##VIDEO ID:lCxEzrnBoS8## evening it's August 27th 2024 at 604 I'd like to call the board of Selectmen meeting to order and a roll call please Teresa Mo present your shank present chess X deranian present please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance United States America [Music] I thank all our veterans both past and present and our First Responders thank you very much for your service um this meeting is being um recorded and it will be uploaded on YouTube and I believe we are live on Channel 9 I hope we are um Chairman's additions and deletions I do not have any Teresa do you have any no I do not I do 1.5 review and approve the meeting minutes so I'll entertain a motion for um do either of you have a uh we can do these together if you're okay with that I'm okay with that I'll entertain a motion to approve meeting minutes for 8 16 2024 and 82 820 2024 so moved second discussion see any issues with anything so all those in favor very much I yes [Music] will take this moment to introduce our new Town Administrator Nelson mu Nelson thank you and welcome aboard uh Nelson started with us yesterday and um we've had uh he's had two-day crash course on a lot of stuff um but I welcome you to the to the organization thank you so much um we will I'm sure find out more about you as we move along I look forward to working veryone [Music] um appointments we have 605 review and sign engineering contract um this is for the climate resilience project uh to survey map and Report storm water infrastructure um if you want to talk a little bit about this you want me to read the the reason why we're here you're welcome to read that I think is that something Jessica provided for you yes yeah um this is what because I was on the the uh planning board when we started all of this because this this comes out of the uh MVP action Grant or the MVP project that we were working on so this is about I think five years in the making um our MVP action Grant has been awarded uh the town $154,500 to finish the 2016 mapping and inventory of the towns and storm water infrastr structure which consists of cast catch basins drain pipe outfalls uh Etc of which about two-thirds is already mapped the award also includes a condition assessment of the infrastructure and most importantly identifying weak points and those susceptible to failure as our climate changes where infrastructure is observed and potentially be lacking the areas will be assessed for improvement using nature-based climate resilient Solutions the vast majority of this grant award goes to Engineering Services to conduct this work the remaining is to partner with nrwa for their consultation on deliverables from a more Regional uh a regional Watershed scale approach upon discussions with the interim ta selection of an engineering uh consultant is exempt from 30b procurement and as such we propose to use Weston and Samson uh for this work they assisted with the Grant application preparation and are thoroughly aware of our scope of work the Weston and Samson contract is what we are hoping to have executed by the BOS and the Town Administrator so we can keep moving this project forward to meet our schedule of fieldwork and deliverables within fiscal year 25 thank you for your consideration if needed the attached contract has been updated to reflect Nelson as the designated executive for the town um you want to add anything to that r no I want to thank Jessica for writing up that summary I think it's a valid project I looked into the selection process and procurement law allows us to go directly with the engineer on this point and that was Weston Samson that helped the Grant I think the way she said she had it wored was for the board to authorize Nelson as ta to sign that for just say you guys sign it La so I would suggest if you approve the Motions to authorize Jason I mean Jason Nelson to sign on your behalf yeah that's the reason why I want to put this on here is just to be able to get the signatures on it this is um all part of our um MVP plan for the town we have uh the planning board's been very active with that zoning has been involved in that as well and while they've been working on it yeah well this that we had mapping from 2016 but it's not complete we were hoping to be able to move forward and we weren't able to move forward with uh what we've what we wanted to because it wasn't completely mapped out so this Grant's going to help us map out the rest of um especially the storm water management portion of it um I also think it's going to be helpful for our Highway Department too because a lot of the um corts and and the outweighs are are kind of out out of date and it'll allow them to be able to look at those and see what needs to be updated and at least put on a schedule so that we can plan for it budget wise need to be replaced orever you have any questions on any of this Teresa no Joe do you have any questions this no I mean this project will some of this be incorporated in any of the new construction building that's being done in town GNA involve any of that yes if there was any changes it'll update what they've already done and also finish mapping out what we what they what they haven't before okay um in their suggestions now if I am not mistaken Weston and Samson also helped us out with a project around M Harbor too yeah um was about the same firm that did it and they still manag that as far as the outflow um I I see them on a weekly basis out there either letting the the water out or or closing it down to keep the water in um so they're act they they do understand um the whole water system within the town so I think this is a very good choice for them to go with okay um so if we don't have um any more to add um Teresa I'll entertain a motion to uh allow Nelson the New Town Administrator to execute these agreements with Weston and Samson uh for the MVP action Grant so moved second any further discussion all those in favor say yes shank yes yes we'll have uh um Jessica and um Aon who who's been part of the grant to kind of fill you in on all of the the details on what it is okay um we had we initially got a grant to help us write the plan um we got a secondary Grant to finish other portions of it this is also going to allow us to finish the last part of it so that now we can apply for more action grants to be able to again fix these cver things that are that we're going to need to once this gets identified [Music] um so we'll jump down to 4.1 uh review and send a letter to the Board of Health regarding trash collection um I first want to say that the this isn't a regularly scheduled um Board of um select board meeting we really I scheduled this just to go over the ex session but then we saw these other pieces come in so we figured we might as well put it on here um we do have an executive session that I want to get to and it's going to be right at 7 o'clock so um I want to be mindful a of the time and B to make sure that we have enough time to um to get through some of the the other stuff that we need to um as far as the the Board of Health um we have established a working group in regards to um where uh where we're going to be going with the curbside track and uh we have um we invited basically all the the boards that are involved that would be involved in in um the trash program uh we also have an individual from the state um I don't remember what Irene's um title is It's Regional Regional recycling coordinator yeah she's she's but she's with the state um she's been very active in conversation excuse me we've also consulted with other state agencies as to where our direction is going to go um in the last meeting that we had um in the chairman of the um Board of Health was not I guess happy with the way things were going and and didn't didn't wait until the meeting was over uh but Ross and I felt that um sending a letter uh to the Board of Health again inviting them to be part of the discussion which I really think is important we need their input um in regards to uh what our next steps are uh so I've included a letter um to the Board of Health that reads dear Jim and Board of Health members the select board appreciates the board of Health's efforts to negotiate a year extension to the curbside trash collection contract with GW Shaw and Sun Incorporated through your Department's efforts the town saved almost 70,000 from the amount originally proposed by the contractor for the fiscal year 25 budget while the setting of fees is within the purview of the select board we welcome the input of the Board of Health and staff regarding this matter as mentioned in the August 6 letter from the interim Town Administrator addressed to the Board of Health members staff and several other interested parties there would be a working group to develop the the fee collection process therefore we would like your input into this meeting we again extend this invitation to the Board of Health representatives to work with the select board and Town Administrator to finish this task and help the town move forward sincerely chessex and deranian chair um and with your permission I'd like to be able to send this to the Board of Health I'm okay with it I'm okay with it but can is there any import on that can you say something regards to this yeah course this letter very well I I have a problem that at town meeting special town meeting Board of Health members jumped up and basically accused the board of Selectmen of holding meetings without them involved um this letter clearly states that there were letters sent out to them and for the record that Mr llaa showed up at a meeting didn't like evidently what was going on and stormed out so I just want for the record that everybody has been duly notified and I think he misled the town's people that we were trying to pull a cck one on somebody that's all I have to say and I'm okay with you sending that okay so with the board's permission I'm going to go ahead and sign this and we can send this off to the Board of Health thank you um next point of business 4.2 discuss and potentially vote trash collection cost um recuperation process had to add a big word in there for all right so like I said before we weren't the only reason why I wanted to have this on tonight is not to discuss the process but what we are doing is to um basically codify what our process is moving forward is that fair to say Ross yes I think we need to concentrate on a specific path and work on that and can sort of summarize two options first it was clear that the direction from the board was we need to recoup the $822,000 we're paying for sh for shops and that was needed because we had a budget deficit and when you were at that time this 822 th000 represented most of that deficit I mentioned the flat fee because at that point I thought the flat fee was the simplest way to go go turns out it's not we had estimated $25,000 as Administration process to implement a flat fee some of that was wages and some of that was software the wage piece would have continued onwards after the software was purchased as you know that article didn't pass in town meeting so coming up with the administration costs was going to be difficult the other problem with a with a fee system is differentiating between two family and three family dwelling units and that we recognize who the owner is we don't know who might be in the second and third units so getting a flat fee to them could be a problem if we sent it to the owner if we sent an owner that owns a three family dwelling we sent them three flat fee bills there could be owners that have vacant units which would have been difficult um quarterly Billings seem to be the most economical but the problem is people wouldn't it' be three months when you wouldn't necessarily know if someone's paid or not paid monthly billing which I think is more appropriate because it basically lowers the amount they pay each month versus getting a quarterly bill that's three times as expensive but monthly billing was prohibitively expensive and we looked into piggybacking with the water department to see if we could send out the trash fees with the water bills but that didn't work because apparently only about 60% of the town is on Town water so there' be a number that wouldn't be getting bills to that process and so that didn't work um we've heard I've heard a lot of comments and I've understood why is you have if you did a flat fee families that might have one person in it generate very little trash on a weekly basis where families that have a lot of people living in that dwelling unit generate many bags of trash and is it fair to charge the person generating one bag the same amount as the person generating six or seven bags and so flat feed became a bit of a problem um for some of the you that were vacant or if people go out of town for the winter um there would be an OP could be an opt out process but again that's more bureaucracy to manage and that and can then communicate that to the truck driver don't pick up at this address um the other thing that's been pointed out is when towns have gone to pay as you throw a bag system they have experienced 30 plus % decrease in overall trash the advantage of that is obviously it's environmentally better because that means they recycling more repurposing more doing something other than throwing trash out is if we track this over year we may find our total tonnage that's dumped will be less in subsequent years which could help control the costs of the trash contract with vendors like shots so pay the flat fee turned out not to be as Equitable or as easy to implement as I initially thought then we started understanding how the page you throw works it turns out we are well along in implementing that because we've got a bag system for overflow now where we charge for bags and the Overflow can go in those BS we would morph that into a full-blown pathosis so it's easy to expand that system um waste zero is the vendor that provides these bags they already have contacts with local vendors I think it's mcnabs and the grocery store so they've got accounts set up they know how to do the billing the retail stores know how to order and get the bags um waste zero handles the bag ordering they handle the inventory they handle the shipping of the bags to the retailer and they handle the invoicing so when the bag is sold at the retail store some of that money goes back to pay West waste zero and the rest comes to towns um the advantage of that system is we don't have to buy all the bags of fronts we don't need to to front 70 or 80,000 worth of bags to get the program going so was essentially zero cost I think the pay you throw is Equitable for small generators and large generators they pay based on what they generate um we don't have to worry about empty units or people that um leave town for a long periods of time because they're not going to buy bags they're not going to pull anything out they're essentially not going to pay for when they're not here um it removes the issue of opting out because if you don't put out the right bag it's not collected and therefore you're not charged uh we also don't need the $25,000 Administration process that I initially thought was needed for setting up a flat fee I've talked to Glen Shaw at Shaw's um disposal and he said yes they can do that under the existing contract and he says he needs about two weeks notice get his drivers prepared for that waste zero has done this before they can help us provide us with the informational Flyers that we will send out they can provide us with a sample web page content that we can use and they can help us with social media postings to help get the word out so part of what I think that the working committee will do is to flush out these details but I think that the process we have a skeleton of the process ready to go uh we also can use up the inventory of overflow bags they would just become the normal pickup bag but we can use those existing bags um price per bag based upon the I'm working KD to see that we generate enough cash to cover what we need to to cover that bill I throw this out as where we're looking at now it's not the final price but looking at about $4.25 for the 33 gallon bags and $2.75 for the 15 gallon bags we've had some people suggest just go with a big bag we'll flush that out as to what it's done going this pay you throw program through the state now opens this up to um a couple grants um this technical assistance grant to help get going there's also some other grants that might help defas some costs so I think this is the easiest way to go I think it's the most Equitable um what I'm looking for the board to say is yes let's go the pay you throw and then I think largely through Nelson he would come back with the details hopefully in a week or so and say this is how it will work the working committee um my intention is to flush out concerns obstacles and then come up with Solutions and how to fix those problems and then you'll have a package that you can look at as how the actual paper throw would work so I don't have all the answers I'm hoping that we can get the questions asked and work on developing those answers and a program that works as best as it can for time and that thank you Ross for that and my my thought on this is that um if we could have um within a twoe period I'd like to have a a public forum um that we can talk with the the G open it up uh at Memorial Hall and do you know set it up much like we do with the town meeting so that we get input from everybody um that uh allowing that we are allowing the residents to be able to to give their input on on what it is um I was more concerned about the procedure and how we we went about this and now I think we're we're along with the same steps um I did have a conversation or I sent an email out to Irene uh in regards to her contribution to what we're doing I think the the ultimate goal number one is is to help supplement um what we have this year so that we can have a solid plan going forward with the next year and that's why I think it's important that we have the Board of Health with us so when we renegotiate this contract um for next year that we can get another three-year contract and we're all on the same page with us so we don't have to go through jump through hoops again that's kind of like my goal so uh Nelson will be able to to re get whatever information that we need to get and get the details done and I'd like to get a a town Forum set up in the Memorial Hall uh and then uh we can um get the input from the town's people and then we'll be able to to make a solid decision on how we're going to forward I I've received a couple emails and phone calls I would encourage people to send questions or send how do you handle this question to us you can send it to me my email look at forward is Nelson we can forward it directly to Nelson but the idea is to flush out the issues and come up with Solutions as fast as we can I I just want to make sure that I don't I as we made very clear rash decisions are are never a good thing in a municipality so I want to make sure that we have um I want to go to the subject medic experts to let us know what's working what's not working in other communities um I did realize that um the other communities within Massachusetts there's only a very few a very small number that are still um that are not doing something like this and I think we really need to to do hard Thea do you have any questions uh yeah no I'm very happy with the way the plans going forward I I agree though we still have um some things to um work through the process on how it would be done um I do have um a couple of questions um uh but I will send those off unless you just want me my biggest one is for home our homebound um citizens how do we uh see that they get the trash bag they need I'm sure there's a solution for that I'm not saying that stops would stop the program but I just want to make sure it's addressed because we do have a very small but we do have a homebound Community good point and we we that's definitely something that we need to flush through um there is a meeting uh with the working group tomorrow um I don't know if you both know that uh they're going to be discussing um they're they're going to be able to to discuss more now that you know that's the direction that uh the board is asking them to go okay and then um um you they'll they'll be able to set up when their next meeting is and I hope within two weeks um within a week actually we can decide when I can set up a public forum and then we can do we can address the public there if you guys are all set with that that sounds good to me so yeah I just have couple questions uh first I think you know I took a very hard stance when we first talked about it and I just want to make it very clear the reason I took a stance was we were not updated enough and myself I did not have enough input and I didn't know anything about it since we've had that meeting since town meeting I have talked to several people I've talked to some different communities um there is a little bit of work to get it done as Ross stated there are you know some things that have to be addressed one big thing is okay our recycling right now doesn't go into bags it just goes in a plastic bin you know these type of questions should be answered are those going into a plastic bag to be dumped I mean how's that so that'd be kind of a good question I think we need and um you know now that I've put a little more into this I think by far I've heard from several elderly residents and we have to consider everybody and they've all had good points they don't make a lot of trash they don't produce my biggest concern is however we do this we just got to be able to generate enough money to offset what we need for the budget and other than that you know I'm I'm glad we're moving this way I'm glad I've had the opportunity to take the time and not get blindsided by something so my opinion I think it's the right thing move forward anything else [Music] Tera um 4.3 signed CBA with career firefighters of Townsen local 4926 you written all over it well the board is previously signed anou so we've worked out the terms um I found some time to actually incorporate those M us into a new draft contract I think the whole negotiation process went very well um Jo was part of that in the beginning along with Eric um and three representatives from the Union as well as the chief when I got here I sort of slowed things down because I wanted some questions and sort of understand how they got to where they did but I'm comfortable with the solution I think it's workable for Townsen I think it addresses the need for the firefighters to be to have firefighters that are paid competitively and fairly it's a three-year agreement and we're able to do it before The First Agreement expired that's a big one that's a plus we haven't done that thus avoiding any retray issues um so if um if no one has any disagreement I'd like to just jump right into um a motion to um sign the document as presented for career firefighters of Townsen local 4926 so moved second any further discussion on it all those in favor say mo yes shank yes and Teresa may we have your permission to use your stamp on this yes you can and I'll send something by Emil okay thank you sign after yeah let's see 5.1 Town Administrator updates and reports um will you sign one of the contracts for the climate resilience Grant that's the one you sign with Western Samson the town is applying for another one which is an Energy Efficiency block grant and this is to develop communitybased clean energy plans this will be a joint effort with peppol Littleton and Dunstable no matching funds required from the town it's a one-year contract even though they talk about hiring an energy manager somebody to help with the programs it's OD that there's no guarantee that that position would continue a second year so we're not obligating the town to anything ongoing the thought was instead of hiring an employee they' probably hire a contractor maybe from one of the region plan agencies but this is a chance to look at clean energy activities that would benefit towns as well as the region so that's just coming in the works I wanted you to know that that was something I had basically said to the other towns just move ahead on that um basically looking forward um as a future agenda you may want to consider adding an item to appoint Nelson as Chief procurement officer hearing officer and I think the selectman select boards designate for handling grievances with that I want to take the opportunity to thank the board for the opportunity to be here I want to thank the Town residents for the chance to serve I wish Nelson I wish the town I wish the board all the best of luck going forward and there's anything I can do to help tell me it's been a good experience being here in town challenging too good experience thank you Ross thank you Ross appreciate that um I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the work that you've done I know it was difficult to jump in um this was completely unexpected and uh when I first made the phone call I was crossing my fingers hoping you'd say Yes um to help us out this wasn't as as long as the last time which I'm kind of happy about but uh We've we've got a lot done and I know that um we are with discussions with Nelson we want to be able to talk with you further about the energy aggregation that we're working on uh we have Municipal aggregation which the numbers are surprising that come in that we're saving um with the the aggregation for municipal buildings and if we can do that for our residents as well um I want to be able to continue on with that but that's something we'll work out with Nelson and you as we move forward but again thank you now you can have your summer back um announcements and Communications um we do have a couple of announcements we have some legal notices that we need to touch upon these all come from the Conservation Commission um we're holding a public hearing on Wednesday August 28th 2024 and they are going to be taking up three issues it looks like um the in will be held virtually via Zoom meeting and in person at Town Hall on a notice of intent filed with the Conservation Commission by uh Rob Becker the property is located at 50 sauna Road uh assessors map 24 parcel 25 lot 3 the proposed proposed project is for the installation of a seasonal dock in Venton Pond resource areas impacted by the seasonal dock are bank and land underwater um the next one is a hearing will be held virtually via zoom and in person at Town Hall on a notice of intent filed with the Conservation Commission by towns and Highway Department the property is located at 94th pitchburg road fessors map 16 parcel 39 lot two the proposed project is for the extension of a public storm drain pipe to outfall into the 100 foot bordering vegetated Wetland buffer and they are going to take up uh another hearing which will be held virtually via zoom and in person at Town Hall on a notice of intent filed with the Conservation Commission by Grace Miha the property is located at 12 Canal Street assessor map 47 parcel 39 the proposed project is for a residential septic replacement within the riverfront area again those are all Conservation Commission um yes in regards to that Teresa do you have any announcements no I do not no as this was an abbreviated agenda I took out um the uh reports Le on reports in that uh 5.4 our next meeting uh will be September 10th 2024 at 6:m that is a regular selectman's meeting uh and 5.5 um I'll entertain a motion to review and sign uh payroll and bills payable warrants out of session so moved second all those in favor please say mo yes shank yes CH yes I believe we are going to take a recess until 7 o'clock we have an executive session um at after a recess um I would um entertain a motion to uh go into executive session pursuant to open meeting Law chapter 3A section 21 A1 to discuss the reputation character physical condition or mental health rather than professional competence of an individual or to discuss discipline or dismissal of or complaints or charges brought against a public officer employee staff member or individual this is in regards to the supervisor's Union um in regards to grievance uh I would then like to enter into executive session pursuant to open meeting Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares which he does this is in reference to deliberation regarding the supervisor's Union agreements second any discussion and not to return to open session after those meetings that is correct not to open to um not to return to open session after all those in favor say mo yes yes tanian yes okay we will end this portion of the meeting we recess until 7 o'clock