Okay. You good, Matt? Yep. We're good. We're off mute, so we should be fine. All right. I will call the June 24th, 2025 select board meeting uh to order. First, we'll start off with the pledge
of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. All righty. I'll go over the meeting.
First, we're going to have an executive session under purpose two and purpose three, public employee committee, health insurance agreement, all unions. The executive session will be held in the Burger Conference room down the hall. Um, and then we will come back into regular session. Uh, for 7 o'clock for
public comment or any items not on the agenda. 7:10 a town manager report. 7:15 community spotlight. 7:20 discuss and vote to approve a gift of land off Waverly Road. At 7:30, discuss and vote to dedicate an archive room per request
from the historical commission. At 7:40, we will update uh have an update from the ad hoc uh commemoration establishment committee. Ace 7:50, we'll discuss town manager goals. 8:05, we'll discuss and vote on appointments of
boards and committees. At 8:35 we will have a 413 Main Street uh discussion and vote to acquire a gift by eminent domain. Um at 8:45 we'll have select board reports. 8:55 future agendas and
9:00 we'll discuss and vote to approve prior meeting minutes uh May 27th and June 3rd. So Karen, do we have a motion for executive session? I move that the board sorry move that the board go into executive
session including staff members town manager Matt Krenales, human resources director Shawn Donahghue, assistant town manager Jane Wellman and executive assistants Jackie Leerde and Maddie Baptiste under purpose two and purpose three to discuss strategy with respect
to collective bargaining and approve the public employees committeealth insurance all unions and further the chair declares that an open meeting could have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the body and to reconvene an open session at the conclusion of
executive session. Second. Thank you. Caller for a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. Melissa, yes. Harlo, yes. Karen, yes. And Chris,
yes. We are return to executive session. We will be back at 7 o'clock. Uh, anybody in the room? Uh, Angela. [Music] Thank you. Angela Binda, Orchard Park
Drive. Um, recently with the agenda topic of renewing RCTV contract, board member, I think it was board member Botchi brought up the issue of the RCTV executive director salary, which select board has
no control over. In the next few weeks, the select board will be talking to Burbank Ice Arena with their annual review. I do hope that you bring up the topic of Burbank manager salary. Town folk might also be
surprised to hear what that is, which I believe is about twice the state average and about double what the Stone Marina manager makes. And I learned this years ago when I was working on salary reclassifications.
Also, I do hope you bring up what I believe is an impropriy of Burbank board member making recommendations and meeting with town officials to discuss how the board would like Burbank rent money spent. I think it is improper and
I would like to see the select board address when you have the opportunity to ask the board directly. I do hope that you invite the entire board to that meeting and I would like to know why the board feels that it has a say in how it
spends rent money that is going to town especially with um talk of finances and a possible override. I hope that money goes back into um other other the areas where operating
where it has been in the past. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Gina. Yeah, Jenna. Sorry. Thank you. Kenna Pilowski um wrote this out. Hoping it's two minutes. Two
meetings ago. Your address. Sorry. Apologies. Uh, Kennedy Powski, 3 Herman Avenue. Thank you. Uh, two, uh, two public meetings ago, it became clear that the select board was leaning against RCTV contract renewal. I, along
with members of this community, did not find the board's justification to not renew the contracts convincing. Thus, a lot of residents, including myself, uh, attended the following meeting and spoke in favor of RCTV contract renewal. At
that meeting, the board identified uh another issue that RCTV has since addressed as far as I know. Uh I found the board's suggestion that something nefarious was happening to be more akin to personal attack and not really
informative as to what was actually going on. Uh here's how I see things right now. Uh Phil has served this community for a couple of decades. This board does not have the power to remove Phil. Uh nor has this board made a
strong case against his removal. Nevertheless, to achieve his removal, the board uh this board is willing to dangle RCTV contract as a bargaining chip. Uh this board's actions place RCTV
staff members livelihoods, their careers in jeopardy to achieve Phil's removal. Uh, additional casualties include effectively all of the residents in Reading. So, this is not something I see as for the betterment of the public. I would
ask this board to stop focusing on things like interpersonal drama and dismantling public services. Uh, it's not what residents want, nor is it something that they deserve, nor is it something that the board members want to
be known for. I hope. Um, I would ask that the members of this board who are genuinely interested in serving uh the public to focus on the actual issues in this town. Thank you. Thanks. Anyone else in the room?
Uh, who's on is Caitlyn or Jackie? Anyone on Zoom? Jackie. Jackie. Anyone on Zoom? No hands on Zoom. Um, Mr. Chair. Yes. Um I'm just wondering so um
the viewers at home I don't believe can see the speaker when they're at the podium. I was wondering if we could bring the podium in a couple feet. They're off camera. I don't want to block I don't want to block Karen Rose Gillis but all you can see is the edge of the podium.
Yep. Jane I'll take care of it. Karen on Jane if you want to try speaking we can let you know that. Well, if you want to stand at the corn. Can you see it? Okay. Yes. And I can see Karen, but you're a little blocked. Just
want to let you know. Maybe you don't care. Like that. Right there. Okay. Good. That's better. Everybody's in the picture now. Thank you. Turn off the mic. Turn it on. Thank you, Jane. All right. We will be
moving on to uh town management report. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, a few announcements. First of all, a big thank you to the Reading Lions Club for sponsoring the Friends and Family Day this year. I heard it was a great event. Um, I think there was a few raindrops, but still had
a a great attendance at the event. So, thank you again for sponsoring that community event for us. Um, I wanted to thank Elbert Quest and his team for running this year's Junth Freedom Festival last Saturday on the town common. That also was a wonderful event
and very well attended. Um, last Saturday we hosted the final rigid plastic and old trash and recycling containers drop off um that we had been scheduling for many many weeks. Uh Saturday we had 35 cars uh come to the
drop off. No traffic issues. I think the the week before when we did it we had about 75 cars no traffic issues. Um, residents can still bring old trash and recycling containers to the garage um, any day Monday through Friday, 7 am to 2:30 p.m. So, there's still an
opportunity. And also, we are going to be doing the curbside pickups that we've been talking about for several months um, in July and August on regular trash days. And you can check the website for those dates. Um, and that would conclude the the old trash bins being picked up
and the new ones uh in use. A reminder that this Saturday, the 28th, is Porchfest at various locations around Reading. Please check the Porchfest website for location, maps, and times. And a big thank you to Alan Folds and Ace Folds who've done incredible work
this year again with their committee to organize this event. Um, it just seems to grow and grow every year, so I'm really looking forward to it. Um, this week in writing, we'd like to welcome three new employees. Um, first Veronica Boré who just graduated from Marramac
College. She began working for DPW as a civil engineer and to my knowledge she's the first female civil engineer that we've had hired here in Reading. So we want to welcome Veronica to the team right out of college. We also welcome back Maddie Baptiste who's in my office.
She's helping Jackie with the meeting tonight. Uh she'll be in the town manager's office as an executive assistant. She had worked in the town clerk's office a few years ago. She had left to work for another town manager's office and has now returned I'm being timed.
Um and has now and has now returned um to replace Caitlyn. Um so now Caitlyn is staying home and uh Maddie will replace her on the team. So thank you Maddie. And also our newest police officer was sworn in this week. Welcome officer Adam
Elmore. He comes from Georgetown Georgetown Police Department. He also has experience in Raleigh and with the Middle Sex County Sheriff's Office. So, welcome Officer Elvin. And those are a few announcements. I do have some spotlights um that I can mention when
it's appropriate time. Maybe that's now. Okay. Did you have anything or are you all set? I have nothing. Okay. All right. All right. Matt, yeah, you can move on to the community spot. On to community spotlight. So, I'm going to spotlight um first a Reading Town employee, dedicated
uh Reading Town employee who this month received the Department of Public Works um first responder award. And that's an award we give out to just one person every year. It's done at uh the DPW yard. We have a ceremony down there. And this year, the recipient was Jim
Dramont. And he's been an indispensable member of public works for almost 20 years. He began in the highway department. He moved to the engineering division where he remains today um 16 years in engineering as a field technician and a surveyor. He's always
demonstrated exceptional dedication and rel reliability to his role performing surveying for the town and is quite often the keystone of many projects. He's the one you'll see out there marking all the the lanes and taking all the measurements. um his institutional
knowledge, hard work, and exceptional performance make him outstanding candidate for this recognition. And so we couldn't be prouder to honor Jim um for this achievement. So thank you Jim. And I do have one business I wanted to mention. Wanted to congratulate Nick
Face and Empower Cafe who recently received the Stonem Bank's fifth annual small business spotlight grant. Um and that was a grant that was given to him and his business. Empowered Cafe opened in the year 2020 and their mission is to inspire their community to live a
healthy and active and vibrant life filled with happiness, joy, and appreciation for others. That's one great mission statements in in my book. Um, they also do a lot to support and highlight local businesses on their website, on social media, and when they highlight a business, they sometime
treat them to complimentary menu items. So, a really important part of our community for the last uh five years. So, congratulations to Mick and Empower Cafe. And that's Thanks, Matt. Any public comment?
No one online. Jackie, Karen has her hand raised. Uh, Karen, go ahead. You're muted. Karen, you're muted. Thank you, Matt. I I'm glad you
mentioned the Junth Festival. Albert and all his crew of volunteers did a wonderful job. Great selection of vendors and um I think this is our first fourth event in a row and the educational program at Old South Church was terrific as well. The only one
missing missing was, you know, Harriet Tubman, but hopefully we can um bring her more into the into the spotlight in the future. And um so I don't know who's doing the spotlight, but also I I wanted to put in
that there is um it may be Chuck Tyrone who I think I saw in the room. Um I understand that NextStep Ministries is coming back to reading and providing labor, free labor, um and doing valuable projects in our trails in our town
forest again for the third or fourth year in a row. So, I just wanted to kudos for um staff members and volunteers. I believe Kathy Kelly is one of them who are who are contributing in this way, especially in these um trying fiscal times. Thank you.
Thanks, Karen. And uh just to answer your question briefly is is Matt's in charge of the spotlight and I do not um any provide any feedback to that. I only did to Jane when it was obviously Matt when I saw on LinkedIn that he had his 10 years. So, I mentioned something to
Jane, but Matt handles that um on his own. So, if you wanted to provide feedback to him, you could, but um he handles that portion. All right. So, we will move on to discuss and vote to approve a gift of land off Waverly Road, page nine of the
packet. Who do we have for this? So, I'll kick it off and um and Chuck Tyrone is here on behalf of the conservation commission. So, this is, you know, fairly straightforward. There's some conservation land off Wavely Road and we have a donor who would like to donate that land to the conservation
commission. It's been through quite a process um so far and this is sort of the last phase to get the select board to approve it before um the deed is recorded. Um so the the uh conservation commission has already dealt with it. Um
they voted on it. They want the land. They can put it to good use. It's in the Birch Meadow Drive area from what I understand. Um the woman's name is Cheryl. I'm going to probably mess it up, but Cheryl um Velino Surret um who
was donating the land. I think she's on Zoom just listening today. Um but really wanted to make that gift. So we want to thank her for the gift. Um I ask that we accept the gift and Chuck's here to answer any questions for him or the conservation commission. I don't know if there's going to be any
questions, but I um Hello, it's Chuck Terron, the conservation administrator. Oops. We get this going. Yeah. Hello, it's Chuck Terrone, the conservation administrator. I wanted to thank Cheryl. This was a long process, a lot longer
than these usually take. And uh Cheryl kept up with the process, never uh never let me forget about it. she would call, she would uh make sure that it was on the top of my email list and I think it
was um it was uh you know her due diligence that uh that helped us pull this thing forward. So I did want to try thank Cheryl for all her hard work. Um it was a lot a lot to this one. It wasn't just simply a gift. Uh the conservation commission uh I guess it
was um May 28th uh voted to accept this land. This land is right off Birch Meadow Drive, right near Main Street. It's not a large lot. Um, but as I understand it, the family uh and the dad
and mother uh always wanted this to go to conservation. So, it seemed like an appropriate spot for it and we accepted the land. And uh hopefully in the future there'll be other pieces of land that could be connected to this, but it certainly gives um a little spot of uh
relief to all the building that may happen down in that area. So there's any questions? I I'll take them now. Board members, um just a quick question. So is it conservation land to begin with or it's
just being donated to you at in conservation capacity to get that tag attached to it? Yeah. So it's private land but there is wetland on it and that's uh confused a lot. Wetland conservation land. So it's one and the
same. It's wetland now but when we accept it it will be conservation land um which we'll own as you know. So when I say conservation land, it's like ownership. But when a lot of people say conservation land, I think they're
talking about the wetlands. So it always had wetland on it. It's not all wet. There's dry area, too. But uh there's uh probably half to a little more than half that's wet. All right. Melissa Karen, anything?
All good. Anybody in the room? Yep. I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. All right. Do we have a motion, Karen? Move that the board accept the gift of land at zero Waverly Road, M 33, lot 38.
Second. Seconded by Karen. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Melissa, yes. Her yes. Rose Gellis, yes. Carla Boti, yes. And Chris Haley, yes.
And there's something for you to sign that Karen. I have a green pen. Does anybody have I have a black pen. Black pen because it needs to be recorded. All right. Thank you, Chuck. And thank you to what was it again? Cheryl.
Cheryl. Surret. Thank you. All right. So, we will move on to 7:30. discuss and you vote to dedicate archive room for a request from the historical commission. Should we be waiting for
this at all by chance? Is um Virginia coming or do we have anybody from the historical commission here? Okay. Yes, sure. Good evening. Hi. Hi. I'm Pazzio, chair of the historical commission. Um, so I'm here to um request that we um for anyone who
doesn't know, we have the town archive is in the basement of this building and we'd like to name it in um honor of Virginia Adams, who's a longtime historical uh commission member, and we'd like to name it the Virginia Adams Historical Archive. And just some background on Virginia, um lifelong
resident of Reading. She was a founding member of the historical commission all the way back in 1978 and has served on that commission since then. Um she was a uh also a founding member of the historic district commission in 2009. Um in 2018 she was awarded with a top honor
from the Massachusetts Historical uh uh commission with the Mass Historical Commission Preservation Award. And in that award um Secretary of State Galvin um said quote her efforts are a model of preservation leadership at the local level. And in addition to her many
achievements, her work has laid the groundwork for future preservation efforts in Reading. And um in addition to that, just very briefly, uh a couple of the many uh laundry list of uh accolades and um volunteer that M. Adams
has done throughout her time in Reading. Again, in addition to the historical commission, she served on the following committees representing on behalf of the historical commission. the Highland School Library Conversion, the Pleasant Street Senior Center, Downtown Steering Committee, Master Plan Committee,
Community Preservation Act Committee. She's conducted countless walking tours and trolley tours in town. She was uh deeply involved in the Pearl Streets uh school sale and conversion. Um and she's been a a multi multiple decade member of Arts Reading. In addition to that, town
member for over 30 years at a precinct, too. uh 4 club scout denmother cadet girl uh cadet girl scout leader council of girls board of directors she's been coordinator for French exchange summer program member of wa beretting and finally she was an honorary selectman
way back when when they changed from three to five members um so again uh as anyone who knows Virginia um you know she's deeply deeply deeply dedicated to and proud to be a writing resident and very u deeply dedicated to promoting writing's history and preserving um uh
writing's history. So, uh for all those reasons, we'd like to dedicate the um the town archive in her honor. Thank you. Thank you. Um did anybody else wish to speak on
this as well? Um board members, any questions? She sounds fabulous. Uh Karen, I see your hands up. Thank you. I had the pleasure with serving with Virginia um for three years on the historical commission and um I
probably known her and admired her for at least 15 years. This is this is a wonderful tribute for um the debt this town owes her. Um and she's an amazing source of history and some of the things
that um Pino read off. I hadn't even heard before. So, thank you so much to the commission for coming forward to doing this and bring this to our attention and um I would happily support this. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. Um I guess for me it's
uh I've only been to a couple of historical meetings and um Virginia always had a bag with pictures and articles that were older than me. So um you know it's in a time where people
think that uh historical tags are just a barrier preventing them from doing um work at their house or something like that. It's it's really about preserving the you know future generations. Um so I don't
see anybody replacing Virginia ever. But um at least we've had her here for as long as we have. And um for me obviously naming the room after her is is a no-brainer. I mean it's almost a building at this point but you know one
step at a time I guess. Anyone else from the public online? Anybody? No hands online. All right. Cameron Rose Gillis. Do we have a motion? move that the board name the historical archive
room of town hall the quote Virginia Adams historical archive room end quote in honor of her dedication to the preservation of reading's history and to direct the town manager to affix an appropriate plaque to the door of the room
second discussion roll call vote Karen Herrick absolutely yes Melissa Yes. Carlo. Yes. Taran Rose Gillis and Chris Haley. Yes. Thank you, Virginia.
And thank you for uh historical commission for bringing this forward as well. Uh how long until the plaque is squared away, Matt? Is it I'll work on it right away. Um we I'll work with the historic commission on something very
appropriate. Okay. Perfect. All righty. We will now move on to an update from the ad hoc commemoration establishment committee ACE page 18 of the packet and David is here to give us an update. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening.
Um I'm David Monahan and I am the select board's designate uh to the ad hoc commemoration establishment committee or the committee um established to honor Bill Russell and acknowledge his history in reading. I appreciate you're inviting me to speak
with you this evening. Um, my report will take a few minutes and then I'll certainly be glad to answer any questions that you have for me or accept any input that you have for our committee. When I spoke with you briefly two weeks ago, I told you our committee
was planning to host um a table at the two upcoming events, friends and family and the Junth festival. Both of those events went very well. We think we accomplished our goals of connecting with the community. Um, and I'll tell you more about that in a moment. Just a
reminder that our committee's charge from the select board included I'm just um giving you an excerpt of it. Honor Bill Russell's legacy by striving to create the vision of an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming community. Acknowledge and express accountability
for the mistreatment of Bill Russell and his family in our town. and launch an annual commemoration of Bill Russell that educates about and builds on the understanding of his vision and nurtures his legacy of improved civil rights. Um,
at the Junth festival this Saturday, we did read a statement of intent that the committee had prepared to inform the public about the work that we're doing and hopefully start inspiring and connecting with more people. Um that
statement is in your packet. Um if it's okay with the board, I thought I would read an excerpt of it now just to kind of give you some of the flavor. Of course. Okay. Appreciate it. So um we said we firmly believe that if we want to celebrate Bill Russell as an athlete,
we also need to acknowledge the harms he endured while living in Reading. The charge of our committee is to determine programming for residents that acknowledges the shameful parts of the past while learning from those mistakes to be a more welcoming and inclusive town moving forward. Bill Russell was a
groundbreaking African-American athlete, civil rights leader, and trailblazer in professional sports. Russell left an indelible mark on basketball history. While off the court, he was a fierce advocate for social justice and used his platform to fight systemic racism.
Russell endured racism and prejudice from some members of the Reading community. To date, the committee is preserving research related to Bill Russell's life and legacy before, during, and after basketball with a focus on the Russell family's experiences here in Reading and his
civil rights work. We have identified potential actions the committee and town can take to disseminate this information while harnessing Russell's spirit, including educational initiatives, community discussions on racial equity, the establishment of programs promoting
inclusivity, and greater community outreach in and around reading, celebrating cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. However, the biggest roadblock for the committee is ensuring that our work aligns seamlessly with the town's larger efforts and values rather
than merely reflecting the desires of a dozen or so community members. Our booth at friends and family day and inclusion in events like the Junth festival while monumental for us to share to share our message in progress are just the tip of the iceberg for community involvement.
Over the coming weeks and months, we're asking community members to get actively involved. Give public input at our upcoming meetings on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Our next meeting is tomorrow night, Wednesday, June 25th. Submit suggestions through the town
manager or director of equity and social justice and attend upcoming events. The committee needs this community's input as we refine ideas to best effectuate these goals in a way that inspires and educates the residents of our town. Finally, while the town recognizes the
past, it is committed to fostering a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all residents. We have grown and learned from our history. We hope to strengthen the public perception of the town, showcasing reading as a positive, welcoming, and inclusive community for
all. Um, now I'm glad to report we had some really good conversations with people at both of those events. We felt like we did what we what we set out to do. We made connections with people. We um reached some people who didn't know about the committee who are now
interested in it. And um I would say the conversations kind of ran the spectrum. And I spoke with one woman who has lived in the community for decades and she was so excited to see us and she said, "Every time I ever pass that house on Main Street, I get excited. I say that's
where Bill Russell lived." And if I'm riding with somebody who I'm not usually riding with, I say, "Did you know Bill Russell lived in that house?" And I say it ran the spectrum because another conversation I had with was with a black woman who is new to reading and did not
know about our committee and and had good things to share about her experience in in the town, but she was also really inspired to hear about the work that this committee is undertaking to do. We were excited that maybe 12 or 14 people signed our u email list so
they can start following what we're doing. And um we also had a tree up, the tree that you've seen at Martin Luther King Day and other events where we um you know at times we've asked school children in town to to put um leaves up about a certain topic. We had a question
for both adults and and children that said when you meet a new classmate or a new neighbor, what do you do to make them feel welcome? We thought this was something that wasn't too heavy for kids and might, you know, parents could have some conversations with kids or adults
might tap into um what is it about this committee that is kind of touching a chord with them. If you don't mind, I'll share a couple of I mean, we had tons of answers, but a couple that I thought um were interesting. You're welcome to our community as a friend and neighbor with
open arms. Do you play soccer? Then join our team. If not, cheer for our team. If a new classmate came to class, I would ask if I could be their friend and show them around. I'd say, "Hey, hi. How are you really doing?" I would introduce
myself and offer to cook dinner. I would throw a block party to introduce them. Last one I'll share. Include them and defend them if people are disrespectful. Um, so we were happy with how those events went. We feel like our committee
is making good progress. We are digging into the history. We're not acting as if we know everything there is to know about Russell's legacy, about his experience in this town, and we are, you know, starting to sketch out some broad ideas of what the program might be, how
we might honor Bill Russell um when we're done with our work. And then, you know, that's supposed to be a foundation for work going forward. But we've talked about things like a program at the high school, perhaps a scholarship. Um, it could be for a student athlete or it could just be for a student who embodies
um the the qualities of caring about their community and standing up for things that they believe in. And an event like that could be an opportunity to educate people. Um, we could have some kind of a program at at the library as well. So, these are the things that
we'll be talking about um in the coming months. As I mentioned, um, we're hoping that more people, we've had kind of a stalward crew of maybe three or four non-committee members who have been attending our meetings. We're hoping that will double or more in um, in the
coming weeks so that we really can get a lot of input from the town and um, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you, David. Board members, Karen, Melissa, all good. Um, I guess for me, David,
thank you. Uh, I know we've been in communication, so it's good to to see you coming multiple times, you know what I mean? Um, and I do appreciate what you mentioned in in um the memo that is included in
the packet about um Reading being, you know, a leader with the Metco program and creating all the other um various groups here in town. uh because during the Junth event, one of the speakers there also mentioned that um Reading is
looked at as a pioneer for other communities on how to run their kind of Junth events. So, it's it's good to see that you know um that we are putting in the effort, we have been and we will
continue to do so um in the future. Um so, it's it's good to see. Uh, and you also mentioned that you had an email. Is that on the website somewhere where people can reach out or Yeah, I believe it's on the page that we have um set up
through the town committee. Yes. And um I can't say we've been updating it every week or anything like that, but we'll certainly be sharing um our meeting minutes, notices about the meetings coming up, and we'll be doing a little bit more, I think, to reach out to people and kind of um inspire people to
get involved. But I I definitely agree. I appreciate the comment that you made. you know, there's a lot for us to tap into. It's not like we're finding, man, do we have a tremendous amount of work to do to turn things around in this town. Like more and more we're seeing the ways that we can be tapping into an
energy of inclusion and appreciation for diversity and kind of tying the work of this committee to things that already exist in the town. So, I I I agree that that's a good sign. And um I lost my train of thought. Very rare.
I'm sorry. Well, I did see what you did, David. Lost my train of thought. Um, oh, I know what it was. Um, so there was talk before about reaching out to the Russell family. Um, has the committee discussed that or are we not at that
stage or where do we stand? We're not at the stage to have done it yet. Well, but we've discussed it a lot and I think one of the things that's complicated is that um there's no one way to contact the Russell family. I think um there are v
various kind of facets of the Russell family and so one thing we'll need to do is find out exactly who to reach out to but we have discussed very much I mean in in the um board's charge it's described that we should be respectful
of them and you know all of us on the committee agree that we ought to and um so we are looking for the right time to reach out and um you know, we we want to give them the opportunity if they if they'd like to come to our meetings and
sit with us and and talk about plans, that's great. If they want to give like um just a comment to to, you know, something like a close a more finished plan, whatever works for them, we'll accept. Um but uh yeah, we're looking
for the right time. And um you might think, well, what's the harm in reaching out sooner than later? But we don't want to go kind of prematurely when if we're only going to them to kind of set a marker to say, "Oh, we'll be in touch with a couple of months." That might not
make the best impression for reaching out for the first time. Yeah. No, I mean, that makes sense to me. I just think that um I would hate for you to to just continue without reaching out, but I understand that you
know more the appropriate time than I do. So, you know, you can play it by ear like that. It it will definitely be sooner than later and it won't be a last minute thing. Yeah. Yeah. So, I appreciate that. Anyone from from the public have any
comments? Anyone online? Jackie? Yes. Karen Janowski has her hand raised. Sure thing. Go ahead, Karen. Name and address, please, in two minutes. Hi, Karen Janowski. Aelia Circle. I just
wanted to um let you know about something. When I was on the school committee representative on the human relations advisory committee, this was about 15 years ago. We had a contest in the spring for a few years about how
Reading was a welcoming community and we had submissions from all of the schools and they were judged by Reading Rotary after all the submissions were reviewed and there were prize donations and it really was a um an excellent um
opportunity to engage school the the students in um you know just thinking about how reading is a welcoming inclusive community and you may want to consider something like that. Again, just wanted to pro provide some historical context. Thank you so much
for mentioning it. Um it's good to hear about it. It may also be helpful for us to kind of touch base about some feedback about how it went. Um would you be the right person if someone wanted to reach out or maybe you have a suggestion of someone else if we wanted to just um
see who has some memories about how it went and the challenges and benefits of it? Oh, I I'd love to um help out with that. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anybody else online? See nobody, right? Nope. Perfect. No one
else online. All right, David. I appreciate it. Keep in touch. Thank you, David, and the rest of the East Committee. We really appreciate it. Thank you all. Really appreciate it. Connect with Karen Janowski and see what you guys can do. We'll do. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening. You as well.
All right, 7:50. We are ahead of schedule. Page 20 in the packet, discuss town manager goals. Matt has his hand up just I I can open up and I asked for this to be on the agenda. So So my, as you know, my new contract started this month, early this
month. In the contract, it said that by July 11th that the select board would meet to define goals and objectives that they determine necessary for the proper operation of the town um policy objectives um and establish priorities.
So I just wanted to sort of put that in front of you to make you aware of that cause um and maybe we can start discussing some goals. I also in the packet the only goals that I got um so far is from my original contract that's
the language that we that I put in the packet that contract is now since expired um but it was regarding the kilum the recalc I mean a lot of we made a lot of progress on many of these goals some have been accomplished um some are ongoing um but they you know I think we
should maybe do some refreshing um I'd like some goals that are you know not just specific to me but to the whole town and hear what your priorities are. Um, and so I just wanted to open up in this meeting just for some discussion if we can capture some of that or if there's a process you have in mind. Um,
and then I will come back and ratify things at a later date. But um, you know, we're on a little bit the way these contracts work, we're on a little bit of a shorter time frame. So you need to review me again in December and decide in January if you want to renew the contract for another term. So, it
would be, you know, probably goals for at least the next six months. Um, you know, and hopefully attainable goals. I do want that review process to go a lot smoother this year than it did last year. So, I want to get ahead of these things and um and I'm open to all sort
of suggestions on that. So, I'll leave it to you to discuss, but I'm just bringing it to your attention and, you know, happy to assist any way I can. Thank you, Matt. Board members, any goals for Matt? Looks like he's done a lot that's
already there. So, I guess we kind of start from scratch. Yeah. I mean, it can be anything. I know back when we did this with Fidel, um, he had a a certain set amount of of things. Um, the con, for me it was the construction tracker
that's up on the website now. Um, the, you know, so the road closings, that kind of thing. something tangible that's not, you know, $100,000 or contingent on votes. I mean, I I know we kind of did this back then and obviously kill them
and the senior center were the most significant pressing issues, but if there's anything else that Well, it seems like those will continue because they're just kind of getting going. So, I think that they should still be included in but not in a different phrasing or narrative.
And I don't know what that would be, but I think they're still pretty active. I think the Pleasant Street Center is also something. Yeah, we'll be discussing with us plus Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Carlo, we discussed it a few meetings ago, maybe future agendas about the Google spreadsheet of incoming emails, uh, making, you know, in progress taken
care of, whether it's from residents or from us or residents directed through us. Then, you know, we forward town staff. Um, I know Matt sees all the emails, but I think that we need to find
a way to manage that better because we kind of drop the ball and that way you don't get caught off guard that you Matt, you didn't do this well. Yeah, how do I I didn't know about it, you know, stuff like that. Um, and I did we did find that spreadsheet. I think it was
created actually by Bob. It wasn't used much by Fidel after his first few months, but we can certainly, you know, bring it back and and use it. It's not a bad idea. I I I agree. It's it's it's got to be a two-way street. We got to all work on it together, right? Um,
another thing I'd like to see because it's it's coming and uh we extended RCTV contract to negotiate is some language that, you know, successful contract with a new provider. Um, just
leave it kind of open because we don't know what's going to happen in the future. Um, but just to manage that and help guide that in a positive direction whichever way uh the board decides. Um, other than that, you know, as we
discussed before in your other review, communication is paramount, letting us know about things, even though they might seem minor. Um, we don't want to find out from the paper. We don't want to find out from Facebook. Yeah. Um, we don't want to find out from from a
resident and then, you know, just makes a little bit a little bit more challenging. So, I think that is is has definitely gotten better, but we want that to continue. But I don't know if that was how we word that, but I think I think Matt knows the gist of that. Yeah, we could work on the wording, just
ideas. Yeah. Yeah. And and I I think other than that, um just, you know, the goals that are in here. Um but I I I think to go forward I think our budget um
constraints are going to be a big topic in this coming year and I think we need to get ahead of that and really you know along with Sharon and Jane and whoever else is involved and how we can do better on the budget and not rely on
free cash and and really put us in you know good foot forward because you know we a lot of things that are out of our control that are going in the wrong direction unfortunately. So, um
there some Matt uh Matt, I and Sharon have been meeting and kind of discussing that um the override scenario budget stuff. So, that's been going on behind the scenes. So, it is good that you bring it up because you know it's it's
obviously a goal of mine as well. So, um I I think it's on the next agenda is is um uh a presentation from Sharon on on some of the items that we discussed. So, Melissa, thank you. Um actually, I'm just going
to kind of piggyback on what Carlos said. Communication was my biggest thing and we've seen a huge shift in that. So, I appreciate that. Um and also budget um items. I think that unfortunately with the two big projects we have coming
forward and increased costs and everything else and the amount of free cash we use this year, we are going to have to really tighten the budget in the town um and you know really look through every department's budget and you know with a fine to comb and maybe even make
some cuts because I think that you know the last thing I want to do is have an override beyond the next you in the next two years, which I'm hoping we can try to avoid, but I'm not sure that we can with the two big debt exclusions that were just voted in. So, I just
essentially piggybacked on what Carlo said, but I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Melissa. Karen Herrick. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, yep. I would agree with my prior two colleagues about um
fiscal challenges and and a different approach to budgeting. This year we uh I I expect to see tightening of the belts. Um the state house had a hiring freeze and you know that's an that's an example of things that that could potentially be
done to improve the budget. Um some of those goals still relate to grants and um last night at the town forest committee meeting you know I heard from uh DPW director Chris Cole that yeah there are like recre um I think it was a recreation grant. No, there are state
level grants. So I was thinking to myself, you know, I know staff and departments are applying for grants, but that is an area of communication. It would be good for our residents to know it would make me feel better as a select board member keeping up the winning and
applying for grants and um you know hopefully green communities will be part of it and we'll take care of that um that checkbox and you know aside from the fiscal realities and I I am hearing from the state house that you know schools will be getting um it may have
already been signed one $150 per pupil which is an increase of $45 to $50 over last year. So, I'm expecting that, Matt, when you enter in um discussions with the school department, you know, they should be positive discussions because the sir charge was
dedicated to transportation and um and education and they are coming through and and and bringing money back to the to the communities who need it. So, that should make our discussion easier, but that is this has to be a high priority. Um a different fiscal approach. Um,
we've been having a great time spending and um, especially in the area of capital and to Melissa's points, two large building project and a $1.8 million construction of pickle ball courts project which maybe we roll into
those. It's really three projects that have to be managed and kept on budget and and I realize that is also going to take a lot of staff time but it is it is a different environment. Um, so I just want to say loud and clear that we need to get the message out to staff um that,
you know, we need we need to be very careful going forward. The budget needs to change this year. and and I know you'll work um with myself and and Carlo with the finance committee as well to get that message out there and we'll improve communication in that area as well and and work together so that we
don't have certain committees, you know, predicting an override and sharing about an override that we haven't really discussed on social media. So we can do a better job with communication in general to our residents as well as providing you know fiscally responsible budgets for the
next and succeeding years. Great. Thank you. Thank you Karen. Um for me I have two items. Um the first would be um seeing about getting pricing on an
app for the town of Reading. I know other communities have it. I know we get that spam email once every two weeks from gov mobile or whatever. I'm sure it's just simply converting over our website. They get some cookie cutter thing that they do and whatever we
update on the website updates on the app. Um but that's more um the communication and transparency angle. Just another way of you know taking writing into the future. Everyone has an app. Sure, you can go to a website, but it's it's much easier when you have the app with push notifications and the
whole E911 thing wrapping it into that. Um, so just get pricing if it's outrageous. Obviously, you know, we'll talk about it, but maybe it's nothing. Probably not. Mhm. Um and then secondly, I know we discussed this um in our um
meeting agenda meetings uh separately from this, but um just create um uh substituting the message board out on the town common with a digital LED one. So this way here all the other various committees don't have to go and put
sticky notes and tape all over prior year's one and you have to pay the $60 $100 fee whatever it is to get printed. Um, and uh, when I brought that up at our meeting, uh, I think it was you, Dane, that mentioned that you're not looking at one, you're looking at a
grant for like six of them, which would be even better than the one four. Um, and that would might be covered by a grant is so that's what you're looking at. It might be. It's a It's a heavy might. It's a heavy. Grant spending is
good. Non-grant spending goes on the maybe list, Chris. Right. Love that. We love grants. So, yeah, we're contin Perfect. But, yeah, just something like that. Once again, modernizing us, taking us into the future and um you know,
making uh reducing the barrier of cost from all the other um residents that want to put stuff up there. Now, it would be zero sort of. Yeah. You know what I mean? Um as opposed to what it is. Plus, it could be cycled through more events um even
when stuff isn't happening. You know what I mean? and how you mentioned four. I mean that would be pretty incredible to have that and if it's covered by a grant even better. So that's kind of my two things techie technology kind of scenarios. Okay, great. Anyone from the
public want to give Matt some goals? Paige, you look like you want to give Matt some some direction over here. Write for the Chronicle. No. All right. Anybody online? Goals for Matt? No one on that online. Sorry. All
righty. Right. Thank you. Appreciate the feedback and we'll get back to you with these. All right. So, we will move on to 805. Uh, discuss and vote on appointments of boards and committees. Page 22 in the packet and it goes all the way to 104 I
think. Um, so I know Melissa and Karen Rose Gillis, you were on the vast committee. So, um, if you both just want to give us an overview of how things went. Can we do anything different better and kind of how you arrived at where we're at? Melissa, do you want to
go first? Sure. Um, I think that the meetings went very smoothly. Um, Karen and I did four days of meetings various times over a two week span. I believe we got most
almost all of our candidates in for meetings. Um, very few weren't able to do it. Um, and I think it went smoothly. I think that, um, it was great to work with Karen and get to know her a little better as well. And, uh, I think, um, I
actually love Basque, uh, because you get to meet all different various residents in town and learn more about each board and committee. So, it's I enjoy um my time doing those interviews, but I think it all went smoothly. Thanks, Melissa. Karen, I will agree. It
was great. Um it it was fun getting to know Melissa. Um Jackie was there and they went very smoothly. Rarely did we run behind schedule. Um I was incredibly humbled by how many people there were and the fact
that this is just like a third of them. So, it's amazing how many people in town volunteer and I think that it's a wonderful thing and everybody had great attitudes and it was really fun. I enjoyed it. Um, so I guess out of all the reappoints
is it only one was not uni unanimous out of the entire selection? Is that uh Yeah, right Melissa. Yeah, it was just the one. Yep. Just one. So, do we want to have a discussion on what how we want to handle this or you
take it out of order? We we vote on the ones that are uncontested and then we vote separately on the How do you have a motion set up, Karen? Is it for everybody or It's for every
individual person. I'm trying to think that I don't remember reading this all myself last time we did this. You know what I mean? We didn't do person by person. I know. I think we grouped them together last time by committee or No, we
it's it's gone a little differently in years past depending on how unanimous we are, but it seems like that Vasque had, you know, split on one appointment. So, we can discuss I guess vote on that one
first and then on the other We never did it name by name. Yeah. Karen Melissa, what are your thoughts on this? I agree. I don't remember doing it name
by name, so I think it makes sense to discuss the one we didn't agree on and then move forward with a vote for the rest of them. Karen, is that good for you? Eric,
she there. Did we lose her now? She should still be She's still on there. Karen, y it's fine. Okay. All right. So, I guess uh Melissa and Karen Rose Gillis, do you just want to give a brief
overview of just the one vote that you were unanimous on? Sure. um uh Chris Kridler was um applying to be re-nominated or reappointed and um I feel that because we're in the middle of
discussions with RCTV and we have given them an opportunity to I don't want to use the phrase get their acts together but figuring out the next three months that I think that it might not be wise to change leadership at this point and that we can give them the
three months to figure out what's going on and perhaps we can put off voting on this particular one till the end of the three months and when we're going to make a decision how we're moving forward. I don't feel like making a change in this particular position um would benefit the
negotiations going on. I think that putting someone in new right now um might not be the greatest thing. That was my point. Melissa. Um I think that
um I differ from Karen's opinion in that I think a change will be good. Um the RCTB board actually just reelect or elected a new president of their board uh last week. Um and I think that the board does need a change um so we can
get negotiation done right and move forward with RCTV and their contract. So, I supported uh putting a new resident on that committee. All right, board members, any discussion on RCTV board of directors? Carlo,
no, I appreciate the work um of AASP and everyone volunteering and uh as Rose Gillis is new, I I I understand and hear her I guess concerns, but uh part of the reason
we're having a lot of animosity is from certain members of the board. So I think uh getting a new perspective on the board because it's been it's been pretty stale over the years, the same members, the same members, the same members and things haven't been going
well. I think a lot of us acknowledge that. So I think a new person would bring a fresh set of eyes and a different perspective and it's one way or the other in the next couple months they get renewed or they don't. So, um I
think a new person would be very beneficial to help with their insight and um what what needs to get better and and and and um so that's it. Yeah, I I
support uh Mr. Powell. Um I guess that goes to me. Um, so, uh, the way that I feel about this is that, um, we are appointing
our, um, representative to be on the RCTV board. It's not the other way around where RCTV is putting somebody on our board. And in the talks that I had, it just seemed like it was going the opposite direction of the way that it's
supposed to be. Um so for me uh I would be recommending Ron Powell um uh for appointment as our uh designate. So I guess knowing that there is an end date for
whether we stick with RCTV or we don't what happens to their board or our assignees to their board should we decide to move forward with a different direction? So there so the current um the current membership would expire on
June 30th of what like a week from now. Um so no matter what we have to do something we can't postpone something. You can't postpone a signingless um the appointment expires June 30th. You can't extend it for three months or
six months. That would be technically what we're sort of kind of doing already. I mean you could you could make that argument. I don't see how it would end up working though. Okay. But that doesn't so our CTV's
board itself is like 13 members or something like that and there's other various vacancies um on their end um that you know uh I think will be taken
uh on the vote tonight is my opinion. Okay. So how do we want to handle so do we want to vote on the May I speak Mr. chair, please. Yes, Karen. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, I have worked or spoken with Chris Kriedler a number of
times over the past year or so. Um, maybe it goes a little further back. Chris was instrumental in RCT finding a new spot and getting out of that contract. And they tried really hard to negotiate with that landlord on Main Street. And that was all due to Chris
working with um Phil, the director, and and presumably the other board of members to get that done. So um this feels like the CPDC move where we are deciding not to reappoint hardworking,
experienced, knowledgeable members for personal reasons. So that that really concerns me because that has no business and it is a poor way to treat volunteers. So regardless of how this board votes
tonight and I will be supporting Chris. Chris has been working hard for RCTV and I understand he's had to undergo a number of heated meetings with select board members and which also kind of keeps reminding me of the um the Burbank situation and we'll be talking to them
next meeting. So, I'm going to be probably quoting you, Chris and Carlo, next meeting. Um, but I want to thank Chris Krysler for all of the hard work that he did to get them into a new space in in um light of shrinking ped peg
fees. That was a year-long effort. There aren't a lot of spaces in writing. That was a big task and and that was what this volunteer was doing for us. So, I'm not throwing him out after he has so abley served RCTV and the residents of
Reading. Um, but I also let me add I was scanning through the list of committees again and I do want to talk about the ZBA appointees before we approve them as a full uh um as a whole. Thank you.
So, you want to take out ZVA plus RCTV and everybody else is is fine. Darren, I don't know if we need to take it out, but I'd like to have a little discussion on it. And if you know, it's going to go through the mo the process of make a motion and have a discussion, then that
would be fine as well. But I have questions. Okay. Melissa, anything else? Can I just Yeah, just a quick comment. So, I just want to say this is not personal at all. I actually make a point to make nothing that I do for the town personal. I was voted in by the
residents not to do any uh vendettas like Karen is suggesting. Um I also want to point out that as the RCTV board pointed out the reason and the um how they acquired or decided to move on to a new space was because they hired a
consultant to do that. Um, and unfortunately I think there's been a lack of communication with Chris being the um, liaison to the select board and I think that that was also one of my deciding factors. But thank you.
Thank you, Melissa. All right, so we can vote on this vote on the RCTV board of directors first and then we'll Yep. Um, go from there. So Karen, do you have a motion for just the RCTV board of directors? And you can
start with whoever you decide to start with. Move to appoint Chris Kridler to the RCTV board of directors term date effective July 1st, 2025 and expiring June 30th, 2028.
Second Carlo seconded. Um any discussion from the public? I forgot about the public. Anybody online? No one online. Thank you, Jackie. Uh,
board members, anything? All right, so I will take a roll call vote on Chris Kridler. Um, Melissa, no. Sharon Herrick, yes. I would reappoint Chris Kridler in heartbeat. Carlo, no. Uh, Karen
Roseellis, yes. and Chris Haley. No. So, could I get a motion for Ron Powell? Move to appoint Ron Powell to the RCTV board of directors. Term date effective July 1, 2025 and expiring June 30th, 2028.
Second. Seconded by Carlo. Any discussion? Uh, roll call vote. Melissa, yes. Here. Yeah, I absolutely don't bring any personal um vendettas into these decisions. I I'm happy to support the
board's um appointment of Ron Pile. So, that's a yes. Um Carlo, yes. Uh Karen Roseellis, yes. And Chris Haley, yes. All right. So, Karen, you had Eric, you
had a question on the zoning board of appeals. in the determination. So that was Melissa and Karen Rose Gillis. You were both in agreement on whatever is presented. Presented. Yep. I just want
to probe a little deeper because um I I'm looking for the resume of Mr. Federa. Is Mr. Fera a developer? Mr. Federa. Let me just see if I can find it. There's a lot of stuff in our packet. So, I don't have his um
information in front of me. I don't have that paperwork, but I believe work uh it might be. I didn't scroll down, but um I remember his interview and he does work for a construction company. He himself is not a developer and most of the work he does is in the
city of Boston. So, he does not work in his family business. I believe that's correct because he works for a larger business downtown. I don't know the name of it. Um he doesn't have the name of it but
because Yes. So we we need to be very careful with conflicts of interest and and we have new volunteers coming in and we just want to make sure they're understanding of that. So did you guys have that discussion with him? We did. We absolutely did. I believe it was Karen that asked him specifically if
he would have any conflicts with work that he would be involved in in the city town of Reading. And he said most of his work is done in the city of Austin. Okay. Wait, is he uh is it Anthony Mr. Anthony Federa? Yeah. General construction with a large firm,
but it doesn't say the name of the firm. Did you guys ask him the name of the firm? I think if there if this is the Is this the younger? He is kind of young. So like if he's really 26. I That's
David. Oh, all right. I was going to say he's not that young, but he was not I'd say old, but he's not. Okay. All right. Because I Who does Anthony work for? I This is This is This is This is a
concern to me. I want I You know, I'm sorry. We just went through this with CPDC and I don't want to go through this again. I don't think we went through it with CPDC in my opinion. But in his resume that is presented on there, it just says
that he's construction manager. It's on the screen currently. Yeah, that's not a resume. That's an application. Well, there's no firm game, but he filled out the application just as all the other residents filled out the application. So, I'm sorry. We had an issue with a
resident last year who didn't, you know, really disclose that he owned a property that was coming before the CPDC. I don't want to repeat that process again. Let me just see if I can figure out who he works for and then I'll be very happy that there'll be no conflicts of interest. I mean, I think that we
explained to him that he would need to recuse himself if there were any conflicts and I think that's appropriate. I don't think that we need to ask specifically which company he works for. In fairness, all of us could have conflict conflicts of interest because we live in this town and a lot of us work in this town. So, I think
it's a little inappropriate to step over that line. As long as we're see that he's coming up as an assistant project manager at Conigley Construction. Does that sound familiar? Did you guys ask him who he worked for? We did not. We did not. No. Would I have?
And then before that, he worked for GC Federa Contracting Company. We also did not ask for his 5year work history. Yeah. But I don't understand if we go to sell the building for the pleasantry center and you're going to recuse yourself because you're a realtor. I think it's a you're stepping
over a line this board since 2020. I have recused myself on any number of occasions. I have I will remember that when that's if that comes for sale then. Uhuh. Yeah. Please do. This is this is not my first rodeo. I've been volunteering this town for 20
years. That's why I'm considered an expert on what you need to disclose and how to Karen. Once again, you are not better than any other person on this board. You not an expert. We are all working together. Karen, you were the first person. So, Mr. Chair, I have the floor and and and I'm sorry, my
colleague is interrupting me and I will wrap it up quickly. So, I'm going to take I'm going to take you at your word, both of you, because obviously you are trying to do the best for the community. But for the record, Mr. Federa is a
former employee of GC Federa Contracting Company. If the Federas are doing projects that need to come before the ZBA, he's going to need to talk to council or talk to talk to the state about whether he needs to recuse
himself. And so this is not dissimilar to appointing somebody who does a lot of work in writing to CPDC. And I'll just leave it at that. Um, looks like he works for Conigley Construction now. Thank you. So, I will just note that he's
um in here as an associate member, a non- voting member. Um and I don't believe there were any other applicants. There was three and it's three people getting appointed. Correct. Or am I missing another applicant that Nope,
that's correct. No, that's correct. Okay. So, he's not taking somebody else's place, Karen. If that makes you feel any better, I guess, is my point. So, obviously, that's not really my concern, but I I appreciate you pointing
that fact out. Yeah. I I just think that anyone on any of these committees, town forests, trails, whatever you want to say, people are going to recuse when they can. I mean, it's it's it's it's not a specialty that, you know, these people are volunteering. And I know they're not elected like we are, so it's
a completely different bar obviously. But, you know, I think that if something is coming up before the zoning board of appeals from a Federa and a Federa is on the board, I mean, I I I don't see how he doesn't recuse himself. You know what
I mean? Thank you. And we're in agreement. Thank you. Yes. So, does that mean that you're good now, Karen, and we can just take the the whole lot and everybody is is acceptable?
Oh, I stated my concerns about this appointment, but yes, I'm fine with everything else and I appreciate the hard work for the VA Vas from the Vasque subcommittee. All right. Um I guess anyone from the public then on the um the remainder
of uh the appointments. Anybody online? Jackie? Nope. No one online. So how do we want to do this Karen? For everybody else. You can't just say everybody else. Should I just list the
committees? What do you think? Committees as presented. Yeah. Presented because we have the motions. part of the packet. So, yep. Yeah. How's the motion read in the packet? Well, we did them individually because Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. But I mean, it is part of the pack
and you referred to it. It's presented in a package. Yeah. We already did RCTV. So, now it's correct. A simple motion. There's a lot of them. So, move to appoint the uh remainder.
Move to appoint the volunteers for the various committees as presented in our packet for the specific terms outlined in the packet um for their specific terms because
they're different. Yes, I think that's good. Second. All right. Any discussion? Seeing none. Uh, so roll call. Melissa, yes. Karen Herrick,
yes. Carlo, yes. Karen Rose Gillis, and Chris Haley, yes. Thank you all for the hard work. I know you sacrificed a lot of time to be able to to get through all that, but you know, as you both mentioned, it's good
to meet the various uh residents that you may or may not see on a dayto-day, but they are still here. All right. So, we will now move on to uh 8:35, way ahead of schedule. the 413
Main Street discussion to vote and acquire a gift by eminent domain. Page 105 in the packet. Matt, did you have some? Yeah, I can I can speak to this. So, if you remember, we we dealt with this at town meeting. So, this is that McDonald's property and as
they were looking at the plans and redoing the property, um they found out that, you know, part of what we consider to be our sidewalk down there was actually McDonald's property. It's just really a sliver. Um, but we figured, you know, through that process, through
CPDC, we wanted to make sure that we had entire rights to our sidewalk. So, McDonald's, you know, people agreed to essentially, you know, give us that that process. We do it the legal mechanism is through what they call friendly taking.
So, we actually take it. There's no money exchange, but there's a deed that would be need to be recorded, you know, plan that needs to be recorded. And then we'll have what we thought we had all along was just access to our full sidewalk in that area. Um in town meeting passed it and the the last step
again is for the select point to approve it. So board members any questions? Nope. Anyone from the public? Jackie online. See nobody. Sorry. Nope. Nobody.
All right, Karen, do you have a motion for this? move that the board vote to adopt and execute the form of order of taking authorized by article 12 of the April 28, 2025 annual town meeting to take for general municipal purposes a
portion of the property owned by 413 Main Street LLC located at 170 Ash Street and Reading Mass consisting of approximately 261 square feet with such order of taking to be held in escrow by town council until the town and owner
execute a purchase and sale agreement whereby the owner waves all damages from the taking and to authorize the town manager and town council to take any actions necessary to effectuate the execution of said purchase and sale agreement and after such execution to record the order of taping and issue
such notices as required. Seconded by Carlo. Any discussion? Seeing none, uh Karen Herrick voting Karen. Um
sorry, I blanked out. Let me go last. Go. Sure. Okay. Melissa, yes. Carlo, yes. Karen Rose Gillis, yes. Chris Haley, yes. and Karen Eric.
Okay. So, that's a yes. So, uh 5 and we have some paperwork assigned that Karen will pass around. All right. Moving right along. 8:45 select board leazison reports. Um
Melissa, did you want to go first? Sure. No problem. So my some of them are old because of um we cut it short last meeting but uh May 28th the permanent building committee um has a new project manager I'm sorry for the active living
center who's Mark Stafford and they introduced him at that meeting. Um May 29th the board of health discussed the MBTA sound study but no report as of that meeting has been provided to the board of health or the town that I'm
aware of. Um there are some concerns that the board of health discussed over the scope and the potential bias of um the consulting firm that was used for that study. Um they're also using a new rodent control program in town that has been very effective. Um school committee
on their June 5th meeting recognized teachers for their years here in town. Some 3, 10, 20, and even 30 years. Um they celebrated some retirements and recognized some other fantastic teachers that were nominated by staff, students, and residents. Um they completed Dr.
Milichesky's evaluation at that June 5th meeting as well and what he was rated exemplary across all boards. Um they also reorganized the school committee and congratulations to Sean Grant who is the new chair of the school committee and Ka Nazaro who's the new vice chair.
Um, I did or my husband attended the police open house and I just wanted to say thank with my son Tommy and I just wanted to say thank you to the police department. It's always a wonderful event that they put on and my son loves it every year including the new uh drone that was uh put up this year. So, thank
you to all. Thanks Melissa Karen. Sure. I attended a a terrific town forest meeting where we said goodbye to um longtime chair Bill and thanked him for all his amazing efforts. And I'll
I'll let Karen give you um the rest of the update there. Um and also it's a bit older. I had attended the farewell for Chief Burns at the fire station and um he had fire chiefs from all over the Commonwealth coming in to
um share their uh congratulations on his retirement and um I was happy to attend the grand opening of Presence and Company. Welcome to the downtown of Reading. Um they have a beautiful space in there and um hopefully the town can make use of it
while we're waiting for our um new senior community center to be built when we run into space crunches. Attended um two RMLD meetings. Um uh general manager Greg Fipps has resigned.
Um an interim general manager will be named later this week. Um a thank you to Greg Fipps for the the projects that he's partnered on the town with. Um our initial electric chargers. Um uh the
just opened a a battery storage a massive battery storage project um that I mentioned in a prior liaison report which will um make our infrastructure stronger um during weather events and heat emergencies and um any number of
other um items that he worked with. I do believe he um spearheaded the energy audit for the Burbank Ice Arena among any number of um projects. So um that's all I can remember. Oh, and then today I attended the most recent edition of the
MMA fiscal policy committee and I alluded earlier to um potentially the governor signing um part of that um budget today. Um Senate and House are pretty much in agreement. these search charges coming in in excess of it's
running ahead like $2.8 8 billion and and now we're there's talk about oh this bill was designed for capital onetime improvement so how can we make it work for further operational support for cities and towns so um there's going to
be support for culvert rebuilding um that might be something that would be u appealing to um reading and they're talking about redoing the chapter 70 formula and Um as I mentioned the SC school per pupil
um approved budget item is about 150 per pupil and the increase in state spending to our UGGA um unrestricted government aid is going to be about 2.2%. So that 2.2% 2%, you know, could be our town
budget number that the finance committee recommends in the fall if we, you know, if if we're serious about um being fiscally responsible going forward. Thank you. Thanks, Karen. Carla. Sure. Thanks. Um we had a CPA
meeting a few weeks ago. Um I got caught up because they had some conflicts and some prior ones. So in that meeting, Martha Moore uh who is um on conservation gave us an update um on
what forest conservation and trails what money we could have spent if we had CPA and it was very eye opening. Uh we also discussed but did not vote on what percentage we would use. A lot of us are
leaning towards between one and one and a half. uh they were looking into a booth for the fall street fair and um we're still meeting um monthly uh even though we're not going to go to a
vote until November of 26. And also for the first time since I guess the announcement of groundbreaking, I walked the Mallets Morgan site with my wife on Father's Day and it was very very nice. Um, I know Karen mentioned it a few
meetings ago, but it was my first time over there since several years ago when we had a a big event over there, but it came out very nice. And I would like to take a uh point of personal privilege a little bit on something. Sure. Thanks.
Um, I was recently in England, uh, visiting my daughter. My daughter's over there rowing for Oxford Brooks. Uh, she was a D1 athlete at University of Tennessee. She walked on as a coxin and wanted to continue her rowing career and
went to get went to London was sorry went to England to get a masters and she's a coxin for the ox Oxford Brooks rowing team and she competed in the 1v4 this past weekend in the women's Henley which is a pristine riata in Europe and
the Royal Henley regata which is the biggest riata in the world is in about 10 days she'll be rowing in that so we were there as a family. So, it was very exciting. I've I've been to many races in the States, but uh she was on the temps and she made it to championship
Sunday uh but lost in a very close race uh in the semi-finals. So, we're very proud of her and um you know, running graduate class officer and um just it was it was awesome to be there as a family to watch and support her
race. So, thank you for that. Thank you, Carlo. Karen Rose Gillis. So, um, June 2nd, I met with Simone from the food pantry, introduced myself, got a tour, um, discuss the increasing needs of the community and how we can work together
and their need for expansion. Same day I met with the Reading Housing Authority, introduced myself and met the residents and look forward to working with them. Um, that'll be interesting. There was some nice discussion from the residents. It was great. Uh June 3, I was here for the
second grade class visit. There's a lot of energy in this room that with those kids. They were adorable. Um they asked a lot of questions. What his favorite food is, for instance, um ask interviews.
June 4th, um, uh, Carolyn Caffrey's middle school, um, civics class asked me to come in and they made a presentation to me about how they wanted to have the voting age lowered to 16. And they gave a lovely presentation about all the
different aspects of voting and um, engagement. And we had a really great conversation with the three young ladies and brainstormed on different ways of getting young people involved in government. and we talked about maybe when they go to high school they can um continue this discussion and I I welcome
them to come to some select board meetings if they wanted to see how it was run and I suggested they come to town meeting to see how it's run and then perhaps next April they we could kind of have a mock election for the high schools and middle schools to participate in just get them young and
they will vote. Um and also um Michael Mday's civics class submitted a whole bunch of um projects via email and they were delightful. There was dog walking things and put stuff up in the town forest, all these different civic
townwide things that they had and they were really great to look at. um Eastern Gateway Steering Committee meeting. We discussed further discussions on we summarize the prior discussions, summary of the survey, um site configurations and building
placements. Um I believe they're on a future agenda with Andrew, so he'll talk more about that. Um very exciting possibilities for that. Uh Pride Day at Common, it was very rainy, but there was lots of smiling faces and a fabulous
parade of cars. was really great. Um, somebody from Senator Lewis's office, M. Shannon, came and hung out at the Democrats table. Um, thank you to everybody that organized that and participated and stood in the rain. It was really fun. Um, then I went to a
council on aging meeting. Exciting to exciting to work with them moving forward. Karen also attended that. Um, group is very engaged with recal and they're working really hard to be heard and present their ideas on how to ensure the facility meets the needs of the 60 plus community. So, they had a really
lot of things going on. Um, June 10th, I attended the MMA WEIMO meeting where our very own Karen Herrick was one of the moderators. Thank you for your time, Karen. Um, it was really great to meet all these other people um, the women and
it I don't want to say it was great to see that they're all facing the same problems we are and a lot of them are much closer to overrides than we are, but it was very interesting to hear their points of view. Uh June 12th I attended the MWRA meeting with all of
you. Um Oh yeah, me too. Thanks. Yes, you did. Um June 12th, the assessor's meeting. Very nice, very short meeting. Looking forward to working with them. It was a lot of fun. Uh I then attended the MMA conference for new select board
members. It was a dayong conference and again incredibly interesting, a lot of good speakers. That was a really good thing to go to. Um, I also attended the presence and co um, grand opening. Really nice space. Like it's beautiful and I hope they're successful because I
think the town will really I think the town can really support them in a lot of different ways. Um, June 18th I had my first office hours and five people showed up and we were there for two and a half hours and I hope we were not too loud for the people in town hall but um,
a lot of great questions, really good conversation. Um, I'm looking forward to the next one, which is this Saturday at the library. Uh, June 20th, I attended the garden party at the library, banning the bee table, uh, right next to DPW and recycling table. Um, lots of kids showed
up. It was a lot of good, a lot of fun. Hopefully recruited some future beekeepers. Uh, Saturday, I attended the Lafayette visit downtown. There was a really good showing for the Orson carriage and a really great presentation by um
uh the whole crew there. Um Junth celebration went there. Great music, great speakers, was really nice day. And then as Karen mentioned, we had our town forest committee meeting last night in the forest. And um I don't want to admit that I got lost getting out,
but we found our way out. I will not say with whom, but um really nice group, very animated, very active. Um really looking to continue all the hard work they've done in getting rid of invasive plants and staying on top of things in the town forest and um it was great.
And that was that. Are you sure? You know, you didn't let me do it last time. I told you it was going to be long. Seems like you're doing more than me, Karen. I I Well, I don't know. It's not a competition. Oh, kind of is. You me and Allan. That's the way this goes now. Take the challenge. All right. So,
you're part of the part of the committee. Um, thank you, Karen. Um, so, uh, I did attend the Lafayette, um, reenactment right out in front of Laam Law Offices. That was a great, um, event
put on. Kind of short, but it really highlighted the the, um, the journey of Lafayette here, um, in Reading, and it's good to be a part of that. Um, I did attend the MWR meeting as well. Um, the general consensus from
that is it doesn't look like we're getting back an 11 million windfall, which I think we're entitled to anyway, but um that's for another day. Uh, it more likely than not, it's looking around the $2 million mark. So Matt and
uh uh Chris Cole and everyone is going to put together a um a presentation for that and an outline of what we'd like to see for the reimbursement with that. So hopefully um they're at least willing and engaged in
giving us time and you know that's all you can really ask for. So, um I did end up uh attending the ribbon cutting uh for presidents and co with um with Carlo um in the uh Reading North
Reading Chamber of Commerce. Rob and Jamie were there. Um and it is a great space like Karen had mentioned. Um so you can check it out on presence andco.net net um and see all the available rooms and
other programs that um is going to be happening over there. Um I did attend the the Junth uh event as well as the Lions Club, fireworks, and there's always stuff going on here in Reading. So, it's good to see the
community out and about and involved in all of them. So, I'd like to thank everyone for putting those on. on reading rack. Um, you know, it it was a busy well, for Garen, it was busy every single day, but it was a a very busy uh
couple weekends here in Reading. Um and lastly, I attended the um Kllum security and access um various meetings um on the new Kllum school and what you know wireless or security
cameras or door access um and kind of going over those things um which is kind of in my wheelhouse. So it's good to see that those things are already happening now and you know we'll try to keep it on on time and on budget.
And that is it for me. So we can then move on to future agendas page 123 of the packet. Does anybody have anything to add? Um Carla, I just like to get an update
on anything with RCTV. Doesn't have to be an agenda item, but you know from Matt uh and his Tom manager report. Okay. Yeah, I can do that for sure. Anything else? I'm still thinking. You
think um can I mention I'd like and it doesn't have to be um the next meeting obviously, but I would love to have a conversation about looking into um maybe some with the two big debt exclusions
coming our way and maybe you know an override at some point. um a conversation about uh breaks for water and sewer bills for our senior residents. I was it was brought to my attention that it's something that's done in other communities and with the
excess that we have in both accounts, I think it might be something that would be worth looking into. So I think we can put that on a maybe combo scenario with the water committee that Karen Rose Gillis had previously
mentioned other options to explore. Um obviously that would be definitely fit right into that. So is that on the next meeting that or Yeah, I think it's on next. Yeah. So we can guess maybe something with that like just um
research other towns but I can work with you offline and Melissa as well. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm happy to do some a little like work on that as well if it's going to be on the next meeting to bring some some just what other towns are doing and just have a discussion about that. Okay.
Thank you, Karen. Heric, I see your hand up. Yeah, thank you. Um, I would like to get an update on our uh current status with the MBTA discussions. Um, I will share that they
it looks like they may be getting another half a billion dollars for infrastructure in this current budget. So, the state is looking to help fund the massive infrastructure projects they need to undertake as we know. So, that should be good news. Um, so I'd like to
get an update. I understand there was a meeting being planned with staff and I um would would like us the select board to stay very closely involved in that um as we have done with the MWR discussions. That would be terrific. And
um I'm still I'm asked this before your vacation. I don't know if you got a chance to send it to me or or maybe I haven't seen it. I'd love for the select board to follow up on the um monies that town meaning allocated for the refurbishment of the tennis courts over at Barrows. I don't believe that
project's been completed. It's been a couple years. I I'm wondering if that budget would even work at this point and it just we need an update, please. Okay. Y I'll get that. That was an amount of $200,000, I believe.
Is that it, Karen? Yep. All right. And I guess for me, since I forgot and I do the agenda anyway with Matt, um I spoke with Erica Mcomera um the coalition booth um during
um day. It's so many various names. Um and uh I brought up that a resident had um made a request about honoring uh overdose awareness with a proclamation. Um and I
know that this particular resident has you know been a part of the previous um the day events that we have leading up to it. So just working with Erica and getting something drafted um so she's aware of it. So if we can work on that.
Okay. We have a month. Thank you. Is that something set for every year? Is there specific month? So, overdose awareness day in Reading is is one one day in Erica and the coalition. That's what the purple flags and everything out there. So, this is more of just a
general uh proclamation for either the day or the month. Okay. Okay. Anybody else? Anyone from the public have anything for future agendas?
Taylor 109, you said nobody, Jackie, correct? Sorry about that. Taylor Gregory Pleasant Street. Um, I'd just like to bring up the um commission on disability and making sure that that can get on the warrant for November town
meeting to get approved for um future work to get stuff going. Thank you. Matt, if you just want to see what the status of that is and what we have to do and Yep. Yeah, I'll check on that. Yeah. All right. I think we can move on to
discuss and vote to approve prior meeting minutes 27th and June 3rd, page 126 in the packet. Did anybody have any updates, Jackie? No one sent me anything.
Is this going to be a clean sweep for both of them? I said nothing. So, can I I didn't have any changes. So, the elephant in the room, um, the reference in the first paragraph, which set of minutes, please? Sorry. May 27th,
first page. procedural update from the chair. So, um, it says how he and co-chair Melissa Murphy. I don't, it doesn't say co-chair in the rules anywhere. So, I think that this kind of needs to be addressed because I do get questions from residents about it. And
if it's a change that in writing, I think it should be chair and vice chair. If you want to refer to it as co-chair narratively verbally, I think that's a different story. But if this is going to continue, I do feel like we have to deal with it as an issue. if we're going to
change the rules to address it. It's it's not rules per se. It's if I had mentioned it, um I'm not going to edit my own minutes to change it. Um but um
I don't believe in discussions with every related to this that anything has to change beyond what's already here. So, um, in terms of the minutes, um, I said it, so I'm not changing what I said, but
if you want to, I understand what you said. You know what I mean? If you want to, uh, Okay. So, I guess we could put quotes around co-chair. I mean, yeah, I don't Karen's right. This is an elephant in the room. You know what? This is a board
of five, so we need to make decisions together, whether it's the start time of a meeting or a different meeting date or, you know, adding the pledge of allegiance or not letting select board members, you know, ask the town manager questions during the update.
You know, we we need to have discussions as a board before we make changes like this. Uh I would agree to you uh to a point Karen, but I don't think I've restricted access from any questions at any point. In fact, I've overwhelmingly done way
too many questions, which is extended meetings, hours, other than this one, which is great, but I I've never prevented you from asking questions. Okay. Well, tonight I didn't you didn't invite select board members to to speak to the town manager, so maybe it was just an oversight. if if your hand
wasn't up. Perhaps it was, but I mean, I've been trying my very best to make sure I I accompany those that are on Zoom. Um but in terms of in terms of everything else um like I said I had a a
discussion with with every things were ran past and this is where we didn't have it as I I would request respectfully that this is a board of five and I would just respect I don't want to get off topic we can have an agenda item about this about like you
know putting decisions group decisions in front of the board and not making unilateral decisions like public comment on every single agenda item which is not really recommended in the select board manual for example. But anyway, oh we're
getting off topic here. So we are if you could look up the public comment section on there it is one sentence. That is all it is. And public comment is up to the discretion of the chair to acknowledge whoever. Um um are you talking about our policy manual? Yes,
it's in the select board policy manual. I'm talking about the select board members handbook of Massachusetts. Have you ever looked at I'm going over select reading select board policy is superseding um what is in there? All right. Well, our policy doesn't say that the chair our policy says the chair is
responsible for planning the agenda with town manager. It's like a that's a co-shared responsibility equally. And it says you're responsible for running the meeting, which is knowing Robert's rules and running the meeting. And that's all our policy says. So to Karen's point, we
could have an agenda item to talk about that. Uh we had an agenda item on May 27th. The first item I gave the procedural update from the chair and that was my procedural update. It is you told us
it's procedural. You gave us the it's an edict all right. Well, you can read the policy manual as well as I can. So we don't need to argue in the public doesn't say tell the select board how you're going to run it. I I it is a procedural update
from the chair. No other chair has done that to you which is in the purview of the chair. You can run the meeting. No, it doesn't say that. Go ahead and send it to me. It doesn't say that. It says you run the meeting and it says you plan the agenda with the town manager. That's
literally all it says in our policy manual. So if you want to update that, we can discuss it. I'd be happy to do that. Uh there is no update warranted. So did you have any other updates to the minutes? Karen, I would say put quotes around co-chair. It's it's it's silly,
but you did say it. We're in agreement on that. I did say it and I respectfully disagree that it's it's silly. I I vaguely recall a split vote and trying to unite the board and trying to um do things differently here in Reading. I did not realize it's going to cause such
so much grave concern that um uh that both board members whom the entire board wanted to do one way or the other are actually running the meetings. [Music] This is that's not how that's not how Robert's rules works. Have you read
Robert's rules? I mean that's not how it works. We just need somebody to run an effective efficient meeting and and part of that is courtesy to your board members. That's all. I I have given way too much courtesy, Karen. Okay, let Chris, I shouldn't have to accidentally
call Jane on another um issue and have her say, "Oh, did you notice the agenda? You're starting at 6:30." So, let me be very specific. If you feel there's a strong need to change the time of the meeting, which the public as well as board members know in advance to be
regularly at 7 on two Tuesdays a month, it is common courtesy and procedure as long as you've been on the select board to sort of ask for input from your board members because you're you are um gifted with leadership, but there's these feel
like edicts and and they feel disrespectful. The The reason for the earlier start telling Karen is so this way here nobody would make a move. No, that's not the issue. We started early. I showed up but in the I'm going to suggest that we get back on
track and stay with the minutes because we are not Thanks for interrupting. You're welcome. Yep. As usual. Okay. Thank you, Karen. Uh so I don't agree with the the quotation marks around Okay. But he's not he's going back. He's
going to do a go back. No, I'm not going back. I'm just interrupt the Karen, you did interrupt and you did not have the floor. So, if you want to read Robert's rules of of order, you just violated it. But I don't really care um that you did
that. Um but in terms of the quotation marks about about this, that is the change that you wanted and I am saying I'm not in favor of it, but we can bring it up to the board for a vote. So, that's where we're at. So, uh how and So
Karen would like to add quotation marks around um the co-chair. Does anybody else feel in agreement with that? I do. I don't recall ever doing this on any
matter, but I I I understand what Karen Rose Gillis meant. Uh we've never in my tenure sorry I say never in my tenure five plus years uh in Karen Herrick's we have never used the word
co-chair Melissa is the vice chair but we have been in the habit of not changing people's words that came out of their mouths but I understand what you're saying but I think for this purpose for the minutes
it should be up to the person who said the words to agree or disagree. We can go to a vote, but I I don't think that's the right right move here. Uh we've all had issues with certain sets of minutes, and typically we've uh gone to the
person who actually said the words or or misspelled a word or misspoke a word. Sorry. So, in this case, this particular case, u I agree with Chris. If he said co-chair, it should stay there. He didn't do air quotes or he didn't say,
you know, quote unquote co-chair. So, I think we do move on from this. And if we need to have an agenda topic on this, I'm all for it. I don't think so. But, um, I think it's should be up to Chris, not up to us.
I understand. Makes sense. Just my opinion. Um, well, Karen, I know how you feel. Melissa, anything? I don't really I mean my my my opinion is is that the
minutes are what people spoke and so I don't think there's necessarily need for quotations, but I it doesn't matter to me. It It should be Chris's decision in my opinion. Thank you. Um and obviously in my opinion, um I I don't think that it's
warranted to put it there. Um I I said it then I will continue to say it in the future as well um for all my minutes. So Karen Rose Gillis if you want to give us a motion for approving both sets of
minutes and then we can take a vote on that and have a discussion. I would if I could find them. They go. It's just the dates. May 27th and June 3rd. Move to approve the minutes from
May 27th. May 27th. June 3rd. June 10th. June 3rd. I can't. June 3rd. June 3rd. Sorry. So there's a motion. Any second? Carlo beat Melissa by a second. Um any discussion?
I can't see anybody. Um so I will take a roll call vote. Karen Harris. or not on screen. I am not muted. Um, I will accept these minutes. Thanks, Melissa.
Yes. Carlo, yes. Karen Rose Gillis, yes. And Chris Haley, yes. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Seconded by Melissa. Um, non-debatable. Karen Herrick, yes. Melissa,
yes. Yes. Karen Rose Ellis, yes. and Chris Hanzas. We are ajourned.