Good evening. Welcome this week's meeting of the Morton Select Boards meeting. Um like to thank you all for coming. Uh we're going to do a roll call. Uh first of all, we have Mr. Rich and Mr. Masan on Zoom. Mr. O'Neal, Mrs. Zosiano, and myself are here in person.
I'd like to u ask you to stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, next on the agenda, we have a joint meeting with the planning board public hearing on proposed zoning changes for the town meeting article number 3 and 21. I would
like to recognize uh I believe acting chair Mr. G uh Griffin. >> Thank you. >> And I want to take over uh convene. That's up to you. Thank you. >> Sure. Thank you. I'll call this meeting of the Norton Planning Board to order for Thursday, March the 12th. We have
six members here in person and one member Alan Bully joining remotely. So just to kind of give everybody a brief here as you can see on the screen, this is to discuss uh both article 3 and article 21
uh planned for the town meeting warrant. Um article three, all this is as printed in the warrant would make three specific changes to the zoning district dimensions table for the village center
core zone. uh in effect would be removing one story of potential height for buildings in that zone. Uh reducing the maximum height of the building in feet from 60 to 45 in stories from 4 to
3 and then reduces the uh height of chimneys, domes, spires, etc. to the 65 ft height uh in every other zone. So it just brings it in com in matching with everything else. Um and then article 21
um is one definition clarification um or I should say two for mixed use development in top of the shop housing. Um, this is something that we did try to address in the larger recodification,
but this is something that given a lot of the recent applications for mixeduse development the planning board is seeing, uh, we felt that this was something that we really needed to put forward here as an initial step to try and close what we felt was some
imprecise language in the previous definitions around um, mixed use or top of the shop where it didn't give enough clarification as to what commercial uses qualified for mixed use development. Uh,
and we want to make sure that those zoning rules function as intended. So, open to questions or comments on either of those from select board members or anyone else here.
>> Mr. Chairman collectively. >> Rob, would you mind coming to the mic? >> You're going to have to come to a mic. >> You have to come to a mic, please. >> Yeah. >> Would it be accurate to say that these collectively do also address what is a public concern about multif family
housing coming in that this actually tightens the up on that? I would say both of these are intended to I think tighten a little bit in terms of multif family housing. Yes. >> Thank you very much. >> Any further question?
>> It's Mr. Mosan, I believe. >> Yes. Um I just have a question as far as uh multif family. Um, I'm trying to just make sure that we're clear that multif family and top of the shop are two different issues.
I don't understand why how um top of the shop having multif family in it isn't multif family. So it thank you Mr. Maran. I'd say that they are different in that a mixeduse or a top-of-the-shop building is different
than a full-on multifamily building. Um, but the reason that what we're doing in terms of addressing the definitions for these and uh, Mr. Worsh I'm sure I think you have a better way of describing this than I think I have in past meetings but
um basically makes sure that the the idea of top of the shop development is that the commercial aspect of the building um provides more economic benefit to the town than just a pure mixed multif family building. um and
that we didn't feel like the existing definitions put enough weight on what that commercial should include to support the multif family aspect. Yeah, I I guess in the simplest way I
could put it is we updated the definition to make sure that the uses inside of a top-of-the-shop development or a mixeduse development only include the uses that would normally be permitted within that district
and that's all. So I guess my question is if it only allows what's allowed in that district that if multif family isn't allowed but it is allowed if you have commercial on the first floor
>> if multif family is not permitted within that district as a use when somebody builds a top-of-the-shop housing development they would not be able to include multif family. They would only be able to add the forms of residential
that are permitted in that district. It might be a single family. It might be a duplex. It could be a fraternity, a dorm territory, could be some other residential use, but it wouldn't be a use that's not permitted. >> Thank you.
Any further questions or comments on either the article three which has the reduction in height for village center core or these definitions which are article 21 and I'll note that article 21 the
definitions and Paul you can correct me if I these are exactly the same definitions that we did have in the new district that we created. Um, so we're not this isn't new language. We are just putting language that already exists into a different section of our bylaw.
>> So is it in is it in two places now? >> It it currently only exists in the language of the MBTA district. So the MBTA district is already protected from that loophole, but the rest of the town isn't because the MBTA was accepted through
town meeting. the the rest of the bylaw change wasn't >> gotcha. So, not seeing a whole rush of people to the microphone here. Um, do we have any additional comments? Do we want to >> Mr. Chair, we would have to open the
public hearing. >> Sure. So in that case, I will go forward and open the public hearing on this for further public comment. >> It would be a vote of both boards to open the public hearing.
>> Okay. So I'm happy to make that motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. And want both boards to vote independently. Correct. Or >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We'll make a a motion to um open the public hearing. >> Okay. >> Second. Okay.
>> Also moved, I should say. We have >> a motion by Miss Mrs. Liano. We have a second. >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Mian. Uh Mr. M. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Hitch. >> Yes.
>> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Luciano. >> Yes. >> And I vote. Yes. Also. >> Okay. >> I need to do roll call for the plan board as well. >> Uh Eric, >> yes. Frank. Yes.
>> Yes. Yes. >> Steve. >> Yes. >> Rob. >> Alan. >> Crazy. >> I'm sorry I didn't hear you. >> Okay. And I will vote yes. There is somebody on the Zoom who's got a little
bit of a background noise. We'll just try and mute your lines, please. >> So, I believe the public hearing is now open. So, look for public comment. Thank you for the procedural assist there.
>> Uh, Mr. Chair select board make a motion to close the public hearing. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Mr. O'Neal first. Mr. Rich was second. Roll call. Mr. Rich. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Marian. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Luciano. >> Yes. >> I vote. Yes. Mr. Chairman. And I believe the planning board would need to follow the same step here. So, I'll be looking for a motion to close the planning board public hearing as well.
>> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. So, we'll go through the role again. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Frank, >> yes. >> Yes. >> You didn't wait for me this time. Steve, yes.
>> Didn't have last time. >> Rod, >> yes. >> Alan, okay. and I will vote yes as well. >> So the public hearing is now closed. Any further action that we'd like to take in terms of uh so I think both
boards would be looking to either vote to recommend the article the town meeting or proposed amendments. So we'll follow your lead if you want to make a motion to approve um allowing us on the line for the town meeting. I I
would encourage you to do so. >> Okay. You have any preference on mo one motion for each article would generally be my default there? >> Yep. One. >> So, would anybody like to make a motion to
recommend to town meeting as printed? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay. >> We have a motion and a second. >> Go through the role again. Article three or both >> for article three. Yes. Sorry.
>> Uh yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And Alan's. >> Okay. And I will vote yes as well. Chair entertain a motion to support article three on the annual town
meeting. >> So moved. >> Have a second. >> I'll second. >> A motion second. Any further discussion? If not, Mr. Rich. Mr. Maran, I think we lost a couple people.
>> I can see Alec on there. Alec, can you hear us? >> Yep, I can hear you guys. >> Okay, we need a we have a motion on the floor. We're looking for a motion. I can hear him. Approve. Okay, we have a motion in a second to approve article three. Mr.
Yes. >> Mr. Mass. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Luciano. >> Yes. >> Vote. Yes. Mr. Chairman. >> Okay. And do we have a motion to vote to
support article 21 at town meeting as printed? >> So moved. >> Okay. Have a motion from Eric and a second from Bridget. Yeah. And we'll go through with the roll call here. Eric,
>> no. >> Frank, >> yes. >> Bridget, >> yes. >> Steve, >> yes. >> Rob, >> yes. >> Allan, >> yes. >> And I will vote yes. >> Chain a motion to approve article or
support article or rather article 21 on the unit meeting. >> So moved. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Second. motion second by Mr. Rich. >> Mr. Rich. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. M. >> Yes.
>> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Luciano. >> Yes. >> And I Yes. >> Mr. Chairman. Uh I believe that concludes the business for our joint committee hearing. So with that done, I'll move look for a motion
to close the plan to uh adjourn the planning board portion of this joint session. been moved. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion from Eric and a second from Steve. I'll go through the role one more time here. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Frank, >> yes. >> Bridget,
>> yes. >> Steve, >> yes. >> Rob, >> yes. >> Alan, >> yes. >> And I will vote yes. So, the planning board is adjourned and we leave you to the rest of your agenda. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes.
Okay, next on the agenda for the select board, appointments, resignations, and retirements. We have the reappointment of Kathy O'Brien as a tenant member of the housing authority. Captain, you here? >> We have the uh >> sir,
>> housing authority representative here also. Would you mind coming up please for a second? Brian. >> Big Brian. >> Thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> See you. >> So, tell us a bit about uh Kathy. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you want to serve.
>> Well, I have been serving since July of 2024. I took over um Jim Denels. >> Okay. So, at this point, I would love to continue. Um, I enjoy it. I feel like
the community trusts me and respects me and um, it's been quite a learning lesson in politics. But, but that's okay. I came from the healthc care sector, so it's all a learning experience. Okay.
>> Thank you. Anyone have any questions? >> Anyone out there? Mr. Rich, Mr. Ming, any questions? Nope, not at all. >> Okay. >> No, sir. >> Well, we want to thank you for volunteering. I know it's going to be tough to live in a neighborhood where you have to represent the same people.
>> So, it's going to be a tough job, but uh anyone here any questions or >> Jasmine can echo the same thing. Thank you for volunteering. We really appreciate it. >> Okay, seeing no further discussion, chair entertain a motion to appoint Kathy O'Brien as a tenant member of the
housing authority. >> So moved. We have a second. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Rich? >> Yes. >> Mr. Maran. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Luciano. >> Miss. >> Miss Luciano. Sorry. >> And I Mr. Kendall will vote. Yes. Also, >> thank you. Thanks for volunteering. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Next, we have we have an
appointment for Robert Kendall as a SWAT board designated for the Norton Opioid Prevention and Education Group. Um, Mr. Town Manager. Maybe you could fill us in on what that's all about. >> Uh, thank you uh, Mr. uh, chair. Uh the
NOPE committee Norton opioid prevention and education uh meets regularly under the opaces of Chief Clark and they do a lot for the community. They represent many groups across a broad spectrum um helping those with that suffer from
mental health illness, addiction and they bring the community together and chief identified a vacancy. Uh Mr. Kimell's name was put forward and I understand I hope he's willing to serve if if confirmed by the board and uh I I
don't know if you know Mr. Kimell has served on a few boards in his day. >> Just a handful. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Marsh, >> I make a motion that we uh appoint uh Bob Kimble to the uh co commission.
>> Of course you do. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Rich. Any further discussion? >> See none. Mr. Rich. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maran. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Miss Louisiana.
>> Yes. >> And I too I guess vote yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Next on the agenda. Hope I say your last name right there. Mr. >> Chica. >> Mr. Justin Chica >> Chica >> as a surp alternate member. Mr. Town
Manager. Mr. >> Thank you, Mr. uh DPW Director Justin Chica um has been put forward as a serpent member. He has extensive experience with Serpentid. Um so this is actually an alternate member. Um Miss Luciano is um the current Serpentid
representative. So he would um assist her. Um this would be through through June and this would help the town better align the objectives consistent with the operational uh needs of the town. >> Okay. Obviously this is a very important
uh appointment as it is with Mr. Oiano's appointment. Uh we need to get any money we any penny of money we can get and having people in these uh communities and boards is very very important. So, I think it's a great choice and I think it's the right wing right way to do it.
Anyone have any questions, comments? >> Uh, just one. I welcome I welcome your participation, Justin. And I'll just let you know, town manager, I did receive from Serpa today the um request for the 26 27 uh Serpent assignees. Maybe we can put that on for the next agenda. We can
put Justin on as the Serpentid um primary for that. >> Outstanding. >> Mr. Chair, just for the public's information, um, might be good to announce that Justin Chica is the DPW director for the town of Norton, just for people that are watching that may
not be aware of that. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Thank you for that. >> That's right. Our new and first DPW director >> and he survived the blizzard. And guess what? It's snowing out again. >> Anyone uh anyone else have any
questions, comments? >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. I make a motion that we appoint Justin Chica to as the alternate to the surid commission. >> Second
motion second. Any further discussion? See none. Mr. Rich. You're on mute. I saw your whips move. Okay. Mr. Mar. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ne. >> Yes. >> Mr.
>> Yes. vote. Yes. Congratulations. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next, we have the minutes from uh February 26, 2026. And we have a chance to look them over for any questions, deletions, anything
of any sort. If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes. >> So moved. We have >> a motion by Mr. Second by Hope. Mr. Mer. Yes. >> Okay. Um, further discussion
see all those in favor? >> I I >> I have to do a roll call. Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Mr. Marian, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Neal, >> yes. >> Mr. Luciano, >> yes. >> And I to vote. Yes. Okay. Licenses and permits.
We have nothing >> under announcements. We have a couple of announcements. Um, >> you can give the food away to anybody. >> Okay. >> We want the food. >> I'll take it on by. We're all hungry. Be glad to have
some. Mr. >> You have no idea how much food we have here. >> Okay. First is the census reminder. The town clerk is collecting the 2026 census forms and asking you to please return your census form via uh email
the box in front of town hall or the clerk's office. If you are a resident here and you did not receive a census form, please call, email, or stop by the clerk's office and we will give you a a blank to fill it out. And another
reminder is the Milton elections. General elections are 11 uh April 11th, 2026 and a little bit early this year. I believe they're about 2 weeks earlier than normal. Um mailing ballots request forms and absentee voting request forms
are available on the town clerk's page on the town website. Also in the town clerk's office and mailing ballot request forms are also available at the senior center. Anyone else have anything else on
announcements? >> I have one more here. >> I think that's for this. >> Yep. >> Oh, maybe not. >> Add on here. >> There's There's two that could go ahead. >> Either announcements or select board mail, whichever you prefer. >> I've got this one.
>> Oh, two more. >> Do that one. So if you need a mamogram or are due for a breast cancer screening, please join us on the Danny Fabers mamography e van. The American College of Radiology
recommends a mamogram every year if you're age 40 or older. to be held at the Norton Town Hall, 72 East Main Street, Norton, Mass, 02766, be on Thursday, April the 9th from 7:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
The mammography mamography van offers digital screening, 3D mamography. The van comes to you and our friendly professional staff provides easy access to vital screening. The entire process average about 20 minutes. Pre-registration is required to schedule
your mamogram and learn more. Please call 6176321974 or register online or email mail at memo mm o van ban at dfci.h.edu. This plan is hosted in conjunction with
the world bill of healthy van possesses a valid license and a certificate of instruction issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. We have another one. Um, we could do Chief Clark's letter now
or SL mail, whichever you prefer. >> That's all. >> This is from Mtown Manager regarding from Chief Clark regarding notice of assessment of the state accreditation. This is David my second. In order for our department to be recognized as an
accredited agency, I have requested an on-site assessment by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. As you know, fabrication by an assessment team and a department needs the commission standards is part of a voluntary process
to gain gain state accreditation. I highly advise rec recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. To that end, I am pleased to announce that the team of assessors identified below is scheduled to arrive on March 24th to begin a two to three-day assessment. As
you can see, the team is comprised of four local law enforcement officials. All of whom have been especially trained by the commission to conduct this assessment as well as the NPEC NPAC facil facilitator, Chief George McNeel,
who's retired. The assessors are Lieutenant Sarah Leiden of the No Police Police Department, Lieutenant Joseph Dangetti of the Royal Police Department, Lieutenant William Griffin of the North Police Department, Sergeant Eric Devalt
of the Swans Police Department. During the suicide assessment, we must be able to to demonstrate to the assessor that we are in compliance with the commission's mandatory standards as well as the required percentage of the operational standards of our size agency. We will show compliance with new
with new standards and policies required with new police uh reform law. As part of the assessment process, please be advised that you are invited to offer comments to the commission about the department as they pertain to accreditation standards. You may speak
with the assessors directly and revisit or you may send written comments to the commissioners at the following address which is Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission 110 Street 397 Angel Massachusetts 01913.
If you'd like to review the standards to assess accreditation for your questions about the upcoming assessment, please contact me or reach out to Lieutenant Kevin Jr. Our accreditation manager. You can also visit the commission's website as ww
police acco.net. The session will conclude on March 25th and 26 with a brief view from the assessors. And as we look forward to this successful review, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has participated in this important endeavor and helped us reach the
milestone in the process. Tom man, do you have anything else on that? >> Um, that's all, Mr. Chair. >> Okay. Quick quick question through you, chair. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Is this the first time we're trying to get the accreditation or we had it before?
>> I believe this is reacredititation through post. >> Okay. And um I believe it's Lieutenant uh Kevin Schlikker is spearheading it and doing a he's been doing a wonderful job a lot of work in preparation for this. So this will culminate with a site
visit the third week of March and hopefully we'll hear the good news shortly thereafter. >> Great. Thank you. >> Couple more announcements remind everyone that the town is hosting an upcoming sit and stroll. is the kickoff of summer event is going to held at the
Tower Hall parking lot on Saturday, May 16, 2026 from 3 to 6 pm. Also, the BFW is looking to uh have people get involved in the United States 250th anniversary Memorial Day
celebration. Uh kicking off the 250th anniversary of the United States, be part of the L community parade. We are seeking participants uh floats or any any members that might be interested to please let us know if you're interested. And uh you can contact the VFW at
508-2650442. I think that's all I have for now. Anyone else? >> That's it. >> May 16th there. >> All right. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have new
business uh health insurance proposal. Mr. Tom Andrew. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are excited to be looking into health insurance. Um, health insurance continues to be a major budget driver as we look ahead to fiscal
27's budget. As such, the town manager's office has taken special interest in this. Everyone's pitched together as a team. I'd like to thank uh Christ, Jen Sroka, who's done extensive research and analysis into this, and this will help
both the town and the employees. It's an out of the box thinking which is exactly what we need um with such a large expense. Um so I I won't get to the details. I'll I'll let our new assistant town manager uh
get to those, but I'm very excited about this proposal. We're going to continue discussing it. We're not asking the select board for a vote at this time, but just bringing to light what we've been doing. So very excited to present uh assistant
town manager Shannon McMahon. >> Thank you, Mr. Town Manager. I'd like to thank the board for having me here today. So I'm here today to present to you an alternate solution to the anticipated 12% increase to Blue Cross's pre
premiums. As we all know, this is going to be a problem across our state and everywhere. Um, we have found information that we're looking at a 12%. Uh, I know this isn't the most pleasant of conversations to have. Not everyone
spends their Thursday nights sitting back and talking insurance pro premiums and deductibles. And uh, so I'll make this as clear and logical and short as humanly possible. the premiums as are the way they are
right now. If we change nothing, we have a a slide for you as well. If we do nothing and we accept the 12% and we change absolutely nothing, we are looking at an increase to the town of $97,386.84
in a very tight budget. With time that will grow to about 1.3 million. What can we do about that? Well, currently Blue Cross offers three possible options in terms of plans. We
have your HMO which has here in town we have 401 of our employees on the HMO plan. We have the high deductible plan with an HSA health savings account that has 18 people on it. We have the PO that has 24
people on it. What we're looking to do is remove the HMO plan. That would leave only the two options of the high deductible plan and the PO. If we did this
in year 1, we would save the town $347,36248. By year two of doing this, we would save the town $797,112. Now, what about the employees? We don't want to shift the burden entirely to the employees. That doesn't
seem fair in the least. We have done extensive research. Jen uh and Christy have been have been monumental in in helping with this. Other towns have are also looking for alternate solutions
to help with bear the burden. Other towns have opted to increase the employees contribution from 25% to 50%. That's an enormous hit to the employees.
We are trying not to do that with the ideas that we're coming up with by utilizing the HMO with the HS by getting rid of the HMO and using the high deductible plan with the HSA.
We have found a way to save the town money, all of that money, that 300,000 and that 700,000 in the second year, while also helping the employee save money. I'd like to take you through a few
examples of what this would look like. So, the first slide we're seeing right here, this is a low medical expense individual plan. Essentially, this is our employee who is just doesn't go to the doctors very often. Uh maybe one or
two or three times per year. They're on an HMO plan. They pay the $3,21216 premium. They have their $250 deductible. They roughly have five visits to doctors, so they have the $125
uh co-pays. They also utilize their FSA contribution, which is their flex spending. They contribute 3,400 which is the max that can be contributed to an FSA. The town contributes nothing. So that individual's annual total is
$6,987.36 if they stayed on the HMO plan. If we remove the HMO plan and that person entered the high deductible plan, their premium would be lower, significantly lower. It would be $2,49648. The issue rises with the deductible. The individual deductible for this plan
would be $2,000. However, once they hit that deductible, they have no co-pays. If they volunt if they've opted to put in the $2,000 into their HSA account, the town in year 1
would contribute $1,750. That would be an annual total of $4,74648 for that employee. This would be a $2,240.88 savings to the employee. Now, keep in mind that's also taking into account
that the town is saving three over $300,000 the first year and over $700,000 the second year. Now, a few things to note on this one. A, this individual did utilize the FSA contribution.
If we can just go back to that one, this individual did put the 3,400 into their contri into their FSA. the FSA, even though that you can contribute the 3,400, it's important to note that the if you don't use that 3,400 within
one calendar year, that employee could potentially lose that 3,400. With the high deductible plan, they're only contributing the $2,000, but we're going to match it to make it the $3,750. And that rolls over from year to year.
It also stays with the employee regardless of their employment status. This is monumental in terms of savings. The that money can be invested similar to a 401k and it can also be used to bear some of the cost that retirees are
facing with Medicare B. Let's look at another example. This is a low medical expense individual plan. In this particular scenario, the only difference is we're looking at the numbers in this particular situation where someone did not contribute that
3,400 to the FSA under the HMO plan. Now, under these numbers, you're looking at the annual total under the HMO is lower than it would have been with the high deductible plan with the caveat being if the person stayed on the HMO plan and
contributed nothing to their FSA contribution. With our research, we have found that an individual on average spends roughly $2,000 on medical supplies, co-pays, Advil, band-aids, sunblock, things like that.
Around $2,000 is the average for an individual. That individual on the HMO who did not contribute anything to the FSA had that $2,000 taken out of their pocket. So, even though on this paper it looks like when they switched to a high
deductible plan that they had a essential additional cost, in reality they actually had an $840 savings because if you take into account that $2,000 that came out of their pocket.
In the next slide, this is what happens when uh we have an individual with a high medical expense. So this is someone who, you know, maybe has an injury, repetitive injury or has to go to PT uh many times see doctors
more regularly than just your average uh person. In this particular situation, the premium stays the same. If this person contributed the $3,400 to the FSA under the HMO plan, they would have paid $7,392.36. If they switch to the high deductible
plan, they're going to get that three $3 3750 in their HSA, which they get to keep year after year. And their annual total is $4,74648. That is a $2,645.88
savings to that person. And this is the same kind of scenario, but in this particular scenario, the individual with the high medical costs does not contribute to the FSA. Now, on paper, it looks like that this particular person would have an increase
of $754.32. But again, if we take into consideration that that person had to take the $2,000 roughly out of their pocket to pay for those expenses such as band-aids and aspirin and Tylenol and Advil, um then
they would actually have a savings of $1,24568. And this individual now on the high deductible plan gets the $3,750 to invest is as as they wish. And we have the town contribution adding to that. So this is the family plan and this is
kind of the low medical expense flam family of four employee. So their deductible is $750 under the HMO. They do the 3,400 for the FSA contribution which is maxed out. They pay $13,147
for their annual HMO. If they switch to the high deductible plan, they get the HSA contribution. They put in the 4,000. The town contributes 3,250 for that first year and they this person pays now $11,65144
a savings of $1,4956. And again, this individual now has the $7,250 to help with that high deductible cost and that can roll over to help pay for the following year's deductible. This is what it looks like if this
particular person had not contributed to their FSA. Uh in this particular scenario, it appears like we said before, if they had not contributed to their FSA that they would be paying more on the high deductible plan. In fact, they would be paying $1,94.64
more. However, once again, if we take into account what a family spends, we did the math on essentially $5,000 for a family of four and what they would spend at say your average Walgreens, CVS, co-pays, things like that. Uh then this
this particular person, if we take that into account, this particular person would actually have saved $3,95.36. And this particular Oh, this is the high medical expense. So this is a family similar situation. Say your children has to one of your children has to go to a doctor regularly. We have the high
medical expense category. So this particular person's uh premium would be $8,416.80. The $750 deduct uh dollar deductible with the HMO for a total of $14,267.
This particular family did do the FSA contribution. They did the 3,400 which they could lose if they don't use it. Um, and they have an annual total of $14,267 with they when they move to the high deductible plan.
We they do the 4,000 on the HSA. The town contributes $3,250. Their annual total is $11,651. Their annual savings is $2,6156. And this is what happens if this particular person uh did not contribute
to their FSA under the HMO. Their total was $10,86680 with the high deductible. Again, on paper, it looks like they would be there would be an additional cost to this employee of $784.64. But in actuality, when you add that
$5,000 of payments made to CVS, Walgreens, all of those things, then it actually is a savings of $4,215.36. Finally, the other option we have is the opt out program. The town currently offers employees who have been on our
health insurance plan for 24 months the option to opt out of our insurance for a payment of $1,500 for an individual plan and $2,500 for a family plan. The FY27 projected cost for the town for each employee on our health insurance is
$7,489 for an individual and 20,74 for a family. We propose in FY27 opt out for anyone currently enrolled in the plan to be a payment of $2500 for an
individual and a $5,000 payout for the family plan. This is a town savings of $4,98944 per individual plan and $14,74.32 per the family plan. If five individual
plans and 10 family plans participate that if they decided to opt out during this time, the town would save 181,90 which would be in addition to that year 1 number of 3747,362 and for the year 2 that would be 181
plus the 797,112. These are real options that don't hurt anyone. uh like we like we've just shown you each employee. We've tried to identify every single employee that we've got here. Um which is not an easy task to do to be perfectly honest. Uh
but we've tried to narrow it down and show you every possible scenario of every possible employee that's here so no one's feeling left behind or not included. Each one of these plans that we've shown you has shown that there is a value to be had to the employee with a massive
value to the town. Like I said, other towns are opting to go 50/50 on these premiums, and we're trying to avoid that at all costs. Our employees are very hardworking. The two women who are here who have helped me with this, me and town, Mr.
Town Manager, with this project, uh have have worked tirelessly on getting us these numbers. Um we would certainly never want to put our employees in any situation where they are feeling like they're getting the brunt of what is outside of their control. This is a way
that they get to keep their doctors and it's also a resource that they can use to invest in their own self. They can use this HSA portion to invest in their own future retirement. And for with that
I will open up to questions >> questions anyone. >> Thank you Shannon. Um so you mentioned they can keep their doctors the network stays the same. >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you. And how did you estimate the FY28 the reduction um in
the HSA uh bucket? >> I'm going to have Jen Sorga come on up here as well to help out with this. Can you say your question again, Mr.? >> Yes. So the um 7.9 million to 7.4 million reduction from this year to next year and how did you estimate that? The
current HSA match for the high deductible plan is 1,000 up to $1,000 per individual up to $2,000 for a family plan. >> So for year one, we're proposing 1750 and 3250 to help with the initial high
deductible cost and then the second year we'd go back to the normal town match. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Does anyone else have any questions? >> Mr. my hand. Mr. Rich, any any questions?
>> I don't right now. That's a lot to digest. I'd like to uh get a package of that to review. >> Mr. Rich, there's uh there's packets here waiting for you. So, we have those for you as well. Uh I didn't want to I didn't want to bore the board with uh with going through every single slide,
but there's some useful informations within within this package. uh examples of things that people are spending money on using their FSA currently under an HMO or straight out of pocket. Um and all of those things, you know, would be
covered under your HSA. >> Mr. chair and the even though the FSA the HSA >> town contribution is only for the first year, it's important as you mentioned that the HSA rolls over year after year
and they're already starting out with 4,000 for a family. So they don't have that today. >> Yes. >> So they if they keep that balance going, >> that's the idea. It should if if they roll it over and they continuously keep having their you know it same with everything else having it taken out of
their paycheck by year two it should be paid for. So it shouldn't be this enormous out-ofpocket expense. One other question. Um, and I mentioned this when we were talking about the retiree uh health insurance a couple months ago
in in um in corporate America they have and my wife and I have gone through this many years where um if you choose to have your spouse on your plan and your spouse also works and has access to their own plan then you pay a spousal
search charge. Has that come up at all in your discussion? And what it and basically what it does is it it makes you think long and hard. I don't need to keep two insurance plans. If my wife's is better, then she's going to pay a search charge for me to switch over from
my my company's plan. So, >> while we haven't dug as deep into the specifics of what you're talking about with the opt out program, that's kind of what we're trying to do. Yes. Um, so we're increasing what we already do. We're increasing the the gift, if you
will, for the opt out. So, we're raising that number. >> Great. I had no idea that our annual deductible was so low. What did we say it was for an individual? 250 or something. >> 250. >> Wow. That's unheard of.
>> Mhm. For you, chair. >> Go ahead. >> Uh, just a quick question on the high medical expense. What What sort of high medical expense did you model? Was it just someone that has like monthly appointments or was it something more significant? Let's say someone that had cancer or traumatic where they in the
hospital for months or something like that. >> The high medical, >> right? I used the average >> average statistics of whether it was um monthly therapy, physical therapy, chiropractor, um a mix of
>> microphone, sick visits, urgent care. Um, I so I took the average statistics of a an individual and of a family of four and that's how we came up with our co-pays are arranged between 20 and $35.
So I took the average times the co-pays to come up with it. So it it's not somebody who would have um necessarily something like cancer. It's just somebody who has more of a monthly visit of some sort. >> Yeah, that's that's kind of why I ask. I
mean, I think those monthly visits are pretty common with a lot of families, I think. Um, but things that are not expected, like a cancer diagnosis or traumatic injury where you're hospitalized for a long time, those are the things that I think about when I'm
choosing my medical plan that I want to be thinking about. Even if it cost me more today, it will save me in the back end later on. So, I guess how those model out in the different insurance plans. So on our high deductible plan, once you hit your deductible, you
actually don't pay any co-pays, including something like a surgery or hospital visit. The HMO plan actually has, I believe, an 80% um co-share split. So even once you hit
that $250 or $750 deductible in the HMO, if you end up in the hospital, you're going to get a bill. Um we have a lot of young employees. We've actually have a lot of births lately. Um, people on the HMO plan are getting a bill to have a child. On the high deductible plan, you
are not getting a bill. Um, so that's another added bonus of the high deductible plan that if something like that occurs, it is going to cover you. >> And there's no maximum on the HSA for what they'll Okay. >> No. And that's one of the reasons we're
kind of thinking about it because said as we get older, we start to worry about these things. And this is essentially protecting the employee more. >> Yeah. >> I mean, it it really is because once you hit that that 2,000 or 4,000 for
individual or family, that's it. You nothing else comes out. >> So, the Bristol County retirements program for our retirees, how does this affect them? >> You want to add that one? >> Um, this is just modeled for the active employees. We would not change anything
for the retirees at this time. For the retirees who are under 65 and on the current HMO plan, they cannot enroll in a health savings account as a retiree. >> So, this this would not be a good option
for the retirees that are under 65 and on the HMO plan. >> As a Tom, do we have the right though to go back to Bristol County Retirement and say, um, you know, our costs are too high, our contribution is too high. Can you guys based on what we're trying to do with with the local employees who are
already working for us, is there something you guys can do to maybe drop the amount we have to pay into the system for our retirees? Maybe open their eyes to a couple of things that maybe we're going to do. Maybe you guys should look at it too. That kind of a
scenario to see if maybe it works out. >> Yeah. I don't I don't have the answer to that, but we could look into it too. Yeah. Um, I would like, Mr. Chair, I would like to note too the numbers that we gave you in terms of what if we
stayed the exact same, if we didn't do this option and we just implemented the 12% and we continued, the town continued to pay the 75% and the employee paid 25%. Those numbers I gave you earlier, those did not include the retirees,
>> right? >> So that number is significantly higher in real life, >> right? >> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So it might be good. Um, by the way, exceptional work. I mean, you you've done a lot of analysis and detail and run different scenarios
and modeled a different way. I don't have any questions and usually I'm very critical of these type studies and I have nothing. Nice job. >> We tried very very hard to encompass every possible employee. >> Yeah, you did. that we that we could
think of um and look at it with clear eyes and and be judgmental. You know, we the four of us sat in a room for many many many many hours and and did kind of what we used to call in law school a hot bench. You know, tell me why, you know,
I don't like this. This is going to be too much money. And then we kind of kept working it and and trying to make it very clear that this really can be a beneficial change for everyone involved. >> Well, it shows. Great job. Great job,
Jennifer. >> I I I would echo that. I would applaud you on that because in in the past what we've done is >> this is how much it cost last year. This is how much it's going to cost this year. And we didn't take the initiative really. to go back and look at and say,
"Okay, that's that's the way it is, but are there other alternatives?" And I applaud your group, all of you, for what you've done here because it's giving us another set of eyes on something that we've been dealing with for years, and we've just been adding to it, adding to it without making any
effort to see if there's any other options out there. So, >> and we're open to suggestion, we're open to to discussion. Um, obviously, like Mr. uh Mr. town manager had indicated um this isn't a proposal as of right now this is kind of a a fact finding mission
what is the best fit for Norton um and what we've come up with so far seems to be a very good fit but certainly we're willing to sit down with anyone who has suggestion or additions or subtractions or additional questions >> Mr.
Yes. Um, so just one suggestion. Well, I wanted to ask what the next step is, but the 18 that are on the HSA right now, you know, perhaps they can be your advocates, your champions because you are as well. Good. And then you can talk to the benefits. >> I saved $11,000 my first year I went on
it. Oh, good. Um, my daughter had knee surgery and the it so I I average about $4 or $5,000 savings on the plan now, but the first year it it was um a huge benefit for my family. >> Very good. I want to ask the town
manager, Mr. Chair, I know if you're changing the percentage, you have to um negotiate that through the uh collective bargaining bargaining process, but changing this I don't think you need to negotiate it. Correct. uh out of courtesy, we're bringing this to the
unions early next week. >> Very good. Thank you. >> And then I wanted to ask, Mr. Chair, what our next step would be to try to get this presented. >> Well, I first of all, I know Mr. Rich and Mr. Masan haven't had the opportunity to look at this. We just got
this tonight. So, obviously, I'm sure they're going to have a lot of questions, but right now they're not privy to what we're looking at other than what we're showing on the screen. So, um, my suggestion would be to once we're all back here together to maybe talk a bit more about it, have the
manager, uh, give us more updates as we as we progress, find out what the unions are saying, you know, and how they're feeling about it and, uh, basically take it from there. >> Mr. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Through your chair, just quick question.
Um since 90% of the employees currently have made the decision to choose the more expensive plan to them right out of pocket. >> Yes. >> For whatever reason. Part of that is probably education, understand the benefits of the different plans, right? So what is the communication plan going
forward? Hopefully it's not just like an email communication, but there's more personal face to face ability to ask questions, that kind of thing. what we have discussed and what we will be presenting to you folks hopefully soon uh as well as the unions would be a very uh Jen and I
would be meeting with small groups of employees to educate them kind of on a one-on-one or just small group um so we can take and tailor each individual and give them an idea of what we're looking at um otherwise we're not going to win over that 90 you know that 91%
um but realist istically, I think that most people pick the HMO because it's the least for the deductible. >> Yeah. >> Um, so it's the short-term gain, not the long-term gain. What we're trying to do is explore the long-term gain, which far
outweighs that short-term gain of that low deductible. >> Okay. >> One last thing, Mr. Ch. I'm sorry. Um my suggestion would be for those that don't have it in their weekly or monthly um budget to contribute to the HSA
themselves >> when you can kick it around with your team. >> Maybe consider having the town contribute to it anyway, our portion of that HSA. You know what I'm saying? You probably Jen brought you if you can't take
>> 200 bucks out of your paycheck every month to put in the HSA but you still would like to get the town match the first year to kind as a kicker. Yep. >> I think that might help a lot of people. >> I believe that's what we kind of said, right? >> Mr. Rich, Mr. Nam, before I open up the public, you guys have anything you want
to say? >> I do not right now. >> Okay, Mr. Sus, you got something? >> Yes. >> Identify yourself, please. I even know who you are, but Zack Tillis 3 return drive. So, it is my understanding if you
change a public employees insurance, you would have to form what's known as a P uh PEC, public employee committee under state law. Has that been looked at? >> That's one option. I impact bargaining
is another. >> Okay. I don't know. I know that was that's been out there. So I don't know how that mitigating that portion of it. >> You're volunteering. >> Thank you, Zach, for your insightful conversation on health insurance earlier
that that helped form this. >> Bob, did you have something? >> I think it was a cattle product. >> I think you already covered the question, but my name is Bob Brisco, three Brenda Road. Um, I just wanted to know if it was going to be um offered to all the bargaining units that work for
the town, fire, police, of of course. Yes, we're we're going to work with them and help them understand the benefits, how this can help their families. >> That's good. Yeah. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Well, thank you very much for your
information. Obviously, it's a lot to digest right now, but uh we definitely will take a look at it and look forward to any additional information you guys can give us, you know, for the future. So, >> so we have a clear understanding about how this thing works. >> And as I stated, any additional
questions, please feel free to email me or Jen um with anything that comes up later that you didn't think of today. >> Okay, Mr. Golden, anything else? >> Right. Right. just just direct your questions to to our office and we'll uh be able to take it back and and bring a
more vetted proposal. But I'm just really happy for the whole team and this this is going to be great for everyone. We're going to keep moving forward with it for the employees, the the public. >> I did have one one more quick question. Sorry. Are there any differences between the plans on what they do cover as far
as um insurance coverage? >> No. >> Okay, >> that's the major difference. Um I don't think we would have gone down this road had there been a caveat or a clause that required such changing doctors or or not
care not coverage. Yeah. Um I don't think we would have explored this. As I said in the beginning, um we're trying to >> we're trying to help our employees more than what other towns are looking at where they're just saying, "Hey, there's this increase. You got to split it with us."
>> We're trying to do something a little bit different. um and see where it lands us. >> Great. Thank you. Lots of information, but thank you. >> Thank you very much to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for your hard work. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Next on the agenda, we have um old
business is the end of the state of emergency declaration. Mr. Tom Manager. >> Uh Mr. Chair, thank you. U so this is in relation to the state of emergency. The select board declared on the eve of the blizzard uh thankfully to cover our
bases. So, if it is if it ends up being a federally declared state of emergency, then we are in line to receive funds. There's a chart of expenses that were submitted last week. Our expenses total $158,000
and we put in for everything in the kitchen sink. Um, we have our DPW director Justin Chicka with us uh for any questions, comments. um just very can't say enough about his crews and all
the public safety that that came out and supported during this and the efforts to account for the costs to the town and try to recover those funds. There's there's no guarantee, but these are the figures we submitted to MIMA who's
submitting them to FEMA, and if it's enough, then we will sub submit the actual totals and submit for reimbursement at that time. >> Mr. Ch uh Mr. Uh, Google, the um, one
question I have, I spoke to, um, State Representative Howlet last week about this and he said that we should keep track of all of our costs, including maybe to the point of including any patching we might do on the road, you know, potholes, that kind of stuff. Uh,
should we hold off a bit longer on this or do you feel that we've we're pretty much at where we should be? >> I'll defer to Mr. Cha on that. >> Uh, yeah, thank you. um ending the declared uh state of emergency from the
town would not impact that at all. Um the numbers that you have before you are the prelim preliminary numbers that um we're asked to provide MIMA and like uh like the uh town manager said uh is sent
to FEMA. That's to decide whether we're going to get any reimbursement. Um uh we have a meeting Monday as a matter of fact uh to to dive further into it with MIMA. Um and and we're allowed to adjust our numbers accordingly as as more
issues arise or or come up, we adjust whatever we can um that's allowable by law. So stuff like pothole filling and and uh uh curbings that might have been damaged and anything that that were
allowed to uh to put down will be put down >> in addition to what you already have. >> Correct. >> Okay. So you have no reservations about ending this state of emergency? >> No, sir. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> I do, Mr. Chair. So, um
there are a lot of categories here and I'm just curious like debris removal. I know there were a lot of trees down um bridges, roads, uh public utilities. I don't know if you had any do do anything special here with a generator uh to prep it or any of that kind of stuff that's
all related to the storm. Um you don't have to answer it, but I'm just make sure that you categorize every possible thing and make sure that it's in the right category, too. I don't know how it works with FEMA, but if if they come back and say, "Well, we're not going to reimburse you for snow removal,
but we will reimburse you for pothole repairs, for example, or tree removal." And you know, and it's matter of making sure it's in the right category. You know what I'm saying? >> Understood. Understood. Um, I'll go a step further to let you know that um
it's it's based on manh hours and it's based on equipment. So whether that half hour was spent cleaning up a tree or actually plowing, it's the same rate. So um there's certainly a uh a logistic
that goes along with the categories and and we are familiar with it and we'll make sure that we get every every last penny that we can. >> Mr. Neil does make a good point though because the um a lot of a lot of trees came down sitting on the side of the road. We've cut back on a lot of them
just to get them out of the way. They're in the storm now. We have to send people back to clean them up. So, it would be good if we could include that kind of cost. And >> every hour is being being added as we speak. >> Okay. Yeah. Just to kind of um add on to
what I had said, Mr. Chair, the like I don't know how this works, but I'm just guessing. Okay. Well, they might come back and say, "Well, snow removal is normal, but with a state of emergency and um you know, a blizzard, um debris
cleanup is not unless it's a you know, state of emergency or a blizzard." So, may maybe if >> snow removal is covered, >> it is covered. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yep. >> Yep. it. What differentiates a regular snowstorm from a blizzard in the state of emergency?
>> The declared emergency by Okay. by by the state and by the federal government. >> Gotcha. Well, I guess from the categories as far as estimates of costs, um, you know better than I, but just make sure the hourly rate and the cost are broken down appropriately. So, if
they start cherrypicking your sheet, then we have it broken down. Okay, we had 20 grand in tree removal and we had it categorized as snow removal, but actually they spent that time removing trees that had fallen down. You know, maybe that's more likely to get um some
reimbursement. You know what I'm saying, Justin? >> Again, I don't know anything about this without ideas. Yeah, >> understood. >> Anyone else? Mr. Rich, you have anything? >> I do not. >> Okay, thank you. Anyone else? So your
recommendation, Mr. Mr. U Gold, is to for us to um take a motion to end the state of emergency. >> Uh that's that's correct. Since we had a state of emergency during the the true emergency response, I believe that all subsequent expenses would be looped in
and as the state ended their emergency, I would urge the board to uh vote to end the emergency uh declaration. >> Any further discussion? J enterain motion to go ahead Mr. Rich.
>> Yeah. Just wanted to make a motion to end the state of emergency declaration. >> We have a mot we have a motion second by Miss um um so that's all we need. Okay. We have a
motion second. Further discussion. Mr. Rich. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Luciano. >> Yes. And I also hope you Yes. Thank you. That's unanimous. >> And thank you, Mr. Chica. And once again, we've been saying it over and over over again. Fantastic job by the
whole crew. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Tom Andrew's report. >> Thank you, sir. Uh first up, budget development. As this is top of the mind, um continuing evaluating, analyzing departments, uh
backwards, forwards, looking for costs savings everywhere. Uh we're looking to put forward a fiscally responsible budget balancing service delivery and long-term sustainability. So the anticipated budget release date is April 6th. And in the meantime, we're
meeting with finance committee regularly uh going through all the budgets. We have police and fire lined up for Monday. Uh so feel free to tune in and um I I can actually forward the board if if the board would like a PowerPoint
that I presented uh a couple weeks ago at finance committee. Uh just showing the major budget drivers and the fiscal environment that we're looking at this year. Uh next up, King Phillip Road. We've been fielding several inquiries
regarding the condition of of this largely private way. We do own about 700 ft of it, but that leaves 33 or 3,700 ft. Now, King Philip Road is one of
approximately 15 private ways in the town, and there are about 93 privatelyowned parcels, roughly 67 single family homes. The road's in poor condition, but it's
not townowned. So, unfortunately, under Norton law, under state law, we can't use public funds on private property. That's just the rule. Now, there are a couple exceptions to the rule. As any any lawyer knows, every rule comes with
exceptions. Under Norton's bylaw, the exception allows for essentially pothole repair. It's not road reconstruction. Our bylaw says if twothirds of the abutters petition the town, town meeting can vote
money to temporarily fix a private road. That's not what we're looking at largely here. I mean, we're more looking at due to the deterioration of of the road, it would be street acceptance, a full
reconstruction. Now, that would be a a big project with engineering, with construction, with storm water drainage, with with conservation requirements. The process for that is general law chapter 82 which is also
it requires the abutters to come to the town. We need to be provided with a plan a a a engineered layout plan stamped by an engineer describing the takings the easements.
It it's not a simple thing. Um after that the select board would hold a public hearing and forward the issue to town meeting where it would be voted on to accept the road and provide the funds the appropriation to to fix the road or
impose a betterment on the uh what was it 67 single family homes on this particular road. And note that there's 14 other private roads that you know once you accept one the So given fiscal constraints, uh, legal
limitations, we're doing all we can as permitted by law. And really, if if there's anything more to be done, it needs to come from the residents in the form of a petition with a a plan and then it would be up to the select board
to to forward that to town meeting if there's if you're so inclined. >> Um, >> yeah, thanks town manager. this matches what we we had a lot of discussion last year with this same area and this matches what was discussed at that point
as well. Um so thank you for your detail in here. I think we, you know, every day, I think every one of us is having a conversation with someone about this road and we're probably as frustrated as most uh trying to figure out a way to make this happen
within the confines of the law and we cannot break the laws. I mean, we just just just the way it is. Uh there's some other issues that may come into play u by accepting this road and Mr. Chica probably could talk about it more than I could, but um we have to require a
certain width in the road and anyone that knows uh King Phillip knows that in some areas it gets pretty tight. Uh looking at some of the overlay that Mr. Chica has recently given to a couple of us just to kind of get an idea of what we're talking about. It not only does it
involve taking property, it may involve taking homes. um there are probably two or three homes that would be impacted where the town would actually have to take down someone's property. So, it's a bigger problem than what it is on the surface and we understand the
frustration. I drove down that road the other day myself and I was concerned because it is a mess. Um but I don't want anyone out there to think that we're just blowing this under the, you know, sweeping it under the rug, so to speak. We're not. where every day we're
talking about this and trying to come up with another alternative within the legal rights of the town and unfortunately we can't other than the recommendations that Mr. Glue just recommended as far as the uh the proposal of the neighbors getting together and coming together with some
kind of request. The the de major portion of this are the engineering of it and the engineering is going to be very costly and not only costly but wetlands impact and the cost of that alone is going to be uh magnified.
As a private street, the owners can do whatever they want to do. We can't. And that's where the frustration lies is we would love to help these people out, but where it is is not an accepted street and we don't know what the reasons are
for the reason why it was never accepted, but it hasn't been. So pass for whatever whatever reason it might be, but we can't do anything other than make minor repairs and we're doing the best we can down there. Um,
I don't know what the answer is, but I don't want anyone out there to think, and I know we've been getting some heat from many different directions, but I I don't want anyone to think that we're not talking about this. We're still going to continue to talk about this. We just don't have any solution right now other than spending a large million plus
or more may you know maybe $2 million by the time we get through to try to make improvements not only in King Phillip but Charlotte Road too has some issues also that we'd like to address and that also is a private road. So it's a it's a it's a quagmire and we're going to have
to figure out how to how to deal with it. So anyone else >> um thank you for all that and thank you town manager for that. I also believe there are no storm drains on either one of those roads. So, all the water runs off onto the property and into the into
the um you know into the the the lake. Um part of the uh the backstory might be good to understand for you as well. I know there I've se seen comments very logical comments that when the town put um sewer down there and um a new water line I think we I might be incorrect but
we took a a temporary easement in order to do that and then when those lines were completed then we repaved the road that was just a temporary repavement to accommodate those two those two that project. People think that think of that as a
precedent that okay if the town paved it once why can't they pave it again right but we're not laying a new sewer line down so there's no reason to so it's part of the the backstory it's a very logical question if I'm a resident you know you paid it once why can't you do
it again right it was a private road back then as well so you know something to keep in mind when you're talking to neighbors does that make sense Right. And if if you do continuously maintain it and keep it up to date, then
you're obligated to. If it's a one-time project decades ago for a specific reason, it it legally just would not qualify. We're just not allowed to pave the road without formally accepting the road.
And Mr. Chair, I know and this has been going on for a year. I was when I was sitting there um I listened to the arguments and then later on as well I think didn't we allocate some money for enhanced pothole repair like $10,000 in the budget? >> Oh yeah. Go ahead. >> Last year. Yeah.
>> Mr. Chica. >> Okay. First I have to say it's cha >> like a chicken. >> Yes. I heard that right eventually. >> I heard that quite a bit growing up. Um there is there is money that was allocated just about a year ago. I'm
told that's in a fund that we've spent some of uh we continue to spend. We were down there today. We'll probably be down there again tomorrow filling potholes um doing what we can like u the town administrator said legally what we can
to help the residents down there to kind of smooth it out some. So there is money allocated. It is sitting there. We are using it. >> U Mr. the chair. I've never filled a pothole, but I've spackled walls and I know in order to do it right, you need to get all of the loose perimeter off
and then you then you pack it in tightly. Um, some of the complaints, if I remember correctly, was, you know, the material that was being used was not sustainable. It would chip a week later or a plow driver will go down and the next year would be in the same condition. I don't know if there are any
better quality material that you can use for this project alone, but I wanted to throw that out. >> Yep, I can answer to that. Pothole fill is not a permanent asphalt job. It's a
temporary patch. The thing about pothole filling is it's inexpensive. So, um, yes, if we have to fill the same holes every year, you can do it a lot cheaper than you could if you reassalted the the road. So,
is there a better product? No. Um, is there a better solution? Pave the road. And I don't mean to say that sarcastically, but yeah. Uh, filling potholes are are a temporary solution to to a problem. When you say pave the
road, you're talking about >> do this process. >> The process process of not taking up the road that's there. >> Correct. Milling should know what's there. >> Even wetlands, you have to deal with that. >> And while you're doing all that, you can't raise the height of the road
because now you're putting water onto properties that didn't have water before. So, it's a it's a very very major project. I mean, >> it is. And the way to think about that road right now in any paper road is it's the property of the owners. So the
portions of that roads that abut that road that abuts their property is their property. So the water from the road is not going onto their property. The water is on their property. The town does not own that property
for now. Yeah. Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you. Mr. Rich, you all set? >> I am. You guys are covering everything. So, >> okay. Thank you. Well, thank you for that. We appreciate it, Mr. Tom Manager. >> Uh, thank you. And I and I will note
that we're putting a public statement out on the website on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, all that. >> May I May I ask through you, Mr. Chair, that um that you also out of courtesy send a letter to all of the residents on these roads? whatever your public
statement is, just send them a a letter directly. I think that will go a long way if that's if you have the funds for that. >> Um, we can certainly look into that. I am meeting with a representative of the neighborhood uh early next week so I can ask him if he can help disseminate information.
>> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Through you, chair. The only thing I would add, Mark, is in addition to the two options that you have here around temporary repairs and the street acceptance through MGL uh 82 is the third option is really for the residents
on the private road to themselves do that study and pave the road, right? That's >> it's their property. >> That's their property. Yeah. >> That does not require engineering work and all the stuff that we have to do. All they have to do is pave it. They have to grind it and pave it. And on top
of that, we have to pay prevailing wages. You know, that could be two to three times the cost of what it would cost them to do it. So, that's another another factor to take into consideration, but I'm sure you can expand on that with the with the uh representative next week and give them
some options and maybe what they can do. >> Mr. >> Certainly will. >> Mr. Gold. >> Yeah, I think this is a pretty common practice because builders come in and build communities. there are established uh you know committees that are responsible for kind of managing those private ways and they then they dispand
and no one you know keeps up with it and this is pretty common across I think a lot of different towns and communities >> and that's why when we approve developments we need to require them to build the roads up to the standards so they can be accepted.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I did also see a proposal or a quote from about a year ago. Um, and we can do that exercise again where where we we provide the residents with the quote and let them decide whether they want to split the cost and do the
work. >> Yeah. >> Did you follow what I'm saying? Like there I saw the actual quote that we got about a year ago to go in, mill it, top coat it, and give them some relief for for a few years to come. I'm not sure which quote you looked at. I'm not sure
if it was ours or at the time they actually came to us with a quote they received on their own that um >> I seen one that that that we we went and got to see what it would cost. >> Yeah, they they came to us at the time with their own quote for what the work would would cost.
>> So I do I do suggest that possibility. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'm roping you into this meeting next week. >> Mr. Moving on. uh capital planning requests uh cycle is underway. Uh next week we're meeting with the major
department, school police, fire, DPW um reviewing capital requests internally. Uh the week after we will convene the capital improvement committee um in advance of town meeting to recommend requests to you folks.
Um, Mark, could I could I ask when you're sending like the budget stuff to Fincom to review, even if we're not discussing it, maybe at the next level meeting, if if we could share that with us as well, just so we're kind of seeing the iterations as you're going through at the be. >> Sure. I will definitely forward you what
I've provided so far and going forward. >> Great. Thanks. >> Uh, next up, uh, very happy to report that the public library has achieved full accredit accreditation certification. They're fully eligible for grants. This was a team effort.
Amanda Vienna spearheaded this. Assistant town manager McMahon has been uh substantially involved in helping the library integrate with seniors, with veterans. It's truly a team effort and we're very proud of the library, all they've done over there and continue to
do. Uh public safety accreditation. Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, Mr. Tagi. This was in the the paper as well as on Guanagal. I don't know if you saw that the whole article about this, but um I was on the school committee when we went through some real tough budget
discussions back when this happened. The library had a um they took a bigger hit than most budgets and and that's what put them out of the accreditation line. I was amazed to learn that all this time had gone by and they hadn't had the
money to climb back in um to the 50 hour work, 50 hours per week. uh schedule and that kind of thing. And I think it was um Mr. Tillis there who spoke up at the FinCom meeting, the joint meeting a couple years ago or maybe it was last
year and basically um as well as others encourage as well as the um the chair of the uh library board of trustees letting everybody know that the budget for the library only covers salaries. they do a
lot of their own funding um for repairs, maintenance. So, my concern going forward is now that they've acquired this accreditation after too long of a wait that in the loss of um uh grant
money over the years. Shame on us. We pennywise and pal and foolish. It was $17,000 to get them back to the 50 hour week and they were losing 60 grand in annual uh uh grant money. So when you do the budget, I'm just asking
try to keep the accreditation. If if if >> you bet if if we get a 1% across the board increase and they need a 3% to keep their accreditation, it's a very small amount of money in their budget like half million dollars. Try to make sure they get it if you can. We'll do
our best. I believe in 2008 as most of us remember because I was in I was on the board then the um we had a a major recession and and that was part of the problem what happened here but it was shortsighted on our plot to take away to
have a major hit with the um the library and I think part of the reason the back reason why people felt we could cut into their budget and not have any impact was because they have certain gift accounts and that kind of stuff that they felt that they could stand up and they could
they could take the money from somewhere else. Well, guess what? They couldn't. You know, you when you have payroll, you have to have payroll has to come from us. So, shame on us for what we did in 2008, but more shame on us if we do it again. It this just can't happen. What wherever the money has to come from has
to come to make sure that this program continues to uh to thrive the way it does today. I mean the people over there today are making this library very inclusive. There's constantly people over there. Things are going on
constantly and I can't say enough good things about them. But at the same time, you know, to to to throw them under the bus in 2008 for $17,000 and take until 2026 to get us back again is ridiculous. So
in the future, as long as all of us can remember this, we have to make sure that doesn't happen again. >> Mr. Town Manager. >> Uh that that's right. And I'd like to just add on to that um that there's 20,000 that has been recently received through working with volunteers for the
book note, the book nook. And that's, you know, an incredible testament to the continued operations and leadership there in the library. So we'll definitely continue to support that effort going forward. Um, and on the tales of that, uh, public
safety also wants to be accredited. So, the police department is accredited, looking to continue that as the the letter we read today. Uh, in addition, we're working with the fire department to become accredited. So, we're working toward a long-term plan to become
a leading town, if not the leading town in the Commonwealth, in emergency preparedness. We have a college. We have a lot of people here, students, um, seniors that we'd like to keep safe. So, we're working handinhand with emergency
management, with fire department, with police to preliminarily get the fire department certified and then work towards EMAP certification, emergency management certification. So, these are efforts on the horizon, a testament to the the
great people here that every day uh put their lives on the line and we have plans prepared and we're polishing those plans, making them even better. >> Thank you. >> So, that that's the report subject to
any questions. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda, we have the May 18th town meeting warrant articles. Mr. Tom Manager. Uh, yes sir. I apologize. Just one moment, please.
So, first, and I apologize for not getting this to you in advance. It's been a lot going on, but but let me uh hand out and apologies to the remote uh members that have not seen
this yet. This is simply the the annual award letter from the governor for our chapter 90 funds. So this is number two on the town meeting articles. So we'd be asking the select board to forward to town meeting essentially accepting our
annual chapter 90 aotment from the state which this year we're pleased to announce is a total of $860,247 and change. Uh we don't do pennies anymore. So I don't know why they put it in pennies, but but that's a substantial
um amount of money that can go towards um fixing our infrastructure, our roads. So that's the state formula that gives to all the cities and towns and that's our allotment this year. Uh, subject to
any questions. I'd ask if the board's comfortable forwarding that amount to town meeting for $860,247.73, which I understand is an increase from last year. >> That's what I was going to ask about how to compare to last year.
>> Thanks for a little bit less than 100,000. >> 100,000 more than last year. >> Okay, great. Just a tad less than 100,000. Anyone have any questions? Seeing none, u churning to a motion to support article two on the annual town
meeting. >> So moved. >> We have a second. >> Second. Sorry. >> Motion in a second. Further discussion. Roll call. Mr. Rich. >> Yes. >> I don't see Mr. Man on there. I don't think he's on. Mr. Man, you on there?
>> Okay. >> He's eating food. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes, >> Mr. Luciano. >> Yes, >> I vote yes. >> Mr. Tom Manager. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, moving on.
A lot of these articles are going to be submitted with the budget and the capital plan. Uh, next is revolving funds number 14. So, you should have received that in your packet. Again, I apologize to any
remote members who may not have received it. Essentially, this is a carbon copy of the last 3 years revolving funds. What revolving funds are um do we do we have these? Do they have these? >> Yes.
>> Are funds that are held by certain departments for a specific purpose. Uh so for example the two revolving funds that we use the most are
recycling and council on aging. So they charge fees for the service for recycling for council on aging programs and they use those fees to provide the service. So, it's essentially a wash. It's a wash. It's not any budget funds,
not any taxpayer dollars. It's people using this service, paying for this service, and we're required to have uh town meeting authorization for a maximum that can be spent out of each account in each fiscal year. So,
>> so there's no increases on this from last year. It's the same >> same exact numbers from last year. >> Okay. The only one that looks like it's missing to me is parks and wreck uh for the the pool expenses. You mean? >> Okay.
you might be on to something and it might have been perpetually missed. >> Gotcha. >> Um, so if if the board wants, we can certainly take that back and and verify. I do remember a question came up about
that during last year's CIP meeting. Um, >> yeah, I know that they take money in for rentals and they use it for like lifeguards and whatnot that support it, but >> I'm assuming that that would be one of the revolving funds that we have. >> Perhaps we'll hold off and we can do
that one till next next meeting >> probably wise. >> Okay. Uh, moving on. Uh there's a number of infrastructure projects. Um could probably deal with 21.
We just had the public hearing tonight. >> 21. >> You already voted on it. >> That was part of what we >> I think we voted. >> Yeah. So, that one's done and >> and the rest of them I I believe are waiting for additional information. >> Okay. I
>> was going to say, are any of these coming off that you know of >> or I guess should say not being moved? >> Not Not that I know of. >> Okay. >> I I believe they're all active as of now. Okay, great. >> I mean, I I suppose number one will be
contingent on the April 11th election. >> Did Did we not look at prior years unpaid bills already? No. >> I I believe there's just one, but I'm not certain. But we'll have that for you next meeting, definitely. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Anything else? So that's it for town meeting warrant articles. I do just want to announce that Audrey Marshella has resigned from the school committee. So this will be a likely joint appointment of the select board and the school committee for the
remaining one year through April 30th, 2027. >> Yeah, it should be noted that the ballot is is closed. So we can't obviously can't put her on the position on this year's ballot. So it has to be a joint
appointment to serve until the next election which will be next a year from this April. >> Are we posting it anyway that we're looking for people to step forward and express interest in the appointment? >> Um yes, we can certainly do that. We can
put it on the select board's web page, the the main web page and wherever the school committee would like to post it. Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else? Mr. Gold.
>> Um, that's it on that item. Um, I believe we're on the the warrants. >> Warrants. Chain a motion to approve uh invoice warrant number AP26-35 dated February 26, 2026.
>> So moved. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> Second, Mr. Rich. Okay. Um, roll call. Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Mr. Neil, >> yes.
>> Mr. Sam, >> yes. >> And I to Yes. With a motion. I'll accept a motion for P1 P26-18 for the weekending January 28th, 2026. A motion. >> So moved.
>> Mr. O'Neal. Second. >> Second. >> Mr. S. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Miss Luciano, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Neal, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. Ent motion to approve inverse warrant AP26-36
dated March 5th, 2026. >> So moved. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Rich. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Rich? >> Yes. >> Mr. May, >> yes. >> Mr. Siana,
>> yes. to vote. Yes. Next, we have uh selection report mail. I think we already read the mail, right? >> Yeah. >> Anyone have anything else? >> No. >> Yes. >> Okay. We don't we're going into executive session.
>> So, yes, can we circle back to the town meeting warrant meeting warrant articles just for a quick discussion? I know we're not going to meet again for another couple of weeks. >> I know the finance committee is very busy. I watched part of the meeting when um town manager presented to them the other night.
Um and I think that they would like our us to weigh in on certain articles that are not uh finance related >> so they decide whether they want to have a debate and discussion around them as well. Um I and I think the budget has to be done by what is it town manager April
6th or something >> right? It's a certain number of days before town meeting April 6th. So, I just wanted to throw it out there so that we keep in mind everything we need to do over the next month, less than a month, three weeks, and we only have one
meeting scheduled between now and then. I mean, I guess the finance committee could get through the budget part of it by April 6, and we can talk about the other warrant articles for the town meeting afterwards. I don't know if we need to vote on those with a c same time frame in advance of the time, but I'm
sure you need to print the town meeting warrant with everybody's recommendations or not at some point. So, my first time through this. I don't know what the timing is. I don't know if we should be concerned with the the timeline and and I wanted to throw out
should we as a board take a position on some of these other articles. For example, the removal of the mandatory 5 to sevenyear sewer tie-in. Things that we going to discuss as a board like tonight or at the next meeting, the
storm water and drainage easement, things that are not finance related. Um, intersection 140 and 123 like it the finance committee might be looking for our guidance on some of these that are not finance related, I guess, is what I'm getting at. And when are we going to be able to provide that uh guidance? I
would imagine the five to sevenyear tie-in would impact finance >> probably. Yeah. >> Right. If we remove that requirement, that means people may not ever pay the betterment, which means it's more cost to the town. >> Well, when we vote on that, will we have
a number to vote on or we just voting on it out of principle without knowing the cost impact? >> Well, I I mean, Mr. chair through you. I I think it's it's a good point. I was I was speaking with our you know, Chair
Rich and and he was in favor of moving as many as we can. My only hesitation was we didn't have numbers here. But if you're not concerned about the numbers, if that's finance committee's purview, then we we could tick off a number of
these uh up to it's up to the board. I'm just throwing it out there. I mean, we we can always schedule more meetings if we need to meet more frequently like >> Yeah. next week or the week after the 24th. I just want to make sure we don't mess up your schedule and maybe maybe
Zach can speak on behalf of the FINCOM and what he might be looking for, but I just figured I'd throw it out there for a discussion. >> My my preference would be to have numbers. >> Okay. >> Uh for those things that where numbers are part of the discussion, right? What's what would be the financial
impact of certain things that I' I'd like to know that. >> Yeah. As as would I, Mr. those. >> Yeah, I guess the only thing I would say it's it's you know, charter says that you guys set the direction for the town and we always look to that to make
particularly those uh non-financial um decisions. So, it's up to you. I know some years you haven't got to it, but uh that's uh you the purview of uh the select board. I agree. I think you know in the past we've tried to take a position on these
prior town meeting. I just don't know if we have the the dollars necessary right now to to act on them. Um some of these issues, uh when when are we supposed to be meeting again? Is it 2 weeks or 3 weeks?
>> It's scheduled for April 2nd because there's a poll hearing that that evening. And then we're also I neglected to mention we have a a public hearing we're scheduling April 1st for the center of town reconstruction. That's
article 24. >> Yes, sir. >> Right. That's on the 1st. >> Okay. So, we're not meeting on the 26th then as originally. >> Yeah. Two weeks from now would be the 26th. So, we're going to skip out to the to the second. We may not have time to address most of these if we're not going
to be meeting until April 2nd. >> Why are we not meeting the 20? I missed it. Why we not meeting the 26th? >> I don't know. Um that's that's the time that lined up for Verizon and and the abuters to to
receive the the notice for the public hearings. >> The public hearing is on April 2nd though, right? >> April >> first and second. >> 1st and 2nd. >> Okay. >> As far as our meeting on the on the 26 originally scheduled meeting, we still
>> Why can't we meet then for other items? I mean the >> board board can meet whenever it likes. Uh >> yeah. I mean we could meet on the 26th. We meet again on the second too. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> If we feel it's important enough that we
give the guidance to the uh finance committee. We could meet we we could meet two weeks in a row. It's not we used to we used to meet every week. So you know it's not something we can't do. Um I think it's important uh to for us to give some kind of direction to the
finance committee and I agree with everyone else that I think it's important that we do it and if we have some solid numbers by that time we don't have them on the uh what the 20 my calendar lost it.
We don't have the information on the 26th. Hopefully, by the second we would um and we can address some of these. Um I know we have a public hearing on April 2nd. I know we have to meet that week, but we could possibly meet the 26th and try to knock a few of these off if you
think you're going to be ready for it. I mean, I think there's no reason not for us to to meet on the 26th if we're not ready to address some of the articles. So I guess we pretty much have to leave it up to you as the town manager as to whether it'd be worthwhile for us to meet on the 26th.
>> And I think this there's two big buckets of articles that I'm seeing here, right? One is definitely budget, right? The the annual budget, the capital capital plan, that kind of stuff, which I think waiting for FinCom to kind of do their thing first makes sense. Then the other big bucket that I'm seeing is a lot of
DPW related stuff, right? But we'd want like Justin to be here and prepared to be able to present and field questions on those items. So whenever he I guess do we have a sense for when he'll be ready to present on all those DPW
articles? >> So he has requested more time and justifiably so. These are big projects and the engineers engineers respond in increments of 30 days. So, we're we're following up diligently with them
to to speed things up. >> So, so why don't we why don't we do this? If you feel that it's we can we can address some of these issues on the 26, we should probably meet. If we're not in a position to to discuss them until April 2nd, then we'll have to do it that at that point. I'm gonna accept
uh I I'm going to believe that the FINCOM is already gonna be in active discussion on these, but they're not going to get any more information than we are between now and then. So, we all have to kind of get the information before we can make our take our positions. So, uh I know we're going
through a transition right now. We got a lot of things up in the air. We got a lot of new people coming in trying to make this all come together. So um I mean the finance committee continues has to continue obviously on their track and it may come to a point where they're
making decisions before we are you know have the information Mr. show us. >> Uh, may I suggest especially on the zoning uh uh articles and the DPW articles, you may want to consider having a joint meeting. We meet on Monday nights and have the DPW director
or whoever present those all at once and it can be a discussion then and knock them all out at the same time. That's up to you. But and also I'm not sure when the public hearing is uh Mark on uh on the uh budget for the we have an annual public hearing. I don't know if there's
a date has been set on that yet. So >> I think we did the zoning ones tonight unless there are other ones. >> No, we did those tonight. I I think he's referring if finance committee wants to meet with planning. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Um I I mean if if the board's inclined, we could do number 20 and 23 tonight as I we're not going to get numbers on either of those. So So number 20 if if it if the board
wants is adopting chapter 59 section 5A abatement for continued environmental cleanup. What this would do is allow us to negotiate unpaid taxes on properties that have pollution.
So, there's there's one of note, 47 Elm, that owes $450,000 in taxes. And this would allow the town manager to
negotiate a a way to a way forward with economic development where they wouldn't be burdened by the full amount where we could work out something so they could extend sewer, help the residents without
a betterment. Um, that's the next one. But this would just be another tool to encourage environmental cleanup, to clean up the town, and to promote economic development. Um, as it stands,
developers are really resistant to put all their own money in the line and start from a position of negative half a million dollars. So, >> so who using that as example, the abatement, you'd be going after who? cuz
the the original people who own the property do not exist anymore. That that's been the problem. That's that's been >> right. So, they actually transferred the deed for a dollar to a new owner >> of of the Elm Street property where the building is or across the street
>> where the building is >> 47 the building itself. So, the new owner has a $450,000 liability that they're not responsible for, plus God knows how much to clean up the pollution there, but we're working with them to
look at federal grants, um, state grants, brownfields grants. This would just give us another tool in the toolbox. So the baitman would be us charging who? >> Would be us forgiving a portion of that tax, the the
unpaid taxes. So the previous owner owed $450,000 to us. We could say, you know, repay 400,000 or $350,000 contingent on you bringing a sewer line here and serving 100 residents along the road.
>> Mhm. >> So it's a negotiating tool. That's what it is >> because we're not going to we can't go after the land owner because nobody owns it anymore. So that's the problem. Now we have a new land owner and you know the same question came up the last time when we transferred the piece of land
across the street. How can we sell a piece of land that has a land lean on it and the bank didn't or the federal court didn't have to pay it? You know, it's the same thing again. They're selling it for a buck. They don't care about what taxes are charged to it. And now the new
land owner can say, "Well, you know what? They weren't my taxes. I just bought it for a buck and a dollar and I don't owe a penny on it." So I I don't know we're ever going to get any of that $450,000. But if it gives us an
opportunity to negotiate for a better deal, then I'm all for it. If that's if the adopting this gives us more of an opportunity to negotiate on a different plateau, why not do it? It can't hurt anybody. >> Listen, Mr. Chair, if I can ask the town manager, this is a a Mass General law
that we would basically be accepting adopting in our bylaws. >> Exactly. >> So, Mr. Chair, I would like to uh make a motion that the select board recommend uh article 20 for the town meeting. >> We have a second. >> Second.
>> Second by Mr. Rich. Further discussion? Anyone? >> Uh no, sir. I was just reading the master law. >> You want to take a minute? Um, no. Okay. Okay. >> Okay. Roll call. Mr. Rich.
>> Yes. >> Mr. O'Neal. >> Yes. >> M. Luciano. >> Yes. >> And I approval. Yes. >> Mr. Chair. >> Mr. >> Article number 23. I know that if there is a financial impact and that would be through the
>> water sewer evolving account. So, it would not affect our general uh budget. So, I'm willing to make a motion on that one to recommend as well. If the board is acceptable to that, I I'd like to have a little discussion on that. >> Yeah. Um how about we get a second and we'll have a discussion. >> Okay.
>> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. Just listen. >> Um so this looks like it's removal of any mandatory tie-in. Correct. So that means people could just decide I don't want to tie in ever and not pay any abatement, which means the cost for the
town, the portion for the town goes up. Correct. uh temporarily yes it would be an increase to the rateayers. Um however this this administration is negotiating hard with developers and we would get the developer to to pay for the bulk of
it and so a smaller portion would fall on the water or sewer rateayers respectively and eventually it would fall into the system when the property is sold, transferred or the owner passes away. >> Well, that's specific to this one property, right? this bylaw would mean
for any future >> 23 is for any >> correct >> any future tie-ins, right? >> Correct. And so my concern with that is that we could potentially have as we can as we want to continue to expand sewer,
right, which is a desire of the town. um if 80% of the people decide not to tie in, all the rateayers are going to start to see significant increases over time because we don't have enough people paying those abatements to tie into the sewer. Right. >> Well, the the way to set up right now is
if you have failure, if your system fails or if you're selling the property, you have to connect. So, that's still that's still part of our bylaw. What this is doing is it's giving us an opportunity. I'll give you a perfect example. zero Mansfield Avenue putting up last I knew 72 two two buildings
roughly 72 units of housing. They want to come down Mansfield A into the center of town with a force line to connect to the town surge. It bypasses all the houses on Mans all the property on Mansfield Avenue because by having a
gravity feed system, a conventional commercial system that we would build ourself, what happens is the buggers come forward and say, "Wait a minute, I just put $13,000 into my title 5 system. I don't want to pay for betterments or for surge going in front of my house."
my opinion, this opportunity here gives us a plan where we remove it. And yes, it is going to have an impact on betterment. If they make if they make a connection, they're going to have to be charged for it at some point. Some kind of a betterment and a tie-in fee is going to have to be part of the part of
the process. And what this does is it takes away that elephant in the room that says, "Well, I'm the butter and I don't want sewage and I don't have to pay for it, so you can't do that." So this developer is spending tens of
hundreds of thousands of dollars putting in a force line down the street that nobody can connect to. I'm a perfect example of that. On Pine Street, I have a sewer line going through my property actually that it came right across my front lawn with it. They forced it up the hill to the school where it becomes
gra and feed. I can't connect to that. Even though I wanted to, I can't because of the way it's set up. So, if the developer is already putting the money into putting in a force system, this allows us the opportunity to say neighbors, you don't have to worry about any kind of betterment until you have to
make the connection. But this gives us an opportunity to say to the neighbors, yes, there's going to be a sewer line in front of you. if you sell it your property or if your system fails, you have to connect and it gets that portion of the problem off our back because they don't want sewer in front of the house
if they feel they're mandatory that they have to connect. By taking out this 5 to 7year tie-in, it gives us an opportunity to go to develop and say no more force systems. We want gravity feed systems. We want to expand our sewer capacity.
And as people along the way want to make the connection, then they have to pay into the to the betterment. But we're going to get a portion of that from the developer and not from the actual land owners, which is is helpful when you don't have to do that. >> It's not always a developer though,
right? We we want to certainly extend sewer up main roadways that we have today that aren't going to be precipitated by a developer coming in and saying, "I need to have sewer up here." It's just a desire of ours, right, to make like 140 123 >> and we still negotiate with the property
owners in that street and we'll probably still take in hundreds of thousands even though it's our project that we're initiating. I I understand but if we remove the requirement to tie in and there are people that decide not to that's that's spreading the burden across all the taxpayers for the for the
water right so my my preference would be instead of >> sewer users not the tax >> instead of so with sewer users sorry my preference would be instead of removing the five to seven would be to understand the burden right is maybe making it a longer time period 7 to 10 10 to 15 some
longer time period that requires them to tie in within a certain time period Uh >> but by doing that we have to we have to immediately charge a betterment on the property. >> That's that's why we're trying to remove this >> and that discourages future growth and we need growth to the tax base
>> to keep the taxes low. >> Mr. here. Who was the sponsor of this article or do you know who who originally >> this is a result of discussions with with planning with uh DPW even um with multiple departments
>> sewers DPW they were on board with this >> there was a time >> they are I mean it's it's a hit to the enterprise as you know >> there was a time when they would they did not want to go from five to seven because it was part of their revenue stream >> retain earn earnings is very healthy in in sewer good
>> I understand it'll I understand it reduces growth but also it's going to reduce the number of projects we'll be able to do to expand the sewer because we won't have the budget to do that the water sewer budget to do that I think a perfect example of how this
doesn't work is Elm Street 47 Elm where we tried to put in a sewer line down for down Elm Street all the way down to Reservoir Street and was shot down at town meeting because the abutters came out and said we don't want to pay betterments we don't want to connect the
storage and the the article failed >> right in that instance we should have presented that force feed that force line you talked about that's what we should have been using that in that specific instance that would have been the better proposal >> okay so now we put a force line down uh Elm Street from 47 Elm back down to Main
Street and >> Yep they can't tie in >> the developer developer went through all the cost and we can't tie into it Mr. Rich, you have something like that. >> I was just going to say, you know, that if the force the force lines do not allow any other residents to tie in that
it goes by, you know, your example, same thing. What if any developer over ends up wanting to do anything on Elm Street, they're going to do the same thing uh and put a force line just for the better of their project. And then no one on Elm
Street uh in that critical environment uh wetlands and conservation land. They'll have to put in septic systems as opposed to to tying into a gravity system that that should be on that street in the future. >> But but that's why it failed is because people don't want to tie into it.
>> Right. >> So yeah, you're >> exactly >> people don't want to tie into it and pay the betterment fees. And so this is just now taking all the bitterment fees and spreading it out across all the taxpayers, all water water sewer payers, >> the users. So it's the water sewer users
and you know to your point, yeah, they they don't want to tie into it uh because they would have to pay it. This article makes that so they don't have to they're not forced to tie in and pay that. So only the two triggers that
would cause a forced tie-in would be the sale of the property or the failure of the system itself. >> Right? So the majority of the town that doesn't have the benefit of a sewer line is now going to see increased rates to pay for those that do have the benefit
of a sewer line. >> So it let's let's use either Mansfield or Res um Elm Street as an example. uh you know negotiating with those potential developers.
Uh they you know the cost to do a gravity system or a force system are similar. They're they're definitely different but they're similar. The gra a gravity system um would be more beneficial for the
town. So we'd get those rate payers uh in the future that would be tying into it and that is where that incentivizes you know the positive growth. Um you know the
there's Roger there. Um so that's that's my take on it. I think this this promotes uh development uh you know exponentially uh in the future. And if I could add to that, what what it also does is it allows the town to
negotiate a deal with a contractor, the developer of the property, but also including in addition to that, we can go for state grants. Well, we can't go for state grant on a force feed, but we can go for one for a gravity feed. So that's that's an opportunity that we court that
we do that we not be we wouldn't be able to do on a on a private forced system. I think we I think we have to we're in the mindset thinking about Elm Street, but there are so many other sewer projects that we have on our plate that do not involve developer. So I I think we have to get out of the mindset of this is for
specifically for Elm Street because this is not if we if we're making this change, this is not just for Elm Street. This is for everything going forward. >> What's up? >> That's that's uh I do understand that. I'm not specific where you >> please
but um you know other towns and communities that I work in this is absolutely part of the bargaining table on the bargaining table with the municipality um and it is a very good leverage point uh to be able to expand
at so keep in mind too Denise one thing is that developer's putting that line you know any any other any project whether it's you know any project say Valentine Tool wants to be redeveloped into something you know they they'd be contributing to it that it's on their
dime so you know it's not >> like I'm saying most of the time these projects are not due to a developer requesting it it is just our desire to make like 140 and 123 better throughways for businesses to operate on. Right. So, we've talked about
wanting those two main roadways to have sewer down the down both of them all the way from, you know, Adabor to Easton and from Taton to to Mansfield, right? We don't have that yet. And so, these aren't necessarily tied to a developer. So, we're not we can't depend on the
developer funds. This is town funds, but we won't be able to fund that if we don't have the money in the in the water sewer funds to be able to do that. This this is actually make it harder for us as a town to be able to do those projects without having a developer. >> But we can still go unlike the force
system though. We can still go for grants. We're not going to build anything on West Main Street unless we go for a grant. We're not going to we're not going to fund that. We have to find another way to do it. If the if the develop if the u landowners on West
Main, you mentioned Valentine too, across the street we have the Go City uh plaza. I know this system is failing. They're having a a real tough time right now. So, if we expand West Main Street down and connect to one of our schools or both of our schools further down,
we're not going to do that on our dime. We're going to go for state grants and try to get some kind of state funding to make us happen. If we put a force main down that street by a private developer, uh we're not going to get anything from anybody. It's just going to be a going to tear up the street and they're going
to put a line down the street and that's going to be the end of it. So I I think it's in our best interest to look at anytime we have an opportunity to work with a developer to put in a force system to do that. And this bylaw restricts us because the above on that property is saying no, I don't want to
connect. I just put in a $30,000 system. I don't want to connect. And if we change it around where we can make this happen and 5 years from now they have to replace their system, then they got to connect. We're at least getting some money from the developer. are getting
grant money and even if we go on the streets where we don't have uh sewage now we're not doing that on our dime. We're going to ask for money grant money because I don't think town meeting is going to approve it. You know if we go up and say we want $10 million to put a water line a solar line down West Main
Street. Uh the town's going to say okay where's the money coming from from the from the users. Well that's not fair to them. That's going to be a major impact on them. >> Grant money only pays a portion. Grant money is never going to pay for the whole thing. Well, Elm Street, we had money to pay for the whole thing. They
were going to pay for the whole sewer line. The state through a grant and we shut it down. >> It was not the whole thing. It was It would have been the whole cost if it was a forced line. It was not the whole cost if it was tie-in line. It was it was $3.5 million for a force for a uh a
gravity-fed system halfway down to 47 Elm and the replacement of a water line which was an additional amount of money. But we would have been able to pretty much put sewage down there for next to nothing. The whole project included sewer and water. Now we're trying to put
water only down Elm Street and the state's going to maybe give us that three and a half million to do just that, which is fine. We're hoping that that happens, but we we gave up on the suicide of it. >> Right. But it would have covered the cost of the gravity, not the tie-ins,
the tie-in fee. >> Correct. >> We would have had to put pitch in like a million and a half, I think, whatever it was that the dollars were. Yeah. >> Right. >> Looks like we have Roger back. Looks like he's looks like he's trying to look like he's look like he's ready to take a nap.
>> Roger, you hear there. >> I can't hear you. >> Mute. >> So, Mr. Chair, long discussion. Good discussion. We have a motion in a second on that article. >> Right. >> Mr. Manker, you can hear me. We can't
hear you. >> How about now? >> Oh, yeah. There you are. Okay, we can hear you now. Okay. You have you heard the discussion, Mr. Marian? >> I heard heard some of it for sure. Yep.
>> There's a motion and second on the floor to support article 23, which is the removal of the mandatory 5 to sevenyear sewer tie-in. Do you have any questions about that?
So, I am a uh a supporter of uh doing away with the uh 7-year moratorum on the tie-in. Okay? And by the way, we should be clear on this that any existing programs that are in place, this doesn't apply to. If
you already have a sewer runner in front of the house, this won't apply to. This will be for any future tie-ins or any future development of uh of storage in in the wooden. So, >> is that how the bylaw is going to read? Who hasn't seen it? >> Haven't seen it. >> Yes.
>> The answer is yes. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any further discussion? See none. Mr. Men, >> yes. >> Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Neal,
>> yes. Miss >> Luciano. >> Miss Miss Luciano. No. And I two vote. Yes. Thank you. >> So that's 44 41 on article 23,
>> Mr. Chair. Thank you for the entertaining that. It's going to make the fin discussion easier, I think. Um >> or hotter >> or hotter. Article 26. Can we have an explanation of what that is? amend the bylaws to refer the DPW director were appropriate to align with the charter for
appropriateness. That sounds like a logical approval as well or not as well. I'm sorry. Yes. Uh through you, Mr. Chair. Yes. The DPW director um got here and took a look at the bylaws and it it just didn't make sense. So to make it
make sense with the charter to make the ordinances referred to the DPW director, uh just smooths it out. It's a common sense update. So that looks like it would be approval if the board's inclined to forward that. >> I would prefer to see the changes.
Is it is it throughout the entire bylaw or is it sections? >> Yes, it's approximately 7 to 10 changes. Uh they're pending legal review, so it could take a couple weeks. I can
certainly get it to you. Um and >> yeah, I'd prefer to see the changes before I vote on it. I mean, >> personally, >> it's it's it >> so to be clear, this is basically taking the new position as a DPW director,
implanting that information back in to our bylaws and charter to make it work. Is that basically what it's about? >> Essentially, it's just to make it legal and make sense. It's like it would say now like the the supervisor of highway and water and it should say DPW director
cuz that's the only way the sentence aligns with the charter legally and it will be reviewed by KP law. Um I I would suggest to to go ahead and and forward it and of course I'll get it to you and you could
reconsider if if necessary. Um, but it's really just changing like board of selectmen to select board. It's it's one of these common sense changes. >> Okay. Anyone any comments?
What's the board's pleasure? Entertain a motion or do you want to sit on it and and get more information? >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Rich, >> I'd like to make a motion to uh approve
article 26 as written for town meeting. >> Second. >> Motion in a second. Mr. Rich, Mr. Man, >> yes. >> Any further discussion? >> No. >> All right. See none. Mr. Man,
>> yes. >> Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Neal, >> yes. >> Mr. Luciano, >> I'm going to abstain. Sorry. I prefer to fine not vote blind. >> Yep. And I will vote yes. How about article 27? Um I thought we had a
sidewalk maintenance already program already by law. >> I I hear that very often. Every time I bring this up, someone says we have one, but we don't. We have a law that requires you that penalizes you if you shovel snow onto a sidewalk. >> We don't have one that that keeps the
sidewalk clear. >> I thought we adopted years ago. Maybe not. >> You know, most modern cities and towns do, and that's the DPW's director's recommendation. >> So, what what this bylaw, this change would be to if you have a sidewalk in
front of your house, you got to you got to keep it clear during a snowstorm or or whatever, >> right? And it wouldn't be during the snowstorm. It' be, you know, 4 hours after the snow stops falling. >> It's a it's a by it's a new bylaw edition. I'd like prefer to see that before we vote on it. Like, we don't I
don't know what it says. Do you >> and I have the template here. If you bear with me, I can pull it up. >> I think we can wait till the next meeting if like those are the kinds of things I think we need to have to vote on like what is the bylaw language state and what is the warrant article state.
Like that's helpful to know before I'm voting on these articles. I I feel like we're trying to vote blind on stuff just to check them off. >> I agree with Denise. Um >> we can hold we can hold off on this one >> on on that one. I agree to hold off too.
I like to see that. >> And hopefully at the next meeting we can talk about um 25 as well, the storm water and drainage uh easement. And if we can get those two voted on our next meeting, then the only thing remaining
are finance uh articles with the exception of the 140 and 123 intersection, which by the way, I don't know anything about this um public hearing or anything. So, I don't know if I missed it along the way, but I'm curious to see what that's all about. But it looks like all the other items
are a finance uh item. So, that'll hopefully put the finance committee in a better position. >> Yeah, I I agree. I think we need to, you know, like I said earlier, we're we're in a transition period and we we may not be in a position to take positions on these things related to the finance
committee. I mean, just they may get information before we do. They meet Mondays and Wednesdays this time of year most of the time, you know, twice a week where we meet once every two or three weeks. So, they may be already getting
information that we don't have before we have our next meeting. So, um I think we can hold off. This may be a year that's different than others. That's all. >> That seems prudent. Um so, we will um get the numbers as soon as we can. It
seems like mostly from DPW and the engineers and um get the other uh finance information uh to you shortly. I mean, the finance information, I don't anticipate that coming uh together with solid numbers.
that would be 6 to 13 before April. So, it' be best to do that um in April. The other numbers, I mean, I can certainly notify the the board as soon as we have solid numbers for for the rest of them, mostly DPW.
>> So, Mr. Chair, can we talk about article um 24 in this uh public hearing? Fill us in. What's this all about? traffic safety committee. >> So, yeah, we're we're in the process of
uh the next step on the adoption of the town center. We have three options there um that we're that the engineers have put to us and uh the plan is that we have to have a public hearing um prior to town meeting for general
input on the project. We're not taking a position. We're just showing the public what the options are. And talking to uh Mr. Chica the other day, I I was pushing the fact that it's it's going to be on the warrant. So, let's try to get this
public meeting in place. I believe it's it was decided that in order to advertise it, which we have to do in the paper, and get it out to the public, that you know the earliest it could be we could have it would be around April
1st. That would be the earliest. So, um I believe the the work is already in place to try to get all this together, all this information together, and we've got to do a very good job of getting that information out to the public and let them know that there's going to be a
public hearing. The next step is town meeting, and we're going to have to talk about it again at town meeting. So, it's uh it's just the next step in the process for the redevelopment of the town center. So I assume at town meeting we're presenting the one option that we want to move forward with. That's
correct. Why are we not deciding that before we go to the public meeting? >> Well, we want to hear the public's opinion before we make our decision. >> So we're making a decision after that public meeting about which of the paths we want to take and then going town meeting with the one pathway forward.
>> And by the way, the state may look at it and say, "We don't agree. We're going to do a different way." But we're we're we're trying to get a a unified vote on how to how to proceed. So the public hearing is just to get people into a room and talk about the options, the
three options and try to narrow it down to one and then the board and the fin will have to make a decision based on the u what they feel is the right way to do it. So, >> I encourage everyone to attend that public meeting cuz there's one clear
outlier in what makes traffic flow better. >> When's the public meeting? >> April 1st. >> April 1st. >> April 1st. That's why they'll be there. >> At what time? At what time? >> Good point. >> Probably in the evening when people get
home from work. 6 >> right here >> in this room. And and I will note that we're putting our new DPW director to work. He's saving us about 10,000 plus from Beta.
Um Beta will still be here, but they'll have a limited Q&A role rather than a presentation role. So we're saving about 9,000 there. >> Beta is the uh engineering firm we hired to to do the plans for us. The three options, there's actually four options.
The fourth option is the way leave it the way it is. Well, that fourth option, by the way, through an informal Facebook survey had about 350 respondents, more so than we see at town meeting, by the way. And in
uh the do nothing alternative was by far number one. Number two was about half the votes, which is cutting behind the church. So, I I just hope that at the town meeting, we have a representative, you know, sample of the community there to hear it all out. I know that you and
the traffic committee as well as Roger have been working on this for quite a while and I know you gave the select board couple updates along the way, but the general public I think might be a little blindsided. Um, so we need to advertise that April 1st meeting as well as the town meeting as well, right?
>> So that we get a good cross-section of uh opinions uh at both. >> I agree. >> Okay. Anything else? >> No, good. Good job. Anyone out there, Mr. Rich, Mr. Mane, you okay? Anything else? >> All set.
>> Yeah, all set. >> Okay. Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion to second. Mr. Maran, >> yes. >> Mr. Rich, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Neal, >> yes. >> Mr. Luciano,
>> yes. >> And I do vote yes. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you guys.