##VIDEO ID:BtTA6sdRXDE## will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all good evening and welcome to the Monday January 27 2025 meeting of the Westport Select board um under Mass General Law chapter 30A section 20f this meeting is being recorded um I just want to make note uh we're having the meeting at a special time tonight but um our next meeting will be Monday February 10 at the regular time of 6 o'clock uh it is with great sadness that we have announced um several um key losses to the town of Westport in the last few weeks um the first I want to recognize is Randy Rosa uh Randy who was 61 he passed away on January 17 he was um uh here at the in town he worked in the highway department but he also coached for the B Westport Babe Ruth and Westport girls softball leagues he was the founder in president of the Westport girls basketball league he was an avid sports fan and a communicant of Our Lady of J Grace Church so our um sympathies go out to Raposa family uh we also lost a couple of Westport Legends um we lost hoe gford on um January 18 um Ho's just could tell a story man if you ever had the chance to to listen to a story of hoes he was um uh spent many years as a professional engineer on electric boat in Groton um he designed nuclear attack and polar submarines um he was uh in his career life he was uh in small research sub submersibles um but here in Westport we know him um his involvement with the Westport Fisherman's Association he served um in a number of roles there protecting our rivers and estuaries he was also really instrumental in preserving that Horseneck Point lifes Saving Station um down there um and then he spent six years on the Westport Historical Society so our family goes out our sympathies go out to the family of hoe gford and then we also lost um Bill Webster um we didn't see that bill was an employee of the town but he was such an icon to so many people um here in town he was um uh just so loved and Bown by everyone he married people he he gave funerals for people he was really um quite an icon I knew hoe but I didn't know the other two gentlemen did anybody want to say anything about any of these guys all three were lost all three were uh at large turnout at their memorials which which was uh shown dedication and uh they all love the town all right thank you um our uh the next item on the agenda is a public hearing but that's not uh noted until 6:05 so we're going to switch to we're going to go straight to 3A so um 3A is a request to appoint Austin K kha as Highway Department administrative assistant dispatcher he is here if anybody has questions but um Jim do you want to tell us about Austin or the job or yeah we so we uh met with Austin last week um he's seems more than qualified he's got an accounting degree from UMass dmouth he's got some experience working for Family Services in Fall River he had a great interview um we look forward to him working over the highway department I think it' be a great addition great thank you anybody did you want to say anything you don't have to do you want to okay any you dispatch you got to talk once in a while move second is there any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous welcome aboard thank you start tomorrow he's ready to go when is he starting Town Administrator start tomorrow if he wants to start a date we we'll put it for the record 28th all right motion includes start date of tomorrow second to that all in favor I I right there you go welcome aboard thank you um the we have some a bunch of other appointments here so I'm going to invite uh the chief chief of police Christopher Dunn do you want to do you want me to read the you want to point you do them in your order uh it's same as last time it has to be in order based on positions okay so the first one is uh a request to um promote detective Sergeant Brian McCarthy to the rank of Lieutenant effective February 16th 2025 um we've had a lot of hires we had three laterals from forer um and we just had two student officers graduate on Friday they're in the field training phase so by us hiring people at the lower end we now can promote from above um we budgeted for two lieutenants we currently only have one so this is the request um Sergeant McCarthy has been with our police department since 1998 as a reserved police officer um became full-time in 2003 he's held various roles with our department as detective field training officer Task Force officer Sergeant now detective Sergeant which he oversees detectives and the school resource officers um he's here this evening with his wife and their son so I'm respectfully requesting the board to vote and approve um the promotion of detective Sergeant Brian McCarthy to the rank of Lieutenant effective February 16th 2025 so moved these dur it second is there any discussion anybody want to make him talk on camera or anything all right all in favor I that's unanimous congratulations [Applause] congratulations so with the promotion of now Lieutenant McCarthy effect effect of February 16th it opens up a a sergeant position we have we budgeted for six supervisors six sergeants we had a competitive testing process a while ago um the next person on the list to be promoted is field training officer Nicholas fashi to the rank of Sergeant um he started in our department as an intern he left and joined the United States Air Force where he's a veteran of operation enduring Freedom upon coming back he joined our ranks as officer and then field training officer which is an extremely important role with our agency they train the new officers um he's currently a uh SWAT operator with our regional SWAT team uh he's a resident of Westport is married and he's here this evening with his three children so I'm respectfully requesting the promotion of field training Nicholas fashi to the rank of Sergeant effective February 16th 2025 so second second is there any discussion all in favor hi that's unanimous congratulations [Applause] we we don't have young people in this room very often it's nice to see you it's great to see it uh lastly it's nice to see um police officers who have a lot of experience wanting to join our ranks as a reserve police officer to help us out not only with details but um with Beach Patrol during the summer so um Paul ree has came forward and and is uh submitted a package or an application to be uh appointed as a reserve police officer on town he has extensive experience he started with the state police in 1999 retired as the rank of Sergeant he is also um retired from the United States Army National Guard where he's a military police officer um he is a veteran of both operating enduring Freedom an operation Iraqi freedom and he has numerous accommodations and citations for his service to our country so I'm respectfully requesting um the appointment of Paul ree to that of Reserve police officer for our community almost second any discussion oh effective February 16th 2025 thank you any discussion all in favor I I I that's unanimous congratulations is there anything you want to share with the community while we have you sitting here uh just we're really excited the fact that our two recent hires um for off of Silver and a silver joining our ranks they have a 12we field training period so we're hopefully that they're going to be on their own by the end of April which means um we're budgeted for 31 and by the end of April we should be at 30 and it is our goal um hopefully by the end of the last quarter of this fiscal year to get up to 31 police officers so that is our goal and we also entered the uh certification process with the Massachusetts police accreditation commission which is um going to be a long T very hard task but we're up for it and this is something that's um important for us because under the post or police officer standards and training they now require requiring agencies to at least be certified so we're starting that process we just entered it um two weeks ago that's awesome thank you was good um you're welcome to stay for the whole meeting but since you probably won't don't congregate in the hallway and talk please go down downstairs you keep the order Chief yes thank you thank you thank you have a nice night you too good turn thanks one participant got one one person one audience M yeah he's a neighbor so go easy on him I don't know I don't know what he's here for um so now we're on 4A uh we have a request to approve the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission seasonal increase estimation form in the 2024 annual liquor license report um do you want to tell us about this Jim let Paulo explain this it's it's a yearly report it's just a it's just a yearly reports of how many licenses we had last year and then the seasonal report so um just for the record the um population that is being estimated um for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission is 17,800 um that's the number is there any discussion or questions no it's a little higher than normal because they request that we put some additional for a seasonal residents as well yeah because we don't have that many we do not yeah around now we had about I think additional and then um on the liquor license report um it just kind of lists all the the liquor the number of liquor licenses that we have um in town so what's the pleasure of the board I'll move second as we have Motion in a second to approve the seasonal increase estimation and the liquor license report is there any further discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous want water H you want water no I'm good um for B we have a request from Chris Gonzales the highway surveyor to approve the change order for pcket hot mix asphalt for $99,950 Jim this is fairly typical pcket hot mix had the contract this past year uh they did do some additional work and um they still do it at the original bid price item so it actually works out well for the town and the highway department has requested a change order for $99,950 I'd recommend approval any questions I'll move second any questions or discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous um e we have a request for the preliminary approval of the E speech trailer permits pending Board of Health and conservation approvals so this is just a streamline so as they a completed documentation comes into Paula's office she can get it out the door to people so this would be request um basically to pre-approve them pending the Board of Health and conservation second is there any discussion all in favor I I I that's unanimous um and we have the capital Improvement planning committee capital expenditure requests you want to is it you or dick going to start us off here well I'll start it off uh we finished our work a little earlier this year um but went through the usual process of after Jim sends out a letter to our departments to get uh their recommendations for Capital needs for basically the next 5 years uh we then go through the process of interviewing Department departments and many of them come in some do not it depends on the nature of the request and it went smoothly we moved along a pace as they would say um we ended up with uh the report will show I think a million s of uh Capital needs I think there are nine or 10 items on it that report will be uh sent around if it hasn't been already to the chair and to Karen Rouse who is the head of the finance committee which is uh in our bylaws to have that done by by early February so it was a good process fortunately we had a good year for free cash that that was nice and maybe it was a little bit less stressful but uh we certainly have extensive Capital needs as is described in the capital 5year plan which by the way Jim also updated as a result of our work so we're all set and we sent it through and now it'll go through the next stage of the process which is ultimately riew by the finance committee and ourselves thank you Jim you want to add anything um well yeah I guess you touched on the majority of it I think we're fortunate enough like you mentioned we had some additional free cash this year that we able to utilize we also had some additional funds in the Assessor's overlay account which we were able to put towards um a fire engine which is a significant expense $950,000 so between the free cash um the assesses overlay account and some per ual care funding we're able to fund um she's almost what $2.5 Million worth of work roughly um 2.3 so it's been a good year for capital projects can you talk a little bit about the Assessor's overlay account and why we would be using that for the fire engine so each year when the assessors it's a little bit more complicated than I know but I will try to give it a a run when they do the tax Factor they have to match it to a certain rate So based on New Growth there's some additional Revenue in there and they put that into the overlay account the overlay account is used for um to pick up any additional rebates or any rebates that come in for that year which is usually in the range of 250 to $350,000 you also have to cover liability so if somebody has some cases with the with the uh AIT board there's a different name for that with the state um you need to be able to make sure you have sufficient funds in that account to cover those liabilities um you know 3 4 years ago we're actually in the negatives now we're up about $1.4 million so we have more than enough funds in that account to cover the liabilities so what normally happens is the assesses vote to transfer that out and it could be appropriated a town meeting for use and it's mainly because the new growth that we've had over the last few years was more than we had budgeted for so I have a question on the capital plan but before I go to anybody you have anything they want to talk about on this Capital request list so on the um 5year Capital plan on um we don't have I don't have a page number I guess it's the second page there's an overview of capital items and um you talks we have the 2.4 million recommended for the FY 26 um but then you if you look at the projected amounts like FY 27 projected is 20 million and 1 million and I just can I don't know dick do you want to talk about that yes uh Madam chair well the the reality is we have significant Capital needs that go far beyond our resources so when we're doing the cipc uh process that's really sort of a triage to put it mildly um in the plan it does talk about numerous sources uh of funds and without that we uh we would really be uh hurting for Capital expenses and Capital Improvements um it talks about grants being very important in the process uh but it it looks at first like a like a grim situation when you read it yeah it does uh but then you start to think about well a lot of times we get additional funds that are available example here is the Perpetual care fund for the cemetery so we're expanding the cemetery and we have a truck Cemetery truck uh that we need but we do have some funds there as you can see uh 200,000 coming from the Perpetual care fund um we know that like in the case of the Council on Aging they have significant grant money and some of that is used for Capital expenses as well uh and so on and so forth and I I think Beverly talked about uh that we can get vehicles at at times to help us here and and save a lot of money there so it's uh kind of kind of a big borrow and steel but we this is what we do to keep the uh the Capital Improvements coming uh next year what we will do is look at the ones that didn't make the cut so to speak and they they're also listed on the the account that Jim sends to the finance committee and those we give priority to next year so that departments would have to wait another year uh have some hope that they will be considered right off the bat and but it is a daunting task it's uh it's it's hard to make these decisions and we have a lot of debate um some controversy from time to time but we all work pretty well together I I do applaud the department heads the way they lay it out they understand the realities of this they work with us they put forth a ranking so that we could be guided by that um and that helps a great deal so it's a certainly a collaborative effort but it's something that we just keep working on and looking for sources and hoping that we have enough free cash to give us a robust amount of uh money for projects that'll vary every year as you have seen in the past so that's pretty much the report but it is something we we have and we make those decisions as best we can and we hope we're doing it uh in the best way possible thank you anybody else have anything on the capital plan the 5e fund anything else okay anything else on the capital Improvement so what are we what are we what are we asking for tonight here you want us to improve so I was just recommending approval to the finance committee um is this included in your budget that you're going to review in a minut it is that which should be well no this isn't no this would be separate okay but but your plans for free cash feary this would still work within your plans for the proposed yes it does okay all right so you want to approve this Capital Improvement list for the warrant right or to go to the to the budget and to the to the finance committee okay I'll move it second is there any other discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous uh it's not yet 605 so we'll go on to the um budget discussion our favorite so fairly limited budget discussion tonight I just kind of wanted to update the board um let you know where we are final recommendations will be next meeting February 10th uh Governor Healey did release her budget last week um we're hoping for better numbers I um I tried budgeting conservatively in our preliminary budgets but um State numbers came in a little bit lower than even my conservative numbers so um Chapter 70 uh numbers which is part of the uh State allocation for all communities um was somewhat disappointing that was a 2% increase over last year it almost gets us back down and I'll show you in a minute to where we were in previous years when we were just getting minimum we were considered a minimum Aid Community um so this is the Chapter 70 from what we've got from 2014 up to 2026 um from 14 to 23 you can see we're getting roughly anywhere from 40 up to $90,000 and that was because we were considered a minimum Aid community so we didn't really qualify for the formula that they use um so we would get minimum Aid either $30 per student or $60 per student um in 2024 we fell out of based on the formula we fell out of that category so we got a big bump we went up over a half million dollar increase in Chapter 70 in that one year which was um which was big and it kind of put us in line with other communities that are not considered minimum a um last year it went down a bit we had an increase of 346,000 which was still better than we've seen the past 10 years um but less than 24 and then in two this year right now we're at 116 which looks like we're back to a minimum Aid community Community which is um which is difficult right um it's not something you know if I Chapter 70 goes up 2% a year and we have uh salary increases of 2 and a half 3 and a half% a year plus general expenses inflation it's just there's no way that's going to account for those expenses yes um on the other side we get we have assessments by the state for charter schools and school choice those are the two big ones um those numbers were actually more favorable to the town than um I had budgeted I like I said I had budgeted conservatively so I was hoping they'd be more favorable but um there's still a decrease in the school choice which about 16% which is an assessment so that's a good thing um the child of school went up by 9% but we had actually budgeted in preliminary more than that so overall between the um assessments and the awards from the state or the the uh the revenue coming from the state there was an increase of roughly about 300,000 from the preliminary budget which is which is good again I was hoping for more than that but it's still could have always gone the other way um so that 300,000 will be split between the revenue for the schools in the town as we present the final Budget on February 10th and then the cipc um we've went over that recently just went over that so that's really all I have for budgets the other numbers that I'm waiting for right now that might impact the overall budget is we're still waiting for the diamond assessment Bristol AGI assessment Bristol AGI is relatively small but Diamond could be um that could have an impact on the budget um and then we're still waiting for health insurance and uh property and liability insurance again in the preliminary budget we tried to be conservative so I'm hoping those numbers will come in a little better but doesn't always happens okay and this is them uh lined up with the cherry sheet that we just got yep so this is the govern's proposal to go to the house senate and I think there's a joint committee so um yeah you know it'll get kicked around chap 70 Mr I know but there there is going to be some Chapter 70 but the good part is just so you know too there's going to be some extra funding for Rural roadways so we're going to work on those grants plus you know the budget going to keep chipping out but there she's closing whole facilities like me mental um hospitals and whatnot so there's going to be a lot of headbanging um we're making out better than some some other communities but we're still going to try to chip away at it and we do find that some of the State numbers change as they go through the process but normally the Chapter 70 school choice and Charter stay pretty close um from the governor's budget to the end um most of that's formula base so it doesn't doesn't change a lot um we've been fortunate in some of the the other categories with the pilot programs payment in L with taxes for state owned land we've seen a boost in that over the last few years which benefits Westport um more than most communities so if our Representatives can put a little extra money in that that helps out I was surprised because that got cut a few years ago and it's back up to like a respectable amount now put a bug in the air I have two communities now I a free toown farest now too all right anybody have any questions for Jim on the budget go ahead uh Madam chair I'd be interested in more on the schools uh we don't have the budget here right it's not in the package no it's not in the package we had I think a handout at an earlier meeting but what does that look like so last year they had $652,000 that was put into their budget from free cash so before we can even get started we need to find a way to make up that deficit um my goal was to get them make up that 652 th000 and then increase their budget by additional 700,000 um even that's going to be difficult and I don't think that can be done unless we put some free cash in um in addition to that 700,000 they're looking for another 600,000 I believe um so there's going to have to be some tough decisions made over the next month do you know if I may the uh percentage of increase over last year that's in our prelimary budget budget that's going to the finance committee so the the preliminary budget I was waiting for these numbers I haven't finished that up going into um that'll be out February 10th our next meeting what the increase was I I want to say it's up to get up that 700 I want to say it's about 5% or more um we did a when we looked at analys when we analyzed things last year over the past 10 15 years going forward we came up with a number of about 3.5 % that our new Revenue could sustain so any budget that increases over 3.5% you know give or take a you 10 to 2% is is going to be difficult to achieve so you know 5% is just not sustainable yeah no it's not you know I think we may be able to get close to 4% with the revenue that we have coming in this year but we we won't be able to support 5% especially going forward the other question I have Madam chair was on the opep how much did we re recommend right now I have 175,000 in there but I think that's going to have to get decreased as we go mhm we go forward okay those are my questions the um chair of the finance committee is uh trying to schedule a joint meeting with the select board fincom and school committee so um we basically told them to schedule a date and we'll be there um but yeah there's a pretty significant gap between the current school department request and then what we were kind of planning for and um I just wanted to check so is our final budget due is due we're going to because we were supposed to I thought we got a little a couple of days extension on it but I was thinking it was the 24th that we needed to give it to them so yeah but maybe I it must be that the 10th is when it was due and we asked them to make it to the 11th so the 10th is when I was going to recommend the budget to the select board and then you would have another meeting oh right have finalize it that that next meeting the end of February I think they extended 3 days for for oh right okay so so we would want to we would vote on it on the 10th i' submit it to you on the 10th you submit it to us on the 10th we were supposed to get to fincom by the 20th but they allowed us to wait until after our meeting on the 2 exactly okay so so you'll get the final recommended budget to us on the 10th and we will vote on it on the 24th and send it right over to any questions about any of that okay it's almost but not quite 605 so let's um let's do the minutes skip the skip the Town Administrator report for a moment and go to minutes I move approval read them they Paul did I miss that one did I miss J I believe you you were out on that so I'll second is there any discussion all in favor I that's that's um four in favor one obain do du to absence the report on the bill warrant uh it's in the package it was $2 million pretty much right on the nose everything was in order I had a couple of questions for the uh Town accountants but they were routine and everything looks good so that's uh that's all set okay thank you I was hoping that that would take three more minutes well I could had proba go over every line item I mean I don't think we're going to be mobbed at this whole hearing but we're not supposed to start till 605 all right so Jim you want to talk about your report we have three minutes no you take however long you mean so uh drift Road Kirby Brook covit replacement this is the project um just north of Charlotte White Road on drift Road we' had been awarded a grant from asass do for them to design it under their small Bridget covit replacement program um they have been Power Engineering was hired by the state to do the design we've been having a number of meetings with uh some of the neighborhoods U I'm sorry with the neighborhood Representatives um they're concerned with the overall size of the project and Aesthetics of the project and um you know we they pushed back pretty hard with power and the state to see if they could make some changes but uh Mass do is pretty pretty stringent on their requirements and um they haven't made a lot of the changes and they're not willing to make a lot of the changes so at some point in in the near future uh we're probably have to bring it back before the board and the board's going to have to look and see if we want to move forward with the design or um stop you know we don't have any other alternative funding sources um and we don't have funding sources earmarked for the construction at this point either I I will say that normally when Mass Highway puts money into a project for design um they usually try to find money to construct it after it can take a few years but um they don't like to design things unless they can construct them um if we try to do it on our own we don't really have any resources or funding to do it but again it's it you know it changes a a small I want to say small C it's good size covet but it's it looks like a small um Crossing into a major structure with God rails you know typical God rails like you would see on the Fontaine Bridge um you know abutments on either end and God rails that'll extend so it it'll definitely change the appearance um the neighbors have really pushed it and we've pushed back too um the neighbors notified serid Regional planning agency and asked them to kind of take a look at this program overall and see if the state would consider um reducing or or modifying some of their standards for Rural type roads because um some of these things don't necessarily fit appearance-wise and Aesthetics wise in these things but again Mass highway is pretty structured and I haven't seen them make a lot of exceptions or changes over the years on their projects but but um again this will be back before the board you know an upcoming meeting hopefully by the end of February um couple of other things Community planning Grant um planning department Mike Bars and planning planning board had applied for and received a grant for $91,000 $91,500 these funds will be used by the planning board to develop a neighborhood plan for the route 6 coridor including drafting new 40 40 Y starter home multif family and Commercial zoning districts I'm not 100% sure what the 40 y represents but I know they've come out with some uh new regulations uh recently that allow or give incentive for these type of programs um fire department just to received the $199,000 grant as well um this will allow Department to purchase necessary equipment including safety gear and other vital tools to enhance their operations and protect their firefighters um and I just wanted to note um our Senator Senator Mike Rodricks was awarded the legisl of the year um this this past week at the MMA conference at their annual meeting um they noted that Senator rodri's crafted the fiscal 2025 state budget uh with important investments in cities and towns including unrestricted General government aid direct supplemental funding for local roads and bridges and minimum Chapter 70 increases so that's a good thing thank you now 606 so we will uh have a we have a public hearing a petition for Verizon New England Inc and NSTAR Electric Company doing business as eversource to place one jointly owned pole p68 s in front of 446 Old County Road welcome hi want be here or here it's wherever you're more comfortable i' probably rather put my hand down I turn on the green on that one thank okay can you please introduce yourself yes Don voner with Verizon hello um here to talk about Old County Road think yep you got it all um I just came from the site myself took measurements um they're they're accurate um the purpose of the poll is to support the pole on the south side of the road 68 um you can't really see it in this drawing but there's another poll that goes east um and it's in the front right front right yard of 446 old County and it's it's supporting the current house that's there now um and I believe this this was requested by um eversource so I'm giving you my my thoughts on why I think it's being asked for I believe that pole that's off to the east is pulling the pole 68 a little bit out of whack so what they're doing is they want to put pole 68s across the street much closer to support the existing Pole Line because as you can see it goes around a curve and you want it to be supported accurately um that's really the gist of it uh oh uh I did notice one other thing it's being put right behind a speed limit sign um so it's behind the sign so it it won't be obstructing The View it's probably about uh if I had to guess it's about 3 feet behind it so and it shouldn't there's some trees in the area but there shouldn't be any need for tree trimming um because the pole would be above most of those trees there I believe Spruce or pine um so it doesn't look like it's going to affect much there and the steak is in place okay thank you um the audience can't see but there's nobody here in the public to have a hearing for uh did anybody on the board have any questions or comments maybe just briefly describe what you got to have for a guy wire or whatever single pole and then what just the line going across the road will there be guy wires on the side in other words there won't be any um pedestrian interference well there with no it's actually on the other side of the sidewalk area as well um if there is a guywire I didn't see a St for it um I believe the language of this would allow for one if there if it's needed and I imagine right now it says it's a stub pole but in my opinion I think that old pole that's off to the east is going to go someday and I think this stub pole should probably turn into a support pole for that house because it right now that pole is old it's it's in need of refurbishing is that a driveway there that it's next to I mean you were just out there is that it is uh it's probably um say give you a better estimate I took a couple pictures you a lasa point now that you Graphics I just it looked like it might be a driveway it looks like it's out of the way of the driveway it is just pass it uh yeah it's it's about 12 to 15 ft off the driveway yeah if I had to guess okay well nobody say to speak on so I'll move it second is there any further discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous thank you thank you thank you all have a good night Graphics Paul or if you did it whoever did it very nice supporting documentation thank you that picture wasn't even in the in the packet I didn't notice it the the diagram um all right so keep me honest here but I think we've covered everything up to nine which is the liaison committee reports and suggestions for future uh agenda items so we'll start with Craig uh I'll report on the two committees I'm lay on on um the uh it affordable housing trust uh we have um we have met since we did our field visit we're still doing some vetting of a proposal um for land purchase that we had budgeted for over the past several years um so we're we're we're we're still in the process of evaluating um the site and the feasibility with respect to what we hope to do um the um opioid um settlement uh committee uh had their second meeting last week and and we're putting together a plan for well a we're doing Gathering data from existing providers uh for example we talked to a major uh treatment provider one of the know how many clients from Westport were in their in their agency um there will be some focus groups coming up to uh talk about needs ultimately what we'll be doing is developing a grants program probably by the middle of the year um uh for uh grants for um not so much treatment but harm prevention and harm reduction and um which I think is as you recall we didn't really have a plan for opioid um funding use and we sort of uh backed into some allocations at town meeting last year and I think that stimulated um a few folks to decide we needed to have a committee and actually were required to have a committee so we are doing that and um so uh I'll keep reporting on it but you people will be asking questions when they start seeing the rfps come up and then I think um is there a long-term building committee meeting plan soon I probably but there again you've got several you've got the Consultants that had been hired to do uh the the plans for the existing building that we we put into the RFP that includes this building uh the old high school uh the um uh Annex as well as the council and aging Center so uh they're doing that work and there's a little bit of a buzz about that so I I you know folks are I think they're getting a little bit ahead of the process because we still haven't even seen um what what the Consultants will be coming up with thank you dick uh not a lot because this is the time of year and some of the things that I go to don't meet but they'll be roaring back shortly uh I did attend the Council on Aging meeting uh nothing new there and of course uh the chair Eileen monrie came in recently to talk to us about their long-term plan asserta hasn't had a meeting since before Christmas so that the next meeting is in February and I don't know if there's any uh if there are any hot items I think it's probably going to be routine The Landing commission where I also serve as leaz on for the select board hasn't met and we'll be meeting again soon to get back at it um I do want to mention that we don't have an audit committee meeting coming up yet but uh the town Auditors are almost finished with their work and um that should documents should be available to us shortly then we will schedule a meeting after that of course we have Mr roselli uh either come in in person or by the zoom or what do you call it teams but anyway so those are my reports and we heard it from the cipc so that that about does it thank you um I attended a meeting of the offshore wind committee there was a very informative presentation um that constant Kei gave um with overview of the projects and uh like the landing site where they would go if they were Landing there that kind of thing um there's a lot of UN uncertainty now with the economics of the pro of the um developments out there with the new Administration but we'll see what's happening on February 20 Vineyard wind is going to come in and talk about um their project um the chair is Jake MCG and we thought we the room was packed at the last offshore wind there was like standing room only so um we might try to library the library okay good so we'll have it at the library thank you um and that's all from good job all right you know most of mine are dwindling down um I mentioned to the chair on the side economic development I'd like to hold on to till I find out what committees I'm put on in Boston that won't be another month we don't even have an office or committees or or any of that good stuff for another month so I'm waiting to find out what uh what happens with that as far as economic development Manny's got the infrastructure rocking and rolling um otherwise and I think I'm still on bike too so what I'll do is I'll Peter out of that did you make a list yet Paula for the ones where I'm a selectman's find out uh can we just decipher what I'm on with that uh as we wind down here I think that's just B I still like to see the bike thing keep going forward there's still so much in the North and the West for that that we got to get together um and see what happens thank you so I I did get to uh attend my first serpent meeting now that I am the r was very informative um Jim Jim Whit was also in it and we had we had Danny from for River as they're rep in for River so it's working it's going to work very well with with our with our route 6 project I believe um and uh as far as the waterline goes we have the meeting tomorrow at the mumber which ought to be good and um I was also I was out there when they were doing the test borings next to um the bread and cheese Brook cul so they had opened up the the existing the existing Aqueduct Aqueduct that's a 42in RCP pipe that runs from Dartmouth to FL River and I guess their Hope was to sleeve under the bre cheese Brook because they believed there was ledge there and they wouldn't be able to push the pipe so but when they did the soil barns they found that there's 20 ft of sand underneath it so it'll be a very easy job to push it underneath underneath there and one of the things that we need to remember is the hold up on on Route six is because a design engineer just like this bridge kovit didn't design to mass Highway standards and there and there you know there's water separations from sewer and they want hydrants out of the middle of the road and all of that type of stuff so we'll be working on all that good stuff moving forward hopefully I'll have another update by the next meeting thank you um we don't have anyone from the public are there any statements um just reminder we do have lots of boards and committee vacancies um if you're interested in participating let us know we'll find a place for you um do I don't think we have any topics under 48 Hours yeah no all right um anything else before we adjourn motion second all in favor I that's your Nam thank you