Good evening everybody. Melissa, did you want Okay, the audio is on >> and we'll do the um close captioning, too. >> Yep. >> Is Melissa gonna start or am I? >> You can ask. >> Melissa, do you want to say anything before we start?
>> No, you can start. It's probably easier with you being in the room. >> Okay. Melissa's on Zoom tonight and Karen will be joining us shortly. Um, welcome everyone. to our May 12th meeting. Residents can watch our meeting on Zoom, Comcast channel 22, and Verizon
uh chapter 23. We're going to start by the pledge of allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of the United States of America and to the fors one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right, I'm stuck. All right, we're going to go over our meeting for this evening. First, we're going to do the overview of the meeting. 7:05 is going to be public comment. 7:10 will be town manager report, which will include health
insurance update and BTA culverts. At 7:20 will be community spotlight. 7:25 will be public hearing discuss and vote on Wuburn Street parking amendments. 7:35 will be discuss and vote on liaison assignments.
7:45 will be discuss and vote on national public works week re resolution. [clears throat] 7:55 discuss and vote on letter to Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission CCC regarding cannabis reform
law. 805 leaison reports 8:15 future agendas. 8:20 approve prior meeting minutes of April 6, 2026 and April 14th, 2026. And at 8:25, executive session purpose 7, approve and review for
release the minutes of the March 24th, 2026 and April 6th, 2026 executive session meetings compliance with GL Chapter 3A section 22. Uh we're going to start with public comment. Anybody in the room raise your
hand, come on up and um state your name and address and you have two minutes. >> Yes. My uh my name is Kendra Cooper and I live at 20 CVY Hill Road and recently I've been I'm a town meeting member from precinct day too but recently I've
become more aware of a problem that probably I'd noticed you know a few years ago but um what's happened is I see a a portion of of the uh of the public who are left out of things. If you're not online you you don't exist. And I think we've got to make more of an
effort to reach people and particularly uh a couple weeks ago I was here talking about um the uh the new regulation that the board of health has passed called from feeding wildlife and um they uh they there were several aspects of the open meeting law that were not followed
and I think it's time to have another what what used to be called road show which is when uh when the in this case it would be the district the attorney general it used to be the district attorney But they would they would come out and they would do a program um so that you I
know committees you can go online and do that but for people who are citizens who aren't online they um you know they they need to know more about this kind of thing and what their rights are and um and so I I suggest that we try as a as a
select board try to see if you can get get a program out here and not just the uh the town council. This is this is an independent state uh group that will do that. And um and I know um with this board this uh board of health regulation
26 there are many aspects people do not understand. There are people who have bird feeders who have gotten $50 $150 fines. And people need to understand that legal notice wasn't given even though the the minutes were created uh
they were not released until February 11th of this year from discussions meetings that happened. They're all remote by the way with the board of health. I really wonder if we need to do something more about having hybrid meetings. So I I'm asking of possibly
suggesting ways that we can reach more of the public that are directly affected. I believe it's 26,000 people are in reading and I've suggested putting things in the bill in the the the uh water bills or something like that. Okay. But but if you can we can think of a way that we can reach the
people who are directly affected more of them not just QR codes and stuff. Anyway, well thank you. Just wanted to bring that up. >> Anyone else in the room? >> State your name and address. Ron Pal, 328 South Street. As the select
board's designate to the RCTV board of directors, I wanted to take a moment tonight to warmly welcome and formally introduce our new executive director, Dear D Morales. For more than 30 years, RCTV Studios has played a special role
in reading, giving our community a voice in helping keep residents informed and connected. I'm genuinely excited about RCTV's future and the opportunities ahead under Dedra's leadership.
While many of you have already had the opportunity and the chance to meet Dedra individually, I thought it was important to formally welcome her in her new role and give the full select board and the community an opportunity to hear from her directly.
Dedra, we're so glad to have you and I know our community will benefit from your leadership. Uh, and if the chair is comfortable with it, I'd be pleased to invite Dedra to come up and say a few words. >> Everybody okay with that? >> Yep.
>> That'd be great. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Welcome. Come on up. >> Thank you. >> Um, my name is Deedra Morales. My home address is 33 Old Orchard Way, not in Reading in Manchester, New Hampshire.
And my work address is 131 Main Street here in Reading. And my role here is that I am the newly appointed executive director at RCTV, also known as Reading Community Television. And I wanted to attend this meeting tonight because I
felt that it was important to personally introduce myself to the select board and for the residents here um that are here in person as well as those that are watching at home to also get to know me as well. And so for those who are
unfamiliar with RCTV, we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization who is responsible for providing video recordings of local government meetings such as this one. For example, we have talented staff that are covering this meeting tonight and making sure that it
airs on one of our cable channels. Education is also an important part of our mission. Uh we have a full-time video production instructor at our high school teaching courses during the day. And for our younger residents, we have our summer workshops. What's important to know is that at its core, RCTV is a
membership-based organization, which means anyone in this room or listening at home can become a member of RCTV. And we will teach you how to use our production equipment so you can go out into the community and document your own stories with the hope that you will
bring that content back to us so we can push that out on our channels and social media pages. We also have a podcast studio at our facility on 131 Main Street that's available to our members who want to produce a podcast or vodcast series. This is all to say that I am
very happy to be here to serve the town and the residents of Reading and to make sure that our services are accessible to the community. If you are interested in learning more about our organization, please reach out to me. You can find my contact information on our website at rctv.org
and I am more than happy to have a conversation with you. So, thank you so much for giving me these few minutes and for welcoming me. >> Anybody else in the room have anything? Is there anyone online with their hand raised? >> They have to just let them know. >> I'm sorry. Anyone online that wants to
do public comment, you must raise your hand and you will be allowed to speak, but you have to do the hand raising feature. Ask Maddie if anybody >> Maddie, is anybody online with their hand up? >> I do not see any hands raised.
>> Okay, >> Nick Roco, >> there is there is now a hand raised. Okay. Um, Nick Roco, hold on. I'll just have to ask you to unmute. [clears throat] >> All right, Nick, state your name and address in two minutes.
My name is Nick Roco, 83 Haven Street. I'm a small business uh owner in town. I own a small hair salon in the Flat Iron Building. I'm also the owner of the building, and I've owned the building for about 5 years now, and I've worked really hard to clean that building up and remove some of the trouble that's
been happening down there. As of late last week, the police department decided to start enforcing rule 5.9, the bylaw, which is no overnight parking between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Now, this is a a bylaw that is townwide,
but the police department is strictly only enforcing it where they choose to, which is down in the district, uh, the business district area. So, what's happening now between the hours of 1 and 6 in the morning? Um, I was told the reason why the ban is being put in effect is because you have residents
taking business parking, but no business is open in town between 1:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the morning. So, I could take my vehicle and park it at 6:01 in the morning, and I can't get I cannot get a ticket until 10:00 a.m. So, this overnight parking ban needs to be looked at a little bit better because
what's ultimately going to happen is I have no parking spaces for my building. So, when I when I promote to get a new tenant into into this building, you know, I have to tell them, okay, you can either pocket the train station or other than that, you're just going to get a ticket every night. And I've spoken to
all the business owners on uh on and around 83 Haven Street, and not one person has an issue with overnight parking between 1 and 6:00 in the morning. So, we h we have an issue that is being uh almost forced at this point.
Um, another issue I had was they were ticketing handicap, but the police department did tell me they're not going to ticket handicap overnight. So, this is something that we need to look at because if if the the town is going to be selecting where they're going to ticket for a bylaw, it's either the
whole town or no no one at all because it's it's only going to create more issues than it already has, you know, in the past because they haven't been enforcing it at all. So, there's no business open between 1 and 6:00 in the morning. This overnight parking ban needs to be looked at and and amended or
adjusted at some point. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Maddie, >> I don't see any other hands raised. >> Okay. Thank you. So, now we're going to jump to town
manager report. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um so I have two items that I want to talk to you about tonight um and inform the public about and uh the first one is about our health insurance agreement and the
second one is about the MBTA culvert announcement for culvert repair. Um so that one will be a little bit quicker but I want to take uh take you through um kind of a really important achievement and um we're really excited about this. The select board um should
be excited about this. our employees are um are getting some better health insurance um and we're going to be saving some money in the process. So the the purpose of this discussion has been just to proide provide an overview of the health benefit plan changes the town and the public employee committee the
PEC have negotiated. I'm hopeful that these changes will not only stabilize the town's financial look outlook but will also continue to provide excellent benefits to the employees and retirees of reading. The town and the PEC began meeting in the fall for an overview of the town's benefits offered. It's
important for the public to be aware that the health insurance agreement is a bargained agreement, union bargaining, and the PEC is made up of delegates from each bargaining unit, each union in town. Um, during this time, the town's
insurance provider, Maya, explained that the plan Reading has is one of a kind and is also very expensive and hasn't been changed in 35 years. As such, we decided to explore um the PEC and the town together uh other insurance health
insurance options as the last major plan change was decades ago. After considering alternative plan options, the town and the PEC met for three negotiation sessions on March 26, April 6, and April 8th. The select board met on April 14 and voted unanimously to
approve the health insurance agreement with the PEC. With these changes, employees will move for the first time to a deductible plan. The plan design offers an HMO and a PO, and we're now adding a third, more affordable HMO
option um as well. That's the select plan. That's going to be really valuable to many of our employees who are are working effectively just for health insurance um and um who live locally and can get their care, you know, in the local area. um these changes and that's
also a 13% decrease off the HMO price. So that's a big savings. Um the changes also include increasing the relativity between the current HMO and the current PO plans, which the difference on a monthly basis is about a cup of coffee.
So more employees choose the PO plan. By increasing that relativity, we make it more affordable, more advantageous to go with an HMO plan, which will over time that relativity will increase 5% each year. So, we're eventually aiming to
make the HMO about 20% less expensive than the PO and drive down the town's premiums overall. These two items are poised to significantly save funds for the town. And so we have structured the agreement to save those to share those savings with employees by reducing the
split that was put in place in 2008 making it more palatable to employees to accept the deductible plan and um these other changes. The three-year agreement um also benefits the town for planning purposes and sets the tone for upcoming
collective bargaining across all units this fall. Using a conservative methodology, we estimate over $3.9 million in savings over the terms of this agreement. So, it will be a So, just some highlights really briefly. It'll be a three-year health insurance agreement.
Um, it adds a the plan change is called benchmark 2. It's based on an old GIC plan, an older GIC plan. Um, we have that relativity change to make the PO more expensive than the HMO. um instead of it being almost exactly the same
price. We've changed the health insurance split over time. It presently is 71% paid by the town and 29% paid by the employee. On July 1st, that will change to 72% paid by the town and 28% by the employee. And then the last year
of the contract, it'll change to 73% and 27%. So that as we will be able to share those savings with our employees, it also makes that deductible a little easier. It's small deductible, so it's it's not a huge deductible. It's not a high deductible plan. Um, but that
savings will be that the employees are seeing in the split will help make that deductible more affordable. We're also adding um a small subsidy for our dental insurance, which is new, and we've added a less expensive dental plan so that folks who don't need orthodontia
don't have to pay for an or a plan that offers it. Um, and we will be offering um vision care as well. that is entirely paid by the employee, but that's not something that we've had and we've had a lot of requests for that. So, um I'm very proud of the work that we did with
the PEC. I'm grateful and proud of the work done by our CFO Sharon Angstrom and by Sha Donahue, our HR director who significantly helped with the savings. And I'm particularly grateful to the members of the PEC and particularly their leadership Patika who came to the
table um motivated to make big changes. um they understand the problem that uh we're looking at financially in this community. Uh many of them live in the community on the PEC. They understand what we're going through. And so we really feel that this is a win-win all
the way around. Um and a really good time to make these changes, small but significant changes that we believe will make um will reduce um our cost by millions of dollars. So I thank the select board for their support on that. I wanted to report that out to the
community. that was done in executive session because it was bargaining. Um but um the health insurance information is on our website under health insurance. People can go look at it if they're interested. Um and um HR has worked. There he is back there. Thank you, Sean. Um HR has been working with
our employee groups to host umformational meetings so that our employees know what the changes are and what their options are. >> Great. Okay. Thanks. >> [cough] >> And [clears throat] then um moving on to the MVTA culverts. It's in your packet.
Um we received I received an email. Thank you, Sean. Um I received an email from um Chuck Tyrone uh that they were notified by the MDTA about replacing two culverts. um one
down by Mallets Morgan and the other one it's in the packet um uh Willow Street between Plymouth and Dustin Road. So that is at the end [laughter] of like a a little street. Um so there's a culvert in both
those places that need to be replaced. Um this is work that we had asked for in the past and we we know that the community has been um hyper aware of what's going on with the MBTA as about regarding the turnback track.
Excuse me. And um so we wanted to let folks know that this is not related to the turnback track project. We have asked that question specifically. Um while some of this work is exempt from the wetlands protection act, there is a role for conservation. Um, the conservation commission will be having
them come to a meeting on May 27th, [cough] pardon me, and there's a site visit planned for May 25th at 8:30 a.m. Um, and so I just wanted the public to be aware that it's not related to the um the turnback track. They're working on
what their methodology might be to do this culvert work. They tend to try to get it done overnight. So, they will be working overnight. So people in the area may, you know, see the lights that it'll be lit up like a Christmas tree. Um, and they take out um the soils as they work
and they put them on special rail beds. They have two crews that come in. They and they have a backup crew and all backup equipment. So if one thing fails, they've got another backup right there. This is this is a big deal when they do this kind of work. So um I talked with the town engineer about it. Um I talked
with Chuck Tyrone about it. Um it will come up at conservation. So, I encourage people to see what the conservation commission has to say about it. Um, but I think that town staff have done a great job of vetting where they're going with it, talking the MBTA, but I wanted to make sure that we brought it here so that you were informed and that it got
out into the community. >> Melissa, you have your hand raised. >> I do. Thank you, Karen. Um, I just wanted to ask Jane if they have offered to let us know beforehand when they start the work so we can let residents know or will they notify residents
because I know they did some work um I think it was like grinding the rails or something and they didn't let residents know um when they did that work. So, I'm just curious if residents will get a heads up that that work is going to take place at certain dates or times. I don't
think that they're going to get um a direct notification from the MBTA, but they will be going to conservation so we can get some information from them about when they're planning to start that work, what nights, and we'll get that. We're happy to to get that information out.
>> Um and require them to let us know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, definitely. >> And it's definitely it's definitely it's a great question. It's definitely weather related, right? So if it's pouring rain, they're they're not going to be out there digging out, you know, deep trenches down to the culverts. So it's it's really quite an operation. In
some places, the cover's like 20 it's 20 ft deep. So the engineering here is is quite something. Um so we're waiting to hear more about what their process is, but yeah, it'll be weather dependent and um and we'll work to make sure that we get that information out. We could do
like a code red or something like that just to let folks know. Yeah, I just think it would be important, especially the people on Dustin Road. I I can't imagine that's going to be very quiet for overnight work. So, just to give them a heads up, I think would be a nice courtesy if the MBTA could give us a heads up first.
>> Yeah. Yeah. No, we can we can require that. So, I don't know if they if it's a legal thing, but we can say this thou shalt and maybe they will. Um, but that's our request. So, yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. That's a great question. That is >> any questions?
>> Awesome. >> Okay, that's my town manager report. >> Community spotlight. >> Okay, so I want to highlight um some of the exceptional service that we received from our police department. Um Lieutenant Kevin Brown and patrol
officer Keith Hurley have both completed 25 years of service in the Reading Police Department as of April 2026. Lieutenant Brown serves as the night patrol division commander. He worked as a patrol officer until he was promoted to sergeant in 2013 and then promoted to lieutenant in 2017. He's a supervisor of
our public safety dispatch center and serves as the unit commander for the drone unit and he's worked on the department's accreditation team as well. Officer Hurley works as a day patrol officer for the department and he serves on the department's drone unit. I also want to recognize Deputy Chief Christine
Amandola and Sergeant Corey Santasi who've both completed 20 years of service to the Reading Police Department in April 2026. Sergeant Corey Santaskki served as a patrol officer and school resource officer and was promoted to sergeant in 2014. He currently serves as a supervisor for the honor guard unit,
the drone unit, and the property room. He serves as the project leader on implementing our new computerated dispatch system and records management system. Uh both Deputy Chief Amandola and Sergeant Santaskki are veterans. Uh Deputy Chief Amandola served in the US Army and Sergeant Santaskki in the
Marines. Deputy Chief Amandola has worked her way up through the ranks. She worked as a patrol officer and traffic and safety officer. She was promoted to sergeant in 2014, lieutenant in 2016, and deputy chief in 2021. She served as a field training officer, RAD
instructor, accreditation manager, and was the support services division commander during her time in the department. Currently, Deputy Chief Amandola sits on the municipal police training committee that oversees all training bylaws for law enforcement in Massachusetts and provides policy
advisement to the post commission. She also sits on the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission training committee, instructs training to accreditation managers, and serves as an assessor for MPAC. Deputy Chief Amandola is a promotional assessment center qualified assessor and
has been chosen as an instructor and speaker at multiple women and policing associations in New England. These are just a few highlights of her career. So, we have exceptional staff in all departments, but our police department deserve a little recognition this evening for their service, particularly
these four individuals. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, and then in town, I want to wish Shirley Sugar happy 100th birthday on May 7th. Uh, Miss Sugar was born in her family home in Everett, Massachusetts in 1926. Um, as the eldest
of nine children, she is the only one reme remaining of her siblings. Uh, she graduated from Melrose High School in 1944 and then married and raised five children while working as a medical secretary at a busy OBGYn office, a role that kept her busy throughout those years. After retiring, she spent more
than 20 years living in both Florida and Virginia before returning to Massachusetts in 2019, where her story first began. Shirley says her greatest joy will always be her loving family. And lastly, she credits her long and healthy life to never stopping moving and always trying something new. Just a
few short weeks ago, after her weekly hair appointment, she joined an invigorating cardio drumming class. I need to I need to hang out with her. Um, on behalf of the town of Reading, we wish her a wonderful 100th birthday. >> Happy birthday. Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> All right, it is 7:26 public hearing discussion vote on Wuburn Street parking amendments. It is page 13 of the um >> Yeah, I'm going to have to recuse because I'm a a butter to what's being
discussed. >> Okay, but that's >> Thanks, Chris. Okay. Um Karen is now in attendance on Zoom. >> Hi, Karen. So, you have to This is a public hearing. >> Yeah. >> Oh, Karen's joining me. Okay. >> She's I see her. I just wanted to
acknowledge she's here. >> Okay, great. >> Um, so who am I reading? >> I guess I'm reading. >> You're reading. >> Well, you can read. Do you want to read? >> Karen's muted. >> She's muted. >> Oh, Karen's muted.
>> Maddie, can you unmute Karen, please? >> We've had to lock down the >> She can She can unmute. We've had to lock down the meetings because we've had some um Zoom bombing. >> Last night was so much fun. >> Yeah. Yeah. Karen was a front row seat
to that one. Um >> Oh my god. I can't unsee it. It was so bad. >> Yeah. So, we're being It's extremely careful. >> Uh do you want to read the hearing notice? >> Can't you read? >> Yeah, if I can. Hang on. I'm just trying
to find the window on my computer where the hearing notice is. Okay. Um, so if I click on this, it takes me right to it. Okay, here we go. To the inhabitants of the town of Reading, please take notice that the Select Board of the Town of Reading will hold a public hearing on
Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. The Select Board meeting room at Town Hall 16 L Street Reading Mass or also available remotely on Zoom to act on proposed changes to the following traffic and parking regulations. Amendment number 2026-1
amend article 12.1 public ways Wuburn Street to Wuburn Street to All right. Repeal article 5.2.1 2.1 parking on Wuburn Street on the southerntherly side from the driveway entrance of the municipal parking lot
westerly to 84 Wuburn Street shall be subject to downtown business district employee permit parking regula restrictions amendment number 2026-2 amend article 12.1 public ways Wuburn
Street to revise article Okay. Wuburn Street to revise article 5.3. Parking shall be prohibited along the southernly side of Wuburn Street between High Street and number 90 Wuburn Street inclusive and enact pursuant to article
5.3. Parking shall be prohibited along the southerntherly side of Wuburn Street from the driveway entrance of the Brandy Court Municipal Parking lot Westerly to High Street. A copy of the proposed documents regarding this topic will be in the selectboard packet on the website
at www.reingmass.gov. All interested parties are invited to attend the hearing in person or remotely via Zoom or may submit their comments in writing or by mail email prior to 6 p.m. on May 12th to town manager at
readingmma.gov by order of jane town manager. >> Thank you Karen. All right. >> Good evening. >> Hi. >> Um, so all that to say that we just want to take four spaces and make them no
parking. >> Um, >> all that to say you just want to make four spaces no parking. >> There's um a pinch point on Wuburn Street by Bankraftoft. Um, if you ever drive by to the day, there's cars parked on parked on both sides. Um, it was brought to our attention by actually the
resident down there. Um, so the there's parking lot in front of our house. Um, so those spaces, it's about four spaces. Sometimes you could squeeze five. Um, there's another picture if you want to go to the
>> So the left side of the picture, th those four right there. Um, in the past five years, we've had 11 car accidents right there. um either those parked cars get hit or cars uh sideswipe each other going through them including two um of
the fire apparatus. Um so the recommendation was to just eliminate those four spots, make it a little bit easier for um the intersection at Bankraftoft as well as going down to the rear municipal lot on on Brandy Court.
>> So eliminate the the four on the left. >> Yes. So that the four on the left side of the screen would be eliminated those pocket spaces >> by the white fence. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Can we ask questions now? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> So how far is it just those four in
front of the white house and the greenhouse next to it or is it all the way down? >> It's it's already no parking on that side all the way up to those spaces >> up to that house. those four spaces where the parking is allowed. >> Okay. >> So, this would just extend the no parking
>> through those spaces to the entrance of Brandy Court. >> So, if you want to go back to the the map, so it's just this circle right there. >> Okay. >> So, it's just the spots on those. It's
already no parking all this way. >> Yeah. >> Um and then so now the parking would just start after the driver. So there's a little bit more um uh little little bit of sight lines down Wuburn Street. >> Um cuz right now people cars have to
stop and wonder who's going to let them let the other go first. >> Um especially during the snow, but even >> um >> about half of them were in the the warmer months, too. So snow wasn't wasn't affecting the car accidents. >> Is there any parking to the right and
the left at all on that side? Uh yes, there is parking on the other side of the road all the way down um just before the intersection of High Street. >> I guess why are the why are those four cars parking there? I guess are they live there? >> Um it's that's twohour or employee uh
parking lot there. So it could be anybody. Um yeah, >> and there's no problems farther up along that side versus just going in going into Brandy Court. It is a little tight there, but we don't want to remove too many of the um all day employee parking
spaces. Um so we thought those four would be would be sufficient. >> Okay. Do any questions? >> No. >> Karen, do you have any any questions? >> Um yes. Is my audio still on? Sorry. Um
I was just wondering, so did uh this go through PTTDF? Uh it came in to the traveling safety officer first and then we discussed it uh a few months back um over over the winters when this first was uh went through PTTF.
>> Okay. So it did >> Yes. >> Okay. Just because um my take on this was it's it's extending kind of the the master plan that PTTF had come up with. Is that a good way to describe this? a
small extension. >> I don't I don't follow. >> So, you're what I wanted to be careful of was not dismantling a plan that took a lot of time to come up with, but I think when I read this, there was already a two-hour all day employee
parking and you're just extending it a few. Um, no, you're taking away. [cough] Okay. You're actually shrinking it, >> right? We're taking away the the four spots there for >> Okay, never mind. >> Yeah, >> thank you. >> That was a lot in the hearing for like
four spots, [laughter] right? >> Melissa, are you there? Do you have anything you want to ask? >> I am here. Nope. All looks good to me, but thank you for the presentation and the explanation. >> Yeah, thank you. Do you think it's going to cause some brutal problems with
employee parking? >> Uh, I don't think so. >> Okay. >> No. Um, if I may, I I haven't seen any emails from any residents directly impacted either for or against this. >> No, they had reached out uh in favor to
to scout. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Uh, you want to open it to public comment? >> We will. >> It's a hearing. >> There's a hearing. So, we're good. Thank you. Um, anybody have any comments in the room?
Maddie, anybody online have their um hand raised? >> Nobody has their hand raised. >> I'll ask again in the audience to give the people online a minute to catch up. Anybody
going once? All right. Uh Karen, do you want to do a motion or do you want us to do it? >> She's on mute again. Oh, we can we can do it if you notice. Jim, [clears throat] >> you're on mute. >> Karen, you're muted. [clears throat]
Yep. >> Okay, hang on. I'm just trying to find the pack packet again. We can do it if you want us to. We have it. Okay. Um, it's fine. You can do it. >> Okay. Uh, move to close the hearing
regarding traffic amendments 2026-1 and 2026-2. >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh, roll call vote. Melissa, >> yes. >> Karen Heric, >> yes. >> S, >> yes.
>> Karen, yes. 40. Um, number two, move to approve amendment 2026-1 to the traffic and parking regulations as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? I guess no. >> Nope.
>> Roll call. Melissa, >> yes. >> Karen Herrick, >> yes. >> S Vermonte, >> yes. >> Karen Rosillis, yes. 40. and move to approve amendment 2026-2 to the traffic and parking regulations as
presented. >> Second. >> Second. Second by Karen and S. A roll call vote. Melissa, >> yes. >> Karen Herrick, >> yes. >> S Vermonte, >> yes. >> Karen Rosillis, yes. 4. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much.
>> Um, Madam Chair, yes. >> Um, we have the documents here to sign for the members who are remote. Can we use the stamps to sign? >> Would you like us to use stamps for you, Melissa? >> Or you can come in. Or you can come in. >> Absolutely. Nope, you can use the stamp. That's Thank you, Karen.
>> You can use the stamp. >> All right. Thank you. >> Stamp sign. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. >> All righty. We're going to discuss and vote on liaison assignments in our packet.
We have the current list. I see. >> U Melissa, do you want to do this or do you want do we just want to talk about it or anybody have anything? >> Yep. >> Has um if everyone's had a chance to review it if there is any discussion, we can go forward with that or then we can
just vote otherwise. >> So um do you have anything you want to say, Chris? >> No, I'm good. >> No. S look good to me. >> Karen, do you have anything? >> Yes. >> Okay. Why don't you go ahead? >> Okay. Um so um I understand that um
Chris would like to take a turn on the Burbank um as the Burbank leaison. I don't have a problem with that. I would be happy to trade for a chance to be on the audit committee because I have not done that. And um so what do you think
Chris? I don't know we'd have a a back and forth on this, but I I kind of, you know, uh I enjoy my time on the audit committee. Even though it's only two meetings a year, I'm not hellbent on it,
obviously. So, like that's kind of where I'm at. Um if you feel strongly that you want to be on the audit committee, I don't have I guess an issue with that. Maybe
um I [snorts] didn't count up all the leazison assignments to see what ratio we're at, but I don't want that to just leave me with next to nothing if that ends up being the case. You know what I mean? >> Understood. Um
yes. Well, some of them um you're right, don't require that much, um meeting time. So yeah, I think the audit meeting com committee meetings are are not hugely heavy lift and um we have not been
invited to Burbank meetings although potentially that could change that'd be something you could work on and so um or if you went four times a year it could be a heavier lift than the audit committee but um I'm happy to I I've been working very hard on the a Burbank
um liaison. So, but if you'd like to take a turn and you'd like to switch with me, um, see how it goes for this year, I'd be happy to do that. Um, you could also, if you have a hankering to do the public works department, I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you if [cough] you're feeling
like your [clears throat] plate is light. Um, [sighs] >> or if you want to try trails. I mean, >> uh, I've been watching a lot of Council on Aging meetings, unfortunately, last night for that brief moment, but other
than that, uh, I don't mind trading on that one if you wanted. So yeah, that's, you know, the way you've been serving on Kellum. Um, that's kind of the bulk of the work that I've been doing. Um, with there's a good
alignment between the permanent building committee and the council on aging. And we have S joining us in the Council on Aging. It's probably a good idea to have some um continuity, if you will. But I said if we would just want to do this for one year and we could switch it
up again the year after if you want. >> Yeah. Um I'm fine with with the audit swap scenario. [snorts] >> Okay. I I'm fine, you know. Um have fun on Burme. Maybe you'll get to go ice skating.
>> Appreciate that. You got anything you want to add? >> Looks good to me. >> Okay, Chris. >> Yeah, I'm good. >> Melissa, do you have anything? >> Nope, I'm good. And Maddie, if you just don't mind making that change at some point to update this um sheet for
everyone, that would be great. >> We'll do. Thank you. >> Thanks, Maddie. >> Thanks, Maddie. >> So, this says we're going to vote on this. Are we Do we really vote on this or Oh, okay. We do. Um, >> so roll call vote. I guess we'll start. Any
discussion? >> MO second. >> All the usual. >> Is it on there? Oh, it is on there. Well, are you going to read it then? >> Karen [laughter] joined. So, I was letting Karen take care of it, but it's whatever you want to do. >> Uh I think Karen, do you want to do the
motions for the leazison assignments or do you want us to do the reading in here? >> Sorry. I have the motions up now so I can be more productive. Um move that the board approve the liaison assignments as amended. >> Second. >> Second.
>> Roll call. Melissa, >> yes. >> Karen Herrick, >> yes. S Berante, >> yes. >> Chris, >> yes. >> Karen Rose Gillis, yes. 5. Madame Chair, we will send this, pardon
me, we will send this approved as amended document um to all of the committee chairs um over the next couple of days and also to all the department heads. >> Thank you very much. >> So, and I will ask our department heads to reach out to their liaison and schedule their first meeting. So, look
for those invitations. Um and uh we'll let the the chairs of the committee >> Thank you very However, if there's a meeting in the next day or so and you feel free to attend >> 100%. Don't wait for the email. >> Yes. Don't wait for the [laughter]
Yes. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um Karen, if I may, I'm just gonna I just wanted to say that I'm going to step out. I have a commitment um tonight. So, but I just wanted to apologize for leaving early and didn't want to just come offline without saying something.
>> Thanks, Melissa. >> Thank you. Have a good night everyone. >> Good night to say >> good night. >> Good night. So I was just going to ask if there's a uh is there a spot where all these meetings live besides the calendar on the website? >> Is there a spot where they live? So each
each committee has a page on the website. >> Um and and there's also the calendar. >> So um we had some conversation during the retreat about sort of cleaning it up a little bit. So, I've talked to some of our staff about making that a little bit more accessible, but it's it's a little difficult with the meeting calendar can
only be posted a couple of days, you know, once these agendas are posted. Um, but there should be meeting dates and so forth. So, we're working through that. I definitely recommend if a committee that you're a liazison to doesn't make it clear where they are on their boards. You're welcome to ask for that as well.
>> Would they include the liaison like with the board? Could they in the in the email that comes out to announce a meeting? Um it's it >> there's like packets and and so forth. We can usually do that internally who sends them out. >> Yeah,
>> some of them sell um you get emails from like historical I sometimes get emails from but other boards of committee. It really depends. >> So >> just to streamline it. >> Yeah. >> Well, when we send out the new assignments, we will ask that all liaison are invited to their their
public meetings. Sure. >> Um and that they communicate with you directly. Right. [clears throat] >> But we'll we'll keep tabs on it. Please ask me any questions and I'm happy to to work with you if that's not >> happen. Could you please ask them to also make sure we're getting the uh the packets? That would be super helpful.
Thank you. >> Yes, we can ask the packet. Of course, the packets should be mailed to you. Yeah. >> There's also something online that you can get a notification when there's a meeting. So, >> I don't know where it is on the website. I did a long >> time stay connected portion. So, you click on the stay connect. It's the
first big button. Mhm. >> Uh if you're on the web, if you're on the computer, it's on the left. If you're on the mobile, it's the first big button that scrolls up. Stay connected. And it's in there. You can subscribe to all kinds of different boards, committees, and commissions. >> You you can subscribe to all of them,
but it's a lot. So, yeah. >> But it is really helpful. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Because you'll get it as soon as it's posted to the calendar. You'll get the the agenda sent to you. The link to it. Yep. >> Great. Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. Well, thank you very much. I'm sure we all look forward to working with all our committees.
Uh, next at 7:46, uh, discuss and vote on National Public Works Week resolution. >> Chris, would you like to read? >> I thought it was Karen. >> It was, but fine. If you'd like to read it, it's totally fine. >> Well, maybe Chris can give us a little
background. Uh, that would be great. Hi Chris. >> Hello. >> So um so thank you for um doing this resolution tonight. Um next week uh nationally is National Public Works Week throughout the country and um as is
typically done here in Reading. Um the board um designates um that week as public works week for the town of Reading. Um, so I thank you for your support you've given the board uh the the uh DPW throughout the years and um
we have a great uh group of dedicated staff that work for us and um I appreciate all the work that they do. >> Thank Thank you. Anybody have any comments? >> Well, good. >> Karen, you have anything any comments?
>> Um no. I would say thank Well, okay. Yes. Chris, thank you for all the hard work you do. Thank you for uh your your team for a long hard winter. You're glad it's over. And uh >> so we should have coffee [laughter] because I'm the public. So why don't we
make plans to have coffee soon? >> Sure. Absolutely. >> Should get a tour of the DPW. >> Yes. >> Oh, that would be awesome. I love >> that would be great. >> You all want a tour? >> I think we should. >> Yeah, >> we can post it. Yes, >> we can set that up. We'll
>> ride on any of the vehicles or >> we might be able to arrange that. Yeah, >> I'll put you in the dump truck. [laughter] >> Um Chris, if you will work with Jax to set that up with the board. Great. >> Um we'll post that meeting. Um and uh you can get a You should see the DPW the way that staff see it.
>> I would like to see that. I only see the recycle portion of it. >> Yes. >> S, do you have anything you want to say? I'm >> just not on the committee. I'm kind of jealous now. >> Well, we're all jealous. To be honest, >> you can still go on the tour. We'll set it so you can >> It's three hours. [laughter]
>> Not going to end. Well, >> do it. >> All right. >> Did you want to read the resolution or what's the plan? >> Yeah. Does Chris want to read it or do you want me to read it? >> Haley, I mean, >> oh, I'm sorry. [laughter] >> Yeah, >> we're not going to make you read your
own resolution. >> Um, I can. So uh whereas public works services provided in our community are an integral but often unnoticed part of our residents everyday lives and whereas the support of understanding and
informed residents is vital to the efficient operation of the public works department in the areas of administrative services, engineering, highway and equipment maintenance, storm water, parks, cemetery, forestry, water, sewer and whereas the health and safety
and comfort of residents of this community depends on the facilities and services. And whereas the quality and effectiveness of these services is vitally dependent upon the efforts and skill of public work officials and employees. And whereas the efficiency of
the qualified and dedicated first responder personnel who staff our public works department is materially influenced by the residents attitude and understanding of the importance of the work they perform. And now therefore, we the SEC board of the town of Reading,
Massachusetts, do hereby resolve the week of May 17th to May 23rd, 2026 as public works week in the town of Reading. And we call upon all residents and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in
providing quality public works services to the community community and to recognize the contributions to which public works officials and employees make every day to our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life. The select
board of the town of Re. >> Are you guys having a party next week or anything? Um, we had a lunchon uh a couple of weeks ago at the garage. >> Oh, great. >> So, >> good. All right. Well, thank you and all your department workers and everybody. We
couldn't do it without you. You're a huge part of the success of our town. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. Yes. >> Um, through you to Miss Heric, is it okay if we use the stamp on the resolution? We'll do that tomorrow. >> Karen, is it okay if we use
>> I'll come in and sign that one if that's okay. Yeah, that's great. We'll take care of that. >> We didn't ask Melissa. Do you want to >> ask >> I I can ask her tomorrow. >> Yeah, >> I'll leave it blank for now. >> We'll leave it on the um in the in the town manager's office, the seboard office. You can come in and just sign
it. >> All right, that's that's great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Thanks, Chris. >> Thank you. >> Do you want a motion, Karen? >> I would love one. Thank you. Uh move that the board issue the resolution in honor of National Public Works Week in the town of Reading.
>> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Any discussion? >> Anyone online with their hand raised? Maddie? >> Nope. Nobody online. >> All right. Roll call vote. Karen Herrick,
>> yes. >> Salvante, >> yes. >> Chris Haley, >> yes. Karen Rosekill is yes. Thank you very much. Next, discuss and vote on letter to Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission CCC regarding cannabis reform
law. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so section 5.6.4 of our zoning bylaw was adopted on uh April 24, 2017. This was
following a vote that Springtown meeting banning marijuana retail establishments in town. Medical marijuana is not banned, but um this was the vote that was under the time. At the time, uh 2,130 people voted in favor of the ban.
961 voted not no on the ban. Um and 240 votes were blank. So, it was a pretty strong vote um in favor of the marijuana ban in 2017. Um, a recent change to the law in
Massachusetts was signed, um, it was a comprehensive cannabis reform bill, was signed into law, um, in April by Governor Healey, and it requires all municipalities to allow for cannabis delivery unless they prohibited
licensed marijuana operations and have opted out of such delivery. The law went into effect immediately when she signed it. So, Communities that currently don't allow retail sales and do not want to allow delivery of cannabis have to opt
out. Um looking further into this um it was determined that this is a decision that has to be made by the select board and a waiver um this is a waiver request um is up to two years. So it's a standard two years um in order to wave
this for wave uh participation in this law so that cannabis cannot be delivered to properties in inside reading. Um couple of pieces of information. Um if we do allow um cannabis deliveries to properties in Tukbury in Reading um you
would do not collect any any taxes on that locally. um those tax taxes are to the municipalities in which those res where they're ordering from are located. Um and then there is also state tax collected but reading cannot collect any
taxes. Um just so you know there's no revenue here. >> Okay. >> Um now a lot has changed since 2017 and so I don't know what the appetite of the board is. Um there is currently no deadline. um you don't have a particular
window to operate within that you need to ask for this two-year waiver or you will lose out on the opportunity to participate in this two-year waiver. So, [snorts] the board has time to talk about this. You don't have to make a decision right now. Um my initial
thought was to sign the waiver, protect the board's right to stay out of cannabis delivery, and then continue to have the conversation. But you don't need to take that route. you can wait on the cannabis delivery, have more conversation with the community if you
wish, um, and then decide what you want to go forward. But because the vote in 2017 banning retail marijuana and we hasn't really come up again in the community, that was my posture. Um, and that's why I drafted this letter. I did run it
through council and um, and that's where we are. So, you can decide if you want to do it tonight, you can wait. Um, you don't have to do it at all. And the and we will continue to receive any cannabis
deliveries that people order. So, >> so >> so right now they can or cannot deliver it to Ready. >> They can. >> They can. >> The law went into effect immediately. >> You said if we opted out and >> No, you have to opt out and this letter
is the opt out. It's a 2year waiver and it has to be renewed in two-year increments if people choose. The the CCC has not even written a sample opt out letter. It doesn't exist yet. So, I wrote this myself based on what the parameters were they were looking for.
>> But was this something that when we voted not to have cannabis sold in Reading? >> Yes. >> It triggered something within. >> So, no, it didn't. It it is just reading decided you can't we won't allow anybody to sell um retail. not medical retail
marijuana [snorts] in town. Um, and that because we have voted on that. Maybe that's what you're thinking. That's the trigger that we got notified on. >> That's not okay. Yeah, that's what we were notified. >> Yeah, we were notified by the MMA actually, not by the cannabis commission. >> Okay.
>> Um, so yeah, because we're a community that said that opted out of that, we have that marijuana ban >> and there's no deadline to sign this. We could sign it. >> There is no deadline. No, we we the board has time to ponder what they would like to do >> and there's no p I'm sorry. Do you have anything you want to say, Chris?
>> I do, but you can go ahead. >> No, you can go first. >> What? >> No, that's all right. I don't mind going last. >> From So, couple questions. So, if we sign the waiver, it's two years. >> Can we stop it three weeks from now?
>> Resend. >> I think you can resend it. Yeah. I don't think it's It would be the same thing. We'd have a meeting. you'd sign a new letter saying we chose to resend our waiver. They might at that point they might not even have accepted it yet. So their rules are still being written on how to do this. Um but um they they say
in their um in their bulletin that once they review the waiver and and everything is in in line, they will request. So >> So shouldn't this have been done before they went ahead and signed a law into place? actually had like these kind of
guard rails in place. They just sign something and say have fun with this. >> I have no comment, Mr. >> I seems wild to me that they can just especially on something like this. This isn't like some nonchalant kind of like
some people have strong opinions on this. you know, clearly the the vote wouldn't have gone the way that I thought it would have went, but that's a clear message back in 2017 anyway of, you know, of absolutely not wanting any
part of this. For me, it always comes back to money. And since we're not getting any money for this, why like I don't know why they would have signed the law into place, if they had put in a caveat that you would share the the tax
with, you know, the the community that would have it like Malden or something or wherever there's one that, you know, you split the revenue for something being G or the tax whatever language you want to use something that would make it fair, but to give us absolutely nothing
and then they just get to profit. from it just doesn't seem fair and equitable for anybody involved other than the people that have it already. And now it's upon us to go ahead and be like, "Yeah, not here." [clears throat] So, um I just wonder if it's twofold if this is
going to be an ongoing thing. And obviously, um this is a a very um cash cow operation in Massachusetts. Um, I think it's maybe we have to have a ballot thing in the future to see if we
want to have open it back up here and see which route people go and if it fails miserably then, you know, maybe we just keep renewing this waiver kind of scenario going forward because, you know, a lot has happened tw
>> and to steal a page out of the CPA's book, [snorts] imagine how much money we've lost. lost since 2017, you know, but for some reason, I don't know, that's just going to be okay though in this in this instance. But we
have lost hundreds if not millions uh hundreds of thousands if not millions since 2017 when this would have failed. Um so we're in a different climate now with potential overrides and who knows how this would have paid for in stemmed
off overrides. You can't factor. I looked beforehand to see what the average, you know, return on this is and a couple communities get hundreds of thousands, some get millions a year depending on how big they are. Um, but, you know, I don't think it's up up for
the obviously it's up for us to decide here, but that was a, you know, a landslide in 2017 and I think we have to have a little bit more upto-date information to be able to make this kind of vote. now what we do as of right now
that they like to drop this on us and we just has to say yes or no I would just like to hear what everyone else seems to think >> and and the board does not have to decide >> no I know but that by doing that then there it's going to be allowed which in theory if you went by 2017 metrics we
shouldn't be allowing it >> but if it was closer now or if it if it would pass kind of thing that would change my way of thinking but I mean the way it went off 8year-old data is uh completely one-sided. >> So
>> uh Karen, you have your hand raised. >> I do. Thank you. Um, yeah, Chris, you you raised some great points and um I was on the finance committee at the front of town meeting when this came before town meeting and and back then
marijuana was still cannabis was illegal and this was and the proponents it felt to a lot of people in town meeting that that was too wild and crazy for reading. the program was just starting. If I remember correctly, they were gonna allow three locations in the state. And
so we were like, not big, not a big deal. And and you know, it seemed like the safe route, as Chris said, things have changed a lot. Um I think the stigma, a lot of the stigma of this being illegal has sort of gone by the
wayside. And um you know, we're we're developing the Eastern Gateway. I would to join you, Chris. I' I'd be open to exploring this future because so we will get some when I I don't want to tonight.
I don't want to vote on this. I'll I'll just say this. I don't want to vote on this. I don't think the community's had enough time to weigh in and I don't think we need to do anything about this. We're already medical deliveries are already happening. I don't see this being a huge change or causing problems, but I could be wrong. And in which case
Jane was kind enough to bring this forward and say that you know we c if we start having problems and we feel this is necessary we could take it up again. But um a lot of interesting discussion the it is a booming business in
Massachusetts. It is supplementing the unrestricted government aid ugga that comes back to us from the state of Massachusetts. So, why not let Reading residents partake as much as they want and and make sure at least we're getting, you know, we we we support the
AGA, which we desperately need for our budgets, is is where I am on that. Um, but yeah, Chris, um, you know, I maybe it is time. It was very scary, I can tell you, being on a town meeting back in 2017 talking about this and [clears throat] it just doesn't seem
scary anymore. seems a lot more mainstream and um you know and is it really different from alcohol? I don't know. But those are my thoughts for today. Thank you. >> Thanks Karen. Um I agree with a lot of that's been said and I think that it's
definitely probably time to revisit it especially from a financial point of view. So um they're probably already delivering anyway. I I would assume so, right? >> I thought they already could. I see all these ads all the time on Facebook and everything about delivery. I didn't know
maybe it was only to specialized spots, but I already thought it was happen. >> I think they can deliver in the communities they have sales um that they have a location. And I think medical marijuana can be delivered. We can't ban that. That's allowed. >> How would we like enforcing it? How what what would the enforcement be if
somebody got delivered to the house and we have a ban on it? That's a good question. They probably can lose their license if they do that. That's like delivering alcohol. >> How would they regulate the air code? >> It h Yeah, they'd have to have a a date. The Cannabis Control Commission is the
one that oversees this. And I'm sure they have like a ban on zip codes and stuff like that. >> I'd have to assume. >> Depending on how many towns don't allow sales. >> I don't know, but I can find out. I mean, if you want to, we could put it on as a future agenda item and then do some
do some work on it. >> I think that would be a good idea. Do you agree? I think it would be worth looking into again to see what we're missing and, you know, have the police do some kind of >> something for us, you know. >> Yeah, I asked um Erica at the uh
coalition to give me some information so we we can, you know, get some of that and find out more and and bring it to folks. But this is just beginning. >> Okay. That's the one thing I would be worried about too is age, you know, younger people getting it online.
It's It's easy probably to >> they I still think they they have to check IDs and everything when they get to the door. It's probably even more strict. >> So, yeah. >> Yeah. >> And that was part of Definitely part of the town meeting deliberation was, you
know, keeping it away from underage. That was the concern. >> Yeah. >> Part of it. I mean, I I I don't buy it, but I would hope that somebody online would have to put an ID in or a >> Well, when they bring it to the residence, I'm assuming that they would do the same. >> I do security cameras for a couple
dispensaries and whatnot. And it's like Fort Knox. So, yeah, they're pretty um they're good cameras. They're not town hall cameras. >> Kids who get >> Sorry, J. >> Kids who get creative and they could I'm sure >> if kids want it, they're going to get it
regardless. That's the way it goes. >> They're gonna go to Uber. >> Yeah. Right. Well, you're not face to face with the with the person anymore. He behind a computer now. >> I guess Jane, if you can just find out like I looked briefly on AI getting numbers and like North Bed, not North
Bedford, North something um had a population of like a 100,000 and they got like a half million in six months kind of thing. Obviously, I I just want to see what >> on their revenue. >> Yeah. what we can theoretically think that we can get out of this.
>> Yeah. When I was a select board member in Tukbury, we went through this and we approved three locations um for retail marijuana after having a ban. >> New Bedford, I think it was New Bedford, >> but um they've changed the rules of the ho host community agreement is what um is is voted on u by the local
legislative body and um the executive body rather. So the CCC has changed a lot of the inducements that were attractive early on that got towns a lot more money that it's really kind of gone down what what can actually be um
achieved. So um so that's changed a lot and I don't know the details of the cannabis reform bill and and how that's there are cannabis um retail locations that are closing because the market's somewhat saturated. Yeah, I heard that. >> So, um, so you know, it's you have to be
well positioned and there are people that are opening them and and they're doing good businesses. We opened three in in Tukbury. So, um, we can get some more information know how much Tukbury has got essentially. >> I don't remember off the top of my head, but yeah. >> But Okay. Well, you don't have to go far then. >> Yeah.
>> Yep. So, we can we can get all of that when we come back and frame what the conversation will be. >> Okay. Okay. >> So, we're not going to vote on this tonight, everybody. We're going to hold on. >> Yeah. I think we should pause. Okay. >> I would say no. Yeah, >> I would say >> agreed. Okay, good. Thank you everybody. >> Great.
>> Um 807 liaison reports. >> Pretty close to >> I'm going to start with Karen Heric. >> Okay. Sure. Thank you. Um we did have a permanent building committee meeting last week. Um council and aging members
are attending that regularly. Um there is very there is um concern about and and wanting to resolve concern over a divider that would like the library allow a larger room to be made
into two smaller rooms which um the COA and the people that are down at the Pleasant Street Center lot really envisioning lots more small group opportunities and listening to them. I also think that would be of benefit to
more generalized wreck and community use because I have been at the library and seen that divider used and I think um I think Wilmington has a an amazingly easy to open divider and they use it a lot. So anyway, they are bringing those concerns to the permanent building
committee. There is money within the base budget because of the um savings in the bid so far without getting anywhere near contingency and there was a disability assessment and um which kind of ties in which
hasn't been reviewed publicly and it ties into questions about the kitchen. Um, the design was expected to be able the design of the entire recal was expected to be able to generate revenue from rentals. And I I wasn't aware of
this, but we've had a couple of turnovers in the OPM, which can kind of confuse things and muddy the waters a little bit. So, the council on aging has again asked um the permanent building committee to really bring that topic forward. Let's talk about the kitchen. let's talk about
what can be done with this design with the level of disability accessibility that was put in and whether it's sufficient. Um and I can also tell you that on the other topic the Council of Aging did take a vote on adding the divider back into the design and and um
it's not the easiest add in but they they're feeling that this is really important. So, I understand that the permanent building committee um chair has been working with maybe you Jane or some other staff members to to think about that some more. I appreciate that. Um [clears throat] so, I attended the
Council on Aging last night and and the Zoom was hacked twice which was just horrific. Um it was a really bad one. Um let's see. Um, so we talked last night about, you know, whether they have sufficient budget to get through the end
of the year and it sounds like from staff's perspective, there were some revolving account changes and and they do. Um, and they also talked about so this new wreck system, the payment system that has gone into place is um throwing some of the instructors for
a loop. They've lost I think at least one instructor, a Zumba instructor. They're looking to replace that. And I talked to a resident today and and she's like, "Okay, it was hard to get used to at first, but I'm fine with it." So, you know, it hasn't been in place long enough to really see if this is just a a
transition issue. Um, [sighs] let's see. Today, I was over at the Pleasant Street Center helping to serve strawberry shortcake, which was sponsored by Representative Rich Hagerty, and that was lots of fun and yummy. And um I had
office hours I believe it was last week over at the Pleasant Street Center and um and and the the furnace um it wasn't going off cuz heating season's over. I I've um I've I've brought up to the
permanent permanent building committee that to Jane's point, it is unccombusted unccombusted gas going into the Pleasant Street Center and it has been going for several years. And I can't help thinking that if this was a school building with
a 1990s era failing furnace, which I know we've replaced over at um Koolage might have been the last one. I I just don't see that this would still be in place. So, I've really strongly encouraged the permanent building committee um to to think about bumping
this to the top of the capital list and getting it done for two reasons. To ensure the safety and and comfort um of the staff and the patrons today and also if we are going to be leasing it out, you know, you're not going to be able to
lease a building with noxious gases for 6 months of the year. And you know, it's just end of life. I've seen it. It dates to the mid90s. So, that's what's going on with those two committees. Um the I wanted to share with you all that
the um Reading Historical Commission was working with the church owners um next door and those church owners have been unable to afford the repair of that tower and that's a protected you know kind of landmark building in our town
and the Reading Historical Commission was able to assist the owners and reach out to Mass Historical and come up with a a solution Whereas it'll be a partial restoration, which hearkens back to our our historical library, which for years had
a partial turret because the town couldn't afford to put it all back together again. And luckily, and now it is. So, so, you know, kudos to the Reading Historical for helping this local business and property owner and facilitating with Mass Historical. And um I appreciate that Mass Historical
understood that this is the the environment that we're working in that you know people can't afford everything that we'd like to do. And so kudos to the Reading Historical Commission. And I also think that bodess well for future discussions regarding the Pleasant
Street Center which is also you know has some pretty significant restrictions and protections through Mass historical. you know, as long as people are talking and I've always found um the historical commission and mass historical to be reasonable, but sometimes you need to
get their attention. So, I just wanted to share that all with you. And I think that's it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Karen. Chris, want to go? >> Yep. Thanks, Karen. Um, so I did attend uh Shirley Shiker's 100th birthday over
at uh Peter Sandborn. Um, it was a great event. it. She had more people there than I do at my birthdays. So, it was good to see um good to see that uh she was born in Everett like you mentioned, Jane, and I was as well. Technically
Cambridge, but I grew up in Everett um which explains a lot. So, um [cough] yeah, it was a a great event. Um and hopefully, you know, we can do more uh like those in the future for everybody.
Um also the Kilum school building committee met yesterday along with the eight other boards and committees uh on the same night which is wild. Um and uh the HVAC portion had to get rebid for Killllum, but it's not going to um push off the
timeline for the project in general. Um, so that's what pretty much dominated that meeting the other night. And then lastly, we had the select board retreat, um, which was, you know, fantastic as
usual. And, um, it really exposed a lot of us to not knowing anything really about Massachusetts in general. >> The trivia. So, >> the trivia was tough, but [snorts] you know, I liked how that was the icebreaker to get us to all work
together to, you know, each individually we wouldn't have the answer for something, but as a group that we could come together, you know, and for the most part, we almost got every single one correct. We're off by a couple. Um,
but other than that, that's it. >> All right. Uh Karen, you have your hand raised. I'll cut back to you. >> You're on mute. >> I'm sorry. Thank you. Um I was very sad to meet miss the um recal groundbreaking. Chris, do you have any
idea when the kill groundbreaking might be? Are they talking about that yet? I don't want to miss that. >> I haven't um I haven't heard one way or the other with that. >> Okay. >> Jane might have something though. >> I can speak to that a little bit, Madam Chair. Um, so we will do a
groundbreaking for the Kilum school. It hasn't been determined yet. Once we have the contractor um on site, we'll let them know we want to do it. We'll work with the with the site contractor and they'll do some site prep work and they'll set it up with, you know, a pile
of dirt, a nice pile of dirt, and we have everything else in house we can do. Um, we have the chairs, we have the podium, we have the sound system, we have the carpet, and we have the shovels. I'm going to use the same shovels. >> Any hot dogs? Uh it it depends on who the contractor is. That's the contractor.
>> I I should have added this in my liazison report, but [clears throat] >> I went out and I bought the hot dog machine that that guy had. >> Those are so good. >> Those hot were the best ones I ever had. I amped it up to my wife and kids and I
ended up making like the first one or whatever. And like my daughter gave me the look and once I get the look like she knew that um that I was right by saying that he was the best hot dog you're ever going to have. >> So they were good at your house too?
>> The exact way that they were at that groundbreaking. >> Okay. I mean, who knew that at a hot dogs at a groundbreaking >> 9 a.m. >> It could be a new like 10 by the time the hot dog I don't know, but he had them going. I guess they do that on site
on Fridays with the with their employees. So, >> ballpark franks in Wonderbread hot dog buns, of which I >> Well, here we go. I I hear I see an event in our future and you standing behind the hot dog machine. >> Yeah. Well, I got one.
>> There you go. Uh, S, how about you? >> I just got my leazison on, so I haven't >> Oh, that's right. [laughter] >> I'd be lying. >> Are you kidding? No. >> Sorry. >> All right. I um I mentioned it briefly
at the uh retreat that I had attended an MMA webinar about the um top 10 wish list of the internal customer um which I found fascinating and very interesting and I would like to talk about this at a future um meeting once I figure out what
I want to talk about. But it was really opened your eyes to municipalities and people that work there and how we as a town are expecting them to do more for less and you can become very um complacent not the right word but you
kind of forget that they give a lot and they don't get a lot of quot financial fund benefits as a result of it. And I know we'll be asking a lot of them in the next year or two. So, I really would like to come up with some ways to kind of show our appreciation um for for
staff and also our committees. Like our committees and volunteers, we have so many of them and they work so hard that I feel like um I think that they we do thank them periodically, but sometimes getting together for a nice coffee party would be a nice gesture. >> Hot dogs,
>> hot dogs, for instance. >> Um on the 15th of April, I had an affordable housing trust meeting. um really good discussions on how to move forward in determining funding sources and ideas on how to you know figure out affordable housing in the town and how
we can um come up with some creative solutions and how to spend some money and earn some money on that. Uh recal groundbreaking we went to um attended the April Fest down here in the common which was great. A lot of people turned out for it. Um they had a really nice
photo booth that I took advantage of. Um, I attended the senior center tax abatement presentation that was at the Pleasant Street Center. Um, it was really informative. I think a lot of people got a lot out of it. There was a lot of people in the audience. Um, lots of great questions.
Um, 423 was the inaugural Commission on Disabilities meeting, which was great to attend. Um, they all got to introduce each other to them. I Melissa and I had met everybody because we interviewed everybody, but it was nice for all of them to finally get to meet each other
and talk about how they want to move forward and what kinds of things they find important and [cough] and >> [clears throat] >> um excuse me, they were selecting chair and vice chair and positions like that. So, that was great. Um I'm pretty sure most of us, if not all of us, attended the grand opening at Oasis, which was
packed. Um very good food and lovely to meet them all. Um I I'm very excited about it. looks crowded in the afternoons. Uh 425 was also the Arbor Day festivities in town forest. So we planted 500 native trees. Very It was
kind of a slow steady turnout for the day. It was a beautiful day as opposed to the year before where it rained all day. It was um the Swish River Wershed Association was also there and they donated wildflower seeds that we scattered all over the place. Um we
continued to pull invasive species. Um, I think that there was it this past weekend or it's this coming weekend where we're having another invasive species management volunteer day in the town forest. So, please look at the website to find out whether I missed it or whether it's this Saturday.
Um, we had town meeting that we went through for for a couple of weeks. Um, on the 29th I attended the ACE meeting. We discussed the upcoming game changer series which I highly recommend everybody appear. It's on May 14th at the Reading Library. It starts at 7. Um,
more information is on the town website. Um, all are welcome whether you know anything about Bill Russell or not. It's a good chance to get to know other people and have some good discussions. Uh, we had our retreat. Um Melissa, Karen and I all attended the
MMA webinar on agenda making which was really fascinating and I learned a lot and they talked about um select boards and and creating agendas and how different select boards run their meetings and different tips and I'd like to watch it again because there was a lot of really good ideas exchanged. Um
and then last night I had a housing authority meeting um where they discussed status of some capital projects. Um they're working on getting Porchfest to visit them. So that's going to be very exciting. It'll be their first time and they're getting ready for the summer students that show up to the
town to start doing some projects there. Um tomorrow I'm attending a webinar put on again by the MMA on overrides. I believe we'll be talking about success failure strategies. Um it's the first of a two-part series. Um they have these
lunch seminars that are great. I could go to one every week. um food pantry. Um they are looking for laundry detergent, canned red beans, instant mashed potatoes, instant white rice, and anything and anything in
between. Um their program where they're making meals and and giving them to residents are is working really really well with their new equipment. And um that's all I have. Karen, I saw your hand was raised.
You're on mute. Thanks. You know, I'd forgotten the MSA seminar. Thank you for bringing that up. It was a good one. Yeah, it was really good. Um, all right. Now, we're going to talk about Did you Did he You pointed your hand. >> I'm just watching the cat's yelling.
Karen, >> there's a cat in the background. I see that. [clears throat and laughter] >> Um, all right. Future agendas. Anybody have any um discussions about this? I know Melissa's not here, so >> I see a lot of it. I didn't. >> Yes, Chris.
>> Thanks, Karen. Um, I just had one. I had saw that Arlington went all digital and they got a home rule petition um to be able to make all of their legal notices uh print free.
So, which means they all just go online um either on the town website or through other avenues. Um so, it won't save us tons of money, but it is still a fee that we have to pay um to do our legal lotuses the traditional way. So, it's
just something like that that we can see about discussing. >> Um I sent Jane and Melissa the link to what they did in our LinkedIn. >> Okay. like everything everything like more >> their whole their legislation allows for
print legal notices. So any legal notice is all on Arlington's uh website now. Okay. >> Instead of in newspapers or however else they have to advertise thing. >> It would be good to know if the warrant situation like you mentioned if some people just want to get online and not
have to you know send it out to everybody. I am thinking about there was public comment about um and I have this as well as far as reaching out to people that that are not online at all and so if we could come up with a way to make sure that that population you know my
mother included and she lives with me and I give as much information as I can but there's a there are will always be populations that are not able to do the technology but I think that's a good idea I mean I work for a paper free office so I know it's possible But um
so go at it. >> There's a couple uh places I work well a couple clubs I work for that um you can opt in or out too. So maybe that's an option. Oh, >> pay like paper free. Uh well, you want the paper. I don't know if that's an option we can look into. >> All right. >> Um we don't the only we send out bills
for certain things and so people can like choose to pay their water bill online >> for instance. So they don't receive a bill. Uh for people who receive paperless billing, they don't receive anything that we send. Like the DPW newsletter goes out in a water bill. >> Um so if they if they are paperless,
they don't receive those those mailings, but postage is expensive. We spend a lot of money on postage. Um and we spend a fair amount of money on legal notices. So >> I mean, I got I got a ticket in Wilmington the other night, a parking ticket, and I'm looking at the ticket like, where can I pay this online? And
there's like I feel like any government organization, you just can't do it. You still have to mail in a payment and >> it's pretty [clears throat] crazy. >> But that's not costing them any money. It's costing you the stamp. >> Well, exactly. Right. [laughter] But >> if you uh don't have an MX card, you can pay your tickets online here.
>> Oh, you can pay anything in >> that would be worth looking into to see if we can do that because postage is astronomical. >> It's only going in one direction. >> Yeah. No, it's not. Good. >> All right. >> Most of our postage costs are related to mailing out billings and also election
related items. That's not going to change and that's where most of it comes from. >> Yeah. Raise your hand. >> Hi Karen. Have your hand. >> Hi. Quick question. Um Jane, are we >> are legal notices or towns are we paying [snorts] for those um newspaper? >> Yes, we we wherever we have to post a
legal notice, we pay it to to the Chronicle newspaper record. >> I think it would be interesting to know how much we are spending. I know if you just want to run an ad in the newspaper, it's incredibly expensive. >> It's by the word. Yes, it's expensive. >> It's by the word. By the word.
>> Those are long notices. >> Legal notices are expensive. >> They're very wordy. >> Would love to. If you could bring some numbers for the past couple years, maybe. >> I can I can look in. Yeah. If we bring this back and you give me a little bit of runway, I can >> Oh, sure. Yep.
>> Over the summer. You know, we've got >> because we have a lot of different departments that run legal ads. So, but we can we can pull our our invoices that we paid immune we have at immune is what we're paying to those vendors but it includes other things. So, we just need a little time to clean the data. Yep.
>> Cara, do you have anything? Oh, your hands up again. >> Oh, sorry. You know, the only other thing was we got a couple of emails this week about parking being enforced down on Haven and I did take a ride down Haven
on a Saturday night and um so right around post 1917, you know, I'm happy to see them doing a good business and there was a lot of traffic there. So, my concern with the whole part of my concern with the valley parking proposal
has been triggering um resident complaints about nowhere to park. So, um I I don't know if we need to talk about that. Um, but I don't know where we are with the valet parking proposal,
but that since we have been a couple years ago, we were getting residents coming to us in the winter particularly and saying, you know, I bought a home with one parking space and and now I need to what do I do? So, um, wonder if we can if at some point this
later this year, we'll need to have a broader discussion about parking on Haven Street. >> Okay. Well, and we haven't met again yet on valet um at the leopard had Carlo working on that with Karen Rose Gillis
and so you maybe want to >> see if there's another person who would like to join you on that and then we'll reconvene and meet again. >> Okay. Should we talk about that next meeting while Melissa's here? >> Yeah, I think so. >> Okay. Cuz also you have construction will I mean this summer might be really
tough. Who knows? Because you have construction going on Haven Street too. So maybe maybe we talk about timing and when it would make sense to try to do something like that. >> Good point. >> Thank you. >> You have anything you want to add to that? >> I said [clears throat] a question. So
are these agendas set and then we're talking about like past >> now we just kind of talk about things that we think we want to talk about in the future. So so far this is what it looks like. And things can change like things can be on the 26th and during meetings we may move it to a different
date. >> Okay. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> But you can't put anything else on here. >> Sure. If this is your time to talk about like if you want to bring something up and then Jane and Jackie and Maddie and the whole group then and Melissa and we
meet and figure out when to put it down. >> Doesn't have to go on the 26. They can be June, July, August. depends on what the severity and what the shared you know >> you know in coordination with Jane >> right like how much
>> because the 26 looks pretty more busy than tonight that's for sure. >> Yeah >> it does. There was a lot of motions tonight though which I forgot about. >> Um so is there a topic you want to put on at a future one? >> No. Yeah.
>> Chris, anything else? No, I had mine go. >> All right, I think we're good. Um, we're going to approve at 8:31. Approve prior meeting minutes. >> I didn't have any changes. >> Were there any changes?
>> I don't think I had any changes. I read >> the other set of minutes. Um, I didn't have any changes. I >> uh move to approve the meeting minutes of April 6, 2026
and April 14th, 2026 as presented. >> Second. Second by Karen. Roll call vote. Oh, any discussion? >> Anybody? >> Well, there you go. Uh roll call vote
Karen Herrick. >> Yes. Chris Haley. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. And Karen Roscillis. Yes. >> I was >> Oh. Um 8:32. Uh executive session purpose 7.
Approve and review for release the minutes of the March 24th, 2026 and April 6th, 2026 [cough and clears throat] executive session meetings compliance with GLC 38 section 22. >> Motion. >> Would you like to read a motion?
>> Sure. Move to enter executive session under general laws chapter 38 section 21A7 to comply with section 22 of the open meeting law for the purpose of reviewing approving release for minutes of the March 24th and April 6th 2026
executive session minutes and to adjourn from executive session >> second roll call vote Karen Herrick >> yes >> s Vermont >> yes >> Chris Hail Gillis Yes. Do I do a gabble
Yep.