Good evening everyone and welcome to the select board meeting for May 15, 2025 at 6 PM held here in the land use hearing room. This meeting is being held in a hybrid fashion and present this evening are myself, select board chair Jason Pone, vice chair Miss Diane Gail, and
Mr. Doug Moin, clerk. We also have CEO Nicole Parker and assistant CEO Naen Signoni. Um Mr. Duca, would you do the pledge, sir? To the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. So, one, two, item three is public comments. Um, is there anybody in
the audience that has any public comments? No. Not from my last time. No. But it's not. It's not. Well, there'll be a lot of public comments though that night. So, anyways, any Is there anyone on Zoom
that has any public comments that'd like to speak? Seeing none, we'll move on to item four, new business. New business item A is police department sergeant
interviews. All right. All right. So, we have two candidates this evening. Officer Sanders and Officer Seagull. Anybody got their question sheets? Come in.
Start. We should do these alphabetically starting with S. SA. How are you? Good to see you. Hello again. Hi there Parker. It's me. You ready? Yes, sir.
So, you're here interviewing for Sergeant again? Yes. I glad to see everyone again. Nice new room. So, we got some questions for you tonight, Kyle. And we're just going to start reading off um the list that we
have. Starting those number one is what is the function of a patrol sergeant of the South Police Department? So the function of a patrol sergeant is to supervise the officers assigned to them during their shift and what other
specialty assignments he may have. The responsibilities they have are to obviously supervise the shift to follow the orders that the chief lays down. It's also to check the performance of the officers daily and then if their
performances need help to critique them as needed. If the uh critiquings and warnings and whatever needs to happen are uneffective, I would then properly write that uh patrolman up and then forward it up to the lieutenant
who would then take it to the chief if needed. The sergeant is also in charge of making sure all the equipment that that is under him at the time is functioning properly. If something is not functioning is to make sure that that gets documented and submitted
properly. The sergeant also is to um review and approve the reports that happen on the shift. Make sure that all of the the log, you know, going through the log, making sure that everything was documented throughout the evening is
covered. The sergeant is also in charge of the obvious general safety for the town while while working and then working with the counterparts as far as speaking with DPW, fire department or
anyone else who may need to assist with throughout that shift. Good. Yeah. Any follow-ups for either of you? That was pretty comprehensive. Can you explain how your prior experience prepares you for that job?
So, prior experience of working on patrol and covering as a shift commander numerous times. So, a shift commander, you're the acting sergeant in that respect while you're working. So, all our officers currently who are not
sergeants are take are learning that role every time they're assigned that position. So along with that um my role as a school resource officer it's a very it's a trusted position where although Detective Sergeant Kruka is my is my
direct supervisor we are acted per right on our MLOU that we will act without direct supervision that we don't require that so we're making judgment calls daily that are the best for that position so whether it's calls on the
fly for the best school safety which as I while working in the schools throughout the last 5 years, I have had multiple occasions of needing to act, make decisions then and then needing to follow up with that supervisor later just because incidents do happen and you
need to act immediately. Thank you. What are your career goals and are you interested in further promotion? So my career goals um are to now there's many different roles that a sergeant can
have. It's not just a patrol sergeant. So certainly that's the first stepping stone that I need to take to get there. But like my father put in so many years of service into the community service role. So I would love to become the community policing sergeant at one point. So also with that, the safety
officer because the safety officer does so much working with the planning board, taking on those important meetings to make sure that the police aspect of things that that voice is heard throughout the town as well as the engineers who are designing these
things. So if my aspirations as far as being a sergeant certainly community policing along with that that safety officer and then after that absolutely I have 20 years left or 21 years left who's counting but so 21 years left and in that amount of time I would
absolutely want to see myself rise further than that how would you navigate to change in your relationships with co-workers as their new supervisor. So this I feel like navigating the change having that great respect already
with all my co-workers. So you know besides the you know the the ranks that we follow so much as far as patrolman, sergeant, lieutenant, chief, right? You're you know me being a senior officer to so many new officers always
acting to try to train them in the best that I can. So every day and also becoming a field uh field training officer gives me that opportunity to share with them the many things that I've learned so far and then also showing them the many
mistakes that I've had to learn from so that hopefully they don't have to do the same thing. So refer back as far as like that relationship. I'd like to think with all my fellow patrolmen that they respect me and that and they respect what I've been through and that
always, you know, building to be always be better. There are certainly patrolman that know more than me and I would always go to them. And then as far as if working with senior officers who are not who are patrolman still and me becoming a sergeant, always respecting them as
well because just because somebody gets a gold badge doesn't mean that they know everything and you can always go to them for their experience, expertise and knowledge that they have. Thank you. How you pro promote teamwork
and camaraderie throughout the department. So teamwork and camaraderie can be as simple as just making sure that people if they're having a terrible day, checking in with them before they start. If you see someone walking in with a scowl, maybe at the right
opportune time, talking to them, and then building them back up to where they're going to be okay for the rest of the night. So we are one big team. We're one big family. The main thing as far as camaraderie is, like I said, we're a family. you take care of your family and you want to make sure that they feel
comfortable not only being there while they're at work because that's going to affect their performance, but also that they're comfortable at home. And then if it needs to be where they need just someone to talk to about what's happening at home, being there for them just to speak about whatever issues they may be having, but knowing that they
have someone trusting that they can talk to. Thank you. How will you ensure that all the department regulations are followed? So certainly the best way it to follow everything is to lead by example. So
making you you can't expect someone to be always showing up, you know, early and then not late if you're the one who's showing up late. So you I'm sorry. I don't want to get ahead of myself. Could you repeat the question, please? Sure. How will you
ensure that all the department regulations are followed? Okay. So, like I had said, like you you're going to lead by example. You're going to show the younger officers, your fellow officers that this is the presentable way to show up to work. You're not showing up with dirty boots, old gear,
but also you're and having a knowledge of these policies and procedures. As the new policies come down, they they get dealt to the sergeants to train their people. So the most important thing is making sure you know something inside and out. So that way when one of your
fellow officers ask a question about it, you have the answer. When you have and if you're unsure of it something, always say that you're going to get back to them, but guaranteeing that you always go back to that person with the answer so they fully know that you're trusting and that you have followthrough.
In your opinion, what is the most challenging aspect of being sergeant? I think the most challenging aspect of being sergeant is having to be in that seat where you are not you are not the nice guy all the time. You can you can
be that that good sergeant that everybody trusts to go to, right? and all of my co-workers can say like, "Oh, that sergeant is just that's he's a mean guy." You don't have to be that mean guy, right? To to do your job. If somebody is acting inappropriately, if
somebody is performing inappropriately, certainly if they're interacting with the public inappropriately, they need to be corrected. And the best way to go about doing that is in a professional manner. It's not by scolding someone out in the center of a room, but you as a supervisor after
everyone's gone, politely asking them, "Please join me in my office." Not and hopefully not having to shut the door so they're not getting scared and already defensively, but making them feel like, "Okay, yes, I understand this was an issue. I I I feel that what you're going through that maybe you're going through
a lot right now, but still, you need to clean your uniform. You need to be to show up to work ready to work. Everybody has stuff in their lives going on. They always do. And the most appropriate way that we've learned through past supervisors that do this is just you
don't scold someone in a room. Everybody is a professional in our in our workspace and that you do it the right way. I do have a followup that I'm going to also give to Mr. Seagull. What do you think is the most important skill a sergeant should have? Being decisive. A
sergeant is a person who needs to act. You are the person on the role that people to go to for questions and you need to be able to answer them and to settle a situation. So, one of my strongest traits that I feel is that I
can act decisively in a stressful situation where knowing that what I do is what's going to be said, but also knowing in that situation to have a broad picture on the whole scenario and not get tunnel vision and what something small would be, but looking at the total
picture of the town involving working with the fire department as far as how they're going to react to the situation, how your subordinates are going to feel about going to that situation and also with that not telling someone to do something that you yourself would never be willing to do.
Thank you, Kyle. At 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, there's a report of a motor vehicle in the lake at the South Boat ramp. It is reported that the headlights are on and no one is in the immediate area. It is unknown if anyone is inside
the vehicle or how long the vehicle has been in the water. No further information is available. How do you proceed? So immediately from that call, right, you have multiple assets that need to get dispatched immediately. So right off the bat, I'm going to dispatch
uh or ask dispatch to have state police being responded with their dive team. We have a dive team in town. However, state police is going to be able to acquire those assets and get them rolling much f much much faster than we will be able to. And then the fire department are
also going to be co-dispatched at that thing but making ensuring with dispatch that they are given all the information just as we were on how they need to respond accordingly. They have rescue divers. We will do the best as the police officers to go there as far as
going in the water. If we're the first ones there, we're going in there to see if there's anyone inside the vehicle. Is there is there any signs of trauma inside the vehicle? Does it look like the operator made it out? A good thing to look for would be the keys because if a per that's just a habit, right? People
do muscle memory especially in a bad situation. So, a very good indication that if a person had crashed that lake after being intoxicated, not paying attention, whatever reason they felt they needed to flee that accident, it's important right right away to to make to
check these things, but also until you're absolutely certain that there's nobody in the water. Acting upon as if there was somebody in the water and not getting tunnel visioned, like I said, by I'm the sergeant, I'm ruling the roost. The fire
department shows up with their rescue everything and they do specific training on people going in the water. Work with the fire department. Do not argue with the fire department as far as okay, same team. We're all the same goal of saving these people who are potentially
drowning in the lake. And then as far as going as the scene would go, certainly it would be looking up the registration of the vehicle, trying to identify that operator, and then using our assets as far as those lovely people we have in dispatch. once they have their information to start tracking phone
numbers down, making calls. If it gets to the point, we'll send a patrol officer to that house to inquire, has this person made home? We don't need to worry about the legality or the crime that could have been committed about or however the vehicle got in the lake, but we need to ensure that we can identify
and locate that person. Thank you. Scenario number two. While at the scene of an accident, there is a disagreement among responders about the way the situation should be handled. How would
you handle this to ensure the issue is resolved efficiently and the response is affected? So, as a sergeant and in this scenario, I'm saying that I would be the boss on scene until relieved by a whether it's the lieutenant or chief if they were responding to how bad of an
accident this was. But certainly immediately, we're separating the officers. If an officer needs to be removed completely from the scene, whether it's all right, sir, you're going to go into your car, you're going to cool down, you're gonna get rolling on paperwork, get rolling on things that do not involve the public. But one thing
the police officers do, which you know, everybody knows police officers keep the peace, right? So, we're not going to create that bad situation in front of anyone else. It's unprofessional. It's not productive, and it certainly isn't going to help those already scared people who are in this car accident.
that our number one concern is the safety of those operators, making sure they're uninjured and any patrolman, sergeant, or whoever it might be. It could be the chief of police who's arguing with someone. And if the chief needs to be asked, "Chief, I I really think that you need to be taking a step
away to to to calm down, then that's what we'll have to do." That's that's part of every patrolman's or every police officer's job is maintaining professionalism as well as making sure other officers aren't letting their emotions override what they should be
doing. So if if uh if you swap out that second police officer for say a firefighter, what's the difference into your answer into my answer? The disagreement it says amongst responders.
So I guess you Okay. So if a if a firefighter is arguing with yeah it's a firefighter is is is having a disagreement uh with your officer. So certainly same scenario this is this is always I believe we're one big first
responder family and we're not going to be doing this in front of the public. Certainly everybody could have a disagreement, but if speaking with that if that if it's a firefighter and then if he has that argument where the firefighter is saying no, this is what
needs to happen. Certainly, okay, we're ensuring the safety they're healthy. Okay, at this point I'm going to ask that he goes and waits over by whether whatever apparatus or to cool his head and certainly following up with after talking with that firefighter, talking
with that patrolman. And when I'm talking to that firefighter, it would be under the the coverage of their respective ranking person. I'm it's it's not for me to critique or whatever, but I'm just there to maintain that this situation
and stressful environment for those people involved is as least stressful as possible. I don't know if I would probably at this point everybody here has been in some form of car accident or some kind of incident on the road and everybody's stress is so high. So what
we need to do is, you know, show them that we can remain calm, that we are in control of this situation, not our emotions. Right? It goes back to like if if a a little child, right? If if a child falls on the ground and they make that 5-second, oh my goodness, am I
supposed to laugh or am I supposed to cry? If the parent freaks out and goes crazy, the kid is going to react properly. And that's a lot of ways when somebody is stressed out, they revert right back to that that same feeling of reacting how the person who they believe is taking care of them, the police and
fire department are acting. Thank you. Last one. Describe your fluency with technology and your ability to adapt to new programs and processes. So I'm very fortunate in when I became a police
officer going back to we're bare minimum as far as as far as IMC and our cruisers to with written tickets to evolving and growing up with the new system as far as now we're issuing tickets directly out of the car. And I was always raised if
you're going to use something the first thing you need to learn is how to fix it if it doesn't work. So understanding in a shift that if a patrol officer's computer does not work and I cannot fix it, well lucky because the town of South was fortunate enough in giving us enough
cars to certainly provide that officer with a new vehicle to be able to function his to do his entire patrol shift functioning properly and then also using the followup with that which would be our our computer person currently is
Sergeant Wescott. and in a proper email and text message to make sure that he's well aware of the situation speaking with him what was wrong with that technology at the moment and then going forward and if there's and just like I had said earlier if just because like
you get the gold badge does not mean you know everything so certainly with technology as things change if I do not have the answer certainly maybe I can help try to find that answer or call the proper people who certainly Thank you, Kyle.
So, that's the questions. Um, anything you'd like to say to the the commission? I would. So, I would like to thank the board for giving me this opportunity to interview for Sergeant. I'd like to say that this time I also smiled a couple times. So, that's that's kudos to me.
Um, I'm so driven to become a sergeant because I know that I can. I know that I have the knowledge. I have the experience. I have what I believe the respect for my fellow peers. And I also know that I can help so many of the young officers become great police
officers. And a a giant part of that is just keeping them from becoming deterred in this career as as order and process. And you know, anyone can say, you know, oh, we've all been through it. We all go through it but actually listening to
them is the is the most important part like I had mentioned earlier whether it's a lot of people's whether even even later in their life that could be their first interaction with a police officer and that whatever that interaction whether it's a motor vehicle crash a
mental health or behavioral health crisis whether it's any kind of call of service where it may seem after doing these calls over and over again that it's just just a routine thing and not giving anyone the time of day. But to them, that is the most important thing.
And then showing them that compassion that you care, being honest with someone if you don't have the answer, always calling that person back. Not not just avoid the call just to be able to, oh, I'm out of the lobby. We can we can dust that one off. But being able to where
that person can say, you know, police are all right. They're they're they're good guys out there. And that's that's what I like to believe that I am. that after an interaction with me, they left with that good feeling that he cared about me, he listened to me. Sometimes
people, they want to be listened to. And then after you explain to someone, after you care and you can show them you care, then even if they finally that person realizes maybe I was in the wrong, but then you can explain if they were in trouble legally or whatever, you explain
to them you showed you care, they'll be like, "All right, you're right. That happened. I can I can own that that incident, whatever I did and whatever the penalty may be. So being that I know I'm decisive. I know how much compassion and how big my heart is. I know how good
of a listener I can be and how well I can communicate with people. So all these things that make up what I would love to be the perfect sergeant is why I'm so adamant in my drive to I don't want to say keep coming and speaking with you guys but but that's that's that's how I'm driven to know
that I can benefit not only the town of Southwick which I grew up in I was raised here went to the schools here I'm never going to leave and and I can confidently say that anyone who really knows me like I don't like leaving South in general so but with that being said like I have a lot of pride of being
being a South person. I have a lot of pride of being a South police officer just like my father had a lot of pride being a South police officer and I want to keep giving that pride back to the community. So I want to thank you guys for listening to me and and bearing with
my long story. So thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. like you. What's going on? I just put it off to the side. everything just scale up a
match, sir. Welcome to Zati. So, we're here for interviews for Sergeant as you're well aware. Um, got 10 questions on the paper and we're just going to go right off that. Okay. Are you ready? Sure. All right. Officer Seagull, what is the
function of a patrol sergeant of the South Police Department? uh patrol sergeant south of police department is to supervise the uh patrolman underneath him during the shift and off shift if needed on
different shifts. It's to guide your officers. Make sure they adhere to your policies, uh rules, regulations, state laws, federal laws. Um make sure your officers are adhering to um the proper
pro uh protocols. um to guide them, make sure they have any questions, to make clarity on those. It's kind of like a parent's job, but you're not being their parent. It's to
guide and nurture them as far as making them excel in what they're doing. It's not to take away from their decisions, but to guide them towards the proper one if needed. Thank you, sir. Can you explain how your prior
experience prepares you for this role? Um, prior experience, um, I have a degree in management from the University of Massachusetts. Um, I've worked as a police officer as a reserve. Started in
1996, progressed to a reserve sergeant. Uh, approximately I think it was six, seven years West Springfield. Uh, supervised um, led officers, field trained, um, went on to
the Hampton Police Department and then to Southwick. um took on the role as a shift commander and uh performed the functions during those times as well.
Thank you. What are your career goals and are you interested in further promotion? Uh my career goals right now are to become a sergeant. Um, truthfully, I see
myself continuing as a sergeant um through the end of my career. I have about nine years left in my career right now. Um, I'll probably age out at 65. Um, I think I will try to be the best that I can be for a sergeant.
um have a lot of great examples um that I've modeled myself when I'm the shift commander and um taken on a lot of different uh roles in the department to help with that. Can I ask a follow? Sure.
Um, we've been at this I've been at this a little while and this is the first time you've come in front of us for this position. Yes. Why? Uh, I've had some challenges in my life. Um, I guess I'll lay it all out there. I
during the last time I went through a divorce and um, I was not prepared to proceed any further with that with my career. I just wanted to get my own even keel uh find where I was, be a proper
parent, do everything I can with my kids and stuff. And um at that time it was not the right time. And even the last promotions, I was going to submit my resume and had some other things happen
which I ended up getting injured in a motorcycle accident and uh I had to rehab with that and my son after that was starting with high school and I needed to see where he's at as far as
him transitioning and having the conversations with my kids to see if this would work. and we're all on board. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. Seagull, how would you navigate the change in your relationships with
co-workers as their new supervisor? Well, you I'd be doing it as a full-time thing. Um, I've been shift commander numerous times. Um, I trained the majority of the junior officers underneath me, which when you're a field training officer, um, you're basically
their supervisor. Um, you're guiding them to do the right thing. Um, teaching them. Um, mentoring them. Um, I believe that, uh, I've already taken on that role several times. Um whether it's volunteering to step up for uh
additional duties, whether it's the safety officer, um the um court officer fill in um um being on the board for the emergency management, um several other things. Um I had the
radio communications for the department. Many different things that prepared me to uh take on that. Thank you. So, I have a followup on that one. You were a sergeant in Westfield. And um did
you run into any difficulties with staffing when you made that transition? All the time. All the time. How did you deal with them? Uh well, that was a different type of uh unit. um that was
mostly a volunteer unit um where you would get people to come in, they would volunteer their time. Sometimes it was paid and you can't force people to do something when this is not a paid position for them. So um the reserve
officer in their departments was um a lot different from what it is here. You know, here there's accountability. you don't do your training, then you could be dismissed or what have you or reprimanded or uh referred to um um
other means. Um I don't know if that answered the um how will you promote teamwork and camaraderie throughout the department? uh teamwork uh continue with trainings.
Um I'm a training officer and firearms instructor. Um we've always had strong teamwork um working with the officers um getting them involved um
having a regimented routine and um to get people to be more involved. I would encourage them to um step up for things whether it's uh uh additional trainings whether to be interested in volunteering to do the drone or something like that
or boat patrol um to get them more motivated to step up and do additional responsibilities to empower them. Okay. How will you ensure that all the department regulations are followed? You would have to read through
all their reports, go to the majority of the calls, make sure everything's been adhered to. When you read the reports, you have basic knowledge of what should and shouldn't be done. Um, you got to operate within that criteria.
Um the officer should have learned that when they uh did their field training. But if there is additional guidance that needs to be instilled than to address that on an individual basis Mark in your opinion what is the most
challenging aspect of being a surgeon? most challenging aspect of a sergeant, the additional responsibility, being responsible for everybody. Because the truth of the matter is it doesn't matter if the
sergeant didn't do something wrong. It's the patrolman. You're responsible for everybody's actions on the shift. So if there's a illegal action where if there's something that is not right, you need to correct that because responsibility
uh legally liability um and make sure policies and procedures are followed huge and can be very devastating if they are not. Thank you sir. You're welcome. Here's a
scenario. At 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, there is a recorded motor vehicle in the lake at the South Boat ramp. It is reported that the headlights are on and no one is in the immediate area. It is unknown if anyone is inside the vehicle or how long it's been in the water. No further
information is available. How do you proceed? Uh, make sure that fire is on its way. Have units respond down there. You said 10:00 at night. Okay. Um we've had something similar to that where we've actually paid entry into the
water, but you want to make sure that there's additional resources on their way. Um if you're the first responder, you you know minutes count. So um make sure that you have again resources coming. Um we'd probably make entry into
the water, but we would do that with uh we actually have life preservers that I had helped procure in the Baton Beach car along with some life- saving gear. We have ropes, um, inflatables, um, so we can use that and possibly bring a
glass breaker with you, too. While at the scene of an accident, there's a disagreement among responders about the way the situation should be handled. How would you handle this to ensure the issue is resolved efficiently and the response is effective? I would talk to each of the officers or
the involved people and ask what is their reasoning or tell me why, you know, this needs to be done this way because my perception may be different from the other person's perception and maybe they have more knowledge than I do or the other officer. So maybe we can
figure it out together or get some um different approach and do what needs to be done at that point. But, uh, I wouldn't rule out, you know, telling somebody that we shouldn't be doing this or not doing, I'm I'm sorry, should be
doing this or not be doing this because what they're coming up with could be different from what I perceive or the other officer perceives. So, this it's a team effort. You want to make sure this is done right. And if the other responder is, let's say it's a firefighter or a tow truck
operator or someone else, but there's a that's a different level of a disagreement. Does that make a difference? Well, if it's tow operator and they have safety concerns or something like that, um they can tell me what it is and um if they can't do it with their policies and procedures, you
know, we can always call somebody else. So, um, but we should be able to operate within normal parameters and figure this out, whether it's a firefighter or what have you. Thank you. Last one. Describe your fluency with
technology and your ability to adapt to new programs and processes. Uh, okay. So there's been a lot of different different changes um in the department. Um specifically what I've been dealing with is new generations of
radios. Um I've taken on the responsibility of uh instituting the issuance of new radios. I do the programming along with um another co-orker Mike Gerard. Um he's taught me a lot of the radio programming
how to uh maintain the systems and uh all of it is software technology based and it changes every time we get a new radio or have to do an update. It's going through each radio each time, but we're going to be approaching a new
update with uh our dispatch system and um records. And I believe that uh that's on the table right now. So that could be another thing that we would have to learn or adapt to. As long as there's good training, we should be all set.
That's all of them. Is there anything you'd like to say to the commission? I'd just like to thank the board for allowing me the opportunity to uh interview and the town of Southwick for hiring me and giving me the the opportunity to serve.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much. Come back to it. You want to do it now? Come back to it. Come back to it. Okay. All right. So, item A is done.
Item B, approve the cemetery paving bid. Sure. Open the scale already. Yeah. They just need to accept it. Mr. Mogan, have you gone over it? Anything?
Yes. It was ready last week. You needed to bring it in front of us to roof. All right. So, I would be looking for a motion to accept the cemetery paving bid, not to exceed 50,000. I'm just looking for I was just looking for that. Thank you very much.
50,500. Um, so I'll make a motion to accept that bid not to exceed the $50,500. Second. We'll call vote. Jason Peron, I Dang. Doug Mglin, yes. Item C is to approve the Iron Man
permit. I think I know we're all pretty much familiar with it. Ready to be familiar with it, sir? That's a great event. I mean, it's an internationally known thing. Um, if you can survive swimming in a shin river in Springfield, make it out of there, bike
through Southwick and uh and then run a good chunk, more power to you. Chief, any input? Nothing. You good? There is a slight change. I'm not sure if it's going to happen or not, but they're looking at changing the bike course
through Selvic slightly. Uh, they want to increase mileage. Instead of going all the way up Granville Road, go Granville Road to Hillside to Hastings back to Granville Road. They're just looking to add some additional mileage.
Okay. Additional pothole avoidance. Well, Springfield paved the bridge right before last time. So, yeah. All right. So, you want a motion to approve the I motion the IR second. Roll call vote. Jason Peron I
Doug Yes. Item D is discuss the chapter 74 vocational technical education. This is in relation to um the fact that we now um take care of the tuitions for the kids going to the different Voke
schools. Um where is this thing? And their application deadlines. Yes. And actually I think is that kind of why we brought it up because we had the one that in the regional school district policy um there is one category for
vocational technical education for out of district and uh historically they've been following this policy and now it's back on the town. So uh you know as discussed we thought that you would just want to formally adopt that policy to also abide by that for the out of
district students each year. question. Uh it talks about them qualifying with um school records and so forth. I assume we're going to rely on the school to do that part. We are only going to accept the applications through this
due date. Yes, they get vetted through the superintendent's office before it comes to the town. Okay. They have to qualify like you said with attendance and braids, etc. Um, I think what they're looking for is the motion on that page right there,
which basically just says that Yeah, I'm just going to be looking for a motion to accept the uh, let's see, I'm just making sure. Anything, Mr. Mlin? Yeah, Miss Kale, anything further? U, I'm just looking for the the due date for applications
was in here, correct? Yeah, I just wanted to say that out loud first. Yes. So, I'll make a motion to adopt the South Hall and Granville Regional School District vocational tech education
application procedures and deadline. I think are they looking for the motion on the next page as at as our That was my that was me. So, if you want to adopt it that way or anyway, but you All right. Let me
just read that out. Yeah, I'll add to that. The South Select Board recognizes the school committee policy of South Tall and Granville Regional School District code vocational technical education as the board's policy and future recommendations regarding submissions to vocational schools as per
Mass General Law Chapter 74 section 7 admissions of non-residents. That's the motion. That's the motion. Second roll call vote. Jason prone. I I get right. Item E is review surplus items. I think
I missed it. So you have a revision to that, don't you? I do. Yeah. I sent it to Margaret, but I guess she wasn't here. Oh, really? Okay. So Sema Yeah. had a submission as well, but she her and her all department heads didn't have him in there. So,
here's the SEMA submission that was presented to me today. And there's two DPW, but I think one was an in process and these that contain the actual four items.
So, we got first Council on Aging is listed first and Council on Aging is actually secondary. Well, sorry. just to keep everybody on their toes. But I did see a lot of people, so they weren't corrected. I did see it. It's
for the 15year-old lawn mower. There it is. Value of $250. You want to just save time to go set up. So, police department, we have a copier scanner 12
to 14 years old. It it's used value. There's no value on that. So, none value none. So, DPW, we have a K Cabota tractor 95.
Uh, condition 3000 John Deere Greater 197. It's as old as I am. $5,000. That's right. I am the youngest member of the select board for right now. That ends in one week. Yes, it does. And
I will you take that back, don't you? Huh? Don't you take that honor back? I believe I get that role back. Not at all. Not at all. So, not the same. No, that's what I was saying. So, Oh, okay. This So, that was added. Yeah, you went through the greater um we had a
Ford F350 pickup truck 2008. uh or condition $1,000 and we have a Freightlininer FL80 dump truck a 99 been replaced for so we got the new truck and an estimated value of $5,000 on that. For the building
department we have a 2017 Ford Explorer color white. It's reason for disposal is it's unsafe and it's scrap 500 building department read that this whole thing.
All right. I'm going to read the whole thing from uh SEMA director Mr. Anderson South emergency management is requesting the surplus of the following units after an operational view was determined that while on their day had tremendous value. They have outlived their life expediency and need. The availability of regional
assets and other means negates their need and these units were taken up room are taking up room at DPW and never utilized. We look to surplus a 1997 bus van formerly used as a command unit that contained radios etc. and one 1984 Army
6x6. We would also like to request to gain a surplus police cruiser when available to take the place of the command unit for remote radio operations in the event of an emergency. Today's technology would allow the unit to assist with radio communications in remote areas and serve disaster
communications. We have reached through the community networks to see if there's any use to locally repurpose. Additionally, the army truck may have a high value over $10,000 for collectors and I Mr. Anderson has calls into such agencies. And again, we've got
a the 97 command bus fair good condition between 3,000 and 8,000. And the 84 2 and 12 ton army truck is fair to good 5,000 to 30,000. I think that's all of them,
right? So I would be looking for a motion to accept the um surplus put these on surplus list auction or sale whatever admin motion
made motion. Yes, it will. Roll call vote. Jason Peron I. Thank. Yes. Item Eton. Item F discuss and vote Congam sampling
proposal. This is in regards to the electronic DNA analysis stand. Yeah. For the uh stand for the hydrillaa in the common mong lakes. They're looking this contract if uh would do a proposal. It would through the use
of DNA and RNA testing, they would be able to find out where the presence of that hydraula um weed is and determine where they would be to treat this. It looks like it's basically what this looks them too. So before it invades.
Yeah, but it's almost preventative. I have a question. This is for $64,296. Is this What year's budget is that
in? Was it fiscal 20? Uh I think it's grant. It's a grant. This is the whole thing. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Make a motion to accept the professional
services agreement with Stantech to conduct the hydrillaa DNA surveys. I'll second that motion. Roll call vote. Jason point I. Dang. I Doug Mo. Yeah. Item G is to discuss. Is Randy on there?
He might just be leaving the water meeting. Um, so item G is to discuss and vote on the North Lake Avenue request. Um, she is right there. Randy, we're just to you. Do you want to just give us a
rundown of what this North Lake Avenue update and amendment is? Sure. Senator Walker meeting Randy Brown, DW director. Um, this is the next phase of our north North Lake Avenue project. We uh did the design on our prior year block ramp and
so we're start construction um with this this year. So like the amendment you have in front of you is to basic continue the construction based services to the consultant and uh start the construction later this year. So this project will last several
years based on the funding allocation each year and how much we need to get the job. I think you said four at least in here. Probably four years. Yeah. Anything? No, I think we covered this during part of the CDBG hearings. So if Okay. So, motion to uh accept the
amendment request for the North Lake AB project. Second. Roll call vote. Jason Peron. I Doug Morgan. Yes. Item H, community preservation committee town hall restoration grant agreement.
So this is the project that Russ helped get that CPC. That's the ceiling of the point pointing. Yeah. All that water leaks, etc. We at least have a plan. Yeah.
So questions, discussion? No, this is just a contractual piece of what happened at town meeting. So make a motion to accept that and have the chair sign the agreement. Second. Roll call vote. Jason Peron. I
item I is appointment of Jerry Sambrook. I'm going to turn nine. Could you give the you explain this one to us right before? Sure. Um Mr. Samberrook submitted an application to be a volunteer for SEMA. Um I was not aware
that he had to be appointed as a volunteer. Um he came in to fix in and appointed so he couldn't be sworn in and it was u so he was unable to be here tonight but um he will come back at at
another time but we'd just like to get him. Okay. So, I'm going to make a motion to retroactively appoint him from 5:15 to 6:3025 and then we will sweep him into
the annual appointment process carrying forward. Good. So, that was my motion. Uh, quick question. Since the emergency management director is here, are you familiar with all of this and you're in support? Thank you, sir. I'll second the motion.
Roll call vote. Jason Peron, I thank you. I Doug Molin. Yes. Item J, discuss and vote on park and recreation director salary. I think I see some park and wreck folks here.
So, so the park and wreck commission has uh asked the select board, they've reviewed the park and d rec director position and the budget and they would like to request a pay increase for Cara Cartella to $32.82. Um, it's going to come from the current park and recreations budget which has
decreased 14% from the prior year's director salary. And so this is also the other budgeted director's rates at the town. Um, I we're just going to repeat car's done an excellent job as an assistant for the past two years and manage park
and wreck 10 years prior to that and they are requesting a pay increase to 32.82 effective immediately. discussion. We have some information. Does um do we want to hear from the park? Uh I'd be
glad to hear from the park and rep de up. Yeah, sure. Can you wrote a letter? Thank you for getting us on the agenda. I know we've had a few discussions with you, Nicole. Um I I know the way we had
left it. Um I think her pay is very undervalued for what she does for the town. Um, basically she does everything at the park. Um, we have no help. She is basically the entire staff. Um, her pay
now is the same thing it was when she was the assistant director. Plus, she's taken on managing the rail trail employees and the park employees, which used to be managed by our old um building and maintenance or building and
grounds people. Um, she also does all the work at the beach, opening it, closing it, hiring all the staff, certifying the lifeguards, setting up training for that. Um, does all the calls for the rail trail, anything that's needs maintenance done. Um,
basically everything. And I I know lately, like this time of year when everything's opening up, I still get emails after 5:00 from her and on weekends. And I know teams call her for different things with the fields to make sure things are done or
if the high school reschedules games, they're calling her at night or texting her at night to change the light situation from one night to another. I just feel that the pay is a little undervalued for what she does. And I think if if she's gone,
we're pretty much stuck with everything as far as getting somebody to run this. I think we would be looking for somebody more towards a full-time position to do this. Well, we had, you said, we've talked this several times. Um, I am in support
of it. Um, you know, the way I looked at it is exactly what you said. I've kind of done some more research um on it. And on top of that, you know, I have to add that there's going to be some pickle ball that she's going to be managing at the park and the spray park and the splat and the additional Yes. the
additional responsibilities that are going to be there. Um me and Miss Parker have talked um I know her concerns, I know my concerns and I and you know, if you're looking at every other director's salary at being one thing and you have one director that's not I personally
would feel a little slighted myself. Um I don't it's not being about being slighted. help. You know, we've got a I have never heard a bad word about Cara. Nothing but great. Um, and I think when you've got good people, the last thing
you want to do is something that's going to chase them away. And in this environment, in this economy, um, when we did some rearranging with her previous position where she was, I was not in support of reducing her overall compensation for the multiple the two positions she was
in. So, you have my support on this. the other two board members. Okay. You said she's now managing rail trail maintenance. Yeah, she oversees the mowing from it. And then any trees that fall, like even if they're weekends
or at nights, I mean, she'll take care of that or forward it to me so I get a hold of the tree guy for that. But there's not not a ton of that. But like with the beach and things, she's pretty much everything with the
beach from hiring to staffing and overseeing everything there and all the scheduling of games for soccer fields, baseball fields at the park. What will be the additional responsibilities for pickle ball or splash pad?
[Music] Um hopefully not a not a lot. I mean, just the opening and closing of the splash pad, making sure that's done. The weekly cleaning, maintenance type thing, having our maintenance guys take care of
that. Any parts that go, she orders that, deals with suppliers, maintenance, right? It's park maintenance. It technically park maintenance, but we I I mean, she's the first line and has our guys do it. Sometimes we'll get help
from the the building and grounds people depending what it is. I'd like to come up and chat if you Dave's done like a pull a chair. I don't want to throw you out there. You don't want to be up there alone. Thank you, sir. Did you state your name?
John, 38 Foster Road. Um, I've been on park and wreck a long time. I don't I'm not good with dates, so I don't know how long, but a long time. Longer than that. Car is spectacular. Uh, there was some dark
times when you send somebody else in to take take her job. It was awful. Well, but she's back and she's wonderful. And I've been in business a little while. And if you have someone that good, you better pay them
what they're worth or you're going to lose them. Simple as that. She's she's a spectacular administrator. Don't mess this up. Well, I looked at the budget also. I mean, the new one. And I I see
assistants in like the town offices that are making more than her. And I I find that kind of ironic since they have a a department head and an assistant. And she is basically all of our administrative people. I mean, she runs
the meetings also. We don't go out and get a another secretary to run some run the meetings. I mean, she's basically everything. And I just I mean looking at comparable salaries on the new budget that came out, I feel that she's
underpaid. Oh, you No, that was not a new model. Yeah, I didn't hear anything. Not as bad as our joint meeting a few
months ago. No, not nearly. Imagine Tuesday would be interesting, too. Mr. Mglin, any anything? I I have a question on the on the budget and and monies if you know the the budgets for our headed to town meeting for next
week. Are are available monies within the budget in the park and wreck line to support that? if we move it. Well, the number I based it out of was the money we had in there last year and this number for the 20 hours that she's
considered doing park and wreck. So, we're not going to be asking for anything else. Sorry, Dian. Go ahead. I I thought the salary numbers were pretty firm based on actual headcounts. uh the the the salaries that we have in
the park and wreck reflect the raises that they have contractually or you know that the town's given if you're not in a union they follow we followed the union and and most of the staff had gotten a 3% raise um if you know they don't have a contract and even the contracts mostly
have a 3% raise so I um you know and is this a contract or is this an employ this straight employee yeah just at um so you know so so I'm sorry just to clarify that so the budgets that you
looked at reflects last year's increase it reflects the increase that she is uh projected to get as of July 1 2025 at $29.3869 okay so that's not well that still seems
a little low for director I think we had 34,000 something something in there. I don't remember the exact number. And based on the 3280 we're asking for at 20 hours a week, that would cover the 34,000 that we had in our budget with a
line item. Did you have any So, to add, you know, taking the personalities out of here 100%. I know Cara does a great job. She's here. She's dedicated. Um, you know, your willingness and the advocacy for Cara
is unparalleled. I completely understand where you're coming from. And then I come back from to the business side, to the managerial side. And when I look at where she started in 2021 to where she would be if she got a
3% raise each year, the the raise that we're about to give her is $5 more than that. the raise that we would give her if you were at 3282 is a 54% increase from 2021. So, it's extremely significant. And when I looked at the duties of the park and wreck department,
um you know, I do see it as almost a seasonal department. There there really isn't anything going on in the winter. Um and you know, I albeit there's it's pretty busy right now to get it going. Um, you know, I I just don't see it. I
don't see it being the value at 3282. I don't even know where that came from. It doesn't seem to correlate with any of our salaries. And I also can appreciate, you know, a director versus the assistant director or assistant department head that we have in the departments that are full-time and
require yearround work and require I don't see how special I know we've had this conversation before and I I kind of object that you say it's not a year- round position. I I could say what do the tax collectors do say when they're not collecting taxes? Are they busy like
hour by hour the whole time? I mean, we have things basically the park is running until the beginning of December now. We started hiring people in January. We started with the baseball teams back in January and soccer teams. They're all summer programs. I I realize
that, but we don't open the park on March 30th and everything's ready to go without planning ahead. I mean, it takes a while before I mean, we're literally a month and a half out getting people hired and getting equipment done and not
me, myself, but her sending things out and getting things taken care of. It's not like we open the park and it's it's open and ready to go. And the same thing with the beach. I mean, that's basically starting on the lifeguard things and recruiting kids over the winter. Also,
we do have like the Christmas party we do. She's had painting classes over the winter. Um, she's got a mother's group she's she's got going now. So, it's not like there's nothing going on over the winter. What's the current rate effect?
2770. And then at town meeting, everybody gets their FY25 raise and then as of July 1, 2025, they'll get their FY26 raise. So, she will be at 29.3869. And you're looking to make it what? 30.
Where'd you get 3282 out of out of the the 34,000 we had in the budget last year for the park and rec director? You just took it divided by the hours. Is that what you did? Yes. So, as you can see, a $68,000 if it was full-time. And I No, I
don't know. It's a little arbitrary, but um I think that came up from when we split the the um council on aging and the park and wreck and between Cindy's job, Cindy Sullivan that was here and
Carara's position. It was a number taken from that planned which we have reduced reduced the COA because of all her duties changed completely with CO. I don't think that's a fair way to get to a rate. Number one, that was an
estimated split back to what it was. I was also figuring like the number she's at now is the same thing she was as an assistant for doing that before. Now she's a director and managing employees on top of
it. I figured that's worth something. Well, goals has take the personality out of it. They taking the performance out of it, too. I mean, she's spectacular. And I I don't mean to be like that at all. I do I see Cara work daily, very
hard. I also see several employees in this room that work extremely hard that I could give a lot more money than than I would than I'm able to, right, than we're able to than our small rural small town budget is is able to give. I see so
many people on a daily basis go above and beyond almost everyone. So I c you can you can single her out because this is your department and as I see all of the departments and all of the staff every day go above and beyond. I would
love to give them also you know a 54% raise over 5 years as it is we're giving a 26% raise over 5 years which none of the other employees get either. So, the situation is a little bit unique because of how the departments were combined and
then separated, etc. Um, and so I don't I don't mean that maliciously. I think she's a great person. She does a great job. She comes in with a smile on her face and she does her job every day. Um, as does everybody else. I literally see more than handful of people in here that do that. So, uh, you know, I think
everybody deserves a lot more than than we give them. We work for municipality. That's, you know, it's our public service. Yeah. I think the department park and wreck has uh evolved quite a bit also. I mean in the last probably half dozen years with the amount of ball
games and field rentals and everything else we're doing down there along with other things that that wasn't going on. the um I mean she's been underpaid in my opinion since I've been on park and wreck but uh so you can say the
percentages are high for what she was getting what she's getting now you're starting at a point that's unrealistic and beyond that I mean think of what was going on when she was when I first
uh became aware of park and wreck there was one park the linear park the rail trail. Now, there's a big park and there's a lot going on and there's going to be more and more and more going on. If we get the pickle ball through there,
there's going to be um pickle ball courts down there and there's going to be people are going to have we're going to have to come up with a lot of rules. We're going to have to administrate them. There'll be tournaments and things there to schedule. Yeah, there's more every
year. What we've done in the past is asked, "Is there a current job description that reflects current activities?" I know you had asked me for that quite a
while ago and I sent you all the job duties for it. I didn't make up a job description for it, but I sent every job duty that she has. And I did use that. I sent six links to different towns, nearby towns and
comparable communities for what the park and wreck does in those communities. Um, you know, and and I and maybe maybe we're maybe we should start looking at this to staff it more and do and create more programs, but as I've been saying
this for a year, um, I haven't seen anything come forward. Then when we have our department meetings every month, I don't see I've created this department. I I've created this program. I've I've implemented this. I've implemented that. And that's really like I've been telling you for a year that what I I realized I
realized we had had that conversation. And I also went through all the five towns that you sent me. We are by far the lowest budget by the next closest one was probably $55,000 as far as administration costs and ours is under under 40,000. And you
the towns you sent me some like East Long Meadow were 150,000. Yeah. Right. Those are the nearby and then I said but I I mean if you want to give us a budget of 150,000 where we can employ three people. I I'm sure we could have a lot more programs but we're also competing
with the um the nonprofit so we can't dig into their teams and their programs. I I can see that too. I just don't see where we give more money because we also
have a wreck department in town. Um when I I just if in with my managerial hat on if I could see a lot of effort and a lot of creation for more programming to say look we need more employees. We are
doing this we are doing that. We are now busy throughout the winter. we have this winter program and that and we're doing this in the fall and then then then then I would be very much more receptive to it and I feel like a monster up here like I'm trying to take the school budget away like I do every year uh
saying that I don't support this but I I don't see it coming. I just don't see it. I I just don't feel like you're comparing apple to apples when you looking at other towns compared to us because I when I look through these five townify that when you're looking there's
there's not another single town that has a park and recck department that oversees their own employees out of the five that you gave. They're all under DPW or building a grounds people. So we're we're doing that. There wasn't a single town on that list that also had a
rail trail, the two parks, and uh town beach like like we're doing. So, it it's not like any town was comparable 100%. Our budget our budget was by far the lowest the bottom of the barrel out of the five towns by far. And you're
talking administrative costs administrative costs of the expenses. I I mean, for what we're doing, for the amount of money that we're getting, I I think the town is really benefiting out of it. I'm going to 100% agree with you on that. I mean,
I've seen from park and wreck um probably the most hands-on board in the town, you know, from whether you know it's yourself going out when the old tree falls in the woods on the rail trail type of thing. you know, they call you like I don't think there's too many
other um no, you know, elected volunteers that get called at all hours to for that type of thing and or whether it's mowing mowing Wally Park when you need to do it and that kind of thing. Um and we we do fight above our weight for
for what we have. Um you know, a year or two ago, I did float the idea. um that it didn't get a lot of traction, but the idea was okay, we're getting to the point where we need to look at that the the park cuz we you know, we tried
one thing uh big fail, right? Admittedly, it didn't work out the way we but then we talked about, you know, going and changing the getting home rule legislation in order to put the park and wreck employees under DPW. Didn't get a
warm reception from from park from Cara. Uh, no. It was pretty widespread. I mean, even when I came and I, you know, I tried to pull them aside. Would you be willing to go under DPW or under, you know, buildings and grounds if it's too much and very much wanted to stay
independent? I I think we we would definitely have somebody take them over. I think it's it's really she's spending way too much time on that. I think we would definitely have somebody take it over, but um before you got here, our
old maintenance person didn't do quite a good a job getting things done. So, that's why we kind of took it back and started overseeing things because we can't rent out ball fields and have fields not ready, right? It it just wasn't working out. We had so many
complaints. So, that's basically the reason we took it back. We didn't figure it was going to be a forever type thing. I feel like this was missing from the salary changes and additional personnel part of the budget meetings
and and here we are next week of voting on the budget. I mean, you know, we've talked about this. We we we managed to talk about it every year over spreading mulch on the rail trail. So, I think it's uh you know, it's something we need to address it. Um I think there's got to be a happy
medium to get here to to take care of this um within the budget parameters we have. But I think we need to take the action further um you know given the scope amend the job description to to reflect what we're
doing here but then work with our elected park and wreck to figure out a longer range plan. you know, we and we've had a lot of discussions around um you know, I've said it from the town meeting floor. I'll say it again. You know, Lolly Park and and the um the
linear park, huge assets. They're, you know, and mostly gifts to the town with significant other town expense to to flush some of them out, but they're they're just a huge benefit and driver for the town and the residents and an asset, and we need to treat them as
such. Um and but as we do these uh you know whether it's a CPC project or a grant project we need to take better account for the longer range costs that come with those right pickle ball is a great one I think it's a great idea I think it's awesome voters supported it
they voted for it spray park voters asked for it but we have to go into those eyes wide open that they are going to come at a cost and some of the costs are not immediately obvious this is one of them right and we know what the water is going to cost for the spray park that was the first question. Everybody had the right answer for that one. Um but
you know when you start it's going to start to add resource that you need to to do it and we have to ask ourselves as a town um how far do you want to go and and you know what will you what are you willing to do as a town and you know I think you know for the you know look at
the use of the linear park look at the use at Wall-E park look at the use of the other you know the beach look at the you know and other areas that are under park and reex and others you know domain and control to make sure that we're adequately staffing and, you know,
building a budget to support what the people of the town are asking for, but also at the same time when they come back and go when they get their property tax bill and go, "What the heck?" And you you voted for this, right? When you voted for this at town meeting um for this, you know, it's
going to come with this. I think we should we should I know and I I've heard the plight of with um Mrs. Cartello um you know she's in an odd situation because of how how everything came about um where and and then the way that that
position evolved and then devolved back to kind of where it was. So I think we should look to come to some happy medium on this um and and come up with a proper job description for the role and and figure out the pay that should be commensurate with that and we can do it
in short order. It doesn't have to be months from now. But, you know, I don't know that we should just jump and do it right at this very second. But I think I and I agree, you know, I know um you know, and I know we've been talking about this a couple years and I also 100% agree with you, Miss Scale, that
you know, this probably should have been more taken care of at the budget process loaded in the budget and make sure need some part-time assistance. I don't think we do now, but I think in a year or two, not this fiscal year coming up, but
probably after that. What I hear you saying is she has a lot on her plate the full year and throwing money at it if she's burning out isn't going to be the solution. I'm not saying throw money at it because she's burning out. I'm saying
she's underpaid at this point and I think it would be fair to pay her more. I mean just by looking at other salaries in town and I'd like to see that comparison to similarly situated people to make that decision 100% and I think that you know
it in and I I respect you know Mr. for Wallally's opinion too is you know it would be expensive to replace her right if you start to advertise for that role andor you won't will not get potentially the same caliber of employee right and
you know what you have and so you know I think we should commit to reviewing this wit and and seeing what adjustment can and should be made and revise the job description to go with it um
and and you know and go from there. But and we can do that in short order next couple weeks. So what would you like us to do first? Do you need the job description first? Work with Naen and like literally within the next couple of weeks you know we've got a little bit of a busy week next week but toward the end of next week it gets a little bit
lighter and then um you know come back to this board and and you know we'll come back to this board and discuss it. You're you know and in partnership with an elected board to figure out how we're going to how we're going to do it and how we're going to pay for it. And you can pull some comparable in
town. Yeah, I pull every position we have, right? Yeah. So, let's let's take that comprehensive look at it. I think I've looked at those. It does look like it's the lowest one out of all the Well, we'll see that. Okay, we'll see that.
How do we start? Do you want me to get together with you or you want to get a job description together and email it to me? make sure we have all of her roles and responsibilities that she's doing and and then we can kind of just go over it and but I this has to be in concert. You
guys are an elected board, right? This you guys are advocating for this, but I want to be partners with with you guys on this. So, we're meeting Monday, but it's a consent agenda. No, Monday's a meeting is a consent agenda. I'm sorry. Monday's
a regular meeting. Monday's too soon anyway. Monday's irregular meeting by Monday. Yeah. Right. So, what I'm saying was it's not going to be next week. No, I realize that. And then I think the following week is Memorial Day. Yeah.
Yeah. So, couple of weeks. Well, it's been going this long. I appreciate you listening to me again. Absolutely. Always. Okay. Okay. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen.
Have a good night. You, too. Item five is other new business. We want to go back to the start of new business. The new business we started with. Would you like to do that? I have no new business.
[Music] Um, where we at, Mr. Chairman? Sorry, I was uh other new business. Uh, well, since he's in the room, I think we can offer our congratulations to Russell Anderson on his or condolences depending on how you look at
I Yes. Congratulations to you, sir. welcome in a week or so to this board and we thank you and um you know we're not going to get into your platitudes we got another meeting
or two we'll get to that sir no it um I'm not anything special that's it for me at the moment for business um so we have the other new business. Do
you have a We have something kind of hanging over our heads here. I think we should discuss new business. Well, when did you I'm sorry. Did you Okay. So, we just didn't want to skip trying to get out of here. No, it's not. You got two to go.
Well, you know, this is the last this time last Thursday meeting you'll have yet. So, we had some interviews tonight. Um very impressed with both candidates. Um it's an
interesting situation for me coming from that side of the the world on my other side. Um notes and information that I took from both of them. I'm empathetic in several of the same situations as
both of the gentlemen that that applied uh for this position. Um I know kind of where I'm thinking, but I'd like to hear some discussion from my fellow board members. I'm just I mean I think they were both very
good interviews. Um I'll give Kyle credit. He did smile more this interview than the last time. Um you know I' I've known both of these gentlemen for quite a while. um kind of cajol officer seagull a
couple times that I would really like to have seen him apply for this role at some point in his career. Um so I'm glad that he did and I and I also want to just take a moment and I I apologize if I put you in a bad spot, but I did want to and I I appreciate you're being uh
forthright and honest with your answer uh to my question. So, you know, having sat up here for a couple three years now, you know, I've seen a lot of the officers in the room and either through the appointment to
the department or to uh um through the promotion process, some in multiple steps already. Um so, it's usually kind of a process and how that works out. Um and there's people have different reasons for doing doing things in a certain order or doing things in a
certain way. And so, I I really wanted to get at that from you. um to understand where that was. So I I just wanted to to thank you and appreciate your cander and your answer. Do I have to speak? Yep. Um, having met with Kyle a second time,
[Music] um, this passion and devotion came out pretty strong this time over the last time we met. Um, Mark has more
experience, a more quiet approach. I'm waiting to hear more from you guys who um like I said, I am empathetic with both these individuals. Like I Mr. Mglin said with Mr. Seagull's cander, I went through the exact same
thing. So I completely understand there. Um, I've dealing with something similar right now and you know and and it's it's very difficult. Um, I there's like I said I'm of two different mindsets. You look at
Mark's resume and and package and it's I'm like, you know, and you know, but then I look at Kyle's interview and like you said, the passion came through. Both of them had great
answers. Kyle had more of the answers that I I wanted to hear. That's all that's what I'm going to say. So, and it's tough because to me, experience goes a long way. Experience, training, education.
Um, but that doesn't say it all. Do you want to hear from anybody on the department? We can if they want to speak. The chief, do we? if he'd like to speak. Chief, you're gonna drag me in, huh? You don't
have to. I'll speak. Um, you know, I've had the opportunity now obviously to work with these two for a number of years. Um, Mark goes back further. Obviously, he was patrolling back when I was a patrolman. He was part of the same Oh,
he's that old, huh? Yeah, he is. Yeah. And I'm that old too now. Um, he was part of my first command as sergeant. It was uh him, Lieutenant Tagert, Sergeant Kruka, and Officer Bird. So, it gives you a little little view
of that. Um, you know, Kyle, I remember him all the way back when he was in school chasing around uh up at the high school, right? So, I think as far as tonight goes, I mean, I agree. I think Kyle had a more complete interview. I
think Mark's resume is superior. Um, it's the ability to reconcile which one holds more weight. Got a coin. It's It's like I said, this is especially coming from my background, this is one of the most difficult things
I've had to do on this board. Um, so I'm just waiting to hear if there's going to be a motion one way or the other. Madam vice chair, I think I'm leaning towards Kyle Sanders.
Is that a motion? I'm looking for further discussion. Again, I mean, I can't, you know, you look at Mark's resume, you look at everything. Yeah. And everything that, like I said, from an empathetic
side, I get it. I mean, I've gone through the exact same thing with and and he did in several situations as I have with some of Kyle's situations, but, you know, I I the chief Kyle definitely had the more complete interview.
Um, and there's a couple things that um I I think made him stand out a little bit more to me. Um, so Mr. Molin, anything anything further?
Yeah, I'm going to um I'm not going to make it easy on you people. I'm going to make a a motion to appoint Mark Seagull. I I I I agree. Kyle put on a very good interview this evening, but I in
reviewing the body of work um tenure and and frankly the the forthright answer um that he gave uh regarding to the question that I asked that you know I I to me it was interesting that you know we he hasn't interviewed for that role
before um and at this point in his career you know how you know why and so I I really do appreciate the forthright and honesty that he presented and I believe the body of work um that he's put forth so far um
for the South Police Department gives him a slight edge and you know and and we're not done here. I mean we're not done because I mean we know what else is is coming down the the road here. So I think this is this is kind of you know this isn't a door closing
for anyone or anything. So, I just think that um but I wanted to put that out there because out of respect for uh officer Seagull's service. I do agree with you on the body of work. I do understand he was a sergeant in
another community and I give that a lot of weight as well. And that was my first inclination. So I will second your motion for Margie.
Considering all of that, how's your day, Mr. Chairman? Well, I made my point. Um, I said what I was going to say. There's a second on the floor. I'm just going to say, you know, I'm going to in the interest of
consensus go with this board, but Kyle, I'm going to give you your due. I would have picked you. So today, so I would be looking for that motion to Well, that was a motion we needed. Roll call vote. Jason Peron, I
Dan Gale, I Doug Mooney, yes. And Mark, please don't take There's nothing, you know, it's just really tough choice. Yeah. You're you're you have a person's directly in the middle of you two and it was a slice.
Really? I'm looking at both of you at the same time. I I'm happy with either one. Oh, I would be happy. I'm happy very happy with either one. You know, they're both two great were great candidates. We picked one.
Um, but move on to the next item. Thank you. Just want to thank the board real quick for moving us along and get this back up to staff here. I would like to apologize earlier. I was my phone and um something went out my
arm and it had nothing to do with the people speaking. I have no excuse other than that. I humbly I have been follow my language. Um, but it had nothing to do with the boy. They'd be forever preserved on YouTube. I'll just say, see, he finally admitted
what he thought about me at the end. But I also think uh, you know, we we probably should call it out, too, because this is the tail end of um, National Police Week, right? So, um, I see a lot of our
officers in the room tonight. So, we wanted to thank you guys for your service and what you do. Um, and the command staff and our newly minted sergeant and our SRO. Um, so National Police Suite.
Yeah, I can see you guys can come in really you know taking over from SR very good. National Police Week offers honor, remembrance, and peer support um while allowing law enforcement survivors and citizens to
gather and pay homage to those who gave their lives uh in the line of duty. So, um you know, thank you for your service and I just wanted to call that out today. And it kind of ironic that we had sergeant interviews today um as well, but uh thank you.
Okay, thank you everyone. Guess we will move on to any other new business. Um, I have none. Uh, we have a town meeting next week. Can I still hear those? Put in a plug for be there early because expected to be a decent attendance at said town
meeting through the two articles that are would be lengthy. A little lengthy. It could be. It could be lengthy, but there's, you know, there's some important articles on there of that are, you know, going to generate some debate and discussion. Um,
and there's a special at what 6:15 and then rolling right into the annual at 6:30. So, pack a lunch, get there early. All right, Nicole. No, thank you. Nine,
anything new? All right. Old business? Nothing for me. Uh, I do. So, I've had a couple people reach out to me. Um, this is something I looked into from the very beginning. The liquor
license issues. There are se several people who have reached out to me and are concerned again with the Hilltop and the Franklin House. We can't sit on those for much longer. I think we've given everybody plenty of time. You know, something needs to happen with
those. You know, it's going to be up to these YouTube members and Mr. Anderson, the new member, to follow up with us if you want to, but I just think it's absolutely not right to have those two liquor licenses sitting around like that and not being utilized when I know for a
fact at least one person has had two or three businesses that have been willing to purchase a property or or lease from him. Um, but there's no ability other than special um legislation and he isware aware of that. But I mean, it's been two years on one of
those. I mean, ABCC says we can pull it. Um I I just think you you folks are going to need to really address that. I don't think it's right. Um that especially, you know, and I'm going to have to call out the Franklin
House. That's been since I got on this board, three years it's been sitting there. It's just with a promise, you know, and all, you know, everything Mr. Saunders went through, uh, and I get it, but he he he made
comments to us when he came in front of us, and I've seen I I saw a truck out there once. I saw work going on, but I never saw I still have yet to see anything. But my opinion in a a week is not going to matter. But I wanted that out there. Um
well, why don't we carry that on the agenda for discussion? You guys can carry that on the agenda. And and um for the record, three weeks ago, I was given a tour of the Franklin House. It's done. It's pretty much done. So, I will reach
out to him as well and see what his prognosis is to have that open cuz he did commit to us um in front of his deceased wife that he would get that place open. So, um I will reach out to him and and have a discussion and bring that back to this board. Yeah. And it's
I'd like to see it open. Me, too. It's nothing I want to make sure people are. So, it's nothing with me. It's not anything personal and it's not for a benefit for anyone else, but you know, we need tax revenue on this town. Hilltop is open periodically. Yeah. I'm
I'm not going to go there. Periodically. Um, so I've said my piece. That's it. Good. Anything else? Old Other business? Anybody? Nope. No. Miscellaneous people anything 18 we have exact tonight
we have minutes though see they're not it's not even on the agenda as long as minutes okay I was going to say that we're No, it's just it's just the exact It's not the actual meeting minutes. Yeah.
No, I say I didn't see them. No, there were none. Mr. Molgan, you you informed me last night. Was I here that week? I generally if I read them and I don't it doesn't look at all familiar and I then check if I was actually here if um
well yeah Cinco de Mayo remember we were going to go have margaritas so we did well unfortunately I try and stay up even if I'm not here so I was like oh yeah I know about this so you were right yeah this was Cinco de Mayo wasn't it yeah okay I have and did you anyway?
Okay. I would just like to amend it to that. Okay. [Music] Um these are good. Pending Miss Gail's
amendment. Second Jason Pone. Hi. Douglin. Doug Mlin. Yes. Let's see. Warrants. We need to acknowledge payroll warrant number 2524 dated May 6th, 2025 in the amount
of $31,828.16. And we need to acknowledge payables warrant number 2528B dated May 13, 2025 in the amount of $491,623.14. And if there is nothing further, I would be looking for him to
adjourn. Second. Roll call vote. Jason Pronai. Second movement. Yes.