##VIDEO ID:WUQj20WPHe8## this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers calling to order the meeting of the Southampton select board for September 3rd at 6: p.m. if we could please stand and the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice I think they have it in the voting room here things things went to the next room I think that's okay blackshire Regional Miss is it there we go okay so thank you thank you uh is anybody here for citizen speak anybody for anything that's not on the agenda no okay well if not we have for the first of our presentations we're starting off again this fiscal year with presentations from the various committees and department heads and the two on the agenda tonight are Greenway committee and park commission tossup who okay eron come on up and we do have a quorum by the way Stephen I think is coming but uh just in case we'll we're able to go ahead without him anyway okay so just give us your name and are just making sure it's on sorry there's a note here Aaron tosher I'm the chair of the uh Greenway committee eight palr Meadow extension um I'll give a a brief summary and then some of our current priorities uh The Greenway committee is working to repurpose an aband abandoned rail Corridor uh to a multi-use recreational trail through town uh the pathway will be available for walking cycling skiing and other non-motorized activities uh the first phase the current phase of our project spans uh from Route 10 where uh uh College Highway intersects uh Brickyard Road near uh Sheldon's uh and continues North to Coleman Road where it meets East Hampton's manhand rail trail um completion of this 3 to three and a half mile uh Corridor will begin to close a critical gap between eastampton and Westfield uh connecting our community to a vast network of trails throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut current priorities and activities uh so the committee is regularly working with tyan Bond and specifically our project manager Alex fagnan on the engineering and design uh of the path uh in November 2023 we heard s hosted our first uh open information session with the town uh we were quite pleased with this our unofficial count was 120ish attendees I believe uh this gave us the chance to provide a status of the Project Share uh what will happen next and gather feedback from residents and stakeholders from surrounding communities um the meeting seemed well received and marked a major milestone in our project we do plan to host another informational meeting uh with the town when the design of the path is recognized by the state at a specific point uh this will most likely be in 2025 um engineering is projected to be completed in 2026 as of right now uh and our project is on the state's trans Transportation Improvement plan or the Tip Sheet uh currently as an FY 28 construction project um regarding the funding of our engineering work the committee is happy to report that additional funding has been uh awarded this year um this award is is actually a little bit different uh we have had great luck with Master grants in the past this year it has come in the form of an arpa Grant and uh it the exact amount is actually kind of in the works right now we expect it to be between $10 and $135,000 roughly uh to go towards engineering costs um as always we're thankful for the support of the ad hoc grants committee and the select board uh for our Grant application work uh and the funds we've earned have covered uh the significant majority of engineering costs to date um so one important item that the committee has uh investigated throughout the last year has been parking um opportunity for parking areas along the corridor is Slim we know uh and there seems to be no adjacent property uh clearly available for the taking along our Corridor um so uh we we have requested additional funds with our most recent Grant application uh for parking research and work uh though unfortunately no additional funds were awarded for that purpose uh we understand that parking is uh being expressed as a critical need by our future path users um though adding traffic and parking in some critical places could strain businesses and residents um so we will continue to work with uh our project manager in the town and of course may need to seek additional funding uh to properly address this priority uh an additional variable that has come up with uh the design of the project so far is the condition of one specific Colvert uh between Coleman Road and gun Road uh this is specifically the third Culver south of Coleman Road if you're interested uh so during a site visit with uh tyin Bond and mass do uh the condition of this Culvert was assessed uh and it seems as if a major repair may be necessary um our project manager is still optimistic that repair costs would be included in our uh State construction budget um though we'll continue to monitor this topic as we move forward um finally the uh committee is working to final finalize a stance on equestrian use on and adjacent to uh the Future Path uh so equestrian use has been discussed throughout the past few years um and initially a non-paved path adjacent to uh the Finish paved path was proposed uh primarily for a large horse farm right in the middle of of of this corridor um after a lot of research and discussion uh the committee has decided to take the stance uh and not pursue additional accommodations specifically for horses uh this decision came about primarily on safety uh but also comes from input from horse owners uh from nearby Property Owners also some with related experience uh as well as direction from TI and bond um so we uh had planned to send a letter to the selectboard we actually have copies tonight that Mark can can give you this is just kind of our formal stance on the topic uh would like to ask that the select board um review the topic and at least support our our decision uh host a meeting to discuss it further uh or direct otherwise and we can follow up uh on that topic of course to uh decide next steps but we do appreciate um just attending to that topic just to keep our uh Community um in the know uh future priorities regarding future priorities the committee has been aware uh of the interest in utilizing land within the rail Corridor for a sewer line um as residents me specifically I'm interested in the idea I may be in favor of the idea however sewer implementation has not been a part of our project's current scope uh and the committee really doesn't feel uh capable or best suited to to proactively lead the charge on this one um so we feel it's really important to not delay the construction of the path currently uh but we just wanted to say uh we we'll remain focus on the project as is though we hope to be a helpful resource uh if need be to any other group investigating this opport opportunity um also the state has uh provided encouragement on moving forward with uh the next phase of southampton's pass uh excuse me path which would be continuing South and connecting to Westfield um right now the the committee is truly focused on uh advancing the design of our current Corridor uh on the project as is uh between Coleman Road and College Highway and we do not yet feel that we have the mandate to pursue additional work or focus on extension just yet so more to come on that topic as we move forward forward um budgeting status uh or um budgeting concerns um as mentioned previously the committee has uh very successfully pursued Grant funds uh throughout the past four years at least uh earning over a million dollars in Mass Trails grants and now arpa Grant funds combined um we project that our current earnings are close to covering the entire projected design and Engineering cost uh though one additional Grant application will likely be necessary in the future uh we expect to know the grand total of engineering costs in about one year's time um regarding construction prior to the pandemic the state's uh tip program the transportation Improvement program earmarked about $6.5 million for this Project's uh construction today the Tip Sheet shows construction costs closer to $16.8 million uh with construction hopefully starting in FY 28 um our project manager expects that construction costs uh which will uh uh include the removal of rail ties uh by the way uh to be fully funded by federal funds so fingers crossed there um while we would like to report that construction could have started sooner um this is what we're faced with and and of course we'll do everything we can to stay on target for uh FY 28 uh personnel and Staffing there are currently just six volunteers on the committee um since the select board created a formal charge for the committee we would ideally be operating as a committee of nine um we are working to generate interest in new members through various channels uh admittedly responses have been slow lately uh so we're a little slim um we're coordinating with our friends of the greenway group now uh to try to drum drum up interest um and we hope that uh increased membership will help uh ensure a quorum at meetings which has been an issue lately uh and distribute tasks uh more evenly among the group uh in conclusion as we advance through uh this major engineering phase of the project uh the committee will uh keep um will keep progressing uh I'm sorry uh the committee will work to keep the project progressing consistently and efficiently uh we're proud of the funding earned and the work that we've done for the community to date uh we look forward to the next opportunity to provide the town uh with a major engineering update uh and of course gather additional input and we do expect that to be uh sometime in 2025 um as always The Greenway committee holds regular meetings that are open to the public and we can always be reached at Greenway townof South hampton.gov any questions yeah no I think this is good thank you that's good to have an updated I think we hadn't really caught up with you since that public meeting really in November which was I agree with you a very successful meeting up with the school a lot of good questions and a lot of lot of good answers so that was good questions yeah Cindy hi um couple thoughts regarding the parking um I will be honest with you I just came from the state of Vermont and I went to this beautiful rail trail and I don't think they have parking all that frequently and I just wondered do we have any precedent in the state of M about distance and recommendations for uh integral parking um where I mean is it really necessary to have some kind of parking along the trail that you're they're working on now or what are your thoughts on that that's a good question uh I do not know if there are standards as in distance or how many cars should be available in a space per expected users but you use an interesting word necessary I don't think parking is necessary I think it would be nice if the community truly doesn't have the space or if you're board by private property or or businesses um I don't think that there's a need to provide parking um but I think it would be nice and I think for either disabled users or users who don't want to travel far to get to a path that's supposed to be advertised as an accessible path I think it would be silly to not put in some effort or do some research towards parking in a safe uh you know usable place or maybe myself I think about kids I want to have kids pass by as few cars as possible or as close to a path as possible to use it safely um so we're researching it for just for the benefit of of uh Simplicity and safety um but we we may not end up with a suitable parking space for this particular Corridor um so to be determined I'm not 100% certain we're going to keep keep pushing it and do the research now do we have can we do parking on the other side of Coleman Road I I know that the first section of the parking I mean of the rail trail in eastampton is actually on Southampton property and I know people Park along Coleman Road many times people Park there's a phrase for it um our our project manager Alex has a phrase for it it's it's really just a builtup shoulder it's kind of that gravel and it's it's parallel to the road um so it it might be at its at its capacity now I don't think we can add any further because I believe you'll run into property lines or or available space we might be maxed out on space so I think what's there probably cannot grow unless some land was acquired and then they've even talked about nose in parking I believe but then backing out onto Coleman which is a pretty fast moving Road uh presents some different issues um so that idea has also been tossed around though it didn't prove to be a uh a truly available asset that could likely expand Beyond what's there now yeah you might I interject you might need something down at colan though I mean sorry at Sheldon's rather yes yeah so Sheldon is a Terminus I mean it's it's where the path will end and it's it's close to Route 10 it's going to be a popular place for people to to just pop in and want to go and of course finish and get ice cream we don't want it erupt the the Sheldon's flow and we really can't just help ourselves to their parking spaces we have looked at options there I know Mark has a lot of information on the other side of what I believe is um it's Brickyard extension it's that that dirt road looked into options there but there's also some some dead ends with the property designations and space and and things like that um so we're we're truly looking into all options and if we can find something that doesn't disrupt a business or take property from someone we're we're going to um hopefully the next we can have money in there to really investigate that it's a shame that got cut out of this last Grant yeah yep I have another question if I may um you're talking about building in fiscal year 28 I somehow had in my head it was going to be earlier than that um what happened I I really hoped it it would have been um it sounds like the the state is a slow-moving Glacier the uh engineering team specifically Alex is ready to rock and roll he uh they can turn work around quickly uh but apparently it's the Handover and how much work is required uh to satisfy the needs of the he has a lot of interesting terms that are well above my head like um you know Bridge assessments and things like that um there's uh and then complete streets is involved so apparently just assessing uh the decking widths and things like that of the um the bridge that goes over gun Road for example uh there's so many uh Hoops to jump through and hurdles to jump over uh for them to get to the next point to advance things on so I think that's where the delays are that we're seeing however taking all those delays into account and then getting um your foot in the door for a construction date he seems to have some pretty good confidence that FY 28 which is by the way calendar year 2027 July 2027 through June 2028 um that once we're established there that that should be pretty firm so fingers crossed we're hoping that delays don't continue we're hoping that even though it seems a ways off that that we're fairly firm on that date now I just know with every passing year everything costs more money everything exactly yeah which is a shame has a comment over there sure sorry Mark casses 19 fmer Road part of the greenway committee so the tip is interesting in that um we were G approved for tip funding for 2027 for the $6.8 million an old Mass DOT number because it had been so many years they had to give a new number and go through whole process so uh and that's where they at least reassessed it at $16.8 million they something weird came out in this year's tip we were on the proposed tip for 2028 for the $16.8 million we got dropped between when it was proposed and the final thing but we're on for the old number for the $6.8 million for 2027 error and we dropped but we we've done our homework since we learned that and pretty sure it should come through on the next year but for 2028 for the $16.8 million but it really is didn't turn out exactly our legislators fully informed about well we didn't we didn't push for it when the proposal came out I think next year we need to push through it the committee and select board um but so we it should get it but it's not exactly the way we wanted it to happen Okay so good um can I clarify one other a couple other things so one is the Sheldon was one of the earliest groups to contact us that they were worried about parking in their parking lot so I think we need to respect their concern they're going to have the benefit of more business but they don't want it filled with sure bicycling so that's probably the area to me that needs the most addressing we have Coleman Road there's some areas on gun Road there's parking along the street East Street construction should happen about the same time uh as the greenway construction happens and there will be a bike path from along East Street down to Conan Park so I think we can use that and safely get up to the greenway connection there as well as the new property at 123 is that the number we're hoping ultimately we'll have parking there so I think it's really the south end of uh near Sheldon at least for short term is going to be an issue and related to that um we talked about things that we need the select board's help with and one is who has if we're going to look at possibly purchasing a lease or a Land close for parking there of who has who should be starting to look into that negotiate it should be uh the select board or do you do you want us as a Greenway committee to be worker on that right now we don't feel like we have a mandate for that so just need a clarification of we probably need to take a look at the the original charge that we did for the greenway and take a look and see if that needs revision another meeting and there's other areas that may require sort of negotiation for land one is I think one of the places that we've talked about but don't have a specific land for us how to connect the greenway to the Big Y shopping plaza which I think function functionally will get people access to food that may not have other transportation and that may require purchase of of of way through some of the back properties if we can't go down Coleman Road so again that may be another time when the select Board of the Town needs to look at options and there may be a financial decision to purchase land or lease land y Stephen is s a Greenway representative on the open space committee yes a formal representation oh no I don't think so not those chosen the Committees doesn't have that do you no it's there isn't an appointment from The Greenway committee on the open space committee but Mark often comes and un officially Janna Brown is also oh she on the greenway committee oh I apologize but she's not an appointment she's she's appointed from CPC correct so appreciate that and sorry j incredible contributions from each of you however Madam chair in L of a conversation you and I had privately um we would need to formalize and a arrange in the charter that there be representation at the open space committee if the open space committee is going to have the sole authority to speak with well they've got I mean they've got their separate charge so it wouldn't necessarily mean that we'd have to add it wasn't my idea I'm responding to yours okay yeah the so open space Committee in general has got the charge to look for land for acquisition purposes this I think is a little bit different because it's really restricted to The Greenway area from what you're saying and what I heard was parking first and foremost the Westfield part we don't really know yet so parking is the main thing right and possibly figure how to connect to Big Y Plaza and big white Plaza okay yeah so I think yeah no we do need to take a look at the charge for the greenway and just see what was in there I don't it's been a few years now since we did that so we need to just bring it back up and and see what's in there and see where we can take that I mean obviously the town administrators involved in any kind of land acquisition um things that are maybe just you know a small spot like I'm thinking like up at Clear Water you know where there's a a small area or Alice Brown Conservation Area there's just small pullover and there's you know enough room for two or three cars now you probably need something a little bit more than that for the greenway I don't know but I mean that's part of that discussion if we can ever get the grant to cover that um because that was part of the idea last year when we put the grant forward to look at that in more detail but my guess is that would not pass with the state highway department it might not yeah so so anyways yeah so we'll we'll pull out the the charter and take a look at the uh the charge on that um but it sounds like too um tying into that we probably need a separate meeting and not having read your your letter here yet but we may need a separate meeting just to talk about the equestrian part and give some blessing or contradiction or whatever to that and I think a formal invitation for the grindstone Farm yes absolutely that's what I would suggest so that might even be a separate meeting or or we could be you know somebody from you know a couple people from selectboard could join the greenway meeting or we have just a separate meeting on that itself because I remember the the original study had quite a nice presentation about an you know a parallel equestrian path But as time develops I mean in the reality of who's horses getting spooked and whatever else it may be briefly what's in the letter is we two of us met with the owners of um grindstone mountain and they're clear they do not want equestrian use of any of the we've spoken with one other horse farm owner they said it's crazy it's dangerous to have horses there and we haven't gotten any other input from anyone else and the behind that there's a letter from tyan Bond sort of reiterating that it's doesn't make let's let's assume we'll we'll probably just got try and just schedule a separate meeting to just to talk about that issue and just be clear on that so you guys can move forward so Chris if I could so I think the parking should take the same approach it's you know they've done their work as a committee they've rendered what they think is is their opinion they're looking for us to validate it and to to approve the equestrian piece I think the parkings the same way is there truly a need from the committee's point of view yes or no put together a white paper right and then it comes in here and then we act on that versus having free-for-all for half hour trying to wonder who's going out negotiating for land yeah yeah and it may be just a matter of whether um you have enough information already in your own research on the parking or whether through the grant that didn't come through you know we were looking to have that a little bit more researched uh so we can we can figure that out but I I agree you know we need something more formally probably from you guys to react to If if nothing more than we need x amount of money to validate this yeah all right because maybe it's a couple thousand dollars I you know I don't know how much was in that Grant to do that study to validate your assumptions or whatever that's that's an idea because then when we go to the public right we start having the documentation and all that to build the case okay yeah it does raise in my mind a question of how it came up in the first place to have an equestrian path so you don't have to answer that now but it sounds complex history came from the prior owner King Oak Farm had wanted it um this is obviously 20ish year because I believe there's land the horse farm owns land on both sides of the trail yes so yeah cor and the current owners do not um and do you view this as an accessible way of recreating in our town and in other words can somebody in a wheelchair or some kind of you know impairment and disability be able to utilize the rail tra and I asked that because of the parking issue because there might be a need for a you know an outfitted van that needs more space to park because somebody's going to utilize their electric wheelchair or something like that so it's it's a very and I'm with John that this needs to you know be looked at a little more clearly and carefully and now you got a little more time you know we get a little more maybe we didn't want a little more time but we got it so to to do the right thing on this you know and how longer and more difficult as how to can proceed with phase two of south of sheldons which again needs to be a select board decision how when if the state is urging you to start looking at that which I think you told me at one point you weren't looking at right away um are they going to come forth with more money for us you know that's really part of it I think they paid a consultant to do the Westfield section from women's Temperance Parts up to the end of Southampton so the state paid from which Park well from Westfield from the Westfield River Park which is north of the Westfield branch of the Westfield River okay up to the Southampton line so they they decided it's important enough they paid an outside consultant to do up to North Road I'm not sure if it's north or Valley Road or I forget exactly because they presented a map really quickly I mentioned North but but they that's what they presented they wanted to do and they paid and consultant to do it and Alex faget at that there's a pH phone meeting that we were there and was one of the heads of the State Department of um important person at state level um Alex fagon said why don't you help Southampton by actually paying for the um the the planning instead of have to P me so he that was heard by them I don't know if they'll act on that yeah okay I mean Kurt Gartner heard that Kurt Gartner was uh was at that meeting and so of under Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs which says it's important for the state so good that's a good sign all right good one one last Quicky silly question maybe um non-motorized activities I know this is issue has come up in other towns are we talking electric bikes or no uh ebikes is a is a tricky topic it's actually not anymore the state pass that ebikes class one and two are bicycles so class three is U ones that are not just throttle orianted you have to be pedal assist and it can go over 20 M an hour okay but there's no way that a policeman can tell who which is type one and type two so a lot of the towns have gone to just posting speed limit or ignoring the issue yeah but it does allow electric bikes as well as other electric yeah motor operating I'm sure there'll be many questions coming up when we have your next public meeting but uh good well thanks any any other questions anybody thanks guys thank you very good good to give us an update Perfect all right Dylan come on up have the uh Park commission please hi Dylan mody 22 Caitlyn way chair sorry your last name modley sorry I'll slow down I tend to talk a little quick good a reminder every now and then is an attorney uh to said you are an attorney true um we get paid by the word not by the minute right uh 22 22 Caitlyn Way Park commission uh we were last year for you guys uh August of last year since then we've completed a few projects that we discussed were under construction at the time the biggest one of course being the magic for MD playground I wish we could take more credit for that and for but uh the group that ran that just did an unbelievably Stellar job um uh of planning it designing it organizing the community build and it's if you haven't been over there yet it it's it's absolutely stunning and they did it's it's a fantastic addition of our community it's heavily utiliz when I'm over whenever I'm over there there's there's um there's a lot of kids out playing on it which is great uh the Conan Park Court resurfacing was also completed the tennis courts were were recovered were there was a process of crack sealing um and a surface Co was placed on those they are repainted in addition to the tennis courts they were lined for pickle ball use as well so with portable courts I believe there's a total of now uh six total courts they can use I believe they can use two per tennis court when they get those set up so um that's been really nice having that additional space available as well the basketball courts have also been refinished and reigned uh and have been getting a lot more use as well uh I believe one of the co-chairs of the basketball um organization in town has been doing some pickup games and pickup leagues in the summer with kids in town too uh the splash pad is still under construction we have the equipment we do not yet have we ran out of funds with a timing of the Grant in order to get those installed as well as with The Walking path which is part of that design project for improvements to Conan Park uh we'll be I'd like to reach out to the ad hoc Grant committee now we're looking at the next cycle I wasn't quite aware how far ahead these Grant Cycles are so when I started looking into it last year the beginning of January we were already passed the deadlines for the coming year so uh we're getting there now I think the park grants are coming back out so we'll be looking at trying to find some additional funds to be able to get that Splash Pad installed uh and and finish out that walking path to connect uh both sides of Conan Park to both College Highway into Clark Street uh other upgrades we Randall over at Highway Department uh replaced a whole bunch of the spit rail fencing along Conan Park on College Highway as well as down at Crossroads Park uh both those fences do look substantially better now um there is still some at the backside of conent by The Pavilion that could use some work but I think that's something we need to look at of whether fencing is appropriate there or if we want to look towards a Greener approach of doing some hedging for visual barrier because it's not really providing any safety it's where the embankment is along the back side of the park a split rail fence isn't really a safety measure it's a visual so does it make more sense to working on something that could improve uh the the the sustainability of the park by using a plan inks to get that instead of replacing that fence with with just another fence that will need to be replaced down the road um the there was a memorial held at Crossroads park at the Angel Heart statue um Paula Mack generously volunteered went down cleaned the statue it looked um really quite nice now few donations have come in so we're working on getting a new P I think we're one name away from needing for a new P for that as well it's um so it's nice that that is again getting getting some use um up at lab field uh one of our goals last year was to start working on the playing surfaces there luckily this year with the weather we've had with a consistent rain or fairly regular rain we did not need to again look at the sprinkler system that is a project we will need to look at down the road uh but we were able to apply two rounds of fertilizer uh one we did one in the beginning of the year with a pre-emergent and then a midsummer combined fertilizer the quality of the playing surface has improved drastically from that um the number of weeds dandelions has gone down and I think generally speaking the quality of grass has been on there I'd like to work with syaa this fall and doing a um ation we have a volunteer do that last year hopefully we can get that done again this year and then maybe purchasing some seed and adding some seed to it to again help with getting those fields up to a more robust condition because ultimately the more grass that's on them the the longer they will stay uh end durable and playable uh enrollment numbers are great as usual we're seeing again a more upti uptick in in sports in town uh for this fall for soccer we're looking at over 350 participants that includes the land at at Norris as well these are not which is not a Parks Commission charge but that's that's also uh included in that in Spring the baseball had 277 kids playing and they've got uh 17 kids on a one team in baseball and 35 uh for softball for the fall as well um so again great numbers baseball and softball Little League had great turnouts this past year um the girls 8 to10 team I believe went were state champions and went on to the regional championships down in Long Island and the 81y old boys went to District champions in West championships in Westfield um football again is using the field consistent number 70 to 100 players approximately their could they're practicing down the backside of La Bri uh looking for upcoming projects uh um we need to really kind of dig into the K part playground another thing we'd probably be approaching um uh CP cpc4 as well as looking for grant funding to kind of get into that we were using kind of the template of the pricing of the magic for matics we'd be looking for a similar size if not probably a different layout so that there's some variety um but a similar size playground to that so we'd realistically be looking probably between around $300,000 total I'm guessing for the the removal and and replacement of the play structure at Conan Park uh the Conan Park pavilion is also going to need some upgrading um I like to reach out to the Lions Club and kind of work with them on that is because that is they their names on it and I want to make sure that we're working with another great charitable organization in town to make sure we get a good Improvement there specifically the bathrooms uh need some updating we need some updating to probably the picnic tables and some paint siding little stuff like that just to kind of improve it there that' be nice to enhance the uh audio system as well the microphone system you can only hear really when you're under the Pavilion but further out it's really kind of tough so that might be a thing that maybe we could figure out some grant money for definitely we can look into that there is actually a grant that we were informed of last year but we hadj just was again we I think we got the information a week before the grants were do uh about specifically programming for cultural programming in Massachusetts and if it's so if we could show the concerts in the park series would be a good usage of cultural money and we can may maybe get a sound system upgrade for that which would again be a really good thing uh as part of Conan Park pavilion 2 the uh master plan was completed uh that will be going up on the website soon um once I find my login information but that will be going up on the website that does detail some improvement to the to Conan Park kind Conan Park master plan master plan so that includes a number of things most of it is not earth shattering uh it's mainly how to make the park more accessible identifying really more structural issues the part you can't see which is really where the most of the work is needed specifically and The Ravines um those embankments need some work there needs to be some rip wrapp and brought in there needs to be some probably CLE tree clearing as well as some embankment building to make sure that we continue with good runoff so that we're getting rid of some of that water that's out there that's part of the problem we have too is that there's water on some of the planing surfaces um and that main field holds a ton of water so kind of looking at those things as well as some usability improvements repairing the bridge that's that's probably getting near the end of its life that connects the two sides of the Conant um looking at making the spillway which is between the pond and the playground that little there there was a discussion in that of how to make that more accessible to be able to access both sides of the park to make a loop a walking Loop potentially uh out there um but that's that's kind of the things that the master plan addressed and again that will go up on the website so the town can see it and and we can kind of start addressing those things on a capital Improvement side um we're also looking at uh this coming year working on kind of going through our bylaw and regulation review and kind of seeing what makes sense and what doesn't one thing we learned this year was We increased our fees for western Mass for the usage of the lbre field um baseball diamond the large one and we got push back from our wood bat leagues who are really the only users of that field so we spend a lot of time and money uh keeping that field in playable condition it needs some rehabbing the mound needs to be redone the infield really really needs to be dug out and Reed so it needs a good amount of money to get it up and I found out we are actually now at the top of the price structure uh for western Mass so I'm a little concerned that we're not going to get any usage on that field this year so we really need to readdress that and either look at improving that field uh to make it more competitive in town with the other towns or look at reducing our fees back down to again make it more uh competitive with other with other neighboring communities we're also I'd also like to look at um our our fee structure uh for pickle ball and Tennis Courts right now we don't have any charge on those I'm not recommending that we would look at uh making that a always rentable situation because it does need to be available for the community as as as a walk-on user but potentially blocking out certain times that could be rented for a fee the hope with that being to offset the cost of our new porta potty that we've brought over and put in that parking lot uh we were told by the pickleball users that the the library had expressed concerns about facilities usage and really the their their paper products and because of um the usage over there because the restrooms are locked at the restrooms are locked At Con people were going over to the library and I think that was causing an issue over there so we did bring a we we brought in a a portable you know a porta potty for that side of the park and I I think that's getting used and uh but again you know the thought is potentially changing our entire structure on that right now each field user is is required to provide that and I'm wondering if it makes more sense to readjust our fee structures have a facilities fee and that way we can keep from March until October excess you know bathrooms at at every portion every Park in town so that there's no no concerns about people uh not having access to a restroom um uh you know I think the things that the the continuing things that we're looking at now is is field space um and again getting back on page with getting that Fieldhouse constructed at labris I'm not where on the uh priority list that's going to fall I think while it would be nice um I think getting our fields in better condition getting the sprinkler system at briis potentially getting a well installed so that we're not using as much Town water to use it um and improving the condition of usability of Conan Park before we look at that might be the priority but I'm not sure where that's going to fall with with what people in town feel is is a bigger priority for them um as far as budgeting goes right now our Conan Park Pavilion Rentals are a little over $6,000 that's more or less covering the expenses that we have with cleaning and trash removal from that so that's basically a break even proposition our field usage has gone towards purchasing fertilizer uh the portapotty and um it's going to need to be used probably for some rehabbing throughout the year to get those those fields in a in better condition including over at Conant where we do have again standing water on those fields uh the goal is to remain uh basically Revenue neutral with with only small amount coming from the town to cover expenses or things as they pop up um and then uh again come to the town for Capital requests on a on a case-by casee basis so that we can properly budget and expend those out of a one-time usage rather than out of a out of a line item budget good okay thanks any comments questions y yeah have a couple hi there um are you have you become familiar with the open space and Recreation plan that our town um it certainly the parks falls under that it's um you know been written by and approved by a town uh it's a necessary part of what we have you're you're familiar with it yes so um I'm part of the open space committee and I know we're going to look at a little more intensely and make sure we're doing things consistent with what's in that plan and I just was wondering if you know could I share a copy with you or but if you have it already then that's fine this yeah this is the one that's on that's uh from 2008 is that oh no it's been updated it's 21 and it's going to be updated again in 28 and we have to be able to say what we've done okay you know so I it's been a continuous thing it's what every okay you say it's on the website I think I I think I'm familiar with it it's like a 200 Page document well like 350 Pages yeah yeah yeah it's on the website under the select board not under the Conservation Commission the prior plan is under the concom one of our employees had trouble with that oh I think they should be under you want to email me a copy well I can email you a link that be and um I I have a hard copy it's so for me anyway it's easier to read a hard copy but I just want to urge you to become familiar with it and look as you look at all these plans you have which are great just kind of be thinking along the lines of what had been proposed and you know what the goals were and what the um particular objectives were that we would put right into that plan it works better that way you know that we know that this is something was ratified by our town so that was just a thought um which I'm happy to share with you okay I don't have it coming off my tongue that easily because it's it's a long it's a long thing but well that was definitely so for example out of that part of that plan was one of the things they looked at was why is the reason you leave town most often and one of them was spray decks or splash pads which was the for that was I think the number one thing so that was the reason why that project for example was undertaken um you know one of the one of the things I talk about was walking and Recreation which was the impetus for the the accessible walking path through the park so absolutely and that and that document has definitely from when I've reviewed it has played into um the plans that we've made so it's kind of the in the way I look at it is we're partly you know remaining stewards of what's in in place and maintaining it and and making sure is good and also again working with that document and moving projects forward that have been on the table for some time great and and the other thing in in terms of what you're doing over here at conut which is great um I am familiar with the fact there's a whole lot of invasives over there too so I didn't know if there could be like a concentrated effort to be thinking about removing the um the sad invasive situation they're everywhere they're I know that but um just kind of keep it in mind because they take off you know absolutely yeah thank you yeah just one comment on the master plan I'm glad to hear that that's taken care of because I think that was one of the things when we had applied from the grant committee we' helped work on the park Grant the PC Grant uh for the park commission um which was the funding impetus for the splash pad and the um and the walking p uh walking path but one of the comments from those reviewers was you guys really need a park master plan you know you can be doing improvements Here There and Everywhere the new playground there were lots of ideas about what was needed but then helping to sort of shape that Vision I guess and figure out what some of those priorities were so looking forward to looking at that and seeing what that is because I think that will be a good foundation to apply for any of the grants people will look at that favorably that we've got a park master plan so good thank you okay nothing else another question yeah D um is is do we still run into um or um limitations in the amount of field space we have in terms of usage I think that's always is a concern um I think looking at for additional space I think part of we looked at that property that was purchased at zero College Highway um I did get a chance to actually spend a little to kind of drove by and kind of on the back side of it I'm not sure how much usable field space is going to be available over there I think it may create for some great open passive Recreation space down the road but as far as field space um I think that remains a challenge um we've been trying to think creative about that unfortunately there's not a whole lot of flat space in town which ultimately is what's needed for field space um without doing major changes to a field to a property is still something we're looking it's still something that we're looking at in general it's kind of always it's in the back of our minds um I know at one point we looked at the ab budding property to Conan Park that was for sale at one point and unfortunately it's designated as wet marsh land so it's it's again not going to be usable for purp near the library there across from the LI yeah that that piece of property that was originally on yeah so that was it you know nothing seriously but it's kind of just been kind of looking Here There and Everywhere and it's just a challenge to find it's challenge to find land that's fairly flat has decent drainage and isn't on ledge so uh if you if anyone finds any I think the only remaining property that qualifies under that is currently active Farmland y right so one or the other and you try to take the Farmland off open and space is going to swoop right in so good luck yeah good all right well no other questions thank you Dylan appreciate all the updates and uh there are there are diverse needs there are thanks for coming forward absolutely great thank you good all right um Madam chair yes if uh I I believe our water superintendent is here for the second to last item I think so so out of respect for not asking him to wait till 9:00 p.m. could we go out of order assuming that uh I think that's the only item your here for where are we this would be for the uh P Andre Sheard PCF for Andrew Shepard is that right is that right brother or did you have something else on the agenda too yeah I got a little bit of both one might want to uh I think he got his sunglasses oops not bad was it that or something else DL will be back um I think the two are these the two items that came out of ppb the meeting yes yes well yeah one was uh kind of a this is the second stop of a educational Tour on perils that face the water department and Southampton and all water departments throughout Massachusetts um I'm anxious to hear what Collins um update on the compensation study because that plays into a major part of my immediate future and the Department's immediate future going forward so so just so two items that came out of ppb that that I would have brought up is one is the is this appointment request uh for Shephard okay on the Water Department it's the other one is we've been holding now for I don't know 13 14 months the job classification of the supervisor fi supervisor field supervisor position right and um Brett tried to get traction at the last ppb meeting and they just they acted on this one okay um but then they on the other one they they deferred to the select board okay well I think we'll be touching some of the compensation later on this evening Scott's got some work he's done on that he's going to be presenting to us so that may cover some of your question yeah um I don't know um let's take up the PCF though because that that definitely puts things out of order and just um move that up since you guys will are here motion first or we going to go informal again so we're going to go to take up the PCF for Andrew Shepard so do you want I'll make a motion that we approve the PCF for Andrew Shepard of hoo to the position full-time with Benefits water department um to be paid out of the water support wages of a water tech 40 hours a week grade four step 18 $30 83 cents an hour with a starting balance of 120 hours of vacation time 40 hours of sick time and 16 hours of personal time effective upon pass passage of the select Board second okay have a second okay can we have some discussion Andor uh gather Andrews here if we'd like to come on up and introduce yourself and give us a few words about your background okay we do have your CV but your resume here but by all means hi I'm Andrew Shepard um currently work for Springfield Water and Sewer um I hold a grade uh T4 license and D4 license which is the highest levels of treatment licensing and distribution Licensing in Massachusetts um I have a bachelor degree of environmental science from Westfield State um been working at Springfield Water insur for the past 5 years and after meeting Brett it seems like a good opportunity to come and work for a small town where I can do a little more Hands-On work um and I'm excited about the opportunity okay very good well thank you thanks all right Brett would you like to add something to that or consider myself lucky to get Andrew in here um it was but kind of by luck um but I will again commend him on he can't get any more licenses in Massachusetts and he's coming to this town um so I had did have great concerns you know over um the PCF and um there was no doubt he should start at the top of the pay scale um regardless you know got to pay for somebody their experience their licenses and their ability um from what I've done a little bit of talking with Andrew uh smart kid and to get those licenses when I'm going to follow through with uh some handouts later on in my educational tour um how extremely difficult is and how timeconsuming is and it's expensive in investing into time and studying so so if I could just add I wasn't able to attend but I got a call from one of the members that was there there were there were some we use the word controversial it's it's not the right word there there there was some heated discussion over a couple key points one he already addressed starting at the top of the space scale you know um I think he's already given the answer at least from my point of view that he's got all the licens and accreditation I think it's a little over six years of active work now in the field uh which ties into the second one about starting off with more vacation time than a one-year employee when you take into consideration that there's really a lateral transfer okay you're doing the same relatively the same job currently you're just coming to Southampton to do it so so you're bringing in accumulated hours from well well no not accumulated but you're being treated as a 5e employee I see right for purposes of vacation sick and and this is this is a um non-union position right so the was there an offer for um clothing allowance or something like that was did you have like a formal offer letter that had other conditions in there um most of it was verbal we don't have anything formal yet I I jumped a gun I had to go through you know PBB here um remember from my own you know uh coming in here so right now the 120 hours vation time would be equivalent to a 5year person some having work 5 years that's 120 hours vacation is what you're saying what's what's on the PCF so somebody new coming in who was not considered a lateral transfer as you're naming it would be getting what one week's vacation or what's the I don't have the book in front of me but I think a non a non-union spot is one week to start and that and I'm not sure that the 12 the request was for 120 hours which within 5 years again without having the book in Front of Me Okay um it was more about uh yeah um hey I almost was which just more of a difference of opinion I believe between the um the vice chair and the department head I see okay but they ended up and my other yeah my other take on this is I'm again it's there's not a spot here for the to the sign but I I don't necessarily see Brett acting independently I'm sure he has the backing of the water Commissioners on this which tells me then it's budget friendly and anything that was addressed in there um is equal to or less than what the highway Union has which somebody may have taken offense to that comparison okay then which then leads into the next stop next pause whether you want to hear from uh well we're still taking up this one issue so yeah let's take up this issue in terms of the appointment does anybody else have any questions about the appointment salary level um any anything else that's been mentioned here to this we've got a motion on the table and a second so we're ready to vote if nobody has any questions I'm quite ready to vote I have a question um absolutely nothing against the qualifications and the recommendations at all except that I just know we're in the midst of this whole evaluation of our structure and looking for you know Clarity and Equity along all the lines and um I don't I know if U the right person shows up all the time in good departments and yeah can't afford them I happen to know the board of assessors struggled with that not too many months ago and you know I I just don't know I'm not even sure how to phrase my question except to express is this I want the right thing for the for the water department that's for sure and I want the right person but I just want to yeah this out as this is within the bu I guess how I would say yes well yes but it's an Enterprise fund right it's not it's it's an Enterprise fund so it's based on the water rate not the tax I do understand right so two things one is the water technician supervisor's job superv field supervisor job came in after we had closed out the Collins report and sent that in okay and and but they have always been authorized to have two technicians so this is really filling the second technician post that's been open for as long as I've been on board the issue is going to come up is the current water technician has submitted a a request to be considered for the field placement supervisor and that seems to be lost in no man's land um but I would say that this grading is the existing structure that we have and the steps so that if it was in the colins report which I don't think it is but it's probably going to be in the new report that we're going to do I think this is Parable I I think we're going to be fine but I also realize we're supposed to be a three-person department we've been running a two people re amount of time which means they're working s days a week because testing has to be done and right I it's definitely within our budget it's been voted on for two years in a row town meeting um and the field supervisor position has been voted on for two fiscal calendar year budgets so it is there for um and to go on John saying that we do work 7 days a week and everybody's doesn't realize the water where the water comes from until it stops um and so there are you know I I feel we we'd sell a commodity that people put in their mouths you want people that here qu confident trained reliable and show up when stuff hits the fan and we it's getting harder and harder in this world in the Water World to find these people that want to come work and we are absolutely competing against every single town that anybody can get in their car and and drive um and that's going to go to my later on again where people are not coming to Southampton because they like spelling Southampton versus eastampton Under or the pace tub from there they're coming for the pce tub and that is it um and it's been discussed for years there's a lot of departments out there that are struggling I have a stack of open positions that been open for 6 8 10 months on a lot of towns um everybody's struggling so um I've had some uh a lot of uh struggles in my first 10 months and uh if Andrew gets bi us without this um it's I'm going to keep the paperwork separate but I have more to talk on that in a little bit so you guys want to so with that I'm going to call for the vote all those in favor I I I I all right I don't hear any opposition all right so Andrew welcome on board welcome congratulations welcome you got your work cut out for you I'm sure all right very good so we don't havea like three or four things before we get to compensation yeah y just very briefly because we didn't have anything else on the agenda for this so all right do you want me to take that up now or when we get to the compensation well it depends if you're willing to the compensation is going to be discussed a little bit later on um we've got a few things to get through before then but not too much um so I mean if you want to we'll take a look at it and then if you want to hang out for bit this is a resignation letter from Dennis senle to the end of this month um long dra out process of uh problem compensation study um he's going to so I wanted to bring this all up before I but I there one there okay different paper so um that's why me to It's Beginning this uh presentation to see whether or not where I should start to show you where we're heading to a department of one if Andrew didn't um so I I I think just because um process and procedural not to get you in trouble but you can't you just got to refer to the position not the name because they're not here but but secondly this document could come in under the agenda under any other necessary business that cannot wait because you're on a timeline so if we I asked sorry I said I a new guy here in town I know yeah that's so I I I think we can definitely talk about this but we have to do it under that line item if you can if you can hang out wait will yeah okay all right there's a lot more situation and we can go through the whole thing just the position not the name okay yeah so if you'll if you'll just hang up we'll take it up under any other business okay got it all right and otherwise Andrew you're you're good and that position is fine so thank you for coming in you you may stay if you'd like but otherwise we'll get into the regular business that's on the agenda so we have a couple of uh new appointments uh um let me pull up my yeah yeah do you want to take them up separately I think we may as well they're count they're all different I'll uh I'll make a motion to approve the appointment of an Bowman which is a new appointment to the Housing Authority term uh to expire May 20th 2025 second good okay that'll be the next election yep all right all those in favor hi hi right make a motion to approve Steven cie new appointment fence viewer one-year term to expire June 30th 2025 second second uh just a little bit of discussion uh this is the one that I had held back on a previous meeting because it was very unclear what this fence viewer position really is and whether it's still necessary um if there is an mgl which you have in your packet that refers to it um I asked Scott to check it out with various other Town administrators and I think basically several of the ones that responded to you you had quite a few responses several of them said oh well gee if you find out what the fence you were supposed to do let us know too um so I think there's a lot of towns that are not fulfilling this um position and or there are other ones that are uh but combining it in with a Building Commissioner position which seems to make a little bit more sense but given that we have it on the books um I'm going to recommend that we go ahead and make this one appointment for the year uh it's just a one-year appointment and then during this year we take this up and take a look at whether or not this really fits better with Building Commissioner um and so it basically um is someone who is going to be acting on complaints between residents that have got you know maybe uh offence is perceived to be on somebody else's property whatever they could inter we had to come up two weeks ago um not on the agenda oh okay on the okay maybe I'm forgetting it but yeah um so basically just looking at at fencing disputes and a lot of this went back to history in terms of you know watching out for stone walls and all those kinds of things so it's really a it's a 100 plus year old law uh that again a lot of towns have sort of put aside but um I think we can go ahead Stephen has stepped forward and said he'd be like willing to do this position uh he's an agriculture person he's on the EG commission himself um and so he's willing to do that so I think um I'm moving forward in my own judgment about let's go ahead and and go ahead and make the appointment is this a paid position or a volunteer position it's technically um I believe the fence viewer is supposed to get $5 per incident and that's done from the people that make the complaint if you go back and look at the ancient law that's here uh there's a written report that has to be done there's various forms at the at the back of the handbook that I think I passed around two or three meetings ago uh but there's a form for Action by fence viewers from citizens who have a problem um the fence View has to fill out a form and a big checklist about you know what the evidence is you know what what is insufficient what's correct what's Incorrect and you know make his determination so there's a whole process here I really don't know previous fence fer wise how often this really got called upon um I don't remember ever hearing about it very much so I'm assuming it's not a big occurrence but hey you never know and sure enough if we don't appoint it we'll need it so that's a long answer does it get does he get paid $5 is that not by the town he's getting paid by the people that bring the complaint yeah five bucks is what I think it says in the law that have to go back and look at it again but I believe that's what it is okay um and if he doesn't do his job I think he has to return the $5 or something I me it's just it's just amazing but anyway that's why I say I think this is a little outdated but we'll follow it so I think U that's enough for myel on that um we have a motion in a second um all in favor of appointing Steve Steven CI hi hi hi hi all right and we'll get him some information here about what this job really entails a little bit um probably start with getting him a town ID if he's going to go on properties but uh make a motion to approve Scott cbec new appointment representative for the town of Southampton to the F frta which is the Franklin Regional Transportation authority Advisory Board fiscal year 25 July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 all right all those in favor all right very good now we got you official so you can attend the meetings the FR meetings got thank you very much all right so with that let's jump on to Town Administrator report all right I'm [Music] sorry it's on but it hasn't voted yet um okay okay you're around for a little bit yeah yeah okay swing back by then if you're yeah we'll get there yep okay it's on the agenda thank you so Scott go ahead Town Administrator um so quickly the uh our Auditors are going to be uh starting their onsite um visit for the FY 24 I'm sorry FY 23 audit on September 16th so they settled the portal there's a few questions that myself Bradley and Jen have to get back to them uh some information that they're seeking but we should be able to have that this week and they can what date did you say September 16th thank you so so that should um hopefully it'll be a little bit quicker than the fy22 audit and then we can get right to fi 24 uh with the engagement letter um I'm going to be uh flipping some pancakes uh on September 25th at the co try to get out into the community do some coffee hours things like that um so if you want blueberry or chocolate chip let me know what your preference is um Vadar will finally be conducting the general training on September 11th uh for all the Departments it's going to be a virtual training and we're going to be able to record it so if anyone isn't able to make it or needs to repeat it uh that'll be available to them as well uh Wi-Fi is going to be completed this Friday and while we have novas here they're going to do the tour of the police fire and library for their uh facility assessment as part of the quote for bringing them under our umbrella um preparations uh for closing for zero College Highway are ongoing uh Katie had sent me the um uh closing schedule as well as the uh draft deed yesterday uh which I forwarded to you so most of the stuff is ready to go with that um we do have the certified copy uh from the town clerk for the uh minutes of the annual town meeting which it was approved um so JY is also working uh with KP Law's um Financial person just to uh get the accounts ready so that's going to be ready as well so it shouldn't take that much time and they've been in contact with each other today to set up the account so uh we're on schedule and it should move in the next couple weeks um we actually start renegotiations with our Highway Union this week as well um I did reach out to the Callin Center so we've been having uh back and forth compensation regarding the uh Compensation Plan we're making uh a little bit of progress about uh resolving everything and uh we are finalizing the background check on an assistant Town accountant candidate um with the hopes of bringing uh the salary before the pqb and the uh select board um at the next so and just relative to the colins report in terms of re resolving issues I know that we're not going to ask them to do any more work or any correction but you're trying to work out what it is we're going to pay them for the work that they didn't do very well corre okay anybody have any questions of Scott that not right now okay all right uh how about some select board reports Cindy something from your committees um not a whole lot um the uh open space committee will meet later this week the Board of Health will meet tomorrow night and the board of assessors has been meeting on a regular basis without any specific other than ordinary business so there's nothing special to report at this time okay um for myself the only thing I have to note is the Conservation Commission will bring up some bylaw amendments for the next town meeting so we'll get those to the select board by Amendment for amendments they um the the conservation agent has some markups that he wants to bring force that have to be approved by the Conservation Commission first and then they need to also come to the bylaw committee on the bylaw committee okay they should anyway yeah um I'll make sure he knows that he probably does but yeah okay thank you that's it that's it okay Stephen uh I guess then open SP has been covered and uh planning I'll pick up with planning board meets tomorrow night uh we're looking at proposed uh zoning bylaw amendments uh around the clarification of special permits special and and who's got the authority that the 40R thing or no no this is something that I think has distracted our consultant for several months we assigned him this uh it was perhaps a Fallout from editing our last round of um zoning bylaw revisions but he was quite keen on the fact that our process is not clear uh around special permit so uh that's going to be uh previewed tomorrow night not yet acted on my last understanding was that zoning bylaws do not go to the bylaw commit they do okay thank you um planning board um review of bonding for the large Agro voltaic um insulation planed up at um bista Orchards um make sure that we get that right and renewing at increasing uh value uh every 5 years over the life of the facility so that's for decommissioning um no for R is uh in the future and other planning issues are not right for discussion um but I have had a dozen conversations about what land the town owns and what can we do with it and I'll just tee up one that's painfully familiar um the town owns land on Riverdale Road is the verbatim quote Town owns several Parcels on Riverdale Road can we use it for X um which parcel and it depends because some of it is dedicated and some of it isn't and some of it is constrained and some of it may be less so um we have no clarity about the inventory of town-owned land and it's only 70 some parcels and I reiterate my offer to put it straight for the benefit of all landed committees but I was particularly motivated um chilling out this weekend watching the cost efficiencies committee on videotape I suggest anybody do that uh but looking at a future Capital plan for the community which I wholeheartedly uh enthusiastically address I submit that land is not a typical Capital asset it doesn't have any of the same characteristics as a fire truck maybe acquisition date but after that even value loses meaning in Translation so um I'm just going to do it and ask for forgiveness later okay so there is basically as you know the um the spreadsheet that Bradley puts together as the town accountant he has to submit this entire set of assets for everything around town so that is a spreadsheet that you've seen it's a good starting point and and since then um that's a requirement that he has to do on a yearly basis um and since then we've gotten a list from the um assess assessors of the town-owned properties uh and then we'll be bringing were they able to break it out somewhat I mean you can tell it by addresses it's not it's it's basically notes on the card so using the same code you um yeah there's something you can tell I think on that we have to sort the columns a little bit differently okay but um we were looking at what's Town know like public building property versus conservation property versus tax title property and so we've got um a list from David on that which we'll bring up at Cost efficiencies and look at that as well for you know thank you because I was thinking exactly the same thing the question of parking spaces for the greenway is that what you just said yeah because the qu you know question came up on an earlier report tonight about parking area is for the greenway and Sheldon and all that stuff and I know there's Town Hall property behind there maybe not appropriate but if we have this inventory it could be so part of which I'm sure Chris is going to update you on cost efficiency but I'll steal some of Thunder now is we're meeting again tomorrow okay and part of the work that's being done now starting with this gasby requirement sheet that Bradley puts together which is just to tie to a number on the balance sheet that means absolutely nothing to a nonprofit mean municipal government body but we have to do it because the feds and their Infinite Wisdom said this was the right thing to do and it cost us an extra $110,000 in all it to do so not that I'm against it but that's happening anyways so we have all this property the property should only be in the town's name for one of three reasons one it's Town property this building right in the land in the parking lot two we took it by um X tax title and therefore you want that separated because that shouldn't be in our name we should be keeping that separate and Theory we want to get that back out on the tax rols and then the third one would be is if we've took something by um emminent domain or by gift right we want those Co coded separately and what about purchased but why would you purchase if you purchase for a legitimate government need then it becomes a government asset like this building comes a town property okay so the conservation property and the water protection property is purchased correct but I would hope I would hope that all those properties that were purchased for conservation purposes are so coded because you know just like my parcel has a unique number that ties to my wife and I for the three Parcels we own if I was to go and buy another parcel in town with both our names on it should show just running that one name here's all those properties I got so we're working through the process to validate that that's correct and maybe tweak it as we go along so back to what Stephen just said does stepen need to do something because he's going to do it he's trying to steal he watched a videotape over the weekend he's going to Jo crash our 3:00 meeting tomorrow create a quorum which he can do but he just can't talk cuz it's not posted and there's already two of us there anyway we'll see if we we Let's us get through the meeting tomorrow and figure out how complicated anything is or isn't and what we know how to do and if we don't have I have the feeling that Steven wants a one person select board just email me the spreadsheet yes I know I know we'll do it'll all disappear you've got the first spreadsheet right but not the second one no him neither I can't I thought you had them on the translate from okay I I will Facebook or whatever it was I will send it to you I thought it was already up on no no no I'm trying to avoid rekeying cuz that's another source of error right no that's fine so we've got merge we've got the official one from um from Bradley but then the um the assessors one is only focusing on the land obviously so but even David said he wasn't sure because of some of the the notes on the cards it's not categorized as well as I would like it it's there's notes there and so you can kind of decipher it but um we'll take a look so if you guys take care of the uh Vehicles I'll take care of the way we're and we'll get somewhere trying to make out a long-term plan for how we rep any other committee reports I don't know that I can remember I get mine all right so the only one that I attended since the last one was a um a uh Norris school committee yeah meeting on a Friday that the select board and finance committee was invited to uh Scott did attend Chris did attend on behalf of the select board the tour um it was um almost 2 hours tour through the entire building the nooks and crannies and up the stairs and down into the uh bowels of the HVAC system um noris still operates on Steam heating system with rubber tubes running through the H so it's little inefficient um cost efficiency took note that we pay $14,000 a month for the gas to create that steam to run so um I think ultimately what what came out of that whole tour other than um we got to see the the the cafeteria has been completely uh rebuffed refinished the gym has been um sanded down to the bear brought up and now it's colorcoded for the baseball field for the pickle ball fields for the basketball volleyball they're all in there by color um the stage in the cafeteria is empty and sealed and it will no longer be a storage facility um so they did a lot of lot of good work to get the school ready to open but with anything um you know the oldest part of that building was 1956 right or 54 so it's quickly approaching 75 years um it's had one overhaul in that section and then the newer section I believe was 94 they came on it still has a lot of good use out of it but we started talking about doing like an envelope study of Norris and what we need and prioritizing looking over the 5year plan and all that and you know Scott suggested that we probably should do the same exercise for our town buildings so we're going to put that together as as a collective package because Norris is a department of this town on you know it's not Hampshire Regional that's a separate government body and we want to include all the um government buildings under the town including the library including conet Park The Pavilion you know sections of the park but develop the plan see what it is because that will feed into what I'd like to accomplish on the 5-year Capital plan that we start rolling out 20year plans and how we're going to fund this and move forward and if we ever get to the next stop where we do have to replace something we have a full articulate documented story as to why MH to go to the voters so yeah great that's it yeah and just to say that the tour was very very informative um I hadn't been back there in that detail of a tour in many many many years um probably since I was a student there actually so it's been quite a while that was good I'm glad you pulled it together um and thanks to um is it Tom uh Tom Tom yeah and I I would just also add we also were able to witness and and test all the uh security enhancements that we were able to get through with um with the police department's help to get the state Grant to pay for before so didn't cost the community anything the um right Department of State Police paid for all the enhancements and now I don't think you can open that door yeah very good okay all right just a couple things for me um we to place on camera nothing new on the the grant Committee in terms of the assistance to Firefighters Grant another Friday went by and there was nothing out there but again I've talked to um uh the chief that had helped us with this and he said don't give up hope yet it's still rolling and it's like but they're going to run out of money soon I mean this is you know it's a nationwide Grant and you know there's millions and millions of dollars but so far out of some 70 projects that have been awarded in Massachusetts southampton's name has not appeared so fingers crossed for next Friday this coming Friday but I don't know it's looking very doubtful which is very unfortunate uh in terms of the tanker pumper and um the um um breathing gear yeah um but we are working on um getting a uh Kate and I are trying to set up a date for a u Grant committee meeting somewhere in the next week or so week to 10 days we've both been kind of slammed with schedules and we've got two other people that are interested in maybe being on the grant committee so that's a good thing uh and we'll incorporate them to come in and listen at least um the uh Senior Center building committee I believe is meeting on the 12th and the public safety building committee should be meeting soon but they haven't scheduled anything that I've seen yet um so we should be in the next week or two we'll having before our next meeting meeting we'll have um committee meetings probably for everybody pretty much okay Senior Center building committee on 12 the 12 yeah um and nothing yet for Public Safety uh at the moment okay so I think that's it for now and we've got to do probably um we said that we would do a master plan implementation um review meeting probably toward the end of September I'll get that one scheduled as well um we're trying to do those on a kind of a quarterly basis if we can three times a year minimum okay I think that's committee reports let's jump into new business here finally Scott first up classification Compensation Plan and I know You' put together a presentation if you want to walk us through what you got here okay so this is just a uh initial presentation of where we are currently because we're transitioning to the next phase of it so I want to provide everyone an update um hopefully tonight I can just talk about what our results are so far uh discuss the point factor system I've been putting together um the draft exempt salary scale just to give you an idea of what we're looking at uh some of the initial findings not going diving too deep into the data but just overall 10,000 foot view of of where we might be um goal setting for the next step of the compensation some things to start uh thinking about and then what the next steps would be um so every every time you know we kind of go through the compensation data Gathering I always bring up this quote that knowledge is knowing what a that a tomato is a fruit wisdom is knowing not to put in a fruit salad so what we do with the information is a little bit different than the nuances and and what we know specific so we're we're slowly entering the the wisdom phase of this uh so just to give you an overview of our exempt positions um this chart shows you two things with the average uh of all the uh communities that we um have received information for which is most of them uh we are just still waiting on mson which I was promised this week and Hadley probably next week so this will change a little bit and then I am just waiting for the actuals from South uh South Hadley as well so that might you know impact it a little bit but it shouldn't be too much um what you see here is the green which is the average and I took the minimum the maximum and made the midpoint for their ranges and then the actual salary uh for the people holding the position right now and then the purple is Southampton as a percent of the average so if we're uh lower than the average of our comparable communities it's going to be less than one if they're greater than it'll be more than one um some things did kind of um stick out that I just wanted to kind of point out um when you look at the average uh midpoint and the average actuals uh for most positions they're they're relatively within the same neighborhood so that kind of helps with establishing the market when we do our our actual pay scales um so that you know that kind of justifies or verifies what the information is that we're getting um you know most are within a dollar or two there's a few outliers um I think the assessors like off by about a little bit less than three um but most of them are are really within the ballpark um as a percent of the uh averages of course again you you kind of have to do the nuances take it you know with a grain of salt and do a little bit more research look at the data in more in depth um but when you look at things like uh the town accountant I highlighted just the uh the four that are in yellow which are the lowest um you know is it really a direct comparison to all Town accounts you have to take into consideration like our town account now has mcppo uh things like that does a town account in in other communities do they have uh water sewer and electric comp you know MLP that they have to worry about or do they have no public utilities and you don't have to worry about those types of build building Billings uh so you you have to know a little bit of the new nuances um other things like the like our Highway superintendent um you know a traditional Highway superintendent may just focus on on roads whereas you know our Highway superintendent may be slightly more elevated dealing with the grants and working with tyan Bond a lot of the engineering and the environmental issues that that the town faces uh so is it strictly a comparison to all the other Highway superintendents so that's why you kind of have to get into the weeds a little bit um when doing the point factor system so it's not just a market analysis it's not just saying here's the title here's the salary this is what we're going to end up with so you you do have to dive into it a little bit more um as a whole um you know our percentages are maximum so we're we're in the 80s to 90s on most of them for our current uh schedule which shows that really are they're not too far off the only problem is that we currently have 18 steps which is quite a bit uh and that's that's a lot of steps to have and a lot of people are lower in the steps so that's why when you compare the actuals we're much lower because people haven't been progressing uh fast enough to the higher step or they've just been stagnant and staying at the same step for multiple years so that's something to consider as well Scott just a question sorry on that actual column in the green mm that is the actual of not the average from the other towns that's the that's our actual no that's the actual average actual average of the towns mhm but not southampton's right that's a separate chart okay y so this is all the communities that we um that I received actual data for and average it amount so what the actual people are earning right now and that's a per hour rate mhm I had to convert everything some are 19 hours some are 32 some are 40 some are 37 A2 so I had to kind of get a baseline but the very last column Southampton in percentage actual that is our incumbent employee as a percentage of which number of the average the average actual so this is um the average the midpoint average oh no the average actual thank you so the library director is 7% of the average average actual in the larger region is higher than the average maximum of those same towns uh on average towns are paying more than the top step yes so the the average actual for Southampton is 74 for Town account so that's uh 74% of the 4665 but the column right there about average maximum is 44.5 yes so Steven's pointing out that what in reality is happening is above the maximum is there potentially like one or two outliers in there that are super compensated that only came out in the past year during hard times yeah it's definitely possible some might be on a contract some might be treated individually so this is super helpful this is amazing you know it's always good to be the Monday Morning Quarterback right so could you tweak this to uh only I'd be interested as we go further further down of all those positions two of those positions are elected here in this town mhm what are they I have a perception that in other communities elected individuals make less than regular employees yeah so I'd be curious if that's true or not down the road yeah absolutely and that's one of the nuances that we kind of have to dive into elected versus appointed you know if you have an appointed position usually you have a a wider mark and that affects things yeah because you're more more of a competition so uh so when when you look at the just the comparable averages again these are probably going to you know change a little bit but you know the midpoint we're at 79 uh the maximum like I said is is kind of there and the actual average is is a 084 we're only dealing with 11 positions too right now so um you know a little bit you know a few data points can have a big impact um yeah sorry because this question of Enterprise fund came up earlier M does that include that kind of situation where they're not they're not part of the regular budget they're on the Enterprise fund yes everyone's Under the Umbrella of a comp plan y okay um so the next step is putting together a uh a point factor system uh something that we can use to to rank uh all the different position positions and put them in the you know some kind of order based on you know their knowledge and experience confidentiality their supervision um generally most point factor system use use these uh metrics uh you know education experience accountability judgment complexity and so on um and they're very similar the Colin Center uses a similar one HRS uses a similar one uh neogov uses a similar one I'm I've used to the hay system which is a little bit more a little bit more complicated um but these are good just for you know setting a standard in a base and and you know having at least a a neutral way to to rank positions so if we do have a unique position uh that may not um have a market uh comparable we can use the point factor system to to make sure that it's adjusted properly within the organization um one of the things you know I did take this one from the uh the old DG di um study but with some um but with some modifications um for example I took out motor skills physical demands um occupational risk things like that that's not really something that we would need to look at for usually generally exempt employees a lot of times it's also part of the the job description so it does shouldn't have that much of an impact so how do you interpret that Scott I mean we seeing a bunch of numbers but what does what does third and 60 mean for example um let me so those are ranking so what I did was under the first and second degrees um I blinked those out because if you're a manager you shouldn't be in the first or second degree you automatically have to be at least in the third for most of them um if you are in the first or second then you may we may want to reclassify that as an hourly position or non management um so with with this it's is really different levels so for confidentiality for example you know the first one would be um not subject to any confidential information the second level would be subject to just departmental um confidentiality so you know like they if you're in the health department you're just subject to Health Department things if you're um the third degree You' be subject to confidential things throughout the entire organization uh so like you know someone like maybe like the highway superintendent Town Administrator the police and fire chief they they have a little bit more uh confidentiality than than most other people in the depart department so and each one does have a separate um uh standard that I can share uh that'll be published and and made public to everybody so these are just some uh basic ideas of of what it actually means and then um I don't have the PDF but that's the next part of the next phase is putting that uh and actually using the different metrics to rank each position I've done some preliminary ones just to make sure everything works and we're ready to move to the next step so using that um I did come up with uh a through K so 12 um 12 ranges which it seems like a lot but we also need to make sure that we build in um some future positions and Future things in case there is ever a promotion or a change in job descriptions or if we have a new position come in we need to make sure that we have some flexibility and enough area to to actually place people properly if you look at the old di report they had pretty much everyone in One category uh so everyone was uh COA director Town account treasur Library director town clerk principal assessor Health director and Building Commissioner all within one group and then the next group was water superintendent Highway super ta Fire Chief and police chief in the next one that's you know two is way too way too low uh so we're not going to use all these and it really depends on how the point factor system plays out and where people rank um so that's going to be the next step you're not going to use them all but you're going to have them all there there might be only one spot at J and maybe the next spot doesn't fall until you get the G right right so the yeah exactly yep y so the next thing that I did was start putting together some um wage and salary scales um again they're just a draft and they can be changed um but I usually look at it based on what the market or the midpoint is and the market midpoint is is really a position where an employee who is fully confident at their position it's not someone just out of school that's that might get their um you know their not their degree but you know their certifications in a couple years who may not have a lot of experience versus someone who might have 20 or 30 years experience has all the the water classification licenses things like that would generally be higher up so this is a person that's you know right in the middle has a few years of experience meets the minimum qualifications this is our current compensation chart as I mentioned just to give you an overview there's uh only six grades and there's 18 steps and if you were to input most of our salaries they would be more towards the the one through the steps 1- 10 so there's a couple different options I just wanted to kind of show uh on how we can kind of um actually build our compensation scales uh the first one is really just a straight range um each grade has a range from a minimum to a maximum and the middle is the midpoint so if you're going to have an employee uh coming in with lesser experience they'd be between the minimum and the midpoint if they have more experience they'd be between the midpoint and the maximum uh but the midpoint will will vary depending on what the town wants to do for our goal for compensation so do we want to be at the 50th percentile do we want to be at the 25th or 75th um so that really depends so this is you know it's going to be variable uh depending you know what what path the town wants to take uh the thing about this is you it doesn't have steps so you need to have uh constant mon monitoring of it so if you do have an employee that comes in you have to look at the history and see where similar employees in other departments may have been coming in so it's not the disrupt internal Equity so you do have to so it takes a few more steps but it it provides the most flexibility for for uh managers and how did you populate this particular table with dollar value uh the midpoint Market was based on the uh data that I received from the other towns and where they could potentially fit in so you looked at those job titles and you assigned them in grade not yet so this is just looking at what the average and what the midpoints are for other towns and seeing where they would probably fall most likely so with their dollar figures what grade they would fall into yeah without necessarily attributing that to a particular position you would just he you do the point exercise that would tell you the grade they the grade they go into right right and at this point in time though uh okay so basically our managers are exempt right mhm all talking exempt right now that's all you're talking about is exempt exactly that's all I talking about is exempt just exempt so hourly would I would definitely do a step scale so that would be the the next uh after we set settle this that'll be the next um presentation uh another option uh sorry the um there's there's three exempt positions missing from this list is that because they would be on a different because they're on employment contracts I would still put them into at least having the scale as a guideline because they are contractual but there should be a TA fire chief police chief and town accountant should still be in there just for transparency so you still have a range and that you know they may not be officially in the class plan but they should be related to and same thing with like elected officials too um they're not technically in the class plan they have to be approved by town meeting every year but they should be included as as the analysis every year just to make sure that they're keeping up with Market um but also that you know it's not too much or too little but we try to get right and don't we have some though that are hourly employees right yes so this is just the uh the salar okay and the health director wouldn't need to is included in this but that's going to have to change from a non-exempt to exempt okay uh this is another uh potential um option that we might have the idea is to set the market or the midpoint and then depending on years of service or or steps it's to push people towards the midpoint and the market so that they don't fall too far behind so every year you would increase a step and then past the market or the midpoint it would be based on your experience or your your Merit so if you have someone with that you know a lot of years of experience they'd probably be to the right of the uh the yellow line which is more Merit based if they're brand new out of out of college and they're just getting started so they probably start at a step one and then every year they would progress automatically over five six 7even years which by that point you should be that competent employee able to fulfill all the job responsibilities and obligations so it would force you to the market no matter what this also has to be maintained every year so every year it has to be adjusted are you is this 17 do you have more more slides or and then the uh another option is we have a traditional um grade and step scale uh in this it's a little bit I I I took off a little more of the maximum because you you want to kind of shift the midpoint or the mark a little bit more to the right so you don't want to automatically over seven or 10 Years be at the top of the scale when you're competing with employees that are 20 or 30 years so it makes a little bit more difficult to do a step system although it's definitely feasible it's the easiest one to do you would just progress a step every year or two years uh based on you know if you're performing the job competently and have a good performance review you would automatically get the step and then the colas would adjust the entire wage scale so that kind of brings us to what the the compensation goals should be for the town um just you know an example is ammer philosophy from fy15 was they wanted to pay at the 50th percentile which is you know the the median um and then for their smaller group of communities they would pay at the 75th so a little bit higher um do we want to you know have on average a a a Target you know do we want to be at the um the 50th percentile for most of our positions do we want to be at the 25th to the 50th and we track that everywhere every year just to see how we're progressing and where we are um the other thing is just because you know you are lower or higher in the percentile doesn't you know that's only for the ACT the ranges and the steps so it doesn't really impact the actuals as much you could have a a Workforce that's brand new so you'd be tradition Ally lower you could have a very uh experienced Workforce so you would be be higher in the actual so this would only apply to the really the the ranges and is that really ammer in fy15 MH yeah so it's something I always refer back to um you know they wanted to be a uh Community I forget what the phrase they used a um not a community of good um a preferred employer community so they they wanted to kind of go out to the market and be able to have a whole Compensation Plan and say that you know we're above X so if we were to re write the essence of that last paragraph to describe South Hampton as you have analyzed it MH is it accurate to say that we don't have this larger set of comparable communities we have a selected cohort of very comparable communities yeah and that we are somewhat shy of the 50th percentile all things as equal as you can make them right yeah with ammer um comp study back in f515 which is one of the the major ones in this area um first before they become kind of more trendy um what they did was they did an entire State View and that was their entire comparable community so um they had about maybe about 25 or 30 communities that they they base themselves you know across the entire State Amber is a little bit different too because you know they have positions that may not exist in our area you know planning and economic development director things like that where you kind of have to look more on a Statewide level but then they also have positions that are very similar Library director Health director um custodian uh things like that that are more local so they were looking both on a Statewide and on a macro and a micro essentially but the other thing I just want to mention I and I know that we talked about it um during the water Department's uh PCF but I I do think we need to start standardizing and updating our policies on on benefits and vacations and things like that so um that we if we have a water tech that does come in and they have five or 10 years experience do the do do they have to start over at one weeker vacation or would they you know be transferred to three what do we actually consider credible service towards that if they were a lifeguard for 5 years and now they're being a water tech you know the Lifeguard experience probably during the summer wouldn't carry over so you do have to be kind of recognize that um you know it has to be also private experience is another thing you know you might have a heal a public health nurse new candidate they may have been a a nurse in a hospital and they want to transfer to the public sector so does that private sector nursing um you know carry over as well so I think that's been one of our challenges if I'm not mistaken is that you know oftentimes we've had people come in that have had experience in other towns for four or five years or maybe longer but they end up starting at the very low end of the scale here if I'm not mistaken they start at one or two and it's they always have to come for the exception the department head has to come for the exception if they want to do anything higher than that if I'm correct on that yeah no you're right I know so I think our entire process is outdated and Antiquated right and it just starts I mean the the current program that we have with the 18 steps is based off I think a 1971 Department of Labor uh manufacturing wage study that came out of Connecticut we don't make widgets right so a lot of that doesn't apply to us which is why people were grouped the way they were our benefits I mean I'm in the private sector we're not hiring anybody that doesn't at least get three weeks vacation on day one now it's an acrel right you don't get it on day one but over the course of the year you earn it all and you know Mass state law doesn't apply to us but we have to deal with sick leave and parental leave and all those things out there that you know if if folks have a partner significant other that's out there in the private sector they're seeing this in here and it used to be that the offset was the pension right so Senior People longer people in the tooth that work for municipalities get that newer folks coming in under 30 and under they don't even plan on being with anybody that long the average person under 30 only lasts three and a half years at a job and they're bouncing and they'll have six jobs before they're 40 right so that's not necessarily going to apply I I like uh the point system and all that I would stay away from the hourly rates but I understand why they're there for the visual but under our current system unless we just go the steps and the grade because whatever we do here it's up to ppb to enforce this m and roll this out and that is a broken machine that we currently have and I would suggest although this isn't the place for it but I'll just plant the seed that you know I would I'm willing to propose and figure out a way to pay for a two-day a week HR person 14 you know 14 hours or 15 hours to start there's more work that they can do but we got to start chipping this and then if we had one gatekeeper controlling this and applying the standard preferably not the Town Administrator because we want the Town Administrator to be our safety check that when it comes through yep okay he can apply his executive level of HR experience say yeah this is right and just oversee it so John your proposal would the two day per week of a Personnel expert does that replace pqb oh I I Would S yeah because the payroll or the bylaw committee would have to rewrite the bylaw but I mean if all those things happen we would no longer have a because we're always faced with enough people to be on our committees and right and I also I mean I get it you you know you have to be a resident of the town in order to be on the committee which then limits the the committee too and out of frustration a number of employees from the Town come forward and sit on that committee and that makes it more difficult because you know everyone tries not to be biased but when these votes and discussions impact you it can come become very hostile yes when it's really just having Frank conversations um so I I you know it was great in the 70s when it passed when you had more people than you needed to hold these offices in positions but that you know I think this is a four-prong approach this is prong one prong two is do away with ppb prong three is to put a I'm not necessarily going all the way with an HR Director to start with but but a a competent HR professional you know somebody more than a generalist yeah you know to start to build um but we still what I don't know if I see this in is the situation that we fac tonight where we had this excellent candidate come in and had you know was worth the amount of money that that was proposed that we had to pay with the benefits that um is unfortunate because you know I know that there's other departments in our in our system that we're hearing well we can't get anybody at the rate we're going to we have to pay and so we have to sort of accept what we have which is maybe yeah Southampton really needs to move into the 2 but I think I think sometimes that's the easy way out that's the easy excuse right because I would counter with that I'd be like well okay if you're a department head and you're and you're telling me you can't recruit for your department because of what we pay I want to see the last performance reviews that you did on your staff and I'd like to see exit interviews and then I'd like to follow up with them was that truly the reason and if it was then we're trying to adjust it and okay so that brings me to the next question and excuse me for not knowing the answer that I should probably have and that is do we do performance reviews does everybody get a performance review short answer is no and because I'll tell you why we can't compel elected officials to do the reviews we cannot compel the Board of Health to do the reviews we can compel the Town Administrator and his or hers direct reports to do it through him like the the fire chief ultimately is appointed by us so is the police chief so we can only drive so far down y um and then there's no consistency even in those things not that I've seen there is ways to do it though cuz I I had this problem in Welsley where we had you know we had elected town clerk we had all these different boards that had Direct Authority um but the HR department was had one single fund that would um where all the increases for each year were so if you didn't get a performance evaluation then you didn't get an increase um so there's ways that there there are ways to do it and we can make it a bylaw right to to compel these boards and you know groups that fall under um but now if I'm on their side of the fence I'd be like okay well show me the review you want me to do where's my education on how to do this because there again we have people that are in positions um because of their position but they may have zero management or HR experience you know um I think there's all excellent people on the board of health right no I think there is actually a performance review form that departments are supposed to follow is there not but it's not mandated by unless mandated by bylaw we can't comp we suggest it we ask but we don't have the big stick form doesn't ensure that the process is competent and and as as John just said the people that are like for example on the you know Library Board of trusties uh good people but do they know how to do a performance review have they got any background in it and are they I suspect you got a retired HR Director on the trustees over there that that seems like a natural place yes I get you yes but yeah I know well I also think performance should also be 360 so it's not just a a border committee or an elected official doing them but to take you know the Town Administrator and the other boards and committees and the water department you know and all the other uh places that you know the department touches on a regular basis but also getting their input so they may see one specific thing but they may not see all the others throughout the day right and in order to do that we need the resources put in but because there's nobody currently that can just take this out as additional responsibility and the town continues to grow just just like the you know you know Dan makes the passionate argument every time about conservation and the comcom getting a staff member and planning all that yeah I agree with all that but you know I'm over on the finance and HR side there needs to be something over there too because right we're we're growing one so the next one is just reviewing and streamlining our hiring process I I think we need to set a goal of once we get a little bit further down but you know having 90 days should be the average that when a position becomes vacant that we get it filled and the person is on boarded so you have third you know three three to four weeks for advertisement 3 to four weeks for interviews and things like that and then once that person is selected three to four weeks for that person to actually give their notice and come on board so I I really want to set a goal in the future of you know how long does it take um and that would also mean giving you know managers a little bit of flexib ability so you know it might mean if it's between a step two or a three if they're coming on you know manages might have that flexibility to decide if it's between a step seven or 11 then you would need that checks and balances uh this you really justify that so you know if you had that person out of college that didn't have any experience and they're asking for a grade 11 that needs to be a check and balances you know why why is our system broken or you know what's going on here why are you asking for such a high salary um and vice versa you know a person with that much experience 20 30 years probably shouldn't be at a great step one so we want to make sure that the person comes in at the right level and and you know consistent with their experience and qualifications um so for the maintenance of uh these plans it's one of those things that we we have to kind of update every single year even though you know we may not be changing the compensation so we have to separate the the actual compensation versus what the um what the plan is so every year we need to kind of review what the market is move the midpoint consistent with that and then readjust everything and then we can see what our employees are are making are they lagging a little bit behind or are they kind of above what the averages and you know do we slow it down a little bit or do we speed it up so that's going of be um a yearly um yearly task so just to clarify that midpoint would move year to year okay I think it's been kind of static sort of right and then everything's built off of the midpoint or market so like if it's 15% or 20 or 10% range that would kind of broaden it so like that takes you away from colas that takes you away from colas CU your cost of living adjustment is really adjusting that midpoint and then everything else just Falls from that MH yeah and that we need to review positions and employees every year just to kind of do a sample you know just to see where they are and if we're falling behind or not or if we're keeping up and um and we want to make progress every year towards the town's compensation for philosophy it's not going to happen in one year it's going to be a multi-year process just to get where we need to be but we need to make sure that we're every year that we're working towards that um so for the next steps uh I do need to finish collecting the data and putting everything in um you know the months in and and the Hadley and the South Hadley that's going to be important just to make sure everything's in there uh I have to finish the non-exempt uh position scale of the hourly rates I have to do that um I would like to obtain two independent scores for the positions as well uh I know I talked to Deb Bradway and I I emailed the uh fincom last week about using some of the money for that she sent out a proposal of $1,200 which would be enough to probably about 30 or 40 hours of work uh to go through everything and just have a completely independent person that's familiar with the market in the area um and then I probably art would be a good person to ask for another independent he's familiar but he's not an employee um and he did the one a few years ago I think in 2017 based off of this so um so he's familiar with it uh once that's done you know once we have all the independent scores we would finalize the rankings uh I would have to do a cost analysis to see how much it's going to impact and then the implementation plan um so if we do have you know a highly skilled employee that's very low versus someone that may be a little bit closer to where they need to be how do we overcome that over the next year or two uh and then once that's settled that's only you know the initial phase but over the next next 12 months to review and update all the job descriptions I know that we did it with the calling center but they didn't turn out great um I think that they also need to be ritten towards the point factor system to make sure that we Encompass everything and it needs to have one uniform voice so it can't be something you know some people spin a lot of time on the job descriptions and some people just didn't so there needs to be a you have to force them to do that and have a uniform a uniform uh template for everybody uh and if we don't do that then everything's going to be out of whack and and they all have to put the same amount of time and effort into it if not then they're going they're not just cheating themselves but they're cheating the people in the future um to do that and then next year once all that's done we'll probably need to do another adjustment and another survey just to see where we are uh once everything is based on the job the point factor system and on the market and just kind of see if there's any tweaks or anything that need need to happen so between now and 12 months or so between now and the next town meeting when we and next budget when we have to present the next budget right um I I think that we can once we do the philosophy finalize the exempt and nonexempt we can we have that pool of money that we can start making changes to now um that was going to be my question I mean how soon can we actually Mak I know you've got an implementation plan there but I mean the cost analysis may show we put aside I forget what what what was it 20,000 25 25 I think 25,000 maybe something like that to start making some of these adjustments so that we could actually be starting to do that but the actual cost analysis of this whole exercise might show that it needed 40,000 or something right so we could at least make a start on that knowing that we've still got to do more but that would not hold people back yet another 12 months right right and you know depending on how we want to do it we might want to work on the furthest away from the midpoint first or do we want to do a general you know increase or yeah so I think in general I mean I guess I would feel like we'd want to look at those you know once you get all the non-exempt to just to see how far somebody is oh off the scale yeah yeah yeah yeah we we we can't do exempt in step one and then wait to get to the non-exempt you got yeah so I think you know the non-exempt have got to be right up there and certainly those that are way off the scale need to get our attention I think would be my first thought and some people you mentioned earlier that are non-exempt I mean non-exempt should be exempt you mentioned somebody earlier yes okay yeah well that's a good good start um I'm so sorry that you've had to redo all this work that uh we didn't get much out of Collins for um yeah but it finally makes sense yeah it's starting to make sense I maybe not finally but it's starting to in my head maybe your further ahead than I I am but will will there be training opportunities for the people that will be doing performance reviews and write rewriting job disc well that would have to be incorporated yeah look at it and Define who in each various area that doesn't report to the Town Administrator is responsible for that right yeah yeah I used to have forms for 360 reviews and then I would have forms for direct reviews as well and I always I always tend to shy away from the numbers and more something that's tangible so you know what are your goals how did you accomplish them um things like that rather than please check one two or three right yeah um so maybe more of a combination of both right okay well any questions thoughts thank you it's going in the right direction yeah I feel that way too yeah making progress at least so thank you for putting the effort into that tell what you did with your long weekend so good all right excuse me let us move on briefly here um deed acceptance zero College Highway signing are we ready to actually sign that now I know you said something which is zero College Highway or it's the 125 basically whichever it is the parcels will be listed yeah the deed reference was correct in the closing agenda I believe so yeah I know so is that you making a motion authorize ay uh is that what we need here yeah I would and then I need uh individual signatures and then I would have a Lucy needs to just notorized yeah this is ministerial but I will move that uh the select board is authorized to sign the closing agenda or U the deed specifically uh for7 to 125 College Highway second second okay all those in favor I I all right good this is for the acceptance of the deed for all three tracks yesp pre legal Parcels yep yep okay we'll send that around and sign that that's a milestone good all right and the closing date has not yet been established but it's getting near mhm yeah uh sent out to the um sellers attorney just waiting to they want to move as quickly as possible but yeah that's the last step just so maybe even by our next meeting maybe uh hopefully yeah yeah yeah lasting is a for money and then just all the the lawyer have to do the lawyers have to do their paperwork so yeah okay nice sounds good glad to see that moving forward okay anything else on the on that property or that partial no also um no I mean we're still working on the land use stuff so right yeah and then you've got uh some of the other documents that we had to look at here the quit claim need all this stuff is just more for our information yeah okay all right next up uh a couple more things consideration of initiating the acceptance of mgl chapter 41 section 45 and 47 a Board of Commissioners of trust funds for Southampton I guess between so I I asked this to get on the agenda right um so just relatively quickly section 45 titled Board of Commissioners of trust funds membership powers and duties any city or town except Boston May create a Board of Commissioners of trust funds consisting of three persons who shall have the management of all trust funds given or bequeathed for the benefit of the town or the inhabitance thereof unless the donor in making the gift or bequest shall otherwise provide in cities the Commissioners shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council and towns they shall be elected in the same manner as other Town officers at the time of creating said board there shall be appointed or elected one member for one year one member for two years and one member for three years and there shall be appointed or elected annually thereafter one member for 3 years vacancies shall be filed by the mayor filled by the mayor with the approval of the council or by the select persons section 47 authorizes and directs the uh Treasurer to um Carry Out the orders of the commission as revealed and my thing purpose will bring this forward is as we move forward now which at least with the Pearson Parsons money coming in you know as a as a where I guess my questions are where is where is that money um is it being invested did we just give it to baling mule uh what's going on maybe it's just sitting in in a an account you know there's potentials of other opportunities for donations to come forward as we move forward with the U continuing on the COA issue or on the public safety building issue um there are especially giving this year and what will happen no matter what um changes in the tax reasons it's beneficial for folks to make uh transfers or donations of stock to the municipality right now for tax purposes and what I'm suggesting is we're growing the town is growing that the old way of you know yes the treasur is the custodi of all these funds they hold it and short of any other laws they follow the um liquidity yield and or safety liquidity and yield Factor as spelled out in the law so locking it up in a money market account at ECM SA Bank at 10 basis points qualifies because that is exactly what they're supposed to do unless there are other parameters in place so creating a trust in the commission that would have a public policy in process of how we choose to invest non- tax dollars non- general fund right this is outside the tax revenue receipts and had doing it in a public way with elected people people overseeing it or appointed I think will add transparency especially as I think there may be a increase in volume coming our way in the next two or three years I'd encourage people to actually donate correct yeah so can I ask a couple questions sure um would these people have to be Southampton residents and the reason I asked that is because I happen to know that the Housing Trust hasn't been able to be populated yes and secondly um I'm just going to throw this out because I'm chairperson of the alers now that is a very tiny tiny tiny gift it's just really a few thousand dollars compared to today's money but we never know where where that's been invested and had it been invested correctly over the many many decades we'd have more money than we do you know so anyway I yeah so I would say the way the law says now it's as we elect other Town officials so therefore yes it would require The Residency requirement now through research I don't know and I and again I don't know how much money we necessarily want to spend on this could KP point out other areas where other municipalities have been able to alter that my guess is you're going to need a home R politician in order to change that which draws out another year to make this happen but we could I would suspect we could write the bylaw that underneath this commission would be could be subcommittees such as the alers you know the standal loans like Norris has its own right now it's the Norris school committee that oversees the gift fund over there and library has a gift fund libraries are usually uh touchy in themselves because libraries predate municipalities so therefore they have their own laws they could voluntarily come in but it it would be something but I think creating a standard in setting it out because again everybody on the payroll now has more than enough to do so to add this layer of more stuff in without printing resources into it and do I think this is the best way to go no but this is what the law that's on the books that allows us to do it and I would say if we were under 5,000 the select board could just do it m with without going to town vote but unfortunately we're too big we should have thought about it four years ago when we were under 5,000 people yeah well and partly answer Cindy's question I think you could get from Jen the quar of the report from Bartholomew and get the status of the AL miners fund investment because that's where that one would lie we asked I can say also to answer John um because I had asked Jen this couple months ago on the the fund for Parson's estate that had been originally invested in two different terms a six-month Treasury and a one-year treasury the six-month treasury has already come up it's already matured and it was rolled over um to a three month I believe it is that's going to actually mature on the 19th of September so we need to keep track on that um and that was invested at a 5.18% through uh ESB uh I believe do you remember yeah through bar alamu whatever I mean well okay so I think I mean I think it was I don't know if it's through so if it's through theb I don't think so if it's through b East satans bank there's usually no charge to us if it's through Bol mule they get 75 basis points okay I so so and I guess this is where I come in if somebody wants to make a donation of money then 100% of that donation should go towards the project yeah I think I don't know if it was under I know East Hampton Savings Bank was looked at but I'm not sure that's where it ended up I don't know which only means if it's 5.2 you've got to adjust down to the yeah so I don't know that for sure but right because again I haven't looked at it but as of last month any Municipal Treasurer in the Commonwealth Massachusetts school district has unfeathered access to the mmdt the Massachusetts Municipal depository trust and as of the close of of July going into August got to stop looking at it's paying 5.6% interest compounded daily it doesn't cost us anything so it's it's using system but again we don't it's I I don't blame anybody for the set and forget it mentality because they've got other things to deal with but so what would we need to to do to a point to make this commission we'd have to the bylaw pass a special town meeting in November okay or December whenever we meet well then to get this moving I move that uh the select board proceeded with that process appropriate for adopting at annual town meeting the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 41 Etc could we do it a a special to special town meeting because then then the bylaw gets passed then at the annual we could actually have the elections right if we wait until then to have the bylaw passed the then we have to wait for the next meeting of any flavor yeah so we'd have to have a bylaw created a general bylaw created couldn't be a select board policy it would have to be a bylaw well the that 4145 says we that's what we would adopt it's 414 actually adopt it yeah I second okay but I think maybe where you're headed is we have to develop the writing that establishes a hierarchy where all of our existing trust funds do or for reason don't fall under this umbrella I think the first step is to see if there's an appetite of the citizens to adopt this section and then let that three-person committee create the framework and come back mhm so in educating the public will have to develop the answer the question will be specifically on the alers which I'm guessing is probably similar to the whing street fund. ohoo you got to go back to the documents and see what it said there if the if the fund if the alers fund specifically said it shall be a standalone D D D D D for this then they've got it the almers would have to say okay we're willing to give that up if we can come in to be part of this we could the town couldn't force that [Music] issue lots to learn thank you okay so I think we have a motion um for maybe adopting the mgl chapter 41 section 45 and 7 well to take all necessary steps to prepare to prepare it for the the um right to prepare for it prepare it for special town meeting when special town meeting should be held um before the annual town meeting um to prepare that uh for consideration by the voters is that right that works all right and we had a second so all those in favor I I all right we'll put it before the voters and see what happens all right thank you few more steps all right uh budget calendar Scott I know you were starting to work on that but uh fill us in a little bit um yeah I'm still working on the draft so I don't ready yeah okay so next meeting maybe we'll have more detail on that perfect okay thanks all right so now we're up to any other business that cannot wait hey Mr Brett I think he's still here and he's still awake you want to come on up for a few minutes and we'll understand your issue a little bit better all right um so it goes to my ignorance my new I'm still new here that for another couple years um I inquired about getting additional time but I thought it was going to get all lumped into the PCF um was going to drag Andrew's stuff into Oldtown business Collins report that type of stuff um so I was trying to keep it separate but all right so I said earlier I'm on an educational tour to to bring everybody up to speed because the fate of the water department rests in everybody's knowledge um cuz you my everything I can bring to you guys decision is in your hands and I feel like a lot of the information was never brought up um you know um past over the past couple years um even my own board is you know we're all new to try to figure stuff out you know we're learning from uh Growing Pains so um I handed out one hand out already sorry I use names but um that resignation was driven purely because of the the slow goat and pony show of the the the hiring stuff that goes on around here the Collins report that was handed in very very quickly after the Collins report came back and was announced that it wasn't coming out public and it was going to get Rewritten so um to be quite honest you're losing a good employee because of the slow process um and I'm I'm definitely it's going to definitely put me at disadvantage cuz uh that person you know might not have been the polished around the edges but he had everything it needed to get into this water department every single day 7 days a week get out of bed at 2:00 in the morning and do what it needed to do to provide Clean safe drinking water so um BR maybe if I could help you a little bit here yeah I'd love help so primarily because when all this was going down I was I chaired the ppb board so I'm more familiar with this than my contemporaries here three of which weren't here when this happened right so I I think they're missing some of the background like what caused you to want to go your predecessor I believe and you correct me if I'm wrong the the event was an audit by the D that said you couldn't operate with two people at the water department you need to go three so that started with the two technicians that job remained open for over two years without getting they contined to get cited by the D and then it escalated to a written citation so it was just escalating it was a matter of coming up before we were going to get slapped with something for un adequate staff Staffing working seven days a week There's a license component here that because we do our we have our own well and we do our own testing so we have our own what our own well and our own testing right you have to have some of these licenses I don't know if you need to have all four right away or you could um no so we operate as a treatment one um that's the lowest of the treatment it goes up 1 two 3 and four we're a treatment one it's all based on complexity of the treatment system the process we not we're not that complex so we're a treatment one we are however a distribution 2 system um that's based on population um so Andrew go ahead completely separate topic he's going to come in um and cover every one of those as a new hire um my so my thing here is not the new hire right now it's we lost a new employee an old employee that probably we still had 3 years here because of the slow moving Wheels um of the colums report and everything you lost the steam which was hold go get a job for $6 an hour more than another municipality we are competing for talented dedicated smart people with these licenses that are fewer and fewer and fewer um and go I'll go into the complexity of how to get these licenses and why we're losing people um everything from Cory checks to drug testing to you know you can't pass the test some people just can't so this is um 2020 one when maybe Pro possibly started this a sanitary survey it came out from the D that said based on the size of your system U number of employees you should have three people on staff uh I believe that's when the uh process of trying to find additional employees started nothing to do with the Collins report um so the crust of this is is the the wire department is trying to get authorization to post and to hire for a field tech supervisor and and because that position hadn't currently existed right when we started this Collins report problem it was right or wrong it was decided to put it on hold until that report came back so we could straighten everything out no one at that point in thought time thought it was going to take this long or we were going to run into these issues so it's still sitting tabled in ppqs folder they opted to take no action on it and it's going to sit there his course of recourse is the select board has ultimate Authority at the end to either deny or approve or do something but this is his only course to come out and be heard as the department head so just to be clear we've had we need three people we've had only one person that you now have the letter from as a as a field technician yep we've just hiring a second so before Andrew got brought on board at the end of the month I was going to be a department of one right now I feel so he's coming on as a technician right if this person stayed this would be a person that you would want to have promoted to the technician supervisor is that what I'm hearing field supervisor at some point potentially yes so my question comes back to Scott and is the water technician position and the field supervisor position included in the new Colin study Field Supervisor no the water technician yes not the water technician MH but it's not about just Market it's about setting up a basis so that when those new positions come in so uh we handed in three job descriptions water superintendent field supervisor and water technician in this whole process it was given back to me it was returned back and now it's not in there in the the Collins or in the new or the new one I I guess it doesn't matter if it was in the old one cuz uh we're not using said field tech is not the supervisor is not in there but the field tech is is that what I heard no the other way the other way around yeah the field supervisor is in there but not the tech no the watertech but not the field supervisor right cuz the water tech was in the in the old scope that there was a job description already there for that person right so the field supervisor position is not coming out in your new salary report any any position that's open will be placed in the new scale so even though you don't I'm not looking it's yes or no Scott is it in the field is the field supervisor coming out in the Collins report or the salary compensation study yes all all positions will be placed with graded all positions will be graded and placed in the scale okay perfect thank you because I've heard contradicting stuff that's why I've need to get the answer so now if you you look at the sanitary survey in the highlighted sections it tells you to uh what the D recommended goes right into safety workload and competitive compensation so even in 2021 the D was recognizing that water departments are having a hard time filling position um and the reason why I bring up the um the letter of resignation is because I just want it not to be buried not known um so one thing about me is I don't mix words um I might not be uh an eloquent speaker up here but I will definitely uh speak the truth and not mix words with everybody so now as of tonight because I didn't know how and thing was going to go um this was going to be additional paperwork and this is what we're facing um as challenges go forward if we are not staffed we are mandated to be staffed by a treat license treatment one and a distribution two uh license person these are the quotes that came in from East National Water um and this came out during the transition period when they were hired for my position as a superintendent they $165 an hour so at before tonight when Andrew got approved I was looking at paying $165 an hour to be uh in compliance with a d and having the right amount of staff people on there and if you look they're only giv 5 hours per week cuz that's how how busy they are so may a question go ahead so I understand the Dilemma of this position that hasn't gotten evaluated and that you're on an Enterprise fund and you answer to your Board of Commissioners does your budget provide for three employees or does it not at all provide for it was all the way through it was a approved town meeting 2024 and fiscal year 2025 it's been in the budget approved so and that would be for two techs or water technician and field supervisor position both positions have been approved and budgeted for so there is some c number for that position right and you think that's adequate what was put forward in the budget is appropriate um yes it's pretty it's pretty close to I don't know how it was that number was appro we don't have recruiters you are our recruiting department for the water department so it is or it isn't I mean where you you you've said that you're very frustrated and I understand that the job description has not been processed in terms of evaluation compared to peer communities my question was what's in the current budget given that you have substantial autonomy I hadn't paid a lot of attention but you do have if I heard you correctly the superintendent the field superintendent and the tech all in the approved budget for the year yep so we have a process problem with pqb and well it's it's because the field placement the field tech the supervisor I'm just going to call the supervisor the supervisor's job description it has been written and is ready but it needs to be assigned a scale under our old system Y and the scale needs to in theory one would think if without having the scales in front of you needs to be higher than the tech but lower than the superintendent you would see however the Tex scale is because this same employee's been in there for six years has been adjusted upward upward upward ramped up for the two employee that it was your PR his predecessor relayed to us that that's really the supervisor scale and we need a new scale for the techs for somebody coming in but that was preferenced on if I have a tech I can take somebody green and train them up in this case the previous person that came our new hire isn't the green person out of school they're they're already up there so they can with all the licensing required it's a different argument and the the the pitch to us from the water Commissioners at the time and and Brett's predecessor was that we just got to figure out a way to give we can't lose dentist until we can get some sorry we can't lose this employee until we get somebody else in here so let's make them a supervisor so we can give them five bucks more an hour and if you think back to the makeup of the PPQ board that didn't go over well yeah sure and they created all this issues and really it shouldn't be that difficult so I guess my question Brett is knowing what you know now how would you want the department to look tomorrow superintendent and two techs or a superintendent a supervisor and a tech I think for the next year potentially till uh the new hire can get the system because you just can't you can see it on the map but the the system's 35 miles of pipes valves hiding in the woods nothing's in the street everything's off the dirt which is good and bad you know it's tough to find some days and you know um but good when there's a water man break you know um so going forward for the next year um I do see this the operating like uh with two entry level two type of you know in the pace with regards to the pale so so the existing pay scale that you have now set for the text that you just used to set for Andrew do you think that that's adequate for you to find somebody because you you do currently have authorization to have two teexs on the payroll without any more oversight from us other than coming forward with a titles would be wrong they're you know inaccurate but the the positions I mean the the salaries there on your on your budget you mean on your budget side on the budget side it's you know it's clearly a water technician Field Supervisor right but what's what you're currently authorized regard regardless of what your budget says what you're authorized to have by the by the um PPQ is one superintendent and two water Texs and you it sounds like you have more money than you need to staff that because you have a supervisor filled so so the budget issue is neutral or even beneficial yep it's can you can you find another person similar to Andrew or less qualified that that current range that you use to set for Andrew would work I don't know the market um yes and no um we've we've had since I put it on indeed a couple months ago we have had quite a few people come in uh a lot of people uh just based on Googling their names are out the door A lot of people are known agitators they're out the door um known you know just known throughout the water department worlds um so it's not it's not a money issue it's not a money issue it's all about finding the right person um and you know I live in town I want that right person to be in there I don't want him going out deal with that tomorrow I want him staying to you know when it looks like I'm just looking at the warrant from our mtown meeting so I believe the water Enterprise fund we approved salaries and wages for $286,400 with one position open correct within this budget cycle yeah can you keep Dennis oops excuse me can you is is there a chance of keeping the current person uh I guess I'm going to have to answer that with a question Scott when is the new salary compensation study coming out because uh he has packed his go box and I think the fight is over I think his fight is over you know there's no guarantee on what it's going to be at the end I mean it could end up being less then it could be end up more we don't know exactly till the data is in uh because the budget guarantee in the thing right now I mean what you what you heard Scott present tonight is what he's doing in lie of the colins center report that came back insufficient that we did not accept it and ask Scott to take on the TX ask himself so that's why we've had this delay I mean that's you know we didn't want to accept a study that was poorly done and not reflective of the real reality in Southampton and luckily we have a Town Administrator with HR background that knows how to deal with some of these issues so that's why we're in the process of what Scott has explained tonight yeah so PCF that was uh approved and rejected uh just before I started for the field supervisor position was $38 and 35 uh well within my budget the approved Town budget um with uh signif adequate time for emergencies uncalled Force you know overnights weekends stuff like that so 38 35 that was rejected because that position did not exist right and so then hence the 18 months and right uh paper weight of a study so so I have at least 10 different I'm not I'm not didn't waste time uh printing them or handing them out 10 different um job openings that I've talked to other water departments throughout Massachusetts um Paxton Arlington East Hampton right next door uh Welsley Everett Yarmouth Norwell Paxton again Westford all positions looking for what Dennis is leaving now into water water tech position um that have been open 6 8 10 months um with comparable pay scares of what we're paying and they're just not getting filled um so just because we hired somebody today this issue is not going away um it's going to be a long um continued on ongoing uh fight um to continually finding those people out there that want to come to Southampton to work and when let me back check I want to be sure I'm following the chronology so when this was presented the field supervisor PCF was presented at the time you had this employee in mind or you were going to be recruiting his predecessor this all his pred I've only been here 10 months um yes all this was in they were trying to hire somebody as an entry level water technician uh for going on 18 months now so well before I took on a position to in the hopes that Dennis was going to slide up to a field supervisor position and we were going to bring in the water technician Dennis was going to train him he'd have somebody to you know call you know somebody to be supervising MH so you're the person we just approved hiring tonight has a level four license and your leading employee has a level one license which is sufficient treatment one and a distribution too right so there's multiple licenses but that's the minimum for our requirement right yep and he would be a candidate for supervisory role why not by licenses CU he's at the minimum for a attch Dennis or the new hire uh the departing employee uh he's had 20 years in the municipal uh municipalities uh and no grow 18 yep 18 years no growth in license thing or oh he's he's qualified to work here and he's qualified to work in East Hampton um so he has his distribution one not so Westfield is a treatment three distribution three hoy's a treatment 3 distribution 4 um so it depends on the complexity of your treatment system and right the population y maybe maybe that was not the right place um oh it's a very comp you very comp it's very complex interview and this person has a job that they going to has this person been got is this person hired somewhere else and was that just closed exit don't interview there's there's been no exit interview uh that's the only piece of paper um there's a position that he had in East Hampton that is previous previous yep to his six he seven years ago he was employed in East Hampton yep he was but he chose to come to Southampton came to Southampton right it's been six years thought uh and then everybody in the Water World talks everybody knows what everybody else in the you know in their regular possession Pro professions own uh so that same jobs opening right so he if he did put in his position he he may have put in his application and he could make 36 to $38 an hour starting on uh November 1st can I ask what he's making now uh it's it's off the pay scale because you know it's been adjusted for longevity right it's been adjusted to Long it and I think it's one grade above the grade four pay scale so we're looking at just over what the new hire was hired for um so to go back into uh to some of the reasons why the water world is facing these WS of un you know just there's there's a lot of people that wanted this work and they just want to punch a Time clock and go home um but that's not the type of world that the DP will allow to Water Department higher um so to I'll try to keep it quick but there's four distrib four distribution licenses for treatment licenses we require a treatment one and a distribution two that's it to get your treatment one license is more difficult to get than your distribution because you're doing a lot of chemistry and stuff but to get your distribution license you can anybody can go take the test tomorrow it's 100 questions $103 you go down to Springfield to a amp or go go uh forgot the name of the company 103 bucks you walk in there take off your sunglasses everything you own in a pocket it's 100 questions time 3 hours um you have to get a 70 or above just because you passed the test you still can't get your distribution one license issu issued to you by the state of Massachusetts drinking water board until you have one year of experience one year 40 hours so if you even if you work part-time 20 hours a week it take you two years to hand that paperwork in to the state of Massachusetts drinking water board and those are nine-page applications Corey checks code of ethics um High School diplomas um and then and you got to get on the drink and water board uh agenda and get approved and so there's a a board down in Boston so now now you got your your one you still don't get it until you have onee experience so you you can't hire people in off the street and say yeah come on in and work because it'll be one year until they are even um eligible to to work here now um and if you go back to the sanitary survey we're required to have those on staff um you know 365 days a year and so once you pass the one you cannot take the distribution two until you take a 12we class the 12we class is when I took it was $993 I think it's up to $1,200 you got to pass that class uh and then you get a code and then you can't take the two the three or the four of the distribution until you pass the D1 and into the 12we course so there's a more than just hey I'm showing up 40 hours 40 hours a week you know I get the licenses um and then you need a letter from your your employer stating what your job duties are to to a company that's nine-page application um could could you could you potentially bring in the the um a second water tech who is somewhere in that process like hasn't hasn't done it for a year because both you and the the Now new employee have the proper licensing to oversee it yeah so um again we're we're limited on candidates we do have potentially um one other one um we did interview somebody that um passed a treatment to but absolutely will not get a treatment to license until they work in a treatment plant for 3 years so so so somebody to take that person on M um you know it's you're investing in somebody for three years um so it's a lot of work or it's a lot of um you know confident that that person is going to stay around yeah after after they get their license full circle back to if you're paying that person they're happy at their job they're in a good place they're going to stay there um and so now the that was the distribution the treatment is even harder so for this new candidate to have his treatment for um you have to take an exam you have to take a class 12we class every single step so you got to take the treatment one you got to take the 12we class you got to take the treatment two didn't take the 12we class to take the treatment three so it's it's um and then again weeding these people out it's because Corey checks background checks code of ethics drug testing um High School diplomas College college degrees um they're just what whatever happened in after Co there's just not a lot of people coming back to work there's you know maybe people thought quality of life is you know better than quality of work I don't know um living in people's basements I don't know their parents' basements I don't know where all the people are but so I had find let us know yeah yeah my mom's not so I guess the question would be you know what is it that we as the select board could possibly do at this point in time I guess I don't what our I don't see anything I know that our Town Administrator is addressing the scoring of this new position that's been floating around the department thank goodness just hired a highly competent younger fellow uh I think that's fantastic uh it looks to me on paper like he's a much stronger candidate to exceed into this supervisory role and you already have ability to fill a another tech to achieve the threers coverage I don't know that there's anything for us to do the the whole the whole Pro the feel your pain and um you know be the best boss ever and go out and recruit so and and that is I am completely lucky that I got Andrew his resume was snuck to me from somebody and he was leaving the Water World keep thatat up I did notice on his resume how did you hear about this Brett summons called me so I'm like who else can you call just get on the phone that's it my kids tell me I talk too much you know sometimes it pays off sometimes it doesn't um so going forward to say that he does um but he's going to take a solid year or two sure to to learn this the system yeah and there's a lot of stuff that is in the ground but it's not on paper anywhere right but but that so who knows this you own one I don't even know it yet because I'm sitting at my desk right all the time um so I come out when there's definitely when there's when there's problems and situations um so you're asking us to do something about the resignation uh no I think it's too late uh I wanted to bring it to your attention that the slow process of this whole thing and I understand Scott's working on it I can't wait for it because nowhere when they when you take all these distribution and treatment exams that they tell you how to you know uh address Town Hall by lack of a better word fight you know like just come up here and fight for to to make my job easier I I think the um I think the conversation probably would have gone in a completely different direction if the board took a different vote on Andrew's hire hiring right because then it would have been a department of one right and then that creates bigger issues so there's a little repe here now but there's also there's nothing that prevents um Brett going forward uh upon identifying I'll say a junior candidate or a water tech whether wherever they are in the license process and um if they meet all the boxes and that bringing them on board and and continue on that in the meantime on our side we'll make sure to continue to push to make sure the wa the Water supervisor job makes it in there and that the Tech makes it in there and and you know maybe maybe even just like you saw there where there were the 12 different steps maybe maybe there needs to be five or six for the water department just because you're not using them all right now right is there an in is there a water tech with no license it or just as this and is working on their first 12 months well if you look at the sanitary survey flip it over to page two it shows the requirements um and so as the D they they're a new staff also um the old school says you know they're enforcement enforcement I find that they are becoming better and better with working with people as long as you come to them so I I come every every single thing I submit I say here's my know here here's what I'm doing um the thing with that is now is I've been on a lot of superintendent roundtables and with mass Waterworks um New England Waterworks that they are creating $80,000 paid salary positions to bring people in from Tech schools and high schools um Springfield Water and Sewer is doing this thing called the pipeline um they're bringing in inner city high school kids during the summer to try to get them to say hey man if this is something you like this is a guaranteed job you know um there's always a demand for it um going back to the um my new hire I think will take 20 years to to become what Dennis was um Dennis has a lot of construction experience um so this is what I'm going to have to you know work with he's been working in the treatment plant so again I don't want to misconstrue anything um there's there's a lot to be a lot for everybody to learn and unfortunately some of the stuff you learn is at midnight 2 in the morning when something happens why is there water coming oh there's not a map showing where it is like you know um I'm thankful that I have uh a great system with Highway um and when we have um issues um the the guys over there Todd uh um he's on my Staffing plan um but I feel horrible taging him from Randle because he's in the same boat he's he's short staffed you know so he comes over works for water department for the day that's something that he didn't get done and then rand's gonna get a phone call because the field isn't moded somewhere um so going forward the whole process I can't wait for this whole process to be fixed that I think the best thing ever would been that is the HR you know part-time because again they don't teach you how to interview people the dos and the don'ts the what's illegal and what's not I mean I you know I I know enough to be dangerous but sometimes I talk too much so there's a lot that this town um needs to move forward and and so any help that yeah Scott's bringing forward these new changes are great I don't know whether it's worth you know you know another chat with with the departing potential departing employee just to say that you know there is really progress being made uh that you know we you know we recognize that he's on board until the end of the month according to this letter and we'll have another session in two weeks um and hopefully have a little bit more detail I don't know how far we'll be by then Scott I won't promise that but just to say that you know there's serious effort working on this and it's really very unfortunate that it's taken this long right yeah and and again I'm not I'm not up here throwing stones I want you all to be aware of the the decisions that are made and the slow dragged out processes sometimes that you lose candidates and going forward I'd love the ability for uh the department head to make some of those changes without having to come through three four different meetings and when I first started the water tech position for whatever reason it got through editing for 8 months my first question I had at a water department meeting was why are we asking for an entry-level water technician position that has a treatment free when we're a treatment one everybody's like oh um it took me three me three week uh three months and three meetings you know thankfully uh um and I didn't have to go to the finance committee but I thought I was going to have to even though I'm changing a three to a one and there wasn't even a dollar sign associated with it so some of the you know the technicalities need to get a the hurdle you know they need to the hiring process needs to be quicker um you know and I go for my own when I sat here I sat in that chair over there and I realized I'm like this is just because this three water Commissioners said congratulations come on board I sat here for you know it felt like two hours you know plus cuz I was on the camera you know sitting in that chair don't ever sit in that chair I felt like it was like I I wasn't going to it wasn't going to happen that night you know I really thought I was walking out of here um waiting another month um you know and they were in the same dire situation I interviewed two hours after Tom gone dropped his keys his tablets his phones and his headaches on the desk you know so they they were in a a tough spot back then so those water Commissioners you know just like you guys you volunteer your time um I I would love you know for them to have some of the respect that you guys get on your their decision- making um because they do know um a lot of the internal stuff that's going on and that's why I wanted to bring my box of stuff here and show you guys where I'm where I'm sitting because no I think that's very much appreciated I mean to hear all that you're going through and and understand that more fully so we do we do appreciate that and we'll do our best to keep the process moving and keep you on board with what you need because I think you know it's very clear that you've got regulations that you've got to abide by and we've got a responsibility to help you get there right and and these are enforcement these These are you know if if he didn't get hired tonight I mean we're looking at seen d letter and I've been on this like for 5 years so I've never seen this letter before this is my official my leg tour of the education you know stop but so you know I've had anybody will L their ear to me yeah no thanks for coming and bringing all your information and uh we will keep working on it promise okay all right thank you all right so so before he leaves is he okay to sit down with the individual who is only going to work till the end of the month and see if there's a way to keep him see if there's a way to keep him yeah if he's taking another job I mean that's that's a discussion between you and me or the Commissioners right oh I've tried I mean I've had discussions had them extend what his letter was month Hing that the deadline okay so we'll let you do what you think is best there if you think you can approach that again you know do that and uh well I can't do anything until I come back in here and stand at the podium and you guys say pay raise tell us what he needs that's what we need to know uh it was a PCF from uh September of 2023 for a pay raise to in order to do in order to do what his predecessor wants to do we have to establish a brand new pay scale right the pay scale doesn't exist to cover that position okay got you we have we have looking for 38 right yeah yeah and that's not on the pay scale I believe it was September 23rd uh 2023 ppb it was rejected okay okay so thanks let us continue the meeting thank you for coming and sharing that information thank you okay my regrets I'm going to have to excuse myself okay sorry yeah thanks okay let us continue on uh some of the issues under old business is there anything in particular Scott out of those usual things that has had any update Capital asset planning will be taking up in in cost efficiencies you've talked about the audit um green energy is moving along apparently so that's working okay um let us take up the pcfs then if we can can do that I thought we already did this first one well I think we did I think some of these just didn't get signed maybe at the time because I look at the dates on some of these so we got to do the second one for sure the uh we'll pick up the first one um yeah we'll see if Lucy wants to come back in but the first one um just do it for formality but I mean I think it's already been done sure I think we already voted on the first one too the first one we already voted on on uh the resignation of sa mcarthy so I think this is just a signature that's needed okay uh she resigned in June um so that is just a signature needed on our part I think the paperwork just didn't follow through um I'll skip the second one let's go Taylor sorry Tyler Colby motion to accept the resignation of Tyler Colby of the fire department effective 81624 second second by Cindy all those approved I sorry and third one motion to to accept the resignation of Raymond Rodriguez of the fire department effective 81624 second okay second by Sydney all those in favor I and just a note for the public that may be listening a couple of these are people that have been on the roster but have never worked a shift here in town so um the fire chief is actually kind of um cleaning up his Personnel list um they've got full-time employment elsewhere and really didn't have time to do a shift here in town so that's why some of those are resignations um motion to approve PCF of Kyle rondu Rondo Rondo fire department new hire paramedic part-time non-benefited as needed $23.29 an hour okay motion by John do you have a second second all right all those in favor I I all right um Here Comes Lucy so let's do the town clerk one assistant town clerk clerk yeah so we have Cynthia motion to take up the PCF of Cynthia Woodward town clerk Department assistant town clerk new hire part-time non-benefited 19 and 1/2 hour week up to 19 and2 hours it should say well modify the on the PCF it says up to 19 and yeah it should say up to 19 okay on the PF I'll correct my motion for the record motion to take up PCF Cynthia Woodward town clerk Department assistant town clerk new higher part-time non benefited up to 19 half hours a week grade Two Step 13 $22.40 election hours as needed MH and on the PCF it actually also added wording here that says shall not exceed $1,460 so that must be the budget that you have correct assigned for that position yep and Bradly signed off on it so yeah and you've got that available because you've had $46 or 8,000 8,460 not the annual salary not to exceed that because that's what the budgeted amount is per now y you want to just give us a little bit of background on Cynthia or um she has 25 years of administrative um experience she is um a hard worker she is skilled in data entry Excel spreadsheets she has not worked in municipal government but she's a fast learner she is very pleasant um when I interviewed her I connected with her felt very comfortable with her um and I had a lot of interviews that people did not show up so I was wondering did you have a number of applicants for the yeah we did yeah and there was a lot of no-show so um and I need someone in there right away yeah so and she's willing to start September 16th so okay has she had an interface with the public in her constant yes yes yeah y looks like she's been a medical billing medical billing yep mhm but the the outgoing individual is 1820 so this is a $419 per hour increase that's correct because in the job description she has to take over for me when I am out and I feel that um the person that fills that position should get paid more than $18 an hour the assistant Treasurer gets paid $25.97 but you didn't feel that way about the outgoing person so I mean what's did you change your job descriptions no okay okay and this is again it's not it's not the assistant to the town clerk it is the assistant town clerk it is the assistant town clerk both positions were both were true but I'm justy many of the other admin type positions are the assistant to whereas this position as wellist Treasurer are the person that's expected to take over when you're at yes absolutely that's in the job description right are those which wasn't understood by I'm sorry it wasn't understood so do does is there are there courses that are available to clks um she's willing to come with me to the conferences to um get more up to date on elections and everything that we do as Town clerks and assistant Town clerks so yes there is okay classes out there okay so I think we have a motion on the floor sorry did we have a second I'm sorry somebody seconded I seconded it some seconded okay we have a motion on a second and if no further discussion could I have a vote please all those in favor of Cynthia Woodward I I I all right no John no no okay so motion passes three to one and thank you very much I appreciate that thank you very much motion to take up the Kate to Santo COA change in position emergency twoe appointment COA director full-time benefited 32 hours a week grade five step 9 $29.60 second okay any discussion Scott I'm not sure I understand what this is though she's been the emergency twoe appointment already right I'm just reading what's on the agenda but I'm pretty sure we took that vote already to cover the twoe period again we didn't sign the paperwork maybe yeah I think I think so I think it's just that the paperwork didn't get signed okay fine because we I thought we took it up at the last meeting I would draw my motion okay I think it's just a signature think any yep so that was for the interim uh emergency position yeah and now we have the actual so P motion on the PCF for Kate D Santo COA changeing position Council and aging director full-time benefited 32 hours a week grade 5 Step 11 $314 an hour okay second all right my only question on that is the full 32 hours a week Madam chair is that coming out of the general fund yes not being augmented at all right no this this is the position the director's salary for the COA is now funded directly out of the Town Fund correct and so just to ensure that my rationality in my head the 3143 was the budgeted number that was the budgeted amount the same as the departing director yep um okay departing actual director and there was a small change on the PCF from what I'm seeing Scott we had originally had said up to 32 but it actually became 32 not up to 32 and just to note on this one for some reason it says interim on the PCF and it shouldn't that looks like a note that came from so I can't read it totally but I think it was handwritten in a ppb okay and I and I don't know why it wasn't there but we would just want to clarify that in the notes so anyway so it it is the actual permanent position of the COA director at a 51 grade 511 U at 3143 and just to say uh we have an extensive uh resume um from Kate uh that we had in our package actually last time we looked at her for the Emergency we've got probably a over a two two and a half page uh CV Kate's been working at the um COA for over a year now she's not only the shine counselor and the she started out as a volunteer coordinator I believe u became the Outreach worker in a shine counselor um and has been doing uh gotten lots of certifications um in her various work u a lot of volunteer work with um persons with disabilities and aging uh she got a certification out of Boston University School of Social Work um she's had over I think about 20 years if I look at her resume of professional experience in Social Service and customer care and so forth over at UMass in various um uh positions from uh director of University events and special initiatives and um I think most recently when she came to Southampton she was ending up uh she four or five years as the assistant athletic director for administration at UMass so she's had high level uh administrative management positions and uh seems to be ready to fall into this position I think so with that any further discussion is there a motion then I think uh John made a motion second second by Cindy okay all those in favor I I I all right motion passes thank you and we'll sign those pcfs we'll get them all signed this time thank you thank you um and I think that's it for pcfs if I'm not mistaken and we have three sets of minutes to approve uh July 23 August 6 and August 20 I'll take them as a group unless anybody has any particular errors or comments they have on any of them so moved second all right all those in favor I I okay all minutes are approved thank you and our next select board meeting will be September 17th all right I think that's it guys just a a reminder I will not be at that meeting you'll be at and I and I think Steven will be ABS he might be absent also okay thanks John so September 17th but John won't be here maybe Ste won't be here okay so we will be adjourned at 9:00 this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers