossible to do that on this road because there is no clean material around the hole to attach you know to adhere to Okay I I wish we had some pictures to put up on here of of it because it's
for anybody who hasn't been there It's it's I should have brought my thesaurus Um Okay Uh so there was a motion in a second Um any any further discussion okay All in favor i opposed All right
Thank you everybody for coming It will be on our next agenda item Thank you Thank you So I I did find out that as far as uh early voting uh you can pull your you can Okay you get your early voting papers through
Friday the 25th at 12:30 p.m and they have to be received by the town by Saturday at 5:00 p.m the 26 So during voting they have to be received by the I hope everybody know that there's going to be a quiz there
Okay next up we have a vote to declare the police department's 2012 International Terra Star SFA 4x2 We're still in a meeting right uh ambulance as surplus Mr Chair Mr I
make a motion that we move the 2012 International Terasa SFA 42 ambulance uh to service us Okay Okay All in favor i opposed All right Now we have to review and
discuss or vote on the pilot um regarding 12 Hill Street Everyone had a chance to look at this Do we have questions um Mr Chair Mr Um do we know how much
that property would bring in in taxes hi Denise Ellis director of assessing Um we would be bringing in somewhere around 40,000 but this is um the solar farm So technically it's a little confusing We
um state law does not say that we can actually bill solar companies Most solar companies will come in do a pilot program with the town and that's how we collect the money um this company decided not to do that at the beginning So what happens is we
have to build them and then we have to obey it because if we go to many of it many towns have gone to the ATB to fight um the solar farms to to build them Um but unfortunately we have lost So for us to go to the ATV we won't win and it's
going to cost the town a fortune So what we've had to do over the years is build them and then abate them So this way if we do the pilot it's taking me 8 years to get them to sign this pilot Then at least we're guaranteed a portion to come in every year
That looks like 15,000 a year So yeah 15,000 a year for 12 years which is in the ball ballpark of all our other pilots Our pilots are anywhere between 10 and I think about 24,000 a year Mr And Denise this is because of state law
with the clean energy you know Um yeah So this law was put back in like when solar first came out in like the '7s or early ' 80s whenever it came out Um it was at that point you couldn't build solar companies Solar was free you know nobody could build them Um you know but
that's when there was hardly anything around But it's changed so much over the years but unfortunately the the state has not changed with what's going on So um the association the you know the assessor's association has been fighting it for years and they did just pass a
bill a few years ago which um I thought we could build them at full price at that time but there's still too many questions and we're still afraid that they're not going to you know allow it to go through So um we've all decided just to do the pilot I think even the
company itself wasn't quite sure if they would win or not So that's why I ended up doing a pilot Did that answer your question i'm sorry Kind of So okay It's state law that it's state law Yeah it was state law at the point at that time Yes that's that's the point that that's
where we're at State law Will we win at the ATB it's a huge question and it's going to cost a lot of money So every every municipality city town Um yeah So there's been many cases out there over the years Um and we go and we lose Um
and the lawyer that we're using right now has actually done the ATB cases for solar and we're just not winning You know the state is so strict on it you know because they want the green energy to come in So trying to work with them it's been difficult Another thing that the city's in terms of paying taxpayers
are paying for Right Right You know and most companies will work with you Um but I don't know at this point that when I first got here they just didn't want to do it So through you Jack Oh go ahead A quick question for these I see it's for 12 years I thought typically these are for
10 There's 12 No So solar pilots are different They're for 20 years Okay But because they've already been in operation for what do we have 7 years whatever it is This is the leftover years that we're doing it for I told them I right up front we're not doing it for 20 Only what's left in that 20 years
span Great Thanks for clarifying Yeah Mr Chair Mr Marc so what happens at the end of the 20 years should we try to get another one of these from them or no 20 years They pay regular price It's only good for 20 years All solar pilots are like that Once the 20 years is up just like a
tiff it's over They just pay what the value is And how many um pilots do we have uh we have two I think we have about four or five right now Four two three four This is the
fifth one This is our fifth one but this one doesn't have a pilot yet Hopefully we will Okay Anyone else mr Chair Mr Snider because I like something instead of
nothing I would like to make a motion to um uh vote to accept the pilot um regarding 12 Hill Street Second Okay All in favor i opposed All right Thank you Denise Oh Mr Y I just want to thank
Denise for all the work I I do know it's been going on for a number of years and I want to thank Denise for all work on getting this done Thank you Thank you Thank you Have a good night everybody All right Next up we have the discussion
Oh what is it um discussion on the remote participation policy I know we talked about this a while ago Uh this policy is just for the town boards Correct That's the previous policy prior to
2020 Um and in a nutshell I guess I'll I'll kind of give the nuts and bolts of it is is that board members are allowed to participate remotely Um let's see Uh but it would require a vote of
the board prior to So say you know Alec couldn't make it He had to be remote when we open the meeting we'd say "Ale has to be remote." We'd vote yay nay allow him to do it I think we'd say yes Um and that's it So this would be just reverting back to the policy of 2019 uh
prior to the craziness of 2020 through your chair Absolutely Do we do we want to keep the vote piece because I don't think we've been practicing that to keep it efficient Oh to not Yeah not vote Yeah let's take that out
I mean I'm okay taking that Let's let's see if what everybody else thinks but yeah we don't want to listen to Yeah Mr Chair Uh Mr I think this has just become so common place now that you know um I
know I've had to participate remotely Everybody's busy If we want to get more people involved in town government this is a to me is a pretty easy way to to help do that So we've had people We've had all kinds of residents um participate remotely too So it opens up
that option as well So I think from a participation in public government I think this is a uh this is an easy one Okay Yeah I mean we've been practicing this anyways Um all right Does anybody want to make a
motion with any changes that Denise said i will make a motion to approve the remote participation policy uh striking the portion requiring a vote to allow the remote participant prior to the
meeting Second Okay Any further discussion okay Oh I'm sorry Well I I just have a question as to whether this affects Just would you say your name and Yes Julian Kadesh Uh been on conservation for for
basically ever Um and I I'm wondering if this affects how a board operates if we choose to be remote and stay remote in uh in accordance with the the state guidelines This would I believe and correct me if I'm wrong Mr This would
this would bring all boards back to inerson meetings as they should be in my opinion Can I make a comment on that absolutely Well I I mean uh I I would ask a question of how many buggy whips and
mechanical typewriters and adding machines the the town of Norton has purchased in the last 30 years And I'm sure you would tell me none And that's because all of those items served a purpose in their day but they were
supplanted by more effective technology And in this situation I think if you vote that uh everyone has to participate in meetings only in person particularly the public
that's a major disadvantage There are people with child care obligations who can't necessarily come to to town hall to participate People with elder care obligations people with transportation limitations and people with uh with uh
mobility problems and I would be concerned that you would then be limiting their access if they have to come in person Well thank you for your comments I can't say that um we didn't mind any buggies or anything then but we did build a big beautiful town hall with
several meeting rooms So um we have a motion in a second on the table I'm going to I'm going to just point clarification I might have misunderstood I thought we were voting to allow remote participation but you said that this was requiring them everyone to be in person So mine it's requiring the boards to
meet in person but you're allowing remote participation for board members that can't make it for any any circumstance whether it's health or or anything like that So it's still it's allowing it Okay But not completely remote Got you need to
quarant that's no anyways So all in favor I opposed All right Thank you Um now we have the discussion on hiring an interim town manager and the related process for doing
so Um Alec I think you spoke with Joe Far on this Uh yes I did I did So yeah he sent an email to all of us Correct
So the hiring of an interim is solely you know our board's um decision and vote and it's um something that I think you know the clock is ticking and we need to do uh
something soon Um the we just had a selection committee meeting uh tonight We've received several applications for some new applicants and um you know it's our
board's opinion that you know June 30th is coming quick and uh that's why this interim town manager portion uh which is solely you know our board's the select boards um decision uh this needs to be
talked about of how we're going to do it uh at advertising you know compensation time frame during Hawaiian So um did I'm trying to pull up the email from Joe Did Joe fair send the email to
all of us yeah he did Did everybody get a chance to review that process it was Tuesday It was Tuesday Wow that's great Okay Uh any any questions um on what he put forth
i think mostly what he was saying was that this is all has to be at public at public meetings Yeah Okay So at this point do we have any action that we want to take um as far as um I guess putting that out or
discussing salary or what we want to bring this at the next meeting Mr Chair Mr Marc uh Mike um do you have um do you know if you'll
be taking your vacation time or if you're I don't know if you can buy that back or what you So so we have a better idea of when we're need to have that Um I'm not I'll I'll be around I don't have any vacations planned Okay
So yeah that was that was I think what brought this up is to see if you know um that there have been other people that took their vacations instead of staying on So that's I think what kind of concerns me the um the process I guess is what I'm
looking for What do where do we need to who do we need to contact where do we need to advertise this how do we uh find out get applicants in interview them and ultimately hire somebody what What does that process
look like so we what we could do um and I was thinking about this earlier is we could we could have two members of the board um separately put together a package as far as you know potential salary potential places to to um potential ads
where to put them and then bring it back to us to to approve as a folder and that was just the thought I had So with that some of the details would be uh you know which we can discuss in executive would be compensation return
you know time frame Mhm Um those are the the main ones An interim knows what they need to do They sit in the chair and just make sure everything moves along Okay So maybe two You're just asking about the interim I
think right now Yes So how long are you anticipating the lead for an interim um our uh screening committee anticipates you know June 30th is going to be quick It's going to come real quick right so um there is going to be a
gap period um you know somewhat hopefully shortly thereafter Uh don't have an exact time frame but um you know we're hoping to put forth you know three to five candidates
sometime hopefully um you know before that for our consideration for this board So those candidates would come to us and then we would review each one and then you know ideally select somebody or kick it back to that board and say try again
essentially So this is what I'm confused The candidates you're talking about that you're receiving are for this town manager position correct not for the intern Correct Yeah We haven't we haven't So that's what we want to talk about now is is advertising and getting I'm just trying to separate the two This
is just for inter So my suggestion would be to either you know two two people on the board not Kevin and myself um because of the election but um two of you put together a package that we want to discuss at our next meeting as far as compensation for um an interim strictly
in for the interim for the interim and um and maybe time frame and our ane can provide all the guidance for that Mhm I I would volunteer for that as well
So let's nominate them Kevin Mr Chair Mr um like to make a uh a motion to um have Denise and Roger um engage in the research for the hiring
of an interim town manager Perfectly put Second All right All in favor i opposed All right Um I do have one item um not reasonably anticipated Uh when I parked my truck I was next to one of our our town vehicles one of the
small electric vehicles Um and all of them have inspection stickers from 2024 Are those vehicles used they are Are they used often yes Why aren't they inspected um they were Cuz I would get a ticket if I didn't inspect Yeah There's
an issue with the um tint on the windows that has to be removed before they can get the sticker Wow Okay Not the answer I just thought they weren't being used Right Is it just those three or is there
more than 10 okay All right Uh now on to old business We can skip over this right yeah please Okay Um discuss the annual town and special town meeting articles So if if
you could Mr Chair um we have uh representatives here from the uh water and sewer department and they could talk on two articles that they have One is uh for the water treatment facility um
infrastructure and another one is for a water and sewer project on uh which street elm is it Elm Street That's so I I know you're probably sick of talking about this Um so you can be as
brief as you'd like Just vote yes that I will say the finance committee voted unanimously to recommend both article 8 and n special town meeting The uh the smaller article
175,000 is uh for funds to do for lack of better terms maintenance at the water treatment facility Um there's been some findings there We had some pumps uh go down unexpectedly within you know a very short period of time So this is not something that was in the budget I know that was asked for by the finance
committee Uh the typical life expectancy of the pump based on the hours and the use that we have is usually 8 to 10 years We're we're rolling in at uh 4 and 1 half to 5 years when we have pump failure So the the extra money um that we're asking for here is going to get us back up to speed uh pay for some of the
emergency repairs that are definitely required and we can't run without it And uh this also includes uh improvements to the wells that feed this facility and some of the filter vessels that are also needing uh some upgrades That is a maintenance item We do not have a
maintenance schedule This is the first time that we're starting to get digging into these filter beds Um we had some the simplifiers and filter media come through the bottom of the filter which is a bad sign We brought in specialists We had the media removed checked all the the grates and everything in the bottom
Found one crack in one vessel the other one was fine The problem we have with repairing these vessels to bring them back online is what we use for filtration is green sand That's sitting on a barge somewhere out in the ocean not able to come into port We don't know
when that's going to be available We're hearing June possibly July now So we have five out of our six filters running right now So we want this money to be available ready to go the minute that's that's uh open to the ports to come in because we're not the only ones in this same predicament So we don't want to be
uh lagging behind and and always grasping try and get what we need So that's that's the one article that's in there for the uh maintenance for lack of a better term Okay So do we want to vote on this one first i just had a quick question Yep Good The pumps that went
bad after only half life do they not have a warranty they have prorated warranty on them Um the pump that was in there is actually one of the backwash pumps So we have two back wash pumps that we use to to basically clean out the filters after they've uh reached a certain pressure remove the iron magnes
we discharge it to the drying beds Um one of those failed it has been replaced We that's part of what this is going to go to pay for Um the next is going to be actually investigation So where we have that one pump that failed there was some deterioration on what's called the
column pipe which actually sits down into the wet well It seems very premature to see that type of disintegration or or you know following of of the pipes So we want to do an investigation to see what the condition of the others are If the others are all
in similar condition unexpectedly this number is going to rise The next time you see me I'll be asking for more money That's not the goal we want to get on to a maintenance schedule So we're hoping that this is a fluke This was you know some bad bad pipe that was used and and we'll go from there But um you know
these numbers are going higher and higher Unfortunately everybody knows about the tariffs We're we're not exempt to them Everything we do has some mixture of domestic and foreign One more follow-up question Sorry Thank you If you find that the other pipes have the same issue it would seem to
indicate that there's something else going on What else could be contributing to that condition the investigation will start at that point Um we've we have all the water quality samples that we've taken Everything there is drinking water So there is no corrosiveness to it There is no hazardous materials to it Um the
after speaking with the pump manufacturers the first thing they came up with was changes in elevation in the wet well where you have certain parts of it exposed to to air certain parts exposed to water That theory makes good sense except for the fact that deterioration is also below the water
level So we are leading back to the possibility that there was some protective coating that may have been removed where the threatened couplings go together and there was nothing to go back on from the manufacturer If that's going to be hard to prove but if we do some more investigation we can see it on the other pumps and they all look similar Then we push a little bit harder
back to the manufacturer as a as a defect Great Thanks Okay Frankie when were they putting online when those these went online These were all brand new when when the treatment facility went online in 2020 2020 There's no insurance that engineer
or contractor carried for any of that No Um any pumps that that fail you get appropriated uh warranty on them based on the time that they're in Typically at the max we see maybe 15 20% Um we run into this a lot with wastewater pumps Now you have a brand new pump It has a
5year warranty on it It's appropriated warranty junk I have to agree Okay Um Mr Chair Mr Mercy I make a motion that we recommend article delay on the special time Second Okay All in favor i opposed
All right What was the second article like i'm sorry I don't have it for me It's a brand new one 6 million I don't have it I don't know that slips my mind too Um that is the uh modified version of Elm Street I believe we might have a
small presentation of that Yeah sure I was promised four slides It is four slides and I can cut it to two Okay I'm going to hold you that Well it's it's whatever you need to understand um what we're talking about here So obviously this is now the
scaledback version of the Elm Street project assume you're all familiar and remember the a lot of the details of the Elm Street project So we've stripped out all of the gravity sewer and the pump station which was a significant chunk of
the cost um of the project Um so what we're left with is the infrastructure we need to bring the improvements to 47 Elm Street which was the uh impetus of the grant money that we received So the project now includes uh 4,500 ft of
water mane improvements along the entire length of Elm Street from reservoir all the way to Main Street Uh and then 2900 ft of force main sewer um running from the property at 47 Elm Street um to the
existing sewers at the intersection of Kilmore Drive uh and Pine Street Um so there's no more uh as I said no gravity sewer no municipal pump station and no residential connections along the way Um which means no betterments to any of the
properties along the way Um the budgeted cost of this is now $6 million if approved Um we need to do some quick redesign and get it back out to So we had bids in hand for the larger project but those um have expired and this
project is uh significantly different So next slide So just to understand the cost when we say 6 million is the is the ask when you look at the anticipated construction cost now uh it's about
67% of the cost is the water man which is pretty much a flip of what it was before It was it was pretty much 67 70% sewer before So the actual anticipated construction cost is at 14 million Um when you add in um you know the
engineering the the biggest thing is the contingency that we're putting on this um for the construction public safety engineering and all that That's how we get to the 5.5 to6 million Um so we're looking at a $6 million appropriation as far as how it's being paid for Um we
still have the $3.5 million grant uh which is now paying the majority of it Um because the majority of the work is water we will still use um some water from the water enterprise fund That's estimated about a million Uh and then there will still be an assessment to the
one property that is being provided with sewer the property at 47 Elm Street Um and at this time we have that estimated at about 1.5 million And those obviously are estimated because we don't know what the final number
is So that's how it breaks down That's really where the questions would come The next slide Mike is just the the schedule So if we can get authorization at special town meeting we I mean this is it as far as the grant monies If we don't um if we don't move forward with
this project starting in June we won't have time to to build it and use the grant monies So the intent would be to um be out to bid in July and be done with construction uh by May of 2026 So the last slide is just the same
things Uh if you go to the next one same issues Um so we're providing sewer service and improved fire protection to um what has been identified as the town's uh priority economic target area that that property It will provide for
an expanded tax base If we can provide the opportunity for that property to develop and if we don't do it now it becomes much less feasible to do this without the three Mr Chair Mr Thank you for the presentation Just out of an abundance of
caution um I think you misspoke and said 14 million for construction costs and I meant I know you meant four Thank you But before that gets out on Facebook not 14 But thank you for the presentation Mr Chair Mr Mercer Um couple of
questions for uh Mike and Paul Um we brought the we were told the last project the previous project that we had to have a special town meeting otherwise we wouldn't have time to do
the construction Is this construction going to take less time i mean I can answer that actually So it's twofold The the bids on So we had already bid the project So the project that we voted on was the larger
project with the gravity sewer that would have taken longer That that that's a the gravity sewer is deeper pipe It would take longer The pump station uh is more involved So I guess the answer is the bids were going to expire They did expire We have to rebid it but we do still have time for this scale tech
project And uh Mr Chair Mr President Mike um do we have any guarantee from the developer that they're going to build now that we didn't have before with the other sewer project
we don't have any guarantee No So so just just so we're clear we're going to this project is to put in a forest main to that property without a guarantee of that builder going to build
there And who pays that bill if they decide not to build um that bill would be paid by the town and with a the lean would be put on that property but the town would pay the note until someone develops that property
And I have my personal opinion no one's going to develop it without it So whether it's this person the next person it will be debt property without buying something So if I recall we were told by the builder that
they didn't know if it was even going to be feasible to develop that property until after they took down the building and were able to drill under the building to test the soil Is that correct i I don't I don't remember her saying
that I just remember her saying that she couldn't get any financing and do any investigative work until she knew that sore was going to be going to that property and that project hasn't changed
in scope has it or a project has there been any word from that developer since the town meeting I know Paul talked to her the night of town meeting and told her that we hoped
that we could do something to move forward on this So um I know that her deadline was June the end of June that she needed to have her financing all set up So so I'm concerned because the the
the feeling I got was that she was done at the end of the town meeting So that's why I was wondering if there was any communication to say otherwise that she was still involved Paul did you meet we we did and in fact um in fact when finance committee
weighed in on this uh this week I emailed her to let her know that that was moving forward that that it received a positive recommendation So we've had some communication with her so she's aware that this is going on Okay Has she hinted that she's still going to be
involved or just oh good for you You're getting sewer down there I haven't heard a response but I haven't heard her Her stance hasn't changed She hasn't said that they're stopping They haven't pulled up stakes on it
Um I mean I could be incorrect A town meeting or even prior to that um this option was quoted at a lot less Am I wrong do I remember like 4.5 or something like that i I don't have my notes from the meeting so I don't I think it was this has always been 6 million for this Yeah And I don't think
it we never even got to discuss it at town meeting It was going to be a town prior to to do like but at previous meetings we've talked about this as a $6 million Okay I'm just getting scenile I guess
And it's not 14 though Are you sure oh I was going to go for 14 So all right Anyone else is anybody represent here i don't think so I mean
that's this is a huge concern for me It's if I was developing this I was putting my money up So I didn't even tell the developer you were talking about it had gone to finance committee So and we talked to her after tell me we were
we would not we told we we were done if she was done and she said no she's not done She's still in the same position she was before And I think regardless of whether this developer develops if we want to develop that property at some point we need to
do it It's it's a million and a half with the with the grant we're going to lose the grant shortly right so either we we do it and get some developer hopefully her but if not her or somebody else or we don't develop it and decide we're going to do something else with the property entirely because it won't
be able to be used by somebody else Mr Yeah Um the developer was um the the conversations were moving towards they were trying to get the appropriate financing for it to be able to cover correct a betterment
which would offset negative impacts for the individual directly affected residents on Ellen Street and that is still in limbo There's no
definitive on that that we've been made aware of Um but that project to me was the best scenario for the town as a whole cuz the developer would be in
essence bearing the brunt of all of it and all the residents on Elm Street would benefit from it Um this how it's presented even though there's a $3.5 million grant puts the uh the rest the
remaining balance on the tax the market tax you know out of the enterprise fund and the betterment to one to 47 Elm when nobody is So we're not going to collect that Um
it will obviously keep a tally and hopefully someday we'll satisfy that that total but um I the best chance it had was that town meeting and it didn't pass there There was not the uh presentation in my
opinion that it should have been there This yeah I don't know doesn't satisfy my in my personal opinion I think this is the project from the beginning this one he had force main versus the Italians and I said that all along you have you're a
very um for the need for the current need of what we have there this is the right project so just so I understand sorry Mr there Um just so I understand so the the million dollars will be coming from the
enterprise fund The water the water enterprise fund Yeah Which is down from what it was before right and that's that's already money that they have Correct Um so that wouldn't be on the taxpayers right it's the water users
Yeah The water users right or it's already been paid by the water users right um and then $3.5 million for the the grant and then a million half dollars paid for by the developer The developer can't move forward I my understanding
was that the the developer can't move forward with financing until they have approval from town meeting So we can't expect the developer We're putting the developer in a catch 22 You can't ask the developer to commit to something they don't have
financing for but they can't commit to the financing until we approve it at meeting So that's never you're never going to be able to get them to commit 100% to something because they can't commit to it until we approve it right
so nothing in life is without risk So is there the risk that there's the potential that she could walk away from this property that risk is very low She's already put a lot of money into this project already Why would she walk away from it now after going through all
this i don't think that makes any sense to her That would make no financial sense to her to do that She wants to develop the property So and then we've had all these conversations about well we have to we can't put the burden on the can't put the burden on the Elm
Street residents Can't have betterments too much So we got together They all said "Well if there was a way we could do this without putting it on the backs of the Elm Street residents then that would be the best possible scenario." So we now have the best possible
scenario We're getting $3.5 million in a grant to pay to upgrade the town's infrastructure so that we can get rid of the eyesore and a danger And now we're going to say no That's absolutely ridiculous to me
Ridiculous So I'll be voting yes on this All right Anyone else all right My my concern on this personally is that you know the total cost is 4 million We're looking at between 5.5 and 6 million So you're
about $2 million of uh 50% of the project Uh an additional 50% for redesign contingency is is astronomical to me Um so I I personally I I'm very confused at that total
Um can we go through that a little bit more i think contingency is contingency Yeah contingency usually isn't 50% project The project is $4 million Contingency shouldn't be 50% of that No the public I mean the the police costs
are 300,000 half a million I mean those aren't cheap the uh oversight during construction I mean most the contingency is is probably 10% of that and then there's all the other auxiliary costs I mean there's a lot of costs that
that go into it So th those are are pretty normal numbers and we're not coming back We're not we need to have enough money to build this We are in a we're in an uncertain climate on bidding This is not the best time to bid a job
but it's the time that we have Glad you remember my last comments that I need to go back Not you personally Um my other question is was the bedroom just please remind me was it 1.5 to the 47 street uh with the big project when it was it was
1.75 Okay Okay The range was 1.5 to 1.75 That's what I thought I just want to confirm that Okay Anyone else mr Chair Mr Snake I'd like to make a motion to approve article nine I'm sorry is it nine nine Article nine uh for the
special town meeting Um that's Yeah Recommend You mean to recommend Okay Is there a second okay All in favor i I opposed No All right Well it's still going to go to town meeting because Vincome recommended
it So what was the vote two Two Two Yes Three No Thank you guys The other article uh that water has is um article four uh water water enterprise operating
budget Do you want to talk on that 26 or 2025 2025 special So in FY2025 budget we're actually asking for a special transfer of $10,65 This is to cover cover interest
and um short-term debt for monies that are being borrowed now Um so the first payment is going to be due in June which will be FY25 So instead of increasing the actual budget um by the amount that is going to be owed we actually uh dedicating money from a specific line
item that's in there and having transferred um allocated to pay the uh the expenditure of this money forward Any questions folks committee recommended 10 nothing questions No All right I'll take
a motion Article 40 Mr Chair Mr Merc I make a motion that we recommend article 4 Second Okay All in favor i I opposed Thank you Thank you
What do I have next i just ask Frank one thing Uh Frank could you talk a little bit on the acco where where we're at with that the uh consent order that Tom received from the
EB You should have all received a copy of that with an explanation letter at some point Um basically breaking down the one-sidedness of that document Um so each interfaction that you guys are all well aware of any public notice or anything that's been sent out for uh
manganesees uh PAS anything of that nature um is covered in the uh the legal document with D and M Uh typically this comes along with penalties When you have multiple infractions over a short period of time the penalties for this were
waved knowing that we are proactively moving each and every subject that was listed in the ACL Um our biggest uh hurdle is actually going to be getting the required projects These these are not recommended These will be required by mass D with certain time
frames to get completed Um there's going to be a cost associated with each of them So we hoping that uh we'll have full board support because we know how much easier town meetings go board especially with articles with multiple zeros after them You will see that these
are going to be substantial projects Um we are looking at alternatives to the simple obvious which would be building a treatment facility have different treatment techniques or multiple treatment facilities at each of the wells to fit the new criteria Seems
like there's a goal and every time the goal that we achieve is moved Um you know the POS number that's in place we had one exceedence We we came in at 21 parts per trillion The maximum contaminant level was 20 parts per trillion you know you
exceed you know you exceed that one part per trillion and now you're looking at at spending you know $20 million on a treatment facility You know does it need to be put in place absolutely But you know you would think there'd be a little bit of leniency there you know with the discrepancy how close the uh the sample results were compared to what other
community sets Um so we worked with them Um as we've mentioned to you guys before there were new requirements that were set in place um from the EPA bringing that number from 20 parts per trillion down to four with a goal of zero The treatment process for a plant of 20
compared to a plant of four or zero is completely different meaning you're doubling or tripling the numbers So we're looking at uh at what the facilities will cost to build individual facilities meeting all these new criteria possibly purchasing water um long-term or short-term while these
facilities are built into online and looking at new well sources in town So there's there's a lot of new parts all coming up with this ACL The biggest thing to remember is that there will be deadlines in place and penalties um should those deadlines not be met or met
satisfactory you know with the with standards moving along So we do have Tara on I believe she's still on our own water engineer if you guys have any specific questions but we are very very early on into the stages of the investigation on this We are pretty
suggestions I know uh Mr Rich and I have have talked about a few different things Um that may be something that he and I I speak of uh you know again in the near future but um we're limited by what we have We're limited on what we can do with the water even though when it comes
out of the ground and uh anytime you see a criteria that's not met It's not that we're not doing our job although the technicians aren't doing their job We're going within the exceedable limits and the sample results are basically like test If you get a bad test you retest
you figure out what went wrong and making corrections that way So there's definitely a lot of changes that'll be coming in the near future all with expense Thank you Just a quick question Are other towns having the same issue that we're having here and we've been in
touch with those water superintendent to see what they're doing as well Each of them have their own different viewpoints sequences that they're going through Some have already gone through the acco process Some are in the middle of the acco process Basically what this does is
D in lack of better terms they're giving this to us as a tool Yes it's a penalty Yes there are penalties involved if you don't follow suit with it But with a tool in hand when you go to town meeting when you go to the boards and you're asking for a limited amount of money to change your infrastructure that you currently have because things aren't
working you know it's almost a key that you know it's kind of saying this has to be done We have to find a way to do it Um unfortunately if the water department can't fund some of these we may be looking at some creative ideas and looking at other ways of additional
funding from local sources Um because we're talking substantial stuff here big changes that'll be coming and helps you in the world Yeah Thank you Any anyone else okay Again if anybody has any questions
please reach out to me directly My phone my email always there Uh the ACL are very involved very very descriptive and break it down and simplify things a little bit if you like that way All right Thank you very much R Appreciate it Thank you
All right Mike what do we have next um on the annual town meeting um the finance committee uh since you last met took up two articles um from the planning board Item number three on the
warrant is recottification of the zoning bylaws Maybe we want to address that one first I was say this call you just relocated to your microphone closer to the exit
It's just number Yeah chair I I don't have anything to present as you that's for public hearing but I'm here to answer any questions There any questions i to me this one's pretty straightforward but yeah I think we've already heard about a couple times once or twice Mr Chair this is I'll make
a motion to recommend article three Second Oh sorry Yeah article three right second for the uh spring annual That was Did you get that that was Alex Yeah Um okay All in favor i opposed All
right There was one other code Um this is to create a zone by multif family district here to answer any questions and Parker
is here as well Um comp did vote in favor of this I believe the vote was 7 to three Can I turn the mics up i don't think they're Oh sorry No it's not you We got it down Okay So Finn voted at 7 to3 You
said in support of Yes Uh any questions uh just a comment I I had a chance to watch the uh planning board meeting last is it last week it's more than a week right yeah Well we've had one every wishes last four weeks So
um very well meeting and I want to say thank you to the talent people that came out and and spoke uh about this article Um it was great to hear different perspectives and I appreciate their um insights and thoughts Okay any other comments
i I spoke my speech last meeting So did I Yeah I think we've I think we've talked about this quite a bit That's what I said last meeting Um Okay Um Mr Chair Mr Sorry Thank you
I'm sorry Thank you Uh Laura Parker for Allen Drive Just for the sake of the record I'm also on the planning board Um just here to make one last stitch effort Um whether to fight the state is a decision
for the select board to decide You voiced your decisions or your opinions on it You had ample opportunity to act on them I think if it was a fight you thought that was worth having or that you could win you probably would have filed suit against the state already
Um you know I'm of the opinion pretty much everybody's every town's argument was rendered moot as soon as the state supreme court determined the act was constitutional Of the towns that are left there are still fighting it with the exception of Milton who I think actually does have a case on how they
were categorized and I hear they're close to reaching a settlement It's likely none of the other towns are going to prevail Um the only ones winning here are lawyers Um I did watch the select boards meeting last week and did want to address some of the comments that were
made Um it was said that the planning board was given a mandate at fall town meeting and it wasn't followed Obviously I disagree Um the two main takeaways that we got from fall town meeting were one you should listen to us meaning the
people and two don't put this on undeveloped land Um so in December we held a very widely advertised open house for the sole purpose of asking people where they wanted this overlay to be And then we discussed the results in three open meetings before we even narrowed it
down to four areas all of which had some form of development on them And then we discussed those areas in three more open meetings before voting on them specifically The parcels chosen by the planning board were in the two areas that ranked the highest in our public
openhouse exercise by a pretty wide margin And in all of those meetings not one person from any of the parcels that we ended up choosing showed up at any of our meetings to complain about the overlay being placed there Every single one of them was noticed Not a single
complaint was registered We chose parcels that where the impact would be neither 0% nor 100% They all have development on them The majority of which is already multif family housing that if redeveloped could possibly
produce more units than what presently exists but it doesn't change what's already there This was the best compromise between those on either side of the spectrum being the people who don't want any new development at all and those who
feel we need more housing So this task called for a very sensible compromise given the need that it needs to pass a town meeting They may not be the parcels that you personally wanted but it's what the majority of the people
who took the time to weigh in wanted and that's democracy and action There's a very small group of people who have it in their head that snubbing their nose at the state and putting this in a place that's not likely to develop in the near term is the way to go
Setting aside the fact that it ignores the underlying issue that you have all by either words or actions admitted exists I can tell you that that's exactly what got us here in the first place There's not enough housing here in this state particularly affordable
housing In part because there are towns who over the years have amended their zoning bylaws specifically to make sure that no multifamily housing could ever be built there So 177 towns got slapped with the same law and a mandate to allow
some arbitrary number of units regardless of how we currently treat multifamily housing Is it fair no Does anybody like it no But we're charged with an exercise and we need to comply Um I would like to point out that
it was then said by a couple of different select board members One the char parcels chosen all but guarantee that they will be developed And the second one was Mansfield AV could be built within the year I guarantee it Personally I I I think it's silly to
be worried about what could possibly be redeveloped So I'm I I don't want to cut you off but we're not going to just you know rehash everything that was said and we rewear Please be concise here It's okay
Um so I do want to bring your attention to a comment that low-income housing this was made by a select board member low-income housing brings more children to schools comparatively That's a fact You know what else brings more children
into the schools three-bedroom houses More specifically 74 3-bedroom duplexes built under a friendly 40b And that is exactly what this select board voted unanimously in favor of last
September on Nukem Street 37 duplexes 74 units on 11 acres in R80 zoning where at most five single family homes would have been allowed by a right and that developer intends to connect to existing sewer and new land In the meeting
running up to this vote Mr Hornsby made the following declarations I think this would be a great development for the town and seeing it not go through I'm going to ask you to keep your comments to the to the the article This is in regards to Okay this should be about the
article So if you're not if you're done with your comments on the article I'm going to ask the next person to come up So we have seem to have conflicting opinions from the select board depending on who is asking us to build at a higher density than the current zoning allows
So I would like to better understand why you don't seem to be in favor of a hypothetical exercise that could create more affordable housing and may or may not result in more school-aged children but could so easily and
enthusiastically support an actual plan that's sold Delineations are done Plans exist Engineering's done could be built immediately to support a plan that will generate more affordable housing and all
but guarantee to produce school-aged children Personally I would just finally like to thank Mr Maran He came to every single select board meeting we held on this topic He did not say much and on some nights I'm not going to argue that
was really appreciated Um he said last week he's not sure what's best for this town I don't know whether he meant the parcels in particular or the state shoving it down our throats but I can tell he's angry with the state for putting us in this situation and creating this friction And so wait like
I said nobody wants this So I'm not sure anything I've said here is going to sway Mr Maran to support this article but he seems to be a reasonable man by the fact that he did recognize this article not passing would put the town in a worse spot than where we were before So I do
personally want to thank him for listening Um and I'm going to make one last appeal to support this so we can move forward and be done with it It's not going away no matter how much we wanted to and we can't afford to fight it We put forth a good and sensible compromise to bring to town meeting and
I'm just asking you to support that Thank you Thank you Is there anyone else that would like to speak for you Jack yep Go ahead Just one other thing I looked up the master plan before this meeting I just wanted to see if we addressed housing which of
course we did in the master plan was supported by the town Uh goal number two specifically goal 2.2 was to build a range sorry uh make the font bigger Build a range of market rate housing to meet the demands of young families the senior population
and firsttime home buyers Priority high So I just wanted to bring that up and raise that Go ahead Mark Sweeney 14 LAN like to thank the comments from the latest uh speaker from
chapa um this partner um going to cut right to the chase If we bring it in it their kids are going to follow We already have a problem We're so early in the budgeting right now We're 1.8 million in the hole so far
Correct Right there So down the road we're going to bring in a lot of kids fire services to these locations traffic um just just everything basically So the idea is that we're
supposed to bend over No Rod Welsh's idea to basically put it at a Redm Mill was a good idea We can read the letter of the law Maybe not to spare it like Chapel wants Um but we can read meet the
letter of the law and check it off We won't have to do anything as far as legal actions So if we put it over Redm Mill there's going to be no issue later on They're not going to tear down those beautiful 153 Again not to interrupt but
we're going to keep it to the article So so I'm going to hope that you vote against um against the article You know it's going to go down in a town hall a town meeting but just be right there Mr
Marcian I think she's trying to you know she's identifying you as the swing voter here I would think that you know what's right and that you vote against it Thank you Thank you Mr Sm And just to add a comment I think everybody on this board
regardless of our opinions are all reasonable people Um I don't think Roger's the only one Sorry Roger I think we we've disagreed on many things and I certainly consider Kevin a very reasonable person even though we disagree on a lot Yeah you're saying that I'm leaving I would I you know what
I would have said this day one obviously Um okay so we ready for a vote sure Mr Chair Mr Marc I make a motion that we being a positive recommend article 17 to
the town meeting Second Okay Motion and a second All in favor i opposed I n three against three Can I It was three to two against Yep Thank you
Okay Do we have anything else Mike um I think as far as the budget this is the first we've seen of it Um and again this is this not what I wanted to do I wanted us to see it before VICOM last year and again this year But um I think we all need time to look at it and look at the
binder So um unless anybody here wants to go through it tonight No I'm not going to go through it tonight Just a couple of quick questions Sure Um Mike this top sheet here I I I see that you've spelled out you know which groups
get what and where the money's coming from and all that but what is the what is needed for level funding level services no layoffs no I'll I'll get that to you that what people requested for their Did Fin get
that on Monday um no And then and then also on the head counts it might be in these sheets here I was just about to go through Um but I just want to understand head counts what they are this year Yeah And what they will be under this proposed budget for each department
So is there anything anybody would like to see for our next meeting on this denise laid out a few things Definitely what Denise said Yeah I I agree with Denise Yeah Okay Um is are there any other articles in this units that you'd like us to
consider okay And now we're under the town managers report Um so they're moving along on the project Um you can see they're putting up the brick face on the uh building uh now and
uh finishing off the curving out front blocking off the uh old entrance to the parking area Um so uh the site work is is ongoing The new curbing is 95% complete Um the paving at
the fire station is scheduled for April 21st and the concrete sidewalks on April 25th Um the final paving is scheduled uh for May 16th with line striping on May 30th
Yep on that Uh do you think we could talk to the contractor and maybe next week just have him move the fence on this side back so we could use the parking spaces along there for voting yeah Tuesday um we did talk about that That will be moved and most of that
parking lot will be cleared out and should be available um for that day Thank you Any other questions on the town hall yeah go ahead Mike is there a punch list
for for the town hall put both of them in Um well for the town hall um on the uh the punch list um repaint uh the crosswalks that'll be
done in May Um some areas need some seating and touchup on the outside um one damage window that we're waiting uh for the company to work on that And
uh there's some couple screw heads showing um in uh one of the offices that they're going to work on and still going around to make the final list What about the AV equipment for tomorrow
so the AV equipment um we're still waiting for the delivery of the equipment They did deliver and install equipment at the senior center Um the digital signs are on order so it'll be coming All right One more thing I'm sorry Go
ahead Uh Mike are they going to uh mount that uh boat drop off box the mailbox that's out front so it doesn't have a bike train jared's going to do that when they're done Can Can we do something with the the bike lockups are behind the trash barrel for some reason so if you
put your bike there you go put it on the grass and walk it up next to the barrel Oh look at that Yeah Take a look at it's very silly looking Mike if you would mention also this concrete walk is not accepted That's going to be redone Right Concrete
padding Correct Still working on a solution for that So I I want to go through the senior center stuff too but can we for our next meeting get a list of the punch list items in our in our packet so we know I want to have that as a standing item as well so we can keep track of
what's going on because I I personally get questions almost every week on the what's what's going on Um do you have a list for the senior center too um so the punch list at the senior center um is um reeding um the lawn areas Um there's
some damaged window screens that they're waiting uh for our Quaker window to uh repair Um sealments on the sidewalk scheduled um in May on the walk temperatures are better and um there's some touchup to be done
on the kitchen cabinets Um that's the as I said the audio visual stuff was put in this week Um we're still working on some issues with that All right I I have a list because I went
through the senior center with some of them Um there's some shingles buckled that was noticed to you guys um in January So that should be something that's dealt with sooner than later I thought that was inspected and they said that there wasn't an issue with that But
uh there's still bug I think Um I mean there's some some minor stuff that the Handyman can fix but um one of the ones I was actually really concerned about was the gas fireplace Um I guess when it's running it it gets the drywall
above it extremely like hot to the touch of burning your hand So I'm concerned as a safety issue for that So I think that should be looked at immediately Um and the other item that that is more of a capital item is the the asphalts Some of the asphalt is kind
of raised up a little bit Um so that's listed out warranty issue The pavement fee at the front side entries Y um needs to be repaired Okay Okay So if we just get a list of these
things um if we can get a list of these things with the next meeting as well that'd be great And just kind of updates who's who's handling these these the OPM The OPM is okay Through the building committee or through
you or town hall or the OPM handles it and reports back to the building committee on So who who's bringing this to the OPM is what I'm asking the issues Yeah So like the issues a punch list item they'll the OPM's right
in our building here that'll tell him Okay Okay Thank you All right Any other questions folks on on those as I take control of that i'm sorry All right Um so select report and
mail I um is there any mail before I get into what I want to say no sir passing back That's okay All right So this isn't a select report in mail per se but I I wanted to personally
thank Kevin Snder for 3 years of um professionalism and we we've we've battled uh on items and then you know gone and had a drink afterwards So um I think I think you've done a really good job on the board and I'm sorry to see
you go honestly Um and I I thank you I want to thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Will those drink next maybe not tonight but tonight's the most appropriate Um Steve if I could um Mr Chair um yeah I would like to um first
of all thank um thank Steve and Alec and Roger and Denise Um uh my fellow board members Um uh it's been it's been a pleasure working with all of you Um you know I know when Steve and I first came on the board there was a lot of tension
on the board and I feel like we've all uh done a really good job of working together and even though we're disagreeing um keeping things always civil and always um respectful and have a lot of respect for all you guys So I just wanted to and um so I wanted to say
that Um I wanted to also thank um Mr units for um for all of his help and uh all of his work Um uh you know always appreciated and um wish him the best um in his retirement Hopefully I'll see him
one or two more times before that happens Um and um most of all I wanted to thank Jen um who sits down there and takes the minutes um and um puts together um uh and and and all of Mike's staff that helps as well But we see Jen
here all the time and she puts together all these all these books and uh answers our emails and you know um basically keeps things moving Um and so I wanted to specially um shout her out for the job that she does So thank you Jen Um
and um yeah so thanks very much and and um I think that's it for me Signing off We appreciate the time and and as we all know there's an election coming up and this could potentially be my last meeting too So I'm I'm not going to go through the thank yous as uh I'm hoping
to be back here and I fully expect to be but just in case I do appreciate every single one of you on this board Um agree or disagree I think we we've all come together as a I think we've been a great a great board Um one of the best in quite a while So um I want to
thank every single one of you and Mike and Jen everybody else So I'm not going to continue but thank you very much all of you Thanks Thank you And if you don't like me on the board you're going to hate me if I don't get on the board cuz I'll be out here making my phone All right Um I approve the warrants as written And
if there's anything else going Oh yeah That's right Um are we still doing the exact session yeah unfortunately we have to Do you have the paper okay I declare under general laws chapter 30A section 21 A2 that the purpose of the executive session will be
to discuss strategy with respect to negotiations with non-UN personnel i.e interim town manager because the discussion of this strategy in open session could compromise the purpose of the executive session and with the board not to return to open session at the
conclusion of the executive session Mr here Mr Murphy I move that the board go into executive session under general barc 38A for the purposes and reasons declared by the chair with the board not to return
to open session thereafter Second Okay Uh roll call Denise yes Kevin yes Roger yes Alec yes And Ivy yes Thank you all very