good evening everyone and welcome to the select board meeting for Monday February 24th 2025 here at 6m and the land use hearing room this meeting is being held in the hybrid fashion as well um pleas this
evening is myself s qu chair Jason CR Vice chair Diane Gale clerk Doug moggin assistant ceao nine signon and Miss Parker is not with us this evening to start with let's do the Pledge of
Allegiance Mr Kane do the I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands nation under God indivisible liy and justice for
all this is going to be public comment and start with anyone on Zoom have any public [Music] comment seeing none does anybody in the audience have any F comment next item is item for new
business we need to acknowledge and approve a $40 cash donation to be deposit positive into the library's gift account make a motion to approve the $40 donation from
unnown to elaborate second roll call vote Jason Peron I Doug mlan yes item 4 B is going to be to acknowledge the winter storm report for February 2nd 2025 February 6 2025 and
February 8th 2025 um does anybody on the board have any don't see I know ry's here online so he can give it's pretty clear what it is he can give the public the
uh the quick and dirty on it Randy if you want to just chime in let everybody so we can get this uh let everybody know what's been going on financially yeah we just we do those reports every after every storm event any actually any any big event that you
know requires contractors come in or working over time uh so you have the numbers in front of you just a good way to track the overall cost as we go through the winter season how much we spend each year so I think uh we do have a couple
more that I think we sent to Nicole's office late last week after the agenda was posted for the storms that we had last weekend as well very good to discuss and vote on the disposal
of the display items from the sou Library yeah what they want with it I think they can U what normally just post that available and dispose of it then if nobody picks it up second the
motion just for uh before I go there so we have they're getting rid of some shelving designed for CD cases spinning shelving locking DVD cases a display I get so said you seconded that roll
call vote Jason Peron i d doum yes item 4E discuss and vote on the Calbert maintenance agreement for number two so no I'm sorry I ski over that to number D review Grant submission for Culvert related work with DPW and with John
Gard John are we gonna go with Randy I'm gonna take that one okay so we have a uh another opportunity to apply for some Grant funds this one is through the rural and tribal assistance pilot program uh I think this is a new
program and so we have two projects that we are looking uh to submit on for design and permitting work first is uh Vining Hill Road um I'm sorry Davis Road near Vining Hill Road and the second is on Klein
Road uh so uh both Grant applications would be for approximately 200 ,000 um this is a first come first serve Grant so I want to be ready when the application deadline or when the window
opens on uh March 4th so what I'm looking for tonight is just your blessing to submit the gr applications I think there is a signature page which we can coordinate with uh the chair to sign when we do get to that date um but you
know we're hopeful that uh one at least one of these would uh would would come on our favor just to clarify these are 200 each not not combined correct thank you and um these are for the design and
Engineering that's correct and when would the actual work get done well that' probably be a consider upon more Grant funds or more dollars available uh through the um through through town coffers
the way we've done these projectss is we we get uh many of these projects we had success is getting uh one Grant to design the uh to to fund the design and permitting and once we have a project that's you know say shovel ready we apply for either that same grant program
or a different grant program uh to cover the construction cost yeah okay thank you um obviously it's grants anything that we can get to help us two projects that need to do I'm all for that yeah so motion to have Randy
apply for these grants and for the chair to sign them second roll call both Jason I I Doug M yes now we are going to item e discuss and vote on the culbert maintenance agreement for two Sodom Mountain
Road Andy you want to chime in on this one too yeah I can and I think uh the property owner Mr deay might be on as well uh so about I'm going say maybe a year ago Mr de reached out to me he's building a house at the end of Sodom Mountain Road and Sodom Mountain's a little little unique uh the road used to
continue to Granville and it was legally discontinued um many decades ago uh so where the road legally ends uh there is a culvert that's still within the right of way and it's a at a location where Mr
D would like to use access his his property's new house um he I did talk to um our legal counsel and we uh and and Mr D as well and we drafted
a maintenance agreement which is within your packet so the Culver at the very end of the road really serves no more function to the town uh if that Culvert is you know deteriorating it's still it's still in use uh still serves some
purpose but uh if the cover were to fail I don't think the town would want to need to restore it the road doesn't continue anymore uh but it does serve some value to Mr deay uh so what he is willing to do is take on the ownership and maintenance of that Culvert and
perpetuity and that's what's detailed in this maintenance agreement that you have in front of you the only question I had is what the what shape that Pike was in but if he's will to take on the maintenance care and up te on that and any sort of so he'd be
responsible for any replacement as well right that'd be all on the yes that'd be correct is there anything that conservation needs to weigh in on that at this point I don't believe so there the CT's in place it's still
functioning however if the CT did fail or didn't need some substantial repairs or replacement then I believe that there would be uh there would be requirement for conservation to uh review and approve the plan at the time not not at this time
correct okay Randy where does Sodom Mountain Road end officially Sun Street in Granville the the were the legal legally end where it rends now are are you
looking at a us I'm looking on the town map and it still shows as an accepted way but I know that it's been discontinued I don't know if it's been actually officially discontinued or we just closed it off but where I don't
even know where the line is yeah where does it go it it is officially been dis discontinued uh can you see the house the property for number two hang on up let me see if it'll let me um I'm trying to get there myself
[Music] so that parel 2.1.2 that three acres is Mr D's property and I think it ends pretty much uh where the where the road starts to curve and bend the first
Bend so here is somewhere where that a little a little bit beyond there yeah yeah right right around your where your cursor is right around there gotcha and that's where his driveway comes out great thank
you anything else anybody not from me not from me either so who's the signatory to the easement I believe uh I believe all three of you need a [Music]
sign yes yeah yeah so we're looking to what get a motion to accept AC the maintenance agreement AC the drive Calbert maintenance agreement inspection and maintenance agreement
yeah second call vote Jason pone I thank Doug mlan yes F acknowledge Lake management committee resignation Deborah har that's your letter thank you for work being an LMC for all
that time and still volunteering for other things thanks item G is something I brought up um I wanted to discuss this we had an issue last year where this whole board and committee application process
dragged out for way too long so I'm proposing this year what I would like to see is we open up the committee application process for whatever here uh point of time I think April on March 30th to to May 1st accept as many
applications as we get for all the Committees and boards and that is it until after the new board whether it's myself or somebody else isn't put in place that way that it's more fair that way to have that person involved um
whoever it may be uh and it also just it makes this in my opinion a whole lot easier to get this done this way and then if there's any openings from that point forward those boards can come forward in front of us or if it's something that we need to appoint we take care of it after the fact I do not
if I'm around want to sit around and wait until June July August September figuring out these last couple boards and committees so I would be looking to to however we need to do it if we've got to do it in official uh process and policy
protocol April or March 31st it's open May 1st it closes and we deal with it prior to town meeting anything after that or excuse me at for town meeting um that way whoever is on these this board is it's it's set up so they're involved in that process well there's a problem
there because their terms don't expire until June 30 June 30th well you can set those Bo you know I'm not in favor of putting a deadline to volunteer applications either I'm not saying a deadline deadline but a
deadline for us to get that portion done you know we don't need these things dragging out I would rather have this this way just every year I've been on this board it's taken it's too long it's because we don't put them on June 1st for whatever reason scheduling them
is in bits and pieces and it doesn't even start June 1st well this this is I would propose we just start June 1st I would propose that we you know I'm proposing that we take the applications up to a certain point deal with it at June 1st and at that point if we don't
have these these filled you know deal with that after like you know I'm going to at this point bow out because I don't even know if I'll be here in June so um that's just something if I am that's something I'll be bringing back
up I've already discussed it with Nicole as well and I just don't I had them put an email notification every time there is a new application on the portal to notify Margaret gets the not well that
way this this way I'm really bringing up because I really want it put out there that these are coming if people are interested they're there if we've got applications in the pipeline great um but like I said we'll leave that to to sit for the time being Mr chairman
that's three different things so first we should ask the clerk the town clerk to give us an updated list of vacancies expected at June 30 that we can get Within
for our next meeting especially since we're not meeting next week it is a good idea to open the application process on or around end of March early April we should also send a um letter to
all boards and commissions and directly with a list for each board and commission of terms expiring so that those people that are in those seats can express via the portal their interest to be reapp OED or not at the same time you
can take you can accept applications for the spots that are expected to be available at the conclusion of that term which is June 30th so and but then you can start after the
select board reorganizes you can then take a look at what you have for applications and the board typically reorganizes the first meeting after after the town meeting after the annual then you can take a look at the
applications and those who have expressed interest to remain and decide how you want to schedule interviews forth with right after that so you could go rolling right into June to have that in in in a better situation than we've had in the last two years we've gotten a
lot better but you're you're not wrong to have um yeah I just rolling earlier absolutely but the the key point is I think we need to reconcile with the clerk the the terms that are expiring so we have a a list and then we can look at
that and if there's any other resignations or vacancies that occur as they tend to between now and then we can certainly add those to the list um but anyone's welcome to apply at any time to indicate interest to serve on a border
commission that's why on the portal that you can select more than three or four or five uh positions if you so wish so um and I keep track of everybody since the last time we had a lot of confusion
lists and whatnot stuff last time to things that were you know it's not I have some ideas on how to work with trans with Lisa that's why you know you've been here the longest and I'm glad you brought up these we we you know we we had some issues with this in the past
and obviously you guys have come through it the last uh couple of years so you've seen some of the trials and tribulations with trying to keep all the records straight and the dates straight we have that new onboarding portal that shows the list of terms expiring and that's why even I
think it was last week uh we did an appointment I think it was to was it lepc and I at or two weeks ago and I was emphatic that we get it in the minutes of the exploration date of the term because that's what the clerk is going to use to update that portal is our
minutes so we got to be very clear when we make those appointment and she also has a book that was compiled um with Council historical and also the source law for the basis of any
appointment so she'll have the data to go on to make that list of you know this is a three-year term this is a one-year term these are the people that are in those seats that are expiring this is was an appointment to fill a vacancy till the next appointments etc etc so we should
be in we will in better shape this year than last and last year was better than the year before but uh we should definitely start working to clear that portal out so that we can take new applications starting March 31st or around clear it out we just take
numerical and dated yeah since then yeah and I'm not saying close the portal close the portal but set a date for us where you know all right we're just going to appoint these boards if there's things that come open after the fact I don't want to be sitting here waiting for you do have to be careful because
you the board that makes the and you know I'm I'm the board that makes the appointment will reorganize at the meeting after the annual and they set their own rules and so on and so forth for how that goes so
you got to give it a little bit of time past the annual town meeting and if the portal closes say two weeks after the annual that's not a bad thing either or and then you start making your appointments in you know end of June heading into the you know I don't know
that we've ever done it at the end of June for people to start on July 1 even though burs expire just something that where we get this done yep I get more timely fashion yep and uh can I can I just say if we have one of
us Master the list it goes a lot further I did last year I knew exactly where we were at any minute and I coordinated with the clerk and her book okay but other people got involved and got our
secretary a little messed up as well okay I think one person can Wrangle it in and I prepared the list right off of well then I would be more than glad to let you take that again and I was going to do it again okay so like I said I
just really my goal was to get this on the radar because it just it just took way too I mean like Mr Mogan said my first year on it dragged out my our second year on so on and so forth and I just didn't want to see that happen again just to say I'm I'm not in
favor of actually closing a window because we're still looking for people for the newly formed open space committee I also don't want to you know once these just throw that out there in case anybody's listening so I'm just saying with these boards and committees I I I understand where you're coming from I just want some sort of deadline
where we just start witing these you know I don't want to sit around and wait for well Joe Smith said he wanted to do it so let me get back to you into a few week we don't wait yeah no waiting we just need to appoint these it'll be smoother because we eliminated some we don't have to do as well very
good Mr chair can I just ask a question sorry Jessica Thorton 352 Granville Road souck planning board um I just want to be clear that the portal isn't closed at any point in time for people no it would not be I'm not to close it just more of
a deadline for us to get started okay just I I want to just reiterate and take the time to say that the planning board is still down to members including the uh select board appointed associate member um and unfortunately over the past week we did
have to delay opening a public hearing because one of our four members is an abutter to the special permit applicant and would not be able to be impartial for that decision and discussion so we are in in this current position we are
uh delaying businesses in town from expanding and moving forward so I would just like to reiterate uh my desire for uh volunteers and ask that you three keep that in mind as well as it's starting to have real world
effects thank you for informing us of that I was not aware of that see so other new business um see I got Al s of stuff is older business for
me I have nothing other new business nothing for me not for new business a so old business I've got a couple uh items that I brought up for bullet points um lpp LMC um are we did get the
final version of the blade permitting process uh document it from Colin and Suffield they did approve it through their select board um I just have to sign off on it I don't I'm going to wait till tomorrow when Nicole is in so we got everything in line her and I can get on the phone with Colin and it make sure
it's done and done right um concom legislation I reached out to Senator bala's office or I'm sorry representative bala's office in Senator Mark's office they both did get back to me um finally and basically they this because it's
good for a biannual portion it does not have to go back to town meeting um so they are looking for our guidance on this and I know where me and Miss Gail stand on this that people voted on it we we need to get this going through the
state house um and I don't I don't know if we need to take that vote again to move it forward but if so I would be looking for motion to send that back through to have our representative and Senator um file that legislation motion
made motion seconded roll call vote Jason p i Dan I Doug mlin [Music] no it is the purest form of government and the people voted for it it is our duty to put it
Forward um Municipal fiber Mr Mogan you have a meeting I think on Thursday yep we have a meeting on Thursday misss Parker Miss signon and I are going uh I've also asked for Patron from whip
City fiber to reach out to you to to uh for you guys to have a site visit up there as well and at our visit at the headquarters whip City yeah and then also uh we're going to finalize the date on this Thursday we're going to
finalize the date for the community outreach meeting for I think it's the third week of March it's not a school vacation week um it's either going to be Tuesday or Thursday I'll have to and I'll know better on Thursday and I'll let everyone know and also the one of
the two postcards that will be mailed out by um about the meeting we we'll be reviewing that on Thursday as well because obviously I'm sure you've seen the additional I have online num that have
been going out so people are smart though I read the comments they realize where it's coming from it's obviously funded by Comcast and they're ill and uh it makes you redouble your redouble your commitment that this is why you need to do it and if you look at you know they've been very
unsuccessful in West Springfield Long Meadow etc etc with their efforts but they have no shortage of money to spend did you say there's two postcards there will be two mailers yes for for the meeting for notification of that meeting
okay okay all right um next item uh mun act so myself and Nicole have sat a couple times with uh colonial power group um just to give everybody an update because there are some people that were concerned uh especially with the way the rates and everything's been
going crazy right now um we're in the a the time frame where the next uh six months is going to be set by the utilities dpu and all those people that get involved in that the savings to start the program now uh unfortunately
the savings over the last year and a half would have definitely been beneficial to start it right off the bat but it's just a matter of a fractions of pennies here and there where it's a savings so to start it where there's no real benefit um we're just holding off
till we get that number number and then we're going to go rolling with it so until there's a better starting Baseline you mean Baseline start Baseline rate we we're waiting to see where that um so we can choose the go date yes once
we get uh you know we I mean it could happen any day Mark and Denise from colonial power have uh my line and Nicole's and if it magically dropped 5 cents for 30 minutes they would be giving us a call and we we we block it
in um that's all we're waiting on I want to make sure people know that because I did get an email about it today um so that's where that is and as soon as we get this locked in and we know what the rate is all the stuff will be going out to let everybody know as far as the
program is starting this is your opportunity to to get in or get out um I do know something that's changed since the last time is anybody who is a third party contract they will be getting notified as well that they can get that they can lock in or come into the
program obviously the issue with that that we found out over the years is some of them have a like a $150 bu dollar buyout or something like that so it's not necessarily worth it depending on what you're going to save I shouldn't say necessarily worth it but so that's
where we are with that I wanted to update on that um I did watch the assessors meeting I see one of our sors here um I did want I sent an email out did you guys get the email from Margaret regarding possibly having you guys come in for the next meeting to discuss no
okay no we did not I'm gonna be having uh shooting an email out and this is where I wanted to have I saw that you guys wanted to have a little bit of input on what's coming up and I know we got to start worrying about that it's coming in pretty quick December 1 so and I
know actually can't room she's going to be out for a little while sounds like in the time between that so yeah that's what I as well so and I know lady you say were're not there's not a lot of them around the state right
now right and they're retiring like crazy so um Sue was at a recent assessor conference and they asked John Kane cor drive for assessors um she said that they asked who's going to be retiring and it was a seat of hands when so the competition to hire a
new assessor is going to be PR High all right we can we can have more of that with the Prest of the board yeah that's like I said I did like I said we watch the meeting and I definitely where you guys want wanted to have some input by all means I want to get your input as
well um so I'll have that email sent out to everybody and then we'll figure out if it's next meeting or the meeting after that but we've got budget hearings coming up that's another old old business thing this Saturday 8 to noon 8 to noon right I haven't seen the posting
yet I don't even know who's coming so it is supposed to be 8 to noon it is we're working on it because uh some uh departments needed to change dates so we're were trying to move people around so that everybody the Departments are aware it's coming yes
that's one so they're just we're just trying to fit everybody where they say they can be a lot of people have to be on the eth so we have to move people from eth to the first and it's I just wanted Nicole to get back and see it and okay it and um but it's as done as I can
do it so wonderful uh I know Mr any so on there I know we got to look into uh I just was reading over the minutes and I know Miss harass Street I really want to get that stuff sorted out
um I've also been working with the school department as we know when we went to our uh preliminary budget hearings we were told about a track that's probably going to cost $192,000 um after doing a bunch of research on it it it would qualify for
CPC funds so I've had them put together a packet and a CPC packet to go forward and assisted them with that and uh I've offered to show up at any meeting to help them support that um I think it's that's one of the you know good ways to use that
money obviously is to save Town property and save the resident money on it use money that we've already got in our coffers before we propose reducing the rate okay okay I backed off did I
not couldn't help it all right that's about it for me on whole business the job description for the assessor is still being reworked correct and are the assessors contributing to that effort as well not yet huh I've
I've asked Sue to look at it okay okay I assumed so okay um master plan implementation committee lead and support priorities have you all submitted yours to Mr Cher I could you I
can this week this this week I can do yeah last week I was in instructor training at the Academy all week so and you have the climate priorities as well as the select board you have that as well okay that's
it for me I'm your Le on so I'll be naging you again you yeah yeah that's it for me I covered most of it
um Capcom is going to meet again on March 3rd Monday There's No select board meeting so there's capcon meeting that night I did ask Nicole Parker to come back and let me know if we should regardless of how this board
is going to vote prior to the warrant for the annual but to put the bonding for Muni fiber in front of Capcom for a vote because it would trigger the threshold if it were approved by the select board it's a non-binding vote but it's worth putting in front of the
Capcom for their recommendation because it would be just like the water department or Sewer Department bonding so that should be on the agenda for March the 3D second be 6 6 PM for
that I it was either 5:30 or 6 I don't know what time it's going to be posted for I'm not the chairman it'll be all of six we have some folks that can't get to till after six so all six and
uh I I know I know that we have a difference of opinion regarding the Conservation Commission and uh my vote will stand for itself um I would add because you saw fit to add was that I I don't know how many communities
in the Commonwealth have an elected Conservation Commission but it's described in state law how Conservation Commission is composed so by requesting special legislation southc would be unique and how we do that I think there was some wisdom to how it was set up in
the past it's a it has a lot of responsibility it's also a key functioning board um and when it was codified that to be appointed by the select board that Authority vests in that and you're
responsible for the Conservation Commission I'll note for the record that seems to me that the the people that uh my other co-members of the select board wanted to have appointed to the Conservation Commission were immediately
appointed to the Conservation Commission um after the last election so to me the the point is kind of moot but um so hence the reason for my vote I don't see us having a need to be that different than every other community in
the Commonwealth um in regard to the appointment of the Conservation Commission um and I mentioned to you earlier I don't know if I mentioned it during the meeting but we're going to arrange a site visit for you guys with kron's going to reach out to you guys directly
so you guys can have a site visit up to uh Westfield for the whip City fiber tour okay and the cleaning green is what is that April something 26th I forgot I supposed to mention it every meeting and I forgot this
meeting it is April 26 that's it for me thank you naen anything I'm good nothing no any nothing there else as far as other old business um item eight is going to be warrants we need to
acknowledge payables warrant number 25 22b dated 218 2025 and the amount is $768 738 34 cents and we need to item nine approve
the minutes and approve Open session meeting minutes from February 10th 2025 and the executive session meeting I didn't see the updated ones I did send some substantive changes back to Margaret she said she Incorporated them then I'll second your motion to
approve them I'll make a motion and you can second that for the open s s roll call vote on the Open Session Jason PA I thank Doug M I'd like to table these okay very good we will table the
executive session any minutes to the next meeting which is today no March 10 Yeah March 10th [Music]
Open session we are we are going to motion to go on the executive session pursuing to Mass General La chapter 30A section 21 2 and 3 chapter 2114 section 1B label Council litigation matters the strategy for collective bargaining the
police Union Coalition fire OD a FF DPW nonunion staff and Union U chief of police and intern Town Administrator chapter 38 21 section one and exception number two move to go in executive session to conduct the baring
session to nonunion personnel and not reconvene Open Session move to go on Executive session to conduct contract negotiation with r personnel and to not reconvene Open Session declare that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the body and to
not reconvene an open session exception three move to go on Executive session discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and that the chair may move to go on Executive session to conduct strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations with non-un personnel and to not reconvening open session move to go into executive
session discuss strategy with respect to litigation and let the chair declare that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the body and to not reconvene an open session and regarding chapter 214 section 1B A person shall write against unreasonable substantial
or serious interference of their privacy supremor Court shall have jurisdiction and Equity to enforce such right and connection therewith to award damages we need a mo to go into executive session seconded roll call Jason I
I abs