Evening. Welcome to the Monday, May, April 28, 2025 meeting of the Westport Select Board under Mass General Law Chapter 3A section 20F. This meeting is being recorded. Um just a couple of announcements. Our um just want to remind people the town meeting is next
week. So, Tuesday, May 6 at 700 p.m. um at the New High School. Um so, come make your vote be heard at town meeting. Um we have um a couple of acknowledgements here. So I'm going to start with Manny asked to recognize John
Andrews. Okay. So So John Andrews is um a veteran that turned 100 February 13th. Um he was actually born in a in a house 92 Union
A 100 years ago. Um, I know him as Uncle Johnny and he's the my grandmother's last sibling that all grew up at that location. Um, but Uncle Johnny was on I guess it was called the Artemis class
attack cargo ship in service from 1945 to 46. She was scrapped in 1966. So another key point they call the AKA43 and his wife who passed away
um before him I got a date here um I think it was 10 years ago but one of the things that they did is they traveled the country and um she took the minutes for 13 reunions throughout the country and
um I'm looking forward to um holding a uh a fundraiser at the Holy Ghost Club soon as I can find some dates for the veterans. And um I don't know if Uncle Johnny's going to be able to come down because he's been spent most of his life in in Connecticut and right now
it's you know he's 100. So if he can if not we're looking to have a fundraiser for all the to support all the veterans from Westport. All right. Thank you. Happy birthday John Andrews. Um, now we want to recognize uh
Paul. Paul, you wanna you want to come forward? Oh, heavens. What a surprise, right? So, we're a little late in acknowledging Paul. Um, but we wanted to we didn't want you to go out into the sunset of your public
service career without acknowledging you. So, um, I'm going to read the the plaque that we have. Be it known that the Westport Select Board hereby expresses its appreciation to Paul A. Schmid III, it is with great pleasure and a sense of pride that the Westport Select Board presents you with
this official citation in appreciation of your many years of outstanding service to the town and its residents. in recognition of your term of office as the town's state representative from two 2010 to 2024 and for your cooperation and unselfish donation of your time and
energy to issues near and dear to the residents of the town. On behalf of the citizens of the town of Westport, the select board is proud to extend its sincere appreciation to Paul and wish him all the best in the future and many happy and healthy years of enjoyment in
his retirement. Goodness gracious. Thank you very much. Can somebody take a picture? Thank you. Thank you very much. So, uh, normally it's me who gives the citations, but uh, I'm scooch around so
I can get this one is very meaningful. This is your first picture with the new desk, so we don't have it all arranged. Awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you, Shauna. Thank you. Yeah. Can I just say that it has been a privilege uh to serve Westport
uh for these past 14 years as a state representative. Uh I've been very lucky to have been able to partner with Michael Rogers. Uh and we've tried to do our
best. Before that, I sat here uh with you as a selectman. That was uh myself, Craig Dutra, Steve Wlette, who's gone on to be serve as state representative,
Gary Mock, and uh the late Richard Sprulette. We really miss him. Gary passed away also. Didn't Did Gary pass? Yes. Now, I I apologize for uh overlooking that. I I did not know that.
Uh it was that was a that was a great board. And before that, like many people, I served on the FINNCOM. And I I just pulled out the report from
2005 that we gave uh as a fincom and it was signed by uh myself as chair by Chuck Goldberg as vice chair, Lisa Arnold, Jack
Bourne, the late Jack Bourne, Bob McCarthy, Rocket Greatly missed Warren Messier. We wish him the best John Miller. Remember John? Yeah.
He was a worldrenowned scientist. And whenever somebody in town meeting would say to the Fincom, "Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this stuff." And we would say yes, but we do have a rocket scientist, Pat
Saminsky, and uh Max Turner. And going way back uh after I helped Claude Leoo get elected to selectman in 1972, he put me on a master plan
committee. You can look it up. And that's just to so those are just some of the names that I had the honor of serving with along with many men and women in
blue and our first responders. We appreciate what they do. And I just mention all those names just to point out that I think here in Westport we're very lucky to have an extraordinary tradition of public
servants and it's been an honor to be one of them and I thank all who will continue that service in the future. Thank you. Thank you. you don't mind? I'd like to get back to
work. You go go with the cows. Great. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. Um, so the next item on our agenda, we have a request from the Westport Holy Ghost Club for one-day all alcohol beverage licenses for Saturday, May 10,
uh, for a clam boil from 4:00 to 9:00. Saturday, May 17, a concert from 3:00 to 9:00. So we have received a favorable police report and this is a location where we give a lot of these to. So is there any questions from the board? Move approval. Second. So we have a motion
and a second to approve. Is there any discussion? All in favor? I. That's unanimous. Um we have a request from the uh Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District Serpent to appoint James Hartnett as the representative and Michael Burus as the
alternate to the joint transportation planning group JTPG. You willing to serve in that capacity? Sure. Okay. What's the pleasure of the board? Madam Chair, I'd like to move that appointment. Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor? I I That's
unanimous. We have a request from the cemetery department to appoint Eric Kaufman with a start date of 429 and Antonio Carrera Koreah start date of 512 as part-time seasonal laborers. Do you want to tell us about this one, Jim? Yeah, I did meet with Michael Bruard who
interviewed both um both candidates their applications are part of the packet. Um both have experience working in the cemetery or landscaping seasonal employment. We usually do this well we do this yearly. Uh grass is going to start coming up soon. So, we're looking to get them on as quick as we can. I'd
recommend approval. Thank you. Was pleasure. Motion to approve. Second. We have any discussion? All in favor? I I That's unanimous. And now all these people are here for the police department. So, welcome Chief Police
Chief Christopher Dunn. Hope someone's out there on the streets. Yes, they are. They're at an accident right now. It doesn't. Yes, believe everybody's enjoying the weather today. I was here last time talking about um filling of open vacancies and how we had officer Tristan Costa from For Police
Department transferred over. Uh we're continuing that process tonight. We have two excellent candidates to be in front of the board. Um they had numerous um evaluations. We're very excited to have them hopefully join our department. Um they've already done a background check.
We've done the psychological. We've done the physical examination. And the last thing is a contingent offer employment from the from the board tonight. Um so there's a police academy coming in August in Randolph. This is the next one up um which is going to be highly competitive with the likes of Brockton,
Brainree, Weimoth, um Fall River, New Bedford. So it's very um key if there's a vote here this evening, we can get a contingent offer employment so we could f finish all the requisites. So tonight um I'd like to present to the board Zachary Bebery. Um, he holds a bachelor's degree from Johnson Wheels University in
criminal justice. He's employed as interior install at Lazaro General Contracting. He resides in Westport with his fiance. So, this is Mr. Barby and also Mr. Joseph Yearan. Um, he holds a bachelor's degree from Bridgewater State in criminal justice and is employed as a security officer at McLean Hospital.
He's married and he lives in New Bedford and we did talk to him about um the within residing within 15 miles. So, he's aware of that. So, I'm just respectingly requesting the board to vote uh contingent offer employment for Mr. Zachary Barabby and Mr. Joseph Yearn this evening. Jim, do you have a
recommendation? Recommend approval. I move approval. Second. Is there any discussion? Did you guys want to say anything? You don't have to. No. Okay. All right. It's okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I. That's
unanimous. Welcome aboard. Good luck with the training. [Applause] And we have some more. We do. Uh this is exciting for us for our department. Um we were in front of the board almost a year to date last year asking for a
contingent general for employment for Andrew Silva and Justin Dilva. And I'm here in front of the board this evening um requesting uh their appointment for full-time police officers. They completed a 20we full-time police academy. They went through 12 weeks of inservice train uh field training. uh
they're prepared to serve our community. Uh you know, it's it's not only we should recognize both officers here this evening, but also their families. It's very important to see the support here, their family with their families here this evening. They were here last year at this time. They were here at their graduation and they're here again this
evening. So, I think um a round of applause goes to their family here for the continued support not only for Officer Silver and Jet Silver, but also for their families. So, with that being said, I'm respectfully requesting um the board to vote uh Officer Andrew Silva and Officer Justin Silver Silva to the rank of a
full-time police officer for our Westport Police Department. Thank you. I I'll make that motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Are they here? They are. Oh, please. Welcome, gentlemen. All right. Um all in favor? I I That's unanimous. Welcome
aboard. So, so Chief, I don't think you had anything else on the agenda, but is there anything else you wanted to share with the community about what's going on with the police department? Yes. So, we've still attended events. We had veteran police officers, military veterans, had coffee with our veterans recently. We'll have officers uh at the
stroke buddy and friends event this weekend at the Westport Senior High School, which identif helps with stroke awareness. Um, and we're gearing up for the summer. Summer's right around the corner. Memorial Day parade will here before you know it. and then we kick off with our summer. All right. Thank you.
So, you're all welcome to stay, but I'm guessing that you're probably going to walk out. I'm just asking that you don't talk in the hallway. Go downstairs. Okay. Great. But you can stay, too. All right. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Have a good night.
Thank you. Good luck. They actually filed out quite quietly. It's um So, we're on 4 A. We have a request to authorize the town administrator to accept and sign the contract for the municipal aggregation program. You want to tell us what this is? Sure. This is
um program. It's been offered I want to say at least four or five years now. Um residents are automatically signed up for this for this program. They can opt out if they choose. Um but the rates are and they have been um much lower going through this program electrical rates uh
than if they um acquired or or went through Eversource themselves directly. So, it's a good program for the residents. It saved the town residents um significant amount of money over the years. Um it does go out to bid every couple of years and we're at that point where they're going to go out to bid
again. Uh there's 25 communities that make up this purchasing program. So, it gives us some uh purchasing power with just the number of communities that are involved. Uh there'll be a pre- bids pre-bid meeting on May 5th and a bid opening will be on May 7th.
um they have to sign the contract immediately that day um just to lock in the rates. So they need all 25 communities to agree and sign um so I'm asking the board to authorize me to sign in in your place so you don't have to u
attend the meeting and have a special meeting. Um so our packets had three different contracts, right? So those are the three biders. Yeah. Yeah. So, they have Direct Energy, Constellation, and Dergy that have all put in bids for this process. Um, and I my understanding is they've all been vetted beforehand, and
these are the three companies that they've requested to um put bids in for this for this updated program. There any questions? No. All right. What's the desire of the board? Madam Chair, I'd recommend we approve
second. So, we have a motion, a second to authorize the town administrator to accept and sign the contract for the municipal aggregation program once the bids are open. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? I I That's um we have a request from Caitlyn
Fay. Um the July 4th of July parade committee hold the annual parade. Might need to hit the button on that one. Go. Welcome. You want to introduce yourselves? I'm Caitlyn Fay. I'm Becky Anderson Barcels. And what brings you
here today? We're asking to close the road for the Fourth of July Day parade. Um, same route as all the other years. Nothing's changed. Um, nine close at 9ine and we should be
done at the high school around 12 like we usually do. the police officers show up about 8 to help us with just traffic control and then we are done pretty much around 11:30 quarter 12 we're hoping you guys will join us we do had a great turnout last year um even long we were
still done in that timeline great um Jim do you have a recommendation I it's consistent what they've done in previous years it's a great event I'd recommend approval so so moved second is there any discussion all in favor Hi. Hi. Hi. That's unanimous. At the same time,
we're also asking for your help from the board for the police offices detail pay. Um, you guys have graciously done that in the past. So, we're hoping the board could help us do that as well. I think we should do whatever we've been doing. Okay. Do Yeah. Anybody have any problem with
that? Whatever we've been doing. Thank you for putting it on. I think that's a really great event for Westport. A lot of people think the town puts it on, but it isn't the town. It's you all that do. Yeah. a lot of private funding from that one help. If people want to learn more or if people want to make a donation, where should they go? Um, I will go home
tonight and post it on Facebook. Um, but right now you can mail checks to the Westport Fourth of July Parade Committee to 296 Indiana Town Road in Westport. Any and all donations are welcome. A dollar, $5, whatever you want to give, it helps us pay our expenses for the
parade. Um, and we hope for a great turnout, a sunny day. Today would have been a perfect day for They would have been perfect. Order that. Yes. What about floats? Um floats, same as usual. So, the parade any and all. No pre-signup. We don't
have to write. Okay. Yep. No pre-ign. Just show up that morning. Um we'll sign you up when you get there. We've got volunteers with clipboards. Um yeah, we're up and down the street all morning. And you have to ride after after h after Charlotte Wright Road.
Everybody has to ride. Um, so if you're going to walk, you can walk until Charlotte White Road, but then you need to arrange some type of transportation from Charlotte to the high school. Okay. All right. Thank you. So, we'll see you guys on the fourth. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, so the next item on the agenda was whether we wanted to make any warrant recommendations. So, I'm just going to leave it to the So, what you have this is the final version, right, that we have in front of us? The final version. Yes. So, we have the final version of the warrant um with the fincom
recommendations on it. Um we we went through them at our last meeting just a super high level. I don't think we have any specific um things to bring up. Are there any questions about any of the articles? Any that we want to highlight
just article 10 um and we make the correction. So, in the motion it'll pick it up. But these salaries we had listed at 233 and that was actually the total. So the salary should be 176899. So we will address that in the motion. Okay. So that's article 10 that
the motion is different, but that's intentional. Um, article 14, I haven't heard very many people talking about this one, but article 14 proposes to increase the local room occupancy excise tax. So we currently have a local room
tax of 4% and um we are allowed to raise it up to 6%. It's about $100,000 per percent. So, um, that's one of the proposals. Are there any others anybody want to talk about or mention? The short-term rental one has
been significantly changed since last year. That one's um, pretty straightforward now. Okay. All right. If nobody wants to talk, we can move on. Anything? Um, so the town So it will be we're going to
post for 6:30 for this uh meeting. We usually have KP Law here for 6:30. Yes, they'll be there. All right. So we'll post for 6:30 on May 6th. The the war the town meeting um is at 7 at the new middle high school. Okay. All right.
That's it for the warrant then. Um 5A we have a discussion. So we have David Dorski um had asked um to be put on the agenda. So, Mr. Dorski, you want to come forward? Welcome. Thank you. So, what brings you here?
Well, I sent a letter uh to the planning board uh regarding um the planning board's recent approval of a subdivision proposal called Marott
Drive that would create a potentially unsafe nonconforming intersection with Drift Road in place of the cart path between 278 and 312 Drift Road. that's used to access the town
pit. The planning board had initially voted unanimously to deny the proposal out of safety concerns, specifically the intersection, but reversed their
decision under pressure from the applicant. With this new approval, the planning board has granted a waiver that will allow unacceptably short sight distances for vehicles approaching the intersection from the south on Drift
Road and for vehicles exiting Marott Drive. There's a good reason that there are already warning signs and mirrors at that site. There is limited sight distance for the vehicles accessing town pit.
Um now the process by which the planning board reversed its initial denial is complicated and I don't think we have time to discuss it completely.
However, part of their reason for reversing their decision was information provided by uh the applicant in the form of a report that was delivered by uh an
individual who was not licensed as a civil engineer nor was he certified as a transportation engineer. Um the planning board for its peer review hired a firm that does not represent itself as
involved in transportation engineering but is limited to geotechnical engineering and they did not perform a field assessment. Local residents understand that the proposed construction will lead to traffic accidents at the Marott Drive
intersection because the distances sight distances are too short for the prevailing traffic conditions. There was an enormous community turnout at the public hearing over this specific issue and it was so great that the meeting had to be moved
from the town hall annex to the public library. So I and we the community, local community believe that the planning board aired in its decision and that the safety of the proposed intersection should be revisited and the
town should commission a study by licensed civil engineers with certification in transportation engineering. to comment on the um wisdom
of approving this intersection and or um potential mitigation of the danger potential danger of this intersection.
Um I believe that it would be uh a good idea for the select board to commission a study by the uh Massachusetts Department of Transportation. It's called a road safety audit. Um, and uh, I've investigated this a little bit
through speaking with the safety state safety engineer, Bonnie Poland. Um, and therefore, if the if the town requests that the state uh, perform this study, it can be done.
Now, I was somewhat misinformed. Uh, it's not entirely without cost. I don't know what the cost is is. I don't think it would be free, but I think it would be in the best interest of the community to uh address this matter. Thank you.
Thank you. So, um looked like you pretty well followed the letter that we all had in our packet. Um Jim, do you want to um you did some looking into this? Yeah, and I did speak to Mr. Dowski last week. Um I did check with Mass DOT uh
Bonnie Poland. Um they do do some traffic audits, but they do traffic audits on streets where there's been high crash rates or um significant um safety concerns. This this road does not fall in that category. At least it doesn't fall in now, but it doesn't fall
in that category. So, they would not do the audit. She did say that she would assist um if the town wanted to hire an engineer and have an audit done. Um we would be responsible for paying for that audit. Um she said she could look at the scope of work and just make sure it includes um things that they normally
include when they do the work. Um I know this went before the planning board. The subdivisions approved. I know the appeal period is over. So that subdivision is in place. I don't think the safety audit would change um the approval of the
existing subdivision. Um she said what the potential audit could do is maybe it comes up where um there's some suggestions in the audit where there's some additional striping in the road or that there's some signs put up saying you know curve ahead or some other things that may improve the safety but
overall the roads pretty limited as to what you can do without significant expenses. Um it's my understanding I think Mr. waits here so we can clarify. But um through the planning board process, they the applicant did hire VHB
engineering which is a traffic one of the one of the divisions in VHB and they're a big company is a traffic engineering um portion of their company and the letter or the report was stamped and signed by a professional engineer that does traffic analysis.
Um that report was reviewed by the peer consultant SW Cole. SW Cole hires um a local professional engineer to do a lot of their reviews for them. And you're absolutely right, SW Cole is more now of a material type uh testing company that
they used to be more, but they've kind of scaled back, but they still hire on as a consultant basis local professional engineers that review subdivisions um for the community. So Mr. point did review the um traffic study and felt that um it met the requirements. Um Mr.
White and see if he has anything else that Yeah, I I think you have uh covered it pretty much, Jim. Um the the issues of whether or not it's
safe are was our main concern during the deliberation on whether we would approve this subdivision. And uh as he said uh the way that it's been approved is long and complicated. I don't think you have time here tonight
to hear the whole story. But uh they did reduce the number of lots. Uh they do have enough uh turn radius in their connection with drift road to have a legitimate turn
radius on the road itself. Uh the the other thing that is uh a possibility is the town of Westport has in their town bylaws, not a zoning bylaw, a sighteline
bylaw, number 27. And that requires the town to form a safety committee. And that would be one person, the highway
surveyor, one of the fence viewers, and one person from the select board. And the triangle is if you look at the intersection of the road uh where it hits Drift Road, you go to the center of
Drift Road where that connection is and you go 80 ft in each direction and 80 ft down the new road and you connect the dots and uh the safety commission is
supposed to determine whether or not there is sight line uh blockages and if they determine so they notify the land owners in question and they have 7 days to either
repeal it or remove the obstructions. And I understand the applicant has applied to the town to have that done because one of the land owners on the south side of the intersection has installed a a spite
fence because they didn't like this going in. So, they put a fence in to further block the view. Uh Jim has sent a letter to them to ask them to remove it. Last time I drove by it was still there. I don't know if it's gone yet or
not, but it also would give the town the opportunity to clear anything else that's obstructing the view of any road going into another road in Westport. And it's something that uh it states that
the town shall do these things and it's a law in the town and if somebody asks for it, the town should be able to comply with that. Thank you. Have we have we Yeah. So we
don't have an active committee. Mr. Wlette was the select board representative and I don't believe we have a fence viewer. Um so we only have one member on that committee. I did send a letter out to the property owner that put the fence up. They came in probably about week and a half ago, two weeks ago. They said they would remove the
fence. I thought it would be away from that. I thought it would be down already, but it hasn't been taken down. Um there's one caveat with that. The way the bylaw reads, it's it's from a road. Technically, that road hasn't been constructed yet while it's been approved. So, you know, this question
whether or not there's a site distance violation now. Um, we may not be able to address it officially until the road is under construction, but in general, the property owners seemed very willing to take it down. I was surprised it hadn't come down yet. So, we I just want to just be careful because we don't have
any control over the planning board. The planning board has their processes and their their things that they do, but we're the reason we were talking about this is because uh Mr. Dorski made a request that the select board take an action. So, that's why we're talking about it. Ahead meeting. So, I've been involved in this in a little bit. Um, Jimmy, the the that um the woman with
defense, did did they happen to um ask you if they had um didn't attorney get in touch with you? No, I haven't heard from any attorney cuz cuz uh there was an attorney involved in that that did negotiations um with the
developer. Um so I I mean I think you would would speak with should speak with them again and ask them for any of those correspondents on the recommendations that they made. And one of the things I' I'd like to say about this approval is the developer got a constructive approval on a technicality because we
didn't file something correctly and and as far as I know this this was you know I've kind of fallen through the cracks here a little bit but we were in legal with it and there was certain reasons we were doing things certain way certain a certain way um you know and I also keep
hearing about the pit. So the pit is I don't know you how many acres of land does the town own down there off hand I don't know 30 30 acres 30 acres. So I mean I I would I would think that there should be you know this is riverfront
property 30 acres behind this already dense subdivision that you know we're calling a pit right now. But I I think before this goes any further, we should look in into some way on what the town's plans are for the town of this piece of
property that's on the river. You know, I'd hate to see some developer, you know, try to put some more houses down there on the river. You know, there's a lot of other things that the town could use this property for. Um and and I don't agree that a pit is the correct thing. That's what it was used years ago. And I believe now with the
cemetery, the material that was stored there from the high school is going to be removed out of that pit. And environmentally, I mean, I don't know, a preserve or something. I mean, that's that's what that area should be down there. So, I think we should we should continue with all avenues available to
the town. I mean, I was in those meetings where I mean, how many people were in the meeting that were opposed to this and on a technicality because we didn't file something with the clerk on the right day. They got the approval and and I and I I believe the planning
board's intent through legal on this was to bring it to a point where the residents had an opportunity to be able to appeal this constructive approval. So I I think right now we need to
provide the town of Westport with all the resources we need to make sure that we don't make a mistake with this project. Mr. If I could if I could just interject a little bit that the the time for appeal is gone. So if this were if
anything if a new study on the traffic would show that it is dangerous which I don't think it will because we've had uh a traffic study done and we've had it double checked by our consulting
engineer and Robert Daylor who is on the board who's done this a million times uh concurred with the traffic study uh to stop the subdivision now, you'd have to have a recision hearing and I don't
think that we would have a leg to stand on to rescend it. Uh, and secondly, on the town bylaw, it says this bylaw, this is reading from it. This bylaw is concerning any new or proposed public
way. So it isn't I don't think you have to wait until it's constructed to do this. It's a proposed public way. So I think from my
standpoint to make it safer would require that the town appoint a fence viewer and have these have somebody from the select board appointed to the safety commission
in the highway surveyor and hold a hearing. Right. So I think I heard two potential actions that we could take. So one is that you just described is to um basically reform that safety committee. So populate the safety committee with with representatives and
then task them with with looking at that from the from from that perspective. And then the other option is commissioning this study that we talked about. But it sounded like um it it sounded like for one we would have to pay for the study. So we need to have an idea of how much
that cost. But it also sounded unlikely that it would come up with a different answer that as to the safety of that intersection or or it sounded like you weren't optimistic that that was going to come up with something different. My own opinion, I think it would be unlikely that it would impact the
existing subdivision. Um, you know, the the road is narrow. There's the shoulders are um you know, there's slope down to the pavement, so there's not a lot of area for pedestrians to walk or ride your bikes. There's no place to get out of the way. So, they may come back with suggestions that, you know, we want
you to redo the shoulders, widen the pavement. I mean, there could be a number of suggestions, but I don't think it would impact the subdivision that's already approved. Madam Chair. Mhm. Um, I mean my my my opinion is that we should we should um have have the study
done and look towards how to resend the subdivision based on my feeling that the the committee needs to review the minutes of those meetings because as was stating with the engineers and the
inconsistencies in those minutes of the meetings on the traffic study and all that other stuff, it's all there. So to do a to do anything other than a thorough review of this to move forward to resend would be an injustice to the
town of Westport. So we don't have the authority to resend. Right. But we the committee is that's all I'm asking. You're asking the safety committee to look at that. Yeah. Did you have some the plane board as I believe Jim? Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, Jake.
I think my concern with this entire project from the get-go is trying to figure out to Manny's point how this thing failed as badly as it did. It was defeated 5 nothing unanimously this
subdivision and somehow somebody dropped the ball on filing that necessary paperwork and I don't know who that was or why that occurred but when you had a unanimous decision from the planning board to deny this subdivision and then
mysteriously it does not get filed by the deadline which was not the next day we're talking months afterwards that should have been done the day after with the turnout that was at those meetings with the push back from the public something needs to be looked at and analysis needs to be
conducted as to why I could see if it was a 3-2 vote it was five to nothing to not allow the subdivision to move forward and immediately the deadline was missed the developer file the mortgage the day
after which then basically put you know put the onus on the town so I'm more concerned with, as I've always discussed, transparency. You know, everything's siloed here. How does that how does that happen when you had 150 residents attend
this meeting and get it voted down five nothing on that planning board and the necessary paperwork does not get filed? I I can answer that question if you like. Go ahead. So, it it had nothing to
do with a final vote. It had to do with a time for extension of a subdivision. We had 120 days from the time they filed to reach a decision. We had them sign an extension
in February. And I think it was the second extension, but it didn't get filed with the town clerk, which is part of the subdivision control law. And we went
forward and forward had several meetings after that at which time we disapproved or denied the subdivision approval. But the the the way that it was
approved by default was because something happened or didn't happen in February. And Amy and Michael are the ones that were supposed to do that. I don't know which one didn't, but both of them were fairly
new to the Massachusetts law. But I had asked, "Have they filed the extension?" And they thought I meant did we have the applicant sign the extension, which we did do, but it
didn't get filed in a timely manner. Madam Chair, so Jim, I I have a question. So, if this is all set to be built and we're moving forward to build it, um, so would that be would that be a a reason to make a request to have the
executive session minutes released? I think we did at the meeting that you weren't at. Okay. Right. All right. So, our our scope is limited here. So, um, we we can't overturn what the
planning board did, but I I do I personally like this idea of the safety committee. I think we should put on our next agenda a posting um to populate the safety committee and then send everybody the bylaw sections that pertain to that so that we can all make sure we're
briefed on that and we and then we form that safety committee next time. Is there did Craig I mean I I concur. I think I think and I think it's and that committee should be able to we maybe we give them a quick time frame report back to the board uh so we don't have this
lying around uh for a while. If there are any other options that we could pursue, I'd be more than happy to hear him. But I I'm hearing that the safety committee seems to be the most feasible way in the short term to deal with what is the immediate issue being presented
tonight, which is safety concerns. Madam Chair, pedestrians, drivers, and folks going to that area. Jake, my concern with the safety committee is that this could open up a Pandora's box of a lot of issues. Um, you put the
safety committee in and now you're going to have or instruct the highway department to go on people's private property and cut down trees because it's blocking a line of view or someone's complaining that a bush is in a line of view. you go up and down drift road and I think every other house you could have
that situation where this would be brought up before the safety committee. So first person personally I don't want to sit on that safety committee and then secondly I think that might have some issues especially with this uh subdivision because there are uh you know private property owners that they
were told that their stuff was in the road layout. I mean there are stone walls in the road layout, there are fences in the road layout, there are bushes, there are trees. I think you're going to have some issues if you start going on people's private property. Well, I certainly agree and no no committee should be going on anybody's private property and removing something.
It should follow a they should get noticed and appropriate notice. That's why I think we all need to go familiarize ourselves with that bylaw, right? We're not going to no one's going to go tear down a fence. But um but you're right that it could lead to more orders to do that kind of thing. Um, but
it sounds like we're supposed to have the safety committee anyway and we're ne we're somewhat negligent here by not having one. We have it. We do. We do. It's just we don't have a fence. Is we don't have fence needs to be part of that
committee. Well, so we need a fence that we don't was the other appoint and then we need appoint a select board member. member. I'll volunteer to be the Well, so let's put it on the agenda for the next meeting so that we can make sure that we understand the scope of responsibility or whatever the bylaw
says there. So I think to Mr. Dorski's original request though was this traffic study. So um I don't know that there's any value in pursuing that, but I don't know. Does anybody want to talk about that? Madam Chair, I have another issue
that we haven't really touched upon and that's the authority of the planning committee. Uh they made this decision and they're elected officials. They operate under statute. So I'm I'm having difficulty because
I've never in part because I've not run into this before in the seven years I've been here to where we would look at say the planning committee or uh planning board or the uh uh you know the the other committees we have in telling the zoning board of
appeals and we have been very careful about getting involved with their their business and uh they have they were elected and They have proven themselves again and again in my view. They've done in a lot of subdivisions and I'm really
asking the the broader question of what is our our authority really here to to do. There's a thing about this viewing u bylaw but at I don't know if that really does anything at the end of the day. Is it not true that it is the
planning board that must decide where where this goes? Yes. We don't have any authority over the decisions of the planning board. Then I'm now I'm in a little bit of a quandry to say, well then what are we why are we even discussing this in this form? Well, we're discussing it because
a citizen made a request to discuss it and he proposed an action for the board and so we are discussing whether we're going to take action. That's why we are talking about it. But we do have a town bylaw that calls for the safety committee which has us with a representative on it and us appointing
the second of the three representatives being the fence viewer. So yes, there are some I I I had the same sort of res not reservations but cautions about you know the independence and the fact that
there are separately elected board of the town but there are some intersections and overlaps you know when you look at the zoning board of appeal we appoint the zoning board of appeal they're not an elected body so um our so-called executive powers do
bump up against some of these other independent autonomous boys. Go ahead. Um, back to Mr. Brewer's point, my point of coming before you was
to ask that you commission a study that would provide a an a true expert point of view about this problem. I maintain through close analysis of the
report that the applicant filed that this report was deceptive. It was not filed. It was not reported by a certified licensed person even though it was stamped by an engineer who never s
set foot in Westport for the study. A close analysis of that traffic report shows that there were erroneous assumptions and the applicant used that study to deceive the planning board and
the planning board did not carry out its due diligence with a proper peer review. And that's why we're here. My point is that if you commission a study by a true expert, a licensed certified traffic
engineer to look at the situation with realistic approach to the prevailing traffic conditions, you'll come up, I believe you will come up with information, a new perspective on the
situation that will enable the planning board to say, "Ah, we have more accurate information. Now, we can resend. If this goes to the land court where there's new information that the planning board is acting on, they
will prevail. If they have a good reason to resend, they will prevail and that's the reason I'm doing this. Okay. I kind of lost track on that, but there was you you had made a good a good point
in there um on uh and again I lost track because it was so much going on, but um I'll remember it later. So the the committee so his traffic study I was in that
meeting and he requested the information from Mass DOT. So Mass DOT did not have any information. So the person that he should have requested the information from is is which I believe we have a a um traffic representative in the police
department that would have been able to provide the correct information on that intersection. So that's what I had found in the meetings and and and I agree 100% on this gentleman has has put countless hours in on this and to say it it
slipped through the tech, you know, and and the planning board's getting a kind of in my opinion maybe a bum wrap saying we didn't file it correctly, but I I don't know. I haven't asked Amy. I haven't asked Michael why it wasn't filed correctly, but it could have been a clerical error in the clerk's office
and maybe it really isn't the plan of boards that made the mistake. I just think we need to do our due diligence on this too. But I don't know that it's in our scope to con commission a study to be used for legal action. I
think that if the planning board believed that they needed this sort of study or they needed additional information that the planning board would hire the appropriate people. Um, I I I don't I I don't think that we had it's
in it's in our authority to have a traffic I mean, we could order a traffic study, but I don't think we could do anything with it. Um, once it came on, I I I know what you're saying. It would be more evidence, but that's that's um I just think that's not in our control. Go
ahead. I was just wondering if I may, and if Mr. whiteness willing to uh answer a question here. Is the planning board amendable to this idea of recession and getting additional evidence and the use? I I think that
we're satisfied with what we have seen and I just wanted to speak again about uh the mistake that was made and it was approved by default with uh probably eight different variances
that we'd already worked through that we eliminated for the subdivision. So the applicant came before us and said look we'll reduce the number of lots to seven from nine and we will not ask for
waiverss except for the radius of the right of way going onto drift road and we agreed to the amendment to the approved plan. It was already approved by default. So, we agreed to the
amendment so that the neighbors would have the ability to appeal this decision and they they opted not to appeal. And that's why we worked hard
with the applicant to get to the point where again the the neighbors could have the legal right to appeal that is gone. So, um, so I do want to put the safety committee discussion on a future agenda.
Is there any other action that the board wants to take based on this? I just one question. Jim, can you get me a hot copy of of the minutes that you released, the executive session minutes? Okay. I just need it printed up because
I've got a little bit problems with access on my emails. All right. All right. So, I know I know it isn't what you wanted, but is there any other anything else on this topic? All right. Thank you, Mr. Dorski. Thank you very much. Um, the other item of discussion is um
from the offshore wind advisory committee. Um, we're in receipt of a letter from the I don't remember if it's from the planning board or planning board member. Um, do you want to do you want to talk about the about that, Jake? I didn't warn you in advance. Sure. No, that that's fine. Um so we recently uh
last Thursday evening had our um April meeting on the 24th and we addressed this uh obviously prior to it coming to the select board. Um there were and I think we from our standpoint now with the planning board again uh probably need to get some clarification uh given
the makeup of that offshore wind committee. I know based on the letter that was sent to us uh it basically said that uh they were asking the offshore wind committee to go into a indefinite recess until there was a Westport
specific project uh on the docket. Um and but in the meeting they had the motion was to resign their seat on the offshore wind as well as um ask us to go into recess. But the letter we received
did not have um anything about the resignation. So I think that would be one concern is maybe we reach back out to the planning board to see if they want to continue uh to have a seat on that that committee since it is appointed by the select board here. Um
we did make a decision as a committee unanimously to meet on a less than monthly basis. we're going to shoot for quarterly or more often as needed. So if there is a situation that arises similar to last year with the blade failure, um
we can uh call a meeting uh you know sooner rather than later than the quarterly basis. But I think from a offshore wind advisory committee the consensus among everyone was first and foremost there was a little bit of concern about the planning board trying
to um you know change the scheduling of the of the committee and then secondly um everyone was really on board to obviously keep the committee in place. Uh I think it was a three-year uh li uh term for the committee and everyone agreed that we should continue that but
not meeting on a monthly basis. So, I think I believe it's probably solved itself. Uh, and I I don't know if any action is needed here, but I do think we may want to follow up with the planning board. I know I know Jim's here. Um, but
I don't know if we want to get just a follow-up as to whether that seat remains vacant as a select board or whether there will be a different appointment or or how that'll work since it is in statute that you approved. Right. So right now John Bullard is the representative that was appointed and he
has not resigned. So he can resign obviously if he wants to and and would that seat remain vacant or would the planning board have to the planning board? Yeah. Okay. They would decide. So then officially we should get a letter from them or from uh John Bullard resigning and then let the planning
board and next meeting figure out their course or that was my recommendation. But Jim Jim is going I I would think that uh it it would stay as it is unless you do get a resignation letter from John. Yeah. Does anybody have So that So
that was the update. So we So the the I I'm also on that committee and we uh I agree with Jake. We we agreed to meet quarterly. We didn't think we need to meet every month. Is there anything else we want to talk about for that? Madam Chair, I agree with the idea that the committee will still go on. I think
we need it. because you never know what's going to happen in the spinning world out there. And uh I I think we it's it's a good thing to have and you can meet as often as you want. I just want to we've had some really good um presentations from scientists like the we had two scientists um at the last
meeting that gave some really informative presentations. So, I would really encourage people to go watch those because it they're really good learning opportunities and and that's what I think we hope to accomplish is getting a little bit more science-based um evidence uh for our future meetings
like and to your point, I think the last meeting was probably the best one we've had. It was very informative, a lot of uh interaction with the crowd and with committee members. Uh so, I hope that that moves forward uh in that fashion. I think the previous meetings we had the state in and then we had uh vineyard offshore. So it's can also get
contentious um you know with respect to that but I think it's I think the purpose of it there. I think we're one of the very few comm uh communities in Massachusetts or maybe the only one that currently has that committee uh set up. So I think that's going to be helpful in
the future. Um, as we've been stating, I believe there might be a three-year pause on some of the stuff that would impact Westport, but you don't know what would happen uh in a in a new administration or with new uh projects out there. As people see, you go down
the beach and there are still projects going on as we speak. So, um I think having the committee there to um and that was the other thing that we did learn the other day is that it may help in kind of a response rate um you know and maybe getting answers back from a
vineyard offshore or any of the other companies that are involved out there um with a blade failure with something uh catastrophic that could happen and impact Westport. So, I think it's good to keep it and I think we're probably on the right course with that. Right. Anything else? Constus, did you want to
say again? I would like to reiterate what Jake had just said about seeking clarification from the planning board as to their status. I clearly heard when I watched the recording of the planning board meeting that they said that they
did not want to be associated with the committee at all and they did not want to have a representative from the planning board on the committee. So that sounds like a rugged nation to me. Um,
but it would be very helpful, I think, to have very specific uh clarification from the planning board and from Mr. Bullard himself. Thanks. Thank you. Anything else on that?
Okay. Um, the we we do have I forgot to announce this at the beginning of the meeting. We do have a topic um not reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance. Is anybody here for something before that? I was going to skip down to that. Sean, I do have another one that
would be uh under unanticipated business. All right. So, let's just go through the agenda then. So, um the town administrator report. So, while local aid, the the state is currently working through their budget process. Um the governor has submitted his her proposal. That proposal has gone
to the house. The house recently approved um their proposal and now it's headed to the senate. Not yet. Not yet. House is still in session and the house is um is voting on amendments to the budget. So right now what is happening
in the house is the house is considering amendments to the budget that was filed by the House Ways and House Ways and Means and right now they're let's say let's put yeah they're they're in deliberations and they're meeting they met today. They're meeting tomorrow and
likely meeting Wednesday as well. So the the cherry sheets did come out because state the house budget that's why but it's still going through the process. Um and on on that house budget that came through the state um estimated receipts increased by about 64,000. The
estimated assessments and charges also increased by 26,000. So there's a net gain of about 38. Um we're still early in the process and as we've seen over the years this could go up a little bit. It could also go down. So we don't know where those final numbers are going to go. But what it does do, it gives us a
little bit more reassurance that at least our budget estimates going to town meeting are consistent with the governors and and the house budgets and um the big numbers such as uh chapter 70 school choice charter schools um are usually pretty consistent throughout the
process. So we hope they they stay the same. um town meeting. Again, you mentioned this earlier, but May 6, Tuesday of next week at 7 o'clock at the new middle high school on the proposed budget for FY26 and the posted town meeting warrant is on the town website. It can be viewed by anybody that goes
on. If anybody does have any questions on any of the warrant articles or on the budget, uh they're welcome to call the selectman's office or the department that uh sponsored those articles and we will try to address your questions prior to town meeting. Uh we might be able to give you more information ahead of time. It's difficult sometimes at town meeting
to address questions on the floor. Um, superintendent search. I see a couple of school committee me. Well, there was two. We still got two committee members here. Christopher, your flashlight is on. Search committee has recommended two finalists for consideration by the school committee. Um, public interviews
are scheduled for April 30th. Unless something has changed. There's two finalists. Um, Dr. Rezi Namin Namin currently serving superintendent of the main Indian Educational District and Dr. Fran Roy who's had a number of educational positions and she's currently a professor at Stonehill
College. I think you've invited the community to attend those interviews. If anybody is interested um Route 177 projects, we have two projects along Route 12 uh 177 that have been going ongoing for quite some time.
Gford Road and Route 177 the intersection. Tom recently received preliminary comments from Mass DOT on the initial submission. In response, PAR Engineering has completed revisions to the plans and supporting materials. They're updating the package now and they'll resubmit to Mass DOT for further
review next week. Uh this is being submitted to Mass DOT as a permit um and not um like a transportation improvement type design project which we're doing with Route 177. and Robert Tickle Street, Tickle Road. That is actually a
full-fledged project that goes through the full design with Mass DOT. Takes about four to six years to get through that design process and the design requirements tend to change over the years and that's what's happened again to us. Uh recently, Mass DOT has requested additional test pits and uh
lighting design. Um the engineering company was hoping as they have done on previous projects that they could um use the existing lighting standards for Mass DOT that were done on other projects and use that for this. But Mass DOT has requested um a
different design. So um currently looking to identify another funding source. We're probably going to need about $12,000 to um get that additional work done. Um I should have something by the next meeting as to where those funds are. Right. Thank you.
Uh we have the minutes from April 14. Motion. I ask you approve in advance. Uh so so you you would move to approve. I move to approve. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. That's unanimous. Did somebody
abstain? I didn't. You my abstained. Um report on the bill warrant. Looking good. Uh little larger number. 3.5 million and some big ticket items in there like county tax a couple hundred,000 MRL bus
149,000 and then PAS and now you probably will ask the question why is that in here when we're getting money well it's because it's the way we account for that we put it in as a debit and then credit it out so that's $729,000 and the MAC loop in addition to
that was u 166,000 but everything was in And um all set. Thank you. Um so next item we had is liaison committee reports or suggestions for future agenda items. We just start with you Craig. Um
affordable housing trust. We are or have released a new RFP for uh for land acquisition. We're looking to prop upwards of 30 acre parcels with the ability to have eight um usable acres as
part of that. And what would happen is that some of these parties parcels may be um landlocked and uh and uh or potential use for open space and land
conservation purposes. Um we're still uh we've been encouraged by u the um community planning committee to um um look more aggressively at larger
developments uh than what we have been doing in the last couple of years and this uh RFP honors that interest. So thank you. And then um Donna, you're here. Is there anything new since we last met of the opioid settlement
advisory committee? I don't think we have that, have we? Uh, we're working on getting more community input. Um, Valerie is setting up some uh questionnaires to be sent to several
different entities. One being um physicians and um therapists to get their input on how best the funds could be utilized. Um, we're hoping to have one done so that it can be sent uh
school districtwide so we can get input from teachers and um uh the parents, especially the parents. Um, and then one for uh people who um are struggling with substance use
and opioid addiction. So, um, those ballots worked on those and we will be hopefully getting those out to stakeholders soon. Thank you. All I have, right, Dick? Uh,
the only thing that I have to mention is really the the stroke buddies uh, with the Council on Aging. I attended their meeting last week and we went over the details as we as they did for us here. Um, they did make an appeal since I'll be out of town this weekend. If maybe
one of the selectman could select board members could could uh appear at that at least a part of the event on on Saturday. I just throw that out for I I have already confirmed but then that will be great. Thank you. I'm out of state this weekend. Yeah, I'm also out of state this weekend. Yeah, I don't know what it is about first weekend in
May, but anyway. And the other thing is we do have Tony Rosselli, the town auditor, coming in to the next meeting of the audit committee, which is next Monday. And of course after that, he'll appear here either on the screen or in person and give his update. Um and um
the next meeting of Ser is coming up shortly and talking about the budget. And that's about it from my end. Right. The um the only committee I had was um the offshore wind that we just talked about. So nothing for me. Yeah. The only thing I had was the infrastructure oversight committee. Um we had
Wednesday, April the 16th um meeting that I was scheduled to attend. However, I was detained and I was unable to make it. So um I guess I'll have to get maybe I'll have something for the next meeting. All right. Thank you. Okay. Same thing just you off show when we covered that earlier. So we're good.
Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um we're at the portion for comments and statements from the public. Anybody from the public have a comment? We have public here today. We have four whole public here. I do. Hold on. Okay. So, I'm Donna Amar from the
board of health and I just wanted to um let everyone know you're going to be seeing signs up again around town that May is mental health awareness month and I just wanted to inform the public that there's going to be three events um that are scheduled for the month of May. The
first one is on May 7th and it's helping teens understanding the connection between mental health and substance use. And I have two speakers. One of them is from child and family services and he's a certified um a licensed um drug and
alcohol counselor. And then I have another speaker whose specialty is doing research on marijuana and the teen brain. And I was lucky to get Sarah uh Thomas, a PhD licensed psychologist and assistant professor at the department of
psychiatry and human behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University come and speak. So I really hope that people will come to hear her research um and also to hear um Dean uh Blackburn who is also going to speak about how to help kids when they're
struggling with either mental health issues or substance use issues. Um, and that is going to be on the day after the town meeting. So, I'm sure everybody will be refreshed and they'll want to come to um this presentation. Um, but it's from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the
middle high school auditorium. And then there are two other events. One is on May um 16th and that's at the Council on Aging um on uh from 10:00 to 11:30 and it's going to be on a topic called loneliness, a silent epidemic which I
will be running. Um and it is free and open to all adults and there'll be light refreshments. Um and it's not just a presentation but it's a discussion. Um so I hope people will come to that as well. And then on Saturday, May 17th,
there'll be another presentation at the library. That'll be from 10 to 12 noon and it will be um called Create Your Best Self, Empowering Mental Health with Applied Neuroscience. And there is a um
presenter who is an expert in neurosensory emotional wellness life coach and certified in havening techniques. and it's a tool to help people to um cope when they're feeling stressed. So, I I think I hope that people will be able to come to at least
one of these events. Um and I thank you for letting me uh spread the word and and to make sure that people are aware that it is a public health issue. Mental health is a public health issue and that's why I am here as a representative of the board of health. Thank you. Thank you, Donna. Anything else from the
public? Um, so, uh, we do have a topic under the or it sounds like we have two topics. Um, so we have a topic under the, um, under 48 hours in advance. So, we have a request from Matt Armendo, the board of health director, to post a transfer station foreman position both in-house
and externally simultaneously. Jim, you want to tell us about this? Yeah, we just had an employee that departed over the weekend. Um, it's critical critical position. um if we don't fill it, it we're paying extra to our other departments to cover overtime to uh
bring any of the um dumpsters and the trash containers to the the waste yard. So, um the sooner we can get this filled, the better. I'd suggest or recommend that the board allow us to post that position in house and out. What's the pleasure? I move that move
that recommendation. Second. Is there any discussion? Madam Chair, just quick, is this the second uh turnover in the foreman that we've had? It's it's probably more than that. We've had a number of people in and out of this position over the last year or two. Yeah. Um they did incre the select board
did increase the salary a couple of months ago, which I think made it more attractive, but um you know, they these employees can go elsewhere and make significantly more particularly if they have a CDL license, right? Yeah. Yeah. And don't have to work weekends. Yeah.
Any further discussion? All in favor? I I That's unanimous. Do Do you have another one? Yeah. Uh just before the meeting, I I spoke to Jim on concerning the Hicksbridge landing. Um that's an issue that was kind of brought to my attention last week on the Conservation
Commission when uh I know there's been kind of a land dispute between the Masons uh and town of Westport there. Uh obviously last year it led to them blocking off the access point uh on the upper level of that. Uh I went and had
some discussions uh with the Masons on my own. And I I think there's an opportunity for us to maybe reopen this uh and and maybe uh have some good faith efforts to you know bring this to fruition and and maybe find a solution
that's amicable to everyone in town. uh as we know that town landing is used by rowers, kayakers, boers, you know, fishermen and all that. So, I think this is right now probably more of a safety concern uh with that entrance and exit as where it's located. So, I believe
that maybe in the past there was a little bit of a miscommunication um with trying to come to a resolution and uh we might be at a kind of a new day to address that and uh you know maybe maybe come to a solution that everyone could be happy with. Um, I know that the
Masons did have a meeting on Thursday evening uh and they agreed that they would reopen looking at this uh situation if you know there's something with the town that we can work with them on. I recommend maybe just putting forth a committee. Um, in the crowd here is
Jason Powell. He's intimately involved with obviously the safety concerns as a boater and and going in and out of that uh uh landing quite often with a boat and a trailer and has you know worked with me to kind of spearhead hopefully coming to a solution on this and um
Madam Chair I don't want I don't know if Jason had any words or Yeah. So, um, so when Jake, um, mentioned this the other day, and then Jason has been pretty adamant about this. Um, so what I asked them to do is talk to Jim because Jim had been in negotiations with the Masons before. I don't think we want a formal committee or anything. I think we want
to work through you, Jim. Um, but I'm perfectly happy to have Jake talking to them with with someone else. Go ahead, Madam Chair. Um, don't we have a a new design? What's a new design? So, Ian Jim Cana, obviously. Yes. So, I'm not sure
how how far along the design is, right? We had a pretty good preliminary stuff. I mean, I'm hoping we're bringing that to the Masons, bringing them in with this. So, the preliminary design, the original preliminary design used the access going over the Mason's property. Um, we had trouble. We couldn't reach an
agreement last year, and it'd be great if things changed because that would be ideal if we could use that for access. um when we couldn't I believe through the planning office um they went back to the engineer and they were looking at redesigning it so that uh we would just use the existing entrance and not use
the uh Mason property. Now now the Mason property was was that um how did the Masons come to having this property? You know it's as far as I can tell I've always owned it. Um the driveway was just built over their property. I we haven't and we Jeff Bull at the time did
quite a bit of research. We couldn't find any easement. There's nothing recording. There was no minutes uh the previous meetings as to how we got access or use of that driveway. I think maybe we should have KP Law do a title on the property and and see Well, let's start by reopening the conversation with
the Masons and see what they're willing to to talk about. Um I mean, I think you're right that we need to find out. It sounds like we already did a lot of work to try to find that. Well, I don't we didn't do an official title, but um I think that's how you do it, but
the information that we did have, it appeared that yeah, we didn't own the property. It's not always how it appears. Agreed. All right. So, Jim, you're going to work. You're going to reopen that. Yes. And I don't know if if Jason
He has a lot of historical uh He didn't have any public comment. You're You were waiting. No, he's waiting for So, um I like the new desk. I haven't been to one of these in a while. Diamond Diamond students built this. Yeah, that's great. I think my my family's five excise tax bills
probably. So there are there are a few issues there and and there are issues probably to be discussed, you know, down the road. Um, I reached out to the police chief who then turned me on to Lieutenant Melo who is the police
department traffic representative and we met at the ramp yesterday and we went through a scenario where you know someone pulled the boat out of the water and based upon the current plan you'd have to make a hairpin turn within that
lot area and then come back out and merge on to Hicksbridge Road and you know Lieutenant Melo I think will be reaching out to you folks. And he he agreed 100% that the current plan is just not it's it's untenable. It's
unsafe. So, um hopefully we work something out with the Masonic Lodge, but I think the entrance exit issue is going to take care of itself because public safety won't sign off on the current plan. It was just as a that plan
should have been presented to you folks long before it came before us at oncom because the board of selectment owns the vast majority of that property. So it's it's probably not within the purview entirely of the landing commission. They
think you folks should be involved on that because you own the majority of the land. And more importantly, and probably more urgently, is the um potential grant money that may or may not have been applied for, acquired, spent. Um I've
been in the boat business for a long time and I've been part of a lot of boat ramp reconstruction projects. And generally, um when the state spends money on site work or ramp repair, that property then becomes accessible to everyone within the Commonwealth. And
it's hard to describe that ramp as a gem because it's kind of a disaster right now, but it's ours and we control it. And I would just like for us to make sure that whatever funds are being used, they're being acquired the right way.
They're uh we know the strings that are attached. And if we have used funds in error, we should probably return them because if we lose exclusive access to that property, we'll never get it back. And then no one in town will have a
place to park a boat and or trailer. So, you know, we can deal with the Masonic Lodge. We can deal with the plan. We can deal with all of that down the road, but I would just beg you to look into what funds have been acquired and how those funds may or may not have been used. And
if we have used them inappropriately, can we send them back and just acknowledge that we made maybe a mistake. Right. So, can can you find out some more about that and report back? I mean I mean because basically we don't want to turn into a state ramp. Correct. Correct. which is I think it's a great
idea. Um, but I know I do know that the layout plan, however they got it, solved all the issues that we need to deal with conservation wise. So again, I don't think it was that much money for the plan. Um, it's something that we could probably do a lot of the work in house
so that we could keep it, but it did set it up correctly. You know, we need to do some pavements for storm water management and and it puts the lines for the boat trailers to park. puts the access in. And I I think if we work with the Masonic Lodge on that, I mean, maybe
we could come up with some kind of and if we have to do some kind of fundraiser, there's a lot of lot of local guys that that's all I hear is complaints about that bow ramp and the border of health. I mean, I I've had I've had I can't count the number of complaints about the Porter John over there. And I've witnessed it myself
throughout the season. It's you can't even use it. You know, it's not being picked up on time. And and I mean I'm talking I'm talking people that have been in here for generations and using that landing for generations that All right. So Jim's gonna Jim's going to look into that and Jake is going to work
with Jim and they'll come back with more information. Yeah. I think maybe we could have it as an agenda item next next month of of what we can find out working with Jason and and others to I think the concern from the Masonic Lodge was a liability concern. And then also if it does go to the state and you're
allowing an easement, does that create even even more issues for them? So, um I think we can reopen discussions and and have a, you know, and take it on as more of a select board project. Um and hopefully come to a conclusion if you know if it's a one-year deal where we
use the internal, you know, the the entrance and exit that's already there and let the you know, Chris Gonzalez and the highway department smooth it out and make it right and then we do more of a long-term plan. Maybe that's that's a quick solution, but I think we can come up with hopefully something. Okay. Well,
we look forward to what you come back with. Thank you. I got I got one more thing since we have the board of health here. Um, you know, I I made some mention on a couple of properties that I own and illegal dumping in that area. Did you mention any of that to to Matt Amendo? I did. I I gave it that to Matt
I think on Thursday or Friday. He looked into it and he was going to follow up with me tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, I'm going to go out there. Give me a call, please. I think he's already been out there. Okay. So, we are going to go into executive session. We're going to come out of executive session only to
adjurnn. We won't conduct any further business. Um I will entertain a motion pursuant to the provisions of Mass General Law Chapter 3A section 21A where the chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect to a approve the minutes of April 14, 2025 and B to
conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonun personnel or to conduct bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. I Greg Craig Ducher move we go into an executive sessions for the for the
reasons as stated. I Richard Brewer second that motion. So all in favor Craig want to start with you. I Craig Dutra. Richard Brewer. I I Sha so as I I Jake Mcwigan. All right. We are in executive session.