This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Okay. So, we got 7:05 exactly here and we'll start the very brief meeting tonight of the Southampton Planning Board
for June 4, 2025. Have Corm present, Jim Lee, Mark Darnold, and myself, Paul Demon. And the first agenda item is a request for a
61B withdrawal from a Peter Chestawa for the property located at 50 Crooked Ledge Road. It's 5.6 5.03 acres. and he's asking
to uh have it all withdrawn and it has gone to the conservation commission which I received a letter on from George Russell earlier this week that they heard it and they had waved um they suggested for the town to wave
their right of first refusal. There were no um wetlands issues or any u issues period that they saw. So, they waved their right and now it's our turn before it goes to the select board. So, I'd
send out copies. Mark, did you get yours? And Jim, of the uh the plan, and the acreage. Yeah, the plan and the application both. Yeah. Yeah, I got Yeah, I got all the three things. The plan, the application, and then the the
map, the GIS, I think it is. Yeah. Did you were you able to uh I didn't see that but were you able to uh see that clearly on the GIS that it come through showing you know the lay of the land there? No, I can't make heads or tails.
I mean it's it's not a very good picture but u yeah I know right where it is anyway. So yeah but the link that you sent uh was very interactive. I thought you could actually utilize that GIS plan. Yeah. So, you were able to uh go
fish around there and find it anyway, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have that time. I mean, I was on my phone. I called it up. I hit print and that's what came out. So, it probably take a little more work if I didn't do that. But, uh the other map I the other map you with part of the application, it shows it really good. The size and
everything. That GIS thing is nice. I have it um on my desktop there and it's great to be able to see different aspects of the the land. Yeah. Um it's it's a nice function. Uh but so without
further ado, any questions about I mean um to me there's no connections to any current conservation areas or trails or anything in that vicinity. So, it's kind of landlocked around Maple
and Crooked Ledge within a residential area. So, um, comments from you two fellows. I didn't see any issues associated with it. Jim, I didn't see any issues as well. I
mean, it looks straightforward and uh, I have no questions. All right. Without further ado, then do I have a motion that u this board uh would uh suggest that the select board wave their right of first refusal on
this parcel? So moved. I've learned a new term. Yeah. And second and I'll second that. Motion's made by Mark and seconded by Jim. Any other further discussion? All
in favor? Jim? I Jim's eye. Mark I myself I so that passes and I'll send off that decision of ours to the select board and then the only other uh order of business tonight which I didn't take
up at our last meeting because it was too soon after the election but um now I have to submit officers for the coming year for our board and some of the respective boards that we represent.
So I'll ask for nominations for uh chair of this planning board for the coming year 2526. I nominate Paul Demon for chairman. Second. That's what I was afraid
of. How about if I nominate somebody? Is there going to be a we have an election secret ballot? No. So, none of you other folks have a desire to be chair? Uh, maybe in about 10 years. I'll think
about it. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I uh I will gladly accept only on the the uh premise that knowing that the town is going to be soliciting a job description for a
quasi planner, conservation agent, um zoning board, uh housing authority person in the next few months after they advertise it. So it might take a little bit of the um
administrative load off of the chair and that would be very helpful because it's it's more than a voluntary position though. So um motion to close nominations.
So moved. I second then. All in favor of Paul Demon being chair again for the coming year. I lree. I Mark I
I'll abstain. You're not going to break the tie. All right. So we have vice chair. Our current vice chair is Paul Fgalawa. But if someone else would like to u pick up the vice chair um position in my absence or if I'm not
at a meeting so you can chair the meeting. Um do I have any nominations? [Music] Um does Paul want to do it or Mark do you want I don't I I I would nominate Paul Fergle. Per I will second that.
That's perfect. I didn't know if he wanted it or not but he's gonna get he's going to get it. He um he has trouble making a lot of meetings, but when he's called upon, he does um perform. So, yeah. So, let's
see. Uh Jim, who made that? Mark, did you make that? Yes. And Jim second. All in favor? Mark? I Jim. Jim's eye. So
I the secretary which just records the the minutes and I have done that uh in the past few months since Dan Levali had relinquished it due to so many other um duties he had within the
town and again I don't mind doing that but if someone else would like to take minutes you're welcome to it. So, do I have a motion for a secretary? Well, I'll nominate Paul if you want to do it. That sounds great. Mark, have you
got any interest in doing minutes? No, I I'm already doing it another thing. So, I will I will second U Jim's nomination. You guys are so good. We're going to get along just fine. Motions made.
Okay. By Jim, seconded by Mark. All in favor? Mark? Yes. Yes. Jim? Yes. Jim's yes. Oh, I abstain. All right. Uh PVPC.
Um I've been doing that again as a representative. um only when I see pertinent information that refers to something we might be interested in. I'm not religious um attending by any means.
However, Paul um Stephen Johnson from the select board who is a former member of this board has taken a uh a great interest in it because there's a lot of other uh topics they cover that could be uh relative to the town that he wants to
um be involved with. So, a couple of months back because we didn't have a you're supposed to have a representative and an alternate and they um I knew we had trouble getting people from this committee um volunteering for it. So,
they allowed Steven to be an alternate not only as a select board member from the town but like a liazison to the planning board which I had had no problem with. So, for purposes of having a planning board representative, um I
don't mind staying on with that um position um and Stephen will be the alternate for the town um per se. So, I guess I'll nominate myself.
Can I do that? I'll I'll third it. All those in favor? Mark I. Jim. Jim. I. Yep. I'll vote for myself this time. Um, community preservation. Is that you, Mark, or Jim? No, you you're
on. Mark. Mark. You want to continue on that, Mark? Uh, sure. Okay. I'll nominate Mark then to continue as a representative of the community preservation. I'll second that.
All in favor? I Jim's eye. Mark I. Good boy. Now open space is currently vacant. Um, I was the rep there for a while. Is
anybody interested in attending those open space committee meetings, Jim? I know you're Yeah. What was that again? They meet once a month, you know, and it's it's pretty much all the land in town that uh they research that they
might be interested in in acquiring for open space or whatever and contacting land owners and seeing if they can um broker a deal with them um with Kestrel Land Trust, etc. But they're always on the outlook
um for open space. I I don't know if you're interested in that or not. They meet once a month. Yeah, I can start off with that. Let me try it out and see how it fits. And I mean to me, you're you might be a great resource for them, too, be having
lived in town all your life and know every square inch of the town. Um but it's interesting when they they have uh people come before them uh asking how they
might the steps to go through to donate town land etc and keep it in perpetuity to for preservation. Right. All right. So um Jim I'll I'll nominate Jim Mark. Can you second? I will second that nomination.
All in favor? I for me. I I guess I'll vote for myself if it's legal. If it's a legal vote, I'll vote for myself. All right. You're in there, Jim. That's my disclaimer. I'll send you uh the information. The chairman of that board right now is Mark
Casses. I know. I know Mark. So, I'll send him your email and whatever and tell him that you'll um now be our rep for that. I don't think we have. Is there a public safety committee still, Mark? Yes, I'm on the committee. So, you're on that. Okay.
And you want to remain on that? Y. Yeah. Oh, I'm I'm actually a member of the committee. Okay. And I think um Are you a member of the committee or are you the representative for the planning board or both? I um I know I'm a member of the committee. I don't know if I'm jointly
uh representative of the count planning board. Yeah. how that works. So, all right. Well, just to make just so uh the town clerk doesn't come back asking me afterwards, I'll for just a formality sake here, let me
nominate Mark for public safety as our representative if that's required. So, I'll I'll nominate Mark. I'll second that. Jim's LER second it. All in favor? I I I if it's legal and then master in
master plan I know is Paul Fergal he he has been on it for years and I'm expecting he'll remain on that. So I'm going to uh in his absence I'm going to nominate Mark for that or Paul for that
position. I have a second second motion made and second. All in favor? I I I Okay, I think that covers all the bases for committee chairs. And and Mark, um
it was funny when I was on a select board, that's where that I I talked to, uh a lot of legal counsel because you got to be very careful what you're voting on and I had a lot of members uh in my family that would do things in town and if you sign a a pay warrant for
the for their pay, then it's in violation and I'd always make the clause. If it's legal, I vote for it. So, it sort of covers your your butt. That's what they told me to do. So, that's where that came from. Well, it works. It works. I mean, uh, if it's not a legal vote, well, I said if it was
legal, I voted. It's not, then I guess I didn't. But any other U, because I I don't have any warrants, there's no building permits, there's no ANRS.
Um, I did check with uh Scott Cbeck, the town administrator of how we might approach Richard Harris's contract as a consultant going forward, knowing that the u they got a new position that's
going to be advertised and it will certainly not require consulting anymore. Well, if it does, it's going to be on a different um budget than ours, I'm sure. But yeah, I haven't heard back from them. So once I know I I think
probably as Scott said they're getting together the job description which Richard Harris um has already uh submitted a job description in his opinion um knowing what the town is uh
going to start the salary at for this person and it's it's certainly a junior planner. It's not going to be a senior planner by any means because we can't afford that just yet. So, um, I'll wait to hear from Scott and maybe it's going to
be a three-month contract or something like that until the position gets filled. Um, but are we going to uh now are we still going to use Richard or is this new
um planner going to have enough uh knowledge to guide us through these things or are we still going to use Richard Don then? Well, that's for I think that's for the town administrator to decide after that with the experience. I'm sure that depending on
the experienced person has, they might have to lean on on someone, but again, I don't know if that's going to be a contract that we engage in or the town engages with outside for uh consulting
for the uh the new position holder. So I'm not clear on that. Okay. Well, we'll find out how it goes. So, right. Definitely a direct it's a move in the right direction. I think it's a great idea. No, I I think so. It's it's
become, you know, we've got a lot of planning going uh ahead in the future with um just zero college highway alone. But I mean uh the the the tasks involved now for
this committee chair, the emails, the phone calls, the decision writing, the posting of public hearings and the writing of decisions. you know, it's and we've because of the lack of
expertise on my part on times, you know, it's held up um stuff that we have done with the attorney general's office after going with a town warrant for zoning amendments and stuff and it's it's a lot of paperwork, a lot of shuffling. If you don't have your ducks in the order, it
can hold up the process. And it's gotten to be more than a volunteer u should have to do. Um, and it with that being said, I' I'd stay on this board forever if I was elected to um if I didn't have
a lot of the administrative stuff I have to worry about because um if somebody can handle that and you just go to a meeting where you can look at a project or the agenda ahead of you and that's all you have to worry about. you don't have to worry about uh writing this,
writing that and responding and it it makes it a lot more um pleasurable to be part of a board like this. Yeah. Perfect. So, I'll stop uh my soapbox entertainment here and
I'll ask you who would like to uh get a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Oh, second. Thank you. Perfect. I heard Mark in the background. Yes. Yeah. Motion made by Mark, seconded by Jim to
adjourn. All in favor? I I I. Okay. I'll keep you uh keep a breast to your next um meeting.