##VIDEO ID:5Wl7tBolFMM## all right call meting to a please rise salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the rep stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all thank you everyone uh shaa will not be with us this evening um today is Monday October 28th we do have another meeting next Monday we had a couple of weeks off and this is a we have successive meetings next week nothing to add correct today uh under Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20f this meeting is being recorded all right we'll jump right into it uh 605 we got to wait a couple of minutes right on that Jim 605 what we got two minutes all right we'll give it two minutes do we have anything we can hit in the meantime how about the uh number 3A request to app point number number threea request to appoint the following to the opioid advisory committee select board Craig Dutra Westport Police Department chief Christopher Dunn Westport firefighter fire department firefighter paramedic emergency service coordinator Glenn Nunes uh Chief Dan Balan would be the alternate Laura sheret Westport Community Schools Community representative is open another Community representative is open clinician is open life experience is open and Board of Health member is open we want Don aren't you the Board of Health member yeah I'm not sure why my name's not presented to the we get anything in an email we appoint Donna Amal to be the Board of Health representative okay there you go Board of Health member Donna am and then the other one that's not on here is the Watershed we can do that appointment next week okay sounds good that's off oh no that's on sorry never mind never mind say that was a OD one all right any other input suggestions if not accept the motion anybody want to move it so move so move by Mr breu seconded by Mr Dua any other discussion sign on all in favor I any obsessions good go thank you 604 we'll do one more 3B is request to appoint the following to the offshore wind advisory committee select board sha ATZ planning board John Bullard Conservation Commission Jake mcgan shelfish Advisory Board Rick Smith Economic Development task force Mor may protect our Westport roers at large constants G at large open another at large open no uh red is needs to be on that list too okay and and I do have a representative from there but we'll add it to the next next meeting okay any discussion we know we have the name of the the representative all I'll name knock to go g g first name o o I'll take your word for it I move you move do we have a second second I think Mr s beat you all right any other discussion hearing none all in favor is that the Slate or just that one person I um do have another interest okay what do you have that as the our last vote just for that one person from Watershed okay okay go ahead with the next one please choper large M Christoper is there a motion motion Mr SS do we have a second second second Mr bro discussion on that one hearing none all in favor I that's unanimous we so we still have one at lodge open correct all right anybody want to move that slate anybody want to move that I'll move that okay move by Mr bre do have a second second by Mr SS any discussion seeing none all in favor I it's unanimous all right now we can cover our 605 beginning application request from lindia gner for an on premise seasonal wine and malt beverage license for PVS LLC Partners Village Store at 865 Main Road Westport Mass continued from October 7th 2024 okay we have the applicant here oh hi do you want to come up please M just sit yes sure and uh Jim everything's in order we got to note that the police reports fa favorable no issues there yeah no issues with the police um we've been through the application everything appears to be in order saw on the file they noted a Butters and all that good stuff yes um the locations on the plan showing the areas to be licensed are clear and um the plan is fine still looking at a couple of square footage we're just going to confirm tomorrow but the um license area does not change so all right did we have our operation I don't recall yes it's on there on the application okay you just want to State it so the public knows um we're open from 9:30 to5 but the we're think being 11 to four would be 11 to four okay any questions any buts president any questions at all if not we'll attain a motion so move move by Mr breu have a second pick one Mr D uh all right anything else all in favor I that's unanimous all set good luck thank you I'll get Mr fenal here y okay why don't you come up up please application requests from Karan f feny b breze Inc doing business as Westport sea farms located at 2065 Main Road Westport Mass for the change of category of their seasonal liquor license from wine and malt beverage to all alcoholic beverages I'm Mr fley Mr fley hello you just want to State briefly your intentions um it's uh pretty cut and dry just going all alcoholic yeah had a few items still seasonal still same hours same for floor yeah any questions from the board before I go to the phone seeing nothing from the board oh I'm sorry go ahead Mr B um I had a question as to the uh the economic business need for doing this and does this enhance the uh the operation it does uh as of lately and I was actually talking to the um Brewery um there's like a shift um with Pier sales they're actually on a downward trend a lot of times when we say we have beer and wine um people say well do you have any alcohol and we say no they'll buy water instead of wine or beer I've actually had people leave too like oh we'll go elsewhere same Mo approval of the license as presented second second about Mr saws anything from the audience on this before I go forward seeing none all in favor I I I was any or okay I apologize okay I'm sorry yeah uh I came here tonight with the idea that I would not vote for this uh for the following reasons um first of all when we approved your operation back in 2018 we did talk about improving alcohol in the form of wine and and malt wine and beer at the time I voted for that I have no regrets and you've managed that well as the police report has as ascertained however I'm also a resident there and concerned about it as some residents are although I don't think any of them are here tonight to be opposed to it but I'm also aware from my career in the insurance business which is still going on and I serve on the board of directors of a company that insures uh bars and restaurants for lior law liability and we find that when there are problems from a liability standpoint it's usually related to hard liquor now having said that uh there are problems sometimes with mismanaged operations with wine and malt if they don't handle it properly you can you can have a misbehavior there but and I'd also say that there are a lot of differences between your operation and the bars that we ensure they're open late at night year round yours is more truncated to a seasonal and um I would say that I'm less concerned because you have proven yourself over the years to be able to manage that problem which can be a problem so I'm going by the uh my own knowledge of this and aware that well-run operations can go from a wine and beer licens to an all alcohol and they can do it well but there are hazards to that it brings in a different crowd and a different kind of Drinker um the the people who are visiting you now and consume alcohol are probably doing it as part of the oyster business they want to have dinner they want to have something to drink and the two sort of go together and that's why I voted for it way back when this runs the potential of bringing in a different kind of uh inber who might be there to be more interested in the alcohol all and in the food you know I also think that's not necessarily in line with the town meeting uh decision back in 2016 to have so-called AGR tourism AG Agra commercial whatever whatever we call it under which you operate basically and how you came into existence having said all that I guess I put that out as a cautionary note uh but I have faith that you will uh handle it well as as you did before and so I will now indicate to the committee I will vote in favor of it but I wanted to have that discussion because I want to show that uh I thought about it and I have some concerns but I think my concerns are are laid by your own your own behavior and running a good operation so good luck and uh I appreciate that and um our our kids work there so it's going to stay familyfriendly yeah yeah my intention is still to feed people I just want to make sure they're able to get the drink back want yeah and I appreciate you saying that because we really do try our best down there and I don't plan to disappoint anybody I know you will all right so that makes it unanimous okay you got that thank you very much all right take care next was an application from the transfer of a class three motor vehicle junk license from mid City Scrap iron a salvage to Mid City Scrap LLC located at 548 State Road manager Steven J basadi and the property has been sold transfer a license correct Jim oh there you very good good evening how are you good how are you all right so the entire property has been sold Mid City entire property no more Gins then no more Gins okay you're the one that ripped down the scrap building the ferris building or whatever it was no that was that was done before us all right so you just want to briefly explain uh the situation going on there yeah so we we bought the business we bought the scrap business proper um the steel business still is with the Gin family so Mid City Steel still exists um my partner and I close the transaction on October 15th and we're looking to continue the reputation uh hopefully improve upon it and put in uh continue to invest Capital into the facility right and uh you know take it back to maybe its former hey day sounds good uh we also have an economic development Task Force if you uh if you want to do anything big and you want to share it with the town we'd love to hear it the Gins were communicated with us and we tried to help them on taxes and whatnot very good to know anything for this applicant any questions anything from the audience on this okay a motion so moved second seconded any other discussion sign down all in favor you good luck thank you thank you nice meeting you no and permits this week correct Jim nothing oh we have one more one more public hearing D oh I'm sorry I'm stopped application request from the transfer Class 2 motor vehicle license from 3D Auto Sales to upstart remarketing LLC located at 575 state road vehicle limit 36 manager Timothy horin police report favorable on that one present on up please Jim I saw their layout um is this the same count as before or has the count been modif ified okay and I saw that we had right off on it how we doing gentlemen good how good good all right so you want to do a little business in town yeah all right uh any questions from the board no issues Jim you're happy so far wishes everything's good and we had we sign we have sign up from police uh from fire I saw police I don't think we had anything from fire ump anyway okay okay so that's the only thing I I would be considered with just the fire department sign up but if it's still a layout shouldn't be a big deal anybody want to move this one approval second okay move by second by Mr discussion see down all in favor I unanimous thank you good luck all right thanks all right all right now we'll go on pass license and permits that's that correct we did 3A we did 3B moving to 3C request from Beverly Bish to appoint Lisa felberg Costa to the Westport Council on Aging Advisory Board engrace us with her presence this week was noted today it's just the Council on Aging not the Council on Aging Advisory Board okay so just Council on Aging Mr Brewer picked up on that good catch Mr Brewer so uh clarify this is to the Westport Council on Aging not The Advisory Board all right Jim you just want to summarize uh just an appointment um I'm not sure who vacated the board but I believe there might be two openings um I I've met her a couple of times she's very nice she has an interest in it and I I think she'd be good I recommend approval sounds good okay some comments sure to remind everybody I'm the select board leaz on to the Council on AG okay uh there are two vacancies and that is what this is about this is a very qualified person I had the honor of meeting her last week and um she's very capable and does a lot of work in the area of uh Rehabilitation for those who have had strokes and I think if you were here tonight um you would be impressed so I I urge you to vote favorably and I think the Council on Aging will be well served with her presence very good is that a motion I will make that motion to app Point second second Mr sour uh see anything else all in favor I unanimous unanimous next request from AE metal recycling to appoint Richard pole as public weer anybody here for that it's not usually a big issue yeah okay anybody want to move him so moved mov by Mr second second by Mr Brewer any discussion sing none all in favor I I unanimous question from Deborah copy is that correct Sal uh historical commission to be appointed as the liaison to the community preservation committee CPC replac in Garrett stuck anybody move that I I'll move that by Mr bre we have a second second Mr duter any discussion on this one seeing none all in favor I I it's unanimous request from town clerk Kristen Stenson to approve the warrant for the state election to be held on Tuesday November 5th and Jim you recommend approval nothing recommend approval yes all right we have a motion on that one so move Qui move by Mr duer second second second Mr Brewer any discussion on that one sign not all in favor I unanimous unanimous that you're passing that around to be signed Jim yes okay thank you y request of the planning board for select board comments on the definitive subdivision plan 245 old Harbor Road proposing to use the existing 50 foot wide RightWay Crossing for access to the Little Compton land for a fall lot single family housing any discussion or input on that sometimes we do sometimes we don't nothing good for them all right uh we're we're facilitating the development of affordable housing in a neighboring Community nothing wrong with that okay so no uh no input to pass on just taking out that advis me okay next request on the planning board for select board comments on the application to request three additional storage buildings at 1180 American Legion Highway um we had an our packet that's Mr Long's properties expanding is that the old um school yes yes y y any comments on that one business very good nothing from the audience on that no seeing none request from Tony viea to approve the proposed plan from Plan B Construction Company 86 Blanding AB barington Rhode Island 02806 for $14,888 for the American Legion building exterior upgade upgrade project and this was the lowest bit of Jim you want to summarize anybody here on that one jimm me want to summarize this actually went out to bid I think three times um the latest they reduced some of the scope they're going to replace a siding on the outside of the building uh the low bidder was um Plan B construction company for $14,888 I'd recommend approval now he's got diamond in there too are they helping with other so D there's some other work that needs to be done on the interior um and I believe with the chairlift um yeah he's he's been they put quite a bit of time into this this is funded through CPC okay um CPC and um the legion group are both recommending approval as well okay discussion motion anybody want to move it so move move by Mr Bru seconded by Mr duer any other discussion sign none all in favor I unanimous okay discussion the next is Coastal healing host agreement Jim okay oh yeah hey good good all right jimy you want to summarize what they're here for um they they requested that they come before the board so I think they want to talk about their existing host agreement Community host agreement and a proposed new one is my understanding very good go ahead sure uh Philip so for uh Coastal healing this is Dr David buis from the company so you know the company is uh trying to sort of navigate a bit of a difficult uh regulatory environment from the Cannabis Control Commission um probably aware I think I've been here we've we've talked about this a little bit before but a new law was passed in 2022 um that has certain requirements of a host Community agreement and arguably the existing host Community agreement wouldn't comply with that your Town Council uh would inform you that there's a difference of opinion on that uh as to whether it does or whether it doesn't the bottom line that we face is as far as the Cannabis Control Commission is concerned that new law applies and so when we go to apply for our annual license renewal we have to do it every year and one of the things they do now is they look at your host Community agreement they determine whether it's compliant or not compliant with that new 2022 law so they sort of take the opposite view that your Town Council takes which is fine I mean I like I said this is all kind of up in the air but the problem is we can't get our license renewed without a new compliant agreement so we you know I've been around the state quite frankly doing this everywhere and we're trying to sort of work with towns to allow us to do new agreements and we've had a pretty good reception about that but that's really why we're here is to try to get that new agreement to allow us to renew our license um you know whether or not something is owed under the old agreement U is another interesting question um you know there's certainly an argument that if you read the agreement there's a certain amount of fees that are owed there's a counterargument that um you don't get to col fees unless you can show an actual impact upon the town so those sort of the two sides this is being litigated in the courts right now um I can tell you uh and again you can check with your Council on this one that there hasn't been a case that's gone fully to trial because in just about every instance the towns basically determine that they want to settle and they end up paying back money that they've received um it's very hard in most situations to show that there was a negative impact on the town from the operation of these businesses it's not to say that you can't it's not to say that there may not be some impacts but most of the towns have sort of determined it's really hard to do that and so they end up settling we have no desire to get into litigation or anything of that sort with the town I I think my client would tell you that people have been very supportive here it's been a good place to do business it's challenging it's not the hugest market in terms of trying to bring in Revenue but you know what they they're they're enthusiastic and positive going forward they' managed to find a a foothold in a very competitive uh industry environment so you know we're we're looking forward to continuing to work with the town but we really do need to get that new host Community agreement so we can renew our license okay any input on that Mr bre maybe I'll address this to the Town Administrator but probably will ask you so what would be the difference differences between the new agreement and the existing agreement so the existing agreement has a 3% Z charge that would be paid directly to the town it also has a $25,000 yearly impact fee that goes to the town the new agreements under the new regulations um don't really allow for that um you could still have I believe the search charge that the percentage but you have to uh justify every expense which is difficult our existing agreement there's wording in there that says you don't have to justify that expense um and the question is is that agreement valid because it was in place prior to the regulations being changed our Town Council believes it is um but it's been going back and forth in the courts for the last year or so um this is the impact fees the impact fees and the yearly $25,000 fee there's an additional 3% uh fee that they pay directly to the well a fee they pay to the state and the state reimburses or pays the town uh 3% yeah sales tax that we're getting we've been getting right along if your board of members last year um I want to say April or May maybe even June the the board uh put a hold on the fees from uh June till June 2023 to December 2023 uh while the new regulations will be in prog adopted by the CC cannabis Control Commission um we have not collected any fees um outside of the 3% state tax that we get um to date so there's 3% under the existing agreement there's a 3% fee going back to I I believe October 2022 or November 2022 and there is a $125,000 fee that was due last November and an additional $25,000 fee that would be this through this November under the current agreement um we did the board just did approve a new host agreement for a new facility and those fees are not including in it going forward but this was done um almost four years ago I guess good on that last Point what was on the new agreement with the new uh business what was what was included and what was not what you say the 3% and the $25,000 fee was not included the impact fees were not included they were not included and that's pretty standard I think going forward with most agreements new agreements um it's the old agreements that I think is still in question but in the if I may follow up sure Mr chair under the old agreement or the existing agreement there's there's no question about the 3% I'll call it sales tax that it is owed the sales tax is owed under any set that's a completely separate issue yeah the issue is whether the 3% impact fee is owed um and the the question there is it's even beyond that because even if you buy uh your town council's position that that that 3% is still in existence at some point you still have to prove that there were impacts to just justify that doesn't matter which law you think is in effect the old one or the new one at some point you're going to have to demonstrate that or you know if we paid you the money you'd have to give it back so that's didn't mean to interrupt but you also was the grow uh almost okay so I understand the impact fee issue y uh and that's why I needed clarification on the the new uh the new business impact fee or absence thereof so just on that impact fee our existing host agreement has wording in there that basically says you don't have to prove that we've used those funds now whether or not the courts uphold that I don't know but according to Town Council they believe that at least at this point we'd still be able to collect those fees but if these gentlemen were here today on a new business y we wouldn't have the impact fees well it's up to the board but yes if we did have impact fees I think you have to actually justify every expense going forward there's still a provision I believe in there that we can't have impact fees but you have to justify every expense and I believe it has to be reviewed by this cannabis Control Commission as well yeah they said that okay Mr Brew I have another question I can I can wait on that I okay Mr I I was also involved with the discussions with um tasty Breeze or whatever they're called MH that uh came in and I don't think that the to I I sat in a meeting with Town Council and Jim and I didn't read a level of certainty on the part of the Town Council that um that they they that that this was they you said they have a difference of opinion I think the the difference of opinion is not Stark it's a slight interpretation uh from my understanding the way it was inter for the previous agreement but back to my original Point uh the reason why I voted against the other agreement uh several weeks ago was best based upon the fact that that this environment that they're operating in has vastly changed in the last four years and so when people entered this business around 2020 and some of Western Ms I guess were doing it back in 2018 um we're you're looking at um prices were higher there were less um players in the game and in Westport we chose to make it more competitive by um reducing the size of the area that was allowable we we originally had the potential to do a facility in the um the village which was uh I think this board had made a we moved that uh several years ago when I wasn't on it and secondly um where you now have a facility that's in it's been in a place for a while in Fall River and you have a place that's going online in a matter of months right up the street of D so that the the pricing has gone down the markets become a little crowded and there's a certain amount of lack of certainty in terms of what we can collect and what um we'll be able to collect going forward and um for that reason um I I would be inclined uh to um not enforce the fees that were not paid under the prior agreement except for the sales tax and things that all right any other questions any other input on this go ahead Mr bro so Jim again but the other this could answer if you prefer um have we been paid the 3% that's in a re years no no will that will that be build because that's not arguable I guess no that that is arguable the sales tax not the sales tax there two 3% just talking about the sales tax the sales tax that gets collected by the state we have been paid by the state for that 3% the additional 3% in our agreement we have not been paid for so we have collected the sales tax the sales tax well the state has collected and they have paid us or they have not paid us they paid us oh okay so that's well not in a rear say I was I was incorrect okay so the only issue is the impact fees and consistent with the the other uh company they don't have impact fees going forward they don't I guess my last question I have to beat this to death but this is important um have we made any effort are we aware of any impacts that we want to put forward under this agreement police fire whatever whatever that it means I mean I don't really know what that's all about we haven't identified any specific impacts that part I will say the CCC was pushing that you're going to have to have receipts and details on on it for that well you have to have if I may you have but that's only if it exists in the first place I mean I honestly I'm just saying I don't know if there is or there isn't an impact here I I I don't discern one but I don't know that but somebody has to tell me that if the police aren't saying that or fire whoever then I don't I wouldn't no I mean the biggest the biggest issue I heard about was that was the selling point where we kept going to town meeting over and over and over again we're here we're going to give you money to accept us they finally accept it and now they're not getting the money so that's what I'm hearing from Town's people sure they contacted other board members so that's the concern we're getting back he listen I I get it um I think the point and and I think you said it very well is we're sort of in a different environment um it is a very tough retail environment right now this company has just started to break even and the reason they do is because they have a they have the ability to cultivate and wholesale product to other places the retail is not a huge piece of it and I'm a little concerned that with two retails here neither of them are going to really flourish under those circumstances so additional fees would really be difficult for the company to pay so well that's one of the reasons I Craig and I with thec in votes is because the impact fee the fees you folks had I didn't think it was fair that they didn't have them that's one of the main reasons uh and that's what I hear from the public we want it we expect to have something to help us out you know the fees and whatnot would help our Police Department fire department so it's a concern all right Mr duu I think it's also noting that this particular company is a local company yeah the both owners are are taxpayers of Westport and uh the other company that we boed the license to uh several weeks ago is not a local company none of the principles live locally and they act actually they were in a number of different businesses including alcohol sales and and whatnot okay Mr so Mr hard what kind of action uh are you expecting us to take care of this was just up for discussion tonight no action is needed um okay under advisement at this point yeah I think there's two issues one um does the board want to enforce the existing agreement and if they do to what extent and then two we need to come up with a new agreement going forward anything from the board on that that might be something we need to discuss with legal and whatnot but what just ask a follow what are we enforcing well the fees the we don't hav't identified any so how can we enforce what we haven't identified you just summarize the contract that that's on hold if you will right now so the question is whether or not we have to demonstrate what those fees are the wording in the in the host agreement specifically says we do not have to we do not have to um the Cannabis Control Commission may feel differently um the courts may feel differently but in the con in the hilst agreement it does not say that and the other amount gy that's $225,000 a year hasn't been paid for the any of the years correct they owe one year and they will owe another 25,000 in November so 50,000 outstanding uh is what you're asking to be relieved of correct total is probably about 100,000 yeah now yeah I mean it's been almost what two two and a half years yeah two years all right so any action at this point okay I'm confused now 50,000 you say is owed that's what we had remember we we suspended the payment they asked us to suspend payment uh in Li of new laws and whatnot and that they didn't have enough business about a year ago 6 months ago yeah the additional 3% would be about 50,000 to date and then there was 25,000 for November 23 and there'd be another 25,000 for November 24 correct so that's still out there well still out there but I thought earlier we just discuss that the sales tax I'll call it is not owed that is not owed this would be an additional 3% in addition to the 3% sales tax you're talking about the impact fees impact fees okay so there's no disp on the sales tax that's correct we are whole yes okay that's it was the other fees correct but we don't but we haven't put forth any request for other fees impact fees right we've requested payment we we hav't received payment and then the board uh granted a six-month waiver last year from June to December on the delinquency fees and one up but that's because because this existing contract doesn't require documentation which may not be in line with the CCC that's correct yeah okay I think I think I'm getting it correct guidelines have been loosened pretty substantial all right any other discussion we just take under advisement at this time okay no action at this time so how I mean I'm just trying to figure out sort of where at some point we need to try to get this new AG I guess you're going to sort of consult with Council and then I would suggest yeah we had some questions asked Jim can get a summary from our our legal on where we should go from here yeah I would move the process if you did propose a new host City host Community agreement that way that brings it back in So sort of a formal request uh to the board to issue us a new host agreement we kind of did that already well it's yeah I I can get you the host agreement that was just approved uh you can review it there were some minor changes in that host agreement to the the standard uh cannabis Control Commission agreement uh not a lot but you can review that and then um I I think you had proposed U possibly offering some type of um compensation from the fees if you wanted to do that the board could certainly entertain that as well yep all right that'd be great okay understood yep all right thank you very much that was 5A we're moving on to 5B the diamond crew you're up just in time request from Diamond Regional Vocational techn High School to increase funding for the new school by 11 m733 6 $86 total of 35,2 3,446 that's not all from us by the way just so the public knows Jim you want to summarize your uh your uh yeah I'm I'm going to let let them do diamond take the lead on this yeah okay once again up how you doing Mr Bentley I'm doing well how are you this evening how many years have you been there now uh a lot very good it's it's uh more than four decades but less than five okay back yeah this is absolutely true they called me back for uh three months three years ago wow there you go English class I had to speak to until my daughter went there she wasn't an angel if you can believe that oh Kylie all right go ahead Mr Bentley uh well actually I'm going to ref this to our architect from KB uh a uh who was with us tonight and Greg joint who has uh good and has been explaining it to the community so and he recently met with us um with with yourself Jim in order to go over exactly what this was so he has the details Paul do you have all their names in the spelling or do you need it the representatives Greg joint j y and kba Architects and you want to introduce the rest Mr Jennings and we have Mr Paul Jennings who was the representative uh from Westport to the diamond school board and also it was Paul kitchen who was the financial officer and uh chief operations officer for Diamond Regional La thank you you're welcome okay go ahead let us know what's up and give us the real numbers instead of the 11 million and all that so a pretty straightforward um uh situation uh in the approval of the project uh the Senate community's approved a project budget of 29 9 3,479 th000 and change um for a total project budget uh that includes both both the local money and uh money coming as a in form of reimbursement from msba um you all in Westport have gone through a msba project you're familiar with this uh so originally the split if we um expended all project funds up to the uh total project agreement was about 49% local share and 51% msba share uh after the project approval we went into a a period of really high inflation or escalation as we call it in you know construction um from a number of things including the pandemic and other supply chain related issues uh to the extent where um pretty much all project budgets in that time period uh were being stretched then uh coming in over a project budget uh the project and the district made a a commitment to the towns uh when we were seeking approval that we wouldn't come back for more uh local taxpayer money uh this proposal uh stays true to that uh in the time since uh the project was approved msba has recognized that this inflationary period was outside of anybody's real control and so through uh the legislature um they have been able to add money back into projects uh of a certain time period that were uh affected by these uh escalation um uh causes we at the time of uh you know as we go through the project we value managed things out to make sure we hit that original $293 million uh project approval uh since getting additional reimbursement from the msba we've looked back at what we took out to see if there are things we can put in without uh local tax dollars uh being affected uh the msba has uh provided about $22 Million worth of additional funding to the project uh and our proposal uses about 11.7 of that uh the remaining value comes back to the um project and ultimately back to the community so even though we're raising the total project budget your community share actually drops so for Westport um your total um cost divided amongst uh the towns uh at the time of approval was about $7.6 million $7.7 million uh that will drop to about $7 million so a savings of about $670,000 uh on Direct you know initial cost so that doesn't include any of the uh you know debt over time the the interest on that it's it's just a straight reduction of the initial costs um pretty straightforward uh for the most part what we're doing is putting things in that we took out just basically one for one with a couple exceptions because we have you know we we have moved forward on the project that's going up there are some things like square footage that we took out we simply can't add in anymore uh so we have you know adjusted things slightly to make sure that we can you know still provide the things that we're proposing in the added cost um just as a a way of how construction funding Works uh the 11.7 includes all uh the added contingency and things like that that would go along with any other project budget so it would be unlikely uh that we spend all of the 11.7 million uh we would likely spend somewhere under that uh and ultimately reflect in a higher savings for the district but uh that is the way the district has proposed it to make sure we do it responsibly and so we're not ever coming back uh for additional funds again okay um Paula can you show your mic with Paul because he's our rep just to give his input anything from the board before we ask for Mr Jennings can you just summarize if an nal's view good bad ugly what how are you feeling on I believe it's it's a good deal and that's why um once we knew everybody was was somewhat on board with this I put it before the uh school committee and we put on the agenda and we got full support okay but I I think it's a it's a a win situation for those people that don't know it's Mr Jennings he's our representative to Diamond voted in all right anything from the board Mr bre our big numbers guys no not really I guess this is the Jim but again you may want these gentlemen to respond so and that I guess this is not your problem but the excluded debt issue for the town of Westport and how we finances um and this is additional material that Town Administrator presented to us I guess some numbers in front of me that you may not have although numbers anyway so it's a little bit hard to explain something's going up but for us it's not it's going down it's going down I guess because the msba percentage is higher than it was before 51 before and what do you say it was uh so now the percentage is um so the local share goes from 49 to about 43% um so um so 56 51 to Sub sub yeah which brings our 7 million. 7 down to seven that's that's the just yeah so do we have to deal with that tonight or is is that a separate question the financing thereof so I think there's there's four options one well maybe five even right we could hold off a week and vote on it um you could vote to approve the increase if the increase is approved we would be responsible for the additional the additional debt um and it's possible that would not be included as excluded debt so we would have to pick up the additional 5 and a half% what 5.6 5.3% of the 11 million in our operating budget which would be I think once the project is constructed probably somewhere in the range of about 35 to maybe $40,000 a year coming out of the operation budget now there's a possibility they can file a form with the state do and the state do can approve the additional uh borrowing and it can go to the excluded debt without an additional vote um but that hasn't been uh submitted yet and we don't have approval on that yet um I I mean I'm always concerned about the operation budget right we're struggling with with every penny so if we approve it without getting it as excluded debt we will be on the hook for roughly $35,000 a year um for 30 years is that F 30 year 28 28,000 took two year okay and then on the excluded side it'll actually go down a little bit um because it'll be an overall savings but um on the on the operating budget it will go up I'm hopeful and I don't know what your your take is on the the do approval but so the the requests that I understand it from DLR was essentially the same that had been passed I think in 2022 uh which allowed projects that had gone through an over to increase the Project funding if they could meet three or four standards um we meet uh pretty much all of those standards with the exception of how DLR interprets um the scope not changing as I said we we cut the the scope pretty significantly to the tune of about $45 million uh so not changing the scope is really kind of out of the the picture at this point we we had to adjust the scope to be able to put things back in like I said we've come up with a list for the most part they're uh one for one we deleted granic curb and went to Asphalt berm we put Granite curb back in pretty straightforward uh there are other things like we deleted square footage uh where we're now um looking to offset some energy costs with maybe PV that wasn't there before because there's some good reasons to do that um so the letter from the estimator uh showing clear that the inflationary factors contributed to the over budget number is not an issue uh the other items are not an issue it's just really what DLR um would constitute as nons scope increases um so I think we just need to talk to them and make sure that they um consider that like I said we cut the budget by almost $45 million we're proposing to add in so that's pretty straightforward we're not you know increasing the scope you know just for for no reason so so when the town originally approve the 293 million borrowing were those included in the scope these items or are these for the most part yes you know the majority of them were other some things right we we may have deleted um geothermal Wells uh but we added in we're now proposing to add in solar so it's kind of a a different way of achieving a similar goal to reduce the the school's operating budget uh for energy in the end it's just it's achieving it in a different way and whether DLR would consider those things essentially in the spirit of their their rules or not is I think the open question to to finalize those forms so I guess that's my only point if it's approved outright tonight then uh we could be on the hook for $35,000 or $30,000 a year for the next 30 Years coming out of the operating budget which isn't the end of the world but um it's it's we're struggling for every penny we have right now so okay but in terms of the project we we have to participate we don't have a choice right we're not voting on that well if if the board votes not to fund the additional money um in the other towns I'm all supported you need you need an affirmative vote from the towns and the City of Fall River in order to go forward with this or you would have to go for like a referendum with all the communities which isn't really practical for need all we need all so so if one Community votes no then could pretty much shut down but isn't it true that if we were to vote no from prior discussions when we had the original Diamond discussion about excluded debt that would bring out a a vote of the entire group and we would unless others are of a similar mind the outcome would still be the same right they would it would be a vote of the voters um yeah not the the town Representatives it would be the actual voters and I think it's simple majority of all the people within the district that's correct but they'd have to hold a special election and and I think you guys are under a time constraint to a certain extent um to a certain extent have you sent the funding request to do already the modifications uh no because we were waiting on clarification on that okay that particular item and adding solar you don't expect to get any green energy credits or anything to help us out uh so down the road probably so so down the road right the solar would on the lines of why it might be a good thing to do uh the solar could potentially be um refunded back by the inflation reduction act by about 30% so that again that money would just come back out of the project basically and you know be distributed by proportion amongst the so this a shot there too so like it like it it it's been thought of in a in a pretty um careful way by the design team the construction team and the district to make sure that uh we're not adding things just to had them uh we didn't try to run up to the $22 million that that came back uh we tried to bring in things under kind of three categories uh one that reduced operation cost in energy uh two that provided educational benefit and then three uh really things that made the project just more sound uh financially going forward so just to be clear it's it's an overall savings to the town um but it's the funding source that's difficult correct all right any other input on this anything from the audience seeing none so what's the uh what do we want to do we want to take action just so you uh gentleman know to our chair isn't here this evening um so we usually like to have her involved with the uh the bigger decisions but what does the board feel I think we should take action tonight okay you make a motion to a support I'd make a motion to support this yes do we have a second second second second by Mr duer further discussion well go ahead little discussion here sure um this would be to agree to the to the increases leaving out the question is how do we handle this in terms of our own voters budget versus excluded debt however the director of accounts of the state this it could be that this there's no need for an excluded debt ballot measure if the director of accounts would approve this that's correct same so the worst I always look at the worst case the worst is that we have to absorb $37,000 per year from the operating budget yeah I think you just said it would be a little bit less than that but somewhere the range of 30 to 35,000 okay but is it not true from an economic standpoint if the overall deal for the town is favorable those there should be Monies somewhere that I wouldn't say pop up but they would be available that yeah the savings would be available to support the budget so so there'll be a savings on the overall project cost from the community because msba is contributing more y but if we don't approve the additional 11 million there'd be slightly more savings to the town because we wouldn't be funding additional work I need to think about that a little bit this is a little bit like a Rubik's Cube here I mean I I'm in I think I'm I'll support the motion because I think that as a practical matter we really don't have a lot of choice here would would that be your impression you do have some choice but you know it's a good thing the things they're putting back into the the school they mentioned in a meeting last week a couple weeks ago it's things that should go into the school so I think the project and the reasons for doing it are good I just want to point out that it's going to impact the operating budget if if the do does not approve the additional we could always go back to town meeting voters but you know even going back to town meeting voters for for that small amount is not probably something that would happen yeah okay to be honest with you I I consider maybe taking an allotment of the free cash toward this this balance something to discuss certainly 3 million coming in so all right so I had the motion in the second we didn't vote on it yet correct any other discussion anything from the audience seeing none all in favor I that's unanimous well done thank you gentlemen appreciate itent see you see Paul I'll change some of your gradate Jim your reports up there's a name on thank you Cindy get our payments down please once p is settled we'll move on to Thea report actually then we'll wait got notes Greg you're going to be on deck on the minutes when we CAU up okay got to wait for Jim first all right I can get started I think um just a couple of things and these are pretty obvious the presidential election is November 5th um last day for early voting in person is Friday November 1st there's been quite a few people coming in voting in early there's been quite a few with the mail and ballots the town clerk has done an excellent job trying to keep up um going to be busy this people don't always realized but there's been a tremendous amount of work that's been shifted to the local towns for these elections just to with the mail and ballots with the early ballots with the early voting I believe they've been short help too they've been short help and um yeah they they've been doing a very very good job Town Hall anex playground they had the grand opening um October 13th playground looks great anybody out there with kids uh should get out there and use it um I'd like to extend gratitude uh to the anonomous donor and Community preservation committee for uh the funding that they put into this project uh also Dana Stewart and the Recreation Commission as well as the board for for getting this up off the ground it's this is jamming on the weekends now it's it's it's a beautiful playground they did a nice job Jim before we move on um just because people always get confused on voting day polls are open 7 to 8 correct that I don't know I 78 it is on the website 78 yeah it is 78 because we always get last minute calls they get confused between the time that's all okay thank any other questions the town P's got a great website just go on the information is there yep okay free cash certification uh we were certified uh free cash at $3.5 million um which is I think the highest that we've had uh that I'm aware of looking back I think over 20 some years we haven't been that high I will caution the the town that I think this is the peak uh we've had some Opa funding the last couple of years um we've also pushed the Town accountant uh Treasurer the assessor the whole Finance team has really pushed to clean up some of the uh things that have been lagging if um you know reimbursements on't in in time they hit the free cash you know if chapter 90 reimbursements aren't done on time they hit the free cash same thing with grants so we really made a push this year to get those in so it wouldn't hit free cash so that's why we have a little bit more but that takes away from next year so um I just kind of want to caution people on that but Finance team did a nice job not only on the amount but getting it in early I think this is the earliest we've had free cash certified in at least the last uh 5 to 10 years very good also put in there just some allocations last year we did a five-year plan financial plan and we had some recommendations as to how to uh allocate the free cash so just something going forward we might want to look at uh putting a percentage into our stabilization accounts putting a percentage into Capital items uh putting a uh percentage into the special education fund that we set up last year as as well as carrying some free cash over into the following years again this is I think this is an exceptional year and um you know it's not something we're going to see going forward um we did get approval from uh Mass D on our uh lead service inventory for the water line we had to provide plans to the state and to the federal government um showing that we don't have any lead Services we have a fairly new system so that was relatively easy for us compared to other communities but we still had a lot of plans and um uh Linda career from the water uh water um testing testing uh Supply operator did quite a bit of work on that as well um we had an email in there from uh Vineyard wind blade uh removal and update I believe that went out with the report as well um just uh going over some of the um cleanup that they had with the blade that um was fell off the windmill earlier the summer and uh some of the other repairs that they're making testing and what not yes um um Town Hall we've had the entrances repainted uh they'll be redoing the handicap railing on this entrance that should be done in the next week or two uh we are still looking at we do some have have some additional CPC Monday we are looking at uh doing some additional painting on this building but we'd have to go out to bid for that and uh that'll take a little bit of time the highway department everybody can tell recently just finished Paving Main Road they did a beautiful job out there uh they were in here on the weekends trying to stay head of the pave is fixing the manholes raising the catch Bas structures so uh they put quite a bit of time in over the last couple of weeks to get that project done and it looks great uh that's all I have Jim can I just mention you mention in the building just we might want to get the uh slates looked out if it hasn't been a while on the roof just to make sure these winter approaches every once in a while we have one slide out and it's not cheap so we'll do that the other thing is uh they did look at the uh we're missing a couple of shingles on the roof around the elevator um they're going to see if they can match them it's it's kind of an odd shingle I then they don't know if they're going to be able to find a a match but we'll see what we can do okay that's number six on the agenda moving on to number seven approve the minutes of September 23rd I move approval I've read him and seemed fine to me move by Mr D do we have a second second second by Mr Brewer any discussion see on all in favor I unanimous uh report on the bill Warren okay you have that in your package uh this one was pretty much uh I don't want to say $4.3 million is chump change but that's the normal amount that we get 3 to four million every every the week when I do these things I do just for the benefit of you all just to put down some of the larger items you can see the debt retirement for the police station was the biggest item here at a million 7 that that's actually good um some long-term interest expenses from debt is 700,000 that's a big item but those items occur only once in a great while there's a Bristol County tax in here for 204,000 but other than that it's was all pretty routine everything was in order it was done on time and it was accurate so uh no need to we don't vote on this it's just informational but it's working well and one of these days I'm going to ask Mr dor to take my place but every time this comes up I'm here I was on vacation hoping to be away and that changed so uh anyway very good it's fun thank you all right moving on to uh number nine selectman leaon committee reports just future jings Etc Mr L you have anything um we are we have I think we've mentioned the rfps that have gone out from the affordable housing trust and um I think we are expecting um we also today um wearing another hat um the uh well I was wearing both my um um uh long-term building committee hat and my affordable housing trust hat um Mr gendra was with us we we brought a couple of folks who've done affordable housing projects and have done some building renovation Works to take a tour of the school department and just get another set of eyes on it um because there's been some folks in town that have suggested um they want to know that whether or not we uh have taken a hard enough look on the high school with regard to affordable housing we had did have a couple of studies done a while back uh but we did bring in another group of people including some folks that are residents or people that live nearby that have done similar projects in other communities and have a fair number of expertise here very good and we have and on that we also still have an RFP out for the study for the space um to do the measurements and everything else right and second to do the um the RFP for U the ReUse of the building very good Mr bro just a couple of things uh we did have an audit committee meeting at 4 o' the chair of the audit committee is sitting right there answer any difficult questions for us very good um and we were focusing on how the 20 fiscal year 2024 audit is going and it's going very well and um it usually is finished up about right at the of the year in the past we were greatly concerned if it's delayed one of which was free cash certification but that has already occurred so that that pressure point is off uh that still doesn't mean we want to drag our feet but it's coming along quite nicely and uh it's it's uh in progress and we would expect somewhere around the end of the year December early January that would be completed and that's pretty much the time frames we enjoy um did have a meeting with the Council on Aging and and the recommendation to make the appointment that we made tonight was discussed and they had as you know from um elae monrie coming before us a few meetings ago uh we talked about a strategic plan they're still going through that and what it means and the Strategic plan has a lot of what ifs so we have to make a decision of really the council has to make a decision as to what what areas they going to focus on they're going to focus on Market marketing they're going to focus on changes to the building they're going to focus on new programs so that's all part of that and at some point in time it might be good to to have her back or our other representatives of Beverly Bish and update us on on that but that's not not necessary at the present time it's all going well and I'm I actually quite impressed with what they've accomplished I do have one item as a future agenda item Jim and I already discussed this and we were discussing whether we want to even bring it up but we should because it's something the public would be aware of uh the Catholic Church St John the Baptist one of their representatives was desirous of having a crosswalk it's just a painted crosswalk it's in the vicinity of where the graes the the church is on the uh west side of the street and they have a uh religious education center right next to the friends you get the friends going going north and you've got the church property I think there's a statue in front and of course the Grange is right across the street so that's a heavy traffic area uh when the church has its uh religious instruction there's foot traffic going back and forth between the church and the U the education center but there's also I think a demand for this relating to the fact that well if you think about the book fair just the book fair alone would go you to think about a a cross CR walk because there are hundreds of people there maybe thousands and then you have the food pantry at the gra so you got three centers of activity and anyway that was put forth as a recommendation I don't know what the process would be Police Department Etc but anyway it's not for discussion tonight because it's not on the agenda but I recommend at the appropriate point in time we bring it back as a discussion among the select boards yeah I mean we could certainly have Jim put a book in the police department you had to research it they'll go by the you know the book guide for the roads and whatnot we've talked about it before and I I don't recall the reason why they didn't accept it I just got a formal request from the gra last week okay for a crosswalk okay wonder if they're collaborating it's in Highway have it right now so I'm just waiting for the recommendation meeting okay it was crosswalk from the to the Friends Meeting House right they discussed that before like 10 years ago I don't know if it was the bend or what but there was a reason they didn't want it at the time but now there is a lot like last Saturday or something it was cars everywhere so somebody fell like Rec is that what it was okay yeah there was something last week and it was pretty busy too okay uh Manny so is um I don't have much but I I just got a question on infrastructure oversight um maybe you can answer it Jimmy about the highway access permit uh water utility still working on it we've been going back and forth with mass do they they kind of gave us a a um contingent permit um going forward but they the last comments they changed the depth of the water we had it designed at 4 and 1/2 ft uh they've requested that it be a minimum of 5 1/2 ft um which is would be a pretty significant change order to the contract we've um setting up a meeting with them we're hoping to meet on Wednesday with mass do the reviewer that had that comment U we spoke with Kleinfeld engineering they have had similar projects where they've done 4 and 1/2 ft uh with mass do so um we're hoping that mass do will allow us to go to four and a half fet um it's possible we can go long go deeper but it'll be a little bit more expensive it could also impact the design of the Su um so yeah especially down yeah all right uh I had sured last week they voted to uh accept the project the 135 the high school to do uh all the rooms um to do the photography inside the school the the layout um clean water there was a clean water meeting with at um Center I forgot the exact name of the building still looking at wpp South W Tupper um they could do treatments it be a lot of money and it would only be for a specific amount of time so I'll get the I'll get everybody the link to for the briefing on that it might be out there now I haven't caught up on my email uh all right next any comments and statements from the public seeing none anything anything else to add Jim am I miss that we didn't no I I missed this uh we had two proposals for the high school proposal for the high school study okay um so I will be getting that to the select men and to the um long-term building committee um not quite sure how we're going to review it yet but I will get that to the chairs of both and uh come up with a plan sounds good Paula nothing else very good we have no executive uh meeting tonight all right anybody want to make a motion to adjourn so move move by Mr bro I have a second second okay all in favor I unanimous thank you work e