okay good evening everyone um this is the regular monthly meeting of the Southwick agricultural commission it is Wednesday February 12th uh 2025 uh we do have a quorum with myself Bert Hansen Dan Cook Zack Barnett and
online um Jen Depetro and Sage Fury hi Jen and also uh our support person Cindy Barton so we can um get going um and I think we can just
jump right and say public comments Chef for your um your project sure um I'm Jeff Smith I work for svenia Associates in Chester and we're working with Lisa Chapman at 32
Hillside and she has some property that is under 61a and she would like to clear uh old overgrown field and plant Christmas trees and blueberries and other perennials in that
area um there's a stream that flows through that field and as far as being regulated under Wetlands act it's too small to be considered perennial or intermittent so it just
falls under like there's a 100 foot buffer and if we were staying out of that 100 foot buffer the Wetland the Conservation Commission will be out of it completely but yeah would like to clear up to the top of the bank
and get a lot of the invasive species out of there and some dead trees and damaged trees that are need to come out anyways um yeah so you you're thinking that the stream is too small to to be either even
intermittent right it well so there's two ways of looking at it physically it's a stream all right groundwater seat comes down it all collects together and it goes down to Tuttle Brook so it functions as the stream but under the
wetlands act there's some thresholds that has to meet and one of them is a watershed size a drainage size and I can't remember oh it's a tenth of a mile Square tenth of square mile is the drainage area for
that small stream so okay it doesn't meet the regulatory threshold for a stream but it does meet it as like a linear Wetland feature so there's a buffer zone attached to at
least part of it right and there is a clause in the Well's protection act that land used for aggri culture and under chapter 61a is exempt from permitting it doesn't mean you don't have to follow
the rules it doesn't mean they don't have to put erosion control up but they don't have to do all the permitting and there's in my reading of it there should be some lenience on the buffer zone
that southw has a bylaw of a 50 foot no touch and their buffer zone we'd like to invasives well removing the invasives is a good thing and and the conservation misss on board with all of this but they'd like us to do a permit for it and
we feel like that's kind of setting a precedent like it says no permitting required and we're trying to put a plan together that says we're going to do remove the inves we're going to protect the stream we're going to replant along the stream with Native vegetation and
then the rest of that area is going to be used to grow Christmas trees and blueberries so right um what is your take yeah I that I think you talked with I talked with Sabrina fuller today I think you've talked with her right and they did a conservation did a site visit already
right yeah I met them there I wasn't there but Ryan's gonna be doing the work so so that's uh that's a good step that already done was that before snow I think it was just before snow
yeah yeah I think there was a couple inches when you and I went out there there was when we went there yeah yeah so I think um I talked to Sabrina I think the thing to do is the What's called the RDA yes that's what they're request for
determination yeah and I think as I understand it that's a fairly low bar if that's the way to put it I mean it's it's less less cumbersome less Administration than than other yes things you might do so I think
um you know that that'd be well my my thought is that should go ahead and just do that and go through the the steps in that document and then get get back to conservation and all right so you kind of agree with them on the RDA and that
you don't think that it's a special that is gonna affect other yeah um I mean it's really kind of their jurisdiction and I have respectful I mean I've work with them and they're good they're good commission Sabrina is sharp and
um we're just we're thinking that maybe we would be able to save the time and trouble of the but we don't have a problem with doing an RDA it's not cumbersome it's not like a notice with intent right that's that's why I say low bar y right
um yeah so I think I don't know does anybody else have any I mean I think thoughts on that they're planning to use it for agricultural use so we should get behind them oh yeah yeah definitely support the work there's some things with the state that
they would you got a permit through the state too they would pay for it um they might even help you pay for it getting rid of the invasive species and that probably required grant that might take a while well
yeah you know my father-in-law did it yeah he actually made some money in there didn't have to spend all the money they gave him for it okay that's the US CA and RCS there yeah okay we we talked
to them yeah how long did that take you remember I say six months maybe yeah okay they had to come down and take a look at it and then they how quick are you trying to do this well the ground's hard now so I mean I can get in there and do it with minimal
ground disturbance now where you know say March 3rd we have the next conation meeting that's going to be an issue because it's going to be SLO in there and it's a you know not so much the work scale but it's there's going to be a lot more footprint getting in there and that's what we're trying to avoid you know I mean we could be planting in the
spring get in there and do it now where the ground is hard and right you know get get it under control that we can replant first thing in the spring that's the idea a very good point that he brings up and I didn't I kind of overlooked mentioning that but yes being
able to do it while the ground is Frozen is GNA a lot yeah cuz everything we're taking out of there it's either Dead Ash dead Al there is a couple U cotton Woods that are in there that are going to stay um there's some White Oaks and some hickories that she doesn't want to
clearcut it she wants to selectively thin so anything dead or invasive like as you know about the emal as boore Dutch elm disease um nothing survived that so all that she wants out she wants to replant um with the little bit of ATT
tangent but with the ash B are there regulations about what you can do with that wood probably can't cross state lines with it yeah you can't leave the state with it you can't cross into con which we wouldn't be anyway you can burn it locally yeah but you can't most of it's so dry now you can light it with a match
the day you cut it down you know it's one of the most dangerous trees there is I mean I was up there Sunday and there was a top blw out of one it was laying in the road that you and me parked on oh yeah yeah so it's like I mean besid besides just it's a safety hazard in there at this point too it's just all
blown down and she just wants to select to be thin and conservation is on board with it I mean they saw we were kind of presenting and they agreed with it so yeah I mean I think is she living at that property she is yep she lives up above there and she was really hoping to be have this rock and rolling by the
spring but you know like the conser next conservation meeting is March 3rd and that's as we know it's going to be an issue with the ground then could could maybe not could be we're threading the needle though you know like now I can get in and do it two weeks or whatever yeah right right but conservation didn't
actually take a vote or no they're kind of I think they're expecting us to bring in an RDA but I think I may that point is like the most important point about ground being Frozen right now and if I point that I'll I'll talk to Sabrina about it if I
don't know can you write some kind of a short letter stating that you think it would be the best to get it done early we're not trying to we would follow any condition that they wanted to put on as far as erosion control but really the key is you don't
want to do it in mud season that's what it's gonna be I don't think that would be on line for us yeah so I think what we can do is we did something similar with Dave birday yeah yeah um you know we can aote to support the
project [Music] um like sub subject to conservation approval or something like that so so you'd be good with us so you would have to come back to another meeting of ours okay because we really don't have any
teeth yeah either way all we can do is s yeah it's really we saying it's really their call you what you said Jeff it seems from I've talked to a couple of people on conservation they both Dennis Clark and everybody that was they're agreed you
know it's like it's unusable it's all Bittersweet The Vines are choking everything mean she wants us to thin all the Bittersweet Vines out of the white oak trees that are still standing she wants us to cut them all out she wants to like get the property really under control so yeah she got big Visions cut
the tree down because it's got no she wants like spider lift in there removing Vines you know she wants to do it right so she's yeah but good trees keep them yeah they are and there there's some hickories and I'm going to go through and Mark everything that's staying
beforehand but she'll be fighting that Bittersweet for next I know it's tough to get it under control I think the only thing worse is Japanese Ragweed that's the only thing I know worse uh so what can this motion be
um that the uh agricultural commission uh supports the work and and U agrees with their plan agrees with the plan and give our we we are um we don't make the
decision but is this a copy of your yeah I can I brought four copies here so yeah five members or four four four sorry I should have put these as a bundle but that's letter that's uh
the accessor map of the site there we have go and this I don't know if you need did or not is the the instrument that goes in their theve that says it's chapter 16 well I got say it a very thorough
here well trying to I'm a little embarrassed I didn't think of The Frozen Ground thing but that's good that's we I have a professional yeah um but yeah I do think it's really good
thing I think the the field is is I mean it's not like a forest area that they're cutting all the trees out it's an overgrown field it was probably pasture it was 20 years ago yeah I know years ago the were beavers living down there
they still around at this at the either the North or the West End down where the sharp turn is yes that's that's where goes into Tuttle Brook and that's a I mean that's an actual Wetland down there and then Tuttle Brook is an actual
regulated stream and we're at least 200 yards from that at the I was say 500 feet yeah so yeah 50 yards y yeah we're not anywhere near that um and she doesn't want to change the pasture or the hay field there
that's all the Hayfield keep that for the guy that cuts it they're gonna let him cut it to keep the mat part of the forest left side here in this area yes exactly that kind of the lower part of the center strip of the property and
it's not the whole wooded patch there there's a hill that comes in and she wants to keep that Hill as the Privacy buffer there's nothing really invasive up in there in the pines and everything else she wants to keep that between her and the neighbor it's just the lower side of it it really runs the brook runs right through the center of
it yeah the house is really nice yeah and it is a great job they've done a nice job yeah they cleaned that property a lot to pretty bad yeah yeah it's beautiful now they've done a great job with that place how many acres is there all together the toal property is 18 or
something uh they want to they want to work on about two and a half acres I meant to mention too one uh issue is that changing the use of the land I me I think I think that
generates U the need for the RDA partly that could be the Crux of it and and she did bring that up and we were looking at as all right it's maintenance of the property it's improving the property now it maybe used to be a dairy farm
so you know that's a different thing than ultural is there a barn still stand silos y oh wow nice y but yes they may Hold Us on that because it was cleared 20 years ago that
property it's all 20 and you could see it developing growing in uh over the base of aial imagery but I never found one that where it was cleared like the he field but you know if it was ever used for
agricultural use the actual water I cattle just cattle probably right when um Dave's property they said they couldn't really restrict it because it was originally used for that yeah yeah yeah she's not trying to change the
right course of the stream or even using touch it you really couldn't count on it because I would guess that probably dries up in the summer most likely yeah yeah they just want to stay away for
erosion and Y together right Al so Jeff I'm seeing here you're a professional Wetland scientist well wonder you're very thorough about all this stuff that's why I brought him in that's great excuse me um I used to
work in a machine shop and I got sick of looking out the window wishing I was outside like oil good for you okay so I'm going to uh make a motion
uh that we um support the plan as presented for 32 Hillside Road uh by salvini Associates and Jeff Smith um subject to Conservation Commission approval and that we
encourage the Conservation Commission to e expedite the process as much as possible second that sounds great uh do a roll call vote Bert Hansen I Zack Bradley over
hi hook hi Jen Depetro I think I think delete or mute yeah I think I see sorry about that and um stage Fury hi okay so it's unanimous and I'll put together a letter to the
Conservation Commission saying what we just said and um all right do you have my email or I don't it might be at the end of the letter I think it is yeah we might need you some night down
here okay Jeffs at salvania associ yeah okay yeah all right be great yeah I don't have any cards with me sorry that's right we got do do you need all this stuff back I'm assuming no no oh no
that's if anybody does have any questions or anything you can email me or call me numbers there Y and uh okay I appreciate your time and absolutely thanks for coming in you're welcome I think the right had a question
um sorry did do you still need a letter from us um like do we need to draft a letter would that help you um oh yeah something that we're going to do okay that's Y and we can sign it okay I just want to know make sure that didn't get
overlooked but okay okay yeah thank you um and we'll just hope that it stays cold for a while yeah hope so until March 3 Christmas trees and blueberries we can't wait yeah it's going to be nice she got ideas for flower gardens all kinds of things
there it's going to be beautiful in Sun yeah that's so we want to keep southw yep oh I totally supported the project when she brought me up there I was like this is phenomenal and our place already looks amazing but to see you know bringing it back to a Farmland like that
it's even better okay all right thank you everybody nice to meet you nice to meet you thanks for coming I'm eat one work at sir I worked at Oley and Whitney in Westfield yeah it was a
uh I worked at burer Industries years ago oh over on aimont yeah oh you know what when I first got out High School I worked at westfi gry right next to that yeah yeah so that's still standing still there yeah isn't the is birkshire isn't
Awakening Brewing or something like that Bri ideas Brewing or something yeah the building out to different yeah bunch of different comps all right thanks drive safe so just want to get some thoughts
on the farmers Forum um it was a little bit uh fewer people than H been we've had 30 35 and we had about 15 or somewhere in there it was cold though I weather it was yeah really
yeah um I think it was good was one thing that was good about it is that the meaning the the sort of the agenda got over and there was a whole bunch of time for the farmers to just talk to each other yeah yeah which is so I think we
should I feel like there's more interaction this year yeah yeah I agree with that make sure we have open time on the agenda however you so so that can be built in each time
we do it yeah um and I think maybe our our next year Forum our fourth annual we've been moving a little bit in the stretch but maybe more even more emphasis on education uh of people of people
coming and so it's not just you know the hay rides and the pony rides and the free ice cream at caliber and you know that kind of stuff but that there's actually so maybe we uh we've talked a little bit I think about the Farms having their store you know having maybe
their uh ancestry and you know just people clue people in to so they understand more what our farmers are are doing you I actually had a thought to maybe get a guest speaker or something to come in oh Jim partam or something he
did an awesome job that other thing yeah for the Forum yeah yeah it's great um when I was at calab um they um they had a video of their farmland and U with music behind it they built
um a presentation on a TV for people to see and I thought that was pretty cool um it was like done by a drone um they really put a lot of work into it and uh it was great um I wish it had more of a presentation where people were able to
see it um in an area of that you know in that area highlighted it you know yeah I was there I didn't notice I didn't notice that yeah I know it was on the T on the table by the Raffles so it was
like just a regular um uh um Smart TV that was playing in a loop you know and it had um all kinds of information about their generational you know farming and things like that so I thought that was pretty cool so next year we need like a
Jumbotron yeah I'm hoping that maybe a I don't know maybe a big screen or like a projector I don't know but but it was it was great that they had that and you know they put that together about you know to show everybody so yeah and
actually saying that the Bai Farm on North longard they they do a video thing and they they make make some I think they're making milkshakes with some local milk know stuff like that so yeah
yeah I'm just realizing that I've been very remiss not to introduce our guests dead saska maybe you all even know each other already I but Deb you have a kind of a homestead
type of farm yeah it's for us yeah yeah and what do you what do you do there uh well we feed ourselves a lot okay we're clearing more space because we had purchased land from our neighbor and it was wooded but it was not like woodlock
would they had already had it cut so there was just junk on it and so little by little we keep opening up more Fields so I have more space to plant and um we have um about a hundred blueberry bushes
um that I put in like eight years ago so they're really starting to produce now I do sell some people that I know that you know would you say that address was I sne over and putting up elderberries we've
been propagating elderberries we have um uh fig house we're working on we have the figs we just and we have the frame we just haven't got it all covered yet um so that we can grow figs I do get some figs off of it but the season is too short and I was gonna
say it's like it's we're right on the very Edge's got a few figs too but we've got like is that more like a Mediterranean crop well it can take many of them can take um they can get almost to zero some
of them and back but that seven below we had a few weeks ago may may not have liked it but I've got them packed in leaf leaf bags which helps to keep them um but you know we have been I've been getting them bigger I mean you start with a little piece this big a little teeny piece of
twig and I mean they're now good size bushes so we've got like 35 or 36 of those in the big house and um we're just we keep adding we have chickens and eggs for dog uh for egg um our eggs our ducks
and chickens and yeah so yeah we're working on it just just mostly to feed us you know and and family yeah that kind of thing yeah but it's getting there when when when Mark isn't my son
Mark isn't working at Lenas which he's been there for 19 19 years yeah I talking side but I was talking to Katie when I was in there recently and she's been there tring something and
so then she starts rattling off all these employees been there like a long time really good retention there yeah when we got hit by wage an hour they were amazed at the employee retention yeah they don't see that right right
well um so that's what we do we just you know it's just for for us y so this year's the year The Raspberries I ordered I decid I had some but I want more they just aren enough ever so I'm putting a bunch of of raspberries
and we've got fruit trees and how much land do you have planted we only plant well it's kind of weird because it's all over the place you know on the thing probably not more than an acre and a half or two acres maybe two acres with the blueberries and
stuff um but yeah it's kind of all over the place and different places we've got the the fields where we put the vegetables and stuff but we put in a I mean we plant quite a bit for stuff we probably do usually between two and 3,000 onions um because we eat that many
any year no kidding yeah we're Bigg they're really good for you yeah oh that's just me I'm diabetic and sometimes it decides it needs to yell at me and probably is yelling at me that f
you need a brownie no I didn't have a brownie it just gets off when I'm like it registers off so um but yeah we uh we put in a lot for that this year I went up to 500 garlic because we used to do
about 200 and it's not enough Rachel my son's girlfriend loves garlic so we've we're going through garlic like crazy I'm like I better like really double this at least so um yeah yeah we
just it's good pretty impressive two or 3,000 onions kind of onions what kind of onions oh a variety some purple and some white ones we do sweet ones yellow we do Wala walas and and we do a couple other early big sweet ones but then the most
we do is Pattersons which are I like them for keeping they will go all year long I can keep them without sprouting usually like sitting outside on my screen porch with that's plastic in and that's the or in the garage they'll
they'll last right through till the next onions that's the goal the garlic the garlic won't always go the whole distance but if I have to I I'll freeze them I cook them and freeze them so that I've got them for that but we do you know winter squash and stuff someday we'll have a
root cellar but for now we just use the cold garage and it works pretty good so and lots of freezers and I can and put up a lot of stuff yeah oh I bet yeah that's a dying trade right there
remember my grandmother used to do that I learned from my grandmother's so and actually we're doing some at the uh the library I did a homestead thing uh in December and then
we did um last week we did plan your garden we had eight extremely exciting Ed people that we had two people came from chabe to see but you know we went over how to plan out a garden so they could plan
and get seeds ordered and you know things to take into consideration it was a good group so we're we're going to have um The Librarian was booking me dates for March I think we were going to go with the 11th it was a Monday she had
open and then April 2nd so we'll be doing some other things as the season goes along just to get people to be enthused about planting or what to do and you know we were going to go over seeding
inside compared to outside and a bunch of other you know things like that I figured we'd go over natural pesticides and a bunch of stuff um in the coming if we do once a month um you know it just yeah I felt
was important to do something that people might need help with and yeah and I'm sure he'll be involved with the plant swap in May I think that is did you talk about that yeah I haven't I know they they're having one the food pantry did bring over trays because they
have a program plant a row where you plant a row in your garden and then you give the you know so that you give some to the um food pantry and they said it's it goes very well so she brought over a bunch of flats and stuff that they had
gotten on a grant program so they're waiting at the library till we do the March one because that's when people will be seating and um so we'll present that too that they can um take the flats and you know it's just
they tell you how to go about it and if you want to that way if you have exess you can donate it to the food pantry um for that so and I actually talked to the food pantry lady when she was dropping them
off and I asked her if she ever taught people how to like put up some of the food if they have excess and she's like nope I said well you might want to do that have a class where you could teach the people because I mean they're they're trying to use it all quickly and
sometimes they don't use it and I thought well if you just taught them out of free it or can it they could tuck away because she said in the summer sometimes they have like so many tomatoes given or so many zucchini given and I said well people should learn how to put it up so that they can be eating
it off season um so she said she was going to talk to the director the woman I talked to said she was going to talk to the director and see if they were interested in right it's something yeah that's great that you're doing I had a question um it's great that you're um
teaching about it too because there's a lot of people that are interested in learning you know what I mean I mean I think that's that's that's awesome because I I need to learn um obviously but I have a small garden here and I tried to do something at the community garden but it didn't work out this year
last year we had a lot of rain um but my question is um would you be interested in because we were talking about you probably heard that we were talking about um a um after school program um for the kids um we're kind of
trying to get something going together at the library and I was wondering I don't know if you'd be interested in helping um with educating the kids um after school and it would be at the library and I didn't know if that's something that that's something I I
taught science I that's awesome that's great that's great it helps for you know being able to plan out lessons and things for that but yeah I would be interested in you know seeing what the time frame is on it
and stuff I mean have loads of time but in offse I have time it's you know summertime gets really busy I find the kids and Gardens it's hard I actually did one when I was teaching in West Springfield I I actually created that was back in like 2001 um they had
Courtyards and I turned an entire Courtyard with my students and they were seventh graders into a it wasn't just a garden it was a perennial garden but it was a learning space so so they did math out there we had all kinds of lesson plans that they
could go out to the courtyard and have lessons so that even though you were still inside the building there was sunshine and air because it was that's very cool it it was a cool thing that we did with the kids but it was hard because you can't do a lot of Summer things with with the if it's the school
is involved because the school isn't available at that time but if the library does it then they can run it in the summer true as an extra thing yeah just a just in a sort of a nutshell we were been talking with Lynn at the library about well we talking as a group
how do we get to the kids better you know can we get a program in the schools um and then I learned that the library has a teen hangout two Fridays a month so I asked L hey can we come to the teen hangout and I'm not sure what we would
bring to it but she said well you know they have video games and all stuff going on it's tough with teams so not as interested the little ones are usually interested but are a tough Crow right we she thinks we should do something
separate not try to go to the teen hangout but have an actual program so that's what Jan is talking about um potentially you you could help us with yeah I'd be interested in in it's still early in the Pro in you
know planning and things like that like B was saying but um you know that's that's great we appreciate app that and I'm sure kids who want to learn that's how they'll learn because my son hated school that Mark who works on the farm hated school and he would come home
after school and I would say what did children learn in science today and he'd go I don't know they're talking about like flowers and stuff and so we would go outside and we would do the whole lesson over again and this was before I was even a teacher be and then he was
like why did they just say so but wasn't he wasn't getting it in a classroom but he was getting it outside if we were outside in it and he did much better it learning that way so some kids do if they're interested getting them actually
into a space where they're working with something is you know where they see it happening it definitely clicks yeah awesome um thank you and uh so we're still on introductions here even though we're halfway through
RKA that was interesting longtime member of the Board of Health though right yeah and we own Farmland in Southwick uh my family bought it in 1915 I used to raise tobacco and
potatoes and had some dairy in fact um the land they were talking about was my relatives land and they also had tobacco Andy also okay um and then after the 55 flood said forget the tobacco and they just did Dairy and
then my father retired in the 1980s and the land was rented out to double MB and then um and then n turble and agong rents the the hay land oh and we um for gardening we are in charge of
the Apple booth at the biggy and we're involved involved in like four three four age groups and we grow now gourds to sell to donate to the Apple Booth to sell oh cool so basically don't have bun of a garden anymore because we just took it over with all the Gourds
gourds get big yeah that explains how Sue and manthy ended up in the Apple Booth work for us volunteer yeah s Cindy Barton was telling me today that you you spend pretty you're at the Big E pretty much
start to finish yeah morning to night seven days and before that and then my husband works there yeah all year well I saw your daughter um my daughter is my daughter is the
um marketing director she's she's in charge of the marketing department oh and she's in charge of the entertainment it's um her company is an entertainment company melow ship and they contracted melow ship her to be the marketing
director so she wears two hats yeah I think I I seen her I'm like David David that's I said you know her from church she was a little girl she's not anymore that's great so a lot of 4 Age
work that's that's great and I've Been On The Board of Health yeah on an off since 1981 and I'm gonna not run this year yeah so so who's thinking about joining Agriculture and and so is dead
obviously that's why they're here see the meetings go um okay so back to the farmers Forum I'm sorry I I was mixed up there for a while I was talking about an educational focus and I was thinking about open Farm day not the farm
for um so yeah and a guest speaker um Zach that's a great idea uh figure out who would be a good like a draw yeah um the major concern that they seem
to have was about the chap 61 um have we asked or inquired about a speaker on that for them at all um not not yet and I think we want to do that sooner than later in other words not wait for next year's Forum but do that
pretty soon because I mean these guys tonight you know it's about what what can you do and not do under chapter 61 you know yeah who do you have to talk to so um well and if you want people in town to like
save their land I mean I know that's what everybody would like is for everybody to save their land and just have a be Farmland I guess the more information that people could have about different things you can do with it the better it's it is to encourage people to
do something with it yeah um that's a that's a great program idea I don't know about the Forum because that's that would be more for the public I would think that sort of the non-farmers about how to preserve land and different kinds of land uses you
would just open it up I would think anybody and on there'd be I would think a lot of people who maybe have moved to town more recently like the last 20 years not been here forever and maybe have a piece of land and don't really know what to do with
it um you know if they knew if you could put it I mean because some people have theirs in Recreation and but I don't always know that people I didn't I started having to really hunt to see what you can what people do with it and
um you know I when people were apring a lot that was different but I mean from what I had heard good luck with getting any money from that it had dried up that wasn't coming through very fast and anymore people said it was taking forever now to do that because I had
talked with um Jack Felman because he knows a lot about that and he and I went to school together so I had asked him about some of that and he's like yeah the money had slowed way down from what it was years ago but you know like that there was
that gentleman that was here that had a bought land up by the ranch golf course and he said he had over 100 acres of land yeah yeah Mike mesriani I think M yeah and I forget who farm that
used to be he told me but yeah he's yeah but no not I mean he'd be somebody who I'm sure would be interested what what are options and what yeah he didn't know what to do with it yeah yeah so is that something that we would
go to the state about or the town or like to find somebody in the town to or think more like the state You Know M okay somebody there so I'll find that out because we have a regional person
used to be Tina Smith and now it's guy's name I can't think of start with them maybe and then you wanted more things for the for the farm day where you wanted more like visual stuff is there anybody in town that might
do I mean because I know not everybody has the technology and the equipment and the capability to produce something like that where if somebody was helping I mean like I don't
Katie probably could fiddle around and do stuff but I mean I'm trying to think even I mean there isn't too many other than maybe Katie who would go hey I could maybe do pull that off but that's you have to know what you're doing to to fill that and then quite often you need
a drone thing to come into it but I wonder if there is somebody that would donate their time or want to work on something that might help the Farms to create an educational piece that they could then run might be a get someone to
do it like pro bono as like a tax rate off yeah instead of it coming out of our budget or or somebody from the college somebody that's working on a project or something they might I mean that would be a cool thing to say hey I created
these for Farms or whatever I just find that we all don't have the same talents and sometimes the ideas are great but it's like I don't know if I could that's not really my thing or you know well and having the
time it's a big project and if you've got somebody that has the equipment and the technology it it's a much easier project if somebody comes in and helps out but sure it might be a good thing if somebody could find somebody that would
volunteer and um yeah somebody that has that Talent we have some uh resources like that like Angie Salone and um what's her husband's first name Jer anyway and and Tom
Jason Jason yeah and Tom J show here he seems to have a lot of capabilities there so you know we'll see what we can do um so I guess anything else on the armor
Forum maybe advertise it more next year yeah definitely needs to get on all the fa the Southwick Facebook sites Andre was doing a lot of that so that kind of dropped off I think yeah it seemed like it kind of snuck up on us a
little bit yeah yeah we need a new social media person get on those forums and I said I hate social media I still think it's the weather because there was a couple people there
defitely weather fers to yeah and they were going to come Mike soak was coming yeah yeah Dave didn't guys told me they were coming I was they didn't come on because it was cold as hell yeah weather weather hasn't been our friend this this past year it's been
real winter finally yeah we got 10 years off we've been used to that 40° 30° yeah what's with winter starting in February what's up with that I actually think it's snowing now as we speak um let's see I'm going to skip
ahead for a second and just talk a minute about the budget uh you know there's an an all the boards and commissions have an annual meeting with a joint meeting with the select board and the fin finance committee to go over your budget um that's going to be uh
Saturday March 8th and our time is 8:35 um and I always get a kick out of this because every year so far we get 10 minutes and conservation only gets [Laughter]
five so we'll see what they do this year um I did submit the budget on January 24th uh as requested and they requested um level funding and a 5% decrease in
the budget so um now in our case 5% is3 $35 so our entire budget is only 2,700 so um and you know pretty much the same is there a reasoning why we get
decreased I I I don't know for sure I think they're thinking maybe less State money coming in or okay you know less tax revenue I'm not sure raise a lot of money for ourselves did we use it all the whole
budget uh we use most of our our approved budget where we have a lot of money in the gift account that like $3,000 so and the thing is though that as uh Nicole Parker came to a meeting couple time couple meetings ago
and that money is is gifted but we are supposed to use it for what the person gave it for you know we just can't take money out of the gift account and buy a tractor you know or something
do we know what we need we need a tractor for Farm day yeah um so most of the money that's in the gift town is uh sponsorships from local businesses for Farm day for Farm day so we should be using that on Farm day we should be but
the community garden also gets funded yes funds it right gets some funds from there so um that's kind of a little bit of a glitch and and partly my bad I'm not sure how to tell the accounting department to take things out of the gifts account there would almost need to
be like sub accounts like this money can only go to this this that I don't know how we yeah separate that so I'm gonna talk to them about it um we need a Treasurer yeah yeah and Cindy suggested maybe having somebody from ACC
accounting come to our next meeting and uh just you know answer a few questions and it's not a terrible idea yeah tell us how to do it yeah yeah um I am a treasurer for my union just saying but not you know I've done record booking
I'm not an accountant but I am a Treasurer right now for the union that position you know and you're gonna have many hats um I mean I don't know if it we need an official Treasurer but I don't see why
we couldn't I mean if she wants to dive into it casually have ask Jan to keep track of yeah our money can she get those documents or like yeah I get them and I can can forward them or get or get you
on the of course we'd have to talk about it and if everybody agrees of course I mean if it's I'm just saying I've been the treasur for uh since 2010 so I mean I do have official documents and things like that and control of the bank
account and stuff like that so obviously everybody has to agree if they want me to do that but um just say putting out there for future there's gonna be any Nays I agree fighting for it right right right yeah
exactly um I mean I think we'd be better off if we knew where the money should go yeah we're when are we getting like more months next month amount of
money oh well well budget goes by the fiscal year so our current budget ends June 30th and our next one starts July 1 so um do we have any money left in the budget not much well we have plenty in the gift account suggesting about fence
posts couple more well that should come out of the gift account though from the money we get from here we go because we got so many now would you get 12 yeah you can get if we have enough money yeah because this spring we're gonna have a
big work a garden work yeah we do have um you know we bought all those and that actually came out of that was last fiscal year so we we still have uh $500 in the community garden account we get get some more
just yeah I think yeah I think all those those posts and those um Stakes what you call those go on the ground I think that was less than less than $500 I think that'd be great another 12 do two sides
yeah I do agree that they should have like a separate accounts you know one for use for general purposes and then one for use with the sponsors money that they want it to go somewhere specific you know um that's definitely very
important because we don't want to misuse or you know yeah yeah um plus if we don't use that money they take it not from the gift account not the gift account $500 we don't use it it goes
back into the general so let take it now when we can I can I can keep it with the others yeah throwing it out there yeah okay that's pretty easy to do um just same order goes goes through um is there anything else we're going to need to buy
before July 1 yeah maybe make a list up and it 30th of June it ends yeah yeah so we got we got a long time before then or anything we want to spend youa we're
gonna do the fence we want to do it like we're going to be doing in the spring like grounds right to get it be good to get it a couple months ahead of time just to it okay we got the water tanks we got the pump yep we should be flowing with
water yeah you guys did a lot of work last last right at the end of the season so nice nice work on that so we can just go through uh building in grounds you know was Hillary Hillary gild who here to Hall she takes care so she has the
account with um Home Depot and just Home Depot yeah and get him again so this transfers to her department or she she just kind of places the order still got just comes right out budget
yeah um do you fill up the the community garden every year the people no it's about there's 27 plots and there's usually six or seven or eight three quarters of it
yes well it's yeah that's that's three quarters of it is some of the a lot of people still don't know yeah I think it's I think too I know my sister um she lives at Depot Court now and they were actually talking about wanting um they have a some sort
of a group now that Steve brazinski is the head of and um because like a it's not a renters group because you're at the elderly housing but it's it's to represent the needs of the people there and uh they had brought up several of
them had brought up wanting to put in a garden there because a lot of the people don't drive or don't have cars so they had wanted some sort of a garden space there so that's something they're trying to figure out because I you know my
sister had said well I know there has a community garden but so many of the people don't have vehicles yeah to drive that they wouldn't be able to go all the way down there and they need something closer to where they are where would you put a garden at Depot cor I'm thinking
there's there's land in the back oh yeah yeah there is that you could do you could even my sister lives on uh the East Side the buildings on the east side and there's a a strip of grass the whole day between phelps's prop the old Phelps
property and the driveway there's a bunch of grass I mean you could plant in there but there there are some toward the back there's some flatter space back there I guess and sunlight is there sunlight good I guess there's sunlight yeah yeah so um you know whatever they
were trying they were trying to do something because they said not enough people could get down to that one that might be in need of using a community garden yeah we do have one on what interestingly enough this the Southern and side of the garden there's
trees 50 feet away and so it's there's a lot of shade there so I try to put people in the sunny a spot you know well I wonder do you think this group at Depot Court wants help with getting a garden together I mean I think they have to get clearance but I'm sure
they I'm sure they would at some point need some help cuz I just figured my sister would call when she wanted like a rotor or something if they could come up if if they can get approval because it's state state run so they have to get approval from somebody but um it would
be something I think a good project for because there are a lot of the people that end up at the food pantry also but if they were willing to do some I'm a big Advocate learn to fish if you don't have anything teach teach them how to
fish and they can start to take care of themselves better yeah rather than always handouts I'm I just think people should learn how to do something and feel productive y well we you know I'm thinking I don't know if this is left field or whatever but you
know we talking about the high school kids and trying to get them involved maybe we could get some high school kids to go and do some of the physical labor of starting a garden possible I was just thinking that too I was as you were saying that I was like that's a great
idea volunteer credit any of their community service I was like the child labor laws and yeah they they do have well they don't they have to put in they used to put in community service hours still have to do that I think so
that for H theet know but I know the kids they used to have to do that they Honor Society kids do yeah for extra points or whatever yeah but that would that would be a good project I'll see if I when next time over there I'll see if Steve
brinsky is around cuz he's the one that's heading it up and see if um you know we can see how far away it is or if there was help would they be interested in you know if we could round up some things to kind of that that is the hard part is just getting it going but even
if they had a small plot it would be something yeah and maybe again thinking about people's capabilities maybe some raised beds too so you been the yeah yeah there are some people with Walkers and stuff there um real although it's a real it's
a real mixed bag over there it's not all seniors it's it's dis disabled it's low income there's a whole it's not just elderly housing anymore like it used to be so there are people of all different ages
and abilities but yeah I do think there might be some interest you know I they've already started trying to get things going themselves so uh I think maybe that if they do the first hurdle you know maybe they'd be interested in
some help one one thing I would probably say is try and get a survey going to see what they prefer if some people want it ground level some people may be interested in the raised bed and stuff this way you can tally the possibility of what we should aim
for you know give options yeah it would be a it would be a good space certainly for a community service thing and I mean other groups that are Boy Scouts sometimes are looking for stuff Scouts are always looking for stuff
yeah maybe we should reach out to them for help for Farm day the scouts yeah yeah that would be a good group too yeah to ask who I have no idea who's the Scout leaders these days um I think
Tom most people yeah okay yeah I don't know anymore who we are all of all the ones are old that used to be involved in it h okay good well Dev you're coming up with a lot of ideas for our commission here so
uh trying to put us to work ask my husband I'm I'm the idea person he always go okay no more ideas we need more work well then I usually go out and do the work too but he's trying to bring
back double meetings right no I want to take a couple months off from that hopefully not till summer okay well uh let's see I guess we're all set with that for now so anyway uh we were talking about the
budget so Saturday March 8th 835 a.m. hopefully some some of you guys can be there you know let's strengthen numbers kind of thing I mean it's pretty for the budget thing yeah for the budget I mean it's pretty I mean it's not like I'm stuck
in yeah yeah it's not controversial or anything you know budget is really tiny but you said they use Home Depot yeah is there the reason they would do that instead of using IBS we
use IBS too though they used yeah I would think it expensive for wood Lumber stuff so much nicer we always it is but I just go pick mine at Home Depot and then I have what I want I
just like I just feel like since it's a town commission right the chicken feed at IBS is pretty comparable too it's pretty good well I was going to say a little earlier so I'm kind of
guessing we're not going to have an egg shortage here in Southwick unless the bird flu comes but I mean like every other house has chickens oh mine just popped out eight today there you go every chicken wow Mine aren quite doing that
yet yeah in the middle of the winter oh Haven stopped well I don't stop but they they definitely go down I did between eight and 12 a day is it a first year is your first year with them yeah that's why yeah usually mine laid Perfect all through the first winter but then the
second winter they start to and I've got some that are four and five years old so I got a couple them they're on the lazy list keep a heated like area for oh no you don't need they're cold matter they don't really like you just got to keep the wind away that's all you
got do heess with them so the minus degree temperature didn't bother yeah they get a little frost bite on their comb sometimes but they lay mine don't mine don't even get Frost you got to get the eggs before they freeze I've had them freeze for two days and
they were F I was to say sometimes I've come in with Frozen one oh yeah yeah a great wild will crack open but yeah I just very carefully wash them off and use them right away they're gold you know don't lose any eggs I mean I'm currently in Vermont
and they said that they only have two people left that have ch that have chickens and um they have a list going back far in their town to actually get eggs now oh it is that bad in Vermont there's
only two egg producers like commercial make a lot of money in chickens right now uhhuh I don't know there's never money in in eggs ours ours are paying for everything right now really yeah I wonder if the price of the chicks at
Tractor Supply this year will go up they are they really like what were they two if you get day old they G get a buck oh wow that's the best ones to get they drop the price because they're not cute anymore I guess I'm sured they haven't
shut is that where you got too I was surprised but Rachel said the sign was up that they were going to be next week February 7 week of February 17th the chicks would be coming in you can order you can order them online too did you is that where you got yours so I buy I bought mine direct from the supplier the
Tractor Supply get some from okay they're a little cheaper that way I've done it that way before but you can't get them till later in the season sometimes because they'll die it's too cold right now they'll die in shipping they'll never make make it through but
they seem to make its Tractor Supply I don't know how they manage maybe because there's so many of them in you know they got a biger quantity that it keeps them warm they come with heat packs too sometimes yeah because I've had them come to the house but I usually don't order them until at least April if they're coming to the house send Tractor
Supply keep them in the back for a few days before they put them out no they put them right out to see who's not going to make it they probably just pluck them out as soon as they die yeah they do I've been in there with they held them in the they might have but they don't they usually sell them like day old like they don't a couple days
old they don't and buys them I don't know why such a dark conversation right now i' rather get them when they're like four or five months old I'd rather get them older too absolutely the chicken black market
no I don't like it's it's great school thing for the grandkids they love they love when I have the chicks in the house so I try to get them on either February vacation or April vacation when I know I've got at least one of the grandkids and I mean she just haey just loves them she just spends all her time
with the little chicks she's happy as ever like good oh just a minute ago I was having a little image chuckling to myself about the UPS truck pulling up and here's a box of
chickens I've had to have to go down the post you have to go down the post office and whatever when I was a kid we used to get our bees that way yeah I heard that too post office people were they they were so fast to call youz can somebody get them right now
they just hated having them at the post office ah okay so um our master plan item did you guys have any time to look at uh our assignments I looked at it yeah I'm I
think I absorbed too much of it yeah it's a lot of nitty-gritty stuff um and uh so I'm almost thinking should we have a A subcommittee or should we have a work session just for that um
I mean it's going to take some time to go through we have four four or five where we're the lead commission and 34 items were we the support or commission so what you numbering them is that how you're doing because we had to
number them and yeah you got prioritize them right for the is that what you mean but is it divided up for every every member like the Board of Health was divided up for every member oh Seely oh yeah no we haven't gotten that far yet
but that's a good idea that's how it was present Norm gave it to us even our secretaries oh y everybody and we all everybody went through it on their own and just numbered them and then pass pass it into Norm oh I
see uh is set up was set up differently I'm not sure yeah and you're talking about the the document not actually dividing up the actions and saying okay you do this you do that it's just a yeah prioritizing doc yeah ours was just to
prioritize yeah everyone turns one in yeah yeah so everybody just did it on their own so yeah you could probably make it like everyone's homework assignment yeah uh okay and then we'll see how that I
just compile the data next meting yeah okay that's good you want like send out an email saying return this by next meeting yeah yeah um I had a question um so it only shows on the spreadsheet that um was
sent by email is one two three four items or am I missing something on this page uh there should be in the Excel document there should be I think it's four four tabs oh tabs oh
okay so there where were the lead one has where were the support and then there's a tab for prioritize each one yeah I see it now thank you okay understood okay that
makes sense now because I was like oh only looks like there's four things but yeah um okay and I know some of the things that we're working on this year is already on there so which is awesome and I I I thought I was mistaken I
thought the farm hop would be on the agenda today to talk about as a team but I because we were supposed to get back to Cara but I didn't see it on the agenda but I'm not sure when we should um sorry well we we can they're under other matters other
matters right yeah but I I know right so um so yeah okay so we're going to um table the master plan stuff for now we have a coup of sets of minutes to look at and I'd like to get those and then Jen we'll talk about the farm hop okay that's okay
with everyone there's um these are there's two there's two sets of one of each of these things and there should be some down there they got them down there yeah there one for January January 8th and
then back in do the older one first September 11 yeah um know I I think Cindy will have a fit if we don't do these so September 11 oh quick note I think I've mentioned this but uh it talks about this open
Farm Day signs they're all in the little shed at the um Town Hall now I'm not in my garage anymore uh it's right out here the sh out here yeah yeah a little way in the back yeah
it's G be fun to dig out there was one part where you guys Sage had seconded seconded um having Zach be Vice chair yeah and I didn't know what to write him as because at that point
you hadn't he hadn't been sworn in as a commissioner so when I wrote that he seconded it I just wrote Vice chair I think or commissioner R the September one right
yeah you got my last name misspelled I put two RS yeah I always I'm sorry it's all good man oh then few L sign you have two s's in Hansen too
next and then do we have your name spelled right Len no no so on the front page Cindy it's lenita with an E yeah that's what I thought yeah it's like spots and only one b in the
middle oh bber not bobber yes spell the names are always hard never get mine wrong thank you [Laughter] Cindy you're
welcome I find it out I try to make my name very easy and there's not a lot of people who could ever spell my last name right anyway I always get double RS everywhere I go so so you're furry huh you're a furry yep literally everyone always calls me
furry okay uh I'll make a motion to accept the minutes of September 11th 2024 oh sorry j second okay um so roll call Bert Hansen I Jen
Depetro hi stack Barnett hi um and Sage Sage furry hi okay now uh January 8th a little better in our memories um one need his name we have
lenita and then two be's again yeah oh just a quick note on the plant swap it's going to be I believe it's May 3rd no not in April but this is accurate in terms of the minutes was that taken at that was at
the library right the plant samp it's it's going to be yeah guys near the end there's a double motion on USAC say commissioner bur that uh made a
motion and then seconded by you as well yeah that doesn't work does it no no it doesn't I fix that we know who did we know who who was who can't believe he's voting for himself I mean I could have done it
standard politician Cindy you're gonna fix fix that yeah anything you guys want to fix I'll change okay okay so um I'll make another motion to accept the minutes of January 8th
2025 as amended second okay Dan seconds so Bert Hansen I Dan Cook I Lita bber hi Zack Barnett hi Sage Fury Hi and jenro
hi very good I'll make those Corrections and then send that over to the clerk's office and then we'll be all up to date with everything awesome y thank you you're welcome thank
you okay so uh for some some other matters Jen you want to talk about the farmhub a bit oh yeah um I was wondering how the team felt about it um is it something that we should go forward with it was just an
idea before the Forum um what do you guys you have any feelings for it against it um what are your thoughts I think it's a great idea yeah I'm totally for it yeah
hi perfect um so we're gonna oh let me let me just give a little update here for Sue and oh yeah so we had this idea to um was actually Jim putnam's idea to figure out a way to take people to the rather than rather than it was an idea
to start another Farm Market and we said no uh so so we're gonna be working with the senior center to use their van take folks around to Farms um there's a lot quite a few logistical items to take up um which came up at The Forum like yep
senior have to sign up to do this and they're going to want to do it before lunch apparently um you know stuff like that and someone's got to drive them somebody's got to drive um and I'd really like to make it free so if it has to come out of our but the driver has to
come out of our budget I mean you guys would have to approve that too but going to get there but make it free dri D has a bus yeah I think the drivers usually are volunteers anyway
we can drive we just take that yeah I me could one of us volunteer yeah is there something we have to like yeah sign to be able to use it I can write that as a question to Cara def askar the drivers that when they collect
money for the senior events like let's say they're all going to go out to I don't know a casino or something they um usually whatever they're getting into the little bit that that they give like two to four dollars usually I think ends
up paying so the driver can go in too if it wants to go in but I don't think the driver actually makes money who pays for the fuel though um I I think the fuel is paid through the senior funding stuff to get them out I think that's part of it
but I I think that's how they usually end up because it usually does it'll always say it's you know $3 to go and then lunch is at your own expense or whatever so I think the little bit they collect is so that the driver could get
into places like a play or whatever I don't think they actually pay them I think they were volunteer drivers yeah so this is what we have so far um we have the input from The Forum which was okay so can't really have a do we call
it a field day you know if you our idea is bring them to the Farms well if it's a a Hayfield like one of them said you know how do we do that you know do we just drive a tour by them or have the the farmers of that field come out and
explain their land to them you know that's a logistical item too so I will come up with a list of farms and then kind of designate them separately as to
whether um we we can have them go on a tour to visit and you know shop not they don't even have to buy anything just visit and learn about the Farms um we had some great writeups um from Angela
um about the farms for open Farm day and my idea was to talk about the Farms as we're driving to them I I was I volunteered myself to do the first one I would go onto the trip with them and
talk about the Farms as we're driving to them um and we discussed about sponsorship and I guess it would Cara was only thinking it would be just the price of gas so to wherever we go and I
didn't know if it was going to be one two or three farms at a time or two didn't want to overwhelm them either so if it's an all summer thing you know once a month thing we can visit a lot of different places you know so think are
you thinking once a month Jen or more I I'm not sure I guess we'll have to see how the first one goes you know I don't I don't know um obviously if we're sponsoring we have to look at the budget so I was either once or every other um
depending on the season and growth of what they're growing you know um but um they're excited about it I know that so um my next step would be to go to Cara and tell her what we
discussed about it and um come up with a plan you know for the first one so she could start advertising about it um she wants to start by April kind of putting it out there with like a date and you
know get people excited about it so I wonder if it would it be possible to do it for the one day for Farm day run the bus for Farm day could yeah I mean that was where I was thinking too because they
possibility of just having you know how do we get more people to go be able to get around and you knowes for that yeah yep so definitely that's that's definitely itely you know that's probably one of the dates that's going
to be set up you know and on the calendar for them yeah kind that would be nice too because everybody would be in full swing there'd be things going on that they might not be able to attend
normally um yeah yeah I'm kind of thinking we we start with the Farms that have retail operations yeah like loswing anchors calares rays and just try those out before we start it's going pretty
hard to get a farmer to go and here we hay over here right right yeah that was one of the that was definitely one of the concerns um physically too if there's something if they can get off right if I
don't I don't know how many people would be handicapped that or have canes or Walkers or if it would just be able-bodied but I mean there's so there's such a difference at the senior center I mean there's people you don't have to be very old to go there and I mean I know I've gone to some of the
classes and you know it's very they have yoga and and dancing and all kinds of stuff that's very active but those people drive usually and are out and about and I'm thinking the people who would go on it might be the people who eat their lunch there or aren't as
able-bodied so getting them off in a place that Farms are notorious for being difficult to walk in yeah know things that came up during open Farm day was accessibility that was a major one of the major things and so we talked about
it and had spaces put aside for that particular reason but if the Farms are open that early you know I I'm I'm assuming they'll be busy but yet not as busy like say on a weekend you know and then if they'll have funny of parking
but I was thinking about second Eden I was thinking about um you know Firefly and I'd have to go there and see how accessible they are for like a I mean it wouldn't be like a tour it would be just like them visiting and enjoying
themselves really you know and maybe talking to the owner if they're available if not then just having them just be able to enjoy a trip you know we we'd have to be a little careful I
would think as far as the accessibility goes like my place I have a ramp and everything but if somebody doesn't they could cause trouble exactly exactly there used to be that guy that nailed me and we had to used to go around town and
nail places oh right just for the heck of it yeah y we were fine he did that at the food pantry I think they were really yeah trying to making them get a ramp yeah yep yeah definitely a major issue
and I will definitely have that as like number one to talk to Cara about just something we might want to run by Town Council before we go live with it just cover ourselves piss off some Farmers too could yeah we don't want to
over to Firefly and they go oh you can't bring these people here I'm just saying you know right well they would know beforehand if I don't think he's around yeah yeah but you know someone could have took his place the one that made us have all the
bra signs outside the off the doors here maybe I don't know if they're still here are they I think so the Braille yeah they are are they yeah I think so yeah had a have about 30 handicap spots over here but I haven't heard much about him
for the L probably in 10 years yeah so oh sorry how busy the senior center is I was here today like late morning there were there were almost no parking spaces W it gets that busy twice to find one I mean depending on the day and
what's going on there it's it's very very busy last year I went because my sister needed to go to the things and she didn't want to go alone so I went to the some of the yoga classes and some they had Chong they had a bunch of stuff and I mean those classes are full full
sometimes you you know there'll be 20 people in a in a class it's crowded sometimes in the things I was really surprised at at how busy um it is sometimes and there's a lot of people that go go to lunch there and then there's a lot of people that get it
delivered um so it it it's actually very very busy I was kind used it a lot um too so um but yeah so I guess um to finish up on that um I'll talk to the count Town Council first I suppose I
think that's a great idea to get in on that I think we have to go through the select board on that first okay alert them that we want we want to use the Town Council okay all right yeah tell me what I need to do I just I don't know
what there like who to go first so yeah so select board first and then tell counil to get um you know see if this is actually a thing that we can do um um and then talk to Cara I can give her an update though say what we're working on
and stuff so that she's not I let her know that we were going to talk after our first meeting I thought our first meeting our next meeting was gonna be the eth and it's 12 so so I should call her and say Hey you know um to select board in town counts uh not
yet prob we have that we should have we should have some kind of written plan yeah yeah maybe lay out maybe lay out some dates I mean we it's a little bit I would have to get that from Cara to see what she was thinking like dat dates and
times on what she was thinking was the is the best time so yeah sure I can I can write compete with the yoga class or something that's really popular right right okay though you know little bit
seated of the pants here this has never been done before right so do it a couple of times and see do it the right way the first time right I appreciate all the input because it's good you know I heard what Zach
just said that the the that could be part of the plan that we're going to start out small and and then and then build from there exactly yeah yep say we just want to see if there's actually interest in it you know I mean see how
it goes yeah yeah nobody signs up be gooder it and see where it goes you know okay Cara is so excited about it I think she must be thinking that people will will want to do it you know yeah
and the van only holds 14 people so you know yeah if it got bigger we could probably run a school bus yeah that's expensive that's we don't have school buses anymore L Pine Valley owns ours I got a couple friends that are bus
drivers though they take them home during the day hand got 14 elderly people that need to take your your hands are full it'll take you long enough to get them off yeah right I take my
mother everything I have to extra planning for time definitely extra planning because it's it's not moving like you or I would move if we went somewhere it's everything where we're starting small because we are not sure how it's going to go um and then
accessibility is key um you know I don't want them to think that we're bringing them there to buy things either I want to them to be able to visit if they don't have a chance to visit these places you know and but if they are not able to then you know that's a whole
another issue right there so um you know I can update Cara and let her know that we talked about it and had these ideas and how the the way to move forward with it good very
good sounds good thank you thank you for that thank you for stepping up to to manage this for us yeah well I mean I think it's important you know just like the whole education of the children too you know like I think it's it's those
two areas that we don't really touch on I mean that I haven't really seen I've seen a lot of families come through their open Farm day I haven't seen a lot of you know seniors or teens come through you know stuff like that so but
you know yeah yeah good give it a shot um okay thanks again Jen um so I don't uh we said we're going to have homework with the uh master plan items but I I
think we're not going to have a work session on the fourth Wednesday not yet I yeah not yet and as you said we don't need to double meetings necessarily okay when I send this out I'll emphasize
that everybody really it's going to take some time to go through all that stuff and think about what can be done in like when and if interesting too when you look at it there's there's some things that are um assigned to the open
space committee which there is do exist there used to be are they gonna make it new and then didn't they try to form one or they were going to try to form one commission is trying to get that going again I'm not sure where they are
with but there was five years ago there was open space plan Dennis spark was so anyway obviously those things aren't going to happen until there's a committee okay so and Devon sue if you
are interested there's a uh on the town website there's a application form to fill out if you want to and you need to be appointed by the select board um you also can just send
an email you know I think they're trying to promote they want you to use doing it online mind so that would be better um and uh you know de I feel like you're already a member here with all these
ideas it's an easy process I've been through it a couple times already so if you have any questions let me know I can you know if you're interested it's not it's not too bad and going in front of the select board they make it easy too they're pretty nice
MERS seven members there's seven um seven Commissioners and five alternates okay so we we have one commissioner opening and two alternate openings do we have any or an alter that yeah uh Len
Tom Jess do either of them want to become full yeah ah good question I should have found that stay in alternate because I can't do it in the summer yeah hear in the winter a lot though yeah
I wonder you know Jess mate I think Tom's pretty busy with his kids and sports and spends a lot of time in the van or whatever but maybe Jess will do it see so we'd be happy to have you if you
do you do want to joining what is the um P Ro of an alternate um I think technically if if there's not a quorum of the
Commissioners then an alternate can vote I think yeah it comes down like voting yeah voting we're a little casual about it we still let you vote as an alternate I don't know if it officially counts or not but alternates vote so I mean I kind of single-handedly
saved so many meetings as an alternate before I was a commissioner yeah there were times where we could only get three and I'd be the fourth yeah I think I told you in before they had this commission there was a group of
us that the selectman appointed to establish the commission oh I don't know if you did tell me that oh was me and the demov Cali danan brosa um K Heidi Cody and a few other
people oh oh and I just don't remember seven and five that's a lot of people it is Doug M loves to say were the largest Adcom in the Commonwealth but that's and this was
before my time and in 2006 there was voted know by town meeting to set up the commission and that's what that's what they voted on you know seven you 12 12 people I mean is a farming Community
should be big what other towns in Hammond County have a commission that that's active or that they know they have one yeah there's a lot that are not very active um yeah I think it's uh Tammy used to be on
and uh ranville has an Adcom but they're they're not active at all but they follow what we're doing there somebody out there that kind of keeps track of what we're one other oh sorry I would
thinkes they're pretty active they have farm tours and stuff yeah I wonder agam and mfield you would think Farms but now find out that's a good question and were you going to say something Jen um yeah one other um
difference in the commission alternate I guess the alternate you have to reapply every year if you get the full commissioner it's every three years I believe right yeah so that's another difference between the two and kind of along those
lines I mean what what's involved um our meetings don't generally run an hour and 40 minutes that's a long we've had meetings that were 40 minutes kind of depends what's going on obviously so and then we middle winter this is pretty
long yeah yeah before we had a health director I remember one meeting was 2 am wow 2 am when did it start you started at seven oh my yeah we were meeting every
week that's why we didn't have a health director do you hold the record still remember getting up from work the next morning it's awful we're not trying to beat that um we a pot of coffee yeah really
so we were down in the old the old building yeah and as you're probably picking up on we uh our regular meeting is the second Wednesday when we're busy like with Farm day and other and stuff like that we often meet on the also on the
fourth Wednesday for a work session address whatever we're wherever we're up to but this time of be you know as you've heard and we don't really want to do that so I think it depends also how many
people we actually have active because the more you get done with the more people you have yeah we were double shifting because we had like maybe four people each meeting yeah true
so those four who showed up we kept we took advantage of them okay any other uh questions comments for the good of the order anybody um okay then uh I'll make a motion to adjourn all those in
favor we don't do a roll call hi thanks everyone thanks for the good input