##VIDEO ID:Fh90FNRUEvE## and I we would like to do the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you the chair's announcement this meeting is being held remotely in accordance with the governor of Massachusetts March 12th 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law GL chapter 30A section 20 and on March 29 2023 Governor Healey signed a supplemental 2023 budget Bill allowing remote and hybrid meeting options for public B bodies through March 31st 2025 this meeting is being recorded I'd like to open the regular meeting and the item of business is the approval of the minutes of December 12 2024 which have been circulated to the members I'll make a motion to accept the minutes uh Tim Tim Kon is there a second please Hugh Morton second Hugh Morton second is there any discussion any changes hearing none calling for a vote Hugh Hugh Morton I John John belly dale dale Weber I Deborah Deborah chaly I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim gespi Tim gespi I know he's there can you hear me now yes I Mark are you there mark doesn't seem to be there Betty Slade you I that's unanimous okay we're moving right along I'm closing the regular meeting and opening the public hearing to discuss projects forwarded by CPC to the public hearing tonight for recommendation to town meeting in 2025 we've discussed uh all these projects tonight we will hear brief um anything actually that the commun that the um project managers would like to talk about and if there are any questions that any of you have so the first um item the first project is from the Westport affordable housing trust uh to um allocate funds for the housing office for rehabilitation rehab of buildings and for land acquisition reserves and they're asking for 300,000 and my question is does anybody have any questions for the people who are representing the uh affordable housing trust and I believe that's H Bob Barbosa I think I saw Leonardi um here um anybody else is Craig there no so Leonardi and Bob Barbosa are representing okay so Hugh do you have a question thank you my question is simple there are the three funds that are mentioned here with the proposed additions I'd like to know what are the present amounts in each of those funds so the first would be what is um available in the housing office funds yes yes Bob do you know uh I would think there'd be a balance of about $25,000 in the housing uh office account the balance in land acquisition fund is $400,000 at present and the rehab program is uh I would guess 35 or 40,000 let me clarify uh yes the prehab uh that's a new one so we yes there's two different rehab programs that we've been working with uh one is the prehab uh which we no CPA funds actually this one this what we call prehab with a p is to work directly with the existing de restrict de restricted affordable homes so the idea is to help people down the road or whenever that they already want de restricted affordable homes that may need help maintaining those properties uh to assist them uh with um funding so this funding is totally new they ,000 so is it correct that the uh amount in the land acquisition is is only 600,000 I mean four 400,000 I think you said it's 400 but 200,000 are coming up that haven't been or haven't arrived so we planning and working with $600,000 yes yes so there's 600,000 that will be available already um we don't have CPA money yet this year so did you when you say that you need to explain what you mean you mean it's still in the accounting office the money has been allocated by the the town meeting to the affordable housing trust you just haven't accessed it yet correct that's correct correct okay and um trying to understand so T there 600 now available they're asking for an additional two which after the balls will stop bouncing make a total of eight is that right correct correct thank you and the 25,000 at housing is that is that allocated do you think uh that is I mean you need do you need another 40,000 in addition to that 25,000 typically that's the budget that we work with the 40,000 sometime a little bit less depending on the ongoing programs um the 25 that are there we you know we still have through June to run the off fees in in all those Bank yes so there's several more months here before yeah it ends okay uh Mark Mark Schmidt can't hear you sorry um yeah my question is has the Housing Trust identified any uh projects which they will use any of these land acquisition and development funds or or or anything for the uh prehab funds so are there projects for prehab and projects for the um land acquisition funds go ahead lardi so the land acquisition um and and development we issue an RFP for proposals uh through an open procurement process berot chapter 30b in um the deadline was a couple of weeks ago we did receive a proposal that we are just in the process of reviewing um so we'll see what come up out of that um as far as the prehab we haven't advertised the program yet because we don't have the funds yet so we don't want to have people you know interesting in program that we don't have funds but in the past we have received a couple of call of people saying hey um such and such owns an affordable home and we would like to know if there are programs out there to help people fix their home the way we are designing the program is that we're going to give a priority to homes that had been created with trust slcpa funds and then we made consider proposal from other the restricted affordable home could be any other 4bs or other program so so the idea is to help people that already owns a um an affordable a der restricted affordable home to staring their home particularly those that the Trust In CPA has invested funds on it and they are they are um they have to meet the income requirements also correct okay all right correct that's something on the guidelines that we want to work with because the Restriction is still on the property even though hopefully the homeowners might be making more money um one of the thing with the de restricted affordable home is that contrary to your regular market rate home is that to borrow money against your property is more limited uh your is actually smaller because you are bound by the resell price so that might be some of the challenges that some of these homeowners will find Mark does that answer your questions uh well just follow up um for the your RFP you mentioned is that um targeted uh for a specific property that you um have in mind and is that what these acquisition funds would go towards so it's no a a particular property is for an ideal parcel right so looking for a parcel that may be able to accommodate uh around 30 units um in you know it's up to the proponent to come up with uh the arrangement of the cell or whether you know one portion can be preserved as an open space and still under the ownership of the proponent in the actual developable side can be purchased by the um by the trust uh so what we have is the condition is that it has to be uh within the tan of West so the the new units will count towards uh the Shi yeah that RFP has been out there for quite a while yes we we put it for uh 60 almost 90 days to give people a little bit of a change yeah and we advertised it through the paper we did the legal advertising that that is required by law uh we also distribute it to real estate agents and you know as much as we could yeah Deborah yes I just wanted to do a quick followup on the question that Hugh had asked because I'm trying to understand what the timing and as of dates for the various numbers we're talking about so when you asked Bob Barbosa what is in the fund now what does that mean what date are we talking about the fund as of what date and then he said they still haven't received 200 is that 200 from last year or is that the 200 that's on the table for this grant I don't understand what the date of this accounting means I'm trying to just tie this number together when Hugh said that when the ball stops bouncing they end up with I think 800,000 but I can't I can't tie out that number so starting with Bob's listed 25,000 for existing housing land acquisition 400 rehab 40 and prab 60 that's as of when as of January 1st the money uh in that account is $400,000 oh any time now we should get this year's CPA allotment transferred into our account but that this this F year fiscal year Deborah it's a fiscal year sh so they haven't used all the fiscal year funding that they had okay they haven't they they go there until June Jun 30th right June 30th is the fiscal year end I get that and then you said the 200 hasn't come in yet that's for the fiso year ending in June of 24 or 25 25 25 that's what's on the table right now right got it okay all right stick my head I think the answer is but again I need to clarify if we do nothing there should be $600,000 in the account as of June 30th right correct yes correct what we do it add to that number is in root and committed from past Appropriations yes yes um John thank you I you just go you just said what I was going to say so I don't need to say anything so I wna okay thank you John I wanted to add that um last meeting uh when we discussed uh these larger units and the people who are interested in financial help um Bob Barbosa you said that uh the majority of people who live in nooke are over 55 is that correct is that what you said I don't think I said that no you said something like it because we we were talking about you said two things one was that um a most of your inquiries are from uh older people seniors and we also ask about and I thought you said and I don't that or do you know um if the people in are over the people in nooke are over 55 at least at least one person in the family uh we don't know for sure the age of the people I know when we attended the lottery um picks for nooke I'd say it was about 5050 over age 60 people over age 60 and 50% people under age 60 okay just wanted to clarify that uh no nooke is not age restricted it's no I know I know yeah John um okay I think I had no comment okay just okay are there any other questions um Bob and Leonardi do you have anything else you want to say no thank you so much um for your questions and for listening okay so so um I would like a um a motion to pass this for for consideration as you know the process is maybe Deborah doesn't know and Tim uh Kon that we don't approve a project right now for going forward what we do is we pass it to after the public hearing at that time we make the decision to recommend to town meeting so for now what we would do is just um make a a recommendation to pass it for consideration for approval do I have a motion so moved Tim Gillespie says second uh Dale Weber will second it are there any questions about the motion okay let's move ahead um we'll vote on it Hugh H Mor than I John John Bell Dale Dale w i Deborah Deborah chi I Tim Kon Tim Kon I um Tim Gillespie Tim gesp I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Betty Slade I that unanimous we will after the public hearing we will consider this for uh passing on to town meeting uh the second uh I have a question Betty sure Betty I have a question when is town meeting May May we don't yeah we don't have an exact date yet no okay okay yeah that knows they could change it but it's usually May yeah May yeah I think it's May 6th May 6th I think thank you somewhere around there usually okay the second project we get into historic preservation it's the Westport Grange um here we go preserving Westport Grange number 181 historical records documents and framed artifacts um for $ 8,225 just wanted to State here that U the $500 was reduced because they will not be um purchasing a uh scanner uh and I wanted to say that the historical commission it uh considered this project and gave it uh their approval that it is a preservation of historic documents you know we just for a couple of people I I'll say that there are certain qualifications or requirements in order to um say that a project is historic and can and is under our historic preservation possibilities and it all is determined by either the past actions of the historical commissions the or the present actions so in this case the Grange itself is historic but the documents within it were never uh declared as historic and so with that uh declaration they are now considered historic that's how it works so they did that this uh previous Monday and they sent an official letter which you all have received so again let's start with are there any questions about this project um okay it looks like that we know what the project is uh any of the managers want to say anything I I'm I'm on so this is Cindy Wilson I am director of the food pantry and the basement of the Grange but I'm also the secretary of the Grange and I appreciate being able to talk to the historic commission earlier this week and I I'm not I had not been very familiar with the Grange before this but having looked through the documents they are handwritten documents going back from 1890 to the current time that document important events that happen and people that were involved in events that they it was a Gathering Place and at one point it had over 300 members and it really kind of was has a lot of historical insight into the Westport community that you won't find other places and I think I appreciate the opportunity to have it the archives so that we have that and um so that we have that history to look back on okay um I couple of things I wanted to add is that uh the um the people from the Mormon church will be scanning those documents it's one and secondly I spoke to Cindy today about a uh an agreement a grant agreement when we do private projects uh we need Grant agreements and the grant agreement is basically that these documents will be available for the public to see um and um I confirmed with Barbara and um with a grange board earlier today that that would be fine with the documents that we're intending to provide to Archive we're not archiving any of the ritual material it's all the handwritten documents that are Westport specific and they see no problem with that okay any other questions may I have a motion to recommend this to be passed to the regular move it I would move that we Advance it to town meeting for consideration not town meeting to the me to the after the public hearing Tim yes to so we'll have our public hearing and we advance it for the discussion after the public heating for consideration for recommendation at town meeting we have to do it that way because we have to look at the funding that we have available okay well I would move that we move it towards the discussion at the end of this meeting do I have a [Laughter] second motion h i second the rephrase motion okay um okay let's vote Hugh Hugh Martin I John John Bell ey dale dale W ey Deborah Deborah chel ey Kon Tim Kon I Tim Gillespie Tim Gillespie I Mark Mark Schmid I that a slate I that is unanimous we will consider it in the next part of this meeting alrighty the next project is um the Howen Hall Community Center preservation and Rehabilitation this has changed uh they have reduced their ask from I believe it's was 450 to 298,000 um and I think that someone from one of the managers is ready to discuss that correct sure sure being Tim Buzz are you there buz your yeah there you go okay I don't know who's going to be speaking Laura or buzz it is me and I had just gotten briefly kicked off hello I'm Laura Oliva I'm the incoming chair of the Westport Point Board of Trustees um we do we have done extensive Renovations on our application based on the committee's excellent feedback from the December meeting we have focused the application entirely on the Howen Hall Community Center project and only on phase one which includes the exterior restoration and phase 1B which is the accessibility to the Highland Hall Community Center at all levels the phase two of the project is going to be the interior uh restoration handicap bathrooms hbac a small kitchen and Acoustics and the church is meeting next week to um kick off a capital campaign to raise funds for that phase of the project what we have we have um estimates from RL Volo that were done in early December which are presented in the application and we have also contacted two local contractors uh Ken pachico and Brian sard to come in and do additional estimates um they have agreed to do so but that work has not yet been completed um phase 1A which is the exterior renovation has not Chang since the December meeting that part of the project replaces the concrete steps on the South Side it replaces the original single pane windows which are many are inoperable and they are certainly not energy efficient and it also um provides much needed um new cedar shingle um that is approximately $140,000 and that price hasn't changed from December where the um changes have occurred is in Phase 1B phase 1B is the accessibility component of the project um that is two entrances one on the lower level South Side to just make the door accessible for a wheelchair bound individual um the major component is the construction of a small addition on the South Side um closer to the church at grade it would bring people in to the main mid level there would be a staircase up but the most important component for accessibility is a platform lift the platform lift would go up one half level to the main Howland hall or would go down 1 half level from the midpoint to the offices that include the small Library small meeting room and a room rented by small businesses um what the total cost of phase 1B is $24,000 however we have discussed the option of um taking the cost of a new um lift which is $47,000 and possibly considering finding hopefully a used L lift in excellent condition that would save some funding and that is where the difference is um the total cost of phases 1 a and 1B with the lift is $345,000 eliminating the cost of the lift is the $298,000 figure excellent I want to thank the members of the committee for their input it was invaluable as we Revis the application and I also want to thank Dale and Deborah Tim Gillespie and Mark for um braving the cold cold weather on Tuesday for the walkthrough of the facility I'm happy to answer any questions and there are other um members of The church here as well John yes hi uh hi so yeah I couldn't have been I couldn't be there Tuesday I was sick in bed so oh gosh it's going around but my question is going to be it says on on the application that it's on the national register I couldn't find it on a national register I could find the church y could find connected to the church John and that's why it's on the register all right I I couldn't I could not find that I could find the church only and like even the even the uh the mass one it says it has the church and then it's part of it says and addition to it all right my question would be really to Betty Betty are we gonna are we really determining this by the local historic commission to be considered a significant history archaeology architecture or culture to the city of town as the application uh clarifies um we're Bas are we basing our decision for historical uh funds based on the historical Commission it basic always is that way that is how it have you looked at that uh diagram on on the website yes that's where I got wording from yeah so that's right and they have as you know Town Council said because the it got a certificate of appropriateness that's very good but it would be very good if there was a second statement saying that it is significant that that building is significant we we got that statement from the historical commission just WR I also I I know and have seen uh on the na the uh addition on the national register I checked that too it you have to read the whole thing and then it says it you know but it doesn't show up in the picture that's the problem so I am recommending to the historical commission that they do the write up of this building and add it because that does cause confusion we okay um thank you Deborah I just want to add uh to this uh commentary because we had extensive discussion at the Historical commission when this was taken up at two different meetings one was to do the certificate of appropriateness when kit came before us and explained the entire uh program and then we had a further discussion to make sure we're following all the rules related to CPA funding so we went through the little flow chart that Betty just referenced we checked it against whether there's a legal issue because it's a church versus you know and it's not a church this howand not a church so that fit uh so we went through a whole analysis and you can look at our minutes about how we came to our decision and it was a unanimous vote so we felt very comfortable recommending in and Garrett stuck wrote a very comprehensive letter that we issued to the um CPC so I think we covered all of our bases we feel very comfortable making that recommendation thank you Hugh oh I just want to offer for what is good into the pot my reaction to the legal issues it doesn't represent anything formal Etc but my thinking maybe of some value to you it is a gray area but can be done with CPC funds for religious historic building issue number one is money is fungible therefore the argument goes that money comes in to do an historic preservation part of a building which is also used for religious purposes does that mean it's in essence a contribution to the religious side because money that would have been used for preservation can now be used for purposes well this money is funable in my view that means you can't do it period it's not the reasoning of the cases we know about so I put that one aside you can do it it's a matter of how and when and in my view the difficult issues arise with religious imagery take stained Windows stain glass windows for instance that's a combination they're soric they're religious how do you pair it apart Etc as I understand this building and I been there years ago like my perception is a fairly bare meeting hole and that being the case I don't see the religious image issue therefore I conclude that it's historic preservation of an historic structure and the religious part of it falls out because it doesn't really come into play that's not a formal opinion of anybody I am a member of the bar but it's my reaction in reading the material thank you Hugh it's also interesting to note we found the original plans for the building and it did say howand hole Community Center so from the very onset it was definitely um for Community use and another CPA requirement is that it be open to the public and uh as you've seen in the write up in our discussion uh it's been used uh by the public consistently and it was used by the town uh as a school uh for in 1973 um so it meets those requirements and the final requirement Laura and car buz is um that there be a grant agreement and I think we discussed that and the grant agreement basically will say that as it does with all the others that any changes that have are made with CPA funding cannot be changed again without approval from the historical commission so that is that that is the rule uh and so that meets that requirement and we will be asking you to um the town will be asking you to sign such an agreement and we we can discuss the agreement they they get vary um and the wording is important uh and we will and we will be giving that to you of course um does anybody else have any other comments about this so I just wanted to someone asked me um today if I should um uh not vote because I've been so involved in this project and um I I would think if that was the case Tim Gillespie could never vote for anything so um I thought about it and um I am not a member of the board of the church or anything like that um um I don't even go very often but I um I do support it uh but I still think that I don't think it's a conflict of interest if I vote I with you Betty that is not a conflict in my view okay Mark yeah I just wanted to uh commend the thank the committee for the tour we had the other day and um uh I commend you for uh trying to save money by looking for a used platform list I think that lift I think that's a uh it's a challenge but you might get lucky and find that um and I guess if you don't then you're either coming back to us for more funds or you you're going to raise the money yourself but uh in any event uh uh I think it's a good application that you put together so I would like to uh mention that um we've been hearing from the managers of the Sanford school project and they seem to be wanting to go back to a ramp uh rather than a lift and they said they had a lift so um that might be a possibility and that we can talk to people uh B Buzz yes I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the committee for consideration but then also for coming out on the on the cold day to to view the the the scene and your patience in in walking through the whole place on a cold day so we very much appreciate the attention well we appreciate um you're looking at the application and coming up with a a new one uh that's I think Tim Kon yeah um some of the recom rec a recommendation Laura is um looking at some of the bigger School departments um because there's a lot of times when they doing upgrades and they may be under the laws a little bit more strict to what they have to do as far as elevators and things like that they had lefts so you know maybe through your contractors or whatever you're doing maybe perhaps uh some of the school districts the bigger School District maybe Fall River New Bedford tarton maybe thank you yep okay so may I have a motion so move two second Hugh's motion to pass this project to the next portion of the meeting today that's correct consideration to give to recommend to town meeting okay okay we have a first we have a motion in a second um let us vote Hugh you Mort than I dale dale ever I Deborah Dey I Tim kton Tim Kon I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty that he slay I that's unanimous thank you so much okay the next we into open space and Recreation uh the Westport Youth Athletic Association uh has requested 150,000 uh to for an additional Senior League field at the wi fields that now exist uh we had an extensive discussion last time does anybody have any further questions on this project does anybody uh Mark yeah sorry uh just to step back could somebody remind us how much CPA has put into this project in the past in total not not this project but the whole uh ball field area and oh um a lot is that for me yeah do you know um yeah Ken are you there uh yeah I am here um including the land purchase we're we're we're over two million two million two .1 million I believe it was yeah over a period since 2002 right that Cal project or Cal CPC because there are CPA CPA funding CPA funding CPA right the project is much larger than that yes right there was so much um you know contribution in kind right uh huge including engineering yeah engineering the engineering yeah well have we got any winning teams uh I can I can tell you that uh the first year the fields were open the girls softball teams uh won their division great all right I mean you could you might want to just say a few words Ken about what's there and what it is that you're offering just a few words I think it'd be good to remind us absolutely happy to so it's been in the back of our minds for a while that you know we have four functioning baseball fields um two baseball two softball fields then we have the allpurpose field which is massive like 600 feet by 600 feet which was originally designed for soccer however Through The Years soccer had to secure their own land on Sanford road so we've had all this extra space along with the four functioning Fields where we've been playing ball um we've known in the back of our minds um that down the road we would need a Senior League field Senior League fields longer baselines longer distance to the pitcher Mounds um was never really a priority but now we're looking at what's going on at the high school in town and you know depending who you talk to in town we may or may not have that High School in the future if that high school goes away then there is no uh Senior League field for the older age kids so we would be out and we are Westport youth Athletics and we have all the space so just this fall late summer I should say um Jim Potter who's on the call with us uh his company um offers grants to groups like ours um and he was offered to apply for a $100,000 Grant um significant uh you know our our our original field called were much higher because we had to we had to tree we had to stump we had to clear we had to level we can get this Senior League Field built on the chip on the cheap so we thought we should at least come to CPC and ask um because uh it's it's great opportunity to secure another field for the older kids and then baseball would be completely contained at our facility and not have to rely on the high school Jim do you want to say anything Jim Potter yeah yeah no thank you again and um yeah Ken you explained it very well um and you know our biggest concern um from W and also the the West Flor baseball league is you know if we lose those fields at the old high school there's one field at the new high school New middle high school right now that's being used that would be used by the middle school the junior varsity team and the varsity team because the middle school and the junior varsity team are actually using the old high school so when know goes away if that happens then you know now we don't have any place for those teams to play but then our instructional League gets pushed out even further um we're kind of looking at this almost like a situation uh similar to what soccer is doing right now where you know the varsity is playing at the at the current middle high school and they're also using the junior varsity on the new field on Sanford Road um so I think it's a benefit overall to the town and as Ken was saying you know I have a have an opportunity to pursue funding um an amount of 100,000 from the company that I work for um one of the a couple of the main things that they're they're looking for was to make sure that you know we were pursuing additional funds which is with CPC um also have Engineering in place um we're working on that right now we given par the notice to proceed uh to start the engineering so we can get this process going um so we're trying to get some momentum with it and um I think it's a real good benefit so appreciate the time here this may sound a little strange to say but it seems to me that this would be helpful because it may help disposing of the fields at the old high school if that turns out to be a good thing to do in an overall deal with the old high school I have no idea what's going to happen there a lot of thought but this would might make it easier a good deal which has a side effect of eliminating the field because there's a replacement I know that sounds kind of strange but I think it would be useful to have this as a backup if nothing else right yeah that is our concern yeah that that's our concern you absolutely and and you know if it goes away if the town decided to make a deal this this say this year I wouldn't go that quick but if it happened to something this year and then we don't have that other field I think we'd be crunched and we wouldn't have that space for it so I think I think it's good to its own marriage but I'm just saying yeah yeah no absolutely May facilitate what otherwise would be more difficult to deal with because it would entail the loss of the field that is used for this and that but otherwise it would be a good deal so this may may like little easier if that comes up so I'm all in favor Tim gpie I would move we advance this particular project to the end of our meeting so we can discuss whether or not to move it on the down meeting is second John second uh before we move on okay was a motion a second I'd also like to reiterate what I understood can to say at the last meeting that there are a lot of play opportunities at the W fields for other activities and they offered Timothy be I they offered that um the Recreation Commission could work with them on some of the projects that you all were talking about um you you've been you you're in for a specific phase up at the bicentennial but there will be other things and if you could put them at that place and not have to develop a place it would be very cost-saving and very useful for the town including walking paths I understand you have walking paths we do around so there are a lot going on there that needs to be advertised a little bit more Ken but um I think that it's it's it it 2.1 million if you think about it and look at other projects around the state is not a lot of money right maybe for CPC you know a couple years of CPA funding but it's been a very long time okay so there's a mo anybody else have any comments well I just wanted to say let's remember when they wanted to put the fields at the old campgrounds what the estimated that price was four million yeah right I thought of it too John okay so we have a a motion in a second before us Hugh you Mar I John John B ey dale dale Weber I Deborah debborah chy I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim Gillespie Tim Gillespie I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty slate I that's unanimous thank you very much the next is the um Recreation committee Park Improvement project the bicentennial playground Phase 2 250,000 Tim do you want to say anything Tim glasby Dana is here somewhere Dana where are you is she she was hello I am here hi Dana hi um yes thank you so much to all of you for considering our application um so our application is as um Betty mentioned about our uh improving Bicentennial Park as a whole um we have approached CPC before um for the actual playground structure it by Centennial Park and I wanted to assure you we are moving forward with that we have consulted with three different playground companies and um are considering their designs and their quotes and working currently with that so we're confident that's going to happen this year um so we wanted to just keep moving and go to phase two so phase two um is um talked about in this document and it includes um demolishing the old skate park um there you can see some images of the current state of the skate park it is in bad dis repair it just it does not look good at all um and I would encourage any of you um if you have time and are to go by that Park and get out of your car and walk around that space it's a fairly large piece of land and um there's just so many different things we can do to improve it um so we want to demolish that skate park and prep the land for creating some kind of um new sports or entertainment area back there um so that would not happen in phase two we would keep that for phase three um and we're currently um working at surveying the public about what they would want back there um we did survey people at the most recent westm PTO holiday Fair as well as our holiday treat lighting and um I still have to review all of the different um questionnaires but the two that stand out the most are a new skate park a lot of people said they just want a new nicer skate park um but then some people also like the idea of some kind of Splash Pad um which some of these playground companies do offer so we would have to look at those um quotes and possibilities there too in phase three um so the other part of phase two would be um we had the idea to create paved paths around the perimeter of that Park which again is fairly large um and also sectioning through the middle somehow um it could be like just one path through the middle so that you can get to the various areas of the park or maybe we could do like a a cross sort through the park um but the thinking there was that it would be an easy way to make the park more wheelchair accessible uh make it available for those who want to just walk and Jog and get a little exercise maybe kids learning how to ride their bikes or roller skate um and in general could be a nice feature um the other part of phase two would be to improve the front of the park um that first picture actually the first those all those pictures there kind of showed the front um and currently there's no marked wheelchair parking there um not on the ground not with a sign so we definitely want to add that um we want to improve that front fence the perimeter the whole area it has like um some stone walls and some Woods in the back so we think we would only need a fence in the front um obviously to be um there for a blockage for cars and things um and then also just in general some new signs that would be a little more attractive and and in keeping with the Modern Way parks are kind of presented now um and then the other aspects are improving the basketball courts we would repave them and paint new lines possibly add um a new um new basketball hoops Nets backdrop or or back um board I mean um there's just cracking fading it hasn't been uh really done or or refreshed in a long time so we thought we'd do that um the other possibil we discussed and Tim kind of um helped fool around with a bit of a design where we could possibly add more parking um to the space if we got rid of one of the basketball courts um that's in the very last page there Tim um if you want to kind of show that um this is and sorry it's on the side but you where the cars are there um so that would maybe expand the parking opportunities if we just had one basketball court um but that's kind of still to be debated um and talked about some people on our commission feel like there's plenty of parking in front and on the street and that people in the weekends or off school hours could still park at macumber and walk over to the park so um anyway that's up for discussion and then the final part of phase two is to install a covered Pavilion and I kind of added that little Square there as an example on that diagram um but you can picture a covered billion would be a very nice feature for families and people who want to do um birthday parties um Family reunions events and um be able to have a picnic and enjoy being together while all also um uh enjoying the various amenities of the park space and um our thinking there too was that many community what they do when they have a covered Pavilion is um they allow people to rent it out similarly to how people are currently renting out our Annex gym um and that way they're reserving the space for their event um and they could get a form proving such um at a fee you know a small fee just like we do with the gym and that would be an additional Revenue stream that could possibly help the recreation department and in turn help us to kind of upkeep um you know the Pavilion itself you know whether we need to hire a landscaper or if we need to you know look at how maybe trash is handled or those kinds of things um and then some of those other example pictures were just possibilities um of like well what could we do instead of the skate park you know one idea was tennis courts pickle ball courts bot courts um and then a a couple images of like really nice skate park or or you know basketball area okay is that it Dana um I guess I'll just say that um so in terms of budget um you know the the project with the annex playground really gave us um more idea of what things cost um so um right now we think it would be an average of 250,000 for phase two um and um that would include all the things that I had discussed with what we might want to do um with a contingency of a possible additional 50,000 which is including that 250,000 in case estimated costs come in higher um okay I I welcome any questions you may have Hugh I just think that I need to use myself okay uh do you plan uh Dana to um to have these forums did you say you're going to ask for people's opinions yes um so I I got quite a many surveys back I I mean I a huge handful actually um I have to still go through all those and kind of create a chart of like how many people said this this this um but on this little survey it was given some options and then also an other if they had an idea like we had a few people say they'd love a dog park um I don't know if that's something we would look at or consider um you know but we can definitely talk with the Recreation Commission about that too um so the other way I could do a survey is definitely through um Survey Monkey or something online um I haven't yet done that um as that pertains mostly to phase three so right now we're kind of concentrating on phase two as well as phase one still and what about security so in general playgrounds and park spaces are open to the public um you know a lot of towns have Park um staff and maintenance staff uh to kind of help oversee that unfortunately we don't really have that in town um but someone on our commission has been discussing brought it up with Jim hartnet about well if say the highway department is short staffed and doesn't have the time to help with um the general Landscaping of just Mowing and trimming and those kinds of things um can we work it in the budget to so that the recreation can hire someone you know just on a seasonal basis to take care of those needs and then that might in turn you know if we are able to rent out the Pavilion maybe again that could help with that well when I was speaking of security I'm I I basically was talking about cameras or something because I know in the past it was an issue and it might be better now I I than it used to be we we we were years ago we gave some money I think uh Tim town meeting voted money for this this park but there was a lot of uh vandalism I think cameras are we've talked about cameras I don't think it's a terrible idea there the technology is really Advanced and it's not expensive yes it's not really Pro prohibitive so I think we definitely should consider that it's definitely something we can look into I know the town recently installed cameras within the buildings um so I can maybe ask you know what how they did that and if maybe this these parts could be included okay I had a quick question I'm I'm on this is Cindy Wilson from The Grange earlier but I'm also on the Recreation Commission with Dana and Tim and I I think that fully support this opportunity I with the new playground there the rest of the park is really going to look much worse than it currently does and I the new and bringing a lot of people in to see that it I think it'll be a very positive to the town and to the Recreation Commission to clean up some of the stuff that's been neglected and kind of have a clean slate to Envision what comes next rather than waiting until we get to the third state three so one of the uh things that we've seen around uh the Massachusetts with CPA funding is that Recreation is very popular it is a h people really like it so you're coming in for phase a phase now but you can possibly come back for more if um you really find that people in the town want it you let us know that everyone's been very excited everyone's been very very excited about the that the annex has and we're looking forward to and have a lot of great plans for Bicentennial Park and but as we planning that and thinking about what we're going to put on the playground looking at the rest of it and not knowing we don't have the funds to do all of it at once we're just trying to think down the road Mark yeah I don't I don't have a question about the funding um and I'm all in support of these recreational um projects the parks and the ball fields but I then then you mentioned the maintenance and I was just wondering does this does the maintenance of these uh parks and uh ball fields fall on the town is that the highway department that has to do the the Mowing and Landscaping work I can speak for the two Town playgrounds um when I started this position about six years ago I was told that the maintenance man for who oversees the town buildings um Ms and trims the annex playground um we've had some issues of the timeliness of that with some of the past employees but um the current maintenance man has been very good about it and he's been working with me on that um and so I have no um problem with the annex playground with the bicentennial playground we've had issues of um from what I'm told the highway department being short staffed so that they don't have the time to get up there to mow or trim or um and and even take out the trash and we had trash B barrels there so those were um removed because um they just couldn't get to it you know fast enough because people are just putting all their car trash in there and everything um so um I think for now we're keeping the parks says you know trash in trash out you bring your trash in you take it out concept and that is actually very popular concept lately with Parks because it's putting the ownership on the people who are using it to take care of their own things that they're bringing in um now if there's um um issues with the landscaping or mowing um that is something that we can look into to help take care of um and like I mentioned we're currently talking with Jim about that in this current budget process so hopefully um we can get some funds allocated to that and if not then we might look into dipping into our Recreation revolving account if the highway department can't do it um because in the past um we've been told that they are supposed to be doing that yeah no thank you I mean they are stretched and that's what that was my concern is that we're not uh adding to adding more pressure to their workload because they're understaffed chronically understaffed and um so anyway we just have to be careful about that yeah we're not we're not creating yeah we're not creating more space that needs to be taken care of we're just kind of making it more uniform I think would be the vision right and if we um have the rubberized surfacing similar to what we have at the annex playground at the bental playground that will help immensely um and you know it depending on what we do in the the back um I don't Envision there being grass in the back they just mostly be um the side areas around some of those features okay thank you very much are there any other questions if not may I have a motion Tim kesie I have a motion I'll make a motion I feel little conflicted but that's okay go ahead John John I'll make the motion that we move it to the the later part of the uh the meeting for discussion of for voting okay is a second okay Dale Weber seconds okay um any other discussion let's move on Hugh H Mor stains John John belly dale dale Weber ey Deborah deborra sh off the I Tim Kon Tim Kon I um Tim G single SBI I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Slade I that's unanimous thank you very much thank you everybody thank you for what you all do the last project is the Westport biking walking Path South Coast Northern scen at Greenway feasibility study $122,000 are there any questions to I think Gail is here are there any questions all right that seems like that we can vote I would move that we advance this particular project to the end of our meeting for discussion second please and I will second that that's Dale oh Dale yes Dale second all right any discussion okay Hugh de Morton I John John Bell dale dale we I Deborah Deborah chy I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim gpie Tim gpie I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty slate I that's unanimous Gail did you have a question I did thank you I just have an update if I may uh thank you everybody for for appr this to move forward I just wanted to say uh in that Grant application we were looking for a community partner uh to manage the three M municipalities we have done that we um we are moving forward as a three toown uh Mass Trail grants that will be submitted February 1st and we are uh in a memorandum of standing with South Coast Bikeway Alliance project management so this will be managed through sered with um with the consultant and uh South Coast Bikeway uh decided to enter this management agreement with sured it's it's it's through their comprehensive department so it's not uh through our normal people we relate with Jackie Jones and um John Gray however they'll be part of the process um and so what the seret is agreeing to perform the services described scope of services with assistance of the organization exchange for compensation uh to move forward and so I just wanted to keep that update in mind with you uh thank you for voting already but just rest assured we we have this moving forward with the community um uh directorship of sered and then Westport Mike burus will be the um designated Municipal officer thank you Gail um when we do the write up for town meeting we will uh discuss all of that with you so we will have all that finalized for town meeting the um handout at town meeting is very important because that's the basis for the project going forward what can be at it what can't be in it um so thank you very much um so I'd like to uh close the did we vote on this yes I'd like to close the uh public hearing and open the regular meeting resume the regular meeting and look at the available funds uh you have uh received the uh information on available funds um for CPC uh and as you can see we do have um enough funds available to finance all of these projects so you taking that keeping that in mind are there any questions about the available funds okay so I would like to um go to the number three to make the final recommendations of CPA projects for the town meeting warrant and I'd like to see if we would like to do this on a one by one basis which is what we normally do but um if anybody has any other suggestions uh let me know let's move on okay so the first uh the question is do we recommend the 300,000 for the Westport affordable housing trust for the housing office rehab and land acquisition reserves is there a recommendation I recommend that we vote to advance just one one one second there's uh some questions Tim before that I think okay John Bell yeah my question can we can we is this up to discussion now or yes we will discuss it I just felt when uh you asked how much money was in that account and they still and uh I forget the guy's name Pol 400,000 I don't know if that was misleading do or if there was uh he just didn't count the 200,000 that they got last year okay let me explain that that that is an issue of timing and Deborah asked that question there's still six what uh the Westport housing um trust is handled very differently from other projects there is this a special account for them um which the accountant manage and she does not release the those funds right away she holds those funds over the year and then releases them little by little it's it's like a reserve it's like our reserves it's their reserves so when you ask him that question he answered it as what's in their accounts their own accounts right now but then when we discussed it he said yes there's 600,000 that we will be receiving but haven't gotten yet it's a matter of timing he wasn't misleading us okay I understood what what he when when the question was asked I understood in his answer that's why I went in and said I think that it's 600,000 not 400,000 okay thank you Hugh yeah I understood that but the point that I was making I still feel this is a i it's unkind to call a slush but there's no particular project on the horizon that I'm aware of and money is building up that is sitting there 600's fine and I guess I would add another hundred but I don't really see the reason why after this appropriation take place it' be 800 sitting there with no particular project in mind so I would I'm not sure what the me mechanism here is but I would would move to appropri add a 100,000 rather than 200 to the acquisition fund if that's appropriate okay Deborah um well I have two things now I want to respond to Hugh and I also have another question about the last slide that you had up because I don't know if it was the right date uh for the funding numbers I have very different schedule that I reviewed it looked like that was an old one this says meeting 2018 why is it starting at 2018 uh uh uh because for some reason there were several Pages there is an FY 26 that's the one I was reviewing yeah and I this these these numbers didn't look familiar because the document I had that I had some questions on was not anything like this document similar to line items but totally different dates so I'll get back to that in a second because I do want to go through the 202 six okay available funds document that that in the packet okay so Hugh uh wait a second we've already been through that now we're looking we got to look at this one project right right and I want to respond to Hugh comment because I think the 200,000 that they're requesting is really um a placeholder so they have enough cash available to move on a project if something becomes available and my my thought is they should have as much as we can you know allocate to them reasonably so they can act on something because these meetings that we have are not that frequent they don't get to have an allocation that frequently so if they miss out on getting an allocation and then something comes along and they can't bid on it because they don't have the funding then they won't be able to move forward on getting the housing created the other comment I want to just make it's more of a question if monies are sitting in a reserve account for year after year after year and they're not used is there a way to claw back if they don't find a project would that make us feel better about allocating and then if they don't find something can we claw it back I don't know how it works with once you do a reserve is it locked in stone and you can't get it back let me respond if I may yes Hugh uh I think the only project that's been done in terms of acquisition for years and years and years as nooke Village and these projects usually don't start tomorrow you have to do something there were thoughts there are in this case there's a request for a proposal which we don't know how much is involved there so that I'm weary to have a bunch of money accumulating with no particular project in mind on a theory something might come out of the blue tomorrow plus you don't just buy them and do it there is a combination usually of options or negotiations certainly there's not be enough money to do a project it's going to be in association with those who would Finance at other entities it all takes time so my feeling is something more to the front Okay but I think it's going to sit there indefinitely so I'd rather keep the 100,000 that is not appropriated cting has a reserve which can be appropriate who who else had his hand up there was someone Dale yeah um I um agree with what Deborah was saying and and my my memory is over time I haven't been a member for that long but we've had this conversation I think numerous times um and and that it wasn't just the the the two men that were here tonight Liz and other people would say that um their stance is that that they really do need to feel comfortable knowing that they can move on something really quickly before it gets lost um I don't know how to judge that I you know I I also um hear what you say Hugh about how all of these things take time and so but it isn't like they can just call us and say can we have that $100,000 because something just came up they have to wait for the process um yeah I agree with there I do say I don't say they're misleading us that was not my but they been we've been hearing that for years and years and years right right okay um I just would like to say that there is an RFP out there right now and uh there has been a response so um if you think about the amount of land they're looking for 600,000 is not very much money 800,000 would be much better for them to be able to say okay um we can pay you 800,000 uh they haven't given them any numbers but they followed up because of some our pushing by doing the RFP I am the liazon to them and I have attended the meetings and I kept saying you got to do an RFP they take a long time to do these things because affordable housing is very complicated and bureaucratic and so they had to follow very certain rules uh in order to do it and they've done it so I think that they they have a response I'm very excited about that uh they didn't tell us what it is or anything yet and I guess that's because there's going to be negotiation but I would like to put the $800,000 in their hands the answer to Deborah's question um yes in a a we do Grant agreements every year with them and we ask them to report and we could say that um I'm sorry but it's been 14 years and you haven't done anything um and then we won't give them any more money uh whether we can take it back or not I'd have to look at the old Grant agreements I can't remember to tell the truth if that's in there um it is in some of the others but working with an affordable housing trust is so different technically different from working with nonprofits um Tim Gillespie yeah I would like to remind everyone if they can remember this that um we had actually stated or or recommended that they go for a big project and one of the reasons that they put this in there as as their big project was in response to comments from our committee yes so if we start whittling down what they're asking for I don't think it looks particularly good I also wanted to answer another questions oh yes there's been another project in um the Habitat for Humanity project is another project that they've where they have built a duplex so there's those two major projects um the complexity of a um of an affordable housing trust uh purchase of land getting the um uh financing for it it has takes a very long time Deborah yeah just one more comment on what you just said that sparked um a new question when you said that you have a grant agreement when you do a a grant and these are new Grant agreements every time correct so yes why not consider in the next Grant agreement when we're getting to some threshold number where obviously H's very uncomfortable with this level of yes cash getting you know allocated and then not being used maybe we set some sort of a threshold after some amount is met and they've been granted and then a period of time goes by nothing's happened to get it back down to a more comfortable allocation number then it gets clawed back and it comes back to the general fund so that we can reallocate to some other projects I mean just so it's reasonable that they have lots of time but not unlimited time we can do that Deborah we specifically can do that's one of the things that they if you go to the uh Community preservation Coalition website and look at there that that's this discussed how do you work with a with an affordable housing trust because we don't determine what they do when I mean we can't say that's a good project we only allocate the money and then they use it that's so different from every other project Hugh just remind us all that we have massive amounts affordable housing hanging fire at the moment in connection with the MBTA Etc and last I remember is it's in limbo because the SJC just said yes it's okay but you need regulations however the last regulations were I think we would have to permit 15 units per acre in the areas involved number of total units at Le at this point unclear but we are talking about number of acres in that category that has nothing to do with the financing we're talking about but it does have potentially an enormous issue on the affordable housing or the character of the town anybody else any comments Tim I'm afraid I think I have to leave the meeting oh and I can leave this page up and leave it going but I've got some obligations I have to attend to and I didn't know we were going to go this late um you can survive without me or do I need to be here for a quorum no we have a quorum if you have have to go but I would prefer you didn't yeah but how much more time can you give us uh 10 minutes okay can we vote okay so for this uh let's just get through this one um so I have a I would like to know if there's a motion on the floor uh I think there is no there isn't no is there would someone would take a motion to allocate um 200,000 um 300,000 300,000 total uh to the affordable housing trust without the change actually that um Hugh has recommended let's see if that gets through do I have a motion motion I would like to make that motion Dale W okay is there a second that motion Tim Gillespie second that motion okay let's um is there any further discussion right now or can we vote okay let's vote Hugh here morain John John Bell is GNA vote I and leave it up to town meeting dale dale Weber I Deborah deorah chaly I Kim Kon Tim Kon I Tim gasby Tim goby I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Betty slay I that's unanimous uh the second project is the um Restort Grange do I have a motion Betty I I'm G to make a motion that we put all the remaining five projects together okay inv let's try that anybody want to try that all right uh you are recommending the funding as requested by all of the remaining projects uh RAR range uh Howen Hall Youth Athletic Association recr Recreation committee and the biking path um to go forward as a recommendation to town meeting I do Betty that gives me a problem though because I need to to accuse myself as far as the recreation is concerned um I think you can how do we do that I don't know can we just let's leave that one out for a moment okay all right other than the uh Recreation committee um is there a second I'll second it Dale Weber Maria did you get that did you understand that Maria Maria she's saying yes she's not yes yes I did okay thank you okay okay it's been moved in second um we vote Hugh uh I I to everything except the recreation well we we pulled that out we pulled that out pulled that out we're gonna vote that separately I John John Bell I dale dale Weber I Deborah de chy I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim Gillespie Tim gpie I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Betty Slade I that's unanimous now we vote on the Recreation the recreation committee uh for 250,000 is there a motion so Mo Tim glesby second second Dale Weber Bale Weber let's vote on that Hugh Hugh Martin re um abstains okay John John Bell dale dale ever I Deborah Deborah chy I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim glasby Tim glesby I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Betty Slade um I that's unanimous all the motions have passed for recommendation to town meeting I would like see if we could have authority to the chair and vice chair to prepare the Warren article and fund sources for projects second Mo Tim glesby okay um let's vote h you Mor I John John B John dale dale Weber I Deborah Deborah cheli I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Tim glaspie Tim glaspie I Mark Mark SM ey Betty Slade I that's unanimous uh goodbye timoth glaspy thank you thank you very much um so uh I sent around the annual report yes uh John prepared it and I um edited it and does anybody have any suggestions nice job guys I think okay okay thank you Deborah I do yeah I just I I I want to just um use precise language on this report and I feel like okay there's um there's some discussion about how these percentag are calculated 10 a minimum of 10% of the total available funds each year the term total available funds is confusing when you look at the report because you don't know if it's estimated total available funds for 20 for 2026 which would be a different number because that estimated is 2 million and one and 650 10% of that would be 200,000 not 100,000 so if we're going to say these numbers we should refer back to an actual term on the other report that we're calculating this from otherwise I feel like it's confusing where we're getting these numbers from is the term total available funds A capitalized term that can be referred back to on the list of available funds like balance sheet that you have so what we do is we have to EST we have we can only do it on the process of estimated funds that's how we do it but we always make the amount much larger so it's never been the case where it actual funds have been greater than it's always at least 10% of actual funds that's how it works there okay so maybe it should be minimum 10% instead of or required 10% but that's it's not a calculated number it's an estimate yes it is okay okay okay that makes more sense but it just it feels like it's supposed to tie back to something and let's talk about that I'd like to talk to you about that I mean anything we can do to make these reports better these are the same exact words we've been using since 2002 okay well I'm new I'm new to this so but there's always a way to improve things and I I like your way of thinking you that would be very helpful so we'll go through that and I'll also go through with you the available funds table because that's not that's not simple either and it has to do with the budgeted reserves versus actual reserves you know and what happened at town meeting so I could go through it one by one with you so you're comfortable with it um okay and if I'm right I mean I get I work with h the accountant to do this normally okay the last is um review corresponden and notifications I hope you all are looking at the notifications from the Coalition because there's interesting stuff that comes out of that I think you're all getting it Deborah did you get it yes you got it okay yes all right there was just something about the church uh um CPC awarded Grant money to a church and there was a lot of good discussion about why it was okay okay as long as they didn't have religious iconography so it was really relevant to what we're discussing and the list of bills it's unfortunately it's not up there and I don't have anything with me in Texas so do you Maria could you tell us what the bills are y are there many are there many of them I can't can't yeah five not that many really if you want to hold on one second let make get my file here okay I have it in front of me you want me to read it out loud um I have it it's okay thank you uh Granite City Electric Supply Company for the Sanford school that's 12550 okay uh Granite City Electric Supply for the Sanford school 69.84 um East Bay media which is the publication for the public hearing 6150 Granite City Electric Supply for Sanford school $924 and Troy rello who had a ton of receipts over the last couple two three years whatever this is reimbursement for mileage when he went to training uh supplies that he purchased he paid sales I just as a side note I know Betty knows this he paid sales tax on all of these items which he cannot be reimbursed for so the total for that 6% yeah the total for that was $461 1620 and that spans at least three years from what I understand from what the accounting office tells so Troy rebello is um he and Todd Batista do the actual gravestone repair work so this is the gravestone repair uh and I've through the years been trying to get him to I I I he asked me can I do this can I do this yes yes but please send in your receipts and finally finally he did and I've reviewed them uh and they're all uh appropriate I don't know if you've heard but they formed a private uh group called the TNT uh gravestone and they now have a uh a pro a contract with East Providence for a 17th century um uh cemetery and it was all over TV I don't know if you saw that but very very popular um and there's actually we've been asked to do two more interviews uh this project in other towns is very H very uh they like these projects Dartmouth also has contacted me they're asking for funding in Dartmouth for their from their cpc2 so we have those projects do have a motion to approve or there any questions um move to approve you Morton second second Dale Weber I think that's my job today correct yes today Hugh Hugh Morton I John John B I dale dale Weber I Deborah Deborah chi I Tim Kon Tim Kon I Mark Mark Schmid I Betty Slade I that's unanimous uh is there any other business anything anybody wants to discuss okay and the next meeting we will definitely have a meeting the Sanford school um managers there's a new one now Paul Schmidt is replacing Tony Vieira as Commander so he he's gotten involved with this project and they're asking for some adjustments in the uh in the project we're looking to see if that's possible and we will discuss that at least at the next meeting and if there's anything else that comes up we'll let you know okay wonderful meeting thank you very much