##VIDEO ID:hCY2JEcXzDc## e well good evening hello everyone hello including so being respectful not to end their meeting or too early more people joining in gang I'm sorry I just got home hey Dave but I am present great to hear we'll give it one more minute minute anybody that we don't have on that say Kathy Tom Amy Mark anybody we're missing Dave judon good one more second people are well more people in the waiting room on surely you guys can see that screen everybody hear me yep good a few more so got a few more people chiming in so I'll give it another couple of minutes start here while we're waiting Carol I see you have your hand up there's something I can help you with did you want to do this yeah did Carol have something or I wasn't sure okay we'll wait um she's having trouble she's having trouble with her audio so she has something to say and I'm going to put my hand up as well public all right well might as well call call the meeting to order and get started here it's 633 so welcome everybody Welcome Back happy New Year glad to have everybody back on the line we have a host of visitors here today as well so welcome everybody for chiming in appreciate it uh kick off just a couple things from my my perspective from things I I was chasing down between now and the last last meeting um I was trying to get out to the select board to give them an update on where we are as a committee um wasn't able to get that done before the meeting before the holidays but uh trying to get to that to their 14th meeting if possible to give them an update so I'll be uh doing that here shortly want to give everybody a heads up there and then the other thing that I did reach out to the Chief one of our takeaways one of the actions that I had was to uh see when we can get the chief back online in order to uh kind of talk a little bit more around the enforcement discussion that we had a lot of a lot of a talk about a lot of discussion about and uh she should be able to make our January 29th meeting um She also asked that if we could submit questions ahead of time it'll give her time to research plan and have uh responses for us so I asked that if anybody had any questions for the chief to uh send those to me by 1:15 so next week and I will compile those and get those over to her and have a plan to have a I'll have her on the agenda for the 29th so that's the uh the latest there okay all right I will uh move to the next agenda item here at 6:35 is to uh reprove review and approve minutes from 1211 um I haven't seen minutes from 12 12 11 Tom any you want to fill us in on what's going on with those uh yeah I have concerns that I raised with you on December 12th and yesterday that it might not have been a legally posted meeting so I refrained from creating any minutes in case it turns out that that is the case okay so I can go to uh I could go to uh the recapping of the 121 meeting go out of order here and say then move to public comment if that makes sense if everybody's okay with that and I can answer that question for you Tom looks like we got a couple questions so Kathy you want a question let start oh I I was just curious as to why it was not a legal meeting that's all yeah I will uh I will answer that Ria you have a question before chime in on that yeah I just I have the same question y Fair very fair fair enough so I'm going to go out of order so folks that are here from the public we're going to move the public comment to after I review the recapping of the 121 meeting so on on 121 we had a uh we had our meeting um and during that meeting one of the things that that happens we had some technical difficulties with zoom there was a uh a mixup on a couple of different links and based on the town changing over to different Zoom meetings based on overlapping meetings there were some issues so a couple of links were uh were exchanged that evening and that was one of the questions was it's due to the fact of those links moving around and changing was that was that of any type A open meeting violation so that was brought by by Tom he did reach out to me we did discussed that so I I did some diligence and I reached out to the town I uh talked to exchange messages with the select board and actually had a a call with the town clerk to review the specifics of what happened with the the links and uh you know ultimately the link that we had online everybody was able to get on this nine people on this call ultimately were able to get on as well as members of the public were able to get on with the link so in that case they said that we did not violate any open meeting laws and they also mentioned that this type of technology stuff has happened multiple times in the past in the town they've had similar issues and they've deemed all those to be in compliance with open meeting laws as well so the answer to the the question from the town is that we did not violate any open meeting laws so the meeting that we had from 1211 was a was a factual meeting so that's what I have for an update from that one may I add anything unless anybody else has something to add before that goad yeah um those are not councils the people that you asked so um I don't know that we can rely on them for a legal opinion and um in addition it's not true that no members of the public were excluded my husband attempted to log on to the meeting at around 6:25 and at around 6:40 pm he um left and did not reconnect and only learned the next today that it was because at 6:30 or later the zoom link was changed from the one that had been posted on the calendar so there is an example of a member of the public being excluded from the meeting as a result of the wrong link being posted on the calendar until 6:30 p.m. on a page that includes recommendations for the public to arrive 15 minutes beforehand for zoom and online meetings so I reached out to the Attorney General's office today and expect an answer from them probably tomorrow they're very good about answering within 48 Hours about whether this was a legal meeting on December 11th 2024 or whether it was illegally posted okay well we will uh have to wait and see what the uh what the answers are I guess as I pointed out to you we are risking an open meeting law violation complaint if we don't address what we can acknowledge as what is more likely than not something that might have violated the open meeting law which put would put it into a so-called kind of probable cause territory so I believe that we're already aware that we have probable cause for believing that our meeting might have violated the open meeting law and on that knowledge alone I think it would beho us to recognize that and consider that meeting as not a legal one for not having been legally posted we can be proactive in other words and it will actually help our liability should an open meeting law violation complaint come in I'm sorry with that being said I'd like to make a motion to revote on the issue that we had excuse my voice I'm a little horse um this way we can continue with what our project is going to be and what our next steps are going to be so we don't have to keep rebuttal over this so I'd like to make a motion that we do leave the bylaws the way they are um which is what we talked about the last meeting I think it would be wiser to wait until we determine whether our last meeting was legal or not or and my question gets answered because I had still have my hand up so the process is still going forward go ahead dud uh and I don't know this is the Tom and the rest of the group and I don't know if it means anything but didn't I ask after that little faux paw to the entire group including when the Town Administrator was there whether this was we were good to go and I I I believe if you look at the recording of the meeting I questioned it right then and there and everyone said it was fine so am I misremembering that I don't know we can go back and look at that and I don't know if that has any bearing on the discussion Tom and um the rest of the group thank you yeah thanks Dave I wasn't there while the Town Administrator was there because my situation was such that only because of my privilege of knowing a Committee Member yourself who emailed me I was in the same situation as my husband until then so it wasn't until a Committee Member was able to tell me you have to go back and find a new link that I had the luck of being able to join the meeting um but I wasn't there at the same time as the Town Administrator who again is not an attorney nor an attorney for the town um and I think we really need legal advice about whether this is true or not uh I would like to go back and look at the tape just in case um be you know if you want to add that to the mix to say a Committee Member made it no this that we were concerned about that we had an opportunity to stop the meeting right then and there we chose not to time so I think we should just put that into the equation right and um I'm totally with you I think it it might have been a mistake to continue and um I don't think it was intentional I meant to add that no no was intentional this was a things do happen yeah these things do happen it just happened in Wendell on December 17th and um their meeting was considered to be not legal so they um had to make that acknowledgement themselves on their Conservation Commission um it happens and it's what open meeting law is about it's about including the public so anytime there's a presumption that the public might have been excluded it raises an alarm right and it's still reminder to the chairman of the committee that he has the opportunity to table any motion on the floor until he feels fit that the rest of the discussion has been completed yeah thank you yeah so I'd say we'll finish the discuss question on this and any other qu any other comments on this I can't see everybody Kathy go ahead well I I was just going to say I'm on a a couple of committees where this has happened a few times and that's why the town is in the process of um changing their um Zoom account so that each committee chair can have their own account and can post their own meetings and we won't have those um issues going forward but but I I guess my comment would be since I I don't think anybody was doing anything um intentionally to move forward without public comment um you know even even if it is we are deemed to have been in violation of the open meeting law um does that change where we landed um after the last meeting I mean can we simply since we have such a short period of time to get this work done um and finalized to the select board can we just continue our conversations my understanding was even though we were a divided Committee in terms of voting whether to move forward and talk about education or stay with reviewing the bylaws my understanding um was that at some point before we go to the select board we would be looking at the entirety of our work and making sure that we're all in agreement hopefully we're all aligned at the end um on what the bylaws mean and what we're going to propose in terms of Education um and improvements to the select board am I wrong in that that's way I sir um actually I think there are two things I would point out there um well one you asked what would be the repercussions if this was deemed to be an open meeting law violation um and the meeting was un legally posted it would mean that no actions taken at the meeting um happened so to say uh illegally so any votes for example would not have been considered to uh be valid um and oh I'm sorry do you mind repeating the second part just briefly about your question Kathy because I think I had a very clear answer to it um um I guess I'm I oh it was about I wanted to point out um we actually just got a two or three week extension at the very least the select board's changing or going to vote on changing the town meeting from April 26 until May 10th at their next meeting um and I really wanted to point out I actually appreciated that you talk my memory um we're a Safety Committee and rushing is not safe so even our procedures and our meetings should be done safely and um we should have considered the fact one of our very first charge is to review the bylaw uh accounting for current patterns of usage on the lake and we have no uh record of systematically considering current pass current patterns of usage on the lake and we have no um record of having asked for public input before we completed one of our tasks which was to look at the bylaw um so I think we rushed and I think we weren't safe and I pointed out when the vote happened that 6 on our bylaw it doesn't even conform with state regulations for DCR properties and that wasn't a safe move to ignore that so time is picking at the same time is we have to be safe and move appropriately at a pace that's safe I completely agree and and I I wasn't suggesting that we not go back to six and obviously make that conform um I was our vote our vote was 1 127 are done as written that was what the vote was the motion that we weren't going to change 1 through S so I don't understand what the Motions would be to un to to change that but I'm also pointing out I don't think that vote even counted because I don't think the meeting was legal to begin with and that's my point is that the meeting shouldn't have been considered a legal meeting fair enough I will uh I'll try on a couple things I think we have talked a lot about the current patterns on the L through the discussion of the bylaws for the last five weeks there's no doubt about that part public input has been welcome for all of our meetings and it's been very lightly attended at best but that vote wasn't on the agenda for the public to note that vote came up as a spontaneous motion that vote should be a motion that's on the agenda for committee members and the public to prepare for and and we did we shouldn't be doing rushed votes about an entire task of ours according to our charge we should be alerting ourselves and the public with time to prepare for the disc discussion involved and that wasn't the case that wasn't even on the agenda that we would be voting on that everyone was surprised no matter how they voted nobody knew that was going to happen which leads me to a question to you Matt as a chair because when we were going through the bylaws in the previous meetings you said that we'd go through them and then go back and review them and then there was a motion brought forward and we obviously do have division in this committee uh which is concerning because uh and that's where I'd like to get a little bit of some qualifiers here for all of us on how we are uh position on the committee as it's called the lake wyola boting Safety Committee it's not called the lake wola Safety Committee which is interesting um that might be something to kind of look at uh but regardless I think that we we kind of need to know of those past meetings where our chair had said yes we'll review these and then go back but it was pushed forward and five people on this committee did vote for it now that may be null at this point which uh does as Tom says allows us to kind of slow down and discuss some things as I thought we were going to proceed forward and and just one other note if I can say about public input we did have somebody start talking last week and I really encourage our chair that when somebody starts talking and as a public member that we stay you know to hold and to be courteous and to tell them when they can speak instead of just saying we're going to mute you um that just doesn't seem like a welcoming statement for all when was I done that was in the last meeting there was some uh I think it was a man speaking in the background and trying to make something and he was uh cut off and that that's unfortunate because we want the we want the public input I don't recall that at all and I definitely that's not my intent so if that did happen I apologize to that person so that's I don't want you to think that that's my my goal here at any means so I I lot of good conversation here a lot of good discussion and um I think I'm a little bit at a little bit unsure on how we proceed here and without knowing if our last meeting was was stands or doesn't stand I guess that's the question do we have a conversation and a discussion around you know moving forward with a new motion or do we put a motion on the next meeting to vote on I think there's a whole host of things to discuss here that uh we need to talk about I think there is a some of a b somewhat of a bifurcation of of you know where people stand as far as what we've discussed from the bylaws and wanting to focus more on education and enforcement to move forward so I think that's something we still need to uh kind of you know sort out here and since we do have a whole host of folks in the public here I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to uh to hear some of their some of the people's uh influx as you mentioned earlier Ria let's uh let's have some some of the public comment on some of these discussions because I think plenty of people have have probably watched the videos and understand it so let's uh let's have some of that that dialogue so I'm GNA say we're done with the recapping the 121 meeting and I'd say we move into public Comon I second the motion so that's what we should do so I'll try to start um who do we have U is there anybody else on the board that we wants to say anything before I move into public comment Matt can I just ask a quick question sure do you have anybody in the waiting room waiting to get in no I think I I've been kind of trying to monitor that along the way here and see if there okay anybody else but I think we're good yeah we don't need a motion to uh to go forward with public comment we just go into it yeah yep okay so why don't we just go go right down right down the line Carol you have something you like to chime in feel free thanks can you m that Carol Samuel South world live um I was one of four residents that asked the select board to consider forming this committee if I thought we were the only ones that fear for our safety I would have I would not have done so but I know of dozens and dozens of shutesbury residents and Lake wola neighbors that have spoken to me uh and are afraid or too tired to speak up and I get it it's exhausting so tonight I I speak for myself my family my friends and all the paddlers that return in the fall to use their Lake in the off seon um happy New Year and thank you for all the work of this committee on behalf of the town of shutesbury shutesbury I have about um Six Bullets um and I'll try to be um concise number one I was disappointed in the conclusion and subsequent vote at the last meeting to keep the current bylaws written as is from the discussion between the nine members present and from my own experience on the 2004 Lake wola bylaw Town committee and 14 years on the Lake wola Association is both Clerk and director and Safety Committee participant it takes many more meetings research discussion and Pat than five 1hour meetings a town committee must see compromise and consider all constituents and be able to listen to the voices on the committee that may be different than yours only then can Solutions surface as all members of the committee can feel heard listen to Listen to others stay open-minded and expand conversations and consider possibilities that only lengthy dialogue research and knowledge of the big picture can create it is my my hope that the committee will reconsider opening up all possibilities as his best practices on Town committees and overturn the premature voting not to change the bylaws number two education I've heard some really good ideas about needed educational steps going forward as an educator for over 40 years I'm a big fan of more and continuous education it was a central focus of mine when I was on the lake rool ass assciation board unfortunately the lake Rola Association Safety Committee has not been meeting since 2020 I'm not saying that Mick appointed appointed the chair of the Safety Committee has not been active as have other uh voters in safety concerns on the lake but the dues paying members have not been notified or invited to participate in any meetings that means that concerns and discussions have not taken place in four years this is a VI VI ation of the Lake wyola Association bylaws of safety as safety is a standing committee is the town committee committed to enact the needed and ongoing educational steps going forward your leadership would be most welcome number three safety whose safety is being considered and whose safety may be being denied by refusing to consider updated bylaws from what I hear it breaks down like this the number one safety concern concern for motor boers is the swimmers the number number one concern of swimmers and paddlers is the motorboats in one case some want to educate the swimmers and paddlers so they can have full choice to vote how they choose in other case some want to educate the motor booer so their life isn't at risk each time they use the Lake Swimmers do violate the rules occasionally paddlers always have right of way as do Sailors for the Massachusetts state boting bylaws but what are the rules how close can a boat pass a kayak or or standup paddle board and at what speeds can water skiers be pulled off their docks and return to their docks how close can the toe come to a paddler because enforcement of all this is tricky or at least left up to the individuals there are many times or days or holidays that I choose not to battle because I fear for my safety there have been too many close calls including the swamping of my 70 five-year-old father I don't trust the voters even my neighbors to Fel to my neighbors or fellow board members to self- police or make good decisions about my safety I know I'm not alone I've heard from other Lakers and towns people who do who feel the same way people who want to paddle for the sunset wait off our dock or don't go out of the South Cove because the boaters Zoom around until dark even with their lights on the paddlers and swimmers self-restricted to lack of safety on the lake the boers do not so fair so fair bylaws that refle reflect the reality on multi-use Lake wola must be put in place many other towns in the Commonwealth have slow times built into their bylaws to balance the times when the whole lake is 5 miles per hour and everyone can feel safe I appreciate that Ria brought up um last month as a trial period a a slower time built into every day number four fairness over fear I know boers are afraid that their rights are being threatened compare that to my life being threatened pull back to see the whole picture stay open to what is best for the whole town and Community five send a survey out to the uh Lake wyola users to get a broader perspective learn from the experience of everyone you can create conversations of community in a safe learning environment six usage on on the lake has changed so must the bylaws to reflect that one example is this I sat our de watching the uh sub yoga class of about a doz a dozen adults and kids enjoying the challenge of balance one Sunday late afternoon many boats were zipping around but then one came too close about 20 feet from the podt of Subs at least half of the yoga class was bounced off their boards by the weight why why should this happen thank you for your time and I hope you will reconsider the vote that was taken last month to extend the mission of this town committee and create safety for all users who enjoy Lake wola all right thank you TR that um Jennifer hold on can everyone hear me okay all right so hi everybody thank you wait sorry I'm GNA try to deal with whoa the the other computer needs to be turned off the volume you're getting Echo and feedback on that and now we and now you're muted here you go now we could hear something Matt can you take down the agenda so we can see all the squares thank [Music] you stop share we go do you got me now sure good okay so um I'm gonna um make my point point and I also am going to ask that a written uh document which is my the points of my public comments attach those points is the charge that the select board gave the committee I would like both to be entered into the minutes please um my comments are as follows I've recently reread the select board's charge to the committee it is attached to this comment after attending all the committee's meetings including the vote last month I want to register that I'm troubled by your approach discussions about changes to the bylaws enforcement needs public education have not recognized at least not verbally in the context of your meetings that the committee is not empowered to do anything other than make a recommendation to the select board likewise it often sounds as if the potential recommendations implementation strategies Etc will be the responsibility of the Lake wyola Association the association does not have any authority to do anything in relation to the lake unless it is expressly empowered by the select board to do so I also want to point out that I have not heard in your meetings any discussion about the significant power that you do have to affect change by recommending various budget items to the select board for example if enforcement has been difficult because of Staffing and boat repairs the committee could recommend a warrant item that would fund these important things especially Staffing the boat on busy weekends the committee could recommend that the town to Aid in safety purchase some buoys and markers to indicate in key locations where the 150 foot distance from Shore is there are many more safety suggestions that the committee has the authority to recommend and the charge expressly indicates to have materials ready for their consideration at by the next town meeting please don't miss this practical opportunity finally as a swimmer sailboat operator and kayaker I want to register that the committee's discussions thus far and certainly the vote taken last sorry last month someone's trying to admit me to the meeting but I'm already admitted do not acknowledge that many non-motorized users of the lake do not feel safe I completely support Carol Samuel's statement so far motorized users on this committee have maintained their own perspectives without attempting to find Common Ground I and others have asked several times for the committee to schedule an open meeting dedicated to a public discussion of its findings not these small little public comments that are part of an overall agenda with many more items on it so far the committee has not indicated agreement nor disagreement with this request I've made it every meeting this gives the appearance of the committee being closed and not open to public point of view thank you thank you Jen George you might be muted George hello hi everybody happy New Year hey George um I mean in in listening to what's being said and what everybody can you identify yourself I don't know who George is here you don't I'm sorry George abdow 56 North Laural Drive okay yeah I mean I'm listening to this I'm seeing this I I'm hearing everybody I mean people driving fast on the lake with their lights on is a town enforcement of current voting laws to to to write something on something that's that's an addition to it I mean it's an Enforcement issue I mean there's some good points being brought up here yes I hear people saying that we that that um we should make recommendations about what we should be doing and how we should be doing it and and bringing it to the town and hopefully we can get some money and and get some additional things for the lake um as I believe I don't know which one of you said it but the lake white oil Association doesn't have the authority to enforce everything we do is voluntary everything we put out and everything and everything we do has nothing to do with laws enforcement of laws or anything else we only inform and suggest but I mean I believe if there if people are requesting an open Forum then then there should be an open form and people should be talking about it no one's ever not wanted to talk about it but I I I mean the representation of what's going on and all the work this committee's done which I I they're 100% volunteer they've had to go to training they've had to do everything else I I mean they also have jobs and responsibilities and other things to do um but yeah I mean I mean if that's what's taken or that's what's needed but I mean to have countless hours as I've read through the minutes and seeing what's going on of just people going in circles and circles on this I I mean I I could I could understand how everybody on every side of everything is getting frustrated but I mean these people have put a lot of good work in they've done a lot of research and um I I I think that they were granted a power in a committee and and they're going to do what they what what they've been asked to do and um that's what we asked for and that's what we got it if more discussion needs to be made or an Forum or something else then you guys should petition it and and I don't see why they wouldn't do it yeah but I mean there's a lot of good here and um what what I'm hearing in in all these comments is is um just bad negative and I don't know I'm a little disbarred by it but that's my opinion appreciate that Tracy go ahead hi Tracy MCN 2 Shore Drive um so yeah I I first of all I guess I just I do want to address what George just ended with and just say that you know I think it's not good practice to be um uh kind of putting down people expressing their concerns it you're qualifying it as if somehow people who are expressing their concerns about how things have gone with this uh committee so far um are just being negative when you know they're expressing their concerns um because people here are concerned about the safety on the lake um one of the things that I'm a little disappointed in is that the decision to stick with the present bylaw not having been opened up to the public through either a uh Town email inviting people and um telling them you know where things are at because this is you know Public Safety this is a different type of committee than many others um also the present bylaw doesn't have uh you know a a hom rule bylaw is it is allowed to only become stricter than the state bylaw and our present bylaw doesn't reflect the state law so many of the um aspects that would be really important in terms of who has right of way all that sort of thing are not there um so people don't understand that about the fact that a home rule by law is stricter than um the state rules and so they just assume that the only thing that they see is the only thing that the rule is and that's not the case um the other thing that I really think is hugely important that I'm not hearing much talk about is the horsepower um most towns um that have lakes especially larger Lakes um they still have horsepower limits and we have this little tiny Lake here and we have people out there with 150 horsepower engines that are designed for the ocean so you know there's there's there's some real issues that I feel like this committee has really stuck primarily with um the the freedoms of the voters and not all all the other people who use the lake so um I think that you definitely need to have a public forum um you cannot just have a vote on dismissing the bylaw not needing any changes and then get a vote that isn't even you know it's it's it's barely you know over 50% um it certainly doesn't um bodw well uh for you know how how how thoroughly your committee has researched so that that's what I have to say thank you Tracy um Matt can we address some of these public comments uh so that we don't just go too far out uh I I think it's fair to let everybody in essence of time I everybody has a hand should speak and then we can continue on next next meeting I mean it's not fair to let because we'll get bogged down I want to hear them say we're gonna get bogged down in the conversation and then yeah all the other folks that are here tonight I can Bill speak so yeah positive totally positive okay sounds good you I was called out for not letting people speak so I'm going to go with that so well Lauren go ahead hey everyone um so I'm hearing a lot of comments about people feeling unsafe and the usage around the lake and everything I guess from my understanding the committee was created a with an odd number right so that when a vote was taken it would sway one way or the other so I'm not sure where it makes a difference whether five people voted or nine people voted for one thing I mean that was the whole purpose of it right is you guys were supposed to meet go over all those agenda items discuss it vote on it and move forward I mean you can only talk in circles so long right like there's presidential elections that occur that a decision is made and people are not happy about it and there's always going to be little things to work on um I myself am a paddle boarder I kayak as well I love to swim I also love to vote I think we've heard a lot of these comments in many different public meetings that the town has had um but I do think that at some point we need to make recommendations as you voted on and move forward that's not to say that you can't make other recommendations such as funding something or adding a buoy here or there or whatever but it just means that the bylaw doesn't change and there's other things to move forward with I think it to me it makes sense I understand the concern about it not being a public meeting maybe it's worth having a you know posting or something and letting everybody know what happened but I think you can't continue to go in circles it'll it'll literally never end because you're always going to have two people on two sides of the thought process thank you Lauren when we go over to Paul heard from him yet did we have Paul's last name please if he's willing Paul you're muted you're talking I thought I unmuted it sorry Paul Le Mo 57 view heights um I wasn't South adley I wasn't able to tune into a whole lot of these meetings and stuff but I hear a lot of um boers verse paddlers and this and that I I do everything I paddle board I kayak and I boat I own a boat I'm on Lake all the time I feel um it it's it should be like a community I know as a boater and a firefighter EMT I have rescued many people on that lake with my boat not due to being swamped by boats I've had sailboats in distress I've had other bats break down I it's just something I do and I I I think we're pitting a war against voters and kayakers and I also go on to Connecticut River I feel lake wyola is a gem because I don't know if everybody knows how safe it is actually if you try to get out on the river and some of these other places KGAN it's complete chaos I I do think we we need to do some stuff to help educate people and straight people out but I I I don't feel you should lose touch of what the lake is and to touch a little bit horsepower stuff I I know it's weird when you look at a high horsepower boat and you think this and that but you could get a 15 horsepower boat a John Boat to go 25 miles an hour if you wanted on that Lake which is way too fast a for that boat and you know to be driving like that if you have paddlers so I don't think you can just like say it's horsepower or this or that but I think as a community everybody has to to look at themselves and look what we do and I'll get along and and not really try and change a whole lot but educate a whole lot um and go from there thank you thanks Paul Megan you have your hand up uh can you see me oh wait hold on can you hear me I can yeah thanks um actually I'll just Echo Paul's comment and just for the record I mean people put a lot of thought into these bylaws there was a lot of Education 2025 years ago and I think we need to refocus on that and you know get to know our neighbors better and create the environment where folks are really aware of what what needs to be done from a safety perspective and you know put the onus back on the town to have some enforcement um so I think the recommendation to Jennifer's recommendation for um buoys and signage and things of that nature I think is a great idea and um I would love to see that we really focus on enforcing what has already been set forth and then perhaps revisit the bylaws once there's been a really good push and good communication and good connectivity throughout the community that would be my recommendation appreciate that uh Lauren uh Linda yeah just as oh this is Linda grico uh 35 sou Laurel um what's the point in creating new laws if we don't enforce the ones that we have so I think we really need to take a look at the laws that we have and the enforcement if the lake W Association doesn't have the ability to enforce them then who does and figure out how we can get them enforced and then if that doesn't work because those laws were well thought out to begin with if that doesn't work then make new laws thank you right um says noren's iPad I don't know who that is hi whoops hi thank thank you for the opportunity to comment mat sure no worries I'm Norine peas I'm a past president of the Lake ool Association I was on the Safety Committee for over 10 years and I've Been On The Board of Health for 13 years and a major concern of the Board of Health of course is safety um I'm sorry to say that I'm humiliated for and disheartened by the lake Oola bylaws committee lack of consideration of requests and concerns of four of its fellow members when voting uh to close discussion of changes to the existing Lake wola um safety bylaws there was a very reasonable proposal put forth by Ria Windcaller to have a test period to experience different options and user times for Lake wola users to uh experience a safe environment and unfortunately that proposal never was granted the um the light of discussion it's this committee's job to consider safety for all users however should the committee refuse to reconsider changes to the existing bylaws I recommend that a Minority Report with options for change in those bylaws be presented to the select board and to our residents for their full consideration and I'm uh happy to provide these comments in writing thank you thank you uh Christine has your hand up sorry shut up dogs sorry mat just excuse me have we added public comment at this point and are we going on to a Committee Member because this we have another public comment that like to come forward I have uh MC Perry from the association here thank you and he'd like to speak hi everyone um first of all I'd like to I'd like to say that uh what Paul L moyan said made a lot of sense um we as an association do not have authority to enforce laws on the lake but we have authority to tell people doing something wrong as I've reiterated at the last meeting um we do our best the police themselves really can't do a lot on the lake because none of them have training for water safety the environmental police would have to be more involved in that um I thought this committee was was just going to be recommending things I didn't know we were going to get in big arguments about um about uh making new laws um just I I think it makes more sense to enforce the laws that we have now than to make new ones and if you I don't want anybody to feel unsafe on this Lake I I do not and I don't think there's a reason to we haven't had enough we haven't had enough bad things happen on this Lake for that to even be an issue in 50 years ago there were twice the boats that we have on the lake now horse power does not make a difference um horsepower makes no difference at all I have a 90 horsepower on my pontoon boat it goes 25 miles an hour ski boats are regulated wake boats are regulated doesn't matter you could like like Paul said you can have a John boat that has a 25 horse on it that does 30 miles an hour um as far as uh the speed limit the speed limit is is still 5 miles an hour at Sunrise and 5 miles an hour at sunset in in dusk you you can water ski up till up to right before the sun goes down that's when the lake is the commas kayakers kayakers can go out at that time kayakers can go out in the morning the only busy day on that lake is Sunday and that's basically all I have to say appreciate that thank you um any other public comment any other things that people want to chime in on anybody Clint go ahead hi this is Clint CLC 73 short drive I'm just curious I'm late in the game on this Matt was there an actual vote there was and what was the outcome of the boot of the vote the vote was that there was the majority of the committee members wanted to keep the existing bylaws the same as they are today but that vote is in question based on potential uh technical difficulties in the prior meeting and not maybe potentially complying with open meeting laws and we don't have a we don't have a resolution on that yet so a if we find out a resolution on that and it is an open meeting can that vote does that vote stand I believe it would stand at that point okay and everyone before the vote was given their opportunity to talk about what they needed to talk about am I correct or not there was disc there was discussion and then we to a vote I will say that maybe that there was not ample time for discussion based on the timeline that we had that that I guess here's my confusion are people asking to revote well that was something that was brought up earlier today so we need to talk about that in our next meeting for sure and I do and I am a believer that we don't V me it sounds like and again I'm I'm going into this late to me it sounds like the committee was formed everyone had a chance to speak speak their pce and the committee voted so if the committee voted why are we not moving forward are we making public statements right now or are we going uh Matt I just want to call the order here no that was just my personal comment yeah thank you Clint um I'm just want to have the chair here kind of um make a some kind of order because you said we're going to just have a public comment but we're now we're going back and forth so um what fair enough fair enough we're doing okay I'm just confused as why we're not moving forward with the existing vote so nobody else here is allowed to ask questions but now Clint is I don't I'm I'm sorry yeah all right if I have a chance to comment I'll I'll comment that um I I think we should keep the existing V um bylaws they've been in place for 253 years there's a very very low um there's very low accidents on this Lake if any there was one this summer yes um I think that's what you know kicked us all off but um I think we should keep the existing bylaws and it's a very safe Lake thank you thank you appreciate that okay that was a lot of commentary appreciate every body's uh input on all that I think we need to digest all of that and bring that to a our next meeting I'm also going to maybe propose that we extend our next meeting to more than an hour because it seems as we're starting to drift beyond the hour timeline that we're allow that we're allowing for everybody and the way that I'm seeing that way that this one's kind of shaping up is that we have the chief of police is coming on next meeting and what I'd like to do in my opening comments next time once we see the minutes from this meeting I'd like to go through them and then I'd like to make a proposal for what the next agenda will look like to this committee for the for the subsequent meeting so we can start to address and discuss many of these topics that came up from many many people I think there's way too much to take in and rebuttal and discuss at this point in time but lots of really good comments All Around I appreciate everybody's input but I think it' be short Change to think we're going to start kind of addressing each of these and talk talking through him tonight so he's taking a turn in different direction here tonight but I think it was great that uh we had so much participation and and passion around what what people think and feel I I I think you're hearing for a motion to adjourn I believe R has her hand up yeah thank you um Matt so I I um I would appreciate getting an agenda before we have the next meeting that'd be wonderful and I just um since I'm seen 726 I'd like to just take a moment just to uh acknowledge at least for the record that I'm not feeling cantankerous I'm really enjoying get getting to know all my neighbors on lake wola and it's been lovely meeting people who I didn't know before uh I I want to just let the public know from at least my standpoint that this has been a great discussion I don't feel like it needs to be pushed or rushed forward safety is number one it's been my life work to be safety first and um I welcome everybody who spoke up but I just wanted to like say you know we're not the Supreme Court we could you know maybe we are in shury but you know we get to like go to the other side of the aisle and meet and talk and um you know other than the vote last week or or the last month um that was unfortunate you know on my mind because you know I I was kind of saying let's hold the bylaws as they are and have a trial period this summer so getting it pushed through was a little difficult but I know that my fellow members are have the capacity as adults to kind of rethink that through and say Hey you know let's have the conversation going uh I don't want to be Sho bear the town of no so thank you for all that I I just really want to address I think Matt it's important for and for all the committee to like let the public know at least in my view I'm not feeling I I enjoy coming to this meeting and talking about Lake o it's one of my favorite places in the world so I want kind of keep that positive thank you for your time I'll go to Kathy really quick I know Dave's gonna jump in in motion to adjourn but I just want to say I I I second what Ria said um same thing I love this neighborhood and I really don't want um you know our work on the committee to be viewed in any way skewed one way or the other I really believe that even if the last meeting we had in December is deemed acceptable as an open meeting and that vote stands I think this committee even though we voted on that I think we have lots of work left to do and if we need to revisit some of those issues that led to that vote we will do it I that's my understanding because we're not the Supreme Court and that that isn't just the end of the road for for the committee's work so that's all I wanted to share that's my understanding of how we're gonna move forward very good I think that was good I think a lot of really good conversation here tonight so thank you all for your inut I'll let Christine go since we still have one minute before Dave uh Dave hits us up here 7:30 Shar yeah I just want to say you know Kathy made a very valid point um we need to move forward to get to the next step so we can really educate I'm a True Believer in education I was a trainer for years um ignorance is not Bliss and Common Sense is not common so until we can correct that I think the bylaws are I think are very good the way they are they're broad enough to be able to enhance what needs to be done and in my opinion I think we really need to move forward because we're just going to keep taking 10 step forward and 15 Steps back fair enough all right Dave uh thank you uh we took a lot in here tonight and I think this is the best meeting this committee has had and I Echo um the opinion that um it's it's been great to hear all this feedback with that said it is now 7:30 and I would like to make a motion to adjourn this committee we have a lot to think about I second the motion thank you Mark roll call Mr chairman I'm coming hang on I pull it up so uh Christine hi Dave hi Amy hi Judy Judy hi thanks Judy Mark hi Kathy hi H with love for every single person participating in this meeting I say I misia all right I saw the hand signal here she was muted but and Baro ey so again great meeting so much great input appreciate the Public's involvement thanks for chiming in come back please come back we like the uh like the discussion and I will uh do my best to make sure we incorporate more and more public input so uh again thank you all for bringing it bringing that to light and I uh I think we've made a lot of progress and taking in a lot of really good information a lot of great points tonight so thank everybody thanks everyone mat very much bye thank you see you bye