Call the meeting to order. Will you join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Good evening. Welcome to the Monday, December 15, 2025 meeting of the Westport Select Board under Mass General Law, Chapter 3A, Section 20F. This meeting is being recorded. Uh we have a bunch of acknowledgements
today, but I want to start off with a with a somber one. I want to acknowledge the passing of George Foster on December 13. George um was 82. He passed away on Saturday. He was born in Taton. Um, he had been a longtime resident of
Westport. He was a graduate of Taton High School in the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was an Eagle Scout. He had a long career in public service, banking, and finance. He retired after 25 years from the town of Westport as the unopposed town
treasurer. Um, prior to serving the town of Westport, he worked for the US Treasury as vice president of Fairaven Savings Bank and was a Westport elected diamond RVTCS school committee member. He was also a member of the Nokachoke Lodge. Um his
survivors include his um six children and the and number of family members. So we just want to say um our condolences to the foster family as they mourn the passing of George. Anyone have anything about George they
want to say? Okay. Um we have some thank yous to go out. So we want to thank the highway department. Um we had our snow, real snow finally. Um but so you were busy um not all not only yesterday but before and after the storm too. So thank you very much for the work from the
highway department. I want to thank the recreation commission and a number of town entities including the fire department and the police department and the Westport land conservation trust for the tree lighting that we had on December 6. Um it was a lovely event. The weather was great for them. So was
thank you everyone who made that possible. Um, and we also want to I wasn't there, but Dick um mentioned that um there was a Council on Aging event um where they honored 40 years uh the 40-year anniversary of the Friends of the
Council on Aging. So, you guys want to say anything about that? >> Well, as you mentioned, I was there. It was a great event and great people and uh we enjoyed ourselves and honored a number of people and there was a sort of a diarama of the history of of the
council not only the council and the friends but the building itself when it was turned into the senior center way back when. So it was a great event. Craig was there as well. >> Yeah, it was a great event. I mean there was over a hundred people there. >> Yeah. Uh it was at uh Rachel's and um
of course then we we get a lot of constituent inquiries [laughter] something having nothing to do with the aging but um it we you know it was it was a great event. Uh place was packed the the front meeting room. So >> it was a good crowd.
>> Great. Thank you. Thank you to the friends of the Council on Aging. And I was told that Jim does not want a lot of hoopla about this, but I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that this is Jim Hartnett's last meeting as our town administrator. The new town administrator is starting on the 29th
and Jim is going off to retirement. So, thank you, Jim. >> Thank you. >> You want to give a speech or anything? [laughter] >> I was told you did not want hoopla. So, there's no hoopla. Just acknowledgement. Thank you for your service. >> Appreciate it. Um, are there any other welcome comments
that I missed? Okay. Um, so the first item we have on our agenda is a public hearing. Um, we have a request from Sean Leech, beach committee chair, to approve an increase in the beach pass fees [clears throat] um for a regular beach pass from $50 to
$55 and a senior beach pass from $25 to $35. And I understand that Mr. Leech couldn't be here today. So Jim, do you want to tell us about this? Yeah, first of all, the slide has a correction. It's 2024 passes and 2025 passes. Um I'm aware the
beach committee did meet and discuss this either earlier this month or last month and they've recommended four road to go with these increases. Um we've had a full complement of lifeguards the last two years. Uh they stayed most of the season in the past. They would leave um
you'd get the majority of them leave beginning of August, middle of August to go to school. But we there were some incentives that the beach committee came up with and we've had them there for the majority of the season. Uh so the costs have gone up a little bit for the um salaries in that in that account and they're looking to increase the fees
just to cover that. I think the senior passes would raise about 15,000 additional and the um regular would be roughly I think $12,000. So [cough] this would get them up and above what they need to get through the season. >> All right. Thank you. Anybody from the
board have anything on that? >> Madam Chair, I've always encouraged on increases, whether it be the uh the harbor or the uh council on aging a couple of weeks ago, that taking more frequent increases on a smaller basis is
wise and that this applies here. It's only a $5 increase on the regular pass. It's the same or 10 for the senior beach pass. Both I think are very very fair and competitive and uh I would I'd recommend approval.
I'll make a motion today. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> I just have a few questions for us and unfortunately Sean's not here. So um does all the revenue that comes from the beach passes stay for use on the beach? I mean for the lifeguards, for
maintenance, for the vehicles and torps and all that stuff. >> It does. So, it all goes into the enterprise fund. So, anything that's expended out of that enterprise fund has to be approved at town meeting as an expenditure. We do have a um what do you call it? >> Like an administrative fee.
>> Yeah, we that goes to the town. I believe it's 15,000 a year, but I'd have to double check on that. And that's to help cover um police when they're down there, highway department, work in the parking lot, uh town collector, town clerk, um accountant. And that's pretty consistent with most of our enterprise
funds. [snorts] >> Just another question. So you're saying you're going to raise an additional $15,000 from the increase on seniors and then 12,000 additional from the regular passes. Is that correct? >> That's based on last year, the year before, it's roughly about that.
So in my opinion, why would we be go why would we increase or greater increase from the 25 to 35 on seniors that are probably on fixed incomes or you know what what was the justification on that from the from the beach committee standpoint? I know you can say that differential between 50 and 35 or 25 but
>> I don't know for sure. I think that's the explanation that I would go with, but I I [clears throat] wasn't at the meeting >> cuz we have a tendency to see a lot of, you know, seniors actually get discounts, whether it's property taxes or various other things. So, I'm just don't know why we would saddle them when
they're probably not the ones using the beach to its fullest. Seniors, I would imagine that families with a lot of kids would be, you know, obviously down there and probably having a bigger impact and use the services of lifeguards more. that that's just my my two cents on that
as for the enforcement and I know that through Bill Chase um and the police department they've been gotten a lot better on on kind of enforcement but a constant concern that I hear from people whether seniors or regulars is that you know there's kind of ways of the game the system bringing cars in there
leaving them there all day or not having passes or um and again Bill and the police have done a much better job this year but as if you continue to have these increases, I think we need to show the constituents that, you know, they actually have the ability to get to that
beach. So, um, with this, my my concern lies with, you know, if we're going to charge more, that they still have the ability to use the beach, whether we're talking East Beach or Cherry Web or or others. So, um, I just I don't necessarily agree with the increase on the senior side, though.
>> All right. So, we did have a motion to um approve the fees, but do we have a second? >> Second. All right. So, we have a motion in a second. Did you want to make a potential amendment to the motion? >> Well, I mean, unfortunately, Sean's not here to kind of justify and it went through the beach committee, so I don't
have enough expertise or background to kind of change that motion. Um, I don't know if there's anyone, you know, that would talk, you know, or speak from the public that may may help. >> We'll get to the public in a minute. But I just I don't when I make you know when I make a motion I want to make sure that
I'm fully educated and understand that there you know I wish there would have been someone here from the beach committee to explain it and explain the vote uh okay process but >> all right is there we we will go to the public but is there anything else from the board first before we do that? >> All right if um this is a public hearing
so if you want to have a comment you just need to come up to the microphone here and just state your name. >> Hi Karen Goyette Trip Drive. I'm concerned [clears throat] with the raise on the senior end on the beach passes. Um, first of all, I go to East Beach.
There's no porter party. There's no trash recept receptacles. There's We've called the police. I've called the police myself several times because people are there with no passes in the past parking lot and never come and nobody's ever come to ticket them to
collect some revenue instead of t you know bringing our senior passes cost up. Why don't why don't we try to do some other stuff too? >> Okay, thank you. Anybody else? >> Hi Don Majuski Celtic Drive. We also
just got hit with the senior center prices going up. So, we're paying $20 more because it's $2 more a class. So, you add in $20 for that. And again, there's no one um there's no porta party or
anything. E speech, you get nothing. And we're just or the nubble and we don't we're going to raise the price for seniors on that again. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> Chair, I just have one more question. Uh
Jim, this year we had a situation where the two weeks prior to uh the fiscal new fiscal year starting that there was a shortage in the account and there money had to be moved around in order to to fund lifeguards. Is will that be the similar situation here in 20? Do we have money in that account to pay?
>> We do. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Is there any further discussion? So we have a motion and a second um to set the beach passes as described. All in favor? >> I I opposed. >> I I
>> So we have um three in favor and two opposed. So that passes. Thank you. Um the next item we have is a request from Michael Burus um to appoint Kim Batello and Joseph Inglesby to the climate resiliency committee. Um so these two um were uh requ the climate
resilience committee the other day um agreed uh asked that appoint these two people to the [clears throat] committee. >> We don't have any Yeah. Was do you want to >> a motion to approve? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion?
>> All in favor? >> I >> I that's unanimous. We have a request from Chris Gonzalz, the highway surveyor to appoint Craig Kadam. Sorry if I did that. Um, to the position of special equipment operator with a 20 December 29th start date. I see you're here. Did
you want to say anything or do you want to just talk to Jim? >> No. Okay. [laughter] Jim, do you want do you want to tell us about this? >> I did speak to the highway surveyor. Um, he was very happy with the interest that Craig had. They had good interview. He's got a good resume. Um, I'd recommend
approval. And this has been a posted position with funding, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Motion to approve. Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I. That's unanimous. Welcome aboard. >> Thank you. Thank you.
>> U. We have a request from John Rosendi, the Westport community television director to hire Madden Hawk as a camera operator. Um I was in the um cable advisory meeting um last week I guess it was and the um committee uh recommended
unanimously to appoint um Madden Hawk to the camera operator position. I will move that >> second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I that's unanimous. We have a request from Christopher Dunn, the Westport
Police Chief to appoint the following members. Craig Pimemental as reserve police officer and Carol Morgan as a part-time E911 dispatcher. Hello. >> Hello. >> Just on behalf of the chief, I just have a couple letters to read here. As far as
Carol, she's here standing in the back to help address the need of part-time E91 dispatchers. I request respectfully request that the board consider appointing Carol Morgan contingent upon our successful completion of a background check in required training. Miss Morgan brings experience from a
fast-paced, high stress work environments and has expressed a strong willingness to serve our community. She's a resident of Matapo and has one adult child. If approved, I propose an effective appointment date of Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. Please note that no additional funding is being requested to
fill this position. That's from the chief. >> Thank you. You guys want to handle these together or separately? >> Yeah, that's fine. >> We'll do them together. Good. Go ahead. >> Okay. The second one, Craig Momento. To help address the need of reserve police officers, I request or respectfully request rather that the board consider
appointing Craig Pimemental contingent upon his successful completion of a background check. Officer Prime brings more than 30 years of law enforcement experience, retiring from the Dartmouth Police Department. During his tenure, he served as a team commander for the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT team, a leading
firearms instructor, and the use of force instructor. He's a Dartmouth resident married with one adult child. If approved, I propose an effective appointment date of Thursday, January 1st, 2026. Please note, no additional funding is being requested to fill this position. >> Thank you. Anybody have any questions
for deputy? >> No. >> M to approve. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I That's unanimous. Thank you. Anything going on police department you want to tell us about? >> Uh right now, no. We had like you had mentioned the successful uh tree
lighting. That was a great time. Um this Tuesday, Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday, I don't remember. I got to look at my calendar. We'll be making the donation to the women's shelter. Um like to thank board member Mcwigan for his donation to that as well. And also SRO
Davis will be doing a gift um distribution as well. We do that every year. The union helps along with that as well as um at large members as well too. So there'll be a lot of gifts being given out for the holiday season coming up. >> Great. Thank you. I hope you have a very quiet holiday season.
>> Hope so. Yeah. Hope the new year is as quiet as it was or will be hopefully. >> All right. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> On the next item, we have a request from Manuel Sors to be appointed to the Agricultural Commission and the Infrastructure Oversight Committee as an
atlarge member. Say anything about that? >> Really? I was on him and I'd like to continue to be on the infrastructure [clears throat] oversight committee and um since retirement I'm getting a little more involved in my farming stuff and I'd like to get on that commission.
>> There you go. >> I was I was just saying this now since I' I've come semi-retired um I'd like to give a little bit more time back to the community and that's why I want to get in the agricultural commission. >> All right. Thank you. was pleasure of the board.
>> Madam Chair, uh I would just be wondering and I I think I know the answer to this, but I think the public should know that these appointments have been reviewed by the respective chairs of those committees and they are uh in support of >> we sent it to the chairs. I haven't
heard back yet from from the chairs, >> but they're not opposed to nothing. I'm sorry. I have not heard anything opposed from the chairs. Well, then I would make a motion that Mr. Sorus be appointed to both these commissions.
>> Do we have a second? >> Committees. I mean, sorry. >> Do you want to second that? >> I'll second it. >> All right. So, we have a motion to second. I um am opposed to these appointments for two reasons. One, I find your attendance and your preparation for meetings to be very
unreliable. and two, your behavior towards some of the town employees has been less than positive, and I am worried about subjecting the rest of our committees who are volunteers to that type of behavior. So, I'm going to be a no on these. >> And that's your opinion.
>> It is. >> I was I'd just like to make a statement that it was beyond my control and most people will realize in a couple of weeks that it was beyond my control. >> Fair enough. >> There's a thing called innocent until proven guilty. >> Fair enough.
>> Thank you. Any other comments? >> I would just like to point out that one of my reasons for the recommendation is at least as respects the oversight committee, infrastructure oversight committee. I believe Mr. Source is on that committee previously and and I believe served uh well the agricultural
commission uh could use another member and I think uh Mr. Sors is very conversant with uh those issues. >> I was also um so I was also the chair on that committee. um the infrastructure oversight committee and my time I'm in
my second I'm in the my second term as a planning board member which we volunteer our time for and um I'd like to continue that work with um the reason I did is because Bob Daylor decided to run for another term and I'd like to help out
um the planning board as much as I can on that. >> All right. Anything else? Madam Chair, >> Jim, you said you hadn't received any feedback from either commission. My only concern with that is that normally when we go through the process, the commission or if we're doing an
appointment, we'll hear from the respective committees. And did we reach out to them for opinions on this? >> We did. We reached out to both of them >> and there was no response. >> I haven't heard back yet. No. >> Okay. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a
second. Um, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. I I >> So there's three opposed and I didn't hear you vote one way or the other. So >> Well, I thought I'd have to abstain from that, but I would vote. >> Put my hand in there. >> All right. So that's three to two. So you're not appointed to those
committees. >> Um 4 A, we have a request from Carol Freighus, Veteran Service Officer, to accept a cash donation of $100 for discretionary use. >> Motion to approve. >> Second.
>> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I That's unanimous. We have a request from Dana Stewart, the recreation director, to accept a donation for $77023 from Country Wins. >> Move acceptance. >> Second.
>> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> I. That's unanimous. We have a request from William Chase because it wouldn't be a select board meeting without an item from the director of marine services. Um to approve a proposal for
an oyster restoration project. >> Welcome, Captain. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Can you turn off one of those? I think that might be responsible for the echo. >> Oh, okay. >> Just turn the button on one of them. >> On the >> button on that one. On this one.
>> On this one. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. Okay. Hey. Uh, just a couple of quick things uh for me. First of all, uh, doing my, uh, duty as department head, I just want to let you all know that the marine services department is very much in support of this restoration project. I think you've all been given
the information on this prior to the meeting. Is that correct? >> I didn't see it. >> Did it get added late? >> I'm working on it. >> It came in uh came in the other day. I just put it on to the presentation this afternoon. Uh in my in my view uh this is probably the most proactive and I
think environmentally positive project uh that's ever been uh started in the Westport River. Uh and I would urge all of you to take a good look at it and eventually to support it. Uh the other >> he's trying to just Are you Are you
trying to present something? >> I am. We'll get in a second. [laughter] The other thing I want to say is I just want to thank Rick Smith, Rick Smith publicly for this. He's put an awful lot of work into this project. Uh he's put together quite a coalition of interested
parties and uh it just runs the whole spectrum of uh Westport residents from the watershed alliance to the fishermen themselves and everybody in between. Uh so he's put together quite uh again quite a
coalition for all this and uh I would urge all of us to uh to support this. One one other thing that uh I need to say about Rick in addition to all the work that he's done on this project, he has brought integrity,
engagement, and enforcement to all things shellfish within the river. And I just want to publicly thank him for all of that. >> Thank you, Rick. Wait, wait. We're >> Have we Have we got it or not got it? >> Two screens going and I can't find
[laughter] >> He's having a little difficulty. So, can you just tell us a little bit about the the from the Oyster Restoration Project, can you tell us like how it's funded and what it is? I'm sure he has some great visuals here. >> Yeah. Well, so the the the two who know all of the answers uh intimately are right behind me. I think I should give
the microphone to the two of them so they can explain it. Um I can say this much. I did ask u Dan Gulot who's from the uh nature conserv conservancy in the beginning how much was this going to cost the town and he said zero and he
said that more than once so we're going to hold him to that we do have to provide I guess like kind is the is the term for that uh in other words we need to provide some support just in our normal execution of our duties to help
them get through this uh but there is no money from my budget. There was no money from the town either for this. So, >> thank you. Did you Did you want to talk to this or do you Does you have someone else? We You're finally showing it. >> I think Dan needs to speak to this. I think Dan or Rick should really speak to
this. >> Now, I got to turn that mic back on. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. And um first of all, I I want to thank the director for the kind words. Um but in in due
diligence, this is a partnership and we are we're working diligently and we're working together. So director, thank you for the kind words. Um but without your leadership, we couldn't get this done. Um just to make this very simple, we don't want to take too much of your time. Um with me is Dan Gulot from the
Nature Conservancy. Dan um came to us in the early fall with the Department of Marine Fisheries [clears throat] with Sean Terrell to talk about potential for an oyster reef restoration project in the Westport River. And we were picked for the
reasons that Dan is going to talk to you a little bit about this, but you know Dan who is he's committed to this. He works for the Nation Conservancy, but prior to that, he spent 30 30 years in the Navy and um you know served our country proudly for 30 years and now he's moved on to another venture in his
life. Um what we have done as as Dan had asked us to do and guided us um is to try to get some community support in this. So as the director said, we went out to the watershed um alliance uh they approved it. We met with some of our
partners, our private partners on the other side of this, which Dan will talk about. Uh we took it in front of the shelfish advisory board. They unanimously approved uh the plan and what we hope to get done, as well as the Harbor Advisory Board. Um so we spoke to those three entities as well as other
people throughout the community. We've had great support for this and and we have great hope that in the next 3 to 5 years, we're going to see a huge difference in not only the water quality within the Westport River, but the the fishery, the oyster fishery, and the potential for the oyster fishery to
grow. So Dan put together um as well as DMF um the PowerPoint that you're going to see and it will kind of guide you will guide you through um quickly what we're going to quickly what we're going to do
here um and uh we'll go forward from there. So I've said enough. Um I want to thank you for your time and I want to thank Dan for coming out on a freezing cold night to move something forward in the freezing cold river right now. So Dan, it's it's all yours. >> Thanks, Rick. Select board members, Mr.
Town Administrator, thanks for making some time in the meeting for me. Um, like Rick said, um, you know, as in the leadup to this project, which is actually funded by the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service. Um we did a statewide analysis using habitat
factors, logistics, and a few other um social um factors like the number of people on conservation and shellfish teams and their capacity to help us and partner with us on a project. Um Westport scored right at the
top of the list. And uh Sean Terrell, my DMF counterpart who couldn't be here tonight, he lives up in Gloucester and had some other meetings so he couldn't make it down. um really feel like Westport is one of the best places in this state to bring oysters back and
it's a place that historically had um very large oyster populations, wild oyster populations in the past. So, our analysis brought brought us to Westport. Um, and we think oysters can provide uh
a huge amount of not only ecological but social, economic, um, and water quality benefits to town residents. And even if you don't like to eat oysters, you want oysters in your estuary. They are the foundation of everything else that makes
an estuary healthy. Um, oyster reefs, like you can see up in that picture, provide the structural habitat that functions to support nursery fish, to support a whole host of forage species and plant life that those fish and all
other creatures in the estuary can feed on. It provides shelter from predation. Uh, it helps to uh lock sediments in place. And above all that, they filter a bathtub of water a day each. So they can
pro produce um nitrogen removal and uh benefits to water clarity, which also sort of translates over to the recovery of seaggrass and the base scolops that come along with the seaggrass population. So, a lot of ecosystem
benefits that come to the community from rebuilding oyster reefs in the estuary, the east branch of the Westport River. Um, this is a a slide. I'm not going to read all those, but I think it's really important to know that if you put your face in the water with a mask on, just
about any estuary in Massachusetts, what you're going to see is that top picture. Um, it's a desert. Um, and what once was a thriving ecosystem is now a desert due to overh harvesting of oysters and not returning shell to the water. Um,
siltation from upstream land use changes and nitrogen getting into the into the water from a variety of sources. Um, when we build a reef like we just did out in Mashp a few weeks ago, um, we put shell back in the water because without
shell, oyster larae will not survive. Um, and that builds a foundation, like a foundation of a house. And, um, in subsequent spring and fall seasons, we put out live oysters onto that reef substrate. Um, we put out oyster seed
onto that reef substrate. And then the water column starts to colonize with all the other creatures that are in there. And what you end up with is this uh picture number three at the bottom, which is a reef that's populated by um
hundreds of different organisms um all contributing to the health of the estuary in some way, but also contributing greatly to recreational and subsistence fishing in the estuary. You can't have a healthy, thriving fish population if you don't have healthy,
thriving estuaries, including oyster reefs. Next slide. So, this project um is, like I said earlier, it's funded by uh an $800,000 grant from NRCS. Um it's a statewide project that includes the assessment. Um
it will not cost the town of Westport a single dollar other than inind time as we tap into Rick and Bill to get us out on the water here and there or the town needs to process a notice of intent for permitting. Um, basically normal daily
business of the town that would be in support of this project is where the town would contribute in kind time and services to the project. Um, the project will flow through, by and with the town. So, the town maintains control
throughout because the town controls the shellfish propagation permit and the select board controls the lease sites that would be used for restoration. Um, and the town would also control the environmental per permitting process, the notice of intent and issuance of the
order of conditions through the conservation council. So although TNC and Mass DMF are coming in as enablers with money and expertise from myself, Sean and other contractors to put the reef in place and populate it. The town
maintains control. And then the third piece of this is all of the oysters and the seed would be purchased and sourced through local oyster growers. Um that would then provide additional economic
benefit and those oysters would be sourced during the time of year when those oyster growers are generally dormant. So supplementing them with an alternative income stream during times when they're normally not making any money. um we would come in and buy
oysters that maybe are the wrong size or a little bit ugly and they can't go to market as half shell oysters. We purchase those oysters and put them on the restoration site. So, a lot of different overlapping benefits. Roughly a 3 to 5year project. Right about by
year 2 and a half, three, the reef is in the water and we've populated it with oysters. And then years three through five are generally monitoring for the reef. So, um, that's also paid for by the Nature Conservancy and DMF or we do
it ourselves. So, you know, we're coming into your community and we're trying to um get Westport to accept a project that's going to have great benefit to the community um at very little cost to
the community, but at the same time, we need you guys to trust us and we need to um be committed to the project, which we absolutely are. So, um next slide. So these are some of the areas. Um on the left you see mapped out our exclusionary
areas that have use conflicts. Those could be a moing field, a channel, uh a cohog relay site. Um so on the left are all the areas or they could just be aquaculture sites which we don't want to disrupt the aquaculture industry in Westport. So we're avoiding those. Um
and in the green you see areas that are potentially suitable or uh or optimal. green is really where we're looking and really where we're looking is up in the upper east branch of the Westport River. Um just to the south of Hicksbridge,
um north of Hicksbridge, there is an existing wild oyster population, albeit very small. Um, we think that the upper east branch is a really ideal site to restore roughly 10 acres of wild oyster reef that would provide enormous
benefits to the waterway and the town and um eventually expand further if there's a desire to and based on the success of the project. Next slide. So this is sort of a notional these are not planned sites. We have not got to
that stage yet, but this is a notional interpretation to scale of what 10 acres looks like. Um so, you know, some of those acres for three years would be off limits to harvest. And then after
several years of restoration um in partnership with Rick and Bill, we would make assessments on where places could be opened up to harvest um without sort of, you know, degrading it back and and killing off the restoration sites. So that's an adaptive management decision
that's based off of monitoring. Um but this is what 10 acres looks like in the Upper East Branch. That hashed area is where historical oysters existed according to um the records. So roughly 300 acres of oysters used to exist in
the upper um east branch of the Westport River. At this point I would say we are down to just a couple of acres um that currently exist up there. Our hope is that if we get these 10 acre sites established, they will start to produce larae and then we can put shell out and
that shell, additional shell will catch that larae seed and these reefs will start to spread um and create a self-sustaining ecosystem. Next slide. So here's sort of the baseline budget. I don't know you guys don't want to deep dive, but um everything's coming from
TNC, NRCS, or DMF with the exception of a rough estimate of $5,000 of inind time over that three-year project period um for Rick, Bill, and perhaps the conservation agents time to um process
paperwork because it does have to flow through the town legally under Mass General law. Next slide. And then this is a this is a picture of us a couple weeks ago out in Mashpi putting out uh oyster shell in a
embainment right off of Bay. Um this is phase one of this project and in a couple months we'll be putting live oysters onto the shell and they will spawn this summer and hopefully oyster larvae will attach to all this additional shell that's now available.
And you know we are thinking sort of beyond just this 5-year grant. Um TNC is already budgeting additional funds to take this project beyond the five-year grant period and ensure it ends with
success. You know, what we're looking for as an endstate is sort of 15 to 20% of that historic 300 acres. So, I mean that's um right around 50 to 60 acres total that ends up being restored in the east branch of the Westport River, which
would be a system scale restoration that would produce significant benefits across all those things that I talked about earlier. Um, and you know, we really want to partner with Westport on this. We feel like local growers are in
support. The watershed alliance is in support and um we hope that the select board will be too. >> Right. Thank you. Yeah. >> Thank you for the information. Can I can I just I'm not completely clear on what you're asking for what action you need this board to take today.
We'd like approval to move forward with additional surveys in these areas so that we can come back with specific points or areas that have lat latitude and longitudinal demarcation and say we want to build reefs at these specific
sites. >> Jim, do you have any more clarity on that? Like what is the action that we need to do here? I think it's just general guidance saying that the board is in somewhat in favor of the program and we want to see where the final sites are before final approval is. >> Okay. So, you're not looking for final.
>> We didn't want to proceed and bring you final sites without you first being briefed and then having >> knowledge of the project so that when we do come back >> um then there's it's easier to proceed from there. >> Right. Go ahead, >> Madam Chair. Just just a point. Um, you
know, this we realize this is townwide and a lot of people may have questions out there. Um, we have gone, like I said, we've gone in front of the shellfish advisory. We've talked to all the fishes. We talked to the people that fish those areas all winter. Um, they're all on board. They understand our
responsibility to go out when we're out on patrol, when we're out checking areas, when we're out doing our eelgrass studies, which by the way, we've been doing water quality studies and eelgrass studies with different educational institutions from both Rhode Island and uh the Commonwealth of Mass. So, this is
all part of a longer long-term project to keep our river or clean our make our river cleaner so that it it does benefit as Dan said, it does benefit the community. um you know the downstream effects of of everything that comes into
the economy from this but also um to keep the river and the water quality clean. Um there's a huge fishery up there uh for oysters that has been decimated and over time for a number of reasons as Dan said. Um some of it's
pollution, some of it's over fishing, some of it's all kinds of stuff. >> Um sediment, whatever. And our our mission is to is to clean all that up and then turn it into a vibrant fishery again. >> Thank you. >> For the benefit of the community. >> Madam Chair, I have a few questions.
[laughter] Um, I've been provided information on this project and I think it is obviously very important to the ecosystem and to the river. My only concern is, as Rick has pointed out, I think maybe the public wants to know. I on my other hat I sit on conservation,
there's been some eel grass restoration stuff that has gone close to, you know, uh, property owners along the shore that have caused issues. So, my concern is from a public standpoint, you're saying it's a little bit south Hicks bridge. I know there's a lot of boat traffic in there. There's a lot of water skiing. Is
there situations where that may get shut off and will the public be educated to that? You know, we don't want to lose the use of it, but I understand the the importance of the of that. So, how does that work? And how does that education component work? >> Yeah, I mean the we want the public to to own this project. I mean, it's it's
their river. And I think, you know, of all the communities on the south coast, Westport is the one place that identifies with its river more than any other community on the whole south coast. If you go over to Dartmouth and ask someone about the Sloum River, it's kind of um but you know, the Westport
River is the focal point of this community. And we want to make sure we avoid use conflicts, you know, and I think all of our reef restoration uh generally occurs below high tide level. So, um and we're looking to stay out of conflict areas
like boating channels. >> Um the the oyster restorations also bring huge benefit to salt marsh >> by providing frontal edge protection and possibly even accreing sediment behind the reef to allow that marsh to expand. So, we're really looking to push these
out to the margins. Um, stay away from private property owners uh frontage and look at places that are currently undeveloped um in order to um produce effects on salt marsh that may be impaired right now as well as all the other benefits
oyster brings. So, we will work with Rick and Bill um we'll work through you. will work through other committees um in the town to really be deliberate and careful about how we identify these places. And there may be instances where a homeowner is absolutely in favor of um
an oyster reef out in front of their salt marsh because it may prevent their marsh from eroding and um force them into a bulkhead or a seaw wall or some other hardened solution. So um oysters can provide that in a in a living seaw wall. So,
>> we'll definitely proceed slowly, cautiously, and through buying with everyone in the town. >> Rick, did you want to add to that? >> Ju just as a followup um what Dan said, Jake. Um if you look at that chart up there, that's kind of a beta site, but it gives you a pretty good idea idea of
what we're looking at. Um all those areas are not in within any channelneled areas. Um those are off the beaten path, so to speak. Those are where people are oystering or can oyster. um historically have u but if you look at that chart it's a good
indicator of where we're thinking of it's it sets a mindset on where we want to be to be out of the people's way um you know there's there's there's not a lot of water in those areas and whatnot and the other thing too is um we have been doing eelgrass mapping mass Boston
um so we have a pretty good idea both by drone and by boat with camera the director and myself have been with the team from UMass Boston um in their boats, well in our boats with their cameras plotting eel grass so we know where the eel grass is within the
river. >> Jake, did you have more? >> What? Just one more question, Madam Chair. Um you said that it's a partnership with local producers uh and we have obviously two pretty successful oyster farms here and you've discussed with them. I mean, are they willing to take on that extra capacity? And if if
not, would that go to somebody outside of Westport or how does that work? >> So, when we had the the big group meeting at the uh River Watershed Alliance headquarters, um both oyster growers were in attendance and both basically indicated
that they're they would be supportive of providing additional product to support this. I think as the scale of this grows, there may be a need to to pull in some additional oysters from outside the Westport River, but I think that would be on a case-byase basis, and those
would be that they would go through the DMF vetting process before they'd be allowed to be moved. >> Right. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Chair, I I think this is a great project. I'm really glad you guys came up. Um, a couple years ago, my son-in-law dove the scarring hole for the waterershed. And
um, you might want to you might want to ask the waterershed what they found. He actually took a video of the scaring hole just down from the bridge. You might be able to harvest some stuff over there. There was huge. You know, the Army Corps was looking to remove the debris from the old bridge and fill that
scaring hole. I heard that thing was packed, >> big giant oysters, >> right? And they the waterershed's got a video that my son-in-law took of that. >> Yeah, we actually discussed with one of the local hatcheries being able to take some of those local oysters to the hatchery and do a large spawn event with
them um and then bring all that spawn back to Westport. >> Now, this this like studying stuff, how's that going to work with with the um the co- relay stuff that that that we do? >> So, we'll avoid the Cohog relay area completely. >> [snorts] >> But it's okay because I'm kind of
familiar with that too. I grew up in Breeds Cove. >> I'm 64. So the first time they started digging the co-agon river, >> I was like about six. [laughter] I remember that. >> All of those areas are delineated in in the other chart up there as well. Um and
as as everybody knows DMF and the division marine services, we work very closely with DMF on the the whole um oyster relay project. So, we've identifi we know where those areas are and we probably know them too well. >> Oh, I think the oysters [laughter] will help that stuff, too, cuz I mean they're
bringing them in, you know. I mean, the oysters are going to purify. I mean, it's that's that's this wonderful for the river. That's what we really need to do. >> Is there anything else from the board? Is there anything from from the public? Any questions? I think it sounds like a great project. It's not clear to me that we actually need a motion to support it.
Um, I don't know. Do we need a motion? >> We can make a motion just to support the continued development of the oyster restoration project. Second. [laughter] >> Is there any further discussion? All in favor? >> I I That's unanimous. Thank you. >> Thanks, Scott. Okay. Thank Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. [cough and clears throat] >> Um we have 4 D. We have a request to approve certificate of substantial completion for the Digit Construction LLC. Jim, you want to tell us about this? >> Yes. So, this is the waterline contract up along Route 6 in the MCumber
neighborhood. Um they are near the end of the project. They still have some uh minor punch list items to do. I think they have four or five connections that they're going to start this week on Route Six that they've been holding off on. All of the Route Six work within the layout is
complete. All the patching is complete. The roads have been overlaid. Um like I said, there's some uh loming and seating along uh the center island of Route 6 that they did before the winter, but they'll probably have to do again in the spring. Um this has gone to the engineer
Kleinfelder engineering and they have recommended uh approval of the substantial completion and it's substantial completion is essentially regulated by state law. Um if the punch list items are less than 1% um we need
to red reduce the retainers down to 1% or the punch list whichever is greater and the punch list um according to Kleinfeld it is less than the 1%. So I would recommend granting the certificate of substantial completion. >> Thank you.
>> Are there any questions? >> Madam Chair, um you said so the punch list is you said just four or five connections are left for them to do at this point. >> That's the majority of it. That's probably about $25,000 worth of work and
rest is just touch-up stuff. >> Okay. And have you heard back from anyone with any concerns or complaints as to where we're at right now with the completion of it >> last couple of months? I have not. In fact, we had one one resident come in and compliment us. So, we'll take that.
>> I've not been a uh strong supporter of digit construction, but I think they've at least brought the roads back to more than passible conditions. So, um I'll probably support this. >> Anything else? I was if I could ask the uh town administrator, are there any
bonds involved in this? Is this uh organization has >> There is a bond and they're required to hold the bond until um the retainage is released. >> Mhm. >> And I I'd have to double check, but they may be required to hold it until mass DOT releases Okay. >> Um their permit, >> right?
>> Actually, we wouldn't release the final release until Mass DOT signed off anyway. So, yeah, there will be a bond in place. >> Good. Thank you. >> Anything else? was the pleasure of the board. >> Madam chair, I'd move to uh approve the
uh certificate of substantial completion. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I oppose. >> I'll abstain. >> So we have Were you in favor? >> Yes. >> Okay. So we have four in favor.
>> This is a good project. Uh, we have a request from Michael Burrus, the town planner, to endorse the hazard mitigation plan. >> Hello. >> Welcome. >> Hi. >> You're not going to go through that whole book tonight, are you? >> No, [laughter]
I promise. And if you want, >> I promise I will not, but this is a lot [clears throat] of good info in here. So, >> all right. So, I have here Annaise Boland from PAR Corporation. They were the consultant with us on this project. We started this a couple years ago with
a grant application to MIMA and uh received funding for that and we went out uh and selected PAR as the consultant for it. So, it's been about a 2-year project that we've been working on to update the town's hazard mitigation plan. The last one was, I
think, last adopted in 2009 or something like that. >> 2004. >> 2004. So, even even longer than I than I was thinking. So, uh it's been a long time coming and it's I it's an important thing to make sure that we keep this up to date because then it can um unlock access to different grant opportunities.
So, would you like to give the the board an overview? Sure. So, hello everyone. Thank you so much for having us tonight. My name is Annie Spoiland. I'm a civil engineer at Park Corporation and also a planner. I'm also joined by Jimmy Lacrosse, um, who also
helped participate for this hazard mitigation plan update with the hazard mitigation planning committee. I want to thank the committee members so much for their dedication over the last 18 months. There's been a lot of data that's been collected, reviews, um,
continuous reviews of information as it's been updated and been reviewed the public. So, I just wanted to thank them as well for their hard work. Um, a lot of effort goes into this plan, so we're happy to summarize some of it for you tonight. Just a quick overview, the presentation will be brief. There's a
lot of content to go over, so if you have any follow-up questions, please let me know and I can elaborate on some of that information. information is also available on the town of Westport's website where we have recordings of some of our past public meetings as well. So, we're going to be talking about the
hazard mitigation planning process, the data collection and the natural hazard identifications, that data that was collected, what we found um through that analysis, and then what goals and objectives were determined and then finally the proposed measures and
implementation steps next. So for anyone who isn't familiar with the hazard mitigation planning process is a program through FEMA and uh natural hazard preparedness by FEMA is defined as the hazard mitigation reduces loss of
life and property by listing the impact of disasters. There are lots of different planned benefits by communities going through this process and identifying which natural hazards most impact them and where they're most vulnerable. It includes protecting public safety,
reducing damage to existing and future development, preventing damage to community assets and also helps connect communities with um obtaining some of their goals collectively and then achieving some of those objectives as well. And as Michael mentioned, the last
plan uh that the town of Westport had was back in 2004 when FEMA first launched their um hazard mitigation program. So the hazard mitigation program has required updates. The plan has to be updated every five years and in that
five years you have to identify what new natural hazards may impact your community most. Um that includes natural hazards and climate change impacts. Then review if there's any new community assets that need to be inventoried into your plan and then engage the community
to understand um what impacts they see the most. So tonight we're at the finish line um requesting plan adoption from the board. Tonight we've gone through the planning process and resources through the hazard
mitigation planning committee identifying all those resources and collecting that data for us. Then we went ahead and did the risk assessment process where we take all that data and kind of break it down to understand um where the town is most vulnerable. Then
from there, determine mitigation strategies for how we can better protect the town of Westport and its community assets. And then finally, we're at the finish line, which is the request for the plan adoption. From here, then it'll be sent to MIMA and FEMA for review if
it is adopted. And that takes about two to three months um for that federal and state process to review the information. So, I'll just go over this briefly um to talk a little bit about the data that's been collected and the natural hazards that have been identified. Like I
mentioned, the hazard mitigation planning committee helped collect all the town's um previous planning documents and reports for PAR to be able to review the content of it. Uh one of the major items was the municipal vulnerability preparedness summary
findings. That was a workshop held back in 2018 uh that collected a lot of information for the town of Westport. Um in addition, there are a few other different plans that we used as well. Then we had our first public meeting back on October 17th where we issued a
survey out to the public and then invo in invited the public to join us to go through some of the findings of that initial data hear from the public where their areas of concerns were making sure that all the community assets were properly identified and then from there
moved into the risk assessment phase which then led to the mitigation strategy development. So once all the data was broken down and actualized, we were able to have constructive conversations about where we wanted to implement strategies and where that made
the most sense. So we took um resources from other action plans that have been developed also in the past few years, such as the East Beach Corridor vulnerability study, and reviewed those action plans to understand what is still applicable and should be carried into the hazard mitigation plan and which
ones may have already been completed. And then we had a public meeting on June 16th where we talked about some of those draft mitigation strategies, refined it with the hazard mitigation committee and then now have our final um mitigation strategies outlined within the final
document. So just a quick summary, FEMA requires 14 um natural hazard types to be reviewed and analyzed. And out of those top natural hazards for Westport that were identified was flooding, coastal
storms, extreme temperature, and high winds. And then from there, uh, hazard mitigation goals and objectives were identified. This included goal number one, reduce the loss of life and property due to natural hazard impacts.
Goal number two, improve flood plane and infrastructure management resilience in the town of Westport. Goal number three, refine communications as it relates to emergency preparedness and natural hazard impacts. And then finally, goal four was protect water quality for
environmental assets in the town of Westport. So in total, based on those four main goals and objectives, 29 proposed mitigation measures were developed. Again, I won't get into all the details, but I'm happy to take questions if you
have specific items regarding some of the mitigation measures in the table, but just to highlight on some of the items. Um, to summarize them, storm water management, planning, and covert upgrades are a few that are identified for target areas. Flood plane management
and coastal retreat feasibility studies is another one for certain specified areas discussed with the public. roadway and signage improvements for low-lying areas and evacuation routes was also discussed. And then leveraging regional partnerships for extreme heat mitigation
strategies and tree management strategies. And then finally, public education strategies for emergency preparedness, communication, and then flood plane awareness as well were some of the topics identified for that public education. So now Michael's just going
to talk a little bit about the next steps for the implementation plan. um and then moving forward. So, >> so what we'll be doing um in a couple of months this spring is to reconvene the hazard mitigation planning committee um after FEMA hopefully approves the plan.
And so right now that committee is is staffed by myself, Chief Dunn, um and Chief Baldwin, Phil Weinberg, and Jim Whiten. Um and we agreed to meet quarterly moving forward after FEMA
issues. it's uh it's its approval. And so what we'll be discussing as a committee is completing the projects that we have currently ongoing as well as identifying projects that we would like to prioritize in the future. Um so
a couple that are related to this plan that are ongoing right now is the barrier beach management plan. We've talked about that a lot. Um particularly as it relates to East Beach, but also it involves Atlantic Avenue and Beach or um and Beach Avenue. The climate resilience
committee is working on its climate resilience plan. So that's uh a very similar plan to this, but it's a more overarching plan that is looking at um different segments of um the town that this plan doesn't give attention to. So,
for example, the climate resilience plan has a whole robust section on um climate change health impacts that isn't necessarily considered in the hazard mitigation plan because it's more related to the built environment and policies and projects that we can um
implement to improve the um or to reduce risk to life and property. Um and then we'll be continuing designing uh culvert upgrades. I think you if you recall we had Buzzards Bay Coalition do a presentation on this for uh Drift and
Cornell roads a couple of months ago. Go to the next slide. So there are a number of different um ongoing projects. Well, I guess there are a couple of other ongoing projects I can can talk about as well. Um our climate resilience plan is identifying
vulnerable historic resources. Um we also have ongoing a storm water hotspot analysis which is like taking a um subwaterhed of the Westport River wershed and doing an analysis of um land use characteristics the town's drainage
infrastructure uh soil types and developing like a heat map for areas that there may be storm water issues um to identify uh to give us some priority on where to focus on um storm water upgrades And we have another project
where we're going to do a salt marsh analysis, looking doing an assessment of their vulnerability of the the salt marshes um particularly the marsh islands and then looking at other areas that have not been studied um to see if there are opportunities to facilitate
their landward migration. So on to upcoming projects. We have submitted a number of one-stop eco1top expressions of interest for a handful of different projects. Um one is
a is to continue the work that's being done for the barrier beaches. So um some things that have been discussed is having a getting some assistance with developing a dune and shoreline change monitoring program together. doing some
public education related to signage on the barrier beaches as to what is allowed on the barrier beaches, what's not allowed. Um trying to encourage people to stay off of the dunes or um be a little bit more careful when they're backing up vehicles on the dunes so
they're not backing into into those dunes, things like that. Um and then we've discussed having a a beach grass or asking for funds for beach grass planting and um to stockpile material. um that's compatible on the beaches to
facilitate um to to bolster vulnerable sections of the barrier beach that are that's right adjacent to the roadway. Um, we have submitted another expression of interest to identify evacuation routes and
acquire signage to um install on local roads to lead people onto the main arterials into town. So, this is particularly I think more uh important for visitors in town who may not be as
familiar with the local roads. And then we would also like to as a public education component as well in areas where there are roads that are likely to flood in a major storm surge event have signage indicating that this is a road likely to flood during a storm event and
and to indicate the height that it could flood to under a 100-year storm event. And then we are we have been trying to work on getting funding to do storm water and flood resilience at the head of Westport. It's an area where the bridge
is overt topped during flood events. And so we have in the last year requested funds from um the mun municipal vulnerability action grant program to do that analysis and to come up with some um basic engineered
plans. We missed the cut by about two points. So, we're going to resubmit that um and hopefully get get that to move forward. And then we also have um some other other grants outstanding right now for the cold water culverts. We have a $3.4 million grant that's outstanding
for that. Um and tomorrow I'll be submitting another uh $1 million request to the National Fish Passage Program to move some of those projects through engineering and and construction. Um and then uh well, I have one one more item on here. We are going to be looking
at updating the master plan. So this will all kind of fall under the umbrella of the master plan. Um so maybe we'll be doing that in 2026. And then the fire department and the board of health have done some work on there or some research
on um a an e alert system for the town in the event of uh there's some sort of event that they need to put out a push notification for on people's phones, you know, massive flooding or something like that. Um Chief Baldwin, would you like to say anything else about Code Red?
Right. >> And while he's doing that, I also have some handouts for the board. This was a presentation. I don't think it's been brought to the select board yet, but um it's something that was prepared by Matt Arando and Chief Baldwin. I'll I'll touch on it briefly. Um there is a
presentation that we have prepared and we'd like to come back for a more formal presentation of the code red program. Um, basically [clears throat] right now the town has no formal way of notifying the public in the event of anything from a natural disaster, a boil water order, especially with the new water lines that
have come in, uh, closing of the transfer station, town hall, things like that. Uh, many local communities have adopted uh, Code Red. It's a it's a platform that allows you to send out uh, text messages, emails, phone calls. Um, it's nothing that we would overuse. Uh,
it would strictly be for emergency purposes only. uh if you overuse it, it tends to lose its people tend to uh remove themselves from the from the messaging. They would have to sign up for it. Um originally the cost came in just around $8,000. Um we don't have a source of funding yet. We worked with
the vendor and got the cost down to just over 4,000 and still offering many of the features that uh we think would be uh beneficial. Um during the hazardous mitigation process, one of the things that the committee discussed and members of the community was that there is really no formal way of communicating
with the public, whether it's uh social media or the town website. Um so I think this this platform here, it also uh can target certain areas if you had anything from a uh missing um elderly person possibly with dementia, active shooter
incidents, um just flood warnings, etc. it would, you know, it's a very versatile um program. It can be used for many different features. It's just right now just kind of nailing down that funding source. It also has some internal things for town government where uh it's my understanding that town hall has a phone tree for its employees.
This would satisfy that where a message could be sent out to certain departments, etc. Uh we have that internally at the fire department. We're able to message our employees through an app. Um it has to do with our dispatching CAD. So, um I think it's got a lot of benefits. I think the I think the cost is relatively u minimal. We
there are some grant options. Uh EMPG is a grant that would fund it. It's not I wouldn't I wouldn't recommend solely relying on a grant. Um and a good example of that is EMPG is most likely not going to be available in the state of Massachusetts this year because the federal government and the state of Massachusetts are not seeing eye to eye on things. So that um grant
[clears throat] that we relied on recently is now uh up in the air and uh most likely not going to get this year. So, um, again, you have the the presentation in front of you that was put together by myself and and mainly Matt Armando, um, we'd be happy to come back after the first of the year. If
there's an appetite for a funding source to, um, to dive into a little bit deeper. Um, and also, I want to just mention while I'm standing here, because I know Mr. McGwigan has brought it up, part of the communication would be a PIO, a public information officer. I think the town also needs that where if we had some sort of significant incident
in town where the information is channeled through one individual typically it wouldn't be the town administrator. It wouldn't be the fire chief. It wouldn't be the police chief because those individuals are usually on the scene working and actively engage somebody else that can come out and just address the public. So it all kind of falls back into communication and why I
think code red is important. We from the fire department um would have an aggressive uh signup campaign. Um QR codes, things like that can be posted around town. As you guys know, we do many public events. We would have a table set up there as well just to kind
of get people prepared. Um East Beach when it has to be evacuated, you know, those those people could sign up for that particular alert and and uh right now we we go out and hand out flyers. I know the select board sends out an email, but we actually bang on on doors down there and hand out a paper flyer. So, um, again, I've said a lot of, uh,
it'd be a good use to the department, uh, departments and the town and, um, if there's we'd like to discuss it further if you guys would like to have us back. >> Yeah, sure. >> We would. >> Anything else, Michael? I mean, I think you were on this committee, so I'm just giving you do anything you want to add to what they said?
>> No, thank you. >> Right. Any questions or comments? >> Jake, you usually start us off. No, I I actually [laughter] I I actually agree with Chief Baldwin on this and Michael and everyone else. Um I think it's it's necessary in today's day and age. I
think if a natural disaster happened, the fall back will be on the elected officials and those that didn't have a plan in place. So I appreciate um the administration, the chief and everyone taking the step forward. I think code red is great and for $4,000, we better
find a way to fund it for 4,000 bucks a year. So the action you're looking for is for us to endorse um the hazard mitigation plan. Is that what you >> That's correct. In order for us to submit to MIMA and FEMA, this the select board has to make an endorsement of the plan. >> Okay, >> I'll move that. >> Second. >> Second.
>> So we have a motion and a second to endorse the plan. Is there any further discussion? >> All in favor? I >> I. That's unanimous. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Um, the next item we have on the agenda is a request from Len Potter to approve
a twoperson private cemetery at 15 Aerson Lane. Um, this has been reviewed by the board of health and they have approved this. [snorts] Welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Len Potter. I'm a Richard Sanitarian uh right here from
Westport. Mr. Gala and his wife approached me about a year ago about obtaining a permit for a private barrier on their property. And they live at 15 Aterson Lane, which is off of Hosene Neck Road. It's a sub gravel subdivision
road, goes all the way down to the river when they're at the very end. So I suggested to them that they come up with a surveyed plot plan showing property lines and location of the cemetery and also resource areas that may be involved
such as riverfront wetlands set back etc etc and also wells in adjacent properties in their own well. It's quite a large lot. So they were able to come up with a plot that met all the criteria and what they're asking for is
permission. They've got board of health permission. We had a hearing with the board of health. Had a meeting D also approved that. Uh so now the third uh approval necessary is the board of selectman. Uh it's going to be a green burial and the board of health suggested
that it be a natural uh site. So maybe a field stone or a low marker to show where the burial site would be. And um the D requires in their general
regulations 200 ft from a well. They're 165 ft from their own well, but it is on a downhill gradient. So D thus granted permission on their behalf for the Gallagas to locate the cemetery on their
property and that's pretty much it. So we're here for the third approval which will allow them to get a permit to uh have their cemetery on their own property. That's pretty much it.
>> Thank you. You have anything? Madam Chair, my only question is the future ownership of that property. I mean, would >> it's going to have to be go shown on a deed. >> Okay. >> In other words, I won't say an easement, but
uh it's going to have to be shown the plan recorded and to indicate where that thing is. And there'll be will be a marker. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Gallagher is here, I believe. >> So, it will be marked. Yes. >> Yeah.
Thank you. >> But technically the a cemetery cannot be part of the area of the a lot. >> Okay. >> So that if you were subdividing and it has happened, you subdivide a property and the cemetery on it, you have to exclude that area.
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And I I know um many of us have heard of Betty Slade who's done a lot of surveying of these private cemeteries. People don't think there's that many cemeteries in West. There's like 110 because a lot of um back in the day
these bar on your property, right? >> So, what's the pleasure of the board? >> Madam Chair, I would move acceptance of this request. >> Second. >> Is there any further discussion? All in favor? >> I [snorts] >> I that's unanimous. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> I'd say congratulations. It seems cemetery. So, >> thank you very much. We appreciate you all. >> No problem. Um, >> so the next two items are kind of related. So we have a request to approve
the mediation agreement with the city of Fall River for the water enterprise fund. Been a while since we talked about this, Jim. >> S, this is first thing I worked on when I started in this position back four years ago. It's been going on and on. Um I walked into the office, it was a stack
of folders about this thick with bills going back to 2016 that had just um never been reconciled or at least never agreed upon uh with the city of Fall River. So we went through those. We had actually hired a um an accountant that specializes in water billing at one
point. Um unfortunately he passed before he completed his report, but um anyway, we've been working on it. Mr. S and myself went to mediation I think last January or February with uh Judge Moses back in New Bedford and we reached an agreement um
original billing was up close to 1.7 million. I I think we all realize that it wasn't even close to that but um the agreement that we reached with the city of for is $293,000. Um the Tupper water board has approved the agreement. I do not have the signed
agreement yet. was supposed to have it uh before this meeting, but we just weren't able to get it. Um but the agreement hasn't changed. So I would recommend that um the board approved the mediation agreement for 293,000.
Believe 150,000 is coming from OPA funds that we set aside last year to fund this and the remaining 143 would come from the water enterprise fund. >> Thank you. I know you were involved with this. Did you want to add anything? I hope Jimmy handled it. Think
>> very familiar with all the all the aspects. I >> think we moved to to um approve the funding of the agreement subject to receipt of the signed agreement. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion?
>> All in favor? >> I >> I That's unanimous. >> Um there was just one thing. So do we have the money available to to pay them once the agreements? >> We we do. We have 150,000 from OPER and we have 143 in the enterprise fund to pay. >> So they'll be paid in full on one payment or
>> Yeah, we'll do one payment. Okay. Hopefully next month we'll get that out. >> Um >> yeah, we all need to pay our bills. >> We need to pay our bills. >> Um the next item is a request to approve the intermunicipal water agreement with the city of Fall River. You want to explain this one? >> Yeah. So we had an agreement with the
city of Fall River which was a 10-year agreement that started in 2013 and expired in 23. Most of the other communities um well I say most the other communities Tivven Rhode Island as well as Freetown had renegotiated their agreements with Fall River because of the um mediation was never settled. Um
that our new agreement kind of got held up. Well, it did get held up. Um city council approved the agreement verbally the other night uh last week on Tuesday night. It's still uh there was a Tupper water board meeting I think this week where they will approve it as well. Um,
so at this point I'm not I was hoping to have approval from the board, but I think it'll be the next meeting when the board has to approve it. But just in general, this is more favorable to the town of Westport. Right now, we're paying 70% over Fall River's rates for each cubic foot of water. U with the new
agreement, we'll only be paying 55% above Fall River water rates, which is the same as uh Freetown and Tividan. uh and anything over a certain amount which is roughly around 27,000 cubic feet of water uh that rate would
be reduced down to 5% over four rivers rates. So as we gain new customers the overall cost of the water will be decreased. That 26 27,000 is right about where we are now prior to these new uh properties connecting. So, um, if
everybody uses the same amount of water that they've been using with these new properties, the, um, the additional CCF would be reduced from actually 70% as it is now down to 5% over for rates for that additional water. So, at this point, I'm not asking you to
take um any action. I am going to send it to town council. I sent it to him earlier last week. He had a couple of comments. Just want to make sure they're okay with it. It's a 10-year agreement, so we want to make sure every everything's good. >> Okay. So, you don't need you don't need >> don't need action on this right now. No.
>> Okay. So, is there any question? >> I just like to thank you, Jim, to get this resolved before you you go into retirement. >> It's been a long time. >> Jake, his hand up. >> Uh, just a quick one. This is is this where Mr. Mayor May came in recently
representing the water enterprise and went through these numbers for us? >> Yes, Mury has been helpful, very helpful as well. >> Okay. I remember that and I know we were looked upon that favorably. So this is sort of the end product of that >> and the IOC committee has been supportive and pushing it. >> Good.
>> Madam Chair, um so you're saying our water volume level is pretty much where it would need to be to get to the 5% overflow of rates or >> Yeah. And it would only be for that additional water. So anything over the 6,000. So >> So anyone under that is at the 55% over
>> Yeah. almost like a tax rate tax would be project uh property specific. It would be the overall payment that we pay Fall River. >> Okay. Okay. >> I mean, I've I've stated that I don't think Westport should be in the utility business anyway. And my only other concern, this is more of an environmental concern. Anyone that
drives by the floor of a reservoir right now with the amount of rain and we've had it is extremely low. And the question becomes does that uh inflate the price of uh what we end up paying even though you know over the forever rates because they can always keep setting their forever rates and we're still at a percentage over whatever
Forever is paying for that water. So um I'm not a fan of being in the utility business at this point especially when we only have a one-/ird adoption rate um by residents when they get connected to water only one-third adopt that. So >> m do it. So there was some talk about
forever taking it over. Um, has there any been any more talk about that? >> You know, I haven't heard anything specific. I know other communities are looking at long-term possibly tying in which >> may extend it in Westport or other communities, but nothing nothing specific.
>> All right. So, you don't need any action tonight. Is there anything else? >> Nope. >> Okay. Um, so I we have a request to approve an amendment to the employeement agreement for James Hartnet. So, um, if you took a look at the agreement, so
this is just, um, to allow, it's an amendment so that in case the new town administrator needs to consult with Jim after Jim's retirement, um, that we would be able to, uh, we have some, uh, a contract in place so that he could
consult with them. And we don't expect a lot of hours, I don't think. >> I don't I met with town administrator a couple of times and I don't think he's anticipating a lot of hours. I think it would be more just finding something that I have in my files that might be labeled a little differently from somebody else that would label it and
just give them updates on some of the projects if if if need be. >> Yeah. So it should be minimal >> if at all. >> So would this be like an hourly basis if like consulting? >> It's an hourly it's allows an hourly rate. >> Okay.
>> Um for consulting and it would be at the discretion of the town administrator. Okay. >> Obviously it would be budget limited. We don't have a ton of money >> and it's based upon his current hourly rate or the his right >> the the yeah the equivalent of that. >> Okay. I mean is it like minimums or you
know if the guy calls you up and >> No. It just says hourly rate >> 15-minute call like an attorney. >> No, I mean I'm not looking I'm just looking to help out a little bit. I mean if >> there's something to be said for walking out the door and not thinking about it too. So but if something needs to be
done Madam chair. >> Yes. >> Just one question on section one. It's is at the request of the town administrator or select board. >> Is there a reason why it's or I mean this is makes it easier if the select board has some issue they want you to
deal with and town administrator as well. And there's one that's not here. This the mention of select board is not to override the town administrator's request. He could according to this he can independently request your assistance. >> Yes. And by this we can do the same
thing if we had an issue that we want to >> that's the way it's worded right now. >> Okay. I just I think it it's clear. I just uh needed to talk about it a little bit to understand it fully. But it it sounds good to me is what I'm saying. >> All right. So it's pleasure. >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I that's unanimous. Um, we have a request to close the town offices for 1 hour tomorrow on December 16 from 12 to 1 for an employee Christmas lunchon.
>> Move approval. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> I. That's unanimous. >> We have a request u from Manny Sors to be appointed as a seasonal employee for the highway department. >> I decided [snorts] I wasn't going to do that.
>> Okay. So, you're withdrawing that? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I did. I did mention that to you, Jim. I don't know why it's on the agenda. >> Well, the agenda was on Thursday. >> Okay. >> All right. So, we're moving that from >> kind of enjoying retirement.
>> Um, we have 5A. We have the short-term rental application process. This is the other lingering one that we had for Jim to wrap up. >> So, as part of the there were two things as part of the town meeting approval last last year. They approved a zoning bylaw
that allows short-term rentals and they approved a town bylaw that puts the permitting authority with the select board. Um, and it allows the select board to promagate regulations to start the permitting process. Um, the short-term rental committee had
recommended a self-certification type application. That's fair. I think fire department approval when we were looking that internally here in the department. Um, we thought that maybe we should have,
you know, my suggestion would be to have the actual inspections, the board of health, the code enforcement officer, and the fire department inspect prior to issuing a permit. That would be my suggestion, but when I passed that around to the various departments, there was some concern
about just having the ability, staff, and time to do those inspections. So, um, I don't have a good answer for you on this one. There's two options. is one they can go with a self-certification. I think my only concern with that if they're self-certifying and the board is issuing a permit is there any
presumption that those certifications are correct. Um you know that was my concern. >> Madam Madam Chair, would that be something we could get town council to look at as to what the liability the town or the select board would have by
approving those types of permits? cuz I think with the amount of in uh safety code and building codes I mean there was it could be quite an issue with you know depending on accessory dwellings and what they have in there what they don't
have and I don't think we or the town want to be on the hook for that if they're self-certifying right but I also understand the manpower >> stands I mean right now I think there's 185 on the state list short-term rentals um okay that are listed with the state you know I'm sure there's more than that
in town that aren't necessarily listed. Um, you know, it's a lot of inspections. Um, >> yeah, >> you know, I I can do that. I can ask for town council. I can also, uh, suggest the three departments meet, board of health, building, and fire, and see what
their actual time constraints or how much time they think it would be to inspect these. Honestly, I think if they went out and they had to be inspected, I don't see the um compliance going to be that high right off the bat. I think it's going to be a struggle to get 180
some people in here and get certified. And then the issue is what if they don't come in? What's the followup? Do we send a notice out again saying, "Hey, you haven't certified. You got a month." They still don't get certified. Then what you know it's there's a lot of work involved in um and there's no easy solution. All
communities are dealing with this. So um right now they're permitted under the uh zoning bylaw. Um they say they need a permit from the uh select board, but we don't have a permit in place. So, I think they can operate. I don't think there's anything that prevents them. Once we get a permit in place, then they
should comply to those permit requirements. >> Chair. >> Yeah. >> Uh I own rental property, although I seldom and haven't done it in I don't know, seven or eight years uh engaged in short-term rentals. But I I looked at
this. Um, I think the only way to go is even though there are problems with this, uh, is self-certify. It's the only way to get this off the ground. However, that may not be forever. It could be that we do that for this year and then
continue to look at this and make recommendations. Maybe we'll have at that point, that point being probably after the summer, a better idea of how many we have and what the issues are. We'll also know if there have been problems,
but I don't know if I personally don't know how important it is to have to certify this with others with other departments in and as a go. I mean, this is like a trial run almost. And at [clears throat] some point, you have to, you know, these
these people own the property. They generally take care of their property. They have homeowners insurance on the property in all likelihood. Uh, so I don't think there's a lot here that's going to go wrong, but we won't know until it happens. and to engage in in an
an enormously complex process which was talked about when we had the subcommittee two subcommittees I think on this. So it was sort of acknowledged that although it's not perfect it's like the the best option of all those available. So I I don't know. I'm not suggesting that we go about this
in an unsafe way, but I think the practical problem here is at some point you got to trust the people that they're going to do the right thing and look for examples where it hasn't been done right and and you start to take action. We start to build up a understanding of who
the possible offenders might be. But pro I would say probably the majority of people there not going to be any kind of a problem here. So I think of this a little bit like a solution looking for a problem. I don't
know what the problem is, but it was understood right from the get-go that this is going to be a little bit dicey at first and it's going to be unclear. We may have to go with this and and run the risk. And that was not maybe the optimal solution, but it was the only
solution that seemed to be able to pass muster with the town meeting and everybody else. So that's what I'm suggesting that we I you know the recommendation here for tonight is to see if a reasonable system
can be developed. I don't have any problem with that. I don't know what that really entails. you've indicated that this is going to be complex and time consuming. So I I'm comfortable with it being taken in steps and we reconsider later in the year if we need
to do more uh certification by inspections, fire inspections and so on and so forth. So if you want to just have approval of this, I I'll vote for it. But I'm saying I don't know I don't know how urgent this is. >> What are we approving?
Well, the recommendation is that the enforcements and the select board staff meet to see if a reasonable system can be developed to implement this permit. I'm saying I don't know if we need to do that. I mean, like I say, I'll vote for
it if it's necessary, but I don't know what that that's really all about. You're going to have meetings. You're going to have a subcommittee. >> So, if you go with the self-certification, I don't think that's needed. >> So, Madam [clears throat] Chair, is there a sit? Well, I I think 185 You said 185 properties, right? Or
>> are on the state list, right? >> So, I mean, the inspection, these are obviously all seasonal, win uh summer, probably residents where they're getting, you know, obviously the most rentals. Is there a way that you could do like a hybrid, like a self-certification with a spot check? You know, does that cover the town any
better where like if you have 185, you spot you do 10% um spot check to make sure because I I mean, I think the only issue you have is do they have their fire alarms? do they have, you know, and I don't know if there's any ADA compliance stuff with that, but you know, you do a self-certification and
just have them do a much smaller number on a, you know, rotating basis each season. You know, granted, it probably take 10 years to get to all of them, but maybe that helps. I don't know. >> Well, one of one of the concerns, so first of all, we don't want to impede them from renting out their properties, right? So, we don't want to put
something in place that's too restrictive for them to just comply, right? So, I think we'd have to start with kind of a softer roll out anyway. Um, one of the things I was [clears throat] really concerned about was I want to be able if we have a complaint to send the fire inspector or the building inspector or the fire, you
know, whoever needs to go in there if there's a complaint. And so my thought was if they've self-certified, we just have some disclaimer that's like, >> okay, >> subject to, you know, you're subject to inspection from a real inspection, right? So what you were talking about is like a a policy of like maybe R like
doing so many per year and >> a rolling five%. And I mean, you know, and then you run the ris, you know, the homeowners know they're going to run the risk of possibly losing their permit if they're selected in the lottery or whatever. You know what I'm saying? So that that you would you would kind of encourage compliance by fear that they
could get that inspection. >> Well, and the other part is if we're going to have to do physical inspections on all of them, we have to increase the permit fee, right? I don't want to I don't want to we're already getting um we're already getting rental revenue um tax taxation revenue from the rooms tax.
So, I don't want to be too burdensome on the owners there, which we would have to be if we had to have all these vectors out, then you're going to have to charge more for a permit. So, I kind of like this idea of let's draft the policy of self-certification. Let's make sure it says that it's
subject to actually being inspected and then we kind of have like a no penalty kind of roll out kind of thing. But yeah, I think we do need to still work through the departments on how they're going to manage it or how our our new town administrator can help us work out
with the assistant to the town administrator how to work that out. >> But I think I mean I think we should just go forward with the self-certification with the option to and then see what else we build off from there. That's my opinion.
>> So I think we move forward with the No, I'll let I'll let Jacobs frame this one. Yeah, I don't think we need a motion actually. >> So, okay, then we just let the minutes show that we've proceeding with the self-certification process. It will build in spot checks.
>> Okay. Do we want to move that or I don't think we need to. But >> no, >> I think we just let the I think based on approval, we just let the departments look at that and see if that's even feasible. I I I don't think the honorary >> Well, that is the framework. So, let's give that to the framework of what we want you to work with departments and then see if you can come up with
something. So then I think we'd have to come back before the select board and set a fee for the permit, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Finalize the permit itself. >> Does that give you enough to kind of move forward? >> We're good. >> Give it to Paula to move forward. [cough] [laughter]
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um the budget recommendation. >> So we're required or required to get a budget into the select board in December. Preliminary budget. Um, some of these we went through at the last meeting, so I won't go into great
detail with some of these, but um, you know, we have had some positive improvements over the last couple of years. Our local receipts are are are coming in at the level of about 78 to 83% of actual of estimate based on the actual, which is the range you want to
be in. You want to be somewhere around 80%. Um, so that has improved substantially over the last couple of years. uh new growth came in at 627 which we usually budget about 400 knowing that it's going to be a little bit higher. Um that new growth for new revenue is
picked up in the following year anyway. So um when we split the revenues between the town and the school that is um accounted for in that calculation. We're now looking at any staff reductions. Um there's a unfilled position in the highway department that we're looking to
um cut from that department. There's two other positions that one they filled tonight and another one I think they're looking to fill um shortly. So those can still be filled within within the proposed budget of the assessor's overlay account that has been uh in the
positive for the last few years and free cash we certified at $3.6 million. Um this we talked about at the last meeting. Our biggest local receipt is excise tax. We were concerned last year because it decreased by about 5%. Um,
but this past year it went up 13%. So, um, we're back on the on the, uh, line that, uh, we've been using for the last few years. So, it gives us a better opportunity to project our local receipts. Uh, state aid, at least for
this preliminary budget, we budgeted at a 1% increase. So, that's conservative. On average, we're about 2.7 2.8% 8% increase a year. So if uh that comes in, that's I think around 165. It seems like a lot, but it's probably only about $165,000 more in revenue um that we
would split with these schools. Um expenses, uh salaries, you know, we we had years where we're going two two and two% a year. Now we're up closer to 4% a year. So that's um having an impact on our budget as well as all the other
municipalities. And there was a report I sent around that came from Mass Municipal, the perfect storm, which is just showing how all these communities are struggling right now with Proposition 2 and a half. Mass Municipal Association also came out with their own report last week, which uh kind of
indicates this, well, it does indicate the same issue. Um, health insurance, right now I have in the budget about a 15% increase. Uh we met with Maya today. Our insurance they don't insurance for health insurance but uh they mentioned that health insurance for most
communities minimum is 15% increase they're planning on this year some as high as 25%. So uh if we go over 15% that will be a big budget impact. Um right now we're like I said we're budgeted for 15%
increase and uh any flexibility we had in that account is pretty much gone after that 15%. >> Jim, are we working with other aren't we kind of ming co-mingled with other communities? >> We're part of Southeast and Mass Health Group. So we're with we added I think three communities in
the past year. So we're probably up close to nine different communities. >> Okay. uh regional school district is I think u um six or seven towns and >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And we had a big turnback from the health insurance from a year ago, right?
>> We did. We had I think almost $500,000. >> Mhm. But we're not expecting >> So, so for FY26, we kind of reduced that gap for our current fiscal year and then next year we average about 300. This year right now we're about $32,000 a
month in our payments. Um, so we were at 270 272 a year ago. So, uh, you know, it's going up. And last year, last two out of the last three years, you our insurance group actually bought down some of our
increase. So, that's like using free cash to offset your budget. So, eventually that's going to catch up. So, I'm hoping I think the 15% will cover us, is the is the short answer, but it's possible that it could go up more than that. Um, pension assessment was 5.8%.
That is a fixed number. We know what that number is. That's in the preliminary budget. Property insurance, I had a 10% increase. Um, we just reduced that after meeting with Maya today. They're looking maybe five to 6%. So, um, that'll help. State assessments.
Uh, I budgeted a 4% increase. That's mainly school choice and charter schools. Um, it's tough to tough to pick that number. It comes in all over the place, but I think 4% will cover us. Uh, as far as the town budgets, the original budget requests when these came
in were about $450,000 in the whole, um, the recommended budget, we get about $23,000 surplus, at least at this point, and that'll that'll change over the next month or two. Um, in order to get there, we had to cut the OPED down from 150 to
100. The part-time board of health clerk, we did not include that they request. That's about 27,000. That might be something the board wants to look at moving forward if some of our state numbers come in a little bit higher. And then the preliminary budget shows uh there was a highway vacant highway
position that was cut. There were three unfilled positions at the highway department. He just filled one tonight. He's looking to fill another one in the next month and the third one has been cut. Police department um they had requested an additional officer um that was not
included in the budget. Um, and they also requested school safety training. That was originally in the preliminary budget. That's why we have like a $23,000 surplus. I I'd suggest that we put that in a town meeting article because it's more of a one-time expense. They're
looking to do training with police, fire, in the schools. Um, kind of active shooting training. Um, when they do that, they have to do it over the course of two days because they have to split the shifts with the police and fire. Um, and it's all overtime and it's um, just bringing in the professionals. it's
expensive. This just shows you where we are for new revenue. So, this black line that goes up and down here um is where we've been for new revenue over the years. Um you can see last year we're actually very high at 2.2 million. The year before 1.9
million. This year we're about 1.7. Hopefully, by the time we end up going through the budget process, we can get that up closer to 1.9. Um but I don't see us much higher than that. We've been asking departments, uh, town departments and the school department to kind of plan for 3.5%
increase on a yearly basis because I think that's what the new revenues will support. Um, luckily we've been above that the last couple of years, but uh, we could very easily be below that red line of 1.4 million.
So, right now our new revenue uh, we're about $2.2 million and then we offset some of our costs. We got the campground was paid off last year. So that's a negative 147 that does not get charged against the um new revenue. We have
pension assessment that went up. Health and life insurance [clears throat] is still an estimate. Regional school is an estimate. State assessments is an estimate. But overall we have about 500,000 in deductions. So we have about $1.7 million to of new revenue to split
between the town and the schools. I just want to um just be clear in the budget that you've put together you for the school amount you took um the school amount from FY26 minus the 480,000 for
free from free cash that was used last year and then they get the and then the part of the 5446. So this is a positive a an increase over their 26th budget of $429,000, right? That's right. So that's what's in
your budget is a total increase, not no free cash or anything. Total increases to the school of $429,000. >> That's correct. >> Okay. But we don't have their proposed budget. >> We don't have their budget. I do know that they have about $700,000 in just salary increases alone. So um
>> that's going to have to be accounted for. Right now, we're looking, like you said, about 430,000 on the school side, um above last year's total budget. Um there's a couple of things that may allow us to increase that. Like I said, the state aid um coming in at on average
would give us about 165,000 local receipts. If we bump that up to 85%, we get up to an additional 300,000. Health insurance, um like I said, I'm 16% if we went down to 13. And after today's conversation, I don't know if that's going to happen, but that would
be about a $72,000 savings. School choice and regional schools, I'm hoping I'm a little conservative on those. If those all panned out, we'd be looking at an additional 370 for the schools. A total of 686 total, but 370, we split with the school. Schools get 54% of new
revenue. Town gets 46. So that's where that 370 comes. So on the high side, we're looking at about 800,000. And again, after today, I think that 800,000 is probably on the very high end. I don't see us going much above
that. >> Madam Chair, >> yeah, >> I have a question on the schools that you were just discussing. Jim, on this other exhibit, the expense, you have the community schools. You got two numbers in there for increase. One is a 1.8% and
then in a red 3.9. So, I was wondering if the 3.9 relates to what you had up there before. >> Yes. >> Or what what that relates. >> So, overall, a $420,000 increase would be the smaller number, which was what? >> 1.8 >> 1.8%.
Um, if we took free cash out of last year's money, it's actually a 3.9% increase. So if free cash out 480,000 free cash we put in last year. If you take that out of last year's budget and we reduce last
year's school department budget and just did apples for apples operating budget without free cash, it would be close to a 4% increase. When you bring in 480,000 free cash, it drops that down to 1.9% increase. >> So what let me see if I have this. So
that means if we in we do the same in free cash this year as we did last year >> for the school >> then it would be about a 4% increase. >> Yeah. So if we put 480,000 free cash in there it should be close to a 4% increase.
Some uh recommendations going forward and after I met with um Chris Vital last week and this is very preliminary. He just looked at the budget, you know, for for an hour while I was there. So, it's all fresh to him. But he had mentioned we have the engineers position in the
highway department. Um, you know, maybe putting that salary into the select board's budget salary line item. Give the select board some flexibility as to how to use that. Whether if it's for part-time engineer, whether it's for a communications IT person, um, it would give you a little bit more flexibility.
um whether you know could be media consultant u communications um it's not in there right now right now it's still in the highway department um budget firefighter position we did add one position um and again they changed
their revenue um they're bringing in roughly $1 150 to $180,000 a year that was not in there two years ago um they're following up on some of their ambulance billing which is so they're justifying that uh
extra position based on the new revenue that they're bringing in. It also goes back to a plan that I think they had years ago before I started where they wanted to get up to I think a sixperson shift for each shift. Um and this brings them I think uh within one shift of
getting that six person for each shift. uh the board of health, uh the clerk, um they made a fairly convincing argument the other night with the finance board that um they're looking for a part-time clerk. Um they are they do have their grant which they may be able to use some
of that grant funding for some of this clerk um or for some of these duties that this part-time clerk would have. But uh I think long term they're going to be looking for the part-time clerk. if revenues change coming in, that might be something the board wants to look at.
And then I had mentioned free cash operating budget for that um safety training. Um I took it out of the operating budget and I think it would be a good warrant article to put on for use of free cash. >> It t
>> um the first one where it's the engineer position, it says move the salary line item to the select board budget. If we did move that to the select board budget, do we have the ability to move it elsewhere? If we run out on a media communications and let's say it was only a $50,000
expense, can we use that other elsewhere? Can that be moved elsewhere? >> Only until February 10. >> That's it. >> On February 10 is when we have to put our recommended budget to the fin. >> Okay. >> So, um we could um we would have to designate where where we think it would
should go. >> Okay. Um, >> yeah. >> That that position, wasn't that determined in town meeting? >> No, the budget was set for that position in town meeting. >> Okay, that's all my question. >> And then I'm sorry. >> No, go ahead. >> Once it's in the budget, whether it's in
whether it's highway or select board in order to move that, if you wanted to move it to a different department, you would need town meeting approval obviously to do that. Okay. >> So, we So, that's what I'm saying. We'd have to budget. We'd have we can budget for it now. We can move around in the budget, but once once we send it off to FinCom, then we can't do anything. And
>> but can can you just remind us how much that was? Is that >> 120,000? >> 120,000. >> We had just over 120,000 in this year's budget and I budgeted 120 for next year. >> We had the 120 plus 3%. >> Just one more question on that on that safety training. I I think in today's
environment, it's probably going to be paramount that we to get some sort of training. And then this is maybe a specific outside of your scope, but of that 25K, is that just training at one particular school or is that all three schools? Will they do the training? >> It's a good question. I don't know. I believe it's one school.
>> Okay. All right. I think that's obviously something that we'd want to do in town meeting and want to do one way or the other and find a way to fund that. But I appreciate I don't think you've broken out the free cash recommendations here, but I think that's actually a very good use of free cash that training. So like my my
preference would be to take the 120,000 from the engineer department and then move like I don't like maybe 40 45,000 for a media person. >> I'm okay. Um I don't know how much I don't know if we've done comps or anything for that. I would my preference
would be to to move it to a media person and um some money for it um like I don't know part-time or some professional services or something like that for it and then probably this board of health clerk. That would be my thought.
>> I'm okay with all three of those and I think all three are probably pretty important. uh along the list of things that that are needed and I don't know if that part-time media person obviously if it's probably asking too much be possibly the PIO if there was >> well we
a media that would oversee the website and do be able to also interact I don't know >> because you wouldn't want them responsible for like the you want them to be the distribution of the information not responsible for the information right so that there's a single point of contact like I think
this code red thing sounds amazing And [clears throat] it would be good if there was a central point person that this person could then share on socials or broadcast or whatever. >> Um, but we probably need to come up with a job description for [laughter] the job.
>> I don't know. I have a hard time with the engineer position now. We had a very difficult time trying to find a candidate in the first place and I think some of our engineering projects are winding down. Um, but that might change in the future too. So I mean so because so one of the things you could so one of the things
you've said in the options here is um to set a separate professional services to be used for engineering kind work right? >> Yes. Yes. >> All right. So I guess we need to give a little more discussion on what to do with that. >> I think ultimately since he's going to
live with it we probably look to the to see the recommendations of the new town administrator. >> Yeah. Agree. What else you got, Jim? >> That's pretty much it. I We've been through this budget unknowns. We're still looking at state aid, state assessments, health insurance, and
diamond assessments. Those are the big ones. By the end of January, you will have very good idea of the state aid, chapter 70, and state assessments. Um, we should have a pretty good sense of what the health insurance will be by the end of January and diamond assessment,
probably February, late February. Okay. M is this in our presentation in our package? >> It is in Yes, it's under >> it's in the main presentation file. It's in the presentation. >> I didn't see it in there, but anyway,
>> it's the main presentation that he's been doing. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. Anything else you want to show us on this? >> No, that's pretty much it. But I do have the there's another um I can pull it up if you want. It just has the individual departments with the percentage increase for each department.
Mr. Brew was looking at that before. >> Did anybody have And we So we got that information, right? Does anybody have any questions or comments on that? >> I was paying attention to something else. Was that was the question >> the on the detail budget? So he wasn't going to pull up the detail budget, but if you have questions or comments on the detail budget,
>> the other one I had was the one about the schools the percentages. Like >> I will get those up on the website tomorrow. >> Okay. The draft. >> Yeah. Get the draft up. >> Anything else on the budget? >> You will not be sorry to be missing out
on the budget two weeks [laughter] from now. Will you >> It's like it never ends. You know, it's call you. You know how you're doing. >> We'll still see you at town meetings. >> What we're working on. >> We're going disguise. >> All right. Thank you.
Um, so next item we have is town administrator report. Yes, I passed out with the town administrator report is the piping clover summary from uh Cherry and Web Beach. It also I think they look at East Beach as well. A portion of East Beach, not so much where the uh town beach is,
but further further south almost down near Gooseberry. Um, but in general, you know, they've had uh they had a number of nests. I think they had eight nests this year, which is probably above average. Um, they had three successful broads hatching, but unfortunately none
of the chicks fledged. Um, they believe predators appear to be the primary threat to the success. Um, and it goes up and down. If you look at the statistics, look at the report. Each year is a little bit different. So, um, we will have to consult with,
um, we'll hire a new consultant or a consultant next year. There are some other companies that do this. It might be now that we're over $10,000, we're required to get quotes or at least solicit quotes from three different vendors. So, um, we will be doing that as well.
Route 177 roundabout, there was some discussion at the last meeting. Uh, we had a resident here. We did check with Mass DOT. Uh, they have are working on the response. They're just getting it approved. They should be out in the next week or so. Um, to that neighbor, I will
get copies to the board as well. The d the design is near completion though. Um it's been going on for five, six years now. I think the design the state does have $4.7 million allocated for the construction and that's scheduled to begin in 27.
>> So Jim, they do have the money and they're not waiting on anything to begin that construction. It's it's fully funded at 4.7 million. >> 4.7. It's in the tip. So the transportation improvement program is a regional plan developed by the state mass DOT and the southeastern regional planning agency and it's um scheduled in
the tip. It can get bounced back a year. >> Okay. >> You know some things change like a bid they'll offer bid this year when the bids might come in high and they have to shuffle projects around. It it's it's in line to be funded right now for 27 and >> for fiscal year 27 or for or
>> fiscal year 27. Okay. So that construction would start what like July of 2027. It's >> it's a slow process with mass DOT. I I would say probably late 27. It could be
even 28 before 28 starts >> and I've seen these projects get bounced back a year. Um >> I don't think anyone would be too disappointed with that. >> I can agree with that. Um, I've met with Chris Vital a couple
of times over the last couple of weeks. I I know he's been uh actively uh attending a number of community events. Um, he's been meeting with the select board. Uh, his official start date would be December 29th. And then Gford Road 177. Uh, just last
week we did get the mass DOT access highway access permit for that overhead signal. So, Power Engineering will work on a um a bid package to get that out to bid. Um right now, we need to expend the money by the end of June, which we will not be able to do. Just the lead time on
these um masts they're saying could be 3 to 6 months. Um so, we will uh request or there's a note there to request an extension of those funds. We usually get them extended, but um there is a process that has to be done to do that. >> Yeah. Why don't you? So that mass time
it's it's just a blinking light. >> Just a blinking light. >> Did they end up adding the extra duck and stuff like that in case they wanted to upgrade it or >> you know you asked me that and I never followed through with that, but I will check with PA tomorrow. >> Actually, I think I did follow through
on that and they said it was there. Um but I'll double check. That was a while ago. Might >> have been a year ago. >> That's all I have. Thank you. Uh, we have the minutes for December 1. >> Motion to approve the December 1
minutes. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I That's unanimous. Report on the bill warrant >> within the package. $2.1 million, which is a fairly normal number. It does add up after a while, but still I didn't
find anything there that was out of line. So, I approved this and I'm good to go for the next one, which is the day before Christmas. We weren't half a day on that day before Christmas. >> Uh, town hall is open. My last day is
Tuesday. Town hall is open till 11:30. >> Okay. Christmas that affects you got to get in and sign the warrants, >> which is not a problem. I'm as long as I know when I got to do it. >> There you go. All right. Um, liaison committee reports and suggestion for
future agenda. Jake, >> I know. Um, we had the climate resiliency committee meeting. climate resilience. >> It was an eventful meeting and we'll be moving forward with the recommendations on that. I think there's just a IOC meeting this week as well. >> That's it. >> Thank you.
>> I'm just trying to get back into it right now. So, >> um so in addition to the climate resilience meeting, I had a cable advisory meeting. Um I took a number of notes here. That was my first time attending that meeting. And um there were uh so we did appoint um we did
appoint the camera operator. I think they're doing a really good job partnering with school department and um and working to get the high school kids um trained and um up in that. That's pretty good. One of the things that we asked them for is some more some metrics um they should so that they can get some
metrics from the um like the views like which how many meetings have they been recording, how many views have they been getting, um what kind of engagement are they getting on the on the videos and things like that. So, we've asked for a little bit more uh quantifiable metrics because I think they are recording a lot
more than people think. Um and so we want to make sure that we get visibility to that. Um there was some discussion about um uh whether they need more equipment. So they they have some minor equipment needs that they'll use um from the cable advisory. I guess it's an enterprise fund. Um, but we did talk
about uh meeting rooms and um maybe this something we'll work with um the new uh the new staff at the select board office to there's or maybe the town clerk's office to arrange like a meeting room schedule. Um I guess there's not a lot I I guess the town clerk does some
juggling around um when when people um get meeting rooms, but maybe like some kind of reservation process for the meeting rooms so people know who's who's going to be in the rooms when. Um it's not a huge problem, but it seems like it seems like very simple to do with a
Google calendar. So um so some more metrics there and just some minor spend there and um yeah, that was pretty much all I had for the table. >> Okay. I already talked about as Greg did the uh council on aging friends at
Rachel's. Uh Jake and I attended a barrier beach for >> planning committee. >> Thank you. I forgot >> that was part of the uh hazard plan. I didn't have any questions on it because it was pretty clear. Um so that's something that's in process and we were
there just for input and Jake answered most of the questions. >> Thanks for reminding me from I was there. >> So we uh it was good and I don't know if we we have to go to that again. It's it's quite interesting actually. So I have other meetings coming up like CIPC
is rolling right along and we'll have some recommendations shortly. Uh landing commission meets tomorrow. I go there as you layers on and uh haven't seen the agenda yet, but that's about it. >> Thank you, Greg. >> Um you heard the report of the long-term
building committee at our last meeting, but uh I have two meetings coming up this week. I have the uh opioid settlement advisory committee meeting tomorrow night at 6 p.m. And then on Wednesday at 4:00 we have a meeting of the affordable housing trust.
Do you know if the um from the opioid committee I know there's been some kind of administrative questions like who's going to do the administration of the funds but um do you know if the board of health part-time clerk if they were envisioning that part of their responsibilities? Maybe can you maybe check? >> Yes.
>> Yeah. All right. Thank you. Um, >> that's also something that came up in my conversations with um, Chris. >> Okay. >> All right. Do we have any comments and statements from the public? >> Well, [laughter] we don't have a public. There is no
public. I forgot to announce at the beginning of the meeting. Um, our next meeting is not in two weeks. Our next meeting is in three weeks. So, our next meeting will, which can you believe is three weeks, but on January 5th is the next meeting. >> Okay. >> Um, do we we still need this executive session, right? >> We do. So, we're going to go into this
executive session, but um we're only going to come back out to adjourn. We will not conduct business after the executive session. So, I will to entertain a moment to um recess the regular meeting to go into executive
session pursuant to the provisions of Mass General law chapter 38 section 21A where the chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect to consider the request from police chief Christopher Dunn for injury on duty benefits for a police officer. Do we have do we have a motion? >> Mr. Brew a motion is that we go into
executive session for the reasons stated. >> Second. Um, all in >> hi, >> Jake. Hi, Emanuel S. >> Hi, Sha. >> Hi, Richie Brewer. >> Hi, Craig Dutra. >> All right, so we are in executive session. Thank you.