Welcome everybody. This is the town select board meeting for June 30th, 2025. It is 6 pm. We are in the land use hearing room. This is a hybrid meeting and is being recorded. If anyone else is recording, please advise Russ Anderson for the record
and we'll be calling the meeting to order with attendance going around the table. Nicole Parker, CEO, Diane Gale, Doug Moin, Russ Anderson, NEON. Thank you. And we will start with the pledge of allegiance. Um Chief, if you would like
to thank to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
Is there anyone in the room with public comment for the board? None in the room. Anyone online with any comments for the board? Looks like none.
So, first order of business is uh we have quite a contingency from the fire department here to recognize Will Barton, Randy Goldberg, and Kristen Nutting for completing the Mass Fire Academy and presentation of their yellow
helmets. So, thank you. Um at tradition uh once they become certified fire one and two u we like to present uh each of the firefighters of the yellow helmet which indicates that they're now trained to the level of interior firefighter. So that's a big move for them. Um all three
completed a program that was nearly five months when it was all said and done. Um and they all had very good experiences. Um Kristen ended up being nominated the class spokesperson, an honor she probably wish she didn't accept. Um Randy was also the senior member of the
class at approximately years old. Um but also quite an accomplishment when he's with peers that are half his age and working through the summertime when it was pretty warm and carrying you know doing the workload which was pretty significant. So all did very well academically uh all certified
firefighter one and two at this point and so at this time I'd like to present them with their yellow helmets. So we'll go alphabetically. So we'll be good. So, congratulations. Job well done. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
Won't take one big further afterwards. Okay, Randy, if you want to tell the audience how old you are, I'll s congratulations. Hey, Chief. Was Will one our first
junior is now? As a matter of fact, I was gonna Yeah. just mention that that the progression has been, you know, through the department to see it working program we started. Yes. Terrific. Um, a while back ago. In fact, her dad Matt was the one who initiated it. Is Matt here? Yeah, Matt's here today. Um, so Will was one of the first to move from
the junior program right up to the uh to call force and hopefully a career in there. Um, but Matt also had a daughter Skyl who joined the department has joined the department as well too. So, all very good. All right. So, let me take some pictures some hands. Can I have you up here if
you could please? Thank you. I don't want to stay in front of you. No. Congratulations. It's all right. That's all right. It's okay. Congratulations. We'll get the chief and deputy can get in.
Very good. Thank you. Congratulations everybody. Congratulations again. Good job. [Music] You have to stay for the whole meeting. That's part of the protocol. Senator, they're about to make their first Monday night.
They might want to stay for the whole meeting then. And it starts. There they are. Nice. Thank you. Congrats. That emptied the room. Oh, we do have a dozen or more here. Wow. No kidding. Well, all right. Thank
you. I'm glad to see that support. That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. And it's really awesome. Wonderful. It's big. You know, when you have three coming through at the same time, it's a big commitment by them. They're there. They get the support from the people and they come back at 10 o'clock at night and kind of the rah and the send them
out the door. So, it's good to see. Awesome. Okay. Next on the agenda, we had a firefighter interview. Um, and I will note that firefighter Jack JR is not here. Um Nicole and I spoke with
the chief earlier and um this really isn't an interview for new employment but a change in status from part-time call force to full-time status. Um so uh just acknowled we're just acknowledging that change and if there's anything else
you'd like to add. No just the public to that. Sure. So, uh, Josh was interested in a position a while back, but we didn't have any openings, but, uh, through her resignation, retire, a, uh, a long-term member, Carrie Bradberry, um, a position became available, and Jax
was very interested in the position. So, it actually simplified things for us a little bit. He's been with the department since last August. He's trained on everything we already do. So, it's an easy transition for him. He'll definitely fit right in. He's wellliked. He's young. He's ready to go. So that's
that's what we were and I think the the chief's letter was circulated to y'all earlier. Okay. Um and then next we have a review of the lake management ramp ramp attendant coordinator and conservation
commission. Uh actually the LPP coordinator I guess is what it's going to be called. um on the agenda for discussion. Um again, I have asked uh Naen and
Nicole for a more comprehensive review of all these currently filled part-time positions or part-time floater positions. And then we have some open posted positions. I understand one might be being filled
shortly. Two. Two. So there are a lot of roles in dunies that are acting like musical chairs at the moment. Um so I asked for um a little bit of an overall review to make sure we're adequately filling
where they need to be filled to serve the boards and commissions and the community appropriately. Um, we can discuss what you have in your packet if you'd like or wait until we have a little bit more information.
Um, Dick's letter, that one. Yes. Yeah, it's page uh 12 and 12 to 15 in your packets there. So this um I would say that Ellen is the lamp lake management ramp
coordinator um and the board secretary, but the part-time position of 18 hours does not really allow her during the summer months
to complete both of those tasks in 18 hours. So, they proposed um a full-time yearround position um that would encompass Lake board
secretary and LPP throughout the year. And that's what's they're asking for and that's what this is just a just a fill in the blank. Yeah.
So that would be Ellen's position. Um, and go from 18 to 30 hours. Approximately. Yes, it would be full-time. We don't know if it would actually be 30 hours. It would be 30 hours probably during the summer, but
not throughout the year. I no idea how that would mess with benefits. Um well 20 hours cons consistently 20 hours is benefit eligible. So even if she only
works 20 hours a week consistently throughout the year that makes her eligible and retirement. Yes. It's considered full-time. So either way, the benefits piece is
there if you get to 20 hours consistently is the key. But and I have concerns about how we had I don't know what four or five different part-time
floary floaters or part-time LPP coordinator in the past. And I think that's that's one of the reasons they're trying to make it one. But the conservation commission uh the
conservation coordinator also participated in some of those tasks. So, what I'm looking for is the tasks, who used to do them, who's doing them now and answer the question, how come these tasks can't get done now with the same
number of bodies or hours? And they're all broken up now and I'm not comfortable making individual decisions without seeing that hole. Okay, that's me. Mhm.
Would um this was funded through the ramp revolving account and looking at town account whichever whatever that LMC like management I assume. So long story short is there enough money to handle
this? Do you know? Dick says there is. I mean, um, they all have the LMC secretary, the LMC ramp supervisor, and then the LPB coordinator that I used to be. Jean, um,
Jean retired from Karen retired from Lake. Jean retired from Lake. So, me personally, I'd like to see what it what it means financially. How many how many hours at time time I want to see mapped out. I'd
like to see it all on all these part times and who's doing what and who has time part of the year perhaps and and can fill in other parts of the year where there's gaps, you know, just to see that all in one place
the positions. Um so Julie had a number of boards and Julie resigned. Um Cindy Barton picked up board of health seamlessly because she did that before and she just stepped in to fill the gap. She doesn't have time to do any other
boards because she's um working in agriculture now and she's going to school for that. So she's got her 10 hours at board of health which frees up cuz the combined position for planning
was with um planning board of health and 7 and 1/2 hours floater. So it was 10 hours um for board of health, 20 hours for planning and 7 and 1/2 hours for floating. That was Megan and then Samantha.
It's we're currently interviewing for that right now, but the thought process was give that 10 hours to conservation so that office would be covered the majority of the
time instead of half. That's the kind for me. I need that on a road map. Yeah. Half over in board of health and half in the conservation planner office. Mhm. So we have interviewed for we have another interview that we want to have one more
interview. Um and we have interviewed for that position. Um this is so yeah I think if you agree I'm not ready to make a decision on this until we see that mapped out. Julie resigned as well and did you mention in
somewhere in that sentence that Julie resigned? Julie resigned. was that in that sentence her she her employment ended early this month. I mean there's so many different hours in different places that and Julie
covered a lot of boards. She was she was cutting she was cutting that but I mean you could be saving money longer and I don't I can't tell can't tell from this. Correct. Right. So we'll come back to this and is there some more info? I mean, is
there um I see has the importance is high. Is it he's trying months? I mean, but he followed it up with a phone call. We don't get an email from about the exclamation points. But my point is obviously the legs. Yes. starting to.
So, so what's happening is Ellen really right now only has time to dedicate because she's part-time and if we bump her to 20 hours, we're going to run the risk of having to
do all the things we don't necessarily want to do with a part-time employee because she's going to work consistently for a number of weeks which would put us in this position where we'd have to offer her full-time and benefits anyway. even just through the summer. Well, we
just need that's why we need the conservation coordinator is still ultimately responsible for the lake permitting and she's just assisting. So, it could, you know, there's a backlog there. There is a backup. And I understand
Sabrina has other work and other deadlines as well, but but the the lies. Yeah. The real issue right now is just that Ellen does not have the hours to as as Dick sees it and apologize Dick if you're watching and I'm speaking for you
but um it's not even enough time to keep up with her responsibilities that like never mind the LPP and um whatever other task she has to do for like management.
So that's where we are. understand the sense of urgency. Okay. All right. Um and then uh discuss a student representative for the master plan implementation committee and we
have Norm Chver here to tell us about that. Sheer 100 Brookshire Avenue. Thank you for coming in. Glad to be here. Uh our very first meeting we talked about having a student representative
master plan implementation committee and part of our charter is to make recommend carry out recommendations on changes that we think are required with the committee and u we have wanted a student number but we
didn't have identified one until recently. Now that we've identified one, we're much interested in bringing in a non- voting member to represent the student body. As part of the master plan, um,
one of the issues that was identified through all the surveys in the open discussions we had was we needed more student representation and this would help younger people. Younger people, Southwick resident. Yes.
Well, that is our request. I don't know if you can act on that. So, this would be to discuss the role, see if the select board would support that additional non- voting role. Um and then Norm would have to take it to the
planning board for their support and approval as well since it was a joint um committee so to speak the subcommittee I think that's the way it would have to go. Okay. I think
the way we put that master plan implementation committee together or do we appoint period for that? We're the appointing authority but the agreement we had with the former chair was we would kind of run anything by him. That's what I thought you know in deference to how we negotiated that
whole thing in in the first place. But so if we support then um So how do you envision that role? We can always use a new uh set of thoughts on on everything we're doing and having a younger person on would
would help balance that that input for through for the entire organization. Give us some fresh ideas. May I speak as a member of the EMPIC for a moment? You're the chairman. I think this would give us um a fresh
set of eyes, a a whole new set of resources and involvement if this person could rally younger people to become involved. uh maybe have younger person focus groups with some of the cultural
even historical action items, recreation items, the school issues, things like that would be a good and I do have to say um so there's no conflict. I do know the applicant. He is
a relative of a relative um but also an an excellent you have him in your package on page 16. Um very active class president and in
the school uh community. She would have some good resources, good ideas I think to bring to the table. someone similar to this person. And I'm not suggesting that we discuss this
person this week. This is just to discuss if Norm should go to the planning board as well for their support. How is it that you came up with this person? Was there an a posting or an application process or we we have
leaison each one of us is leaison to multiple committees uh throughout the town and our representative of the school committee brought this up at a school committee member meeting and they volunteered this particular name and so
it went through well I'm told yeah he's al he's also the representative school student representative to the school committee. Is he a senior or I believe he's now he will be going in as a senior. Yeah. So it may not be this person if we don't
choose this particular one but it is the position that is being sought and to work on intergenerational activities in town. you know that we can bring those together. Makes sense to me.
Yeah, I have no objection. I just I don't know how it works as far as we have a you have a the committee is is the committee and I guess you add a non- voting member I don't know how you know depending on how you run your meetings some boards especially you know a small board like that you know running from
the audience can be almost just like the same thing right and you just have a discussion and whatever but if you want to formalize that I think it's a good idea okay and and we can volunteer him for certain tasks and social media campaigns and things like that as Well,
and and reach different audiences. So So do we take a vote to support that effort or just Yes, we do. You can formalize it as a vote. So move. Second. Roll call vote. Dan
Galla. Doug Mo. Russ Anderson. Yes. So you can make it to the planning board and then we will um and we post for it and go through the evidence. Obviously, this, you know, this young gentleman certainly, you know, welcome it. But if there's anyone else that wants to throw their hat in the ring, we should have
them come in front of us and have a little chat. Okay. Very good. And we make an appointment. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Then we are to acknowledge and approve $749 donation from Southwest Big
Y, Johnson Gage Company, Dutraos, L Per, Shabelli's Mobile, RNG Sheerer, and M. Sullivan to be deposited in the Southwick Animal Control Gift and Medical Gift Fund. So move with our thanks.
Second. Roll call vote Diane Gale. I Doug Morgan, yes. Sanderson, yes. and then discuss the select board goals and objectives. Um Nicole shared what she had found to be the last updated list at
least in printer on an electronic file I guess. Um that was the 23 listing. Yeah. Uh December. Um I think we had script power pencileled in a number of things since then but not documented on that form.
I have a notebook myself that I keep jotting down things and um I can clean that up and have that legible for our next meeting. Um so what um I thought the list was pretty extensive
in 23 as opposed to actually a lot of it two or three things. Number of things are done on that. No, I know. But that's a year's worth almost. Well, we went through a number of schedules in 23 where things fell off and got added on.
So, it's a moving document, right? Um, but I mean, if anybody has anything they want to add, discuss, throw out, throw in today. I I personally like to come back with a couple items developed. So,
I thought it was due today, so I'm ready. Um, I mean, I can submit the whole list, but um, you know, I concur with some of the stuff that's still on that list need to continue as some of those goals. Obviously, the fiscal year 27 budget is obviously going to be the top of the top
of the heap. That one just rolls around every year to just change the year. Um, the town website revamp was on there previous. We need to continue moving that forward. I know we did a small upgrade with Drupal or something like
that to get it compliant from, you know, whatever year finally got not supported anymore that we're on a newer one now. But I think we need to continue to move that forward to make that a much more um resident and businessfriendly website than we have today. Uh we've gotten
pretty adept at using it today, but I don't think it's as friendly as it needs to be and it's not as um uh just modern and accessible as it should be. Um, the next one I have on my list is I really want to uh have the town take a
look at how we handle our payroll. Um, as as we add more staff and there's a, you know, especially in public safety and elsewhere in town, the management of the payroll and um and how we handle it, the processes to it um the way we handle
it is is um ownorous. Yeah. At best. And you know, we we kind of hit a I think we hit an inflection point now with some recent retirements and some other uh personnel changes that now might be a good time to start looking at that process and see how we do it um and to
see if there's, you know, products andor services out there that might make the process more efficient um and easier to manage. Um, next I have uh I want to I don't think it was on the
list, but um this is something that has been a project that's been near and dear to me for for a while now. Randy was kind of champion it and now with that transition happening, I don't want that to get lost in the switches is the Sam West Hudson connection. Um you know,
that's a key economic development driver for our town to connect Hudson Drive back to Sam West. Um, it's also to me if that project is done well, it can be a huge driver. If it's done badly, it
could be a disaster. We really need to coordinate how you're going to manage the rail trail crossing. At where it is right now at great at Sam West is no big deal because there's no traffic at the very end of Sam West. If you suddenly connect Hudson and Sam West, that will
no longer be the case. and the interaction of uh trucks and vehicles and pedestrians and bicyclists and all kinds of things going up and down that rail trail at grade is not a solution. My opinion, you bury the rail trail just like they did
down at the south end of town. Um but in talking to Randy that there's some challenges around that with utilities that are already at or around that crossing. So, we may have to take another approach, but I think we need to look at all of those and all of the grant funding and grants and and
opportunities that are available as part of that construction project. Uh, Rose is always on there. You know, we've I know finance committee had some discussion at the end of the year last year about a significant bond issue for um bond issuance to try to catch up on
some of the roads. I know um you had sent a note about meeting with one of those AI companies. I too had met with a company called Viatric I believe their name was uh last year that do kind of like the beta program but it's a a different version of the beta program where they go around with a car kind of
like Google maps and identify all your signs and they try to age the streets and try to identify what roads need to be looked at. Um, but that's an ongoing thing for us, I think. But I think we need to move it up somewhere on our priorities list because it's it's really
becoming an untenable situation now in our town with some of the conditions of some of the roads are going to start to have a um well, they're already starting to have a a demonstrative impact on the perception of our town. Um, and it's going to eventually have some economic
fallout as well. Um, I went out of order. One thing that came up last year I would like to pick up the torch on this is to start looking at how we're going to or how we could potentially
uh I'm going to say better control I think is the right word. um usage at the transfer station whether by some um badge readers, license plate readers or something like that to be able to control how people come and go that they
have a valid sticker to go to the dump. Obviously asking the ramp attendants to enforce that is not a good idea. Um, so looking into all of those and frankly listening to the conversation about lake management made me also think about that as well. A couple of years ago we talked
about this and it kind of went nowhere. I'd like to reinvigorate that conversation around how we do the ramp do the ramps entry. Yeah. Entry and exit. Right. The ramps are supposed to be, you know, they're list, you know, they're from leased to us by the state.
We we have control of those ramps. the there's been discussion about overcrowding on the lakes, number of boats on the lakes, and one of the controls around boats on the lakes is entry to the ramps. When the ramp the parking lots full, no more boats. Well, that doesn't always work out so well cuz
people come and launch their boat and drive away with their their trailer and then another one comes in and they do the same. So, I think we should look at that too. And also from a personnel standpoint, is there some either electronic process or can you buy a ticket and stick it in your windshield
um or an app on your phone that you're able to pay for that spot for the day and be done with it? You certainly worth a discussion and I'm dramatically oversimplifying it here, but um the cost of some of these systems and processes has come way down to where they were
even 5 years ago that they're worth having a conversation around. Um, next for me is it's kind of a lower priority one. Um, I did see the email today on the cannabis dispensaries, but I think we should be looking at that um,
and driving to get those those two licenses open and if they are not going to be open in the uh, reasonable short term, we should start talking about what our backup plan is for that. You know, what is the process to revoke a license?
what is the process to reopen an RFP or do we can we consider one of the other applicants or more than one of the other applicants that already were vetted through the process and didn't maybe didn't score high enough to get on of the first two um you know just anecdotally driving by it looks like
one's ready to go and the other one has done on the building zero I don't know what going on in the background with the ownerous cannabis control commission but even if you said okay here's your license today they are months and months and months from opening They're just waiting for their design to be approved
and then they can start. Okay. So, so, but I want to carry that because I think we need to have a process for that. Um, I think we should continue to refine and improve our appointment process. I think we're still getting better, but there's always room for improvement there. Um,
and then, you know, obviously the one that I've championed for the last, I don't know, 8, nine, 10 years now is MUN fiber. Um, you know, I want to it's on the list. I want to keep carrying it on the list until we come to a conclusion on that. I owe you back some information from Whip City with some budgetary
numbers and then come up with a plan. Um I've also met with the fire chief and I have another meeting coming up with um their radio guy. um they have some issues that they're attending to and we're trying to see if they're with the as we lay out fiber for the municipal
portion of that project if it dovtales nicely with what they're trying to do with the radio project. It might be symbiotic. Um and then lastly, I think we need to continue to carry the um North Pond as a
as an issue given the um the results of town meeting. Um, we need to come up, we got to come back and figure that out because we don't have a good solution in our hand at this moment. That's it for me.
Um, just FYI on North Pond, we are working on all the signage. Um, it's just a very slow process. I just forwarded I'm kind of trying to get answers for everybody. People
get hung up. I I don't know what Mass General law I should be citing. I'm like, ask the question. Um, where do I get the signs? Ask the question. So, I'm trying to put all those pieces together so they can move it through and just get the darn signage up and the rules posted
and things like that. Um, you were talking about the uh electronic entry points. We might also want to think about adding North Pond into that as well. That was one thing we discussed and kind of threw out early for the cost
part of it. But um are there things on this list that we can agree would come off now if we take a quick look at it like number two depot to powder mill easements and partial sidewalk that was done. This is from
2023 or do you want to go through that and just you want to update that but then I can update all the things that are complete and and then as we incorporate these things and I can okay I mean some of these things are in progress at the moment too such as payroll the website
we're you know we're fully involved in that y um so I can give you some updates on okay on some new goals okay but I also have been working myself on different divisions of the town and and different aspects on where we have
oversight and things that maybe you'd want me to kind of bridge or liaison. And I'm just looking at departments versus divisions and I'm you know I have some things down like I said in my in the last meeting that working on different documents too
in my working session we could have even you know that isn't on a Monday night but is on a different night or a Saturday morning or something like that maybe we go to the library somewhere different some you know and have a candid conversation and and kind of work
through a lot of that would be a different another idea. So I think some of my notes are would be specifically for you to look at this work on that or that kind of thing versus townwide. So I
think mine kind of split up CEO versus town goals. Do you want me to submit mine prior to the next meeting for you or? Uh, you can submit it to Nicole and she can put them all down. We'll discuss them. I'll do the same thing. So, I mind
like one of the goals was to um recruit a CEO right? Yep. Are we done with that? For the moment now. Don't think it. So yes, I plan to submit them to Nicole
and let her compile and then we'll discuss and hash out strike ad as we go. Okay. Thank you for being ready, Doug. Um okay, then updated employee contracts.
You were sent separately. Um, these are contracts that were up for review and renewal for police chief Banish, fire deputy chief Bishop, and librarian Lynn Blair. Have we had time to review those?
And if there's any questions for Nicole, she can respond to those. They're not in this package. They were sent separately. No, they were sent in separately. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long week, but I read them. I saw lens. Was
it with Lyn? It was all there. I just sized changes. Y. So, if any questions, any comment if No, I'm sure you negotiated them. So, we're looking for a motion to ratify those and have me sign them. Everybody sign.
Everybody signs. Okay. So if no move them all together, did you make a motion for that? Doug Pet did. Uh I'll second the motion. Okay.
Roll call vote. Diane Gail. I Russ Anderson. Yes. Doug Mvin. Yes. Okay. Then uh we have a reserve fund transfer request for $5,000 to square up gas for fleet vehicles.
That is on page 26. So this is for this fiscal year for 25. Yeah. Would this be one? I have no objection to this. I mean the price of fuel has been all over the place. But would this be something also could have been handled by a municipal
modern act transfer right at the close of the budget year. What I think is the transfer from the reserve fund which is which requires the approval of this board and the um the finance committee. I think it's specifically that account
that has that the finance committee has control over. We could have done it with a different account. They chose to take it out of this um finance committee. Finance committee. So um it'll just Yeah. So any any others?
As a matter of fact, uh that's coming up and it's not complete and we can talk about that when it comes up. But um this you just want to authorize the chair to sign that document. So this they did not would not have had funds in
another account to move in the year and transfers more than likely. I don't know. No, I I know we do. So I I don't necessarily know. I didn't I wasn't part of it. So, I don't know why they chose to go to the reserve fund, but it's completely their purview. Um, if they
want to do that, they certainly can, and they chose to do that. So, um, it was probably an excess amount of funds in there, so they thought they'd take them instead of us peacemailing them from other accounts that maybe didn't have 5,000 that were related to fuel. Okay.
And that budget line item in particular is I see this is signed by Dan. So he's the requesttor, but is this only for is this for all fleet vehicles that the town owns or is this for only for buildings and grounds? No, I think it's
the whole it's for everybody and I think I mean fire engines, police cars. Okay. up at the same bottom. We don't we don't account for that because they have those line items in their budget, but I don't know that we cost account that Yeah, we
don't probably well as we should and maybe we need to look at that and we need to look at the, you know, the price per gallon and and try to future that better in budgets. As far as fire and police, I don't believe they have fuel for cruisers, fire trucks
in their line items. Never used to. It was always handled by town and then it was at the DPW but buildings and grounds ran it. Um, so because we we actually changed vendors because we ran out of gas a couple times and we're going to
mobile station. So long story short, the new vendor has telemetry to allow it to know when it's low and shows up and fills it and it's worked out great. And the price was that was from uh before Carl left. That was through some group purchase that he he Well, we just did it
again. We have to do it every year. Is it? Yeah. So hopefully the vendor doesn't change. They didn't charge us for all the telemetry. But on the bottom of this transfer vote at 15,000, is that for other items or it
says transfer vote at 15,000, but he's only asking for five. that line where what's five five is the is the request up top it's request for 5,000 but down below voted transfers 15,000 it
says 15 there um I I apologize I should have spoken with the finance committee I think if you could just authorize this to transfer up to 15 either one was missing at the top or one was missing at the b or there's two one in the at the bottom They may even have just tried to do uh
you know I think they hedged it so they wouldn't have to do it again. They won't have to do it again. Exactly. In case we did run out. Uh this was this was requested in today all the way up to today is us uh using gasoline. So um I think I'm not sure either one, but I will find out. I will certainly get back
to you. But if you could authorize, I can get that answer for you by tomorrow. Not to exceed 15. Not to exceed 15. Exactly. Right. So I'll make a motion to approve the reserve fund transfer not to exceed 15,000 for use of gas. Second. Roll call
vote. Dan Gail I. Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. And I will have to sign that tomorrow. Sound right. We all have to sign it. Oh, that's right. And we don't have that today or do we?
We She does. Excellent. Okay. end of year transfers. We do not have the details. No, she did she wasn't able to complete them. Um and it's mostly I'm going to take full responsibility for this. We uh you know earlier in the year
we had requested munis some munus training and some um review from DLS for out of do and as they said you know we're running behind right we're running behind right now. Well of course this is the month that they both can come. So accounting has had to take a few days
out of this very busy month to take training that lasts for a day. So um they just weren't able to compile it. They have a few but they don't have it all. They don't have the account. So I could respectfully ask that you also um vote to have the chair sign these end
ofear transfers who signs them with the finance chair. That's the municipal modernization transfers, right? I think we voted that the day we reorganized the board to appoint higher. Huh? We did. So, it's already done. You already have that authority. Okay. Okay. But I I was going
to just bring back the details after meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It usually takes I mean today is the last day of the fiscal year. So, it usually takes a couple days anyway to close the books on the year anyway. So, yeah. Okay. All right. Then
um we can move on to appointments. And first up we have the agricultural commission uh to discuss and reappoint an associate member Lenita Bover and Jessica Whitmore Parker. Associates run
7125 to 63026. And I can give you these are sorted by board or commission. So I can we can go through them all and then do them as a group if you like or take them apart as we go. To
reappoint a regular member Zach Barnett from 7125 to 6:3028 and also to acknowledge and accept the resignation of members Ron Chikini and Tom Jados for agricultural commission.
Any discussion? Any Well, I want to thank Ron and I'm not going to attempt his last name, but Thomas for all that they brought to the board. Tom D. Tom D. Right. I've met him 100 times. I still can't say it. No, absolutely. No, they've done a great job and you know, they've been very help
instrumental with that board. Yes. Uh over the years, you know, I um you know, and Lenita and Jessica have done yman work and so is Zach. We used to have a nickname for him when we used to work together 100 years ago. Um, so I would make a motion to
reappoint associate members Lenita Bober and Jessica Whitmore Parker for is they're just one-year terms from 71 to June 30th of 2026. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gale I. Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes.
And I would make a motion to reappoint agricultural commission member Zachary Barnett for a three-year term 7125 to 6:30 2028. Second. Roll call vote. Dan Gail. I Doug Mgan. Yes. Russ Anderson.
Yes. Board of appeals. We have um a little switch. We have Paul Rugar requesting to become an associate member and Dan Tobias requesting to become a
regular member replacing Paul in that role. Um, so Dan's term would be 7125-26 the remainder and the associate Paul would be the same
term, a one-year term 7125 to 63026 as an associate. We would also reappoint Mike Parent, Michael Parent for an associate member for 7125 to 63026.
So we're just switching Dan and Paul. So I would make a motion to appoint Paul Gregoire and Michael Parent as associate members on the board of appeals for the period of July 1st 25 to June 30th of 2026.
Second. Roll call vote. Dian Gail I. Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. And then I'd make a motion to appoint Daniel Tobias as a member of the board of appeals for the period. It's a one-year K because the remainder 712025
to 6:30 2026. Second. Roll call vote. Dan G. Hi. Doug Molvin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Capital Expenditure Committee. This is to fill the remaining term resigned by Mark
Reniki and Jason Peron has applied to fill that term which would be 7125 to 63026. This would be the registered voter member role. Hold up.
I need to check my notes. Okay, I see Jason's online. I honestly sent him a text earlier this afternoon asking him if he has a preference of the I think I saw his name three or four times on here. Do you have any preferences on which one or ones you'd
rather I miss you guys so much. So, so I I I you know, I appreciate that and thanks for joining, Jason. You know, I wanted to get your input on that. Um, anything you'd like to add? Well, with the cap, I mean, obviously my experience on the select board is it I'm excuse me,
I'm very familiar with the purpose of the the Capcom. Um, again, I want to stay involved. Uh, the reason I put in for the Capcom is my familiarity with it. You know, one of the things that I like to do is save the residents money. And like one of the things I did this
year, as we all know, is did that research on the um uh CPC funds, which saved us some money on some capital projects with the school as far as the track. You know, I I like to be resourceful and dig like that. Um, so any way I can help us, you know, with
the impending possibility of a $20 million or more bond for the road, um, I just think I I'm positioned in a good spot to, uh, be very helpful and useful in that position. Are are you Oh, I thought you were
froze. You sat so perfectly still, Doug. I thought you were frozen. And so I take it there was only the one application for it. Yes. Yes. Not I just, you know, I I I'd like to see, you know, and I I'll gladly set
forth a nomination for Mr. Peron for cap uh capex. That's no problem. I just want to I want to make sure that like we did with the other that we're getting and shared the heck out of them to draw candidates. um it's kind of dried this
season on some we still have vacancies on some some boards despite those efforts and their own efforts trying to find people. So I'll make a motion to appoint Jason Peron to the capital expenditure committee. Second. Roll call vote. Diane
Gail I. Doug Moin yes. Russ Anderson yes. Thank you. Still because I'm not going anywhere yet. Thank you. Council on Aging. Uh we have a little switch here as well. First um we can acknowledge uh
and accept resignations at the end of their regular terms. Jack Pai and Harriet Fischer. Um Elaine Bowser has requested to replace Jack as a regular member for the term 7125 to 63028
and Harvey Holm would be reappointed for the same term 725 to 6:3028 as a regular member. So they're going to be short a few um associates as well. So I'd make a motion to appoint Elaine
Ber um for the period of July 1st 2025 to 6:30 2028. So that's a full term, right? Yeah, full term. Second. Roll call. Vote. Dan Gail. I Doug Mogan. Yes. Anderson. Yes.
And then I'd make a motion to appoint Harvey Holm for the same period. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gail. I Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Cultural Council. We have all of these members whose terms
will run 7125 to 6:3028. Pauline Thomas, Patricia McMahon, Cynthia Anne Warner, and Bruce Culis. Quick question. Sure. This one, this com, this council is a little interesting that people have to step off
for a period of time. We're in the clear on all of that with these this group. This group is all clear, especially Mrs. McMahon. Thank you. Yes. No one is on their sabbatical in this group. Okay. So, I'll make a motion
for the term of July uh July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. Pauline Thomas, Patricia McMahon, Cynthia Anne Warner, and Bruce Kus. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gail. I Doug Mgan.
Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Thank you. Economic Development Commission. Um, appoint candidate applicant Jason Peron for the
term 7125 to 630 2030. These are five-year terms. and reappoint Julie Pitchnia for 7125 to 6:30 2030 as
well. I see the EDC chair. Can I ask him a question? Absolutely. How are you, Greg? Doing great. Good to see you. uh I don't know if it was last year or the year before we expanded the number
of members on EDC to a bigger number. Yes. Am I correct? Where do we go from five to seven or seven to nine? How do you feel that works out? We are doing have a lot of goals. We can use every member we can get. So
absolutely nine is is better than the five they had before. I appreciate that. Thank you. Did you have any questions for Mr. Peron? Um couple quick ones. Uh
we like to get goals actually accomplished. So we have teams that we have three people on each team for each different goal. So there is work to be done outside of the monthly meetings. Is that something that you have time and
are willing to to do? Yes. Um I don't know if you paid attention last week or if you were involved, but uh unfortunately or fortunately, however you look at it, this injury has extended my timeout for at least another six to seven months, even longer. Um I was
doing pretty well juggling the two when I was working and doing the select board. Um but uh yes I no problem at all and you know whatever task you give me um you'll you know you'll get the uh stuff you need if you give me a task.
Okay. Excellent. And the second thing is would you be willing to meet with me sometime the next week or two for an hour or so to catch up on on what we have got some Oh absolutely documents and things. So send me in the EDC email
your contact information and what time of day and whatever you'd be available to me because our next meeting isn't until August 20th. Uh but I'd like to you know we're getting prepared for that. There's a lot of things I'm having
everybody work on. He'd like to give you some homework if you're appointed. Yes. I'm familiar with homework. That's for sure. Okay, good enough. I'm all for it. Okay, thank you.
Any other questions for I'm good. We're doing there's two openings. No, one is a reappoint. This is a This is a vacancy. Okay. And Julie is a reappoint. She was appointed,
right? And she finished that short term. Correct. Correct. So they're the same terms. That would be I think we could do it with one motion if you'd like. Sure. Um to appoint Jason Peron and Julie
Pitchney to EDC for the period of 7125 to June 30th, 2030. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gail. I Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That
puts you in a little better go position. Okay. Lake Management Canal Committee. Um this is to appoint Paul Yakam for 7125 to 63026. This subcommittee it's a one-year term. Um and he was a carrier from the last meeting. His name was
omitted from the agenda. So moved. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gale. I Doug Morgan. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Okay. a master plan implementation committee. Uh here again there is a
vacancy and the well-known Jason Peron has applied for that position as well. Um Jason was the original select board um member um but due to his workload
couldn't do it. Um again, do you want to talk about that again, Jason? Or um his workload has cleared and he is uh professing to be able to join this committee as well. Uh pretty much the same stuff I've said
for the last three weeks in a row. Um um you know again staying involved you know my familiarity with the MEC working with Norm over the years with both LPP um he's an excellent chair and a great asset to work with. Um
I know you and I have had discussions uh since I left the board and you know I I find some of the stuff you know it's as we all know it's a guiding document not a not a mandate. Uh, and some of those things are fluid that will change. Um,
some of those things I have differences of opinion on and it's good to have counterpoints on different boards. Um, so I think again, uh, it I'm positioned in a good spot, um, to be useful on that board as well. And this would be a
one-year term 7125 to 63026. I don't know if I said that. Do you want to go through the rest of these as well or one at a time on these? Um, it's up to you. I I' I'd like to
That's why I asked Jason uh ahead of the meeting to kind of prioritize these for me for himself. Um, because I really would like to see I really would like to draw some new folks into some of these spots. Um, and this might be a good one. Um, since now Jason is on Capcom and
EDC, maybe we can leave this open for two more weeks and see if we can get a new person to come in, maybe someone from either EMPAC or or not um, but to come in and sit on that in the implementation committee um, and get their feet wet on a town border
committee. We we did ask all of the prior members. Um, I did post this one as well. I think our current members have all been trying to solicit. Um, and like I said, we're in a bit of a drought
for hands-on right now. There are no other applicants. And you will see coming up, we have no other applicants for the open space management either. And Jason did not apply for that one. You did ask.
just my thought. I I just I' I'd like to see I just think it it I don't think it's a great look. I I would like to continue to leave it for two weeks and we can come back to it. Um when is your next meeting? 23rd. Ours is 14th. Yes.
Yeah. Let's see what we can do between now and that. And then again, no disrespect. I just don't want to have, you know, you I just think it's good to bring in some some folks if we can. I'll beat some bushes myself and see if I can't um draw out some interest. Okay.
So, we will hold um table that one and the rest of them I think we should discuss, right? And just move through. I mean um do you have the bandwidth and time to to continue in that role? I do. Unless someone else would like to take a term
at it, but I certainly can enjoy it. My personal opinion, you're up to speed on it. It's a perfect fit. Second. That was a motion. Your Oh, yours was a motion. That was a second. All right. Roll call vote. Diane
Gale. I Doug Mogan. Yes. And Sanderson. Yes. All right. David Spina has already been um offered up by the planning board. So, we would just have to uh also vote on that appointment,
I guess. Absolutely. And is uh who's this guy? Norm Norm Chver and Jessica Taylor as the two resident community members again. So, so I'll make a motion to I think it's a reappoint of David
Spina, right? Correct. David Spina uh for next year. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gail I. Doug Mulvin. Yes. Sanderson. Yes. And then the last two are Norm Chamer, who is the current chair, and Jessica Taylor, the two resident community members. Still moved.
Second. Roll call. Vote. Diane Gail. I Doug Moin. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Okay. Open space management and planning subcommittee. Uh we have the one steadfast member, Connor Flurry. Um, and
he is seeking reappoint 7125 to 6:3026. That leaves us at least four other vacancies on that one. So, if you can drum anybody up there, too, that'd be good. Sure. So, uh, did we we appointed Connor last year, right? Yes, we did. Yes, we
did. So, there's a reappointment because this is an ad hoc advisory, correct? Yes, it is. And just so you know, I've given suggestions to the conservation coordinator and conservation commission to utilize Mr. Flurry's talents to advance some of the north pond uh
remedies that have been approved and get those into action. So hopefully we can get them going. Second. Roll call vote. Diane Gail. I move. Yes. Russ Anderson. Yes. Okay.
So, we just got got one on hold and then there's a few other stragglers that will come in the next time we meet as well. Okay. Any new business from anybody? Any other new business? I have none.
Not today for me. Everybody shaking their heads now. Old business. Do you have any updates on municip fiber? you kind of gave I kind of snuck that in during my goals and objectives. Okay. So, that'll be forthcoming. I'm just going to keep it on here and when you have stuff that you
bring it forward. Um, we scheduled the road tour for July 8th at 7:30 a.m. Um, and Russ also brought forward um
maybe for discussion. want to just give a little bit of a a recap on what you attended and so that was a vendor that does AI um basically the whole program. Uh they when you're done you end up with a a map of the town giving you your road
classifications for type of um work that's needed per se. Um which and ranks on priority wise from a pothole to complete reclaim. Um, my thought was it it would be a perfect time to do this
with the transition to another DPW director and that the person could walk in and have a full report of every road, its condition and and how to move forward. Um, I think I I don't know if I watched the video at all. I did. How did you come to
this? Um, was it was it a a webinar or something you were at or how did you get I don't remember how I first heard about it. It might have been a reference from some somebody else made the meeting with the guy. He did the one hour presentation and uh and he
said so it wasn't a referral from someone that had used it. No. No. But there uh New York State I understand uses a fair amount of it. Um and it seems to be well worth it. Any idea what
the cost was all in first year? Is it what is it? It's uh first in is 12,000 then then 9,000 annually if you continue up it. So there's 2,800. It's like $9,000. 2,800 to to um set it up as far
as I guess you have to put your GIS, you know, get all your layers and all that. Um because it can do hydrants, it does signs, it does tree work, it does pretty much everything. Um house in the road. Yeah. Obstruction. the um
the you can buy the phone from them. They recommend a Google phone uh because it doesn't heat up like iPhones do because you're you're hitting and leaving it on. Not true. I don't know. Just following what he said. Not true. Don't have to buy it through them. Uh it didn't you don't have to have a service
for it. It It's It can be a dumb one. It just you're recording. You link it back in and it sends it to them and then they send you your report. So how do you know do you know how does that differ from you're not in your I met a guy at MMA
two years ago I think the name was Beatatric what you mentioned right so also he came so he just gave you the summary of Beatatric too they must be competitors yeah probably the same guy yeah it may very well be except this guy was from south of here but um
is not on here tonight is he no I didn't see him do you know how that differs from what Randy uses now. And what what do you call his the beta program? I think it was it was a different approach to it. I don't think it had the AI component and there was not that they probably entered the condition. They
probably did it and they I don't know if they reserve it. I'll have to look it up. Randy had given us a a thing of it and we met with Beta at MMA the last couple of years, not this past year, but maybe two or three years ago and we kind of talked about it. But I don't want to
talk out of school cuz my memor is not so great on it. But uh funny the beatatric guy said the same thing about the phones too. Yeah. So that's why I was chuckling because it was the exact same advice. Um it might wonder if it's a spin-off. Yeah. Like I said it
probably is similar similar technology or similar similar software. But I mean it it's just never a bad idea to take a a hard look at it. Right. You've got you know at least validate our beta, right? Yeah, validate that. And I'm not even saying we, you know, but at least maybe
we take a look at one of these or, you know, and you know, this is good. You've got a, you know, from a the perspective, you have a new DPW director potentially coming in and a new CEO, you know, that's here now. And this is going to give you a newer updated state of the
state cuz I I don't know the I don't know Randy would know better when last time beta was in town to take a look at where we are cuz it's a it was a model that kind of estimated based on traffic and what they found when they did the survey. They time stuff out. I don't know when the last time it was updated.
So it might be time to have a a fresh look at what some of the road conditions are out there. Plus, we've added road miles to it um by new construction with um new road acceptances and we've done some seal coating and chip coating and
paving and other things um and have a look at it and I you know I think that you know the the tour next week is going to be you know it's part and parcel of it because you know it's all it's not all math but there's a good there's a good part of it and I think the um the thing that I took out of the beatatric
piece and I'm assuming the same thing I did not watch the webinar, but is that the they all have their different areas of focus. Beta was focused strictly on road condition and the other ones get they go off into the weeds literally, right? They're looking at trees on the
side of the road. They're counting signs. They're counting hydrants. It it does a lot more than what Beta was designed to do as far as I know. For all I know, Beta now has one of these things, too. Um well, we could find that. we should, you know, I think it's part of the thing is maybe we add it to our, you know, the the goals and
objectives thing and say, okay, this is something we're going to look at very closely, especially if you're going to go and, you know, do a bonding thing, get a new, you know, maybe it's money very well spent to do a reassessment of your current state and then, you know,
you brought up at the last meeting is maybe we do take a look at how we're doing some of this things. Um, you know, I don't I don't want to go too far on a tangent, but I don't disagree with Ry's approach, uh, most of the time that we
had where when we did a project, we it's a 20-year life project, right? They're going to go in, they're going to fix a road, they're going to do the drainage, they're going to do the tree work, and it it becomes a one, two, or three year project to get it done, but then you've got a finished project. That's great. I
also think that there are some roads in town that are 50, 60 years old that we could mill and pave because they're just 50 or 60 years old. The road base underneath them is still quite good. You can take a look at those roads. Those pavement has just reached its end of
life. Um so, you know, there are some places where it might be expedient um to go in there and mill and pave um fix some driveway aprons and and be done. So I but I think some of this this other technology might be telling. Um I
also am still slightly skeptical that you can drive around and take pictures of a road and that may not maybe it does give you a pretty good indication but there's still a little bit of engineering to tell what's going on underneath. And maybe you know like the the crocodile cracking and potholes are
telling you what's going on and they infer from that and past experience what's going on underneath those roads. But there's, you know, if you're going to do a a very large project over, you know, four or five years to to redo a lot of of lot of surface area, then
you're going to take the time to do a little of the engineering work, to do some cing and boring to figure out Yeah. to figure out what's going on underneath there to make sure you don't just spill pavement on a road and then in five years you're right back at it. You know, I think our, you know, one town
in Connecticut, not far from here, you know, they went on a paving bench, they're doing it again right now because I think they're politically, if you will, they just wanted to get pavement on the ground and they did it. Well, here we are five, seven, eight years later and they're doing it again because
they didn't do it. In my opinion, they didn't do it all. What they should have done was maybe less road miles, but do quality work and and redo some of the base and the drainage so that that pavement stands up over time and you get the best value for your your paving
dollar. So, we'll task Nicole with um getting some updated information from Beta comparing it to these and um but we'll still take our road tour. Oh, 100%. Um it shouldn't we decide we were going to do something with that and
we've already scheduled that work though that work can be shifted I would assume. Well, if this indicated something drastically different, I don't know how fast we would get that kind of system in here. Correct. I would Well, you have to budget for it first. Didn't do that.
Then you have to load all the data minutes. I don't think that that piece is easy. I don't think I don't think this year we would be looking at that software. I mean, you for this project that you guys go look at the roads and then take Ry's recommendation. I think that part's done. I think this is for I
don't think they should be bonding $20 million without a second opinion. I mean, no 100%. But I think No, and I think you guys are actually agreeing with each other here. I think, you know, we got a couple million bucks here and a million something in change. Not to be flippant, but it t it doesn't take any
time at all to spend a million bucks. Like literally five minutes with the spreadsheet. Um, you know, you take a look at between the continuation projects that we're kind of already obligated to the million-doll bond and, you know, the chapter 90 money, which I I plugged in as the same as last year
for a guesstimate, there's no money to do anything else anyway. So if you do that 12,000 to I mean you might want to carve out you know some of it to do that this type of thing so that when you get into a future outlying bonding project or for next
year like you know hey this thing comes back and tells you you should be doing this. I think that's fine. I think we're fine for this year with what we have. Um because like I said we could go you could go around right now in 10 minutes and find where you could spend $10
million. I know in a second. But my only thought was let's say we have a new person in here within three months, six months that they they don't need to come up to speed. That report would be there for the budgeting season of next year. Correct. No doubt. I wouldn't want to
wait until next year. I play now in preparation for what we're going to do next year. Yeah. I mean, I think if we could somehow carve out that money and and move on it in the next month or two out out of this year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean we have I mean you should
have I mean whenever we're going to have we're going to have our tour next week. So the the 14th when we meet next or whatever that was we can we should you know like last year I had the spreadsheet. I had Ry's numbers. I had my numbers and we kind of reconciled it
between the the select board and Randy as to how we were going to allocate those dollars. Um, and I think we should have that same discussion and maybe we add a line for, you know, to take to carve out of that, you know, some amount of money to fund
some future study so that we're in, you know, position because you're right. If you you you can't go in front of the taxpayer say we're going to spend $5 million a year for the next four years and I don't think that even gets it done to be honest with you. But as you the
roads that are in okay condition if you don't do something to them they're going to be in horrible condition. So, it's there's preventative, it saves money, there's it's it's a mix and there's a tipping point, right? And that's what Randy was alluding to last week, you know, where, you know, and I've seen some of the scuttle like, you know, you
go over to Fernwood, Birchwood, I use them as a great example, right? We need to get in there. Those roads need to get paved. They've never been touched. We've patched them and done that, but they're beyond the point now of Cape Seal, chip seal, whatever. They probably just need to be mil and paved. The underlying road
surface obviously is pretty good considering the condition those roads are in considering where they went in. They don't get the heavy trucks either and and they don't get the heavy truck traffic. The drainage over there, it's all sand, right? So that there does not need to be a ton of drainage work over there to get that done. So that's
probably one to do versus, you know, and and you know, I had advocated for that for a couple of years now and and you know, previous administrations, you know, took it in different. wanted to do hillside road and you know and and another place here but I think you need to get into some of the local roads and
get those going. Um and then you know that kudos to the DPW and those guys and and this board for what you know we we've gone around and cap sealed and chip sealed or whatever those two terms are. some of the road surfaces that it looks desperate treatment because we
went in and chip sealed and cape sealed some of the roads that are way newer than say Fernwood Birchwood, but Fernwood Birchwood there's no saving them at this point. They need to get paved. Mhm. Um so you spend a little short money on roads that are that you put that wear surface on and then that's
going to buy you 5 to 10 years of additional life out of that road. In theory, it doesn't you know, you can't cape steal or chip sail Foster Road, for example. It's just not going to happen. that takes too much trucking. They did they did a different thing for that. I forgot the name of it, but like what they did on um Lexington Circle,
they put that that's like driveway ceiling. Yeah, kind of. Sort of. But that's the wear surface and there's not a lot of truck traffic over there. So, that's going to preserve that surface. Um but, you know, other roads, you know, Longard and um Foster where they take a
lot of truck traffic, you can't do that on those roads. So, just come on out. So anyway, I I would be in favor of that as we do those calculations and come back. Okay, thank you for sharing that, Russ. That was pretty good. Um okay, then uh just a brief discussion
on the paint stewardish presentation. Dr. Irwin came in last fall and gave us um some information on uh paint container recycling and he was looking for a resolution from
the town to support that bill in general court and I looked it up and found that it too did not make it through the end of the last session. So, I asked Margaret to follow up with him and find out exactly where it is and what he's looking for
before we have him come back in and or you could ask ask again. Oh, he's right there. I recognized you. I was like, who is that? That's a pink guy. Um, so I did ask for um additional information before we brought it up for discussion. But
since you are here, fill you in. Give us a quick update then. Well, um, game stewardship is indeed very fast. Um in the last session there was enough momentum generated that the legislature decided to put together an environmental
excuse me to responsibility commission and that was part of the acts of 2024 and that commission is met has a task of reviewing five different waist streams for EPR one of them is paint and they've
already reviewed it and they viewed it favorably and they sent a report encourage they've drafted a report it will encourage the legislature to continue with pin and I think that's a very strong um signal to the legislature
but knowing how they've been resistant my thought is I'm going to have a parallel effort to show the grassroots is growing to push the you know the whole project over the finish line and my goal is to get 176 municipalities
which will represent greater than 50% % of the total municipalities in state and over 50% of the population. I think the two things combined will assure that paint stewardship does get past this session
and currently the number sits at 1080 municipalities and I think it's a very doable thing to have another 68 uh municipalities before the vote comes next July 2025 2026
excuse me is it basically the same letter that you had provided us earlier. You'll be updating the uh numbers and so forth, the housing bill numbers have changed. But other than that, it's essentially
it's the same language. Okay. So, I guess you can send that on to Margaret who has been in contact with you and then we can review that again when we meet next week uh uh the 14th. What's the general idea of this? I mean,
I don't I know nothing about they have it with you. Short summary is it's like a bottle deposit at when you buy paint paint cans and then they take them back forced to take them back. Yeah. It's not No, it's no force. It's voluntary. It's
voluntary. Um they participate. The small retailers participate. The large ones say no thank you. They're not against it, but they don't want to be bothered. Small guys say, "Hey, we take paint from everywhere, including the big guys. Well, we're going to need a lot of extra foot tracks. So, we're in um and
uh the the the people, you know, they pay an extra 75 cents a dollar at most per gallon to purchase me that takes care of everything. So instead of having to acid what am I going to do with this extra gallon of latex they just bring you putting on space a quart and it's
all saying with oil stains and from the last time spray can so that uh that's really kind of another positive and those things aren't cost up the oil through latex process
and so for roughly half a little less than half of the original cost the order that is currently burnt in a incineration cement plant um where the ash from the burning part concrete so there's really no land
going that and then later back to the other side so it's small but you know appreciated effort to clean up our
um when we used to have the collection Okay. Was that a for help grant? Do we know or we haven't done that in a long time. No. And we have a um Don't go too far a field, but we used to they also used to take the latex paint cans at the
transfer station which they no longer do. Um I believe every resident has a small credit with the place in Westfield. Don't quote me on the dollar amount. I don't know. But I know there there's a small credit. you can bring a small quantity of material to to them.
Um, and then you're free to pay for any additional. And the amount that is $1 a pound for latex and it's uh $3 a pound for oil
based paints and $4 and4 pounds. And Tracy, this is his presentation. the last time. You can take a peek at that and just bring it back next time. Sure. Okay. Thank you. Um,
see uh Okay. Any other old business we haven't cirled back around? Nothing from me. No updates. Just want to thank everybody who uh supported the motocross event
this weekend. I heard it ran very smoothly. You know, our public safety partners and and everyone who works that event and to the residents who put up with the traffic and everything else. Obviously, it's a huge fundraiser for some of our local nonprofits plus our
park and wreck. Um and you know, I said it's a nationally televised event. It's, you know, it's great for the town itself. Hopefully it drives some economic activity with other businesses in our town. Um and people get to see and experience Southwick and hopefully they come back. Um
so you know I know the the police and fire and everybody else that have worked on plans over many many years now and expeditiously getting people in and out of our town for the event and you know if there's any kind of safety issue that they're able to handle it quickly and
efficiently. And um I wasn't in town for the first time in many years for motocross day, but from all reports I heard that it was smooth and as great as it as it was um in years past. So thanks to everybody for that.
Okay, good for me. Um miscellaneous stuff. The treasurer collector is extending hours on July 1st until 7:30 p.m. for transfer station, stickers, and other bill payments. And Christy Mette, the town clerk, will
be extending her hours the same for swearing in newly or reappointed board and committee members who may have a hard time getting there during regular working hours. Are they going to do a code red for that? I heard a lot of people didn't know that that was happening.
Well, it's tomorrow, so I know would have to do it tomorrow morning, but um I don't know if there's time to do that. There's time. I don't know if it's worth it, but we can certainly do it. Okay. I just want to thank Christie for
her foresight and willingness to make herself available as well for that and for dog licenses. And dog licenses. Exactly. Yes. Thank you. Um, other miscellaneous, Friday, July 4th,
CRC has arranged a free concert beginning at 3:00 p.m. Babs Beach will be allowing free entry after 300 p.m. And then the annual boat parade will follow the national anthem being played at 5:00 p.m. and we'll be
circling all of Middle Pond. I think there was a mishap last year where they missed some sections or something. Um, so just want to mention that for the fourth festivities and um just for we get these in our in
our boxes um copies of certain um committee meetings and so forth and little announcements. Um I for one would prefer to have those scanned electronically. These are all in word documents. They can email them. Um, would you have a preference for it that
way as well just to do away with the time and expense of making all these copies for everybody? I'm either way if they're emailed to me or I come in and check my box at least once a week to grab them and read them and recycle them. So, email's fine. We're doing it with our package
recycling as well. I I'd rather not if email's fine. Okay, we can put them under miscellaneous. That That's typically where all of these announcements went. Okay, that's why I put that agenda item there. Okay. All righty. Um,
that's it for me. Anybody else got any good stuff? You know, she could even just once we have them, that means they're also on the website at the end of our document is just put the links to those so that I was going to say that we don't even have to email the whole document. So, this thing doesn't become
ownorous every week, right? just some kind of notification that Yeah, just the link to the to those that they were published. That was my other sentence, but I didn't say it out loud. Sorry for saying the quiet part out loud. Oh, no. Thank you. And then we need to acknowledge payables
warrant 532B dated June 23rd, 2025 in the amount of $594 95 $594,61.76. and then acknowledge and appraise executive session minutes from June 16th, 2025. Thank you. We didn't change
the date. That should be the 16th at the I don't know. No, no, that's right. That's right. 23rd. This should be the 23rd on the agenda. So move Roll call vote. Dang. I move. Yes.
Sanders. Yes. Yep. And um again, there's no meeting on July 7th. We'll be beginning the summer schedule. Next regularly scheduled meeting will be July 14th. And with that, I'll take a motion to
adjurnn. Wish everybody have a safe and healthy fourth. That too. Safety first. Did you have anything for us tonight or No, I just Oh, okay. I'll make a motion. Move. Roll call. Vote. I Doug Mogan.
Absolutely. Understand? Yes. Shake their