##VIDEO ID:f12PipBe2Ps## so I hereby call the order this regular scheduled meeting of the sundland select board the time is 6:30 p.m. our first order of business will be approve the last two meetings minutes from July 22nd and July 29th I motion we approve the minutes from July 22nd and July 29th second all right we have a motion made and seconded to approve the minutes from our last two meetings all those in favor I I I three nothing thank you marget all righty our first order of business which I'm very excited about um Chief Benjamin is here to talk to us about a very exciting opportunity for us indeed thank you absolutely good evening everybody joining me here this evening immediately not sure how contr on TV you folks to my left is Adam brome from Bown Police Department dog trainer and further on is Matt Manheim one of our firefighters and the owner of the dog we're here to talk about this evening R and we fig that we'd have Matt would say a couple of things that he's got prepared and then if you have questions or just let the conversation go from there we've got a couple of photos too but we'll let U let Matt start with a couple of would you like to see the pictures or I would love to see a picture of a dog so um this is Ranger he's a four-year-old German shepherd He is known for his goofy Side by anybody that knows him he's extremely friendly he likes help construction projects um um when he's when he's not working he is usually seeing with his tongue out I see there those ears so cute I heard he talks a lot that's one thing before get started we're sort of Hing H do we bring range or do we not um but one of the things bear in mind is he's a he's a search and rescue dog he's not really a therapy dog so while he's gentle he's young and he's a little restless so he might been a little distraction to us all in here and he can start to talk and he feels he's not away all right so Rangers a nationally certified search and rescue canine he's by annually certified and tested through drug be canine in both Urban and Wilderness terrain meaning he can locate um missing persons based off of their scent in cities as well as mountaining um I hold a $500,000 liability poly harm and property damage policy on him through Evolution Insurance Brokers he also has health and accident insurance through through Canyon I have prepared whole harmless agreements um releasing liability from the town of Sunderland or anyut Partners all liability for Ranger or actions will be accepted by myself um all expenses related to or incurred by Ranger are covered by myself you will not cost anybody anything any questions yeah just just quick is that normal for you know an employee to have hold on liability so it is in this case because of the fact that I'm maintaining ownership over him okay and so if he was if he was owned by the department it would be it would be common for the Department to have insurance but since he's not um he's a usable asset of the department he's priv he well he is privately owned um normal for my situation okay could you describe how that Dynamic Works a little bit maybe the difference it's a good point between privately owned dogs and then dogs that are owned owned by a municipality that's even sure sure um I'm in a little bit of a different situation I'm a full-time employee for the town of beler town I currently work three dogs for the town um they are the property of the town because I need them to be covered by the town's liability policy they one of my dogs is a patrol utility K9 so we do like the building search the area search where out looking for um people that were possibly involved in a felony that sort of stuff so there's a a higher degree of risk that comes with that so it's nice to have that town umbrella to cover everybody everybody that's involved Rangers a different type of a dog here this is a search and rescue dog he wants to find people and he wants hot dogs that's his 4K right there um and it's a little bit of a different Dynamic Matt is call for correct yep yeah so um you know he's not in the station 8 to 16 hours a day like I am at my agency so it's just a little bit of a different Dynamic but it's the same in the end you're going to get a a very good um level of service from what this do is especially with all the recreation venues that you have around the area and people that go out at night and don't want to bring anything but a phone with uh 3% power and no flashlight so rers up to that stuff for sure well and we also have something like a third of the square footed or square miles of Sunderland is a mountain so I a lot of people who go hiking up there and get themselves lost or injured and has he been tested on search and rescue yeah yes yep he he is currently certified um oh I meant I'm sorry has he had practical experience with search and rescue so he we we we have been called out once how it was for a missing juvenile um luckily the missing juvenile was found um within 70 yards of where they went missing as Ranger and I were showing up um however our training is quite extensive we've trained in every scenario that you could imagine um and it's it's real world it's um you know here's a mountain he'll take a walk I don't want to know where you went don't and then Ranger and I will find them miles away um and um I think I'm a better way to describe that maybe I to so that like what Matt's describing here the training never ends for these dogs I have a dog right now in the car waiting for me to get out of here he's going to be 11 years old in September I train with him same way I trained with him when he was 4 years old I I make things a little bit easier now because he is senior but he still wants to go out he still wants to track um there's a a seminar that's coming up this fall they're going to um be taxi in an aircraft and then deploy to go to work from that that's not something I'm probably going to see in my municipality but I'm definitely going to take advantage of the opportunity to go do it so um like Matt was saying it's a continual Evolution if we can put them on boats deploy into the river that sort of stuff you you have to do you have to train in the areas where you may be called to work I had an uh an opportunity last week to work with my youngest dog he's only six months old right now he's not certified but we had a drone up and that was a new thing for him because like oh man there's a giant dragon fly up there it's following us so new sight picture but definitely you know took advantage of it and we'll work it into future stuff other other thing to add to that real quick is that Ranger is retested and recertified by annually and so so twice a year every year we'll have to retest um to the CER ification standard and the certification standard that we do because he is specifically search and rescue it's a um it is four times the average um police Kang standard for tracking um the normal standard would be a quar of a mile North American police work dog we certify one mile with um a lot more um contamination and when I say contamination what that means is picture a busy sidewalk or a popular hiking trail where it's not just one person has gone through it's one person G G through and then um after that upwards of 15 people have gone through and there's a lot of scent discrimination so not only does he have to follow the human sent Trail but he also has to be able to discriminate um the missing individual scent from everybody else who has passed through that's an invaluable asset to the town do you do you make Ranger available to other towns should they need search and rescue so um that's part of the reason that we're here is Ranger is not currently a dispatchable asset and so um that was something that we wanted to get um you know let you guys know about and um essentially say hey we're doing this and uh make sure is okay with you guys because of the fact that um we want to put him as a dispatchable asset for to be available for other towns through through fire and when when that came to me a couple years ago and and told me about about Ranger and we we on the department we' met Ranger before and he told me about the training that he wanted to go through the attributes that Ranger had displayed s of those traits that really made it um a good idea to go through the training he asked about well could sundland use it and my first question was well what what's the training going to be like and when I learned that was essentially the same training as a as a professional dog handler would have for a similar dog and as I start to started understand things a little more um I said absolutely once once Rangers passed all his tests and got his stake and been been uh been at that level let me know and we can inform the select Board of what we have because it's it's takes a lot of time and dedication that spends it's probably an under understatement but at least a day a week one day out of seven training with Ranger and I've helped I've had my son help the the you know people that he's tracked and he's been able to track some pretty remarkable uh tracks some good hiding places uh into Barns and buildings and getting getting the that his Handler and anybody else's with them close enough so you could clearly see if there was somebody that was hiding or in the underbrush it would have so ultimately we knew that that the ranger wouldn't be a secret for very long he started to become known and work it out so we wanted to let you know what we have so you didn't read it the newspaper of something well we appreciate that you know a canine and Sunderland finding a finding a missing person on M Toby we wanted you to hear here first that that could happen well we certainly appreciate that um I I think it's a wonderful asset for the town to have and also if we can get it you know added to our list of of the employable assets being able to do Mutual Aid you know in other surrounding towns is great also I mean thank you so much for all the work on this we really appreciate that um I know how fun dogs are and so work is you know qualified a little bit there um but know we really appreciate you bringing that asset to the town and appreciate you helping to you know work with him on that asset um does other members of the board have any questions before we I do do we need to vote to do anything or just informational information not asking for anything okay okay okay any questions from the other members of the board for about anything about this well the only question pops into my head is the training cost it must it must cost you a fair amount to do that right I mean yes yes or no um it's in I'll put it this way um it's it's the time to do it yeah but it's it's also something that I'm very passionate about okay and I'll I'll put it like this um our entire department is filled with individuals that what they want to provide is public service they want to help people and to me this is no different than training in any other aspect of the fire department um the reason I got started into this was um firefighting its Essence is the are of problem solving um we see a problem Happ we F sure we have hoses we have water we can put out a fire we have exportation tools for a car accident we have pumps some B was well first time I we had a missing hiker um I realized that there was a little bit of Gap in that how we fix this so I drove into it and found the world of search and rescue and I was already heavily in dog training at that time with Ranger and I realized the solution was right than my knows and so with this I can kind of fill a gap that I saw before and say this is a complete service that our department can provide all right so wait you're telling me that the volunteer fire department is not doing it for the money oh my go no and and that's one of the things that we that just not to soap box but that's one of the things we love about our our fire department is the the dedication that the members have to not just the department itself and the health and wellbeing of all of our citizens but also to the town at large with your work on the town park and all that like it really is you know we really appreciate everything you guys do so thank you for that that's great thank you thank you anything else from the board no I'm good my only last thing is just at some point I need to meet that dog so make that happen absolutely so thank you guys very much we really appreciate it and also coming in and telling us about it and the information and all that um very interesting stuff very good stuff and great for the town I'm sure you're going to go to the elementary school sometime soon right yeah yeah you'll you'll see us around we'll do K demonstrations and put on put on a demo of tracking and how he works and things like that excellent thanks thank you gentlemen very much thank you all all right our next order of business is the Plum Tree Road property donation I'm going to ask the board to defer that to your meeting on August I believe it's 26th um we are very close to being being ready uh for the board to to vote on this um read the deed and vote on it however we need a little information from the Conservation Commission because you're going to affirm the conservation commission's vote on this and we also need confirmation from the uh developer or from natural heritage endangered species that it's not a select Board hearing that's required that the board can actually do this at a meeting so I'm waiting for those two pieces and you should be ready in two weeks perfect great then we will defer that for two weeks um next up is signing the September 3rd 2024 State primary warrant so every uh time there's an election or a primary we have the uh lovely Duty and honor of signing the warrants that go out um so that Wendy can conduct an election um so for this one this is for the September 3rd primary for the presidential and otherwise elections this fall um and this is just a uh I think we need to make a motion to approve and then we will sign and what not so are there any questions on this from the board all right not not that we haven't done a thousand times before so in that case I would entertain a motion uh to approve the uh State primary warrant as presented I'm motion we approve the state Prim primary warrant as presented second all right we have a motion made and seconded to approve the state primary warrant all those in favor I I I three nothing Margaret okay all righty that one was easy um next up we have a related item we I need to appoint the election officers uh for a term starting on September 1st 2024 and going through the last day of August 2025 do you have a list for us on those or you we do have a list um I'll I'll read it and the board can just approve the Slate I'll read the names for you and then you can vote it as a slate Democrats Barbara Howie Kimberly wisman Mary Gunderson Christine Drake Ronald Hoy Stan wheeler Michelle Burgess Liz sillin Republicans Deborah Bennett William sillin Pam Parsons Donna mckeny unenrolled Carol kushai Jennifer unes out of town Olivia Leon Leone Katherine omot Margaret nardz Russell Cranshaw and high school students mcav Burgess oh MAV yes and the board again can vote these as a slate again the term of office is September 1 2024 to August 31st 2025 wonderful motion to approve the selection uh sorry the election officials as a slate so just for disclosure Christine Drake is my mother um but there's should be no conflict of interest for me to vote for this so I second wonderful um and just before we vote just want to say um my kids grew up with mcav they're the same age and same class been through it all together he is a wonderful wonderful young man I'm very happy to see him being involved in this and that makes me so tickled excellent a students agees 16 and over can actually work elections they absolutely can so for any of our uh any of our students out there who are in that 16 to 17 year old range that's a great opportunity to get involved before you can officially vote at least so far that's that me hopefully coming soon all right um in that case um at this time I or we have a motion made and seconded all those in favor say I I I I three nothing thank you all right um next up we have recommendations to appoint select board Administrative Assistant yes um I conducted interviews of for different candidates on August 1st and August 12th um and uh while all the candidates um had their unique qualifications one did stand out and so therefore um I recommend that Manda Williams um Mel Williams who also by the way serves on the town's Board of Health be appointed to the position of administrative assistant to the select board and Town Administrator I've added to this Rec um recommendation I ask the select board to change the title of the position to administrative assistant to the select board and Town Administrator because that position works on a day-to-day basis with the Town Administrator or through the Town Administrator for the board y um so yes that's my recommendation um mandoa will work 30 hours a week this is a benefited non-exempt position her their rate of pay at time a higher will be $29 an hour this is on grade C of the town's Compensation Plan her regular working hours will be Monday Tuesday Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. and Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. and she will receive leave and other benefits in accordance with the Personnel bylaws great any questions from the board so there's no conflict of interest with her Board of Health position not at all perfect great anything again no no all right wonderful we appreciate you to taking care of that this was as we had said when you when you started this was one of our top priorities was filling these positions so we really appreciate that you have taken that bull by the horns and and done that work for us one down one down one down exactly um so at this time I would entertain a motion to uh just so you have the name oh okay to um accept the uh recommendation um from our County Administrator to both um appoint um Miland Williams to the position of to the position and also rename said position to assistant to the select board and Town Administrator okay yeah make a motion to appoint Manda Williams to the position of administrative assistant to the select board and Town Administrator second all right we have a motion made and seconded to appoint Melinda Williams and also change the name of the position all those in favor I I I three nothing thank you very much and if Linda is listening congratulations and welcome aboard and we look forward to working with you do you have an anticipated start date for that I I I I've spoken with her it is a two weeks maximum um if she needs to give her employer that kind of notice it would be two weeks um if she is able she will start sooner so she's able to train closely with C okay great wonderful thank you much and I see that U Mel's on the on the call so thank you very much and congratulations and we look forward to working with you all right I've got the video I don't know why it's not up yep oh well say love the fun of uh small town Municipal politics in a in a digital world what do you know all right so that is uh wonderful news uh congratulations and thank you all for that one um next up is uh approving chapter 90 reimbursement application good um sorry go ahead okay so um Nathaniel um in my absence um this happened after I left work Thursday August 1st uh for a week um George did contact Nathaniel there was reimbursement paperwork that needed to go in imminently um Nathaniel signed it and I asked the bo I asked the board to just ratify Nathaniel's signature on that reimbursement y that was one of those situations where if we didn't get it in it was many thousands of dollars that the town wouldn't be reburst for um so I kind of went on a limb and assume that you guys would back me on that particular one um but we did want to bring it to the the board's attention um it was just it needed a a town official signature for the application for re ment um not dispersing anything or anything like that it was just so that they could put the application in and we had a very strict deadline of we couldn't wait until even the following Monday because it was going to be a problem so um not a huge deal but public meeting members of the board want to make sure everyone was aware yeah so I would ask um for a motion um and a vote on ratifying the the chair's signature on that chapter 90 reimbursement application that way we can formalize it motion to ratify the chair signature on the chapter 90 reimbursement second all right excellent thank you um we have a motion made and seconded to ratify my signature on the application for the chapter 9 reimbursement all those in favor I I I three nothing thank you very much question is there a way to put that into the town administrator's court so we don't have to I I think those I think the applications Absolut AB actually require the uh chief executive off no it's it's there's a handful of things like that that we we you have to have the the chair sign um nothing in the world but good question question for sure um all right and then um we have another item on here which is a recommendation to appoint Board of Health clerk yes um I am presenting a recommendation oh actually I'm I'm in support of a recommendation made by the Board of Health to appoint Nicole Pagan as the Board of Health clerk she currently serves as the Assessor's assistant working Mondays and Wednesdays for a total of 14 hours a week um this position the Board of Health clerk would be a 5H hour week uh non-benefited position uh leaving her combination of positions as non-benefited at 19 hours a week the rate of pay um for this particular position is $24 an hour this is a different rate of pay than her Assessor's assistant position but she's going to be submitting to separate uh separate uh pay schedules each week or bi-weekly this is a position on Grade B of the town Compensation Plan and her regular working hours for the Board of Health clerk will be Tuesdays 5 hours and the office hours will be set by the Board of Health she does work for the assessors um again Mondays and Wednesdays so she will be here three days a week great any questions about that from the board all right at this time I would entertain a motion to uh do do you want us to accept the recommendation or confirm the recommendation motion toint all right at this time I would entertain a motion to appoint then a motion re appoint Nicole Pagan as the Board of Health clerk second all right at this time we have a motion made and seconded to appoint Nicole Pagan as the Board of Health clerk all those in favor I I I three nothing Margaret excellent so that was our last order of new business next up we have some old business the first item of old business is the Town Administrator search and an update from Margaret on how that's going okay so um two weeks ago I I sent you all the um draft ideal candidate profile and challenge statement and just ask that you look it over and let me know if you have any questions um I I didn't receive any questions I'm hoping that it looks okay to you because this is the document that we'll use alongside the job description to post the position I've alerted Deb Bradway um that once the board approves uh votes on this uh profile and challenge statement we'll be ready to we'll be ready to post um and she's going to assist me with that she's going to post in a bunch of different venues so from my perspective everything you sent over looked great uh I had no notes or complaints or additions or anything like that um anything from Dan or Crystal no I thought it was very nice yeah thank you very much for that um do you need a just a simple vote to accept it all right at this time I would entertain a motion to approve the ideal candidate uh profile and challenge statement for the Eon research I motion we approve the ideal candidate profile and challenge statement and I guess what post the job as so the the job can be posted the job can be posted in a timely manner second we have motion made and seconded to approve the ideal candidate profile and challenge statement so the job can be posted all those in favor I I I three nothing Margaret thank you all right um up next we have a uh arpa request for from the police department for premium pay um just for some context the arpa funds were a bill that was approved in beginning of the pandemic to provide funding for uh the town to meet shortfalls related to the pandemic and help towns and municipalities make it through um All the Troubles of the pandemic um that money was not specifically earmarked for anything per se although there were a lot of recommendations and guidelines included um and one of the things that was allowed but not required was uh the payment of our per premium pay to uh employees of the town that worked in customer sorry in um public facing positions during the pandemic um there was a request that we received from the police department couple six months ago 9 months ago something like that um and uh this is another request from them uh for the ARA funds um for context for everybody um our current balance on that account is something like yeah thank you is uh $492 56 um in an Ideal World from my perspective in an Ideal World um there would have been enough money to do all the things we needed to do and have money to give money to everybody but that's not an Ideal World and we're a small town um and largely those funds are what's gotten this small town through the last four years um and unfortunately that is sort of where it is um and the board has discussed it and the the um recommendation from the Town Administrator um which we have here and is posted on our website um is given the state of our financial situation with the arpa funds remaining um is to not go ahead with any any premium pay not only for the police department but for any other Town employees um any discussion on that end that Dan or just would like to have no I mean we're we're down to not a lot left and we I think uh you know employees all employees who worked through the pandemic uh Municipal Employees and otherwise um deserve recognition and appreciation and uh there is just with the limited funds it it makes it impossible to actually reward with with money um in in this in this case all right um any other final notes on that one um and we did forward this letter um to the the requesters all right um next up is Select board oh sorry I do have to have we we'll have to have a a vote on this um I can go ahead and read it for you and then you can could just that would be great thank you make a motion second uh my recommendation uh due to everything that that the chair explained I recommend that the select board deny the police department's arpa premium pay request and that arpa premium pay bonuses not be awarded to any sundelin Municipal Employee so I'd entertain or you'd entertain a motion on that one yes um at this time I would entertain a motion to accept the recommendation of the Town Administrator in regards to the arpa funds I motion that the arper request um as read by Margaret um that the request is unable to be fulfilled at this time second all right we have a motion made and seconded to um accept the recommendation from the Town Administrator to um not accept the request for arpa funds all those in favor I I I three nothing all right um I do want to also just reiterate that the town appreciates everything that that all of our employees and as well as volunteers and members of the town and community did um it was a lot of work that lots of people came together in order to get us to where we are today and it is much appreciated um all across the board all right uh next up is Select board updates Dan do you have anything for us today uh not a lot um I we do have let's see I know we have the uh EDM Studio meeting for the board of overse senior Senate senior Senate committee and that's uh Wednesday night I think it's 5:00 but I'm not sure I think that's right and then I guess Lauren can speak to the Village Center committee I know that's on Thursday night right night yep Y what time that's it 6:30 6:30 so Village Center on 6:30 on Thursday wonderful that's all I got figure to ah um one and and I'll I'll ask for public comment and if you could please give us some more information at that point that' be great all right anything else from you or Crystal uh UMES South County EMS um they actually swore in five new PMS today there's some pictures on their Facebook page of the swearing in they had a nice little ceremony over in South Deerfield um and the pums just as a reminder they help supplement the full-time paramedics and EMTs that run that South count you know that work on South County and you know the pums are a great asset and and M you know we're happy to have five more people helping out over there wonderful thank you very much for that that's great news uh for myself I don't have a lot U I did have a brief conversation with the head of the um Cliffside tenants Association um who will be making requests in the fall to come in and talk to us about their efforts there um the tenants of the Cliffside departments are uh forming a ten Association in order to have um better luck with negotiating with the management around um some maintenance issues they're happening so we'll have more information about that coming up uh and that's it for me for selectboard updates Margaret Town administr updates I only have two today um first the Clark and green contract for the graves library that the select board awarded on July 15th I have followed up with the principal um Jeff had previously sent the contract to him and asked him to review it I have not heard back from him at this point the select board just needs to sign again you've already voted to reward it so once the um once Clark and green has done their review and they get it back to us we'll be able to execute that um the Monas has notified the town of their annual camp out here that's going to be held on Thursday September 5th they will be two adults and seven students they'll be canoeing from Turners to Northampton um I have already sent their requests to use the field behind the area behind the baseball field um to police and Recreation and both departments have okay the request and they've been made aware so just something to that was my only question was going to be just make sure that the police were aware so that there something happened there wasn't a surprises there so good to hear about that I'm glad to hear that's happening wonderful all right um that should end our old business um we have no correspondence next up we have public comment uh and we'll get to people on the screen in a second but first um would you like to give us some information about the uh I I just came to see what's going on well Dan the bus would you have I mean would they uh glad to see Margaret here but with an interim uh parttime administrator we do have some issues one is we have our meeting Thursday is a hybrid meeting I need we need some assistance getting it uh activated um so just things like that can't fall through the cracks um I'm glad that we're awarding the contract to Clark and green that was the job that Jeff was basically going to kind of administer with Michael lunus and I helping him so I'm kind of feeling like that Ball's going to be in my court until we get a new administrator so get work well thank you um and if you end up needing some support on that from the board just let us know and we will do we can just a question is there anybody else who knows how to run all this stuff look who could stay unfortunately no I had Aaron fle here assisting me today I had the executive director of FCAT assisting me and we were all just kind of yeah yeah trying to was Aaron able to do it he was he was he was very good I but we couldn't get Beyond this in fact this is just not sufficient so I um we're going to have to figure out something else I and I don't like I don't know how to start a town I can't obviously start a town meeting for my computer someone has the zoom um I may be able to help you with that um uh we do have a commitment on Thursday night but I I I think but if that changes I'd be able to help you um and maybe I could turn over hosting duties to you so once it's up you'd be able to just you record and and uh close the meeting but uh I'll do what I can to I'll let you know and I'll brainstorm a little bit also on um anyways we we'll we'll try to get it working before Thursday um and we'll do our best if we have to reach out to to the former Town Administrator to ask him a couple questions he he did make it clear that if we had a handful of small questions we need to ask him on this this might be one of those so um we will we will certainly do that so the the consultant is coming through Zoom coming we really need yeah we have to have so I don't know like if Aon figure out to do it I don't know well if we could we hire him for you know a couple hours and pay him overtime or is it something we could do I don't know I'm certainly will I don't see why I don't see couldn't do that we might or or switch hours or whatever whatever works do that all right yeah let's let's talk um via email to tomorrow to make sure we get that taken care of it'd be good to have someone just I mean I do a lot of Zoom stuff now more have I used to but um yeah it's good to have someone who knows how they do it great um and I can't actually see whether we have people online who are wanting to talk Margaret do we have anybody online who's looking to I don't see um any up or anything I see no hands raised if anyone online want Last Chance yeah last all right well we're not hearing any hands not hearing any uh want to unmute themselves oh we do have somebody o excellent who do we have oh no he's just saying that it's Chris larby and his his video is actually up for the board information hi Chris thank you for joining us as always we always appreciate having you along um and we always appreciate the lovely articles you right about our town so thank you for having having you for being here um anything else from anyone online I don't think I see any hands so in that case I will close public comment um and our next meeting will be on Monday August 26th at our normal 6:30 time at this time I would entertain a motion to adjourn for the night I'm motion second all right we have a motion made and seconded to adjourn all those in favor I I I 3 nothing and it is 708