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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Jre1APk2tZ0

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Thursday, June 18th, 2026. Um we'll have the roll call. We have uh Mr. O'Neil, Ms. Luciano, Mr. Kimball, and myself. Um at this time we have a couple of scouts that are here working on their um

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communications merit badge. And as part of that, I'd like to have them come up and lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

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under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you both. And those uh two young men are from Troop 61 here in Norton. Okay, first thing on our agenda is uh proclamations. Uh we have the uh

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Memorial Day proclamation that uh we didn't have available to us um on Memorial Day to give to Mr. Arena. So, um if Mr. Arena, if you wouldn't mind coming up, please. And Mr. Gary Cameron will come up with him. >> Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a

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proclamation. Whereas in the aftermath of the Civil War, communities across the nation gathered to honor soldiers who had given their lives, marking the first Decoration Day. And whereas following World War I, the nation again united to

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honor those who died in service to our country. Renamed Memorial Day, the last Monday in May is a time to remember and honor the men and women who have given their lives in all American wars and and conflicts. And whereas through our history, thousands of

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Massachusetts residents have answered the call to serve defending our nation, our freedom, and our way of life. And whereas their courage, sacrifice, and devotion to duty represents the very best of the Commonwealth and continue to inspire

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generations. And whereas we must pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and recommit ourselves to honoring their legacy through service, unity, and gratitude. Now therefore, I Maura Healey, Governor

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of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim May 25th, 2026 to be Memorial Day and urges all residents of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in this observance. Given at

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the Executive Chamber of Boston this first day of May in the year 2026 20,026 2026 and the independence of the United States of America the 249th. Our Excellency Maura Healey,

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Governor of the Commonwealth, Kimberly Driscoll, Lieutenant Governor, and William Francis Galvin the Secretary of Commission Commonwealth. >> [applause] [applause] >> I've known Sam a lot of years and uh he's done a lot for the veterans in town.

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Uh it was it was our pleasure to recognize him at the last uh Memorial Day parade and unfortunately it was a rainy day and it was kind of nasty out that day, but um he was our parade marshal and uh having uh been the parade marshal normally we we

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we pass on the a Day proclamation to uh to the marshal himself. So, this is yours. We appreciate everything you've done. And Harry, you want to say anything or you want to say something? >> I'm good. >> You sure? >> Yeah. >> I said it all already. >> Yeah. >> Okay. [laughter]

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>> So, Mr. Arena, I just want to thank you for your service. Thank you for your service to the town and it it couldn't have we couldn't have asked for a a better person to represent us as a parade marshal this year for Memorial Day. Thank you. >> Thank you.

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>> Thanks, Sam. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cameron. >> Okay, next on the agenda we have the minutes of June 4th. >> Chairman, I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes as written, June 4th. >> Second.

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>> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Uh licenses and permits. Mr. Town Manager. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this is an

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annual request from 254 Mansfield Ave for um this is in page six in your packet. There's a map of the lot. There are 85 parking spots for a special events parking permit through the summer. Uh there's portable toilets there. All

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the departments have signed off on this request. Um we'd ask the board's approval. >> Any questions from the board? >> Mr. Chairman, I have one. I'm trying to figure out where it is. I know it's off Mansfield Ave. Is it It must be in front of the mobile

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home park? >> Yep. It's Yep. It's next to the mobile mobile home park. >> Mobile home park. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Chairman, I'll make a motion we approve the applicant application for 254 Mansfield Avenue North Mass for

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um >> special events >> special event parking. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Next up we have announcements. Mr.

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Kimball. >> Let's see. Uh first of all, we have an America's 250th um anniversary celebration. This is going to be put on by the VFW um on August 8th, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.

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There will be um free cookout. There will be uh hot cornhole and horseshoes, fruit food, music, and community events. Uh bring your family, bring your friends, and everyone's invited. You know what? The Veterans Council is um

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as of next Thursday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be hosting our uh annual uh carnival in front of the old school. Uh the hours for Thursday are

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6:00 to 10:00. 5:00 Oh, I was close. 5:00 to 10:00 Thursday. >> Same for Friday. >> 5:00 to 10:00 Friday. 12:00 to 10:00 on Saturday. And by the way, Saturday is the fireworks event. So, we make sure everybody's there at dusk. And on Sunday, we'll be there

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12:00 to 5:00. So, uh come on out, support your VFW, but also in your in your veterans, but also um keep remember that the um the fireworks will be held on on Saturday night. And also on Saturday,

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we're going to have Founders Day is coming back again this year. So, there will be uh booths set up with some of the local, um people who have uh, displays and some of the wares on display. So, on Sunday, the 28th, from 10:00 a.m. to

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1:00 p.m., there will be a uh, Norton Veterans Council is presenting the car cars vets second annual car show. There will be five trophies awarded. There's no entry fee. So, if you have an old older vehicle and you want to bring it, please come on down and join us.

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Again, it's the Henry A. Yelle School, across from Honeydew. And uh, we hope to show if you show up, uh, we'll make sure you have a space. But, there will be five trophies. There will be best of show, best original unrestored, best custom restored, uh, best classic car and top

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sports car. And I think that's it. No. For those who don't know, the town hall is closed on that 4:30. >> [laughter] >> In case you're coming down. Uh, tomorrow's Juneteenth. So, we want to recognize that and uh,

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wish everyone that that has it a happy holiday. The town hall will be closed tomorrow. Uh, but uh, hopefully um, everyone has a chance to uh, enjoy the great day we're supposed to have for weather-wise tomorrow and and have a great day. And I think that's it.

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>> Anybody have anything else? Moving on to new business. Uh, Norton Police Accreditation. Chief, would you mind coming up? Thanks. >> Good evening. So, so the police department has been involved in police accreditation since uh,

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well, we first were certified in 2012 and then we became accredited in 2014. And at last week's award ceremony I I mentioned to the to the audience that at the time I never knew how important accreditation would be

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in 2026 with police reform and peace officer standards and in training commission and the rules and regulations that they set up. Um Unfortunately, Kevin Schleicher couldn't

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be here tonight. He has a coaching a softball game with his in All-Star game for his daughter, but he put a tremendous amount of work into this this year. Um police accreditation is basically following the best standards that are set for police departments and police

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officers. Um It's not only policies and procedures, but it's it's saying that we do what we what we what we say we do. We We We had 268 mandatory standards that we had to to pass and another 66 optional

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standards that we did pass. Um and this is really it's not only a department effort, it's really a a town-wide effort. You know, the schools are involved in this, the town hall. Um there were things that we needed to get from the town hall to show that we do. Um it's it's evidence to show the way we we

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collect and uh and properly put away, store, and comply with evidence. It's training. It's the our firearms instructors and and what they do. Um the what the field training officers do. Um

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Defensive tactics, de-escalation our hiring process. Um the way we we we notify candidates. You know, we have to outline our MOU with the schools. Um reviewing that on an annual basis. Our building needs, you

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know, we have a 25-year-old building. We have to comply with certain standards regarding our building. Um our reporting efforts, yeah, use of force reporting, internal affairs, uh, public records, um, so there's a whole host of different, uh, different standards that we have to

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comply with. And, um, this is a 3-year award, so we don't have to, uh, do this again until June of 2029. Um, but, uh, really everybody that, uh, from our department and the the help we got from Town Hall, you know, we we greatly

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appreciate it. So. >> So. Chief, I would just like to, uh, first say that, uh, thank you for all your hard work and, uh, your whole department's hard work. Um, it it takes you a whole team and, um, I think that they have a, uh, um,

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a great person leading that that ship, so I I really appreciate all your hard work in getting this accreditation. So, good to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Emery, want me to read this? >> Mr. Kimball's going to read the, uh, uh, sort of certificate.

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>> Accreditation. >> Mhm. >> Massachusetts Police uh, accreditation commission incorporated, may hereby known that the Norton Police Department, having fully demonstrated its commitment to police excellence, by living up to a body of progressive standards to ensure that the delivery of

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police services within the Commonwealth is at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, and having reflected the best professional practices in in each area of police management, administration, operations, and support services, is hereby recognized as an accredited

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police agency for a period of 3 years upon the recommendation of the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission incorporated and awarded to awarded this certificate of re-accreditation on the 11th day of June, 2026. It's

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signed by Scott Scott W. McDonald, President. Mr. Chairman. >> So, this year was a little unique this this time around because we've always uh we've always used paper to do things and this year we moved to an online system. So, um you know, not just Kevin

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Schleicher putting putting the work behind it, moving to a transitioning to a new system, but he was also assisted by our in-house auditor um who is who is Pat Warrell and he really did a a good job as well. So. >> So, um I know uh I know Pat and Kevin

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both and I know that they always put their best effort into everything that they do. So, thank you again. Mr. Kimball. >> Chief, we had a note meeting the other day the uh What day was Wednesday? >> Hm. >> Yeah. Uh Mr. Chairman, if we could maybe we could have Chief come back in two in our next

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meeting, whenever that is and give us an update on what's uh what's happening with that committee. It's a very very It's my first meeting with the group. >> You did good. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> The amount of dedication uh that this

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committee puts forth is is amazing to and to hear the all the passion passion [clears throat] for what they're doing. So, I'd like to uh invite the Chief back and kind of give some ideas and some thought thoughts and ideas we had as a group and maybe in our

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next meeting you could do that. >> Okay. >> Okay, thank [laughter] you. >> I did uh I appreciate you reading the certificate. I did uh frame one. This is the town manager's first uh first accreditation cycle and uh he did attend our award ceremony. So. >> I have a refrigerator

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>> [laughter] >> Thank you, sir. Very >> Thank you again, Chief. I really appreciate all your hard work. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. Great leadership. >> Okay, old business. Do we have any old business? None. None. Town manager's report.

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>> Um >> [clears throat] >> Actually, we have uh >> It's two more items. >> Two >> Two more new I'm sorry. >> You're rushing it. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. Town Accountant Search Update. I'm sorry. I I jumped right over that. My fault. Uh the Town Accountant Search Update, Mr. Town Manager. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this as you

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know, is the board's appointment and we've been uh joined with uh board members Kimball and Luciano and we've received approximately five to eight applications. Uh three were interview worthy. We conducted two

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interviews. One withdrew before the interview. Um one of the interviews resulted in uh not a second interview and the other we were intending to have a second interview. Um however, the candidate um felt

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that it was best to not go forward at this time. So, we are reposting it and uh it we're you know, if if you know any accountants uh we we have a good one now um but it's interim is temporary.

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It's Eric Kincherf and uh gentleman Bill and they're the best in the business. So, we're all systems go uh but it'd be great to have a in-house resource again. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Chair. Uh how long do we have uh Eric? Uh Mr. Town Manager, is he's

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unlimited uh timeline? >> So, it it's actually I believe the contract expires the end of June. So, we'll have to renew. Um but it's you know, a significant less expense than we were paying before. So,

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we're actually saving substantial funds at present. >> Do Do you know if he um if he is open and willing to extending beyond the end of June? >> He is and he's already started on the end of year reporting and transfers.

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>> Very good. Yeah. Um Mr. Chair, also I was on the MMA site today and fortunately we do have a competitive uh salary range on the top end. So, I there were openings in Avon and Wareham. Those are the closest to us. And and our top is uh

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higher than both of them. There's also Westwood. Westwood's a bigger town. A little more wealthy. They they beat us on the salary range, but I think we're very competitive with what you guys have posted. So, and I noticed that it was reposted today. So, hopefully we'll we'll have some luck over the next couple of weeks.

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Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, now we'll move on to the town manager's report. >> Um actually, Mr. Chair, could we uh the primary election location? >> Oh, sure. >> If you If you don't mind. So, this was a late addition, but it's within uh 48 hours the

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interim clerk, Stella Young, um informed us that 2 years ago the voting location was one of the schools, either the the middle or the high school, and that the state requires us to to change that uh this year if we're changing the the location. So, the recommendation for the primary

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is this building. So, um we checked in with uh security team here, police, and the election team. Because of the logistics, we are recommending um the primary and potentially the general. Um so, in Sep- on September 1st and the

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general on November 3rd. Uh but, for now we're just we'd ask the board to designate uh 72 East Main Street uh the September 1st, 2026 primary election location. And it's required to have

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uh 13 hours of poll opening time. So, the hours the clerk's office recommended were 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. >> Mr. Chair. [clears throat] >> Mr. Luciano. >> When do we have to decide the location for the general election.

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>> Uh not today. Uh probably in a in a few weeks, a month. >> I was asking, so I was wondering if it was after that September 1st date to see if there's enough space here to be able to accommodate the volume. Cuz primary should be theoretically lower than general

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election, so if we're tight for primary, we may want to move to one of the schools for general. >> Uh sure. And we could always check with uh our contacts at the state and see if any last-minute changes are permitted if necessary. Right now we're uh anticipating uh the last election drew

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1%. Uh we're hoping for 5% um or more. So. >> Last general election? >> Uh no, the last uh >> municipal >> town election, yeah. >> Yeah, that doesn't Yeah. >> [laughter] >> A different animal. >> Right. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we

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um hold the primary here at Town Hall, 72 East Main Street, on September 1st from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. as requested. >> I second.

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>> Uh motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Kimball. >> I have like to find out um 2 years ago what the what the primary count was.

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You know, what what I mean, people did come for the primary. And then also what for the general election. It's a non-presidential year. So, you know, I'm I'm guessing that that the count may be lower, but to Denise's point, if we have to change facilities, we need to maybe

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get an idea of what the what the count was. >> Right, so maybe 4 years ago it'd be more reflective the non-presidential year. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah, and may be splitting up into two different locations by precinct or something like that. What was the reason

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why you couldn't we couldn't use the school? >> Uh we could. It's just more convenient with the state voting equipment here. And there's an additional complication due to the census. Whoever didn't return the census is automatically under state

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rules removed from the voting list. It's about 6,000 Norton residents will receive a mailer in the next week or two informing them that if they'd like to vote in September, November, they need to register because the state has automatically removed anyone that didn't

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return their census. >> Mhm. Okay. >> Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Kimball. >> Also, uh Mr. Gould, if you could find out how many parking spaces they have at the middle school was that's where we normally have it. I believe we probably have more here now than we do at the

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middle. Um and I think it'd be a lot more convenient between the parking between these buildings, the library, and the the DPW all back. Uh there's quite a few spaces here. So, um just curious about that because I know in the past the

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parking has been kind of tight over at the um at the middle school and it might might show us that maybe we have more capacity here than than we think. >> For sure. >> [clears throat]

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>> Anything else? Now to the town manager's report. >> Uh thank you. Um so, as you noticed, um Town Clerk Jill Seppa is uh no longer with us. Unfortunately, she has moved to uh what?

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Uh another opportunity and we have uh I I have appointed Stella Young, our interim town clerk, and we're very impressed with her professionalism, and she's picked up the reins and moving full steam ahead, and we wish uh Clerk

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Seppa all the continued success in her future endeavors. She's made some lasting impacts on the town in her short short time here. The police department, um you already heard they're re-accredited and that's just a reflection of the professionalism, diligence, and

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I can't say enough. Being part of that was uh amazing. They Many hours go into that. Um also the NOPE grant review process, we are intending on uh bringing that to the next meeting as there were some worthy candidates for the the

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grant. If the board will remember the the program that we adopted uh month or two ago. Um excited to bring that back. Emergency management, uh $4,140 grant um by Ray Cord. Uh he filled out the

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application and and got some funding for emergency preparedness training. Um we recently received a letter from the senior center. Uh one of the uh visitors who complimented them on the profound

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impact, whose father had dementia, um had meaningful activities, impressive work of all the staff. Uh Estelle, Beth, Saucy, Ann, and the entire team over there. Uh extraordinary work happening over at the senior and community center.

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Um in other news, regional emergency communication. So, SEMRECC has administratively merged with Meducomet. So, what that means is instead of a four town regional dispatch, we're

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trying out for 1 year an 11-town administrative organization. So, we're sharing our director. We're we're the lead in this. We We have a very effective regional dispatch and we're absorbing another

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seven towns. So, it's it's a project. And if it goes well, we plan to renew the agreement for the for 3 more years. This will take a majority vote of both regional dispatches, but the state is

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really encouraging regional dispatches, and it's cost-effective. It's saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars since we've done it. Um So, I mean, both chiefs are involved, and we're really getting in at the ground level, and this is an exciting thing to

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be a part of. >> Um Mr. Chair, so we all went on the tour of that facility, and I forget who the gentleman was. Was he the deputy director who gave us the tour? >> That was Rob, the director. >> Okay, Rob. Yeah, he did a fantastic job, and Rob planned ahead when he uh

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sourced that building when it was in disrepair and moved in there, and he showed us who probably all saw it, that uh more than half of the facility is empty. Um for this reason, he was planning ahead, future planning to expand the number of um

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stations, uh and this is great news, and I had a lot of confidence in in him when we left. So, this is a really good thing, and I know he had mentioned, by the way, somebody had mentioned at the town meeting the increase in our um

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uh allocation or what's the word I'm looking for? Appropriation charges for the for this uh you know, regional uh dispatch center, and how it gone had gone up um year after year. But, he had mentioned that his cost, his

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allocation and his expenses back to the town has not changed. His cost, he's has been flat um for all of the communities, and the increase that we saw in our budget was because of the the uh reduction in um state grant money.

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So, it it the costs that are in that are going up has nothing to do with what's going on in that facility. Has to do with external funding sources. So, this is great news. Um he explained to all of us that this is something they were hoping was going to happen. So, thanks for sharing it.

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>> Um sure. And they did purchase that facility for a dollar, I believe. >> Yes, that's right. >> beat that. On top of what's the hill in Foxborough, right off Route 1? Yeah, it's where there's a campground. It's way at the very top of the hill. It's uh >> Right right in the middle of a

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>> Something to be proud of as far as the visibility has for the whole the whole region. We were driving through the center of town and we went we weren't driving actually we were walking down the hallway we peep just took a look into one of the offices and there's the intersection of 140 and 123

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showing up on the on the screen. Cameras we didn't even know were there. >> [laughter] >> So, they they have eyes everywhere, which is great for our public safety. >> And I'm sure they have their hands full with the World Cup being in town, too. >> Mhm, I'm sure. >> That's right.

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Uh well, so uh next our end-of-year activities. So, we're reconciling accounts, we're processing all the you know, the summer teachers' pay, we're uh doing all the financial reporting. Um special thanks to Lindsay Grasso, our

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treasurer, uh Jen Siroka and staff who have been monumental in this process, filling in and helping us along with that. Um On that note, um we will be asking the

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the select board to have a a meeting. I guess we can talk about this at the at the end when we're looking to schedule our next meeting, but we would want to schedule a meeting before July 15th because that's the end-of-year transfers. So, it requires a finance committee and a select board

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vote for the routine end of year transfers. I don't anticipate that many, um but like gas prices did go up, so you know, we'll have to transfer from one account to to that account, you know, comparatively nominal amounts, but

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um IT, we're working on getting a new website up. Um so hopefully within the next month, I've heard that before, but you know, within 30 days, that's the goal, we'll have a new website up and it'll be transparent and easy to access. It'll be a .gov instead of a .org, so more

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secure, safe from cyber security attacks. Um excited for that. Um the community, a lot of announcements. Um Board of Health has been working on overdose awareness and they have a vigil scheduled for August 31st and that's here in the Crane Room.

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Uh very excited to support that. They'll play a video, I understand. Um Let's see. We are Uh we have a MW uh an MFN commissioner appointment, so

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the board appoints one MFN commissioner and the DPW director appoints the other MFN commissioner and he's reappointed um Diane McElligott, who's a PE, a professional engineer, and she's been

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engaged doing a a good job, so notifying the board of that reappointment. And uh Mr. Chick himself has been doing a great job on keeping tabs on our sewage costs. Um rail trail update.

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So, Conservation reports that uh ConCom is hesitant to sign off because of drain drainage issues. There's storm water issues. Uh they want to see wetlands replication. There's also potential litigation not potential there's pending litigation

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on a portion of the trail and this is really MassDOT's liability. So we're hesitant to take ownership of the property until those issues are resolved. >> Through you. Um question this the tick season is

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pretty bad this this year and last I didn't look today but last I looked through nothing had been maintained along the trail so the grass is getting pretty tall. Is there any ability for us to just at least mow on the trails so that when people are utilizing it they're not

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gathering ticks on themselves along the way? >> Yes Mr. Chair through you. I understand that DPW has you know begun limited mowing and maintenance of the trail even though it's not our property yet. It's best to keep the residents safe as you

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mentioned. >> Okay, great. And I know there's a pending request for sponsorship signage. If there's any need for help in creating a policy happy to do that and keep it as simple as possible. We've been doing this in other areas of town certainly for a

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while. Um baseball fields and such where we've allowed sponsorships. I mean I think it's pretty straightforward and simple it doesn't need to be too complex. But if you need any help writing up a policy happy to do that. >> Okay, we do have a draft policy and

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there has been a a a flyer submitted that that looks pretty good. We just want to make sure it's that it's meeting the guidelines and anticipate that to be completed very very shortly. >> Mr. Chairman.

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>> Mr. Kimball. >> Uh Denise mentioned ticks and it occurred to me um Bristol County offers a control for free. If you don't know that, folks, you can call our Bristol County Mosquito Control and they will come down spray your property for nothing.

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Um perhaps we could reach out to Bristol County to see if they might be willing to fog off that area, but I don't know if it takes care of ticks. I know it takes care of mosquitoes. >> Yeah. >> But it might be worth uh asking them what they you know what what

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exactly it does control. Uh might be worthwhile to do that. I I have to say I'm kind of disappointed that the uh we have we're not able to take possession of the of the uh bike path and we continue to get pushed back and pushed back for for various reasons.

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Hopefully they can work out the um issues with conservation and get that thing squared off. As far as signage and all that stuff, I mean at some point we have to start allowing people the opportunity to take care of their property. If we have a volunteer group who's willing to

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to fund some of that cost and take care of it, I think we need to you know, allow them to do some something down there that makes sense, but hopefully uh we can get our conservation agent and the state together sooner than later so we can get this thing on the road. A lot

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of people are using the the bike path. There's no doubt about it. >> Mhm. >> You know, uh but I think it would be nice if uh if Norton had finally had final control of it and we can we can do what we want to do without Every time we want to do something it's like well, we have to wait for a final

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approval and final release and it's getting kind of old at this point, so. >> Uh Mr. Town Manager. Um so that's that's all the we had for this evening. >> So, I just have one thing about the rail

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trail. Um um I see this letter from um John Thomas. Could we make sure that this gets to the uh volunteer group? I don't know if they've been uh CC'd on this as well, so that they know um >> Timelines is >> the timeline and what his action and

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what he's planning on doing. >> Uh yes, yes, sir. Well, it used to be highway and conservation were the hold-up. Now highway is has signed off, so it's just the conservation commission. And we can definitely forward that to the friends.

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>> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Kim Arena, 8 Fordham Drive. Um you know, I'm on the friends committee. I'm an active member in a New Hampshire Rail Trail friends group and active bike

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rider. And I certainly want the town to have all the benefits of this trail. And you know, I know that so many people put so many hours and so much effort into making it come to be. But I also am concerned

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uh and I'm pleased that the conservation commission is is holding things up because of some serious conditions. And one condition I'm not even sure if they've addressed is the area near the doll property where the state put down gravel

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on the trail. And I'm questioning if that's even ADA compliant because that poses certainly a risk to inexperienced bicyclists. I'm thinking wheelchairs, how can they get through that? It's a loose versus a

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stone dust, packed stone dust, and I've ridden at least 10 trails just throughout New England. I've never seen gravel used. And I had questioned that at one of the walkthroughs. And they said, "Oh, no, it's a common material, etc., etc."

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I'm really concerned about that because I just I don't even see it being ADA compliant. So I question if that's I don't know if that's part of the legal issue, or what, or if it has to do with some other stuff down the Plain Street end. >> [laughter] >> I'm not sure, but I would rather us be

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cautious and hold them accountable and make sure that this is right versus taking on a liability for the town, or something that's going to become, you know, our headache. >> Mr. Chairman >> That's just my two cents. >> Thank you. >> Okay.

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>> I might I might be able to answer some of that concern and question. That was Land Preservation Society land. And one of the stipulations when they allowed the bike path, and they had to get permission, the state had to get permission from LPS to do that. I

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believe part of that stipulation was they wanted the area to be uh allowed to filter and continue to do what they're doing. That's why it was built that way. And >> [clears throat] >> I'm sorry, Ms. Arena. Uh

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>> I'm just I'm just wanting to know. I mean, I'm not I'm not saying I support the idea. It's just that's the reason why, you know, they they they wanted that filtration to be allowed through it. State may come through, the ADA may come ADA may come through from the state and

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say, "You know what? That's not ADA compliant." So, to your point. But, I think that's just a brief history. I know we had a conversation about that because of the gravel. Like, why would you put gravel in a bike path? But, the LPS had requested that. >> I think it's the choice of

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>> [clears throat] >> material that >> Thank you. We can't, Ms. Arena. We Nobody can hear you. >> Mr. Chair, uh just for everyone's awareness, I did walk the trail and the highway director showed me the spot and

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said once the town takes it over, the the next application will be the most appropriate material. Thank you. >> Uh uh Mr. Chair, just this just like last week, I've ridden on this twice. There are a lot of people that use it.

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It's great. All different types of people in the community. Um this picture here looks like it's on the other side of 195 coming from Mansfield. It says entering Norton on the sign. So my suggestion would perhaps to the conservation commissioner is to

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make sure that the his counterpart in Mansfield sees the same letter because it almost looks like the source of the water here in this particular picture is actually coming from Mansfield. Um over the line into Norton. Um What what?

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>> We all need to be good neighbors, right? >> No no no no nothing nothing I'm just saying >> if it was graded that way or >> No no we so they they had to um do the the strip in between. Like they had their original rail trail that was

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done about 15 years ago. When we did ours through the the same state process with the DOT, they had to merge the gap to make it a continuous trail. So there's a good portion of this trail that is in Mansfield that is new uh as new as ours. So it it and then what

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we're looking at here is the part that part I'm talking about. So there was a I don't know maybe a half a mile a mile that connected out to Fruit Street and to our portion on the other side of I-195 that was part of this project that was completed by

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uh DOT or um you know, over the past 2 years as well. So I would think that they would be fighting the same fight against the state not us against Mansfield but so that we're all on the same page, right? >> Right. The the drainage issues are a real safety issue. Um

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so we need to make sure we get that right. >> Mhm. Thank you. >> Thanks. Okay, next on the agenda are warrants. >> Mhm. >> Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Kimball. >> I make a motion we approve invoice

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warrant 26-49 dated June 4th, 2026. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Chairman, I make a motion we approve invoice warrant number 26-50 dated June 11th, 2026.

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>> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve payroll warrant 26-25 for the week ending June 6th, 2026. >> Second.

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>> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Okay, next is our uh picking a date for our next select board meeting. So, um

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Mr. Town Manager, you had said that uh we needed to have a meeting before um July 15th. Um I believe our next meeting is scheduled for Hang on, I'm pulling up my calendar. >> Uh so

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if if I may, um Finance Committee has a meeting penciled in. I know they're trying to schedule a meeting uh for this month that that hasn't quite worked out. Um but potentially the last week of June or first week of July, we penciled in July 13th as that would be like the last

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possible day. That's a Monday. We could consider a joint meeting with the Finance Committee on if that works for the board or uh of course, the board can meet whenever they like. It doesn't have to be joint, but it does have to go to the Select Board and the Finance Committee.

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>> What's the board's pleasure? >> I mean, we can meet before the Finance Committee. We can make a reference date. We can We can approve or disapprove anything we want. Usually prior year bills are they're a bit different because you once

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you once you spent the money and you made a commitment to the vendor or whoever it might be, we have to pay the bill. We really don't have a choice. They have to be paid anyway. So, if we meet before the finance committee, our next meeting would be like the what

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the 9th? >> Right now it's scheduled for the 2nd. >> 2nd 2nd or the 9th? >> I'm going to I'm not going to be available on the 2nd. >> And we if we did it on the 9th and they meet on the 13th, we should be all set. It's just the opposite spin on it, but

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>> The 9th would work. >> I mean we can do a joint. It doesn't matter to me, but >> But we don't need to do a joint. >> No, I don't think so. I think we can >> So, why don't we just uh plan our next scheduled meeting for the 9th? >> Yeah. >> And then uh

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put that uh on the uh agenda. Does that work for the board? >> And again, Mr. Chairman, this is a formality, but >> What does that accomplish exactly? >> We got to pay the bill. >> Sure. No, there's no doubt. I'm I'm just saying for our next regularly scheduled meeting, we'll just have our meeting on

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the 9th instead of the 2nd if that's okay with the board. Okay? >> Mhm. >> So, our next uh scheduled meeting will be the 9th. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We'll keep the board informed of any anything that would necessitate another

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meeting. Perfect. Uh next we have uh executive session. >> May I read this one or this one? >> Read this one. >> This one? >> And we I believe we're not coming back to the regular >> to come back into uh >> I move that board enter into an

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executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21A-3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and potential litigation where an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating

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position of the public body and the chair so requests. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Um Mr. O'Neil. >> Yes. >> Ms. Luciano. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kimball. >> Yes.

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>> And I'm also a yes. So um while we're still here, we're going to be going into executive session and we're not coming back, but I'd like to thank all of the scouts from Troop 61 and their leaders for being here and wishing you well on your communications

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merit badge. >> [applause]