WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=VWmwgfw26NY

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: VWmwgfw26NY):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Call to Order and Roll Call Introductions
- 00:01:10: School Committee Appointment: Candidate Introductions Begin
- 00:06:32: School Committee and Select Board Candidate Questioning
- 00:15:38: School Committee Appointment Vote and Congratulations
- 00:18:36: Police Sergeant Appointment: Nicholas Precourt Promoted
- 00:22:40: Joint Transportation, Open Space Committee Appointments
- 00:27:24: Approval of Minutes and One-Day Liquor Licenses
- 00:35:21: Founders Day, Memorial Day Announcements, Opioid Program
- 00:38:17: Targeted Opioid Program Proposal Discussion and Ideas
- 00:53:00: Health Insurance Opt-Out and HSA Incentive Presentation
- 01:01:27: Town Meeting Warrant Articles Discussion Begins
- 01:17:16: Water and Sewer Enterprise Budget Overview, Personnel Needs
- 01:46:54: Operating Budget, Budget Supplements, and Transfers
- 01:55:55: Article 15: Compensated Absences Trust Fund and No Actions
- 02:03:25: Town Manager Report: Projects, Collaborations, Recognition
- 02:11:26: Approval of Warrants and Entering Executive Session


Part: 1

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going to call this meeting to order. Um we're joined tonight with the uh school committee. Um on the uh select board tonight we have Mr. O'Neal, Miss Luchiano, Mr. Kimble, Mr. Rich, and myself.

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Terrific. >> Um Mr. Chair, you want to uh notice who you have? >> Yes, sir. Uh tonight I have uh Miss Call, Mrs. Gost of uh Mr. Sliker and myself, Mr.

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Cheety, the chair. >> Okay, 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 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

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justice for all. All right. >> Okay. So, first off, we have an appointment to the uh school committee. Um I am going to turn it over to the chair of the school committee and they can take their part first and then uh

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select board will vote after that. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um the members have been presented with uh four candidates wishing to be appointed to our open position. This position will be for the remainder of this term expiring

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next town election which is roughly April. Um they would be appointed by I assume majority Mr. Chair and um we would bring them to start to our meetings and they would be fully integrated with us. Um Justine, would

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you like to do we want to just vote by name or how do we want to do this? Entertain motions for >> uh first Mr. Chair, I'd like to uh see if uh any of the candidates are here if they want to speak. Maybe that'll give them an opportunity if they'd like to.

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Go ahead. Come up to the microphone. >> Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. My name is Leah Dow and I'm a Norton resident, a parent of young children just be beginning their education here and an instructional leader in public education. My work has centered on

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strengthening teaching and learning systems, supporting educators, using data thoughtfully, and ensuring all students have access to highquality evidence-based instruction. As I've been reflecting on the next steps personally and professionally, I have realized that

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this could be an opportunity to take the work I've dedicated my career to supporting schools and students and invested directly into my own community. That's what drew me to this unexpected opportunity as a school committee member. I care deeply about building a

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system that is both strong and aligned where decisions are student centered, resources are used equitably, and communication is clear and transparent. I believe effective effective governance requires listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and following

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through with consistency. As both a parent and an educator, I am fully invested in the success of Norton public schools, not just for my own children, but for all students in our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Everyone, I'm Mike Mason. I'm a longtime

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Norton resident and a fairly ancient graduate of Norton High. Uh not that old, but anyhow, I just wanted an opportunity to give back to uh Norton schools. They gave me a lot. You know, I've had a good life and my

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kids are at kind of the middle of their school journey, high school. So, you know, I've seen some things. we've benefited from a lot and I want to make sure and do my best to

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make sure that all stays and improves. So that's why I threw my name in just for the assessors last time and it worked out well some people. Anyway, thank you very much. >> Hope to see you soon.

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>> So I did have one question for for you Mike. You're currently on the board of assessors or no? So I assume you'd have to resign >> for the next like six hours I think. >> Okay. >> And then yeah tomorrow that's I just need a little clarity because I didn't remember seeing it on your

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>> anyone else introduction. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So Mr. Chair um if you folks >> Oh, I'm sorry. One more. Yep. >> Um my name is Heather and I myself am also a longtime resident of Norton. I

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went to the school through the schools. Um my husband also went through the schools and now we're raising three kids in town who are currently in these schools. Um as a parent, I also have two children that are on IEPs and my youngest is enrolled at Weaten. So I

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feel like through these experiences, um I've developed firsthand both the strengths that our school has and some challenges families face, particularly those going through the special education, um it can be overwhelming. I'm also an active member in the Norton CPAC and I serve as a second grade girl

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scouts leader. So I feel like that gives um I have the ties to close to the families and the students. Um and I'm passionate about ensuring that the students have high quality, supportive and inclusive education. I value collaboration

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um and thoughtful decision-m and I would like to work and support and continue the amazing like I I still live in this town and I went to these schools. So, like I'm passionate about seeing this school system continue. Um, so that's why I drew my name.

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>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record, uh, Mr. SAS could not be here tonight due to a scheduling conflict, but we do, most of us here are familiar with him, as I'm sure you guys are as well. So, I'm not going to read his little proposal, but um, he did

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reach out and just say he did have a scheduling conflict. unfortunately could not make it here tonight, but didn't want that to reflect his, you know, his his possibility. So, um, just for the record that that he was aware, uh, at the last minute became, you know, otherwise engaged. So,

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>> understood. Thank you. >> So, Mr. Chair, good. >> Can we uh I got a few questions. Can we shoot those off? Sure. >> Cool. Who wants to go first? >> I think you're gonna have to come up to mic. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm going to ask

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this question and then I just want everyone to kind of answer it. I think that's the easiest and fairest way to do it. >> Sure. >> Maybe if all three of you want to come up and then so we're not wasting time walking back and forth. >> Um first question, what experiences, professional, volunteer, community based

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in town have prepared you for the responsibilities of school committee? Um and if this all goes well in year one, obviously it's a one-year appointment. Uh do you plan on potentially running in April of 2027? Okay. So, uh to the first part, I was president of Norton Basketball

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Association for four years, on the Norton Little League board for another five, you know, kind of sequentially. Uh I was on the board of assessors, appointed to half a term and then ran and sat for another. Uh currently coach track. So, I I put a

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fair amount of time into the town. Uh you know, I have three kids, like I said earlier in the schools here. I've won an IIP and that's kind of been a journey. It's a lot of work um for everybody. And so as far as like, you know, actual educational expertise, now I've never

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worked in a school. You know, I substitute taught for a while. That was wild. Um at the be asked of my my sister at Bristol Plymouth. She's a teacher at BP and they needed, you know, bodies. So I was Anyway, that's getting off track. >> Excuse me. Could you just speak into the microphone more? So just so

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>> that was getting off track. However, uh you know, I've spent a lot of time in town. I spent time away from town. Uh lived in other places, run into the results of other education systems and kind of seen how, you know, we most of us here are from

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Massachusetts, right? We take for granted how good our schools are. And if you've ever spent any time in, no offense, Oklahoma, in Oklahoma, uh you realize what, you know, what a great thing we have. And uh I again want to make sure that we're

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doing our best as efficiently as possible, as fairly depos as possible to everybody in town because my previous experience on a town board is the other side of it, which is why is my property tax bill going through the roof? Where's all this money going? You know, why is it going there?

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What's going on? and you know without really having an opportunity to get in depth with what's going on in the schools uh financial perspective I really don't know. So anyhow that's a very long way of saying I've done those few things. I was proud

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of how they worked out and I'd be happy to do more and if it's good for a year then I'd run again. Go ahead. Thanks Mike. >> Hi. So my husband and I moved here just um about a year before the pandemic. So

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then we were kind of trapped and not able to get involved in the town and then we had two kids under two for a few year a couple years and we're just coming out of survival mode. Um I've been on the parent advisory committee at the Wheaten College preschool for the

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last two years and um heavily involved there and in the town that I grew up in is the town that I've been employed in for the last 20 years. So I have been on many um committees and involved in that community and now this is the chance of where I would like to start my career in

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NORN. Um as I said before the I'm part of the CPAC um which is the special education parent advisory council. Um and I've been part of that since um it's probably been eight years now. Um, and then I am

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a Girl Scout leader in town and I just feel like I've kind of been on the sidelines watching the school committee and always kind of questioned it and it's something that I want to give back and I want to be more involved with the kids in the school system and the town itself. So, I feel like this is a great

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opportunity. >> Are you going to I know what about the second part of your question? >> Uh, oh yeah, good. Thank you. We don't that's what we have here. Um I guess for uh in terms of running in April of 27. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

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>> Yes, I do plan um to I know like this first year will be a lot of work, but I do plan to run again. >> Mike already said he was. Yeah. >> Yes, I would also plan to run again. >> Okay. Thank you.

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Do you have something else to say? >> Of course. Um, I guess my other one, this is a good one for me. Uh, how would you balance the needs of students, staff, and taxpayers when those interests conflict? >> That's a really easy question. Thank you

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for asking. Uh, I look at this uh as repres being almost representative of everyone else who can't be involved in the meetings. So, uh, you know, there's obviously, like I said, I have three kids in the school system. So, of course, you know, if I

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were entirely selfish, just shovel as much money in there as I could, and then when I'm done, then I just poof away. But I don't really think that's how this should work. I think really, um, you know, we have an issue right now, right? And everyone, many people have opinions on this.

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Uh, so, you know, really it's listening to people, you know, not just in certain echo chambers and things like that, but actually, you know, being out and about and seeing people and being around town and listening to what people have to say, you know, especially people who maybe aren't the most uh outspoken for a lot of things. That

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doesn't mean we should forget about them because they don't have time to type or aren't comfortable screaming in front of people. So, uh, you know, I can really say is I just do my best. uh very unlikely that it would be perfect, but

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you know that's all I could do. >> So any decision that I've ever made as an educator has been to keep kids first. And I believe that leaders in a school system should ultimately always be going back to the question after they make a

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decision, is that what's best for students? Um, and I know that there are difficult decisions, especially with budgets, that is not going to make everybody happy. Um, I've gone back and actually been watching the school

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committee meetings again from this year, and one theme that I noticed, um, when educators were standing up and speaking is some of them voiced that they did not feel valued. And immediately I was thinking more surveys to get more voices

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um from the community, from the educators and from the students and their perspectives. Um so I believe that decision-m needs to >> even when it's difficult keep the

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decisions of what is best for our students upfront and foremost. um and also make sure that we have the voices of everybody all the stakeholders. Uh my focus would also be um

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studentbased. I think there's a big um opportunity for communication between all sides and I do think that we I would want to listen to each side and decide from there. But I do think that we need to focus on the students and um how we

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can better support them in the district and what their needs would be. >> You have another one. >> Do you have any He's done now. >> Okay. Thank you. Questions. >> You guys have any other questions? >> No. >> No. >> No. >> He covered it.

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>> Anybody have any questions? >> Anyone have any questions? >> No. >> I'm good, >> Mr. Yeah. Okay. >> So, how do we want to >> do we want to how do we want to approach this? Typically, we've never had this many candidates in the past when we've done this. So, >> we have three. >> So, um I would suggest that you vote on

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uh who you think would be the best candidate for filling the position. >> Okay. >> All right. We'll just tell >> and uh we'll have uh maybe we could have uh maybe the town manager keep track of how many each person gets. Okay. I don't

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>> we still have to follow Robbins rules. >> Yep. >> So, someone's got to make a motion. We can discuss and then go. >> Yeah. >> Just cuz we're joint doesn't change that. >> Yeah. >> So, I'll make the motion. Um I'll make a motion to appoint Heather Forbes to

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school committee. >> Is there a second? >> Second. And then I think we went down last time we went over individual a roll call. Yay or a >> right? So point of information this is a joint vote. So the total of all the

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school committee and the select board. So with nine people here by my calculation that's five. >> Okay. >> So you got a motion and a second. >> All right. >> Y

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>> Okay. So the motion has been seconded. Um, so all in favor to appoint Heather? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Sorry, Justine. >> I was just going to go in order. Yes. >> Laura. >> Um, no. >> Yes.

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>> I'll be a no. >> Your turn. >> Are you going to finish your uh voting before we vote at all? >> I think you're just tallying up the whole thing. Well, the problem is we're going to be we could be stuck every time on two versus two. >> Okay. >> Yeah.

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>> We have to >> collective. Go ahead. Go right down the line. Mr. O'Neal, >> I'll go with a motion and say Heather uh as well. >> Say no. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.

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>> Um I have six to three. >> Mhm. >> Yep. >> Okay. So be it. So, congratulations, Heather. >> Congratulations, Heather. >> Thank you very much. Thanks, buddy. >> Um, I would also encourage uh the other

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candidates to uh still consider running in April for sure. >> Yeah. >> How many seats will be available in April, too? Yeah, >> there will be two seats available. >> Dan's all done. >> So, yes. So, so Mr. Chair, through you, um, this term will be for one year.

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We'll have to be reelected. My term is expiring. I will not be seeking re-election. So you can mark the date as February uh February, April, whatever date it is. Uh I will not be seeking re-election for my term. Uh 12 years has been a pleasure, but that's about I have

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all I have in me. So um that can be formally notified tonight. So you got a nice big announcement on this joint meeting. So thank you, Mr. Chie. >> So please, please, please make sure you put in for the election. >> Zoning assessors. >> Mr. Chair, would you like to close your

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>> Yes, sir. uh entertain a motion to adjurnn the school committee meeting. So moved. Uh >> second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> Thank you, sir. Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> Take one.

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>> Yeah. I was like, why would we have to? >> So, we're going to take the uh next item out of order. It's uh further down in >> the agenda, but we're going to move it up so that uh these folks don't have to be here for the see all of our fun. Uh

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so chief if you want to come up for the so this is for the uh notice of appointment of uh detective Nicholas Precourt as police sergeant. Good evening. So uh this is backfilling an injury that uh is currently ongoing

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with the person in the retirement system that's going to be retiring in the next month or so. Um, Detective Pre-Court has been with the department since 2009. He's been in the detective division since 2018. He is one of those go-to guys that um

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when you have an issue, you call him. He's the one with the answers. He He's very well at networking. He has a bunch of uh task force people in the back. He's been assigned to a DEA task force for a couple years now. um in 2015 he

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was one of the first really architects of our problem orientated policing team. Uh he took the ball and ran with it and made a lot of contacts that really has made the program what it is today. And uh he has a master's degree. He's currently the and will remain the top candidate on the civil service list and

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I would just ask that you approve the appointment. Um, so we don't um I don't think we need to vote for this, but um I I wouldn't mind having a vote just to uh show uh Sergeant Precourt appreciation for his service. >> Sure,

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>> Mr. Chairman. >> Yes. >> I'll make a note a motion that the select board in accordance with provision article 4 section 2B of Norton charter that we appoint Detective Nicholas Pri as police sergeant Norton Police Department. >> Second.

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>> Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> um I as well. So, I would just like to say uh Nick, thank you for all of your service to the town and we look forward

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to your uh continued devotion to what you do. Thank you so much. >> He does have a rather long speech he wanted to give tonight. So, congratulations. If we could take a p picture, Mr. Chair. Oh, picture time.

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>> Oh my goodness. >> Somebody with a camera from the family want to take a picture of >> Congratulations. >> Press it back. >> Come on. >> Come on. Get over there in the middle where you belong. This is all you. >> Oh boy.

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>> You're like the rose between thorns. >> You want to get >> I think we should bring all these guys up too. >> Yeah, bring everybody up here. >> Everybody. >> Everybody get up here. >> Yeah, let me get up. >> Thank you. Just tighten it up. >> You guys enjoy the camera.

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>> Stand up. >> Great job. Thank you. >> I'm trying to get more people to join >> you. Play the room. >> Yep. >> Yep. that work. >> All right. Thank you, Senator. >> You guys,

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>> Mr. Tillis, is there anything you'd like to say? School committee, but >> run in April. >> Good time to do it. >> Um, next on the agenda is the appointment of Jared Ferah to the uh

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JTPG. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we appoint Jared Ferrara to the joint transportation planning group as on designate term will be June 1st, 2026 to May 31st, 2027.

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>> Second motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I >> I >> I chair make a motion we appoint Robert Topham to a joint transportation planning group as Norton alternative alternate I should say term June 1st

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2026 to May 31st 2027 >> second motion and a second any discussion seeing none all in favor >> I >> I >> Mr. Chairman, I believe uh Miss O'Brien is here if she'd like to say something before we make the appointment.

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>> We'd love to hear from uh Miss O'Brien. >> Uh so I was interested in joining the open space committee. I'm currently on the board for the uh rail trail. So I thought it would be a nice cross being both. Um I've been in lived in this town

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for over 42 years. My children grew up here. We have such great resources in this town and I just want to see if I can help in any way to make those resources more user friendly for people in the town and outside of the town.

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>> Uh, Mr. Town Manager, do we know how many positions are open on the open space committee? >> Um, I believe there may be a couple more. I'll have to get back to the the board on that. Okay, >> Mr. Chairman,

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>> Brian, thank thank you for volunteering. Um, this committee has been kind of down for a few years and hasn't really been involved and active as it should be. So, I'm thrilled to hear you getting involved. Um, I know we have our our conservation director, uh, John Thomas,

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>> is very much involved in this, and it's nice. It's nice to have people come back and take a look at what we we have for assets. We have a lot of stuff in town that we don't take advantage of. even if it was just a minor trail of some sort, you know. Um the u the old

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campground, the E3 campground we talked about earlier. To me, that's a very very important uh place where we probably should start to look at opportunities or options or what we can do with it. But um I'm glad to see someone step forward.

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I believe someone else did last week last time. But I think uh it's good to have um new people on board and where you've been a resident for so many years, you kind of know pretty much what's going on in town. So none of us really do, but we pretend we do. But I think it would be great uh to have some

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someone in there involved. So we thank you for for joining up. >> You're welcome. >> I love to >> Mr. O'Neal. >> So Gloria was at the my first meeting uh with the open space uh committee and we were all at our best behavior because we didn't want her to back out. I'm being

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the token female, too. I think >> she was here observing to decide whether she wanted to uh to be on the committee. I particularly um I think your background with the aging population is going to be very helpful with understanding what their needs are um

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with open space around the community as well. So, I think that's going to be a great uh value um that'll uh complement, you know, the other people on the on the committee. So, thanks for putting your name in. >> You're welcome. Thank you for putting the time in. And just I checked the

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website according to that. If this is accurate, this is the last spot open. >> Perfect. >> Um I'd just like to say that I've uh known Gloria for several years and uh I've always known her to be uh hardworking and conscientious and I would expect nothing else from her for

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towards this open space committee and I look forward >> Oh, you wait and see. Now, >> what's the board's pleasure, Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman, >> make a motion to appoint Gloria O'Brien to the Open Space Committee for a term

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from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> I I >> Thank you, Gloria. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, we have the uh minutes from April

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16th. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we appoint the make a motion that we accept the minutes of U Thursday, April 16th, 2026 as written. >> Second motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor?

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>> I >> I >> I. >> So, we have a um special one-day liquor license for Smoky Chestnut. Um, Mr. Town Manager, um, I see that, uh, it

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appears that all the departments have signed up on this. Uh, that is correct, Mr. Chair. This is their annual spring craft fair up to be held on May 2nd. All the all the required departments have signed off. Fees are paid. Everything's

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in order. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Kendall. >> So, on a number of these, um, the building inspector is not signed off. Was it not necessary? Is that why he hasn't signed off? >> Um, he has signed off. At the time I printed the packet, um, he hadn't, but

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that that's >> okay. So, we have a number of these are coming up. All the build the building commissioner has signed off on all of them. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> What's the board's pleasure, >> Mr. Chair? >> Mr. Rich,

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>> make a motion that we approve the special one-day liquor license for Smoky Chestnut uh farm. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. We'll do a any further discussion. >> Uh just point of order. Do we need to state what the date is since it's a one

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day license? >> I mean the the date listed is May 2nd with a rain date of May 3rd from 11 to 4:00 p.m. >> Yeah. May 2nd 11 to 4. Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the

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special 1day liquor license for Smoky Chestnut Rescue Farm for May 2nd. >> What hours? >> 11 to 4. >> 11 to 4 >> with a rain date of >> May 3rd. >> May 3rd >> with a rain date of May 3rd. 11 to 4.

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>> Second. >> Uh motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. O'Neal? >> Yes. Miss Luchiano, >> yes. >> Mr. Kimble, >> yes. >> Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> And I am a yes. >> And now we have nine uh one-day liquor

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licenses for Wheaten College commencement weekend. Um I believe these are the same um licenses that they apply for every year for their they have uh small bars that they place around uh the commencement

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area. Uh that is correct, Mr. Chair. They're they're all from the same applicant at Wheaten College and there are nine different locations. Um they it spans from May 14th to May 16th at various hours. Um I I would respectfully

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suggest that they could be approved together. I'll leave that to the board's discretion and all the departments have signed off on all of these. So, what you're saying is that uh they're not all for the same day.

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Correct. We have uh one for May 14th, five for May 15th, and the remaining for May 16th. So, all the same weekend. It looks like this is graduation weekend. I would suggest that we do them uh for

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whatever day that they're going to be on. Let's do them day for day. So, the ones that are for the 14th, let's do those first if we could. >> How many on the 14th? >> Uh, looks like one, Mr. Chair.

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>> One, uh, 15th. >> Uh, a couple of them are for multiple dates. So, if we're counting the the ones that are for for the 15th and 16th, we have 1 2 3 4. Mr. Chair, >> uh, Mr. Rich,

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>> I think, um, 4 + 1 isn't nine. Even the new math isn't. >> And then, um, and then the 16th, we have ones for the 15th and the 16th. So, we have 1 2 3 4 5 six, but that's duplicating

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some that are for the 15th also. So, they're asking for uh >> I think I could help with this. Um, so >> so I I got it. This is two for May 15th and 16th and one for the 14th

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and then six four or or two for the 15th and four for the 16th. So if you're if you're going date specific, there's one for the 14th, two for the 15th and 16th,

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two for the 15th alone, and four for the 16th alone. Okay? So there's four for the 15th and four for the 16th and one for the 14th for one day licenses. Two,

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three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There's two for the 15th alone. four for the 16th alone, one for the 14th alone, and two for the 15th and the 16th. Okay,

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Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimble, >> the um my only concern is we are supposed to um I don't know what the licensing authority, state licensing authority, how they would

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suggest we do this. Um, I know in each one we probably should be taking a roll call also because it does involve liquor. So, um, I mean, I don't care how we do it as long as we make sure we >> So, I'm going to call for see if we

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wouldn't mind voting for one one day license for the 14th and then we'll move on. >> So, moved. >> Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. O'Neal? >> Yes. >> Miss Luchiano? >> Yes.

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>> Mr. Kimell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rich? >> Yes. >> And I am a yes. >> Okay. 14th's done. >> For the 15th, we have four one-day licenses. >> So, I make a motion we we approve

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four-day licenses for May 15th, 2026. >> Second, Mr. Chair, there uh Oh, you're counting the ones for both days. Okay, good. Um, is that right? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

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>> Seeing none, Mr. O'Neal? >> Yes. >> Miss Luchiano? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kimble? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rich? >> Yes. >> And I am a yes. >> I'd entertain a motion for four one-day licenses for the 16th. >> Motion to approve four one-day licenses

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for Reen College for May 16th. >> 20th. We have four solos plus two that's that are for the 15th and 16th. >> Six of them. >> Yeah, I think there's six. >> There's six all together. >> There's six for the 16th. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm going to make a motion we we approve six licenses, one day license

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for Weeden Colleges for May 16th, 2026. >> Second >> motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Seeing none, Mr. O'Neal? >> Yes. >> Miss Luchiano? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kimble? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rich? >> Yes. And I am a yes. Well, that was

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painful. Congratulations, Wheaten College. >> That's just a little confusing. >> And now we know when commencement is to say. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Leave town on the 14th or the 16th. >> Okay. Announcements.

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Mr. Kimbo. >> Let's see here. We want to remind everyone that far founders day will be held on June 27th, 2026. Uh any any vendors or wish want wish to participate can uh reach out to us by

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email at nortonfoundersday@gmail.com. That's nortonfoundersday onewordgmail.com. This year we're trying to um tie this in with the Veterans Council um carnival and this will be held on Saturday

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and the carnival u will be held from the 26th uh 25th to the 28th. So we're hoping that people can u join us for the carnival along with the founders day celebration and the fireworks which will be held that Saturday.

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Another reminder that we'll be kicking off the celebration for the 250th anniversary of the United States uh with a parade on on Memorial Day. Uh the Veterans Council and the BFW are seeking community groups, local businesses, highways, high school bands,

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pipe bands, civic groups, anyone who wants to celebrate America. If anyone wants to participate or has any questions, you can contact Gary Cameron at the BFW at 508-2650442. I've been asked to remind everyone that tomorrow night, Friday, May 1st, there

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will be a senior prom at the community building here in Norton from 4 to 6:00 p.m. Um, this is reverse psychology on this one. The seniors that are from the National Honor Society from Norton High School

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will be there serving the Norton seniors for their senior prom. I think it's a pretty cool idea. >> Yeah. Nice. And um this is the second year they've done it and they all dress up and pretend they're going to the prom. And u see a couple of you back there that might want to get together

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and and join them. I think it's important that we uh you recognize the fact that the u they are they're doing the National Honor Society is doing this for the for the seniors and from what I understand it's a very very very good uh

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event and they the seniors all the seniors enjoy it the senior high school people and the and the seniors. So there will be a light supper served again that's tomorrow from 4 to 6 and everyone's invited. That's all I have.

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>> Thank you, Mr. Kimbo. New business. The targeted opioid program proposal. This is a proposal being put forward by uh Chief Clark and u I read through it and it it seems like it's a great idea. I'd like to hear more about it.

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>> Good evening again. Uh Justin did get a new suit for tomorrow night. I tried I tried my tux on and it doesn't fit the same as it did 50 years ago. So I guess um maybe I'll stop by saying that remember back at the beginning of

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the summer um Mr. O'Neal had a question about uh what we're using opioid funds for. Um there was an article in the Sun Chronicle which I actually still have today that uh made a comment about you know what what's town's doing with funding. And every once in a while, as I

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I've chaired the Norton Opioid Prevention Education Collaborative for 10 years now, I'll get a question I'll get a call about what are we doing with the funding that we got through the opioid settlement. And a couple people have called recently, one in particular, and I had a really good discussion with

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with her about um you know, basically putting a grant together. And there have been some family members in the that have lost people to opioid addiction and kind of have asked like what are you doing for the families and you know we do a lot we do obviously stuff with pop

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and outreach and we buy NAN and we've spent uh quite a bit of money with the fire department getting equipment but after this discussion I I mentioned to the town manager and the assistant town manager about well what if we put a grant proposal together of up to $10,000 a year for the next 10 years and we're

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able to take care of a Norton resident that's in need that suffered from addiction. Um, and it would be for from a nonprofit. They could basically send us an invoice if they're selected. Um, and I I think it would be well worth it to to support

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a a resident that's in need. Um, you know, it wouldn't be necessarily you'd give one person $10,000. It could be two people that get, you know, 5,000 each or however. Um basically, you know, here it's there's a basic outline about it

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and um ultimately we would advertise. They would, you know, submit applications for the grant. The Norton opioid prevention education collaborative would review them and then make a recommendation to the town manager for approval. Uh everything

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would go through his office and for further approval and then I'm sure it would come before you. So, um, that's kind of the overview of it. Um, I know other communities are doing something similar. Not a lot, but there's a couple that, uh, are doing something similar.

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And, um, I think it's just a good way to use, uh, we're going to have quite a bit of money in that that opioid settlement account that would go back to the residents that are in need. So, I don't want to read this whole thing. You mean? >> Yeah. No, it's okay, Mr.

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>> It's okay. I I have a question. First of all, it's a great idea. I I I have no objections to it whatsoever. I guess I'm I'm one of your recent appointees, too. So, I'll be coming to your next meeting, but the one thing that comes to mind with me is the um it's always great to help people out. I

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I know from my own personal experience with a sister having an issue um years ago that sometimes when you do something good, sometimes it's not good. And so my I guess my question would be once the money is allocated and and and uh

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submitted and you and given to the person do we have any techniques or any way to follow up to make sure this person is is doing okay. >> So you know we there is a number five this reporting and accountability to ensure transparency and compliance that they'll uh give us a brief at the end a

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brief will be provided at the end of the year um you know a summary of of what's happened. Um, I do think like if you give the money, you know, in good faith, it's there's not much we're going to do to get that back, >> right? >> So, if you have suggestions, you know, if there's something you want to add to

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this, like that would be perfectly fine. If you want to see something in particular in here that you want for reporting mechanism or something else, but >> I'm not I'm not so much concerned about that. I I have confidence in your committee to make sure that they, you know, they they buy for the right

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candidates. the uh what do you think the biggest issue is once the person has gone through the the process of getting himself back on their feet? What is the major obstacle the first major obstacle they hit? Is it finding a job or finding housing or

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>> It's housing. Absolutely. Housing. That's the the majority of the people that have called me. It's housing. You know, how do I pay first last and security? Like how do I get myself into a place? You know, I'm just starting out a new job. this would, you know, say it's $5,000 that would likely greatly

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assist somebody that is looking for to get a place on their own. That's that's the three people in particular. That's that's what it is. >> I would agree. And I I think from past experience hiring people, I've had a lot of people come off the street qualified

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that don't have a home. >> Mhm. >> I can't hire someone until I have a legitimate place to for them to live. So for us to come up with a way maybe look beyond that. Maybe we can start looking around to see if there's a place that could take take somebody on a temporary

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basis and help them through that process. You know what I mean? I guess that would be my only suggestion. If we could we had $5,000 and we could guarantee that someone could live in a place for 6 months so they can get on their feet. >> Maybe that's a better way to do it than just handing out the cash and hope that

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they they do it that way. You know, that kind of thing. So, this wouldn't uh one of the issues that, you know, when I initially put this together, I did put, you know, a resident, but it's now outlined for a nonprofit because the nonprofit's going to be basically the one that's applying for the grant,

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getting the money, and making sure that that it's it's being allocated and going to, you know, for the real right purposes. I mean, we'll have a the Norton opioid committee and the town manager have, you know, some overview on what we want to give, but that uh that

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nonprofit in particular will have uh a lot at stake cuz if they if it doesn't work, I mean, they're not going to come back for any more money. It's not going to it's not going to happen. >> But if it does work, I mean, I I'm think just thinking out loud, any nonprofit, I'm involved in two or three myself. You

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know, one of the things we always try to do is raise money. And I think this is a very valid program where I would make a donation. >> So even above and beyond the opioid money we have in an account if we had make people aware of the fact that we've

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got this account but we could use more, you know, maybe to help more people. Mhm. >> I think that's maybe another way to look at it and maybe try to try to do some not some aggressive, you know, lobbying to try to raise money, but just come up

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with a way where we could raise the money extra. >> So if that person needed something, you know, you give them a place to live, maybe you buy their first weeks of groceries on top of it, you know, that kind of stuff just to get them on their feet. >> Okay. >> Great program, though. Thank you. Thanks

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for bringing that up. I was going to ask the question about whether or not it was individuals or nonprofits just answered it. So, >> okay, Mr. O'Neal. >> Yeah, Mr. Chair, thank you. Um, so Chief, this is great. I I fully support this. It's uh well thought out. I wanted to mention in the in the school system,

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they did something very similar about 20 years ago, not for educational grants. So, teachers, principles can apply. They look at all of the applications and then the group um awards uh based on need

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priorities and it's called um it's called need Norton embracing educational development. My wife was the uh original treasurer of that group and it was um put together after some uh budget cuts and another way of raising money donations. every year they have to Bob's

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point, you know, I know you're utilizing existing funds here, but I think a lot of people would donate to it, especially a 501c3 where companies can write it off as a charitable uh deduction. So, I want to encourage that as well. Um, but yeah, this is really good and I completely um,

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you know, understand the need. You know, that's it's a lot of money when you're trying to find a place to live, three payments upfront >> and um, as well as all the other purposes here that you have listed. So this is, you know, kudos to you. I want to ask maybe the town manager and maybe you know, uh, chief, the

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opioid funds that we have, um, in an account, is that earning interest? >> Is it invested? Normally, normally just trust accounts can earn interest, but this is the result of a litigation and

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there was special litigation to make this its own account. I would unfortunately say no, but let me ask the new treasurer. This would be a wonderful thing who Lindsey Graasso just started today unless the chief knows. But um let me get back to you on that.

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>> I don't know what exactly is in the account now. It's a substantial amount. Yeah, there's two or 300,000 in there. >> Yeah. So, even 5% a year would fund this in perpetuity, right? So, okay. Thank you. >> I have one more question. >> Yes,

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>> Chief. Across the street, I'm looking at it, >> the halfway house across the street, they have a a housing to the far left where some of the guys who have gals who have been in the treatment plan, treatment system there are move further down and they're allowed to go out

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pretty much on their own. they they rent their spaces. Is it possible maybe we could work out a deal with them to be if you had someone that needed the housing, we have something available to us so that if we need to give somebody a nice clean place to to live for a while, maybe we could

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work with a cottage and come up with a plan to u give somebody some temporary home housing until they can get on their feet. I'm not saying we can't give him some money to or down payment for an apartment or something, but maybe that would be step one and then we can get him into the next step after.

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>> Yeah, I can I can ask over there. Um, you know, as far as I know, it's all men, >> so, you know, females wouldn't be allowed to go over there. I know it's it's always full. Like, they have a great program, so but I can I can reach out and ask.

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>> Mr. Chair, Mr. Rich, >> uh, thank you, Chief. I can't see any downside to it at all, especially with you as chairman running it. Um, you know, wherever uh any any more details emerge and how it flourishes, you know,

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with your leadership, um, I don't have any concern with it. It will be uh um in very good hands. So, do we need a motion to vote to establish this, Mr. Town Manager? >> So, we would not. we would just start

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the program as an ongoing program and and of course I would bring to the board the um the recommendation of the nope committee annually as they make it and at that time the board could put their blessing on it. So I mean you you could

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vote I I don't think it's necessary. Um, Chief, I would just like to say this is the kind of thinking that this town is really um we're grateful for the efforts that you put into thinking about

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things like this as opposed to just spending the money as it comes in and just however you can. So, I I I applaud your efforts with this and um I look forward to how you're going to run this and I I can't wait to see the people that you're able to help with this

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program. So I I'm really excited about this. Great job. Good on you, sir. >> Through you, chair. >> Yes. >> Uh just one quick question. Are you only making recommendations once per year >> for this funding? >> Yes. So I would my suggestion would be

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is that we'd advertise somewhere between May 1st and May 15th or May 30th and then uh we'd vote on it in would we review and vote on them in June for a payment in July. >> Okay. It's a great great program. I look forward to seeing how it's implemented.

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I just think we might want to reconsider possibly having maybe two periods just because you might not need to get the money closer to when the need occurs versus >> waiting a year, right? >> Okay. >> Um for some of these things, >> Mr. Chairman, yeah, I would agree with

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that. I think it should be more than once a year. And the other thing I think we need to be stressed to anyone who might be listening that may need services in the future is this is all gonna be done in confidentiality, right? this is all going to be very confidential as far as who the people are. So, I think that's important to to

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note. >> Great job. >> And um my biggest concern is how are you going to advertise it? How do we how do we let people know? That's one of the biggest things that we struggle with trying to get information out to the

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public. So, so I I could work with the town manager's office to come up with something and put it out, you know, on social media through the Sun Chronicle, things like that. >> That's great. All right. Thank you, Chief. >> Mr. Chair, I know I already spoke, but um if you set up a revolving account or

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whatever the fund is, let don't put a cap on it. I know 10,000 is what you're going to utilize out of the opioid funds, but I think this is going to snowball when it comes to donors and not only advertised for the folks that need the services and the funding, but also

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um to the general um business community. You know, I think this amount can very easily skyrocket with uh donations from businesses within Norton in and of itself. So, >> don't put don't put a cap on, you know, the funding uh limits. Yep. You can

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rethink this as you go along. I mean, it's a work in progress. So, thank you. >> All right. Thank you. That's good chief through you, chair. Just one last question for probably town manager. I think um we should have a list or be able to get a list of the area nonprofits that would be able to qualify for some of these.

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>> Could we target some communication to them to advise them over the program? >> Sure. Happy to help the chief coordinate anyone in need. >> Yeah, that'd be great. Okay, next we have the health insurance

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opt out and open enrollment HSA incentives. Um, Mr. Town Manager, I see that Jen is here. I'd love to have her come up and speak to this if she could. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I'd be happy to just by way of brief introduction. This is a major win. I

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know we've spoken about it at previous uh, board meetings. Um, but this fiscal 27 alone, we're projecting at at least $150,000 in savings. And uh, Jen Soka, who I will let address us in just a

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moment, just wanted to say how big of a help I mean the the whole town manager's office, but particularly uh, Miss Srooka has been instrumental in analyzing this. Um, she's been doing benefits payroll specialist work, but she's calculating, she's writing powerpoints. She's meeting

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with literally uh between now and in the next week or two, hundreds of retirees, employees. She's the go-to person on everything healthcare. U Jen, >> good evening everybody. Um, so open

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enrollment has officially started. Uh, in your packet is everything that I sent out to all of our active employees. um last week it started on Monday. Uh so we have two incentives uh that you had information about at the last meeting I

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believe where we're hoping to reach the 150,000 in savings um from these two incentives. The first is the opt out program. Um the existing policy offered individuals

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uh 12250 and family plans 2500 to leave our insurance plan and you had to have been on the town insurance for 24 months. So as the first incentive for this open enrollment we have upped the amounts to 2500 for an individual plan

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5,000 for a family plan and you there's no requirement of how long you've had to be on the insurance. You just have to be on it right now during open enrollment. If we can get, I believe, 10, so five individual plans and five family plans

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to opt out during open enrollment, that is $130,000. Um, so that's our first goal for open enrollment. The second one is we've had a lot of conversations about the high deductible

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plan with the HSA. We have sent out the second incentive that if you switch from either the HMO or the PO plan that you will receive $500 from the town as an individual and $1,000 as a family. Um

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you'll receive that onto your health savings card in July. Um, I don't have access to see what the enrollments are as of today, but I can say that we have saved $8,832 just from Mr. Town Manager and the

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assistant town manager switching from the HMO plan to the high deductible plan today. So, we um we're getting there. Uh, so 10% would be an additional $30,000 in savings for the town. And that would be 14 individual

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plans, 26 family plans. There's a chance for it to be much more because not everybody is going to go for the match. Um, right now the town contributes $1,000 up to $1,000 to a individual HSA and up

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to $2,000 for a family HSA. So, if I was an individual, if I put $2,000 into my health savings account, the town would put a thousand. Currently, people on this plan aren't maxing out that. So, I can't really

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project how much more savings we'll get from the people who transfer over, but it will be more than just um the 30,000 because not everybody is going to fully contribute to get the town match. So, there will be some additional savings on the people that do switch.

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Um, so that's pretty much all of the information on the that went out. Um, unless you have specific questions about the numbers or >> question, when does open enrollment close? >> May 22nd. >> Okay. So, we should know how long after

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that should we know how much savings we're anticipating to see? >> I will get the results from the um the following Friday. >> Okay, great. And I did set up uh like the town manager said, I have

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appointments lined up um every Wednesday and Thursday starting at 2:00 until 6:00. Um I already have um as of this afternoon 26 people from the school and next Tuesday morning uh with uh the DPW

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director the water and sewer and highway departments are coming here for um presentation to discuss the the changes as well. So >> Mr. Rich, >> thank you sir. So Jen, uh I just want to

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say thank you very much for everything >> that you've been doing. That's a lot of work for anybody that does know this stuff intimately. Uh it's a lot of crunching numbers, a lot of information, and a lot of communications with the town employees. It's a monumental task.

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I know you've had some other worker bees along with you uh helping you. Um, and but it's still a monumental task with the amount of employees that the town has and explaining uh digesting all this information and explaining it with

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clarity cuz it's extremely confusing if you're not familiar with it. Uh, so thank you very much uh for all your work on it and your other worker bees that you have uh helping you out.

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>> Mr. Um, yes. So, Jen, what what I like about this um everybody is it's it's optional. Like you can it's voluntary voluntary opt out or voluntary transition from the HMO to the HSA. Um I

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think that opens the door for folks that are considering it, but it doesn't require anything. It's not impact bargaining. It's not a mandate. These are your options and weigh it on your own. And I know Jen will sit down with you for an hour and explain the whole thing as an individual if you need it.

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So, um, kudos to you and nice job. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. O'Neal. Uh, Jen, I know that you I heard that you have a couple of departments that are coming in that you're going to be speaking to about this specifically. Do you have a schedule? Are you like calling in every

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department? Are you reaching out in that way? The are people reaching out to you individually? How was how were you working this? >> Um I created an online sign up um that went out with the open enrollment correspondence so people can click on it and set up an appointment with me. Um so

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it's a 30 30 minute block for each employee. Um, it's kind of targeted to if you are interested in switching to the HSA, come I will I have a calculator to help you decide which plan is better for you, how

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much savings you could have. Um, so it I set it up not for general open enrollment questions, but specifically for people who are considering switching to the the HSA plan. >> Thank you for doing that. And I just uh uh want to piggyback what the other

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board members have said with thank you for the work that you're doing on this. It's a hugely important to not only the uh employees but to the town as a whole. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thanks. Good. Thank you. >> Thanks, Jen,

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>> Mr. Chair, Mr. Town Manager. >> Uh thank you. Yes. A big thank you to Jen and uh to Shannon and Christie who have also helped a lot with this. It's been a true team effort and um and just want to say hopefully it's a primer of things to come with negotiations with

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the union and and this could you know break the floodgates and be a huge boon to to everyone in next year's budget and the following year's budget substantially. Thank you again. Okay, on to our town meeting warrant

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articles. Uh so we're going to go through these uh individually as we go along here. So um everybody have their score sheet there I'm sure. So number five, the bylaw uh amendment chapter 110 personnel bylaws.

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Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh this is um a perennial town meeting more item. You you'd see this listed on pretty much every town meeting um that I've been a part of. so far and for years. Um, what it does is

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we always adjust the salary ranges in the personnel bylaws in the town meeting warrant, but the bylaws itself has not been looked at um, since before the charter was adopted. So, there's a three-page letter in your packet um,

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from KP Law. And so, this proposal is from them. What they did was redline the bylaws and it actually empowers the select board to weigh in and to work with the town manager on establishing personnel

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practice uh policies rather than the town meeting. So that way we can be more nimble and align with best practice. Also, there's a number of items in the bylaws that are inconsistent with the charter. So this proposal would

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streamline things and simply make operations more effective. So you know subject to any questions or if you require further um explanation >> through your chair >> Mr. Luchiano. >> So I see that the bylaws that you um put

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into the warrant end at 17. There were several that followed after that. The proposal by town council was to put that in a separate um I forgot the name of the document but basically working document that the select board would vote on for the

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remaining items. Is that your proposal? >> Uh correct. So, exactly what KP Law um suggested, we would um rewrite essentially the outdated uh guidelines from decades ago um that a lot of s a

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lot of times don't make sense or subject the town to liability and um I would propose that and the select board would uh amend it and hopefully ultimately approve it. Yeah, I mean I think we should explicitly state that maybe a section 18 that that um document would

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be created and voted on by the select board separately and reference it. >> Um um so so you'll notice it does say that the select board is just many times in this bylaw where >> correct I'm talking about the the elements of the personnel bylaw that that's not here. So remaining elements

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of personnel um what's benefits will be documented in a separate document which will be voted voted upon by the select board >> things like vacation time um the buyback for um unused sick time sick time

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I In in theory, I don't have any objection to that because I believe that's what the intent is. I I know assistant town manager McMahon has worked extensively. I'm not sure if she has anything to add on this point. Um, >> yeah, sure, please.

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>> You talking about section 18 with the benefits? >> It was in the email. I printed at home. >> I'm sorry. >> You're talking about 18 >> 18 and on. There was several. Yeah. >> So, you're talking about the employee handbook? >> Yes. So I believe that in what we had discussed was drafting an employee

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handbook that I believe would be presented to select board for approval of the handbook and any changes that would be made to that handbook would again go before the select board. >> Correct. That's I'm just suggesting that we explicitly state that there'll be a separate handbook for the remaining um

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uh benefits that will be voted on by the select board. >> Oh in the warrant. >> Yeah. in the bylaw. >> It's bylaw >> like referencing this this personnel handbook. >> Bear with me just a moment. >> I

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in fairness, I'm just noticing because I know that Kevin didn't have this, right? This was emailed to us separately last night. So, I know a lot of folks >> on this board haven't had a chance to review this yet. So, we may want to hold the vote for the next meeting anyway. >> This is actually the the last meeting

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that we're meeting before the town meeting warrant needs to be posted next week. >> Yeah, I'm okay with having another extra meeting so that people can actually look at it if it's up to you guys. I've looked at

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it, so I've got a ton of questions, but I want to give you guys a chance to look at it. >> I've read through it, too, but >> I do apologize. Um, Miss Luciano, um, it was added into the bylaw language on 18. Uh, it says the town of Norton provides its non-UN employees as applicable with

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the benefits set forth, uh, the employee benefits handbook established by town manager with the approval of select board pursuant to section 110 one of this bylaw. >> Okay, you're not seeing it here. >> Reading in uh, article five, >> mine ends at 17.

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>> Not add in. It may have just been a clerical error and not being >> Okay. >> Okay. So, so it looks like what you're asking for is is in here and did not get printed in here. So, it says the town of Norton section 18, the town of Norton

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provides its non-UN employees as applicable with the benefits set forth in the employee benefits handbook established by the town manager with the approval of the select board pursuant to section 111 of this bylaw. So it sounds like it's exactly what

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you're asking for which will be included and I apologize. It >> was just a clerical. >> Yeah. Though where it says approval or notification to the select board, that kind of thing. I think it should be a vote of the select board. So I just want to make sure that we clarify that in all those areas as well.

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>> It that's what it says, the approval of the select board. >> But appro approval, I don't want it to be just a notification and then say unless you get tell me otherwise that's what it is. I think we should formally vote in public in a public session on those items. >> Board's free to approve however however

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they like. I think this specific charter section you're referring to says that if the select board does not approve within 15 days, it becomes effective. This doesn't have language to that effect. So, >> okay. Uh one other question that I had is under the

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um salary plan um I think can we clarify that uh under no circumstances will a single employee receive the benefits of more than one salary for their position. In other words, you can't um be additive

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and say that they're doing two roles, so their role gets both the benefit of both these pay scales. I'm I have nothing, you know, philosophically against that. I think that could be something that would be,

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you know, proposed and discussed with the select board as we, you know, implement this. I think we ran into that actually last year when we uh hired the uh police chief as the assistant town manager. we

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uh we paid him a stipend instead of having to pay him two salaries because he we I I don't think it's even possible for people to collect two salaries. I don't know how I I think there is a state law that prohibits that. You know, that'd be the ethical chapter 268A.

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>> Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimble, >> I I read through this fast before I left the house. I didn't really get a chance to look at it. Um, we may think this is just a little bit of a band-aid we're trying to put on this, but I'll warn the town manager and everyone else here that we're going to

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come on the fire at town meeting and I want to totally understand what we're talking about. So, I would hire I know I know the town manager wants the recommendation prior to the report of the income. We've gone to many many town meetings in the past without a

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recommendation of the board prior prior to the uh the drafting of the final report of the finance committee. So I don't think we should be pressured into doing this because of the financial the finance committee's report. I think we need to take some time and really take a

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look at this. And I think I'd like to have I realize we're not going to have uh another meeting till after the final report is generated, but I'm trying to look at this thing on my cell phone and I'm just it's not going to work. So I'd like to have some more time to take a look at this myself. I will tell you

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that in the past and anyone who's been to any town meetings re in recent years will know that when we start talking about personnel, we start talking about personnel ranges. You would think that would be something that would be go right through. Never happens. We have so

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many conversations about this at town meeting. So, this board has to be prepared to stand up and support the town manager and make sure everyone's clear about what the proposal is. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I really haven't had time to

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take a look at it. Be honest with you, >> Mr. Chair. Mr. O'Neal. So, I didn't even look at this yet. um my own problem, but I can't get uh my um town emails through my work computers or

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my phone. So, I got to I have a tablet that was given to me when I got on the board and that's what I have to log on to to get all this. But when I picked up my packet yesterday afternoon, I assumed that anything going to be discussed in this meeting was going to be in the packet. Um so, I haven't read any of it

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and um I'm with Mr. Kimble and and I'm I'm fine with waiting until the fall town meeting if that's what it takes because we know that this springtime meeting is going to be a long meeting to begin with with the um middle school roof uh debt exclusion vote. So that's just my opinion.

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>> Yeah, that's true too. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, >> um just a suggestion. Uh I am amendable if uh we even have a what's the what's the Mr. Town manager? What is the uh what's

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the actual hard stop date? >> So the town meeting warrant needs to be posted a week from tomorrow or we cannot have town meeting. >> So with that being said, I'm I'm amendable just setting up a Zoom meeting. >> It's a point of order on that one. We're

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not suggesting the article be removed. the article can the warrant can be posted the way it is. I'm not I'm for one I'm not suggesting we take it out. That's not what I'm suggesting. What I'm suggesting is if we're looking at the approval prior to

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the finance committee's final recommendations, written recommendations, I don't think we should be concerned about that. The article, the warrant article can go on the warrant. I'm not worried about that. Just because we don't approve it here tonight doesn't

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mean it's not it's going to be on the warrant anyway. So it doesn't matter what we do here tonight. If you want to have a Zoom meeting, we can do that. You know, to talk about it prior to next week. I don't have a problem with that either. But I don't want to make it sound like we I don't want to be forced

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into something that I'm not prepared to discuss or understand. That's all. >> No, understood. My recommendation was just to give everybody time if we do a possible, you know, tenative Zoom meeting next Thursday,

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uh, for everybody, you know, to have enough time to be able to review it and digest the information appropriately. >> Yeah. And to Kevin's point, unless there's a pressing need to do this right now, it could be something we could bring forth a fall town meeting instead as well. Um, so we're not feeling like

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we're rushing right now to try to squeeze this in. I'm fine with either way, honestly. But I'm just saying, >> Mr. Chair, Mr. Town Manager, um, if I may, I I don't, you know, want to force a vote if if no one's comfortable, if no

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one's, you know, gone through it, I I would say there will be another meeting between now and town meeting. Uh if what I'm hearing is it would be printed on the warrant anyways, maybe we forward it to town meeting with the understanding that the select board will discuss this

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again in two weeks before town meeting. Um if the board would like to meet next week and and try to make it work, I'm amendable to that as well. Uh, I think it makes uh complete sense, but then again, I've been living in this for the

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past month or so. And, you know, maybe next time the lesson learned is to have council turn this around sooner than the day we're asking the board to approve it. Um, >> yeah, we can we can always update the town meeting when we bring it up what

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the select board voted prior to having the discussion on the floor. >> What's the board's pleasure? I'm probably waiting until the next meeting. Yeah, may >> as well. >> Okay, let's uh put it we'll put it on the warrant anyway and we'll just

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discuss it at our next meeting and come up with a uh a result then. >> And and Mr. Chair, um my fault for not checking all the emails in a timely manner, but I do work full-time as well. Um I would ask that this is an important Thank you for sharing this. I didn't

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realize we had a complete draft print out of all of the um warrant articles. Like I'd like to review all of this in our packet. I'd like this to be in our packet when I pick it up the day before or two days before, not have to worry about printing it the night before on my

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home computer, which by the way, I don't even have a printer anymore these days. I have to come in here and print it. So, um I'm I'm going toain abstain from any vote um in the future that where I don't have the information at least at least a day ahead of time so I can review it the

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night prior and preferably two days before it was sent Tuesday. >> So, how come it wasn't in my packet yesterday? I picked up a complete packet yesterday afternoon, Wednesday. >> My picked up mine this morning. future we can print in the packet everything

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that was emailed >> it was a separate >> I mean this is pretty important you know to have in the packet um we had 40 pages of the weekend college um liquor uh uh material >> which I don't believe should be printed in the packet but I mean whatever the board wants to be printed we'll print

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>> you don't believe the town meeting article draft >> oh no I don't believe the 50 wheaten college pages should have been printed >> but do you think this should be >> sure >> yeah I do Yeah, I actually did it yesterday according to my email.

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>> It was last night. >> So, >> yeah, >> let's move forward and see if we can get through any of these. If you're if you're comfortable uh voting on if the board's comfortable voting on any of these the uh water enterprise budget.

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>> So, Mr. Chair, if I may. >> Yes. After numerous uh hearings at finance committee, we uh landed on a new and improved water and sewer enterprise budget. So in this we

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dug deep and discovered that we are counting revenues more accurately than in the past. So you'll notice on page six >> trying to cite the page of your packet

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to streamline things here. It says page seven at the bottom of mine. And you know what? That was probably also in the supplemental that I emailed. So it may not have been printed and I apologize for that. So, it's in the email that was sent.

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Um, oh, looks like it was yesterday. >> I I >> Wednesday, April 29th, 2:38 p.m. >> Yes, it's in the >> I have it. >> It's in the packet update attachment.

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And if you scroll down, you'll see >> here and you can just have it on your phone. Take a >> on page are the two six and seven. >> Oh, you got >> page six. >> I can't. >> All right. Thank you. >> So the total for the water enterprise

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fund budget is 5.6 million. And you'll notice there is 420,000 in net surplus revenue. Uh meaning that that would go to retained earnings. So we are living well within our means in the water enterprise budget. And um we

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have our DPW director to answer any specific questions you have on this and the next item. Water and sewer enterprise budget. >> Anybody have any questions? >> I do. Shocking, I know. >> But yeah,

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>> for for you, yes. Um, so Justin, I I did watch the fin meeting, so I do have a pretty good sense of the answer to these, but I think it's worth uh the rest of the board hearing. Um you can imagine my surprise that when we a put in place a DWW director with the premise

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of finding efficiencies and again saying to you when you got hired looking forward to seeing what efficiencies we can find that we're looking at hiring a new head and promoting a head to another lower level management position. So I'd love to hear from you what we're hoping

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to gain from these new positions and how it will benefit the town. Okay, we're technically putting two positions on board right now. You have a superintendent of water and sewer combined position, one person.

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What I see is a need for you to separate those two. Um the town of Norton um has many issues going on, but none more important than your water resource. Um, we're spending a lot of money on

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engineering firms, um, doing a lot of the work that we could be doing in house. Um, you need a dedicated superintendent of water. Uh, it's an industry standard. It's it's what 90% of the towns in Massachusetts have. Um,

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that's what you're going to gain out of adding that superintendent of water. Um right now um you also have a foreman that again does both roles so water and sewer. He can't do that competently. Um

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it's very difficult to find somebody that is an expert in both both fields as they're uh very different. Um so that's what you're gaining out of that. The other the other issue we have

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is or not issue but um the point that we're we're subbing out a lot of our regulatory um duties um cost us twice as much as this position will cost us.

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>> And we won't have to sub out anything anymore. >> I'm sorry. >> We won't need to sub any of that stuff out anymore. >> The regulatory items? No. So I I hear you that other towns have separate superintendents and whatnot. Um we have

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been functioning for for many many years with this superintendent having dual role. So what will the second role splitting this into two different roles bring differently to the town? >> I tend to say you have not been doing it efficiently. Um,

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Norton is known for having water issues, and that's not a fault of any of the staff you currently have on hand, but you're not doing it efficiently. You're spending money on um engineering firms uh to do some of the work that you could

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be doing internally at a lot less cost. So the the only real benefit is the engineering benefits and the regulatory benefits of bringing some of that stuff in house is what I'm hearing. You have a water supply right now that

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can barely keep up to the town's um needs. So you have um a well system that can barely keep up in the summertime to the needs of the residents. Uh, what I'm telling you is that you need a

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superintendent to oversee water. Specifically, this town needs to do a lot of work on on how they produce water, um, how we how we clean water, how we distribute water. >> Okay. And my next question would be can

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you promise that this won't impact the water rate for the users as this is >> what I can promise you is that you have the revenue for these positions >> today. >> Yep. Which that revenue is not going to change tomorrow. The rates are where

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they are. your rates will increase over time because um you know the cost of producing water will increase over time. But do I have any uh any thought of increasing rates immediately or in the ne near future?

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No. Uh I believe there's a study that was already um approved by the water and sewer commission and probably by the select board at the time that's being done right now to see what the rates of the the residents are. Right. So, you're saying the the worry

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is going to go up because the cost to serve is going up because now we have additional recurring expenses for personnel that we have ongoing. That's really what's driving the cost of water service, sewer service,

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>> no chemicals, water treatment. Okay. >> Distribution lines, fire hydrants. Um there's a a lot of things that go into the water budget as you can see. >> Pump stations, treatment plants, >> you know, the salary and wages is only a

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small portion of our budget. >> Mhm. Okay, >> Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimble. >> So, we've been talking about water since day I moved to Norton. It's always been an issue. Uh we're great at

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hiring people, training them on how to do the job. in promoting from within and that hasn't always been in our best favor. Uh we need to start looking a bit outside the box. I know this is the enterprise account. I know this is based

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on rates only, water rates only, but I think it's important that we give uh Mr. a the opportunity to hire people that are trained and qualified on how to ran how to run a water treatment plant and

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how to run a sewer plant uh sewer program. The problem we've always done in this town is we've always taken out the cheap way. And I'm hearing about the engineering part of it and I get it because we have spent hundreds if not millions of dollars

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>> millions >> of unnecessary funds for unnecessary engineering work. And when I used to go to a meeting and sit there and it when the company would send in four representatives, all I could think of was kaching kaching. It's costing us a

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lot of money. that's now stopped under Mr. Cher. He's now aware of what has happened in the past. I have no objection to spending a bit more money and I believe the net um allowance here will probably get us to a

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point where we're going to save money. And one of the reasons I supported the DPW director's position was because I felt we could get a qualified person in charge to come and take a look at the system and find out we know it's broken. we had to fix it. And I for one am tired

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of having to drive to Taton to buy water myself. I shouldn't have to do that. I should be able to drink this water. And um I don't I just not that there's anything wrong with it. I just don't I don't like the color of it. So I don't drink it. Um but I think it's important

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to understand that it's going to cost a few more dollars to do it this way. But I'm in favor of doing it and seeing how it works and getting the qualified people in to do it. And then while we're at it, look at other options, too. We've

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talked about regionalization. You know, maybe we don't we don't treat our own water. Maybe we we buy water from someone else. That kind of stuff. We've got the what do they call that? PAB. >> Pas. That's very serious. And it's going to

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cost us towns millions of dollars to fix it. And we need to have people in place that understand what it is and what it's supposed to do and how we can get it out of our system. We built a a water treatment plant down on Plain Street years ago. And I don't think that's even

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capable of removing that kind of material from it. So that the next plant that we spend instead of $50 million, it may cost us $80 million or 100. So if we're going to spend that kind of money, I want the person in charge to understand how it works. And I think

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it's important that we maybe think outside the box and start reaching out to other opportunities instead of looking within because sometimes you need people that have been trained and qualified with certain certifications and we don't always have that. But we've

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never done that. We've always promoted the boys from within. Not to say that some of them haven't done a good job. They have. But there's probably people out there that could do a better job for the same amount of money if not less. Mr. Chair, I just want to point out and be clear

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because I I in my little time here in town, I've realized that this is an issue and words get kind of turned around and spun around. The staff that you have at Water and Sewer works incredibly hard. Um Frank has been an outstanding superintendent of water and

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sewer, but you're not giving them the resources to give the town the resources to create the best water that they can. Um there's much in this town

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uh as far as water and sewer goes that's untapped. uh the extensions that we're going to be talking about with sewer extensions, income coming in, you ask if rates are going to go up. The more you expand sewer, the less the rates will go up. Um the more you can expand water,

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the less the rates are going to go up. Um, I just want to point out and make no bones about it that the people that you've um you've brought up through the ranks has done a great job, but it's it's time for the town to invest in water and sewer like they should.

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>> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, >> so uh Justin, thank you. And I couldn't agree more with uh Mr. Kimbell's points. And here's the bottom line. I I was a water sewer commissioner uh years ago.

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Was that? Yeah, I was one of them years ago. >> Um and during my tenure, it was extremely frustrating watching the engineer uh that was um I believe mostly looking out for the

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best interest of the town. um they were more looking out to make sure that that cash register you know they they found um you know one problem after another and you know we definitely have issues to

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fix but being 100% solely reliant on a third party engineer uh I saw it then in other communities I do I do water infrastructure and sewer infrastructure in one of my private entities And I see how other communities handle

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it. And not only do they have different engineers as opposed to, you know, one dedicated engineer, they have in-house people that get it to a certain threshold in conjunction sometimes with the third party engineer for peer review. So it

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mitigates cost and it saves it actually saves a boatload of cost. So, I've seen it firsthand for years and lived it firsthand for years and um getting to know Justin in his background where he's come from in New Bedford. Uh we couldn't

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be more blessed to have Justin at the helm and recognize these deficiencies that I that I know we have. Um and I think we all share that they're extremely important. uh you know we nobody nobody cares about the water until there's a problem and then

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everybody runs around with their hair on fire and wonders why there's a problem and it's because we haven't you know we have an engineer that we're paying 60 grand a month sometimes and they're fixing nothing and we have a water treatment plant that we spent millions

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on that I I just can't believe we were bamboo and I'm going to say it we were bamboozled on that uh there would pest was already being talked boat when that was in the design phase and it wasn't even accommodated for it, never mind the maganese. So, um, I just, you know, the

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bottom line is I recognize what Justin, you know, we've had conversations what Justin wants to bring to the table and it will absolutely, it seems like it's an additional cost up front, which absolutely it is. It's an immediate, you know, weekly cost. However, it will

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mitigate substantial engineering costs down the road, which will translate, you know, they'll just keep compounding. um you know, as long as you get the right people under you. But I'm I'm confident in your ability with what you know, what I know your background is in talking with you. You know, you know how

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to do this. There's just certain steps to do it. Uh and you got to take step one. Um and that's how I see it. That's the bottom line for me. So, um that's just it to provide some clarity with my background with it. >> Yeah. And I I do want to clarify. I

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don't want to make you I'm sorry if I if it feels like I'm attacking you and I not at all and I don't mean to Justin. Um it's just that you're you're still relatively new in the position. It seems pretty quick to be coming up with adding two new two new positions and I >> I do know the benefit and talked about

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benefit many times in this board and other boards that I've been on about bringing the engineering in house. I honestly thought that was an ability that you already had at your level, but >> I do. I have a treatment license, water treatment license. I have a grade seven

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wastewater license. >> Yeah. >> I have a uh grade four wastewater um um distribution license. I have a water treatment license. I don't have 40 hours a week to spend on the water system.

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>> So then right now I'm running water, sewer, facilities, highway, uh parks and recreation. So I don't have time to dedicate to it. So, your new hire, one of your new hires anyway, will be someone with an engineering degree that can >> two different things. We're going to

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have a water superintendent and hopefully we can get somebody for the money that we have available that knows water. So, they might have an engineering background. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they've worked at a water system or a water treatment plant and worked there for 25 years and and have

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the experience of water treatment. But you're going to have somebody that's dedicated to the water system, not somebody that works part-time on sewer, part-time on water. And and in answer to I'm fairly new to the position, it took me about 2 weeks with your water and

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super uh sewer superintendent being out on medical leave to realize you have nothing in place. There's nothing in place. He he's gone. That's why I'm so quick to to to look at this position.

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>> Jim, are you create creating? >> We already have a person in in a position down there. Water/s sewer. Are you adding one more person or we adding two? >> We're adding one water, however you want to look at it. We're splitting. So, you'll have a water

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superintendent, which you already have. Say, so I'm adding a sewer superintendent. You have a water and sewer foreman. You'll have a water foreman and a sewer foreman. So, we're creating two FTEEs. >> I see. >> Mr. Chair, Mr. O'Neal. Um, so this is

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all a good conversation. When I before I got on on this board, I attended uh some of the water and sewer commission meetings and I was really baffled because it appeared that the the person running the meeting was a town employee. I didn't know all the town employees. It turned out to be one of the outsourced

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uh uh professionals. So I so I walked away from that meeting thinking if we're paying you know um professional services to run our regular meetings then that's not a good sign. Um it might be helpful for the public in case it comes up at

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all at the town meeting to have a general estimate on what the ongoing monthly expenses were for professional engineering services. you know, not special projects, not seasonal type

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stuff, but ongoing, you know, expenses. >> So, we I I can tell you that to a certain extent right now that every year there's a $50,000 uh line item for ongoing services, for engineering services. Then there was an

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added $25,000 that was usually added halfway through the year. So, roughly $75,000. And again, I'm not telling you that if you hire a water superintendent, you're not going to need engineering. You're going to need engineering, but you don't

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have anybody that's overseeing your water system other than the treatment operator, which again, he's been here forever, and he's the primary treatment operator is doing a wonderful job, but he has no support. He's trying to put out a fire here, there's a fire going on over there. He's trying to put out a

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fire over there, there's a fire over here. you need to dedicate a person to oversee all your regulatory compliance, all your reporting, all your your future projects in conjunction with me um dedicated to

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water and m last comment. This is I look at this as an investment. Nobody can argue that one of our um Achilles heels is our water and sewer right in town and we're investing in it.

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Like you can't improve things unless you make an investment. So I I completely support what you're trying to do with the overall infrastructure of uh you know the two your department I should say. Um, I and I know it's going to take you a while, so I'm I'm fine with your

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>> I I appreciate that. And I select board member, I'm not trying to be defensive. I'm very passionate about this. Um, I want to do what's what's good for Norton. I want to do what's best for Norton. Um, and I really feel like the money that

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I'm asking that was put into savings last year and now can be utilized in this year's budget. So, we're not raising rates. We're not asking for added money from the general fund. It's money that you have been putting into

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savings. Um, and we're still going to save. I'm still projecting a $400,000 savings at the end of the year. Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimble. >> Yeah. And I think I think you know, one one of the biggest

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things I I have an issue with when it comes to town government, not just northern anywhere, is the clarity of the job description. So if we're creating separate descriptions, separate jobs. They should be a defined job description

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and we should have that available at town meeting. So if somebody says, "Well, what the hell is the difference between this and that?" You can you can people have to understand there's a different way of treating water than sewer. It kind of makes sense. >> You don't want to mix them up. >> You don't want to mix them up. No, it's not a good thing. But I think it's

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important that uh we have those job descriptions there and I know it's on top of mind of everyone in this town. They want clean water and we will pay for it. You know, we've got reserves out there. We've got a few million dollars in reserves. I don't

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want an advisor or an engineer to come in from outside and say oh yeah let's do this with a goal in their mind of generating income for their organization. I have not been a fan of the companies we've been using in the in previous years. And

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the other half of this the spectrum is we've had appointed and elected um commissioners down there over the years more elected than whatever. We've made many appointments because the commissioners just don't want they don't want the job. So we we changed it now.

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Now they're appointed. But even having said that, that was the they were the ones leading take leading the charge, and I know from personal experience with some of these guys I've worked with, Mr. Rich included, they don't dare go and ask town meeting for more money because they're afraid they're going to get

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crucified as long as the water is brown. So, you have to take a different approach and say we're going to have clean water and yes, it's going to cost a few more dollars, but we're also going to be realistic in how we spend our reserves and make sure we don't spend that down doing stupid things, you know,

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if you know what I mean. >> Good suggestions. Thank you, >> Mr. Mr. Chair. Um, I just want to add, you know, how I know it, it's we've always been very reactive. Yes. >> To situations on the water and in sewer

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end, a little bit proactive with the sewer uh in the water as best as possible, but the the resources have been what they have been. Um and we going by the guidance of outside um

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engineering just hasn't been in our best interest over the years. And uh what I what I see uh Mr. Tricker is looking to do is more of a proactive approach. And uh I think overall it's in

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my opinion it's I know it's it's just going to be much better for the town uh in the long run. it'll it'll be much better for the town within the first year with just realized savings uh anticipated savings. Um so just more of

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my opinion on it. So one one last question or two quick questions. Sorry I just want to clarify if I heard you correctly you're not hiring an engineer. We don't have an engineer. We're not actually going to save any engineering costs. Is that correct? >> Nope. Didn't say that.

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>> Okay. So can you clarify for me? We're not hiring an engineer. We don't have an engineer, but we're already saving engineering costs because like like uh the select board members were mentioning, um every water and sewer commission meeting that you had, there

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were two uh representatives. I don't know if everyone had two, but there was at least one representative from a engineering firm at those meetings guiding the town of Norton. >> Gotcha. So the engineering works done but that they won't be the ones running

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the meetings basically. >> They don't attend the meetings anymore. >> Okay. Okay. Um the other question I had was um just more about the budget. So if we're using the additional budget for the personnel, which I'm supportive of seeing how this goes, right? That means

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there's less budget available for the actual funds to do the work like the if we wanted to put water lines in or how would that be funded? >> No. Um, so the budget that I'm proposing is level funded except for four lines or three lines I should Well, there are

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four lines, I'm sorry. Um, salaries is one of them and it's the two additional salaries that we're talking about. >> Yeah. >> Um, we're also increasing the lines of professional services. Um, the town has gone a long time without u

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technological software. um maintenance software, asset management software. Um we do a lot of stuff on paper still. So there's a proposal to add money to put in software for a um automated maintenance program, work order system

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if you will, and um asset management, which is like a GIS. Where are all your assets in the city? Where is every valve? Where is every uh every fire hydrant? every pipe for that matter. Um uh none of that

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money I proposed for personnel comes out of the service budget. Um if we didn't hire if I if my budget wasn't approved and we didn't use that extra money, you would put more into retained earnings at the end of the year. >> Okay. Thank you. I just didn't know how

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that worked. >> Yeah, understood. So, I'd just like to finish up by saying that uh in the short time that I've known Mr. Tricker um and the work that he's doing, it's uh above and beyond

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what uh any other person that we've had in that role doing. Um they've always been overworked and pulled in several directions. Um, and it's refreshing to see that we have someone at the head of the DPW who's forward thinking and

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looking to uh improve our infrastructure so that we are not being reactive to everything, every crisis that comes down the road. We're trying to fix some of the problems before they happen. And I appreciate the work that you're doing, Mr. tricker and all the people that work

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under you. >> Thank you. You do have an excellent staff here and I want that noted. >> Mr. Rich, >> Mr. Chair, I just I'd like to make a motion to recommend article six.

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>> Motion in a second. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, Mr. Town Manager, >> if I may, just I I don't have a policy of adding positions to the town of Norton right now. This is not a general fund position. Very important to notice note

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that the enterprise fund operates independently like this could not pay for a teacher or a a police officer. And I just have full confidence in the echo everyone's sentiments that was already said that this will help um increase

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efficiency and provide better necessary core infrastructure to the residents. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> opposed.

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Okay, that didn't take long. >> Mr. China, >> how many like a license? >> Mr. Kimbo, >> I make a motion that we support article 7, the silver enterprise. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further

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discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> I I >> I >> opposed. >> Mr. here. Just a little uh comedic uh enter comment. It didn't take long. It took 20 years to get to this discussion.

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>> Yep. >> Maybe 40. >> Get it that way. >> No. And I can't honestly I can't tell you how excited I am to have somebody running a DPW. So, um so that passed. So, on to uh number

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eight, the operating budget. Mr. Town Manager. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And then thank you, Mr. check up for for um >> so the town >> general fund budget >> is up approximately

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$3 million or not 3 million 3% from last year's it's the levy plus new growth and after extensive discussion with the finance committee they made a few amendments on the floor Monday and I know um members uh Mr. Kimble and Mr.

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O'Neal were in attendance and even for myself it was a bit confusing. Let me do my best to to describe the changes finance committee uh recommended. Uh so what essentially they did was borrow $170,000

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from stabilization aka savings and shifted some things around ultimately increasing the the school's budget and um by approximately that same amount. So

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we started with level funding uh level service trying to keep all the positions we have with with no layoffs. Searched far and wide for cost savings. Um found substantial savings. Retoled health insurance.

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um did did everything we could to keep costs down uh especially with health insurance and uh just the fixed and shared expenses are what went are what comprise the bulk of the increase that's about 5.5%.

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Um ultimately with the budget as amended by finance committee um schools up 2% uh general government's up a little over a percent maybe close to a percent and a half and that's the budget that you have in front of you this evening. Happy to

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answer any questions you may have. >> Just one point of clarification. >> It's funny that you knew exactly who's going to have a question. It's actually not a question. Uh just one clarification. The money that was moved was also to fund a position for the police department. Correct.

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>> Yes. Midway through halfway through the year I believe. >> Yes. Eventually there were there three or four motions but yes that was the net result of using some free cash that would have been used for snow and ice to fund half a police officer so we don't lose that six-month position. Yes.

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>> So and I just want to applaud uh the FinCom. I know that there's been many hours of the last few weeks with with Mark with you within the fincom. Um you guys did a great job making le Monday and lemons. So uh thank you. I really appreciate the hard work.

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>> Any other questions? >> And entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Make a motion to approve article 8 as presented. Second >> motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Point of clarification. I just want to

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make sure we we're approving the fincom recommended budget. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I I amended it in the motion. >> Well, because there's more than one on here, right? >> Do we have to make that in the motion >> as

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>> as if you want for clarity, you can. It's >> that that's what the intent is. >> Okay. I mean, we could say what the bottom line is. Um, as you can see in the the summary, my the my proposed bottom line was $81,86,000.

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As amended, it's 81,281,282 for So for clarity, you could say the final recommended number by FINCOM, $81,281,282. >> Okay, Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, >> I'd like to amend my motion to include

395
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the total operating budget of 81,281,282. >> I'll second that as amended. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I >> I

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>> I am also an I. Unanimous. Uh number >> nine. >> Number nine. Um capital plan. >> Uh Mr. Chair, due to lack of any additional free cash or funds, um we'd

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ask a vote of no action on number nine. >> Chair make a motion to no action on article 9. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I >> I >> number 11 budget supplements and

398
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transfers for the general fund. This is the money from the stabilization. Correct, Mr. Chair? So, so as amended by FINCOM, this ends up being not as shown

399
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in the packet that I emailed um yesterday. It's u the amounts are a little different because we're we're still paying the entire snow and ice, but I had suggested we pay it out of free cash and now we're paying it out of

400
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a combination of free cash and stabilization. So the the vote, if the select board is inclined tonight, would be to pay for snow and ice out of a combination. And I have the amounts if you'd like them. They're

401
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>> sure please. >> 170,000 out of stabilization and 118,268.15 out of free cash. And that represents a total of uh

402
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$288,268.15 that we went over our $80,000 budget for snow and ice this year due to the blizzard. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. like to make a motion to approve article 11 FY26 budget supplements and transfers for snow and ice uh

403
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combination uh transfer $170,000 from stabilization and transfer $118,268.15 from free cash for a total of $288,268.15 >> second >> motion and a second. Any further

404
01:53:42.560 --> 01:53:58.880
discussion? >> I have a question. Mr. Kimble. >> Um, Mr. Gold, the um, we declared a state of emergency during this snow storm, these snow storms. We, um, and there's been some, uh,

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discussion that the state were able to help us reimburse some of those costs. Have you heard anything more about that? So, we submitted our part, our preliminary part to MEMA about a month ago. They submitted theirs to FEMA. I have not heard back. Those were preliminary numbers, so they wouldn't

406
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they won't even hold us to what we submitted. Um, it's going to literally take an act of Congress, so it won't be, you know, months at the earliest. Um, I would say even not until August that we would expect to hear back. But could we

407
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agree that whatever money we get back, I don't care if it's $20,000, could be put back in the stabilization at the future future date. I mean, I think that's the fair way to do it. We had to use some of that stabilization and stabilization's designed for that.

408
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It's designed for emergencies like snow removal. >> But at the same time, if we get reimbursement, rather than let it go back into the general fund, I'd be inclined to try to put it back into the stabilization to keep that account stable because if the economy goes south, which could very well happen as

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the oil and everything else continues to rise, we're going to need that reserve account, you know, in the future. So any money we can put back in the savings bank, I think it' be to our advantage. But I support what you're doing here and I understand the fincom's reasoning for it and I understand the reason why and I

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think it's uh it's the best best approach to fixing the problem, but I'd like to find a way to put some of that money back later on >> in the fall. Right. >> Yeah. In the fall. >> Yes. If anything does materialize, I'm happy to commit to recommending it go to stabilization for town meetings consideration.

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>> Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? >> I I >> I. >> Article 12 is the uh budget supplements and transfers from the water enterprise.

412
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>> Um Mr. Chair, we're requesting no action for article 12 and article 13 as there have been no um no need for additional monies. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, >> I can make a motion uh to take a vote of

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no action for article 12. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? I >> I >> I. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, I'd >> like to make a motion to take uh take a vote of no action on article 13.

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>> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> I I >> I. >> Article 15 fund compensated absences trust fund. This is uh to buy out contracts, I

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believe, at uh retirees. >> Precisely, Mr. Chair. Um, so we do have a couple anticipated for next year retirements in the fire department and this would replenish the fund uh to the amount that

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we're looking to. It still only represents about a third of the amount necessary to fund the projected buyouts that we've accumulated, but this is an appropriate amount at this time. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich

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>> like to make a motion to approve article 15 fund compensated absence ab excuse me absences trust fund. >> I'll second it. I want to know how much the transfer is. How much is it? >> There's a motion in a second. Uh >> how much is the transfer?

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>> 240,000. >> Okay. That's what I'm that's what I'm reading. Okay. Yep. I got >> All right. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? >> Seeing none. All in favor? I >> I >> and uh article 27. I see with looking to

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get no action taken on article 27. >> Mr. Chair, like to make a motion to uh take a vote of no action on article 27. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? >> I >> I

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>> Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimbo. >> So, as you can see, we've taken a number of no actions. Even though it will be on the warrant. We've taken, you know, position of no action. The reason we do that once the warrant is generated, we can't take it

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off. We could in some cases, but we we normally don't. That gives someone an opportunity to tell a meaning who who doesn't agree with us to stand up and say and they can actually move the article. So in the case of article five where we'd like to get more information

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and more time on it, it's the same example. We're just not we're not taking any action at this time, but we want more information. And I'm confident that prior to town meeting, we'll have enough time to review this and make the decision that we can uh we can deal with it. So we can either meet next Thursday

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through Zoom or we can wait till our follow the following meeting and do it one way or the other. But at least it gives us an opportunity to review it. And I believe that if the uh finance committee takes action on it that they will move the question at town meeting anyway. >> That's correct.

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>> Okay. Are there any other town meeting warrant articles subject to discussion or vote at the moment? >> I I believe that's that's it, Mr. Chair. Um I mean maybe we could talk offline about revisiting the the personnel uh

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bylaw potentially next week. Um, I understand we can print it in the warrant. It might just be better to if if a week is enough, we can go I spoke with the assistant town manager. We're happy to go line by line with the board next week if if that works for

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everyone's schedules. If if not and we need to push it till October, that works, too. No, no pressure. >> Could um could we get a hard copy of all of that printed out for everybody, too? I um we can have that done and have that

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ready for you at by the end of executive session. >> Mr. Chair, with the the line item >> redlinined red. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> So we can see the the action. >> We can get that for you before you leave this evening. >> Please. >> Thank you.

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>> Mr. Chair, is the finance committee meeting again? Uh Mr. Town Manager between now and the town meeting the fincom, are they meeting again? >> Uh Monday is the last meeting. Okay. So, I'm guessing they'll be discussing this article 5 at that meeting. >> There's there's only two articles left,

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the article 5 and the DPW um article >> six. >> Um and then they just make their recommendations on all the articles which they already voted for. So, it's just uh uh prefuncter just uh approve what they already approved

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>> essentially. Yes. That's the only thing >> substantive on their agenda Monday. Thanks. >> And I'm fine with meeting next week, but I don't have I have a conflict with Thursday. He's my only issue. >> So, um let's get the information tonight before

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we leave. >> I have the weekend to review it. And um I'll try to get in touch with everybody and see if uh what if the board has a an interest in getting together before town before Thursday. >> It can be any night. It doesn't have to be a Thursday night. >> No, that's what I'm saying. Let's let's

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have the weekend to look it over and I'll be in touch with everybody on Monday and we'll come up with a plan then if that's okay with the board. >> Well, with the notice, the only day you could do it if we >> if we notice it on Monday. We could have it Wednesday. >> Wednesday. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And Mr. Chair, it doesn't have to be

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Zoom. I think if I prefer just to come in here, but I can do Zoom as well. I just >> I just assume come in myself because you know how good I am with Zoom. >> So would I. >> Okay. Um, town manager report. Thank you. And uh, apologies. I'm just

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passing these out now. I was uh, Mr. Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. Kimble. >> So, just thinking out loud, Bencom meets Monday night, 7:00. If it's possible, we might be able to meet here Monday night at 6:00.

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We could have the town manager review this with us. >> We couldn't uh, it's We wouldn't have time to post the meeting >> today. Today. Oh, I'm thinking today's I'm forgetting what day of the week it is. >> Because it's not reasonably anticipated between within 48 hours. >> You know the legalities of that. If we

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can do it, then we can do it. >> It might be nice to have it done prior to the FinCom, but if not, we'll meet Tuesday night or whatever. >> That it's it's non-binding. So, nobody's agrieved by it because it's going on the warrant regardless. I >> We could post it for 8:30 at this point,

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>> right? We may have to push the fin column out of the way to do that. >> I mean, we get two days. It's >> not 8:30 tonight. >> So, how? >> No, we couldn't do that here. I'm thinking we we we had a joint meeting with them, but that doesn't matter.

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Still within 48 hours. >> I think let's just stick with the plan that we have in place. >> Yeah, >> good good thought. Thank you for your collaboration. Uh so to to um just go

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run through this quickly. The uh kudos to the sergeant that was promoted tonight. Um unquestionably qualified. Uh the budget, we just reviewed that. Um wasn't my first choice to borrow from

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savings. Um, we are trying to dig ourselves out of a financial hole and I do think that optimistically we can get there in a year or two. Um, borrowing money from savings is going to slow it down. Might add a year to it. Um, but

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we'll we'll do our best. We are innovating. We're cutting costs wherever we can. We're creating new functions, DPW, IT, HR, and facilities. And we we've done all this on a budget by reducing costs and serving the residents

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more. We're going to have the senior center hopefully open two or three nights a week in the coming weeks. Um we're making big strides and the budget is what formalizes our commitment to

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providing excellent service for the community at the most reduced cost we can. Uh a site visit was conducted on Mansfield Avenue. Uh Mr. Kimell was in attendance. U the board had directed us

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to look at potentially subdividing that property. So I will report back with KP Law's um advice on how to best do that. Uh we've looked into it. There's no technical town meeting vote for a

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conservation restriction on the property. Um, so that could make subdividing uh easier. Uh, we're coordinating with Alnum. They've recently reached out to us with an offer uh to rent parking spaces. So, if anyone knows of any parking spaces to rent, I'm

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a little hesitant, but potentially may rent um 50 out front. I forget what they said per spot, but it's it'd be about 20 $22,000 to let them have 50 spots for the next year. Well, they construct on

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Nylum. It's the contractors there. So, they have a a shuttle bus from from wherever. I mean, it could be a grassy field. We're looking at the water and sewer lot. Like, if we can bring in some revenue, uh, find the right place. >> How about Mansfield A?

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>> What about the old senior center area? Is there enough parking spots? >> Big enough? >> Yeah. >> I do have a suggestion though. >> Yeah. We have a 10acre cemetery down on Villain Street. It's wide open. No one's using the property yet, but if

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you wanted to generate some cash for the uh cemetery department, that might be a way to do it. >> And >> that's probably that would probably hold 150 cars. >> Senior center. >> Okay. >> Mr. Rich,

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>> when was that um >> when did that come up? When did they initiate? >> The gentleman was in my office a couple days ago and I just received an email during this meeting and forwarded it to the department heads about 20 minutes ago asking for their suggestions as

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well. >> There's plenty of sites >> that I can think of. >> I could Yeah, we could park 50 cars. >> Okay, we can we can talk more offline. This is good. This is exactly what I was looking for. Um, >> so we're trying to collaborate with the

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community. Uh, we're talking with the Y. They're actually looking for a place to have a daycare. >> Um, they they were exploring the old Council on Aging uh, building that didn't work out for whatever reason. Um, we're looking to support C2 operations

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to trying to help them out, store their um, equipment. As I understand, Wheaten is saying that there is no longer space uh to store their equipment and and toys, whatnot. Um Norton Fire Department had a pinning ceremony um yesterday.

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Members Roger Marson, Chair Chair Marson, and um member Kimell were present. And just want to thank the fire department for their outstanding work. um the new recruits and I believe the longest tenur employee that received a

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pin was 39 years for Mike for deputy Mike >> Wilson. So congratulations to them. The highway roof project, big kudos to Justin Cha and Jared Ferrer for coming in. $300,000

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under budget for the highway roof. That's holy cow. >> Almost done. a few more days. They're just tidying tying up loose ends. >> Oh, yeah. >> Uh collective bargaining uh underway. We're working with the eight unions

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>> trying to work what we can. Um >> cut costs, help collaboratively, work with our employees, make that work. Maybe we'll have some nailed down before town meeting hopefully. Um and maybe some will roll

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out afterwards. uh town meeting preparations. Uh the auditorium's reserved. The AV company's secured. Uh the warrant needs to be posted uh by next Friday. Um we'll we'll put out communications on social media, the website, physical

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locations. Um, Chair Marson and myself will be at the Norton Media on on Tuesday reviewing upcoming war articles for the public just as an added outreach to the public so they know what's going on um to

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further our commitment to transparency. And one last thing I really want to highlight, I'm very excited about this. Um, Chief Clark um commended patrolman Jared Fucci who demonstrated exceptional

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um heroism, I'd say confronted and someone who was obviously impaired with a weapon, deescalated them, and no injuries were were had. Um, this is the type of thing that's not in the public eye. You you never see, you don't hear

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about it. It just happens. It's just part of their day-to-day service. And big thank you to U. Sergeant Mahoney and Sergeant now Sergeant Precourt who also showed up on the scene and just wonderful job all around. Subject to any

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questions. Thank you. Um Mr. uh Mr. Town Manager, as far as the collective bargaining, um you say I understand you say it's ongoing. How are those negotiations going? Um,

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so normally you come in and and you're pretty far apart and I'd say that's that's pretty much how they started. And we're getting closer together. We're actually trying to stagger some of these so all eight of them aren't up at the

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same time every 3 years. So we're close to have a union or two agree to a one-year contract. So they'll be off cycle with the rest of them. >> So and that might be advantageous. Maybe we'll be better able to offer better raises in in a year from now. Um

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so we're we're work working with them probably over the next few weeks. We have two or three negotiation sessions a week and any member of the select board is welcome to uh attend but not participate I think is the rule. So re

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feel free to reach out, you know, through the chair or directly if you're interested. >> Um, >> it wasn't during work today. >> Okay. Thank you for that, sir. Town manager. Um, warrants. >> Chairman, make an a motion to approve

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invoice warrant 26-42 dated April 23rd, 2026. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor? I >> I I make a motion to employ support article approve article invoice warrant

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number 26-43 dated April 16th 2026 >> second. >> What happens when you get up to roll in the morning? >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I >> I >> I

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may make a motion to payroll warrant number 26-21 to the week ending April 11th, 2026. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> I

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select board report and mail. >> I have nothing. >> I have something. >> Seeing none. >> Okay. We are uh going to go into executive session. >> Mr. Kimble, Mr. Chairman, I move that

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the board enter into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 7 30A section 21A/3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and potential litigation where an open meeting may have a

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detrimental effect on a litigating position of the public body in a chair so decl is the board will not return to open position. >> Second motion and a second. Any discussion?

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>> Seeing none. Mr. O'Neal, >> yes. >> Miss Luchiano, >> yes. >> Mr. Kimble, >> yes. >> Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> And I am a yes. Thank you all for coming.