Okay, we're going to call the meeting to order. Tonight we have uh Mr. O'Neal, M. Lugiano, Mr. Cable, and myself. And we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and
to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Rich sends his best regards. He's uh with the uh town manager search committee and they're doing interviews this evening.
That's why he's not here. So, we'll start off with the um couple of appointments. Chief [Music] So, uh, so good evening. We're here tonight to request the appointment of two firefighter paramedics. Uh, these are to fill existing positions. Uh, so
first we have Ian Pereira, uh, over here. Ian actually grew up in Norton. He still currently lives in Norton. Um he attained his paramedic certification just last week. So congratulations on that. That's a pretty big achievement. And uh prior to coming to Norton, he was working for Fall River EMS providing
emergency medical services for the citizens of Fall River. Uh Logan Riley. Uh Logan grew up in Westport. Uh he's been a paramedic for over a year now. Um and before coming to Nolan, he was working in Hartford providing emergency medical services for the citizens in the city of Hartford,
Connecticut. Uh both Logan and Ian interviewed extremely well and uh I'm confident that they'll be an asset to our department and to our community. [Applause] Does anybody have any questions? I entertain a motion. Want me to read
the uh [Music] Sure. Mr. So I have to read the uh so notice of appointment of full-time permanent full-time firefighter EMTB. I hereby notify the sweep board that including the provisions of article 4
section 2B of the Norton SH giving in my capacity as the appointing authority of appointing the following individuals as a permanent full-time firefighter EMTB and Norton fire department Ian Pereira and Logan Riley. The appointment was
made on May 14, 2025 will be effective May 29th, 2025, unless a select board votes to accept or reject the appointment prior to said date. However, I specifically request that the board acceptance of this appointment be effective as of May 26,
2025, chair. Yes. Small correction. Uh Ian Pereira is EMT and Logan Riley is EMTP. Yeah. When that was written, he was still an EMT basic and he just got his paramedic. Unless Oh, they are they both P? Yeah. So, he is currently a P. You're
correct. That that is he's a paramedic now. Are they both P or Jeff Logan? Both of them are paramedics. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Second.
Motion and a second. All in favor? I I Congratulations and welcome to North. Thank you. Thank you. So, we're going to jump around a little bit. We're going to go to a couple of items of new business while we have all the folks from the fire department here.
Um, Mr. Unix, do we have a recognition? So, I have Melanie Tal with me. A lot of you probably recognize her. She's uh volunteers for almost every emergency management thing that we have here in town. Um Melanie has been our operations um person for the emergency management
agency for over 5 years now. Correct. Um now they recently uh obtained her certification as professional emergency manager specialist level through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Association. This required completion of over 25 classes both on campus and
virtually. Melanie accomplished this while working her main job support supporting NEMA as an operations officer being a wife and a mother and also while being a pastor at a church in Plymouth pretty busy. Um, Melanie is only uh one out of two emergency management officers
in our local area to achieve this certification. She's an integral part of our emergency management association. Her ability to teach and train has helped raise the level of professionalism of our community emergency response team. She has had a major role in the development of the town's hazards mitigation plan, um the
town's community point of distribution plan, and our continuity of operations plan. Her service, commitment, and dedication to emergency management is very much appreciated by both Nema, the fire department, and the town. And we look forward to many more years of your leadership. It is my sincere pleasure to
present this certificate from MIMA to Melanie and to recognize her achievement and thank her for her efforts. Thank you, Melanie. Congratulations, M. Sure. So Melanie, you you obviously been very
involved in this whole process and over the years we've noticed you no matter where we go, no matter what day of the week it is, you're always there. So I don't think people realize how you and Ray K and your whole group does so much behind the scenes sometimes, not always
being seen. So uh just wanted to say thank you and how much we appreciate what you do. Thank you. Thanks again. Um, now we have the uh presentation of the EMS week proclamation. Do you have a
proclamation? I have EMS week proclamation to designate the week of May 18th to 24th, 2025 as a national emergency medical services week. Whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service and whereas
the member of the emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life-saving care for those in need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And whereas to access excess quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival recovery rate of those who experience
sudden illness or injury and whereas emergency medical services have grown federal gap by providing important out of hospital care including preventive medicine follow-up care and access tele medicine and whereas the emergency
medical service system consists of first responders to emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical test dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, emergency nurses, emergency phys emergency
physicians, trained members of the public and other other house hospital medical care providers. And whereas the members of the emergency medical service teams where the career of volunteer engage in thousands of hours, specialized training and continue education to enhance the life saving
skills. And whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and the confidential of emergency medical service providers by designating emergency medical service week. Now therefore, the Norton SWAT board in recognition of this event do
hereby proclaim the week of May 18 to 24th, 2025 as National Emergency Medical Services Week with the theme we care for everyone. I encourage the community to observe this week the appropriate programs and ceremonies and
activities. Thank you. I want to say, you know, all of our department members do an excellent job caring for our community. Um, nobody more than Captain Titan, who we you may or may not have met previously, but he's our EMS director. So, he puts in countless hours and he's up to 12 hours
a night off duty on duty. Um, so he's really the heart and soul of our EMS operation. So, I just wanted to say thank you. Can I ask you a question, Chief? Sure. I have a question. How I got here that might as well ask. I'm driving over here tonight in the northeastern and we were we
getting ready to build these new multi-million dollar buildings. We're talking about these would be designated locations for emergency situations such as you know major snowsam who's your power. We had conversations about that 6 years ago, 7 years ago. Has have these
bu buildings been looked at as far as the possibility emergency shelter in case we ever need something say in the future? Have we started looking into that process? Uh just to be clear, are you talking about the town buildings, town hall and a community center? Yes. Yeah. So the community shelter uh
community center, excuse me, uh should be designated as a warming shelter, right? So doing, you know, a storm, there's a major outage, people lose power for a while, they can come in, they can warm up, they can charge their phones, they can get some some updates to the news and the weather and and we can kind of guide them or assist them in any way that they need. Um, as far as
this building goes, um, we have the facility to be an emergency operations center here, just a couple of couple of rooms down. So, that room's on generator, has the AV equipment and and, um, internet connections and all that stuff for us right out of here. I mean, the reason I bring it up is because
obviously if the power went down right now, there's no way we can help you. You know what I mean? So, I think we need to start talking about this y and and planning ahead so that if a if a emergency is coming up and I mean today the weather's it's it's terrible, but we
survive. I mean, it's not like we're going to freeze to death. But during the winter months when we have a northeast or something, we got something happening or a hurricane or whatever it might be coming, it would be nice to have a detailed plan in place where we could get that information out to the public ahead of time. Yep. You know, and get it
all all all ready to go, you know. Yeah. Generally, when we have a storm coming up, obviously we pay attention to the weather every day, right? Uh for for a bunch of different reasons. Uh but generally when there's a major storm coming, we start doing public service announcements through social media and and that sort of thing. So, um and then obviously if somebody calls 911, we can
we can either help them directly or certainly get them to the resources uh that they need. As a matter of fact, tonight we have extra people on in the emergency operation center in the fire department and it is actually u ready ready to go for tonight and all our emergency management people are on standby. We talked a little about that
yesterday but so Okay. Thank you. No problem. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So now we have the u the appointment of Karen Ernson as part-time outreach counselor at the Council on Age. Good evening to our town manager and
slug board. I would like to introduce our newly hired outreach coordinator person Karen Nson. She's replacing Kathy Bonham who recently retired. She has large shoes to fill, but with her
background and her knowledge, we know that she will be able to do this. We look forward to working with her and we know that she'll be an an asset to the community center senior center. I'd like to present Karen Ernson.
Thank you. Just thank you and I look forward to working here in Norton and becoming part of the community. So, thank you, Mr. Jones. Yes. Could you tell us what the outreach commander does council does? Yes. Um I
guess the PR time. So Sure. The simplest way to explain it is um the human services um you know helping folks uh referrals and resources for community members um of all ages, but I believe my focus will be on um seniors um 60 and
older. Um but looking forward to being part of the Norton Senior Center and Community Center uh team. So thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I have notified the sweat board that in accordance with provisions
of article 4 section 2B in the morning of acting in my capacity as a guard and appointed the following individual as a part-time outreach counselor at the council on aging Karen Erson. The appointment was made on May 14, 2025 in
vote accordance with the provisions of the Norton shot. It will be effective on May 29th, 2025 and the law of select board to accept a reject appointment prior to set date. I specifically request the board's acceptance of this appointment with an effective date of
July 1st, 2025. There a motion. I make a motion to appoint as part-time outreach counselor at the council as of as of July 1st. July 1st.
Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Welcome. Okay. [Music] So now we have the uh appointment of the
2025 2026 surid commission member through your chair. Yes. I I repeat I think did last meeting I'm willing willing to take the position as a serpent uh commission member. Okay. Um and we have a couple of uh
letters from people asking uh to be appointed as well um from Mr. Ralph Stephanelli and from Jamie Kelly. Do you have those letters? Have you seen those letters? Any discussion? I have a question. Mr.
Mr. Unsusp. Okay. Any further discussion? Mr. Here Stephanie is here. You might want to hear from Mr. Stephanelli. Ralph Stefanelli 12 James Street
Norton. 53 years living here at Norton. And 30 of those years were on serpent whether politics got into the mix. I was voted out and they did away with the position of alternate. So I
still feel that one. That arrow hurts. But let's talk about where we are today in Norton. We have so many things that are going on that could get lost down a rabbit hole.
new buildings, the housing authority of which I'm chairman. We're going to be building affordable housing when it comes to fruition. It's going to be 80
apartments. And the caveat that we put in was you have to live in town and all of those apartments will be affordable. Now think about that. It's not a 40B
8020. 20% affordable 80% market value. These are important areas of the growth of the town. So consider yourself in the
voting looking at Norton from 32,000 ft up and look at all the land that's available. And if you don't know what you're doing, that money will go
elsewhere. We paid the price on that with a rotary in Middber 8 years later. The money was put aside for us, but we never saw a penny of it because Middle was a
disaster. People were getting injured and the health and safety of that rotary were round about was disgraceful to the state. So they took money from the smaller groups because we didn't have an army of
people who would fight for that money. They would go, "It's not my position. I don't care where it goes, but it's gone." That was their issue. So we got it 8 years later, and
thankfully nobody died, but people were injured. So, I come to the table with a resume, but I don't want to bore you. I've lived here for 53 years. I would
like the position back only because of the things that are happening in Morton. We have always depended on serpent and know what
door to knock on for help. So you make the decision and if you think of me that would be nice. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Steph. You're
welcome Mr. Chairman. Um Jamie Kelly did talk to Marley. He has a finance committee meeting tonight so he could leave it. Thank you. Um I would entertain a motion if anybody so inclined. I make a motion to nominate myself
for second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? See none. All those in favor? I I opposed. None.
Thank you. Um Mr. Chair. Yes. If we would um through the town manager reach out to uh Mr. Kelly and thank him for his uh application as well as uh uh Mr. Stephan Ellie. Uh, thank you for putting your name in. I didn't realize
Mr. Kelly was on the finance committee. I was going to ask if he wanted to, you know, volunteer for another uh position in town. He's actually administrator uh until June 30th and then and uh Oh, I see. Gotcha. His own professional finance committee. Thank you. Yes.
Thanks to both candidates. So, now we have the appointment um of uh designate to the joint transportation planning group. Um, I don't know that we've had anybody apply for that. We We haven't. If we could wait till the next meeting just to see if we get someone
else in, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that we can consider I mean, if you want to wait till the next meeting, that's fine, but I think we should consider Ralph for that position. Ralph, could you um by the next meeting, could you send a letter requesting to be
on that for that position? I did. for the the joint the joint joint transportation. Oh, no. No. Too much too much. Too much. Okay. There's too much going on in the town that needs looking through a microscope to make sure that
middle doesn't happen twice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just just so everyone's clear on that, that joint transportation committee, we we have the traffic safety committee here at know. We use circuit quite a bit for some of our research and surveys and
things that we do. This joint transportation committee in my opinion is more valuable than suret. You know, this is where you get your money for your roads, your bridges, all the big things that happen around the area. So, if anyone out there, Ralph, for anyone
else who's interested, uh, can come forward, we need someone who can actively be involved in this process that could generate about $26 million a year in highway funds and bridge funds, and it's very important committee to be involved in. So, right. Um, and like Bob
said, if you hear us talk about the tip from time to time, the transportation improvement plan, the the JTPG, the joint transportation planning group, they're the one that develops that for the regions, Mr. Chair. Yes. So, I wanted to ask Mr.
Stephanelli if he wants a week to think about this or a couple weeks until our next meeting, consider it. We can give you information on what the the group is all about if you'd like to read up on it. I think you're for 66
years old by my lovely wife. So, let me have that opportunity without going about it the wrong way. We're not going to be making a decision until our next meeting anyway. And if I could, um, all the meetings
are, um, in the middle of the afternoon and they are virtual, retired, so it it could work, but you heard what I would like to do first. I think it first of all, I think you are u qualified only
because you served with me on the on the traffic safety committee. you know what the impulse of the community is here and we need a representative that can go there and and stand for us try to get some of this stuff done. So just think about it but I am leaning toward it but
again I like to keep ask the boss talk to the boss. Okay. Thank you through your chair. Yes. Just a suggestion um revert the same to Mr. Kelly as well and then we'd have the two one alternate one. Yeah. Perfect.
Yeah. Mhm. Would you when you're thanking him for putting in his name of order who got the vote for the correct? Yes. Yes. I must have missed it from walking from there to
here. Unanimous. It was a 31. Thank you. Appreciate that all of you. So now we have uh the reappointment of uh special police officers and civilian
traffic personnel. Um, so I have a uh letter here from uh Chief Ryan Clark with the list of all of the uh with all of the special police officers and civilian traffic personnel that uh I would entertain a motion to uh
accept them all as written in the uh chief's letter. If you want to see the letter, it has all the names of everybody that uh for each individual letter that you have. I I understand that, Mr. Chair. The only thing Let me just put fast make sure they're all effective July 1st, but some of these
are effective on different dates. Looks like they're all first. July 1st. The all of their terms end June 30th. Okay, perfect. Make a motion to accept the uh notice of reappoint control
units. And we got special police officers, special police officers. Um, in accordance with the provisions of article 4, section 2B under charter acting in my capacity, supporting authority.
Um, the motion is a second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Now we come to the uh discussion and vote on the composition of the Norton
Traffic Safety Committee. Mr. Kimble through your check. Yes. I think we're supposed to have a public hear 615 for uh Clint's I'm sorry. Yeah. So, let's jump to that. We'll hold off on
that. Okay. [Music] So, um, can I entertain a motion to open the public hearing on application of Sins Fire Events LLC doing business as Grand Shanto owl manager Camille
Brown for a new section 12 general on premises license to expose, keep for sale, and sell all kinds of alcohol. All beverages to be drunk on the premises at four Mansfield Avenue. So move. Second. All in favor? I. Thank
you. Okay. So the uh public hearing is open. Um you would like to come up and speak. [Music] Good evening. What a wonderful day in the neighborhood. all this rain. Um, it's
good to see everyone face this champion select board select women. It's great to see you all here again. My name is Camille Smalls. I'm the owner of C Inspire Events LLC. I'm working as the Grand Chateau Owl in the Old Norton
Historic Library located for Mansfield A in Norton, Mass. And we are here today to um get approval for on premises all service of alcohol and beverages. So it is a wedding and event venue. So any all occasions, corporate, social, cultural,
community events, etc. will be taking place in the venue. Anybody else have any comments from the public? We're having an open house on Saturday, so please feel free to come. Seeing no more uh comments, I'd
entertain a motion to uh close the public hearing. So moved. Sir, questions. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I roll call. Oh, roll call. Sorry. Mr.
Yes. Mr. Luchian. Yes. Mr. Kimble. Yes. And I am Yes. Uh so the public hearing is closed. Uh discussion from the board. I have a couple questions. Sure. Mr. First of all, how many of these licenses do we presently have? Do you know? Uh
we're allowed 20 and 19 is gone quite a bit in the last six years. So you have So you have 20 total. You have 19 already applied for. So this is the last one. Yes.
Okay. And and the um uh this is the sportsman's club and um what was the club down? Oasis. Oasis um hasn't been turned out yet. Okay. That'll be coming back. In the policy package, I was
looking through it. The board selectman six, seven years ago had a policy, their own policy. I don't see that recognized in the packet. Are we still following those guidelines? You know, I don't I don't know the policy in my It was a
policy that the board established uh regarding hearings, you know, the appropriate response if we have an issue with with a liquor violation. Um, you know, I believe it's still out there and I I just think it should be part of it.
Uh what I'm going to say I'll say it publicly that there is a policy I believe there was uh where you know if you have to be careful with the license we don't we don't want you to be serving miners or you know have those kind of
issues. So if you uh if you are do have a violation it's pretty pretty stringent. So I would caution you to be careful on that. make sure your bartenders get certifications that they need, you know, and uh just we don't we
want we don't want you come back for that purpose. Yeah. So that's why that's why we we did the policy so that we could put it up front and let people be make them aware that you know it is important that you be your you and your staff be responsible. Correct. That's
basically what it was you. Okay. And um on the building itself, it takes it to the 99 people I read in the instructions. That is correct. Does that include the patio? Does this I don't see any reference to the patio and I I I went by and visited the place. Oh yeah.
Did a beautiful job. It came up really really nice. Thank you. And I remember the old library so it made it even more uh more fun for me to go in and actually check it out. It's a beautiful place. It's well done. Thank you. Um, I'm just wondering if that license, see on the
patio, I believe, Mr. Young, do you, Mr. Chair? I believe the patio has to be part of the recommendation in order for you to serve alcohol beyond the limits of the building. And I'm only bringing it up cuz I don't want you to get in trouble.
So, we got to find out. I looked at the floor plans. I didn't see any mention of the patio. So, I guess what would happen is you'd have to make sure that no drinks were could leave the inside the building itself. You know, people can walk out back, but they just can't take their drinks with them. Oh, correct. I
don't think that's part of this process. Okay. Yes. Yeah. No, that's um in our uh rental agreement contract. There's no um alcohol on the premise, you know, outside of the premises where the parking lot is going to be and um you
know, things of things of that nature. So, the alcohol is particularly on the grounds and that is printed out eligibly on our contract. Um anyone who hostes an event with us signs it. Um all of our staff are licensed um and insured. If we get outside vendors, they have a COI um
for a date. They make sure that they are licensed and we are added as additional insuranceers on their insuranceances just to make sure all bases um are covered and you know we have people to you know if we have events that um cater to young adults you know our bartenders are checking IDs accordingly and then we
have security staff and stuff too. Thank you Jeff. Um Jen or Mike it looks like the built-in department approval is still active. Have they come back since the 6, which is maybe on the six? I think
I believe part of the problem was we were in between building commissioners at the time. So I think it just hasn't gotten to that part of the approval process for this application. Okay. So I think when we if we vote, we should contingent upon contingent upon getting it signed up.
Any other questions? Um, I just had one question. When I was there when you had the ribbon cutting ceremony, I saw that you had it looked like it was a temporary bar you had set up there. I don't know if that's where the permanent bar is going to be. Yes, the steam engine is our bar. Okay.
It was pretty awesome. The steam engine. That's awesome. Very unique. Yeah, it is. I would entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to um Sorry. um approve the on premises license to
expose, keep for sale and sell all kinds of alcoholic beerages to be drunk on the premises at four minutes a for cleanse fire farms doing business as the grand chateau owl. Second. Is that with the contingent? Oh,
continued upon contingent upon um the building department approval. Sir, we have a motion in a second. All in favor? I I I call Mr. Yep. It's C inspire by the way.
Yes. C Inspire. Yeah. Thank you. I know. I wasn't able to abbreviate the C from the I Miss Luchiano. Yes. Miss Kimble. Yes. And I am a yes as well. Congratulations. Thank you so much. And I just want to say to Jennifer, you guys have an awesome awesome member on your
team. So, I just want to thank her publicly for all of her hard work and helping in this process. Thank you so much, Jim. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. Please come by this weekend. We'll be hoping from Okay. So, now we have discussion and a
vote on the composition of the Norton Traffic Safety Committee. Mr. came up. So, we're I guess we're kind of up in the air on this. I chair the committee and recently we we've had a lot of interest in serving on the committee, which is good because we we've got a lot
of work to do and uh we had we had replaced we had asked that uh Keith Silver and Steve Horns be put be put on at at lodge citizens at lodge for the committee. committee was made up of nine individuals um select board, the fire department,
police, school, highway, and um people at large. What we weren't aware of the committee was there was an appointment for alternate transportation committee. We were not aware that that person was supposed to be on the board. So, I've
reached out to the uh the chairs stepped down, but I've reached out to a couple of the members and asked them to to give us a name to someone that might what might be interested in doing it. And then um in addition to that, Dan Oliver was was appointed. I thought we
thought he was an alternate, but I guess the board at that time decided to make him a permanent member. So, that made the committee an odd number of 10. Um, now that we've appointed two more, that makes it a committee of 12. And it's always best to have an odd
number. 5 7 9 11 13. Now, asking for 13 is is a large group of individuals, but I think we can put them all to work on different u different things we have to do. Uh, Silver and Hornsby were appointed at the last meeting, so they
bring it up to 12. We have one alternate. His name is George H. What I would suggest is that we just make everyone permanent members. Make it a total of 13 and probably queen it up as best we can to make it so it so it works
for everybody. So we only meet once a month. It's not it's not a lot of uh a lot of commitment of time, but there is a lot of commitment of what we're trying to get done. So Mr. Mr. Chair, Mr. any concern about
gathering a quorum that you'll need seven? No. No, I'm not. I' I've actually done very well. They've they've been very good at coming in and what's neat about it is you're getting other people involved now too at large. But then over he's involved and he actually installs
these monitoring lights and all that stuff around town, traffic signals. So, he's very helpful to us. You know, Keith Silver, retired DPW director, you know, he's going to be a big big help. So you know and we've got the the key departments all also that are part of
the process. So um my suggestion would be if everyone would consider it would be to number one uh enlarge to committee from 9 actually 10 to 13 and then
appoint um we've already appointed Keith Silver and Steve Hornsby. The only other vote we'd have to take would be to um remove George H as an altered, make him a permanent member. So, any good questions? Uh, Mr.
Uns do you see any issue with this if we make it 13 and we add we add one more member? So, just um will they be um resident? Yeah, the position resident position.
Yeah. All the all the mean all the key apartments are filled. Y so it's just all resident which is fine. So I would entertain a motion to uh increase the number of uh participants in the uh traffic safety committee to
13. Uh so second that's from 10 to 13. Right. So we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we appoint George Hass as a
permanent member of the uh pet watch at for the traffic safety committee. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I clean that mess up. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair, do so Bob, do you need to appoint
somebody from the alternate transportation committee as Yeah, I've reached out to Kathleen Uski. Okay. and to um uh what's your last name? When they're uh collect and ask both of them to come
up with a member that can be appointed. Okay. I gave some background on it and all that so they have some some kind of an idea. Sounds good. I don't believe the committee has a chairman right now. So if they have any questions, you could have them call me. I could tell them how much fun it is.
Okay. Next we have a discussion on a remote participation policy. Um so Mr. units. I believe we voted on this and then it came back that uh the state had
uh changed the policy or so the original policy that you had um was instituted back before CO and before Zoom was a thing. And it was instituted because um
the main example was that the planning board um on special permits needs like a super majority of the vote and you can only vote if you've been there um attending the hearings for that
particular project. And if someone was there for every hearing and then they were away on business that next the final day when it's going to be voted um in order for them to be able to vote, we had to adopt that original policy which
was allowed them to um participate remotely which at the time was by phone and we put in special phones in the town hall so that we could do that. Um and then um when COVID hit, the state passed
uh the legislation and the governor signed to allow all meetings to be removed. Um and so from what I got at your last meeting, you were anticipating that your vote would tell all boards and
committees you cannot meet remotely. And then uh Tom Council um had been here when this was tried in 2023 and said you can't do that. The state law says committees can be remote.
Um and so I reached out again to Joe Fair and Attorney Fair. I said, "Is that still in play what you ruled in 2023?" And he said, "Yes." Um you can't tell committees they can't meet remotely.
Yeah. So through your chair, Mr. Lieutenant, um I appreciate that because I don't think I got the full context of that when we voted last time. Um and so I'm I believe that we should follow the state where the state is at currently
and as as easy as we can make it for our boards and commissions, I think the better because we have a real issue getting people to volunteer currently for boards and commissions. So, I think we leave up to the respective boards and commissions to choose how they want to meet as long as it meets state law
requirements. And if I could um you might want um I can reach out to council cuz she did say the policy we have is kind of outdated. Um and see if town council can draft up a new remote policy
for the town to look at. Um, and if you have questions that you want me to ask council as part of that, I'd be free to do that. That would be great. Anybody else? Um, you just want when you ask um for that.
Uh, my my thought is if it's a hybrid meeting that the chair should be in the room. I don't know how the chair can run a meeting when there are people in I don't know if that's something that can be part of the policy or I ask her if that's the leg legalities behind that. I
don't know how you chair a hybrid meeting if you're if you yourself are on Zoom when you have people that might be sitting that you may not even know are sitting in the room. Mr. Mr. the um you know obviously this conversation came up I was at the
meeting I wasn't on the board at the time uh when the vote was taken um my suggestion pretty much what Mr. when Neil just suggested was that someone should be in a town hall. We just spent millions of dollars on these buildings
and I know state has again taken the lead to make things even more difficult by creating a law that co I'm not suggesting we get rid of Zoom. I think Zoom should remain. I I think people should be able to see things live which we're not doing yet. Hopefully that'll
happen soon. But more importantly, I think someone needs to be in a building so that if I come in and I don't have the ability to sit and watch a meeting, it would be nice to have the ability to have at least one person, I don't care
who it is, doesn't have to be the chair or anyone else, at least be available so that u others could come in, watch the meeting with that person, um ask questions if they needed to ask questions and have it have it in the
public space. Um, CO is over for for the most part. I understand that the state is trying to make it easier for people to meet. And again, I'm not suggesting we take and and not do what the what the what the law is telling us to do as far as the meeting
laws go. Uh, but I do have a problem with not giving public transparency to a meeting where I'll give an example. my folks down on Pine Street. There's a new project being proposed on Zero Pine. The uh
conservation commission had a meeting on Tuesday, last Tuesday, and some of them called and said, "I don't know. I can't get in. I don't have a phone that can do that. I don't know the technology." And I suggest they go to their neighbor's house and, you know,
work with the neighbors to to be able to participate. That shouldn't happen in today's world. we should be able to have at least one person available to to answer questions and direct the person if nothing else to get them on the Zoom meeting to to discuss it and that's the
only suggestion I have that other than following the mandate that's the only suggestion I would have through through your chair miss just my my personal thoughts are that for me uh a remote participation is more accessible than a
noon time Wednesday in person only meeting uh for citizens of this town. Everyone has a telephone and so if you don't have Zoom available to you, you can still call as a number you can call in and you can still participate as a call-in number um in any meeting. So
from from my perspective, I feel it's much easier if you at least have a remote option for everything versus um only having inerson meetings. Mr. chairman. I would agree with that. I
totally agree with and that's not what I'm suggesting. So, um I think it's important to maybe put the whole policy together with the suggestions of the board, take another look at it at a later date and come up with a plan that that kind of makes sense uh for
everybody. And one thing that's going to have to be uh obviously available would be the technology to allow these meetings to be held. I believe this building has the technology in it to hold in-person meetings with at least one person. My final comment is in the
years that I've served on many committees and boards, you don't read a cl crowd the way you do through Zoom. Uh you don't you don't see them. You don't see faces. You don't see manorisms. You don't understand what the the intensity sometimes of the issue that that these people have a passion for and they want
to talk about. You don't see that. I've been hearing the word transparency kicked around for years now. And this to me is not being transparent. If we don't get a policy in place where people feel they have a right to come in, sit in front of someone and talk about
something, I think it's it's a disgrace to the community. I think we need to figure out a better way to do it. That's all. Follow the rules, do the Zoom, allow participation. It's all fine with me. I think I think the point is that the
current state law requires allows for fully zoom fully remote. I believe there's some language in that law that states that the town can I can look at it for you. Yeah, I mean we can but the council look at it. Yeah, council's coming back with
a a proposal. But there is something in here that does state that we have the ability to do other other processes also. Then hi Mal 50 Mansfield Avenue. Uh CO is not over. My grandmother has cancer and so
I'm trying not to get her sick. Um I'm on the Norton Cultural Council which has been since I joined it um basically begging for members. The reason I'm on it is because another friend of mine was asked by another friend of hers because they can't keep
enough members to ensure that we continue to get the 13 to $15,000 of funding from the state that allows us to help fund uh grants and we are very much focusing in Norton because in the last few years obviously we've had budgeting issues. They fund speakers at the
schools, they fund programs at the library for people of all ages but also including filling some of those gaps from the schools. Um, and our chair has said that if you decided to try to go against state law because the council has already said um that this was not
legal to do. Um, if you were to decide to do that, our chair has said that she will go sit in a room. But I can tell you that in the oh gosh like four or five years now that I've been on the cultural council, Peter J. Wiggins has been on some of our meetings, but not
even he comes to many of them. Um, I am all for transparency. That's why minutes go online. That's why the meetings are all recorded as well. Um, and I would love it if more folks did care about the smaller councils like this. And I do think that for things like the select board, obviously the vibe is very
different in a room. Um, but for the boards, my concern is for the boards that are less uh glamorous, I suppose. Um, it's hard to get members in the first place. And I just really think that it's important to make it as accessible as I can. Not just for people
to join on Zoom, but also for folks who might have schedule restrictions. I usually work until 6:00. Um, so I left early to get here. Um, for people who have disabilities, it makes it easier for them to actually participate on the boards as well. And I know the position
of the previous chair was that um, you know, too bad if you're on a board that means you have to show up in person. And I strongly disagree with that obviously, but um I would just encourage you to keep in mind that for a lot of people um similar to what Denise said, it makes it more likely that you're going to have
more folks actually want to serve on the boards if they are able to participate remotely. Thank you. Thank you. Um Mr. units. Do you think it would be possible to ask uh Mr. Goldberg from KP to see if
we could uh update our policy so that it meets the state requirements, but also the and the town need to have the ability for citizens to come to town hall to meet in person. So, we could I'll put that those questions do you
have I'll give those to her. Thank you. Okay. Next is the uh discussion on the temporary flag and signage policy. So, we've uh this has become um something that came up when uh it was
requested of the select board to um allow a flag to be flown at the uh on the town comment. Um um from what I've read and what I understand, we have a policy that has been in place that we don't allow any
flags to be flown except for Yeah, it's that's a practice. We we haven't put a policy in place. Okay. So, I guess that gets to my point that we don't really have a policy in place. Um that I believe we should have a policy
in place. Um, and I think that that's something that this select board needs to work on and come up with a policy so that people know what's allowed, what's not allowed, who can do this, who can do that. Um,
any what discussion do you anybody have thought? Yeah, I was just going to add um through your chair, there's a proposed policy in the package from council. I think that's a great and that's for specifically for flags on town flag poles, right? So, I think that's a great policy. I read through
it. I'm aligned with it. But I everyone can decide for everybody and I for that to vote on that. It is missing the designated locations of the flag poles. So, we need to include that. But I think for flagps, that's a great policy. I would suggest um we don't have one for
temporary signage, which I think is a different issue right on the town common and town property. I should say town property as a whole. So, I think we should talk about a potential similar policy for town signage. Um, the only thing that would I would expand from
what they what what's allowed here in the flagpole one just based on what we we currently practice is also things that are allowed uh or or sorry celebrated at the state and federal level. um either um special day or or a
celebration month or whatever it is that is on a specifically on a state or federal website, right? So if a state or federal website has a particular uh holiday or celebration, then those are things that we could have perhaps entertain. And the other one would be uh
memorials for um tragic uh passings of people in the community because that's something that in practice we do. We do have I saw on the bylaws uh memorials set up at the location of a tragedy but not necessarily on town property but I
do know that we have historically used the town common to we most recently did it for the young girl unfortunately that that passed earlier this year. Um and so those are the two things that I would probably add for the temporary signage to what we have allowed for the flags.
That's it. Anybody else? Mr. Jim, Mr. Kim, the um couple other things, too. I think you're right, Denise. We have to have it for both, but we have to designate, we have to recognize that the center of town is in the historic district, and they have they have laws
that over override a lot of the laws and zoning laws that we have here in town. So, I think we need to make sure that they put their concerns or their policies as part of it. So, if we're talking about out here in front of the building, we're probably okay. We can we can talk about what can be used, not
used, but when you get to the center of town in that small historic district, we have to make sure that um we're working we're working we're in compliance with their bylaws as well as the bylaws of the state or the town through through your chair. Yes. That actually was
raised a couple years ago, Bob, but you were at the meeting. You probably might have forgotten, but we had town council come and explain to us uh the historical district commission whether or not they had authority over that the signage of that. and they made it very clear that they did not have authority to designate
what what could and could not be in the town common. It was up to this board to make that determination. So, I have the video of it. I think I shared it with Alec and and Mike as the chair and and Mike as town town manager, but I'm happy to share with the rest of the board as well. Um, but yeah, historical district,
although I understand they have an interest, yeah, but they they don't have authority over what goes on the town common for temporary signage, I should say. So the the only thing I could find on uh signage anywhere on town property was uh
for political signs was that uh that they were not allowed anywhere on any town property, which is why you see um when we have elections and that sort of thing that people aren't allowed to put signs all over any place where um where
it's town property. Um, I haven't found anything else, but I think that this board needs to come up with a policy and um, so that everybody's clear about it cuz right now we really we don't even have the ability to say no to people
because we don't have a policy that we can fall back on and we'd be in uh, violation of somebody's rights if we say you can't do it but we let somebody else do it. Correct. The only other thing that I would add is we should think about in in the signage policy um do we
want to talk about how many signs are allowed and what size the signs could or should be? Yep. I did find that on the political side thing that they had a size of a sign. I think it was 16 by 24 is the only size sign that is allowed to
be out um and put out. But anyways, aside from that, we should have a policy for um the common especially, but town property as a whole. Yeah. Um and how people can request to put up signs if
they want instead of just having outside um groups um doing it. It should be done something through the town through the select board. Correct. As opposed to just people putting up signs. So, M
Karen 36 North Washington. Um to your point um anytime that the signs have been put up and we're talking about the pride signs um it has gone through the town and last year the select board did vote and approve them.
So it was done by proper channels. Um, I support the development of sign I just switched those two words around. A town signage policy, but n make no mistake. It is not a coincidence that is that this is being brought up
now with pride month coming in just two weeks. It is about pride and I hope that having a s um and the hope that having a sign policy will limit or eliminate pride signs on town property.
Right now, there are other signs and banners along the historical district. Um, the hometown heroes. No concerns have been raised and no efforts have been made to enact a sign policy um that would would, you know, change those out.
Furthermore, no one has requested to display additional signs on those posts along the historical district. Since 2001, the town of Norton and the select board have recognized Pride Month with an official proclamation, which I
not sure if you all are going to do, but we are two weeks to Pride. Um, and have approved the placement of Pride signs on the common. Four Pride yard signs have been displayed there um with the police, fire department, library, and town hall
each point putting up a sign as well. Past years were marked by unfortunate incidents of signs being stolen and defaced. But last year brought a welcome change. The signs remained in place peacefully from June 1st to June 30th.
It felt perhaps like we had finally reached a point of mutual understanding and respect. And yet here we are. So let's talk about why pride signs are important and what makes them distinct from other signs. Pride signs serve as more than just decorations. They send a
powerful message of inclusivity and support. Seeing pride signs around town assures LGBTQ plus residents that they are seen, valued, and welcomed in our community. In Norton, where bias and discrimination persist, these signs
serve as a powerful statement of solidarity and visibility. Pride shut signs ensure that LGBTQ plus voices are not erased from public spaces. Representation in the community helps to normalize acceptance
and counters harmful narratives that contribute to exclusion and hate. Pride signs displayed in June hold special significance because Pride Month is federally and state recognized, setting it apart from other signs or observances that lack
national acknowledgement. This formal distinction underscores the importance of these rights as a matter of public policy, civil rights, and social justice. Since 2001, the town of Norton has reinforced this commitment by
ensuring a pro proclamation in support of pride, further emphasizing what I hope is a town dedication to equality and inclusion. As you establish Norton signage policy, it is essential that pride signs
are explicitly permitted and protected. If they are not directly included, then ensure that the policy does not impose restrictions so strict that they are effectively banned from display. Policies are more than rules. They refle reflect the values and
visions of our leaders. Will you stand for inclusion and affirm Norton as a place where everyone belongs? This is not just about signs. It's about what kind of community we want to be. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Just kidding. So, just to be clear, I understand the pride signs and I I just made the assumption that was going to happen. Anyway, the reason we're here talking about this tonight is we have yet another request for the month of July to put up what they call the um the Gadston flag. We've been
getting requests from this gentleman to put up the flag on the common the same way we do the pride signs. U that's the reason why we're having this conversation tonight. I I just automatically assume that the pride signage was going to go up. That was already approved. The conversation we're
having now should be about this Gazman sign, whether or not this is something we want to have on the common. Uh can't the fly can't be flown. It can't be done. Uh but the kind of uh political sign signage that Mr. Maren mentioned uh could be it could
be allowed. Uh I have some concerns about this too because it's not only it's 1775, so it's 250th anniversary. It's one of the original flags of the country. I understand why they wanted want to do it, but there's another
another version of that's another meaning to the sign. It's kind of hidden and I had to look I just Googled it again. Don't try to resign. Often this play is displays a sign of a rattlesnake powerful symbol of resistance and defiance against
authority particularly government government interference. So that's the purpose that was originally designed back in 1775 but could be considered the same reasons that we're talking about today. So I I have some concern about that.
However, if the if the pride signs are allowed then I can't how do I say no to this? So that's why we're trying to talk about a policy to make sure we don't suddenly are putting out signs that support, you know, the Ku Klux Clan and
Nazis and I mean it can get get totally out of out of out of out of the way. So we got to come up with a process that makes sense on town signs and on the town common on town property rather than the town common. That's why we're talking about this
through through your chair. Mr. L. Um, that's exactly why I I think I propose so it's not subjective, right? And we have an objective source and that would be looking up a state or a federal website to see what celebrations are are uh posted on those state and federal
websites and that would be the signage that we would allow things that are recognized at that level. That way there's no question about, you know, we're deciding this one versus that one. Right. Agree.
Mr. Steal Stephanelli Street. If you're going to do that, I want an American flag in every classroom. Every classroom. Sure.
Thank you. But don't interrupt me again. Thank you. It's enough of that. Okay. Robert's rules. This is a tough issue. If you're going to go in that direction, multicolored flags. I want a Christian
flag that supports God. So, you're looking at some people who don't go along with the rhetoric. And when they started to take statues down of the Civil War, that was a
very tough situation because as a Civil War roundt person and I belong to the Lincoln Committee out of DC and I'm a historian, if you will, not
expert on the Civil War. You can imagine how I felt when verbiage and out of the blue there goes Jefferson, there goes
Lee. This is a committee that needs to dig in and do their homework because if you go in that direction, an ice cream monster comes up. I want an ice cream
flag. So, I have to be careful. It will happen and I'll be the one who puts it up. But here's some of the things I don't want to do. I don't want to turn it into a battle. If you're going to put that flag
up, you should know about some of the things you can and cannot do. You cannot put that flag underneath an American flag. The only flag that can be flown
underneath an American flag on one pole is the Pow Mia flag, the black flag. We bring home the bodies of our fallen veterans. So, give it some serious thought, I'd be
willing to help you. I have the books on what you can do to fly a flag, but this is not the forum to get into it. The forum is not just me. There's a
lot of veterans out there who will be want to have their say on those polls that you're worried about. Many of them died for these freedoms and we're not about to give up
that poll. So, it's something to think about. Thank you. So, still 15 Avenue. So, I would posit that. So, first of all, I think we should have sign policy. The reason that I'm always somewhat
nervous about it is because the last time this came up, the sign policy issue was the schools and it was explicitly an attempt to block pride flags from being shown. So that's probably why we're here kind of going hm about it. Um I would
say that right now the common already holds plenty of Christian memorabilia and symbolism. Um, basically the whole month of December, we have an explicitly Christian display
in and also an explicitly Jewish display. As much as I wish we could get better about actually lighting them on the correct night, but we do not only have Christmas lights that could be called non-denominational, and I'm saying this as someone who celebrates
and loves Christmas, but we have a nativity scene on the common at Christmas, which is an explicitly Christian symbol, and no one has tried to block it, and I would never try to block it. If we start talking though about well but if you do this then I'll do that
then we're going to end up with the satanic temple here trying to put a statue of baffomement up whereas they have many other places that have tried to say well you can't have a pride sign or you have to put up the ten commandments. So realistically, I don't want any of that to change, but we should
acknowledge that we already do spend an entire month with explicitly Christian iconography on the comment, which is fine, but that already happens. The other thing I would say is that please, first of all, these comments are
only dealing with heavy subjects, so just be warned. Um, when you are crafting this policy, please do take into account the fact that LGBTQ kids are two to two and a half times more likely to experience depression, seriously consider suicide or attempt suicide than kids who are not a part of
the community. And we also know because it's been studied that acceptance makes those figures go down. Um, I recently learned this actually because I did a speech at Weeden and I was looking into figures. acceptance by at least one adult, by peers, by their family, and
living in an accepting community all can make a difference in that figure. In very or somewhat unaccepting communities, the suicide attempt rate for teens in the LGBTQ plus community is 21% or 17%. And if you go to somewhat or very accepting communities, it goes down
to 13% and then all the way down to seven. So less than half as likely. So, showing ourselves to be a community that accepts LGBTQ folks saves children's lives. Period. End of story. There is no argument against that. And I know that the big thing lately is to pretend that
kids don't know, but I did from the time that I was at least 12. I was that kid who knew they didn't belong, who got bullied over it, whose parents wouldn't let them go out on a date with someone of the same sex. I was part of that 2.5 times statistic suicidally depressed through my teens. Not as some like to
suggest because being queer is a mental illness in and of itself, but because I felt like there was no way I was ever going to be able to live an authentic and fulfilling life as the person who even then I knew myself to be. Every day that you see me in town, at meetings, standing on the common, trying to get
people to participate, it is because I found belonging and love and community that I did not have as a kid growing up in West Bridgewater in the '90s. That's the only reason I'm still here. Annoyed as that may make some people. And the same thing is true for kids in this
town. Probably some of your kids, whether or not you know it yet. None of this is a joke. It's not made up. It is real. It was real in the 90s and early 2000s and it's still real today. So, I know this always becomes a controversial piece and I just would encourage you as
you start thinking about the sign policy to take into account that it's relatively unobtrusive and that it genuinely will save children's lives. Thank you. So, I believe we should uh have this on
our next meetings agenda to uh start uh crafting or working on uh coming up with a policy. I I was going to suggest um since Mike, you had council write the flat one, if we could get them to write a similar one
for us to look at and we could potentially discuss and vote if it's if it looks good, right? Um write a similar one for the signage on town property. um and just um expand it a little bit to include
the if you guys are okay with that the state and federal website celebrations and the um traumatic or tragic deaths of Norton citizens Mr. Chairman Mr.
How you have to assume that that we're not the first to ask for something like this? They they must have something that they can send out that we can review. Exactly. Yeah. There has to be something that I tried looking out of time. Mr. Chair, so
um we still have the request which is what warranted this discussion. Um in June is actually July is a little more than a month away. So hopefully we'll have something, you know, drafted before before then. And we don't have I don't know how we
say no. I don't think we have the ability right now to say well if we have a policy in place we have a policy in place before then that would have a vote come up. Right. Any more discussion?
Okay, moving on. Review, discuss, and a vote on the SDSB water and sewer treatment chemical board. And so this is part of the Southeastern Regional Services Group bid. Um, and there's three items on here
that are used by the water and sewer department. um liquid potassium hydroxide, sodium hypocchlorite 15% solution and 55gallon drums and sodium hypocchlorite 15%
solution um bulk delivery. Um and I can tell you that the liquid potassium hydroxide uh went up 2.6%. Uh the sodium hypocchloride
dropped 5% this year and the sodium hypocchlorite um bulk delivery dropped 4.9% this year. So little mix but some of them works out. A couple of them did drop quite a bit. Entertain a motion. I'll make a
motion to approve the CR sage sg water and sewer treatment council award. Second motion in a second. All in favor? I I I Okay, I'm going to jump back for a
minute because we jumped over the acceptance of minutes and announcements when we did have a public hearing. So, entertain a motion to accept these minutes. I'll make make a motion to accept the
March 27, 2025 open session minutes in the March 27, 2025 executive executive session minutes. Have a second. I'll second that. All in favor? I I present. Present.
Okay. Um announcements. Mr. Gibble. Mr. Chairman, I have a couple like to bring up. Darts Council wishes to cordally invite and and extending an invitation to participate in the historic Memorial Day parade. The parade will stop in the
Milton High School. Um we'll start at the high school, get out on West Main, uh through the center town, East Main, down to Pine Street, turn around, head back up the other way. They will stop at town common and um make a presentation
there and then from the common they will go to the truck memorial next to CVS make another brief presentation there before they return back to the yellow school. The parade weather permitting will be held on Monday, May 26th, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. In the event of inclement
weather, which I don't believe is going to happen this year, the ceremony will be held in Henry Aal Gymnasium. Operate participants will assemble at the Norton High School parking lot at 9:30 a.m. and step off at 10:00 a.m.
Um, upon completion of all the event formation reform will return to the Henry AL school to disband and there will be refreshments as we have hot dogs and smoke some drinks for the kids. Um, sometimes we have ice cream. Uh, so if you're around, we would encourage you to
please come by and join us. That's 10:00 next Monday. Northern Veterans Council wants to remind everyone that they are having our third annual uh carnival. June 26th from 6:00 to 10, 27th from 6:00 to 10.
June 28th will be till midnight because there's going to be fireworks for the Father's Day event which is also going to be held on the same day on June 28th. Then on June 29th, we'll be open from 12:00 to 6:00. So, in conjunction with the Norton Park and Recreation Department, we are pursu we are bringing
back Founders Day for the first time since pre- pandemic and we're pretty excited about that happening and we haven't had fireworks in Norton for the first time in many many years. So, that's a great great event. We hope you all can take the time to come out Pride Celebration. Uh we received a
letter. We hope this letter finds you well. We'd like to invite you to the Norton Pride, a vibrant inclusive celebration taking place on June 22nd. This event is dedicated to fostering a community spirit, pro promoting equality and celebrating celebrating the diversity that makes
Newton such a wonderful place to live. We welcome your attendance of Norton Pride and we kindly ask that you share information about the event upcoming meeting so more residents can be involved and encouraged to attend. Your support plays a vital role in strengthening our mission to create a
welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Um, please let me know if you have any questions. And again, that is on June 22nd, which I believe is Saturday. Saturday. Sunday. Sunday. Sunday.
My calendar. No, not sure. June 22nd is a Sunday. Sunday. June 22nd is a Sunday. And again, that'll be at the U. Where is that? That's
center. I think it's outdoor rec center. I think it's an outdoor rec center at the wine, right? Yeah. Yeah. Wine out. Right across from the old downtown. Sorry, I called it Camp Finnber. The old camp Finberg. So, it's a beautiful campus out there.
Be a chance for swing by and check it out. That's all I had. Thank you. Okay. And old business. Oh, is there any other business uh topics not reasonably anticipated in the last 48 hours? So, we have discussion on hiring
an interim town manager and related process for doing so. Um, so I uh heard back from town council as far as a uh range of salary to advertise and um I was told that you don't need
to most places if they're hiring an interim don't put in a salary range for an interim and they just put out and see if there's any interest of anybody to come in. So I would suggest that uh we follow that same course.
Um discussion on repairing of King Phillip Road. Do we have anything? Um just to give you an update on that. We have not received anything from uh KP yet. Um as uh Sharon said when she was here town meeting season, so uh they're
pretty tied up. Um, but town meeting did appropriate $10,000 additionally to the work to allow Jared to work on private roads to do immediate repairs. So, he'll be looking at what he can do uh as far as
repairs on King Phillip Road with the with that money um which would be after July 1 that it's available. I think that's good news. um town manager report. Um just to give you some updates. Uh you probably seen
that ProAV's been working uh in this building all week. Um complete working to complete all the audio visual uh needs. Um the old fire station uh the new fire station is uh buttoned up and
uh they're working. the sign a digital sign was uh put in this week and the senior center digital signs been installed. Uh they're working on landscaping out front now and the final paving uh will be the last week of May.
So they anticipate being completely done um other than some punch list items that will come up um at the end of May. Mr. Chair, how how we doing for money? Um, he's doing fine. Um, they're keeping
right on. That's good. I'm not talking about making money. I'm talking make sure we have money left. U accountant and I did meet with the OPM. Um, and he seems like he's
on cuz we're asking if he was going to need any more money and doesn't seems like it budget's going to be fine. Um, so as far as the AV equipment in here, when is it going to be fully done? Um, I think in here it is done because I
noticed at the last meeting Jason was in the room and these cameras were all working. You can see it up on the screen. So I think it's just a Jason training people at the media center how to use the equipment. And how are we doing on
punch list for the two buildings? um doing well. Um we're waiting to hear back on the roof at the senior center with some of the buckling um what what the cause and solution is for that. So uh they did have uh the roofing company
got the manufacturer of the shingles was in to look at it along with the contractor. Um and in here there's some minor punch list items that have to be addressed. Okay. a TMC question. Um, Val 15 minutes field
app. Um, I drove by the senior center like a few nights ago and their sign is I I almost thought it was like a police car or a fire engine coming cuz it's really bright at night. It's wonderful during the day, but it was I was almost worried that like it was going to be
distracting to folks because of how bright it is. Do we know if it's like adjustable so that maybe it would be a little What color is it? Red and white. Yeah. So, it looked like you're like, "Oh my god, emergency vehicles." And then it was um I don't know what training they have had on it in there.
Um but they kept But they are adjustable. Okay, that was all. Thank you. The red is really bright. It looks great. Well, they're too bright and we can dim it down the other way.
Um, so we took care of we signed everything we need to sign as far as the uh mail goes. Um, I'll take care of the warrants. Next meeting agenda. June 5th is our next meeting. I have something on the selection report. Mr. K, I have a couple questions. Mr.
Unice, can you check into this? And I I don't know that I'm correct and I hope I'm not. Um, Elm Street, I know we had a long conversation the other night about sewage down there. Um, I was told recently that the land across the street, there's three
parcels. The main parcel is of course the big warehouse and the other two was one's a 4acre parcel where the old septic system was that was contaminated. Hopefully, it's been cleaned up and then the one with a parking lot across the street. People have been asking why people are digging holes in the parking
lot. Uh, can you confirm that they had sold the property? Has that been sold? Um, that property across the street has sold and someone was probably doing uh a park test. So, how does this work? Because I'm I'm
curious about the fact that this community spent half a million dollars on restoration, not restoration, but destruction of of the of the mill itself. And I'm assuming that the um bank that holds the uh I mean the
attorneys that hold the the bankruptcy, are they are they the ones that are handling the the money for that? So the property across the street is would be was separately sold. I don't
know who bought it. Okay. Well, reason I'm asking is I I was looking at the site before I went to town meeting. I couldn't help but notice that the parcel was sold. Um, and according to our
records in town, it was sold for $1,500. Um, the property's valued at [Music] $27,800. Someone bought it for $1,500 in on in December of 24. One acre
parcel, which is capable of building one house, if not duplex, I suppose. Um, sold to 47 River Works Incorporated, 200 Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts. I assume that's the company that we we're working with for
the for the mill. And I I question how this could happen. How can a company come along? And by the way, they owe us what they have not which I don't understand if if the property was sold, how can they still own the town of
Norton the back taxes and if and if the fees in addition to the fees 43,27183 that was as of I believe May 22nd. So, I I'd like some answers on this and I don't know who who
we can talk to about this. Um, I will tell you that um it's not passing my smell test. I can tell you that for starters. Uh, $1,500 for one acre parcel of land in Norton was by far a bargain.
I I could question whether or not it was uh contaminated. I don't think it is, but it should be no more contaminated than the other houses around it. Um, I'm assuming that that hole that they dug in the driveway was a perk test to see how
how it would work for a Tiger 5 system, septic system. Um, but I want some answers. And I know how the other board members feel, but they took half a million dollars of our money to help fix the problem.
And a major slap in the face is selling it for $1,500. I can understand if they said $1,500 and you take care of taxes. I mean, now you're talking close to 50. I kind of get that. What I don't understand is how a $200,000 piece of
land can be sold for even $50,000 without the town having some some input somehow based on the fact that we have spent so much money. Set aside the EPA and the D how many millions they spent on the project. So I
think we need some answers on that and I just don't know who you can contact but I I I for one would like to know what's going on over there. through through you chair. Much the half million was spent on the wall across the street, not the parking lot. I understand that. Yeah.
Okay. Just want to clarify. Yeah, I understand that. To me, that that project is three parts. It's a contaminated site the town and the bank and and the attorneys are never going to touch. It's going to sit there. It's going to be part of Newton's history forever and we're never ever going to be
able to sell it or do anything with it. We can't take it. If we take it and there's still contamination in the ground, we got to fix it and we don't want to do that either. So, we have to kind of ignore that. The main building, I get it, and this has to come down. We got to do something with it. I mean, it's it's terrible. And then across the
street, the parking lot. So, uh it is three different parcels, but to me, it's all read and bought and I I don't understand how they can sell off a piece of land for that kind of money. I I would I would hope and pray that you're all as infuriated
by it as much as I am. That's all. And I think we need some answers on it. Point order. Point order. Can you put a time? Is it okay to make Mr. Chair? I' I'd like to hear um the town manager respond to his question first before we open it up. I
can respond to his question. I have to check with the assessor. Very good. Thank you, Mike. Rob Snuffin LA 12 Jane Street. Didn't we spend a lot of time in the sale and and and of this property in terms of hey, if
you're going to put sewage in, you got to buy the parking lot, you got to buy the you can't go down alone, you blah blah blah. A lot of time was spent on that. And right in front of your face,
it gets sold from underneath you for 1,500 bucks. We don't We don't know that to be true. Understood. Understood. That's what the But this is going to play a little bit on TV. So, you got to alert the people of
Norton that some of these crazy things are going on within your town. Thank you. So, I I'd wait to hear what the the status is, but I we can't force someone to sell three parcels together just because we think of them together. And
um I know that she was pursuing the the person was pursuing probably at one point in in pursuit of building this building. Now, will that that's going to move forward? I'm guessing not now since there's no sewage, but yeah. Um, she actually is looking at what she can do
now with a septic system. Okay. Mr. Jim, Mr. Second point I'd like to break is another thing you brought up. The planning board spent a lot of time on recate recodify program. Um, I voted against it because I was listening to
some of the concerns. my my understanding I wasn't on the board when you guys voted to put it on the warrant. Um to be honest with you, I didn't take the time to really do much review of it. I just assumed that it was uh something that was going to be presented re it was
going to be realigned to kind of make sure everything worked well and and and fit the programs, maybe clarify a couple of the legal issues involved. uh in the day of the town meeting, I started finding out that there was other
aspects to it that changes had to be made. Um that should be discussed publicly before we we we vote on it. I 100% believe that we have to do it. But I want to sit down with the planning board at a I would suggest not at a
meeting but at like a workshop and just have two boards, three boards, four, I don't care how many boards together is sit us all down, explain it to us. This is what it was. This is what it is. So we can all go to town meeting and understand what we're voting for. So I
would suggest we do that in the very near future if we could. And my my final comment is I'd like to have a joint meeting with the water sewer commission. Um either either we can meet them or they can meet us. I don't care which way
it goes. There's a company called Ac Aquaria Water. They're out of um North Don, Massachusetts. It's a desalinization plant. Some of you may remember this back about 10 12 years
ago. We were working with city of Brockton had a problem. They ran out of water having having some issues with their infrastructure and they were drastic. They were trying to find a a second opportunity to come up with
water. And this desalinization uh plant was being u built down in North Don. It was a different company then. It's not the same company neighbors is now. Uh but the um purpose of it was to desize uh water
coming into the bay and to pump that to Brockton for um for their purposes. Well, it was built cost millions of dollars and Brockton in the meantime decided to go in-house and start looking at some of their infrastructure and went whoops
found out that a lot of their problems were under the ground and they fixed their pipes. So, they're not using nearly as much water as they thought they were going to have to have. It's my understanding at this point is working now is active. I believe Taton has as a backup in case they have an issue. And I
would really like to see the town take a look at it to see whether or not I'm sure it's expensive. I'm not suggesting that it's cheap. Uh but I'd like to have take someone take a look at it. Uh see if there's maybe a possibility of uh the town of Norton tapping into that process
and by doing so maybe reducing the amount of sediment we're pulling up out of our own wells and maybe giving some relief in the future. I know there's been some conversation about building another $10 million water treatment plants and in the grand
ballpark. Uh, you know, this may be a cheaper alternative than even doing that. I've heard some suggestions about a couple wells over at the Denver property, the old Fort in Taton that may become available to us which could relieve some of our
water pressure. I I just would like them to come in so we can talk about dirty water. We can talk about other options for water, what they really need, infrastructure, you know, just have a general conversation. It's a topic of conversation every day in Norton. I know
I live down near well number one on Pine Street and I still get dirty water and I've got a $10 million plant sitting up on Twain Street on top of the hill. It doesn't seem to be helping me. So, I think it's just something we need to talk about. And I know that we're always
showing the commissioners under the under the bus for it. It's not really their fault. It's all our fault. We have to get together and come up with other ways to do this and and try to make a way that we can uh we can all make it happen, you know. So, if we can get them to come in, that would be great. Or we
can go to them. I don't care which way we do it. Thank you. Anything else? No. Okay. We're going to be going into executive session. So, I declare under
general laws chapter 38A 2182 that the purpose of the executive session will be to discuss strategy with respect to negotiations with non-unit personnel i.e. interim town manager because a discussion of the strategy in open session could compromise the purpose of
the executive session and with the board not to return to open session at the conclusion of the executive session. So moved. No, you got to read that. I move that the board go into an executive session on on the general law section
30A subsection 21A-2 for the purposes and reason declared by the chair and with the chair not to return to open session thereafter. Second. This is a roll call. Yes. Denise. Yes. And
I thank you. Good luck.