So I want to call the meeting to order tonight. Uh tonight we have uh Mr. O'Neal, Miss Luchiano, Mr. Kimble, and myself. Um Mr. Rich is um still working with the uh town manager search committee and
they are uh busy this evening. So uh we're going to carry on. We're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um Mr. units. Um, have you um heard from uh Sergeant Eisner or the Chief? Are they coming tonight? Um, they aren't they are
not coming. Okay. Sergeant Eisner is not around today. Let me read that. Yeah. Um, Mr. Kimble, it's a letter from Chief Ryan Clark regarding Sergeant John Eisner. This letter is to inform you that it is my
intention to retire from full-time service from the Norton Police Department effective July 6, 2025. I would also respectfully request that you consider allowing me to continue as a ser serve as a special police officer retired status. It has been my honor and pleasure to have
served the town of New for the past 43 plus years. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to work with such well-trained, educated, and professional group of men and women that comprise your current department. You and I both stated, I started our careers in this department
during a different era of policing. I know you were proud of the department as you should be. You went trans transformation to what is today and are preparing it for the next generation to take over. I for one thank you for that. I would also like to thank your command
staff as well as members of the patrol and detective divisions for the assistance and respect they afforded me over the years. The working camaraderie that currently exists within the department is such at such a level that it would make other departments
envious and signed Sergeant John D. Eisner. Thank you. We also have a uh certificate of appreciation for Sergeant Eisner that hopefully we'll be able to present to him at a uh future meeting. Mr. Chair,
could I suggest we he he's asking to be um appointed as a special police officer retired status. I wonder if I could you would entertain a motion to consider um I'd wait until the chief sends over we
have on the agenda and stuff to Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, next up we have the appointment of the joint transportation planning group representative and alternate representative. Um, Mr. Stephanelli, would you like to
come up and say a couple of words? Well, you go ahead and speak and then we'll see if we get a motion. Okay. He's good. He These ex-military guys, boy, they got the answers. I would like very much
Ralph Stephanelli, 12 James Street. 53 years in the town, almost on every committee. This one is the big one, the traffic committee, cuz that's where the money is. And I know what doors to knock on,
and I've been around long enough. And I'm also a past representative for Serpent. And congratulations to Miss Luciano for being the new Serpentid rep. Thank you. You're going to love it. We We'll share.
Okay. Collaborate. That's the new word. We'll collaborate. I would like to place my name and nomination for the traffic study commission at Serpentid. I would uh entertain a motion to u
appoint Mrs. Stefan Ellie as the joint transportation planning group representative. Mr. Chair, I I'll make a motion to appoint for years 2025 2026 Ralph Stephanelli to the Joint Transportation Planning Group, the
JTPG as our representative. Do we have a second? A second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I I Congratulations, Mr. Secretary. Thank you. Guys, through your chair? Yes. Is there anyone available
for the alternate? Yes. Jared Ferrer, the highway superintendent said uh he would be the alternate. Okay. I'd make a I'd entertain a motion for that. I'll make a motion for Jared Ferrara for alternate
for the joint transportation planning group. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Thank you, Mr. Stephanelli. And uh thank you, Jared. Um next up, we have the uh
appointment of the Bristol County Advisory Board member. Uh Mr. Unix, do you have some information about that for us? I don't remember. Who was Kevin the rep? Does anybody remember? [Music]
Um I was Kevin with that I was This is the This is the uh Bristol County Aggie School. Um yes. Yeah, that was me. Okay. Um I don't mind continuing, but if someone else wants to is excited about it, that's fine, too.
You see the hands? I I'm happy to continue. Do you want to make a motion to appoint Denise Luciano to the Bristol County Advisory Board? A second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor?
I I opposed. Thank you, Miss Luchiano. Um, we have a reappoints for boards and committee terms expiring June 30th, 2025. I think we have an updated list that we just got today.
Um, Mr. Ununit, is there any chance that I could just look through this and possibly since we just got this tonight, maybe um hold this off to our next meeting and appoint and do this then? Yep. Yeah. Okay. As long as you meet in June.
Yep. We're going to meet We're going to meet in June for sure. Okay. Um, anybody else have any other thoughts on that? No, that's fine. Okay. We have some minutes to be approved. Um, some of these minutes, uh, Miss Luchiano, you and I are the only
ones who going to be able to, uh, vote on these because they were before the election. Okay. I'll make the motion then. Oh. Uh, I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes for March 27th, 2020. Do I have to do them separately?
We can't do them all together. Um I think if you can do the Can we do them all together, Miss? I would do. Well, you do two separate. No. Okay. Okay. We can abort on the other. Uh I vote to approve. Um sorry. I'd like to make a motion to approve
meeting minutes for March 27, 2025. Second. All those in favor? I present. Present. I'll make a motion to approve March 27, 2025 executive session. Second.
All those in favor? I I present. Present. I'll make a motion to approve May 1st, 2025 um meeting minutes. Sorry. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor? I I.
And I'll mot make a motion to approve meeting minutes for May 8th, 2025. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I uh licenses and permits, Mr. Chairman. Yes. If we could hold off on this until
your next meeting. Okay, that makes that easy. Unless anybody has a an issue with that. Nope. Mr. Kimble. Yes. I'm sorry. Ju just a suggestion um for the subsequent packets that we get that have the same agenda
items on them them maybe we can all hold on to our ele parts of those packets so that Jen doesn't have to reprint them and include them in the future packets pulling it out now Jen I would suggest that that's a great idea thank you Kevin yeah yeah so you don't
have to reprint all that stuff that uh for the um license if you don't Mr. Kimble see under announcements. Do I have Essential is offering CPR and first aid training. Uh training will include
CPR, AED placement, and first aid. It's going to be held on July 24th from at 4:30 p.m. Uh, seats are limited. Please call to reserve your spot today. There is a fee of $35. Please call Diana Regional Public
Health Nurse at 7817934586. The location is going to be at the Norton Public Library, 68 East Main Street, Norton, Mass. and it will be held in the front community room. Town of Norton launches a new program fixed to help residents uh
report non emergency issues and ask questions. This was updated on April 14th. The Norton Town website homepage now supports a new icon for see and fix. It is located on the picture of the new town hall at the far right. Residents
can now click this icon and go to the department that they would like to request services from. Please be advised that not all departments are on the service yet as we are slowly rolling the app out. Smartphone users may also go to the app store and download the C, click,
and fix app and use it on use it that way while they are on the go. Please be advised this is not for emergencies or urgent matters. Please call 911 for that. Requests will be tracked and residents will be updated on
progress with their request as well as when the work has been completed. Anybody else have any other announcements? I have a couple Mr. Chair. So if um that doesn't do it justice that write up and I got some additional
information I got from Ray Cord that I forwarded on to the board. Um so it's an app that you can get from the Apple store and put it on your phone. You put your log on information and you kind of set up an account and then whenever you use it you get updates on your submittals. So it's kind of like a
a case portal if you would um around uh like Bob mentioned many different aspects of the town. I think originally it was advertised to take pictures of potholes and then post the location the geom mapping the location and then the um highway department would have access
to uh all those submitts. Now it's expanded as you mentioned to many other departments and one of the things I was hoping for is that the water and sewer commission would have um a section there. So and they do. So, if you go on and you cho choose that department, you
can uh report uh just call it water, uh you can report water breaks, um sewer issues, and I think it's going to be a great portal. I I wish we had it up on the screen, but I would advise everybody to go to the homepage and go to the bottom right and you'll see um see click
fix and you can submit um requests or issues right on the website or as I mentioned you can download the app and do right off your phone. So, I think it's a great way for the town to communicate issues uh that they may see while they're, you know, out and about
around town and then also for the department heads to have a way to keep track of all of the uh, you know, the concerns that are out there. So, you get a response within 3 to 5 days if you actually use the app itself. And um, and of course, it's a way for the department
heads to track all of the issues and concerns, you know, around town, log them in and that kind of thing. I think it's going be much more efficient than making phone calls or leaving messages and um it'll be much more effective on getting a resolution as well. So,
thank you, Mr. O'Neal. You're welcome. I have one other thing, Mr. Chair. Mr. Kimbo, our announcement. that the Norton Veterans Council is going to have the accountable on June 26th from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. June 27th from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. June 28th from 12 to after the
fireworks which is going to be the Founders Day event. And on June 29th from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. Northern Park and Recreation Department will have the Founders Day on Saturday, June 28th from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. And again, that'll be followed by the fireworks. That's all I
have. Thank you. Um I haven't seen um Mr. Rivero. Has anybody uh been in contact with the family of Mr. Rivera? So having seen none of that, we're going to pass over that and if um
he shows up, we'll go back to that. We have the uh discussion and our vote to approve the sale and execution of sale documents for bonds and ban. Mr. Units, so you have uh in front of you a vote
that you would have to take. Uh this is for the sale of $4,720,000 in uh general obligation municipal bonds. Um, the sale price was $4,941,1163 and they'll all be paid off in
2045 right around the corner. Um, does the uh would the treasur like to say anything? Uh, does anybody have any questions? No. No. I'd entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion.
Um 5% um through 2035, then 4% from 2036 through 2042 and then uh 2043 4.125 and 2045
4.25. Thank you. I would ask that if anybody from the audience would like to uh speak, would you please come up to the microphone and uh identify yourself before? Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to vote and approve the sale and execute some
sale documents for bonds and ban. Is there is there a legal document, Mr. Units, we have to read because I don't have that. You don't have that. It's Oh, sorry. You got to read that. Oh, okay. I have
[Laughter] it. I the clerk of the select board of the town of Norton, Massachusetts, hereby known as the town, certify that a meeting of the board was held on June 5th, 2025, for which meeting all members of the board were duly notified and at
which a quorum was present. The following votes were unanimously passed, all which appear upon the official record of the bond of the board in my custody. voted that the sale of the $4,720,000 general obligation municipal
purpose loan of 2025 bonds of the town dated June 18, 2025 to Raymond James and Associates Incorporated at a price of $4,941,1163 and acred interest is hereby approved and confirmed. The bond shall
be payable on June 15th of the of the years and the principal amounts and the interest as at the respective rates as follows. 2026 $240,000 actually 2026 [Music] to 2037 would be $240,000 at a rate of
4% five and 4%. 2038 2039 235,000 at 4%. 2040 2041 2042 will be $230,000 at
4%. 2043 will be 230,000 at a rate of 4.125% and 2045 will be $450,000 at a rate of 4.25%. 25%. Further voted that the bond
maturing on June 15 2045 the term bond shall be subject to mandatory redemption or mature as follows. Year 2044 $225,000 and 2045 will be an additional
$225. Further voted to approve the sale of $520,770 at 4.10% 10% general obligation bond anticipation note issued as a state house note of the town dated June 18, 2025 and payable
September 24th, 2025 to Uni Bank for savings at par and acred interest and if any further voted that in connection with the marketing and sale of the bonds the preparation and distribution of a notice of of sale
and preliminary official statement dated May 28,2020 25 and a final official statement dated June 4th, 2025. The official statement each of which each of such forms as may be
approved by the town treasurer being hereby are ratified, confirmed and approved and adopted. Further voted that the bond shall be subject to redemption at the option of the town upon such terms and conditions as set forth in the official statement. further voted that
the town treasurer and assert board be and hereby are authorized to execute and deliver a continuing disclosure undertaking in compliance with section rule 15 section 2-12 incess form as may be approved by
bond council of the town which undertaken shall be incorporated by reference in the bonds for the benefit of the holders of the bonds from time to time further voted that we authorize and direct the town treasurer to establish proceedings issuance federal tax
compliance procedures and continuing disclosure procedures to which forms as to the town treasur and wine council deem sufficient. All of such procedures are currently in place to review and update such procedures in order to monitor and maintain the tax exempt
status of the bonds and to comply with the revalent security laws. It is further voted that any certificate of documents relating to the bonds collectively the documents parenthesis may be ex executed in several counterparts each of which shall be
regarded as an original and all of which shall continue one in the same document. Delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in a PDF file or by other electronic transmission shall be
as effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart signature page to such documents. Electronic signatures of any of the documents shall be deemed original signatures for the purposes of the documents and all matters relating there to having the same legal effect as
the original signatures. It is further voted that each member of the select board, the town clerk, and the town treasurer be and hereby are authorized to take any and all actions, execute and deliver such certificates, receipts, or other documents as may be
determined by them or any of them to be necessary to convenient or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the foregoing votes. You're almost done. Almost. I'm here to certify that the vote were taken at a meeting upon the public, that no vote
was taken by secret ballot, that a notice stating the place, date, time, agenda for the meeting, parenthesis, which agenda included the adoption of the above votes was filled was filed with the town clerk and a copy thereof, posted in a manner conspicuously visible
to the public at all hours or in the municipal building that the office of the town clerk is located or if applicable in accordance with the al alternative method of notice prescribed or approved by the attorney general as set
forth in accordance with the alternative method of notice prescribed or approved by the attorney general as set forth in section 940 CMR 23.0B ARB subsection 2 subsection B at least 48 hours not
including Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays prior to the time of the meeting and remain so posted at the time of the meeting that no deliberations or decisions in connection with the sale of the bonds were taken in executive session all in accordance to Mass
General Law section 30A subsection 18-25 as amended. There's a motion. Good job, Bob. Is there a second? Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in
favor? I I opposed. Thank you, Mr. Kimell. Presentation of the from the friends of World War II Veterans Memorial Trail regarding sponsoring opportunity.
Good evening. Thanks for uh adding us to the agenda. My name is Janelle Tug. I live at 137 South Washington. I've been in Norton about 7 years. My partner's been here about 30 years. I'm the current chair of the alternative transportation committee which will be
disbanded once the trail is turned over from the engineers to the town. Meanwhile, the friends of the World War II Veterans Memorial Trail has formed. It is a 501c3 nonprofit and uh its intention is to
educate, advocate, and financially support the trail and its uses. Uh one of the ideas that we have for uh sort of kickstarting some fundraising for the for the efforts is to utilize
the dog waste stations. There are eight of them along the trail and offer folks in the town the opportunity to sponsor one of these dog stations with a plaque that would have their pet's name. I guess it doesn't have to be a dog, but I
think it will be a dog. um to put their dog's name. We have a a a design for this and we know the cost. Um it's quite affordable, about $50 per plaque. And we're going to be asking uh folks to donate $500 for the privilege of having their
pet's name posted on one of these stations. And the duration of that uh privilege will be for 3 years at which time we would seek new sponsors or renewal. We've got other ideas, benches and and um dedications that are also in
the works, but this is our initial plan, something that we could wrap our our arms around with the the meetings that we've had so far, and we're hoping to kick it off and share um the opportunity in time for Founders Day.
Sounds great. Uh, chair, Miss Kimble, could you uh just so we're clear on this because we've got some some issues as far as the maintenance of the of the trail itself. Oh, really? So, the intent Yeah. So, the intention of your group will be to do exactly what are you going
to maintain them or you are is the highway department still going to be expected to do it or what? Our intention um is to absolutely be in collaboration with the town. We're already um talking with John Thomas and the highway department. We've met with Mike Ununits
um and we will be available uh to be on call for special projects. Our understanding is that and there and there is anou um a member a memorandum of understanding uh from John Thomas's department about the maintenance with schedules and everything. So we have a very clear idea of what what is and
isn't you know um the responsibility of the town versus versus the friends. I think we're all forming, you know, the idea of what's going to be needed and that's the idea is to be a group, a body of towns people that can along with Mansfield's town people to support. Um,
so as far as the dog stations go though, I think we have I think we did decide that we'll um supply the the bags and make sure that there's bags in each of those stations at all times. And certainly if there are maintenance issues, which there have been, um we
will be maybe we'll be using the new portal as one of the tools to say, "Hey, this needs to get done." I'm not sure. But um it's all a little bit under construction, but yeah, we're we are not we're we're not part of the town, right? Where we want to be a we are already a
separate entity from the town so that we can respond um without having to do all the due diligence that being on a town committee requires. Okay. Okay. So, the town will be responsible for the most part of the maintenance of the trails, mowing, taking care of the trash, all that. Absolutely. Um to again be clear
though, this trail has not been adopted. In other words, the town the town has not the pro the possession or accept acceptance or even the maintenance of this park has not this walkway has not been turned over to the town as of yet.
That's my understanding. I don't have the date. Maybe Mike can speak to it. Well, their their date for completion is June 13th. So, we're hoping uh that that is
accurate. So to be clear though because I'm going to play a recording that was called into the highway department and as much as we as much as we've tried to convey the message that the town has no legal responsibility at
this time to work on that on that trail. Uh, a lot of people still seem to be unaware of that and it the only reason they're bringing this forward is because people have to understand that it's going to take a while to work out the bugs on this trail and I'm sure
everyone's going to enjoy it, but to com to call not leave a me leave a message, not leave any contact information and to a town and make the comments that were made. They have swears, but they were comments. I think I'd like to play this
because of two reasons. I want people to understand that the highway department, in my opinion, is one of the hardest working departments in this town. They're they're out there constantly every day doing everything they can. And the morale yesterday morning when I walked in there, I had to sign some
documents for the cemetery commission and the morale was totally totally in the toilet. So I want to play this and hope with a hope that someone might recognize the voice and let this educate this person on what exactly we are
trying to do there. Yes. Hello. I was wondering if you could send one of your useless do nothing all day town employees to one of the new trails on Washington Street. The trash
can's been overflowing now for 4 months. to where I've taped it, put duct tape over it, and there's trash overflowing. Just a simple drive over there and pick it up. I know you guys are busy. You guys do so much all day. Town looks great. But but uh if anyone
can go over there, take a break from your nap and just pick that up, that'd be great. But thank you. So to be clear, I think any assault on any of our departments should be should be uh
something we should be concerned about. And I'm not I'm disappointed in this person. I don't know who it is. Didn't leave a message other message other than the message that was left. And we have no other information. But I'm just bringing this to everyone's attention because we need to slow down and figure out how
this is all going to work. And it's going to take some time. And if someone has a concern, hopefully this new portal might, as you say, might open up some of the concerns. But, you know, we have a high we have a lot of dedicated employees that work for this town and
the whole departments. I don't care if you're talking about schools, highway, whatever it might be. I'm just concerned that people like this give them all a black eye and it really is unjustified. So, I I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention. I appreciate what
you guys are trying to do. It' be nice to have another set of eyes on the on the trails and and I've noticed a lot of traffic on it already and it seems like it's almost completed which is good. So, but uh I want to thank you for stepping forward and at least creating this
nonprofit with any assistance that the highway department or the town can have would be obviously greatly appreciated. So, thank you for that. Thank you. Should do do we do can I ask for clarity though? Sorry. Do I have do we have clarity about whether or not we
are have permission to uh and it doesn't have I mean if there's a timeline issue that's fine but do we have permission to do some fundraising such as was described. I don't know if uh I would say that if
you want if you wanted to raise funds for that I think that you would be um and you have your uh organization established I would say that you can absolutely do that and I would ask that you let people know how they can if somebody wants to sponsor one of these
stations or somebody wants to has an I other ideas that they may want to bring to you. Absolutely. Um how how would they do that? what we have a website um for one and we also have a Facebook presence. Um so that's those are two of the the things where we're going to have
a booth at founders day. We've got a three a trifold brochure um describing you know what we're about and so you know and we're again we're we're very very new. were as new as the trail newer, right? So, um we're we're establishing all these modes of
communication and um I would also respectfully submit that uh I find it also very dismal um to hear a recording such as was shared. Um it's a fabulous resource for the town and it will get
figured out. Maintenance will happen and we will and we're looking forward to be a part of that. Does anybody I was just going to circle back to the original intent. So you just looking for us to say yeah we're fine with you raising funds through your organization. Yeah. So yeah I mean if
you make have make an announcement out when you want to have us read it through in the regular seboard meeting we can do that like we did today for a couple other events if there's if you want us to read about how to purchase the Yeah. Once we have it once we have it put together. Absolutely. Happy to share. We
want to make sure that as many people as possible have the opportunity. Yeah. Happy to spread the word participate. Okay. Mr. Do you need any additional volunteers for your friends group? Yes. And how does one uh put their name in or
I think that we have we already um have a if you go to the website I I don't I because I didn't I didn't have to sign up. I was already signed up. Matt could probably talk to it, but there's a portal. There's like a link you can go to and then you can sign up and you can either be a sponsor. There's a there's a
nominal fee to be a member or you can sign up, I believe, as a volunteer or you can be a sponsor. Um there's and it goes through Give Butter. Um Great. Thank you. Do you want to talk to that? I don't know. U Matt Drain, 6 North Washington Street.
So the website is wwwraalt.org. Uh and it's also the same thing on Facebook. So uh and any you know we have membership that's uh been set up so people can become a member to support the trail. Uh and we said uh you know we'll be at Founders Day to kick off a
lot of these things as well. So just for clarity when you say WW2 is it the number two two II's? Okay. Correct. Thank you. WW number two railtrail.org. Okay. Just wanted to clarify. Thank you. Um, and I would just like to say also,
um, what a great thing it is for the town, uh, when, uh, Mansfield put in their portion of the rail trail and for Norton to actually follow through and do it and get the funding to get this rail trail put together. Um it's going to be uh great for the
whole town and I've seen people using it already even though it doesn't belong to the town yet per se, but um I think it's going to it's going to be a wonderful thing for the town. So thank you for all of your efforts for sure. Thank you.
I just have one additional question. Um, if the if the town if the trail does complete on on the 13th, do you know what the acceptance like how long it'll take to accept it and walk it and accept it? I I am not sure. They're looking
also at um they're going to schedule a walk through. Y I'll let you know so you can come. It's going to be Mansfield and Norton officials doing a complete walk through on the trail and then uh I'm sure that Serpid wants to have a ribbon cutting at some point. So,
thank you. Thanks. Thank you. You guys Cabarl 50 Mansfield a um that appalling report recording did sound familiar. Bob, you asked if it sounded familiar. It sounds like the person who zoombombed the meeting a few weeks ago. Um I don't know who was I forget which
meeting it was and who was present. Finance committee. It was the finance committee. Finance committee. Yep. Um, so that voice sounded exactly like that person. And I don't know if we've had anything done. I know Zoom got a lot more um, serious about the Zoom bombing problem after it happened at a bunch of
schools and things. I don't know if we tried to have that tracked who that was, but I have a that sounded exactly like that person. So, you asked if anyone recognized the voice and I think I did. Thank you. So, hopefully we can find him because that was awful. Thank you. If I could add one more thing, too. I was spoken I spoke to one of our town representatives and he told me that the
city of Taton now was applying for funding to extend the rail trail to the city of Taton to I believe Dyon or Dartmouth or one of those D-words and once they reach once we reach that point uh you can pretty much go anywhere after
that. So that's pretty exciting news. So hopefully Taton will follow through and make that all happen. I'm going to say it's Dyon. [Laughter] We never know where the kids are. Yeah, I think Dyon already has a trail. So, my guess is the time when we just connect
the two. I believe I saw Mr. Verbero coming in, but let's get through a couple more uh items if we can before we get to that uh presentation of the Pride Proclamation. Mr. Kindle. Should I find it again?
Thank you. 20 losses. Tyler Martin proclamation lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, LGBTQ plus pride month June 2025. Whereas the town of Norton is a welcoming community and exceptional
place to live, learn, work, play, and raise a family. And whereas Norton recognizes the importance of equality and freedom. And whereas the nation was founded upon and is guided by a set of principles that includes that every person who has been created equal, that
each has rights to their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and that each shall be accorded the full recognition and protection of the law. And whereas a kind of Norton lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer parenthesis
LGBTQ plus community are a vital part of all fields and professions and contribute to a stronger community. And whereas the town Lorton is dedicated to fostering acceptance of it of all of its citizens and preventing discrimination and bullying based on sexual orientation
and gender identity. And whereas Norton is strengthened by and thrive upon the rich diversity of ethnic, cultural, racial, gender, and sexual identities of its residents, all of which contribute to the vibrant character of our town,
and well as a center of dise disease control, parenthesis CDC recognizes that LGBTQ plus teens are at higher risk of the victim to violence at an increased suicide rates. And whereas it is imperative that young people in the
community, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, feel valued, safe, empowered, and supported by their peers, educators, and community leaders. Now therefore, we the select board on behalf of the town of Norton
hereby proclaim and recognize June 2025 as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer present LGBTQ plus pride month in the town of Norton. And we recognize the resil resilience and determination of of
the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically. In doing so, they are opening hearts and minds and laying the foundation for a more just and equitable town. On behalf of the board of selectman, thank
you. Um, at this time, we're going to jump back and um take care of something that I was hoping to take care of right at the beginning of the meeting, but I'm I'm so happy to see Mr. Rivero here now. So, Mr. Kimble, you want to uh I can find
it. Let me read these two. So, we will present Mr. Robera tonight with the Boston Post Cane and the president of the U historical society, uh, Janice Burkhart. We'll be glad to explain that. But before we do that, I'd like to read a proclamation.
Let's go up to the podium up here and read it. And you can come up. Bring the family up. Okay. Bring bring them all. Yeah, bring them all up. Come on. We don't get to do enough of these good things. Look at the stripes. Yep. Okay.
This is beautiful. This is beautiful. Oh my god. I'm going to borrow the podium first and you can have it. Want me to sit here? Yes, please, Mr. Roberto. Okay. Bob Kimble here. Yes,
sir. Bob, good to see you. Oh, Bob, good to see you. My pleasure. Please have a seat and we'll Okay, we'll see if we can talk loud enough. How's that? I can't hear. So good. Okay. Only on one side. Yes. Is this the good side?
Okay. How is the Good. Okay. Good. Thank you. You're welcome. So this is a recognition of the Boston Post Kain. Be it known that the Norton Select Board hereby extends its congratulations to John J. Raro. It is with great pleasure that the Norton
Select Board present the citation and has awarded you the Boston Post Cane for being the oldest World War II veteran in the town of Norton, Massachusetts at the age of 99 and having served in the United States Navy. This certificate is an award of recognition for your
longevity, wisdom, and contribution to our community. The Boston Post Cane symbol of respect and tradition back to 1909 is presented to you as a testament to a life well-lived. As a token of this recognition, the board is pleased to
present you with this certificate as well as a replica of the cane in the form of a lapel pin on this fifth day of June in the year 2025. and is signed by the board of selectman. Mr. Robert can have that. Thank you.
Thank you. I think I have a couple more. This is another congratulations uh certificate to John J. Roberto as a World War II veteran who proudly served and honored served in in the United States Navy and a longtime Norton
resident. And to recognize Mr. Barrows being the oldest Norton veteran. And I have one more. And I think that's all I have. So that's yours. You can have that one, too. And I'm going to introduce Janice Burkhard
and she can uh take it from here. Oh, you know, I very Oh, that doesn't think that this I don't know what I appreciate everything. I'm I'm actually I'm legally blind. I can't
see too much. But this is beautiful. I can see that it it's taken and you deserve I was thinking it was taken northern almost a hundred years to have their own their
own building. This is wonderful. I can remember all the big ships offices that the N had. And this is great. Thank God. Finally, I
saw something that should have. This is wonderful. Thank you. I thank you very very much. God bless everybody. Well, John, you know, we all go through life
meeting people who are extraordinary and ordinary at the same time. And you are one of those people. And we're so lucky to be able I'm not a I'm not a listener. Oh, yes, you are. I
never was. Well, that's the ordinary part. But then there's the extraordinary part. But you know, we don't often get a chance to say thank you to those people. And tonight is our chance to say thank you to you because we love that you're
here and all the things you've done. So, we're going to give you a little some more some more treasure to take home. Okay. I'm just I'm just so lucky to to be here to live so long.
Yes. I've Well, you've lived a good life. I've lost so many good friends that I knew, but I'm still here. I don't know why, but anyway. All right. I'm going to It's been
wonderful. I'm going to read something. Wonderful life. You have I did my best I could. I was a very I was a very poor student to start off. I had a language barrier for my folks
didn't speak English at all. I didn't speak I couldn't speak. I had to stay. Best is Brad Street to teach him first grade. Kept me for two years
because she liked me so much. You know, she's gonna she's going to read something to you now. She's talking now. Oh, she she has to talk. She's talking now. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's okay. I can't I can't hear. Okay.
Well, I'm going to read this to you. All right. I actually have two things for you. All right. John, you were born in 1925. This year, you will be 100 years old. This was the United States of
America in 1925. Calvin Culage was the president of the United States. The average income was $2,239. You could buy a new car for
$290. The average rent was $20 a month. Gasoline was 2 cents a gallon. A first class poses stamp cost 2 cents when you went to the grocery
store. Granulated sugar cost $1 for 15. Milk was 33 cents a gallon. Eggs cost 13 cents a dozen. Fresh baked bread cost 9 cents a
loaf. Life expectancy was 54.3 years. In 1925, Norton was a small town. Indeed, the population was
2,769. There were 672 dwellings. Nton had 195 horses, 379 cows, 75 swine, 10 sheep and goats, and
7,321 fowl, probably chickens and turkeys. There were 75 students in Norton High School. Lawrence G. Nurse was a school superintendent. Charles Randall was the high school
principal. Benjamin B. Skinland was the chief of police. You have seen many changes in Norton over your lifetime. You fought for your country in World War II. You married and raised a family. You owned
your own home. You ran a successful business. You saw your children and grandchildren grow into adults. You have lived a successful, productive and rich life.
Congratulations on this wonderful milestone. This is okay. We have one more one more. can't read this, but the VA has supplied me with a a
reading machine. It's CCTV. And I'm able to read, thank God, the newspaper now. Good. The television is is a great thing. I had to be so close in order to see it now to hear
it, but it's been so good. So, I'll be able to read every and I'm so thankful for the newsletter that you people send me. Oh, good. I read every word of it and brings back a lot of
memories and a lot of people that that was bad that I knew that are gone. And it's been it's been a great life. I'm I'm so
fortunate. Yep. Well, John, I'm just talking. Okay, I'm sorry. You know how girls are when they talk. Okay, John, tonight you're going to get a very special
um award. And we've been having this award since 1909. And in [Applause] 1909, Norton was given this cane along with 700 other towns and
cities. And the man who gave this cane was the editor and owner of the Boston Post newspaper. And this is the Boston Post cane. And it was given to 700 towns. And
what happens is this cane goes to the oldest person in town or to some older person who is very worthy and deserving of it. Now this cane I'm going to tell
you about it. I have it written down here. It came to us in 1909. And on the top it has an inscription and it says that it's to be given to the oldest person in Norton,
Massachusetts and it's to be given away. So you don't get to keep it. So it's always got to go to the next person eventually. Okay. So what we have done is we've made a little lapel pin that you get to keep. But in a little bit,
we're going to take your picture holding this cane. And you can hold it right now while I read this little plaque that I have. Okay? And I'll read it into the microphone. Can you hear it better when I talk into the microphone? Okay. This is what it says. The Norton Historical
Society and the Norton Board of Selectmen take great pleasure in presenting the Boston Post can to Mr. John Rubiro. Norton's oldest citizen. This special cane was made in
1909 and given to Norton by Mr. Edwin A. Groia, the publisher of the Boston Post, which was a popular newspaper. It's made out of ebony wood shipped from the Ka Congo in Africa. The
wood was cut into cane lengths, seasoned for 6 months, turned on lathes to the right thickness, coated and polished. It has a 14 karat gold head which is 2 in
long, decorated by hand, and has a fereral tip. It's a little tip on the end. The head is engraved with the following words. presented by the Boston Post to the oldest citizen of Norton to
be transmitted. In other words, it's going to be given away again. John, receiving the Boston CA Post Cane is a very special honor. Your name will be added to the list of previous CA
recipients and preserved at the Nton Historical Society. This is a special award and honor for a very special person. Congratulations.
[Applause] This is, if I remember right, did Leo Yel get this cake? He did. And Annie, a good friend of mine. The whole family
was a very very All they were whole family were my friends. Yep. They were very special. I loved them all. Yeah. Every single one of them. And I remember when he got this,
he was a member of the Norton Lions with me, which I still am. And that's when I heard that he was getting it. So this is it. I never believed that I would get to the
point that I would get such the same thing. And Liam was a hell a hellized guy. Yes, he was. Thank you. All right. Now, now we're going to we're going to take your picture. Okay. Holding the cane.
Okay. And we're going to put it in a frame after we get it developed and we'll give it to you. You want to come this way or you want to turn him? I think it raised. Well, I'll get together with you. Do what? I'll come up here. Oh,
okay. So Chris, if you could just one more. I'm sure. I have a great family does everything for me. Going way back with my father and mother and my extended
family and they do so much. Family is so important. It's so important. My youngest great grand is here. My youngest one, Stephanie, right here.
And my oldest ones. I went to two graduations this week and first communion. One first communion. And I went there this week to
Holio an hour and a half from here. for graduation of my older oldest great grandchild.
And yes, and yesterday was it yesterday? I went to graduation in Norton for my second greatest grandchild the same year.
Pace Rivero. Now I got so many others coming up. You're bullying me, but I won't be here. You will be. I love you all.
[Applause] I know you were great. Thank you. I've known so many slick men and Bob is one of the greater ones. Thank you very much. I paid him for that, by the way. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's an honor and a pleasure. I'll tell you. Now, John, when you have time,
sit down. Do you want this? [Music] did a lot of reading. The historical society would like this one really participating be able to forever.
It may not be great but I would have like I guess I could I think you could too. Thank you. You have to give her back. Oh yeah. I have to take you've got the little can. Okay.
These people take me home for they eat quite often. I'm still alone. They have to do their meeting. So going on. No, no, you're going with No, take your time. My daughter. It's my
daughter. She's a nurse. Listen, don't rush. We have We don't We don't get to do enough of these things. So, take your time. Finish the immediate. Yeah, we have to go. We have to go. They're in a meeting. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Well,
thank you. Thank you. Oh, okay. Okay. We're going to take some pictures out in the lobby. Can I tour the building a little bit? Yeah. We Let's Let's get out of the meeting. Can you take
me this way? I'm so glad we finally got fix this. Okay. will come right out probably. My only acid right now with my voice.
You're doing great. On your mind. Okay. I mean, thank you. Thank you. In your mind. In my mind. I'm shocked. I'm still there. Thank god. First go.
[Music] [Applause] He's a good athlete sports and stuff, but I don't know many of the boys from his class cuz I was a girl. Okay, that was a little welcome relief.
Okay, so we're going to move on to with the agenda, the um discussion and our vote to allow the display of uh Gadston signs on the town common. Um I know that we received a letter. Uh Mr. Schiker, do you want would you like
to come up to speak about it? Um you can go for now. Okay. Um, thoughts from the board through your chair. Yes. Uh, I know we haven't voted on and it's not on here to vote this
evening on the sign policy. Um, but I think we discussed last week having the sign policy be restricted to to just the it was the American flag, P one another, and then um to keep it objective
um celebrations that are posted and listed on federal andor state websites. Um, and so this I don't think represents one of those. And then my other point would be that this is talking about
celebrating Independence Day. Um I I don't think that this is the flag that would represent Independence Day. I think we have a very well-known flag that represents Independence Day that even elementary school children would know and that's the American flag and we do put that up on the town common um
during the month of July. So my my position would be that the American flag is the flag that we're going to be having on the town common for the month of July. Mr. Chairman, the um I I find of course
I wasn't involved at the time, but there is a policy of the board uh regarding flags on the common and it's my understanding that again as as Mr. Luciano mentioned um basically it's state federal flags. This can only be
flagged on put on flag polls. I believe the request is for um signage to be put on the common very much like we're doing this month for the U proclamation we just we just signed off on. So, um I
don't know where to go with this because I wasn't part of the original process to to vote in favor or against anything like this, but I I do agree with Miss Mrs. Usiano that we need to come up with a policy that's clear and precise and we know exactly how it how it works. So,
I'm not sure we have the ability or can restrict any any kind any kind of signage being put up on the common. I will say that over the years, I believe the historic district commission uh has been very vocal about various
signs, especially real estate signs and things of that sort, political signs. Anything in the district was not allowed. And unfortunately, the common is in the district. However, um the the flags, the banners are up now, the gay
pride flags, I mean banners rather, are up on the common for the month of June. And until we come up with a policy, I'm not sure how we can restrict anybody from putting anything up until we actually have a policy in place. And I
would encourage the board to look into that policy sooner than later so we can circumvent anything, you know, like this in the future. Um the historic district commission might have a different opinion but I believe we have to bring them in on the uh discussion also so we
comply with their regulations in the future along with uh whatever we come up with as a policy through you chair. Yes ma'am. Um to that point Bob I think we do have a draft policy on the agenda tonight. We don't have it on here to vote but since this request is for July
I don't see any reason why we couldn't vote on it at the next meeting. And then we do have a policy that we could comply with and and the point about the historical district, it's fine to get their opinion just for feedback, but we don't have to comply with their policies. We've been through this with
legal counsel and it is ultimately up to us, this board, uh what flags, indoor signs we allow on the on the common. Um so I would propose holding off to we can vote on the policy next meeting hopefully and then we can um move
forward at that point. Um, I would I would add to that, Mr. Chairman, that the warrant states that we have discussion and a vote to allow display of guards and signs on the town common. So, it is actually on the agenda. Uh, I'm not suggesting we have
to vote on it tonight, but we we do have the ability to vote on it if we desire to do so. So, um, when we were at town meeting and one of the longer breaks that we had during town meeting, um, I spoke with
town council about this, um, just to get their opinion and to see what they thought. And, um, the the thought was is that that we shouldn't we since we don't have a policy we for signs, we do have a policy for flags, but we don't have a policy
for signs. So, we shouldn't be uh we don't really we can't really say yes or no without a policy. So, I believe that we should set a policy and it should include all of the towns properties, not
just the common. Um, and I think that we should get the input from all of uh town departments who have control of town properties, whether it be the cemetery department or the school department or it uh the historical district commission. I think we should
get everybody's input before we come up with a policy and make sure that it's clear and concise and so that we don't have to continue to have these discussions about what's allowed and what's not allowed. I think that we should come up with a policy and that's
what we go by through your chair. Yes, we have a draft policy on tonight's agenda. And so what I was pointing out is that on under old business, we have a discussion on a temporary flag and signage policy. We don't have vote for tonight. So if we put that back on for
next meeting with a vote, we have draft policies to review. Um then we could have a draft policy in place sooner rather than later. I don't know that we need to necessarily solicit feedback from all the towns and boards because I think what we need to take consider cons
consideration is the the law around um free speech and signage and what you can and cannot restrict and understand what those and I think I handed out some information for the last meeting. I would um suggest that we go back to that stuff and review it before the next
meeting before we vote on the signage policy because there's a lot of great information in there from um KP Law and I forget what the other source was, but there was a lot of clear information in there already for us. Thank you, Mr. Kimble. You know, again, I was
involved when the uh select board voted on this policy a number of years ago. from what I from what I gather and I understand it's basically anyone can put up a sign on the free on the on the freedom of speech. So I'm not sure even if we have to vote on this because if
it's allowed in the month of June for one organization until we have a policy in place I don't know that we can restrict anyone from doing anything in the month of July or August or or thereafter. And I do agree with you Mr. chair that, you know, if we're going to
do this, we have to make sure we incorporate all town bodies in land regardless of who owns it. So, we have a clear understanding about where signs can and cannot be. I know right now you can't put a political sign in front of the town hall. It's just not allowed.
You can't you can't put it on certain town property. So, we've got policies out there that either we don't have our own written policy, but the state does have certain policies and procedures out there that we should look into. But uh until we come up with a signed bylaw, I
believe anyone can basically do anything they want. So So the the bylaw I believe states that we are the ones that make that approve or disprove requests for the signage, right? And so that's why we're trying to put a policy in place. And I think in practice what we have done is
the American flags, P flags. We have uh done the state and federal recognized um observed holidays and celebrations. And then we've also done the other caveat what we added last week was the uh memorials for towns people who had um
passed unexpectedly or you know something like that. Um I believe that we do have a policy for flags. What I what I don't think we have is a policy for signs. And when I went to the charter to look up what we have for
signs, the closest thing I could find to what we're discussing is political signs. And there is no allowance for political signs on any town property. So that's that's the only thing I have to go by. So that's why I
say if if if we want to make a policy for signs then I think that it has to be somewhere where we where it can be adopted and then it's so I think we're talking about two different things. One is the bylaw that talks about what flag
polls and signage on people's personal properties need to comply with right and then one is town property what we're what we're willing to allow on town property and that's where the policy comes into play. And so that's what we have on the agenda tonight for discussion. We don't have it on tonight
for for a vote. However, I think it would be easy enough for us to review the proposed um policy. Um come back to the next meeting prepared to vote on the on the policy and then we have a policy in place prior to the need for this
particular request. I I don't disagree with you, Mr. Rich. Um what I would like to have is um some more input from town council as to what our restrictions are and
where how one one group's rights outweigh another group's rights for when who wants to put a sign. That's what I That's a great question and maybe we could get town council to attend next meeting. Yeah. Um, that's that's my biggest concern is where where does one
group's rights end and another group's rights begin. And I don't my biggest concern is that we start getting all kind of requests for signage to be put on town property everywhere. And that's I don't think that anybody wants to see
that. Um, so I would like to get more input from town council on that. I agree. Yep. I agree. Okay. So we will You can come up. Oh, Stephanelli 12 James Street. Bob, you mentioned that there was a flag on
the common now. Okay. No, there are there are small I would call them political signs the size of a political sign that are now presently hanging on the um on the railings around the common. There's no the only flags that are on the comm are
the ones that are approved by the the federal government and the state. That's it. That's what I that's where I was going with it. And the American flag and then the P flag, those are the only two that can fly on a pole. If you're really looking for the
charter to give you a lot of satisfaction, go out and buy a flag pole. put your own flag up because there are people in town who would be offended. I'm one of
them. That charter needs a lot of exposure before you vote on it. And it's up to the select board to make that exposure available because I'm sorry. Yes, we're not trampling on anybody's freedom of
speech, but there's only that group that's speaking on it. The total public of Norton has not been exposed to it and it's unfair. Thank you. Um, Mrs. Stefanella,
just to be clear, um, I don't think anybody's proposing a charter change. Um, I'm just saying that when I went to go look for information about signs, the only information I could find was in the charter under signs. Yeah, the flag and the signs are two different Yes,
absolutely. Thank you. Falco 50 Mansfield Avenue. The thing that I think is being lost in some way here is that there is an idea that there is a group that is putting their political views on display on the common in June.
It is not a political view that in the 2024 National Survey on LGBTQ youth mental health, 39% of LGBTQ plus youth seriously considered attempting suicide. 12% attempted suicide.
Teenagers, youths, children like yours. 90% of LGBTQ youth said their well-being was negatively impacted due to recent politics. And LGBTQ youth who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the
rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities. This is not a political view. These are facts. Showing that we accept queer kids means those kids are less likely to die. You cannot debate that. It's been studied over and over again with
surveys, with formal studies that were peer-reviewed. And the reason in the first place that we want Pride signs displayed for the month of June, and I didn't think I was going to need to speak on this cuz frankly, I don't care if somebody wants to put a Gazden flag up if you feel like you're being trotten upon, but there isn't a cause there. The
Pride Month is a cause. Showing ourselves to be a community that accepts LGBTQ LGBTQ plus folks saves children's lives. It is not about me. It's about the kids who felt like I did when I was 12 and figured out I was queer with nar a pride flag to be seen.
Might I add. Pretending that we don't have a problem with anti-LGBTQIA plus hate in this town is also frankly a joke which tends to be what comes up here is we don't need pride flags. It's people from out of town doing it. Since we started putting the pride signs out on
private property, many of them were stolen. And because of that, I made a permanent pride flag sign for my property. And one night in 2022, a man walking back from a concert at the Exfinity Center, so clearly someone local, stopped by and deliberately urinated on it. The video is still up
all over the place. Any local news station, and if you don't believe me, you can watch it. We never heard anything back from the police after they took the footage and told a number of news stations that they weren't even sure it was deliberate, even though the sign is not right on the road. And the man was holding himself
straight up and bouncing up and down in order to make sure that his urine reached the sign. I'm sure plenty of folks in town know who did that and aren't sharing. In November of 2023, someone, unfortunately, we don't know who, because our cameras were down, disassembled it completely and left most
of the slats scattered on the ground. after the ones that had been on the common the other year got defaced and stolen and then put back with things like no to pedto written on them. That person was found to be from Mansfield. So people like to use that as proof that
well these folks aren't from here, but sometimes they clearly are. Plenty of the properties that had their pride signs stolen are not right on a main road like mine. It is not out oftowners. It is people here. I know that all of the various policies and free speech rights always
come up when this is discussed. I know everyone always sh cites shirtlift versus city of Boston as happened when this was going around with the school committee a few years ago. We already allow religious displays on the common. We also allow LGBTQIA plus signs and I think it's fine if any other group would
want to apply to display another sign or flag. I would encourage the board to consider the reasoning behind wanting to display it. Again, if it's a state holiday, if it's a local holiday, if it's a federal holiday, and the time frame and all of that, I don't think that necessarily I do think that it's
important to not have the appearance of being discriminatory. But I do want to yet again argue that the pride signage does not become um as is the clear goal from the fact that this letter says, "Well, it happens in June, so I can put Gadsens up in July."
I would encourage you to not let the intent of this letter, which is clearly to try to prevent signage from going up on the common, to happen because again, of all of the stated facts about how often children try to kill themselves
because adults don't accept them for who they are. Get you fancy. How you doing? Uh, Zach Schler from 34 North Worester Street, uh, Norton. Um, I'm not trying to get in an argument over LGBT versus this. This is just a
strictly um, flag for the month of July. Um, not trying to compete or bring in if it was a reference into my letter. It was just referencing that other signs were allowed on the common. So, that's all I had. Um, that's it. Thank you. You better cut it
off. James, no one comes at Ralph Stefanelli 12 James Street. I want to see the statistics. I don't want to hear them. Think about it. No, I'm not talking to you. What does that mean? What does that mean? This is
This is not what our discussion is about. So, let's not Yeah, but you're you you've you've filtered it in as both. You're weighing it like the scales when she's blind. That's the way I see it. I understand how you see it. I'm just saying that's not how we're seeing it.
Okay. That I'm just saying that we are discussing a sign policy. A signed policy only. But you did mention the flag that policy earlier before I only mentioned it saying that we already have
one. That's the only mention I made of a a flag policy. I'm saying that we're discussing a sign policy right now. This needs more discussion. Let's not go. I don't I It needs more discussion to the general public of Norton because if you put a
flag and I'm going to go there. I'm going to say it and then you can throw me out or else. Excuse me, Mr. Stephanelli. I'm going to cut you off here. I'm sorry. Then don't. It needs more
discussion. Thank you. Hi, Peg Douly, 134 Godfrey Drive. Um, what is the meaning of this sign? What is the meaning of this? Which the Gadston flag? Yes. It's in it's in the letter that uh we received. I think that uh Do we have the
letter we can put up? Mhm. It was up and it didn't exactly tell me what I think it started out with this. Is it of it going up? And you can correct me if I wrong, but I believe the summary is it started out as a revolutionary war symb. But what does that have meaning for today? Well, because I think it's the
250th anniversary and I think that that's the uh anniversary of the flag. I I think today's meeting has changed a bit and I think that the requester was suggesting that it was to celebrate Independence Day. Um and so my point was I think that the symbol of Independence
Day is pretty well known. elementary children know it. It's the American flag. So, I didn't see a need to have something different. Is that what your meaning is? If I may address the fellow that wrote the flag. No, that's we're not going back and forth. If you want to have a discussion
with him out in the uh Okay. Oh, that's fine. And just for the record, I'm involved with the historic district commission, which I'm co-chair of, and we have never allowed signs on the common. we would take them off for that matter if and until otherwise has been
suggested to us. But would this have a political connotation to it? I think every sign that anybody puts up has some sort of uh connotation to it. What it what it means to individual people is what they believe. Right. But nothing
political is allowed on any town owned property. Mr. Chairman, I believe what we're talking about here is freedom of speech, right? So, it's not a question of what the sound what the sign means or, you know, what the signs in June mean or July or August or whenever. We
have to get clarification from town council as to when we cross the line on their free speech. regardless of any implications for political purposes or whatever purpose. I think it's important for us to understand that before we make
our final decision. The um conversation about the flags on the banners on the common today have been going on for years and that's not what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about the month of August, whether or not we want to allow July rather, we want to allow
another person to allow their exercise their right to freedom of speech. And we have to find out if we can do that or not. And I don't know because I wasn't involved in the first one and I'd like to get some more information before I make a decision. Thank you. Okay, moving on.
the student presentation to discuss the consolidating uh town trash recycling pickup. We have a Thank you for coming in and thank you for putting up with us. Um I'm Kylie Foser and I'm a Norton High
School student. Um and uh for a year-long project um during our sophomore year, we do a civics project where we get to like um choose something that we want to change in the community. For mine, um I decided
to attack the issue of the amount of trash companies we have in town. Um, just like driving around, I noticed that there was ton of traffic from like all the trash companies that were around and it seemed to be disrupting like people that were just driving to like their
house and stuff like that. Um, I did some research and I found out that there are nine different trash companies collecting the trash, which I just thought that was quite inefficient to have that many. Um um I also found out that only three of the nine of them actually have like base locations in Norton, which means
they're driving quite a ways just to come here to pick up the waste. Um my proposal was that we could like possibly have one company pick up the trash or maybe like two or three. Um it doesn't have to be like a designated company. It
could be like a preferred vendor um so that it doesn't have to go towards like the taxes, but that would be more ideal. Um, but I just feel like this advancement would just make the roads less busy and um the noise all the time would be
um smaller, I guess. So, Mr. Chair, Mr. Gimmel, you know, thank you for bringing this to our attention because we I think we've all talked about it oursel. Uh I have a friend of mine who lives in a neighborhood of about I don't know maybe 30 40 homes and their complaint was like
five different companies were coming up there and all different days and all different times and I made a suggestion that perhaps they should get together with their neighbors and hire one company. Yeah. And they did that and it did work out very well for them. Uh I would encourage you to continue to look
at this problem and it is a problem and find out a solution to it. But perhaps you could even suggest that certain streets re and maybe perhaps they could get together and by doing so actually they get a better
rate for the trash because a truck like you say they don't have to come from wherever to pick up 20 homes. you know, if they come up and they're picking up 200 homes and it's more cost effective for them. Also, I am working on a u plan
to come up with a uh transfer station in Norton that I'm going to sit down with the conservation agent and the board of health town planner try to work out the details of that and I would love it if you'd like to be a part of that
conversation. Yeah. um because I think that's important that if you want to do that, I'll make sure we reach out to you and and see if you can be become involved in that. Another part of that solution be again to maybe talk about coming up with a couple of different companies, just maybe two. Yeah. That
would be able to do that. So, I have your information here. If you with your permission, I'd like to perhaps reach out to you as I get more information. You can join us for that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Kylie. Great job. Thank you.
Thanks, Scotty. Um, next is the friendly 40b 10% requirement. Miss Kimble, I asked for this to be on the agenda. Um, I understand that we recently, the
board recently voted for a friendly 40B uh to be put on, is it Nolan Street? Nolan Street. Nolan Street. Um again I wasn't proud of the board at that time but I I do want to stress the the importance of the subsidized
housing. Our percentage right now as of today is 10.02%. If it falls under the 10% the state will be the first mass housing uh all the various committee all the various boards EOHLC and all these other
companies all these other uh organizations will be here screaming at our front door saying we have to build more 40b once we reach 10%. Not 9.9 not 10.1 10%. would no longer have
to accept any additional 40bs. So, I want to suggest to the board that we reach out to the it's not the planning board. They're not involved in this. This is the the uh zoning board of appeals uh is the organization in town that has to deal with these. You guys,
prior to my the select board, prior to my appointment was approached by a company who wanted to build what they call a friendly 40B. Well, Friendly 40B is nothing more than asking us to support them. And I have done it in the past,
just so you know. The one on Mansfield Avenue that was built behind Dunkin Donut, behind McDonald's, I actually supported that 40B. Um, and I probably would have considered and supported the one that the board approved recently in an effort to keep it above 10%. Uh,
which is very important. But at the same time, this board was was uh approached over a month ago about another potential 40B on North Washington Street and they were coming they came here to request
that the board support a friendly 40B. The board never responded to that and I'm suggesting that we need to respond to it and we don't have to put any provisions in there. I know there's an opinion from council talking to Chairman Rich. He got an opinion from council
that stated that he wanted to put conditions in it. That's not what I'm suggesting. What I'm suggesting and this board needs to send a letter to Mass Housing to the contractor who approached us before they get into a process where they're looking
at it and they're building or planning a 40B and they get down the road and then Mass Housing says, "Well, you know, they spent all this money. We need to see if we can help them out." That's not where we should be. We are at 10.01 10.0 02%.
We are there. We are one of 54 communities in the 351 communities and cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in compliance. We are one of the very few that have done it. Why don't they go somewhere else? Because
we're making it too easy for them. My suggestion is very simple. Just a straightforward letter. Thank you for coming before the board. Thank you for asking us for consideration of of a friendly 40b. Uh we are at 10.02% and therefore at this time we
would deny or decline the opportunity to to work with that organization. It's a very simple approach to it. We don't have to get into details. We don't have to talk about traffic studies and and all the other impact it might have in a neighborhood. It's just that simple.
Just a simple response. We're already about 6 weeks out where we haven't responded and I'm concerned that we have to figure out a way to respond. And I would suggest to the chair that we get a letter off. I don't care if town council drafts it or if it's just a simple response to a question that was asked of
this board. Would you consider a friendly 40B on North Street? And we just have to give them a simple straight answer of yes or no and whether or not we want to um exercise our rights under
chapter comprehensive permitting chapter 40B where we are at 10.02%. Through you chair um I'm I remember them coming before us. I don't think they were asking us for any sort of approval because this board does not approve building projects. We were we
approved friendly 40bs. So um when they did come before us uh they made mention that they would like it to be considered a friendly 40B project. And um it is um my understanding that
the select board decides whether or not the town is going to engage in it becoming a friendly 40B or not. And we held a vote that evening. We did not. We put it off. An advisement. Um I would
suggest that we send them a letter saying that we would not consider that project a friendly 40B. I think that's way too many units. I think the density is way too much and that's how I felt. Uh the first time I had seen that project, it was that night and that's why I I wasn't comfortable voting on it.
Um, but looking into it, I think that it's just uh it's way too comprehensive a housing project for the area. Um, through chair Mike. Yeah, I was just going to say I'm I'm kind of confused here. Bob was
mentioning something about Northwester Street. North Washington. Washington. Okay. And it's South Washington. I think that No, that's North Washington. Is that Washington? Oh. Oh, the old rodeo project. Yeah. Not we're not talking about the Nukem Street
project at all. The old We're talking about the old rodeo site. And the last comment that was made there tonight, the chairman said, "I'll take it under advisement." And I think we need to explain we need to respond. So, I would uh entertain a motion if you'd like to make that in a motion, Mr.
Kimble. I'll make a motion that we send a letter to the and I don't know who the who the developer was. We sent a letter to the developer along with copies to Mass Housing that based on the fact that we have 10.02% in affordable housing at this
time, we would not consider a friendly 40B at this time in Norton. I would second it. So, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor of sending that letter to them, I I. All opposed? I. So that's
three to one. Um, so who are we going to have draft that letter? Mr. Gimmel, Mr. Units. Yep. I know he's good at doing that, so we appreciate if you could do that for us. Thank you.
Um, number eight, maintenance and of new buildings and facilities. I believe this was also something that you asked about, Mr. Kimbo. Yeah, we uh I'm I'm part of the permanent building committee and as these new buildings are becoming more and more used. Um I think we lose the
fact in the in the translation that you know they they are are being utilized and there is certain preventive maintenance that we have to do on the properties. And the reason the building committee and I'll let Brian speak more about it, but the reason we brought it up and we wanted to bring it up at the
meeting was there was an incident at the new committee building where one of the smoke detectors was going into a false alarm system having a problem with it. And when they investigated, they found it was full of dust because the filters sitting next to it on the on the
ceiling, the unit in the ceiling was blowing dust onto the the uh units. So, um, some kind of preventive maintenance has to be done and we we we the building committee decided to bring it forward and maybe perhaps Mr. Ununice could give us more insight on what the plans are in
the future for u taking care of these new brand new buildings. Sure. Um so what we obviously don't have a maintenance department but we have a maintenance coordinator and like in this building um we have contracts with um an
AC cam an AC uh contractor. Uh we have contract for pest control. We have a contract for electrical. We have a contract for plumbing. Uh contract for septic and a contract for elevator um maintenance. And
um we're investigating also something like a handyman um because we're looking at around the building and once a year we're going to have to touch up the paint inside this building and so a handyman that can do
smaller projects um rather than these technical projects. Um and also um Chris Soner um is now working u with Beth Rossy to make sure all these contracts are in place at the senior center. And
I've spoken with Beth and I've told her that Chris is um to work with her only work with Beth Beth Rossy only. no one else at the senior center is to discuss anything about maintenance with
Chris and um and he's addressing maintenance issues only, not punch list items. That's goes to our OPM. So Chris is lining up contracts. Uh I know Beth already has uh the pest control and we
have the electrical, plumbing, um the septic. So uh she doesn't need the elevator. The only thing now is um the AC contract for regular maintenance on the AC. Thank you. Yep. So anyway, I'm Brian Bashet. I'm I'm the
chairman of the public building committee. Um recently appointed as Jim Slatterie, retired from the position. So I wanted to give an update because he he informed me that I missed the last meeting and I should come to some of these meetings, give an update. So that's what I'm here to do. So the
senior senate has a couple outstanding issues. I know Kevin and and Bob are familiar with these. Uh some people have asked about it. So the roof is still an ongoing issue. Um there's some cupping in in the shingles. So we're we're trying to figure out what the issue is. We don't know if it's a an issue with
the shingles or the issue with the substrate. So that's something that's still being addressed. It's on our punch list. As well as the seeding. We're having some issues with the with the grass. Um there's a lot of speculation what's going on, but the the the seating season is over. It ends on June 1st. So
if we seed it now, it's not going to grow anyway. So there's some conversations out there of how do we go forward? It seems like the landscaper doesn't want to come back. So that the the town will have to decide whether to keep the remaining funds that are being withheld and decide how to approach it
going forward. There's been discussions of maybe we put in some sod instead of receding it. There's also discussion that contractor may have tried to use on-site soil instead of bringing in the proper material. So, we may be testing the existing soil to see if there was some something wrong with the soil and
that's why the grass isn't growing. So, that those items are being uh still currently being addressed. There's other items. I don't want to get into a whole list of them because a lot of them have been coming off the punch list. The other item is the there's a little asphalt lip in one of the sidewalks where it's some differential settlement
that's still being addressed. I know it's a trip hazard, so I think it's it's come down since the winter thaw, so I don't think it's as bad. But to Bob's point about the fire alarm, this this kind of brought this up cuz I know it's a separate issue, but I went over to the
high school to to um uh uh dismiss my son for an appointment and their fire alarm panel was beeping, driving the ladies in the office ex uh bonkers. And when I asked him what's going on, she said, 'Well, it's been a we got a phone call in, but they can't come till June
18th. That's absolutely ridiculous. A contract, you should a contract for maintenance shouldn't wait. And this was 2 or 3 weeks ago, almost a month to have a beeping. I would have hit with a hammer. I would have lost my mind. And I know it's still doing it's still doing at the middle school for the last 3
years. my son, my oldest son who's a sophomore, when I used to dismiss him from the middle school, it's still beeping every day. So, this was what brought up the whole conversation of maintenance. Um, so that's what Bob's bring that up. So, and the other thing with the senior center, too, is it's a
community center and it and a few people have asked me this, but how is it open for the community? It closes at 4:00. So, how do the community get to use it? we're paying the same taxes as the seniors. So I think that needs to be
in a discussion of when can it be open, what programs can be offered at night where most of us working folk have more opportunity to go because during the day day it seems to be monopolized if you will by the seniors which is okay because most of us can't go anyway but it's it's I think it needs to be
addressed how you know I don't know if it's going to be every night certain nights of the week but there's there's things like pool tables in there maybe maybe some of us want to have a pool league I don't know but we don't have the opportunity because there's no access to the building so I think that needs to be addressed. Um, also some other items like the
generator. And I'm not sure if we have a maintenance contract on that, but one of the things that's a problem with these generators is they're diesel and they're tested I think once a week or maybe once a month, but sooner or later it's going to run out of fuel and then the building's going to need
the generator when we lose power and it's going to be empty. So that's another part of maintenance. Who's maintaining or or monitoring the fuel? I think it goes back to the the BMS system, but I'm not 100% positive, which is the building management system. But that's another question that was brought up by one of the residents at our last
meeting. So, I think that's another item that needs to be um addressed. And then at the town hall, just to give you an update, um the plaza out here, many you may or may not know that there's some defects in the concrete. We're having some issues with
that, but the general contractor has gone out to two or three different subs to try and get it remedied. Regional contractor is just walking away. So, we're going to have to deal with that. Um, that's kind of a major punch list item. It's going to have to be done in phases so we don't um disrupt operation
of the town hall because we have to remove the asphalt, I mean the uh concrete in front of the main entrance as part of that remedy. Mhm. Um you can see out here that the the construction on the on phase three, if you will. I think it's phase three. Um parking lot's almost done. They should be paving
anytime the next few weeks and they'll be striping in this area will be done. I'm assuming everybody uh got a good look at it on your way in. But it's come a long way. I hope everybody's happy with what the what the select board and the public building committee and all the other committees did to to bring the
town hall and repair the old town hall and the senior center to life. Um, and then a couple other items. I'm going through my list here, and this is all chicken scratches from our last meeting. So, uh, but primarily going forward, the OPM is, um, does not have representation
on these jobs anymore. What that means is their on-site person isn't here to fix anything or to escort subs or anything. He's here till they I think the end of this month, right? Yeah. Yeah. So that's so going forward to Mike saying earlier that Beth
is going to have to respond to those items and I think Mike it was you for the town hall for any maintenance issues because one of the things that's been coming up at the PBC meeting is a lot of back and forth of maintenance versus punch lists. The PBC is responsible for
building the buildings until they're complete which includes punch list. Once it's turned over it's the building's responsibility. So I think every building in town I think has a res representative you know the library the town hall the highway department but that's another thing of this whole
maintenance plan. Another thing we brought up is there's a capital improvements committee in the town and and I've been asking for several years on the PBC what's the 5-year plan? I know there's one out there. I have not seen it but when I try to track down the committee it seems like their meetings
are sporadic. There's no once a month meeting like we have. So, I was suggesting can we can we have a mutual meeting at some point? It could just be me. Maybe Kevin can come as well. Just meet put our heads together so that we know what's coming down the pike because right now we don't know and I I don't
think we need to keep conducting PBC meetings once these two projects are done if there's nothing to talk about. You know, we can take the summer off and reconvene in your fall or something. And then another item I I I uh brought up for some personal reasons that uh Bob
Kimble's about, but one of the items that's been going around is a lot of trucking over on Nuland Street. And one of the issues I've been having is I can't find a noise ordinance in the town. And if I'm wrong, please show it to me cuz I can't. It's not on the agenda. I know. So it was something I
talked about about it. Sorry. It's Let's try to keep it. Oh, I'm sorry. It was just part of the discussion at the meeting. That's why I was given an update, but I gave him some paperwork on it. We can chalk that for another day. And then the rest was pretty much Oh, and then we have another item is our
secretary has his term is expired and he's not seeking reappoint that. So, we're looking for another member. I'm not quite sure what their qualifications have to be other than uh the person that's leaving. I think the position was clerk or secretary. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but he
drafted all the meeting minutes, sent out the agendas, ran the meetings with a computer. So, we're looking for somebody to fill that. I think that's something that you can bring up at your next meeting, and you should discuss it with your with your board. And he more than likely was the engineer on the committee. So, we would be looking for
an engineer or an architect. So, when we asked at the meeting what the process was, we were told we had to send a notice to Mike, which he's gotten, and then it has to get to the select board to make an announcement and then start the interview volunteer process. That's all
I have. Thank you. Anybody have any questions? All right, cool. Could just add two quick things on that. So, uh, the pavement was supposed to be tomorrow. Once again, they've cancelled. The OPM's not too happy with them. Supposedly they
had a equipment breakdown. Um so next Friday hopefully uh we have to pave it on a Friday. They want it to sit for 2 days before the fire trucks drive over it. So they want to pave it on a Friday so the fire trucks can park here when this isn't in use and then they can
finish the paving up there. And at the senior center the uh landscape architect has rejected the grass. So, the lawn will have to be done over. And here I'm concerned because I've reached out and
uh Emmo Corner says someone's supposed to be coming out next week cuz I said they've got to do something with the grass hair. We're going to lose it. Needs to be fertilized and uh weed something done with the weeds and mowed. And I heard the highway guys kick on the
lawnmowers the other day and like stop. It's still under warranty. They're responsible for it. Don't even think about cutting it. So hopefully they get out here next week. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Unice, under the reappoint, it shows that the
permanent building committee, uh, Mr. Mark Gershman has resigned. It shows as an attorney. Is that correct? Or should be an engineer or an attorney? Um, he's an engineer. Um, I'll I'll look at Okay.
Thank you. Yep. Okay, discussion on town of Norton 2021 master plan. Mr. O'Neal, I believe that's you. Yeah, thank you. Uh, Mr. Maran. So, Paul D. Jeppi is here. Um, I had asked to put this on the agenda. Um,
back in 2019 to 2021 for a 2-year period, there was a whole townwide solicitation of ideas and concepts and priorities that uh were solicited from all anyone in the town could uh participate. I think we had four or five
uh breakout sessions, some of them um in person at the uh Norton cable access and then some of them remote when co co hit. and um and uh and I know that nobody on the current select board or was on the
select board at the time. I was on the planning board so I was very involved with it. Uh so I thought it would be a good idea just to kind of revisit it um at the time which has been about oh it's been uh 4 years which is what the concern was when
we put it together that these things a lot of work and money goes into it uh $100,000 in total and I think the town paid $30,000 and there was a grant for the difference that it goes on a shelf and sits there and collects dust and nobody looks at it again. Right. So the last time a master plan was developed
was I think 1998 Paul. So it was over 20 years since the last one was done. And they're they're the intention is that they last 10 years and then you redo it and go through the same process again with a sur grant uh in order to start you know to update it and that kind of
thing. So, um I wanted I asked Paul if he could give a little bit of a background overview of the work that went into it because if you look at a lot of the um the comments and the bullets uh in this
matrix that was provided in our packet uh kind of summarizes it all. But there are aspects of this plan that uh the select board is one of the responsible parties and we talked a little bit about um facilities uh 40B there's a whole
2.1.1 uh section in there that talks about uh control over chapter 40B process we talked there's talk about uh developing a tra traffic safety committee which Mr. Kimble had created uh already.
Um there's a lot of things in the community preservation act, municipal v vulner vulner preparedness for storm water management. Say that as good as I can. Thank you. Um housing
uh choice initiative. a lot of things that we talk about all the time that come up that that we're reacting to, whether it be an agenda item or um requests by the public are included in
this master plan. So, I I know that a lot of other departments have been working on their aspects of it behind the scenes. There was a whole section on town facilities, for example, and at the time this building hadn't been built yet, and neither was the uh community center. But a lot of the feedback for
example is people uh to earlier point asked that a community center be accessible to the general community in addition to uh the senior population during the day. So a lot of these things that we discuss in these meetings is documented in this master plan and I don't think uh we've spent enough time
reviewing it and reading it uh cover to cover. That's why I had requested an actual hard copy because it's hard to it's it's if it's on my desk at home visible, I'm not going to forget about it, right? If it's in a file uh on the
computer somewhere, you know, another three, four years can go by and we may forget all about it. So, with all that being said, I uh I guess we can turn it over to Mr. DJeppy. Mr. Chair, if you don't mind. Absolutely. No.
Thanks, Mr. DJeppy. thanks for coming. Yeah, I don't really have much prepared, but um just in general, what's a master plan? Well, it's it's a framework, you know, it's a blueprint for how a town wants to see itself grow and change and
look at areas where it wants to preserve and so forth. And so um yeah, we had probably about two years of outreach and um of course COVID hit right in the middle of it, but um fortunately we were able to adapt and we started doing our
very first hybrid meetings on these and actually had some great attendance and um the plan itself covers about seven different areas from land use, transportation, economic development, housing and it identifies working with
the public what the goal goals for each of those were. And then once we were working on the goals, um that helped us frame actions. The good thing is we were already working on a lot of the things that the public said they wanted. Like for example, the town hall and senior
center, it was already going on. It makes its way in here. And it's great to say we can check that one off the to-do list. Um, so it it but one of the things I had insisted when we were working with Serpent on this was doing this action
matrix that you have in front of you because I've I've worked on with with on plans for you know way too many years and the most to me the most important part of a plan is its implementation section. Too many plans sit on the shelf. Even like the plan in 1998 was a
good plan. It had but it was a policy plan. It really wasn't actionable. Um again, good things came out of it. In fact, the zoning uh update in n came a year later. Um so this is uh you know
that you'll see the action matrix. It identifies the goal, the certain actions, the responsible parties with it. And um you'll see a lot of these are focusing on a few different areas like update the zoning bylaws, uh looking at
financing and funding sources to implement your plan. um coordination, collaboration, partnerships is also in here. So the good thing is is um you know this plan isn't static. Um you know as I was looking back at this plan today and it's
been you know you know we adopted it in 2021 like for example the responsible parties we've listed them but this doesn't mean that this is it you know where a group or an individual might go and say I want to be involved with that. It's not on the list, but that doesn't
matter. This is it's fluid. So, um, as I was going back through it, I was marking off certain ones that we were we've achieved or partly achieved. And we've we've actually continued to do a lot. Um, we need a whole lot more to do on
this, but um, I think it's I I I appreciate, you know, being back in front of you to bring this back up because it was an it's an important plan and, you know, we don't have to I'm not even going to go there, but this is an important document to look at when it
comes to things like, you know, when it comes to development, zoning, um, you know, uh, because this is this is something we should be referring back too. Like even we were talking recently about the MBTA zoning, you know, we did
make a point in our presentations to the public that there were things in here that talked about promoting different housing types and promoting it in certain areas. And of course, when we were writing this, we had no idea what was coming. Um, we weren't envisioning it, but but the good thing was when we
met with the public, um, many people did come out and say, I remember, you know, I'm I'm getting older. I I don't want to live in my four bedroomedroom house at at some point or my parents are getting old. I don't want to put them in assisted living. So, they did talk about
the need to have more housing to uh to fulfill the needs of different age groups. Um you know, that wasn't the state that was that was the public telling us that. And so that's why we wrote the reg, you know, the these guides the way we did.
Mr. Chair, Mr. So, Mr. Ununice, if you could go to the top few pages there, I just want to show you that what's good about this in addition to all of the the matrix that you're reading is everything is colorcoded based on people's preference on where they would like to
see um you know, senior housing for example. Um Oh, I'm sorry. The actual link, Mike. Okay. If you can pull it up. Y and um there were a lot of people in this room that were part of it. I know Ralph was in some of the meetings. I
know Pete, I think Mr. uh Rich's I attended several of them. Yeah, Denise, I know Mr. Rich's parents. I think I saw them in in some of the pictures. Yeah, keep going down. So, and then we'll wrap this up. But I just wanted to kind of give everybody a quick overview and make sure that we don't forget about
it and that we do reference it because I think I think a lot of the discussion that we that we have like I mentioned is you know we're reacting to things that come across our desk whether it be a 40B developer or
um you know a facility that's designed for senior housing that kind of thing. Um a little bit that's a priority. Keep going. Yeah. We wanted to make this very easy to read for people and make it organized. So, there's a lot here. And if you study some of the
color-coded legends, Yeah. keep going. Um, a lot of um demographic information about the town, where the growth has been. So, it's a pretty comprehensive document. It was well done. Um, it's very helpful to have it in color because
you a lot of the headings you can kind of tie back to the seven different categories that uh Paul had mentioned that are listed right there. So anyway, I didn't want to take too much time. There's some color coded on where people would see would prefer to see open spaces and natural
resources. Um, uh, one, uh, new open spaces to permanently protect them. Two, uh, improved access for all ages. So, we're scrolling through. So anyway, when you get a chance, you know, look at the online version that has everything here colorcoded if you would and you know,
maybe as time goes on, we can as a board kind of reconvene and talk about aspects of it uh that that we're ultimately responsible for assisting with. And then as Paul mentioned, if it needs to be updated as a living document and we need to, you know, be more involved in some areas where we're not listed on the
matrix today, you know, for example, uh the 40B um uh protection uh process um you know, which we're not listed right now as being a um uh you know, um participant in. So anyway, that's it. I
appreciate you hanging around, Paul, to review this, but I know nobody on the select board was on the select board at the time this this was created. It went to town meeting after the complete process and town meeting approved it. You know, as the um legislative body of
the town and us as the executive office, it's kind of important for us to uh to make sure that we follow up on that uh endorsement and approval by the town. Thank you, Mr. Ern. Yep. For through you, chair. I just want to say I refer to the uh master plan often when I'm
looking at certain things that are coming before the board just to see what did the master plan state I think this is a great summary document but to your to your point several of them I think we've either completed or at least partially completed be nice if we could have a a summary of sort of like a
status update on some of these um like a extra column added that we could look at and then maybe prioritize a couple that we want to look at as a town that are maybe listed as high or immediate uh priority um to kind of put on our plate if they haven't been addressed yet. Make
sure that we're addressing them going forward. I can work with some other department heads um and we can get something back to you. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Kimell, the um planning board did a great job on this. Uh there's a lot of information in here
which is very very important. I have to tell you, it's probably the first time I'm looking at it. be honest with you, this happened during the pandemic and a lot of us weren't paying much attention to what was going on in town government at that time. Um, but there's a lot of very very good information, very
pertinent information and I think it would be uh in everyone's best interest uh if this is on the planning planning board website, right? You can go you can just Google it. someone at home has the opportunity to go on and look at it in color uh on online you can take a look
at some of the ideas and and strategy that the planning board and the planner did at that time and I think you'll find that most of it is something that we should be as Mrs. Luciano just mentioned, we should be addressing some of it ourselves, but I think it's uh it's it's a great read for someone. If
you have have a hour or two, I would highly recommend you take the time to go on to the planning board website and take a pass peek at how it how it all came to be. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Uh Mr. O'Neal, I just want to say thank you for putting this uh having this put on
the agenda tonight. I think this is a very important uh thing for us to um spend time on discussing and looking into. Um and I would suggest that um from time to time we put this back on the agenda and we can look back and see
where we are on especially the things that we that this board is responsible for and see where we are as far as are we making any progress in any of the areas that we're responsible for. Yeah. Maybe even ask for an update some of the boards that are responsible for certain
sections like this conservation items or planning board. Yeah, there you go. Thank you, Mr. D7. Thank you. Um the next item is to discuss on discussion on transparency of meeting
materials. Um, yeah, through the chair. Mike, I I remember I think a couple years ago now maybe we had a discussion about posting meeting materials online and I thought we had agreed that we would start
posting stuff online, but it seems like we have not been. I know there were certain particular things we concerned about privacy considerations and stuff like that that we wouldn't be able to post and we were all agreeable with keeping those items out. um is are we not able to post online for some reason?
What we were talking about um is that say like when you have a liquor license, we'll just have a folder here for the board. Yep. And then in your packets will just be the public information um that we can share. Correct. And and we could just when that packet gets emailed
to you, it could get put up on and um but other items too, other agenda items too, right? If there's materials that we're looking at like for proposed for instance tonight looking at proposed policies or whatever. Yeah. Like that stuff should be easy have to be able to post for the public to review prior to
our meeting so they can come informed and ask questions if they want to. It'd be great. Mr. Chairman, was this policy just adopted by the select board or was it other other groups? Do you know? I mean we have other committees in town too that have public meetings. to have
the finance committee and planning board and all these other was it just the select board that we we talked about it in the cont we talked about in the context of just the select board at the time I know that there are other committees that do already post stuff publicly um I think it's up to each
board to to address it on their own but I think we talked about at the time as just the select board okay thank you um I think that if we as a select board take the lead with this and have make it the policy townwide that if you're going to have a meeting, people
are going to want to know what you're talking about. It doesn't I mean, having an agenda item with having no um resources to look into isn't really helpful. Um if you're at the meeting, it's great if it's up on the board and
you know, you can always go back and refer to it if you if you because all of these meetings are recorded. So it if we have nothing less than like we had like you just had um the whole master plan. I mean, we were running through that. So, we should be able to get this stuff with
the technology we have in this building. There's no reason that we can't make sure that everybody is able to know what we're talking about. I agree. And I'm not the technology person. I know that some boards have used Dropbox maybe. Is that Does that sound about right? Yeah,
we use Dropbox. Dropbox, right? Um, so I don't know if that's something that would be easy enough for other boards to implement. I have no idea what the challenges would be with implementing that for other boards. And I just know that um one of the issues that I know that this board is going to have, I can't speak for other boards, is that
our agenda uh sometimes changes right up until Yeah. the 48 hour period. And so the work that uh Jen's doing in her office just to get us the material, never mind make it accessible to people. Uh sometimes that's a challenge as well,
but um and no, but if we had like a Dropbox, we could add stuff as we as we know, right? As it adds. And I don't I don't know how the Dropbox works. Sorry. I'm I'm assuming it's just like it sounds, but I'm more I'm more of a paper guy. So, M
Mr. Mr. Ch. Speaking of paper, um I I attended one of the uh mass uh select board uh association training sessions and they talked about the public records law. And uh speaking of paper, it's great that everything is digital that that our entire packet is digital. As
long as there's nothing confidential in there or the people that submitted the request to be put on the agenda, they don't want to remain anonymous. As long as all the information is, you know, well, public public, then then just sharing that link to that file is ideal.
But in the event that anybody wants an entire printed copy, then there's a cost associated with that as well as time. So we any town doesn't have to comply unless the cost of producing the packet
is is uh you know assumed by the person who's requesting it. So that's just something uh to keep in mind another time and maybe we could look into see what the what the cost would be if somebody says hey I'd like to see have the whole packet available to me. Um it
makes I know that we used to have agendas out where we people could come but that was before we had all these screens up where everything was televised too. Um but yeah if you if somebody wanted the every packet that we got we'd have to murder every tree in in
town to print them. So, okay. Any other business? Not reasonably anticipated in the last 48 hours. Okay. On to old business. Um, as far as discussion of hiring an interim town manager, I'm going to move that to
our next meeting and we'll probably uh talk about that and go into um executive session after the next meeting. um discussion on repairing of King Phillip Road. I'm sure that there are several people here that have been waiting all night for us to talk about
this. So, I know um we just got this um this week. Um you had asked Sharon Everett to look into uh the issue and as Sherin says in her letter um the town adopted the last paragraph the the town
has adopted a bylaw and it's a private way bylaw and upon receiving petition signed by at least twothirds of the abutters of a private way and after approval by town meeting the town may make temporary
repairs to private ways. Said temporary repairs shall include only the filling in of holes or depressions with sand, gravel, cinders, or other suitable materials in order to make said way passable, but shall not include
construction, reconstruction, or resurfacing of saidways. Drainage shall not be included. Um, excuse me. Hang on. Hang to get We can't read it because you're too far ahead on the page. It's right there. It's the bottom
paragraph. Last paragraph. Okay. Sorry. Um and so then um on the next page um town council went into what we talked about before the process of a private way becoming a
public way. And the process is that um you would send um a letter to the planning board and the planning board would review it and they'd make a non-binding recommendation back to you and then you'd have to approve or reject
and then after that it would have to go to town meeting. Um and then it was also talked about uh the special act. Um and Shireen attached a few special acts
and um I will say there's four of them attached there. All four of them require betterments from the private way. The homeowners on the private way. There isn't one of them that does not require
betterments. So, and also I don't know if we've uh discussed this since the our last meeting, but um at town meeting it was voted that uh we increased um the highway department's uh budget for doing
uh temporary repairs. Yep. So they um that money as of July 1st they'll be able to that money will be available July one and then uh Jared can go out there okay do some temporary repairs. So my just clarification either one of these options one or two either
accepting the private portion as a public way or uh the special act authorized permanent repairs those both have to go to town meeting. Correct. Correct. Okay. Yes, sir. Um hello, uh Nicholas Adams from uh uh
65 King Phillip Road. Um because of the complexity of the situation, we've certainly reduced our sites somewhat and now we're just hoping to get the repairs done so that the roughest parts of the road, which
include sort of 4 in, 5 in, 6 in ruts, um can get filled. And so I'm very excited to hear about the budget increase for the pavement repairs. Um the longer term issue regarding repaving the whole road um we
can talk about but um you said that the budget will have the additional funds available after July 1st. Correct. And so we're talking about what's that a month from
now? Three weeks from now. Y and so um we can't we won't expect any improvements in the meantime. Is that correct? Right. I think that that um as far as I know that that whole budget has been um used for the year. Um it was it
was such a a minimal amount for the amount that he had. So that's why it was increased by $10,000. Yeah. Exactly. To try to get it from So that additional budget. So So we should not expect any repairs prior to that time. Right.
Right. Okay. So should I fill the ruts with gravel? Can we do it ourselves? It's your Is there a liability to that for us or the town? Whoever lives on that road owns that road. It's not It's not the town's road.
So, we can fill the potholes personally. I'm not going to tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't do on your property as I wouldn't want you telling me what I should do with my property. So, it's a private road even though the town is the owner
of the land underneath it. Cuz when I saw the map, it clearly showed a 40 foot wide. No, the town only took an easement for the uh saw project. So, they only took an easement. Okay.
So, let me think for a second. And I think Sher wants to speak for a second. Careful. Sher Seavoy, 115 King Phelp Road. So, as I discussed and I did send, you know, an email to both Alec and Mike um
addressing what was going to be done for July 1st. That wasn't answered. Um we talked about in the last meeting or the meeting before the last meeting because there wasn't much said in the previous meeting. the one before that that we
would Jared would do sections of the bad areas, not just throw asphalt in the holes. So that's my question. What type of repairs are we doing? So I think that's what Mike was just reading off to you. It's just the
temporary repairs that can be done. That that doesn't answer my question though is what type because we discussed this in the meeting before last. If we can patch, we're talking sections. Denise, right? Is it Denise?
Correct. What it says is filling of holes or depressions with sand, gravel, cinders, or other suitable materials in order to make said passable but not shall not include construction, reconstruction, or resurfacing of said waste. Drain shall not be included.
That's correct. Well, but I'm saying they they'll do bigger patches because we know from the past that just dumping the asphalt in the holes is not working. So, it's almost pointless. You know what I mean? So, we discussed
So, I'm just going by the past meeting, Denise, what we discussed with Jared. I don't know what hatching. I know. I know. So maybe I should contact him to find out if if it's if he's plans because again, Alec did not answer that question. Mike did not answer that
question. I get this and I would like a copy of this if I can get it, please. The Yeah, the the letter. Yeah. With the stipulations and whatnot. Absolutely. What's that? How many? Oh, it's not
many. The letter is two and then uh three. I'm like, you have my email address if you if somebody could email it to me. So, again, I'm just going back to the meetings that we were all here and how it was Alec was mentioned it. I
believe I thought Bob me I think you all were on board that we can somehow get bigger areas patched and Jared was here and it's it's on record. So, it's you know it's it's it's it's in the Norton media center. You know what I mean? So, that's what I'm trying to clarify for
July 1st. What type of repairs are we going? And I get what you're saying, Denise. You You can read it word for word and so can I on mass.gov. Okay. So, it's all it's the same verbiage. I just want to
make sure that at least those really poor areas will be improved a little more in the repairs. That's all I'm asking. Um um I'll Jared's off this week. I'll go over it with him next week and I'll let
And there's no doubt in there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to do the best he can with the resources he has to to make that road passable. There's because that is what the only reason that he's trying to do that is to make it so it's a better That's what I'm asking though because it hasn't worked
in the past, Roger. I mean it hasn't I understand what you're saying. You know what I mean? So I just don't want to go backwards. I want to move forward. But I'm trying to be proactive and I think that what we're trying to do is we're trying to let you know what we as a town can do, right? And what we can do is
limited by what the law says that we can do. But that we already understand that that that's been from day one I walked in this door. I understand. You know what I mean? We just seem to be going over the same thing. Come July 1st when he has the money. I'm sure he'll do the best he can with the resource he has to
make that road. Well, that was just my question. like because it was brought up in the meeting, Roger. It was brought up that we were going to hopefully with and remember when John got up here from conservation as long as we don't change the elevation and he I'm sorry I don't
mean to cut you off. I'm just saying that none of those people are here to say no exactly what they're going to do and I can't tell you exactly what's going to happen either. Right. But that that's I I don't know this without asking. So that's why I'm asking you the question. Okay, that's all. Okay. Okay.
Because it was never answered. So, if I'm going to communicate to the select board, I would appreciate answers when I reach out to them and not have vague answers through I emailed. I mean, I don't know if I should be emailing all
of you at the same time. I figured I you know, I don't know what else I We're trying to give you as the best answer as I can. I am not the guy that's going to go out there and fill the No, I understand that. I I'm I I No, I know. But but I but I understand. But again, I
don't want to if we're going to be, you know, I don't know when this is going to stop for us. If this is the end, we won't be back on the business anymore, you know, the old business. Like, do you guys have any other answers as far as or
does it have to come from us even though I have 70 signatures to bring this to a public meeting? Mr. moderate. I've already given a petition. I know. I've And we've all seen it. Right. Right. Excuse me. One sec. Yes, Mr. Just to be
clear, we're not going to give you any different different advice that we get from town council. We can stand here and bear battle back and forth and we can have a discussion about it. Sounds to me like you're trying to have us say something that we shouldn't say. And I'm not I'm not going to do that. Right. I will give you the information that's
given to me to the best of my ability. Right. I think uh Mrs. Uh Luciana just gave you the information that that's the only information we have at this point. I do have a question for Mr. uh units. Mike, they just did the u they just did
over Bird Street and all the material was dumped down behind the Trent memorial. Is that material that the town owns or is that the contractor going to come and take that out or it the shavings? It would be the towns. The towns. Jared wants it. So, if they want
to fill a hole in and they want to reach out to Jared, we've got a mountain of shavings over there. We're talking thousands of yards of shavings. It might be a solution, a temporary solution if you're going to fill your private property before July 1st. They
might be able to borrow some of that just to fill in holes, but other than that, we can't other than waiting for Jared to give you some some explanation. That's all we can do. Right. I'll speak to Jared, but I was I'm just looking for answers on past questions. That's all. I mean, simple as that. I mean, I didn't
know Jared wasn't going to be here tonight. I would be emailing Jared, too, and not bothering you guys. You know, if that's my go-to person, but also given the fact that this is what the attorney said, which is basically just a recap of
everything we've already discussed. I don't see anything new in that whatsoever other than the special act which is basically what when she presented her um you know discussion on it. It was how it was all all the other
towns and I know you guys had asked what towns you wanted the information on those other towns that were approved that they were the private roads were approved on. So, I'm just going to tell you that you've seen all the information that we've seen. Mhm. I have no
different information than what you have available to you right now. Okay. All right. So, you know, but again, I mean, I waited 2 hours to hear basically what we already heard, you know, other than the special act. So, Mike, if you could
send me a copy on that and then I will discuss with everybody how we can move forward and I will contact Jared. All right. Okay. I appreciate your help, but just looking for more answers than what we've already gone over a thousand times. So, the uh next two um items on old
business, the discussion of the remote participation policy and the discussion on the temporary flag signage policy. I've gotten received a note here um from council that uh we may want to um move any policies to our next meeting. Okay.
Um update on Elm Street, Mr. Chair. Um so the question was asked about the um old parking lot across from uh the Reed and Barton site, parcel 32-01 at the last meeting. Um it's a
42,253 square foot parcel. Um it sold on December 2nd, 2024. for $1,500 a cash sale. Uh the seller was uh the RB Liquidation Inc. and the buyer
was uh 47 River Works Inc. and the taxes due um $41,547. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Kimble, same question. Um Mr. units again though
the selling price and I understand you know people can can buy and sell it doesn't why would why would this property was this buildable house lot be sold for $1,500 and when it was sold on December 2nd why wasn't the town given out back
taxes um I I don't know why it sold for the price that it sold um as far as back taxes know that where it was a cash sale And it wasn't a mortgage going through a bank. No one did a uh lean certificate.
So So how do we get our money? If anyone someone if anyone comes in and tries to pull a permit, they're not going to be able to pull a permit to build on the property without paying the back taxes. What can the town do to get our tax
revenue that's owed to us? Number one, you know, I I I don't understand how a piece of property that we spent $500,000 to help, of course, it's across the street, but
we did spend $500,000 as a town to help clean up a mess that was left behind by Reed and Bon and suddenly someone comes along with $1,500. I wish I'd had this offer myself. I would have gladly bought it for $1,500.
not quite clear about why that happened, how that happened. And I guess what I was looking for was more answers. And if I can't get them from from you or from the town, I'm going to go to the attorney general's office and start asking questions at that level cuz I
don't feel this this is it just doesn't smell the smell test doesn't work for me here. There's something drastically wrong. And if a company pays cash for something, I get that. But if there's a lane, if there's a tax lean on the
property for back to taxes, the town should be expected to get the $1,5100 that's paid for it along with the $41,547 in tax due back to us. So, I guess what I'm going to do is tomorrow morning, I'm going to reach out to the attorney general's office and try to get
some clarification from the state as to how something like this can happen. Is it allowed to happen? Perhaps it is, but I can't seem to get any answers from the town um on how this all transpired. And it's
it's very disturbing to me. And I'm I'm looking for answers and I I'll I'll take it to the next step. Um, Mr. Chair, so what was new to me is that the town didn't sell this this RB liquidation, which I'm assuming RB is Reed and Barton. They
must have uh acquired bankruptcy court. So we we didn't sell it, Mr. Kimble. It was a transa private transaction between those two parties. I I totally understand that. Yeah. I I guess I had a question to you then. You have you had a problem with the $1,500? No, I No, but
if I sold my house for 1,500, nobody is going to can say anything about it, right? So, I I I I don't I we back taxes on Yeah. We need our tax revenue. We want the taxes. Yeah. I mean, I do I do remember the discussion um from the
interested party on the Elm Street property that she was trying to acquire the land to be able to get I think grants, something like that as part of the project. Now, I don't know where that project stands, if that's moving forward or whatever, but I don't know
what the trigger is typically for back taxes, if it's a building permit or if it's just the acquisition. But yeah, that's a good question. I don't know is that's our recourse is to if if they if nobody does anything with that property,
then we have no recourse in um Well, no, because now if 47 Riverworks, Inc. is a legitimate company. You now have a party that's responsible for that property, right? So, is the taxes usually owed on the
transaction of the acquisition of the property or is it when it doesn't go away? So, normally what would happen is someone would be getting a mortgage, they pull they'd pull a municipal lean certificate and the attorney would say, "Well, you got to pay those taxes before
you can take the property." So in this instance, it's gone from the bankruptcy court who would not pay taxes to 47 Riverworks, Inc. So at least there's someone that's responsible for that property now and is responsible for
the taxes. Yeah, gotcha. Mr. Chairman, one final question. Mr. Units, did the town ever put a lane on the property for the $500,000 we put into the restoration there at property on the other side of the street on the I don't know. I'll have to check on that. I don't know if
it ever did put a link. I understand there's three parcels down there. I understand that the money we spent, the half million we spent was for the old warehouse itself, right? Uh but, you know, if I was told that they sold it for $1,500 because they want to
develop 47 Elm Street, they want they want to put something in there. Perhaps they need that for a title five separate system. how you know I kind of I would kind of understand that but it's so little bit it's the money is so
ridiculous that I I have to I I have to ask questions and I'm going to I'm going to have to see if I can find out anything and if I do find out anything I'll report back to the board about what I find out and we don't know what condition this property's in and they need a septic system and I don't know if it
um what the square footage requirement is in that zone either it may be larger buildable Yeah. So it Thank you. Town manager report an update on standard and pores. Yep. We um we did
have our uh phone call uh interview with Standard and Pores a couple weeks ago and uh we did maintain our double A+ uh rating. We were hoping to go to a AAA and uh the night we had that call I
heard uh how the US government federal government's rating was dropped. I'm like, "Oh, damn. Forget the forget the AAA. We're going to stay at double A+." But we did maintain that and stay at double A+. And I just wanted to share with you one of the things I did give
them uh they which they wanted was uh the five-year projections. And um as you can see, when we get out to uh 20 FY29, we'd be looking at a a
deficit right now of 588,000. Um you know, that's all speculative. We don't know um what's going to happen um with local receipts. and we we've done our best to figure out
what they go up each year and what we could project for the future. Um, but we would have have to keep an eye on that as we go forward. And I know uh I wasn't a fan of using
$500,000 for the school department um from the stabilization fund. And uh that I just included with this for you to see that since 2002 2003 the school department's down 885 students. And just
since I've been to here um in the 14 years it's down 300 something students. But somewhere along the line, some adjustment is going to have to be made there. I don't know what it is. I can only speculate. I know the school department is getting out of uh the
school choice business. And they've also asked Reed's collaborative to leave. So, I can only speculate maybe they're thinking about closing a school in the future because they're losing revenue um with those two actions. So, I don't I
don't know what the plan is. That's something you'll have to have a conversation with the school committee because they they do that. But Mr. Chairman, just wanted to share that. Mr. Kimble, Mr. for clarification, the U school choice numbers are included in
these enrollments. They are okay. And you know, I hear I see a lot on Facebook and I don't go on there a lot, but when I do mention recently about possibility having to build additional schools and I don't
understand why that conversation being had out there when you start looking at the enrollments and how they're dropping. Um, if you take away school choice, it's going to be really uh dropping dropping in uh student base. I forget how many school choice kids we
had last year. I believe um just over 200, but I don't quite remember how many. And I think um be interested to see what happens in the very near future if that if that program uh starts to fizzle out. It's my understanding that
no new additional grades are being brought in at this time under school choice. So the kids that are in the system obviously are going to be has to has to work through which is the right way to do it. Um and if you look uh 2005
2006 the middle school had 832 students and uh 2024 2025 527 students. So you could throw an extra grade into the middle school too. I know they always hear it would mess up the pods but hopefully they could figure that out.
Well, at the rate we keep pushing back on building projects, we'll see more decline. But, um, it's interesting to me that James had four years where we had a surplus. I don't think I've seen a surplus year yet. Ever.
[Music] U, Mr. Chair. So, so is this um kind of a first pass, Mike, of a five-year budget plan basically? Is he did he collaborate with the other departments on this like the school
school department? It looks like it doesn't appear based on the um operating expenditures that that these will be level service uh budgets going forward. It shows like a 2% increase, right? We're just looking at
two and a half 3% increases over the years. Okay. So basically the budget to stay under the levy limit. Yeah. Gotcha. Is he going to share this um model with the finance committee? An actual This is mine. You created this? Yes. Okay.
So, when when you're when you're gone, are you going to hand it over to to James? Yeah. Okay, great. I will. And then if he could, you know, share it with the finance committee. If there are for are there formulas behind all these numbers? Um, no. These are
just I didn't put any formulas for the percentages. No. Okay. Well, yeah. Thanks for putting it together, Mike. Thanks. It's good first pass. Appreciate it. Mr. Chairman, I would I would say to everyone here that
in my 30 odd years of being involved in the town, if we could only hope that this would happen, but these numbers are going to change every single year for the next five years. All those years, have you seen a surplus yet? Uh, never. Never. Well, I hear like
businesses now are trying to plan, are there going to be tariffs tomorrow or aren't they going to be tariffs tomorrow? And they're ordering stuff and they're praying that the ships get here before the tariffs come on cuz they've ordered the stuff and it could be too expensive when it hits. [Music]
Other towns do have five-year plans, budget forecasts. I know that. So, it doesn't hurt to have it the model built, Mr. Kimble, and then modify it over time. And you can always track it. Don't bet your house on it, Z. Right.
Um, so I think we already did the update on the outstanding work um for the uh new town hall and new senior community center. So, um just looking for a couple of updates on the other two things. Um, so on uh the fish and game ramp, yes,
that that's been paved and uh they hope to be open within 3 weeks on that. So, um that project's almost completed. Um on uh the farmer senior center still waiting on national grid to have their
surveyors present uh a plan for easements on that so we can look at um selling that property eventually. Um, do we have a contact at National Grid that I can call? Yeah. Could you
just give me that information? Because if we just see seems like that's that seemed like it's been taking a long time to you. It always takes a long time with them. So that's Yeah. Okay.
Um, I don't have anything else. We have the warrants. Um, that'll be taken care of. The uh uh next uh meeting date is going to be um we have to vote on the warrants. We have to vote on the warrants or that change through through your chair. Yes. Uh I we you didn't
announce the board's report me. I just wanted to mention Oh, I'm sorry. At the last Serpent meeting worth mentioning to you guys, there is a new 2024 climate act that was rolled out I think last fall. And so Serpent is uh has um issued
comments back to um the government Massachusetts energy facilities sighting board uh on behalf of the municipalities, but they've also encouraged the m municipalities to re to also individually um submit feedback to this new law. So what the law states is
that for certain projects I think particularly um solar panels and wind turbines um that the um developer would go directly to the state for approval for those projects
and it bypasses the town regulations and bylaws. Um and so we would not have the ability or the authority to review the projects individually. it would be a state approved project. Um, and so the feedback that that they're getting is
all the things you'd anticipate. My first thought. Yeah. Uh the act the comment period has actually already closed but Serpentid said that they had expressed um this committee had expressed that they would still receive comments in uh my suggestion was I was
going to just take the serpent letter and sort of mimic it very similarly for us. So there's another like on top of it like more feedback saying these are all the issues that we have with this proposed regulation. Could you get that information out to us so that we can
look at it and then we can have a uh maybe put that letter together for our next agenda? Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Um do we need to vote on a used warrants? Lawrence, we have to do it. I I think what you have to do is um you'll have to wait till Alec is here because
he signed him and he'd just be reporting on them. Right. Just for clarification, I know I know I've been out of the mix for a while. We used to approve every warrant. We honestly stop doing that now. Um the way Yeah. The way it is now,
it's one person from the designated sign and they just report at the next meeting that they've signed. Okay. All right. Thank you. So we'll put those on the next agenda. I think Bob when we when you redid the chairs and stuff, they reappointed Alec as the Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So, our next meeting um would have been scheduled for June 19th, but that's a holiday. So, we're going to have it on June 17th at 5:30 here. Tuesday? Yeah, that's a Tuesday
the 17th at 5:30 here. Mr. chair, on that agenda, could we put on [Music] um the noise regulations that uh Brian mentioned earlier, just just I'll make copies of this so people can make take a look at it. I believe it's the planning
board, not us, that will look at this, but it might be worth I'll just make a copy and everybody can take a peek at it, but we should probably talk about it. Maybe we send it upstairs to the planer, I would say. Could you bring that to the uh um traffic safety committee and see what they think of
that as well? It says nothing a lot of this has nothing to do with automotive. It's goes on residential construction. It's not just just traffic safeties. It's a lot of different different u
issues of tra you know as far as uh mufflers noise you know noise these these motorcycles without mufflers anymore you know that kind of stuff. So, it it is partially part of the traffic safety, but I think it's something we should uh have a conversation with the
planner about. Okay. Anybody have anything else? Here we are at the end. Can I make a motion? I make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Thank you all
for coming. Thank you for staying with us for the whole