e e e e e e e e e e
e e yeah they weren't doing it we're good okay hello Hello whoa it's our new gavel they had to get a bigger gav all
right oh no you're alarms going off no okay back chatter thought they're going to run out uh welcome to the September 18th 2024 select board meeting um we're going to start our meeting with a
um a moment of silence today we lost Dawn house 19 years servant amazing man now if you join me please in the pledge allegiance if the uh fire
department can lead the pledge and we are being recorded to flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for
all uh we're g to we're just going to briefly start with public comment is there anyone here uh that has a public comment you please come to the mic and give your name and your Precinct thank you hi good evening um Eric Schneider
480 puron Road Precinct 5 I'm here tonight to comment about pedestrian safety specifically the Atlantic Humphrey Street intersection we all know that this intersection is dangerous at the last select board meeting the police chief even labeled it a Kill Zone in an
effort to emphasize how d dangerous he thought that intersection was as the chief discussed the dangerousness comes from its design featuring obstructed sight lines high speeds high volume and odd intersection angles all before the
pestan crosswalk I have three children in the public schools two at the swamp skle Emery school one at the middle school like several dozen other children they cross this intersection daily many other residents old and young use it as well
while the the crossing guard and additional um police presence during the pickup and drop off time at the school has helped uh they do not solve the fundamental design failure of this intersection my family had hoped that this intersection would be addressed as part of the new school in fact three
design options were developed by a traffic consultant and presented at the June 11th traffic meeting however we're not aware of any further movement or decision on fixing this dangerous intersection I hope that my comment tonight brings this issue to the Forefront and I look forward to seeing
this on the agenda at the next Leed Court meeting thank you thank you Eric is there anyone else here for public comment okay seeing none oh thank you Mr Demento could you
please uh give you a Precinct you should be able to talk St 6 1008 Paradise Road Bill Demento my comment tonight is to request the select cour not to make the same mistake the last time there was a
controversy within the executive branch of the town when uh one member of the board of Selectmen and the assistant Town Administrator served as an investigative body and reported back to
that same board the results of their investigation there is a controversy right now with member grishman and the board of assesses in my view and I think by a great majority of the people in this
town are asking and strongly requesting that you have an outside impartial investigator look at that whole situation as to what's going on to see if there was any undue influence or
targeting or anything else dealing between the board of selectman the Town Administrator and the board of assesses that is why I'm here tonight to ask you don't do it again you won't get away
with it thank you thank you Mr Demento is there anyone else for public comment seeing done we will move to new business we'll start with the reading
and the proclamation for the national Hispanic month on Mr Thompson all right National Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation by the select board whereas each year Americans observe National Hispanic heritage Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the histories cultures and
contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain Mexico the Caribbean Central and South America and whereas for the first first time in our Town's history we recognize Hispanic people here and anywhere in the United States as we pay respect to the cultures and populations and celebrate the
contributions of all Hispanic peoples to the culture of diversity Innovation and resilience that has had an indelible impact on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and United States and whereas the observation started in 1968 as as Hispanic heritage week under
President Lynden B Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 through the legislative encouragement of Congress member estan Torres of California to cover the period at which it is celebrated today and where is nearly 480 years ago recorded
Hispanic heritage has been a part of the DNA of American culture with undeniable influence in education Public Safety infrastructure Economic Development culinary arts and governance and whereas in the words of Caesar Chavez preservation of One's Own culture does
not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures and quote and thus celebrate the contributions of the robust Hispanic diaspora to include Spain Puerto Rico Costa Rica Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama El Salvador
Bolivia Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela and now therefore on behalf of the entire select board we do hereby Proclaim September 15th through October 15 2024 as National Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month and the
to swamp Scott Massachusetts and encourage all faith-based and nonprofit organizations residents businesses and public institutions to acknowledge honor value and celebrate Hispanic people's historic and current contributions locally and Beyond while also recognizing the ongoing interconnected
struggles of all Hispanic communities locally and Beyond in witness whereof we have here too under set our hands and caused to be a fixed the Great Seal of the town of swamp Scott Massachusetts its 18th day of September 2024 the swamp Scott select board
all right okay um now next on our agenda we're very excited to recognize two amazing gentlemen Captain James snow and deputy chief James Potts for their many years
of service to the town will'll have our chief uh Graham Archer give us some kind words here thank you chairperson uh Fletcher um hello good good evening everyone we're here for on a we're on a really happy
occasion tonight uh we are recognizing the achievement of some firefighters we're recognizing the uh swearing in of a brand new firefighter and we are uh honoring the legacy of service of two long long serving members of our department recently retired uh that's as
marelen said Captain James snow and deputy chief James pots Jim Potts came to us in the early 90s uh in the wake of an economic downturn which saw firefighters across the State losing their jobs being La
laid off and the tradition of firefighting um you know we had a uh Statewide uh understanding that we firefighters would pick up other latoff firefighters before we hired new people so we had a lot of firefighters come
through the swans firefighter the fire department in the early 90s um people from Gloucester Lawrence Lynn um Malden uh swamp was doing as it is now it was doing particularly well at that time when other people were laying off we
were holding our own and even and even hiring uh we took these people on uh knowing for well that they might likely go back to their own departments which is what most of them did when things settled back down Jim stayed though uh Jim Jim stayed
um and we're happy that he did um he made a career of the swans Fire Department Jim Rose to the ranks combining his Decades of experience teaching at the Massachusetts firefighting Academy with a real world understanding of the job of firefighting and he became a true asset to the
department ultimately Rising um to the rank of deputy chief he's our who's our code enforcement officer for prevention officer and he's just was a wealth of knowledge uh that we were struggling right now to F to replace Jim Snow worked in the fire
department for uh a length you know he had a tenure that's rarely been matched and it's rarely going to be matched uh Jim was there just shy just shy 40 years I finished 40 and a half he finished 40 and a half he finished just
just over just over 40 years with the fire department um you know red Delano might have matched him Kevin Breen might have matched him there are there are not a lot of other people I'm going to catch you but there are there are not a lot of people that uh that could that have
matched that um and he Jim grew up in swamp Scott and he spent much of his much of this his time on the department as a union official ultimately becoming the union president for many years uh he yes he was the president of local I local
1459 after many years of seeing new hires come on um and Rise through the ranks Jim got into the books um he cracked the books and soon found he had an aptitude as a fire officer and he quickly Rose and became a captain uh
before long he was sharing his experience in that role and he closed out the role in the rank of Captain uh these these two uh these two gentlemen are are a tremendous loss to of experience and knowledge to our department and we're we're as I said
we're going to make it but we're we're struggling to replace that degree of experience and knowledge so let's hear [Applause] something Captain Captain snow um if you don't
mind come on down we'd like to give you an official citation of appreciation and recognition for your 40 plus years of service in the town of Swampscott thank you [Applause]
pict so for next round of um I thought you I thought you going to read it first okay we'll do the W first soy
Chief th like to give you official appreciation and recog for over2 service [Applause] [Laughter] oh oh
picture all right out with the olds right so we're now moving on to item number three the swearing in of our fire captain Michael blank Lieutenant Michael Bagnell and the new firefighter Bethany
Dudley it was a great night huh it's a great night it's a great night we really we love these these nights it's when we get to acknowledge people's achievement and welcome new new firefighters in the 25 years I've worked with Mike leblan I've never once seen him anything less than enthusiastic
about his job I've never seen him not sure ready to go to work Mike's passion for public service service is infectious he is determined to extract every bit of enjoyment out of his his time at work and being with his team Mike has an Abiding Love for the town of swamp Scott
and he is deeply connected to our residents it's a very rare day working with him that you don't encounter someone or a parent of someone he coached that now includes firefighters he works alongside along the way Mike has earned the respect of his
co-workers he is a go-to source for information about the department as well as historical reference regarding the past quarter Century of Department history I know it has snuck up on him but somehow Michael blank now inhabits the role of one of our senior leaders and
old hands in our department I know his wife Amy his daughters Courtney and Ashley and his son-in-law khim are all justifiably proud of him Mike begell uh simply put Mike begell is one of the sharpest
minds of any firefighter I've ever worked with it it often goes unnoticed um in the the noise of the firehouse as we discuss argue and solve the problems of the world and the town that Mike is just sitting quietly at the end of the table thinking deep
thinking deeply and observing he will then at times distill the entire conversation down into a few clear and simple points which may have been lost in all the noise 16 years ago Mike tame came to us having been a 911 dispatcher and he still possesses the
critical skill which all good dispatchers have to visual visualize the situation assess in which direction is trending and identify what resources might be needed to bring an event to a successful conclusion keep an eye on Mike begell I don't think he's anywhere
near done growing as a firefighter Bethany Dudley it would be very understandable if Beth Bethany developed an outsized ego at this point after all when we enlisted her she had options of employment with two other outstanding
agencies the lynfield fire department and Boston EMS Beth excelled at both Boston EMS in Massachusetts state firefighting cies and it would be understandable if she did develop that ego but it would not be Beth Beth comes to work humble and eager
to work in the short time she's been with us she has been so completely adopted by her shift it is hard to imagine group three without her these are our three recognitions for this evening you guys would step up
here Jack want him down [Music] there oh uh I'm sorry also uh pinning them for uh for Beth Dudley will be a friend and Academy classmate on lynfield
firefighter Brendan Mike's wife Amy and Mike and Mike Bell's daughter Addie do first and after me I state your name I Bethany Dudley being appointed a member of the swamp Scot Department being appointed a
member of the swamp Scott fire department and having read the rules regulations and amendments and having read the rules regulations and amendments of the swans Scott fire department of the swans Scott fire department hereby agreed to abide and conform with all the rules and
regulations established hereby agree to abide to all the rules and regulations established into any other General and to any other general or special orders or special orders Hereafter issued Hereafter is issued and and shall be
subject to the penalties and shall be subject to the penalties therein provided for therein provided for I state your name I Bethany Dudley do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I
will support the Constitution of the United States as well as the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the bylaws of the town of Swampscott and the bylaws of the town of Swampscott and the that I will to the best of my abilities and that I will to
the best of my abilities discharge the duties as a member of the swamp Scot fire department discharge the duties as a member of the swamp scoutt fire department [Applause]
now for the two promotions I st I michaelan do song We swear or affir s sarir that I will faithfully and partially I will Faithfully partially to the best of my abilities to the best abilities discharge the duties of
discharge the duties of position lieutenant in the swamp fire department additionally additionally I will abide by and enforce and force all the rules regulations and procedures all the rules regulations and
procedures of the swans Scot fire dep I st I Michael you we swear or affirm youly swear or affir that that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States as
well as the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the constition masss constitution of Massachusetts in the bylaws of the town of Swampscott in thews of the town of swamp Scott and that I will that I will will to the best
of my abilities best my ab discharge the duties discharge the duties as a member of the swamp Scot fire as a member of the swamp [Applause] fire JB Jab
Captain Lieutenant would you take a moment to say a few words yes I would like to uh thank Sean the chief the board of selectman for giving me the opportunity to uh give back to my community you know I'm very excited about doing that um i' I've been on 25 years and you know the I've learned from
you know the senior guys I learned from you know Captain snow and Jim PS and some of the other you know senior guys and I want to pass that on to the you know younger generation you know I got bethan in my group brand new I'm I'm excited about that and I just you know I'm excited to give back to the
community terrific Lieutenant Chief appreciate it thank you everybody [Music] brand all right so I guess a few words is definitely pretty clear any would you like to say anything else Chief before we wrap it up oh good thank
thank you the select board for for your time uh for inviting us to be here it really means a lot that you guys take the time to recognize these achievements thank you you did you do a great job Chief thank you thank you all right thank you everybody [Applause]
we'll give everybody a second the okay next on our agenda we have uh the appointment of our new town assessor John Paul oh I'm sorry how do you say your last name Mr plof plof John Paul
plof good evening Sean yes um very happy to present uh Mr plof um Jean Paul comes to swampit uh after a lifetime of
achievement uh with appraisals and Municipal assessing um uh John Paul um has um uh spent a lifetime really working in real estate uh he has a tremendous amount of
experience uh he is recommended unanimously by our board Board of assessors after um meeting with him and and conducting the initial screening uh I really do feel as though uh John uh you know has uh every bit of experience
to help us um he has worked in communities that have uh been similar um and larger and so I think he has the background to to Really address some of the uh issues that that we're dealing with with that uh John Paul would you
share a little bit about uh your background and um yeah um I've been doing property valuation for 35 years the last 24 25 as assessor um two years uh in West newbry and the last 21 or so
in the town of Westford um after being an assistant assessor there for a year I was appointed as the principal assessor and that's where I and I just stayed afterwards I was very happy in Westford it's close to home I was familiar with the town
um I retired three years ago and I'm finding that um getting a little bit bored so I started to look for something part-time to do and swamps I just happened to come across um when I was looking around and I figured well you
know it's kind of what I know it's what I've been doing I think I can bring something to the town um I certainly think I can you know produce what you need done here um in terms of my part of my career I always felt my
job was to recommend and to the board of assessors um different things that need to be done with abatements or whatnot kind of more advisory I don't play politics I people
come in even when I was in Westford um you know probably accusing me of you know playing politics and my answer to them was one I didn't know who they were and I didn't care but but for me they were real estate and really for the most
part that's what my function is it's it's valuing real and personal property to determine what everyone's piece of the pie is and because that piece of the pie is the tax levy and which is part of the budget and which the I or the board
of assessors has no control over um so over a period of a lot of years uh most people I think in Westford finally began to understand that um one woman actually told me she started going to town meetings and fincom meetings because of me um because it wasn't enough to
complain about what's going on if you're not going to become involved um and that's the only way to learn what municipal government is all about so terrific thank you John any questions from the
board no questions for me just thank you very much J welcome for coming in same number of hours as we've had in the past same number of hours you know we're going to uh work with u John Paul you know we right now you know there are some weeks that are busier than others
and so there's a degree of flexibility uh certainly um you know we're always kind of open to really just seeing how things work but yeah average 15 hours yeah that's right yeah I mean because I'm retired I'm allowed to work up to 1,200 hours a year and after that it
affects my retirement everything else so uh 15 hours a week puts me around that's right a happy number that's right that basically is what we've been doing yeah and I you know I think you know after the first uh couple of months we can Circle back around and just see how
things are yeah I'm familiar with patri properties I've worked with them in Westford and I'm familiar with the owners a l the business has been sold and a lot of people that work there so this is not anything new for me um we
had Patriot sucess Pro in West have that here so it's just kind of getting familiar with the little nuances of your system I do you have a far commute I live in ring I lived in um dra I grew up in
La um I grew up in LOL um and we lived in dra 40 years and when I retired uh things changed my wife and I looked at each other and says let's get rid of the house which we did uh my daughter moved to Wakefield with
my four beautiful grandchildren so we are there helping them and this is kind of what we're doing uh the three well the oldest and the three oldest ones are now are now in school so the little guy now goes to daycare so but in between helping them in the morning and then
doing something later on it's kind of a big stretch for me and I'm finding I go in a Market Basket on a daily basis so I just kind of really feel I need to be doing something and it really didn't matter what as long as I was just kind of keeping myself busy does this
mean you're trying to get out of going to Market Basket or just going to hit Market Basket all those de the house and rented an apartment and what's nice is I don't have to do anything right but also what's not nice is I have nothing to do so um I think a little side job would
probably do well great welcome to swamp Scott sure thank you so we need a vote uh from the board to confirm the recommendation so can we have a motion to confirm the recommendation so move in a second second all in favor I I move all right
[Applause] congrats thank you Maryann okay moving along um discussion and possible votes uh excuse me discussion and possible vote on the votes act requirements for Town Hall early I did
yep one above it number five discuss number five my number five is discussion on possible votes the grant grant lighting Grant I got a I have a different
one oh okay discussion on $224,000 Grant opportunity for lighting with future request for Warrant article funding this is just a discussion okay and we have a special guest Mr Joe dlet
hi you could come to the mic Mr dlet oh you have a mic okay I got myself miked up I'm here with Max as well Max and I have been working on this for the past several years and you guys have been very supportive um about this whole project it's moving forward
Acoustics going in relatively soon audio and speakers are going in relatively soon lighting was on the capital Improvement uh plan for next year um for about 453,000 I'm going to just give you the kind of the quick what's happening
and National Grid came to us late in the summer mid to late summer and said hey we can fund 50% of this but you have to have it done by December 31st so max and I have been kind of scrambling trying to figure out if there's any path to this um which is why we're here in front of
you today so the ultimate revised cost of the town will be 229,000 um but again it has to be complete by December 31st so we're one strategy is to get this on a special town meeting U warrant to fund that the issue is that in order to have it done
by December 31st it has all the parts have to be ordered before there'll be a special town meeting so there's the there's the tricky um part of this so just quick timeline on this uh if there's even a possibility for this and I recognize that this is a a long shot just because
of the potential complexities um we did reach out to the town um Administration and to various committees to just see what the the feeling would be to to do this everyone seems supportive of it but you know there's how we get this done is the next part which is consider the Fe visbility
um we would need to order the supplies within the next week or so in order for them to be in in time for the installation to happen to be completed by December 31st we do have a couple of times in the auditorium booked so getting the getting the project done um seems like it's doable as long
as the stuff gets ordered within um the time that we have um special town meeting if it happens in November December if that does get approved then that does then take the entire amount fund it uh and then we would pay National Grid um our share and they
would pay the other share and it would be complete uh so I'm sure there's many questions Max and I have been going back and forth on this um a couple of things just in case these are questions if it can happen What happens if the town meeting approves this later than project
completion say there's not a special town meeting till say January or something part of National Grids incentive is this this goes on to obr so they actually pay for the ire project and then we pay them back at a 0% financing for for 5 years so our
payments until we do get the funding are around $3,500 a month um but then we can pay off the full amount at any time with no penalty so National Grid is Rel basically paying for this project and we're paying them back on our electric bill we've done projects with them like this in the past the other question that came up I'll throw this out what happens
if we can't take advantage of this 50% incentive from National Grid um next year there might be an incentive that would be closer to 5 or 10% so it's not you know nothing it would be a $45,000 incentive and then marsy and I have been looking at other kind of audience development grants through the mass
cultural Council so that's my two-minute pitch but we're here to answer any questions um that you might have where are the parts coming from well it that would depend on the
vendor mean you mean geographically or in ter I don't know they we've there's a person that does this and orders these parts and he says I would we would need to order these within the next couple of weeks in order to get them in in time to install I think what I'm really trying to
understand is are these parts available um is this is this likely that parts are available they can get shipped in here or is this something where you're going to have a you're going to have maybe 20% of your parts can't get in and then the whole project is just the person that
designed the system has made calls to the suppliers and he has assured us that the parts are available we just need to order them within this time frame and Joe what's the install what's the installed process um how many days
are folks going to need to be in the auditorium um you know just kind of give us a timeline there or your best your best estimate well there's there's demolition so there's pulling out the entire electrical system then there's inst ing the new
Electric System then there's hanging the rigging of the lights and then there's installation and programming of the lights so I would imagine a week of install he did he did a smaller project in our studio and he did it in two days that was that was obviously a tinier
project but I would say a week he can work around the auditorium schedule um and Mr Pierce's needs so getting in the theater in the time frame of dece up to December 31st is do
doable if parts are ordered with you know by the beginning of October so like two months to order to come in to start the work and then to install he is very confident and that that can be done so what is uh I wasn't here when
this whole conversation started just very simply like what is the need for this in terms of like are the lights like defective not very good not very energy efficient like what what's the real driver the driver from National Grid is that we have an outdated
inefficient incandescent light system that are hard to maneuver um not they're maneuverable because people have been using these for years but they want to move everybody industrially large businesses IND Industries over to LED so this is kind of their last year of the
incentive for large businesses we fall under that they call it a um commercial and Industrial customer uh for us our lighting system is outd it's not made anymore there's if anything goes wrong with it then we would need to replace it
so we're kind of in that we don't know when it's going to go and if something does go trying to get it repaired or getting parts would be complicated so my conversations with capital Improvement has been let's kind of pre-o this since we're doing a whole Auditorium upgrade why don't we just do the whole thing and
Max has been very supportive let's just get that Auditorium done and be done with it for the next 15 20 years um so that that's been kind of our internal desire is that we don't want to wait till it goes because in the middle of one the Gym's plays the lights go out and it's not a murder mystery it's it's
a financial mystery at that point do we expect to save money there would be a cost savings on the use of the lights so um I got a very kind of compli not super complicated but email from um the vendor talking about the the usage and the
efficiencies of it um I wasn't able to decipher it until like a a year but if they were used at full his number was around $30,000 of savings a year we probably don't use them to that extent but it would be in the
thousands we do use them on a weekly basis during the school year and then during um you know play time they're on for kind of two weeks during dress rehearsals Tech week and performances so this thousands at least four figures of
savings a year on the on the on the LED switch and what was say my last question 3500 was what for was it 3500 next slide oh sorry this would be the if we didn't if it didn't get funded so say Town say this say all these pieces got in place
and we got it on town on an article a war an article and then for some reason the town said no um our our we would be on the hook for $3,500 a month for five years it's a 0% 5year kind of loan from National Grid so that's kind of worst
case scenario if we get through all this but then town meeting says nope we would s it's about around like 40 40,000 to add to that um the reason we would even be in a position to advance the project without
an appropriation is that we have the National Grid incentives and a commitment from National Grid to fund it on obr um but with the obr there's you know a significant impact to the operating budget
$3,500 a month um so that's why there would be would be looking to have Capital sort of come in and and and level that out but the obr is critical because without obr on Bill repayment we wouldn't be in a position to start this
project as swiftly as we would need to we we couldn't we couldn't order pieces for a project months ahead of town meeting in anticipation without a special maneuver like we have this as a f backup strategy if yeah OB yeah the
other back I'm not sure why we wouldn't consider using this this is recently to light unended um literally 24 hours uh or you know little um more than that and so we're looking
at it and I've had conversations with Max and with Joe I I want to applaud them for looking at an opportunity to actually help the town get um 200 plus thousand this is really a wonderful
program but we have rules to follow not just with a grant program for National Grid but for municipal Finance like we have procurement laws that we have to follow these are this is a major project and we have to really be careful with it there are opportunities for us to kind
of think about this and and really strategize we have a big budget we have a lot of flexibility uh but we we may have to come back and and have uh another conversation about a game plan tonight we want to get a sense from the board is this something that you would
support if we could actually pull this together and come up with a strategy that we could go to a special town meeting sometime late November early December um we may have to decide sooner about allocating some operating budget
there may be an opport you know a need to have a conversation among a number of town departments to do that um that said you know the town does have some budgets that we could rely on I'm not sure you know that
at this point in the fiscal year relying on on um those sources would be the most prudent thing to do I do think going to a special town meeting and and perhaps seeking a supplemental appropriation either through free cash or through Debt
Service uh would help secure our budgets through the rest of the fiscal year these are the the things that we have to kind of work out um you know we did talk about the payback you know it is interesting to me like if we're replacing all these incandescent lights
you know could that offset the $3,500 a month how much of that could actually be achieved through an operating budget but these are these are the stage lights we don't use the stage lights like we use the auditorium or you know they come on and off infrequently and so we're not
going to get that same payback and so I just want to be clear it's it's it noodling that number and it's it's it's really difficult and I don't want to overestimate that number I'm just getting confused by the math so right
here and and I'm I'm I'm in full support of this I think this is something that we you know we've been talking about for a number of years this is something that you know that we that we need and Joe I support I support this initiative um I'm just curious about this math on this
slide so we're you know we're looking at this like lighting system $453,000 incentive of 224 228 558 would would need to be uh was is the gap financing um but back to the other slide
we're talking about $3,500 a month for 60 months that's $210,000 it's just a that I'm not following that's our share so National Grid pays the other part of it so if you look on this Slide the whole PL the whole project is 453 National Grid is
going to give us 22 we don't pay back we don't pay back got it okay so they're subsidizing it regardless that's if we can do it all by December 31st got it but the balance the other the other the other screen said that if that if in the event that we
didn't if it happens later that's our share still the 3500 is our share yeah they're still talking about the 229 yeah we're only we only have to pay back 229 and change and then how we do it is one of two ways either a full appropriation
of $229,000 which we pay or or a payment of $3500 approximately monthly for 5 years approximately or until it's paid off or a combination of both right like we we start paying
$3,500 and we wait until we get down to $100,000 and we pay off $100,000 at some time later because we could pay it off at any time correct yeah and then the other way is if we can't take advantage of this incentive then we would have to pay the whole
453 that's on the plan already for next year got it okay 0% sounds really great 0% so like I I think there's there's some great opportunity here we have to sit down with the town Treasurer the finance director with probably
procurement now sounds like the biggest question I have yeah that's you know we we need to make sure that you know if these vendors are on state bid list that's great yeah okay if they're not there's a a timeline that you know we have to back into that you
know might make it complicated but again this is not it's stage lighting it it I believe this can get done uh we just need to we need to sit down and make sure we do it um you know as
um compliantly as we need to Joe in your experience have you ever seen a grant of this size where National Grid or anybody is willing to give us a 50% incentive I mean that's pretty big I haven't and the the vendor who is the
vendor on record with National Grid so he was the one that applied for it he said you know I'm going to apply for this incentive for my proposal he said that this is like they don't really do this this is this is uncommon it's it's an it's a year that they are kind of wrapping up these
industrial projects so if we don't take advantage of it this year potentially looking for it next year the year after it might not exist probably won't exist it'll be a smaller one it be like 500,000 alone right thereabouts or 453 as you say right yeah with some without
any type of finan or incentive too they could still obr it they could still on Bill repay but the incentives would be down to more like a $45,000 which again is not is not in significant not bad but it's not 50% right so you know the The Fallout plan here is if this can't happen Capital
Improvement has said they want to support this in FY 26 so it'll happen it's not like it won't happen it's just is there a way we can take advantage of this 224 000 with all the complexities of I I think the fact that Capital Improvement has already said awesome this is a project we support that
credentials it as as something that you know is a priority for the town um it's always helpful to have project credentials a couple years out because we're supposed to chase grants to help offset the cost of those big ticket
Capital items so Joe these are all Max great um coordination here we just got to we got to see if we can make this work this is a big responsibility though and this is something that the select board is going to have to carry to town meeting and we've got to do our best job
to try to give them a game plan that um works I don't I don't want to but I you know also I just want to point out that we we can and maybe we will but we don't have to we could this
we could we not still OB this without a full out I mean I understand town meeting has to what allocate free cash to the operating budget so that we can pay the $3,500 a month because eventually your
operating budget will come that's right I I think quickly but that you have a little bit of Runway there right we do we're at the you know first quarter of a fiscal year we could we could um try to peel off you know 200 20,000 you know
Town funds perhaps you know over General government budget hard though if it's in the school if it's in the school is this that's I'm not going to get into I'm not talking about the school budget I don't want to have my I want to see how many I
know that we're asking for 229 because that's the full funding but really you just need 4,200 for I mean 42,000 for this year to cover 3500 over 12 months it would be less because it's January January through July so I'm not trying to downplay the fact that this is a big
ask but there are many Avenues to get to the conclusion of 21,000 yeah so I think we don't have a lot of time to do it if we're any but I I think what we what we're here tonight is to just find out from everyone what your feelings are to
have a straw vote on it so that's a thumbs up do it you need to approve our grants over uh $50,000 so approving our so if this were a grant in front of us I would say we have a majority vote that would approve it I think you're hearing everyone say we think it's a good idea
so absolutely yes all right all right that's the straw poll keep doing what we can I think there's probably four or five different ways that we could skin this cat Finance this and so we'll we'll come back hopefully at our next meeting with a a game plan all right right thank you guys appreciate it all right thanks
Joe thank you Max and Joe thank you gentlemen all right let me go you need this back no I I have found my other one okay so no uh now we're going to number six on our agenda discussion and
possible vote on the votes act requirements for Town Hall early voting hours for the upcoming national election and we have our clerk here Jared um thank you uh so what you have a
memo in front of you we just did this two months ago uh the only real difference this time around is it's two weeks of AR voting as per the votes act um it is required that we be open uh again six hours over the weekend I like
to do them all in one day um when people are more L um to to do the to and it gives them a wider range to hit town hall between all the other activities they have to do um and then 12 hours for each day the town hall is open I think
this offsets the fact that the town hall is not open on Fridays gives people plenty of opportunities before work after work um we are only required to be open 50% of our working hours the first week and 100% of our hours the second week um in previous conversations with
the board and my own personal beliefs to give people um the most opportunity to vote um while still maintaining my budget um looking through my own budget um I have the money to do this uh
I worked with Amy Sol this past year to make sure I was fully funded and we've also taken advantage of the senior tax workof program which technically does not impact my budget though it does impact the overall Town budget um obviously um which um it's been really
good for us this year and I think that this uh especially given this election season um I want to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to vote as of right now we have about 3,500 vote by mail so that LE about
another 8500 9,000 registered voters in town um and typically for these elections we get up to about 70 to 80% of our voting population out the vote so I anticipate this to be very busy and hopefully this too um by having 12-hour
shifts um and two hours on the and six hours on two Saturdays this W this will make it so people it doesn't back up from what I heard anecdotally part of it was because of Co but four years ago there was a line out the door to get into town hall that was partly Co but that's also just shows you for a
presidential election how many people want to vote early um because it's just an easier option for many people this hopefully um this combined with the new equipment that I just received uh due to the cic funding I received in this uh fiscal year I'll have about 16 voting
booths active so 16 people can vote at once in the in in the select Board Room in um the town hall or the old select Board Room in the town hall and so I don't foresee any issues the Staffing um is up to a level uh we've been expanding
over the past few years right now I have 87 people who have volunteered uh through various vote uh to volunteer to help vote um this is through nonprofit nonpartisan organizations who connect people with local Town Kirks people
within the town just want to help out and those who have done it for a number of years this includes um even I just got one yesterday that was a high school student who want to do it which high school students are allowed to to do it so I'm actually going to reach out to the school um and see if there's any way
we can um get some of these some more kids because I to be fair I hadn't thought of it and um it is a great option for um you know because the school won't be open that day anyways um uh on election day and then for early
voting as well with some shifts that take place after school is out um and it's really great to see uh young people um who are who want to do this so I don't foresee any issue with this and this is also in line with everything that the town and the select board has requested of us in the past and um given
how many elections we've had this year we've kind of smoothed out Southern the Kings with my office and um should be should be uh run smoothly hopefully any questions I do have one question is
there um is there any prohibition or is there a reason like you don't have a Saturday right before election day uh it is over by that point so it's runs through the 19th through the Friday beforehand so it's two Saturdays so it ends November 1st um under state law um
so that's why this all sounds great to me uh and just to mention there will uh under state law there is still a way that people can vote up to 12 um 12:00 p.m. on the day before the election day that's called uh absente voting over the
counter um what we call it um and so there is still options and opportunities afterwards if someone's like I forgot but most people with two weeks um manage to get in and I've worked in the past with gin Cresta uh to put it on the sign
uh Diane M to send out Robo calls post it on our social media post it on our website which we will all do again to make sure this the best we can there's always I always get calls I didn't know it was going to happen there's only so much my office can do but we do make a an effort
to inform as many people as can be possible we also uh talk to the patch talk to the L item you know try to get in the newspaper as well so I have a question is uh putting on a presidential election is that more stressful for the
for the clerk's office uh it it takes resources it definitely does just it it's all based on who um how many people you have come out to vote like with anything um the more people you have the more quote unquote
stressful it is um but this would be my second presidential in my fourth state election so um I've got it pretty well handled uh but yes there is a little bit more pressure on these things and also just a lot more people pay attention to
these elections than they do to other elections so my office I want to say we had about 253 calls asking when we were going to get the ballots today um people have started to think about it and once people start to think about it they get very people don't care until they kind of comes onto their radar once it comes
onto their radar they want it immediately but um we should have the ballots we're hoping by next week um but maybe the week after um to send out to those roughly 3500 who have requested them um I've uh under state law those
citizens living overseas whose swamp Scott was their last address have already been sent out in accordance with federal law um so there's a lot there's definitely a lot more like this is probably the most overseas ballots that I've had um and I worked in a town with a military base before this so this was
still some of the most I've had I have about 45 overseas people students that children who are kid young adults who are overseas um we have um uh you know people who last lived in
um swamp Scot before moving overseas uh we have a number of people uh in Europe in Israel in um Mexico uh some of the ones that have jumped out at me and then we also have people who have never lived in the United States but they're US citizens
whose parents last address was in swamp Scott so um it's it's definitely different to do a presidential election it's not like anything else um that we do over the course of the four years great okay so um we need a motion
do we need a motion on this discussion possible vote Yes yes we need a motion um to follow the recommendation of town clerk uh to post um the elections as outlined in his memo so moved second second all in favor I
motion carries thanks jar thanks Jared democracy okay thank you Jared you do a great job thank you um now we'll move to discussion and possible vote on entertainment license
fees Marissa um so we are coming up on our annual common vict and entertainment license renewals for all of our uh food mostly food related businesses um in
past years when we have gone over the list of businesses who uh file for an entertainment license there's been discussion about the fee that we charge right now it's a flat fee of $125 no matter what type of entertainment you provide and so with this policy change
we're sort of looking to level the playing field a little bit we have some businesses who might just play background music uh as an example I at Cafe avalino and Teresa just pipes and some soft music through her iPad uh versus mission on the bay that will have
music with an amplifier they have a live band um so there are different types of entertainment provided throughout our town businesses and the fee scale that I proposed here is something that I modeled off of what the city of
Cambridge Cambridge does obviously adjusted the prices for a small town scale um this is just something that I thought of I'm open to other suggestions I'm also open to keeping the flat fee if
that's something that people agree with um but just wanted to gauge your interest um and I and I have some numbers that I'm happy to throw out if anybody has questions but do you have a um a comparison sheet I do so um I was
doing comps today I looked at our neighboring municipalities along the NorthShore and then I also looked at municipalities that are elsewhere in the state but have a similar population size do you have them that you could put on the screen uh I don't um I just had time
to do it this afternoon um they're mostly all the same they're kind of just they're all flat fees um I can give this to you um otherwise I could if I hold it up to the screen is that going to work no that's just
wrong um most L I'll put it this way all of the there was no the the highest fee was Gloucester and that was $300 everybody else charges about $100 although some did separate live entertainment from non-live
entertainment so TVs and music would incur a $50 fee whereas live entertainment like bands and performances would incur a $100 fee um some also charge for sun for having entertainment on Su days um and then
others also charge a fee for automatic Amusement so coin operated machines like um video games uh or jukeboxes so um that that's sort of the scope of it um that's also something I would be open to
as well but mostly Salem charges $100 peid charges $100 Hamilton 100 Linfield 100 Manchester sagus Riv all $100 for entertainment and then they also have um some of them have auxiliary fees like
automatic amusement or $50 for non-live entertainment Doug and did you say we currently charge 125 flat we currently charge 125 yes so by this change would that be a decrease for us in terms of what we would anticipate for not
necessarily so I did the calculations um last year we generated $1,875 from our 15 entertainment licenses um if we were if we in a hypothetical situation if we were to have all the
licenses renewed this year in accordance with this scale here we would the revenue would relatively be the same I calculated $205 some uh license fees for businesses would increase others would decrease again depending on the type of
entertainment they provide so the biggest jump would be for mission on the bay Doug I see you burning over there go ahead sorry I don't want to get rude I'm sorry why are we doing this go ahead why are we to have a fee yeah what's the point of
this $1,800 I mean it's I actually you know spend $1,800 administering this I'm I'm not really um this is a nuisance for small business in favor of of making this adjustment at this time we have a number of small businesses in this town
they are struggling to just get by I I find it archaic to be actually looking at you know some of the standards like like trivia like we're going to charge 25 bucks a trivia or like all these these are all like I for for a town to
really get into that level of detail is there any public reason why anybody does this like is this just like a way to Noodle some dollar an entertainment license it sounds like we're within the peer group of the NorthShore that sounds pretty reasonable to me I think you know
uh when we look at Revenue we talk about revenue for the town that usually is what we do when we put the budget together and if we really want to go in and dial in on uh whether or not we're getting enough for entertainment and we need to double the number we to go from
a whopping 18800 to 3600 well I think there was some Fe there's obviously a reason I'm sure you didn't just pluck this out of thin air right again sorry maybe you know say that I'm sorry I missed that I'm sure there's a reason why you would have tried to do this or what your yeah yeah it was it was sort
of to um again it it had come up in different staff discuss staff discussions that we had had and um and again it was just because these are some small businesses there are others who generate more Revenue than some than the ones who don't so again looking to sort
of level that playing field uh David just D I don't know how this works just just real just real quick so you know dancing by patrons $25 so if if if I happen to be moved by song or games that I'm watching and you are charge $25 no
no no I I just I I would hate for a small business who didn't have a dancing by patrons license that was mostly for so we have the uh I wouldn't call them businesses but um our social clubs are required to
file for an entertainment license so it would be something like that um they are exempt from the provisions of a common victual license but they are required to file for an entertainment license so The Italian Club the VFW um uh the yach club um those kinds of
associations so it wouldn't be um it NE it wouldn't it mostly wouldn't pertain to the restaurants although Mexicali last year they indicated on their entertainment license form that they have in mariachi band so maybe there is dancing um by patrons but again I mean
those were the accessory items uh or excuse me that's live entertainment um and that was why you know there's the fee cap there anyway so got it you know the um once you hit $100 it would it would end there
um but um again most of our neighboring municipalities along the North Shore seem to just divide live entertainment from non-live entertainment live entertainment is typically or on average is set at $100 and non-live entertainment TVs music at 50
um like I said also happy to leave it as is just wanted to have a discussion um yeah for the work that you did put into it just ignore it and say let's not do it there was obviously a you know reason why you came up with this so thank you for doing that
sure look this these are important regulatory responsibilities we often times bump into um complaints from residents about you know bans and Al so like why do we have live music here and we go back to the license and we determine that it's
not actually enumerated on the entertainment license and and you have a business that it hasn't been properly vetted through a process and so it's like looking at this stuff is important typically we do that once a year during the licensing process the board will
look at every one of the licenses and get a sense of whether or not you know we're we're helping these businesses with the uh menu of of entertainment options that could help their businesses be successful and that would be more fitting if you have a club for instance
a social club that's in a residential neighborhood and they have live music that might be a little bit more disturbing than having that club in a commercial Zone like V and square on Humphrey Street it it just these are the decisions that the board makes from a policy perspective that can help
regulate the type of uses that are enumerated in in the entertainment license that said I I do think it's it's important to understand and to discuss you know
and um so what's your recommendation then so my recommendation I do think we we probably need a little bit more time to actually review this as a as a team I'd be more interested to hear like from some of the businesses are these the here's your existing license would you
do you have all the uses that you think is trivia really something that you need uh or you know do you want to have acoustic music or like what is it that uh would help your business be that much more successful um and then Circle back
around to the board and and and get your thoughts about whether or not um there's a way for us to band certain um approvals in a way that I think makes a little bit more sense because if you have a small business you don't really want to have to go in there
and and and check and see oh instead of karaoke this week I'd like to do trivia but I don't have that you know we I think we want to give them here's a general entertainment used it I will say a lot of our businesses are pretty good
about this isn't I mean I'm I took these examples off of the current entertainment license sheet application that we use and a lot of our businesses are that H particularly those that have been operating for years are pretty good about knowing what they can expect like
I think Mexicali only has the Mariachi ban on single de mayo and but they mark it down anyway because they know that it's an annual thing that they do so nobody it's really is from a it based on my interactions with the local business owners or managers those who come in to turn in the entertainment license
applications it really doesn't seem like there's any guesswork involved on their part about what kind of entertainment they may or may not offer they're they they are pretty um they're pretty aware cognizant of of what they offer to their patrons now does a do the police ever
get a call that there's entertainment there's karaoke going on here and I don't think they have a license uh there I believe there have been noise complaints made to the police um and then that's where you know that's that's why we want to have these categories on
our entertainment licenses I mean ultimately it's up to the select board during the license renewal phase to maybe you know evaluate some of these licenses and say or evaluate some of these categories with the particular business and say how often do you do this have you had noise complaints but
um I think music with amplification more than anything whether it be karaoke whether it be a live band whether it be just a DJ or something like that that's going to obviously generate the most noise um I I believe there have been um noise complaints made to our Police
Department about that and at least this way you know there's sort of a level of accountability in there you know what they have yeah yeah okay that sounds good all right so we're going to table this for now sure and uh come back and discuss it at a later date at the very
least I will say this um when I redid the application last year for the entertainment license I included this sheet I just took out the fee um the associated fee column and so that way I had local bus I had the business owners or managers whoever is responsible for
filling out the license renewal go through and some of them came in with me and we filled out together and we went through and I had them mark off each individual category just to make sure that you know they are encompassing everything that they do provide for their patrons great so at the very least we can keep this as part of the
application just if we decide to not move forward with the fees as proposed then you know there's still a way of holding them accountable for what they are requesting okay great so all right thanks cool
okay so we're going to table that all right uh discussion and possible vote on new members for the town election committee where is it yeah I didn't I don't have anything I do
have yeah okay recommendations from Pete and Maran that they made back in May I wasn't sure where we were we do not David so you know what maybe because we didn't have them in our packet I think we also decided the board's got
a new policy for how you're going to vet uh applicants and so the thought was we talk about it briefly tonight and then we come back at a future meeting after the board has a chance to review and rank the applicants yeah I think it's just that some of these applicants are under the impression that they've
already been chosen so I think that's the have they been told that they have been selected that's what we need to clarify they have been they have because they were sorry the problem because now we we are in the situation where we have to tell these people no you haven't been
appointed we have a new process and we risk upsetting even though I'm not comfortable with the way the group was selected I didn't really when I looked at the questions they were asked and the way they were vetted I didn't really think it was um I think I thought it was
too subjective to be honest so I think they probably should be put through the new process but I also don't want to I feel bad for people that were already told that they they've been appointed when they really haven't been so yeah I think I I think at this point
if it's been communicated to them that they're part of this committee it would be unfair for us now to say well we've put in a new process so we have to revet you and you could potentially no longer be on this committee so I understand you know we've we are working on a new we
have gone through a new process it's in place now but I I don't know that it would be appropriate for for us to sort of redo what we've already done because they were they were notified well I don't it's a little bit somewhat it's a little weird because so they were
notified but they never came before the select board even if it was the old process for approval correct correct correct yeah we never we Haven we haven't app we haven't been appointed we haven't approved them but they were notified so okay so they made it through the first half of the process before the
process changed kind of okay it was on an agenda at one point in time where we were going to approve them so I think they were invited to come as were they going to approve them but it I don't think they it was on an agenda yes and they were told that they
were probably going to be appointed and then we table the appointment yeah and so my yeah the board subsequent to that discussed that you wanted to have a new yeah um standard for how you vetted some of the candidates and I think uh
Danielle's comment uh were shared at that point and we said all right we'll roll up a a revised process um I know I I hear the concerned about you know we had a number of individuals that um we wanted to put I think a number of these candidates uh
are are still interested and I think if the board wanted to go through that and just credential the process and feel comfortable with it I think I think you should get comfortable with it and and feel comfortable voting on uh these individuals they're um they they' been
credentialed by Town staff and you know certainly uh would like to get the committee up and running dog what's your opinion oh I I don't really have one exactly but I Daniel it sounds like maybe you've kind of thought through this more than did
you you've known about these folks and that you've been like are you just uh commenting that like just generally they're not using the new process or you've like you know the individual people and you have concerns with kind of without naming names with like the fact you said something about subjective
criteria if you look at the questions where you know what they seeing it that's so that's yeah um tell us about your history in swamp Scott how engaged are you in local National voting you know why do you want to be on the committee and then it you know we're looking for a mix it says here we're
looking for a mix of gender it's as if we're profiling people and we're looking for you know mix of political viewpoints ensure there wasn't anyone attempting to push an agenda so what exactly does that mean and how do you actually qualify that right so that that type of
questioning to me just is not really in line with what we're trying to accomplish um by getting more people engaged in the community and and making it a process that people want to be part of I just felt like the way this was done um just didn't seem to be the right
way to to that we want to look to assemble committees in the future right I wouldn't I wouldn't ask somebody a question like that I wouldn't base it on someone gender I wouldn't base it on their you know political affiliation right I I just want to be clear the
individuals that uh went through that process I didn't um write the questions you know we had those questions presented by um some staff with good intentions to try to make sure that we had individuals for this committee that
could be objective we wanted it to be diverse we wanted it to be reflective of a broad range of of um perspectives uh I think they in good faith tried to make sure that you know they they just had uh individuals
that would help support um a successful committee you know I I get your concerns Danielle and I certainly understand them I appreciate them but I don't think there was anything that was done in any way that would undermine the Integrity of the individuals that are presented in
front of you I mean it's a good group of folks yeah I can't I can't oh sorry yeah no I mean I would never say it's not a good group of folks I would say what made us decide on one person versus the other when there were two in a Precinct right what was the qualifier what was the you know we have recommended maybe
what what is a maybe like uh maybe today they're good maybe tomorrow they wouldn't be like th those types of things when people are going to ask us why didn't I get appointed to this committee I'm going to say well you were a maybe and I really don't know why you were maybe because I can't really explain what a maybe is so that type of
it's that type of thinking that you know I mean I think there were I don't know how many candidates or how many people applied Diane for this remember or so yeah 20 something anyway 20 something so that's obviously something that a lot of people want to be a part of so if we're going to pick and choose I just want to
feel confident in what what the metric is and what we're going to be able to say to people when we say no you weren't selected and this is why because people will inevitably ask well was every candidate interviewed that had put in an application yes I think so so it wasn't so the list you have the
list the list that we have here is every person who applied correct every person applied was interviewed right yes and David oh I'm sorry last little thing I can't say for sure but all these um the diversity kind of that there all these bullets that we have in front of us that
feels reminiscent of the conversation we had the night when we had discussion about forming the committee um and I don't know when that was I don't know if you were on the board at that point or not but March so I think this is where this a lot of this came from uh I can't
say literally but just give you little that's the context that's coming to my mind I don't the only thing I can recall was we were just looking for precincts and then and a committees a youth yep we
have Youth and then there are there are committees like the disability Commission is has to nominate school committee I don't think so I don't think so one no not that was this was by Precinct it looks and age
because engagement yep that's what it was and I understand the precinct I mean that makes sense from like a in 11 18 to 21 year old okay sure on that yeah which one am I thinking you're thinking of the feasibility uh the
community feasibility okay uh that group is uh has representation from five or six sub committee or committees that have um state or stakeholders conversation all right so David what
what's your feelings here uh my feeling is you know this these interviews happened in the end of May you know we're now in the middle of September over a 100 days have passed um you know everybody's has been interviewed uh
this has been vetted by Town staff I am willing to move forward and accept the recommendations uh of town staff uh and seat this committee so we can actually get to you know get to the Brass tax and get to work here uh I think it's
important that you know we don't let um perfect be the enemy of of good and I think we uh we we owe it to these individuals who were notified um that we can that we can move forward with these these recommendations and I I'd be prepared to vote uh on that this
evening yeah I think too if if any uh seat should open up for whatever reason if somebody should drop out that we would commit to upholding the standard that we've put in place now going forward um and that anybody who would be seated going on a go forward basis would
be um held to that standard that we've laid out right so I I agree with David I mean I feel that even though the process wasn't perfect um individuals were notified and they've been waiting so and I also think that anyone who wasn't on
the commit who hasn't been approved um you know they can still attend all these committee meetings and voice their concerns and gives their give their opinions so so um oh I'm sorry Doug go ahead I just I just taking note of this
thing that we have in our packets too back in the back with the other committee stuff actually uh kind of in the supplemental stuff for our our further reading about the various uh committees there is a summary here about town election Review
Committee and to your point Mar Ellen um you may very well have remembered it correctly because it does look like there's a Cod I assume that's Commission on disability correct so there was this is an addition to yeah those
precincts yeah so you were right I am right please note um let the minutes reflect let the minutes reflect that the chair is correct that we are uh getting additional members from the different committees including
yourself well look at that look at that fer oh wow like wait a minute okay you sure this is right now yeah yep all right so let's get this and school committee appointment too yep I don't
remember that I don't remember that I didn't remember any of that since we were talking about something know about any of that NOP all right okay but I I'm I'm up you know unless someone you know sees some of the people who are recommended and has Grave
concerns I I guess I would say that we should roll forward with this yeah I think so too I think I think I think we we need to do that as marielen stated if you were not chosen but were interviewed you should attend all the meetings and participate because your voice matters
and right so can we have a motion to accept um the members that have been identified on this list here so moved second second all in favor I I I motion carries um
Diane yes would you please send an email out uh or letter whatever whatever mechanism you want to use there to everyone on this list as to whether or not they have been appointed or not appointed and can you also encourage them to attend these meetings um and to
let you know if they want to continue to have their name on there to be considered if somebody were to drop out okay is there a first meeting well there's not a committee yet David so I don't think we we just made it we just made a committee so we'll work it with Diane Dian will
send it out we'll work that out tomorrow morning official soar that how's that thank you okay can I make a plug we still need one 16 to 17 year old I think we have need one okay I found somebody and she sounds fantastic
so we'll have to vet her have to vet her I I emailed you her stuff this select board members vote on I think what you need to do you know what Diane could you just um so excited could you just ask the schools just to run an advertisement or something like that one more time for somebody and you might have a couple
applicants yep do we have an Instagram account for the town or just Facebook we have Instagram but I don't know how to use it okay we can set that up the reason I'm asking is because also this group of people 16 17 18 to 22 you know like on the Tik Tok yeah yeah we need to
do have johy do a Tik Tok dance we can do Tik Tok yep can dance dan night away only if we pay $25 yeah you got to pay up um okay don't make me take the gavel out
again all right um find my agenda here okay discussion and possible vote on reducing members for cultural Council from 13 to 5 D Diane I currently have 10 vacancies
finding it a little difficult to fill this Commit This Council I don't not really sure why but it would be nice if with 10 vacancies I apply for cultural Council Grant so those lovely utility boxes those are $44,000 from the last
two years I'd like to see this Council filled so that I can ask for more money to bring more art to the town of Swampscott and in order to do so I think we need to reduce the membership so that we can always hit a quorum So statutorily speaking we have to have a
minimum of it has to be a minimum of five that is correct and the statute is in your packets got it so Diane do we have five currently we have three so Forum yeah
and what do the three members of the council think about reducing its size they I haven't even spoken to any of them okay ask the chair person resigned well what about the chair there's no chair there's no chair okay
there's no chair interesting he just I think it might be a good idea to go down to five and if it looks like it's becoming a big party and you have a big list of people who want to get on the cultural Council we could always expand it up all right so can we have a motion um to reduce the membership from 13 to
five on the cultural Council and a second second all in favor so moved motion carries thank you okay review andoss vote on updated select board handbook okay so Katie and
Danielle you this was your project here um just want to find mine want me to chat about it yeah well I have a couple questions on it because are we should can I just
tell the pro our process first and then you could I just have a quick question are we is the code of conduct attached this or we don't not yet no not yet okay that was my yes go go on with your so D Danielle and I met we took the um
current um handbook from d and we redlined suggested um edits now some of them were just typos and some of them were clarification um I don't think it's anything too
controversial um happy to discuss any suggestions we made um Diane also um did us a favor and looked through the um the Committees and boards to make sure we had everything um reflected
some of these are still uh we have to to figure out like the traffic study advisory committee it exists but doesn't actually exist so um some of those things sort of need to be ironed out but um the only thing that is missing that
Danielle and I spoke about was the addition of a social media policy we asked the Town Administrator and um to provide Sean to provide us with the town social media policy to see that we could reflect it in the handbook there have
been multiple um iterations of ideas of social media policies but nothing uh concrete really yeah we we've got a draft that we just have been looking to implement um we've had uh a little bit of a delay there but the
policy we have I think has been vetted by Town Council and has gone through a review of best practice social media policies I think we looked at 10 different communities it's pretty comprehensive and the school we also asked for the school social media policy to see if there were any additives or
they do have one they do have one so that's not reflected in your um handbook today because we just didn't have the information in time to put it in there but we didn't want to delay the discussion on the other points so um we can add it and then give it around yeah
so is is the social media policy more appropriate to be in the select board handbook or in the code of conduct where is the appropriate location for that a that information I don't know a question may we should look at it probably should apply
to um I mean I guess we should get some language to paper first and then we can figure out where it's best put yeah um I think that's I think it could be a chapter in the handbook I think you for me it's like let's put it all in one place so you don't have to go look them for it yeah you know right but the code
of conduct applies to all the committee members right right boards and committees yeah so why not have it there right yeah yeah you could have it in both places if they're mirror images it's it's okay duplicative and it probably should go in the employee
handbook also so totally agree y it's in it's in the draft that we're going to implement can start so that's the only thing that's missing that we sort of talked about but if there's any other Concepts that um you guys have in mind we're happy to sort of vet some of those
ideas through with Town Council and so Town Council has not has they reviewed this when this was originally approved in 22 but they have not they have not looked looked at it since no we can have them once we sort of get it get
it buttoned up we rather have them look at it once when we feel like we're in a good position to have them look at it then sort of have it well let's get it done tce I I just have a couple uh man so one don't go ahead do you want to
start um go in order let's go in order okay um if we start with chapter one select board's Authority no changes no changes chapter two there's some things in red here but those weren't new were they
those were always in red oh they were always in red I don't know why links or something maybe okay of these might have been added later okay um so there's nothing on chapter two chapter
three chapter 3 B was a typo a lot of it is typos chapter 3C um we just added as soon as reasonably possible for the chair to honor requests of the um board members to have items incl included on the
agenda um I had something on G okay I have something on C okay I have something on E so C3 we changed uh um seven days to three days but I just like to add business days hold second oh yeah on
three what is that oh three days got it uhu but Doug wants to add business days so that's fine we'll add that good catch and then down to F hold on a second so if that's so we're Wednesday basically puts us in line for
being getting the agenda out the Thursday before yeah that's that was the point it equals the paragraph below the right there you go yeah so that's on three I have a I have a on on E last year the big
discussion was on motions the chair may not second a motion and the conversation last year was to remove that I don't can anyone confirm whether or not you follow Robert's Rules of Order generally yes uh I I mean that's
been the so Robert's Rules allows the chair to make a motion it is um but you had a handbook that said that you couldn't but chair can make a motion under M General law that's that's not right so either you follow it or you
don't right we can't follow the chair steps out of the chair and say step out the chair the role so our chair we follow our chair does not make a motion but last year one of the big one of the big topics of conversation was uh that
for the chair to make to Second a motion um we had a couple instances last year where there was a motion made because the chair couldn't second it it just died on the floor and that caused a bit of frustration so it was brought up and I'm just bringing it back up again to
see how you all feel to me the way I look at it and this could be wrong but either you follow one set of rules or not the Le the less exception you make to that the less confusing it is right so either you're follow if you're following Robert's Rules then you are then the chair can make a motion and you
know to make exceptions to that gets you into the weeds and gets you and gets confusing to me but that's just my personal thought so the I think the thought behind the chair most towns I think follow Robert's Rules they do they use they don't follow it you know
exactly they say you know we generally you know follow it but there are exceptions and I think you want to keep that flexibility as a board because there are times you might um just need to for for very valid reasons kind of
deviate from from the procedural stricture of Robert's Rules the reason why the chair doesn't you know get to make motions and um you know is because the chair has a lot of power and so the chair gets to set the agenda control the
debate you know manage the debate call for questions lots of things and so that's just a check on on the power of the chair but it does you know have a you know a a frustrating impact on the P the work of
the board because if if you if you if you can't get consensus and you're trying to even even have a debate that and you're stuck and you have four members for instance and you know it just it can be a huge impediment the work around there is just the chair
steps out of the chair and somebody becomes a chair protemp and the chair I know that's the procedural it's Robert's Rules of Order and so there's a there's a Robert's Rules of Order around that right but you have to read the book and understand the Parliamentary
procedure Maneuvers well I I I think we should keep it that the chair doesn't make a motion but I'm fine with the chair seconding a motion as I was last year yeah I feel like there have there is a historical
um history has shown that the discussion of the board has often led to great conversation which have changed people's minds or have altered what people originally thought when coming into a a motion sometimes a motion is just to open discussion and that discussion
can't even happen right um you know I we've all seconded motions that we weren't going to vote in favor of to have discussion but if you don't have that then you're at a stalemate and you don't even get to that point right so I I do see a benefit in having the chair
have the ability to um second a motion um and I understand the complexities of um Robert's Rules of Order and there's a lot of workarounds but you have to know the workarounds um and I think um keeping it as the chair not making a
motion is a check and balance to to that so so you want so you want to remove the chair may not second a motion I would just say that we're removing this well I'm saying clearly I'm not sure k is saying it actually but I'm saying for the chair may make May second
a motion right so you we would have word right that's it for me David okay that's I think what Katie was saying also so yeah okay you a motion I think there's a good reason I didn't hear you say second that's all sorry there's the first part I said was talking about seconding a motion this
the latter part was about the check imbalance to them not making a motion okay so sentence four the chair May second a motion striking the word not correct got it that okay so
um I have another uh question under citizen participation wait a minute did someone have some so where is that you're going to G 3 G you say you did anybody have anything for f no okay there's a there's like a I don't know for some reason the formatting is messed
up on two F2 but we'll fix that right um so under g yep I think that um with the recent Supreme Court decision um we have to we possibly have to re uh
hold on a second oh there's two first um each speaker should be limited to speaking once for a maximum three minutes I think that there should be flexibility in that because there are times when it could be really packed and you might want to drop it down to two
minutes or it could be pretty sparse and you might want to give somebody five at the discretion of the chair yeah discretion at the chair can be modified okay chair I I'll go with that but I'm not crazy about it to be honest with you
because it already it says limited two so you can already go down to two within this but when you say when you just throw in at the discretion of the chair the chair could get kind of Willy you know but you know you got to you got to
balance that with your your citizens too if right but I mean that is a balance in a way it's saying a clear message to everybody like you can make your point in three minutes no matter what it is right come back every week if you want but like it's three no this I've been at I've been at numerous meetings and people couldn't make their point in three minutes and they need they needed
a little bit more well maybe they should have thought the for example do we have limitations on ourselves how long we can speak for no no so but we're going to limit people to how long on of the entire town your select citizens individuals that come to these meetings
sometimes feel as though they should be on the equal plane as the elected citizens that are here to represent the town it's it's generally not you know you would never if you'd never get through your business if that became a standard practice and if that if it
becomes you know almost like a a weekly back and forth and folks are are using that to kind of you know almost appear as though their your peer you know it it can get confusing um and frankly the board's
going to struggle with managing time especially of issues of consequence yeah it's difficult I'm not interested in citizen filibusters and so I think it's important that we set a standard and that that standard is maintained for all
citizens and if they can't fill if they can't make their point in 3 minutes they can come back next week and take another take another three minutes and take another three minutes and every other week they can come yeah and make their point and and that's not to say that it's a punishment but I just think there
is a sense of justice in keeping it consistent so I'm going to disagree with you on that one only because I have been been watching select board meetings forever and I've been at them for a little bit and I have been in these meetings where somebody needed to go
over a little bit and you know one or two minutes and it to turn around and say nope you have to sit down I think that it wasn't that productive and to say we'll come back next week it's we don't come back next week we come back
in two weeks and I just I do think it should be at the discretion of the chair but so you saying increase it from 3 minutes to five minutes or you're saying add a whole another phrase I'm saying at three minutes or at the discretion of the chair which could go either way because the chair could turn around sit
down or the chair to say well the no the chair well what I'm saying is also if you have a room packed with people and you've got a big agenda the chair may say you know we have to limit it to two minutes tonight right that's already covered already that's already available CU a maximum of 3 minutes you could say
you have 30 seconds right at the discretion of the chair says there's a lot of things you can say you can say sit down you're done after a minute do you know what I'm saying oh yeah I wouldn't want to say that right or you could say yeah you could say look we got
um so many things s SL and somebody's going to leave by this hour right we're going to have to move public you know it around the chair has a lot of discretion for how to manage the business of the um board with the support of the board bot
you know I do think the chair should have discretion um when it comes to that and Marana I think you're right I think there are times where you know some people may show up and they may have an issue okay and they may have to speak for four minutes and 22 seconds but that
should be you know the the the the chair should actually make those kind of decisions and if it gets out of hand you know as a board you can talk about that you can you can try to you know get to consensus on it um you want to make sure
citizens feel as though they have an opportunity to be heard on issues of consequence and you know you just want to make sure that it's not abused and it's not misused and it's not it doesn't become a a standing you know kind of
Engagement well to me that feels like you have a rule and then if there's something compelling in that situation then the chair looks around and says okay if we kind of go a little bit over here everyone kind of says yeah we roll with it right but you know still you're sending out a clear message and it doesn't become like just you hey policy
but generally when you have when you do make that exception well we have to you have to make that exception for everybody else that's in that room that night you got point point it's got to be pretty exceptional the exception as long as everybody knows that you know you
want to be um accommodating um but at the end of the day you know you are the select board and your time is valuable I think too on very rare occasions are we using stopwatches and clocks and in in public comment there have been times
where there's been a lot of people or for whatever reason we have done that but in general I don't think like I I don't think we generally do that I think we sort of gauge let people speak and then if it gets to a point we start
looking at each other cut the mic or whatever you know we politely ask that they wrap up their comments I think generally that's the tone that we've always kept with public comment and we should I think we should continue to keep the public comment yeah I also think the best thing that people like to
hear is that you know a few of you might stay after the meeting to listen to them even further you know people just need to know that you know you're you're interested in hearing everything they have to say it's just we got to get through the business of the
town so what's the general consensus you don't want to have discretion the chair you want to just stick to three minutes or you I would like to stick to three minutes okay yeah yeah I think that's is that what you're saying I I mean like because I can't make a motion one um yeah I think it makes sense to
stick I think it gets too subjective okay and depending on who the chair is and you know what that what that means to certain people it's not always going to be you it's not always going to be you know you never know who it's going to be you never know what their discretion is going to be so okay all
right um so speakers May raise issues so this is something I want I'd like the um Town Council just to double check on uh raise for future board agendas identify Community problems commitments I have a funny feeling that we can't put this
stipulation in there um I also think um which one the one that's crossed out the last one no no the third uh the third bullet point oh the third third yeah third bullet point speakers May raise new issues for future board agendas identify
Community problems and comment on past and present future board agendas is that what really what you're referring to or you're referring I think you're referring to the last one I'm also referring to the bottom one I'm refering to that one and maybe the one that's crossed out tooed out yeah section was
crossed out and request residents refrain uh also take out uh request residents refrain from comments that contain political statements or include Community criticism or others um I I'm just pretty sure that legal counsel if
they look at this they're going to tell us we have to take it out I I have a similar or concern I think um but I don't know if we're restricted from requesting that they refrain it's not prohibition
request so that may be the reason why we could if we wanted to still request those things I think you can set your expectations for the standard of care that people take when they engage with the board and uh
discuss the town's business but you they have constitutional rights and if they want to Avail themselves of of whatever behavior is uh allowable under the United States Constitution they have that right right like you you wouldn't you wouldn't be able to categorize them
as falling under disorderly person right for example you know well if you could them really Disorder so were we talking about the the the red the redline request residents weak respectfully refrain from commenting criticizing or otherwise disparaging select board
individual members members of town staff or other resident groups or individuals is that what we're referencing well I was I was only referencing the last bullet point okay and I also referen the fourth bullet point okay um and my references are all are just really all
about what legally we can we can I I just want to be clear like I have a responsibility if somebody decided to show up at a meeting and disparage one of my colleagues right uh I have a I have an affirmative responsibility to protect my employees from harassment and speak up if somebody is saying something
that is disparaging about them in public or perhaps uh disclosing information about them that frankly would be more of a Personnel uh matter and I I would try to uh address that in the most careful way possible people have the constitutional right to say some of those things but I would certainly I'd
want to protect my employees from that kind of adverse type of behavior I I want I want to say two years ago maybe maybe a little long longer than that we did have a disclaimer with remember with the for for public we can't use that anymore because the Supreme Court threw
it out the door it out okay so you just have to sit and keep your fingers crossed so I I had it slightly I had that concern but I had another concern about restricting the cross out um I know personally of course I
would love to ask people to refrain from commenting criticizing or otherwise disparaging the select board I think I'm fine with requesting people not disparage but I think we're in these public positions and asking them to
refrain from commenting or criticizing right I think they were yeah yeah so I definitely think that we need we should that should not be in there we should not be requesting that they refrain from commenting or criticizing but but to
Sean point you know to to talk at least for select board yeah yeah no no we we signed up we signed up for this so we you know we we can we can take it um but as far as Town staff and these matters that may become Personnel matters those should be directed to the Town
Administrator and outside of um public outside of public comment yeah and it seemed like the following bullet point carries the commentary criticism and statements of town staff so that sort of covered it so we felt okay with removing it alongside the um select board members
but if we wanted to say um other resident groups or individuals we can add that to that second that last line and then we can see if that works Council so we're just consolidating yeah that's fine perfect
okay so we'll a look this over to here but in terms of town staff where does the Town Administrator sit in that regard because because I would think that we would be open to the public commenting or
criticizing the Town Administrator isn't there another we don't have Choice administrator right no but I mean just what we're saying here requesting now well this is are we even requ I mean I I think in the Town Administrator section it speaks to that does I think okay we just on you know
but if we talk about town staff that would include you right I mean Town administrators tell me we all have different standards um we are more uh subjected to criticism in our positions And so there's a a legal
threshold for what different positions um certainly expect in terms of public criticism but um certainly you know I am still a professional employee of the town I'm not an elected official I don't
have the same privileges or um opportunities to defend myself as an elected official I have to purport myself in a manner that is consistent with standards of professionalism so I'm at a a disadvantage in some ways um so
generally helpful if the board uh helps to ensure that you know uh Town administrators aren't completely uh unsupported when they're being unfairly yeah that's disparaging I
I think any for anyone that shouldn't be so I don't know there might be as you guys if you guys are going to go back and noodle this a little bit there might be like three levels for town staff maybe for Town Administrator might be in the middle and select Bo might be might be three different levels of what's allowed
but think about that all right next so do we have uh section if we can we move on past correspondence are we good I'm good y okay y chapter
4 annual goals and timelines I have B under B um calendar of annual responsibilities I've got a couple adjustments in here okay under May um Sean May is where we want to put annual sewer and water
yes I or we putting it in April um I think May is y May is town meeting and so I think it it will mean that it has to get presented in March when uh the board is reviewing the the warrant all right so you want to pop it up to March
right it's in August now so we're going to pop that in annual sewer and water goes to March well you're going to you're going to see it in March it'll get voted on May at the annual town meeting and that's you know right but it has to be at the select
board okay so how do we vote on it in August now we did we're not going to now to take it out for years you know Ka prior I think to your tenure on the board the board would always meet in August and set the water and sewer rates and they
would get typically um voted on at a fall town meeting we just voted on them the last month you did right no you voted on them at the annual town meeting we actually we voted on some increase to Water and Sewer just last month did we not certainly since you've been on the
board yeah yeah I thought it was in so may oh you would like to move the August date to march to March yes okay okay just for the the notes yes so also a lot happening in March take out August
it's all budget take out so take out the uh annual water sewer out of August yep in November we have a charter mandate for financial review I just forget what that is off the top of my head so got to pop that in there financial review 5ye
forecast and then on the quarterly reports for fin financials I just want to double check with the Amy um on the quarterly reports does she want the quarterly report a month after the quarter ends or two weeks after typically it's a month okay um hard to
say that all the bills come in within that two weeks we usually get them in two weeks and she's got to reconcile you know for a week so what do you want to do um so I just want to I I just dble let's just double check with Amy because I think what we should actually even pop
it in Mar I'm here oh Jesus voice the voice oh my God don't worry about the heart attack Amy okay sorry I I do the recording 10 days after the month closes you do you do it 10 days after the month closes yep so you'll always have it by
the 15th all right so we could say want just put in quarterly January April July Financial so that would be uh it says it right July August September July so that mean October 15th
right yep yep okayer Jan 15 April 15 July 15 April July okay all right we'll add that all right um and I just wondering Amy uh I was thinking uh Capital Improvement
discussion should we start that in put that should we have that on the agenda to start that in September or October to try to get that we've been starting it in August and I'd like that to be the standard going forward is that you you
want that on the that's what you want the select board agenda to look like put it in August if if you're going to have it then yeah I would like we've been trying to kick the process off in the summer okay um and that's what we've been working with capital Improvement on so
cic cic discussion okay is there anything else in here that you think we need to be um so the charter that you mentioned is November 15th the Town Administrator is supposed to
notify the school committee the finance commit and the select Board of the revenue projection for the upcoming year okay we've informally turned it into a multi-year forecast um and then so it's an annual revenue
projection it's yeah so basically November 15th you would have a revenue projection very very preliminary for FY 26 to set the framework of what we're working towards as we develop those budgets all right I think we need to double check the language in the
charter we can do that check language yep okay all right so then we can remove is there anything else that you're recommending Amy um that's all the requirements so it's more of if there's anything else that you
want to see so under quarterly reports it says that we that will review the following in open session on a quarterly basis but the operating budget that's what we're just adding to the calendar above right so it would be redundant to say it again
no so we're what did Amy just ask to be added a quarterly Amy is doing Amy is saying what the chart for no are you talking about the quarterly when she so quarterly she's going to be giving us just a quarterly munus update on the on the budget right but on theer budget
yeah yeah so I can take it out of this reference below because we're adding it to the calendar yeah okay great and then the capital Improvement project year-to date including status of such projects do you want that to be in August correct
uh no see the problem so we want to have a discussion we want to have a discussion in August but as we at some point we're going to want to have an update a year-to date update okay probably the reference well they're saying quarterly right uh we're
saying quarterly they would be yeah you know what leave leave yeah let's call that quarterly too okay so the idea is that you'll get monthly year-to-date expenditures quarterly you know uh much more um
in-depth Financial forecast yeah just so you stay connected to you know trends that are happening within certain categories in the town budget okay so we are going to have we will have a quarterly review on Capital but we also have a quarterly review on the budget
you're saying we should also add a monthly review in the budget you should get we should be we get a monthly we should be getting a monthly view in our but I don't think you need to have a you know you can have them it can come up during selectboard comment hey look I'm noticing a trend in overtime or this
that and we can follow up you know with a uh an update on that but just having that information okay is going to help everybody stay focused on on managing two budget that's that's the responsibility that we have okay all
right we're good with that also when we get audited and we get rated it's important that they know that Finance commit select board are looking at monthly and quarterly Financial updates and that's been one of the
things that we get flagged uh positively on and our rating agencies review okay okay chapter five anybody chapter five anybody chapter five there was just a typo we fixed it that was that was
chapter six Diane made some uh updates to the boarding committees um hold on chapter 6 it's Recreation Commission Di not Recreation committee oh okay that's a scrib our issue we can we don't need is constables really a committee it you
know what it's in the charter pull that from the charter you had other ones yep uh climate action and resilience committee climate climate action plan or committee that's what I just said climate action and resilience committee
res committee they do have a plan but they need a we're working the plan a man a plan plan in the work and work in the and so this is supposed to be it's a little trip me up at first because this is like the select board
handbook and we've got all these standing committees these aren't all under our purview which is kind of noted down below right um but it seems I don't know seems kind of weird to me that they're even in here in a way but um you're on
to something because it's always going to change well no not only that but like the board of assess the bo of Health ar ar they're independent the Retirement Board you know established by the charter and independent yeah but they should be broken out separately right I just think you know if you're a new
select board member just notifying you if you're a new select board member it's just kind of interesting to see oh here are all the Committees that we have you know at this point in time it gets updated from time to time and you might be assigned as a liaison to one of them you know I think that's
the purpose of of having those you may also have to vote to put somebody on here for example the Board of Health yeah but you I mean but you wouldn't put somebody on the school committee so they really shouldn't be all together you know it should be broken out by the ones that
you're a category do you know what I mean advisory boards select whatever it is Select board advisory committee they should be broken out we as opposed to like your regular I'm saying like school committee shouldn't be in there because that's not something we would ever point point to right right so and it's not
right cuz you guys crossed it out right exactly the point exactly no it's still on there there it is okay re got a good let's categorize them to advisories to regulatory Standalone
boards right you know non um fun Bo elected whatever it is you know how you want a fun board this is a fun board yeah okay all right okay oh on the another
page uh we have water sewer rate review advisory committee that's no longer that's in the water sewer infrastructure advisory committee was folded in that's why it's morphed into um The Graduate line wasn't crossed out well it is one spot and then and it's added again it's
added again so I don't know keeps popping up popping up so that goes you got that and then chapter so chapter 6 totic there was just a reference to it is the select board that makes the ultimate decision and their Authority is
limited just for clarity sake I think we should just say where are you where are you uh top paragraph of chapter 62 A2 A2 sorry yeah just where it says and their Authority is limited I just think it would be more clear if we said
the authority of the advisory committee is limited that's all small small wait just which one are you on up here of the here I am too Turn the Page at the very top
okay these committees handle a particular function of area study it's important for members of those commes to understand that while they make recommendations it is the select board that makes the ultimate decision and the authority the advisory committee the authority of the advisory committee is limited
y okay so these advisory committees and we're positive we've got these C oriz is because it's news to me that like renewable energy is just advisory as opposed to an actual committee but you guys have already scrubbed that I I mean I have not no I actually Diane sorry
sorry what yeah like you've scrubbed the fact that the things that are under advisory committees are really The Advisory it's the best that I could yes okay we we could take a another yeah if there's any particular one you are
concerned about Will renable energy take a triple check yeah renewable energy doesn't really I'm not sure how much frankly I understand the difference between advisory or not but anyway um that was a question mark the other thing is didn't we just um create two new kind
of veterans oriented committees are those we haven't seated them yet yeah and are those are those are actual committees right not just advisory can you move their advisory the select board is going to have to credential vote of these committees
they these committees don't have standing in the town Charter or in any Mass General law the select board does and so these committees the two vet ones that's right yeah okay so you know they're they're generally any committee the board seats they you see them under
your offices your power and um they'll make recommendations to you and and you'll decide to accept or reject them sorry to blor this but back to the other one ccil on Aging do we point I
don't know that's your committee yep okay yep you're the governing body I thought that was like like the retirement committee I mean that's no that's different different okay I know that okay um are we under
appointment process we are Yes we made it um so the I'm going to go to bullet point three unless somebody has something on bullet point one or two y to ensure boards and committees have membership residing in swamps Scot what
happens if we have people that aren't in swamp we don't have a policy on that well you there are statutory um opportunities to allow for certain members to serve on boards that don't live in swamp for instance you know if
you have a a need for a certain expertise for a Conservation Commission or a planning board like and you need that expertise and you're you know um you know many communities have have sought to have
the um statutory approval to to appoint individuals don't live in the the town to serve on the boards so does this hold us up it says I mean they did you did take out in only um swamp Scot but
because it's a swamp Scot does that cause any I like this I mean you can achieve what you're talking about with some additional phrasing the goal the goal for appointment process is people in swamp Scot AB you want to be self-governed generally but right in a
few um you know in a few unique situations you know um there may be an opportunity for the town to actually be S better or well served by somebody that doesn't live in the town okay
good with that so I think you know the sentence should could read somewh uh whenever possible individual serving on Boards of commission shall reside within the town of swamp well do we need to change
that I'm fine with it the way it is go it's a goal it's it's attainable in most situations but not a mandate okay I'm good um 6b2
62 process just the next uh f f f each application is reviewed by appropriate Town staff and forwarded to select board members to be reviewed and graded on scale of 1 to five prior to Applications being sent to select board
member liaison should communicate any specific skills and or needs the committee is looking for select board members are encouraged to interview cand okay so is the is the grade from one to five from the from staff from the select
board um I mean from the select board from yeah it says each application is reviewed by the appropriate Town staff and forwarded to select board members to be reviewed and graded on on a scale of 1 to five so okay and then it says select board members are encouraged to interview candidates so which select
board members are I mean are all of us calling up I had confusion about this also yeah yeah so is it just the I thought just the liais were taking on the task of interviewing I didn't think all of us were taking I agree looking at every are we supposed to be looking at
every candidate for every board I don't here's here you you don't have to you don't if you're if you're going to make a recommendation on somebody if you're looking if you're going to make a recommendation and you feel like huh should I what about this person and this person what's the difference
between them it you should if you feel feel be able to pick up the phone and make a call and then you could make your recommendation um for somebody for a board that somebody else is AA on right CU you're going to be advancing I trust my four colleagues honestly you're going
to be recommend if you're going to be grading people and recommending them I don't want to grade people I don't want to I want to grade my own group right I want to be a my own interpreting it differently that's why we're discussing it again I think our our my recollection
because I for example Diane has been emailing out boarding committee applications and multiple times I've emailed Diane back to say why are we all on these just the liaison should be on these so that's what I thought that we had approved right yeah I I just think there's better use of our time than than
us grading uh your your you know your committees to which you're the liaison um I really want to leave it to the to to staff or the chair of the board and committee to really you know to really get to a number you know I just think also discussion of
volunteers and qualifications in public meetings where we're where we're talking about somebody being a one or a two um I just think it's that wouldn't be in a public meeting I just think it's going to be offputting but if we're having that but you're going to have a public record and I I for me I just want to
play it out I think it it you're elected officials and any kind of Correspondence you have is going to be a public record and right you know I we we talked about this years ago and it was sort of like the recommendation that we would kind of help handle that as professional staff
and we'd work with the chair uh on the appointments just to make sure that through the chair we would have a little bit I like the idea though that the Liaisons on the board play a little bit of a stronger role because I think that Lin makes better sense but I think it
would be uh probably better to let the staff kind of help the the liaison with that that way we keep the records it's not part of a public you know so I think of course the staff keeping the records but the what I think that it's very very
important that we have applicants who are looking to be on committies that are advisory committees to the select board and in the past we've had people come and be nominated as people to the select board and it's Town staff that are
telling us who here you should you should be here and meanwhile I know at times Town staff didn't even have the chance to interview or looking at things last minute or really not look at all that that's why I want to see more of an opinion on members of the board on who they want to see I think that's the role
of the liaison the point I think that's the role of the leaz but there are you all get busy too and and yes staff can be busy we've also leaned into the board and committee chairs to look at that and I know we've had a discussion that we don't want to have
group think with boards and committees we're here to kind of check you know the well that's that's the that's the other topic I I am adamant that I don't want to see committee chairs lining up the people that they want on these committees because we do get group think
and we do get people that are put there because they're friends or who they know or whatever it's got to be more an opportunity but we've got a couple different issues going on here if you read through if you read through what we've got here we're trying to emphasize
the Outreach which starts to influence hopefully the funnel right of the different candidates and if you want to if you're concerned about certain committees being kind of group think then the point is to get people to apply to get in the funnel right right right and then all those people are going to
be evaluated in F here by appropriate Town staff and forward to the select board members all of us is what this says everybody's getting all of them so you're going to get visibility if you got a problem let the liaison know at that point right
right and the liaison should communicate any specific skills in needs the committee is looking for in some ways that should have gone into the notice to begin with right but it's also maybe a point here of you've got another opportunity now you're
evaluating candidates remember everybody if you're thinking about this this is important or this is important when you're giving me feedback But ultimately comes down to the Lea on who's really interviewing people and taking into consideration all that information
sounds good I have to say though remove to say that we're going to grade people on a scale of 1 to five I am not in favor you can remove that I thought they that did not come from me I agree with that that did not come thank no just so you know that was just that was presented during that was presented at
the select board meeting remember we had the meeting when we talked about rats yes and you did a presentation yes and we talk this process Bo to after further consideration absolutely so we're going to remove and grade it on the scale of 1 to five and
then we are going to say in the last sentence um select uh Liaisons are encouraged to interview candidates yes select aison select aons okay I I do think like one of the things that I think is most you know
effective when when the board meets with individuals to serve on various committees is the board interviews the individuals to serve in the Committees like that's generally we've always tried to bring the appointees to the committee have the board ask a few questions have the candidates or for these committees say a
few reasons why they want to serve in the committee lot a lot of these committees are very important and and it just highlights the importance of these committees they're all important they are yeah you know and again it's time but you know it's it's just an opportunity for the
board to thank some members or even just talk about the role of some of the committees and we do move quickly okay okay so actually that's not so um I'll take another look at this process because I think that that doesn't flow correctly with the
following we're little redundant now now we're redundant so now that we all fully understand what the process is we'll I'll take another tweak at that order because I think there's some additional information unnecessary excuse me all right financial management chapter 7even
what is that town it's it's just smooshed it literally says Town finances it's just smooshed I don't know why it did that um W there's not much to say about financial management two paragraphs you know what do we have in the calendar do we have the setting of
the tax rate yes love that calendar we just love that calendar Fletcher so town meeting we just had um a typo under town meeting yeah under C there was tyo and then chapter nine Town
Administrator um I just I needed a point of clarification for C yep so it was the third item consistent with General bylaws and town Charter that select board and the individual members thereof must respect and support
the authority of the Town Administrator and the chain of command within the administration period similar L the select board and individual members thereof must consult with the Town Administrator relative to all matters employment discipline and termination of administrative
Personnel um I what is what is that that change to me kind of looks that yeah it flips it and it looks like that the select board would be would essentially be making decisions on in a On a par Pursuit basis with the
Town Administrator relative to matters of employment discipline or termination of of administrative personnel and I'm just concerned that that gets too much into the day-to-day Affairs of the Town um and is outside of the purview of the select board and might go against our Charter as well I just didn't have
enough time to to to cross reference so first of all was that the intent with the change hold on so it's basically speaking to if the Town Administrator is getting ready to ter um administrative Personnel specifically
I think it it it's more geared towards terminating somebody that's a department head or an upper level position that they will he will consult with us he or she will consult with us before doing that well appointed a correct me if I'm wrong but appointed positions cannot be
terminated without um the vote of the select board for the charter certain there are certain positions is that true I know we have a role in appoint in does it we have a we have a role terminating um yep
the um appointed positions uh you know there is um if we were to terminate an employee they would have the um um opportunity to kind of um have a hearing before the
board but this doesn't say that this says leave it the way it was if that is what we are meant to do if we meant to be clarifying between the rights we have under the charter for appointed positions if that's what the cons consultation piece is meant to clarify
we can leave it the way it was must respect the town administrator's decisions relative to all matters of Employments and disciplines and termination of administrative Personnel excluding whatever the charter says in which case I mean it just gives
you it gives you it gives the Town Administrator kind of an omnipotent position right where they with so there's not really a balance right in case of some questionable action or something that and I'm not
saying this exists or would ever exists but there's the potential for a little bit of checks and balances when you're looking to um you know the town a Town
Administrator does not have um unchecked Authority we have um a number of state and federal laws that govern the responsibilities of every city in Town Administrator to report themselves in a
man that's consistent with uh what is u fair and just what what I worry about most is um individuals that would interfere with you know the professional administration of the town and and
create a situation where you know Personnel information comes to a public body that is is hard to control and becomes part of you know a politic and and for me that's that's what we're trying to guard against that's why we have language in here that says hey
here's the day-to-day responsibilities here's the public policy board's responsibilities um you know trying I I get what you're trying to um you know protect against you know Town administrators do have a lot of
Authority they have a lot of power so do select boards um so do to some extent some department heads they have the responsibility to manage uh the performance and the expectations of of
um their charge but those are serious responsibilities um employees have rights many of the employees have contracts they have standards and expectations I I'm not sure exactly how perhaps we amend that to say you know
just termination of administrative Personnel because when you're talking about terminating somebody that's under contract there are implications of that that I think don't think should be just like Financial I don't think that should be a decision that we're not part of at
least from a consultation point Y right because there could be far-reaching consequences there's liability there there is and I I wouldn't be comfortable with anybody making that decision individually for the Department for the the the people that are named in the the Char numerated positions in the town
Charter so can we just discipline I don't care I mean that's that's already in consequential so we so we can just so we can just make this we could leave it the way it was and then we can add tie it to the tie it to the language in the charter and only under only under
terminations terminations and what happens if do we have it in here what happens if you have a department head who's having an issue with the Town Administrator that's further okay that's the last
paragraph of D okay and it speaks to the Town Administrator D it's in D I think it's under is it D or yeah I see right here unless the evaluation no that's the evaluation no there's another
spot oh boy so under evaluation we have to double check the charter and I think we've got to rework this because it's got to fit within the charter and within contract so right now we have a charter we have a contract we have a handbook and I we just have to go back and just
figure out proper language for that right this second yep fly don't you have it me probably case law and all sorts of other things well we we went through this though yeah we've already done this once before so
uh are we assuming that when we did it the first time we did not I don't consult the charter and the contract I don't think we did so we did we did so it is right well I don't know if it's I can't speak to whether it's right or not but I can speak to I'm sure Paulie when
she drafted she those things spent a lot of time on this um six months but we can look again Charter also um I mean I was right earlier and I'm looking at this now okay roll the dice here okay so yeah
I I guess two important notes just quickly okay um is that uh um I don't know David you are the only member who was on when this was originally
discussed um maintaining the town administrator's personnel file in the town administrator's office so we changed Human Resources if anybody yeah it's always been in the HR office Co so it's not a big deal I guess
paie missed that one yeah I guess Paulie didn't put the right one in there then because that's what was there um I have a question on the because this question comes up the chair should consider the town administrator's feedback when finalizing oh you took
that out but yes um it's always just the best practice from hi if if a evaluator doesn't consider the feedback from the person being evaluated that's just a you know agreed but is that the right place to do
it I guess under evaluations well it's a little rant though too oh sorry go ahead duck what well the sentence before it is makes it the chair of Town Administrator shall discuss the comments prior to the Public Presentation right I mean then adding another sentence is kind of the
same thing so yeah yeah is I think you've got feedback yeah I think it's not as explicit that's right right or okay so my next question is we we used do
uh Board of selectman each individual board member I'm just on the paragraph right after that one once finalized each individual board member would do the evaluation and that document would be a public document
that's okay that document would be a public document now what we do is we combine everything and then just make the summary so at some point we changed and I'm just wondering why did we change um was um based on the advice of
councel we can we can check with councel I mean as long as I've been as long as we've been on the board we've drafted uh right but but those reviews were non-public and then they were compiled into a public review right but my question is why aren't they public
shouldn't the public know we can find out yeah I have a lot of department heads uh I have to do their evaluations um those generally are considered to be private when you evaluate employees in the
private sector that's protected Human Resources now yes uh Town administrators have a public evaluation but um it's Consolidated evaluation there may be differences of opinion among a board uh
some of those opinions may be um you know um stronger than others but um you know the way that legal um standards have kind of framed it is that you know they get Consolidated into a single
evaluation and they get uh presented um as a uh a um Consolidated evaluation document I hear what you're saying I think what I'm what I'm questioning is
shouldn't the public know what each one of us um how each one of us is evaluating and I'm open I'm just throwing it out there because people have called and asked questions and I do I do uh recall that's how we used to do it so I just want to I want to know more
about that okay okay so now we're on chapter 10 board relationships relationships with other boards and commissions oh I have to on the liaison thing so on the liaison thing um Neil
Duffy actually had said to me just s you know I'm going to pick the Liaisons and send them out and that's what you did and then that's what I did but we would we did it wrong we didn't vote we didn't vote so and I
think that to turn around and sit and have I I think we vote last last not vote maybe Rec we didn't vote for but we have voted in the past I don't remember as voting with you we have voted in the past yes yes we did we did yes we did so maybe we
need to vote all right so we have we I voted all right well I think my I'm fine with do I'm we should definitely I don't have any problems with voting what I just want to stay away from is having a big discussion I want this committee I want that committee or you vote for me
you vote for that I mean I don't mind messy I don't mind if we have a draft that's fine do you think that this paragraph invites that what a draft no a a like a yeah I think it does I think
um po ticking for votes among the board yeah I think it's it's a little bit it would be input maybe someone would have a good idea about why they should be a good person for the committee that wasn't otherwise you know
known so that so so we're going to vote on who gets to be a leas on and then I mean we're just gonna I mean how it's happened is any committee going to get anything done ever because we're we're just R voting and voting the people voting on liaison what do we yes we we didn't we didn't we didn't change
anything we never I've never but we've never done it change to the chair's suggestion no typically if there's if if you want to do something and KD doesn't swap a row it's all good yeah all right so just leave it just leave it the way
we've always been doing it I think this this language here doesn't I think if it ends up in a final and if it ends up in a great debate then yeah okay then we vote I welcome it okay we we can do rock paper sciss how about we vote for no I don't want to be on any
of them how about that is that an option I like the lock paper scissors idea like zero the J to the end like to the death okay you know this is the part where Peter always made a very very um
compelling uh case here to to remind Lea that it's that you need to keep your personal opinions and your personal stuff out of what the board's you know out of your perspective boards and your committees
so I'm not sure if you feel like that's clear enough here I was fine with the previous language that was included which was should be careful not to usurp the prerogative of the chair but I you know sh generally
respect uh autonomy is is fine too okay that that piece is just at attendance at other committee meetings so that I don't know h mhm right that's not when you're the lead so that's just in that situation that's not overall so why don't we strike towards
that end when attending the meetings of other boards just say board members and board members well this whole sections about attendance and other okay yeah okay I'll be quiet we if you want the spirit of that strike we can just move it up to the liaison section I mean the
whole paragraph does it even need to be there I don't know is that a thing attendant at other I think throw it out Ian I don't know does that happen frequently just leave it in leave it it has a purpose I feel like yeah but if you wanted to take that should be careful not to usurp the prerogative of
a chair to the to the liaison to two to two um yeah I like that but we could say liaison should help guide the goals and actions of the Committees to which they've been appointed uh towards the sun leison should communicate with each committee's
chair and should be careful not to usurp the prerogative of the chair doesn't need it own subset right okay let's put it there okay it's better serve there are we on to B yes so so I question it seems like
we've added in assistant 10 administrator here mhm and um is that simply with the thinking that sometimes an assistant Town
Administrator is kind of the known Point person on something so it's just a matter of straight logic to you know include that assistant Town Administrator and when there's a question that comes up what do you do when the town administrators on vacation
or not available or but they would be of absence or on they what they would be the acting Town Administrator I mean would they I mean if they're on vacation y MH okay but they're still technically the assistant Town Administrator no that's still their
title right but I think the import is still that you're you're contacting the Town Administrator or his or her replacement yeah you could say that too if that was that was thought process that if they not there incapacitated or
okay you know okay we can just say or they representative or they designate whatever just to basically have another design back makes sense right it has actually more flexibility to it in a way yeah yeah and then it was referenced below so when we cross out the sentence below we just wanted to put it yeah I
just thought 10B run because it was already in there y I just thought 10B ran counter to 9 c um I'm for delegation I'm just not I guess just as as written it just it just
confuses the uh the chain of command now if we get rid of assistant Town Administrator and just say or does he need you still do that that better yeah that yeah yeah yeah yeah okay y do you want to remove the reference to assistant Town Administrator below
also uh yeah at the end of the paragraph the last sentence yes yes Town ad administrator or their designate just say okay so on the very last uh on any member of town staff approaches any member of Select board to rise concern
to raise a concern about the Town Administrator or another staff member the board member should direct the individual to human resource director yep yeah it's fine I don't mind what was crossed out I I think it just
emphasizes the point but it's fine counil I just had a comment on D to uh any an individual resident group of residents May request an appointment before the board by making a request in writing to the town administrator's
office or the chair stating the reason for the appearance action desired subject to the matter being placed on the agenda residenti shall be given reasonable opportunity to make a presentation through the spokesperson as applicable Express opinions and ask for pertinent information I would just like to add a sentence any presentation or
information discussed should be distributed to the select board at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting don't we speak to that at the beginning where we asked for presentations as feasible or something was that I just think it I I just think it would be helpful if this was if it
was clear and in this in this particular section since we've had two issues in the last six weeks I just I think that spelling that out here would just be would would make it would make it a little more clear and it does it does
it's a kind of a different context like all the stuff that flows through we just got this tonight this afternoon yes yeah no I know this morning so that means we wouldn't be able to talk about this well we did talk about three business days way back when I think you know that was
that's you know supposed to be the the goal the rule there are exceptions just um but it it is different here because normally if I'm coming to talk at a meeting I wouldn't think oh I got to send something in in advance but normally our process we know the
supposed process is that we're getting everything like Thursday before um but sometimes we're not sometimes we're not so it's nothing it's not about like that there's no way in the world this person could ever come and talk if it didn't happen but still like so so what about with Joe duette like something like that
tonight so when did we first get we at least got that yesterday day before no 48 Hours yeah he posted he it was posted on the got him right in under the like it must have been Monday yeah seconds under the wire okay yeah so his presentation also
wasn't provided to us in advance no right the Grant application and the information was but not the presentation and he just did that to help that mean so does that mean he couldn't have presented it right I mean there's exceptions right to everything just
be best attempt Dave why don't you to best practices yeah I mean every attempt should be made sure okay and what is it every attempt should be
made to provide what was your sentence yeah to provide presentations or information uh discussed to to be discussed the meeting distributed to the select board at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting that just allows us to to
prepare 48 Hours prepare ask questions and be as efficient as possible meeting okay okay um the one thing that I do question the
one thing I oh oh I'm sorry we're all set but I have one question should we have a policy on cellphones at the table use of cell phones as we all have them sitting
here yeah we'll have them here but I'm just wondering if we should have a policy on the actual use of cell phones at at the while you're sitting at the table you're saying no I think we should I think that select board members should be asked to stay off the cell phone
unless there's you know a real emergency or something like that but how do you know how would I know if I don't it's like if I'm checking it it's CU kids as small children yeah I mean I I I get what you're saying marielen I think we could just try to if if the question
is can we be better about it sure let's communicate that all to be maybe a little bit better about have we got a little lacks about the cell phone use of the table yeah maybe we could be more respectful to one another about that but I'm here volunteering I know I'm an
elected an official but it's I'm giving a lot of time and energy and if I want to check if my kids are asleep or not should be able to do that my next question is social media so we are absolutely going to pull those
and already got the school's we've already started down that road we'll put pen to paper and then we'll review it like we did the rest of it second view so when do you want this you want this back on the agenda in two weeks I think two weeks let's do it already on there
here we go look at this all right and we'll um what about the Cod condo we'll we'll um be a little bit better about um getting it to you earlier there was an issue with red lining and the D wasn't sure what version to send you guys so make your best we will um and what are
we what about the code of conduct what about it are we going to review this that's next right wasn't you want to finish this first or you want us to do it at the same time uh should we start this uh in two weeks yes y if at all I I don't have any issues with it so I don't
I don't need to look at it at all but if anyone else does last well it's a good thing we looked at this duck because there were a number of errors in it so oh no I wanted to look at this I asked for it seven times so no I'm happy to look at it and spend yeah as much time as we as we need
that's fine all right so Diane's got that on the schedule are we volunteering Danielle and I do it or David you say you want to do it I didn't say anything I thought you just said you wanted to look at it Happ to look at it Happ to look at it all right so Danielle and I
will since where they president secretar next all right so moving along vot of board approval of the consent agenda so moved wait I would just like to pull the uh the minutes from 9 before
I something came in this afternoon I didn't have a chance to review it I was reviewing the U handbook the handbook um so I'm fine with 820 and 829 I would just like to hold off on 94 okay so Diane we're going to pop 94 so moved
second all in favor the consent agenda right oh wait do we have a was there a request for one day license for the fox tribe yep that's on the consent that's on the consent agenda yep no I just have the race number one oh that's just the r no no no no don't know the one for the
one day liquor license we don't have one I don't have one okay but it's it's it was just in it was in the it was in the notes it was in the consent agenda it said that being said attached is a request for a one-day liquor license bent water is agreed to sponsor the beer garden that's just in the
that's in the letter from Ashley Steves I don't think we've gotten the we haven't gotten the sign off yet that's correct okay um I'll talk to Matt about that tomorrow he has no no no I know I know I just soan can you make a note that we need to have that
yep okay once again I move the consent agenda without the 94 minutes I'll second all in favor I I motion carries um okay now we're at Town administrator's report
all right um thank you marelen this past week I had a um host with swamp hosted a meeting uh with former Rivier mayor uh Brian origo and current commissioner of the Department of Conservation and
Recreation uh DCR at the Hawthorne uh I shared a number of updates uh on swamp's uh efforts to um you know Revitalize Humphrey Street I think a lot of the Commissioners were really really excited to be in the
Hawthorne um it's impressive to really have the town own that facility um they did talk a lot about the dynamic between the department of conservation's linear Park that runs from the swamps Town Line down to Nahant
um I did mention that you know we are looking to have a a broader partnership with DCR um two years ago I did send a letter on behalf of the board to seek that DCR uh engage with the town to take ownership of the town of swamp's
existing seaw wall that wraps up to the Hawthorne property uh We've recently uh updated that seaw wall won't need to be repaired for at least another 20 or 30 years and help save the town millions and uh give the state a chance to really
maintain that entire area um we continue to work with uh a number of really great committee uh members to uh see how we can improve and uh expand the micro forest in a way that helps to beautify
the corner of Walkin Paradise I realize there are a lot of folks that have a lot of uh passion uh and ideas for that corner and and appreciate uh the collaboration that is ongoing uh pleased that we have a a new
assessing agent want to thank um U our Board of ass essers and staff for um pulling that together uh we continue to uh have weekly meetings to talk about our efforts to uh bring a boutique hotel
to swampit uh we are working with uh Clear View and uh a number of Partners to make that uh Vision a reality um additionally with our veterans housing project we're uh working with our VFW
stakeholders and a number of veterans groups to built consensus around the concept want to thank the neighborhood uh we continue to work with uh a number of neighbors to really ensure that we have a a good balance uh of
support uh I continue to work with our historical commission uh to discuss ways that we can uh help preserve the Glover property uh last week I met with Richard wolco uh consultant who's preparing a
report on a number of options for the Glover Farmhouse uh this week I have been in um number of interviews last week as well uh for a number of vacancies we had eight interviews uh for firefighter um
candidates uh absolutely some of the finest uh individuals I've I've had a chance to interview um hopefully we'll uh be moving forward with conditional offers for uh three vacancies we have uh in the next few days uh libraries um
been open on Saturday want to thank Library staff um we're getting a lot of positive uh report U from residents on on the library being open uh on the weekend uh certainly um want to
recognize Matt Matthew wearing our new on call library assistant um we are getting ready for a spooky uh October DPW has been very busy uh with landscaping around town and working on a number of uh
projects um Senior Center is accepting applications for anyone interested um in on being on the new Community Life Center feasibility task force you can get more information on our T website uh our town clerk Jared the Liberty has been busy with election season we have
uh already 2 200 people that have voted and uh he's U breaking out his new po pole pads that will be deployed uh next year to make voting even easier um we do are we are seeing up Tak in covid cases
and a number of uh flu uh like symptoms want to just encourage folks to get tested uh we do have a flu Clinic coming up on September 24th from 4: to 6 pm at the senior center um registration is required remember to wear a short sleeve
t-shirt encourage up board members to head down there you are out in the public and uh likely will be more susceptible um I want to really thank our uh wreck uh Team uh Jackie and Danielle for another uh tremendous uh
swamp toober Fest David thank you um these um no cost lowcost uh events are medicine I can't stress enough how important it is to have uh multigenerational engagement with some of these activities uh I do think there
are ways that we can improve uh these events after every one of these events we have to a action them but we had thousands of people that came out and had a absolutely wonderful time um and really looking forward to continuing um
you know a tradition uh for these events we had an absolute Rockstar day with porchfest thanks Joe um heard um nothing but uh more more and more and more folks want to have a porch rest around the
holiday seasons I don't know if that's possible but um you know would be great to see what um what we could do to get people out during the uh the winter months um car shows coming up on October
13th um we have a townwide yard sale if you like to go yard sailing this is the the event 30 participants get rid of your stuff don't throw it away sell it save us I'm sorry we did it we sold it
yeah we sold it um well we we we're going to have to plan another one um it's one of the the better events in town uh when we look at how much stuff gets taken out of the solid waste stream we have to pay a tonnage cost for that so um it's great lastly I just want to
thank um you know Chief Archer members of the swamps fire department for their um annual 911 memorial um these events are so important um you know we have lost uh a number of residents um you know
to um the war on terror but uh certainly um you know Jennifer Captain Jennifer Harris uh Corporal Raymond and Justin Moors and reporter Michael Kelly all have paid um you know um the ultimate uh
sacrifice um for our freedoms 911 is lost to to so many young citizens U that weren't alive then so important that we talk about it and remind everybody just the uh important um you know uh freedoms
that we have and that you know are responsibility to protect those so that's my report okay thank you for your report and now for select board time I have a couple of things
um I just want to thank the school building committee and um all everybody who came out to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the new school it was a lovely occasion I was glad to see that many parents did not heed advice and
brought their children to the ceremony which was lovely because as we were cutting the ribbon of the building kids were playing on the playground and running through the hallways and that's why we do what we do so it's nice that they were there um also I want to talk a
little bit about um the Town Administrator touched on the um the micro forest and I just want to let everybody know that last week Salem State Professor Nicholas Jaren of the geography and sustainability Department
took drone images of the micro Forest um so his background is an urban forestry and he works for biof for climate on forests based in like Cambridge and Worcester um throughout the summer he worked there um he sent a video for us which we can put out on the town website
of the microforest and he took thermal images and the thermal images um are pretty impressive and they show that current temperatures in the forest the micr forest are um have decreased the temperature of the grasses that allow
the vegetation to grow and protect the ecosystem and the bugs and all the good things that live under the forest and um there's a bunch of research about heat heat Islands um it's it's pretty interesting stuff although I'm not
making it sound interesting but what I can tell you it does do is that it um helps address the goals of our climate action plan which include enhancing and protecting and maintaining natural resources in public Green Space and
adopting a landscape that practices and supports Nao native biodivers diversity and improve water retention so I know that there um as Sean has said there are people who believe that it doesn't look as nice as it should and um maybe it
looks as nice as it should because it's doing something greater so um I always will plug the microforest if I have the opportunity and I think that's um really important that we understand that everything doesn't always look perfect all the time David I'm good for now Doug
I have several things although Katie shortened one of them for me thank you um it is quite amazing to see the images that are put out there about the intensity of the heat inside the like within 10 feet of each other when the microforest it's like 20 degrees Celsius
difference that's like you know 30 degrees difference um so that's why forests are important and um so thank you Katie for covering that um Financial Summit where do we stand with planning for that
yeah we're um working on it um we've had the slide a few weeks based on on some um responsibilities we have to sit down with our colleagues uh so I can give you an update at our next meeting but we're we're we've got the data we've gone out
we've pulled the peer communities charting and graphing it we got a slide deck together I can okay so we're we're we're doing it on our own and so the time starting to slide so I know so I think we're we are going to reach don't put me in a place where I'm going to say I told you so so um we talk about
parties yep what's that I thought we talked about a third party didn't we we did talk about it y yep we have reached out we're looking to bring somebody in that could help facilitate that yeah so I would strongly request that we have a date certain for when this thing's going
to happen by the next meeting um and that I would hope that date's in October we said it was going to be in September we're going to have a date before before the next meeting okay well that's fine but um so because then we're going to be into sliding into budget season and everything else right we need some time to process this um so so Sean has been
working on a date he's just okay trying to Y get it out there uh can I explain on that t would you mind yeah I also want to be careful about the rhetoric we're using about the data has been pulled because part of the third party coming in was to help make sure that
the that we're pulling the right data point and we're using them in the right way so I mean there's there's only two really data sets that that we're looking at we got um do the municipal Gateway they have all the information on um the
annual uh tax levies the you know Reserve Levy capacity all the things that frankly are benchmarks and in Department of Education Jessie um they are they have all the information on student teacher ratios the number of student enrollments like we're just
going to get it from State sources when does the new DES but we we talked about engaging the schools so that they weren't blindsided or that we were just pulling their data has that have you reached out to the school department and actually talked about this to coordinate
meetings with um the school business administrator and and U make sure that we share that information with them so so you have talked to the school department that's a I am I've asked am me to I haven't reached out to them okay well it might it might make sense to
reach out to the superintendent or whoever and because this is I don't want this to turn into a contentious issue and I want the schools to have as much notice and I want to partner with them and not just Blindside them and say we're pulling your numbers we're pulling data without actually talking to them
yeah it's my intention that um they would have an opportunity to present some of the the information on the schools and we would partner with them we've done that in the past and you know there's no reason why we wouldn't hear those responsibilities when does the new Desi information come out does it come
out mid October or the first October uh 1st is a reporting deadline for student enrollments uh I just don't know when they post it up on their website you know schedule 19s are uh usually those are annually you know at the end of the school year so you know their enrollment
is not it's not act it's not current so it takes them they pull Sims three times a year so it takes them but there's only one number that they actually count though isn't that the number from October no so they they run that report The Sims report student information report three times a year so kids can
enter the system at any point yeah they come and go so those that enrollment those enrollment numbers are fluent but I'm talking about how are the finances that the state gives that those finances that the state gives are based on the number from October yes but but and again they could
have more students enter after October but you're still getting only X from the right right the October 1st number is is the is the snapshot every District in the Commonwealth on October 1st presents the number of students they have in
their system okay okay um housing uh so just want to put in another plug uh swamp Scot for all ages is hosting a housing series um at the first uh session this two nights ago uh
um I encourage people who there was a huge turnout like 50 people came um and really really interesting different perspectives from different organizations came and talked about different ways to age in place that's what that uh session was about uh
there'll be three other sessions um one in September 30th about what is affordable housing another on October 7th about accessory dwelling units another one October 21st about really kind of details about financing the next steps I think people were really a lot of light bulbs went off about different
ways that people can stay here in town with home modifications or sharing their housing or different approaches um so it's obviously an important issue for a lot of people and just want to raise that up again how are we advertising that um I know Tom Scot for all ages
Senior Center Etc is doing it it's on the town website and it's on Facebook our Facebook what about all those other Facebook things oh like times and uh uh nest and stuff like that that's not that I don't know I can share it with them
you can post you can post if it's on the town's Facebook page yeah yeah um we could show you Diane yeah no I can do Instagram Instagram okay um uh lastly um
you know Sean mentioned the Glover um so you know the governor is uh liutenant Governor put out a a kind of a massive uh press release and uh initiative about um rev 250 here in the
state a horse yeah what's that she rode a horse down up at the capital oh I didn't I didn't know that she did okay um I could go on and on and with a lot of incredible points that she makes about how important this is etc etc etc
and we are sitting here in swamp Scott with a jewel that is rotting away and we have a uh land owner who we've been trying to work with and it is not going anywhere despite incredible efforts and so I just want to make sure everyone knows that we are sitting here while
this is just frittering okay literally and figuratively um and I'm done being kind of like hopeful and patient about it because like it is we're going to sit here and all feel like we just it was on
our watch that this thing crumbled and nothing happened um so um if the landowner is listening great um if other people are listening and know the land owner great but it is time for us to move because it's not
going to be something that we can do something about next year dou I appreciate you know your passion for this this is one of our nation's greatest treasures uh I have uh met with the owner uh two weeks ago I do believe
um he cares about you know helping to uh preserve that history it's taken us six months with all of your incredible patience and diligence and respect and everything else to allow a tarp to go on this building and it is still not happened
okay it's ridiculous okay we're not trying to do anything that would be harmful to anybody um and we need cooperation um because that piece of property is sitting there in a delinquent State um and there are other things that we could be doing um and
that we should be doing um and I'll ask us to start considering for any other property that would be sitting there in that dereli state so um it's time to move appreciate that so can you just start making phone
calls every oh it sounds like we got to do more than phone call I don't think he's asking for phone calls I think we've already made but I think we're almost there right you know we've been I I think the frustrating part is that we've been almost there for for um years you
know and we've got to we've got to really we need a partner I think you know the goal here is that you know we can have a a partner to help us um I think that is we're ready willing and able to do that and it's not just about the house there's so many other
important things that need happen there right the housing other things need to happen there uh but we can't wait around forever that's right we're we're going to celebrate in two years the 50th anniversary of the Revolution and we have literally one of the most important sites in this nation and we'll be
holding a funeral at that spot as as opposed to a you know a house raising at this rate so I'm not sure whose funeral but the house is Funeral House Funeral that was I got it a few of us Danielle oh
hold on a minute are you I'm done yes okay um kudos to the school building committee we attended Katie and I Doug I think you attended too um all there were we all there I don't even know I don't remember Sean was there great event it was wonderful to
have so many community members there that were not even affiliated with the school or had kids in the district and they were able to go in and take a look um hats off to Max Casper because I think he is just a gem and the most valuable asset in this town the school department um he does everything and
he's really he really did a great job job as did Lorie sandborn and they are doing a wonderful job with dismissal now they're getting it done in 10 minutes so I think the residents are happier I do still have concerns about the intersection that someone spoke on tonight um Atlantic and Humphrey I mean
it still is a death trap or whoever called it that I agree and it really does see still need more attention um but that was uh that's all I have okay and um for me I just want want
to once again thank Nate Bim and Joe duette for bringing the select board meeting and um see you all in two weeks motion to adjourn second some moved we can vote all in favor in favor hi hi hi
she's just reading mine thanks Diane thank youan for