issues there's nobody else oh it me I can turn up okay you're gonna have to hit me on your I'm gonna have you turn your camera off on your thing to see if that might be what needs to since it's going through the owl turn the camera off but I can't record with the cam yeah no it's recording on it's recording on it's open it doesn't need you to to be on yeah good all right for some reason I am not volume and my volume is at 100 what's going on here oh ow can anybody all right well that was double noise all right so your mute this is open I'm change my name on here just because it's what's that that's because I you don't stand it doesn't know your ear well you can try speaking and see if it goes over there testing testing one two hello [Laughter] it all right what's Okay so I just need someone to raise their hand to say they can hear us thank you all right shall we call ourselves to order there's still something can one of you speak so I can hear if we can hear you here I am can you hear me yes perfect thank you I'm going to turn the volume up a little bit on our end give me one second that Jennifer Wallace volume volume yeah okay can you do it again Jennifer okay here I am Jennifer Wallace me turn it up more no I can keep talking no no that's fine we just were testing it was here okay all right so let's um review the agenda and we have a couple of things that we are not doing 605 six yeah 605 thank you um we are not going to do we don't have minutes and we don't have um the eak uh is not happening so they're gonna come next month I mean the next meeting no no June so they asked for June 6 okay okay and I think everything else is okay correct yes yes all right all right so let's open it up to public comment does anyone on screen or in this room have um any public comment for the select board I okay Susie yeah um I know you are considering getting into hybrid meetings and that's part of the June whatever meeting discussion about hybrid yeah and um one thing I the uh audio on hybrid is really poor I don't you looked at we're gonna talk about okay you've looked at have you looked at a hybrid meeting tape and watched what happen yes okay that's that's one way and then I have um a sister in Chester Vermont and she they are working on it too so there's other places working on it if you needed any other help before that meeting um I'd be yeah I think that was on our um on we going to talk about that for uh the all boards meeting we were going to that was what it was y right for the all board meeting so I didn't know if there was any prep I could help with that so that we thank you okay all right um so is there anyone else with public comments no uh anyone else on screen okay so we have a couple of minutes before 6:30 um so shall we move up do we want to talk about the improving the hybrid meetings as we just had a nice segue into that okay all right so oh you I'm sorry to interrupt I couldn't get my hand up in time goes about um when people are speaking from the back could they at least could they come forward so that we could hear them better there should be that they can and also speaking into the mic that's it thank you all right so hopefully this solution I'm going to bring up on screen give me one moment um so of course that brings up an actual owl not an owl so this is G share my screen in one second uming bar put this over here we won't see everybody for a moment Zoom back why I why don't start with like the Genesis of this um agenda item is is that we've had a number of um observations um from people who are part participating remotely that they have a very hard time hearing us that there there's interruptions and um despite our best efforts to um direct our speaking to the owl inevitably I'll turn to Eric or I'll turn to Melissa and then things go arai in terms of people people being able to understand so um we've had this technology I don't know for a couple years now um and uh we are researching how to improve because it looks like we'll be continuing to do hybrid meetings um over the long term so Mom Melissa is going to share with us something that she found yes so we currently use the owl um conference room camera microphone speaker in one um I know you guys can't see it there you see this item right here this is the owl so it picks us up and speaker and microphone and cameras at the top and some things are really good with this um we have an interesting situation here even as I'm speaking I can hear there's an echo in this room um which you may or may not be able to hear on there we are trying some options on the table tonight for creating a more solid surface so that doesn't happen but this is what owl suggests now to use with the owl Center camera and it's an owl bar I'm going to move I'm going to move the participants for a moment um so what this is is it sits in front so it's additional microphone and then additional camera and additional and it works with this our owl and it picks it up so it's going to pick up anything where we are speaking here or at the TV okay so it's going to pick up in two different areas which is going to be help something that helps us and it already works with technology we're using so um the other thing we will want to consider though is the Acoustics in this room and how to deaden the echo um and that may be simply hanging curtains on the wall on the Windows um a little bit of furniture setting it up a little bit of furniture um inviting more bodies to come and meet us in person um those sort of things there also that rumbling from whatever that is we also have that and that's been I've tried to downplay that but if I downplay it people can't hear like you can remove noise but when you do that you also remove its sensitivity and so that's also right we did last time turn it off and I didn't watch last time's video to see if it helped is that the dehumidifier you turn that off last okay um so that is also something we probably should consider when meetings are happening to be able to turn that off and maybe create a switch that's easier to get at than F stuff and how much does this cost so this this there are disc there are discounts um and there are grants available this does say it's $1,700 but there are uh grants and such to increase the so um I didn't look specifically into those yet I wanted to present this as an option first you know we can also do uh integrate microphones as well um they haven't created one specifically with the owl yet but there are ones that work with the owl so is the owl technology um considered sort of the state-ofthe-art is there the state of-the-art is the ones in the ceiling that that you have that just are they kind of pick up everything in the room and you hang them on the wall those are usually the bow system also um but those are are very expensive and the Acoustics would still be a problem um where I work we have both we have this and we have the complete conference room like wired and everything um that also has its issues so it it um part of it is the the being a basement you know we may think about maybe having our meetings in this smaller room that may have something if we're GNA over you meanor right noise isn't it even noise you have to turn off additional equipment yeah that could be so maybe we do it in we could try in there before we buy something yeah we could try that would where would we get the money would we do we have money in the SLI slick board budget that's just about all the money you have in the SBO budget but it's for this year or for next fiscal year you mean for this curent in this current fiscal year either year it's 2400 okay it's the budget so okay and like I said there are grants for this sort of thing and um do you apply to l themselves you can ask yeah you can ask Al has their discounts for municipal and schools um but there's Al others out there too okay I just did a quick Google search just to find out because I knew that would be okay so so's The Next Step The Next Step so let I can um get all this information off I can call ow get an actual price for us and then if Susie has information from Chester Vermont what they're using too Susie and um so and we can I can see what else would go with those for microphones too yeah we we might consider we might consider we can shut off too we can experiment where we can shut her off only use the microphone part or then I'm sorry the camera part and use some of other microphones we have that option to integrate that with her as well there's there's quite a few options yeah it's just what we want to do and what expense we want and other microphones would have to be connected to speakers a different speaker system no no no you would you would put it in the lap you'd have to be speakers with laptop you can't have two speakers working if you're using her as a speaker or the TV as a speaker so the microphone we couldn't use the microphones we have uh no probably not because that is very those that has its own it would have have to be either a wireless Bluetooth where it could be the the laptop and her um but you can shut things down with her too so you can use the camera and a microphone and they can be two separate because I don't know if you guys will see this on camera because can you guys oops if I'm sharing my screen you guys should be able to see yourselves in some way yes um give me one second I gotta find right here so if you go to I don't know that the viewers can see this um you have the oh you can so you have the option to do any one of these options instead of the owl so when we came first on it had picked up my laptop as the device you could put a a microphone as a device and then the owl as a speaker in camera so you can do that as well I know it's a lot of options you know and I'm willing to you know play around with some of it um what do we know from other small towns that are using most of them meeting in person now what always has been they have always been meeting in well they went to zoom for a while and now they're either Zoom or in person they they skipped hybrid and and tell them I was just wondering if there's any any other communities that we could get a lot of the smaller ones are not using are not attempting the hybrid like we are yeah okay um all right well yeah if you can find out more information we can get information from through Susie that would be great and then um and then would we be making a decision that at our next meeting or next meeting after next okay so the scope of what we're trying to do is just stabilize this system yes I think we're not trying to figure and it might be that we have a model that we can replicate if we need additional hybrid meaning space or equipment okay I'm just being you're just asking you're asking yeah um let me see well let me see if I can borrow that from someone TR before um let me see if I can borrow one the thing mean I mean I have like really sensitive microphones but I have no idea how we make it all connect up what kind of microp are they for music or are they for yeah but but I mean I don't I don't know you need something that has a USB connection on the end right yeah it would have to be USB or think think USB or U HDMI all right I'll look at I'll look at a I might have something okay I'll check it out but you don't want to have to bring it every time to every meeting no but but to try it out but at least if we knew it worked know worked okay you know that might be an option yeah all right yeah let me see if I can borrow one um if I can and maybe I can test out even ahead of time see if it might work you know yeah great set up the zoom have someone on the outside someone on the inside no yeah I'll but a lot a lot of it has to do with the room we're in um so we have to think about that how to make the Acoustics better so that's kind of that okay so um 10 minutes 10 minutes you want to do the Google Calendar yes you can do the Google Calendar I'm already sharing I just have to let me take this away um thank you um Trac Tracy oh Tracy oh just while you're on the subject of the uh the meeting room um still at least the last elwak meeting I was at Saturday morning is the generator I I'm not really sure what the issue is where the meeting the the uh cameras stop and Eric will probably know it happens on Saturday mornings I think it's something to do with a generator not really sure but like scheduling it at a different time from when meetings happen um which is probably just putting it off until the afternoon yeah it's the generator does exercising I guess or something right it test it's a self test yeah and I will have Tim p as a captive audience as he installs the generator at the highway department so I can demand to get it I've emailed multiple times I know you have I know you tried to get [Music] the generator I'm gonna share my screen again shuts off so I'm gonna explain sorry we lose the participants I have to put them back up here they come okay all right so the the thinking behind the Google Calendar um is that there there are often times where the select board doesn't know who is in Town Hall what our department heads are here um and so the the to use Ras uh the Genesis for this was to create a place where anyone who was not in town hall could put their um time out maybe you maybe the three of us could say if we couldn't make a meeting may be a good Avenue for that so if one of us can't make a meeting we we going to be on vacation right are going to be out because the um people need to know so that was the part for this um the calendar so I created just a basic calendar and I was thinking and we can write up I guess a policy for it that anyone who works in town hall department heads will individually do their own their own and anyone who we would like to know like so emergency manage team management team people should be on here um uh the police chief fire Town Administrator anyone who's going to be out for half a day or more is what I was thinking if you're going to be away from town hall during your normal working hours um it would give us a place to look to see and know who's here as the select board who oversees um town and so we give permission to each person to be able to put things on this calendar so every everyone would use the same calendar okay yep so everyone could use the same calendar could be all in one place um I've used this in multiple places I've worked it works out great I'm out I put it on the 13th everyone who has access can see Melissa is not available so they they would contact reader or or if that was a select board issue they needed to talk to if it was you know some emergency management we had a snowstorm we all could see who our department heads are here and not here um that sort of emergency just just know where people are and you know and it would be up to each individual Department had to put that time on we would have to talk if we want to know about individual firefighters or or police officers um or if we want their strong Chiefs so we want them to manage that themselves they but anyway so that's kind of how I'm presenting it and then who would who could access it anyone who is allowed to put inform on access okay y y so if uh you know anyone so if alen wants to see where we are or she needs to get a hold of someone you know she can look or the town accountant needs receips or something she can see if the person she needs is here or why they haven't answered an email or whatever you know use it as a as kind of a a hub for all of that activity town clerk's not here you know we could we be able to see that so we would have people um let's say Ellen's in the office four days a week she would be in she would be written in on all those four days I was thinking more she was GNA be out we'd see that she was out unless we want to use it that way we could use it for their work schedules as well in in that case and where you don't see them out so um this is how I ened it but we can do it in any way yeah you know I mean I use one in my um my job y um we actually put all of our appointments in so anybody could see where we were at any time of day but I I like your idea just if being lots of time as opposed to you assume people are here if they're not on right and then if they're off if they put in vacation or okay so just to use this when you're out of the office then out of the office calendar yeah I put it I forget what I had called it because I didn't know what name to call it but I labeled it as Town Department calendar I didn't know what we wanted in work it's not going to show meetings it's not going to be like the we have a calendar we do right we do we already have that calendar I mean if you want just person yeah no that sounds good to me I think that's all right um so I'll write up a little bit of a policy and um who do we want to well I mean I'll just put all the town employees on there and then yeah and then they can have access to put it on they don't have a shury email their department head can put it on so like on the highway t uh Steve can put it on for somebody else for one of his that they don't have access and I wouldn't see the firefighters using it's only the fire right right would we would need to know if he's away from you know and do you like the half if you're away from town hall for half a day or more or would you like if there's an appointment as well like if they're away for two hours how would you like to do it would you I like the idea if you're away for a couple of hours you know but that's just that you put it in yeah that gets really that would be really complicated well if you have an appointment like so if you're you know away from the office forou not like you know if Steve was out he's not out of the you know he away it's just away from work okay it just allows allows people to know that go to the next person if there is okay that sounds fine right right so you would write something I'll write something up and then we can yeah I mean I don't know I sort of limit it to the people of access at least to start theart department heads Department you know you know someone from the road crew is sick and not at work no no we don't need to know that I that ass Steve needs to know that so okay and is it something where say one of the department heads is the leaves the person in charge do we want that to be noted there too so like you know prison's on a vacation officer in charge is yeah I think that that would be good so they could put that they could put it they can put it right in okay in the title of the Chris vacation officer in charge okay no I know she hasn't it was just an example I your first one I thought it where we have an officer in charge or if Lenny was on vacation then leave someone in okay all right sound okay are we still ahead of schedule only by two minutes so okay um let's let's go back into order um so we have a um we received a conom resignation from Mary David um and she resigned from the CBA too yeah so we didn't put that down right do we yeah and there one no okay so so in her letter she resigned from the three the concom CBA and L um so do we have to accept accept the resignation letter do I hear a motion to accept Mary Davis resignation letter so move um I'll second um before we do that I think we should thank Mary David for all of our work on the conom CBA and elac and the volunteer hours thank you very much I agree with that um all in favor barl I Dr make peace O'Neal I okay um and annual town meeting review where would you like to start it went pretty well and fairly quickly we moved along um Paul did a fantastic job yep we did and I think things ran pretty smoothly how about um Becky with the whole with the sort of physical setup is it worked out well I think it it was a little challenging for Grace the first few minutes with the the space but um they worked it out very nicely you mean that the setup in the theing because that was the part left to get set up um Matt Foster was wonderful he set up the whole stage with everything I had requested and put up um the shoot SP sign um and so that part was pretty seamless the microphones were he set up as well and so they were in good order I'm not sure it were you guys uh happy with the microphones well it was sort of on and off I mean there were some issues right was that just turning she was said she just needed to be there speaking I think they were okay I would think they were okay but okay yeah good good yeah and um as far as voting they were extra early and getting done they were done by four Yeah by a little four four o' I think so that went very smoothly as well great and I don't think we had any traffic concerns no ticks what about turnout what was the that's a good question because somebody somebody I don't know if it was Grace or somebody said they felt that we didn't have the turnout as good a turnout as we've had when we've had the meetings outside yes and that's what gray said and I think then I I haven't gotten the numbers from her yet I think the numbers will show that yeah but we did have you know in 22 we had that extraordinary over 563 um people that voted plus children and other so the capacity for a larger crowd is outdoors if we need it and how much does it rough roughly how much did cost us to have a meeting Outdoors the tent was the major expense and that no that was part of the problem that the of the tent kept climbing yeah um but it was more I $3,000 3,000 yeah it was 3,000 one year it was just under and one year it was just over last year well that's what I had looked into but a 10 of that to to put it up yeah Ian it took them four hours to put it up and take it down it was a massive we can't ask volunteers to do that no you wouldn't want them to any liability it's the same spell so yeah the 10 issue is a a problem and the library had been using it for on Sunday for a huge tag sale so they didn't have that um pH year but I think they made two or 3,000 so if we go back to it we could break even if we keep the yeah it be hard the other thing about the tent was the sound I mean last time we did it was okay but we did it was okay because buy a lot of stuff to bring to the party but I mean uh that's not the solution in the long run right so that's to do that to write you'd have to spend some money to get set up to do that rent yeah or buy yeah right there you have the opposite that you do in this room you have an echo in this room and then nature AB absorbs the noise right the opposite room opposite I also wonder if we we do inside again next year and and we adopt clickers if that happens if that would change participation more people might come if they thought the meeting was going to move faster by virtue of having every time there's a a vote it's instantaneous that you get the you get the results I also think that there's a value in people um anonymously Ved too where some may not attend because they are it's notown but you you think about I mean I don't think it's the inside outside mean you think about some meetings in the past me that room was Jam well for definite you know School we're going to build a school whatever I me different topics over the years the internet so whatever yeah the internet so I I think this year's agenda was I wouldn't say boring because here we are doing it you know it's was not that controversial and I think that um the the discussions on the floor of the town meeting were less ranker because it wasn't this Conover which I had several people say that was really nice to go to town meeting and not have all this you know back and forth people call Basic call each other names you know that was really good so I think the less controversial nature of the the agenda has a lot to do with lower turnout people they say well it's nothing that then the weather plays a role too it was one of the first nice days we had I know well that's always the case usually right unless it's outside then it's about 50 Dees freezing anyway okay so when I get the numbers on the attendance I'll bring notes that would be great okay and then it would be good to know next steps on the um on the clicker discussion what they're anticipating are they going to make a recommendation and then if we had a special town meeting clicker clickers I think they were calling it the clicker clicker study group now yeah so I believe they were going to make clicker click yeah yeah I thought that's what the next step was was a recommendation for either borrowing options purching right or sharing sharing yeah but I think I'm not sure we heard the full discussion no no that was the full discussion yeah so maybe once they come up with their recommendations then we'll have them at a s board meeting and then decision could be made about how we were going to proceed right if we were going to proceed then how would it get paid for we need a town meeting vote would be good to have that for the um meeting the all boards meetings and good suggestion yeah that they come forth with their recommendation yeah so we can get feedback from a broader group of people yeah um you want me to get in touch with Paul and ask him to move it along sure we don't unless you want to do it I'm I'm happy to do whatever want okay I'll just send them something okay so the June 11th was the old boards meeting and then I'll see if he can give us a a status report okay at least that if it not more yeah or recommendation all right the response to oh I'm sorry are we ready to move on yeah okay uh response to the open meeting La complaint do you want to we had um complaint going back um to March 9th I think March 9th I'm sorry April 9th um and we need to write a letter of response to the complaint the complaint was about the fact that we went into an executive session the executive session was clearly marked on the agenda and the complaint was that um a party that the litigating party that we were discussing was not identified um I had reached out to council um in writing the executive session notice um I had confirmation not to include the individual party's name for concerns about its impact on litigation um so I did not um we have um our attorney has written up a response letter which you've been provided with and um as you all know as part of this we are originally were trying um the deadline to respond was on April 26th we were uh failing to make that date our attorney wrote a request for extension um to the um director of the division of open government and we were um and they granted us the extension so tonight after the meeting I will um put the letter um in an email and send it both to the to the complainant and to the office of open government and you have the before you to V so the only um if I'm going to sign it just I should be co-chair I corrected that I did not write that part and there was also a request to amend the the form for bring all this up this the part yeah yeah and I it did not get printed but it's reformatted and I'll print that at the end of the meeting so you can all sign it so I can perform all the required emails okay so Becky I just have a question in terms of process um if we get a complaint like that and we don't we need every two weeks how are we ever supposed to be able to now we're supposed to respond within 14 days 14 business days 14 business days I think if we hadn't had some meetings we might um we would have done it in the prior week but I didn't have a response letter back I had written a draft one and I had sent it off to council to see if and I hadn't gotten one back in time okay so just have to push harder on right so it's 14 what it is 14 working days so conceivably yeah right maybe if we have one up if we get one maybe it's something we could consider a special meting for if we had to just to stay within that for in case okay and some of them are more straightforward I don't this is infrequent that they have to that you have to have Council right and that's what unfortunately with the back and forth that did extend yeah okay so hopefully I won't deadlines it just yeah it just seems like a really quick turnaround time to it is do you have a sense of what these cost us to town when someone makes an open meeting I'm saying they shouldn't I'm that's I'm just curious We call we have this lawyer from this case and us your time and Grace's time has to review and you know I had to send her all the back and forth and yeah so it's at least four to eight hour well four hours time at least I probably had four hours into this the lawyer probably had at least a whole hour um oh sure right yeah or more he's very fast sure yeah regular but still it's you know it costs the town it drains resources from the work that needs to get done and it's been so frequent for the last two years it's you know Grace it's really uh days she loses days at a time and it's it's it's hard we have to respond I know to do it yeah you got ballpark figure So like um say $500 but well you up time just even the hours of of yours and hers what that well that's like 250 250 for just the hours and then when you and we this isn't the first time I've had to P in the lawyer um so then you add another two or 300 and so easily stay starting somewhere between five and 6 and 600 yeah I not okay and and you got to just respond oh no I know that I'm not Sugg have to do that that's I'm not suggesting people shouldn't do it that's what deal but I just want it's acknowledge that it's a well it's a service we provide I know at it cost okay all right okay thank you um I'll make a motion that we um approve forwarding the letter to the Office of the Attorney General as um amended this evening reformatting and with the co-chair to respond to the open meeting law complaint from Sharon weisen Bell dated April 12 2024 second okay any further discussion or questions all those in favor Carl I st i m O'Neal I okay on to E charger proposal update Livingston updates I'm sure yeah here we go again no but I think we do have um I'm not sure where I'm at with these guys um can you give us like two minutes on just the overview of what this is again okay this is a proposal from a company in New York state to M uh to our municipality and a few others in the area to provide uh supercharging stations at no cost to the town um I believe yeah I I'm still trying to sort out that the no cost is really true and that it does everything that we want it to do um I've been going over the all the information they sent us I've asked for the contract as well but I'm not ready to be comfortable that is all going to work so I I hope to come back and say this is real very soon is it my understanding is is that the library doesn't want these now that was the last thing she said to you when I was there but since then she said who she being the library director yes uh that they have the ch the wiring for the Chargers are in the plant right that was my for these these Chargers are are specifically like everything they're doing is three phase so I believe it includes these I talked to her about the electrical setup and the electrician I understood that they had the wiring but I thought that what I I think what I heard was that there was an issue with handicap spots and having EV charges that do to essentially like lose access to like four spots that would be under the um another grant program that she looked at under this program they would give them a charging station that can be for a handicapped spot and they are not requiring that only an electric vehicle can part there that's the difference so right now the grant that they were working with required them only to allow electric cars to park in a parking space with a charter that makes sense and that's what I'm trying to get confirmation from them on is that we won't lose our grand funding or they not going to come and say oh now you have to pay us the $400,000 that we think this cost you because you're allowing a non electric car in the parking space so that's the big kicker and if they will allow non-electric Chargers in the parking space then we're good to go okay if there's any money isn't that funny that's our parking spot yeah that's the that's part of the the requirements that are being made from some of the grants or electric Chargers that so can't have you know your your old Cadillac from 72 sitting there so we just need a really detailed proposal from living stone with all our questions and yes well it seems to it work both ways too if you had an electric car charging there and you had a handicapped plate and you wanted to park where where do you park you throw the person out of their space and say I want to park here I don't understand that I don't in other words how could it be a dual use space is my question I think you have one handicap spot and One charging spot next to each other oh okay oh that's cool is what I'm it would be an there would be an electrical charger at a handicapped spot but it can only be allowed at a handicapped spot if you're not requiring an electric vehicle to be at that spot right so so if you have you have a handicap sticker you could park you have to have a handicap sticker to park that handicapped spot if it happens to be a handicap spot with the electrical charger you don't have to have an electric car to park there right but El hand spot electric car is there and wants to charge hand spots can't you can't park they you have to have it I don't think you could park right handicap spot with the electric charger well you could get it ticket you get a ticket right you shouldn't do it well they could park in the next spot over and Cat their car to charging station probably yeah so maybe the charning station goes between the two right handicap can use it if they have I think all the Chargers theoretically have two charges anyway so then you have your other option for the so yeah without getting without getting the weeds technically here to to the other thing is is this company was going to put a a charger at this building for example right two Chargers two yeah and I I would be willing to bet I don't know I'm not an electrician but I would be willing to bet that like for them to put that here we'd have to do some we'd have to do thousands of dollars worth elect work this building to let that happen I could be wrong but that's I wouldn't want know pay for the electrical they would pay for the full installation running the three-phase power from that pole that's right out there because he has three-phase power right out there okay do we really need Chargers here and at the at the library why not I mean well the only reason why is is more we have so few parking spaces here and that if we have people pulling in to charge only just come here to charge their cars as they're passing through town right and they're doing it for right what what benefit are we getting n n yeah we get paid for the yeah they pay they pay for the electricity so it's noost they're paying for no there's no cost but I'm just saying there's the inconvenience I mean it's already I pull in here and we have a number of police vehicles and then just a few people here and all of a sudden the parking lot's full and if in 3 years 5 years 10 years we have two electric police vehicles it will be helpful to have okay the all right I I don't see I see hyrid don't see them yeah okay all right to be continued all right and Lake qu advisory committee request for storm water TX force and I see Mark Rivers here and Jennifer [Music] and I think that uh I don't know all the members of of so I do apologize like committing um would you like Mark would you like to give us a little bit of a rundown for those on the this the um meeting that haven't read email and such or Jennifer whoever like to give us J I'm fine with that or I can start it and Jennifer can fill in the gaps whoever would like to yeah why don't you start because you're the lwac leader okay wish that was true so you know everyone everyone in town or and certainly everyone around the lake knows there are silt issues coming coming into the lake um climate change has caused a lot more storm water runoff U it's coming from all from all areas um and not and not just the roads but it's you know it's a problem we have much much stronger rainfalls much more um runoff coming into the lake and so a number of residents um wanted to propos to form a task force uh to look at alternative sources of funding um to address specific problems it's and you know we all know there's you know this issue of public roads private roads but the real issue is the lake and protecting the lake and uh is there a different approach that can be taken and so this group wants to the prop proposed task force um wants to look at you know what can be done to provide better protection for the lake um and so you know I thought it was a good idea um it would be consistent members from some from elak but a number of are not on elak um uh really we need a kind of a diverse group you know some Town residents um maybe some Town some Town residents who are not from around the lake um some Town employees who have expertise in in in this kind of thing um and so the real question is is does the select board support the idea of a task force and should that task force uh report directly to the select board or should they report to [Music] um that's kind of a summary Jennifer am I missing anything important no no I think that's that's pretty pretty comprehensive I mean I think the thing that that I would just add is that my thought about this having done this kind of task force in other context is that I just wanted to make it super clear that it's really meant to be Project Specific in other words these are hotpots for erosion they most likely involve sources from all over the place and and so it's leveraging some of these studies that have gone on over the years I think there have been four major studies all of which have identified impacts and then looked at you know ways that that funding for specific projects might get um packages you know might get put together and might involve some partnership between public and private depending on the project it might be solely public or it might be solely private um so so it's just meant to take a discussion that's been going on for years and going okay it it doesn't work to put since we have this Obstacle of public and private mixing what if we look at ways to mix public and private and I did this once before when I worked for City Planning housing department in New York City where we we mix public and private funds and and improved properties that none of the funding sources owned and it was quite successful so anyway that's all I mean just that the task force is really in my mind very Project Specific and would be looking at trying to find some creative solution solutions to things that are big they're big issues big problems big Geographic areas um that's all I would [Music] add okay question go ahead um so uh Jennifer you mentioned the four major studies and I remember furog most recently was doing something right so there was there was a storm water storm water management study in 2007 there was the Stockman and Associates wildlife habitat evaluation that was in 2019 the um Community resilience building study fuss and O'Neal that was in 20120 and 2024 is furog which is still in the draft form but we we can read the draft form and and all of those studies identify you know impacts at Lake wyola um storm water management storm water erosion um some of it coming from multiple all of it coming from multiple sources and you know I think I think the lake wyola roads are always you know like this flash point and what I've been trying to to think about is that they are contributors but they're not the source of the problem and in fact they're kind of as I said in my little write up they're collateral damage from the problem of where all the storm water is coming from and how how to manage it especially because where it's going is a public conservation and Recreation resource in which the town has a huge interest I hope and I believe it does have a huge interest so um those are the four studies that I'm referring to there might be others but I was thinking that that would be a good jumping off point for this um task force would be to to look at those in some of the hotpots that have already been identified in those studies and then see what current site conditions are there and choose some projects that can be case studies for putting together different funding packages any thoughts either way um I I guess I have another I guess I have another question about what we expect to get out of the fur Cog the current study that they're doing were they going to come forth with any specific recommendations that then this task force might be trying to move forward or Mark might have a little bit more on that I have an idea of it but I think Mark you might have more yes Jif so what perog is currently doing is they're defining the problems right and you know so you know this side the lake there's a problem problems from up in fist book are issues um and so with Once that's defined then the the goal is to get funding I think it's a 604 something B Project funding um that will help pay for the design the solution so so we there the fhog is Define the problem then we need a design that says okay this will solve the problem and then we need a 503 I forgot the number is but another Grant to actually implement the designs that that they're recommending so it's it's um it's you know it's multi-year definitely multi multiple years away it's not going to happen this year and next year um and I think this group doesn't want to you know want to maybe tackle some of these things in advance U and uh you know a lot of solutions are don't require a lot of engineering you know it's like it's obvious and it's just a matter of you know you know where can we get the funding to solve to to address this specific problem some problems are much more complicated like the North Cove being filled with in filled in with s silt from fist but there's certainly a lot of little ones that can be that can be U effectively dealt with on a small [Music] scale okay good thank you um do is this something we'd like to move forward with it's fun me I mean I think we should go forward with anything that'll that'll move it along move the process along I would be tempted to sort of wait to see what fog Sugg just happened and then and then develop from there and develop from there but I mean I I don't think this I think as Mark suggests there are the small things that you know maybe we could figure out how to do something I don't imagine um right now the furog study is in their minds and it's final form and it's just being reviewed by mass D and but that's been going on for six months so I uh I think their list of problems are pretty comprehensive and and so I you know it's really a sound of money you know a lot of the stuff is obvious where the problems are uh and if you look at their at their study at their work it's you know it's you know there some they're you know very complicated and some they're just very simple and so it's a matter of you know working working our way through the simple ones in advance would we be duplicating their efforts at any in this at all that's that's what I'm worried about is just sort of like we're doing it they're doing everyone everyone's you know what I mean just gets too crazy at some level but I don't see that as being the case because uh you know we can just say go through the process and say oh we checked off this this problem area has been already addressed and so we can focus more of the design funding on the more important problems so I don't I don't think there's any duplication of effort here at all I think it's this is this totally comp M yeah I agree it's it's actually using the material that has already been published for cogs and the others which are studies right so it's taking the studies and moving them into an implementation phase so none of these studies did anything about implementing they proposed Solutions and actually some of the 2007 ideas which were really valid in 2007 may not be so valid anymore because the storm water situation is intensified and much more severe so it's kind of a process of using how I see it anyway is using what we have updating it where it's necessary and then moving in into well how do we Implement some of these things so no they're they're Source material the studies but they're not to be do they're not duplicated okay um I do see trac's hand do you guys have any more questions before we no go ahead okay go ahead J hi yeah so I I would say like you all could read the furog draft report it's really a final report it's called a draft only because DP hasn't signed off on it yet but you can read that report um they used the studies that uh Jennifer um highlighted uh in for the background information to um inform them and then they went for with their review and there you I I will back up both Jennifer and Mark that in reading all these studies myself through the years and then reading this furog draft there are definitely other things that wouldn't require an engineering study like that this study is not going to come through with an engineering study um the F report it'll it'll recommend things some of those things would require an engineering study and some of them wouldn't that Jenifer but they're you know they're pretty they're pretty simple um a lot of it's drainage you know drainage around the lake uh certain areas that would be pretty easy to um to put in um but then we have other areas where the water is coming down through town on land uh that then comes onto the lake roads um and it's it's very difficult for the lake roads um it's very difficult for to be managed once it hits the lake roads uh because is kind of like a you know a flume especially on the other on West Side uh just gives it a pathway to travel and pick up speed and um it isn't it isn't something that you know as much as I have complaints about the way the lake W Association spends our money there's no way they possibly afford to do what needs to be done to keep the silt from going into the lake it's just not possible and the lake is Town resource and you know it's filling up with silk and contaminants that that that harm all the living creatures that live in there and also the other point that I want to make is that last summer for example the State Beach was closed almost the entire summer they have a higher level of testing that's required for the state beaches it is not required for the lake wyola beaches but I did do a little research and found that a lot of you know towns are starting to do that higher level um and like most likely if we were doing those that higher level testing at the three lake wyola beaches they would be closed you know and this is something that is the last two years just increased tremendously I think that State Beach was closed 68 days last summer that's not Eola it's it's other contaminants thanks Tracy um so just to move this ahead I I um I think forming the task force is a good idea um so the question is well the first question is is this something the select board undertakes as opposed to you know saying Lio Association do it and then if we if if we um take it on are we then are we then going to review this the incorporate the scope and and then the membership I guess is the one that I find it's sort of the the vaguest description here like what is the membership going to going to be you know how how many people you don't want to leave it open-ended you want to have a you know a maximum number of people and then then not number and then um representation um you know where is the representation I don't you know maybe we need to think about that part add just a little bit more to that to this um so so one issue not issue really what one feature is whether this task force course is a if it's a working committee that's pulling together multiple stakeholders in the town around this issue what's the most effective way for it to um transmit its findings and and receive guidance right so so if it's a working task force for the town does it make sense for it to be housed under the select board because the select board are the leadership of the Town um it's different than lwac and that it's not really an advisory capacity right it's a it's a project implementation tool so so as far as where it's situated it seems that the select board can weigh in on whether whether it wants to be um seeing the work of this task force as being part of its part of of its overseeing you know that you you have an you know that you're interested in it and that you want it to be reporting to you um I think the membership was the most vague because I'm just like a person drafting these ideas having had having it was not a criticism it was more like no no it's that it need it obviously needs further discussion and I thought you know I don't know who are the interested parties to discuss it because it hasn't found a home where does it live right now who who has input into its composition so those two are related you know where it lives and who who has um input into what its composition is Becky I can see [Music] here Jennifer I I'm I'm wondering what you you just described it as an implementation tool but the task force so without I don't think you can Implement without the authority of the select board I this committee what how do you see you functioning that you would choose what projects are worked on and you would CH no no no just the opposite well not the opposite but the way that I imagined it would be that this task force would locate projects as Mark said some would be um you know fairly easy to um to deal with others might be very complex and needing you know um sophisticated funding packages or whatever but the way I imagine it is that the task force would identify the projects Identify some sources of funding that are appropriate for those specific projects and then present them as an array and the prioritization would be set by by you know whoever the main stakeholders are in this case I think the town would be a major stakeholder we could propose priorities I think they'd have to be based on the research that's in these studies a lot of it's already identified you know there's places where I know everyone laughs about the bridled Shiner I really like the idea of the bridal Shiner this little minnow that's a key part of a freshwater ecosystem but there are places where water is coming into the lake that is completely carving out the lake Bottom changing its its um composition totally and that's where the BR tring bre and eats so there is I think there's some leverage there with you know even State funding for uh storm water management that's affecting species of concern or endangered species but that's what I mean I mean I think I think it has to be a collaborative process that's a lot of words from me but I imagine it would have to be a collaborative process and priorities how would want teamwork to do that did I answer your question Becky uh almost I so I think I mean it sounds like it would come back since like I I have proposal what um I'd be willing to take what Jennifer's draft and put it into a format of something that the select board could then review real and write and edit is that is that sound and Jennifer I might get back in touch with you or you Mark if I had questions um specific to but it would be it' be in draft form and then it's something we could um entertain at our next meeting yeah I think what do you yeah so you're basically charging this task force to do certain tasks yes yeah but I would take your yeah um draft here and that that would be the basis it's like a skeleton yeah yeah little a skeleton how does that sound to you George I George Mark it's aome I think it's it's a greate it's a great approach okay all right so um we'll put it on the agenda for the next meeting and it will come back in the form of a um and maybe what I'll do is I'll share the draft with the two of [Music] you feedback before the meeting yeah okay all right very good oh thank you I'm excited thanks a lot okay let's see we did theog little emergency management possible dates Becky have you um I knew you were going to reach out to to um the team to to find out about that um do we have do we have a date that um the select board members could make that we can Target like usually Emergency Management was Mondays okay at 6:30 not holiday Monday is not a good day work no I know I'm just saying that's what they had been um does this one might be a little bit of a longer meeting just because you know and I can and I don't mind reaching out to everybody too I know Beck you have a lot on your plate so I don't mind emailing and given possible dates um is there anything yeah uh Wednesdays or Thursdays are fine from me okay typically all right and this one I think would be in person um we could have you know um I think it's important to be sitting across the table from each other so is uh Wednesday May 15th May 15th okay the 16th is not good for me yeah it's not either for me I excuse me I could do the 15th okay and in case that doesn't work for a larger group is the 22nd something that yes would work Eric do those two work with you um the 22nd definitely works either one or the 15th is not this 15th yeah next May 15 May 15 next week does that work yeah that works okay and at 6:30 just okay and this is the em it's Emergency Management so um it's made up of the select board a Board of Health representative the Emergency Management director which is currently our Pro um the deputy director which is currently our police chief uh Town Administrator Highway super and why do I think I'm forgetting someone at the table oh the ministry secretary I did speak to lesie she is willing to um at least start with this team to keep it going um and if um anyway she was the secretary for the forgot the um we have a public information yes and we had yeah and the ham operator the ham operator Aaron Addison is there some some test I'm supposed to take somebody's a Class A Class we we'll get yall we use I've been I've been looking for them they haven't had them that are available and there's binders at the I I'll talk to Lenny about the binders that we're supposed to have so excuse me so it was the fire chief Highway depart fire chief the highway super police chief all three select board members Board of Health the the public information officer the um ham operator ham radio operator and then the secretary the team secretary all right so I guess I'll email it I'll email those two dates out and then ask see who can who can and then whoever gets the most before you do I'd like to make sure with L and um that they can make those okay sure um and so that was okay so we have that on the calendar Aaron Addison have to get [Music] his I have okay all right um and now we have full-time appointment of Benfield to shb high Department I think Steve probably would like to fill us in on this one are you there Steve yeah right I I didn't realize that this was happening tonight but I'm glad I'm here glad you're here so Ben Fields is a um he's actually the nephew of John Field who worked for the highway department for a number of years and um is his family runs the field Family Farm down on 63 in Leverett and Ben came to us through the school to work pipeline through the UMass um Transportation Center last summer he actually ended up working for us two um sections instead of just one because he was so good and we've been working with the um Transportation Center since August trying to get him a scholarship to the United tractor trailer school so he could get his class B CDL and we could hire him full-time and just last week it finally happen and his first class is tonight so the deal that the highway department and the Town Administrator had was that we could not hire Ben full-time right now he's just a temporary part-time snow removal person was that he had to have a solid plan in place to obtain his CDL and then we could hire him full-time because you can you can be hired for the highway department without a hoers but you have to have the CDL to be hired and I think St to attend classes is a solid plan and someone else paying for them yeah Steve has arranged it so the town is not and Ben are not paying for it he's that's great he's been tireless and advocating for them good great i' like to make a motion that we appoint Ben Field to the shoot shsb Highway Department okay do you want to hear a second second all right any further discussion no all right all in favor ARL I st ey make peace on your line thanks Steve thank you Steve thank you very much we're now up to a whopping three people again yay congratulations okay and now on to town ad Ministry updates particularly PE fast and gasoline pick uh clean up all right um uh the gasoline cleanup is waiting for um confirmation that the spot we found at on the property will work we're waiting for um should learn from Jeffrey um if you think that spot is doable by tomorrow um you say spot what do you mean okay so we had for the gasoline situation we needed another test well far um East as we could go I'm sorry West oh so this is a spot for the test well a spot to put the well and so we've sent pictures to Jeff and Sam was out today um exploring the site and I think it's going to work okay which will be good news because I'm pushing him to get it done as soon as possible um things did you say Sam Sam Evans so um and do we have money for that we have I have to get a quote um he's going to be providing the quote we have some money and it might be enough okay I'm have my fingers crossed on the [Music] P we've had as I told you that report the last time I went from three new wells to five new wells and I have now gone to six new wells um we have been making sure I ordered more 5 gallon jugs making sure people um have water from the you know initiation until the final test proves that their their new filters are working so that's that's uh happening um I'm a little behind in getting all the letters out I hope to get that done by Friday um we've gotten a lot of lab reports in over the last um two weeks so that needs to get out so that means letters have to go out to each one of those is it to each of the homeowners is that what it is with the results and report and then how does the water work are we we're providing water we're required by D to provide water as soon within 3 hours of getting notice of test results okay I had one dispenser um issue um the person reported was broken and but um I've been able to get it fixed so that's that's very so do we have somebody that that delivers a dispenser then in the water gallons to like those those houses person does that so not you yes it's me we have three 3 hours to get it done wow who am I going to contact on a Friday company at when I hear at 4:00 and it's already two hours in so what do you have to do where do you get that I've had a supply of electric pumps that fit on the five gallon jugs and then I have then I've had I've gone through I've had three dispensers that I try to get to people that are longer term um and then hopefully they return them when they're done but I had to get a new dispenser because I've had I had one that broke completely it's no longer functioning it went to about four people and started at Town Hall so that but anyway they're we're getting it taken care of so so it's a it's a pump okay yeah it's a pump and then one of those standup bubblers yeah and I have three of those and so that's fast bubbling along we have some good news I've gotten um the water pressure is now much improved at Town Hall we had a leak in the back room area that began two or three months ago that I was it was a little confusing where the water was coming from it seemed to come out of the well room but then there was water at the water heater end too but um I had had pushing well come down and it turned out it was the pressure tank that was leaking and they were able to replace it on Monday um that between that and um the carbon filter that was installed I believe our drinking water is now fine for the public I have to get a new test done and talk to Board of Health but I believe that they will uh release their warnings about the salt taste in water takes it out the carbon takes out carbon takes it out it was a salt so the sodi salt sodium was the problem y so that that will be helpful we might not need bubblers at Town Hall anymore be good except people are put one big filter over the [Music] town yeah incoming um I also had a a short meeting with Matt arai who's an engineer with um GZA who we hired to um work on the draw down permitting an noi and a fiveyear um extension for that potentially um he was here this morning he went down to the dam he's very familiar with SH it turns out his son is building a home here on West pum Road and he helped with all the um the notice of intent and oh I know Enon I know him so he's he's been um asking a lot of questions GZA is trying to backtrack all known history on the first draw Downs for the dam if we can prove it was before 1984 we should be grandfathered um in and be allowed to continue the the handling the draw Downs that we have in the past so that's why Nate was here to pick up another box of information all our files that we have on all the draw Downs who's the person from GCA uh mat Nathaniel AR a r a i you you see Mary L's hand and um he's from where I'm sorry GC GC um Mary L did you have a question about anything that hi yes Mary L conka I live on wend road I have a question about the pasas I was one of the homes that received a letter Becky and I was emailing you and I were speaking for a while about through emails that if indeed pil were found in my well would the town be responsible then to put in a water filter system and I just wondered whatever happened with that communication because you said you were going to check I think with the um professional who does the water testing before you could answer me but I never heard that so I am like one of those houses within um a miles or five miles radius of where pil were found thank you hi Mary um actually you were on the map but you were not within the Zone um the 50 ft from the gas station you your house was left on the map by um D that had given the original data um so I turned over uh your number and I I I believe I emailed you I know I talked to Jeffrey Arps about contacting you and and explaining to you what the situation was so he's happy to do that I believe I thought he had reached out to you this was all about four months ago four or six months ago yeah so it was a long time ago I know he was reaching out to you um I know your house did not um prove uh it was a non detect house it's with outside of the 500t area and at this point um continuing to test is not part of the town's responsibilities and never was um but at least you some testing and you should be secure in the knowledge that you were netest okay okay um how my you know curiosity stayed up was that I didn't hear back from you because I was tested at one time and so I don't know this about two different test sit so apparently the one that you were testing for I my house was not in that range so that's a good thing and the time that you tested my house before it did come out negative so thank you okay good to know okay oops I'm sorry I'm not sharing screen okay um is there anything else that we have I think that's through our agenda anything else we want to put on next agenda besides what we talked about um no we do the uh storm water yep committee um and I'll bring the I'll do the calendar calendar policy draft and then I'll bring the um information on out stuff what day is that meeting um 21st so should we do planning for the all boards meeting should that be on the agenda too okay and I still have one other thing oh I'm sorry I was cutting you off that's okay um we placed the order for the new highway generator um so that's going to be installed in the next few days great awesome this one time for thunderstorms Becky you said that you placed what I'm Sor the order for the new highway generator okay okay was that all right I'll make a motion to adjourn okay second second sorry we always jumped to voting on that one all those in favor barl I ster ey make pce of Neil ey I should have left my mouth up [Music]